5th Sunday of Lent

John 11: 17-45

Boudreaux was visiting New York City and a bus hit him on the street. He was knocked out briefly and in a daze with crowd gathered around him. Boudreaux gasped: "A priest. Somebody get me a priest!" A policeman checked the crowd – but no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind.

"A priest, please!" Boudreaux kept calling out. Then out of the crowd stepped a little Jewish man of at least 80 years old. "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I’m not a priest. I’m not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I’ve been living behind St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church on First Avenue, and every night I’m can hear the Catholic litany. I’m sure I can pray it, and maybe it can help comfort this man."

The policeman agreed and brought the man over to where Boudreaux was lying on the street. He knelt down, leaned over Boudreaux, made a sign of the cross and began:

"B-3, I-19, N-38, G-54, O-72."

Boy, I’ll bet that prayer would have even raised Lazarus in today’s reading. Talking about funerals in today’s reading:

Boudreaux’s brother, Aurelein, was unable to attend his father’s funeral so he called Boudreaux and told him: "Do something nice for daddy and send me the bill."

Later, he got a bill for $200.00, which he paid. The next month, he got another bill for $200.00, which he also paid, figuring it was some incidental expense.

Bills for $200.00 kept arriving every month, and finally the Aurelein called Boudreaux to find out what was going on.

"Well," said the Boudreaux, "You said to do something nice for daddy. So I rented him a tuxedo."

I read a story recently about a two_year_old girl, Vanessa, who was given a helium_filled balloon at Sunday School. It was bright blue and seemed almost alive as it danced and floated on the end of her string as she ran through the halls of the church pulling it along behind her. But the inevitable happened. The balloon bumped into the sharp edge of a metal railing and popped. With a single, loud "bang," it burst and fell to her feet. She looked down and saw what had been her beautiful balloon, now a forlorn wad of wet blue rubber. It took her only a moment to regain her buoyant mood, however, as she picked up the remains of that balloon, marched cheerfully to where her father was standing and thrust it up to him. "Here, Daddy," she said cheerfully, "Fix it."

Sometimes our lives resemble that wad of wet blue rubber lying there on the church hall floor. "Here, Daddy," we say to God, "fix it."

Mary and Martha were two of Jesus’ closest friends. Their brother Lazarus had been seriously ill. Concerned about his welfare, and lacking the medical conveniences that you and I take for granted, they sent for the one man they knew could help them. Mary and Martha had been witnesses to Jesus’ healing power. They felt that their brother would be in no danger if Jesus would come and minister to him. We can appreciate their feelings. How many times have we thought, "If we can just get him to the hospital, he will be all right...." or "if the doctor just gets here in time, she will recover?"

Jesus did not return in time, however. Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days by the time Jesus arrived in their village. "Lord," said the sharp_tongued Martha, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

Friends, we need to pause here and add a word of caution. Sometimes, like the little girl with the balloon that had burst, we have unrealistic expectations of God. Sooner or later, by some means, everybody dies. Even though Jesus raised Lazarus on this one occasion, Lazarus would one day die. It is difficult to let go of someone we love, but sooner or later we all have to accept the inevitable. We are grateful for this story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave. It demonstrates Jesus’ love and his power. But the mature Christian understands that death is part of God's plan, as is life. We pray to hold on to our loved ones, but we trust a loving God to care for our loved ones whether in life or in death.

Nevertheless, it is a thrilling story. First of all, we have a picture of Jesus weeping over the tomb of Lazarus. "See how he loved him," says the Jews who see him. Then we have Jesus saying in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus does indeed come forth from the tomb, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to those who were witnesses to this startling event, "Unbind him and let him go." That will make your heart beat faster, will it not? "Unbind him and let him go" The story of the raising of Lazarus is a drama of love, new life and freedom. It is representative of the sort of thing that Jesus is continually doing in people's lives.

There are three ingredients in the story of Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus that are always present at those times in our lives when our balloons are a forlorn wad of wet rubber and we are pleading with God, "Daddy, fix it."

WE ARE HEARTENED, FIRST OF ALL, BY THE PRESENCE OF THE MASTER. Mary and Martha called for Jesus and he came. He always does. Jesus promised his disciples that they would never be alone. He would provide them with a counselor, or a comforter. The word "paraclete" is the Greek word for the presence that Jesus promised. It is an interesting word. It comes from the law courts of the time. The paraclete was a person of unblemished character. When the evidence had been presented and a verdict was eminent in a court trial, this person of unblemished character, this paraclete, would simply come and stand with the accused. The power of the paraclete's character gave the accused not only comfort but also moral support in the pursuit of a favorable verdict.

Is this not what the presence of the risen Christ does for us in life's most difficult trials? We may not see a loved one raised from the dead as Mary and Martha, but it helps when we are carrying a terrible burden to know that we do not carry it alone. We see here, first of all, the comfort of his presence.

IN THE SECOND PLACE, WE ARE COMFORTED BY CHRIST'S POWER. Every follower of Jesus Christ needs to understand that Christ has power over both life and death __ otherwise we have no news that is ultimately Good News.

A little girl listened attentively as her father read the family devotions. She seemed awed by her parents’ talk of God’s limitless power and mercy. "Daddy," she asked, placing her little hands on his knees, "how big is God?" Her father thought for a moment and answered, "Darling, he is always just a little bigger than you need."

In the years 1014_1035 there ruled over England a Danish king named Canute. King Canute tired of hearing his retainers seek to flatter him with extravagant praises of his greatness, power and invincibility. He ordered his chair to be set down on the seashore, where he commanded the waves not to come in and wet him. No matter how forcefully he ordered the tide not to come in, however, his order was not obeyed. Soon the waves lapped around his chair. One historian tells us that, therefore, he never wore his crown again, but hung it on a statue of the crucified Christ.

Maybe you and I need to try that the next time we go to the beach. We have finite power. We have only the most tenuous hold on existence. But there is One who holds existence itself in the palm of his hand. "Lazarus, come forth," Christ commanded, and Lazarus came forth. Is your Christ big enough to have accomplished that? Therefore, we are comforted by his presence and by his power

FINALLY, WE ARE COMFORTED BY HIS ETERNAL PURPOSE. What he needed to understand was God's loving and faithful purpose.

Carl Michaelson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash many years ago, tells about playing with his young son one day, tussling playfully on their front lawn, and accidentally hitting the small boy with his elbow. The young fellow was just about to burst into tears when he looked into his father's eyes. Instead of anger, he saw there his father's sorrow and sympathy. Instead of bursting into tears, the young boy suddenly burst into laughter. It made all the difference in the world what he saw in his father's eyes.

The picture of Jesus weeping beside the tomb of Lazarus is such an important and unforgettable portrait. It allows us a look into the eyes of our Father. St. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that this is the eternal purpose of God, that nothing should ever separate us from his love. That is what we need to know. That is comfort to the breaking heart. The Father cares when his children are in pain.

This, then, is the Good News from the story of Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus to all those whose lives are a forlorn wad of wet rubber lying on a church hall floor.

A lady wrote to CATHOLIC DIGEST recently to tell about her six_year_old grandson. Their pastor had died. A retired priest was temporarily serving as a replacement. One day he announced that the bishop would soon be sending the church a new young priest directly from the seminary. When her grandson heard this announcement, he told his parents that when the new priest came he would no longer be going to Mass. "What are you talking about?" his parents wanted to know. The young fellow replied, "When they get priests directly from the cemetery, I'm staying home."

Our news for the day comes from a cemetery, and it is good news, indeed. It is a word of comfort. It is a word of Christ's presence, his power and his eternal purpose.

Passion/Palm Sunday

Holy Week begins today just as it will end – in triumph. The fleeting triumph of Palm Sunday when Jesus enters Jerusalem and the lasting triumph of Easter Sunday when Jesus is resurrected.

In between is a strange mixture of joy and pain, of sorrow and fear – known to all us human beings. We sometimes wish life was a bowl of cherries, but we know only too well that the real situation is often, for many, the exact opposite.

We may talk as much as we like about joy, contentment and peace. But only a fool believes that Christians have the recipe for a trouble-free, golden future. Fools like those television evangelists who tell you that if you accept Christ and you send your money your life is going to be just about perfect. We know that is not true. Common sense tells us that human life – yours and mine – is complex, confusing, and even tragic.

At this very moment, you are sitting close to someone who is carrying a great burden of suffering or tragedy. There is a husband or wife who has lost their beloved partner – the couple may have been old or even young. And the loneliness and emptiness is simply undescribable.

There are couples who long for children but their hopes remain unfulfilled, even as the number of abortions rise annually, almost in mockery of their infertility.

Around you, there are others, young and old, who are crippled by disease or badly injured by accidents. They are in constant pain. It may not look like it, but they have difficultly kneeling, or sitting still. Their neck or their knees, or even their eyes.

There are people who are crippled emotionally. People who have been through the wringer with relationships whose dysfunctionality have taken an enormous toll on them.

There are those who suffer from frightening depressions, strange mental illnesses while their families stand by helplessly. There are those who feel unloved or unwanted, those who even feel they are not loveable. There are those who feel terribly lonely.

All around you, there are those who have lost their job and are unemployed and then those who are underemployed who do not know where they are going to get the money to support their families. Holidays become a time of dread because those Christmas presents or Easter baskets are expensive. There are people who are retired or retiring who worry whether they will be able to make it through their golden years.

There are people who have no insurance and know if they get sick, they are probably going to die because they cannot afford the kind of health care they need.

Each Sunday, a great number of people come to this church to worship. We represent a cross-section of society. That means, on the law of averages alone, there are some among us who cannot face life without drink or other artificial props.

There are some among us who carry around within themselves the burden of a terrible past mistake – a mistake which may have diminished them, landed them in jail, damaged others, or taken an unborn life.

Each Sunday, there are among us persons caught up in the agony of mistaken marriages, or people technically living in sin because they can find no other way to live. There are others faced with the moral dilemma of divorce and remarriage outside the church who face a terrible conflict at communion time – wanting to share with us, yet afraid of what someone else will say if they get up to join us.

There are among us some who are victims of persistent temptation or compulsive urges – everything from gambling to stealing to internet pornography.

To imagine that this gathering is a group of perfect Christians is foolish. People who don’t go to church excuse their absence by calling church-goers hypocrites because we are flawed and they think we should be perfect since we go to church.

Most of us have problems – some of us have what others would call normal problems. But those problems cannot stop you from being a Christian. The church is not a club for the respectable and clean. God is not the God of the normal. He is the God of everybody – every broken vessel, every one of us who are his wounded children.

There is nothing that can change God’s love for us. He accepts us just as we are. Just as we are. We are the ones who sometimes have difficulty accepting ourselves. We think we have to be perfect. We think God demands perfection. We hear the poorly translated phrase: "You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" when it fact, Jesus says, "You must be whole as your heavenly Father is whole." Wholeness we can achieve – perfection we will never achieve.

There is truth in the old adage, "No cross, no crown." Suffering is necessary if we are to become the persons God meant us to be. It is in our suffering that we grow. Suffering enables us to know ourselves and to get outside ourselves. It matures us into the fullness of being human. The type of suffering – the cross in our lives – is not what matters. How we react to it is the important thing.

Jesus did not shy away from his suffering. His was a literal cross and he showed us how to deal with it: take hold of it with both hands, grab it and wrestle with it. Jesus did not accept the cross. That is a passive attitude. Jesus took his cross, embraced it because it was his Father’s will for our salvation.

Holy Week begins as it ends, in triumph, to remind us that suffering is a journey with a goal, not a meandering road that leads to nowhere. The end of the journey is resurrection, a new kind of existence. Our crosses, all of our crosses, no matter what kind of cross that is, will end in resurrection.

The way to new life is through the cross and the tomb. It is not a good place to be when we are there. We want to be anywhere else but there. It is a difficult road to travel. But it is the road that Jesus traveled. And because he traveled that road, he knows the difficulties and he accompanies us along the way. We are not alone. Jesus is traveling with us. Jesus is being our Simon of Cyrene with all those crosses in our lives. And Jesus is leading us to resurrection and to new life – because the truth is that we are not destined to remain people of the cross. We are Easter people.


Easter Vigil

Do you think that the four evangelists are good reporters? After listening to the accounts of our Lord’s passion and death during Holy Week we would be inclined to say yes. They give detailed accounts of these important events in our Lord’s life – each giving some details that the other might not have – but together bringing us a full story. And they knew these events would be of great importance for us.

But why are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John so brief about the resurrection and the life of Jesus after the resurrection? Aren’t these days important, too? Matthew has only one short chapter. Our Lord appears to the women near the tomb and tells them that he will see all of them in Galilee. Mark has even less – just a few lines, telling us that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen, to some of the disciples in the country and to some others when they were having dinner.

Luke has a longer chapter. Again, we hear that Jesus appeared to two disciples on their way to Emmaus, appeared to Simon and showed up at a meeting of the eleven remaining apostles. St. John, on the other hand, – who we just heard – has two whole chapters. Our reading today tells us that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden. He again appeared to the disciples in the closed upper room, and then showed up in the same place a week later when Thomas was with them.

Finally, we see Jesus showing up on the shores of Lake Tiberias, where he cooked breakfast for some of his disciples after they had been out for a night of fishing. All of these resurrection stories are basically the same, about the unexpected appearance of Jesus to the disciples.

What is the point of these stories about Jesus’ life after the resurrection? The point is simply this – Jesus not only survived the crucifixion, but made sure people knew it. He was showing up all over the place. At the most unlikely times and on the most unlikely occasions – he showed up -- always surprising the disciples by his appearances. He showed up behind locked doors, on the roads, and on the beach. The gospel writers are telling us that if Jesus was showing up all over the place, he could also show up all through the ages.

Easter is not just a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, but a celebration of Jesus’ continued presence in all times. After all, if Jesus is not active in our own time, then as far as we are concerned he might just as well still be dead and in the tomb. The gospels show how that the evangelists were concerned with how the early Christian communities received and experienced the RISEN Christ. The church is still concerned with how we experience the risen Christ in our lives.

Every Easter is a challenge to us to experience Jesus in a deeper, newer, more enlightened, and above all in a more personal way. The evangelist Mark, chapter 16, verse 12, says, "Jesus showed himself to the disciples in another form."

IN ANOTHER FORM. No wonder that after the resurrection, the disciples did not even recognize Jesus! Without a strong personal faith in Jesus we cannot recognize him either – or for that matter, see him as he is. Our eyes have to be opened, our hearts have to be opened, to recognize and experience Christ fully.

It is through baptism and the Eucharist that we learn to recognize Jesus. The renewal of our baptismal promises reminds us that Christians are Easter people – that we are aware of Jesus’ presence in our lives. Renewing our baptismal promises reminds us who we are and to whom we belong.

As Easter people, we become more aware of Jesus with us by prayer and the Eucharist. But we also try to make Jesus present to others by our lives. That’s the rest of the Easter story.

There is a news commentator, Paul Harvey, who often says, "And that’s the rest of the story!" The rest of our Easter story is that Jesus becomes present to the world by the lives of Christians – by our lives. That’s the other form that St. Mark talked about. Jesus lives through us, and the world experiences his love and care through our lives – he speaks with our voices, he touches others with our hands.

That’s how Jesus still shows up all over the place now. Maybe that’s why the four evangelists were so brief in the Easter accounts. They knew and they hoped that the Easter event would continue to happen for centuries and centuries – through us.


Easter Sunday

Boudreaux and Clotilde were having trouble have a child. Thibodaux told Boudreaux he was going to Rome. He said that while he is there, he would light a candle at St. Peter’s and pray that Boudreaux and Clotilde have a child. Boudreaux and Clotilde thanked Thibodaux.

Well, nine months later, Clotilde had a baby boy. A little more than nine months after that, they had a baby girl. They were so happy. But the babies kept coming, one after another after another. While Clotilde was in the hospital with her 14^th child, Thibodaux went to visit. Boudreaux was not there. Thibodaux questioned, "What kind of Daddy is not at the hospital for the birth of his baby?"

Clotilde replied, "Oh, that’s all right. Don’t worry about it. Boudreaux went to Rome to blow out that darn candle you lit!"

Let’s begin at the beginning where it all began. It wasn’t Rome, but it was Bethlehem. It began at Christmas. Some people have trouble with the idea that God became human in Jesus Christ. We Christians pose them a pretty problem with our Christmas feast of the incarnation. Maybe that is why society drowns our celebration of Christmas in a sea of commercial inconsequences.

And if Christmas were not enough, here we have now come with our Easter feast of the Resurrection. Morning has broken. Daybreak Easter morning carries with it greater significance than the usual sunrise. This is no ordinary morning.

As children, the first light of Easter morning sent us rushing to see what the Easter Bunny had left us. There was anticipation of eating chocolate before breakfast, hunting eggs, amid blooming azalea bushes, and wearing that new dress or new suit selected for this occasion. But this morning is not about bunnies and eggs. This morning is about life and death. It reminds us that not only did God become human and live a human life, he died. And not only did he die, he rose to life again in a glorious new flesh.

What are they going to do with us Christians? We insist on the existence of God. And then we go and spoil it all by proclaiming that God has not stayed at arm’s length, but has come among us to embrace us with human arms. We Christians admit the existence of evil. And then we go and spoil it all by proclaiming that our incarnate God was evil’s victim even to the point of death.

Then we go and spoil all that by singing loud and long, "But he has risen, alleluia!"

What are they going to do with us Christians? Even some Christians have trouble with our God-become-human-who-died-and-rose-again idea.

Jesus is the human face of God, the physical expression of the infinite being. Because that is almost too much for us to take in all at once, we tend to divide Jesus in half. We say: Jesus the Human ate and slept and prayed, while Jesus the God cured lepers and chased devils.

That, of course, is to miss the whole point of Jesus. It was Jesus the God who had visions and headache. It was Jesus the God who made miracles. Jesus is not just the Son of God, he is the Skin of God.

My little nephew had just gotten his own room. During his first night in it alone, a violent thunderstorm broke out. The power gave out and the boy started screaming, "Daddy! Come quick! I'm scared!" My brother-in-law called out to him, "Don't worry. God loves you! He'll protect you." My nephew yelled back, "I know God loves me and will protect me. But right now I need somebody with skin on."

You know, that's what Jesus is all about. God came into our darkness with skin on. God revealed himself as one of us. God entered into our history through Jesus Christ. He was fully God, but also fully human. John 4:6 says he grew tired, John 11:35 says he cried. And Jesus died in pain on a cross. And he rose triumphantly on Easter morning.

But we wonder: why this particular skin? Why did God revel himself as a man instead of a woman? Why did God appear in the first century instead of the 15^th? Why did God come among the Jews instead of the Egyptians?

It is important to wonder, because any different human element would have given us a different understanding of God. Pierre the God would have confronted a different political scene during the French Revolution in the late 18^th century. Ivan the God would have had to contend with the Siberian concentration camps in a totalitarian government. Tutu the God would have been embroiled in African tribal rivalries. Geronimo the God would have faced a persecution more genocidal than the Roman oppression. These are not frivolous fancies. We are talking about the human reality of God, the fleshy surface of God check to jowl with us. But God chose which surface of himself to expose, which facet of himself to reveal, which qualities to let rise to the surface. Jesus is the self-portrait of God.

