28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - October 15, 2023

 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

October 15, 2023 – 8:30 and 11am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

The Word Opportunity

 

Today’s gospel has led me to learn something about the word opportunity.

 

What I learned is that before the days of modern, deep-water harbors, like the Baltimore or the New York harbor, before the days of these deep-water harbors, a ship had to wait for high tide before it could sail into port. It would wait outside the harbor.

 

The captain would judge when it was just the right time to ride the tide into port. Then he would signal the crew, and they would get started.  

 

In Latin, there was a term for this: ob portu. These two Latin words, ob portu – spelled O-B and P-O-R-T-U – they literally mean outside the port.

 

Our English word opportunity is derived from these words. The idea is that the captain of a ship outside the port had to be ready for the opportunity to move.

 

If he missed this window, he would have to wait for the next tide. So, our word opportunitymeans a chance to do something that might not happen again or at least not soon again.    

 

Our Opportunities 

 

Jesus is concerned today about opportunities and especially missed opportunities.

 

He tells the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. The invited guests decline the invitation. 

 

It seems as if some are just too absorbed in their own lives to pay any attention to this. Others think that their work must take priority. 

 

And some are angry that they are even bothered with this invitation, and they become violent. Now, the passage says that Jesus is speaking this parable to some of the religious leaders of his day. 

 

His point is that some of those to whom God first offered the gift of salvation missed this opportunity to be close to God and part of God’s kingdom. Today, the parable cautions us to be alert to opportunities where we can find God or make God’s kingdom more alive.    

 

Opportunities Lost and Found 

 

For example, parents may regret that they did not go to more of their children’s games or concerts or dance performances. If that is the case, today they might find other opportunities to be with their children and even their grandchildren.

 

Right now, we are all aware of the horrific violence in the Middle East. We might be seeing this at a distance as only the age-old hostility between the Palestinians and the Jews.

 

If so, I suggest we might see this as an opportunity to look more deeply. It is an opportunity for us to look at anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic, or anti-black, anti-Asian, or anti-Hispanic sentiments right here and maybe within ourselves. 

 

We can use this as an opportunity to see the senselessness of prejudice and hatred and the violence that comes from that. We might see that the large-scale violence we are now witnessing on TV starts with individuals and our relationships.

 

And with this awareness, we can use this today as an opportunity to pray. We ask for God’s grace to bring healing and reconciliation to us and everyone.   

 

A final example about opportunities. We may become aware that we have just been slipping in our relationship with God or even neglecting it. 

 

We may have gotten use to watching Mass at home – and get me right, I am glad we have livestreaming for those who cannot be here especially for health reasons. But maybe we’ve been consistently missing the opportunity to be here for the full celebration of the Eucharist and for receiving Communion.

 

And with this awareness, we can now resolve to accept this wonderful opportunity, unlike some of the folks in today’s gospel. We can resolve to be part of this spiritual banquet where we sacramentally receive Jesus. 

 

Conclusion

 

The point is that there can be ob portu or kingdom of God opportunities in our lives. 

 

We don’t want to miss them. Instead, we want to be like the captain of ships of long ago and be ready to sail into port with the high tide.  

 

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - October 8, 2023

 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

October 8, 2023 – 5pm and 11am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

God’s Welcome to the Vineyard

 

Imagine that just before a soul begins his or her life on earth, God takes the soul by the hand and points out a certain place on earth. 

 

God then speaks to this soul or soon-to-be-conceived-and-born person. God explains. 

 

“This is going to be your piece of the vineyard. It will be yours to make of it whatever you can.

 

“All I ask is that you work at it the best you can and get the most out of the soil I give you. 

 

“If you produce grapes that make the choice wine of reconciliation and justice, great; if you only have enough water and nutrients to produce a few grapes that make a small amount of the sherry of humility and kindness, good; if you only have enough time to plant a few seeds or start a few vines that others can bring to a full harvest, you’ll have done well.”  

