Mathew 25: 14-30 (Sunday, September 2, 2007)

In today’s readings, we are invited to become humble persons. One of the things we learn from these readings is that humility leads to greatness. Humility is the pathway to exaltation. When Jesus exhorts his followers in the gospel of today, “whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” he is not making an empty statement but this is truly what he believes and it plays out in his life. Jesus Christ is the primary model of humility for the Christian people. St. Paul rightly describes him thus in Philippians 2:6, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. … he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on the cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” Jesus Christ in Matthew 11: 29 tells us, “learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

Jesus’ humility guaranteed his exaltation. Here, he stands in great contrast with Lucifer the angel of light who failed in humility. St. John Simachus tells us that humility is the only virtue that the devil cannot imitate. If pride made angels into demons, humility makes demons into angels. There is the story of Satan appearing to one of the desert monks. He kept appearing to him in the form of an angel of light giving him messages and trying to make him feel so special and proud. This monk continued living his life of simplicity and humility. After some time, the devil getting frustrated said to him, “all that you do, I can do; but the only thing you do that I cannot do is your humility.” The monk was able to resist the devil because of his humility.

If we are humble people, not only that God helps us to resist the temptation of pride, but he brings us forgiveness. Humble people are able to look at themselves and says, I have really made wrong choices. People who are not humble would always look for ways to justify away their mistakes. They always look for people to blame for their mistakes. In 1 Kings 21, Ahab wanted Naboth to sell him his vineyard. Naboth refused. This caused Ahab great pain that he refused to eat. His wife Jezebel accused Naboth of cursing God and king and had him stoned to death. After that, she convinced Ahab to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard. When Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard, the Lord sent Prophet Elijah to prophecy to him. The Lord said, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood too. I am bringing evil upon you. I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahabs line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel.” When Ahab heard this, he tore his gaments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh as a sign of his repentance. When the Lord saw this, he said, “since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time.”

What we really need as a country is humility. We are quick to proclaim how great a nation. We boast about our military might and our power to subdue all nations. Our lack of humility will not let us confess that we made a mistake with Iraq. What we need today is the humility of Ahab to recognize that we have really sinned and that our sin if not repented of, will lead to our destruction. We as a nation need to mourn of our national sins. We need to do a national fast and penance. The religious right that is quick to support and defend the war with the bible need to recognize that we have sinned and have failed God in the power he has given to us as a nation. We cannot separate the things that are going on in our nation today from our social sins. Our economy is in big trouble; natural and man made disasters everywhere; everyday our fine soldiers are exposed to more and more risks in Iraq. God is inviting us as a nation to humble ourselves. 2Chronicles 7:14 tells us, “if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.” God wants to restore our nation but we must humble ourselves, acknowledge our sinfulness and pray. Talking politics is not enough; congress would not help us either. Reviving our country is a spiritual battle and it must start from the grassroots. The question today is how we at St. Margaret Mary can bring about this spiritual revival. It is not enough to come to church on Sunday and to even say to me at the end of the Mass, “nice homily Father.” I want to see people who want to change our nation come forward with ideas on how we can first revive Parkersburg, then the whole of Wood county, the state of West Virginia and the whole country. We can have a day of prayer and fasting across different Christian denominations. But that change must start here at St. Margaret Mary Church.

We can never become the people that God wants us to be if we fail to live out radically the virtue of humility. We are told in the book of James 4:10 that if you humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, the lord will lift you up. Your humility will cause you to find favor with God. What is greater than being favorable in the eyes of God? When you are favorable in the eyes of God, he will pour abundantly his graces and blessings. It means, you will become a special person. God found favor in the Blessed Virgin Mary and she was called the Blessed one. God found favor in Abraham and he was blessed.

Let us today begin a process of becoming humble people, so that God will bless us and bless our land. This will mean doing such little things as adults respecting the opinions of younger people and taking corrections from them and younger people trusting in the wisdom of older people; this will mean seeking forgiveness from those you have hurt or who have hurt you; this means making yourself available to others who need your help; this also means working actively to bring about a change in the national policies of our country.
It is by doing these things, that we will truly be people of humility – becoming the people God has called us to be.

Mathew 25: 14-30 (Saturday, September 1, 2007)

God has blessed us with so many gifts. The reason he has given us these gifts is that we might use them and build up the kingdom of God. God, however, has also given us the freewill to use these gifts as we wish. Some people have truly used these gifts to build up the body of Christ, others have been lukewarm since after their confirmation. For others, confirmation is their send off from the church, we see them again only during their wedding ceremony, when they come to please their parents and grandparents. One fact that we cannot run away from is that, one day we would be held accountable for how we spent the talents God gave to us. Those who truly used them to build up the kingdom of God, they would be rewarded abundantly and those who were so selfish that they kept their talents to themselves, hell would be their reward.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit of God, inspire us that we might know the gifts we have received from God. Come and help us to use these gifts to build up the body of Christ here on earth.

