Deacon’s Blog

First reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9
Psalm: Ps 95:1-2, 6-9
Epistle: Romans 13:8-10
Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Responsibility toward God and each other go hand-in-hand. That responsibility is fulfilled in the loving witness we bear, and is the focus of today’s readings and Gospel.

In our first reading from Ezekiel God reminds his prophet - and that is what we are in this day and age - that he must bear witness to God’s truth. If the prophet bears witness he has done his duty, regardless of the reaction of his hearers.

Now we often face frustration when we attempt to bear witness. To put that in perspective, let’s look at what Ezekiel was doing.

Ezekiel was in Babylon, in exile with the balance of Judah. While in exile he told the people that they had sinned in forgetting God, in following their own way. He told them that the exile was punishment for their sins and he foretold the fall of Jerusalem. Later in Chapter 33 the actual fall will be confirmed (Ezekiel 33:21):

In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.”

Now Ezekiel was charged with more than explaining the basis for Israel’s exile. He was there to bring Israel back, to begin the process of reclaiming the faith that so many had lost. He had to call the people to repentance.

So Ezekiel bore witness. What did the people do? The reality of Ezekiel was that the people came to hear him, they even invited their friends and neighbors to do so, and they sat quietly, listening to what he said. Ezekiel was a popular prophet, but the people still went home and ignored what God said through him. In Ezekiel 33:31-32 we read:

And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their gain.
And, lo, you are to them like one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

Sure, they liked Ezekiel well enough, for his entertainment value.

Like Ezekiel we must bear witness, even if people ignore us. Like other prophets we must proclaim the truth of the Gospel even if our delivery is bad, even if we are fearful, or if we think someone else could do a better job; even if we think the message is too tough.

Brothers and sisters,

Bearing witness begins when we realize that doing so is our cooperation in the love of God.

That love exists in every relationship joined to God - whether it be in families, among friends and neighbors, between spouses, or in the wider community - and so we must go into each of these relationships and speak His words. We must go there speaking and acting as messengers of God’s love, God’s community, God’s kingdom. We must speak His truth privately, in front of witnesses, and in front of the entire community if need be. We must speak the loving word, the truthful word, the correcting word, and the prophetic word.

Our history is filled with loving witness, from the martyrs of the first centuries, to the founding witnesses of the PNCC in Scranton, to our parents and grandparents. It is a tradition of faithful witness focused on the truth of God, His Word, His direction for life.

That is what we must do. Jesus asks us to bear witness. He knew Ezekiel. He knew the other prophets. He knew that many met derision, stoning, and death for their message, while others, like Ezekiel, were treated like a side show. He really doesn’t care regarding the manner of delivery, the treatment of the witness, or our skills and abilities in delivering the message. What He does care about is that the message be delivered. That we be faithful to our call to witness.

My friends,

Eventually we must own up to our responsibility to love, to deliver the message, and to bring the light of Christ to our brothers and sisters who live in error, who do not know God, or who have gone astray. We are to lovingly call them, brother-to-brother, sister-to-sister, husbands and wives, parents and children. It is living out the responsibility we owe to to God, and to each other. Lived out, we will be the community of God. The community of faith where what is bound is bound, where what is loosed is loosed, and where God dwells with us. Amen.

First reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalm: Ps 63:2,3-6,8-9
Epistle: Romans 12:1-2
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?”

The words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew.

Jeremiah really understood this. He understood the consequences for being on the Lord’s team:

All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.

the word of the LORD has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.

St. Paul says as much in his letter to the Church at Rome:

offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

Do not conform yourselves to this age

We often think that doing the right thing, in the eyes of God and His Church, is choosing the harder road. We talk about sacrifice, giving up our desires, changing - even though our bodies and minds don’t want to change.

Think about Jeremiah. He didn’t want to be God’s prophet. But because he could not refuse God’s call, because God was so irresistible, Jeremiah proclaims his suffering. St. Paul seems to ask for suffering as well. He advises us to offer up our bodies as living sacrifice.

Think of the age Paul was living in. A few centuries before the Jewish people had to run out the Canaanites, a people who offered the bodies of their living children on the altars of their gods. Human sacrifice was not unknown - and that to no purpose.

Within the Church ultimate sacrifice had already touched Christian communities. James and Stephen met martyrdom. They offered themselves up in imitation of Christ, for the sake of the Gospel and the promised reward of eternal life.

Thinking about all this, and what Jesus asks of us, isn’t it right to step back and ask ourselves - why Christianity? All the following of Jesus, blood of the cross, martyrdom, self denial, sacrifice. Does it make any sense? Isn’t there an easier, less painful way to find God, to be spiritual? Does God really demand our blood in payment for our coming home?

