Who is your "Them?" Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s first reading, we hear the story of Jonah and the Ninevites.  Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh to persuade the Ninevites to repent, change their ways, and follow Him.  This was no small task.  For the Jew of the 1st century BC, Nineveh was the heart of godlessness, immorality, corruption, and crime.  Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire that had conquered and colonized the kingdom of Judah, looted and destroyed the Temple, and carried the Jews into exile.  It was a big metropolitan city where the social and economic law of the “survival of the fittest” reigned supreme.  Materialism was the order of the day in Nineveh.  For pious Jews like Jonah, Nineveh was the godforsaken city populated by lost souls without any hope of change, or of regaining God’s favor.  No wonder Jonah objected so strenuously to God for being sent there.  As far as he was concerned, the mission to Nineveh was nothing but an exercise in futility.  But, as we heard in the first reading, the people who Jonah despised--the sworn enemy of the Jews of that time--heard God’s message as delivered by Jonah, repented, and were saved by God.  No one, especially Jonah, expected that to happen. 

    The first reading is really the story of two calls:  the call of the people of Nineveh to repent and follow God, and the call of Jonah to go out to people he despised to preach God’s message to them.  Them.  The Ninevites were “them” to Jonah.  Enemies.  Heathens.  Low-class citizens.  A people undeserving of God’s love and forgiveness--or even His attention—and most certainly undeserving of Jonah’s time and energy.  Why should he go to…them?

       There are basically just two groups of people, right?  Us… and… Them.  Them.  Certainly our “them” includes our enemies, like with Jonah and the Ninevites.  But, what about the people who we don’t agree with; those we don’t understand; people who don’t look like us, or talk like us, or think like us, or pray like us…they’re them too.  So my question for you today is:  Who is your “them?”  Who is it? Or, who are they?  Republicans if you’re a Democrat?  Auburn fans? People who were born someplace else and who may or may not be documented, like our Spanish-speaking parishioners here at Holy Spirit?  We just celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Sadly, there are still a lot of people whose “them” are those whose skin is a different color.  Or could your “them” be people who are much worse off than you?  The homeless.  The poor.  The mentally ill.  Or, could they be people who are better off than you?   The very rich.  Politicians.  Elected officials.   Just who is your “them?”

     Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have our “them.”  We all have our people we can’t believe that God wants us to talk to…to lend a helping hand to…to…love.  But He does.  He absolutely does!  In fact, our “them” is just who God wants us to help the most.  What did Jesus say?  “You have heard it said ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you … For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?’”  What Jesus calls us to do sounds really hard.  So, how do we do it?        

     First, unfortunately, I’ll bet we don’t have to travel very far to find “them.”  Many are right here.  I’ll bet some of our “them” are seated in this very church, right now.  Well then, let’s start here.  Let’s make them…us.  Let’s bury the hatchet.  Let’s let bygones be bygones.  Let’s focus on our similarities instead of our differences.  Let’s try to understand what makes them who they are, and then try to love them—if not because of it, then in spite of it.  When Kyle was being a rebellious teenager, her mom used to tell her:  I love you, but I sure don’t like you very much.  We are all human.  We can do things that get under people’s skin—sometimes intentionally (although I’m sure that was never the case with Kyle and her mom), and sometimes quite by accident.  But because we are all human, we must forgive each other.  If we don’t, and the hurt is left to fester, then someone who is an “us” could turn into a “them”—and that would be a shame.  It’s ok to disagree.  It’s ok to have our own opinions and to voice them in a respectable manner.  But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t love and respect one another, even in the midst of our disagreements.  From time to time, people are going to make mistakes, or say things without thinking, in the heat of the moment; things that they regret later and wish they’d never have said--I do, a lot more than I care to admit.  That doesn’t mean they’re bad people, and therefore a “them.”

