Watching in Silence 
December 3, 2023
Deacon Dennis Walters

For many years, Christ the King parish in Ann Arbor has maintained round-the-clock Eucharistic adoration.  Normally, two people must always be present, but often the pre-dawn slots are hard to fill with two. A close friend of mine, a man in his mid-eighties, loves the hour between midnight and cock-crow (actually, 1 a.m.) where he is often alone. Whenever his replacement fails to relieve him at 2 a.m., he stays the extra hour. Although he sometimes falls asleep, he enjoys even that extra time alone, watching in silence with the Lord.

This is the first Sunday of Advent. For us in the northern hemisphere, the days are getting shorter and colder, and the nights longer and darker, lending a certain somberness to the Advent season. And it’s more than just the weather. Our hearts are somber, our souls disquieted. Conditions in the world are getting darker: threats of war breaking out on several fronts, divisions (political and social) turning neighbors into enemies, food and housing becoming more expensive than even employed people can afford, moral standards dissolving such that what was once known to be good is now perceived as evil. Divisions in the Church pit bishops and cardinals against one another, scandals undermine Church authority, and lay Catholics vote to support moral evils like abortion. No wonder it seems to many Christians that the end of the world is at hand.

It’s not just the world around us that is collapsing. For various reasons, some deeply personal, the Christmas season is not a happy time for many adults. Family members have died or left the faith, marriages are in trouble, siblings no longer speak to each other. If we’re honest with ourselves, our own conduct is far from perfect. Somehow, the joy promised by the season evaporated not long after we lost our faith in Santa Claus. We’re too in tune with the consumer culture (only twenty more shopping days till Christmas!). Preparations for the holiday are an exhausting chore — and its music reminds us that Christmas has become a holiday instead of a holy day.  

If we’re at all spiritually sensitive, we complain with Isaiah: “You, O Lord, are our Father. Why do you let us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?” If only God would do something. “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you, while you wrought awesome deeds” that no ear has ever heard of, no eye has ever seen. If only…. Of course, we know that God has done something. He has rent the heavens and come down, though not with mountains afire, quaking as at Sinai. He has come down, as it were, incognito, as a baby born to poor and insignificant p a r e n t s . H i s c o m i n g w a s expected but was so hidden that few of those looking for Him recognized Him. One who did was old Simeon holding the infant Jesus, thanking God that “my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples.” He was watching for it, it was visible, but how many others saw what he did?

Our liturgy reminds us of our need to be on the watch for this same salvation. Advent is a penitential season — not as intense, perhaps, as Lent, but more subdued in tone than Ordinary time. It’s a time for watching in expectation. Lest we forget that, the liturgy reminds us with the change of vestments to purple; we suspend singing of the Gloria; we light Advent candles, one each week to signify waiting. In the Gospels, we read of Jesus’ warnings lest the Lord’s coming at the end of time — is it the end of the world’s time or our individual time? — catch us by surprise. “You know neither the day nor the hour. What I say to you, I say to all: watch!”

Note that Jesus refers to watching when most of us would ordinarily be asleep: evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn. It’s when we are most apt to sleep that watchfulness is most necessary. If we use Advent only as a time of parties, decorations, shopping, and other distractions, we’re not watching.

Again, Advent is a penitential season. At the very least, “penitential” means that we apply some sort of brake to our normal routine, that we slow down the usual pace of activity during this season of the year. Given the noise that everywhere surrounds us, an important penance would be to establish a zone of silence, a time and place where we can be alone with the Lord, a time to experience some peace. Simply to set aside the usual noisemakers — to turn off the TV, put down the cell phones and the ipads, stay home from parties, and avoid similar distractions — watch in quiet for a little while can be a significant penance.

My friend treasures his time alone with the Lord between midnight and cockcrow, when the silence is profound. That hour may not appeal to you. Besides, St. Mary’s doesn’t have 24-hour Eucharistic adoration. But you can take time in the privacy of your own home to watch in silence. You can pick up and use one of the Magnificat or other devotionals available in the vestibule. Or join one of the Advent prayer groups now being formed in the parish. Something, anything. The point is to shape your days during Advent so as to obe y J e s u s ’ injunction: “What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”   ❖

Go to Battle for Christ the King 
November 26, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. At His birth and His death, Christ was proclaimed as King. At birth, the Three Magi came enquiring, “Where is the Child who has been born king of the Jews, for we observed His star at its rising. And have come to pay him homage” (Mt 2:2). At His death, when He was hanging upon the cross, a superscription was written in Greek, Latin and Hebrew “this is the King of the Jews” Pilot did not fully understand what he wrote. On His cross, Jesus was mockingly declared by the superscription as the ‘the King of the Jews but God uses even the evils of man for a good purpose.  