Brothers and sisters,

St. Paul goes on to say:

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind

When we think of sacrifice, of change, we immediately see obstacles and pain, even blood. We see a fight to overcome. We see a struggle. Paul tells us to change our perspective.

Look at it in the way Jesus asks: What price for life?

The problem is that we see having as the key, not having as painful. We don’t even set the parameters of what having and not having mean because the world, rather than the Gospel, seems to call the tune. We have our life, our friends, our job, car, clothes, cruises, vacations, a veritable wealth of toys and gadgets. We have — but without having. For all the alleged satisfaction those things bring we have without having what we really want. We work hard for the having, from the basics of food, clothing, and shelter to the luxuries unknown before our generation. But what price for life? What price do we pay for the not having the one thing we really want, for missing the most important and essential goal?

Paul asks us to think of sacrifice differently, to see it as opportunity, an opportunity to reorient our understanding of wanting. To set our understanding in light of the Gospel.

Paul knew that all people want to find their home and to walk in that direction. That direction is heaven. It is our walk back to God. It is the walk we must take if we are to be true to the call that God built into each of us. It is the true call, the clear, convincing, and overpowering call to be part of the eternal, to be in union with God.

Understanding that we think anew. Now we see sacrifice as a sloughing off of all that holds us back and away from God. Sacrifice is suddenly transformed into a gift and joy because it clears the brush that lies blocking our path back to God.

My friends,

Once we clear the cobwebs, the disorientation of the world and its siren song, the brush and obstacles in our way, we will find life. Once we focus on true and eternal life we will see the road back; the road Jesus Christ has already marked out for us in His Gospel. We will not want anything more than to travel that road - walking on its way in clear convincing steps. We will persevere on that road as did Mary, the Apostles, the Fathers, the martyrs and confessors, and the faithful of the past. In the Holy Church we walk that road in the company of our brothers and sisters. We are never alone on the road home, but in the company of the Church in heaven and the Church on earth.

Jesus told us, as recorded in John 10:10

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Jesus brought us life, reconnecting us to the proper understanding of life. It is not adherence to rules for the sake of the Law, or to the sacrificial shedding of blood for the sake of sacrifice, but an understanding of life and all that true life means, its value, its opportunity.

Understanding that, listen to Jesus’ question:

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?

And, let the believers answer in one accord:

None!

So we go forward, joyful in sacrifice, in our cross, in our struggle. We go forward walking the road in accord with Christ, in the company of the Church — back to the Father. We live a new life, where the cost is counted as nothing compared to the reward that awaits us. In this new life we echo the words of St. Paul (Acts 20:24):

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Amen.

First reading: Isaiah 22:19-23
Psalm: Ps 138:1-3,6,8
Epistle: Romans 11:33-36
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?

Today we are given the challenge. Today we are asked to consider the Church as the sole means to knowing the mind of the Lord.

We come to our parishes each week and we sit in the pew. We participate in the action of the Church by doing so, but we never seem to delve too deeply into the character, the reality, or the presence of the Church. How is it that the Church is the teacher of God’s truth?

As members of God’s Holy Church we are faced with the same question Jesus put to His disciples: “But who do you say that I am?”

Let’s consider the alternatives.

The first alternative is found in Jesus’ first question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

This is the world’s opinion of the Church. Who does the world say that we are?

Some say we are an evil, the harbinger of everything bad, the restraint on unlimited freedom, the key component in every evil that has ever existed. Others see the Church as a pleasant gathering place, where nothing much is required, where people can come to reflect and ponder in a peaceful atmosphere - you can even get wine and bread, and a pretty good cup of coffee afterward. Some see Church as an undefined path, a means by which we get to pick and choose what we believe. Some see the Church as a rigid structure of rules, leaders and followers, immeasurable and indiscernible doctrines. In the end, whether positive or negatively viewed, the world sees the Church as a menu of choices, choices and decisions that the world gets to make, a merely human institution.

Another alternative is found among those who mistake power for the Church. It is an alternative espoused by those who claim unique authority, an authority unknown to us, and to the Church of the first millennium. It is the error made by those who see Peter, and Peter alone, as the Church. In doing so they miss the Church. At worst they completely confuse Church and earthly power.

The proper choice is found in Jesus statement to Peter:

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”

This is more than a choice. It is a blessed revelation and realization that the Church is something God provided for us. It is God’s creation, the Bride of Christ, the earthly presence of Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit, and with us as our mother.

