The gift of time, Sermon of September 18th

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 20:1-16a

And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner saying, “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.”

As we hear the Savior’s parable in today’s Gospel, we might have a tendency to sympathize with the complaints of those workers who labored for whole day and yet received only the same payment as those who came in the final hour. Something within us says, “Well, if that’s the case, why work for the whole day? It would be better to just wait till the last minute and make a deathbed conversion!”

This is obviously not the way that we are supposed to think! The Lord is challenging us with this parable. He is trying to help us to see things from a different perspective.

When we consider this parable we generally tend to interpret it according to a much more personal model: We think of the various hours of the day as symbolizing the various ages of human life.

According to this interpretation, the laborers who came at dawn would be the cradle-Catholics while those who came at the end of the day would be the sinners who have a great death-bed conversion.

If we think of the parable in this way, then the message of our Lord is to tell us that there is only one task which we simply must accomplish in this life. Beyond all else, the one objective of our life on earth must be to die in the state of grace. If we die in the state of grace, our life is a great and even an heroic success. If we die in mortal sin, then our life has been a terrible terrible failure.

And yet, we also know that the best way to die in the state of grace, is to live in the state of grace! In any case, a Christian life is far more fulfilling and joyful than a materialistic life which searches only after worldly gains and vain delights.

The simple truth is that laboring in the Lord’s vineyard is its own reward. It is far better to spend our life in union with Christ, than to be separated from him. Far better to live out our days in the grace of Jesus, than to stand idle in the marketplace!

However, there is another meaning to this parable: The hours of the day and the various laborers represent the ages of the history of salvation. When Jesus spoke this parable, the original message had much more to do with this interpretation of the ages of salvation history.

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is really all about the relationship between the Jews (who had been called first) and the Gentiles (who were called last). The workers who came at dawn and through till noon represent Adam and Abel, Abraham and Moses, Elijah and all the prophets. Those who came at 3 o’clock in the afternoon are, perhaps, John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Apostles. Finally, those who come at 5 o’clock, at the very end of the history of salvation, in the final hours, these are the Gentile Christians who have been converted through the preaching of the Apostles.

The eleventh hour is the time of the Church, it is the time which we are now in! All of us, we are those laborers who come at the very end of the day.

Now this is the meaning of the parable: If we follow Christ, we will receive the same reward which was promised to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses and to the prophets. Indeed, if we are faithful, we will be included in the same Church which was founded upon the Apostles – we will even share in the glory which has been given to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

How encouraging the parable is for us when we read it in this perspective!

And this is Christ’s point: We are to recognize how generous and gracious God is in giving us the gift of time. Time is a most precious gift! Time gives us the opportunity either to convert from sin and to follow God or, if we have already begun our spiritual journey, to strive forward in grace and to merit greater glory in heaven.

What a gift time truly is! And yet, how often do we squander this gift! Far too often we say that we are just “passing the time”, or we “kill time”. What ingratitude!

St. Alphonsus Liguori makes use of a helpful analogy. He has us imagine that we are in a bank and that the owner of the bank has opened the vault which is filled with money. The bank-owner tells us that we can have however much money we are able to count in one hour.

Now, what would we do? Would we simply sit back, idle, “killing time”? No! Of course not! We would rush into the vault and start counting the money as quickly as possible. Why, we would have so much zeal and energy!

And, it tell you truly, we wouldn’t waste our time on the little bills (the ones and the fives); no, we would rush for the hundreds and the other big bills! J

If only we would make the same good use of the time which God has given us earth. Here we are, with so much time – time to make acts of charity and to store up a greater treasure in heaven. These acts of charity, whether great or small, will be of great value if only we do them all with great love!

Why then do we waste our time holding on to grudges and anger? What good does it do? Nothing!

How generous God has been! He has given us time!

Remember, the history of the world did not have to continue to today. The Savior could have come to judge the world one hundred years ago, and then none of us would have even been conceived, none of us would have existed.

You and I, we did not have to exist; but God, in his love and generous mercy, willed that there should be time in history for all of us to come into existence.

This time given us on earth is the great gift of the opportunity to come to eternity with Christ, in life everlasting.

A sermon on Christian meditation from Father Ryan Erlenbush. August 7th

Elijah, praying alone on Mount Horeb

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

August 7^th, 2011

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Matthew 14:22-33

At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. […] There was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone.