The beautiful prayer of the Preface of the Eucharistic celebration reminds us that His kingdom is “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”

Today’s Gospel is a parable of Christ’s return in glory. We need to prepare for Christ’s return because the final judgment will take place when Christ returns. The first question this section answers for us is, “Who is our judge?” 
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory.” (Mt 25:31)

Jesus Himself will sit on the throne for judgment. As the Son of Man and Son of God, Jesus will preside on the day of judgment. “Moreover, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him.” (Jn 5:22-23) 
That leads us to our next question, which is, “Who will be judged?” We find the answer to this question in verse 32: “All the nations will be gathered before Him….” (Mt 25:32) Jesus will separate us into two distinct groups, here described as the sheep and the goats. Jesus will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left, the right hand being the side of honor and blessing in Scripture.

The sheep represent those who are saved in the final judgment, and the goats represent those who are not. In other places in the Bible, these two groups are pictured as the wheat and the weeds (Mt 13:36-43) or good fish and bad fish (Mt 13:47-50), but the most common designation in Scripture is simply the righteous and the wicked.

The question here is, “On what basis will we be judged?” It is based on a single criterion. They are separated according to how they treated what Jesus calls “the least of these brothers of m i n e .” This would be consistent with passages such as  Mt 10:40-42  where Jesus says to His disciples: “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me…. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Jesus is speaking of anyone who is in need, whether they are believers or not, as someone who must be helped. So we are saved, not by faith alone as some protestant churches believe, but our faith and works which go hand in hand.

Dear brothers and sisters Jesus, the King, needs convicted soldiers prepared and ready to fight against the enemies.  The battlefield is the  home, the school, the place of employment, the neighborhood, and the parish.  These  provide new and exciting challenges,  new opportunities for us to do, ourselves, what is right and to live out the truth of Jesus Christ our King, So we need to be constantly aware of His Presence in the Bible, in the Sacraments, and in the worshipping community. 

This feast is an invitation to all those who have power or authority in government, public offices, educational institutions, and in the family to use  it for Jesus. Are we using  our God-given authority so as to Jesus did? In families, are parents using their God-given authority to train their children in Christian ideals and committed Christian living that starts with infant baptisms, religious education, confirmation, Christian marriage, and respectable burial of our family members when they die according to the teachings of our faith?

The Solemnity of Christ the King is not just the conclusion of the Church year. It is also a summary of our lives as Christians. On this great  Feast, let us resolve to give  Christ the                                                                                      central place in our lives and to obey His commandment of love by sharing our blessings with all His needy children.  Let us conclude the Church year by asking the Lord to help us serve the King of Kings as He presents Himself in those reaching out to us. Mother Theresa once said “if sometimes our poor people had to die out of starvation, it is not because God did not care for them, but because you and I did not give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God to give them that bread, to give them that clothing, because we did not recognize Christ the King, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise.”   ❖

Use Your Talents for the Glory of God 
November 19, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

Last week we heard Jesus teach about the signs  of  His return. Even though Jesus could return at any time, no one knows when He will return, so we also need to be ready to wait for Christ’s return. This leads naturally to the question: what do you do while you wait? 

Today’s passage tells us that we should be preparing for Christ’s return by being faithful stewards  of  the resources and abilities God has given us. Jesus teaches us this important truth using the  parable  of  the  talents. Anything whereby we may glorify God is ‘a talent.’ Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, education, all are  talents.” So, what do you do with these while you wait? We need to use it to work for Christ and His kingdom.

Everything you have c ome s f r o m G o d a n d belongs to God  (14) When the master goes away, he entrusts the servants with his property. God is the owner. We are only stewards. We are servants  of  God and stewards  of  His property. The first thing that we have to do is to acknowledge that my life my time, money, belongings, work, skills everything comes from God and belongs to God. 

  God gives to each  of  us according to our abilities  (15) Notice how Jesus says the owner gave different amounts of money to the three servants. So we should acknowledge that God knows what you can handle and what you cannot. Some of us are more limited in our abilities. Some of us can handle much more. God is sovereign over our lives and the resources and abilities He has given us. We need to be careful not to envy those who have more than us or be prideful over those who have less. Rather, we should be grateful and determined to use whatever God has given us for His glory.

Which leads us to the question: what are you doing with what God has given you? In the  parable,  the man who had received the five talents put his money to work and gained five more. The one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his talent. Are you learning and growing and developing the resources and abilities that God has given you? Remember, God owns it all. You are just a steward of what He has given you.

  The good and faithful servant gains more for the Master  (19-23) The parable says that the good and faithful servant is the one who gains more for the Master. This section of the parable  teaches us several things. First  of  all, God expects you to be faithful with what he gives you. You are responsible for the resources and abilities God has given you in this life. When Christ returns, it will be time to settle accounts. If you have misused what God gave you or used it all for yourself or you didn’t use it at all, you will have to answer to God for your actions. Secondly, this section teaches us that the more God gives you, the greater your responsibility. The servant who was given five talents was expected to gain more than the servant who was only given two  talents. And the servant who was given two  talents  was expected to gain more. God only holds you responsible for what He has given you. Notice that both the first servant and the second servant were commended equally before God. The master says the exact same words to each of them.

