Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
—If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.—

Father Andrew, honored guests, my brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate Spójnia Sunday, a day on which we reflect upon the connection between faith and works, a day on which we celebrate the insight and common sense of our Church’s founder, Bishop Francis Hodur, and of all our ancestors.

Indeed, this weekend we, in New York’s Capital Region, celebrate a great festival highlighting Polish and Polish-American culture. We highlight a people of faith, determination, and common sense.

These two celebrations flow from our unique heritage, from the strength of our traditions and from our commitment to the truth and honesty found in Catholic-Christianity.

Bishop Hodur and our ancestors understood Jesus’ lesson. They understood Jesus’ instruction regarding our place and our service.

They focused on faith.

Their strong Catholic faith was not an aside or a pastime; it was the center of their existence. From this center, from this grounding in Catholic-Christian ethics, they worked tirelessly for freedom, freedom from tyranny, freedom of expression, and freedom to worship God in full faith. They held to a dream that transcends national borders, while holding fast to a culture that joyously celebrates, and strongly defends the faith.

Through their hard work, they integrated themselves into the dream that is America. They put that dream into action in organizations like Spójnia, understanding the connection between faith, hard work, and the values enshrined in Our Country’s Constitution

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…

They struggled.

Bishop Hodur and our ancestors realized that the struggle was not just of the moment, but of eternity.

This week’s reading from the Book of Wisdom foretells the suffering of Christ —“ and of all Christians bound to Him.

Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.

This is the judgment of the worldly. Let us put God and His Church to the test. Let us gather evidence. Let us see if God is real and if His people hold the truth.

God Himself was put to the test in more than the philosophical sense. God Himself condescended to be mocked, dragged, beaten, whipped, and killed on a cross.

What the world didn’t realize was that the very test it subjected Him to would be His vindication. He proved Himself, not because He had to, but because He loves us.

His vindication was the raising of His Son from the grave to life. Jesus stood victorious over death and separated all of us from the snares of the world. Jesus showed us that the struggle is only a prelude to eternal perfection in His kingdom.

Our ancestors understood that well.

They set to work.

Last week’s second reading from James focused on the connection between faith and works. James took a very common sense approach to describing the fullness of the Christian life. Anyone can say they have faith in Jesus, but without the corresponding works, by which their faith is exhibited, their proclamation means nothing.

Today St. James tells us that:

Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.

As Catholic-Christians our responsibility must correspond to and come from the teaching of Jesuis Christ. These responsibilities have been delegated to us by our ancestors and our fathers in faith. We are to avoid all semblance of the disorder created by self interest, ambition, and jealousy. We, like Bishop Hodur, and our ancestors, are to engage in work for the common good.

That is why Spójnia, the Polish National Union of America is more than just an organization. It is a symbol and a public witness to our work. It is a symbol and a witness to our working together for the common good, setting ourselves as servants of each other, and of all people.

Bishop Hodur and our ancestors understood Jesus’ lesson very well, and by faith, work, and struggle they lived His word.

We, our families, our community, our organizations, and the Church are all called to struggle against evil. We are to uphold the banner of truth —“ the only truth there is —“ God’s truth. And, we are to work diligently on our salvation and for that of our brothers and sisters.

Amen.

See, the Lord GOD is my help;
who will prove me wrong?

When we consider the vast number of pages that have been written in regard to philosophy, science, theology, and the humanities, when we sum all that up, and look back across history, we may think that we have a right to be pretty proud.

We may think – ‘Look, mankind has created a lot. We’re pretty smart.’ The inherent danger in that declaration is equating accomplishment with truth. Do we rely on the array of what we have created as truth, neglecting God?

I think that captures the trend in humanity – one that has existed even before Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.

Remember, the scribes and pharisees of Jesus’ day lived that kind of existence. They relied on the words and thinking of the teachers that came before them. They certainly had the word of God to rely on, but it obviously wasn’t enough, especially in light of all the interpretations that followed, the oral teachings of their fathers and the Midrash. The Scribes and Pharisees needed the commentary of the Talmud to expand and clarify God’s Law, to codify the code so to speak.

Codifying the code is not wrong in itself, nor would the Pharisees and scribes have been singled out for Jesus’ criticism based on that fact alone. They fell rather on their reliance on those interpretations and codifications to the exclusion of God’s truth. Their code was not in line with God’s code.

The words of the psalmist, his poetry and song, come to completion in Jesus. Jesus worked to refocus The Jewish people on the truth of His Father.