Beginning to sink, Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Today’s readings, especially the first reading and the Gospel, teach us the fundamentals of prayer. We see the two essential movements of prayer: First, there is mediation and contemplation – which is shown in Elijah and, most perfectly, in our Savior; it is the example of going up the mountain alone to prayer – and, second, there is supplication or petition – this we see (albeit in an imperfect way) in St. Peter, when he cries out “Lord, save me!”.
These are the two movements: Meditation, which is that mental prayer where we quiet ourselves and enter into loving union with God; and petition, the prayer where we ask the good God to give us all the graces we need for today, for tomorrow, and at the moment of our death.

First, there is mental prayer, that meditation which leads to contemplation. St. John Chrysostom tells us that two things are necessary for true mental prayer – a quiet place, and time. Notice the example of Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament. First, he heard the wind which crushed the rocks, but God wasn’t in the wind. Then there was the earthquake and finally also the fire, but God was not in these either. Rather, God came to Elijah in the tine whisper – this is the gentle and often very subtle movement of the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is so gentle and often speaks to us through a little whisper, then it is obvious that we will have to listen attentively in order to hear him. We need to quiet ourselves in order to hear his voice and to follow his inspirations.

Today’s world is so busy and loud, we need a quiet place to pray. Of course, the church is a very special place for prayer, but also in our homes we need to take time to step away from the daily duties of life, to retreat to a quiet room, to shut the door, to quiet ourselves and to seek God.

We must point out that every family has not only the right but also the obligation to set aside time for daily meditation or mental prayer. Husbands and wives have a duty to provide each other with time for prayer – and parents with young children should be teaching them how to pray as well.

Of course the family should pray together – we mention especially the family Rosary. If your family is not in the practice of saying the Rosary together every day, the month of August (which is the month dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary) is a great time to start. Perhaps five decades seems like too much at first … fine, we can start with one decade, or at least three Hail Mary’s. Then, we can build from this starting place. Little by little we will grow as a family.

Still, in addition to that common family prayer, the couple must allow each other – and their children as well, once they are old enough – the time for quiet personal prayer and meditation in a separate room apart from the business of the family life.

Now the next question is about time. How much time should we give over to prayer every day? The saints recommend at least fifteen minutes, though twenty would be better. Yes, twenty minutes of quiet reflective meditation every day is so important for us! How can we expect to fulfill all the duties of our daily lives if we are not praying?

Moreover, when we think about how many minutes we should pray, we ought to remember that prayer is all about developing a relationship with the Lord. Could we have a loving intimate relationship with any human being if we only spoke for two or three minutes a day? What if the only time we spoke to our husband was to ask for things, never to simply speak words of Love? Likewise, what if a man only spoke to his wife in a distracted and disinterested manner, perhaps for a few minutes a day or not even every day? This would never work among human being! Why should we think that such little prayer would work with God?

We will say this: If fifteen minutes of prayer every day seems too long, I reply in the spirit of St. Josemaria Escriva – the prayer is not too long, but your love is too short!

Still, we must not be discouraged. If all we can do in the beginning is five minutes, that is fine, it is a place to start. We begin wherever we are and we try to build from there. Sometimes I think that if we only got a little bit better at prayer every day, we would be saints in no time!

And what is this meditation supposed to be about? What are we supposed to do for those twenty minutes every day? We can consider the Rosary – the Rosary will teach us much about the nature of mental prayer and meditation.

When we meditate, we are to consider the mysteries especially of Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection, as well as the other mysteries of our Faith – the Trinity, creation, the final judgment. We think upon these mysteries and we consider the great love that Almighty God has shown us through these events.

Christian meditation is all about love, thinking upon God’s love for us and how he has shown us this love in Christ Jesus – and, filled with the divine love, making small acts of love for God in return. To say, “Jesus, how you have loved me! You love me so much that you have died for me! In turn, let me love you!”

Notice how different Christian meditation is from Eastern forms of prayer. Eastern meditation is all about emptying ourselves, dissolving into the “power” of the Universe, clearing our minds to become nothing. Eastern prayer is self-annihilation, but Christian mediation is focused primarily on being filled! Christian prayer is about being filled with God’s love. Far from clearing our minds and entering into nothingness, Christian meditation is focused on thinking about Jesus, about the mysteries of the Faith, about the love of God; and then making acts of love in return. Finally, Christian meditation culminates in the simple loving gaze of the creature upon his Creator.

