"I am the Lord, there is no other"

 

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY

IN ORDINARY TIME

21-22 October – Holy Spirit Parish

Is 45:1, 4-6

1 Thes 1:1-5b

Mt 22:15-21

       Praised be Jesus Christ!

       “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, Cyrus… It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, there is no other.”

       Big Cyrus, the pagan conqueror, who lets Israel return to the Promised Land, without them lifting a finger, after 70 years in Babylonian captivity. The prophet Isaiah tells us that this was God’s doing. It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. Cyrus was God’s chosen instrument to restore Israel to its home. Over the course of time it has never proved easy for people, even people of faith, to grasp that our God does indeed rule the universe and guide the course of history. Not an easy truth, but a truth just the same: God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ rules the universe. If we could always and everywhere profess that truth we would not live so anxiously, burdens would be easier to carry, and we just might live more consistently in hope.

       In the Gospel of Matthew today, the Pharisees would seem to give the impression that they are in charge of their people’s fate. “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”      Their “us-against-the-world” attitude, so to speak, is a good part of what got the Pharisees to hold to the letter of the law and simply insist on keeping the conquering Romans at arm’s length, as if it were unthinkable to grant the Romans a place in God’s plan for His people Israel, to recognize the oppressor’s place in determining the fate of the people not only for bad but also for good. When asked to declare Himself for one party or the other, to choose between the Romans and the observance of the Law, Jesus confounds the Pharisees in His response to their challenge by speaking to the reality of Israel’s situation of subjection to Rome. “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

       As evident or obvious as Jesus’ response was, it was for the Pharisees and is in similar situations in our world a case of thinking outside the box. Most people are immediate and political in their approach to life. In living just for the present moment not many people actually grapple with the big questions in life, at least not with those dealing with the power and presence of God in our world. Our attitude seems to be one more inspired by the workings of politics or of the debate platform, and hence motivated by the quest for short-term gains. In the light of this Sunday’s readings, I think we should rather focus on the role of divine providence in our lives, about God’s will being done in all things despite the impression we might have that He the Lord is seemingly absent from the bigger picture.

       I don’t think there is a day which goes by in a social setting when someone doesn’t complain to me about either people in civil government or in church government. They let their nerves get frayed over things beyond their control. This situation on the southern border or that comment by some politician has them all up in arms, filled with disgust, and really at their wit’s ends. Very few of them seem to take consolation from the suggestion that it might be better to spend much less time following the news.

       The phrase “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” is not calculating and does not represent a political stance, but it does speak to the reality of things. From little on, we are taught to pray for rain in due season and to pray for a bountiful harvest. It makes sense in that these are things beyond our control. The longer I live in this world of ours, the clearer it becomes to me that praying the Lord to grant wisdom and grace to our leaders is a no less worthwhile prayer intention. The more disinformation we encounter out there in the world the more sense it makes to beg the Lord to place His mighty Hand on all those who wield the scepter of power in our world.

       It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me.

       Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as the psalmist says. May those who love you prosper!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Wiping away every Tear and every Reproach

 

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

14-15 October 2023 – St. Lambert Parish

Is 25:6-10a

Phil 4:12-14, 19-20

Mt 22:1-14

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast…

Who wouldn’t long for this great day on the Lord’s Mountain about which Isaiah prophesies?

The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth…

And yet from what we hear recounted in today’s Gospel and from the news accounts that come to our attention, not to mention sometimes our own sad experience with relatives and friends, it must be said that being a practicing Catholic is not generally a high priority. Being a good Catholic is not considered the be all and the end all of life in this world. Not a few people seem to run the other way or worse when the king invites them to his son’s wedding.

In our Gospel today from St. Matthew, we hear recounted the parable of the king eager to celebrate his son’s wedding feast with his subjects. When the invited guests refused to come and even mistreated or killed the king’s servants, the king had these ingrates and their cities destroyed. He then filled the banquet hall with all sorts of people whom he had virtually constrained to come in from the highways and byways. Refusing or declining the king’s invitation was not an option. The king and his officers would not take “no” for an answer. Even so, the man who presented himself at the feast without a proper wedding garment was punished, hogtied, and cast into the darkness outside. “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Just by way of an aside, if you are looking for a text from Scripture to explain to unbelieving friends why we baptize babies, this would be a good candidate.