If God is your center and source, if God is your help, if the laws of God are written in your hearts and used as the point of reference for your life, no one can prove you wrong.

Jesus lived in perfect oneness, in perfect unity with His Father. His Father’s will was His own. His Father’s laws were His benchmark. He tried to impress this on His followers. He tries to impress it on us – today, right here and now.

—Who do people say that I am?—

Who indeed! Someone wrote to me recently saying: ‘The Muslims don’t criticize Jesus.’

I responded by implying – ‘I guess it depends on what you mean by criticism.’ If we have no faith, if we are not focused on God, then we would say, Sure, they even write about him (small h) in their book. As a matter of fact we would be pretty close to Islamic belief, Jesus was a nice guy and a great prophet… with a great mom.

If however we have true faith, a true understanding and centering on God, the truth of God revealed to the world, then we would say ‘They do indeed criticize Jesus. They criticize Him (capital H) because they deny who He is.’

My brothers and sisters,

What kind of faith did Peter and the apostles exhibit?

Peter said to him in reply,
—You are the Christ.—

Can we join with Peter and acknowledge Jesus as God and man, as the Messiah and the Savior? Can we stand up and tell the vast majority of the world’s population that they’ve got it wrong?

A pretty brave declaration from Jesus’ closest followers don’t you think? We would be considered pretty brave for saying that today – you know, we might offend someone.

Unfortunately, it was the kind of declaration that in all its truth and power soon fell victim to the parade of human accomplishment.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Peter was ticked. Jesus just said:

the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.

I just declared that You are God, lets go accomplish what I understand You are going to accomplish. What are you talking about? The documents I have in front of me say You are wrong. Here, let me straighten You out.

Peter found and quickly lost the center. He found the faith to proclaim the truth, then the awful weight of our humanity’s self-serving aggrandizement fell upon him.

At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, —Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.—

That about captures it.

Is God God to us? Do we center and judge by Him? Do we work with and relate to each other as He would want us to? Can we make simple proclamations of faith.

Our Orthodox friends say a lot with very few words. The continually pray one little prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

A simple proclamation of faith – Jesus is God. A simple acknowledgment that we fall short of what God wants from us.

I encourage you to pray this prayer all day. Repeat it often, and contemplate its meaning. Above all focus yourself on Jesus – God incarnate.

St. James reminds us:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him?

Faith judged by purely human standards has little value. Faith lived is everything.

Proclaim Jesus as God in all we do; let us live out the fullness of the faith.

As Christians we are to focus on, and be committed to God. We are called to live lives that set us apart from the age in which we live. Not apart from people, not apart from relationships, but apart from the spirit, the trend of the day.

You might not get that message unless you understand a bit of history.

In the first reading Paul is speaking to the Corinthians. He spent a lot of time in Corinth, and tried to build up the Christian community there. Corinth had quite a reputation.

The city had been destroyed by the Romans and was re-established as a colony by Julius Caesar. It was the capital of the Roman Province of Achaia. Crowds came to Corinth every four years for the games. Corinth was also known for its temple dedicated to Venus, filled with female devotees dedicated to a life of licentiousness.

Corinth was a center of traffic, excitement, wealth, and vice. If people referred to you as ‘Acting the Corinthian’ they meant that you led a loose life.

This is what Paul was confronted with, and over the course of a year-and-a-half he grew frustrated, but the Lord saw him through it all.

Acts Chapter 18 tells us:

One night in a vision the Lord said to Paul, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

So he taught the word of God among them, bringing many people to conversion; some of them noble, wealthy, and learned, but the great majority neither learned, nor powerful, nor noble.

Needless to say, Paul had to stay on top of them. They lived, much as we do today, in the midst of vice, easy money, loose morals, stunning compromises. Paul had to remind them, and he has to remind us, that our focus is not to be on worldliness, but on Godliness.

People, especially non-practicing Christians and outsiders, think that the message is: It’s great to be in bad shape —“ God wants it. Don’t get married, don’t have fun, rejoice in being sad, lonely, despised. Listen to Paul again:

From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
those weeping as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing,
those buying as not owning,
those using the world as not using it fully.

It’s natural to say: You Christians focus so much on sadness and death —“ where’s the joy in life? They miss what we do have —“ the promise of everlasting joy. They miss what we truly desire – right living.