God is calling each one of us to be Jonah; to reach out to a person or group of people who we may not particularly care for, or who we may not understand, or agree with, or know much about, and to spread His Good News to them—the Good News of His  Kingdom.  For the past two Sundays we have heard about “calls”—Samuel’s call in his sleep, to which he answered:  “Here I am Lord;” and Jesus’ call to everyday fishermen—to follow Him.  These men literally gave up everything—job, home, family, security—and answered “yes”—not merely by their words, but by their actions.  That is what God wants from each one of us.  He wants a commitment.  A commitment to love.  And we can start with the people we see the most or know the best:  the person we pass on the street every day and try to ignore; the person at work who we avoid rather than speak to; the family member we have not spoken to in months or even years.  Our “them” doesn’t have to be people shooting at us, or even shouting at us.  They don’t have to be “bad” people.  They could be sitting across the aisle from us—or even right next to us.  For most of us, God is not asking us to change an entire city like Nineveh, or even a school or a neighborhood--at least not all at once.  So… let’s try, say over the next week, to reduce our “them” by just one.  Let’s take someone from our “them” list and put them on our “us” list.  And then maybe a couple more the next week?  And the next?  Before we know it, our “them” list will have shrunk substantially.  It can happen--when we move from being self-centered to being God-centered; from being self-seeking to seeking the will of God, from doing things for our benefit to doing things for the glory of God, and the benefit of humanity.  God didn’t create our “them,” we did.  God hasn’t populated our “them” list, we have.  God says we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  And, He also says that everyone is our neighbor.  Simple, but not easy.  But nothing worthwhile is.  And life in heaven, with God, and all the angels and saints, is certainly worthwhile…worth the effort. 

     The season of Lent is a little over 3 weeks away.  Let’s us get a jump on it, shall we? Let’s us start heading for our Nineveh, with open minds and open hearts; and trust me, if you’re like me, you won’t have to walk very far to get there.  Catholic means universal.  Well, you can’t be universal if you’re excluding someone.  So let’s begin our journey to Nineveh today…one step at a time; one smile at a time; one I’m sorry…or I forgive you at a time.  In a few minutes, when we offer each other the sign of peace…let’s mean it.  And at the end of Mass, when we ’re commissioned to: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life… let’s actually do it.

 

 

My 3 most precious gifts. Homily on the feast of the Holy Family. 12/28/14

   Today is the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  But although they were the Holy Family, nothing about their family life was easy—especially in the beginning.  Recall how Joseph was trying to figure out a way to divorce Mary quietly so as not to expose her to the law—which meant stoning.  After having it all explained to him in a dream, Joseph agrees to take Mary as his wife.  Then they have to travel to Bethlehem for the census—on foot, with Mary being toward the end of her pregnancy.  Mary has to deliver the baby Jesus in a stable!  Then shortly after Jesus is born Joseph is told that they have to flee Israel, and they must go to Egypt until Herod dies.  Again, those early years were anything but easy for the Holy Family.  But they trusted in God and in His plan for them, even if it made life difficult.

   The seasons of Advent and Christmas are times for us to focus on the family.  The family, as we know it, is under attack, perhaps more today than any other time in history.  As much as they believe otherwise, Congress cannot legislate, nor can any court create, human laws that supersede God’s law.  Because God’s law is the truth; and we must support the truth, we must defend the truth, and most importantly, we must LIVE the truth.  It is not only by our words, but by our actions, that we share God’s truth with the world around us.  Just as family life was difficult for the holy family, living according to God’s law can be very difficult for our families today—but we must persist, we must persevere.  And we have a beautiful example to follow, to emulate, in the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  By using them as our guide we can better approximate how God would like us to live our lives.  If we can trust in God’s plan for us, and follow it even in difficult times, then we will be living the truth and following God’s will.

