Sunday, July 29, 2007

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 11:1-13
I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I READ TODAY'S READING FROM GENESIS OUT LOUD. IT WAS AT A NOVENA MASS ON MONDAY NIGHT BACK IN THE DAYS OF MONSIGNOR DEVINE, AND BEFORE I BECAME A DEACON. AS I LISTENED TO THE WORDS I WAS SAYING, I COULD FEEL LAUGHTER RISING UP UNCONTROLLABLY. I MANAGED TO GET THROUGH THE READING WITHOUT LAUGHING, BUT JUST BARELY. IT IS A FUNNY STORY. I THINK IT WAS MEANT TO BE, AS ARE MANY OF THE STORIES IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS. BUT IT MAKES TWO POINTS. GOD WHO IS UNCHANGEABLE SOMEHOW ALLOWS HIS CHILDREN TO PERSUADE HIM TO CHANGE HIS MIND. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY OR THE INCARNATION EITHER. THE SECOND POINT IS THAT PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF, A POINT AGREED TO BY JESUS IN TODAY'S GOSPEL.
THE LORD'S PRAYER AS GIVEN IN THE GOSPEL OF LUKE IS NOT THE FAMILIAR ONE WE ALL KNOW, WHICH COMES FROM MATTHEW. IT IS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME, HOWEVER. AFTER WE PRAY THAT GOD'S NAME BE HALLOWED, AND THAT HIS KINGDOM COMES, WE ASK FOR THREE THINGS.
FIRST, WE ASK FOR OUR DAILY BREAD. BREAD IN THIS SENSE MEANS WHATEVER WE NEED TO KEEP GOING, TO HALLOW GOD'S NAME AND BRING ABOUT HIS KINGDOM. A STARVING PERSON CAN'T CONCENTRATE ON ANYTHING BUT HIS HUNGER. A VERY SICK PERSON CAN'T THINK ABOUT MUCH BESIDES HOW SICK HE IS – THINK ABOUT ALL THE THINGS YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED WHEN YOU'VE HAD A CASE OF THE FLU. A PERSON WHO IS HOMELESS OR PERSECUTED OR LIVING IN GRINDING POVERTY IS A VERY POOR INSTRUMENT IN GOD'S HANDS. SO WE ASK FOR WHAT WE NEED. WE ALSO REMEMBER THAT WHAT WE NEED AND WHAT WE WANT ARE DIFFERENT THINGS. WHEN WE PRAY FOR WHAT WE WANT, WE ARE IN DANGER OF PUTTING OURSELVES BEFORE GOD'S KINGDOM, TREATING GOD LIKE SOME KIND OF COSMIC VENDING MACHINE. WHEN I TAKE MY GRANDCHILDREN SHOPPING, THEY WANT A LOT, BUT MOST OF THE TIME I SAY “NO”. FOR OUR WANTS, WE MAY EXPERIENCE GOD'S NO.
SECOND, WE ASK GOD'S FORGIVENESS, BUT JESUS HAS US PRAY WITH A CONDITION. FORGIVE US AS WE FORGIVE. GOD'S NAME WILL BE HONORED AND HIS KINGDOM WILL COME TO THE EXTENT THAT THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIS PEOPLE ARE HEALED, AND TO THE EXTENT THAT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH US IS HEALED. THE KINGDOM WE PRAY TO COME IS A KINGDOM WHERE WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHERE WE WILL ALL LOVE ONE ANOTHER, WHERE WE ALL ARE IN COMMUNION WITH OUR FATHER, LIKE JESUS WAS. ALL OF THIS REQUIRES FORGIVENESS ALL AROUND.