 

God’s Caution 

 

But God then cautions:

 

“Just don’t make the mistake that too many of my tenants make. They get too caught up in the number of grapes they can coax from the vines. 

 

“My vineyard is about harvesting good grapes, not amassing profits. Remember too, that you are responsible for the part of the vineyard I give you.

 

“Don’t exhaust the grapes you harvest for yourself alone. Don’t leave behind just a dried tangle of dead vines for the next grower.” 

 

God the vineyard owner continues. “And keep in mind that everyone has his or her own piece of the vineyard. 

 

“But there are no dividing lines, no fences, no property markers. Your part of the vineyard is joined to your neighbor’s – so you can do neither good nor evil in the vineyard without affecting the folks next to you and the vines around you.”

 

God’s Reminder 

 

Finally, God says this.

 

“One more thing. And I don’t mean to harp on this, but it is my vineyard.

 

“Not yours. I’m giving you a piece of it because that’s what being God is all about.

 

“An occasional thank you would be nice. But the moment you think the vineyard is yours or that you deserve more and better, your vineyard will become a very unhappy and unproductive place.  

 

“So, go to it.” And with that said, God breathes this soul into a human embryo and another human, or human and divine journey begins. 

 

Conclusion

 

So, the lesson is that we are to be good, responsible tenants of God’s vineyard.

 

That vineyard is the life we have been given. It is the home, the school, the job, the family, the friends, the opportunities, the community, the church, the city, the state, the country, the world we live in.

 

This is what we have been given. This is the vision that Jesus, the Christ gives us. 

 

So, will we produce the choice wine of reconciliation and justice? Or the sherry of humility and kindness? 

 

Will we at least start something good in the limited time and space that we have? Will we leave something good for the next generation? 

 

Will we stay aware that whatever we do affects everyone else? Will we remember to be thankful to God from time to time?   

 

God has welcomed us to his vineyard and given each of us a piece of it. It’s up to us to be good tenants.   

 

And, by the way, this way of seeing today’s and other gospels on the vineyard comes right from Saint Catherine of Siena who lived in the 1300s. I have to give her credit for this homily!   

 

 

 

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - September 24, 2023

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

September 24, 2023 – 5pm 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Two Lessons 

 

One thing that probably all of us dislike is a lack of fairness.

 

We want everyone to be treated fairly. We want fair pay, fair games, fair trials, and on it goes.

 

So, we may agree with the guys in the gospel story who have worked all day long. They are upset when the landowner pays a full-day’s pay to those who have worked just one hour or a few hours.  

 

In truth, the landowner is being fair because he gives the full-day workers exactly what they agreed upon and that was the going rate-of-pay. He simply chooses to be generous with those who have worked fewer hours.

 

Now, we have to say that Jesus is not giving a lesson here on good management or compensation practices – that’s definitely not the point!  Instead, he is teaching us lessons first about God and then about ourselves.

 

Lesson 1: About God 

 

We can summarize Jesus’ lesson about God with the word: “generous.”

 

To those who have worked all day and are complaining about what he has paid the others, the landowner says: “Are you envious because I am generous?” Jesus is presenting the landowner as an image of God. 

 

The idea is that God is absolutely generous in his love for us. In another passage of Scripture, Saint John says this so beautifully: “Love consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us.”

 

So, God first loves us, each of us, personally. God takes the initiative in loving.

 

God’s love is purely and simply a gift. We don’t merit it or earn it.

 

To us, this is counter cultural. Our experience is that we have to merit or earn practically everything.

 

But this isn’t true when it comes to the love of God. One of our Catholic writers puts it this way.

 

“We don’t change [or try to grow] to earn God’s love; instead, we change because of God’s love.” The idea is that it is God’s love or grace within us that moves us to grow and change.  

 

So maybe we come to God or come back to God later in life. But amazingly, God treats us as the landowner treats the late workers. 

 

It’s hard for me and maybe all of us to understand this. So, we just have to accept this as part of the mystery of God because God is ultimately mystery to us.

