11th Sunday OTC – Father’s Day

                     2 Sam 12:7-10,13;           Gal 2:16, 19-21;     Lk 7:36-8:3

Dear Friends! It is said that the fathers of 1900 didn’t have it nearly as good as fathers of today; but they did have a few advantages: In 1900, fathers prayed their children would learn English. Today, fathers pray their children will speak English. In 1900, a father’s horsepower meant his horses. Today, it’s the size of his minivan. In 1900, if a father put a roof over his family’s head, he was a success. Today, it takes a roof, deck, pool, and 4-car garage. And that’s just the vacation home. In 1900, a father came home from work to find his wife and children at the supper table. Today, a father comes home to a note: “Jimmy’s at baseball, Cindy’s at gymnastics, I’m at adult-Ed, Pizza in fridge.” In 1900, a happy meal was when Father shared funny stories around the table. Today, a happy meal is what Dad buys at McDonald’s.

Before I give this homily I want to wish all our dads a Happy Father’s Day. I am praying for the dads in this congregation, those who are at a distance from us and those who have gone to the Lord. I am also praying for those who, like myself, are striving to be spiritual fathers. We will have a blessing at the end of Mass for all dads present.

I was thinking fathers (and mothers) sometimes have a difficult job. They have to try to convince their children that vegetables do them more good than ice cream, that turning off the TV and going to bed early is important, especially on school nights, that they need to brush their teeth, go to school, be nice to others, share their things, do their chores and do dozens of other things that children are not inclined to do.

As we think of fathers, we can’t forget the One who created all of us. Of course the God we call Father has no gender, for God does not have a physical body. Only Jesus does. However, the image of God as Father is a convenient and comfortable way of thinking of God, for it was the way Jesus most often referred to God when he called him ‘Abba’, an Aramaic word meaning ‘daddy’.

Just as our biological fathers have the difficult job of bringing up the children well so also God the Father has the same difficult job. He tries to convince us that we are going to be happiest when we do what he tells us to do. One of the hard things he has to do, is to try to get us to take on faith many things we cannot see. He wants us to believe in him, to believe in his love (even though we do not see it at times), to believe in his Son Jesus, to believe that death is not the end of life but for those who faithfully follow Jesus but it is the beginning of eternal life.

In today’s first reading we find God the father correcting David his mistake through Prophet Nathan. David committed a great sin, but he did not despair. With the help of Nathan, he placed himself under the Divine Mercy. Many Psalms come from David, for example, the one we heard today: “Blessed is the man whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.”

The Gospel of Luke is often known as the Gospel of Forgiveness. We heard in our Gospel the beautiful account of the woman who was a known public sinner meeting Jesus. It is one of the most tender and intimate moments in all the Gospels. She washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. In this beautiful intimate encounter Jesus is saying something to all of us; we are not to allow past sins to drag us down, the Lord wants to forgive us and release us and wants an intimate friendship with us.

Once a while I come across someone sharing that his/her father was abusive and alcoholic and can never forgive what he has done. Today  if  you have gone through such difficult times in your childhood, make effort to  forgive. So often we think of fathers as being perfect. But they are just like us. They have faults too – sometimes big faults. Yet, beneath these faults is a loving person that longs for your love and forgiveness.

We have all sinned. Like David we face a choice. We can try to justify ourselves. Shift the blame. Say nobody can tell me what to do. Those things lead to death. Or like David – or the woman in today’s Gospel – admit the simple truth, “I have sinned.” And perhaps with the help of someone like Nathan, place ourselves under the Divine Mercy. “Blessed is the man whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.” Let us celebrate the Father’s Day with the spirit of love and forgiveness. Amen.

10th Sunday OTC

1 Kings 17:17-24; Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17

A funeral service is being held for a woman who had just passed away. As the pall bearers are carrying the casket out at the end of the service, they accidentally bump into a wall, jarring the casket. Suddenly they hear a faint moan. When they open the casket they find that the woman is actually alive. She lives for 10 more years and then dies. Once more, a funeral is being held at the same church and at the end of the service the pall bearers are again carrying the casket out. As they are walking, the husband shouts out, “Watch out for the wall!”

Dear friends! We have a very moving and touching story of two widows in the first and the gospel today. The widow in our first reading had been very kind to Elijah. She gave accommodation for him during the great famine. But tragically her only son became very ill and stopped breathing. In utter desperation and anger the poor widow struck out at Elijah, as if somehow this were his fault.   Grief often gives rise to misplaced anger and hurting people hurt people.  This woman was hurting, and so she struck out at Elijah. Elijah realized that it was his turn to help her in her tragedy. And the writer of I Kings tells us, “The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 

In today’s gospel Jesus sees the dead person being carried out and following the body, there is a woman who is filled with sorrow. It would have been a cold heart that was not touched by this funeral procession. A young person was dead. A mother was burying a son. The mother of the deceased had already buried her husband and was now all-alone. Funerals probably don’t get any more heart wrenching than this one described by Luke. Because of death the hearts of men are frequently broken, dreams are shattered, and tears are shed. It is a train of misery on which all must ride.

But thankfully there is hope. Because when death and sorrow collide with life and hope everything changes. Luke tells us about the collision that took place as death and sorrow were going out of Nain and life and hope were going in. Jesus led his disciples and a large crowd toward Nain as the funeral procession was coming out. Death met life. Sorrow met hope. And how things changed! “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’ Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” The Lord of life spoke to the living and the dead. May we learn from the collision at Nain to prepare us for the times when we must walk among the procession of death and sorrow.

It was no accident that he met the group going out of the city when he did. It is on him and his words that we focus in order to learn from the collision that took place. First we see that Jesus had compassion on the person at the center of the funeral procession. His heart went out to the widow about to bury her only son. Even though Jesus is the eternal Son of God he is also the Son of man. He has a human nature that feels pain and compassion, sorrow and joy. If we are ever tempted to think that God doesn’t know what we are going through when we stand at the grave of a loved one we need to remember our fully human Savior. He cried when his friend Lazarus died. He knows what a painful poison death is in the lives of humans.

Thankfully he can do more than just show compassion to those who face death. We see Jesus’ power over death in the miracle he performed at Nain. “He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Jesus wasn’t sent by his Father to bring only a short-term solution for death. No he came to permanently end death’s power.

This is the message in today’s gospel. This is the message Jesus wants to give us today. He wants us to see the miracle at Nain not just as a sign of his compassion – which it is – nor just as a sign that he is the Messiah – which he is – but also as a sign of what he will do for us, if we believe in him.

He will raise us up not just to a new physical life but to an eternal life that will last forever. This is the good news of today’s gospel. This is the good news Jesus gives us today. This is the good news that we have gathered to celebrate today. Let us pray then; Lord! Touch our eyes and give us eternal sight. Touch our ears and gives us eternal hearing. Touch us and give us eternal life.