Now a self-portrait is not a photograph. A photograph is an objective picture of what others see; a self-portrait is a subjective decision to reveal our own view of ourselves. Your child may draw himself with big eyes; Rembrandt saw himself in sober tones; Van Gogh fancied himself a farmer.

God scanned his multiple personalities, as it were, and decided to make the human scene as a wandering preacher, Jesus. There it is. That made all the difference for him – and for us.

If he had been a judge, he could guide us through the quandaries of affirmative action and social justice. Had he had been a theologian, he could explain to us the inner life of the trinity. If he had been a politician, he could unravel the welfare questions. If he had been a scientist, he could cure the human cold. If he had been a person of any importance or power, he might have had a greater impact for good in his own time.

But God got on our human bus and rode it to the end of the line that we call death. And lo and behold, he now stands in the midst to declare that there is more to the journey that just the end of the line. We celebrate this morning that eternal life. Eternal life is forever. Eternity will make the sixty or seventy or eighty years we spend here seem like a flash of light.

Boudreaux’s boss called him in the office. He said, "Boudreaux, do you believe in life after death?"

"Mai yea," said Boudreaux, "I’m a Catholic."

"Well, then, that makes everything just fine," said the boss. "After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother’s funeral, she stopped in to see you."

The lenten discipline is over. We are called to rejoice and be glad. The power of death is dead. O death, where is thy victory now? O death, where now is thy sting? There is absolutely nothing to fear anymore in this world. The Lord is risen. Jesus Christ has saved us. He goes before us and shows us the way. Alleluia! And a blessed Easter to all of you!

2nd Sunday of Easter

Gospel - John 20:19-31

Boudreaux and Thibodaux were in a mental institution. They were going to test each of them to see if they could let them go. First, the doctor called in Thibodaux and said, "Thibodaux, what would happen if I poked out one of your eyes?"

Thibodaux said, "I’d be half blind."

"That’s correct," said the doctor, "what if I poked out both eyes?"

"I’d be completely blind."

The doctor stood up, shook Thibodaux’s hand, and told him he was free. On the way out, Thibodaux saw Boudreaux. He told him what the questions were going to be and what the right answers were.

So Boudreaux came in. The doctor went through the formalities and asked, "What would happen if I cut off one of your ears?"

Boudreaux, remembering the correct answer, said: "I’d be half blind." The doctor looked a little puzzled, but went on.

"What if I cut off both your ears?"

"I’d be completely blind," said Boudreaux.

"Now, Boudreaux, can you explain to me how you’d be ‘blind’?"

"Mai," said Boudreaux, "my glasses would fall off my head and my hat would fall down over my eyes."

= = = =

When Boudreaux was young, he applied for an engineering job way, way up north, all the way in Shreveport. A local man applied for the same job and both applicants, having the same qualifications, were asked to take a test by the department manager.

Upon completion of the test, both men missed only one question. The manager went up to Boudreaux and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we’ve decided to give the job to the local man." Boudreaux asked, "Why you gonna be doing dat sir, we both got 9 questions right?"

The manager said, "We made our decision not on the correct answers, but on the one you missed."

Boudreaux asked, "And just how da heck would one incorrect answer be more better than da other?"

The manager replied, "Simple, the local man put down on question #5 ‘I don’t know," and you put down, ‘neither do I.’"

If we were all students again, many of us could possibly pass with flying colors any quiz on the scriptural details of the events of Holy Week: how many ears got lopped off, what was written above Christ’s head on the cross, which woman found the empty tomb, or who won the cross-country race to the tomb on Easter morning, and so on.

However, many of us would probably flunk an exam on what the gospels tell us that Jesus did after he rose from the dead and before he ascended to the Father. Today’s gospel, for example, gives us some of those events that took place during this forty-day period.

Perhaps all of us should plan that sometime very soon we will take ten minutes or so and read the last chapter of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the last two chapters of John’s gospel. You will find in these chapters a NEW Jesus, someone different in some ways from the pre-resurrection Jesus. Someone even more loving and loveable. Someone even more warm, human, and humor-filled than before.

It is as though the events of the passion, death, and resurrection had effected not only a change in the appearance but in the personality of Jesus as well. Gone is the somewhat high-strungness, the combativeness, the tenseness, the impatience that often manifested itself in his behavior during the period of his public ministry.

The post-Easter Jesus of the gospels behaves very much like a person on vacation or a man who has retired with his life’s work accomplished and his goals met. In these days after Easter, we find Jesus going fishing, we find him cooking breakfast over a campfire for his followers, we find him playing practical jokes on them. We have in these chapters delightful, human interest stories. The message that comes through them and the recorded words of Jesus, as we have in today’s gospel, is brief, one-track and insistent: RELAX, GUYS AND GIRLS BE AT PEACE.

That relax and be at peace should be the message of Jesus is all the more remarkable when we remember that he is saying this to and doing these thing with the very same persons who just a few days before had betrayed him, denied him, and deserted him. Quite clearly, Jesus is not someone who holds a grudge – as many of us probably would.

Jesus does not tell his disciples that their reactions and behavior of the week before had been right and proper. He does not say that they did not do wrong or sin. Jesus simply forgives them, because he knows that their actions, prompted by weakness and fear, did not cancel out their love for him. He knows well that they are deeply embarrassed by what they did and that they regret it. In fact, we see in the gospel of today that Jesus not only forgives his followers, but now empowers them to forgive the sins of others as well.

It is here that the Catholic Church has its scriptural evidence for the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Then Jesus said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

He is saying that God’s peace can be brought to people not only by reconciling them with themselves and with you, but by reconciling them with God. Protestants do not understand this sacrament. They say, "how could human beings dare to forgive other people’s sins and, therefore, act in God’s place?" This, of course, is what people around Christ wondered too, when he gave them that power.

Remember when he first said that he forgave a man’s sins, he then had to work a physical miracle to show them that he was acting with God’s power. Protestant Christians think that the priest is assuming the right to forgive sins himself. But remember that Jesus "breathed on them" and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." It is the Holy Spirit who is forgiving sins, not the priest or the agent in human form. Christ said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them. If you hold them bound, they are held bound. This is what Scripture says. Christ, commissioned by God, commissioned others to forgive sin. Protestants believe deeply in the Bible. Well, it is right here in the Bible.

So when we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to another human being like ourselves, it is not that this person has some magic power; it is not that this person is in any way superior. He may be inferior. We are not believing in any human power of the priest or any magic: we are believing in God’s word in the Scripture: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them." We are believing in the Holy Spirit.

Our sins are forgiven in order to restore the peace of our lives that genuine sin robs us of. And peace – or whatever synonym you prefer: joy, serenity, calm, tranquility, wholeness – is a sign and hallmark of a successful Christian. If we do not posses it, then something is wrong, something is out of kilter. We heard today in our first reading that already in the first generation of Christians they went about their daily work and worship "with exultant and sincere hearts." That’s how they were able to sing and rejoice even as they faced being burned at the stake and eaten by lions.

Our readings today stress that for us, as for the original followers of Jesus, the key to peace is FAITH. Faith, not so much as a body of teachings, but faith as trust in Jesus as a living, loving, and forgiving friend. A friend who is willing to answer and clarify our doubts, as he did for Thomas. He forgave his disciples for abandoning him. A friend who responds to us, even though we never see him. A friend who commissioned his church to "receive the Holy Spirit" and through the Holy Spirit to forgive the sins of others.

There may be some here today who returned to confession for the first time in a long time just before Easter. We had almost 400 people make avail themselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent. And I encourage all of you to avail yourself of this Sacrament throughout the year. We all go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation with good intentions to avoid sin, and yet shortly thereafter most of us seem to fail. But Jesus has a message for us all this morning: BE AT PEACE, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED. TRUST. TRUST IN THE LOVE AND THE MERCY OF GOD. Like Della Reese says in Touched by an Angel: "God loves you."

Boudreaux went to confession and told the priest he had sinned. "What was your sin, Boudreaux," asked the priest.

"I stole some lumber, Father," replied Boudreaux.

"How much lumber did you steal?" asked the priest.

"Father, I built my German Shepherd dog a nice doghouse," Boudreaux said.

The priest replied, "that is not too bad. You can say two ‘Our Fathers’" Boudreaux interrupted him, "Father, I also built myself a 4-car garage." The priest responded, "Well that’s more serious. Perhaps you should say a rosary."

Boudreaux again interrupted the priest, "Father, I’ve got to get this off my chest. I built a doghouse, a -4-car garage and a 5-bedroom 4-bath home!" With a look of shock, the priest responded, "Well, this is really serious. Boudreaux, do you know how to make a novena?"

Boudreaux looked confused then he said, "Father, I don’t know what a novena is, but if you’ve got the blueprints, I’ve got the lumber."



3rd Sunday of Easter

Gospel - Luke 24:13-35

Boudreaux went to Dr. Monier for a colonoscopy. He was just coming out of anesthesia that makes you so "cagoo." His wife, Clotilde, was sitting at his bedside. His eyes fluttered open, he looked at Clotilde and he murmured, "You're so beautiful."

Flattered, Clotilde continued her vigil while he drifted back to sleep. Finally he woke up and said, "Oh, Clotilde, you're so nice."

Clotilde said, "What happened to 'you’re so beautiful'?"

Boudreaux responded, "Mai, Clotilde, the drugs must be wearing off."

This man named Arthur Gordon tells of an experience he had with a psychiatrist, a wise and learned man, from whom he sought counsel during a period of depression. Gordon, an aspiring young writer with a briefcase full of rejection notices from publishers, was so discouraged he wanted to quit. Instead, he made an appointment with the counselor.

After the session, the doctor pointed out a recurring phrase in Gordon’s speech. The doctor said: "Thirty times in the last hour you used the phrase, ‘If only . . .’. May I suggest that you are locked in the past tense."

The psychiatrist gave Gordon an exercise to remedy his depression. "Every time you catch yourself saying ‘if only . . .’ change your speech to ‘next time . . .’. You will find that the cure for your depression is not in the endless and fruitless rehearsal of past mistakes or past choices. Your cure is not in the past. Your cure is in the future. Whenever you feel yourself in the spiral of self-condemnation and cross-examination over the past decisions, you practice the art of saying ‘next time . . .’. Then do something different, wiser, than last time."

Our gospel today tells of two travelers who are locked in the past tense. They had been followers of Jesus, but Jesus had been crucified. And with the death of Jesus, their hopes, dreams and faith also died. Listen to their speech. "We HAD hoped he would redeem us." We HAD hoped – past tense. A journey without hope is a long journey indeed! It makes the hills steeper, the ditches deeper, the darkness more menacing, the destination less rewarding.

I’m wondering if anyone here today is locked in such a journey without hope? Maybe this text of scripture will be like a stranger walking with you, offering new hope. Would you like to have hope again?

Well, one roadblock to hope is REGRET. Listen to these statements we hear sometimes.

Why did I marry him? What was I thinking? If only I had followed my heart instead of everyone else’s advice. If only I had married the right person.

Oh, I wish I hadn’t said that to my child. Now I have injured their spirit forever. How can I take back my words?

I can’t believe I traded that stock. If I had kept it, and purchased another thousand shares back then, I would be a rich man now. I’m so unlucky with money.

Do you hear the common refrain? Nothing drags as heavy as a sack of regrets. Why? Because the past cannot be undone. No amount of pleading, or self-condemnation, or whining will make the past change.

It is like watching reruns of a Super Bowl tape in which your favorite team lost – hoping this time your team will win. The past is gone. It is done. It’s wounds, like it’s glories, are no more. Let it be your teacher, not your jailer.

There was a famous Baptist minister who experienced a divorce after the death of their daughter. After the divorce, the invitations to preach, which had once been so numerous he could not accept them all, became non-existent. The phone of opportunity sat silent. The adoring crowds has vanished. He felt like spoiled goods.

Though his heart still burned for ministry, and though he still possessed a rare and beautiful gift for preaching, he was not allowed to pastor the Baptist Church. Today this man is a priest, serving a large parish in Birmingham, Alabama. When asked why he became a priest, he said, "I got tired of people telling me what I couldn’t do because of my past mistakes. And I felt drawn to people [to the Catholic Church] who kept saying, ‘come tell us what you have learned from your past mistakes.’"

He found a church that gave him hope, and a voice again. He found a place that called him beyond the past, to a future. And it made all the difference in the world. You cannot change your past. I cannot change my past. But we can learn from it.

There is another roadblock on the road to hope. It is a HARDENED HEART FROM PREVIOUS HURTS.

Like scar tissue on the soul, so is the cynicism of one who allows past hurts to rob them of hope. Have you been betrayed by a loved one or by a friend. Be careful that you do not get frozen in that pain by pledging never to trust anyone again.

Have you failed a business? That does not mean you should not try another business. Just learn from failure. What if Colonel Sanders had been afraid to try the Kentucky Fried Chicken business because his previous two attempts at business had failed?

What if Thomas Edison had been too angry to keep trying to invent the light bulb just because the first 1,400 attempts failed to come up with the correct formula? What if Abraham Lincoln had been too jaded by his six unsuccessful attempts at public office to run for president?

Sure, you have been hurt. Yes, you have failed. But don’t let the epitaph of your life be: "He tried and failed." Let your life be: "He never stopped trying, he never stopped believing."

The path to restored hope is to know that God is still with you.

The two travelers on the way to Emmaus found that Jesus was still with them. He walked with them quite a lot of the journey before they knew this, but he was with them nonetheless. He taught them the scriptures, he broke bread with them at the table, he warmed their hearts. And when they finally realized it was Jesus, they found new strength and new hope to get up in the middle of the night and run back to Jerusalem – seven miles – to tell the disciples.

That is the source of restored hope! It is not positive thinking, it is not pep talks. Hope IS the gift of the risen Lord.

Luke is telling us where we can experience the risen Lord. Where do you hear the scriptures explained? Where do you feel your heart warmed? Where do you bless and partake of the bread at the table? At Church, of course! The Church’s worship, the teaching, the mystery of the Mass – all point us to the presence of Christ.

You may have been walking through this worship service, like the travelers to Emmaus, unaware of the presence of Jesus. But he is with you nonetheless.

So take heart. Pick up your drooping eyes. Rediscover your lost hope. Christ has come to point you back to the future. If Emmaus is where you go when you have lost hope, the Easter is the story of how you get back from Emmaus.

So pay close attention during the Eucharist. See if you, too, can recognize Jesus in the breaking of the Bread.




4th Sunday of Easter

Gospel - John 10:1-10

Boudreaux’s granddaughter said, "Grandpa Boudreaux, can I sit on your lap?"

"Mae ya, cher, you can sit on my lap, "said Boudreaux.

As she was sitting on Boudreaux’s lap, she said, "Grandpa, can you make a sound like a frog?"

Boudreaux said, "A sound like a frog? Well, sure Grandpa can make a sound like a frog."

The child said, "Grandpa, will you please please MAKE a sound like a frog?"

Boudreaux got a little suspicious and asked, "Cher ti’ bet, why you want me to make a sound like a frog?"

"Because," said the girl, "Grandma Clotilde said that when you croak, we’re all going to Disney World!"

-----------------------------

A family of five were enjoying their day at the beach in Florida. The children were bathing in the ocean and making castles in the sand when in the distance a little old lady appeared. Her gray hair was blowing in the wind and her clothes were dirty and ragged. She was muttering something to herself as she picked up things from the beach and put them into a bag. The parents called the children to their side and told them to stay away from the old lady. As she passed by, bending down every now and then to pick things up, she smiled at the family. But her greeting wasn't returned. They all looked at her with suspicion. Many weeks later they learned that the little old lady had made it her lifelong crusade to pick up bits of glass from the beach so children wouldn't cut their feet.

A rather thankless task, wouldn't you say? Picking up bits of glass so children won't cut their feet. There are lots of people in thankless jobs, aren't there? Being a caregiver to someone who is helpless, working in nursing homes. In a sense, teaching is a thankless task. So is being an officer of the law. Any type of service work is thankless at times. And that includes many jobs in the church.

Thankless jobs. Jobs without much of a payoff in money or recognition. Repetitive jobs, boring jobs, repulsive jobs.

Being a shepherd is a thankless job. It really is. Imagine dealing with dumb, smelly sheep all day. In Palestine, flocks of sheep are plentiful. They dot the countryside, clutter up highways, crowd the streets of towns and villages. The shepherd with his long staff walks in front of his flock and his sheep follow him. In fact, they crowd around so closely they hamper the shepherd's movement. Dumb, helpless sheep.

The life of a shepherd was very hard. The shepherd was never off duty. There being little grass, the sheep were bound to wander, and since there were no protecting walls, the sheep had constantly to be watched. On either side of the narrow plateau, the ground dipped sharply down to the craggy deserts and the sheep were always liable to stray away and get lost. The shepherd's task was not only constant but dangerous, for, in addition, he had to guard the flock against wild animals, especially against wolves, and there were always thieves and robbers ready to steal the sheep. With little pay and little human contact, being a shepherd had little to recommend it. A thankless job, indeed.

Yet this is exactly how Christ portrayed himself -- as a shepherd. And that is the most familiar image we have of Christ __ a shepherd holding a lamb in his arms. How sweet -- how tender. But a lamb is not a full-grown sheep. Its wool is not wet and matted. It isn't caught in a crevasse. It is not bleating for the shepherd to come to its rescue.

OF COURSE THERE IS A CERTAIN BONDING THAT TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP. Jesus put it this way: "Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

During the night, sheep from different flocks were put together in one large communal sheepfold which was surrounded by a hedge or wall, and this enclosure had but one entrance, which also served as an exit. There was but one gate. Sometimes the sheep gate was the shepherd himself, who would lie across the entrance so as to be awakened by a sheep straying out or perhaps by a marauder trying to break in and steal some of the sheep.

In the morning, the shepherds would return to the sheepfold to gather their own flocks. The sheep were not branded or marked in any way. They had been all mingled together for the night. Each shepherd simply knew his sheep, and they knew him.

The sheep would recognize the master’s voice, they separate and assemble behind him to be led out to pasture. They would not respond to the call of a stranger, nor, much less, follow such a person. The sheep have full confidence only in their shepherd.

Sheep_calling contests are still common in Palestine. Several flocks are placed in an enclosure and mixed together. Then shepherds whistle a distinctive tune; some call or shout in a peculiar manner. Some shepherds use a pipe with a particular pitch. Each shepherd's signal is understood by his own sheep and they respond immediately. They make their way through the crowded enclosure to where their shepherd is waiting. The shepherd who collects a given number of sheep in the shortest time is the winner of the contest. Sheep know their shepherd's voice and follow him.

And the good shepherd knows his sheep. The individual sheep in a flock all look alike to the untrained eye. A good shepherd, however, can tell them apart -- often because of their defects and peculiar traits. A man who was tending a large flock explained this to a Christian friend who expressed surprise at his familiarity with each animal. "See that sheep over there?" he asked. "Notice how it toes in a little. The one behind it has a squint; the next one has a patch of wool off its back; ahead is one with a distinguishing black mark, while the one closest to us has a small piece torn out of its ear." Observing all of them, the believer thought about Christ, the Chief Shepherd, who also knows the individual weaknesses and failings of His flock and watches over the members with discerning love and sympathetic understanding.