The third and final section  of  the  parable  deals with the wicked and lazy servant who digs a hole and buries the coin in the ground . T h i s section  of  the  parable  also teaches us several things A . Don't think bad thoughts about God  ( 2 4 - 2 5 ) He accuses Him  of  harvesting where He has not sown and gathering where He has not scattered seed, he thinks that He is a hard man to deal with.   It is certainly not true of God or the master in the parable, He didn’t take away from the first two servants who gained more for Him, but rewarded and praised them. We can make our lives miserable by thinking bad things of God and doing nothing . B . Doing nothing for God i s unacceptable (26-27) Notice how the master takes the servant’s own words and uses them against him. The third servant tried playing it safe, but by doing nothing he ended up with nothing.

Jesus is coming back, and when He returns, it will be time to settle accounts. Please know that doing nothing for God is unacceptable. 

Dear brothers and sisters, God expects you to use the resources and abilities that He has given you for His glory. So, let us seek to be good and faithful servants, working productively for God’s kingdom while we wait for Christ’s return.  ❖

Is your lamp full?
November 12, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

In today’s passage Jesus shares with us the parable of the ten  virgins  or ten bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom. The parable is pretty straightforward. It is fairly easy to identify the bridegroom with Jesus and the arrival of the bridegroom with the return of Christ. These 10 virgins’ different actions represent those who are prepared to wait for the return of the Lord and those who are not. 

First of all, Christ’s return will be a joyful event for all believers. Back in chapter 24, Jesus used largely negative images for His return – lightning, vultures, a flood, and a thief breaking into your house in the middle of the night. But here in chapter 25, he uses a positive image – bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom to appear. The earlier images are meant as a warning to unbelievers while this image of the bridesmaids meeting the bridegroom is meant as an encouragement to believers. For the watchful believer it is the blessed hope, the glorious appearance of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The first part of the parable focuses on waiting for the bridegroom. There is only one difference we find in the parable. The  foolish  did not bring extra oil for their lamps, while the wise were ready for any potential delay. They assumed that the bridegroom would come sooner than he did, and so they did not make any extra preparations in case he came later than they expected. The wise were ready for any potential delay. They did not want to miss out on this most joyful of events, and so they were ready for any potential delay. Which brings us to another point from this section: waiting is hard. Even when you are ready for any possible delays, waiting is still hard. Jesus will come at the exact time God has decided. He was right on time for His first coming, and He will be right on time for His second coming. It may be longer than what we are hoping or expecting, but He will be right on time. Still, waiting is hard, even when you know the bridegroom is coming.

The second part of this parable is the arrival of the bridegroom, It was midnight. All ten  virgins  were sleeping when the cry suddenly rang out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” It is just a natural effect of waiting at midnight. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping. Everyone has to sleep. You need to have made all the necessary preparations. No matter how long you may have to wait, you need to be ready when the sign of the Son of Man appears in the sky and that final trumpet call sounds. 

Unprepared virgins started panicking, they asked the wise to give them some of their oil. But each of us must be ready for Christ on our own when He arrives. We cannot depend on someone else and their readiness. The foolish virgins rush out to buy more oil, but while they are gone, the bridegroom arrives, the door is shut. And now we come to the saddest part of the whole parable: those who were not ready will plead for the door to be opened. They will recognize their foolishness. They will be filled with regret. On the last day, the question will not so much be, “Do you know Jesus?” but “Does Jesus know you?” Does Jesus know you as one of His own people, as one who has put their faith in Him as Savior?

We can draw two very clear applications from this parable and from Jesus’ conclusion to the parable.  1) You don’t know when Christ will return, so, be ready now.   2) You don’t know when Christ will return, so be ready to wait if necessary. The apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 3: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (1 Peter 3:8). 

What do you see when you look into the lamp of your life? Is it full of oil, running out, or empty? Is the oil fresh? The Scripture scholars of the past and the present have reflected on what this oil symbolizes, and they have arrived at different but related views. Perhaps, the best explanation is that the oil stands for our personal relationship with God, it stands for character and Christian values which we cannot borrow. Oil stands for “spiritual capital” (our merits) – all that we build up by good works:  concern for the needy and acts of justice. 

Is your lamp burning brightly or is it growing dim? It would be so easy to divide and categorize the ten bridesmaids into two groups – the wise and foolish, the prepared and unprepared, the good and bad, the winners and losers, the welcomed and rejected. That is not the message from the parable, all ten bridesmaids were a part of the kingdom. All ten were invited to the wedding banquet. All ten went to meet the bridegroom. All ten became drowsy and fell asleep. All ten had lamps. All ten were meant, intended, and called to be carriers of the light. The only difference is that some carried light and others did not. And that is true for every one of us. We also are meant to be carriers of the light. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus says earlier in Matthew’s account of the gospel (Mt 5:14). “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16).