Today especially, we focus on the family.  The Becher Bunch has spent many a Christmas day driving long hours to be with family hundreds of miles away.  Yes, we have eaten Christmas dinner in a smoke-filled Waffle House surrounded by truck-drivers.  And we have driven for miles until we’ve found a Subway, which are the only fast-food places that are open on Christmas—or at least so it seemed.  Was it all worth it?  Depends on who you ask I guess.  It was to me.  Family is the most important thing to me on this earth.  And as my kids grow up and move to various parts of the country I know it will be next-to impossible to be with them all each Christmas.  But we will do our best, because as I said, the gift of family is the most important Christmas gift we can give--and receive--here on earth.                                                                                                                                    Ok, so enough about that…let’s talk about the good stuff.  What did YOU get for Christmas?  Anything cool?  Extravagant?  Any complete surprises—or was it just the stuff you put in your letter to Santa?  If your house is like mine, I’m sure the present-opening was great; and some of the best moments are when you see the look of joy on a loved-one’s face when they open the present you gave them.

   As for me, generally I can divide the presents I receive into three categories:

1.      Things I would like to have, and appreciate receiving, that I wouldn’t necessarily buy for myself.  The stuff that’s needed to get through life:  Shirts, socks, shoes, underwear.  I think gift cards and money would fit into that category, too.

2.     Next is the stuff I get each year that I need and use to fix things that are broken, or to make repairs to things, or make things better.  Tools are a prime example.  Or a grooming kit for those times when I have facial hair.  Or paint to revitalize walls.  You know, the practical, “manly stuff.”

3.     Finally, there are the things each year that are really, really neat (which usually means really, really expensive).  You know, the things you say “oh, you really shouldn’t have” but secretly—or maybe even not so secretly—you’re glad that they did.  You think to yourself:  “man, you paid way too much for that…I’d never have spent that much for that…I could have settled for something less costly.”  This would be things like jewelry, electronics, a cruise, a car, etc.  They are things that demonstrate how much the giver cares about you, and they often require some sort of sacrifice on the giver’s part.

Well, this year I received something from each one of those categories! 

     From the “necessary to live” group…I got…God’s grace.  It’s something I have to have in order to survive in this world.  It’s something I need lots of, so I can get it when I need it.  But, it’s something that I rarely think about until I need it—right then!  And so it’s good to have it stored up for emergencies, or times of trouble, or sadness, or hopelessness.

     And from the next category of “things I need to fix things”…I got…God’s mercy and forgiveness—in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I am a sinner.  I break often.  I need fixing often.  I need to make myself better—constantly.  Without God’s mercy and forgiveness I would remain broken, sinful, unworthy of a place in heaven.  Thanks to this special gift I can begin again—be “as good as new” so to speak.

     And finally, I received the most wonderful gift of all—the most expensive, most costly, and most cherished gift…God’s unconditional love; given to me—given to all of us—by a newborn babe in a manger.  This gift of God’s constant love for me came at so high a cost, at such an extreme sacrifice, by God’s only begotten Son, Jesus.  God, through his Son Jesus Christ, paid too much for me; sacrificed too much for me.  I could have settled for Moses, for Abraham, for Elijah.  I could have settled for his only Son coming to earth to save my soul as the most heralded King of all time who, from on His throne, defeated evil without shedding a drop of His precious blood.  No…no I couldn’t have—because that wasn’t God’s plan.  God knew just how I had to be redeemed, to be saved from sin and death.  I couldn’t have settled for any less.  I am humbled when I think about how much he loved me; that he would suffer such a horrible death so that I might live.  “Jesus, you shouldn’t have…but I am so very grateful that you did.”

     Yes, I received these three most precious gifts this year for Christmas—just as I have for each Christmas before it—and just as I will for each Christmas I am alive on this earth.  And you know what?  So have, and will, each one of you!  Whether you have stopped to think about it or not, you each were given these very special gifts every year at Christmas.  But wait—there’s more.  Each one of us can experience each one of these awesome gifts—God’s grace, God’s mercy and forgiveness, and God’s unconditional love—each time we approach His table at Mass and receive the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist!  Every time we receive His precious Body and Blood we experience all of these things.  The real presence of Our Lord, under the appearance of bread and wine, bestows on us His grace, His mercy and forgiveness, and His unconditional love.  How amazing!  We can all experience Christmas every day of the year if we want to—365 days!  God is offering us Himself;  He is inviting us to the sacrifice of the Lamb.  All we have to do is say “yes.”  All we have to do is come, and receive these three gifts—not wrapped in Christmas paper, but wrapped into one marvelous gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.  It’s that easy—and that awesome!

