24th Sunday in OT @ Ss. Francis and Clare, Birch Run

HOMILY 24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SEPTEMBER 11/12, 2021

Where were you last Tuesday? What did you have for dinner? What about breakfast? Who did you see that day? 

What about Tuesday, September 11, 2001? 

Strange, isn’t it? Why is it easier to remember?

It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago.

For those younger than 20 … all this may feel like ancient history.

For myself, I was on the Chassis Electrical floor in the Ford Motor Engineering Building on Rotunda Drive in Dearborn. I had plans to go to lunch with my brother, and that evening had my second session of my first night school theology class. I’d even come in to work a bit earlier so that I could leave earlier in order to go over the reading for class and study.

I didn’t go to lunch with my brother. And there was no school that evening.

Here, in the Diocese of Saginaw, Bishop Ken Untener put out a statement at 5:30 pm that day. It reads:

Our first thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of today’s tragedy, and their families. This is not a time for words. It is a time for prayers.

. . .

Whatever was important to us when we got up this morning is not important now. We’re all stunned. The suffering is so massive that it’s hard to thing of anything. If Jesus, the Son of God, wept over Jerusalem, we can weep now.

The tenderness of God goes out to everyone touched by this – which is all of us.

Today is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. And today is [yesterday was] the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. 

Our readings carry with them a theme of “suffering.” 

The Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 50 is known as the 3rd Suffering Servant Song. In this ‘song,’ the prophet gives a vivid description of sufferings, and lays out a three point plan of submission in order to persevere in suffering. 

He speaks of (1) a submission of the mind, (2) a submission of the will, and (3) a submission of faith.

A submission of the mind so that we might learn . . . a submission of the will so that we might accept God’s will … and a submission of faith that we might learn to trust in God.

The world is confused about suffering. For the most part, the world sees suffering as meaningless and seeks to obliterate it. As Catholics, we believe that suffering can have meaning – so long as we unite our own sufferings with the suffering of Christ.

In the Gospel, Jesus gives the First Prediction of His Passion. Peter has just confessed his faith that Jesus is the Christ . . . the Messiah . . . the Anointed One of God. But Peter is confused about what this means. Jesus goes on to speak of His coming Passion . . . that He “must suffer greatly . . . be rejected . . . and be killed.” And Peter doesn’t like how that sounds. Jesus corrects Peter, and confirms that not only will He suffer, but that He is calling His disciples – and us – to suffer with Him . . . to: 

take up [your] cross, and follow [Him].
[to] lose [. . . your lives] for [His] sake 
and [for the sake] of the [G]ospel . . .

Saint James explains this further when he points out that our faith must be expressed in our works . . . or perhaps a better translation of works could be ‘acts, deeds, doings, or labors.’

Our Faith must be expressed in actions, not just in words. 

There is a Latin motto, “facta non verba” meaning “deeds not words” and there are countless organizations that embrace that motto – fraternities, schools, civic entities, police and military units. My own Michigan State Defense Force, First Battalion, Alpha Company has adopted this motto as it’s own. And I think it is a good motto for us as Christians.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us pray that our faith may always move us to action. Let us remember the Sacrifice of Christ, and take up our own crosses with Him. And let us remember those who have sacrificed for us . . . for our freedom . . . and for our country. Knowing that there is meaning in their sacrifices and suffering . . . and let us take action for the future.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord . . . 

Below are JPG graphics of the bulletin insert on my background. 

  

23rd Sunday in OT

HOMILY 23RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

People are afraid of all sorts of things. There are lists and lists of different phobias.

A friend of mine is afraid of frogs. That’s a form of zoophobia – the fear of animals, which can be broken down further to batchophobia – the fear of amphibians, all the way down to ranidaphobia – the fear of frogs.

There are more commonly known fears, like arachnophobia – which is a fear of spiders, triskaidekaphobia – which is the fear of the number 13 (thirteen). And there are lesser known phobias like entomophobia – which is the fear of bugs, or scoleciphobia – which is the fear of worms. There is chiroptophobia – which is the fear of bats, and selachophobia – which is the fear of sharks.

Xanthophobia is the fear of the color yellow, spectophobia is the fear of mirrors, coulrophobia is the fear of clowns, and kleptophobia is the fear of being robbed.

Ecclesiophobia is the fear of churches, ouranophobia is the fear of heaven, and theophobia is the fear of God,

There’s even barophobia – which is the fear of gravity, autophobia – the fear of being alone, and panphobia – the fear of everything.

It seems that people can be afraid of just about anything – person, place, thing, feeling, temperature, sounds, ideas, activities … if you can experience it, you can be afraid of it.

Today is the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary time. 

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear a prophecy of three miracles done by the hand of God. God restores the land, He heals physical ailments and disabilities, and He relieves fear. 

The prophet says first, at the beginning of today’s text: 

to those whose hearts are frightened:

Be strong, fear not!

Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;

with divine recompense
he comes to save you.

And only after this, does he continue, saying: “[then] will the eyes of the blind be opened” as he enumerates the cures and the other miracles that God will perform.

But first – before any miraculous healings or restorations – God addresses fear. Miracles second. Fear gets dealt with first.

And I believe this is a very important point. Because just like there are fears for anything and everything under the sun, fear in a person’s life touches and affects everything in their life.

God first comes, not to heal us – but to save us. And He saves us from fear. Before we can move on to miracles and healings, we need to do something about fear.

Fear takes away your freedom. Fear drags you out of the present moment – leaving you ruminating in the past or worried about the future. Fear destroys your quality of life. Fear clouds your judgment. It upsets your emotions. Fear has some very serious consequences – in relationships, in the workplace, in daily activities, on physical and mental health.

There are all sorts of programs to get people to conquer fear by confronting their phobias. 

But perhaps, as Christians, we need to address our fears by first recognizing that it is God who can conquer our fears … God can destroy our phobias and vindicate us … It is God who saves us. But we need to give Him permission to act in our lives with His power … the power of His grace and His mercy … to right the wrongs of the past, and to take away the worries of the future. 

And when we have “let go” … and “let God,” only then we can address the other things – our own limitations and the world around us … with the freedom we have received in Christ as the children of God.

Once we have given our fears over to God, and are free from them … then our eyes and our ears will be opened … to God’s action and miracles in our lives. Our tongues will be loosened to praise God and to speak words of encouragement … to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. Then we will recognize in all people our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And it all starts … or stops with fear.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … may the light of Christ poured out in the Holy Spirit enlighten us … that when Jesus tells us to “be opened” to His grace and His mercy … to receive the divine gifts of Faith, Hope, and Love … that we will let Him into our lives … our hearts … our souls … and allow God to save us … to heal us, and to restore us so that we might “be rich in faith and [inherit] the kingdom that [God has] promised to those who love him.”