Every day we either add to the light of the world or we add to its darkness, The world needs our light. There is not a person or a place in our world today that is not in need of light. Our light makes a difference. We can push back the darkness with our light of love, hope, healing, forgiveness, gentleness, and compassion.  ❖



 

On Failing to Practice What You Preach
November 5, 2023
Deacon Dennis Walters

Our readings today indict professional religious people for failing to practice what they preach. Actually, that same indictment can apply to just about all of us at one time or another. Either way, the harm that religious hypocrisy causes can have lasting consequences.

My family used to know a young man named Scott. The whole neighborhood knew him, especially the kids. He was the sort of fellow that could turn an ordinary school field event into a carnival by creating devices like an air cannon made of PVC tubing and powered by a vacuum cleaner that could shoot potatoes at a target fifty feet away. Because Sue provided daycare for his daughter, our families became fairly close. He knew we were churchgoers; he himself had no particular faith.

Occasionally, we would invite Scott to a prayer meeting, but he would always decline. Once, when I invited him to an event I thought he’d enjoy, he explained his reason for saying ‘No.’ During his childhood, his family belonged to a local Protestant church. At one point when Scott was older, his father made it known that he (the father) didn’t really believe anything the church taught. His only reason for attending church was to network with “people who counted” socially and in business. And in fact, the father could identify several other men in that congregation who attended services for similar (or worse) reasons.  

That revelation torpedoed Scott’s faith. It taught him that what he heard from the pulpit meant nothing, and religious observance was for hypocrites. His attitude did begin slowly to improve after his efforts to rebuild his failing marriage paid off. But tragically, just as it looked as if he might be opening up to faith, he and his daughter were killed in a car crash.
The prophet Malachi ministered during a period when Israel, having returned from exile, was rebuilding. He saw three problems that needed urgent reform:   Levitical priests gave watered-down or misleading catechesis, Israelite men were divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying Gentile women, and worshipers would present for sacrifice animals they merely wanted to get rid of rather than offering God the best of their flocks. In short, the practice f Israelite faith was becoming a façade.

In the Gospel, Jesus takes aim at the behavioral example set by the scribes and Pharisees. First, a couple of definitions: phylacteries are small leather cases tied by cords to the left forearm and to the forehead during prayer; the phylacteries would contain Scripture verses as reminders of faith. Also, tassels were sewn to the four corners of a man’s prayer shawl, again as a reminder of devotion to the Law. As a devout Jew, Jesus would have worn both. What he objects to is the showiness involved in making phylacteries bigger or tassels longer than most people’s. He gives other examples of highlighting one’s religious importance: taking the best seats in church, being greeted by “the right people,” and sporting honorary titles.

Of course, it’s easy to make fun of titles used for Church personages. Titles like Your Excellency for a bishop, Your Eminence for a cardinal, or Your Holiness for a pope are holdovers from times when such titles were important, and they’re still used for formal occasions. But it’s one thing for the Church to set rules of etiquette for addressing certain categories of ministers out of respect for their office; it’s another thing for the minister to arrogate that title to himself — which is what the scribes and Pharisees were doing.

Some Jews still wear phylacteries and prayer shawls with tassels as reminders. We Catholics have similar ways of reminding ourselves of our faith by the blessed objects (called sacramentals) we carry around — our crosses, medals, rosaries, and Bibles. Where we earn Jesus’ criticism is when we use these things to show off: when our pectoral cross (worn outside our clothes) is bigger than the bishop’s, when we display rosaries or medals as jewelry, when we ostentatiously read our Bibles in public. Perhaps such displays of devotion are genuine; but even children can tell the difference between real devotion and mere show.

Jesus calls for humility in the practice of our faith. Humility means that our practice is sincere, not for show. Humility does not mean keeping our faith hidden; we can and should be open in what we say about it and how we live it. Parents have the solemn duty to teach their children the faith, not just by telling (“Do as I say!”) but also by showing (“Do as I do”). The best way to teach children to love the faith is to let them see how Mom and Dad love it in practice. In particular, research shows that the example of the father is even more important for children than that of the mother — which ought to make us fathers sit up and take notice.

That’s what’s so pernicious about what my friend Scott learned from his father. In an effort to exalt himself in the eyes of his fellows, Scott’s father was humbled — brought low — in the eyes of his son and ruined his son’s faith. The parents, particularly the fathers, who sincerely attend church, teach and pray for their children, and become active in the parish community are true servants to their families. They will be exalted not only in their children’s eyes but in God’s. ❖

‘Love God with All that You Are’
October 29, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

 In Calcutta, India, there is a children’s home named Shishu Bhavan (Children’s Home), founded by Mother Teresa. The home continues to be operated by her community, the Missionaries of Charity. On the wall of the home hangs a sign that reads:  
“People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. LOVE THEM ANYWAY. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives, DO GOOD ANYWAY. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies, SUCCEED ANYWAY. The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow, DO GOOD ANYWAY. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable, BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY. What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight, BUILD ANYWAY. People really need help but may attack you if you help them, HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY. Give the world the best you have, and you’ll get kicked in the teeth, GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY.”  