 

We just have to remember that God is “generous” – that’s the key word. God gives his love as a gift, and we don’t earn it or merit it.  

 

Lesson 2: About Us 

 

The second lesson really flows from the first.

 

It is also summed up in one word, the word: “envious.” The landowner says to the all-day workers: “Are you envious because I am generous?”

 

I and probably each of you, we human beings can be envious. Envy is the sin of being upset at someone else’s good fortune.

 

Maybe a fellow employee gets a promotion; maybe a family member gets named in an inheritance; maybe someone gets publicly recognized for doing some charitable work – these are the kinds of things that can make us feel envious – resentful, begrudging, even hateful. 

 

Notice in the gospel what leads to envy. The day-long workers compare themselves with the part-day workers and their pay.  

 

It’s the comparing that leads to the envy. So, Jesus wants us to stop comparing ourselves to others in this way.

 

Instead, he wants us to focus on God’s generous love for us. He wants us to be aware of the gifts God has given us – like our school, our job, our family, our friends, our home, our health, our health care, and on it goes.

 

Jesus doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to others who seem to have something we don’t have and then become envious. Instead, he wants us to look at ourselves and what we do have and be thankful to God for that.

 

And that’s the key point. Being thankful is the opposite of being envious.  

 

Conclusion

 

So, two words: “generous” and “envious.”

 

God is amazingly generous to each one of us. If we remember this and are thankful, we will not become envious.   

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - September 17, 2023

 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Cycle A

September 17, 2023 – 8:30 and 11am 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Forgive

 

This morning, it would be difficult to talk about any topic other than forgiveness.

 

This is front and center in both the first reading and the gospel. The first thing I want to say is that forgiveness can be very difficult. 

 

I must admit that I find it hard at times. For me, I have to work at forgiving when someone treats me unfairly or unjustly.

 

Maybe that’s not an issue for you, but it is for me. I think that forgiving can be a challenge at one time or another for many of us.

 

This morning, I am not going to give a pious exhortation about forgiving. Instead, I want to look at this in a grittier, more practical way.

 

First, I want to look at some things that forgiveness is not. And then, I will offer three steps that I think are involved in the process of forgiving.   

 

Forgiving Is Not…

 

First, forgiving does not mean that we deny our feelings or pretend that we weren’t offended.

 

In fact, part of healthy forgiving demands that we own or admit our feelings. We do this so that we can eventually work through the hurt.

 

Then, contrary to the popular saying, forgiving does not mean forgetting.

 

It’s almost impossible to forget what has happened, even if we want to. We cannot expect ourselves or others to do this.

 

Next, forgiving is not weakness.

 

In fact, forgiving requires great inner strength. It is a sign of a strong person who can bring themselves to forgive another who has offended them.

 

And finally, this may sound surprising, but forgiving may not mean reconciling.

 

Reconciling may be unwise in some situations, like domestic violence or sexual abuse. We may forgive but not restore the relationship to what it was before.    

 

Forgiving Is

 

Okay, they are some things that forgiveness is not; now I want to look at three steps or actions that are involved in forgiving. 

 

1.    Review 

 

First, we need to review what happened.

 

Review in your mind what the other person did. And as you do this, get in touch with your feelings. 

 

How did you feel as it happened and right after it happened? And how do you feel about him or her right now?

 

And, as part of this review, sometimes we also need to look at ourselves. To paraphrase an old saying, “It often takes two to tango.”

 

So, is there some way, maybe something minor or subtle, but still some way that I contributed to the problem? Could it have been how I said something or when I did something? 

 

2.    Humanize

 

So, 1) review what happened, and then, 2) humanize the offender.

 

Try to separate the hurtful word or action from the person who did it. And then, try to walk in that person’s shoes for a bit.

 

What might she have been experiencing within herself? What kind of day or week might she have had?

 

Or what kind of home life did he have when he was a child? What woundedness might he be carrying around inside?

