Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Benefits of Being Thankful

My homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Questions, comments, etc. are all welcome!

Location: Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 8:30 & 10:30 a.m. Sunday Masses
Date: Sunday October 13th, 2013 (28th Sunday in OT, Year C; Vocation Awareness Sunday)

READINGS:
1st Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-17
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
2nd Reading: 2 Timothy 2:18-13
Gospel: Luke 17:11-19
FOCUS: There are many benefits to having an attitude of gratitude for God’s gifts.  
FUNCTION: Make prayer a daily habit; spend at least 5 minutes a day talking to God.  



My trip to Haiti this past February continues to resonate with me.  Having never been to a third world country before, it was truly an eye-opening experience – to see the local people walking to and from the stream just outside of the town to wash what few clothes they have and bathe; to see the humble conditions in which the local townspeople live; and to see them walk several miles just to get to Mass on Sunday – it was all pretty amazing.  And it made me think about a lot of things that I sometimes take for granted – the luxury of having clean and running water, the ability to take a shower in the privacy of my own bathroom, being able to go to the grocery store to buy food, having a car to help me get places, having a regular and reliable source of income, and having a decent place to sleep, just to name a few of the things that I sometimes take for granted. 

 
          Life is much different in Haiti; they don’t have all the luxuries that we have here in the US.  When you really stop and think about it, we’re living the high life; we’re living better than probably 90% of the world; we have much that we should be thankful for.  And yet we still complain; I’m as guilty of this as the rest of us.  Many of us take our modern luxuries for granted.  I did, and I know that I still do.  I still need greater spiritual conversion in my life.  I still need to work on being thankful for what I do have rather than focused on what I don’t.  Going to Haiti helped me realize I need to develop “an attitude of gratitude.”
 
          And I think that’s what the readings are all about this weekend – developing “an attitude of gratitude.”  How often do we ask God for things, and then forget to say “thank you”?  God must think we’re terribly ungrateful once in a while!  It’s a vice we’ve all been guilty of at one point or another.  We ask, we ask, we ask, and then we forget to say thank you.  I suppose it’s part of our fallen, human condition; we know how to be needy, but we don’t always know how to be thankful.

          In both the first and the second reading, people were cleansed of the awful, flesh-eating disease of leprosy. As a side note, one of the best-known people to have worked with lepers is Saint Damien of Molokai.  He was Born in Tremelo, Belgium, on January 3rd, 1840, and joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in 1860.  He was born Joseph and received the name Damien in religious life.  In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was ordained.  For the next nine years he worked in missions on the big island, Hawaii.  In 1873, he went to the leper colony on Molokai, after volunteering for the assignment.  Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony.  He announced he was a leper in 1885 and continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins.  He died on April 15th, 1889, on Molokai.  He was declared venerable in 1977; Pope John Paul II pronounced him “blessed” on June 4th, 1995; and Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 11th, 2009.  His feast day is also October 11th.
 
          To be cured of leprosy was no small feat; anyone identified as a leper was segregated from society, because it was possible to get the disease through close, personal contact.  Lepers were considered ritually unclean, and had to go around announcing themselves as such.  The fact that Jesus cleansed them enabled them to return to social life; it was a gift of matchless value.  He cleansed all ten of the lepers, and only one returned to give Him thanks.  And that one former leper was now doubly blessed – not only had he been cleansed of his leprosy, but by his act of thanksgiving, he was now closer to his eternal salvation because of his faith and his act of thanksgiving.
 
          Maybe we haven’t received a gift from God like being cleansed of leprosy, but we’ve still received much from His generous hands – we have the gift of our family; the gift of being able to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell; the gift of all these luxuries around us; and most importantly, the gift of life.  That doesn’t mean life will always be easy; but even when life’s hard, and we have to face things such as failing health or broken relationships, God is still good even if we realize we’re living in a broken world. 
 
          So we might make a little examination of conscience: have we thanked God today for the good things we have?  Have we recognized the many blessings we’ve received, or have we allowed ourselves to be consumed with jealousy and envy?  Now’s the time to be thankful for what we have; and if we are thankful, we might not think so much about what we don’t have.  I think being thankful helps us realize that there are a lot of things that we don’t actually need; being thankful helps us be satisfied with less; it helps us to live simply and be more mindful of the needs of others; and it puts us in right relationship with God, who cares for us and provides for our needs.
 
          One thing we all have to be thankful for is the gift of our personal vocation; God has placed a unique calling on each of our lives.  And since today is also Vocations Awareness Sunday, it would do us good to stop and think about our vocation in life, especially if we feel like we haven’t yet answered it.  Many of you here today are called to marriage – and many of you have embraced that vocation because you’re already married; but God may be calling others here in a different way – some of you here might be called to the priesthood; others might be called to religious life; still others here may be called to the diaconate; and some of you might be called to life as a chaste, single person.  Whatever your vocation, God has a plan for your life – a plan to bring you a sense of peace and fulfillment; a plan to make you happy in this life and help lead you to “the life of the world to come.”
 
          I think it all starts with prayer: ask the Lord to show you your vocation; and even if you’ve already responded to your vocation in life, spend at least 5 minutes a day talking to God in prayer – ask Him to lead you and guide you, and thank Him for the ways in which He’s blessed you.  And you just might find yourself happier, more content, and closer to the kingdom of God.                
 