We can just about count our days. A recent study shows that your ethnic group, finances, and location have a lot to do with your lifespan. It certainly does, but it does not affect the span of your life. If life were of this world only I’d be concerned about my days, but life is everlasting.

That is Paul’s message. Do not act as if the things of the world are the totality of existence. Don’t bind yourself to the world or to the spirit of the age. Bind yourself to the truth:

For the world in its present form is passing away.

My brothers and sisters,

Jesus tells us:

—Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.

A person can have all the money in the world, or can be impoverished. Regardless of our material wealth or poverty, know that we are poor only to the extent of our love, dedication, and devotion to God. Knowing our poverty we must strive to reach Him. Jesus knows we are poor and has shown us the way to a wealth that will not turn to dust.

Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.

Know that our hunger is a hunger for unity with God. We can have all the food in the world or be starving. Neither counts for much unless we seek God.

Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.

Know that we weep because of our distance from God. We can laugh or cry all the day long, but neither counts for much unless we draw close to God.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

We are hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced because Jesus is a scandal to the world. Hated or loved, unless it is because our faith in Jesus Christ, it counts for nothing.

Today we honor St. Eugenia. Her name means “noble” in Greek. She was born in 280, and was the daughter of the governor of Alexandria, Egypt.

Eugenia embraced Christianity secretly in her youth, running away from her parents to live a life of prayer and self denial. When she was found she underwent persecution, especially from her father Phillip. He imprisoned her and was to have her killed. She remained faithful and eventually her father, Philip, was converted. He died a martyr’s death. Eugenia was taken to Rome where she converted many to Christ. She, along with Saints Protas and Hyacinth were martyred.

We, like Eugenia, need to keep our focus on God and our loyalty to Him. With Paul we need to focus on the kingdom. In following Christ we need to live His message. In doing so we have Jesus’ assurance:

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

I will place My law within them, and write it upon their heart’s; I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

What a day —“ we celebrate the Solemnity of Brotherly Love and we recall the death of so many who five years ago were attacked, killed, or wounded by their brothers.

When we look at the world, and we focus on the realities of pain and suffering, when we view man’s inhumanity to man, we naturally want to ask God about that law thing:

God, when are you going to fulfill your promise and write your law upon our hearts? When will you write your law on the hearts of our enemies?

It is impossible not to ask, not to wonder, not to question.

Today, I bring you good news. I bring you the good news of God’s word and God’s truth. It is right here and is among us.

God’s law is perfection and His word is true. His promise has been fulfilled.

In the Letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul states:

Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

God’s word is living and effective. His word penetrates all things, physical and spiritual, in the present and in the everlasting.

God’s word is as true today as it was for the Jews of ancient Israel. It was true in their captivity, in their exile, and in their joy. It speaks to us today just as effectively and truthfully as it spoke to Jeremiah.

God’s word is truth. It awakens our conscience and reaches into the most private corners of our lives. God’s word bares all our motivations, secret feelings, desires, and His word answers our hidden longings.

God told Jeremiah no more than this; What He planted in the hearts and souls of our first parents will come to fulfillment.

We are created in God’s image and likeness; the image and likeness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are all created in the likeness of Their mutual, eternal, and perfect love.

God created the world out of His goodness, out of His perfect love. We cannot explain or define God’s love nor can we fall back on our reason to plumb its depths. There is no reason for His love; His love is its own reason. We must simply accept and respect its reality and truth.

Because God established us in love, created us in love, and because He wrote the model of His love within each and every human being, the good news tells us that His law is within us, it is written upon our hearts; He is our God, and we are His people.

You, me, our friends, neighbors, and our enemies, we all have God’s law written on our hearts. We are all His children. We are all His people.

Jesus called upon us to do right. He didn’t tell us to do right in everything except… everything but… He told us to do right, to love our enemies —“ because doing so has value, because doing so is hard. If we are to be Jesus’ brothers and sisters, if we are to be co-heirs with Him, if we are to follow Him into His glory, we have to do the difficult. We have to recognize Him in those where it is hardest to see His image.

Is it hard and risky? —“ Most certainly! Is it difficult to choose peace, prayer, and reconciliation over anger and hatred? —“ Yes!

St. John tells us that:

Our love is brought to perfection in this; that we should have confidence on the day of judgment; for our relation to this world is just like His.

We aren’t just supposed to be close to Jesus —“ we are to be like Him. He is God among us, God in the flesh —“ understanding all there is to know about the human condition. On the Day of Judgment we should have confidence because we dealt with the world just like Jesus did.