“’Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.”

On the one hand, the parable describes the universal nature of the call to holiness. At the same time as the text highlights individual human freedom, the parable points to the sobering reality of people in this world who either turn their back on God in His Church, even lash out against him and his servants, or sort of participate half-heartedly or under some kind of mental reservation, like the man in the parable not dressing for the occasion of a wedding banquet. The simple truth is that if you would be part of the Lord’s great wedding feast spoken about by Christ in the Gospel, you must not only enter in, but also act and dress the part, that is, really enter in by renouncing sin and all that is contrary to God’s will. To find your place at the king’s big table you must break with Satan, with all his works, and with all his empty promises.

        The Gospel scene may strike us as a bit odd to the extent that we might find the king’s behavior unreasonable, his forcing someone to come to the party and then on top of it insisting that person dress up like a proper guest. “My king! Take me as I am! Like it or lump it!”

       For a lot of years that may have been my reaction to the reading of this parable. Why is the king so uppity? Why doesn’t he take the man as he is? Why the formality of dress? After all, it was not as if he was trying to get into this feast. In a sense, this wedding celebration was forced on him! You can imagine him saying, “There I was minding my own business and then all of a sudden they grabbed me literally and now here I am at the wedding of the king’s son!”

        In the old days and yet still the classic example of refusal of the king’s invitation was noted in Catholic parents who for whatever reason refused to pass on their Catholic faith to their children. It is the old story of people who don’t baptize their children as soon as possible in infancy, saying it would be better for them to choose Baptism on their own. That may be their claim based on some false notion of human freedom, but no! It’s wrong. The point is that we belong at the wedding feast the king prepares for his son. As there is no better alternative, whether by failing to baptize, or by not setting a good example, or by not properly instructing our children in the faith. If we do not heed the king’s call without hesitation, then we reject God and we harm those entrusted to our care. We could also mention the tragedy of those who though brought up Catholic themselves at some time in their lives walk away from the practice of the faith (and they seem to be many these days)!

       The real-life consequences of the faith are those described in today’s Gospel. They involve embracing wholeheartedly the call we have received from our parents, in and through the Church, to come and share in the king’s wedding feast. How could we deprive a child of the great gift of Baptism? It would be like depriving that child of life’s greatest good.

In our day especially, we can note all those who pretend to set their own terms for belonging to the Church. The parable’s example of the man showing up not properly dressed for the party best describes this group of people who claim to remain in the Church on their own terms. It is something which just cannot be, for that too would be a rejection of the king and his invitation. Here too punishment is due. Hogtie him and throw him outdoors into the dark! This snub of our duties as Catholics must have its consequences, this rejection of the king, whether overt and aggressive as it was done by the first group of invitees or somewhat cynical and passive as in the case of the man from the street still refusing to dress the part of an honored guest.

       The invitation to come to the feast cannot be anything other than a call to engagement with the king and ultimately a call to obedience to the king’s will. What do I care about the king’s son getting married? Why should I engage myself by going all the way and getting dressed up for the occasion? What ultimately is in it for me? Talk about the obligations of our Catholic life is an awkward sort of conversation involving lifelong faithfulness in marriage and demanding chastity according to our state in life, excluding all sexual activity outside of marriage. Even within marriage, the marital act itself must be open to the creation of new human life. Let’s try couching the thing in negative terms and saying that to reject the king’s invitation is to throw our lot in with the devil. By siding with God in His Church, we are committing ourselves to rejecting Satan and his lies.

       My suspicion is that you are eager to correspond to the wishes of the king and to join in his feast already now and for eternity. You want to live a good and holy life. Even so, we fail and need the sacrament of Penance as an aid on our path to holiness. We also have a burden to carry for others who fail in this regard. We must teach those in our care about the urgency of a prompt and wholehearted response to the invitation of the king. It can’t hurt to state it negatively both for them and for us. A little dread of being cast down from God’s Mountain into the depths of hell may be a great start on our path to the wedding feast, lest we end up in the darkness outside.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

To Dread the Loss of Heaven and the Pains of Hell

 19^th Sunday after Pentecost

8 October 2023 – Canton

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       “For many are called, but few are chosen.” “Give not place to the devil.” If you would be part of the Lord’s great wedding feast spoken about by Christ in the Gospel, you must renounce sin. That is, you must break with Satan, with all his works, and with all his empty promises.