Brothers and sisters,

If we realize that the Church is God’s creation, God’s spouse, and that it is guided by God we will clearly see something new. It is this: The Holy Church is the infallible guide and pathway to heaven. In adhering to the Church’s teaching, what Jesus allowed by giving the Church the keys to the kingdom and the power to loose and bind, we hold the truth. In adhering to the teaching of the Church as our obligation we draw ever closer to the reality of God’s Kingdom among men.

The Holy Church in its proclamation of the Gospel, in its teaching and preaching in accord with the Gospel and Tradition, in its witness to Christ, in its work among all men, in its gifts given from, through, and with the Holy Spirit, and in its continued action in opening up the graces given by our Lord into our care, opens to us the revelation of, and path back to, God. In our adhering to the Church’s teaching, in our believing and in our making the Church’s teaching our own teaching, even when we feel we cannot agree, we climb the narrow path to perfection. Through the Church we see as a goal, and move toward, a changed reality — our regeneration in faith. It is our walk home to heaven with our mother, our guide, at our side. This is the only reality that matters.

Friends,

You may ask, ‘Deacon, wasn’t Jesus asking about Himself in the Gospel, not the Church?”

I ask you to consider the words in John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth

The Church is Jesus among us, full of grace and truth, dwelling here and now. The Church is Christ’s means of proclamation to the world and the way He has chosen to leave His presence in the world. The Church is the means by which He chose to bring about the Kingdom.

So to us. Our duty and obligation is to act in unity with the Church and her teaching authority. We don’t get to discount teachings because they are inconvenient, because “”we”” don’t agree, or because Her teaching doesn’t suit our particular tastes or informed opinion. Instead we must focus on our revealed mission, the light God has given us in proclaiming who Jesus really is:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

This is a heavy burden on us, yet a beautiful burden with an ultimate reward. In our unity with the Church we have Jesus’ promise that what we are taught is true. We have His guarantee that what we do and what we teach, when doing and teaching what the Church teaches, is truth. Jesus has laid out a pathway and He has given the Church the tools and resources necessary to navigate that pathway. We have those tools and resources at our disposal as members of the Church.

Brothers and sisters,

The road to God is not easy. It has been referred to as the ancient path and the narrow road. The Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 6:16) proclaimed:

Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus tells us that the narrow path, the harder choice, is the correct choice, the choice that leads to life:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

We are all plagued by doubt and uncertainty as to what we are doing. Some say that the doubts are less as you get older, but I’m not sure. We know that following the path to God, humbling ourselves to the will of God is difficult. We know that discipline is exceptionally hard. When confronted by those doubts, uncertainties, and the need for humility let us be reassured — God is with us along this narrow path, this ancient way. So let us set to conforming ourselves to what the Holy Church asks of us, even if… In doing so we will know the mind of the Lord and we will do His work. Amen.

First reading: Isaiah 56:1,6-7
Psalm: Ps 67:2-3,5,6-8
Epistle: Romans 11:13-15,29-32
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28

for my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.

Today we face lessons that are both off-putting and welcoming. We come to meet Jesus and find that He is full of conflict like that.

We try to understand Jesus in various ways. At certain points in our life we reach a comfortable place. I get Jesus. I see what He was trying to say, how He was trying to teach. Then we reach a conclusion. We place Jesus into a category that works for us.

Jesus is my brother.
Jesus is my teacher.
Jesus is my savior.
Jesus is my friend.
Jesus is my confidant.
Jesus is my healer.
Jesus is my judge.

We could spend a day walking through the Litany of the Holy Name. We could spend a lifetime studying Christology - the names and roles of Jesus. Whatever the approach, we place Jesus into a category that works for us.

Then, certain readings and especially a certain number of the Gospels come along and turn that notion, that category, on its head. Today is like that.

the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”

Wait — did Jesus just call this woman a dog? Did He imply that she was somehow sub-human? Did He refuse to help at her plea, as she probably lay prostrate before Him, sobbing and weeping, worried for her daughter, and at the end of her rope?

Wow!

There goes the notions of Jesus as brother, teacher, savior, healer, friend, and confidant. There goes our tidy Jesus corner. That category that worked so well for us — it’s down the tube, or at least has been upset quite a bit.

Now there are a few of us for whom this Jesus fits very nicely. Yeah, we like this Jesus - judgmental, angry, mean, put ‘em in their place Jesus. No soup for you Canaanite. A few would say: “Thankfully, a reading that finally puts my notion of Jesus front and center. Angry Jesus works for me.”

Brothers and sisters,

Not one of these is correct because Jesus cannot be a tidy corner in our lives. Jesus doesn’t fit into our lives nicely and cleanly. Jesus upsets every notion we have and every category we have created. Recall in Matthew 10:34 Jesus says:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

This is a sword of destruction. It destroys everything we think, believe, and hold dear. It destroys our notions, our thoughts, the ways we categorize, because none of this is based on the salvation of Jesus, but rather on our tendency to sin, to make ourselves comfortable at the expense of Jesus and His Gospel.

