Imagine

Take a guess.

In World War II, what percent of soldiers in battle actually aimed and fired at an enemy soldier?

According to an interview I once read, it was an astoundingly low number—20%!

If that’s accurate, 80% of the soldiers couldn’t bring themselves to shoot another human being.

Even while under fire in battle.

That shows that the vast majority of people are naturally non-violent.

And it takes a lot of intense conditioning to make them killers.

The interview was with a peace activist named Paul Chappell.

He seemed different from many other peace activists.

First of all, his background is different.

He’s a West Point graduate, and spent two years serving in Iraq as an Army Captain.

Besides that, he had thoughtful answers, rather than mere criticisms.

He quotes Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

But he also quotes Generals Eisenhower, McArthur, Bradley and McCrystal.

A striking aspect of his answers was his clear optimism that mankind is moving away from war.

He believes that people who support war and even those who promote war,

Can be convinced to change their position.

And people who oppose war, but do nothing about it, can be moved to action.

And all that can be achieved through discussion of the facts.

He believes in the basic goodness of human beings.

And in the power of Truth.

Violence is the extreme antithesis of the action we’re called to in today’s readings.

Abram sets an excellent example in our passage from Exodus.

Strain is growing in the relationship between him and his nephew, Lot.

Or at least among their people.

So, Abram comes up with a generous solution to avoid conflict—divide the land.

And he gives Lot first choice in selecting which area to take.

Our Psalm proclaims:

He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
The psalm offers some examples of a just person, and one is the person:

Who harms not his fellow man.

Those messages of Exodus and the Psalm fit well with the message of the Gospel.

Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.

A corollary to what Jesus presented as the second great commandment.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

When things are looking pretty grim,

Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria.

It’s encouraging to hear from the optimists,

Who believe we’re making real progress.

Imagine what our world would be like if everyone did follow that great commandment.

We would have—almost—heaven on earth.

And that’s precisely what Jesus is working with us to bring about.

He’s asking us to spread the word.

To set the example.

To draw more people to that narrow gate.

To finish his work of building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

Tuesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time

Mt 7:6,12-14                                 Read this Scripture @usccb.org 

Deep and Durable

Last month we celebrated Mother’s Day.

And today we celebrate Father’s Day.

So, happy Father’s Day to those who are fathers.

With St Joseph as our patron we have a special place in our hearts for all kinds of fathers.
Foster fathers, step fathers, spiritual fathers, grandfathers--all who serve in the fatherly role.

Of course, many of us are not parents.

But we’ve all been children.

And we all have parents to visit or call or remember on these days.

Our parents may rank as great, or just so-so, or as not very good at all.

But with the benefit of maturity and hindsight, 

We might see that we didn’t always make their job easier.

So, if our own parents rank less than perfect, or even far from perfect, 

We can cut them some slack.

Those of us who are parents get a little advantage in seeing how hard a job it can be.

We get to experience the joys and the pains of the parent-child relationship from both sides.

If we’re grandparents we get yet another perspective.

We see our children dealing with raising our grandchildren.

And we can take satisfaction in watching them all grow through that process.

We might even contribute our sage advice—if asked.

It’s hard for parents to know when to be unyieldingly strict and when to give in.

When to step in and when to hold back.

When to be protective and when to encourage independence.

Some parents keep a tight reign on their kids—some too tight.

Some parents let their kids run wild; let them get away with murder.

How can we figure out this parent-child relationship—from either side?

God help us.

Indeed, God does help us.

He gives us an example we can follow; a model we can examine.

As Jesus once said: Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father, in heaven.

God made us, God provides for us, God is in charge, God is truly our ultimate parent.

We can learn by looking at His relationship with His children.

What we see there can help us better understand our human relationships.

In turn, what we see in our human relationships helps us appreciate our relationship with God.

King David was one of God’s kids.

It seems that he was one of those kids who was given everything.

One of those kids who was allowed to get away with murder.

David had everything.

But he wanted more.

He wanted Bathsheba.

But she was already married to Uriah.

So he had Uriah killed.

And today we hear Nathan the prophet speaking for God and admonishing David.

But the bottom line, after the admonishment, is: You’re forgiven.

Another one of God’s kids is that woman we meet in today’s Gospel.

She didn’t literally get away with murder.

But she did get away with acts that made her notorious throughout the city as a sinful woman. 

The Pharisee knew of her reputation; Jesus knew her guilt.

And yet the bottom line from Jesus was:

Your sins are forgiven.

So what’s the lesson here?

What can we apply to our relationships with our children and our parents?

What can we apply to our understanding of our parent-child relationship with God?

God’s total forgiveness of the notoriously sinful woman was very generous, 
But not too surprising.

His total forgiveness of David was a bit more surprising.

David was guilty of one of the most serious sins imaginable.

The premeditated, wanton, unnecessary murder of a loyal, innocent servant.

Did God really let David just get away with that?

In the most important sense, yes, he did.

David’s act did not cost him his own eternal life, God forgave his sin.

But God did not shield David from the natural consequences of his sin.
From the evil and violence his murderous act brought into the world.

He still had to suffer those consequences in this life.

As God said through Nathan:

The sword shall never depart from your house.

And indeed, David and his house did suffer greatly.

His first son with Bathsheba died a few days after birth.

