Lesson from Tanzania

This past weekend St Joseph’s hosted a priest visiting from Africa.

Fr Mansuetus Setonga, who works closely with his bishop in Same, Tanzania.

We had breakfast together and he told an interesting story.

Thirty years ago a priest, Fr Richard, wrote to the bishop of Same.

He was tired of watching his congregation dwindle in Germany.

He wanted to spend a few years doing missionary work.

He wanted to carry the Gospel to people who might be hearing it for the first time.

The Church in Tanzania was already growing rapidly, but there was much to be done.

So the bishop accepted his offer of a five-year assignment.

When Fr Richard arrived, the bishop offered him any parish he wanted.

But Fr Richard said he’d done further research, and wanted to go work with the Massai.

The  bishop said that would be a waste of time.

The Massai were committed to their own god and didn’t welcome missionaries.

They practiced some barbaric customs and they were dedicated polygamists.

But he let Fr Richard go anyway.

And they heard nothing more from Fr Richard.

Until five years later, when the agreed assignment was up.

The bishop was surprised when Fr Richard showed up and reported great progress.

He had built a church and baptized the tribe he had been living among.

In fact, they wanted the bishop to come and confirm them.

Fr Richard said he wanted to extend his assignment for another five years.

But he’d have to travel home for a few months to get permission from his German bishop. 

The surprised Tanzinian bishop said okay.

And assigned Fr Mansuetus to pastor the Massai while Fr Richard was away.

Fr Mansuetus traveled to the Massai village and returned with a report.

He told the bishop, I don’t know what Fr Richard was doing out there.

You cannot go to confirm those people.

I said Mass for them and see that they all come to Communion. 

But afterward I learned that they’ve made improper changes to the Mass.

Then I visited their homes and found that they are still practicing polygamy!

The bishop said, Let us think on this; What would Jesus do if he were here?

The next day he sent some sisters to live in the Massai village and teach catechism.

When Fr Richard returned, the bishop told him the Massai were not ready for Confirmation.

But he sent him back to their village for another five years.

During those next five years, those Massai truly converted.

They celebrated the Mass properly and changed customs that violated Christian principles.

They even found a way to give up their practice of polygamy,

Without harming the welfare of the former wives and the many children.

Today, the bishop says those Massai are the most committed, fervent Catholics in Tanzania.

And he says Fr Richard’s arrival was truly the work of the Holy Spirit.

In our Gospel today, Jesus says:

My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.

Fr Mansuetus’ story gives us three examples of people who heard and acted.

Fr Richard heard the call and got up and went across the world to Tanzania.

The bishop asked what Jesus would do, heard his answer, and acted with patience.

Thanks to Fr Richard, the Massai finally heard the Word of God—the Gospel.

And then they heard their individual calls and transformed their lives.

What are we hearing?

What action are we taking?

Tuesday, 25th Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 7:11-17           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Balance

Our neighborhood has been through a lot since our gathering last Sunday.

A traumatic experience that has become all too common around our country.

We feel deep sympathy for the victims and especially their families.

And we pray for them.

And we pray that some solution can be found to avoid future incidents like this.

We’re reminded that evil and suffering and brokenness are facts of life in this world.

We’re reminded that, ultimately, death is a fact of life in this world.

We’re forced to face the fragility of our own lives and the lives of our loved ones.

But we’re comforted by our faith and trust.

By knowing that new life awaits us.

That the joys of heaven are so great that it’s beyond our ability to even imagine.

That God sent his Son to save the world and does not will that even one of us be lost.

The greater our trust, the greater our comfort.

Every day we see death at work in the world.

With that constant reminder, why is it so hard for us to get our priorities straight?

Why do we throw ourselves so completely into the things of this world?

Why do we ignore the repeated warnings from Scripture?

Don’t store up earthly treasures, store up treasures in heaven.

You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you. 

Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor.

It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.

And as we heard today, You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

Yet, we devote so much of our time and attention to money, wealth and material things.

Thinking or worrying about money—planning our financial future.

How can I get more money?

How’s the market doing?

Have I stored up enough savings for emergencies or for retirement?

We all need money.

That’s another fact of life.

And we spend much of our lives working to earn it.

Providing for our own welfare and our family’s welfare is the right thing to do.

It’s responsible, it’s prudent, it’s good.

