13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 27, 2010

13.c.stmb.commitment

1 Kings 19:16b,19-21; Galatians 5:1,13-18; Luke 9:51-56

        While Jesus was walking the roads of the Holy Land many people desired to be identified with him. In fact, in the height of his popularity, it was difficult for him to travel without great crowds following him. People came from everywhere to see him perform the miracles that he did - healing the sick, casting out demons, multiplying food. They marveled at his stand against some aspects of the established religion and corrupted leaders of their day. They were attracted by his love and compassion. And some followed to be simply a part of the crowd.

        Many of them hoped that he could do what others had failed to do, namely to liberate them from their oppressors and to establish a new kingdom where illness, hunger, and poverty could be only a long distance memory.

        Many of us follow Christ today for the same reasons that people 2000 years ago did. We want to see miracles or experience one. We want to be healed, made whole, possess some material security, be offered gift of eternal life, find husband or wife, or a good job. We want peace and happiness. We want some social life. Our churches are full, particularly on Ease and Christmas and Ash Wednesday, with those who are eager to make a profession of faith.

        But how many of us truly count the cost of Christ's discipleship? How often do I ask myself?

1.  Can I totally commit myself to him and his teachings? Can I love him and his way more than my own mother, or father, my spouse, more than my children, my sister or brother? More than my own life?

2.  Am I willing to bear my cross? We are not talking here about getting  old, sick, turning gray, or working for a living, but about our own free choices which we make to remain faithful to Christ and his gospel. We talk about crucifying our egos, habits, sins.

3.  Am I truly willing to give up everything for Christ to follow Him? How attached am I to house I live in, my car, my toys, my career, dreams for my future, money, my horse? Would I be willing to leave it behind for Christ if he asked me?

        

Is the relationship with Christ truly worth giving up everything that  I have?

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 13, 2010

11.c.2010.stmb.power (based on The New Interpreter's Bible Commentaries)

2 Sam 12:7-10,13; Gal 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3

       Power is always tempted to live in the illusion that it is autonomous and self-sufficient. Powerful people in powerful positions often imagine that they can define reality in their own terms. Power can corrupt. As Lord Acton, British historian who lived in the 19th century, said, unfortunately speaking in this particular case in regard to power of Renaissance popes,  "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely...  There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it."

       So in today's first reading we have an example of how power can corrupt. The story of king David and Nathan. David had succumbed to  the illusion of royal reality as ultimate authority. He had intimate relationship with a married woman. That relationship resulted in pregnancy and to protect himself from punishment he arranged for her husband to be killed. Nathan has come to speak to David the truth of the matter, that there is divine reality before which royal reality is judged.

       There is a divine governance of history that transcends human institutions. There is a divine power at work in history that judges human use of power. In the eyes of God, the powerless are as valued as the powerful, and the exploitation of these powerless ones is evil. Jesus knew that very well and this is why he was protecting and defending those who were marginalized and ostracized in society. Regardless of their social status and the ways they were perceived and limited by privileged and powerful God through Christ was reaching out to them.

       This is why Jesus in spite of social taboos and norms extended the gift of forgiveness to a sinful woman from today's gospel. She wanted to change. She wanted to be made whole again. Jesus gave her a second chance, although the powerful ones did not seem to want to do that.

       In the eyes of God, the achievements of power will mean nothing if they are bought at the price of exploiting the weak and the vulnerable. No institution or person can expect God's blessing upon them if they build the world or protect their creation by attempting to defy God's power and judgment. Perhaps this is why king David recognized his sin and asked God for God's mercy as he prayed to him in what is known to us as Psalm 51.

       Regardless of our social position and power which we have as a priest, politician, doctor, police officer, lawyer, teacher, parent, husband or wife we, through the virtue of our baptism, are called to use our position not to exploit but to build, not to wound but to heal, not to expel but to forgive.