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Serve Others, Serve Life

My homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 
 
 
Location: Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 5 p.m. Saturday & 10:30 a.m. Sunday
                Saint Paul Catholic Church (Worthington, IA) – 9 a.m. Sunday
Date: Sunday October 6th, 2013 (27th Sunday in OT, Year C; Respect Life Sunday)

READINGS:

1st Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
2nd Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10

FOCUS: Christians are called to be servants to others, and to do this humbly.  
FUNCTION: Think about ways you can get involved in little acts of service to others.  

            The idea of service isn’t always a positive one for people.  Although it doesn’t happen around here, in other parts of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Catholic high school students might be asked to do hours of service every year; or confirmation students might be asked to fulfill a number of service hours in preparation for the sacrament of confirmation; or parish circle members might be asked to serve at various parish activities; and sometimes – believe it or not – people aren’t always happy about the idea of service. 

          As I said, I know this doesn’t happen around here, but it does happen in other parts of the Archdiocese of Dubuque and the world.  We don’t want to serve; often, we just want to be served.  That’s why we have fast food restaurants where someone else will make our food and bring it out to us; car wash places where all we have to do is stick $8 into a machine and the machine inside will wash the car for us; and businesses where we can order things like lumber or rock or soil and someone else will load it up or deliver it for us. 

          The idea of serving others isn’t always appealing; but in our fallen humanity, the idea of being served by others always seems like a good idea.  We’re just fallen and sinful creatures; that’s why we like the idea of being served more than we do serving others.  But service is a part of life, especially for us as Christians.  We are called to serve others and to serve God; we are called to be selfless and self-giving, in imitation of Our Lord who said that He came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many,” (see Matthew 20:28).  And that’s Jesus’ message in today’s Gospel – “So should it be with you.  When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’

          To those of us – myself included – who sometimes like being served more than we like serving, this is a challenge; it’s a challenge to have a humble attitude about what’s asked of us, to not throw a fit about having to do something, and realizing that being involved in service is just part of what it means to be human, and what it means to be a Christian.  We’re all called to serve; the challenge is to do it with a smile; and to realize that we serve something bigger than ourselves – that we serve the advancement of the kingdom of God, the betterment of humanity, and the true development of the world.  Then it’s easy to see that service is meant to build up a worthy cause; and we can take good pride (as opposed to sinful pride) in what our service accomplishes. 

          One cause that we might think about serving in this month of October is the cause of life – respect for all life, from conception to natural death.  October is Respect Life Month.  It’s the month that we dedicate to reaching out and promoting activities that work to serve and defend the dignity and the right to life of all human beings.  And serving the cause of life isn’t something that should be considered a burden; just the opposite is true – to serve the cause of life should be considered a great privilege to make a difference in the lives of people around us.  That’s the beauty of service – the knowledge that we’re making a difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.

          The theme that our Bishops have chosen for this Respect Life Month is “Open your hearts to life!”  As part of this month, and as we observe today as Respect Life Sunday, I’d like to read you a small part of the Respect Life Sunday statement put out by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston and Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.  The full statement, along with additional resources for Respect Life Month, can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – usccb.org.   

          Cardinal O’Malley says, “What does it mean to open our hearts to life?  It means to search our souls and acknowledge our deepest longing for Christ's love.  Though we are capable of sins against human life such as abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia, we are not beyond Christ's mercy.  It is important for us to know and share with others that Christ's forgiveness is offered even to those who have taken another person's life, if they are truly repentant of that act.

          We must respond to Pope Francis' call with great urgency.  Opening our hearts to life in Christ empowers us for loving, merciful action toward others.  We must give witness to the Gospel of Life and evangelize through our lives.  We must personally engage others and share the truth about human life.  We must continue to show love and mercy, especially with those who have been involved in abortion. All members of the Church can bring healing to the world by upholding the beauty of human life and God's unfailing mercy.

          Only a tender, compassionate love that seeks to serve those most in need, whatever the personal cost, is strong enough to overcome a culture of death and to build a civilization of love.  Let us open our hearts and reflect on how God might be calling each of us to witness the sacredness of human life and assist in pro-life efforts. We may be called to help parents welcome their unborn child as a miracle of God's creation, to visit the elderly or aid those who are sick and suffering, to pray and fast for life, to advocate to our elected officials, or to assist educational efforts in our parishes.

          We entrust all these efforts to the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, and her husband St. Joseph. They are models of virtue and holiness who gave everything to welcome Jesus into their lives despite the hardships. With their assistance, may each of us have the courage to open our hearts to life.

          God’s calling us to serve Him and His kingdom; He’s calling us to defend and protect the right to life; and He’s calling us to put aside our occasional grumblings and work to right the wrongs we see happening in the world around us.  Changing the world doesn’t happen when nobody cares; but changing the world does happen when people care enough to enough to change themselves, the way they live and the way they think, the things they say, and the things they do.  And we can change the world through service, through defending life, through working to make this world we live in a better place so that God’s kingdom can grow.  To make that happen, consider doing one random act of kindness a day, every day.  Because making God’s kingdom present in the world starts with us.