 

This can be a very challenging part of the process that we may not want to do. But still, step back from the hurt for a moment and look at the offender as another human being. 

 

3.    Choose

 

And then the third step is to choose to forgive.

 

We may feel resentful, angry, or vengeful. But even with that, we can still choose to let go of it – and yes, forgiving is a choice.  

 

Not to let go hurts us as much or even more than the other person. The Buddhists have a saying about this.  

 

They say that holding on to resentment is like picking up a hot coal in our hand with the intention of throwing it at the person who offended us. Just imagine that: the hot coal makes it clear that holding on especially to vengeful feelings is as harmful for us as it is for the other person. 

 

Choosing to let go is important. And then, eventually, if, if this is possible, try to talk with the other person because that makes forgiveness very real.

 

Conclusion

 

So, hurts can happen with anyone – a parent, a spouse, a son or daughter, a sibling, a friend, a neighbor, an employer, a priest, anyone.  

 

I hope that these three steps or actions – 1) Review, 2) Humanize, and 3) Choose – I hope that they will help us respond to Jesu

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - September 3, 2023

 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Cycle A

September 3, 2023 – 5pm, 8:30 and 11am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Becoming More

 

A few years ago, I came across a fable that was written to help us appreciate Jesus’ main point in today’s gospel. The fable goes like this.

 

“Once upon a time, a dandelion whispered to the nutrients in its soil: ‘How would you like to become a dandelion? You need only allow yourself to be dissolved in the earth’s water, and I will draw you up through my roots.

 

‘Afterward you will be able to grow and flower and brighten the world.’ The nutrients said: ‘Okay!’ and they became a dandelion.

 

“The next morning, a rabbit hopped by and, feeling generous, said to the dandelion: ‘How would you like to become a rabbit? You would have to let me chew you up and swallow you, and you would lose your pretty petals. 

 

‘It would hurt at first, but afterward you would be able to hop around and wiggle your ears.’ Not being rooted in just one place sounded good, so the dandelion said ‘Okay!’ and it became a rabbit.

 

“The next day, a hunter spotted the rabbit, and being in a friendly mood, asked: ‘How would you like to become a human? Of course, you must let yourself be shot, skinned, stewed, and eaten.

 

‘That would be rather painful but think of what you’d gain. You’d be able to think, laugh, cry, get 50 credit cards and watch football on a wide flat-screen TV.’ 

 

“The rabbit was scared, but who could pass this up? So, he also said ‘Okay!’ and became a human.

 

“Years later, God noticed this human going about the everyday human way. Feeling very fatherly, God said: ‘Hey! How would you like to become a super-human?’”

 

Becoming Divine

 

And that, my friends, is the question God asks each human being.

 

And, in case we don’t know what’s involved in this, God’s Son, Jesus, spells it out: “You have to lose your life to find it.” Sports coaches and athletes say: “No pain; no gain.”

 

Psychologists say: “Lose your false self to find your true self.” Spiritual writers say: “The dark night comes before the dawn.”

 

So, what is it that we must lose and what do we gain? Well, the good news is that we don’t lose anything essential to our humanity.

 

And we don’t lose anything that is good. All we really lose is our inhumanity, our false self.

 

What Do We Lose?

 

For example, we would lose our self-absorption, which ends up making us very alone. We would lose our prejudice, which blinds us to the truth.

 

We would lose our lust, which distorts our love. We would lose our insecurity, which blocks our sense of self-worth. 

 

We would lose our obsession with money, which prevents us from being generous. And we would lose our fear, which strangles our hope.  

 

What Do We Gain?

 

To the degree that we do this losing, we gain. Our humanity is enhanced. 

 

Now, we don’t have to get there all at once. We can do it step by step.

 

And we don’t have to advance in every dimension of life. In truth, even most of the saints are imperfect and unfinished in some way.

 

The best part is that by fulfilling our humanity in this way, we become more and more divine. We live more and more in the divine life. 