    And so, as we continue to celebrate Christmas, I invite you to think about this most precious gift, and how it is constantly offered to each one of us by our loving Father in heaven.  And I urge you to take advantage of this gift as often as you can, because each time we do, we grow that much closer to Our Lord, that much closer to our ultimate goal—life everlasting in heaven with God, and all the angels and Saints. 

Humility, Perseverance, and Faith; Homily for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel is about humility, perseverance, and faith. 

In the Gospel, we see Jesus going up to the district of Tyre and Sidon, two cities that are outside the boundaries of Israel. This is Gentile territory that Jesus is entering. The people who lived there were not Jews; they did not follow the religion of Israel. They were “pagans” if you will.  Jesus and his disciples had been in Israel with the Jews who claimed to be the chosen ones, because they obeyed the law and all that it demanded of them, and thus they felt deserving of all of God’s blessings.  But Jesus became upset with them and their sense of entitlement, and so he decided to take his disciples out of Israel and into the land of the Gentiles.  And while he was there, a Canaanite woman came to see him. The Canaanites were Gentiles outside of the covenant the Lord had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet they were in close enough contact, close enough proximity, to have some knowledge about the religion of Israel. And this woman apparently had knowledge of Jewish teaching, because she calls out to Jesus  “Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David!”  Son of David is a messianic term. The Messiah sent by God would be a direct descendant of King David.  It was understood that when the Messiah came, his blessing would extend to the Gentiles as well as to Israel.  The Canaanite woman must have heard about what Jesus was doing--his healings, his miracles, his acts of mercy, and realized that he was the Messiah who was to come.  “Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David.” She was suffering, because her daughter was tormented by a demon, and she came to Jesus to beg him to heal her.  Suffering can drive us to despair, but it can also drive us to our Lord. One of the benefits of suffering, strange as it may seem, is that it can lead us to seek the Lord and his mercy. When life is going smoothly, and all is well, we often forget about the Lord and take his blessings for granted—kind of like the Jews did.   But when suffering or hardship comes, and we have no one to turn to for help, and all seems lost--that’s when we often turn to God.     

     It’s like the story of the priest who was supposed to go to a St. Vincent de Paul meeting and then an altar server training.  As he was on his way to the first meeting, a couple of his friends pulled up and invited him to go fishing with them.  He knew he should be going to these meetings, but agreed to go with them. “Just let me change my clothes” he said.  “No time” they said, “we have extra gear for you, too.  Come on!”  So he jumped in the car and they took off.  While they were fishing off of a bank, a bear showed up and began to run toward the priest!  The priest ran for his life, but tripped on a vine and broke his ankle.  He couldn’t move, and the bear was fast-approaching!  And so he prayed:  “Oh God, I am humbly sorry for skipping those meetings today.  Please make that bear a Catholic!” (you know, because he was wearing his collar, so the bear could tell that he was a  priest).  The bear got closer, and the priest prayed all the louder:  “Oh God, PLEASE make that bear a Catholic!”  And just as the bear got to the priest, it stopped.  The priest breathed a sigh of relief.  Just then the bear clasped its paws together, bowed its head, and said:  “Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive...”  Sometimes, even if we have humility, perseverance, and faith, things don’t turn out the way we’d planned...                      