Most of us recognize that money is just a medium of exchange.

We don’t want the money for itself.

We want the money for what we can buy with it and do with it.

Food, clothing and shelter.

Health care and Transportation.

Tuition and Entertainment.

Travel and Savings.

Luxuries and Gifts, including Charitable gifts.

Long term security—we hope.

It can be difficult to plan for our needs and our reasonable, modest desires.

It’s hard to decide when enough is enough.

But we can’t let ourselves get too engrossed in those material, worldly concerns.

We run the risk of falling under the spell of Mammon, serving Mammom.

Putting our trust in material wealth rather than in God.

How much do we need to worry about our worldly wealth?

A recent study from the University of California looked at U.S. household income.

It found that the top 1% of families received 23% of the nation’s income.

And the top 10% of families received 51% of the nation’s income.

That leaves just 49% of the nation’s total income to be shared by 90% of the families.

We’ve heard a lot about the top 1% lately.

With all the controversy over Wall Street and pay for Corporate CEO’s.

There have been a lot of accusations of greed and unfair distribution of wealth.

There’s been a lot of concern that America is becoming ever more divided.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The top 100^th of 1%—just 16,000 households—takes 5% of all U.S. income.

Each of those households takes in over $10 Million per year.

That’s a pretty elite group.

But what income level do you think you need to rank in the top 1% ?

A total household income of $394,000.

We may well have a few of those 1%ers in our midst right now.

And how about that top 10% ?  —  $114,000 household income.

I won’t ask you to raise your hands, but I bet we have a number of 10%ers here.

A household income of $50,000 puts you in the top half of all U.S. households.

The top half of households in one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

Of course, things are expensive here in Washington.

We need a little more to get by than folks in lower cost of living areas.

Some of us really don’t have what we need.

Many more of us worry that we don’t have what we need.

But all-in-all, we’re a pretty wealthy bunch.

A very blessed bunch.

So, let’s heed the warning of today’s Gospel.

Let’s get our priorities straight.

Let’s learn from the tragedy at the Navy Yard.

Our lives in this world are short.

We don’t know when they’re going to end.

But we do know that there’s a gloriously joyful life after this one.

Most of us have enough material wealth to get by in this life.

We don’t need to spend so much time planning and worrying about material things.

We need to maintain the proper balance between our material and spiritual lives.

Let’s plan and worry more about entering into that next life.

Let’s make sure we’re storing up treasures in heaven.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lk 16:1-13           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

At the Gates

We’ve been focused on the violence in Syria.

The tens of thousands being killed in civil war.

What can we do about it?

Do we have the power or ability for a successful intervention?

Should we intervene at all?

Meanwhile, the chemical warfare and other atrocities mount.

Last week opposition forces, led by radical Islamists, took over the town of Maaloula.

An ancient Christian town where some still speak Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke.

Radicals reportedly threatened to behead any Christian who refused to convert to Islam.

Less than a hundred miles from Maaloula, near Nazareth, lies the ancient town of Nain.

Now a small Arab village.

Two thousand years ago Jesus stood near the gate of Nain.

And he was moved with compassion by what he saw.

A sorrow-filled crowd with a weeping widow on their way to bury her only son.

He was so moved because he cared so deeply for the widow.

And for all his people.

He was so moved that he intervened—and raised the young man back to life.

There’s a powerful, successful intervention for you!

Yesterday our attention was yanked back from Syria, thousands of miles away,

To the Navy Yard, just a few blocks down the street.

Families here are weeping now.

Feeling the same painful sorrow that wounded the widow of Nain.

They’re burdened with not only that pain of losing a loved one,

But also the added pain of anger and despair at the wanton, evil violence.

And that pain, especially that added pain, is felt by the whole community.

Just as it is in Syria.

And as it was in Newtown and Ft Hood and Aurora and Columbine.

And everywhere life-robbing evil strikes.

When we look at today’s Gospel we might say:

How blessed they were in Nain!

What comfort we could have if Jesus had been standing near the gate of the Navy Yard!

…

Well, take that comfort.

Because he was there.

And he has already intervened for us.

He’s raised us to something even greater than temporarily restored life.
He's given us eternal life.

He’s opened the gates of Heaven.

When our shock and pain and anger and despair are fresh, it’s hard for us to see.