Mathew 25: 1-13 (Friday, August 31, 2007)

For some of us, our greatest sin is that of procrastination. We can never get anything done on time. We keep putting things off. A few years ago, I learnt a principle which I truly try to keep. It is a very simple principle, “if you can do it now, why keep it for later.” I always try to keep this in mind as I joggle through my daily commitments. I have discovered that this helps me to accomplish on time all that I need to. We do not want to be like St. Augustine who prayed, “Lord give me chastity, but not now.” If you are in a serious sin, you do not want to wait till the Lenten penance service to confess it. You want to take care of it immediately and keep moving with your spiritual life. The parable of today’s gospel emphasizes the consequences of waiting till the last minute to do things. Many a student had failing grades in school because they waited till the last moment to do their homework only to discover that the computer crashed the previous night and so they couldn’t turn in their work when it was due.

Do not wait till the last minute in order to work out your relationship with Jesus, you may never have the opportunity. We do not know the time or the hour. If you do not have that opportunity, you also would not be able to borrow the relationship your parents or grandparents have with Jesus. You need your own personal relationship with Jesus. Again, let us prepare ourselves, so that when Jesus comes, he will find us ready to join him in the marriage feast in heaven.

Prayer:
Take away from us the spirit of procrastination and empower us to prepare ourselves so that we will be ready when you come to take us. May each day of our lives draw us closer to you, that we might know your will for our lives and follow it.

Mathew 24: 42-59 (Thursday, August 30, 2007)

Christians should always be ready because they do not know the time Jesus will come. Today’s gospel reminded me of something that happened prior to the great Jubilee year. There was supposedly a secret from the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Fatima apparition that they would be three days of darkness. These three days of darkness were predicted to be some time around 1997. To survive the three days of darkness, you needed to burn candles for the three days. People went purchasing a lot of candles. My family had a different attitude to the whole event. We did not purchase any candle. This was our simple belief – during these three days of darkness, God will shine his light on the righteous people; and for the unrighteous people, even if they should light their candles, God will blow them out and they will experience the darkness. As Christian people, we do not have to wait for dates when the world will come to an end for us to live righteously. No one knows when God is going to come or call us individually for judgment. Our Christian motto should be “always ready.”

We have been given so much freedom during this time of our exile on earth. We should use our freedom to make right choices and not choices that will lead to our damnation. Do not live in an ungodly manner because you have this freedom, you do not know when you would be called to give an account of how you lived your life.

Prayer:
Lord, help us always to be faithful to you. May you find us worthy when you invite us to give account of how we spent our lives in this world.

Mark 6: 17-29 (Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Beheading of John the Baptist)

The feast of today is a celebration of courage, courage to preach the truth. John dared to preach the truth to Herod who was a despot and had the life or death of John within his control. John however knew that the truth was more important than his life and he hoped for a life beyond the temporal life on earth. John knew what the truth is and was ready to preach it irrespective of the consequences. The truth is always not very fashionable. The truth is also not very popular. If you stand for the truth, you will always find yourself alone. Yet, this is what Jesus calls us his followers to do. He says the spirit of truth will teach us all that we need to know. Have we always been faithful to the Christian truth or do we always go with the crowd? As Christian people, we are invited to hold and teach the truth. This will come with a lot of consequences. In some parts of the world, this might still lead to your death like in the case of John the Baptist. In our beloved country, the United States, you head will not likely be chopped off because you spoke the Christian truth, but sure, you might be attacked by the media, members of other religions and co-workers. Just know that you are not alone – Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels and the saints are with you. The truth is always victorious.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, you have not given to us the spirit of timidity. You have given to us the spirit of boldness. Give us the courage we need to speak the truth without coloring it. Help us to always stand for the truth even when it will get us into trouble.

I Thessalonians 2: 1-8 (Tuesday, August 28, 2007 Feast of St. Augustine)

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. We learnt how Monica persevered in prayer and eventually was able to help Augustine receive baptism. Augustine was baptized at the age of 33, became a priest at the age of 36 and eventually a bishop at the age of 41. Augustine gave up a Manichean lifestyle of love for the flesh and took on a new life of love for God. Augustine’s conversion experience led him towards becoming the person that God wants him to be. This new found love made him truly a Eucharistic person. Augustine would instruct those approaching first holy communion that, “you yourself are what you receive.” Our reception of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist makes us one with Jesus, and this one-ness should help us to become Christ-like people in the world. In Augustine, we learn that the Eucharist empowers us to become Christ-like people.

As we share in the Eucharist today, there are many habits in our lives that we have been struggling to rid ourselves of. Let us identify those things and ask Jesus of the grace to overcome them. If he could help Augustine overcome his life of the flesh, Jesus can help you too.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you today with our different sins of the flesh: Adultery, fornication, masturbation, pornography, alcoholism, drugs, over indulging ourselves in food. We ask you Lord to give us the power to overcome these, that we may be truly the people you want us to be.