Like Jesus we set ourselves aside to serve our brothers and sisters. We counted gain only in serving the Father, and we set our lives aside for the redemption of the world. Is this true for you, for me? If not, when will it be true?

The truth we need to recognize, the thing we need to do, is to recognize that the closer we are to Christ and His cross, the closer we will be to Him in His glory.

There is nothing to be afraid of. St. John states very simply:

Perfect love casts out all fear.

Jesus teaches us about paying the price. He teaches us what it means to be in a relationship with the Father and with our brothers and sisters. He tells us, through the story of the Good Samaritan, that we are to pay whatever is required to care for, to love, to forgive, and to sacrifice for all of humanity. The Samaritan says:

If there is any further expense I will repay you on my way back

No limit, no set definitions —“ do whatever it takes. Do whatever it takes to recognize God in our brothers and sisters —“ indeed His law is written in each of our hearts.

—Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.—

Who are the Pharisees? Are they just the Jewish legalists that Jesus encountered? Are there Pharisees walking the earth today? Are there Pharisees who call themselves Catholic?

God has certainly laid down the Law for us. He commands us to observe the Law, to observe all of the statutes and decrees He has made. Moses put it very plainly:

—Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe…

In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.

Observe God’s commands and do not make more of them. Observe God’s commands and do not denigrate them.

St. James reminds us of Jesus’ words. Recall that Jesus told those questioning Him about the Law of God that Moses passed on to them:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

St. James reiterates that when he says:

All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.

What the Father has handed down throughout history is the truth. There is no alteration, change, or shadow of meaning in God’s truth.

Jesus is God and He did not modify His commands; He clarified them and He forces us to face them honestly.

The Pharisees Jesus encountered didn’t get what Moses told them. They altered the Law and made the Law fit their style. They added many of their own humanly devised rules and regulations to God’s law, which had the effect of misrepresenting and misapplying His Law. They were not legalists; they were corrupters of God’s Law, misusing it in ways God never intended.

It is not legalistic to obey God’s laws correctly. Obeying God’s Law is acting in spirit and truth. Jesus told us that:

The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

The questions before us then are these: Do we worship God in spirit and truth? Do we corrupt what Jesus has given us? Are we the Pharisees of today?

As Catholic Christians we have the most beautiful of gifts, authentic Catholic worship of God. Moreover, we have the gift of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church, the true and faithful Traditions of Christendom as handed down to us by the Holy Church.

We are the richest people on earth, not in buildings, or gold, or personal possessions, but in what we truly and commonly possess, the faith of the Holy Church. We have before us a treasure more precious than the entirety of the universe in its splendor; we have Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity right here on this altar and in this tabernacle.

We have the immemorial festival we celebrate here, the great sacrifice and the great feast. We honor God not just with our lips, but with the entirely of our being. Would you rather be anyplace else?

The Pharisees out there see our worship of God and want to change it.

They need to fit the worship of God into their schedule and style. The Holy Mass needs to be jazzier, more modern, relevant, appealing, entertaining, or more contemporary. ‘I need to get more out of the mass.’ Others may say that the Holy Mass needs to be more ‘traditional’, but only according to their own personal recollection of tradition.

Individual tastes appeal to the individual, but we are not here for that. We are not here for a makeover or a re-do of our common worship. That would be a corruption of God’s gift. That would make us Pharisees.

We are here as a community to worship God only, worshiping in accord with the Church’s teaching and tradition as given to us by Jesus Christ and His apostles. We are here to set ourselves aside, to minimize ourselves, and to acknowledge the One who is preeminent.

How we worship God is not a matter of “personal taste.” Rather it is a total focusing of ourselves and of the whole community on being “God centered.”

We must offer our worship —in Spirit and Truth” and we must do our all to be “well pleasing unto God.” He is the only One we strive to “please” by our worship and by the way we live. We are to assure that our hearts and our lips have one focus only —“ God.

Jesus continually reminds us that it is easy to be a Pharisee and a hypocrite. That is the wide and easy path. Anyone can create church in their own image; the thousands of allegedly Christian sects out there prove that.

Jesus reminds us not only in His words, but in His very actions, including His self sacrifice on the cross; we need to repent of our self-centeredness and become “God centered.” We need to set aside our personal ideas and styles and be molded into the men and women God wants us to be.

Jesus prayed in the garden:

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”

And again

“My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!”