       The great English martyr bishop, St. John Fisher, stated clearly that three things are required of us in that regard: 1) contrition, that is, genuine sorrow for our sins, 2) confession to the priest of all our mortal sins, and 3) satisfaction, making amends in order to scrub away what lingers on our souls of past sins now forgiven. A great nineteenth century French spiritual author commenting on this Sunday’s Gospel explains that dreading the loss of heaven and the pains of hell is a worthy motivation for working to expiate past sins, correct our present faults, and guard against falls from grace in the future.

       In our Gospel today from St. Matthew, we hear recounted the parable of the king eager to celebrate his son’s wedding feast with his subjects. When the invited guests refused to come and even mistreated or killed the king’s servants, the king had these ingrates and their cities destroyed. He then filled the banquet hall with all sorts of people whom he had constrained to come in from the highways and byways. The king and his officers would not take “no” for an answer. Even so, the man who presented himself at the feast without a proper wedding garment was punished, hogtied, and cast into the darkness outside. “For many are called, but few are chosen.” This man who failed to dress properly for the wedding is the soul who fails to make satisfaction, to undergo the third scrubbing taught by St. John Fisher and all the great tradition of the Church.

        The Gospel scene may strike us as a bit odd to the extent that we find the king’s behavior unreasonable, his forcing someone to come to the party and then on top of it insisting that person dress up like a proper guest. “My king! Take me as I am! Like it or lump it!”

       For a lot of years that may have been my reaction to the reading of this parable. Why is the king so uppity? Why doesn’t he take the man as he is? Why the formality of dress? After all, this wedding celebration was forced on him! You can imagine him saying, “There I was minding my own business and then all of a sudden they grabbed me literally and now here I am at the wedding of the king’s son!”

You’ll hear people, especially adolescents, who react in much the same way to their call to live the Christian life by the grace of their Baptism. Like it or not, they are expected to take on the obligations of life in the Church (The famous Sunday morning struggle: “Son, get out of that bed! As long as you are under my roof, you are going to church with your mother and me!”). It has not been uncommon for years now to hear of people who don’t baptize their children as soon as possible in infancy, saying it would be better for them to choose Baptism on their own. You do hear that, but no! It’s wrong. The real life consequences of the faith are those described in today’s Gospel. They are those of embracing wholeheartedly the call we have received from our parents, in and through the Church, to come and share in the king’s wedding feast. How could we deprive a child of the great gift of Baptism? It would be like depriving that child of life’s greatest good.

        Let us leave aside for a moment parents who for whatever reason fail to pass on their Catholic faith to their children, whether by failing to baptize, by not setting a good example, or by not properly instructing them in the faith! Let us also not talk of the tragedy of those who themselves walk away from the practice of the faith (and they seem to be many these days)! Rather let us consider for a moment those who claim to set their own terms for being Catholic! Being Catholic on my own terms, forgiving my own sins, showing up not properly dressed for the party is something which just cannot be. That too would be a rejection of the king and his invitation. Here too punishment is due. Hogtie him and throw him outdoors into the dark! This snub of our duties as Catholics must have its consequences, this rejection of the king, whether overt and aggressive as it was done by the first group of invitees or somewhat cynical and passive as in the case of the man hauled into the wedding from the street still refusing to dress the part of an honored guest. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  (Matt. 12:30)

       The invitation to come to the feast cannot be anything other than a call to engagement with the king and ultimately a call to obedience to the king’s will. People sometimes refer to such demands put upon us as forced fun. What do I care about the king’s son getting married? Why should I engage myself by going all the way and getting dressed up for the occasion? What ultimately is in it for me? It is an awkward sort of conversation and so perhaps we’re better off taking another approach. Let’s try couching the thing in negative terms and saying that to reject the king’s invitation is to throw our lot in with the devil. By siding with God in His Church, we are committing ourselves to rejecting Satan and his lies.

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:2-5)

       My suspicion is that all of you are eager to correspond to the wishes of the king and to live a good and holy life. Even so, we have a burden to carry for others who fail in this regard. We must also hasten to teach those in our care about the urgency of a prompt and wholehearted response to the invitation of the king. And why not state it negatively both for them and for us? A little dread may be a great start on our path to the wedding feast of heaven, lest we end up in the darkness outside.