Jesus brought the sword so that He could tear us down, so that He could make us uncomfortable in complacency. In doing that He offers the one thing we truly desire, but are afraid to ask for - over-reaching mercy.

Friends,

Something happened to this Canaanite woman in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

What we know is that she came and called out. It is likely that she had been pestering the disciples for some time else they would not have said: “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” She kept at it and finally threw herself down in front of Jesus.

I think she had a tidy explanation for Jesus too. Jesus is my healer. She came with her cries, her long pleading, and her tidy explanation, and laying there she might well have thought - this prophet just called me a dog. Yet, even after all the calling, the sobbing, the pleas, and the groveling, topped off by Jesus’ refusal to help, something amazing happened.

The Canaanite woman changed. She asked for over-reaching mercy. Her notion of Jesus was suddenly and irrevocably changed and the light of faith dawned.

Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!”

We need to change our notion of Jesus. We need to change into the people Isaiah saw.

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
loving the name of the LORD,
and becoming his servants—
all who keep the sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer

We are all foreigners in the Kingdom. Like the Canaanite woman we keep crying and pleading. We come to church and we humble ourselves, and still, all seems silent. Life is difficult. The little compartment we created for Jesus is broken and we can’t find the answer.

Like the Gentiles of old we are foreigners on the outside. We are being put-off. Grace keeps working at us until we see, and in that moment we will recognize God’s absolute, all powerful, over-reaching mercy. We will be pulled inside. When the light of faith dawns in our lives, when we call for over-reaching mercy, it will be given to us. We will hear Jesus say: “great is your faith!”

Then everything will change. Jesus will be all-in-all in our lives. His word will take precedence. His name will be our only hope. Sin will die, hopelessness will end, and healing will occur. There will be no compartments. Grace will be in our lives in all its fullness. We will live and act as children of God, in the house of the Lord. Amen.

First reading: 1 Kings 19:9,11-13
Psalm: Ps 85:9-10,11-12,13-14
Epistle: Romans 9:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33

Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

Today’s lessons are about leaving Jesus, fear, finding Jesus, fear, and finding Jesus again.

The disciples set out in the boat leaving Jesus behind. We do that, almost weekly. We set off for our lives and leave this moment with Jesus behind. We get farther and farther away from the perfect reality of Christ and the sanctuary of His Church, setting out on the sea of life in our little boats.

Now our boats my be a Ford or a Chevy, they may be a Harley or a bicycle, they may be our houses, well insulated from everything on the outside. As the memory of our time with Christ fades we find ourselves out in those boats being buffeted by the sea.

The sea is terribly stormy. The world is awash in misery. Our well insulated houses are loosing value by the day, our credit cards are overextended, our country, once an indomitable financial powerhouse is loosing its place to China. Our military power, for all its technology and might, can do little against entrenched enemies and fourth generation warfare. Our jobs and retirements grow less and less secure. As we drive along in our cars we don’t even know if the next bridge we cross will fall into the chasm below. We are terribly afraid. We are so afraid that Jesus gets pushed right out. The waves are crashing over the bow and Jesus is nowhere in our lives.

Suddenly we see Jesus. Hey look! its Jesus! We experience a faint recollection. Someone mentions Him. The Spirit keeps working at us until we faintly pick up on the message. Like Elijah, the voice is like a whisper, look here comes Jesus. We stop and whisper a silent prayer in return, Jesus help me. We return here, to church, and for a brief moment we feel like we’ve found Jesus again. We may even hear Him saying:

“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

When we recognize the voice we react like Peter calling out:

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you”

He says, “Come.”

Brothers and sisters,

We begin again on our journey to Christ. In fits and starts we find ourselves momentarily empowered. God is more than this. The Christ is more than mortgages, credit cards, wars, insurrections, and rickety bridges. We almost find ourselves on the verge of putting our trust in Him.

when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened

…and began to sink. So do we. That final act of trust, of saying no to everything we think is solid, and putting our faith, hope, and trust in what is eternally solid, seems to be the step we just will not take, a step that eludes us.

To take that step on a surface that seems to melt under our human feet, like the water melted under Peter’s feet, takes something extraordinary. For now we just call out:

“Lord, save me!”

Be assured, our Lord and Savior is here. He stretches out His hand and He catches us. He puts us back on solid footing and asks us to trust, to trust even when we think there is no ground beneath us at all.

My friends,

The Lord is continuously reaching out to us. He is continuously calling us back to reality. It is not the reality we perceive with fearful eyes and minds, but the reality that is eternal, the reality we see with the eyes of the soul.