Everything we do, our worship, our day-to-day lives, our business dealings, the way we relate to each other, can be an indicator of the Pharisee within us, God’s law according to me.

With Jesus’ help and the Church’s teaching we are to set that Pharisee aside and pray every minute of every day, “Your will be done.”

Focus yourselves on God and His will. Worship Him in spirit and truth. Keep your hearts and your lips of one accord.

Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”

Today we celebrate our parish’s patronal feast. Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

I ask all of you to focus on this beautiful image, this icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to contemplate for a few minutes. I ask you to behold your mother.

The meaning of this icon, its role in history, and the way in which it communicates to us, right here in Latham, New York, is simply the miracle of Mary’s abiding presence and intercession.

Because of this icon we are gifted with a special doorway to Mary herself.

Icons are not just pretty pictures. They convey much more. They are more than an aid in stimulating devotion. Contemplation of the icon is more than a teaching tool or an inspiration. In the spiritual sense this icon is a living thing.

St. John of Damascus called icons a “channel of divine grace.” They are a mirror of divine revelation, the very incarnation of God, and give testimony to the reality of God’s saving truth. The Ecumenical Councils of the first 1,000 years of Christianity attest to this. Those who attack or disparage icons attack the Incarnation of Jesus himself.

The praise and veneration we show this icon passes over to the one it represents, its archetype —“ Mary herself. St. Basil of Caesarea stated “The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype”.

Thus the love and dedication we show Mary, here in this parish, is communicated to her in a special way.

Jesus told us: Behold your mother, and we behold and love her.

Look at Mary’s right hand. It points to Jesus. Mary is looking at us intently and is pointing to her Son. As she directed the servants at the wedding feast in Cana she directs us:

“Do whatever He tells you.”

Mary bears her Son to us. She, the Theotokos, bears God to us, ever pointing to Him. In this Hodigitria icon, believed to have been painted by St. Luke, we see our Lord with His hand raised in blessing.

What a beautiful image! What love! This icon brings to us a connection to the totality of love God bears for us. The mother is offering her Son to us. The Son who came to save us blesses us.

For 624 years the original icon of Our Lady has been enshrined at the monastery on the bright mountain in Poland, enshrined yes, but still one with us, her people.

Throughout history she has been the image we go to, on the bright mountain, in this parish, and in our homes. She has been the image we go to in supplication, asking her to point us to her Son so that we might receive His grace and blessing.

Our Lady is our mantle of protection, our intercessor in healing and defense, and has suffered along with us.

Her face and neck have been scarred by the swords and arrows of invaders just as the people have been scarred by their sufferings. Her jeweled mantle has been torn away by godless communists and fascists, just as the communists and fascists tried to tear away the lives and freedoms of the Polish people.

This year marks the 350th anniversary of the dedication of Poland to Our Lady of Czestochowa made by King Jan II Kazimierz.

350 years ago Grand Prior Augustyn Kordecki, his monks, a few knights, and some townspeople withstood the power of the entire Swedish army. They were the last bastion of a free and democratic Poland, a people defending themselves from the fortress at Jasna Gora —“ the bright mountain. These freedom fighters drove back the Swedish Army and united the Polish people in a common effort to repel their invaders.

King Jan II Kazimierz took the following oath:

“Great Mother of God and Most Holy Virgin! I, John Casmir II, by the grace of Thy Son, the King of Kings, and by Thy Grace, I, the King, casting myself on my knees at Thy Most Holy feet, take Thee today as my Patroness and Queen of my dominions, and I recommend to Thy special protection and defense, myself and my Polish Kingdom…”

Let us join with all those who throughout history have relied on Our Lady’s protection, intercession, healing, and defense.

Our Lady of Czestochowa, your icon is a symbol of faith and a symbol of unity. Pray for us. Pray for those who place their hope in God’s providence. Pray for those who are deceived, who are betrayed, who are arrested in the night, who are imprisoned, who suffer from the cold, who live in fear, who were or are subjected to interrogation, who have been condemned though innocent, who speak the truth, who cannot be corrupted, who resist evil and tyranny, who are orphans, or who have been attacked or taunted because they wore your image. Our Lady, pray for mothers who weep and for fathers who have been so deeply saddened.

Mary, our mother, we are dedicated to you and to imitating your example in pointing all to your Son, Jesus Christ. Please pray for us.

‘My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
Are you envious because I am generous?’

Expectations, today’s reading, psalm, and Gospel are about expectations and the differences between the ways of God and our ways.