Christ the Good Shepherd. You have to understand shepherding to understand why Christ calls himself the "Good Shepherd." Taking over the thankless job of watching over his sheep, taking the trouble to know them by name. Can you imagine that?

There have always been people with a good memory for names: Napoleon -- who knew thousands of his soldiers by name . . . or James A. Farley __ who claimed he knew 50,000 people by their first name . . . or Charles Schwab -- who knew the names of all 8,000 of his employees at Homestead Mill . . . or Charles W. Eliot -- who, during his forty years as president of Harvard, earned the reputation of knowing all the students by name each year . . . or Harry Lorayne – who used to amaze his audiences by being introduced to hundreds of people, one after another, then giving the name of any person who stood up and requested it. But can you imagine Christ knowing all his sheep by name? That's billions and billions of people over 2,000 years. No wonder we call him Master, Lord, Savior. Watching over his flock, calling them by name. AND SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR US. Here's what we need to remember: Christ calls us to follow his example.

Jesus is the shepherd and the sheep gate. He contrasts himself with the thief or marauder, who is not a true shepherd, nor does such a person have access to the entrance of the sheepfold. As he says, whoever does not enter through the gate is a thief and marauder. We have many thieves who do not enter by the sheep gate and who try to lead the sheep astray. Rev. Sun Moon of the Moonies, David Karish of the Branch Dividians, Joseph Smith of the Mormons, Charles Russell of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Applewhite of Heaven’s Gate.

Our relationship with Jesus is the good shepherd and his sheep -- he knows each member of the flock and each sheep responds to its name. In a book called Palestinian Customs, the author cites an instance of walking up to a young Palestinian shepherd who had gathered his little flock around some shady trees awaiting his turn to get access to a watering place. The young shepherd was about fifteen years old. The young shepherd was asked if he knew all his sheep by name. The boy said, "Yes." The author wanted to see if it was really so, not so much if the shepherd knew their names but if the sheep would individually respond to their names. He asked the shepherd for a demonstration.

The shepherd pointed to a young ewe lamb lying beside its mother, then he shouted out an Arabic name, and the little lamb got up. The shepherd called again, and the lamb left its mother and came trotting over to the shepherd, who picked it up and caressed it.

The gospel lesson is quite clear. The Good Shepherd knows us far more intimately, communicating with all of us who strive to establish an intimate relationship with him, and we in turn come to recognize his voice more readily and clearly. That is an important point. Christ leads us by voice. Few, if any of us, will ever have a vision of the resurrected Christ. We cannot see him or touch him. But hearing his voice is as trustworthy as seeing his face.

Of course, few, if any of us, will ever hear him speak to us audibly. That is why the Bible is so important to our faith. We have the very words of Jesus in our New Testament. His written words are as powerful as if he had spoken them directly to us. The miracle of written language is that it lets us hear people speak from centuries ago. If we heed his voice in the words that are found in the gospels, he will lead us in the paths of righteousness. He will deliver us from evil. He will comfort us in time of sorrow, chastise us in times of waywardness. He will be present to us as our Lord and Savior.

The whole point of this story is that Jesus will save his people from harm and death. The sheepfold is always open to those who would enter in good faith. But sheep are weak and need protection from themselves. They would wander off if not properly guided and continuously protected from harm. Jesus is the gatekeeper that holds us true to our faith and keeps us safe in his care.

All of us are poor, stumbling human beings struggling to find meaning in our lives. We do the best we can to earn a living and take care of those we love. But still we feel frustrated. We know in our hearts there must be something more, but we’re not sure what it is or how to go about attaining it.

Jesus gives us the answer. Beyond what we experience every day in life’s sorrows and fleeting pleasures, there is a life of the spirit which can satisfy our deepest longings and lead to complete fulfillment and unending happiness. The way to this life is Jesus himself. We must imitate him, follow his teachings, unite ourselves with him in spirit and body.


 

5th Sunday of Easter

Gospel - John 14:1-12

Boudreaux walked into a doctor’s office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Boudreaux said, "I got shingles." So the receptionist took down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat. Fifteen minutes later a nurse’s aid came out and asked him what he had. Boudreaux said, "I got shingles." So she took down his height, his weigh, a complete medical history and told him to wait in the examining room. A half-hour later the nurse came in and asked him again what he had. He said, "I told you I got shingles!"

So, the nurse gave him a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told him to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor. An hour later, the doctor came in and asked him what he had. Boudreaux said, "I got shingles."

"Where?" said the doctor, "I don’t see any shingles."

Boudreaux said, "Outside in the truck. Now where do you want them? I’m getting paid by the hour."

Talking about construction, at the end of the Second World War, a small village proceeded to rebuild the structures battered by shellfire. American soldiers helped them. Their last project was the restoration of their parish church, and the statute of Christ that had stood in front of the church for as long as anyone could remember. Stone by stone, they lovingly collected the pieces of the statute. They found every part, except the hands. They held a village meeting to discuss what should be done. Should they hire a sculpture to carve new hands and attach them to the arms? They finally decided to leave the statue of Christ handless and put an inscription beneath the statute. Visitors, tourists and pilgrims who see that statue today, read a carved statement at its base. It says, "I have no hands . . . no hands except yours."

In today’s gospel, Phillip the Apostle had asked Jesus, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus replied, "Phillip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Unbelievers, doubters and searchers ask us, "show us Christ and we will be satisfied." We should be able to say, "Dear friends, if you see us you will see Christ."

Christ has no hands, but ours. He says to each of us, "Lend me your hands." We have become the hands of Christ when we bear the love of Christ to all whom we meet. It has often been said, "How can I see Christ, if I do not see him in Christians."

Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian saint who liberated his nation from British rule, was a great admirer of Jesus. Many trace Gandhi’s method of non-violence to Jesus’ teachings on nonresistance: "If a man slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek." People often asked Gandhi why he did not become a Christian. His answer was simple and to the point: "Because I have never met a Christian!" Gandhi meant that he had never met anyone who lived up to the ideals of Jesus. For Gandhi, the only proof of the truth of the teachings of Jesus were actions and attitudes consistent with those teachings. Until he saw that kind of proof, he could not consider becoming a Christian.

The greatest living proof of Christ is the Christian who serves as the hands of Christ, soothing, healing and loving other people.

Missionaries from the Congo tell the story of a Bantu mother who worried about her baby’s severe coughing. She knew nothing about the medical diagnosis of whooping cough. She thought a demon possessed her baby. A missionary sister, who happened to be a doctor, helped the child get well. When the child felt better, the sister asked the mother why she had not asked God for help. The mother looked puzzled. Her whole religion was about pacifying demons, running away from devils. She knew nothing of a god of love.

Patiently the sister tried to find an image of love with which the mother could identify. It became clear that the best image was the mother’s own love of her baby. The best love that mother knew was mother love. The missionary sister then drew the woman to understand that God’s love was very much like her own love. Mother-love on earth is the closest thing to what God’s love in heaven is like. To see mother-love is to catch but a glimpse of God’s love. God says to mothers, "Lend me your hands, that my love may touch people."

In the Bible, angels are known as the messengers of God. Some of them appear as seraph’s, figures of fire, full of light and warmth. They are images of God’s love. They sing to us of divine affection. They are "God’s hands" to bring him in touch with the world. Some angels act as guardians, as Raphael did for Tobit. These hands of God defend his friends from harm.

Other angels cheer and console by the comforting words they bring. These good news angels, such as Gabriel who brought the birth announcement to Mary, are the lips of God speaking to the human heart. The biblical stories of angels show us how intensely God wants to have us serve as his hands to touch others with love.

It has been said that every human being deserves at least four hugs a day -- four direct, obvious and unabashed gestures of affection. When people feel love from others, they begin to understand the hands of Christ. The best proof for the existence of God are demonstrations of affection by Christians for all human beings. The logic of love far surpasses all other kinds of mental persuasiveness. "See a Christian. See Christ." Lend him your love today and forever.

Don’t forget the words of that famous song: "They will know we are Christians by our love."

6th Sunday of Easter

Gospel - John 14:15-21

When Clotilde was pregnant for her second child, she was explaining to Boudreaux how the doctor told her how to explain it to her son, T-Boy. Clotilde said, "The doctor said to tell T-Boy, ‘We love you so much we decided to bring another child into our family.’"

Boudreaux said, "Mai, that’s stupid Clotilde. What if I came home and said, ‘Honey, I love you so much I decided to bring home another wife’? What would you say?"

Clotilde looked a Boudreaux with a grimace on her face and replied, "I’d say, ‘Does she cook?’"

People have strange ideas about love. We hear people say, "If you love me, buy me this new car." Or "If you love me, stop smoking and drinking." Still others say, "If you love me, let’s get married!" Some might say: "If you love me, please don’t make me eat this broccoli" or "If you love me, turn off the TV and listen to me."

Jesus takes it to a different level though, He says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Then, a little later in the same reading Jesus repeats himself and says, "Whoever hears my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me." So the true test, the positive proof, the sure and certain sign of our love for Jesus comes down (or up?) To this: keep, obey, observe his commandments.

When Jesus says, ". . . keep my commandments," he certainly means the traditional Ten Commandments which are also our commandments. Given the recent controversy over the public display of the Ten Commandments, Jesus might quickly settle this problem. He would remind us that even though the original Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets (which were promptly and literally broken!), the essential aspect here, what we should do, is to write those commandments indelibly in our hearts and heads and then live them, obey them, and observe them.

Jesus would also ask us to see these Ten Commandments not as rigid rules we are obligated to obey but as ten practical ways for us to perform our privilege of loving God and loving one another.

These commandments are really laws of LOVE and keeping our COVENANTS. Our love begins where the ten commandments begin: 1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. It begins with the one and only God who IS love, the God who made the world and described it as "very good," and who loves the world so much that one day God sent his only son Jesus, not to condemn us but to save us.

The name of this loving God is so awesome, so holy that we dare not banter it about or use it to curse instead of bless. 2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Would anyone use the name of a loved one irreverently, flippantly? Of course not! Further more, our God gives us not the obligation but the privilege of resting with and worshiping God on God’s special day, the Sabbath, our Sunday. 3.Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day. These three are about LOVE and our COVENANT with God.

The rest of the original commandments give us our agenda for loving one another and keeping covenants with each other. The one who loves would not think of dishonoring parents or killing someone or committing adultery or stealing, or lying or coveting what belongs to another. True lovers just do not act this way.

With the Ten Commandments as the foundation and background of Jesus’ statement ("If you love me, you will keep my commandments"), at the Last Supper on the night before he died, Jesus gives his disciples both a review and a preview of their agenda, their program. But he does more than enumerate the original Ten Commandments and speaks instead of his "new commandment."

First, he thoroughly shocked and surprised his apostles by washing their feet and thereby giving them their new model of the kind of humble, loving service of others they are to exercise. Then Jesus tells them in John 13: "I give you a NEW commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another."

So we don’t miss his message, Jesus repeats himself several times. Two chapters later he says: "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you." A few lines later he says, "This I command you: love one another."

Jesus condensed the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, into three words: love one another. These three words summarized the teachings of Jesus. Are any of these three words confusing, mysterious, unintelligible? Jesus could not have said it more clearly, more simply, more emphatically than this: LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

Our task is to keep, observe and do this new commandment. As St. John cautions us in one of his letters, "Let us not love in word or speech but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18). N-o-w we know what Jesus means in today’s gospel when he says, "I will not leave you orphans." Jesus’ excruciating death and his triumphant resurrection are the pledge of his immeasurable love for us. To his own love, Jesus adds our love for one another.

So as we keep Jesus’ new commandment to "love one another" we lose our orphan status, if we ever had it. No longer are we alone, forgotten, abandoned, deserted like a lonesome, forlorn, woebegone orphan. Our world is now wonderfully full of a new family of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins galore.

Jesus wants his followers to be one huge, happy, healthy and holy family. It is no secret that the success of our functional and faithful family is expressed in these three words: Love one another!

So, let’s take some time to look at our relationships at home, at work, in all aspects of our lives. Are we loving as Jesus loved? Are we trying to see the whole human race as one holy family? If you believe in Jesus, then you must believe in his last words: Love one another.

ASCENSION SUNDAY

Gospel - Matthew 28:16-20

Boudreaux and Thibodaux heard that the new Air Force Base was hiring. So they went to see the colonel who was in charge of hiring for an interview. They passed by a new F-15 Fighter and got to the receptionist in the office.

Thibodaux went in first and he walked out and said, "I got the job. They hired me as a pilot."

"Oooo, weee," cried Boudreaux. "Now I know I’m gonna get the job."

Boudreaux walked into the office and the colonel said, "What skills can you bring to the Air Force?"

Boudreaux got all excited and said, "Mai, I can chop wood. I’m so fast with an ax that I can chop all the wood you need."

"Son," said the colonel, "we don’t need wood choppers in the Air Force, what else do you know how to do?"

Boudreaux said, "I told you I chop wood."

"Sir," said the colonel, "you are not listening to me. This is the 21^st century. We don’t need wood choppers."

Boudreaux said, "you hired Thibodaux."

"Of course we did," said the colonel, "he’s a pilot!"

Boudreaux rolled his eyes, "Mai, you not too smart. I have to chop it before he can pile it!"

Let me reread the last two sentences of today’s gospel. Then I’d like to ask you two questions about them.

In the last two sentences, Jesus says to his disciples: "Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!"

Now, let me ask you the first question: To whom does the you in those sentences refer: "I am with you always"?

Obviously, it doesn’t only refer to the disciples of Jesus who were with him at that moment. It also refers to those disciples who would follow in their footsteps. It refers to his Church, which would continue his work after he ascended to his Father.

The second question is a little harder: Have you ever wondered whether Jesus is really with his Church?

For example, when you see even the leaders of the Church failing to live up to the teachings of Jesus, do you ever wonder whether Jesus is, indeed with his Church?

Or when you see members of the Church ignore needy brothers and sisters, do you ever wonder whether Jesus is, indeed, with his Church, inspiring its members to live lives of love and generosity?

Let me share with you a true story that might help to clarify the question about Jesus being with his Church.

It concerns a nine-year-old boy, named Charlie, who lived in New York City.

One day Charlie and his father boarded a commuter train at 111^th Street to go downtown to his father’s office.

When they got on the train, the father took Charlie over to the map and traced his finger along the blue line that showed the route of the train downtown.

He explained how they would transfer at Delaney Street. He also explained how they would cross a bridge and then go underground. Finally, he explained how the train would skip certain stops during rush hour.

Soon, they arrived at the office. Charlie spent most of the morning meeting his father’s friends and looking at magazines in his father’s office.

Then, just before noon, his father said to him, "Charlie, it’s time for you to go home now."

Charlie’s eyes got wide and his mouth dropped. His face turned pale. The thought of going home all by himself frightened him half to death.

His father walked him over to the station, put him on the train, patted him on the head, and said, "You’ll be fine, Charlie. Just follow the directions I gave you earlier."

Charlie was excited as the train leaped forward and roared out of the station. But his excitement turned to fear when he noticed that the train skipped certain stops. But then he remembered what his father said earlier about rush hour.

Soon the train disappeared underground. Charlie’s heart beat faster when he noticed how it twisted and turned. He didn’t remember it doing that earlier.

Finally, the train emerged from the darkness and roared over the bridge. He remembered the bridge.

Charlie was so nervous by now that he almost missed his transfer at Delaney Street. But he managed to get off just in time.

Minutes later, Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. He began to recognize familiar street numbers: 107^th Street, 109^th Street, and, finally, 111^th Street.

The train screeched to a stop, the doors opened, and Charlie stepped off. He was so proud and so happy. He had actually made it home all by himself.

What Charlie didn’t know, however, was the his father was in the next car on the train, watching over him all the way. He had been with him every foot of the trip, just in case he needed help.

The story of Charlie and his father bears a striking resemblance to the story of Christ and his Church.

Before departing on Ascension Thursday, Jesus gave his Church all the directions we need to journey through life to our heavenly destination.

Like little Charlie, however, we sometimes notice the Church taking unexpected twists and turns. And sometimes this alarms us.

When this happens, we should recall the story of Charlie. We should also recall the promise of Jesus to be with us always on our journey through life.

Even though we can’t see him, we know he is there, ready to help us, just in case the need arises.

And so the feast of the Ascension is a challenge and a consolation. It is a challenge in the sense that it exhorts us to follow the directions that Jesus gave us for journeying to our heavenly destination.

It is also a consolation in the sense that it reminds us that Jesus is with us every foot of the way. He is sitting in the next car just in case we need help.

This is the message of today’s feast. This is the assurances we celebrate. This is the good news of the Ascension.

PENTECOST SUNDAY

Gospel - John 20:19-23

A judge was interviewing Boudreaux regarding his impending divorce from Clotilde. The judge asked: "What are the grounds for your divorce?"

Boudreaux replied, "About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property."

"I mean," the Judge continued continued, "What are your relations like?"

"I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, and Clotilde’s parents live across the street."

The judge was exasperated. He asked: "Do you have a real grudge?"

"No," said Boudreaux, "We have a two_car carport. We never

really needed a garage."

"Please," he tried again, "is there any infidelity in your marriage?"

"Yes, both my son and daughter, T-Boy and T-Girl, have high infidelity stereo sets. We don't like the music they play, but the answer to your question is 'yes'."

The judge tried again, "Sir, do you ever beat your wife?"

"Yes," said Boudreaux, "most days I get up earlier than I her."

Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, "Mr. Boudreaux, why do you want a divorce?"

"Mai, I don't want a divorce," he replied. "I never wanted a divorce. It's Clotilde. He says she can't communicate with me."

Communication is important. Accurate communication is also important. Of course, we can take that too far, too.

Early in his career, Mark Twain took a job as a newspaper reporter. He was instructed by his editor never to state anything as a fact that he could not verify from personal knowledge. His first assignment was to cover an important social event. After the event, he turned in the following story:

A woman, representing her name to be Mrs. James Jones, is reported to be one of the city's leading society figures. It is said that today she gave what purported to be a party for a number of alleged ladies. The hostess claims to be the wife of a man reputed to be a local physician.

On the evening of the first Easter the disciples were holed up in a locked room, frightened of the Jewish authorities, paralyzed by grief, and utterly perplexed by Mary Magdalene's wild tale that their Crucified Friend had somehow come back to life. No one in that room was prepared for what happened next.

In all the history of the world, there has never been a more dramatic entrance than when Jesus suddenly appeared in the midst of the disciples and said, "Peace be with you." And from that moment on, those first disciples of Christ and all who were to follow would proclaim it from the housetops: "He is risen!" They did not say, "He represents that He is risen;" They did not say, "He is reported to be risen;" They did not say, "It is claimed that He is risen;" They did not say, "We allege that He is risen;" but they said: "HE IS RISEN!"