  So back to the Gospel.  When the woman first approaches Jesus, he appears to ignore her. That’s kind of surprising, isn’t it? That’s not the response we would expect from Jesus.  Is Jesus being rude, cold-hearted?  How do we explain Jesus’ silence?  How do we explain the silence of God in our lives? Sometimes when we pray to God in our distress, we don’t get the answer we’re looking for. We’ve been praying for a family member to recover, but she dies.  Did God not hear our prayers?  Is he ignoring us and our pleas?  Like the Canaanite woman, God’s response to our prayers is silence.  This is hard for us humans to understand.  But we must remember:  God works in mysterious ways. The apparent silence of God is not his cold-heartedness, but rather our inability to see and hear what God is doing; to understand his plan for us.  So Jesus did not answer right away. Perhaps he wanted the woman to demonstrate her faith, to stretch it out a bit. And maybe he wanted to teach his disciples a lesson in humility and faith, too.  It seemed as though the disciples maybe had a little cold-heartedness in them, a little sense of entitlement, because they asked Jesus to send her away because she was annoying them.  And so Jesus tells her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” which was the truth.  In his earthly ministry, Jesus was sent to minister to the house of Israel, that is, to the Jews, to gather them in first. It was not until after his resurrection that the mission would be expanded in a major way to include the Gentiles.  In spite of his seeming rebuke, the Canaanite woman persists. She perseveres. She kneels before Jesus and says, “Lord, help me.” But again, another obstacle is placed in her way. Jesus replies, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” That is to say, “It’s not right to take the blessings promised to the children of Israel and give them to the Gentiles.”  That seems harsh on Jesus’ part, doesn’t it?  It doesn’t sound like the Jesus we know at all.    It’s true that the Jews referred to the Gentiles as “dogs,” as a term of disrespect, a derogatory insult.  However, there’s something interesting in the word Jesus chose here.  In the Greek language, there are two words for dog-- The one the Jews used to insult Gentiles, and a second.  According to scripture scholars, Jesus used the word that can be translated as “little pet dogs,” or “doggies.” An affectionate term, used for dogs that lived in the house and were taken care of.  She seizes on his choice of words and immediately replies:  “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (now I don’t know about you, but this is the only time I can think of where someone seems to get the best of Jesus.  HE is usually the one with the great come-backs; but here, we can see how this Gentile woman’s response perhaps even caused Jesus to smile and think:  “good answer.”)    The woman came, not self-righteously, with a sense of entitlement like the Jews, but humbly throwing herself on the Lord’s mercy. She was willing to be a dog that eats the scraps off the table, if it meant getting to be around the Lord’s table; because that’s where the blessings are.  And when it came to her daughter’s health, she would not take “no” for an answer.  The Canaanite woman did not give up when obstacles were placed in her way. She persevered. She exhibited great faith—the kind of faith that even impressed our Lord.  And, my friends, God wants us to have that same kind of faith—a persevering faith in a merciful Lord. God wants us to come to Jesus, time and time again, in spite of any obstacles we may face.  To come to him and humbly say:  Lord, help me.             

     Many times, it is just easier to give up.  People do it all the time.  When there is suffering in their life, they give up and think that God is uncaring. When something goes wrong, people give up and stop turning to Jesus. When something at church doesn’t go the way they like, people give up and stop coming to church. But God does not want us to give up. He wants us to persevere, in faith, like the Canaanite woman did, and to seek--and find--his mercy and blessings. When things go bad, that’s the time to turn TO Jesus, not away from him. 

     We need to be the woman in today’s Gospel.  We need to persevere in faith in the face of all of the obstacles placed in front of us by today’s society.  Rather than say:  “I give up” we need to say:  “I give IN”—to God’s will; to God’s plan for my life.  With humility, perseverance and faith, we need to approach Jesus in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.  Then maybe one day we will hear those beautiful words of the Gospel:  “Great is your faith!  Be it done for you as you desire.”

Hay algo "de pescado" sobre esta perla

Cada vez que escucho la parábola de la perla de gran precio, pienso en un libro de John Steinbeck que leí cuando era un adolescente, llamado La Perla. Es una historia de un pobre joven mexicano indio buzo de perlas, llamado Kino, su mujer Juana, y su bebé Coyotito. El bebé es picado por un escorpión, pero el doctor no lo atiende, porque no tienen dinero. (El no era un buen hombre como nuestro doctor Marco)  Un día, mientras buceaba, Kino encuentra una perla, de la talla de la que nadie ha visto jamás ... "una perla de gran precio."  Kino cree que esta perla va a resolver todos sus problemas, y les permitirá pagar la educación de su hijo, y en última instancia, una vida mejor para todos.