Mother Teresa counsels her young charges that the challenges offered by this sign can be met only if human beings are motivated by a love and a respect for one another which looks beyond faults, differences, ulterior motives, success, and failure. Mother Teresa once said of herself, “By blood and origin, I am all Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the whole world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.”
In this Gospel, we are looking at the final week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem. This was a time of increasing conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders. And in His answer to today’s question, He clarifies the relationship between God and neighbor. Today’s message is about loving God and loving your neighbor. Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees assembled. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Mt 22:34-36). And again they selected their best person, an expert in the law, to ask their best question to trap the Lord.  

There are a huge number of commands in the law, and if Jesus elevates one commandment over the others, He is at risk of minimizing the other commands in the process. Of course, as we have seen throughout this section, you can’t outsmart Jesus, although the religious leaders keep trying. In fact, when Jesus answers their question, not only does He not minimize any of God’s commands, but He actually elevates all of God’s commands in the process. And so, according to Jesus, love for God and neighbor are the two most important commandments. We see this even in the Ten Commandments where the first four commandments have to do with loving God, and the last six commandments have to do with loving people. But He clearly makes the first commandment the most important of the two, and He presents the second commandment as part of the first. As we shall see in a moment, the two commands go together and cannot be separated.  

But first, let’s look at each of the commandments separately. The first commandment comes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy: Dt 6:4- 5. 1) With all your heart: That’s because your heart in scripture refers to the very center of your being. All your thoughts, words, and deeds originate in the heart. And so, loving God with all your heart means loving God not only with your affections but from the very depths and center of your being.
2) With all your soul: refers to who you are your life and person, your emotions and disposition, all those things that mark you off as a unique person made in God’s image.
3) With all your mind: refers to your thoughts, your attitudes, and your intellect. 4) With all your strength: And then, finally, your strength refers to those areas of life where you exert effort – whether physically, emotionally, or mentally.  

Jesus says love the Lord your God with all your strength. Notice the repeated word “all” in front of each term. You are to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Love Him with all you are and all you’ve got! And then Jesus says the second command is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:39) Here Jesus is quoting from Leviticus 19:18 which says: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”. When you love your neighbor as yourself, their needs and concerns become just as important as your own. We read in 1 John 4:20: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” Your love for God flows out into your love for your neighbor. Your love for your neighbor demonstrates your love for God.  

Finally, look at Mt 22:40 where Jesus says: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” You might wonder, why do all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments? We find three reasons in God’s Word: 1) because love is the fulfillment of the law; 2) because love can never be used as an excuse for sin; and 3) because the law is one entity – when you break one part of the law, you are guilty of breaking all of it.  

Dear brothers and sisters, can you say that you have loved God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? I know I can’t. Can you say that you have loved your neighbor as yourself? None of us can. There is only one who has perfectly fulfilled these commands. His name is Jesus, and so we need to come to Christ, confess our sins, receive His forgiveness, and ask for His help. ❖

‘Who is God in your life?’
October 22, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

This is a passage about God and government because of the question the Pharisees asked and the answer Jesus gave them. But it is also a passage about flattery because of the way they approached Jesus and how they asked their question. “Teacher we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God.” Jesus’ answers gives us a beautiful
lesson for life. 

We fulfill our duties to our country by loyally obeying the just laws of the State and working for the welfare of all citizens. We become Heavenly citizens by obeying God’s laws. The last message is: don’t fall into the trap of flattery. The Pharisees and the Herodians seem to be saying nice things about Jesus, but they are really speaking with deception. Their words are smooth as butter, but war is in their hearts. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. So, that’s the first reason we should avoid flattery because a flatterer is insincere.

 The Pharisees and Herodians were simply trying to entrap Him in an unwinnable game. When you go up against God, you always lose. The Pharisees, as you know, were the religious leaders and authorities. The Herodians were significant because their loyalty to King Herod suggests they willingly cooperated with the Roman occupiers of the Jews while the Pharisees distanced themselves from Rome. 

The only thing that brings the two together is their shared dislike of Jesus. They went to Jesus with a question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” They wanted to know whose side Jesus was on, the emperor’s or God’s. It’s a trap, a setup. Whichever way Jesus answered the question He will have incriminated Himself with either the Pharisees or Rome.  

In  the Gospel, Jesus escaped from the trap of this question. They knew that if Jesus said, no, you should not pay taxes to the emperor, He would be arrested by the imperial authorities. And yet if He said yes, you should pay them, He would appear to side with the empire against His own people. Either way, the Pharisees saw an opportunity to knock Him off of the board, as it were. What they did not anticipate, however, was that Jesus was not interested in winning the game that they were playing. He came into their midst with entirely new rules of play. “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” He said, holding up a coin with the image of Augustus on it. If this is the game that you are playing, He seems to be saying, then you already know what the rules are. But know, also, that God is not subject to your strategies. 