How far we are from Eastern prayer, and from such practices as “centering prayer” or “yoga”. Centering prayer and yoga are focused on emptying the self, on clearing the mind so as to think of nothing – this is the opposite of Christian mediation. If we are practicing centering prayer or yoga, we need to cut that out immediately – it has nothing at all to do with the Gospel!

Remember, “Mother Earth” does not love you. I hope you know that “Mother Earth” does not love you – she cannot love you because she is not a person. God, the Most Holy Trinity, is three Persons who love you intensely, who want to be united with you, to dwell in you, to elevate you and glorify you by a share in their own life.

And then, finally and very briefly, we come to the very necessary second movement of prayer: Supplication, the prayer of petition. When we see just how much Jesus loves us, we are then filled with a confidence to ask of him all the graces we need to fulfill our vocation in life.

St. Peter, when he was walking on the water, became troubled and fearful seeing the storm and the waves – we too will have many storms to weather, but like St. Peter will be saved if only we cry to the good Jesus, Lord, save me! This is the prayer of petition – asking for the graces needed in the moment and, especially, for the grace to be united to God at the moment of death.

More than anything else, every day we must ask God to bring us to heaven when we die. We must ask God for the grace of final perseverance, which is the grace to turn to him in the last moment of life and to give ourselves completely over to his love.

Be sure of this, if we do not pray and ask to go to Heaven, we won’t. If we do not beg the Lord for the grace to be faithful to the end, we will certainly be damned. All the saints in Heaven are there for this one reason, they prayed and asked for the grace of salvation. Conversely, all the damned in Hell are there for this one reason, they did not pray and they did not ask for the grace of perseverance.

Do you see? Prayer is everything! Our good God loves us so much and he has so many good things that he wants to give us, if only we would pray, if only we would ask for his benefits. Indeed, if we are filled with the love of God and if we persevere in asking the good Lord to bring us to union with himself, we can be sure that he will give us the great glory of life everlasting.

Christ alone is the Way, all others lead to perdition. Sermon of May 22nd

In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

5^th Sunday of Easter

May 22^nd, 2011

John 14:1-12

Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.

Our Savior gives us a word of encouragement in today’s Gospel text. He says, do not fear, let nothing disturb you. Do not let your hearts be troubled. I have come as your way to salvation. In my own person, I have reconciled you with God and I will come again to bring you into the fullness of all joy in heaven.

Christ tells us, I am the way. Indeed, the Lord is our Way, he is our true and only access to the Father and to the life of the blessed which awaits us.

But, when Jesus says I am the way, he means this in two respects: Exclusively and inclusively. Exclusively, the Lord states, No one comes to the Father except through me – he is the only way to salvation and there is no other. Inclusively, he tells us, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father – all who trust in Christ, all who look to Jesus will be saved.

First, exclusively: The good Lord affirms not simply that he is “a way”, that is, one way among many. Rather, he says I am the way – he is THE way, the only way; apart from him there is no other means of coming to the Father or of gaining eternal life. Apart from Christ, there can be no salvation.

Our Savior offers a vision of salvation which is quite a bit different from that most prevalent in the modern western world. The two views – that of the Gospel and that of the world – can be compared by means of a certain metaphor.

First, the world’s vision of salvation: The world thinks that all ways lead to heaven and that, whatever choices people make and whatever they believe, all people will be saved. This vision may be symbolized by a metaphor of rivers and streams. The rains fall and the waters are gathered from many places into various streams and rivers. Then, these rivers flow together and ultimately all the water goes into the ocean – all the waters end up in the same place and they take many different paths to get there.

Christ, on the other hand, presents a very different vision of salvation. The Gospel vision can be compared to a tree: There is the solid trunk of the tree, it is in the center. And, from this trunk, many branches go forth, to one side or the other. As the branches break away from the trunk, they continue to separate, going farther and farther away from the center. There is no final unity, but rather the turns to one side or the other ultimately lead to different ends and to different places.

So it is with the Gospel – Jesus tells us that there is only one way which leads to salvation, and it is himself. He alone is our means of attaining to heaven; and every other path can lead only to hell. Our choices really do matter and what we believe really does make a difference – because there is only one path to heaven, and we must follow the Lord if we desire to come to eternal life with God.

When we consider this truth – that it is only through Christ and his Church that any may hope to come to salvation – we must not become over-confident. It is true, we have been blessed to be gathered into the household of the faith. We are blessed to believe in the Gospel. But, on the other hand, as we each examine our consciences, we quickly recognize that there are many ways (both big and small) in which we do not follow Christ, but instead seek happiness in other things.