Desafortunadamente, poseer esta perla lleva a la angustia, la división, la violencia, y en última instancia, la muerte de su hijo. Al principio, Juana siente que la perla es mala, y trata varias veces de convencer a Kino que lance la perla de vuelta al mar, pero nunca Kino reconoce el dolor y sufrimiento que trae a su familia, y sólo le mira su valor terrenal. Finalmente, después de que su hijo es asesinado por los ladrones que estaban en búsqueda de la perla, Kino y Juana caminan a la orilla del mar donde Kino lanza la perla lo mas lejos posible y la observa hundirse de nuevo al mar del cual vino.
      El libro de Steinbeck, y el Evangelio de hoy, ambos usan una perla para enseñarnos una lección valiosa acerca de la vida, y lo que es verdaderamente importante. Ya en la Edad Media, una perla se había utilizado en la literatura para representar la pureza espiritual, la castidad y la bondad. Steinbeck invierte este simbolismo en su libro al usar la perla para representar el mal, y sólo alejándose de ella puede Kino recuperar su bienestar espiritual. Durante el curso de esta historia, una familia sencilla, sin culpa propia, y solo tratando de tener una mejor vida, son desgarrados por la tragedia. Se supone que esta perla seria utilizada para sacar a su hijo de las tinieblas al mundo de la luz, donde el pueda aprender a leer y escribir, y ayudar a otros en su comunidad. En cambio, la perla se convierte en el instrumento directo de la muerte del niño. Kino aprende de la manera difícil, que hay cosas más importantes en la vida que las riquezas terrenales.

¿Cuál es la valiosa perla en su vida hoy? Si lo que buscamos, lo que valoramos por encima de todo, es algo de este mundo, y no del reino de Dios, entonces mis hermanos y hermanas sugiero que tenemos nuestras prioridades equivocadas, y nos dirigimos por un camino que conduce a la tristeza, vacío, y tal vez incluso la separación eterna de nuestro creador. Debemos darnos cuenta de que la única perla de gran valor para nosotros es el Reino de Dios; Es por esto que debemos sacrificar todas nuestras pertenencias terrenales. Este fue el mensaje de Jesús en el Evangelio de hoy. No luchar por las cosas de este mundo, sino más bien esforzarse para el Reino de Dios. Simple, pero no es fácil.

¿Y qué de la parábola de los peces y la red?   Por un lado, esta parábola es una continuación de las enseñanzas de Jesús sobre el bien y el mal.  Hace dos semanas escuchamos de la enseñanza de Jesús en una parábola sobre el suelo bueno y malo.  La semana pasada, Jesús habló del trigo y la cizaña que crecen juntos hasta la cosecha.  Hoy en día, oímos hablar del buen y el mal pescado.   Y así, ¿es usted un buen pescado, o un mal pescado? Eso no es realmente una pregunta justa. Lo que debería haber preguntado es: ¿es usted un buen pescado, o un mal pescado ... en este momento? Porque, podemos cambiar ... si elegimos.  Es como esa vieja broma: ¿cuántos psiquiatras se necesitan para cambiar un bombillo? La respuesta es uno, pero el bombillo tiene que querer cambiar.  Para combinar estas dos parábolas, podría ser un pez que codicia las cosas de este mundo, y sólo está interesado en la riqueza material-ya sabes, un pescado malo. Pero, en cualquier momento, puede cambiar.  Podemos cambiar.  A través de la oración, al abrir nuestros corazones a la Palabra de Dios, y con el perdón de la sanación que recibimos en el sacramento de la reconciliación, todos podemos ser mejores personas; personas que se centran en Jesús y su evangelio del amor. Esa es nuestra perla.

