Homily for Third Sunday of Lent - Year A

The readings for Third Sunday or Lent may be found at:  

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031223.cfm

Is anyone thirsty?

I am, and not just from today’s lengthy gospel reading!

The readings this week have me thinking about water.

Sparkling, bottled, distilled, tap, tonic, drinking, mineral, smart.  

You can probably think of more.

Water from the rock of Horeb in our first reading from Exodus. 

The love of God being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, like water in our second reading from St. Paul.

And St. John’s retelling of the Samaritan woman at the well who Jesus speaks to about living water.

This well is notable, not because it’s been around for four thousand years and still exists today, but because Jesus’ talk with the Samaritan woman happened there.

As we know, Jesus was a Jew.  Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans.  

Jews considered them unclean. In the social order, Samaritans were no better than street dogs.

At that time, Jewish men also didn’t speak publicly with women.

So Jesus crossed gender and racial lines to talk to her.

It might surprise you to realize we have a lot in common with this woman.

In today’s world, isn’t it all the more amazing that Jesus wants to talk to us, to love us?  

As compared to Him, aren’t we all unclean?

Yet, He desperately wants us to be in more intimate relationship with Him.

But we get in the way.

We know our faults, we hide them and the devil does his part to convince us we are beyond hope and to focus on our shame.

To keep us separated from God.

But, here’s a little secret.

Jesus knows us better than we do.  

Like this woman at the well, we need to talk to Jesus.

And not just by repeating the same prayers robotically like we’ve been doing since we were eight.

We need to find a quiet place, everyday, to reflect on Him and to talk to Him about our day or whatever.

We must develop a closer, more intimate relationship with Him.

It takes very little effort, really.  

And if we think we don’t have the time in our busy lives to do this, we need even more to make this time!

Like the Samaritan woman, we need to talk to Jesus.

So then Jesus asks about her husband, though he knows her history without even having to ask.

With one question he exposes her sin. 

And that can be unsettling, because we all have sins.

This woman has led an immoral life.

But when asked, she’s honest. 

She doesn’t try to hide it. 

And that’s a critical step in finding living water for our thirsty soul. 

We must regularly do an honest examination of conscience and make a good sacramental confession. 

There’s nothing to be afraid of.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t shake his finger in her face and give her a lecture on what an evil person she is.  

In confession, a priest, acting in persona Christi won’t either.

Instead, Jesus brags on her for telling the truth. 

If there is one thing I want us to take away today, it’s this.

Make a good sacramental confession.

It exists not to dwell on the bad, but to enhance the good in us. 

Its purpose is to elevate, not pull us down. 

To give living water.

This living water represents grace, the reality of divine life and love within each of us. 

To get that living water we need to recognize our soul is thirsty and recognize Jesus is our way to quench that thirst.

We can’t go into surgery if we’re dirty.  

We can’t wear all white with mud on our hands.  

We also can’t get closer to Jesus if we’re not in right relationship with Him by confessing our sins and receiving absolution in the sacrament of confession.

In the process, receiving God’s sanctifying grace, living water.

No sinner is exempt from God’s grace and we are all sinners.

Living water.  Drink from it and don’t thirst. 

Drink from it and its grace will change our life and the world around us.

Is anyone thirsty?

In the name of Jesus, 

Drink living water and live… really live.

Homily for Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

 The readings for Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:  

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021223.cfm

I’ll start with a public service announcement for all of the husbands out there.  

Valentine’s Day is this coming Tuesday, ok?

Don’t forget what you ought to do if you want to have a right relationship with your beloved this week.     

St. Matthew gives us a similar message in today’s gospel about the importance of having a right relationship with God and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

In perhaps the greatest sermon Jesus ever gave, Jesus tells us that His coming had nothing to do with any defect in the commandments.

They’re not wrong.

They may be from the Old Testament, but they’re not old fashioned - even if the tablets they appeared on weren’t as fancy as the ones we use today.

Jesus came to perfect them and to raise the bar.

And He warns anyone who tries to water them down or make them less than.

But despite His warning, how do we live the Ten Commandments?

Chances are we haven’t murdered anyone, so that’s good.  

But Jesus didn’t leave it there - He told us that if we’re angry with a brother or sister, we are liable to judgment - whether we have killed anyone or not.