Moreover, Jesus did not come empty-handed to His frightened disciples. The Risen Lord came bearing gifts.

He brought them four gifts. The first was the gift of His living and eternal Presence. The disciples thought they had seen the last of their beloved Jesus when He was laid in the tomb -- but even death cannot separate Christ from those who love Him.

Can WE be separated from Christ? Who or what can separate us from the loving Presence of Christ at our side? Will false friends or conniving enemies come between us? Will depression, or financial set-back, or grief? Will troubles at work or troubles at home or troubles within? Will sickness or danger or anxiety? If even death could not keep Christ from our side, then what is there in all the world that can separate us from the constant companionship of our Lord and Savior?

The second gift Jesus brought to His disciples was the gift of peace. Did this mean a trouble-free existence? Far from it! We covered in the past when I spoke about the Shalom of Christ. According to tradition, most of the disciples in that room would eventually die for the sake of their Lord. They would carry His Message to the ends of the known world, they would suffer the hazards of travel, the animosity of strangers, and they would be killed in terrible ways.

Jesus does not promise us ease or comfort in His service, but He still gives us His peace. The peace of Christ allows us to face the world on its own terms, knowing that our destiny is in the hands of the One who has overcome the world. Even when everything around us is falling apart, we have a refuge within. The world cannot give this kind of peace, nor can the world take it away.

A traveler told of visiting an Arab village and seeing a boy playing the flute. The flute seemed unusual in design, and the traveler asked if he could see it. To his surprise, he discovered that the flute was made from a gun barrel. The boy had found the barrel on a battlefield, filed it down, drilled holes in it, and transformed a weapon of death into an instrument of live music.

The peace of Christ will not necessarily exempt us from life's battlefields, but in Christ we find ways to surmount those battles. In Christ we discover possibilities for transformation and renewal even in the midst of strife. In Christ the storms that rage around us cannot drown out the voice of peace within.

On the plains of Waterloo, the scene of Napoleon's defeat, there is a great statue of a lion, made from melted weapons. The lion's mouth is open in a ferocious snarl as the frightful beast surveys the plains. A traveler reports seeing a bird's nest in the bronze lion's mouth. A mother bird was perched on the nest feeding her fledglings, oblivious to the lion's threatening teeth above and below. So it is with those who know the peace of Christ. We may nest without fear in the very mouth of the "lions" of this world, entrusting ourselves to the shielding wings of Christ.

The next gift Christ gave to the disciples was the gift of His earthly mission: "As the Father sent Me, so I am sending you." As Christ was sent to bring Good News to the oppressed, we are sent on the same mission. If we are to fulfill the mission Christ has given us, then our hands must be His hands, reaching out to the weary and the broken. Our feet must be His feet, carrying us to whenever our ministry of service is needed. Our ears must be His ears, ready to listen to the heart-broken confessions, eager to hear the painful stories. Our voices must be His voice, promising hope, proclaiming Good News, and sharing forgiveness. It is not enough for a person to simply live; a person must have something to live for. And Christ has given us that by sharing His work with us.

And when Christ wants to touch someone, we are his instruments. We are his eyes and ears and feet and arms and voice.

There is one last gift mentioned in this Resurrection story in today's Gospel Lesson. In a sense this gift encompasses all the others. Jesus breathed on the disciples and gifted them with the Holy Spirit of God.

The Hebrew word for "spirit" is the same Hebrew word for "breath." The Greek word for "spirit" is the same Greek word for "breath." In Biblical thought, the Spirit is the breath of God filling us with life. Even our English word "inspire" means both to inhale and to fill with spiritual energy. In that locked room, Jesus inspired His followers. Just as God breathed life and spirit into Adam, so Christ breathed His life and Spirit into the disciples.

Many years ago, there was a pastor who accomplished wonderful work among the parish people, but he suffered from severe attacks of asthma. Sometimes he had to be carried to the pulpit and supported on either side while he preached. When he prayed the Lord's Prayer he added a personal twist: "Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Give us this day our daily breath."

The Holy Spirit is our daily breath from God, the life-giving inspiration that fills us with something bigger than ourselves. The Spirit helps us catch our second wind in this hectic world. The Spirit gives us fresh air when we feel we're going down for the third time. The Spirit pumps us up when life has sucked us empty. The Spirit revives and renews us when our own energy and strength have run out.

All these gifts Jesus brought to the overjoyed disciples. And what Jesus gave to His followers twenty centuries ago, He still gives to His followers today. The Risen Lord still stands among us, and He still comes bearing gifts. He still gives us his living Presence, His peace, His mission, and His Holy Spirit.

A famous priest known as Abbe Pierre, whose work for the homeless and hurting is well-known, one day was called in to help a homeless family who had been forced to live in the fields in a crude tent shelter. Two of their children already had died and a third was seriously ill. Abbe Pierre recalls the experience:

He said, "It was then that I realized some terrible things. I realized that so long as people who were supposed to be Apostles, as long as a priest like me was incapable of saying to that poor woman, "Come on, get your things, pick up your child and come along with me and your husband and sleep in my room. I'll take your place in the tent and tomorrow we'll find some way of solving this." Until then, well, fundamentally I was simply an imposter."

Christ has given us wonderful gifts. And the measure of how well we use them is how generously we share them. We have the gift of his living Presence, the gift of His peace, the gift of His mission, and the gift of His Holy Spirit which he has breathed into us.

TRINITY SUNDAY

Gospel - John 3:16-18

Boudreaux was walking along the beach and found a bottle. He rubbed the bottle and a genie appeared and thanked Boudreaux. "I am so grateful to get out of that bottle that I’m going to grant you a wish – only one wish, however.  Boudreaux thought carefully and said, "I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii but haven’t been able to because I don’t like airplanes. I make my living on a boat, so going by boat would be like working. So I wish for a road to be built from here to Hawaii."

The genie thought for several minutes and said, "I’d like to accommodate you, but I really can’t do that. Just think of all the work involved. Consider all the pilings needed to hold up a highway, how deep they’d have to be to reach the bottom of the ocean. Just imagine the huge distance and the incredible amount of pavement. Think how strong it would have to be to withstand storms. I don’t think you understand what you are asking. I have to tell you that it’s really too much to ask."

"Okay," said Boudreaux. "The other thing that I’ve always wanted is to understand women. What makes Clotilde laugh and cry; why is she so temperamental; what do women really want in life, basically what makes them women tick."

After careful consideration, the genie looked at Boudreaux and said, "So do you want two lanes or four?"

You guys might think that women are hard to understand, but that’s easy compared to understanding the Trinity.

Maybe you’ve heard the quaint story of how the great St. Augustine found a sermon on the trinity during a walk on the seashore. He came across a child pouring seawater into a hole in the sand.

Ever the teacher, Augustine jokingly, chided the child: "You’ll never fit the whole sea into that little hole!" And the young one answered (with a precociousness obviously magnified in the telling): "and you’ll never fit the Trinity into your little brain!"

That irreverent rebuke could stand as a warning for us on this Trinity Sunday, but I doubt if it would stop us from trying to make sense of this central mystery of our faith. We can think all we want about God, but the only things we can know about God are what God reveals to us.

The idea of three persons in one God stretches our logic and imagination to its breaking point. Somehow, the numbers just don’t add up. Theologian Karl Rahner offered a solution. Instead of defining the Trinity as "three person in one God," he chose the phrase "three ways of being." This was for him a much more accurate way of describing this mystery because it went to the heart of the matter, the experiential. The question remains: why does one God have three ways of expressing God’s presence in the world? For Rahner, this was the normal Christian experience of this mystery.

First and foremost, as believers, we see ourselves as part of creation, given the gift of existence through no power or control of our own. The only thing required of us is to give back the fullest possible realization of that life. In creation, we see the Creator – great, beautiful, powerful, uncontrollable, magnificent. We also see the Creator cares for creation by sending rain, heat, snow and cold, nighttime and daytime. So we have the CREATOR.

Secondly, as believers, we see the true offspring of the Creator – the person of Jesus Christ. In him, we learn to speak to God and call him "Abba," or literally "Daddy." Of course, God is neither male or female. It is a term of intimacy. We watch as this Son of God heals and feeds and teaches his followers about the coming of the kingdom which will stand for peace and justice. We observe as this Jesus shows us unconditional love and then insists that we do the same. We stare in wonder as he hangs on the cross having given everything for us, including his life, but now dies with love and forgiveness on his lips. You want to know who God is, look at Jesus Christ. For Jesus is God’s COMMUNICATION.

Finally, as normal Christians, we experience God in the form of happiness, contentment, commitment, inspiration, and awe. The Holy Spirit is a gift from the Creator and from the Son to help us express what we so deeply feel but cannot find the right words to say. To experience the Spirit is to feel intimately connected to the mystery of God without really knowing how it happened. For the Holy Spirit is the LOVE of God, given through the Creator and the Communicator.

Sometimes, word and ideas can confuse us, and the Trinitarian concept is no exception. God did not fax the Bible to us in divine words. God’s ideas come to us through the experience of people recorded in human words.

The Old Testament, the Jewish experience of God, was summarized in the ancient cry still proclaimed today: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is ONE." That is what set the Jewish people apart from their neighbors who believed in many gods. It was a simple, clean concept.

Then along came Jesus to confuse things. He was a complicated person: teacher, healer, prophet. We knew he was connected with God, maybe even sent by God. But Jesus claimed more: He spoke of God as his Father. Would that make him God’s Son? But how could that be, since God was one?

Jesus picked up on that central belief when he said, "The Father and I are one – and, oh yes, we will send you our Spirit to help you understand." Jesus’ death and resurrection validated his revelation but it took his disciples years to work out in the words of scripture the implications of what Jesus said. Furthermore, it took several centuries to work out the theological implications of the trinity, to "explain" it in the technical language of experts.

But I think most of us are willing to settle for the pristine, biblical revelation of God’s identity without the baggage of theological jargon. God is our Creator Father, he wants us to exist. God is our savior Son who communicates who God is and he wants us whole and holy. God is the inspiriting Spirit, and he wants us to be happy forever. This revelation of the trinity from God’s word in the Bible is confirmed in our religious experience.

The Holy Spirit dwelling in us opens up our eyes to see our Creator – Abba behind everything. And that insight is verified by God’s Communication – the Son – Jesus, who came among us in human history. Ours is the only monotheistic religion – that is, "one-God religion" – that dares to breach the inner life of God. Israel still insists, "God is one!" But they do not accept Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Islam, or the Moslems, are in direct contradiction of the trinity when they proclaim, "God forbid that God should have a Son!"

But we cannot forbid God anything. God may have a Son, if God so wishes. And both of them may share the same Spirit, if they like. In fact, they do like it – and so should we. Our God is definitely not dull or one-dimensional.

We ought to get to know our amazing three-person God who knows us so well. We ought to enjoy our God who already enjoys us. We ought to love our God who has shown how much he loves us: three times over.

BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Gospel - Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

T-Boy was so afraid of the dark. One night his mama, Clotilde, told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom.

T-Boy turned to Clotilde and said, "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark."

Clotilde smiled and said, "Mai, T-Boy, you don’t have to be afraid of the dark. Jesus is out there and he’ll look after you and protect you. All you have to do is call on him and he will be there."

T-Boy looked at his mama real hard and asked, "Are you sure Jesus is out there?"

"Mai, ya, cher, he’s everywhere. And he is always ready to help you when you need him."

T-Boy pondered that for a minute then he went to the back door and cracked it open a little. Peeking out he yelled, "Hey, Jesus, if you out there, can you please hand me the broom."

A priest friend of mine, Fr. Tom, was touring the Holy Land. He especially wanted to study the places where Jesus lived, worked, suffered, died and rose from the dead. He became good friends of a shepherd family who had a young boy named Josef. Josef served in the his masses and taught him some difficult Arabic words.

When Tom was about to leave for other parts of the Holy Land, he told Josef: "Not many boys and girls have the privilege of living in the land where Jesus lived. You know that God's Son, as a Boy and as a Man, walked these roads and breathed this air. Doesn't that help you love him even more?"

Josef thought for a moment and gave this reply: "You don't have to live here to love our Lord, because now He lives in every part of the world. Every land now is the Holy Land. Wherever we are, we are in the land of Jesus." Profound words for a ten year old boy.

Did you ever think of this: Golden Meadow is part of the Holy Land. Jesus lives right here, right now.

This is our thought on this feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, when we recall that Holy Thursday, when He first spoke the words: "This is my Body ... this is my Blood." Today we celebrate the fact that these words are repeated all over the world every day, that Jesus is present on altars all over the world. Christ lives here. Golden Meadow is the Holy Land.

This is Bethlehem; Jesus is born right here in every Holy Mass. This is Nazareth; Jesus grows up right here in our lives. Jesus works miracles right here, spiritual miracles: he heals us of the leprosy of sin; he heals spiritual cripples so they can walk in his way; he gives sight to those who cannot see things of the spirit. Christ forgives sins right there in that confessional booth.

Most important, this church is the "large upper room" where Jesus spoke the words of consecration for the first time. No land could be holier than Golden Meadow.

This is Cana; Jesus attends every marriage in our church. This is Bethany. He also attended funerals in his homeland. He is right here when we bury our beloved dead.

This is the temple at Jerusalem; Christ teaches right here through his priests, religion teachers, parents of his children, and each and every one of you.

Jesus is present in our homes, in schools, at our workplace, on your boats, at our football games and track meets.

Can you see him? He’s right there in the eyes of your neighbors: the elderly woman next door, the foreigner who is trying to build a life in our community, the people who bring the Eucharist to shut-ins, the poor who come to our office to get help from the Our Lady Helps Ministry. Why, Christ is everywhere we look!

You and I are actually living in the Holy Land, because Jesus lives right here in our midst! The Body of Christ is with us here and now.

We receive the Body of Christ when we receive the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a unique meal in which Christ is our food and our drink. He calls to us a renewed covenant with him.

You know, eating and drinking seem to be part of most human gatherings. Cajuns seldom gather without eating and drinking. Certainly, we need food and water to survive physically, but the eating and drinking we do together serves a far greater purpose than the satisfaction of a biological need.

Jesus was very aware of the importance of eating and drinking in human culture. Our gospels point out numerous times when Jesus participated in meals with both his disciples and others--some of whom were his enemies. Most often Jesus was a guest, but today he is the host. And during this meal, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. "Take this," he said, "this is my body." He likewise took a cup, gave thanks and passed it to them, and they all drank from it -- his blood, the Blood of the New Covenant.

So we gather this morning to do what Jesus did. We gather together in the Holy Land of Golden Meadow, in the upper room of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, and prepare ourselves to eat and drink, but in a very special way. We are doing much more than satisfying our need for food and drink. We are satisfying our need for God who offers himself as food and drink for our spirits and for our eternal life. So let each of us approach his table with faith and with a renewed commitment to live our lives the way he taught us. And may Jesus always be our example as we walk or ride the roads of the Holy Land of Golden Meadow.

Sunday, 9th Ordinary Time

Readings: Romans 3:22b-25,28; Matthew 7:21-29

After years of scrimping and saving, Boudreaux went to Clotilde with some very good news: "Clotilde," said Boudreaux, "we have finally saved enough money to buy what you asked me for 20 years ago."

Clotilde screamed with excitement, "Oh, Boudreaux, you mean to tell me we are finally gonna get a brand-new Cadillac?"

"Mai, no," said Boudreaux, "We finally gonna get a 1988 Cadillac."

Sometime back the United States Treasury tackled one of its most vexing problems. Sophisticated, hi-tech resources now available to the average citizen have become real problems to the Treasury Department. With the introduction of high quality ink jet printers, computer scanners and other office equipment into homes and offices across the nation, the amount of counterfeit money almost doubled in the years between 1992 and 1997. Counterfeit money became hard to distinguish from the real thing. Thus, in 1998 the United States Treasury introduced a new weapon – a new twenty dollar bill – because this was the most widely counterfeited bill. This new twenty contained a few tricks that made it almost impossible to reproduce. Now tens and fives have been added.

In today's lesson, Jesus warned his disciples about counterfeit Christianity. "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven," Jesus tells his disciples, "but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." It appears from Jesus' teaching that it is possible to know all the right phrases, maintain a pious expression on your face, even show up every time the doors of the church are open – and still be far from the kingdom.

Jesus was particularly sensitive to the problem of counterfeit Christianity and counterfeit clergy. That is why you will find him saying things like: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Matthew 7:15, NIV). Jesus had great respect for the office of rabbi and priest and pastor. However, Jesus found a superficial righteousness in many of Israel's teachers of the law. Obedience became a public performance for others to see rather than an inner devotion to the living God. Christ wanted conduct which flowed out of character – not out of a desire to play to the gallery. Thus Jesus warned us of those who masquerade an outer beauty, but inwardly are rotten and shallow. Appearances can be deceptive and destructive. All that glitters is not gold.

I saw a sign in a bank which read: "It is better to be short of cash than to be short of character." Jesus warned us of those who appear to have the calling, but do not have the character. That is not a failing of clergy alone, of course. Many of us, lay and clergy alike, are lacking in our commitment to Christ. And thus we turn to Jesus' words to help us remedy that which is wrong.

In the verses just preceding this one about counterfeit faith, in verses 16_20, Christ gives us a way to discern if our faith is real or not. That’s what bad about chopping up these readings for each Sunday. Sometimes they are chopped in the wrong place. The four verses right before this gives us a way to discern if our faith is real or not. He gives us the image of a tree bearing fruit. "Every good tree bears good fruit," says Jesus, "but a bad tree bears bad fruit." And he adds, just for emphasis, "Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

The image of a tree and its fruitfulness or fruitlessness is found in many places in the gospels. The Bible even has the listing of the seven "fruits" of the Spirit. Good fruit is important. An unhealthy tree can have good bark and branches, but its worth and real value is found in whether or not it produces fruit.

During the 1970's the religious group of hippies would walk around in the major cities. I remember them well, they were known as the Jesus People and they produced a poster that became well_known throughout the Christian community. In my opinion it was a marvelous poster – with an even greater message. This is what the poster said: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

Jesus asks us, "What kind of fruit are you bearing?" Are you bearing the fruits of love, kindness and justice? Or are you bearing the fruits of anger, hate and small-mindedness?

You may remember the story of a dear woman who, with great sincerity and dedication, was leading a Vacation Bible School. A young lad recently moved to the community and began to attend the Vacation Bible School classes. The teacher noticed that he only had one arm. The poor teacher tried her very best to be sure all her comments and activities would not bring attention to this lad's handicap. The focus that night was on the church. She did well the entire time, until the end of class. Without thinking she said: "Let us all now make our churches." She said, "Here’s the church, there’s the steeple, open the doors and there’s the ...." She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the young boy. She realized that she had done the very thing she hoped not to do. The boy was standing awkwardly, not able to participate. But one of the other boys in the class said: "Joshua, take my hand – and let's make the church together."

Now, there's a young man who is not far from the Kingdom. False prophets build their own little kingdoms – and divide the body of Christ. They point out everyone else as lacking, while preaching their own perfection. They draw attention to themselves and demand honor and glory. Over the long haul you can tell the difference. It is as obvious as the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. In the harvest only the good fruit will be gathered into the kingdom – the fruitless tree will be cut down.