But when we’ve had some time, when we look carefully, we see---

He’s always there for us.

Tuesday, 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 7:11-17           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Just Do It

There’s a book and movie about a local DC-area boy named Chris McCandless.

He graduated from Annandale high school.

He was friendly, bright, capable, athletic, independent and idealistic.

He went away to college in Atlanta.

And as soon as he graduated from college,

He cut off all communications with his family, without explanation.

It turns out that he was nursing a secret grudge against his father.

Because of some mistakes he learned that his father had made years earlier.

Chris went West to explore the deserts and the wilderness.

His family yearned for his return.

But he was lost to them.

Chris hiked and hitchhiked around the West working odd jobs.

He was an experienced hiker and decided to test himself.

He decided to walk alone into the Alaskan wilderness with few supplies.

He would survive by hunting game and by finding edible plants.

And he did exactly that—for months—alone.

He took some classic books with him.

He read a lot and thought a lot.

He read Thoreau, and Chesterton and Pasternak, and other philosophical authors.

They strengthened his appreciation and love of nature.

And also gave him new insights into personal relationships.

His readings perhaps led him to forgive his father and decide,

After years of separation, to return home.

Chris’ story is both very similar and very different from our Gospel stories.

They all deal with losing and finding, and mercy and forgiveness.

The father of the prodigal son was extravagant in his mercy and forgiveness.

When he saw his son returning to him he didn’t wait.

He ran to his son and embraced him.

Before his son could barely apologize,

The father was restoring him to his honored position,

and starting a great celebration.

Wouldn’t it be great to have an extravagantly merciful, forgiving father like that?

Well, we do!

That’s the main point of today’s Gospel.

That’s the good news of today’s Gospel.

God is that father, and we’re that lost son.

God is that shepherd, and we’re that lost sheep.

God is that woman, and we’re that lost coin.

And there is always great joy and celebration when we’re found again.

That’s how God will receive us when we turn to him.

These three stories in today’s Gospel may be the

Greatest good-news stories we sinners will ever hear.

But the Gospel also raises other, less direct messages.

We know that we should try to imitate God’s love and mercy.

The prodigal son’s older brother can’t seem to do that.

Can we?

Can we be that merciful father, or mother, or spouse, or sibling, or friend?

As in these three stories,

It seems that Jesus is forever trying to teach us a lesson.

Telling us and showing us how to treat one another.

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

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

Chris McCandless, in his Alaskan adventure, wasn't trying to teach us a lesson.

But he did.

Chis may have decided to forgive and to return home.

But he never made it.

He died of starvation, alone at his Alaskan campsite.

Let’s heed the unintended lesson that Chris gave us.

We don’t have forever to act.

Let’s turn to our father—now.

Let’s rejoice at his extravagant forgiveness and mercy.

And let’s give our forgiveness and mercy wherever it’s needed – now.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lk 15:1-32           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

What's Next?

Every now and then we realize that we’re at a crucial decision point in our lives.

As we look back over the Gospel readings of the past few days,

We see that Jesus was heading toward one of those decision points.

His followers were increasing in great number.

The Pharisees and Scribes and Herodians were increasingly critical and confrontational.

They were actually beginning to plot against him.

If the full details of his mission weren’t already clear to him they were becoming clear.

He could see that he wasn’t going to be able to fit into the established structures.

He had to decide where to go from there.

So Jesus withdrew to a mountain, alone, to pray.

And not just for a spiritual recharge—an hour of quiet prayer and reflection.

He had to fully assess the situation.

Make some calculations like a man building a tower or a general going into battle.

And decide how he would proceed.

He must have had a lot to consider.

A lot to discuss with the Father.

Things even more important than which twelve disciples to choose as apostles.

Perhaps he received new revelations about the Father’s plan.

Gory details about his mission and what he was being called to do.

Perhaps he had to make a new commitment to that mission.

He spent the entire night in prayer.

In conversation with the Father.

And in the morning he took clear steps to push forward with his mission.

We all have our callings.

But even after we’ve set out on our path, we still have to find our way through life.

It’s a never-ending journey, until life itself ends.

God has a plan for each of us, and if we can tune into that plan—Plan-A—life is simpler.

If we miss our true calling, life can be more of a struggle.

But God is persistent; he hangs in there with us and gives us new callings.

Some say God is the Master of Plan-B.