I Thessalonians 1: 1-5, 8b-10 (Monday, August 27, 2007 Feast of St. Monica)

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo. Monica was given in marriage to a pagan Patricius, even though she was Christian. Patricius lived a life of licentiousness. Monica’s mother in law who also lived in the same town with them was a very difficult woman to contend. Her child, St. Augustine, also became a Manichean. Monica was able to bring Christ to their lives and change them. Monica did this through an enduring life of prayer and an exemplary Christian lifestyle. As today’s reading says, the gospel does not come in words alone. It comes by how we live our lives. The results of Monica’s prayers were not immediate; they came after a long time of prayer.

In our lives, we know people we wish they were better people. We may have family members or friends who have fallen from the church or never practiced religion. The greatest important thing we can do for them is to pray for them and live exemplary Christian lives. Jesus would gradually draw them to himself.

Prayer:
Lord, we place in your hands family members and friends who have fallen away from the Church or who have no place for you in their hearts, we ask you to draw them to yourself and help them to recognize the power of your presence in their lives.

Matthew 23: 1-12 (Saturday, August 25, 2007)

Today’s gospel invites us to be humble. As a minister of the word, I feel strongly challenged by it to look into myself and be sure that I live the message that I preach. Christianity is not a religion of the lips, but it is a religion of the heart. I cannot just talk the talk, I must walk the walk. The gospel for which I preach must challenge me to be a better Christian. We must always look at our leadership positions not as those of authority to Lord it over others, but we must be at the service of others. Jesus Christ was an example of a servant leader – he washed the feet of his disciples. Every Christian is called to wash the feet of others. To be at the service of those in need. Whatever you are: doctor, nurse, lawyer, teacher, priest, religious, farmer, banker, realtor, etc. look at your work as God’s opportunity for you to serve others. Do not look down on others because of your position or position your career just only from the perspective of making more money. You must be that Christian example in the work you do.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help us to bring you to our work, that we might be a shinning example of the servant leader.

John 1: 45-51 (Friday, August 24, 2007 – Feast if St. Bartholomew)

“Here is a true child of Israel, there is no duplicity in him.” This is an amazing statement from Jesus about Nathaniel. Most scholars believe that Nathaniel is the same apostle with Bartholomew. When Jesus looks you in the face, can he say that, “this is truly a Christian, there is no duplicity in him?” Christianity is not an outward show. It is a religion of the heart. Our external practices must come from our internal movements. It is not enough to do the external things when your heart is not in relationship with Jesus. We must reflect today and ask ourselves if we are real. If you are not, it is time to do something about it. The external practices will not engrave your name in the heavenly Jerusalem. What will do is a life lived in and for Jesus.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes we are hypocritical in our actions. We let the external things dominate our lives so that people will say we are truly holy. Help us to be real. Take away the spirit of spiritual pride from us that we may truly access ourselves and work towards being the people you have called us to be.

John 1: 45-51 (Wednesday, August 21, 2007 – Feast if St. Bartholomew)

“Here is a true child of Israel, there is no duplicity in him.” This is an amazing statement from Jesus about Nathaniel. Most scholars believe that Nathaniel is the same apostle with Bartholomew. When Jesus looks you in the face, can he say that, “this is truly a Christian, there is no duplicity in him?” Christianity is not an outward show. It is a religion of the heart. Our external practices must come from our internal movements. It is not enough to do the external things when your heart is not in relationship with Jesus. We must reflect today and ask ourselves if we are real. If you are not, it is time to do something about it. The external practices will not engrave your name in the heavenly Jerusalem. What will do is a life lived in and for Jesus.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes we are hypocritical in our actions. We let the external things dominate our lives so that people will say we are truly holy. Help us to be real. Take away the spirit of spiritual pride from us that we may truly access ourselves and work towards being the people you have called us to be.

John 22: 1-14 (Thursday, August 23, 2007)

Just because you have been baptized in the Christian church is not a guarantee that you would be saved. In the gospel of today, Jesus tells us that “many are called, few are chosen.” By virtue of our baptism, all Christians are called to be members of the family of Christ. In baptism, we are called to be priests, prophet and king like Jesus. St. Paul has an election theology which reflects those called to the Christian Church. One thing is to be called, and another thing is to do what you are called to do. If you fail to do what you are called to do, then you will not be among the chosen. We are called to be Christians through our baptism, but we are only chosen if we truly become christ-like, living the radical vocation of Christian love.

Prayer:
Jesus Christ, we are members of your Christian family. We recognize that we have been specially called to this vocation. Help us to live out radically our Christian vocation, so that we will be counted among your chosen ones.