AND THEN WE COME TO THE THIRD PETITION. LUKE SAYS, “SUBJECT US NOT TO THE TRIAL” AND MATTHEW SAYS, “LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.” WHAT ARE WE PRAYING FOR? IS GOD A SADIST? PART OF THE DIFFICULTY WE HAVE WHEN WE HEAR THESE WORDS IS THAT WE ARE THINKING OF FAILING THE TRIAL, OR GIVING IN TO TEMPTATION; WE FALL INTO SIN. BUT MAYBE JESUS HAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN MIND. AGAIN, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HONORING GOD'S NAME AND BRINGING ABOUT HIS KINGDOM. CERTAINLY PERSONAL SIN, WHICH IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF TEMPTATION, GOES AGAINST THIS GOAL. BUT MANY OTHER THINGS DO AS WELL. JESUS, AFTER ALL, WAS DRIVEN INTO THE DESERT BY THE SPIRIT, THERE TO BE TEMPTED BY SATAN. TURN THESE STONES INTO BREAD, HE WAS TOLD. WHAT A TEMPTATION – A WAY TO END WORLD HUNGER; BUT NOT THE RIGHT WAY. THE RIGHT WAY IS MUCH HARDER – TO GET PEOPLE TO CARE FOR EACH OTHER. JUMP OFF OF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE, AND HAVE THE ANGELS CATCH YOU. WHAT A TEMPTATION – IF YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL MESSAGE FOR THE HUMAN RACE, WHAT BETTER WAY TO GET THEM TO LISTEN THAN TO DO SOMETHING SPECTACULAR AND MIRACULOUS! BUT NOT THE RIGHT WAY. EVERY PERSON MUST COME TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS AND HIS MESSAGE THROUGH HIS OWN CONVERSION, THROUGH HIS OWN STRUGGLE. AND FINALLY, WORSHIP ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH. WHAT A TEMPTATION – A TEMPTATION THAT WE'VE SEEN IN OUR OWN TIME OVER AND OVER AGAIN, FROM LENIN TO CASTRO, FROM HITLER TO MAO – IF ONLY I HAD ABSOLUTE POWER, I COULD MAKE THE WORLD INTO A PARADISE. BUT DISASTER ALWAYS HAPPENS. AND IT IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY. PARADISE ON EARTH WILL COME ONLY WHEN EVERY PERSON COMPLETELY AND FULLY OBEYS THOSE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS, LOVE GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH, AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. AND UNTIL YOU DO THIS, AND I DO THIS, PARADISE WILL NOT COME; BUT WHEN YOU AND I DO THIS, IT IS A LITTLE CLOSER.
THESE ARE THE KIND OF TEMPTATIONS WE PRAY NOT TO BE LEAD INTO. THESE ARE THE TRIALS WE ASK TO AVOID. BECAUSE WE HAVE SEEN HOW EVEN GOOD PEOPLE CAN LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT. OVER THE LAST 2000 YEARS WE HAVE EVEN SEEN OUR OWN CHURCH, THE CHURCH FOUNDED BY JESUS, BECOME ENAMORED OF POWER, ATTRACTED TO WEALTH, LIVING THE LETTER RATHER THAN THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW – AND ALL FOR GOOD REASONS; BUT IN DOING SO, STRAYING FROM THE RIGHT WAY, FROM JESUS' WAY. AND YOU AND I ARE NOT IMMUNE. MOST OF US HAVE ALREADY SUCCUMBED TO THESE KINDS OF TEMPTATIONS. DID YOU WINCE A LITTLE WHEN THE VATICAN REITERATED THE AGE-OLD TEACHING THAT OURS IS THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH? DO YOU FEEL A LITTLE ASHAMED THAT OUR CHURCH CONTINUES TO OPPOSE EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH, SAME SEX MARRIAGE, ABORTION, ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL? DON'T YOU WISH SOMETIMES THAT CHRISTIANS WOULD PUT THEIR DOCTRINAL DISPUTES ASIDE AND WORK TOGETHER TO END POVERTY AND CLEAN UP THE ENVIRONMENT? WHAT ABOUT ALL THE FUSS ABOUT THE LATIN MASS?
THE POINT IS THAT FOR EVERY PROBLEM THERE IS A QUICK FIX, AN EASY SOLUTION. BUT IF WE KNOW ANYTHING FROM STUDYING THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JESUS, WE KNOW THAT JESUS' WAY IS NOT THE QUICK FIX. JESUS' WAY IS TO DIE ON THE CROSS.
SO LET US PRAY THAT WE WILL NOT BE LEAD INTO TEMPTATION, BECAUSE WE ARE SO WEAK, WE ARE SO EASILY SWAYED, WE OR MORE LIKELY THAN NOT TO FALL, AND NOT EVEN KNOW WE HAVE FALLEN. AND LET US LOOK INTO OUR HEARTS AND COMPARE OUR ATTITUDES, OUR BELIEFS, TO THOSE OF OUR CHURCH, WHO, DESPITE BAD AND EVEN SINFUL LEADERS, DESPITE INDIFFERENT LAITY, DESPITE FALLING OVER AND OVER AGAIN, IS STILL THE ONLY PLACE WHERE THE TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST SUBSISTS COMPLETELY. BECAUSE WE ARE LIKE THOSE APOSTLES, WHO SAY, “TO WHOM SHALL WE GO, YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.”