Pero hay otro nivel de la parábola. ¿Qué pasa con la red?  Redes de arrastre de aquellos días eran una forma común para pescar. Una gran red se hecha en el agua y se arrastró detrás del bote.  A medida que el bote se movía a través del agua, la red tomaba la forma de un gran cono, que indiscriminadamente atrapaba lo que estaba en su camino-buen pescado, mal pescado, lo que sea. ¿Cuál es el punto de Jesús aquí?  Así como una red de arrastre captura todo tipo de peces en el mar, la Iglesia actúa como instrumento de Dios para reunir a todo el mundo.   Al igual que la red de arrastre, no quiere o no puede discriminar, por lo que la Iglesia no discrimina entre lo bueno y lo malo.  Recuerdan Uds.,  no es nuestro trabajo juzgar; ese es el trabajo de Dios, y sólo suyo.  Estamos solamente para difundir la Buena Nueva a todos los que conocemos; porque el reino de Dios está abierto a todos los que acepten y crean.  Y estamos llamados a traer ese reino a los demás, no para mantenerlo para nosotros mismos.  Este tesoro, esta perla de gran valor, debe ser compartida.  Jesús nos dice, sin embargo, que llegará el momento de la separación, en el fin del mundo, cuando él enviará a sus ángeles para separar lo bueno de lo malo.  Nuestro deber es reunir a todos los que vengan.  Dios, al final, les dará a los buenos y a los malos sus respectivas recompensas.  Dios ofrece el tesoro de su reino a todos los que creen.  Porque él nos ha dado libre albedrío, podemos elegir a amarlo y seguirlo, o darle la espalda.

El martes pasado celebramos el día de la fiesta de Santa María Magdalena, uno de los grandes discípulos de Jesus. San Agustín la nombró la apóstol de los apóstoles.  A María se le permitió el gran privilegio de ser la primera persona que vio a Jesús después de su resurrección. ¿Por qué? Debido a que ella reconoció a Jesús como su perla de gran precio, y dedicó su vida a seguirlo y a difundir su buena nueva.

Nunca es demasiado tarde para cambiar. Nunca es demasiado tarde para  dejar atrás los llamados tesoros de este mundo-o lo que nos distrae y nos impide centrarnos en nuestra única y verdadera vida-tesoro eterno en el cielo con Dios, y todos los ángeles y santos. En las palabras de la parabola, ahora es el momento para ser un buen pescado.

There's something "fishy" about this pearl...

Whenever I hear the parable about the pearl of great price, I think about a book I read when I was a teenager called The Pearl, by John Steinbeck.  The book is about a poor young Mexican-Indian pearl diver named Kino, his wife Juana, and their baby Coyotito.  The baby gets stung by a scorpion, but the doctor won’t treat him, because they don’t have any money.  One day while diving, Kino finds a pearl, the likes of which no one has ever seen...“a pearl of great price,” if you will.  Kino believes that this pearl will solve all of their problems, and will allow them to pay for education for their son, and ultimately, a better life for them all.  Unfortunately, possessing this pearl leads to heartache, tension between he and Juana, violence, and ultimately, the death of their child.  Early on, Juana senses that the pearl is evil, and tries repeatedly to get Kino to throw the pearl back into the sea, but each time Kino fails to recognize the pain and suffering it brings to his family—only seeing its extreme earthly value.  Finally, after his son is killed by would-be robbers who were after the pearl, Kino and Juana walk to the shore where Kino hurls the pearl as far as he can and watches it sink back into the sea.

     Steinbeck’s book, and the Gospel today, both use a pearl to teach us a valuable lesson about life, and what truly is important.  As early as the Middle Ages, a pearl has been used in literature to represent spiritual purity, chastity, and goodness.  Steinbeck reverses this symbolism in his book by having the pearl represent evil, and only by casting it away can Kino regain a spiritual sense of well-being.  During the course of the story, a simple family, through no fault of its own, and seemingly just trying to have a better life, is torn apart by tragedy. Their pearl is supposed to be used to bring their child out of darkness and into the world of light, where he can learn to read and write, and help others in his community.  Instead, the pearl becomes the direct instrument of the child's death.  Kino learns, the hard way, that there are more important things in life than earthly riches.

     What is your pearl of great price in your life today?  IF what we seek, what we value above all else, is something of THIS world, and not of God’s kingdom, then my brothers and sisters I suggest we have our priorities all wrong, and we are headed down a path that leads to sadness, emptiness, and maybe even eternal separation from our creator.  We must realize that the only pearl of great price for us is the Kingdom of God; it is THIS that we should sacrifice all of our earthly belongings to obtain, to possess.  This was Jesus’ message in the Gospel today.  Strive not for the things of this world, but strive rather for the Kingdom of God.  Simple, but not easy.

     And what of the parable of the fish and the net?

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.  When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets.  What is bad, they throw away.”

     On one level, this parable is a continuation of Jesus’ teachings about good and bad.  Two weeks ago we heard Jesus teaching in a parable about good and bad soil.  Last week, Jesus talked of the wheat and the weeds growing together until harvesting.  Today, we hear about good fish and bad fish.  And so, are you a good fish, or a bad fish?  That’s not really a fair question.  What I should have asked is:  are you a good fish, or a bad fish...right now?  Because, we can change...if we choose to.  It’s like that old joke:  how many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?  The answer is one, but the light bulb has to want to change.  To combine these two parables, you could be a fish that covets the things of this world, and is only interested in material wealth—you know, a bad fish.  But, at any moment, you can change.  We can change. Through prayer, by opening our hearts to God’s word, and with the healing forgiveness that we receive in the sacrament of reconciliation, we can all become better people; people who are focused on Jesus and his gospel of love.  That’s our pearl.                                                                                                                 But there’s another level to the parable.  What about the net?  Drag-nets of those days were a common way to fish.  A large net was lowered into the water and dragged behind the boat.  As the boat moved through the water, the net was drawn into the shape of a great cone, which indiscriminately took in whatever was in its direct pathway—good fish, bad fish, whatever.  What is Jesus' point here?  Just as a drag-net catches every kind of fish in the sea, so the Church acts as God's instrument for gathering in everyone.  Just as the drag-net does not or cannot discriminate, so the Church does not discriminate between the good and the bad.  Like Father Francis said last week, it is not our job to judge; that’s God’s job, and his alone.  We are just to spread his Good News to everyone we meet; because, God's kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe.  And we are called to bring that kingdom to others, not to keep it to ourselves.  This treasure, this pearl of great price, must be shared.  And, unlike earthly goods that, when you share them with others your value is lessened by the number of people with whom it is divided, the more we spread God’s kingdom, the more valuable it becomes—to others and to us.  Jesus tells us though, that there will come a time of separation, at the close of the age, when he will send his angels to separate the good from the bad.  Our duty is to gather in all who will come. God, in the end, will give the good and the bad their respective rewards.  God offers the treasure of his kingdom to all who believe.  Because he has given us free will, we can choose either to love him and follow him, or turn our backs on him.  We must understand that, in the end, we will be held accountable for our actions, and the choices we’d made, throughout our lives.

    This past Tuesday we celebrated the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene.  According to tradition, she had been possessed by seven demons. Through the healing power of Jesus, the demons were cast out, and she became one of his greatest disciples.  St. Augustine labeled her the apostle to the apostles.  Mary was even allowed the distinct privilege to be the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.  Why?  Because she recognized Jesus as her pearl of great price, and dedicated her life to following him and spreading his good news.  It’s never too late to change.  It’s never too late to exorcize our own demons, to put behind us the so-called treasures of this world—or whatever distracts us and keeps us from focusing on our one true treasure—everlasting life in heaven with God, and all the angels and saints.  The time is now to be a good fish.