Now for that extraordinary final step. Nothing extraordinary at all really. It is simply this. We must live. We must lives our lives and, with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Church, we must continually remind ourselves that the Lord’s hand is reaching for us. That He is helping us. That He is drawing us to safety - the only safe assurance worth having, life that is lived at one with God.

So we say: Do not be afraid of the storm and do not be afraid of the mistakes, of the times where we forget of Jesus. He is here, to be found again and again. He us here for us. We are secure in Him Who is our salvation. Amen.

First reading: Isa 55:1-3
Psalm: Ps 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
Epistle: Rom 8:35, 37-39
Gospel: Matt 14:13-21

The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

What an amazing thing it is to have life in Christ Jesus, for He feeds us and answers all of our needs.

All of our readings and today’s Gospel point to the fact that God gives us everything. We see God’s giving nature when we see the manner in which He gives us all the things we recognize as basic needs. Whatever our basic need the authors show them as being met.

In our first reading from the prophet Isaiah we recognize our lack, and God’s giving. We are thirsty, God sets the water before us and says come to the water. We have no money, we can come and receive grain and eat — for free. Without paying or cost we receive wine and milk! We shall eat well and delight in rich fare. In the end by listening to God, by heeding Him, and by coming to Him we receive the most precious gift of all — life.

The psalmist sings of God’s gifts. He declares that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. God is good and compassionate to us, His works. He feeds us from His hand and answers all our needs: food in due season; the desire of every living thing.

In God’s giving we have the very same assurance St. Paul saw; that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. The sadness of the world and the powers of nature cannot match God’s loving gift to us. When we face anguish, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, angels, principalities, present things or future things, powers, height or depth, any creature, the sword, life or death itself, even all if they be combined against us are not enough to overcome God. God among us and with us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Gospel story is well known. It exhibits Jesus’ power to feed us from our inadequacy. The few loaves and fishes equal our inadequate gift. In seeing Jesus’ use of our poor offering, our poor selves, we come to the realization that His love, His giving conquers all.

Brothers and sisters,

God speaking through Isaiah asks:

Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what fails to satisfy?

Looking closely we see that God lays all these gifts in front of us. He says: “Here’s the water.” Then He asks us to come and drink. There’s the disconnect. All the gifts are there, all the opportunities to take our fill are before us, but we have to do it. We have to go for the water that’s there.

We think that the problems we face in life are exactly the excuse we need to step over God’s gifts. It is the willful way we choose to ignore the water that’s right in front of us and to go in search of other water, water we think will be sweeter or more satisfying. We fail when we choose to drown out God’s gifts by failing to recognize that all fulfillment rests in God. When we reject total unity with God and His teaching we fail. We fail when we spend all we have, up to and including our everlasting souls, on the things that will not satisfy.

Friends,

Certainly we are in a tough position, with all the noise around us, all the choices that seem easier than choosing the water God gives, but as my older daughter recently told me, just remember to breathe. Each breath we take is a pause in the time line, a brief respite to focus on what’s right in front of us. What’s there is God’s gift.

Here we are, today, so let’s start. When we come forward to receive the Lord in the Eucharist we should just stop and breathe. Look at the gift presented to us. Breathe, pause a moment, and say Amen to the gift.

Recognize that He is feeding us and He is fulfilling our needs. His grace is transformative. In that moment and in its aftermath we are changed.

Change will come because God promises it. By choosing God’s gift we will recognize the moment and the gift. Thereafter we will recognize more moments and more gifts. We will begin to recognize that God is taking the meager gift we have to offer and that He is changing our small gift into a bigger, better, more perfect gift. In the end we will forget about chasing after that other water. Our unsettled hearts will settle on and in Christ. We will be fed by His word and our way of life will become all — in and for God.

By our conformity to God, by our transformation we become God’s gift to the world. Our transformed selves work within His Holy Church to spread the joyful message. It is the message Bishop Hodur proclaimed, that our Holy Polish National Catholic Church continues to proclaim, it is Christ’s message — see the gifts I have laid before you, the food that is everlasting. Come to Me, be healed, be transformed, be regenerated, have life and live forever.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”

Amen.

First reading: 1 Kings 3:5,7-12
Psalm: Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
Epistle: Rom 8:28-30
Gospel: Matt 13:44-52

And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

The old and the new. Today’s readings and Gospel are an exposition of the differences between the old and the new as well as a caution concerning the old and the new.

In our first reading we see a scenario we are very familiar with. God is speaking to one of His kings in much the same way He spoke to other kings and prophets. He says that Solomon should ask Him for something. Solomon asks for wisdom and he receives that gift, plus so much more.

