Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes

No doubt about it!  

I’m much more the second son, not the first.
I usually have the best of intentions.
I generally want to do the right thing.
I plan to do the right thing.
I say I’m going to do the right thing. 
I’m very good at reassuring myself that I am, indeed,
going to do what I know I should do. 
I tell the Lord I’m going to do what I know he wants me to do.

Changing from “No” to “Yes”

An owner of a vineyard had two sons and neither one of them was perfect.  The first son said “no” to his father, but then changed his mind and did what his father asked.  The second son said “yes” to his father’s request but did nothing.  A perfect son would have said “yes to his father and then done the father’s will.  But few of us are perfect.  That is why, for us, the hero of today’s parable is the first son, who originally said “no” but then changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard.  The good news of the parable is that with God’s help, we can change a “no” into a “yes.”

This movement from “no” to “yes” is a fundamental Christian pattern that is routinely present in the Scriptures. Peter denies Jesus, but later repents. Thomas refuses to accept Jesus’ resurrection, but then becomes a believer.  Paul persecutes the early followers of Jesus, but then converts and becomes one of the great apostles of the church.  In later generations, this same movement continues. Augustine lived his early life in debauchery, but then became one the great spiritual teachers of our history.  Francis of Assisi began his life in privilege and self-indulgence but then changed to live a life of simplicity and service.

The Name Above All Names

This Sunday we are treated to one of the most beautiful passages about Jesus in the entire Bible. It is found in the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. St. Paul begins by telling the people to be kind, and loving, and merciful to each other. They, we, are to put the interests of others above ourselves. And then he tells us about Jesus. He says that we should have the same attitude in life as Jesus had. He was forever God, but he did not regard this as something to be grasped. Instead He emptied Himself of his divinity. He became a human being. More than this, he became a slave for all of us. And he obeyed His Father for our sakes, even when this obedience led to His death on the cross.

God Can Use Anything, but He Shouldn’t Have to - A Homily for the 26th Sunday of the Year - Community in Mission

In understanding Sunday’s Gospel, we cannot overlook the audience Jesus was addressing. The text begins, Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people …. In other words, He was addressing the religious leaders and religiously observant of His day. He calls at least three things to their attention, three common sins of … Continue reading "God Can Use Anything, but He Shouldn’t Have to – A Homily for the 26th Sunday of the Year"

Community in Mission

Jesus calls three things to the attention of the religious leaders of His day:

1. Lost Connections
2. Leaping to Conclusions
3. Lip Service

The Second Plank after the Shipwreck

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A Most folks would be familiar with the other parable involving two sons, though the focus in the ...

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How you choose to end the story

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A Many of you may be familiar with the proverbial anti-hero character of Hellboy, of both t...

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Many of you may be familiar with the proverbial anti-hero character of Hellboy, of both the comic and movie fame. Hellboy is a walking oxymoron, he’s what you would call a “good demon”… but in case you think all demons are actually quite ‘nice’ and ‘adorable, Hellboy’s the singular exception to the rule. In the story, the eponymous character was summoned during the last days of the Second World War by the Nazi forces in the hope that he would help them turn the tide against the Allied Forces. However, the ceremony is interrupted by a platoon of Allied Forces, and the infant demon is ‘saved’ by the kindly Professor Bruttenholm, who adopts him as his own son, and as both the comics and the movie would hint at, raised him as a Catholic. The religious and ‘Catholic’ undertones of the story are hardly subtle. 

At the end of the movie, at a dramatic point of almost turning to the evil side, reverting back to his demonic nature, Hellboy is tossed the rosary that had belonged to his departed adopted father and is then reminded who he is and what he chose to be.   He then proceeds to rip the horns from his head and fight for good. The crucifix of the rosary seared its mark into the palm of Hellboy as he catches it. A kind of stigmata. The imagery is clear to us Christians, it is by the power of the Cross that we are saved, where even the greatest sinner is redeemed and a saint made. Eventually, Hellboy, who was originally summoned and sent to destroy the world would prove to be its saviour.

‘What? That’s ridiculous!’ you may protest. But that’s the meaning of redemption.