When we look at it that way, our performance is probably not so good.

Jesus reminds us that we are made in the image and likeness of God and as a result, not killing is not enough.  

Instead, we are called to eliminate cruel and hateful actions and clear that higher bar by eliminating cruel and hateful thoughts and attitudes as well.

That’s hard to do and that’s a single commandment.

So let’s not focus on all ten, let’s try two.

Jesus tells us that the way to become great in God’s kingdom depends on how well we “Love God and to love our neighbor”.

This requires us to love God and our neighbor and all the other commandments flow naturally from there.

Loving God and our neighbor is a must.  

Requirements, not suggestions.

But we get to choose how we respond.  We decide.  

God doesn’t decide for us. 

That’s why life is hard.

And to be precise, the neighbor Jesus tells us about includes everybody who lives on the planet. 

The people we like, and the people we may not. 

The people who are different from us because of the color of their dress, their skin, the shape of their eyes, the language they speak, the things they believe or their station in life.

Like us, they were all created by God. 

And as such, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we are called to love them.

God expects us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for those who are weak and need our help. 

He calls us to love God and to love our neighbor at least as well as we love ourselves. 

God gave us commandments.

God also gave us the gifts of free will and choice. 

That’s why life is hard.

In today’s first reading we heard that, “Before man - are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” 

Choosing life is a matter of choosing love over hate.

We are called to love the way God loves.

Jesus tells us how to do it - we are commanded to do it.

But the choice is ours.

To have a right relationship with God, doesn’t just happen.

It must be willed, chosen and practiced.

And sometimes, despite the old saying, love does actually mean having to say your sorry.  

That’s why He gave us the Sacrament of Confession and we need to use it.  We don’t always feel like we need it, but we do.  That makes life hard too.

But if we follow His commands and get our relationship right with Him when we fall short, we not only get to serve Him in this world but we get to be happy with Him in the next.

The choice is ours.

Homily for Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

 The readings for Second Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:  

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011523.cfm

I think we are all familiar with the word, scapegoat.

The Oxford dictionary defines a scapegoat as “a person who is blamed for something bad that someone else has done or for some failure.”

Scapegoat.

The Bible, in Leviticus 16 tells us that a Scapegoat is a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it.

A scapegoat does not have a positive connotation to it at all - especially if you are it.

In today’s gospel, St. John announces that Jesus is the “Lamb of God”,  what we might call a scapegoat today, 

since Jesus became the one victim replacing all others - taking on our sins, taking the blame for our wrongdoings, mistakes and sins. 

Ultimately, being murdered for the sin of the world.

In a way, today’s gospel could serve as a summary of the entire gospel.  

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

That’s, in essence, what the entire gospel is about.  

John the Baptist calling Jesus the Lamb of God was a way to announce to everyone why Jesus had come.

To take away the sins of the world.

None of us is perfect.  

I’m not going to speak for anyone else here, but I can tell you that if instead of this homily, I spoke to you about all the ways I have and continue to fall short, this homily might last longer than the Moby Dick reading marathon - that lasts for about 23 hours by the way.

Let’s face it, in this world, daily life is a struggle.  It’s not easy and we’re only human and we fall short.  

We are not perfect as Jesus is perfect.

But the bottom line is, we all want our sins taken away.  

And only Jesus can do it.

Sometimes we can see an opportunity to sin from a mile away, and we mean well and we try and we struggle and we know we must resist the temptation, but it’s so hard and we give in and sin. 

None of us wants to fall into the same sinful patterns again. 

We want to fight! We want to resist! 

But temptation is hard.

Before Jesus came to John the Baptist in today’s gospel, He had just spent 40 days in the desert where he had been tempted by the devil.

Jesus knew what temptation was.  But, he didn't give into it.

Jesus didn’t sin.  

Jesus was human, like us.  But Jesus is also God - and we are not.

Several years ago, lots of people, especially young Christians were wearing colorful bracelets with the letters “WWJD” printed on them.

Do you remember that?

WWJD, an acronym standing for “What Would Jesus Do”.

Talk about setting the bar high.

Reflecting on today’s gospel, maybe it would make more sense to have colorful bracelets with the letters WWJBD printed on them.

What would John the Baptist do?