Recall the words God gave us through the prophet Isaiah:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

God’s love, generosity, and mercy are boundless. Human attributes in those regards are rather limited. Humanity regularly fails on the road to God. We fail in our sinfulness. We fail in putting expectations on God —“ and in making God into our own image.

My brothers and sisters,

We contradict God’s expectation of us in our sinfulness. Sinfulness, the failure to meet God’s expectation, is highlighted in the first reading.

The shepherds of the people took advantage of their position. They made their lives comfortable. They cared little for the people under their care. God gave them a charge and they neglected it; they took advantage of it.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it. It is God’s indictment of failed spiritual leadership, a failure of the shepherds to meet God’s requirements. Even though we fail, God will not leave us without a shepherd.

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I swear I am coming against these shepherds.
I will claim my sheep from them
and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep
so that they may no longer pasture themselves.

The Father sent His son Jesus to shepherd His people. He sent His Son to show us the way, the truth, and the life. God would not stand for the selfish shepherds of Israel, He stepped in, and as God said through Isaiah:

I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

God always acts in constancy with what He has told us.

As today’s reading was about our failure to meet God’s expectation, today’s Gospel is about our inaccurate expectations of God.

As people we seek justice, but often call down condemnation that is inconsistent with God’s mercy. As the first workers in the Gospel did, we demand our day’s pay, and call out against our paymaster when we feel cheated, expecting God to give us more than what we were promised in the first place.

God’s mercy and generosity are not for us to debate. None of us can lay claim to perfection in accord with God’s will and God’s ways. None of us should second guess God, because we all come late to the work.

Like the holy martyrs we commemorate today, Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domnina, and Theonilla, we need to accept what is given. We need to bear the burden of the evils put upon us and keep our focus on God.

Claudius, Asterius, and Neon were martyrs in the persecution conducted by Emperor Diocletian. The three brothers were denounced by their stepmother to Lysias, the proconsul of Cilicia. Their stepmother turned them over so she could lay claim to their property.

It was a definite wrong, and an evil. Yet when they, along with the women Domnina and Theonilla, were confronted by Lysias they did not second guess or complain about their situation. They stood fast in their faith —“ faith in Christ Jesus. When tortured they did not question God’s expectations, nor did they confront God with their expectations. They simply allowed God to be God.

For their faith the brothers were scourged to death. Domnina was beaten to death, and Theonilla, a wealthy Christian widow, was beaten and burned to death.

The martyrs did not complain about the wages they received. They saw what they received, the crown of martyrdom, as the pearl of great price. They were willing to sacrifice everything to obtain that reward. They didn’t second guess God —“ they simply thanked God for the faith they received.

Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domnina, and Theonilla firmly fell into line with God’s expectation of them. May it be so with us.

Amen.

but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything

A Catholic, a Protestant, and an atheist were walking down the street. As they passed by a church the Catholic bowed his head. The Protestant and the atheist were wondering what it meant.

Sounds like the beginning of a joke doesn’t it? Rather, our Catholic friend engaged in a physical expression of the attitude St. Paul exhorts us to have: We must:

be filled with the Spirit
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything

If our Catholic hearts are to be set on the Lord, if the melody and harmony in our hearts are to be focused on the Lord, then what is within us must burst forth. The music of our Catholic faith must show in what we say and what we do.

The psalmist knew this when he sang:

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.

Our Catholic friend, walking down the street, practiced this. His Protestant and atheist friends didn’t get it.

For them the words from Wisdom mean something completely different:

—Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding.—

Our Protestant neighbor would never bow in front of a church. To him the church is just a building, a meeting place. Sure, he may bow his head in prayer, but there is no bowing to the ‘things’ in the church, or the church itself. Without people in it, the church building is nothing. To him, his Catholic friend is foolish and lacking in understanding. Things are not the way to God. God cannot be found in silly superstitious practice. His Catholic friend has to read more, and discern God’s message for himself. By doing so, he will advance in understanding.

Our atheist neighbor would probably feel sorry for his Catholic friend. He is bowing to a building. What nonsense. His Catholic friend should leave his foolish voodoo superstitions and realize that reason and logic are the way to go. He seems like such a civilized fellow —“ it’s really sad. His Catholic friend needs to advance in understanding.

Our Catholic friend remembered his scripture and his catechism. He remembered that Jesus said:

—I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.—

Our Catholic friend remembered that:

Jesus said to them,
—Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.

