Here's this weekend's homily. Questions, comments, thoughts, criticisms, corrections, etc. are all welcome!
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 146:7, 8-9, 9-10
2nd Reading: 1st Timothy 6:11-16
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
Location: Basilica of Saint Francis
Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 5 p.m. Saturday
Saint Joseph Catholic Church (Earlville, IA) – 8 a.m. Sunday Mass
Saint Boniface Catholic Church (New Vienna, IA) – 10 a.m. Sunday Mass
Date: Sunday September 29th,
2013 (26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)
READINGS:
1st Reading: Amos 6:1a, 4-7Resp. Psalm: Ps. 146:7, 8-9, 9-10
2nd Reading: 1st Timothy 6:11-16
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
FOCUS: Especially as Christians, we
are called to serve the poor in our midst.
FUNCTION: Defend the lives of the unborn;
get involved in outreach to Haiti.
Ever
since his election as Pope on March 13th, 2013, Pope Francis has
been shaking things up in the Catholic world. Many people praise him; some people criticize
him; but everyone is captivated by what this Pope is doing and saying. After his first appearance on the balcony of
St. Peter’s Basilica, taking the name Francis, many people wondered what
inspired him to take the name; they wanted to know which “Francis” inspired him:
was it St. Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit missionary; or was it St. Francis
de Sales, the great Doctor of the Church and master of the spiritual life; or
was it St. Francis of Assisi, the rich young man who chose poverty as a way to
renew the Church?
In
an address given to journalists just three days after his election, the Pope
himself offered the journalists an explanation for why he took the name Francis;
these are the Pope’s own words: “During the
election, I was seated next to the Archbishop Emeritus of São Paolo and Prefect
Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes: a good friend,
a good friend! When things were looking
dangerous, he encouraged me. And when
the votes reached two thirds, there was the usual applause, because the Pope
had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss, and said: “Don’t forget the
poor!” And those words came to me: the
poor, the poor. Then, right away,
thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes
were still being counted, till the end. Francis
is also the man of peace. That is how
the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi.”
The
Pope took the name Francis (a name never before chosen by a Pope) because of
St. Francis of Assisi, who he says was “the
man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation…” And in his short time as Pope, he has clearly
acted on his initial inspiration. He has
spoken often of the need for us to be concerned about the poor, about peace,
about welcoming strangers and offering hospitality to those who are marginalized
by society. The Pope speaks about these
subjects quite regularly in his “tweets” on Twitter; on Sept. 21st,
Pope Francis tweeted, “True charity requires courage: let us overcome the fear
of getting our hands dirty so as to help those in need.” And on Sept. 24th
he tweeted, “Let us ask the Lord to give
us the gentleness to look upon the poor with understanding and love, devoid of
human calculation and fear.” I think
we can expect that this concern for the poor – in imitation of St. Francis of
Assisi – will be a constant theme of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
And truly, concern for the poor needs
to be a constant concern for all of us as Christians; Jesus’ parable in today’s
Gospel – addressed to the Pharisees – is a sobering message for all of us: we
need to take care of the poor in our midst.
We can’t simply step around them or ignore them – as we might imagine
the rich man did in Jesus’ parable; we need to acknowledge them at our door, go
outside, and treat them like human beings.
The poor have names, faces, family, hopes, dreams, desires, and needs;
the poor are human beings who have been made in the image and likeness of
Almighty God.
In Matthew 25, Jesus even identifies
Himself with the lowliest members of society; He says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you
visited me,” (Matthew 25:35-36). And the main point of Jesus’ teaching
is this: “Amen, I say to you, whatever
you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me,” (see Matthew 25:40).
And the poor are all
around us. Wherever we see the faces of
the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the ill, and those in prison –
there we find the poor and the most vulnerable; and there we find Christ. It all comes down to this: how we treat the
poor is how we treat Christ. Are we
generous with helping those in need? Do
we look on the poor and the less fortunate with love and empathy, or do we
despise them, treat them harshly, and degrade them? We need to examine our lives; because how we
treat the poor is how we treat Christ.
I’d like to recommend two
ways we can help to serve the poor in our midst. The first is the annual 40 Days for Life
campaign that started this past Wednesday September 25th and goes
through Sunday November 3rd. The
official mission and vision statement from their website, 40daysforlife.com, says
that, “40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access
God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion. The mission of the campaign is to bring together
the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of
prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek
God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of
life, thus bringing an end to abortion.” Preborn babies in the womb are
the most poor and vulnerable members of society; we can work to defend the
right to life of these children through a witness of love for both mothers and
their children by praying in front of the Planned Parenthood building in
Dubuque. Getting involved in this
wonderful campaign is a good way to help poor and defenseless babies – and their
mothers – choose life and get help.
Another way to help the poor is to help
St. Francis Xavier’s sister parish, Holy Cross, in Fonds-Verettes, Haiti. Every year, a team of 10-15 parishioners go
down to Haiti to bring clothes, medical supplies, personal hygiene products,
and much more to the people living in abject poverty in Haiti. Reaching out to the people in Haiti helps you
realize that each poor person has a face, a name, and a story. St. Francis Xavier’s Haiti Fund is always in
need of donations to help the people of Haiti have the basic necessities of
life. Offering a donation to the fund,
volunteering to make the trip down to Haiti, or donating needed supplies is a
good, concrete way to help the poor who are so in need of our assistance.
The poor are all around us; we must not
neglect them or turn a blind eye to their needs; because how we treat the poor
is how we treat Christ.