One of the marks of a fruitful church is its concern for service of others beyond the four walls of its own structure. Does it have anything to offer to those who are the least, the last, and the lost? The African-American spiritual declares forthrightly, "Everybody talkin' about heaven ain't going there." This is basically what Jesus is saying. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus is talking about spiritual name-dropping. Using his name will get us nowhere if we don’t have a relationship with him. It is dangerous to give lip service, but not life service, to the kingdom of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You can have eloquent words but an empty witness, and Jesus knows the difference. We are never to substitute talk for a truthful testimony. The Apostle's Creed is great, but apostolic power to produce apostolic faith is even greater. Authentic creeds lead to dynamic deeds. Sound doctrine and sound living walk hand-in-hand.

Disciples are called upon to do more than be just an admirer of Jesus. To carry the cross is a distinguishing mark of a disciple. To carry other peoples’ crosses is also a mark of a Christian. One Sunday a father had arranged to pick up his children after church. He yelled from the car window "Is the service over?" Someone yelled back: "Well, worship is over, but the service is just beginning." And so it is and must be according to the seventh chapter of Matthew. "Every good tree bears good fruit," says Jesus, "but a bad tree bears bad fruit." And he adds, "Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

Sunday, 10th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 9:9-13

Boudreaux came home with tears in his eyes. He had gone to propose to Clotilde and his Papa, Alphonse, was eagerly awaiting to hear her response. "So what happened, Boudreaux?" the old man asked. "Did she accept your proposal?"

"No, Papa. When I told her what you told me to say, she slapped my face and sent me home."

His Daddy says: "Now Boudreaux, did you start your proposal with what I told you to say – the same thing I told your Mama when she accepted my proposal? I said: 'Honey, time stands still when I look in your eyes.'"

"I sure did Papa, I said, ‘Clotilde, your face would stop a clock!'"

We have all known persons of whom we say, "It is easy to talk to him." We have all had the experience, too, of arriving at a party or social gathering and feeling somewhat uncomfortable at first. But then we suddenly see someone whom we know. We quickly go over to that person if we know we will be at ease with him or her. As a result, we no longer feel alone.

If we reflect for a moment on why we are at ease with that person, or why he or she is "easy to talk to," it is probably because we feel they will not judge us. No matter what we say, they will remain open to us; they will not hold our past mistakes against us; they will always give us another chance; they will not relegate us to a certain negative category and keep us there. Because of this open manner, a relationship of genuine trust and freedom can grow between us, along with a deep respect for one another’s uniqueness.

This is the image we have of Christ in today’s gospel. He was known as a person one could readily sit down with and talk to, without fear of rejection or embarrassment. Our gospel tells us that many "tax collectors and sinners" came and sat with him. We often tend to label people by their jobs, or by something that we know about them. This can be quite unfair and cruel because it makes it difficult for them to relate to us. So, "tax collectors" and "sinners" were labeled this way.

What we realize about Christ is that he did not establish prior labels. He was open to everyone, especially sinners because they most needed him. We see here a subtle understanding of the notion of mercy. It is not pitying someone. Nor is it necessarily approval of what they do. It is rather a kind of "bending down," a compassion, letting one’s self open and extend out to another, and so suffer with them. The opposite of this would be to hold oneself above others, to look down on them in a kind of condescending way, as we see some of the people doing in today’s gospel.

This is the difference between empathy and sympathy. Empathy requires an investment, a willingness to suffer with the person. Sympathy requires no such investment – simply pity.

Let me explain. When someone is suffering with a problem or incident such as rejection, abandonment, betrayal and so forth, they begin to tell you their story about it. While telling their story, we have experiences of similar pain in our own lives. As the person enters into their pain, our own pain comes up. We then enter into their story and their pain from our own story and our own pain. It becomes an equal relationship: a relationship of empathy. It is empathy when we are in touch with our story and are not afraid to enter into it. You cannot minister to another if you are unwilling to suffer. You cannot be present to another if you are not willing to entering into your own pain. That is what ministry is. When we refuse to be in touch with our own experience, when we are afraid to suffer, when we refuse to look within ourselves, all we can offer is sympathy. It may be too frightening or painful to explore our own story. And frankly, most people do not want your sympathy because it tells them that you are not really present to them.

Therefore, we must relate to one another with openness, compassion, and understanding -- with a willingness to walk in their shoes for a moment. There are times when WE need someone with whom "it is easy to talk." And, we must also make it easy for others to talk to us. God says that he "desires mercy, not sacrifices" from us. How can we claim to be "righteous" in the eyes of God, if we reject one of our own in need? As we relate to each other with mercy and compassion, so can we expect God to relate to us. We can justly ask God for mercy only if we have genuinely given it to others.

The word compassion comes from two Latin words: "cum" which means "with" and "pati" which means "suffer." The word compassion means "to suffer with." Don’t be afraid of the pain in your own life. That is not your weakness, that is your strength. For it is through your own suffering that you can be present to others with true compassion and empathy, rather than sympathy and pity. Be grateful for all those good AND BAD things that happened in your life. They are really a blessing. They made you who you are today. They prepared you to minister to others.

 

Sunday, 11th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 9:36-19:8

Clotilde walked Boudreaux into the dentist's office, where Boudreaux made it clear he was in a big hurry.

"No expensive extras, Doctor," said Boudreaux. "No gas or no needles or any of that fancy stuff. Just pull the tooth and get it over with."

"Wow," said the dentist admiringly, "I wish more of my patients were as brave as you. Now, Boudreaux, which tooth is it?"

Boudreaux turned to Clotilde and said, "Show him your tooth, Honey."

There are a great many societies and organizations trying to do something about the serious illnesses that afflict our society. Institutions, both public and private are waging war, to one degree or another, against heart disease, arthritis, cancer, children's diseases – even the common cold. And to the extent that we support sincere efforts to alleviate human suffering we reflect the better side of our human nature.

But to my knowledge, we have no organization doing anything about our number one crippling disease in this country. A prominent psychiatrist has called "money sickness." The love of money and possessions can cripple us, diminish us, and even destroy us more effectively than any other form of illness. It can be the cause of frustration and nervous anxiety. It can cause physical illness. It can demolish marriages, break up families, drive persons to murder and suicide.

Doctors are beginning to tell us now that often they are able to trace internal medical problems directly to patients' attitudes toward money and possessions – the economic part of their lives. As the man said to his psychiatrist: "By the time I found out that money doesn't buy happiness, I already had five million dollars. What do I do now? Where do I go from here?"

Ha. When we hear something like this, our first reaction is, "I should have a problem like that. Give me that five million dollars. I'll find a way to be happy with it. Money may not buy happiness, but if I had enough, I could rent it."

This is a most frustrating subject to preach on, but preach on it we must because we cannot, we dare not, ignore Jesus' teaching on this problem. To some degree we have become immunized against the Word of God in this matter. We tend to measure other people and ourselves in economic terms. That's the problem. Money is the status symbol for us, the way in which we try to realize our self-identity and our sense of satisfaction about life. Our culture saturates our lives with this attitude and it is difficult, really difficult, for us to stand up to that kind of pressure.

It is not too difficult for us to relate to today's Gospel Lesson in which Jesus sends the Twelve Apostles out on their mission with the words, "Cure the sick, raise the dead, heal the leprous, expel demons."

We're very much for curing the sick and healing lepers. However, when we read on through the next verse, it gets a little disconcerting for some of us. What is interesting is that they have chopped this reading off before the next line which I think is the one of the most important. How many times have I told you that we are missing part of the reading. I said that last week. Since you did not get to hear it, let me read it to you for it gets a little uncomfortable for us: "Provide yourselves with neither gold nor silver nor copper in your belts ... No traveling bag, no change of shirt, no sandals, no walking staff" (Mt.10:8-9).

In the National Gallery in Washington, D. C., there is a sixteenth century painting by Bosch of a man on his deathbed. A little angel stands beside him trying to get him to look up toward Christ. The angel wants his soul to enter the Kingdom of God. Also standing at the bedside is the devil, holding a big bag of money. The devil has baited his trap with money and you just know who is going to win, not so much because of what the artist put into the painting as what the viewer puts into it, as a creature of today's money-culture. It is a kind of autobiographical giveaway for all of us. We know who's going to win.

It reminds me of the story of the rich man who was dying and the angel of death told him he could bring one suitcase with anything in it to heaven. The man quickly filled his suitcase with all his gold. He arrived at the pearly gates and St. Peter asked him what was in the suitcase. He opened it and St. Peter began to laugh and laugh. St. Peter said, "Pavement, he brought pavement!"

There is the sad but true story of a certain Protestant clergyman from Texas. Through the early years of his ministry he was fond of saying, "If I had money I would give it to the poor. I would really take care of the poor." He made a big thing of this, trying to convince people that this was the way to go.

He had a little piece of ranch property which wasn't worth much, until they discovered oil on it. The first check that he realized from the oil totaled $90,000. The clergyman immediately went out and built a beautiful new house for himself. Then he bought a Cadillac. And when some of the men from the church reminded him of what he had said all those years about giving to the poor, he replied with a hard look in his eyes, "Yes, gentlemen, but money changes things." Indeed it does!

In spite of all our talk about God, in spite of all our talk about love for God, money changes us in the most subtle and destructive ways. Jesus, who loves us so much and wants us to have the wholeness of life God is offering us, again and again says: "Don't let money and things pull you away from God." Again and again this warning comes to us and still we build up the barrier, the immunization, so to speak.

I wonder how many of us believe a single word I've said! How difficult it is to see God through healthy eyes, to treasure God above all earthly things, to serve God as Supreme Master when we are being conditioned endlessly to see money and to treasure money and to serve money as "number one" in our lives! The money-culture presses in on us, afflicting us with "money-sickness" and often we don't recognize the symptoms until we are a terminal case.

"Money is the root of all evil." Everybody knows that tired old phrase, and most everybody thinks it comes from the Bible. It may surprise you to learn that it does not. First Timothy, Chapter Six, Verse Ten is one of the most misquoted passages in the whole Bible. It doesn't read, "Money is the root of all evil." It reads, "The love of money is the root of all evil."

Money can be, according to the Scripture, a very useful servant in our lives. Money can be used to serve God. Money can be used to do great good in the world. Go back to the life of Jesus for a moment. They brought Him that coin and they asked if it was proper to pay taxes. Jesus said, pay the taxes. It's as if He was saying, here in this life we need economic and political structures and if you have to have taxes to support them, pay the taxes. There is a place for that.

It was the same with the religious tax. Jesus sent Peter fishing to get some money to pay the temple tax. And do you remember the story of the widow's mite in which Jesus shows us that money can be used to praise and to serve God in the most beautiful way? Or the story of the rich young ruler whom Jesus told to sell his wealth and give it to the poor. Money is a means of helping other people and it can be extremely useful and, indeed, necessary to sustain and enhance life. It can be a very good thing, but also it can be a very dangerous and destructive thing.

There's a wonderful story about an elderly man who won a million dollars in a lottery. The family was worried about him because he had a bad heart. They were afraid that when they told him he'd won a million dollars he might drop dead of shock. So they went to their minister hoping that he would find the best way to break the news. The minister called on his old friend and they talked for a while as old friends do until, finally, the minister said, "What would you do if I told you you'd won a million dollars in the lottery?" The man said immediately, "I’m an old man, why would I need a million dollars? Why I'd give it all to the Church." The minister dropped dead.

The mission Jesus gives the Apostles in today's Gospel Lesson is our mission: to cure, to heal, to reconcile, to serve. The instruction Jesus gives the Apostles are our instructions: to travel light, to be unencumbered with excessive devotion to money and possessions and creature comforts.

If a large sum of money came your way, what would you do with it? Be honest! Would you use it to serve God; to bring wholeness of life to others? Would you use it to make living easier for others who struggle so desperately?

Today's Lesson is for the rich and the poor, and everyone in between. "No man can serve two masters." You cannot have it both ways. Possessions acquired and possessions desired, both can pull you away from the one true God who alone is the Source of your life and the Master of your destiny and fulfillment. Perhaps we need to check our value system and figure out what things are really important to us.


 

Sunday, 12th Ordinary Time

Readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Matthew 10:26-33

Boudreaux and Thibodaux and their wives went to Audubon Zoo. They walked up to the enclosure with all the monkeys and Boudreaux nudged Thibodaux and said, "Look, Thibodaux, there’s all Clotilde’s relatives. They started laughing and laughing.

Picking up on the joke, Thibodaux teased Clotilde, "So, Clotilde, that’s your relatives, huh?"

Clotilde smiled and crossed her arms and said, "Yes, they are. I married into the family."

= = = = =

Don’t rock the boat. Leave well enough alone. Let sleeping dogs lie. Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

There are endless adages and other folksy pieces of advice that all urge the same thing: Mind your own business. At times, this is good advice – except when truth and justice are concerned.

Truth and justice are the business of every Christian, and no Christian can remain silent or uninvolved if truth or justice suffers. Christians not only should get involved, but are also obligated to get involved. Silence puts our souls in peril!

Perhaps you remember many years ago in New York, there was an evening so shocking that we have still not recovered from it. A young woman was walking home after dark and was accosted by a rapist. She was savagely beaten. She screamed for her life. Around her were people on the streets and in hundreds of apartments. And after the attack, in full view and hearing of literally hundreds of people, she bled to death on the sidewalk. No one lifted a finger to help her. No one even bothered to call the police.

The next morning, those same hundreds of people who did nothing admitted to hearing or seeing the attack, but they did not want to get involved.

The nation was in shock, but times have not improved. Many of us still live lives of not wanting to get involved. I heard about how in a Catholic high school parents’ meeting, a particularly outraged parent blasted the principal because of the drug problem within the school.

"Why aren’t you doing anything about this? My son tells me who is doing this," screamed the parent.

"I will," responded the principal, "as soon as your son tells me who is selling the drugs."

She then snapped, "I don’t want my son getting involved."

"Then," said the principal, "the drug sales will continue."

In our first reading, God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, but he refused because he was young. God responded, "Do not be afraid . . . for I will be with you to protect you." In the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, "Fear no one." But we do become afraid because, most of the time, getting involved comes at a price.

Jeremiah understood the price of telling the truth. At various times over his career, his own townspeople threatened his life. He was charged with blasphemy, which carried the death penalty. He was beaten and chained, considered a traitor and even thrown into a cistern and left to die. Today he tells us, "I hear the whisperings of many."

But he still stood tall and was committed to the truth. His courage came from the knowledge that "the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion." Jeremiah endured all of this – and we can’t even avoid telling "little white lies," fearing that someone may simply think bad of us.

Today we are reminded of the virtue of the phrase we hear in the Bible, "Fear the Lord." When Jews said, "fear the Lord," it did not mean to be scared. The phrase meant: to do what is right because it is right and out of love for God. It meant to practice truth and justice. Many of us forget that God is holy and his holiness is awesome. We forget that God is absolute Truth and that one day we will be held responsible for whether we upheld his truth.

A bit of Greek thought enters into our gospel today. The Greeks believed in the separation of the body and the soul. The soul (or psyche) was seen as the person’s real self. It was immortal. The body was simply seen as a shell. If we stand up for truth and justice, our shell may be attacked, but we will get over it and get on with our lives.

Jesus tells us not to be afraid of people who can throw sticks and stones and hurt our mortal body. We had better be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."

Now a little about Gehenna. Non-Catholic Bibles translate the word Gehenna to "fiery hell." So when Jesus says Gehenna, they think it means "hell." But the Catholic Bible does not translate this word to hell. It uses the word Gehenna. The reason for this is that there really was a place called Gehenna. It was the garbage dump outside the gates of the City of Jerusalem. The dump was placed on the site that pagans had used to sacrifice their children to their false gods. The garbage dump burned day and night with its stench and smoldering flames. The place was considered vile and cursed and the flames reminded them of the past atrocities that took place there. So, when Jesus used the term Gehenna, he was referring to a real place and it brought up images of that place to the people who heard him.

Matthew’s gospel is concerned with teaching the disciples about the mission of Jesus – the same mission we are supposed to carry on. Jesus feared no one. He stood for the truth. And we love him for it.

What was the secret of Mother Teresa’s success? She fought like Jesus. She simply told the truth always and everywhere, and pitched in, one person at a time, to do justice.

Why did people so greatly admire Pope John Paul II? It is not because they all agree with him, because some did not. People admire him because he was not afraid to say what he believed despite all of his detractors.

These heroes, these examples of faith, were honestly more concerned about what God may think of them than what any one of us might think.

We spend all of our lives worrying about what others may think or what others may do. We plan our words and actions around their possible responses. We actually calculate our behavior to win friends and influence people. Today we are called to be a Christian – in all that this means.

We are called to worry about what God thinks of us. One day we will be judged by the absolute holiness and absolute truth of God. Our human fears will mean nothing then.

Truth and justice are our business. It is the business of every Christian. So we had better find the courage to stand up for what is right – and never remain silent in the face of injustice.

FEAST OF STS. PETER AND PAUL

Gospel - Matthew 16:13-21

Boudreaux was praying and asked God, "Lord, why did you make Clotilde so kind_hearted?"

God relied, "So you could love her, my son."

Boudreaux continued, "Well, why did you make her so good_looking?"

And again God replied, "So you could love her, my son."

"And why did you make her such a good cook?"

"So you could love her, my son."

Boudreaux thought about all this and said, "Well, I don't mean to seem ungrateful or anything, Lord, but ... I was also wondering why did you make her so dumb?"

And the Lord replied, "So she could love you, my son."

Just about 400 years ago a woman by the name of Juliet asked a man by the name of Romeo an important question: "What’s in a name?" To that question, she added this comment: "That which we call a rose / by any other name would smell as sweet." True enough! But when it comes to the name of a person, we are a lot more careful about what we call each other. After all, nobody wants to be known as "Hey, you!"

About 2,000 years ago a man by the name of Jesus asked the question of his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" What is intriguing about that question is that it was an easy one to answer. They could simply report what people were saying. The answer was outside of themselves and I’m sure there were more responses than those recorded by Matthew. John the Baptizer, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets.

But then, the question became more personal: "Who do you say that I am?" Well, that was not as easy, and you can almost hear the silence which came over them. The question was directed to the disciples themselves. Presumably, Jesus was challenging his disciples to reflect upon their own experience of him and all that they had seen him do and all that he had said while in their presence.

I doubt that Jesus was really interested in what the crowds thought about him. He surely knew the masses of people are quite fickled and easily led astray, just like they are today. I’ll give you a modern example:

There was an ABC television network program titled "Pray TV" starring John Ritter as an evangelist. Incredibly, during the airing of the program, some 22,000 people called local television stations wanting to pledge financial contributions. Then, when a scene in which the evangelist said, "We need your prayers," and a fictitious toll-free number was flashed on the screen, people across the nation jammed phone lines trying to offer prayers and money.

Another example is characters in soap operas. Especially the villains in the programs. They tell horror stories about viewers who confuse the actors with the roles they are playing. They report being accosted in public, slapped in the face and receiving vulgar threatening letters.