Praised be Jesus Christ! 

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

The Master's Will for us to bear good Fruit.

 

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY

IN ORDINARY TIME

7-8 October 2023 - St. Lambert Parish

Is 5:1-7

Phil 4:6-9

Mt 21:33-43

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

       This last sentence from today’s Gospel just has to hold our attention; these words should really hold us bound. They are both an exhortation to all to behave rightly and a condemnation of some who have remained stubbornly unfaithful to the Divine Will. “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” Jesus through His Church is admonishing us as Catholics to get with the program, to be faithful to the Gospel.

       This Sunday’s theme could not be stated clearer than it is in the assigned scriptures. Both our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah and Matthew’s Gospel refer to vineyards, to farm production, to the yield of grapes expected in due time given all the effort invested before and over the course of the growing season. Isaiah in the first reading talks about the tragedy of having planted choice vines which sadly yield wild grapes, not good either for eating or for making decent wine.

       I can identify with this grape production/vineyard imagery as last spring I ordered a rhubarb root online to replace some that had rotted out in the South Dakota clay on the south side of my house (rhubarb likes it a bit dryer). Maybe a week after I planted the root which came in the mail, I got an apology from the company and a refund. Somehow, they had made a mistake and sent me Chinese rhubarb, which is an ornamental plant, intended to produce fragrant flowers but no good for rhubarb sauce, pie or crisp. As in the account from the prophet, once the Chinese rhubarb had come up and leafed out, I could see the difference and dug it up and threw it away. Fragrant flowers was not what I had ordered online. No reasonable person with a taste for rhubarb would fault me for throwing the thing away. It is not what I had expected, and the seed company had apologized beforehand for their mistake.

       Isaiah explains the lesson in these words: “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! For justice, but hark, the outcry!” The prophet condemned Israel for not bearing the desired fruit, for not behaving as God’s People should, for not producing the desired fruit of justice and peace.

The Gospel has a different focus, not on bad plants but on the tenant farmers who not only refused the owner of the vineyard his due, but laid hands on his servants and even killed his son, the heir to the property, thinking to make the vineyard their own by violence.

“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

       My guess is that even the thickest headed people today would understand the point of our parable and of our prophecy. Even so given the woke state of affairs which prevails in society, they might refuse to apply it in their own lives. Too often people out there in the world throw fits when they are called to render account for their failure to observe God’s law, to obey His commands.

       It is an odd state of affairs, but not only people who have never been catechized, who do not know their faith, but a lot of those who should know better refuse to submit to Christ. They refuse to live by God’s law. They fail to produce good fruit or like the wicked tenants they commit acts of aggression against the servants of the living God.

       Some of those people are like the wild grapes or the Chinese rhubarb, which should never have been, given their Baptism and upbringing in the Catholic Faith, 12 years of Catholic schooling and maybe even having frequented a so-called Catholic institute of higher learning. No mercy! Root them out! Let them go!

That is not to say that the Lord is without mercy. We can always find consolation in the parable of the fig tree which bears no fruit and which because of the servant's intercession with the master gains one more year of cultivation and fertilizer before it should be cut down. Like good servants we owe our prayers and supplications to all who have been unfaithful to the promises of their Baptism. That the Lord in His love and mercy would call them back to the right path. Parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters especially owe them our sincere acts of penance for their conversion and eternal salvation.

       The same is true for all those who were not properly raised in the faith, who were exposed to grave scandal as children or adolescents even sometimes in our Catholic schools. We owe them our best efforts at winning their recovery. But this does not mean that we should approve their behavior as wild grapes, good for nothing, or as Chinese rhubarb, fit neither for a pie, nor for a crisp, nor even for rhubarb sauce, no matter how much sugar and cinnamon you throw into the pot. Abortion never gets a pass, nor generally does in vitro fertilization or surrogacy. People living in adultery, same-sex unions, or extra-marital relationships should not approach to receive Holy Communion.

       When we are truly sorry and able to make a good confession, we should never delay approaching the Sacrament of Penance. Wild grapes and Chinese rhubarb have no place in the Lord’s Garden. Fear of offending the Lord of Life demands that we bend to His Will and find life in Him for ourselves and for all those dear to us. “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

       Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI