22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's readings are pretty grim, particularly the Gospel. Jesus talks to us about heaven and hell. You know heaven and hell. Heaven's the place where we're all going when we die and hell's the place that we all pretend doesn't exist. It's kind of like Baghdad. We know it's bad, but we don't expect to ever go there. Hell's the place that it was as hot as, just a few weeks ago. Hell's the place that's going to freeze over when the Cub's win the World Series.

Jesus makes it pretty clear in today's Gospel that both places exist and that each of us is going to one or the other. He says that He will return with His angels, "in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct." So what kind of conduct is He looking for? He tells us. Whoever wishes to come after Him must take up his cross and follow Him.

The Gospel is from the 16th Chapter of Matthew. We're just a little over half way through. It's time for Jesus to start revealing to His Apostles what the future holds. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have been waiting for the Messiah. They expect Him to be some kind of larger-than-life conquering hero who will vindicate them for all their suffering, sort of a first century Superman. What they don't expect is for someone who is meek and gentle to die for their sins. Today, Jesus begins to break the news to the Apostles.

Of course Peter goes ballistic. You have to love Peter. He always seems to get it wrong, just like you and me. "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!" He's speaking for all those hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of Jews who are expecting this conquering hero Messiah. And Jesus tells him "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Poor Peter. Shot down again. He still doesn't understand. His intentions are good. How could Jesus be so mad at him for not wanting Him to die?

The key is Jesus' last sentence. "You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." That's where we get into trouble, too. So just how do we think?

We think the way society thinks. It's sad, but thinking as God thinks isn't going to make us many friends in 2005. We all want to have friends. Our society tells us that if it feels good, do it. Nike tells us "Just do it". Television and movies tell us that it's ok to have sex with anyone who happens to be in the same room with us, regardless of gender. Marriage? C'mon. What an old fashioned concept that is. The only people who seem to make a big deal about marriage are the ones who nature never intended to be together in the first place.

We're hooked on "reality" TV. But what kind of reality is it? Do people really get marooned on an island and get to vote one another off, one at a time? Are we ever likely to be locked up in a house full of strangers with television cameras catching our every move, 24 hours a day; or will we ever get the chance to sing with a rock band? That's not reality! Your life and my life are reality and I'm afraid that it wouldn't make very interesting TV. Watch the mass on EWTN. That's reality!

For gosh sakes, you'd better look like Hollywood's concept of the perfect person. Loreal tells us that their stuff is expensive, but I'm worth it. If you're not one of the beautiful people, you're nothing at all. You have to have the right hair, the right clothes, the right body. Little girls, and even some boys, make themselves sick trying to achieve the perfect body. Some even die.

On the other hand, huge numbers of us ignore our bodies. We sit in front of the TV, watching those reality shows, eating junk food and gaining weight. I'm afraid I have to count myself in that group, but I'm trying.

Pope John Paul II said we live in a culture of death. The media gives us daily counts of the casualties of war and the deaths on the street from violence and traffic accidents. But the number of babies we kill in the United States every day before lunch is greater than the number of US casualties in Iraq since the war began nearly two years ago. But society would have us look the other way and call that "choice".

St. Paul tells us in the second reading that we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. He says, "do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." He wrote those words almost 2,000 years ago, but they could just as well have been written last week. There is tremendous pressure for us to conform ourselves to this age. How hard must it be to be a young person today? How hard is it to be holy and pleasing to God when the peer pressure and the media pressure is so great? How hard is it to save yourself for marriage? I'd say it's impossible without God's help. Maybe not 100% impossible, but definitely very, very hard.

We're all born with a desire to please our parents and that includes our Heavenly Father. In the first reading, poor Jeremiah is really ticked off at God. He says, "You duped me, OH LORD, and I let myself be duped!" Those are pretty strong words. I think it's ok to be angry at God, but Jeremiah seems to be crossing the line a little bit. He's been preaching the word of God and everyone is making fun of him. All it's brought him is "derision and reproach." But, what happens?

He tells himself that he's not going to talk about God anymore, but he can't help himself. It's like a fire burning in his heart. He can't endure it. The desire for God is so strong, in Jeremiah and in us, that we just can't help ourselves.

So even with all the pressure to go along with the crowd, deep down, we know what we should do. But, the urge to go along, to be liked, is strong. And, God has given us free choice. We can decide whether to listen to His Word or to ignore it.

So is it all bad? Of course not. Church attendance is good. Everybody doesn't watch junk on television. The weight loss industry is going strong, thanks be to God. Last Saturday night, more than 10,000 people showed up to ride their bicycles through the streets of St. Louis at midnight. Many young people do remain chaste until marriage.

But the point I believe Jesus is making today is this: There will be a judgment. Each of us will repay all according to our conduct. Most of us will probably go to heaven but some of us won't. The key is to think like God and not like men. Like Jeremiah, we have to follow that instinct that tells us to embrace God, even when we feel like we've been duped. As St. Paul says, "don't conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Friday, August 19, 2005

I LIKE country music. There’s a song out now where Trace Adkins explains why HE likes it. The song’s called “Songs About Me”. He says “cause it's songs about me and who I am, songs about loving and living and good hearted women and family and God.” I think Jesus is probably a country music fan because a lot of the songs are about God.

For example, two brothers, Johnnie and Donnie Van Zant, recently recorded a song called “Help Somebody.” Johnnie and Donnie are two of three Van Zant brothers, all former members of rock ‘n roll bands. The late Ronnie was a member of Lynard Skynynard. Donnie was a member of .38 Special. Johnnie was part of a revival version of Lynard Skynard for thirteen years, taking his brother’s place. But in 1998, the two remaining brothers formed a country band. It’s a long way from Lynard Skynard and .38 Special to singing songs about loving and living and good hearted women and family and God.

But, in their current song, called “Help Somebody” they reminisce about their grandpa and grandma. One line in the song says, “stick to your guns if you believe in somethingno matter what, cause it's better to be hated for who you areThan loved for someone you're not.”

What a great thought. In the Gospel today, Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love one another. “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Down through the ages, how many Christians have been hated for who they were? It still happens today. Martyrdom is alive and well. But an even better question might be how many Christians have pretended to be something else in order to be loved? The most obvious example is probably the politicians who claim to be Christian, but vote to allow the murder of innocent, unborn children. But, there are a lot more of us who pretend to be something we’re not in more subtle ways.

We love our neighbor, but we look the other way when we see a homeless person. I love you, but don’t try to cut in front of me in line at Dierberg’s. I love God, but I can’t make it to Sunday mass because I’ve got tickets to the ball game.

Jesus tells us to love one another, but He doesn’t tell us that we should sell out to popular culture so others will love us. If we need an example, all we have to do is look at Jesus himself. A lot of people hated him for who He was and now He sits at the right hand of His Father.

If we want to join Him, we would do well to remember, “it’s better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you’re not.”

Wednesday of the 18th Week of Ordinary Time

We have a real contrast in the readings today. In the first reading from the book of Numbers, we have poor Moses. He’s led the Israelites to Canann. The Lord tells him to send one man, a prince, from each ancestral tribe to check it out. In the part of the chapter that’s left out of our reading, he tells the twelve princes to see what the soil is like. He tells them to bring back some fruit. Are the people living there strong or weak; many or few?

After forty days, the twelve princes come back and give their report. It’s a land of milk and honey, just as the Lord promised. But, the people living there are fierce. “They’re too strong for us. The men there are giants.”

Only Caleb, who is of the tribe of Judah, tries to calm the Israelites. As we’ve seen before, the Israelites start to whine and complain. In spite of all the things that the Lord has done for them, they still don’t get it.

Our reading skips the middle part of the 14th chapter of Numbers. In the part that we didn’t read, God is ready to do away with the Israelites but Moses intervenes again. He convinces the Lord that if he destroys the same people that He had saved from the Egyptians, it will be a terrible PR move. They’ll say “The Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them; that is why he slaughtered them in the desert.”

Moses says “Now then, let the power of my Lord be displayed in its greatness, even as you have said, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and rich in kindness.’” We pick up the reading at the point where the Lord says, “you spent 40 days scouting the land; you shall suffer 40 years for your crimes: one year for each day.”

Contrast the Israelites with the woman from Canaan in the Gospel, who asks Jesus to help her daughter who is possessed by a demon. The Apostles want to send her away, but her faith is so strong that Jesus is moved to save her daughter.

The people in the first reading have seen firsthand the mighty power of God. They’ve been delivered from Egypt and seen Pharoah’s army drowned in the sea. There should be no reason for them not to believe. But once again, they show their lack of faith.
As we read in the responsorial Psalm,

“But soon they forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel. They gave way to craving in the desert and tempted God in the wilderness.”

“They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.”


But this Canaanite woman’s faith is strong. She believes Jesus will heal her daughter and that’s what He does.

Each of us has times when we’re tempted to question God’s will. But the real test is whether we’re more like the Israelites of the woman from Canaan. How strong is our faith?