A good question for our personal examination might be this: When was the last time I read a spiritual book that was written by a saint? There are so many silly books out there which promote all sorts of sentimental spiritualities – but when was the last time I read any book at all which was written by a saint? Have I ever read a book that was written by a saint? If not, it’s time to pick one up and to get started! We have the gift of the Catholic spiritual tradition, why would we look to anything else? Why waste our time with self-help books, when we have the true faith?

Again, consider all the pseudo-spirituality which is promoted through the new age movement and also through the modern fascination with eastern spiritualities and philosophies. Why look to thinks like eastern mediations? Why turn to Zen, Centering Prayer or Yoga? These can all only lead to one place – and it’s not heaven! And do not be fooled, these are all false spiritualities; however innocent they may seem. They are a false worship. But we have the Gospel.

Christ tells us; no, he cries out to us: “Why do you look to these false paths and false spiritualities? Why are you dabbling in these eastern prayers and meditations? Look, rather to me, for Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” And here we come to the inclusive aspect of our Savior’s words.

Jesus is the Way to the Father and whosoever comes to him will gain access to eternal life. He is come as our Savior and his one desire is that he should draw all people to himself and grant them the true joy of heaven. Because Christ is the sure and infallible way to the Father, he can say Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

Yet, we might ask: How can Christ say this, when we know that many who saw him did not see the Father? Consider the Pharisees; when they looked upon our Savior, they saw only a mere man and even an enemy. They did not see the Father. So many who lived with Jesus did not recognize him as their Savior and were not lead into communion with God. How then does Christ tell us Whoever has seen me has seen the Father?

Jesus speaks to us of something more than a merely physical or exterior looking. We see Christ not simply with our eyes, but with our minds and with our hearts. Thus, what our Savior means for us to understand is this: Whoever has seen me that is, whoever has meditated upon the mysteries of my earthly life and has gazed upon my humanity through contemplative prayer, such a one has seen the Father.

This is the promise of Christ – if we pray regularly, and especially if we take time daily for meditation on the mysteries of our Lord’s life; we will certainly be saved, we will certainly see the Father.

I am reminded of the wonderful prayer which is often said at the end of the Rosary. “Grant that by meditating upon these mysteries,” that is, upon the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Christ, “we may imitate what they contain,” for the Lord is our way and leads us by his own example, “and obtain what they promise,” which is to come to the fulfillment of all hope when we come to perfect enjoyment of the Lord as our Truth and our Life, in the glories of life everlasting.

There is no salvation outside the Church. A sermon on Divine Mercy, May 1st

Sunday of Divine Mercy

May 1st, 2011

John 20:19-31

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

On this, the feast of Divine Mercy, we consider the infinite riches of the love and mercy of God. Jesus is the incarnation of Divine Mercy – he is Divine Mercy in his very person. It is not simply that Christ our Savior brings the mercy of God to us, but he is that very mercy itself.

The Lord does not offer Divine Mercy to us as a thing, but rather as himself – for he opened his own Heart upon the Cross for us: Oh Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in you!

Jesus is the Divine Mercy and he has come in order that all might find life in him, through believing in his Name. But we might put this another way: If Jesus is the Divine Mercy, then this entails that there is no other mercy to be found, no other salvation, outside of Jesus Christ. There is no other Savior and no other Salvation than Christ our God. There is no other name by which any may be saved, than the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

These statements are not always popular in the modern world, nor even (sadly) in the modern Church. When presented with the fact that salvation is through Christ alone and through no other, there is a temptation to have a negative reaction. Some might think, “Why should salvation be limited to Christ? Why do people have to believe in Christ to be saved? If God is merciful, why does he limit his mercy by the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”

The Church has always considered such sentiments to the expression of a most profound ingratitude. It is not at all the case that Divine Mercy was open to people through all means before Christ and then, after he came, this Mercy was limited to Christianity – not at all! Rather, outside of Christ and his Church there has never been any opportunity for salvation – separated from Christ, there is no Divine Mercy!

Because Jesus is Divine Mercy itself, there is no other mercy to be found other than that which is given us in Christ our Savior. But the good Lord did not desire simply to come once into the world as Divine Mercy, but he wanted this Mercy to be shared with all people of all times and all places. To this end, Christ established the Church, which is his own Mystical Body.