Even Spuds MacKenzie, the dog on certain beer commercials, received an average of five thousand letters a month. The dog herself received the mail, not the agent, not the handlers, not the trainers, not the sponsors. The dog.

There are a lot of people who will follow just about anybody who does something different. Sort of like baby ducks. Some baby birds will follow anything that moves. There are ducks in Bali who follow a flag stuck on a pole as it whips in the wind.

Jesus wasn’t concerned about what the masses were thinking about him. He knew that some of them would be cheering for his crucifixion. Jesus’ plan for the salvation of the world lay with this small group of men. He was building a team that would carry on after he was gone. The only thing that mattered to Jesus was their opinion. Who did they think he was.

And that is Jesus’ main concern today. Who do we think he is. It matters little about what people outside these walls think. They are not the one who are called to be the light to the world. We are. It matters immensely what you and I think. He is counting on us to offer up our lives in service to the Kingdom. He is counting on us to be about the Father’s business in our homes and at school and the office and in all our important relationships. What we think about him is of vital importance.

There are three things we can say about Jesus that are absolutely essential. First, he is the standard by which our lives may be measured. Do we love as he loved? Are we able to forgive as he forgave? Could we lay down our lives not just for our friends, but even for our enemies? Using him as our standard, how do we measure up?

Second, he is the embodiment of all that he taught to others. He is by his very nature: love, truth, and righteousness. Jesus’ teachings are the finest ever recorded in all of history, but we are not here this morning because he was a great teacher. Jesus had a way with crowds. The common people heard him gladly. But we are not here because of his public speaking skills. He was a great healer. He healed the blind, the lame, those with serious emotional disturbances. But that’s not why we are gathered here this morning. We are here because of who Jesus was – or better yet, who he is today. It is his very nature that has brought us together. Emerson once wrote: "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Jesus’ very nature was beauty. All that he taught, he embodied.

Third, Jesus is the word of God. John tells us in the prologue of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God ... and the word became flesh and dwelt among us." Yes, that word is Jesus. That is who he is, and that is why we sing his praise, and that is why we serve him in our daily lives.

Who do you say he is? Your response makes all the difference in the world. He is the standard by which we measure our lives, he is the embodiment of all that he taught, he is the word of God become human flesh. That is who he is. Our savior, our Master, and our Lord.

Jesus is asking us the same question he asked Peter. Yet, we don’t have the physical presence of Jesus before us when we respond. We must first use the eyes of faith to see Jesus in our world today before we can honestly respond. Yes, Jesus is present here in the bread and wine, in the tabernacle, but we may not recognize him here if we cannot see him in our world.

Jesus is found in hospital wards, AIDS patients, nursing homes, shelters for the homeless, and the streets of our cities. He is found in the faces of minorities, in the Mexican immigrants to our community, in our ghettos or in the farm workers who pick the food we eat. He is found among the Haitian refugees and the faces of the starving in Africa. He is found in homes for battered women, the disabled, and the mentally impaired.

If we can find Jesus in the least of our brothers and sisters, then we will answer like Peter did. If we tell Jesus that we find him, the Son of the living God, today living in the poor and helpless of our world, then he will tell us also that we can make a difference in our world. We, too, will be a rock. For if we find Jesus in the least of our sisters and brothers, we will not leave him, we cannot leave him, to suffer there alone--we will make a difference.

There is a story about Helen Keller. After Helen, who was blind and deaf from birth, learned to communicate, Anne Sullivan decided it was time for her to hear about Jesus. Being a Bostonian, she summoned the renowned clergyman of his day, Phillip Brooks. Brooks came, and with Sullivan’s interpreting, he talked to Helen Keller about Christ. Soon a smile lighted Helen’s face and she beckoned for a chance to respond. Through her teacher she said, "Mr. Brooks, I have always known about God, but until now I didn’t know his name."

Helen Keller was more fortunate than most of us. She knew God’s nature but not his name. We all know his name. How many of us really know his nature. Peter’s statement was powerful: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Don’t let that roll lightly off your tongue. It is a declaration about God, about Jesus, and about us. The possibilities it leaves us with are boundless. Remember the words of Jesus: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man, who built his house on the rock." (Matt. 7:24-25).

 

Sunday, 14th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 11:25-30

Boudreaux was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important poker game and couldn't find a parking place.

Looking up toward heaven, he said, "Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and give up whiskey."

Miraculously, a parking place suddenly appeared.

Boudreaux looked up to heaven again and said, "Never mind, Lord, I found one."

Go outside on a clear evening, and look into the heavens, you will observe that the night sky is splattered with a million stars. Study the heavens for a little while, and you will notice that some of those stars seem to outshine all the rest. For some reason, which I am sure astronomers could explain, they are endowed with an exceptional brilliance. So it is with the Bible. Certain statements seem to possess a special luster, a singular beauty.

One of those statements is found in our Gospel reading for today. Jesus was talking to a group of people who were fighting hard battles and carrying heavy burdens. He could sense their weariness. They were giving it their best shot, but they seemed to be losing. Life was simply wearing them out. To those people Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and overburdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Those have to be some of the most encouraging words that a weary world could ever hear. It is a pity that we have paid them so little attention and have done so little with them. Perhaps it's because we get lost on the word "yoke." There is so much behind that word that it requires a little explanation.

The expression "yoke" was a common reference to the law. Rabbis spoke of taking up the yoke of the Torah. The Pharisees commonly used the image of "yoke of the law" to describe the careful obedience that faithfulness to the law required. The scribes had taken the 10 commandments and made 613 precepts of the law that every Jew had to obey, plus a host of other rituals and observances. Now that's a yoke!

There is also another meaning for the word "yoke." A yoke is a wooden harness by which the necks of two oxen are joined so they can pull a load together. Carpenters tailor the yoke to fit each animal to avoid painful rubbing or bumping. If the yoke doesn't fit well, it chafed and hurt the animal.

So we have two meanings for the word "yoke." And guess what? Jesus is using both meanings!

An ancient story says that Jesus made yokes in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth. And he made them fit the animals better than any other carpenter in Galilee. So because Jesus was a carpenter, he knew firsthand what he was talking about when he used the phrase "my yoke is easy."

As you will hear me say over and over in my homilies, our translations are a problem with scripture. Jesus uses the word "easy". That is not a good translation. The word that Jesus used for "easy" could be better translated as "well fitting." So we would translate Jesus' words as meaning "My yoke is well fitting." You see, Rabbis were often more concerned with ritual, religious practices and keeping of the laws than with each other. Jesus contrasts that burdensome yoke of law with the yoke of discipleship which he offers. Many poor and uneducated Jews were, in fact, unable to follow all its 613 statues. Jesus welcomes these weary ones into the relationship of disciple to teacher. Rather than focusing on legal principles, they are to learn from and to imitate his gentleness and humility, therein finding rest. Jesus' yoke was about loving God and neighbor.

Basically, this is what Jesus is saying: "Trust me, and yoke yourself to me. When you wear my well-fitting yoke, we can all pull together, neighbor with neighbor and the burden will be light. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Never try to carry life's burdens by yourself. And never let your neighbor carry life's burdens alone."

We find life burdensome because we carry the trappings of self-sufficiency and pride. We think we have to be right or to be first. We grab for security, honor, fame or other such burdens. Let go of it! "Come to me," says Jesus, "all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you."

There are some comforting words in today's reading. The yoke of Christ is not really a yoke but a bond of love, which joins us to him, and through him, to the loving Father in heaven and to each other. The rule which he asks us to keep, if we are his loyal followers, is not a series of prohibitions and don'ts. His yoke and his burden, is light because it is consoling and elevating; the commandments are few but the graces and promises are many and great. What can be sweeter than his yoke which compels us to love all people, to be free from the slavery of the world, and to enjoy God, the supreme and eternal Good.

When you find that life is wearing you out, the best way to lighten your load is to start helping someone else carry theirs. By earthly standards, it doesn't make much sense; but we know it works. When we take the yoke of Christ and start helping others, we find rest for our own souls.

St. Augustine once said, "Where there is love, there is no labor; and if there is labor, the labor is love."

 

Sunday, 15th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 13:1-23

A priest and a bus driver both died and went to heaven at the same time. They got to the pearly gates where St. Peter greeted them. He motioned to them, and they hopped in a jeep and took off. They arrive at about 50 acres of rolling hills with a little cottage on the knoll. St. Peter turns to the priest and says, "This will be yours for eternity." The priest says, "Thank you so much. This I shall enjoy!"

St. Peter takes off with the bus driver. They arrive at a 5,000 acre stretch of land with mountains and lakes and rivers. There is a huge castle on one of the mountains with about 200 rooms. St. Peter says, "This will be yours for eternity. You can live in the castle with servants to wait on you hand and foot, and you can have everything you want.

The bus driver looks at St. Peter and says, "Well, now, don’t think that I’m not grateful, but shouldn’t the priest get all this, not me? Shouldn’t I get the cottage and 50 acres instead?"

St. Peter just laughs and says, "The reason you get all this is because when the priest preached, everyone fell asleep. Now, when you drove your bus, people prayed!"

So, I’m asking you this morning not to fall asleep on me, okay?

There was another priest who was walking along the school corridor near the pre-school class. A group was trotting by on the way to the cafeteria. One little lad of about four stopped and looked at the priest in his clerical clothes and asked, "Why do you dress funny?"

He told him that he was a priest and this was his uniform, just like policemen, and nurses, and firemen have uniforms.

Then the little boy pointed to the priest’s little plastic collar insert and asked, "Does it hurt? Do you have a boo-boo?"

The priest was perplexed until he realized that to him the collar insert looked like a band-aid. So the priest took it out to show it to him. On the back of the collar are raised letters giving the name of the manufacturer. The little guy felt the letters, and the priest asked, "Do you know what those words say?"

"Oh, yes, I do," said the lad who was not old enough to read. Peering intently at the letters he said, "It says, kills ticks and fleas up to six months!"

It’s amazing what kids pick up on television, huh? In Jesus’ time, there was no television or radio, so people told stories. That’s what Jesus did -- he told parables. And with Jesus' parables, there was always a message. But like all stories, sometimes people don't understand the message. This Bible story continues in which the apostles say they don't understand. So Jesus explains that the seed is the word. But what is the word, you might ask. Well, the word is what the New Testament and Jesus' life is all about.

Let me explain that. You see nature is based on "you or me." One animal eats another in order to survive. So it's sort of natural -- you or me. Even in our society, its you or me. Someone wins and someone loses. It is found in every area of the workplace – law, in business, in government. One person works his way up the corporate ladder at the expense of another. One person gets the job, the other doesn’t. One person wins a lawsuit, the other loses. It even seems natural. But then comes along this guy, Jesus, and tells us: "Wait a minute, I want you to do something unnatural." It's really a "you and me" world. In order to make it to heaven, you have to help everyone else make it too. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do onto others as you would have them do unto you. You know them all -- all the messages. You also know what it got Jesus. They killed him.

So, let's look at the parable. The first example is the seed on the footpath. Okay, someone is told the word -- it's a "you and me" world. The birds eat that one. They continue to live their life as "you or me." We all know people like that, right? They go through the world not worrying who gets under their boots as they tromp the sidewalks of life. That one was easy. But what about the other three examples. Well, let’s take driving. That is always a good example.

You are in a congested neighborhood--impossible to find a parking place. Lo and behold, God blesses you with this huge parking space--big enough to handle two cars. You pull into the center of it, park and get out of the car. What happened? You know the word, but that seed fell on rocky ground. The word would say, hey, pull up and leave another space for my brother or sister who will come behind me. I won and I want another person to win, too. But the seed had no root so you hog the entire parking space. It also happens a lot in parking lots, doesn’t it. Like the other day, I went to Wal-Mart and someone was hogging four spaces near the door and I had to run in the rain from across the lot. It happens when we litter and don’t care that someone after us will have to pick it up. It happens when we are driving and throw our cigarette butts out the window. It happens when we throw away food or use more than our share of the good things in life. It only stands to reason that if we are using more than our share, someone else does not have enough. Do we care about our brother or sister following us. Rocky ground.

Now let’s look at the third planting, so to speak. By the way, these are real stories I'm telling you. I don't have to make them up. You are driving along Interstate 10 in the pouring rain in the rush hour and there is a car stalled in the middle lane. This is creating havoc to the traffic which is dodging around the car while a little old lady sits terrified in the car. The word would tell you to stop behind her, put on your emergency brake, get out of in the rain, walk over to her car, tell her to put it in neutral so you can push her off the expressway, and give her a ride home. But the seed fell in the middle of thorns and died. The thorns are: "Gosh, I might get wet, or Suppose someone hits my car, or It's dangerous--I don't know that lady." No one said it was easy to be a Christian. Ask St. Stephen. So the "you and me" world flies out of the window. You, too, blow your horn, and go around the terrified woman. The seed fell in the thorns -- those considerations -- and the thorns killed it.

Finally, we have the fourth sowing. Let me tell you about a manager in a company that I know. She knew that in order for her to win, she had to make sure everyone else won. The working conditions in the company as well as the pay was pretty bad. But she loved her employees. When they did something wrong, she discussed it with them and worked it out with them. She never told management bad things about her staff. But when she did talk to management, she commended her staff for the good things, often in front of them. As a result, the staff respected and trusted her. When it came time for raises, the company could not give the staff raises but offered her a large raise because she was doing so well. She told them to take her raise, divide it up among the staff and to give it to them because they deserved it. What she got was loyalty and love from her staff. And she took care of them. She knew it was a "you and me" world.

As a result, her department had higher production and this did not go unnoticed by management. In time, not only was she promoted, but her entire staff found themselves moved up in the company. She won and everyone else won as well. The seed was planted it took root in good soil. It yielded a harvest a hundredfold as Jesus would say.

You see, Christianity is not just a religion. It's a lifestyle, a frame of mind, a way of thinking, something you operate from. It's a way of being. It's living the word. Not talking about it, not studying about it, not preaching it, not writing about it. Those things are fine. But Christianity is living the word. When we live the word, the word becomes flesh. And when you bring people to Christianity because it is a reflection of your life and your example, and they want to be like you, well, the soil will be a lot richer than if they come because they are simply afraid of going to hell. I'll tell you, personally, I don't want to go to heaven if you're not all coming with me. I want everyone else there, too. Remember, it's a "you and me" world.

And no one said it's going to be easy. Christ died for it. And if you are martyred for being a Christian -- be it socially, economically, or even physically, then you and St. Stephen have something in common. Because it takes courage to be a Christian. I have to tell you, it is harder for you than it is for me.

You see, the world is invalidating you all the time. The more your try to live out Christianity, the more our society tells you that you are a fool. If I do something nice, people say: "Oh, he is so nice and holy." If you do something nice, they say: "Why is he such a doormat." or "Look, how co-dependent she is." The world invalidates you 24/7 and bombards you with another message -- "take care of number 1." "You come first." "It’s a you or me world." "Look out for yourself." And Jesus’ voice sometimes gets lost in all that. His voice is crying out, "No, listen, it’s a you AND me world. We’re all in it together. Take care of each other." He has issued us a challenge -- to go against the flow -- to go against everything we are told.

So, we must ask ourselves, are we ready, are we willing, to accept Jesus’ challenge.

 

Sunday, 16th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 3:24-43

Clotilde was called to serve for jury duty, but asked to be excused because being a good Catholic, she didn't believe in capital punishment and didn't want her personal feelings prevent justice from running its proper course. But the public defender liked her thoughtfulness, and tried to convince her that she should serve on the jury.

"Madam," he explained, "This is not a murder trial! It’s a simple civil lawsuit. A wife is bringing this case against her own husband because he gambled away the $12,000 he had promised to use to remodel the kitchen for her birthday."

"Well, okay," agreed Clotilde. "I'll serve. I guess I could be wrong about capital punishment after all!"

How do we tell the good from the bad? And what do we do about it? That is what our gospel is about today.

In today’s reading, Jesus is saying that the world is like a wheat field that is composed of both wheat and a fair mixture of weeds that manage to sprout up. In ancient Palestine, the wheat and weed that grew looked almost exactly alike in its early stages. In the same way it was difficult to distinguish between wheat and weed, it is also difficult to distinguish between good and evil people. Some evil people appear in sheep’s clothing when they are really wolves. Evil is very alluring and we often do not see it for what it is.

And because it is so difficult to separate the wheat from the weed, it would be disastrous to attempt to pull up the weeds. Even if they could be separated from one another above ground, the intertwined root system would caution against any over-zealous yanking.

Now, at the time of our Lord, a vengeful act similar to that of our modern terrorist bombings would be for someone to scatter weeds in a field after the farmer had painstakingly planted good seed. It actually happened quite often because there were many hostilities between people. It then took quite some time for the farmer to even realize that he was the victim of this type of vengeful animosity. But once he could clearly distinguish the weeds from the good crops, it was too late. To attempt to destroy the weeds would be to risk also destroying the wheat. And he couldn’t plow it over because it was too late in the season.

This is a realistic story of agricultural life, told vividly and naturally by Jesus. And the people understood it completely. The weed Jesus was referring to was probably the poisonous bearded darnel. It is a common weed which St. Jerome wrote about saying that in its early growth it looked just like the wheat. The Jewish Talmud calls it a "degenerate wheat" and traces its origins back to the Flood generation, when not just all flesh was corrupted but the very earth was corrupted. It is only in its later stages that it shows itself as a weed.

We are also told that the farmer recognized the work of an enemy, who had in fact sown weeds by night among his wheat. This type of thing still happens today. It is said that in villages of Palestine today it is not uncommon for a man to have a private enemy, and for his trees to be cut down and crops burned as a result of a feud.

And our farmer. Well, he’s no different that a lot of us. The Palestinian farmer would go out each morning to feast his eyes on the field, like we do with your flower gardens or vegetable gardens. But that morning, he got the shock of his life. That morning he gazed out and the deceiving weeds had begun to show themselves. There weren’t just a few weeds, they were everywhere. He was desperately disappointed. It hurt like a blow. And when he looked at the field now, all he could see were the weeds. For him, the wheat seemed to have disappeared. But the wheat was there, it was just as green and vibrant as ever. It would help if he just tried to concentrate on the wheat. And when the harvest day arrives, he will be able to separate the weeds from the wheat because when they mature, they can easily be distinguished.

What is Jesus saying to us? How does this story relate to us? Well, like the farmer we all enjoy honeymoon periods, don’t we? The wheat in our lives seems to be growing just fine. We may not even notice any weeds. Then one morning, sooner or later, we wake up and find weeds growing in our precious field – a friend on whom we were relying lets us down, a child for whom we had high hopes and have done so much goes wrong, our marriage partner proves unfaithful. The different species of weeds in our life are countless.

It’s not just a disappointment, but it is a shock. It hits us in the gut. And what makes the appearance of those weeds so hurtful is the fact, like the farmer, we are not expecting them – especially not in our field.

Now the badness of bad people comes as no great surprise to us. We expect it. But the badness of good people – well that is something different. It takes us by surprise. The treachery of a friend or relationship is much more hurtful and difficult to deal with than the treachery of an enemy.