And our Catholic friend knows that to be Catholic requires that we kneel, bow, and prostrate ourselves before God. He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that the church building is never empty —“ for it contains the Lord.

To be Catholic is not to walk through a set of rituals that have no meaning. Jesus is God and God told us that:

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.

We know both by the light of faith, and by God’s very words, that what is here, on this altar and in this tabernacle is the flesh and blood of God.

Jesus, being God, is definitely not stupid. He is not a liar and cannot teach what is false. He specifically told us that:

For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.

Jesus didn’t tell us that He was giving us a cool symbol. He didn’t tell us that he was giving us magical mystery food. He told us that He is giving us His flesh and blood to eat and drink.

The Holy Church in Her wisdom has taught us, has exhorted us, and commands us to bow, to kneel, and to prostrate ourselves before the reality of God’s presence. The Holy Church teaches us in complete unity with the Word of God that God’s presence is real, physical, and necessary.

Our Catholic friend remembered that. He remembered to live out the love song that is in his heart. He remembered to bow before the reality of the One who loves him beyond telling, who loves him enough to give him the bread of everlasting life.

Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.

In the Orthodox Church, the Epistle for the Solemnity of the Dormition is the great Christological Hymn found in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2.

It seems odd, at face value, because the Epistle makes no specific reference to Mary. If we look at the Gospel for the day, taken from Chapters 10 and 11 of St. Luke, it is the story of Martha and Mary receiving Jesus into their home. Martha is complaining about Mary.

Except for the coincidence of names in the Gospel, there is no mention of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the first part of the Gospel.

Listen again to the opening lines of the Epistle:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus

Jesus is God incarnate. He set aside the magnificence of the heavenly host to be born of lowly estate, of a Virgin, with a carpenter as His stepfather and protector.

By the words of the Gospel and by Holy Tradition we recall Mary being born to Joachim and Anna, also of humble estate. By the particular graces given to Mary she found, written on her heart, the call to humility. The call to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, even before she knew Him as the child she bore.

That is the miracle. God has written His name upon our hearts. God calls us to be like His Son, Jesus, who:

emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.

Jesus’ lesson in humility was part of Mary, and is part of us.

Mary was prepared to say yes to God because she knew that despite the risks, the possible divorce, her being labeled, and the probable stoning, God would take care of everything. Mary had complete trust and complete humility.

She didn’t rely on knowledge, practices, or any other human invention. She simply said yes to God.

In the second part of the Gospel, taken from Luke, Chapter 11, we read:

As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

By the particular graces given to Mary she found, written on her heart, the call to obedience. The call to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, even before she knew Him as the child she bore. Mary listened to the Word of God and she obeyed.

Mary was a young girl, now with child. She has ‘enough problems’ as we would say. Yet her problems did not get in the way of her obedience. Upon hearing of her kinswoman Elizabeth she ran off to care for her. When Joseph said ‘we’re going to Bethlehem’ she went. When Joseph said ‘we’re going to Egypt’ she went. Not complaining, not focusing on her desires, she gave her life over to her Son, completely obedient to God’s will.

Jesus Christ was humble and obedient. Because of this humility and obedience:

God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

That is God’s promise to us. Not that every knee will bend at our name, but that the glory of the Godhead will be ever present for us to worship in the exaltation of heaven. That is our destiny; that is heaven —“ humility and obedience before God.

My brothers and sisters,

Mary was not only humble and obedient, by the particular graces she received, she remained pure. As with the call to humility and obedience, she was called to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, purity and chastity.

The merit of Mary’s intercession, and the reason we celebrate her feasts, is completely tied to the threefold model of life she lived. Mary lived a life of complete love and dedication to God.

This model of life, perfect humility before God, perfect obedience to His will, and the grace to remain pure is the very reason for this Solemnity.

In beautiful iconography we see Jesus at His mother’s side. In His arms He holds her soul which He has taken from her at her death. The Apostles stand around her, ready to bear her to her tomb. Mary is entombed. In three days the tomb will be empty, her body having been taken to heaven, not by her power, but by her Son.

The tomb is empty specifically because of her life, lived in perfect accord with God’s will, written in her heart.

Mary need not be specifically mentioned in the Epistle or Gospel. Mentioning her name would be the mere recitation of a fact. Rather, the magnificence of her life is the fact that she lived it in accord with God’s will.

This is not just wonderful and marvelous; it is a call to you and to me. It is a call to remember, and to live in accord with the Word of God, written in our hearts.