Clergy E-Notes

“…if the family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is conceived and cared for, it is a horrendous contradiction when it becomes a place where life is rejected and destroyed. So great is the value of a human life, and so inalienable the right to life of an innocent child growing in the mother’s womb, that no alleged right to one’s own body can justify a decision to terminate that life, which is an end in itself and which can never be considered the “property” of another human being.”

— Pope Francis

Jesus, the Perfect Example

In many cases our actions do not tally with our words. At times, we say YES when we actually mean NO. This is shown in today’s Gospel centred on the parable of the two sons. One refuses the assignment of his father, but later on, goes to do it. The second son immediately says ‘yes’ but ends up not yielding to the father’s bidding.

Be of the Same Mind

Bottom line: For today I want to speak to you as Paul spoke to his beloved community at Philippi: “complete my joy by being of the same mind…”

Today St. Paul speaks about unity. He says, “complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.” What does it mean to be “of one mind”? That we should listen to the same music, eat the same food, vote for the same candidates?

I don’t think so. G.K. Chesterton wrote a book on why he became a Catholic. He observed that Catholics agree on certain central truths, but – as he said – they take “pleasure in disagreeing on everything else.”* I’ve been a priest for almost 50 years and I’ve seen that if the conversation turns to politics, priests will disagree, sometimes violently. I’ve never seen a fist fight, but I’ve witnessed some heated arguments.

All Should Bend the Knee at the Name of Jesus

Priests and religious pray prescribed prayers five times a day, apart from our own personal and private prayer. We sometimes call these five prayer times every day the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office and these prayers are in our prayer book often called the Breviary. These prescribed prayers for priests and religious are mostly taken from Scripture. A small part of our evening prayer every Saturday evening prayer is the second half of today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians (Phil 2:6-11). It is a most beautiful text in the New Testament.

The Will of God

The Gospel reminds us that the most important thing for us is to do the will of God. This is not a matter only of words or of good intentions. It is a matter of decision. Jesus could say of himself that he always did what was pleasing to his Father. Let us watch Jesus, let us follow him, and let us pray that his Spirit will so inform our minds and hearts that we too will want only what God wants and find our pleasure in doing God’s will.

How do we know God’s will? The community can be of great help to us here. We have a long and rich tradition that holds a good deal of wisdom, for it is the product of the reflections and saintly lives of millions of disciples of Jesus. We are rather foolish if we think that we know better than the Church. Sometimes, in particular instances, what is presented as Church teaching concerning human behaviour is not based on faith or on properly assessed human experience. In matters that are not central to our communal faith there can be room for disagreement. But if we always think we know better than the community, and if we fail to take notice of the ordinary wisdom that is contained in time-honoured teaching, we are neglecting a most important source for the discovery of God’s will.

Love’s Labor

For most of us, God is not the problem. The problem is with those humans that God created, especially the creeps who don’t deserve to exist, or at least those who bother us. When people draw near, they bring trouble. Anyone close to us sooner or later restricts our precious freedom.

St. Paul had a great sense of this paradox: the best indication of our highest reach for God is the person within arm’s reach. That is why relationship in community or family is so inextricably woven into our relationship with God. It is not at all only that the two “great commandments”—wholeheartedly loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves—are similar. It’s that our very relationships to each other embody our relationship to God.

Divine Fairness Part II

The readings this weekend feel like a continuation from last week. Last Sunday, we were introduced to the idea that God’s ways are not our ways. Our sense of justice is not always God’s sense of justice. I say this because our first reading from Ezekiel begins, “Thus says the Lord: You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair!’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?”

We are right back to our conversation about justice we had last week. How often is our definition of justice, “just us” or “just me”? The definition of fairness in our world is often about whatever situation benefits me the most, often times at the expense of others. The world’s economy is clearly set up that way. Brass tacks, much of what we wear on our bodies or use in terms of technology are all too often assembled by people who live in impoverished conditions. That is just a statement of fact. We go through our lives trying not to think about it or simply get exasperated at the enormity of it all and say, “What else am I supposed to do? I need to have shoes. I need to have technology to function in this culture. I am on budget. I have a family. Things are expensive.” It can be way too uncomfortable to think otherwise. And please know that I am not judging anybody right now or trying to offer political solutions. I am not that smart. I am just simply raising the questions that I struggle with in light of the readings this weekend and hope that you will too.