What are we supposed to do about the weeds? To pull them up would seem sensible and many opt for this solution. They say, we need to "clean" the Church. Exclude the sinners, only saints should be admitted. That would be a small church indeed. And boy would that turn the Gospels upside down. It would make as much sense as Terrebonne Medical Center admitting only healthy people.

There are those who want to "clean" society. Naturally they are convinced they themselves would survive such a purge. They believe that evil is done by only bad people. They blame the evils of the world on a limited number of evil people. They think that if we got rid of them, we’d have a perfect world. They fail to realize that evil is done not just by evil people but also by the purest and best people. Actually, if evil was done only by evil people, the world would be a far better place to live.

And what about ourselves. We find those weeds, those weakness in ourselves and in others. But like the weeds and the wheat, we have to live peacefully with both our weaknesses and our strengths. Our shortcomings, and those of others with whom we must relate, are not something that we can easily get rid of. And when we have successfully achieved a goal, when we reap a harvest, like the weeds in our story, the weaknesses are no longer important. And they will probably appear again later. But when that happens, again, we must try to live with those weeds, those weaknesses, and be patient with them in ourselves and in others.

The weeds in life are not altogether bad and, in fact, they can even play a positive role. I’ll give you an example:

Which are the trees that grow up straightest and most shapely? You think that having freedom and everything you want is good? Look at the tree that grows up in an open field with nothing to hinder it. These trees take their time growing. They are sort of lazy in a way. And as a result, their trunks get gnarled and twisted.

Then look at the trees that grow in a forest. They are hard pressed on all sides by competitors who try to rob them of their share of sunlight. This makes them drive toward the sun with all the more determination and speed. The result is that their trunks are straight and shapely.

Who are the people that grow best? One might think it would be those who are constantly surrounded by comforts and get everything they want. But that is not so. Those who grow best are those who have had to struggle. You older parishioners who lived during the depression, or during World War II know what I am talking about. Provided you don’t go under, struggle brings out the best in people. We grow when we are challenged. Our younger parents here who want to give their children everything should pay heed to this. When you give your children everything and never say "no," they do not develop coping mechanisms that they will so desperately need later in life. You see, our very problems can become our salvation.

I don’t know. I think the existence of evil is proof of the existence of God – if the world consisted solely of goodness, truth and justice, then God would not be necessary? In fact, then the world would be God. Good and evil must exist so that we can make a choice from our own free will to choose God. God doesn’t want to force himself on us. He wants us to want him and to choose him. You know, you can’t force someone to love you. Do you think that you can walk up to someone and say: "Love me, love me, love me," and that will work?

This is a realistic parable. It is also very encouraging and hopeful. When the weeds are getting us down, we must hang on, trusting that God will see that they do not deprive us of a harvest. In the end, good will triumph. Like the farmer discovered, the healthy wheat is still there among the weeds. And the harvest is bountiful!


Sunday, 17th Ordinary Time

    A missionary is doing the masses this week so there will be no homily.

Sunday, 18th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 14:13-21

Boudreaux and Clotilde were sitting on their front porch rockers watching the beautiful sunset, enjoying their golden years, and reminiscing about "the good old days." Then Clotilde turned to Boudreaux and said, "Honey, do you remember when we first started dating and you used to just casually reach over and take my hand?"

Boudreaux looked over at her, smiled and took her aged hand in his. With a little smile, Clotilde pressed a little further. "Honey, do you remember how after we were engaged you’d sometimes lean over and suddenly kiss me on the cheek?"

Boudreaux leaned slowly toward Clotilde and gave her a lingering kiss on her wrinkled cheek. Growing bolder still, Clotilde said, "Honey, do you remember how, after we were first married, you’d kind of nibble on my ear?"

Boudreaux slowing got up from his rocker and headed into the house. Alarmed, Clotilde said, "Honey, where are you going?"

Boudreaux turned to her and replied, "Mai I’m going to get my teeth!"

===

There was an elderly woman who lived in one half of a duplex apartment. She was extremely poor in this world’s goods, but rich in the things of the spirit. She prayed a great deal. In the other half of the duplex lived the owner, a man of no faith, no prayer, no religion. He often made fun of the old lady’s trust in God.

One day this woman was praying, quite loudly, telling the Lord that she had no food in the house. The godless landlord heard her and decided: "I’m going to play a trick on the old gal." He took a loaf of bread, laid it at her front door, rang the bell, and then hurried back to his apartment, to hear through the wall her cry of delight: "Thank you Lord, I just knew you wouldn’t fail me."

With a devilish grin the man came back to her front door and told her: "You silly woman. You think God answered your prayer. Well, I’m the one who brought you that loaf of bread." Undaunted the old lady exclaimed: "Praise the Lord! He always helps me in my needs, even if he has to use the devil to answer my prayers!"

In today’s scripture story the disciples told Jesus to "send the crowds away ... to buy food for themselves." Jesus replied: "Give them some food yourselves." Then Our Lord fed five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish--with twelve baskets left over.

Before we go any further, I want to tell you about bread and fish in ancient Palestine. A Palestinian loaf of bread was the size of a dinner roll and the fish were the size of sardines.

Oh, an by the way, those five loaves and two fish were given to him by a little boy. It was his lunch! What faith that little boy had.

Another interesting thing is that this is the only miracle of Jesus that is reported in all four gospels. And every one of the accounts mentions there was a surplus left over! So you know, there is an important message here.

Millions of people go to bed hungry every night. Oh, no, you’re thinking. He’s gonna start talking about hunger and starvation. Well, yes I am. You see, we have many social justice teachings, but they make people uncomfortable. However, my job is to "comfort the afflicted" and "afflict the comfortable." So, I’m going to afflict you this morning.

Did you know that the average person blinks his eyes 13 times every minute? Did you also know that 28 children starve to death or die from hunger-related diseases every minute in this world? That means, of course, that every time you and I blink our eyes, at least two children have died. And doesn’t count the adults! That’s pretty hard to imagine as we sit here in church this morning.

Let me put it another way. We hear from time to time about plane crashes. Imagine a Boeing 747 filled with preschool-age children. Some of the children sleep; others play and laugh; still others cry out for a little attention from the flight attendants. Just before landing, something goes wrong, and the plane plummets to the ground, killing all aboard.

Ten minutes later--even before the emergency vehicles can arrive to the runway--another planeload of children crashes right next to the first one. Ten minutes later, a third crash. And the tragedies continue: every ten minutes, a jet falls to the earth, all day and night, day after day, month after month. Planeload after planeload of children.

The number of deaths is not so farfetched. The same number of children -- 40,000 -- die each day from hunger-related diseases. 40,000 a day and millions more go to bed hungry. And you know what the sad tragedy is: the world has more than enough food to feed everyone. There is no reason for this tragedy.

Farmers produce more food than we can possibly use. A California dairy farmer was so productive that the government paid him $8 million to slaughter his herd. We are constantly paying farmers not to grow food. We got too much. We got to keep the prices high.

We really don’t have a food problem. What we have is a PEOPLE problem. You see, people haven’t gotten Jesus’ message. We heard it in today’s gospel: "Give them some food yourselves." Every time Jesus opened his mouth he talked about loving each other, taking care of each other, being one family--brothers and sisters with God as our parent.

We need to realize that we are Christians and we are accountable for the needs of our neighbors--whether they live next door or around the world. Whether they live in Haiti or in Gibson. There are hungry people in Houma. When we have functions in the hall, we need to gather up all the leftover and have them delivered to elderly and poor. There are hungry people all around us! There are people sleeping under the Highway 90 overpasses. But it doesn’t stop with just bringing food to people.

When you walk into the voting booths, do you know how your favorite candidate stands on issues of foreign aid, and social programs such as those which help give pre-natal care to poor mothers? How does he stand on minimum wage and paying a decent wage, as well as providing medical benefits? How does he stand on immigration and allowing people to come here for a better life. These are Catholic social teachings. We stand around giving a lot attention to our encyclical Humane Vitae and how people conduct their sex lives, yet many people ignore the multitude of encyclicals of Catholic social teachings. Do we make our politicians accountable for our Catholic social teachings, too? The social teachings are about the value of human life as well as the dignity of human life.

Did you know that in Honduras, instead of growing grain for people to eat, land owners graze cattle. Now the cattle are grass fed, which makes their meat far too tough for American tastes. But that’s okay, we figured that one out. You see, our cattle or overfed, with grain, hormones and even cement. So we purchase their beef and grind it up. Then we take all the excess fat and leftovers that was cut from our own over-fat beef before it is sold. Then we grind that up. We mix the two together and, presto!, we’ve got the American fast-food hamburger. And children go to bed hungry in Honduras because their farmers are producing beef for our hamburgers.

Did you know that Haiti, which is just a boat ride off of Florida, is the poorest nation in this hemisphere? Honduras is the second poorest. Even more children go to bed hungry in Haiti. And we panic when they come here by the boatload. Do you know what is engraved on the pedestal of our Statute of Liberty, what our ancestors read when they came here: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me...." Perhaps someone forgot to tell them not to take that too literally. We don’t really mean that even though that is how we got here.

We could easily feed a dozen countries like Haiti on our table scraps from our homes and restaurants. We could probably feed a whole town with the table scraps left on the plates of people at Ryans buffet who took food and did not eat it.

Think about those planeloads of children which you discard that steak into the garbage. Did you know that it takes 40 bushels of grain to produce one pound of meat. In other words, it takes ten bushels of grain to make one quarter pounder from McDonalds. You know how much bread they could have made with ten bushels of grain as we wolf down our burger. When someone has more than they need and throws the rest away, it stands to reason that someone somewhere else will not have enough. If we are going to live on this planet together, we must get used to the ideas of preserving, conserving, and sharing.

I heard about one family that said that old saying we heard growing up: "Son, eat your food. There are children in other countries starving." His response was to push the food away and say, "Well, send them this by Federal Express."

Back to our gospel, the part of our gospel story that fascinates me is not the multiplying of the loaves and fish, it is the gathering up of the fragments. I can relate to that. Now we are not told what was done with the twelve baskets of leftovers, but you can be certain of this: it was somehow invested in people. Jesus would have seen to that. He believed that the best thing a person could do with material abundance was to invest it in people. Some of us have not learned that truth yet.

There is a wonderful old story about a missionary team in Africa. They were loading their boat to go down the Congo river. As they were preparing to start out, a native chieftain called to them from across the river: "White man, I want you to come and tell my people about your God."

The leader of the mission group answered, "We can’t come today. We have an appointment downstream this morning. We will come another day."

The chief persisted, "No you must come today and tell my people about your great God.

Again the leader of the missionaries tried to explain that they could not go with him that day, he had more important matters, but would be glad to come another day. But this did not satisfy the chief. As the mission team pushed off to leave, the chief waded out into the water calling after the missionaries, "White man, if you don’t come tell my people about your God, I’ll tell your God on you!"

I hope nobody ever tells our God that we heard that 40,000 children are dying each day from hunger-related diseases and we did nothing to help.

Each week as we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we are reminded and challenged to renew our commitment to feed the hungry. For here at this holy mass, Jesus does again what he did in today’s gospel, namely, he takes bread, he looks up to heaven, he blesses the bread and breaks it and gives it to us. And lo and behold!--the bread he gives us is his own Body and Blood that becomes our spiritual food and drink to nourish our hearts, souls and minds. The holy bread we bless and break and eat here at the altar-table is nothing else but Jesus himself.

Sharing his body with us, Jesus also shares his compassion for the hungry people of our area and beyond. Today and every time we receive Jesus, we can be sure he has one thing to tell us:

"Give them some food yourselves."

Gospel - Matthew 14:23-33

Boudreaux and Clotilde were in their golden years talking about their future. Boudreaux asked Clotilde: "What will you do if I die before you do?"

After some thought, Clotilde said, "I’ll probably look for a house_sharing situation with three other single or widowed

women who might be a little younger than myself. I don’t want to live with a group of old ladies because I’m so active for my age. So they would be younger than me."

Clotilde then said to Boudreaux, "Well, what will you do if I pass first?"

Boudreaux said, "Mai, I think I’ll to the exact same thing."

When someone dies, you’ve all seen movies and television shows where they show the reading of someone’s will. Relatives come from near and far to see if they were included in the bequests. Then the lawyer somberly opens the will and begins to read:

"To my cousin Ed, I leave my home and all its possessions. To my brother Jim, I leave my money market accounts. To my neighbor and good friend, Fred, I leave my stocks and bonds. And finally, to my cousin George, who always sat around and never did anything, but wanted to be remembered in my will, I want remember him: "Hi, George."

I’ve known folks like George, haven’t you? Folks who sit around and never do much of anything. But Simon Peter was different and I believe that that was what endeared him so much to Jesus. Peter was a man of action. There are lots of folks who have good intentions, lots of folks who say they are believers, lots of folks who are going to get started one of these days, but relatively few people who will step out on faith and act now! Simon Peter was one of those rare few.

And Peter made mistakes!! This incident on the Sea of Galilee was only one of them. Who in the world did he think he was, trying to walk on water in the first place? What an absurd notion. What an impetuous act.

Jesus, as you remember, had gone up to the mountain to pray. He had instructed his disciples to take the boat to the other side of the lake. They were now far from the shore. The wind and waves were beating their little boat, when suddenly they saw what appeared to be a ghost. It was the Master coming to them across the water. The disciples were frightened as we might expect. "Take heart," Jesus called to them: "It is I; have no fear."

There was nothing fearful about Simon Peter. "Lord," he shouts to Jesus over the wind and the waves, "If it is you, bid me to come to you on the water." Now that was an act of faith! I can imagine Jesus grinning as he simply responded, "Come." And Peter did. At least he tried. He took a few steps and suddenly the reality of what he was doing slapped him in the face. "What am I doing here," he must have thought, "this is ridiculous." And as his faith sagged, so did his body. He began to sink. "Lord, save me," he cried.

This is not the last time Peter’s impetuousness would get him in trouble. There was the time in the garden when he cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Did he really think he could hold off an entire legion of Roman soldiers all by himself? Then there was the scene beside the fire when he denied that he ever knew Jesus. All the rest of the disciples had fled. But not good-old Peter. He was foolhardy enough to follow at a distance to see where the Master was being taken. If he had not followed, he never would have been found out. And he never would have denied the Lord.

Sure, Simon Peter made his mistakes. Everyone who ever accomplishes anything in life makes mistakes!

I’ll give you an example. Henry Ford forgot to put a reverse gear in the first car he invented. He also didn’t build a door wide enough to get the car out of the building he built the car in. If you go to Greenfield Village in Michigan, you can see where he had to cut a hole in the wall to get the car out. But he did cut the hole and the world has never been the same again.

And what about Marconi, father of the wireless communication. He wanted to transmit a signal across the Atlantic Ocean itself. He finally invented a transmitter powerful enough and a receiver sensitive enough. Everyone laughed at him because they assured him that waves traveled, like light, in straight lines, so that they wouldn’t follow the curvature of the earth but go off into space. And they were right. But Marconi wasn’t afraid of stumbling and falling. He wasn’t afraid of making mistakes, so he persisted. What no one knew was that the upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, is electrically charged and bounces back wireless waves to the earth. That layer made communication possible.

People who never go anywhere, never have to worry about stumbling. But people like Marconi, who aren’t afraid to fall, end up falling forward. The person who never makes a mistake, never makes anything else either. Look at Henry Ford. He wasn’t afraid to make a mistake.

Peter was a person of action. He made his mistakes, but at least they were not those of a man who was afraid to get into the arena. I believe Christ wants us to be people of action as well. I believe he means for us to make a difference in the world. That is why he called us light and salt and leaven. It’s not enough to simply be nice people with good intentions.

There is an old tale about a wild goose who was shot down by a hunter one day. Fortunately, only one wing was wounded and he landed in a barnyard. Naturally, the domestic ducks, geese, and chicken were quite startled by this sudden visitor from the sky. Soon, however, they began to ask him to describe what it was like to fly.

The wild goose proceeded to extol the glories of flight, remarking how thrilling it was to soar out in the wild blue yonder, "Why, this barn down here looks like it’s only an inch high," he said, "and you are all but specks seen from such a distance." And the domestic fowl were quite impressed by his little speech. Some time later they asked him again to describe the glories of flight.

And it got to be quite a weekly occasion, while the goose’s wing was healing, for him to get up in front of the others and talk. They even provided a little box to stand on so they could see him better.

But do you know what happened? While the domestic fowl very much enjoyed hearing about the glories of flight, they never tried to fly themselves. And the wild goose, even though his wing healed, just continued to talk about flying--but never flew again either.

I think that that is a frightening parable. Why? Because it hits too close to home. It is so easy for us to sit at ease and to ignore Christ’s call to action. How easy it is to sit in our comfortable pews and ignore a world in desperate need. Like I said, I believe Christ wants us to be people of action.

Let’s face it, Peter was reckless. Only a reckless man would try to walk on water. But I believe that God is calling us to such recklessness. He is calling us to step out in faith to make a difference in our community and a difference in our world.

Theodore Roosevelt read a book by a New York newspaperman entitled How the Other Half Lives . It described the slums of New York, with all its poverty, vice, crime, and corruption. Theodore Roosevelt went at once to the newspaper, but the author was not in. Roosevelt left his card and wrote on it, "Have read your book and have come to help."

That should be our motto as we kneel in the presence of God to commit ourselves anew to his service and the service of the world. [HOLD UP A BIBLE] "Have read your book and have come to help." That is the motto for those of you who are ready to walk on water. To live reckless for Christ. To have the kind of faith Peter had--the kind of faith about which Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." That’s us. That’s who we are--who we are called to be. Not lazy hens lying around the barnyard, but creatures meant for the sky.

And, sure, we will make mistakes. But when we fall, by his grace, we will fall forward and the world will be blessed because we have answered Christ’s call. "Come."


Sunday, 20th Ordinary Time

Sunday, 21st Ordinary Time

The Deacons delivered all the homilies this weekend


 

Clotilde said, "Mai ya, that's Boudreaux; I told him he was going to cut the grass today come Hell or high water!"

The parable of the two sons is one of the shortest in the New Testament. It’s not nearly as exciting as the other one about the Prodigal Son. And it is not nearly as well known. And we can understand why. The characters are not as fully developed. Matthew only gives a bare outline. The plot is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Of the father, we know nothing except that he has a vineyard badly in need of good workers and a pair of sons who are badly in need of a good spanking. The older son is a familiar type. He is all talk and no action. The younger son would interest us more if we knew what makes him tick. Why does he refuse and later change his mind. We sense there is a good story lurking beneath the surface, but Matthew supplies no details. The second son -- he’s just a blur.

I suspect that there was also a daughter in the family. The daughter probably not only promised to work in the vineyard, but actually did what she said she would do. But, of course, such behavior would not fit with the main point of the story. Actually, the point is not the parable itself, but the circumstances surrounding it. Why did Jesus tell this story?

To understand this parable, we must keep in mind that the people Jesus was addressing were among those who would soon have him captured by soldiers, bound with ropes, and hauled before the Sanhedrin. He would be found guilty of blasphemy and handed over to Pilate for execution.