The conflict we see in many of the Old Testament books is one between God’s select messenger, a king or prophet, and the stubborn people of Israel. In many cases the people just wouldn’t listen. Jesus accused the lawyers, scribes, and Pharisees in regard to what they did to the prophets. In Luke 11:47-48 He said:

Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.
So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

That was the old. St. Paul tells us how it is to be in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ:

We know that all things work for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.

In our Christian life we are all called. We listen to and serve God as a community. We know that we are called for God’s purpose, to work as one, not as individual prophets each offering our personal take on God, but as a prophetic people united in voice and in teaching.

As Jesus’ people we witness our life and our conformity with Him most directly and completely when we come together as community. We do that here in church and when we go from church as brothers and sisters united in our mission to convert the world. When we are united in bringing the knowledge of Christ to those who do not know Him.

Brothers and sisters,

That is the difference between the old and the new. In the new we cannot rely on one man, one woman, or one committee to witness to Christ. We are all His prophets, His teachers, and His Holy Church. We are all called according to God’s purpose.

In fully understanding the difference between old and new we must recognize Jesus’ caution. What did the person who found the property with the buried treasure or the pearl of great value do? Jesus tells us:

he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

To buy something we have to have made some investment mustn’t we? We had to have worked at building up those things we own. Today we would think of that in terms of our savings and investments. The man who found the buried treasure and the pearl of great value did not throw out the old investment to get the new. Rather he built upon the old investment in acquiring the new.

So it is in Jesus’ caution. The scribe, and Jesus was talking about a faithful scribe, someone who was more than a person who wrote things down, but rather a person learned in the law who also had knowledge of God’s kingdom, has to be like the head of the household, “who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

The storeroom contains both the old and the new. Both are necessary, the aged wine and the fresh grain. This applies to us in this way: We must build upon our past and we must recognize it as the foundation upon which our Christian life is built. We cannot throw out the old and simply replace it with the new. We need old which the new is founded upon.

The Christian life is built upon 2,000 years of faith and Tradition. It is the Gospel of Christ, the teaching of the Apostles, the words of the Fathers and the great Councils. It is the creeds and Holy Liturgy practiced by the Apostolic line of bishops right down to the current day. It is men who conform themselves to Christ and are commissioned as His teachers; priests and deacons sent forth in the same way the Apostles sent forth presbyters and deacons. It is a 2,000 year old investment in the things that will bring about change in our lives. The things that will assist us in conforming ourselves to Christ and His mission.

We are cautioned to build upon the past and to be very careful in not just discounting the 2,000 year old treasure of Catholic teaching we have been given.

What we have is a valuable treasure. Our Holy Polish National Catholic Church proclaiming the truth consistent with Holy faith and Tradition right now, in this age. Today we are sent forth as a prophetic people, as a community of faith built on a solid foundation. Let us join our hearts and hands in working for the Kingdom of God. Amen.

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”

I thought I would begin with this passage from today’s gospel because we members of the PNCC are very familiar with these women who work diligently at making wonderful breads and treats. Now think about that. Imagine a woman adding yeast to the flour, mixing it, kneading it, carefully placing it in a bowl in a warm corner of the kitchen, waiting several hours for the bread to rise, and finding?

Now if she used the proper ingredients, and most of all good living yeast, the dough will have risen. It’s a kind of on and off thing, either the bread properly rises or it doesn’t. You don’t see half the dough rising and half laying flat, unleavened. So it is with God’s word and the Holy Spirit’s work among us. It works on the whole of humanity.

This is a remarkable promise really. The thing that gives us growth, the thing that brings us to the state we are to be in, is God’s word — and it’s remarkable because it works among those who hear it and among those who reject it.

Think of the day’s first parable:

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

We can also liken God’s word to the soil, the foundation upon which the crops and weeds grew. They both take nutrients from that soil. They grew together in that soil. The foundation God has laid is equally available to those who bear good fruit and to those who bear only brambles and waste.

God’s word and the work of the Holy Spirit are like that soil, like that yeast. They are working in the world each day, among those who accept our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and among those who turn from Him.

Of course it’s easy to think of those who turn away in simple terms:

The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Brothers and sisters,

We must read those words in the light of the balance of scripture:

And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.

God permits repentance and gives us hope. All of humanity exists as the children of God and all of humanity has good ground for hope. That is why He told us through the Prophet Isaiah:

so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

His word will not return to Him without yield. His foundation, like the soil, will nourish the hard of heart along with the faithful. Those who are closed to Him may not hear Him now, may not feel nourished by Him now, but eventually, here in this life or in the next, they will hear Him and will have every opportunity to be nourished by Him.