Life is always changing, and it’s important to step back and reassess from time-to-time.

Even if we don’t recognize that we’re at a crucial decision point.

Even if we think we’re generally on track with Plan-A.

It might be time for some fine-tuning, a little tweak.

Or it might be time for a more radical change.

We don’t often face decisions that require us to spend our entire night in prayer.

But we do need to listen always—attentively: What is the Spirit calling me to do now?

Whether we’re called to great tasks or small.

Whether we’re called to be apostles or little-known disciples.

Our ultimate response to our calling is crucial to us, and even to the world.

Tuesday, 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 6:12-19           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Hound of Heaven

Two neighboring churches engaged in a spirited dialog on their lettered front-yard signs.

Serial pictures of the signs posted on the Internet have drawn millions of viewers seeing:

ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN

ONLY HUMANS GO TO HEAVEN, READ YOUR BIBLE

GOD LOVES ALL HIS CREATURES, DOGS INCLUDED

DOGS DON’T HAVE SOULS, THIS IS NOT OPEN FOR DEBATE

CATHOLIC DOGS GO TO HEAVEN,

PRESBYTERIAN DOGS CAN TALK TO THEIR PASTOR

CONVERTING TO CATHOLICISM

DOES NOT MAGICALLY GRANT YOUR DOG A SOUL

FREE DOG SOULS WITH CONVERSION

DOGS ARE ANIMALS

THERE AREN’T ANY ROCKS IN HEAVEN EITHER

ALL ROCKS GO TO HEAVEN

As it turns out, the great sign debate never actually took place in the churchyards.

Someone with an active imagination, and Photoshop, faked it all on the Internet.

But the fabricated jousting draws us to a real question.

What do we know to be absolutely true about souls and spirits?

Quite a bit; we’ve recognized ourselves as spiritual beings for thousands of years.

We know it’s the soul that animates the body.

We know that humans are both physical body and spiritual soul.

But there’s also a lot about the invisible spiritual world that we don’t know.

We have to settle for a poor partial understanding.

Much or most of our “understanding” comes to us only through faith.

And some things remain a total mystery.

We clearly recognize that the unseen spiritual world exists.

We believe in one god, the Father almighty, maker of … all things visible and invisible.

At death, observers can’t see, hear, smell, taste or feel the departing spirit.

But they know that animating spirit has left.

Today, our Gospel presents a dialog between two spirits who recognize one another.

The evil spirit in the possessed man immediately recognizes the inner spirit of Jesus.

It sees him and recognizes him as the holy one of God.

And Jesus immediately recognizes that other spirit as an evil spirit, and drives it away.

The once-possessed man still has his own soul, his own spirit.

But he had been spiritually infected with that evil spirit as well.

Today is also the feast of Gregory the Great, one of the four original Doctors of the Church.

A great thinker, scholar, and teacher.

Who in the 6^th Century pondered and wrote of the soul in his book of Dialogues.

Bad news for our puppies—he sided with the Presbyterian in our fake Internet dialog.

He reasoned that non-human animals have souls, but unlike our souls, theirs are mortal.

They die along with the body.

But good news—the Church has never declared his position to be puppy dogma.

His Dialogues also recognized the evolving human understanding of the spiritual world.

He asked, How do we know so much about the soul today—in 590—

When we knew so little in ages past?

He answered, The current world moves toward its end and the new world approaches.

And as that new world draws closer we see it more clearly.

Much as we see with increasing clarity as we move gradually from night to day.

We’re in the twilight and see images, but have no perfect knowledge of the new world.

Fifteen hundred years later, we’re still in the twilight.

We still can’t grasp or prove invisible spirits with our five senses.

And our knowledge of the soul is still imperfect.

But we now have equipment that lets us look into the human brain and “see” thoughts.

Maybe God will someday give us the science to better understand souls and spirits.
We might have specter-detector goggles.

Until then, or until we arrive at the new world, we can refine the tools and gifts we have.

We can work at listening to the Spirit within us, the voice of Jesus, the voice of God.

Work at discerning spirits, distinguishing that voice from others we might hear.

Work at connecting with the spirit within others.

We can already see them.

Not through our physical eyes.

But through our spiritual eyes.

Through the eyes of faith.

Tuesday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 4:31-37           Read this Scripture @usccb.org