Perhaps we can illustrate all this with one case, that of St. Thomas More, the English martyr. King Henry VIII of England is validly married. He appeals to Rome to annul the marriage. But there is no honest basis for annulment. Rome refuses. Henry takes matters into his own hands, declares himself Head of the Church in England, and remarries. He then orders his friends and officials to sign a document declaring that they agree he acted rightly in the matter. Many of More’s friends sign, but More refuses. Henry demands that he sign or face arrest, trial for treason, and execution by the state. More refuses. He had two obligations, one to God and one to his country. When they conflicted, More had no choice but to remain faithful to his obligation to God. 

On his way to public execution in 1534, More encouraged the people to remain steadfast in the Faith. His last recorded words were: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Today’s Gospel reminds us of our dual citizenship. We are citizens of the world and citizens of Heaven. We have an allegiance and an obligation to each. We hope the obligations will never clash. But if they ever do, we must resolve them as Thomas More did, without compromising our God or our conscience.

Jesus is not asking us to divide our loyalties or compartmentalize our lives. Instead, He is holding before us the reality of God and the reality of our emperors. Both are real. Both are a part of our lives and our world. Jesus is asking us to step into and live in the tension of those two realities. That’s what He did. That’s where He lived. To stand in that place is to stand with Jesus. That’s where life gets real. That’s where life is really lived. It is neither a comfortable nor an easy place to be. There are no easy answers. Here’s what I mean. Begin with your checkbook, calendar, and values. What would go in God’s column? What would go in the country’s column? What criteria determine whether something is God’s or the emperors? Are God and the emperor mutually exclusive, always in opposition? Can they be complementary? Is the emperor always bad? Must we choose one over the other? Who is God in our life? Who are our emperors?

Dear brothers and sisters, we all struggle with them; we want so much to have a clear-cut answer. I want to be able to give you an answer. But I don’t have any answers. I can’t tell you what to do but I can stand with you in the tension of God and the emperor and you can stand with me. Always my faith comes first. That struggle, the tension of living with and between God and my emperors, continually pushes me inward, to examine my life, to reflect on who I am, what I do, and whose image and title I bear. That’s when and where the Church has something to say, faith makes a difference, and lives are changed.

 

‘Are you ready for the feast?’
October 15, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

At my last parish in India before I came to the United States, I was a pastor for 6 years in a small parish that was given to a
religious community with a seminary. The parish is alsonamed after the founder of their order St. Joseph Cottolengo. There is a story about him from when he was five years old; he was measuring one room after another with a cord. His mother, rather confused, asked him what he was trying to do. “Dear mother,” he replied, “I want to see how many beds can be placed in this house: when I am grown up I would like to fill the whole house with sick people.” A tear of emotion glistened in his mother’s eyes. 

In 1832 he founded, in Turin, the ‘Piccolo Casa Divino Providenza” ‘Little House of Divine Providence’. Today it is famous in Turin and worldwide. It shelters thousands of people in it. I saw that huge institution when I went to Italy. Like St. Joseph Cottolengo, there are some who respond to God’s call with passion and reach out to others to realize God’s vision for the human race. But there are many who, like the invited guests in today’s parable (Mt 22:5), are complacent in their response to the Lord’s invitation.

In today’s Gospel, by telling an allegoric parable of judgment in the Temple of Jerusalem two days before His arrest, Jesus accuses the Jewish religious and civil leaders of rejecting God’s invitation to the Heavenly banquet given through Him, God’s Son. The parable of the Great Supper paints a different picture for us Catholic Christians. We need to participate in the Eucharistic banquet with proper preparation by repenting of our sins and by actively participating in the prayers during Holy Mass. Participating in Holy Mass is the best preparation and source of power for our future participation in the heavenly banquet. 

Before the changes in the wording of the Mass, during the liturgy of the Eucharist, the celebrant said while holding up the body of Christ, "Happy are those who are called to His supper." The Lord invites us to a supper, a banquet, a feast. Can you imagine a wedding feast in which everyone sits stone-faced, cold, and quiet?

The parable shows us three possible kinds of guests. There are the absentee guests who initially accepted the invitation, but when the time came to honor the invitation, they drew back. There are the guests without wedding garments who attend the feast but do not take the trouble to prepare adequately for it, as the occasion deserves. Then there are the guests with wedding garments who make the necessary preparations to present themselves fit for the banquet of the King. 

The scary thing about the absentee guests is that they are not sinners. They were not engaged in sinful activity. One went to his farm, another to his business. These are gainful and noble employments. Sometimes what keeps us away from the joy of the kingdom is not sin, but preoccupation with the necessities of life. To be serious with your job is a good thing, but when your job keeps you away from attending the Lord's Supper, then it becomes an obstacle that hinders you from experiencing the joy of the Lord in your life. 

