Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 30, 2016

Homily for October 30, 2016

Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fool for Christ’s Sake

 

            St. Philip Neri was a sixteenth-century Italian priest who worked hard to bring souls to Christ. He started “The Oratory” – basically the first youth group in history – and through his personal holiness, started to lead thousands of people back to the Lord. But as his personal fame started to spread, he realized he needed to find some way to stay humble, even as everyone was noticing his holiness.

            So he decided to make people think he was crazy instead of holy! He shaved off half of his beard and trained a pet squirrel to sit on his shoulder. One time a very rich benefactor heard about the holy priest and sought to see him and donate large amounts of money to his work. The rich man was told that he could find Fr. Philip in the sacristy, preparing for Mass. He went back there and found the holy priest reading joke books (with only clean jokes, presumably!). The rich man was offended – but Fr. Philip had to read joke books because otherwise his Masses could last up to eight hours long – he would often get lost in love with God and lose track of time! Even with reading joke books to distract him, his Masses were still notorious for being well over two hours!

            Here was a man who never really cared what other people thought of him. Same with Zacchaeus – he was desperate to do anything to see Jesus. What a silly sight that must have seemed – here was this rich and notorious man, climbing a tree to see! It would be as if we saw a Wall Street banker, in full suit and tie, climb a tree to see a Eucharistic procession. We’d think that’s a little odd, perhaps a bit extreme…and at the same time, we might marvel at their faith.

            The Russian Orthodox Church actually has a rich tradition of people who are “holy fools” – they call them “yurodivy” and they are esteemed as saints in their tradition, despite their often bizarre behavior for the sake of Christ. We have saints who have done equally radical, often strange things for the Lord. For example, St. Francis was one time so assailed by impure, lustful temptation that to rid himself of it, he took off all his clothes and rolled around in the snow. Wow – yikes – and at the same time, what a great love for God!

            Zacchaeus clearly did not care what people thought of him. He wanted Christ, and Christ alone. Having heard the Lord’s saving message of repentance, the tax collector was ready and willing to do just that, no matter the cost. It seemed extreme, not just to climb the tree, but also to offer back four times what he cheated others – that too would get an amazed reaction from the crowd!

            Notice, too, Zacchaeus’ reaction to the crowd’s murmuring and complaining – the Gospel notes that he “stood there” – he was unaffected, unafraid of the opinions of the crowd. This, after all, is the crowd that in a few short chapters, would be crying out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” So what does other people’s opinion matter? Christ alone matters!

            So do not be afraid to be seen as a fool for Christ’s sake! Following the Lord has never been popular or the “cool” thing to do. For example, is it popular to tell people that you’re pro-life in today’s antagonistic climate? Will it be well-received to tell your child’s soccer coach that they will not be playing on Sunday morning when they will be at Mass instead? Will that cross around your neck become controversial at your workplace? If it isn’t at least a little bit uncomfortable to stand for Christ, we should consider whether we’re really living our faith with as much fervor as we ought!

            One final story of being a fool for Christ. I was teaching in a Catholic school one year and there was a kid named James who really loved the Lord. He was also one of the cool kids – an athlete, who everyone liked and respected. One day I saw him in the hallway with a sign around his neck that read, “LOSER”. I said, “James, take that off. You’re not a loser.” He replied, “I know, but I want to wear it so kids will make fun of me and not bully other kids.” I was impressed – someone not afraid of what other people will think!

            Better to be a fool in the eyes of the world than to give up the treasure of Christ!

Homily for Ordinary Time 30 - Oct. 23, 2016

Homily for Ordinary Time 30

October 23, 2016

Know Thyself

 

            One time a desperate mother made a long, arduous, three-day journey to meet Gandhi and ask his advice. Upon reaching the holy man, the woman begged him to help her with her son. “My son never sits still, he’s angry all the time and he’s failing in school and getting into trouble. What can I do with him?”

            Gandhi answered, “Come back in one month and I will give you your answer.”

            So the woman made the long trek home and the following month, made the arduous journey back to the holy man.

            Gandhi said to her simply, “All you need to do for your son is to stop feeding him sugar. He will be better off.”

            The woman angrily demanded, “That’s all? That’s all I have to do? Why did you make me come back, making that difficult journey? Why couldn’t you have told me that last time?”

            Gandhi replied, “Because last month, I was still eating sugar.”

            It was Socrates who often said, “Know thyself.” This is also the first principle in the spiritual life as well. To truly advance along the path of holiness, we first need to know who we are in the light of Christ.

            The Pharisee in today’s Gospel was completely deluded as to who he was. Yes, perhaps he was righteous, but he missed the fact that he was filled with pride, and that any virtue he had was a result of God’s grace and love. He deceived himself, thinking himself better than he truly was. Because of that, God’s grace could not work in his heart.

            In contrast, we see the tax collector, who knew himself well. He recognized that before God’s immense holiness, he was a sinner. But he also knew that he had the potential to be redeemed – thus, he could make that prayer for mercy confidently before God.

            So who are we before God? Two aspects we need to consider:

            First, we are infinitely loved and infinitely loveable. We don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love or “earn” Heaven – His love is a free grace, one that is bestowed upon us freely simply because He created us. We are not accidents, we are not merely here because of random chance. No – as Pope Benedict said so beautifully, “Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary.” God doesn’t make junk – we’re here because He loves us.

            But we hold this reality in tension with the reality that we are sinners. We have all fallen short of what we could be. This is also where we must know ourselves – where our weaknesses are, where we could be more Christ-like, where we need conversion. We don’t consider these things to make ourselves feel bad or guilty, but to allow the light of God’s grace to shine on our sins so that we can repent of them and turn back to the Lord.

            Even twelve-step programs recognize the importance of this brutal honesty with ourselves. The fourth step of Alcoholics Anonymous is to “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of oneself”. In other words, get to know your weaknesses and sins so that we can avoid them in the future. Athletes, too, know this principle – if you’re a football player and you’re pretty fast but you can’t catch well, you’ll want to work on that if you want to be elite.

            In the same way, if you want to live an excellent life – to truly be holy, and not just mediocre – we want to “know ourselves” well. For example, if I notice that when I’m hungry or tired I tend to be angry with people, then I need to be diligent about trying to not be hungry or tired – or when I am, I have to be extra careful about how I react to people. If I know that being around certain people will cause me to curse or tell dirty jokes, then I need to be vigilant when I am around them to make sure my language is clean. Often times when I’m doing my morning prayer, I mentally run through my upcoming day, to see where the temptations and pitfalls may be, and I ask God to give me extra grace to deal with them. Awareness of our weaknesses is half the battle!

            Once we know our weaknesses, we surrender them to God – we ask God to go there, to bring His light, His healing, His love. And like the tax collector, we too shall go home justified.