Live the threefold model we are called to follow. Be perfectly humble before God, practice perfect obedience to His will, and remain pure in your relationships and in your dealings. Live the Christian life.

You have been given the grace, the message, a mother who intercedes for you, and Jesus who showed you the way —“ do not forget, and do not despise your destiny.

Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
—This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.—

How many of you have been to a Synod, perhaps a Diocesan Synod or the quadrennial Synod of the Polish National Catholic Church?

How many have walked in feeling like Elijah?

It’s appropriate isn’t it? Most synods are a day’s journey from Albany. Perhaps, some who have gone have felt like praying for death. It would be easier, this is enough Lord…

Maybe, when you arrived at Synod, you were greeted by an angel. That angel, with a smile and grayish white hair greeted you. That angel, like all the angels of our Church who work so hard and are so dedicated, prepare us for the journey —“ the journey we must walk together, the journey to God.

—Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!—
Elijah got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God.

As we prepare for the Twenty-Second Synod of the Church we prepare for the journey. We prepare for the walk. It is about forty days away. It is a journey that our Holy Church perpetuates, and one in which every member, man and woman, clergy and laity, has a voice and a vote.

I ask those who have been elected to represent us and all of you to reflect on these facts:

When you go to a Synod you are walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. You are walking in the footsteps not just of our ancestors but of the saints.

From the Council of Jerusalem presided over by Saints Peter and James, to the great Ecumenical Councils where the faith was defended by St. Athanasius the Great, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. John Chrysostom, St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Andrew of Crete, St. John of Damascus and many other Fathers of the Church, you walk in the footsteps of those who defined what it meant to be Christ’s Church.

You walk in the footsteps of those who helped to define our particular traditions and practices, our Solemnities and Feasts, the Sacrament of the Word, married clergy, and so many other of our usages.

You walk in the footsteps of those who pledged undying allegiance to Jesus Christ, the teachings of the apostles and of the great Councils, changing nothing that has been defined. Those who pledged to depart from nothing that is essential, at the same time leaving us with the understanding that we have liberty to act in things undefined.

It is especially important that those who step forward to represent us do so paying close attention to the words of St. Paul:

Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Go to the Synod in faith. Go to the Synod as the Fathers went to the Councils, not with an agenda or malice, but rather faithful to the Holy Spirit.

Those who proceed with an agenda or malice have little room left for the voice of the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit led the Fathers of the Church, so you must go forward as sheep, willing and open, surrendering yourselves to be led.

When people hear things like this they say —“ stupid Christians, they will roll over you like a tank. But those of no faith, those who say such things, have closed themselves off from the light of Christ. Those who say such things, who rely on agendas and malice, trust that their brains are more powerful than the Spirit of God. They forget to trust in what is permanent and what is good. Jesus told us:

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.

My brothers and sisters,

That is what we are about. We are about what is eternal. In the end that is what our Synods are about —“ our work and cooperation with the Holy Spirit in assuring the perpetuation of the Holy Church, so that all may be brought to Jesus Christ.

Jesus told us:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him

You and I have been drawn to Jesus. Whether willing or reluctant, we have been drawn to Christ. As Church we have been drawn together as a people. We are drawn together in the light of Christ, with true freedom in the Spirit.

Remember, that is what the Synod is. It is our active participation in the capital ‘C’ Church. The Church that guides us and all people on the journey to God.

We here are but a parish, a part of the Church. We are not the Church onto ourselves. Yet by the Holy Traditions we follow, the Holy Sacraments we receive, and our democratic model, we are an icon, a symbol of the entire Church at the local level.

We are the children of the seven great Ecumenical Councils. We are the heirs of the teachings handed down to us by the Fathers. Our Synods are the children of these Councils. We remain faithful to the tenants of these Councils in all we do and their Holy Tradition is the basis for our action this coming October.

As we prepare for this Twenty-Second Synod of the Church recall the gift of freedom and democracy that is found within the Church, a gift in which you fully participate. Remember our place as a part of, and symbol of, the entire Church. Remember whose footsteps we walk in. Remember humility, kindness, and compassion. Remember to prepare for the journey, nourished on the Bread come down from heaven. Remember to pray for Father Andrew and our elected representatives, and most especially for the light of the Holy Spirit upon all who participate.

As we go forward, like Elijah strengthened by angelic food, let us sing out the words of Psalm 34 together:

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.