There is a saying that “the good is the enemy of the best.” If only those absentee guests knew what they were missing by not attending the feast! It used to be that people attended church services to fulfill a "Sunday obligation," otherwise it would be counted against them as sin. This kind of fear no longer motivates young people today. More people would probably come to church if they knew they were missing out on the fun of celebrating and feasting with the Christian community.

Concerning the guest without the wedding garment, to speculate on whether he had enough time to go home and put on his wedding garment is beside the point of the parable. The point of the parable is: if you must go to the dance, you must wear your dancing shoes. If you must go to a wedding, you must wear your wedding garment. By not wearing a wedding garment, he was physically at the party, but his mind and spirit were not there. He was at the feast but he was not in the mood for feasting. Jesus hates this kind of hypocritical attitude. In fact, it is better not to attend at all than to be there and yet not there. 

The invitation is to all, the party is free for all, yet anyone who decides to attend has a responsibility to present himself or herself fit for the king's company. The kingdom of God is freely offered to us. Those of us on the way to the kingdom must spare no effort in acquiring the moral and spiritual character that is consonant with life in the kingdom.

Finally, there are the guests who attend the wedding feast, taking care to appear in the proper wedding garments. They are the only ones who have fun and enjoy the party. They are the models whose example we should follow. 

Today's Gospel sends a message to those who are keeping away from the Lord's Supper, that they are missing out on the joy of life. To those of us who have accepted the invitation to come in, this parable warns us not to take God's grace for granted but to clean ourselves up and become the most beautiful person that we can be in God's sight. 

According to St. Gregory, men and women who come to the wedding feast with hatred in their hearts do not wear the acceptable garment spoken of in the parable. Our wedding garment is made of our grace-assisted works of justice, charity, and holiness. Let us examine whether we have fully accepted God’s invitation to the Messianic banquet and remember that banqueting implies friendship and intimacy, trust and reconciliation. The message is the same as we have heard in Colossians 3:14: "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." ❖

‘Put Your Faith in Jesus’
October 8, 2023
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

In his book, From Scandal to Hope, Fr. Benedict Groeschel examined the roots of the clergy sex abuse scandal. He details how disloyalty spread through seminaries, universities, and parishes. The most notorious case was that of Fr. Paul Shanley. He lectured in seminaries, once with a bishop in attendance, maintaining that “homosexuality is a gift of God and should be celebrated.” A few years later the Catholic Theological Society (CTS), published Human Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought, a study that accepted cohabitation, adultery, and homosexuality. Fr. Benedict continued:  “Now, however, all these chickens have come home to roost.” 

We are paying the price – in lawsuits, public humiliation, and loss of credibility. The media gave us a glimpse of the enormous destruction  in the Lord’s vineyard done by those wicked tenants. But this attention by the media has had consequences the media probably did not intend. It has alerted Catholics to the widespread damage of the vineyard, which ultimately means the damnation of souls. 

Fr. Groeschel asked, “Does all this scandal shake your faith in the Church?” He answered, “I hope so because ultimately your Faith should not be in the Church. Ultimately your faith is in Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that we accept and support the Church. We believe in and belong to the Church because Christ established it on His apostles."    We see  in today’s Gospel that the owner of the vineyard is God.  He will care for his Church, not by committees or documents, but by raising up saints who will properly tend the vineyard. 

Today’s Gospel begins with Jesus saying to the chief priests and the elders of the people, “Hear another parable”. We will better understand the parable of the tenants if we see what happened before Jesus taught this parable. Jesus entered the Temple of Jerusalem while people greeted Him saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Mt 21:1-11). He cleansed the temple area by driving out all those engaged in selling and buying there (Mt 21:12-13). Jesus cursed the fig tree that did not produce any fruit (Mt 21:18-22) which was symbolic of the fruitless Jewish leaders of the time. The chief priests and the elders questioned the authority of Jesus when Jesus returned to the temple area (Mt 21:23-27). Then Jesus began to teach in parables that were direct attacks on His opponents there. The parable of the two sons (Mt 21:28-32) preceded today’s parable of the tenants. In the parable of the two sons, one disagreed to obey the father and later changed his mind representing the sinners who followed Jesus. The other son agreed to obey but did not, representing the Jewish leaders of the time.

The parable of the tenants was also an attack by Jesus on the elite group of Jews who were members of the Sanhedrin, the highest court of justice and the supreme council f Jews in Jerusalem. At the end of this parable, Matthew states the reaction of the listeners. “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew He was talking about them.” (Mt 21:45). So, this parable is a figurative representation of the salvation history of the past, the present, and the future. The previous parable, the parable of the two sons, was a defense of the sinners who followed Jesus and an offense on the elite Jews who rejected Jesus. So, the current parable was on how the leaders of Israel who were well cared for by God, had been continuously unfaithful to Him, persecuted the prophets down the centuries, and rejected the Son of God. The story prophesied how the then leaders would lose their position and how the new Israel, the church, would emerge under new leaders.