God’s yeast is working in the world, on those who reject Him and those who accept Him. That yeast provides the whole of humanity with the opportunity to be nourished and changed. This is our hope; that in the hearing of the word humanity will be changed. This is our hope, that in the hearing of the word all will take the opportunity for a change of heart.

My friends,

We cannot pull-one-over on God. We cannot fool Him. He understands us and our weakness. St. Paul reassures us because he knew the weakness of man. He knew that our longing for God, whether hobbled by simple weakness or constrained by a cold heart, will break through because the Spirit is at work in the world interceding for us.

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

What we need to take from today is the fact that those who take Jesus’ advice:

“Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

…in the here and now will shine like the sun. Therefore, we ought to hear. We ought to hear the Lord when our weakness gets the better of us and we fall into sin. We ought to hear Him when we close our eyes, ears, and hearts to a particular teaching of the Holy Church, that is, when we rationalize our sins as not being sin. We ought to hear Him and understand that we are to practice at our hearing, working on it, exercising it in preparation for the last day. The tools to work and exercise our living in accord with God’s word are available to us: scripture, prayer, fasting, penance, consistently making the right call when faced with temptation; saving ourselves from the pain of a longer separation from God.

God’s promise is remarkable and He is working in the hearts of every man, woman, and child. This is our human dignity. God lives in and among all His children. Our work and our faithfulness, our steady assent to the Lord is our return for His faithfulness to us. It will bring us ever closer to the heavenly reward that awaits us. For those who choose not to listen now, you are not rejected, without hope, and the door remains open. Yet, now is the time of urgency, and this is the place to begin. Let us begin our assent to God with hard work and a steadfast heart filled with hope. “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Amen.

The disciples approached him and said,
“Why do you speak to them in parables?”

The disciples were afraid and I am afraid, because Jesus’ message is a scary proposition and sometimes we feel as if we just don’t get it.

Certainly the disciples weren’t asking a simple question regarding the Lord’s approach to teaching. What they were admitting was that they didn’t get it. Jesus knew that. He said:

“Hear then the parable of the sower.”

…and he went on to explain the parable. He helped them in figuring it all out. Thankfully they were wise enough to remember His words and record them for us. He also told them that they were the chosen ones to whom “knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted.” What a blessed assurance that is. To hear the Lord say:

“blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Truly the disciples were no different from the rest of the population of Israel. They had worked like the rest. They had families like the rest. They struggled like the rest. They went to synagogue and offered sacrifice at the Temple at the appropriate times, but for some reason they were set apart to hear and see the things the prophets had longed for. They were set apart and chosen by God. It wasn’t something they earned by good fishing or good tax collecting. It just was, and they, like us, were afraid because sometimes they just didn’t get it. Here was Jesus offering these parables, and they watched the learned who just didn’t get it. The wise were confounded and here were the simple disciples thinking, well if they don’t get it what about me? Jesus turned and offered the little ones, whom we’ve heard so much about over the past several Sundays, reassurance. Reassurance from God destroys fear.

Brothers and sisters,

We come here every week and somewhere deep in our psyche we wonder. Am I saved? Will Jesus welcome me into heaven? Am I doing right by God, the Holy Church, my family, my fellow man, and humanity in general? Do I know God’s will for me and how I should carry out that will? The questions are innumerable and the worry can be very deep.

We think that if we have faith in God, and follow the teachings of the Holy Church, all will be well. We want to believe that, but we still wonder, we still question. We still say, “why do you speak in parables?” Can’t we just get direct assurance, like the disciples did, hearing Jesus Christ tell us:

“blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.”

My friends,

God is saying that to us. We have His assurance. While we cannot do anything to assure ourselves and give ourselves an ironclad guarantee of salvation we do know that we are privileged to have received the secret that has been shared with us, God’s little ones. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is our assurance and we have been set apart to hear and see the things the prophets had longed for. We didn’t make it happen. We can’t do anything about it. We are here because God chose us. He chose us and like the disciples we have accepted God’s love and His revelation. Jesus takes us aside every Sunday in the beautiful sacrament of the Word and He continues to teach us, to fill in the blanks and answer the questions for us. This sacrament flows from God’s promise to the prophet Isaiah:

so shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
my word shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

We have that word, that teaching, right here in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. God’s word and revelation are assuring us of our destiny. They are doing God’s will in our hearts and minds through the power of sacramental grace, and they offer the promise of salvation to us because we have chosen to listen to those words.

Brothers and sisters,

Now it’s time for the scary proposition. We only begin our cooperation with God in the hearing of the word. To carry out God’s word we must act. In acting out God’s words we are achieving the ends for which God sent those words - the hundred or sixty or thirtyfold return on God’s investment in us.