       And if we exploited, wounded, or expelled we need to be ready to say we are sorry searching for the ways to restore what we and other through our actions have lost.

Corpus Christi - June 6, 2010

corpus.christi.2010.c.stmb.body.of.christ

Gn 14:18-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Luke 9:11b-17

       Our culture teaches us to be always in control. To use money, our skills, power, prestige to reach that goal. But longer we live more we realize that  this is impossible. For how can we, for example, control mystery of suffering or death? Can we restore to life anyone who has died, or take away our feelings of emptiness after a lose of a loved one, or give health to anyone who is terminally ill?

       When this kind of mystery enters a horizon of our lives we can’t control it. We can chose only one of the two things. We can try to deny it and run away from it, for example, by avoiding any conversations regarding that mystery or by using rather superficial language while experiencing it.  Or we can embrace this mystery, be in a dialogue with it so we can be transformed.

       This weekend we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi and we are invited by our church to have a conversation about this particular mystery of our faith, to reminded ourselves what a precious gift we are offered in the Body and Blood of Christ.

       So let us start our conversation with listening to the words of Jesus which are proclaimed by a priest during each Eucharistic celebration. During the Last Supper Jesus said:

“Take this, all of you, and eat it:

this is my body which will be given up for you.”

Take this, all of you, and drink from it:

This is the cup of my blood,

The blood of the new and everlasting covenant.

It will be shed for you and for all

So that sins may be forgiven.

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.”

Each time we are gathered here and hear those words being pronounced we do not just remember some past event, some historical fact which occurred two millennia ago.  The Jewish word ZIKKARON, translated into English as remembrance or memory means to make something present again. In this context, during our Eucharistic celebration here, Jesus becomes truly present to us under the specious of bread and wine. We really receive him in communion so we can become like him.

      Although this is very important mystery of our faith some of us intentionally or unintentionally  are not willing to enter into a dialogue with this mystery and to allow ourselves to be transformed. We take the gift of communion for granted or consider it more as a magical event  that makes us holly and reserves us a place with God for all eternity. This is it. No more questions should be asked or considered. It does not matter if:

·      we understand language and songs which are used during the mass;

·      if we adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and receive communion but hate, cheat, and ruin reputation of our neighbor;

·      if , without any good reason, we come to Eucharistic celebration late, or leave at once after receiving communion;

·      if we talk or gossip while other are trying to pray here;

·      if we  allow children to do anything possible during Eucharistic celebration with no regards to those next to us.

·      It does not matter  if we have homily sounding  like Saturday Night Live or Comedy Central, or leaving us with smell of sulfur in our nostrils;

·      It does not matter if we fully and actively participate in the Eucharistic celebration by carrying the processional cross if we are asked, reading the Scriptures, administering communion as Eucharistic ministers, serving at the altar, singing songs, responding to prayers, and paying attention to what happens, as long as the mass is short and allows us to fulfill our Sunday and Holy Day mass obligation, or we leave from here well entertained.

As long as a magic happens and a magician performs well up to our standards everything is fine and no questions are asked or considered, no letters are sent to bishop, and no new church shopping for a perfect mass, community and a priest is on our agenda.

But we also do not enter into the dialogue with Christ, rob ourselves of the greatest mystery of our faith regarding the Body and Blood of Christ, and are not being transformed by them.

Perhaps Jesus instituted the Eucharist not only to change bread and wine into his body, but also to change us into his body.

Perhaps the Mass is not only meant to transform elements or give us an entertainment, but also to transform us.

Perhaps when Jesus said, "Behold I am with you always, until the end of the world," Jesus was not only referring to his real presence in the Eucharist, but also to his real presence in his people, the members of his body, in us his church.

Perhaps the purpose of the Eucharist is to create a community of people who live the paschal mystery. Who strive to imitate Jesus' self-giving by loving God above all and loving all others as Jesus loves them. Who strive to show their love by dying to themselves so they may live and emptying themselves for others so as to be fulfilled.