 

We are in communion with God and start thinking and living in a Godly way. And here is the really best part. 

 

In losing our lives in God, unlike the nutrients in the soil and the dandelion and the rabbit in the fable, unlike them, we don’t really lose at all. Instead, we retain our own self and grow bigger.

 

We feel connected with others. We feel more secure in ourselves.

 

We feel closer to God. And we feel a sense of purpose and hope. 

 

But we have to remember this. Only with Jesus and only in going through this process of losing can we gain and become our fullest self.

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - August 20, 2023

 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

August 20, 2023         

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton – 5pm  

 

“Somos personas” 

 

There is a magazine called Spirituality and Health.

 

In its current issue, the July/August issue, a writer named Paul Sutherland tells an inspiring story. He says that he and his family were on vacation and heading to a beach in Nicaragua. 

 

They were driving in their van and came to a narrow street in the Nicaraguan village of Santa Teresa. And suddenly, THUD!

 

One of the front tires went down into an uncovered drainage hole. Some men from the village saw what happened and came over to help Paul push the van.

 

But it wouldn’t budge. Sutherland was trying to figure out what to do when a farmer drove up on a tractor. 

 

The farmer pulled ahead of the van and stopped in the middle of the narrow street. Then he looked under the van and, without saying a word, walked to a nearby shop and came back with some rope. 

 

The farmer tied one end of the rope around the van’s chassis and then attached the other end to a chain that he had with the tractor. Within a minute, he pulled the van out of the drainage hole. 

 

Paul Sutherland and his wife and children were overcome with gratitude. He said, “Gracias! Thank you! Gracias!”

 

Sutherland tried to hand the farmer some money. But the farmer refused and said, “Somos personas!”

 

Sutherland said, “This is for you and your family.” But again, the farmer refused to take the money and just said, “Somos personas!”

 

When Paul and his family got back in the van, his daughter asked, “Dad, do you know what he was saying?” Paul responded, “No!”

 

“Dad, he was saying, ‘We are people.’ He was saying we are the same, we are all people, persons. 

 

“We are here to help one another. We are people, persons. ‘Somos personas.’”     

        

Are We All People? 

 

In today’s gospel, we see this same vision eventually emerge.

 

A Canaanite woman comes up to Jesus and begs him to heal her daughter. There are big differences between this woman and Jesus and his disciples.

 

First, there is gender. In that time and place, women were treated as second-class at best, and they were not even to be talked to unless they were accompanied by their husband.

 

Then, there is religion. This woman is not a Jew, and that’s why she is called a “dog” – the very demeaning expression of that day for all non-Jews.

 

Next, there is culture. This woman is of a different culture and probably dresses differently and has different social customs. 

 

And finally, there is nationality. This woman is a Canaanite, and they are viewed as enemies.

 

Jesus’ Ultimate Response: Yes 

 

So, Jesus’ first two responses to the woman are very off-putting, to say the least. 

 

He begins by saying that his mission is only to the house of Israel – to the Jews. And then he says that it is not right to give the food of the children – meaning the Jews – to the dogs – there’s that awful expression again.

 

There could be two reasons for these responses from Jesus. One, even though he is God or the Son of God on this earth, he is human. 

 

And, as human, maybe even Jesus had to work through the prejudices and human barriers that existed. The other possibility is that Jesus was just setting up the disciples for what he was going to do.

 

He was voicing the prejudices and barriers that he knew they had. He was setting them up as a contrast with how he would end up respecting and caring for this woman and her daughter. 

 

“Somos Personas” 

 

So, in Spanish, “Somos personas.”

 

“We are people. We are persons.” 

 

Jesus, today, something like that Central American farmer, opens our minds and hearts to see one another as God sees us – regardless of differences. Being a follower of Jesus demands that we look beyond labels and stereotypes and prejudices and barriers. 

 

It demands that we see everyone as a child of God, as brother and sister. “Somos personas.”