We know that hundred percent guarantees and hundredfold returns do not exist in this world, but God offers each of us His one-hundred percent eternal guarantee and by carrying out His word hundredfold returns will be realized. God is telling us: Hear My word, do My will, be saved and bring the message of salvation to others.

Let us end by considering Paul’s teaching to the Romans:

Brothers and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

Our wondering, our uncertainly, even our physical, financial, and psychological sufferings are meaningless in light of what God will reveal through us and for us. That is the promise of the glory we will see.

For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God

We are God’s children and what we reveal to the world - through our faith, our prayer life, our acts of charity, the way we treat each other, our families, strangers, those in need, everything we do to carry out God’s word - is reflective of God among us. The revelation we preach will bring the hundredfold return.

We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

As we work, as we struggle, as we bear the truth of God’s word to all of humanity, we groan. We know the struggle is difficult, sometimes painful, and sometimes even as costly as life itself. All the time we groan because while we work we eagerly anticipate the fulfillment of that work, the hundred percent guarantee of God given to those who hear His word and do His work, and the hundredfold return God’s word will bring, through you and me.

So now we have the answer. No more fear, no questioning, only knowing that we have something precious, and assurance for fulfilling the mission we have been given, to bring Jesus Christ to all. Amen.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Today’s readings and the words of the Holy Gospel point us to one thing: In Christ everything is changed.

The prophet Zechariah points to the one who will come, the Savior, Who is meek, Who comes riding an ass. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who comes to us as a very ordinary man in the humblest of circumstances. The babe from the stable comes not in triumphant array, but rather as one like us, a simple, meek, and humble man riding into town in the simplest of ways. God begins by showing us actual change. He sets our common understanding of how things should be, of what’s important, on its head.

How extraordinarily common and how perfectly clear the revelation of our Lord and Savior. The prophet Isaiah went so far as to say that the Savior:

had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.

So in fact there was noting about Jesus that was attractive as man counts “attractive.” People didn’t follow Him because He was good looking or because He “had it all” as the world counts “having it all.” Rather, people followed and have been following Him for 2,000 years simnply because He changes everything.

Building on this theme St. Paul tells us

You are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. 


In other words there is nothing in or of the world, no beauty, no magnificence, no power, no weapon, no worry, no burden, no concern, nothing of the flesh at all that matters if our focus is properly on God, and our relationship with Him in spirit and in truth. That is how our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ has changed things. Jesus’ clear message is that He offers us the way that is true and eternal. He has shown us the way of God and the love of God. He changed everything including the way we as His followers value everything.

The problems we face, the cares and burdens we so carefully count, the many troubles we face are taken away when we live in Him. He wipes it all out. He takes our cares and burdens away. We are assured that God looks at things differently and that He counts differently. We recognize this best when we make an act of trust - complete trust in God.

St. Paul reminds us of this when he says:

we are not debtors to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die

Those things we thought were oh so important are not so important. The worries that trouble us are only symbols of death and decay. So Paul tells us: but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Brothers and sisters,

This past Friday’s commemoration of independence should remind us that freedom, true freedom, is only found in following Jesus’ way. True independence, true freedom, is found in the way of the Lord. That is how things are changed. Our reliance is different. We place our trust elsewhere. We live in freedom that surpasses the freedom the world and the world’s laws can offer.

Now is the time for us, as a parish, and as Christian men and women to put those things we once counted as important to death so that we can live in Christ and live forever. It is time for us to accept the change we were asked to accept on the day of our baptism.

Do we sit here and fret over burdens and cares? Do we feel the weight of labors that bind us to counting the things that only matter to the flesh? Do we look at the Holy Church’s motto - truth, work, and struggle, and see it only in relation to the truth of worldly work and worldly struggle? It is not so.

Jesus has revealed God to us. Because of this we count ourselves among the chosen, the select. Because we share in God’s revelation we are set free from those things we used to count, but only if we choose to accept the change Jesus Christ brings. When we think of truth we must think of God’s truth. When we think of work and struggle we must look to Bishop Hodur’s message that man’s true work and struggle is aimed at entry into eternal life, to being regenerated and born into a life lived according to God’s way.

All that is required is that we take up the Lord’s yoke, His way, and follow in His footsteps. Then we will leave behind the things we used to count. We will leave behind what we thought was true and focus rather on Jesus’ truth. We will trust in God. We will put our focus on faithfulness to Him which begins and ends right here, before this very altar. In doing this we will be changed because Christ came to bring that change.

The ability to change is here. Jesus is offering it to you and to me. Jesus tells us that making this change will make like sweet. We will find rest in Him, if only, if only we change. Amen.