Deacon Larry

 

Sts. Simon and Jude

Eph 2:19-22; 1 Luke 6: 12-16

Dc. Larry Brockman

We are in this together.  Yes, all of us are called to be Apostles.  We are not called to be spiritual islands unto ourselves; rather, we are called to be church.  Paul makes this point very clearly in our first reading when he says:  “You are no longer strangers and sojourners but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God”.  So, we are not called to be strangers to each other; we are called to be citizens.  The duties of citizens are collective. 

Elsewhere Paul talks about the multiple parts of the body of Christ, about how they are different, like parts of the human body.  But, nevertheless, they complement and support each other.  As a single body, the Church, we also need to complement and support each other because our mission as a Church is one of evangelization.  Lest anyone here is disillusioned, evangelization is just as important in today’s secular and sometimes Godless society as it was 2000 years ago when the Church began.  But, our evangelization is a shared ministry.  Notice that Jesus shares His ministry with those whom He called.  He selected 12, whom he called Apostles.  This was the beginning of the Church, this small group of humble fisherman, tax collectors, and peasants.  They, like us, were in it together-  they were commissioned as a group to evangelize, sent forth to preach the Gospel to all nations. 

And so, I ask you- what kind of a citizen are you of the Catholic Church?  Are you a gifted teacher involved in RCIA or CCD?  Are you a gifted advocate of an important Church teaching- like respect life?  Are you a Christian leader or businessperson that lives the creed you profess, even when it is tough?  Are you a caretaker type that ministers to those less fortunate- by visiting jails or rest homes or shut ins or hospitals?  Whatever part of the Body of Christ you are, are you acting like the Christian citizen you are called to be?  So that it can truthfully said of our Church that:  “Their message goes out through all the earth”. 

 

Thursday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

1 Cor 3: 18-23; Lk 5: 1-11

Dc. Larry Brockman

Wisdom, just what is real wisdom, the kind of wisdom we ascribe to God? 

Wisdom is not intelligence.  Intelligence is a gift that some people have more of than others but even our most intelligent people cannot match wits with the intelligence of God.  For example, no matter how hard man tries, he cannot unravel the meaning of life in worldly terms.   

And Wisdom is not knowledge, because even the most learned of people with lots of knowledge know relatively little compared to God.  Proof of this lies in our most distinguished scientists, who continually uncover knowledge of God’s handiwork of creation only to reach another layer of complexity that requires more knowledge in a never ending process, like peeling more and more layers from an onion.  Indeed, how true it is what Paul says this morning about the wisdom of this world:  “God catches the wise in their own ruse.”  No earthly knowledge or clever mind can master God’s creation secrets.  Our attempts to do so have always been met with another layer of an endless onion to unravel.   

And yet, this morning’s Gospel gives us a glimpse of real wisdom.  Jesus asks his disciples to put out for a catch.  The “wisdom” of the world tells them that this is ridiculous, because they have labored all night and caught nothing.  Surely to put out into the same waters again would be fruitless.  But they comply, and the catch is enormous.   

How does this show us wisdom?  Well, consider this.  First, the disciples showed humility- they were willing to try again despite their best efforts.  Humility is an important element of real wisdom because we have to embrace the fact that we are limited compared to God- we cannot know what God knows nor think at his level- ever.  That implies an attitude of humility, a sense of openness that is essential for recognizing wisdom.  Second, the apostles trusted the judgment of their Master, the Lord.  It is the recognition of God’s will for us, then, not our own agendas, that leads us to Wisdom.  And third, the disciples followed through with Jesus directions even in the face of seemingly impossible odds.  Indeed, we cannot allow ourselves to be held back by fear or preoccupation with other things or laziness in our quest to find wisdom.  The truly wise person is the humble, obedient servant of God, who strives to do God’s will.  That is wisdom, real wisdom. 

Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

1 Cor 1: 1-9; Mt 24: 42-51

Dc. Larry Brockman

Vigilant.  Jesus wants us to be vigilant, to be watchful, lest a thief come and steal us blind.   

Modern day thieves come in many forms.  But the ones we need to look out for the most are the spiritual thieves- thieves who rob us of our innocence or our dignity, or our virtue.  These are the thieves who ruin our relationship with God, so that when the Lord returns, we are not ready.   

The world is full of these kinds of thieves.  Some of them offer pleasure and power at the expense of our innocence or dignity or virtue.  Their theme is “Have a good time now, enjoy life”   But we must always be vigilant that we don’t put God’s plan for us on the back burner by abandoning God’s law and his plan for us.  For example, we cannot afford to defer our responsibilities to our children, or our responsibilities to know, love, and serve God; and we cannot afford to be sidetracked by subtle forms of addiction- food, sex, sports, or whatever they may be.   

And then there are those who argue that we should be tolerant of other values because we live in a free society.  But some of these values move society away from God, and they can slowly poison our own relationship with God.  The Pro Choice agenda, Cohabitation before Marriage, and spending beyond our means come to mind.  Before you know it, we can find ourselves drifting away from our core values because “everybody does it”.     

Indeed, we are advised that we should always be prepared for the return of the Lord.  And as the Gospel parable clearly says, that preparation includes responsible stewardship of the Master’s precious affairs.  What could be more precious than our core values? 

When we are in the prime of life, the return of the Lord seems so remote and distant.  But, the reality is that life is very precious.  Just a couple of weeks ago, one of our parishioners, a young woman, died from complications to childbirth.  And at the same time, a young parishioner of 22 died in a terrible car crash.   Just this week, a seven year old girl in our parish died suddenly.  Indeed, it can happen to any of us.  So be watchful, and be prepared for the Lord’s return by guarding your core values as Christians. 

 

Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Ez 36: 23-28; Matt 22: 1-14

Dc. Larry Brockman

How would you feel if you invited people you really loved to a celebration at your home, a special celebration- a wedding anniversary, a graduation party, or a holiday party; and few, if any of your family and guests attended?  Instead, they offered excuses, or insulted you when you contacted them, or just ignored you.  Anger and resentment come to mind over such an ungrateful and insensitive group of guests.  And yet, this had happened to our ever merciful God over and over again in salvation history. 

The Jewish people had been given a very special status- they were the chosen people.  They were blessed with special covenants between God and themselves- covenants with Abraham and Moses and David.  And yet they failed to show up at the party over and over again.  But our most gracious, loving, and all forgiving God kept trying.  Indeed, in our first reading, he even talks about inviting those who were spread out over the world, those affected by the Diaspora because of their rejection of the covenants.  Indeed, there is a theme of universal acceptance in our first reading today.  As long as these Jewish people would repent and accept God, and would come forward and accept His invitation, they, too, were invited to the party.   

This is the context of our Gospel reading.  Because Jesus is foretelling the rejection of the new covenant that He proclaims, the message of the Gospel, by the Jews.  It is the Jewish leaders who those who kill God’s messengers represent in the parable; and it is the Jews who the people who ignore the invitation to the banquet, or offer excuses, represent.  And so, Jesus is telling the Pharisees and the Jews about the coming invitation to all of us- the Gentiles- because the chosen people have rejected the invitation.  And so, everyone will be invited, including anyone right off the streets regardless of their status- social or political or economic or race or nationality.  Jesus words in the parable implied all this for those who cared to listen.  And that would have been absolutely scandalous ion his cultural establishment.   

Today, we are the establishment- the Christian believers rather than the Jews.  But we face the same challenge as the Jewish people did.  Many of us pay lip service to our invitation; some of us have excuses; some of us ignore it; and still others are hostile.  And our leaders- well some of them are beating up God’s messengers pretty severely.  If we accept the invitation- that means we accept our faith and we ready ourselves for the banquet.   We give a resounding AMEN to the invitation.  But recognize that God sees in the hearts of all men.  And so many will be invited, even those our establishment thinks it would be scandalous to include:  Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems, even Jehovah’s Witnesses and other sects.  They could get in to the Kingdom instead of us.  Indeed, God sees the hearts of all men-.   And so, He knows whether we are covered by a wedding garment or not. 

 

Thursday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

Ezr 13: 1-12; Math 18: 21 – 19:1

Dc. Larry Brockman

Is there some sin that you are guilty of that you fall to over and over again?  Maybe you’re impatient and lose your temper, or take the name of the Lord in vain, or participate in gossip.   And who among us hasn’t had some sin that we truly recognize as a whopper sometime in our lives.  All of course, except me! 

Of course you can always go to confession and confess those sins. even if it is something you do over and over again.  We are confident, because of God’s word to us that we will be forgiven of whatever it is that we have done, as long as we admit our sin and are truly contrite at the time.  And it doesn’t matter how serious the sin is or how often we do it.  What an awesome God we have!   

And yet, when it comes to forgiving others, well, most of us have a problem with that.  But here we have it straight from Jesus.  Seven times seventy times we are to forgive.  Now that doesn’t just mean 490 times and then no forgiveness is needed, because 7 is symbolic of the perfect number.  So, we are to forgive ten times the perfect number squared.  (Sorry, but I’m a retired Engineer and I just couldn’t help that.)  But just think of what that means- ten times perfection times itself.  That’s pretty close to infinite forgiveness.  We expect from God the same kind of infinite forgiveness when you come right down to it.   

This morning, recall some of the people who you have trouble forgiving, and then think of how you would feel if God treated you the way you have treated these people.  I know it’s tough, but we have all got to forgive people who trouble us.  Has one of these folks tried to mend the fence?  That’s their form of being contrite.  And for those who wrong us over and over again, is it something that is symptomatic of human weakness, not really bad intention- maybe teasing or nagging or some habit that bothers you.  Aren’t all of us guilty of the same human frailties, except me, of course? 

We need to forgive our neighbor seven times seventy times, because that is a sign of true humility and a contrite heart.  These are so essential in our appeal for forgiveness to our God, because they show what it means to forgive our brother from our heart. 

 

Thursday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Jer 11: 31-34; Math 16: 13-23

Dc. Larry Brockman

Is the law written upon your heart- Jesus law, the Christian way of life?  What does that even mean- to have the law written on your heart?   

For the covenant that the Lord gave to Moses, the Israeli’s were required to keep the Jewish Law.  The Law was embodied in the ten commandments, which were written in stone.  The whole law was derived from these commandments, and was taught to the people.  This still happens today- we are taught the written law.  We are taught the catechism, which draws on  the fullness of the written revelation of God, the Bible; and what has been revealed as the traditions of the Church.  And that is a good thing- to know the fullness of God’s law.  But all of this is knowledge of the law- to know what is right and wrong.  But a key to Jesus mission was to assure that the law was written within us, upon our hearts.  And that is different from knowledge of the law. 

Notice that in today’s Gospel, Peter “knows” who Jesus really is.  Peter says: “You are Christ, son of the living God”.  This is not something he could have learned from scholars of the Mosaic Law.  Rather, it was a “sense of knowing” that came from his heart.  It was something revealed to Peter by God,   It was a feeling within Peter that came to him as a result of all of the experiences he had with Jesus.  It became a “knowing” that was deep within him.   

When the law is written in your heart, it can be said that you have that “sense of knowing”.  It is the light that comes on within you when you recognize the truth, when everything makes sense; it is that little voice inside of you that then moves you in new directions; and it is what your conscience tells you should not do when you are tempted.   

Notice also that Jesus validated Peter’s “knowing” of the truth.  How wonderful that must have been for Peter!  But then something happened that contrasted strongly with that validation.  Because at the end of the Gospel, Jesus words are very stern, calling Peter a Satan.  Jesus accuses Peter of thinking as human beings do rather than as God does.  We can have the same problem.  Sometimes we have a “knowing” of God’s law, God’s will, in a situation.  But when it comes down to living in the real world, we think as human beings, and we can be an obstacle to God’s will.  We can have a problem putting what is written in our hearts into action: the call to a vocation; helping to meet the needs of a family member or friend; a sense of forgiveness for a wrong done to us; and the recognition and acceptance of suffering.  It is in those situations that we need to remember this advice from our Psalm:  “My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit, a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”   Because that’s what it means to have the law written upon our hearts. 

Feast of St. Martha

Jer 18: 1-6; Jn 11: 19-27

Dc. Larry Brockman

God is relentless!  And how fortunate that is for us, because no matter how many times we turn away from him, no matter how many times we fight Him, he is right back with us immediately trying to reshape us, relentless and patient in the process, just as He described in the parable of the potter in today’s first reading.  It is inescapable- we can’t get away from Him no matter how hard we try.   

It isn’t just the parable that tells us this either. There are a number of ways we know the truth of this in our hearts- our emotions and feelings give it away.  When we feel guilt over something we’ve done, or we experience frustration over the way things are going, or even when we are bewildered over burdens that seem to confront us- all of these are signs that we need to be reshaped, that a change is needed in our lives to put us back on track.  It is then that we can open ourselves in prayer to the patient, relentless, quiet calm that comes from God as he guides us to recovery, whatever that might be.   

Martha experienced this process.  Burdened and frustrated over the loss of her brother Lazarus, she appealed to Jesus for help.  And while Jesus worked the miracle she so desperately desired, he did so only after ministering to Martha’s inner needs, refocusing her on what was really important.  He said: “I am the Resurrection and Life, whoever believes in me, even if he die, will live; and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die”.  We all need to hear that in the midst of our burdens and frustrations and bewilderments of this life,  that if we believe, and live as God intends us to live, we will never die.   

Sometimes the potter’s hand can seem awfully harsh and contrary to our desires.  But that is only a short term phenomena.  Because those who hold to the potter’s shape, they will live forever.

 Thursday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Is 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19; Mt 11: 28-30

Dc. Larry Brockman

Can it be that simple?  That the secret for all of us who labor and are burdened, is to learn from Jesus and live our lives patterned after Him.   

Perhaps life seems so complicated to us because we make it complicated- the world makes it complicated.  After all, our labor and burdens are seemingly so manifold- we have responsibilities- children to take care of; jobs to do; school to attend; property to maintain; and financial duties.  And we have burdens- sicknesses, limitations, and other peoples problems somehow laid at our feet.  We even have things to do and see that we hope to spice up our lives- places to go to and see; sporting and cultural events to attend.  The list of things we feel compelled to do in our lives- all of our labor and burdens- seems so endless and overwhelming at times. 

And yet, in the midst of all our worldly responsibilities and wants, in the midst of the clutter that is life in our world, only one thing stands out as really, really, really important-  our relationship with God, because that is what we take to the Kingdom of God.     

If we could look at life in another way, that is, that the most important thing is our relationship with God, then today’s Gospel makes so much more sense, because, turning over our burdens and labors to God by adopting Jesus approach to life, simply means that we put our relationship with God first.  We trust Him in all things that happen as we let His will guide us in our path through the manifold activities and burdens of life.  It isn’t that we have to offload our lives of our responsibilities and work; or even that we abandon our wants and pleasures; but rather, it is that we realize that in all things we do, we recognize and accept His will for us and not fight it; and we let go of the emotional and stressful baggage that these burdens and labors cause because we trust in the justice and providence of God, just as Jesus did.   

He has promised salvation to those of us who believe and trust in Him, and that salvation includes justice for all- God’s justice, the kind of justice that Isaiah speaks about in today’s first reading.  And indeed, we will sometimes feel like Isaiah describes- like a woman about to give birth who is writhing in pain.  But then again, as Isaiah says- “But your dead shall live, awake and sing, you who lie in the dust”. Why?  Because the way of the just is smooth. 

Thursday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Hosea 11: 1-4, 8e-9; Mt 10: 7-15

Dc. Larry Brockman

“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give”.  Have you ever thought about it that way- that whatever it is that you have, your talents, your home, your family, even your limitations- they are yours, given to you by God, for free; and so, you are being commissioned to give them to others freely. 

First of all, they are without cost.  Because whatever you think you did to “earn them” counts for nothing compared to the fact that God gifted them to you.  Without God, you could not have anything.  It is only by the grace of God that we exist and have anything.   

Imagine how God feels when we don’t recognize His free gifts to us.  Our reading from Hosea today kind of describes God’s feelings in such a case.  Listen again to God’s words from Hosea; first he says:  “I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks.”  Wow, what kind of love is that!  But then, he says:  “Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.  My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred”.  Now this doesn’t just apply to the people of Israel. Many of God’s people of today don’t seem to have a clue, not a clue that they have their gifts by virtue of God.   

So, what are we supposed to do with our God given gifts once they are recognized as such?  Well, in the Gospel Jesus sends His apostles out to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  And that is not all, because He asks them to do His work in a certain way:  First, he tells them they are not to take money- rather they are to depend on the people they visit to provide food and shelter for them.  In other words, he asks the Apostles to trust in His providence.  Likewise, we are asked to trust in God’s providence when we respond to his gifts.  And second, Jesus says they are to proclaim their message, and offer peace to all.  Whoever accepts them, God’s peace will also rest on them; but whoever rejects them and their message,  God’s peace will remain with the apostle.  In other words, when you recognize and use your God given gifts in the way God intended them, no matter what the world says or does or thinks of you, no matter what the reaction from those you try to give to,  you can be certain that God’s peace will be with you throughout.  That is God’s promise to us who try.   

These two elements of our mission to give freely of our talents- trust in God and confidence in the peace of God, are keys to a very difficult part of being a Christian- giving freely of ourselves. 

Thursday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Amos 7: 10-17; Mt 9: 1-8

Dc. Larry Brockman

“The truth will set you free”, that is, unless, you are an Israeli prophet in Amos’ time; or John the Baptist in Jesus time, or even a Christian voice in today’s secular world, in which case you will be slandered and people will scheme against you, fomenting all kinds of evil against you.   

But consider this.  Amos was sent into exile, but not before he told Jeroboam the absolute truth.  And over time, everything that Amos predicted came true.  John the Baptist was beheaded, but not before he had accomplished his mission, proclaiming a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and announcing the coming of Christ and his kingdom.  The establishment hated both prophets, preferring not to listen to the Word of God, because it would mean an end to their secular power.   

Even Jesus himself, who dealt with the paralytic in good faith and out of kindness, was berated by the Jewish establishment because he was not up to their standards of training,  and because of an inconvenient truth-  that a simple carpenter had miraculous power to heal not only the body, but the soul as well.  The Jewish establishment was jealous of the truth.     Hopefully, the voices of God’s truth today will get the Word out, the truth, even as they are shouted down, and many of them will be and are being persecuted by the establishment today.  It is an establishment that no longer encourages a national day of prayer; an establishment that allows our taxpayer dollars to fund abortions; and an establishment that is spending way, way, way beyond the means to pay for it.   

Where are you and I in all of this?  Are we like the people of Israel under Jereboam, who hear the truth through Amos the prophet, but stand on the side just listening, waiting, biding time; hoping that their leaders, corrupt and godless as they were, would come to their rescue,  only to be crushed as the words of the prophet came true?  Or will you and I rise to the occasion; put God and His word first; put aside special interests; and seek out and find the truth, the truth that only comes from God, truths like:  I am the Lord your God, do not have strange Gods before me; thou shall not kill; and thou shall not steal.

Indeed, the truth is really the only thing that can set us free, and God’s Word is the truth.