1. God takes care of us, like a landowner does for his favorite vineyard, by providing everything we need and protecting us from all harm. As children of God and as His tenants, we are accountable to God in providing fruits of our Christian living in the family, parish, workplace, and society. 

2. We need to respect the representatives of God who include our parents, teachers, mentors, and above all, our ecclesial leaders. They are supposed to lead us according to the plan of God. They are also answerable to God for their responsibility. When we respect them, we respect God. If we disregard them, we are doing the same to God.   
3. A true representative of God cannot disregard the will of God to please the faithful entrusted to His care. Christian leadership is challenging. We need to pray for the pastoral leaders and missionaries. 

4. Rejection and persecution in this world for the sake of the Kingdom of God is a gain in the Kingdom of Heaven. 
5. God, being tolerant, sent His Son Jesus to give us an opportunity to repent and reconcile with God. If we reject Jesus, He will come again for a final judgement resulting in the reward of those who accept Him and punishment of those who reject Him. ❖

‘Fair Play’
October 1, 2023
Deacon Dennis Walters

Surely every parent has heard the howl of protest when a child faces discipline: “That’s not fair!” The parent who is confident of the family’s standards of justice and how they apply to the child’s conduct will not give in to a temper tantrum. Rules are rules, and as long as they’re reasonable and the parent applies them with an even hand, the child can only benefit by them.

In our first reading, Israel complains that God’s rules are not fair. Through the prophet, God counters that they are. They set the parameters that make life with God possible. Vi o l a t i n g t h e m h a s consequences. To modernize Ezekiel’s example, a Catholic who has been faithful all his life but commits just one mortal sin can incur damnation if that sin is not repented of. He may still retain faith in the Gospel; he may even think he still loves God. But his spiritual state is like that of the husband who cheats on his wife only one time. He places his marriage in mortal danger.

By contrast, someone who has flouted the commandments all his life can be saved if he abandons his former ways and starts doing what is right. Jesus warns the priests and elders to pay attention to the example of the tax collectors and prostitutes who are entering the kingdom of God. These have come to believe the way of righteousness. The disbelief of the law-abiding priests and elders keeps them from entering it.

There is a paradox at play here. In both the Old and New Testaments, Scripture advises us to choose life over death, and presents us with two ways that represent the most fundamental of life’s choices. One leads to life and ultimate freedom by following the commandments, the moral law. Life is what everyone wants, or should want; but, as Jesus says, that way is hard and narrow, and few people take it. The other is broad and easy, and many people choose it because it seems to promise freedom from constraints even though its end is destruction.

But why should the path to life be hard and narrow? And how can obedience to God’s laws promise freedom? Perhaps an analogy can help. All games have rules. Even Hide & Seek has rules. Their purpose is to define what the game is, present the goal and pose the challenge to reaching it, increase skill at play, and provide reward. Football, for example, consists of a field of prescribed width and length with goal posts at either end. The challenge is for each team to carry a ball to its own goal against opposition from the other team. The game is supposed to involve strenuous effort with fair play, and referees are there to ensure fairness. With the rules (and the referees), one is free to play the game as it was designed. Without them, players can do what they want, but no one knows what game they’re playing.

Life also has rules, and they exist for the same reasons game rules do. They define standards, present the goal of life and pose the challenges to reaching it, increase wisdom, and promise reward. They can be reduced to ten simple statements — though, as Jesus points out, each statement has further implications. You shall not kill, but that also means that you shall not harbor murderous anger. You shall not commit adultery, but that also means you shall not look lustfully at anyone. You shall not take vengeance on an enemy, but that means you shall not refuse to forgive him. Lots of negatives. But with these rules, one is free to live life as it is meant to be lived. Without them, life becomes purposeless.

Jesus himself is firm about moral rules. He forgives the woman caught in an act of adultery, but tells her not to sin again. He heals the disabled man at the pool of Bethesda, but warns that, if he doesn’t change, worse ills may befall him. He affirms the law of Moses, refusing to change a single punctuation mark. He tells His disciples, “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same is the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:19-20).  

Parents instinctively know the value of rules. They also know the rules don’t exist for their own sake. Any parent who wants to ensure that his child grows up into a responsible, mature adult will make demands by enforcing a few reasonable rules fairly. For the child, the road to adulthood can sometimes feel narrow and hard, but it leads to a good, fulfilling life. 
God, Scripture says, treats us like sons and daughters when He makes similar demands on us. As the book of Hebrews says, our parents “disciplined us for a short time as seemed good to them, but God does so for our benefit in order that we may share His holiness. At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it” (Heb 12:7-11). God’s way  leads to life. It brings way it was intended to  be lived. If we complain that His way is not fair, He reminds us that we who don’t  want rules are the ones who are not playing fair. ❖