As he did in today’s gospel, he would humble himself, it wasn’t about him - he would call attention to Jesus Christ and then say to all within hearing distance, 

“Hey, look! See! God is alive. God is here. 

The Holy Spirit is at work in us and through and for us and even in spite of us! 

Behold! The Lamb of God!”

We don’t have all the answers.  We try, but fall short.   

Let go of the guilt.  Let go of the self flagellation.  Be gentle with yourself.  

As I have said to you before, we have the answers to the test.  

We know how this all ends.  Jesus has won and tells us what to do.

We must humble ourselves as John the Baptist did.

Let go of our foolish pride.  

Make it a regular practice to make a good sacramental confession.  

We have a scapegoat.  We have someone who has taken the punishment for us.

Let the guilt and denial and shame and weight of it all go.

Make a good sacramental confession.

Jesus is waiting there for you.

Do it and don’t delay.  Tell all your friends.  Tell strangers, even.

You have a scapegoat.  

Behold.  

Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Homily for Third Sunday of Advent - Year A

 The readings for Third Sunday of Advent may be found at:  

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121122.cfm

This Sunday, we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudette Sunday, translated from the Latin as Rejoice Sunday.  

We rejoice as we light the rose-colored candle of our Advent wreath.  

We rejoice as we wear rose-colored vestments at this midpoint of Advent.

And we focus, if only briefly, on the light coming into the world through the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

And let’s be honest, with Christmas comes many expectations.

Of the people we might see, the gifts we might give and receive or the places we might go.

But not all expectations are created equal.  

Sometimes they are of rejoicing and celebration.  

Sometimes they are expectations of dread or anxiety or worry or fear.

And sometimes, these expectations can imprison us, just like John the Baptist was imprisoned in today’s gospel.

The thing that can be dangerous about expectations is how they can shape our attitudes, our beliefs, and the way we relate to people. 

They can even shape our image of who God is, where God can show up, and how God should act. 

If God doesn’t meet our expectations we can be quick to question God, rather than ourselves. 

Oftentimes, we trust what we think God should be doing more than we trust what God is actually doing.

In this way, we are like John the Baptist.

He was a man of expectations. 

Last week’s gospel showed John to be a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

John expected a new kingdom with a new, powerful leader. 

These expectations gave him the confidence to turn his back on the religious establishment, to go to the desert, and to seek God in the wild and untamed places of life.

Today’s gospel speaks to a very different picture of John. 

Today he is a prisoner questioning his expectation, “Are you the one, or are we to wait for another?” 

How did he go from being a prophet in the wilderness with answers to a prisoner in a cell with questions?

Now, Herod put John in jail for criticizing him for taking his own brother’s wife.

But it was John’s own expectations of who the Messiah is and how the Messiah would act that imprisoned him his thoughts. 

Like us, his vision of the kingdom was too small, his expectation of the Messiah too narrow and he is a saint!

That’s the danger of holding our expectations too tightly. 

Our expectations can blind us to what is coming. 

We can imprison ourselves as we confine God’s work and life to our expectations. 

We want God to make our lives easy.  Instead He calls us to live more deeply. 

We want God to eliminate our suffering.  Instead, He stands with us in our pain. 

We want Him to make us strong.  Instead, He calls us to discover His strength in our weakness. 

We want God to make our enemies pay.  Instead He commands us to love them. 

We want to be served.  God tells us to serve.

And each time God dismisses our expectations - He is helping to break down our own prison walls.

And when that happens, we must decide.

Will we escape the prison of our expectations or stay where we are and rebuild the walls? 

It would be so much easier if Jesus would just come, do, and be as we expect. 

But he won’t. 

He won’t leave us in our cells.  

He loves us too much.

The Season of Advent is the season of breaking out of jail. 

It is the season of escaping the jail of our expectations of God. 

Christmas is in two weeks.

Rejoice!  There is still time to prepare the way for Jesus.

As you finish your shopping, cookie baking, meal planning and preparing for holiday celebrations; 

be sure to prepare properly by making a good, sacramental confession.

Submit to the greatness of God and His love.  

Receive the gift of absolution and His mercy.

The door of our cell may be locked - but its only locked from the inside. 

Jesus is coming and mercy awaits.  

And that is absolutely a reason for all of us to Rejoice this Sunday!