The problem with this reading is that it is a snippet cut out of the gospels and pasted up for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time. There is no context--nothing before, nothing after. We need to put the parable back into the gospels to understand it. It belongs to a special group of parables that tell us not only has salvation dawned, that the Redeemer has appeared, but that salvation has come to the poor and that Jesus has come to save sinners. It is part of the parables of mercy. You remember them.

The shepherd who loses one sheep, leaves the other 99 in the wilderness and goes after the one who strayed: "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance." The woman who loses one silver coin, forgets about the rest of her money, lights a lamp, sweeps the house frantically until she finds it: "Just so ... there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The two men whose debts are forgiven: "Which will love [the creditor] more? The one ... to whom he forgave more." The Pharisee and the tax collector in the temple: "I tell you, this man [the despised tax collector] went down to his house justified [right with God] rather than [the Pharisee.]" And now the two sons: "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you."

Each one of these "parables of mercy" were addressed to the opponents of Jesus: murmuring scribes, grumbling Pharisees, critical theologians, and here today, members of the Sanhedrin. These are enemies of the gospel, indignant that Jesus should assert that God cares about sinners, incensed that he would eat with people they despised.

What does he tell them? These sinners, these people you despise, are nearer to God than you. They may have disobeyed God’s call; their professions have debased them; but they have shown sorrow and repentance. More than that, these are people who can appreciate God’s goodness; they have what Jesus’ critics lack: a deep gratitude to God for his goodness.

It’s a strong lesson, strongly phrased. Those who should have been the leading candidates for entry into God’s kingdom are precisely those who are in danger of not getting in at all. Pharisees, models of observance, whose lifeblood was the law of Moses, who knew the law thoroughly and followed it exactly: Sabbath and feast days, ritual purity, tithing, dietary rules -- all 613 laws. The scribes, lawyers and teachers of the law, devoted to its study and position. Members of the Sanhedrin, the supreme council and tribunal of Jews. These fine fellows will watch the lowliest of the low parading into the kingdom, and they will be standing outside scratching their heads, wondering what went wrong.

What went wrong? Everything. Jesus said to the Pharisees: "Go, and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’." Of course the sacrifices in the temple were important; God himself had prescribed them. But when the Jews’ burnt offerings took precedence over burning injustice, when temple observance kept them from helping the poor, showing kindness to strangers, defending the downtrodden, helping orphans and widows, then their sacrifices became an "abomination" to the Lord. Yes, an abomination.

During the Second World War there was a little Jewish boy who was living in a small Polish village. One day, he and all the other Jews in the vicinity were rounded up by Nazi troops and sentenced to death. This boy joined his neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their own graves. Then, stripped naked, they were lined up against a wall and machine-gunned. Their corpses fell into the shallow grave and the Nazis covered their bodies with dirt. But none of the bullets hit the little boy. His naked body was splattered with the blood of his parents, and as he fell into the ditch, he pretended to be dead. The grave was so shallow that the thin covering of dirt did not prevent him from breathing.

Several hours later, when darkness fell, this 10-year-old boy crawled out of his grave. With blood and dirt caked to his little body, he made his way to the nearest home and begged for help. A woman answered the door and immediately recognized him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death by the Nazis. So she screamed at him to go away and slammed the door. Dirty, bloody, and shivering, this little boy limped from one house to the next begging for help. But he always got the same response. People were afraid to help.

Finally, in desperation, he knocked on a door, and just before the lady of the house could tell him to leave, he cried out, "Don’t you recognize me? I am the Jesus you say you love?" The lady froze in her tracks for what seemed like an eternity to the little boy. Then with tears steaming down her face she threw open her arms. She picked up the boy, and took him inside to safety.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that when we do it to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do it to him. We meet Jesus every day in our lives in the faces of the lonely, the elderly, the sick, abused, hungry, homeless, handicapped, persons with AIDS, cancer, leukemia, sickle cell anemia and those who carry crosses bigger than our own. Will we scream and slam the door or will we receive them with open arms?

On a foggy night, a driver pulled over on the Santa Ana Freeway in California to change his flat tire. To avoid hitting him, the car behind slowed down so abruptly that a third car crashed into him. This was repeated by 200 cars in a 5 -mile pileup that, in addition to the 200 collisions, wrecked 60 cars, injured 50 people, and killed one. Crumpled cars, like a cast-away bunch of dominoes, were pointed in every direction. The first driver fixed his flat tire and left during the ensuing confusion, oblivious to the massive chain-reaction he had touched off.

Many of us may never be aware until we stand before God of the far-reaching results of the little things we do --- or fail to do --- during our lives. It is no small coincidence that we begin Mass with: I confess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts and in my words, IN WHAT I HAVE DONE AND IN WHAT I HAVE FAILED TO DO...." What I have failed to do.

We’ve all heard the phrase, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." In this parable, Christ is summoning us. If we believe in him and the cause for which he died, then we are called to take up his cross and walk in his footsteps DOING THOSE THINGS THAT HE WOULD DO IF HE WERE HERE WITH US IN FLESH TODAY. God needs laborers for his vineyard!

The first son said: "I am on my way sir." Well, the best intentions in the world will never take the place of action. This little snippet of a parable is our wake up call! Are WE ready to go to the vineyard, with a hoe in our hands, and chop some weeds? Only then will good intentions be transformed into the living Word. Only then, will the WORD BE MADE FLESH!



Sunday, 27th Ordinary

    No homily.  Deacons preached this weekend.



Sunday, 28th Ordinary Time

Gospel - Matthew 22:1-14

Boudreaux bought one of those fancy, electric coffee makers. It had all the latest gadgets on it. The salesman carefully explained how everything worked; how to plug it in, set the timer, go back to bed, and upon rising, the coffee is ready."

A few weeks later, Boudreaux was back in the store and the salesman asked him how he liked the coffee maker. "Wonderful!" Boudreaux replied, "There’s one thing I don’t understand, though. Why do I have to go to bed every time I want to make a pot of coffee?"

I guess Boudreaux is machine-challenged. We are all familiar with xerox machines, huh? Well, there was a time when people thought that it would not work. At that time, one could have bought shares in the Xerox Corporation for a very small sum of money. In fact, it is said that if one had bought one shares in Xerox or Wal-Mart thirty-five years ago, today one would be a multi-millionaire. Now, the shares are obviously expensive because it has become such a good investment.

So, today one might look back and say regretfully, "If I had only known what that company was going to come to, I would have bought stocks in the beginning. If I had, now I’d be a millionaire." This kind of statement, of course, represents what many of us perhaps have experienced ourselves – a lost opportunity. There is an old expression that we are all familiar with: "Opportunity knocks but once." We know that this is often true. Unless we take advantage of the moment, we may forfeit forever the tremendous benefit or advantage that could have been ours.

This is something of the theme of the parable in today’s gospel. The people at the time of Christ, the chosen people, the Jews, were the ones who were invited to the "wedding feast" that we read about. They were the selected guests who were asked to come. But instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, they began, one after the other, to make excuses about why they would not attend. Some of the excuses may have been valid, but some may have been simple rationalizations. They were caught up in the immediacy of their lives and could not see the long-range goals. For the sake of momentary satisfaction or pleasure, they gave up a far greater and more enduring prospect for themselves. So we are told in the gospel: "They lost everything."

We always seem to have more important things, don’t we? Never enough time. It reminds me of the young wife who called the food editor of the Times-Picayune. "Would you please help me?" she asked. "I’m cooking a special dinner tonight for my husband’s boss and his wife. I’ve never cooked a big dinner before, and I want everything to be perfect. I bought a nine-pound turkey. Could you tell me how long to cook it in my new microwave?"

"Just a minute," the food editor said, as he turned to check his reference book.

"Ohh, thank you," she said. "You’ve been a big help. Goodbye!" As the Thanksgiving and Christmas season draws closer, many of us would like to find a way to prepare a nine-pound turkey in just one minute.

We don’t have enough time and we all have excuses for why we don’t do things. A newspaper, The Toronto Star, invited teachers to submit excuses they had received from their students. One student, explaining why he was late said: "I was kidnaped by aliens and interrogated for three hours." Another student, telling why he had failed to turn in his essay said: "The bus driver read it and liked it so much he kept it to show to his passengers." Another student said: "I got mugged on the way to school. I offered him my money, my watch, and my penknife--but all he wanted was my essay."

But the winner was the teacher who submitted an excuse from Mike, a 14-year-old who arrived at school an hour late with his pants soaked to his knees: "I was just about to board the bus when I found I’d lost my ticket. Since it would take too long to walk to school, I jumped a fence onto a golf course. I headed for a creek that crisscrossed several fairways until I found a likely spot for lost golf balls. Retrieving three balls from their watery graves, I then made for the clubhouse--where I sold the balls for bus fare. That’s why my pants are wet, and that’s why I’m late."

In our parable, the people didn’t have time and they all had excuses. They rejected the invitation and they don’t get a second chance. But to anyone who will come, the door is open. In fact, when the first group (the Jews) made their excuses and did not come, the king (who represents God) sent out for the second group (the Gentiles – that’s us) and invited them to the wedding feast.

But, wait, there is another story here. It’s about the man who came improperly dressed. And he was thrown out of the feast. Biblical scholars claim that this gospel is actually two separate parables which Jesus told, but for some unexplained reason, Matthew lumped the two together.

So, what about the unfortunate guest who showed up without the proper garment? We think that was a horrible way to treat that man. But, you know, that guest could be any one of us. In Baptism, we are invited to the banquet of everlasting life.

In the Eucharist we receive a taste of that heavenly banquet. In the waters of baptism, we are forgiven every sin and drawn into the new life of the Spirit of God. We are given the garment we need that we may enter into the kingdom of God. (We are even given a symbolic garment at the baptismal ceremony with the words, "Take this garment unstained into everlasting life.) We are reconciled to God in the sign of Jesus’ cross.

Through that reconciliation, we must learn to love other, to forgive as we are forgiven. Through all the gospels, we know what Christ expects of us. We know how we are supposed to live our lives. When we refuse to love, to forgive and become reconciled with our brothers and sisters, we have taken off our banquet garment and are risking refusal of admittance into the banquet. You see, like the wedding guests, the choice is really ours to make.

And so, this parable asks us to examine our lives to see if we are properly dressed for the wedding party. Do we have on the right garments – garments such as a pure heart, garments such as a generous spirit, garments such as a life of obedience? Are we ready for the wedding feast?

There was a woman who took her four-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, to the doctor’s office with a fever. The doctor looked in her ears and said, "Who’s in there? Donald Duck?" "No," she said. He looked in her nose and said, "Who’s in there? Mickey Mouse?" Again she said, "No, he’s not." Then, he looked down her throat. "Who’s in there? Scooby Doo?" Once again, she said, "No, he is not." Finally, he put his stethoscope on her heart and said, "Who’s in there? Barney?" Amanda replied, "No, Jesus is in my heart. Barney is on my underwear."

I guess it doesn’t matter who’s on our underwear if Jesus is in our heart. And if Jesus is in our heart, our life will be clothed in proper apparel: faith, hope, love, forgiveness, tolerance and all the virtues of the Christian life. And we will not be speechless at the wedding feast, for we will be properly dressed. And the "king" of glory will ask us to sit with him and dine as his heavenly banquet.

For months, Clotilde had been nagging Boudreaux to go with her to the seance parlor of Madame LaTour. "Boudreaux," said Clotilde, "she is a real gypsy, and she brings the voices of the dead from the other world. We all talk to them! Last week I talked with my mother, may she rest in peace. Boudreaux, for twenty dollars you can talk to your Mama who you miss so much!"

Boudreaux could not resist so he went to the very next seance at Madam LaTour’s Seance Parlor. Boudreaux sat under the colored light at the green table, holding hands with the person on each side. All were humming, "Ooooom, ooooom, tonka tooooom."

Madam LaTour, her eyes lost in trance, was making passes over a crystal ball. "My medium ... Baltazar," she called. "Come in. Who is with you? Who? Is it Boudreaux’s mama, Antoinette?"

Boudreaux swallowed the lump in this throat and called out, "Mama? Oh, Mama is that you? Como se va, Mama?"

"Oh, Boudreaux," a think voice quivered, "is that you Boudreaux?"

"Mai, ya, cher!" cried Boudreaux, "This is your little Tutu! Mama, are you happy in the other world?"

"Boudreaux, my baby, I am in bliss. With your Papa Alphonse, we laugh, we sing. We gaze upon the shining face of the Lord!"

A dozen more questions follow and each question got an answer from Boudreaux’s mama, until finally she said, "So now, Boudreaux, I have to go. The angels are calling."

"Mama, just one more question, please, please," asked Boudreaux.

"Ask, my son," was her response.

"Mama" sighed Boudreaux, "when did you learn to speak English?"

The French have a saying: "plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose."

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The controversy in today’s gospel about paying taxes reminds us that the fiery debate that now rages between the Congress and the President is as old as the hills of Palestine. There’s something about government that leaves us all reaching for our Maalox.

Even a good government, like ours, that emerges from the will of the people at the ballot box, is a bothersome bogey man in our lives. After all, governments, even good governments, can arrest us, enlist us, and force us to fill out form after silly form. But of all the intrusions of government, the one that is hardest to swallow is taxes. Remember what happened when King George decided to tax the tea of the American colonists? It was the spark that ignited the Revolutionary War.

The people had to pay taxes in Jesus’ time, too. And like the American colonists, they had to pay them to a foreign government. Rome was occupying their land. Thus a portion of their livelihood ended up in the coffers of Caesar. It was a point of contention with every Jew. For they were a proud people and resented Roman domination. And if that wasn’t enough, taxes to Rome had to be paid in Roman money, thus Jesus asked to be shown a coin used for the tax. And besides the image of Tiberius Caesar, the coin had inscribed on it in Latin "Tiberius Caesar, the august son of the divine Augustus"----the image and the words implying worship of the emperor.

They were playing word games with Jesus, hoping to slip him up. You see, paying the taxes would be interpreted as collaboration with the enemy; refusal to pay them could be interpreted as a revolt against Rome and punishable by death. The Pharisees thought they had Jesus trapped. But Christ was too quick for them. He refused to answer on the level at which it was presented to him. Asking for a coin used for the tax, he made the point that Roman money obviously belonged to the Roman government. So it is only right to give to Caesar what he already owns. But that in no way affected other things that were always reserved for and due only to God.

"Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s." With that answer a whole new world opened up. The coin was in Caesar’s image. Give it to him. What is created in God’s image? What is imprinted with God’s face? The book of Genesis tells us that humanity was created in the image of God. Just as the coin with Caesar’s image should be given to Caesar, so our human life, which is God’s image, --our lives -- must be given to God.

We know what belongs to Caesar--a portion of every dollar we earn. It’s called taxes. But what belongs to God? One thing for certain, we owe God much more than money. However, our money and our resources still belong to God. That was a lesson learned by John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Rockefeller, rode the American dream. He drove himself hard to be a success. He became a millionaire by age 23 and by the age of 50 was the richest man on earth. Then, at 53, Rockefeller developed a serious illness which caused his hair on his head, his eyebrows and eyelashes to drop off. Even though he was the world’s only billionaire and could have almost anything on earth he desired, he could only digest milk and crackers. He became shrunken like a mummy. As someone noted, "He could not sleep, would not smile, and nothing in life meant much to him at all." Doctors predicted that within a year he would be dead.

One night, however, as he struggled to fall asleep, he came to grips with his life. He realized that he could not take anything with him to the next world. The next day, he embarked on a new way of living. Rather than hoarding his money and possessions, he began to give them away to persons in need. Establishing the Rockefeller Foundation, he channeled his fortune into hospitals, research and mission work. His contributions eventually led to the discovery of penicillin as well as cures for malaria, tuberculosis, and diphtheria.

At the age of 53, Rockefeller was given one year to live. By learning to live by the principles of the gospel, by giving rather than only getting, by compassion and care for others, he altered his life so dramatically that he eventually lived to the ripe old age of 98--almost doubling his life expectancy.

More than money is owed to God. Let me suggest three important things that belong to God.

1. OUR BODIES BELONG TO GOD. One of the stupidest things I hear people say is: "It’s my body, I’ll do with it as I please." Our bodies are God’s creation--we are only temporary inhabitants. We are renters, maybe even squatters, using another’s property. The Greeks contended that there was a division between the mind, soul and body. But the Jews knew that wasn’t true. When they spoke of the soul, they were referring to the total person--including the mind and the body. That’s why in our Creed we say the "resurrection of the body."--not the same physical body but a spiritual body. Our bodies are joined with our spirits which are joined to Christ.

When we do what we please with our bodies, we usually harm them. Tell me, if you had a million dollar race horse, would you allow it to smoke cigarettes, drink whiskey and stay out all night? Would you over-feed it, never exercise it, or pump amphetamines and barbiturates into it? Well, if you wouldn’t do that to your million dollar horse, why do we do that to our 6-million dollar bodies.

I remember a former athlete name Sal. At thirty, he developed multiple myeloma, a painful and disabling form of bone cancer of which he died two years later. He was in great pain and his body was in a full body cast, but he toured high schools counseling teenagers on the hazards of drug abuse. I remember how, to an auditorium of kids, he said: "You want to destroy your body with nicotine or alcohol or drugs? You want to smash it up in an automobile? You’re depressed and want to throw it off the Mississippi River Bridge? Then give me your body! Let me have it! I want it! I’ll take it! I want to live!" No, it is NOT our bodies. Our bodies belong to God.

2. IF OUR BODIES BELONG TO GOD, CERTAINLY OUR BRAINS DO AS WELL. We have 100 billion neuron cells in our brain. Each one of these neuron cells can store more data than the most sophisticated computer on earth. Very recent studies indicate that we only use up an average of less than 1% of the brain cells available to us in our entire lifetime. I am personally convinced that some people use far less than that!

How are we treating our brain? What kinds of nutrients are we giving it? What kind of exercise? Do we feed it a steady diet of soap operas and sitcoms. Garbage in, garbage out. What kind of violence to we submit ourselves to on our motion picture screens. Freddy Crugger, Terminators, Diehard, and the most gruesome scenes of murder and violence. What happens to all that garbage going in? Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. Our brain forms meaning out of the symbols, images and vocabulary we feed it. And we seem surprised that people can kill their children, their parents, their unborn.

Our brains belong to God. They are a wonderful, extraordinary gift. We need to feed them with knowledge and information that will help them grow in love and tenderness for others--not hate and distrust.

Our bodies belong to God, our brains belong to God. This is all to say that:

3. OUR HEARTS BELONG TO GOD. If we say to someone, "I love you with all my heart," we are saying, "I am committed to you. All that I have is yours. I trust you enough that I am willing to share with you everything I have, everything I am, and everything I hope to be." That kind of commitment is what God asks as well. For truly it is all his in the first place.

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. Render to God the things that are God’s. I suspect that many of us are willing to give a few tokens to God. But our bodies? Our brains? Our hearts? Save the tokens for the IRS. God wants us whole and complete--our bodies, our minds and our souls. And to that we can say, "plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose".

The more things change, the more they stay the same.