His son Amnon raped his sister Tamar.

His son, Absalom, later killed his brother Amnon.

And years later, Absalom led a revolt that sought to kill David.

Yet, when Absalom was finally killed by David’s men, David mourned inconsolably.

How could a parent be so loving and forgiving and committed to a child like Absalom?

It’s just one example,
Of the extreme depth and durability of human parental love and forgiveness.

An example that helps us understand how God can love His children so much.
So much that He's willing to forgive everything.

All four of our scripture readings today focus on forgiveness.

The Good News message is that there is no sin so great that God won’t forgive us.

He’s our Father, and His divine love and forgiveness for each of us is unbounded.

There’s also a corollary to that message.

And a way for us to show God our gratitude and love for Him.

We may not be able to match God’s divine love and forgiveness.

But we know there’s also a great human capacity for love and forgiveness.

We’ve seen it, and hopefully experienced it, in human parent-child relationships.

And now we’re called to extend that love and forgiveness to all of God’s children.
Just as He does.

To all of our brothers and sisters.

On this Father’s Day, let’s give special thought and commitment

To the prayer we’ll be saying together in a few minutes.

Our Father who art in Heaven …

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mt 7:36-50                                    Read this Scripture @usccb.org  

A Thousand Points of Light

A few decades ago, President George Bush, Sr. popularized the image of

a Thousand Points of Light.

That was his call to Americans to keep up their good works of service and volunteerism.

He recognized that it was not a new image; he said it was old.

Old but not stale—timeless.

That image is a distant reflection of the image Jesus raised two thousand years earlier.

You are the light of the world.

Your light must shine before others,

That they may see your good deeds,

And glorify your heavenly father.

Those are the words he spoke to his disciples as he sent them out into the world.

Out like the prophets of old.

Out to spread the Good News.

Words like those were probably repeated to St Barnabas, whose feast we celebrate today.

As he was sent out on his missionary journeys.

Now those words are repeated to us.

We’re told that we too should go and spread the word.

When we were baptized we were anointed for that mission.

Anointed as priest, prophet and king.

And we were given grace to help us fill those roles.

Now, Jesus sends us out to be that light of the world.

We should be aware that there are people who are watching.

And that our example can actually draw them closer to God.

We shouldn’t become overly self-conscious about it.

And we shouldn’t let it stress us out.

We should just continue to try to be ourselves.

But also work to become the best selves we can be.

Frequently attending Mass is one way to go about that improvement.

But fewer than 4% of U.S. Catholics go to Mass more that once a week.

Only 30% go once a week.

Those of us who attend frequently are blessed to have the opportunity and the motivation.

Of course, just being at Mass doesn’t necessarily make us better people.

But it does show that we’re working at it.

The word Mass comes from the Latin missa—to send.

And we’re sent from each Mass with a reminder of our true mission in life:

Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.

What do people see when they look at us closely?

If they see a good example, good acts, good deeds—

Then we are “in-deed” being what Jesus calls us to be.

Thousands of thousands points of light.

The light of the world.

Tuesday of 10th Week in Ordinary Time

Mt 5:13-16                                    Read this Scripture @usccb.org  

Easy Paymet Plan

Should we pay, or should we not pay?

They were sure they had Jesus trapped with their clever question.
If he says pay the tax, he’ll lose the support of many followers.

If he says don’t pay, he’ll be subject to punishment, maybe death, from the Romans.

But Jesus had the perfect answer to silence those who were trying to ensnare him.

Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

What do we have that belongs to Caesar?

Jesus says that which is stamped with the image of Caesar belongs to Caesar.

That coin.

Look at our coins and bills today.

Still stamped and imprinted with the image of our worldly leaders.

Those coins and bills and all the material things they can buy are part of this world.

And this world only.

What do we have that belongs to God?

Jesus showed us the test to use.

That which is stamped and impressed with the image of God belongs to God.

And what is that?

We might say all of nature or all of creation.

But we each have one unique, special piece of creation.

One thing that is specifically made in the image and likeness of God.

Something that's part of this world and the other world.

… Ourselves.

So that's what we need to repay to God, give back to God.

Ourselves.

That's the task of our lifetime.

The purpose of our lifetime.

But how can we give ourselves back to God?

That's the question of our lifetime.

Our old Baltimore Catechism gives a simple, plain answer—service.

God made us to know, love and serve Him in this world.

And to be happy with him forever in Heaven.

So how can we serve Him?

We can't all just kneel around praying all day.

There are time consuming real-world activities that we need to attend to.

Finding food and shelter, for example.

For many of us, that can be a full time job.

On another occasion, Jesus gave us the perfect answer on how we can serve God.

We serve God by following His commandments; by doing His will.

And Jesus boiled all the rules down to the Two Great Commandments.

Love God with all your heart, soul and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus' answer is perfect in its simplicity.

Commandments that are easy to remember and to understand.

Even if not always easy to follow.

Our own will might get in the way.

Or the best path may sometimes be unclear.

But whatever the circumstances,

The perfect answer for us will always be to go back to those two Great Commandments.

And make our best sincere effort to follow them.

Every time we do, we're repaying to God what belongs to God.

Tuesday of 9th Week in Ordinary Time

Mk 12:13-17                                    Read this Scripture @usccb.org