As there is no salvation outside of Christ, so too there is no salvation outside his Church – for how can the Lord be separated from his Church? But again, this ought not to be thought of as limiting the Divine Mercy – quite the contrary, it is through the Church that the infinite riches of the mercies of God are spread throughout the earth. The Church is the vehicle and instrument of Divine Mercy, she is the universal sacrament of salvation!

The Lord appeared to his apostles and, breathing upon them said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. With these words, our Savior established the salvific role of the Church and, especially, the sacrament of confession.

Sometimes people will ask, “Why do I have to go to a priest to have my sins forgiven?” This is a horrible way of thinking about the Divine Mercy! We should rather say, “What a gift that my sins can be forgiven through the sacrament of confession!” Rather than thinking of forgiveness as being limited by reconciliation, we should recognize that the sacrament is the great means of forgiveness. It is a wonder and a grace that our sins can be forgiven at all – who are we to reject the means of salvation?

This is not to say that only Catholics can be saved – not at all! However, if ever anyone is saved, it is always through the Church and through Christ. If a Buddhist is saved, he is not saved through Buddhism but through the Catholic Church. If a Muslim is saved, he is saved through Christ and his Church. The Koran has never brought salvation to the world, and the Hindu gods have never saved anyone – Christ alone is our Savior, he alone is our Salvation!

Only through at least a mysterious and unseen participation in the Church can any hope to find salvation. Outside the Church, there is no salvation – but it is possible for many who are not visibly united with the Church to participate in her saving work.

Our point is this: Salvation is in Christ through his Church, why would we ever look anywhere else? Why look to the world for consolation and peace? It is Christ alone who can give you peace, he alone is your joy! Why look to the world? There is no mercy for you there!

Likewise, why look to the religions of the east? Why dabble in things like yoga, zen, and eastern meditation? There you will find no mercy! The eastern religions have no salvation to offer you!

Rather, we look to Christ, to him who is the Divine Mercy. We run to his Sacred Heart, wherein we will find the path to life everlasting.

On the last judgment, Sermon of November 14th

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.

November 14^th, 2010

Luke 21:5-19

Jesus said, “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down … But not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

I would like to begin with a little thought experiment – take a moment and think about what your primary image of Christ is. When you think of Jesus, what image or what event first comes to your mind?

I am sure that, for many of us, we think of various moments in Christ’s life – either his birth or one of his miracles, perhaps his preaching or his love for the children; I am sure that many think of the crucifixion, when he proved his love for us. Perhaps even some have thought of the resurrection or Christ as he is now, reigning in the glory of heaven. And all of these are fine and good images of Christ – but none of these are the principle ways in which the earliest Christians thought about the Savior.

For the first Christians, the primary image of Christ was not something from the past (something from his life on earth), nor from the present (as he now is in heaven); rather, the central focus of the earliest Christians was a future event: the second coming and the day of judgment. When they thought of the Lord, they immediately thought of the end of time and the coming of God’s Kingdom.

Today’s Gospel, in which Christ speaks about the last days, would have been at the fore of everyone’s mind in the early Church – more than anything else, the early Christians looked forward. They focused on the goal; not only their own personal goal, which is salvation and heaven, but also the goal of all history: The last day, the final judgment, and the resurrection of the body.

Moreover, in the earliest days, the Church suffered intense persecution and grave trials. The first Christians would have identified with Christ’s words: For they were often betrayed and even killed by family and friends. They knew well that the whole world hated them. And yet they did not fear, for they knew that Christ would be coming soon.

It is our task, in these final days of the Church’s year (which begins anew at Advent), to make this fundamental disposition of the early Christians our own. We too must foster this longing for the Kingdom. Indeed, I am sure that we all desire that Christ would come again, for we all pray “thy kingdom come.” And yet, though we do want the kingdom to come, we often secretly add, “but please not today!”

Perhaps we are a bit afraid of the second coming, perhaps we fear the end of the world. But why are we afraid? It is Christ who is coming. It is the Lord, our Savior; he comes to bring peace for his people!

In these final two weeks of the Liturgical year, and as we prepare for Advent, we can consider what it is in our lives that makes us to fear the coming of Christ, and then offer that to the Lord.

Is it an attachment to sin in our own lives? Let us turn to Christ and ask for his healing love. We have the sacrament of Confession, it is a great means of healing and strength.

Or, do we fear the final judgment because we have loved ones who are estranged from Christ or from the Church? We should pray for them. Remember, Christ died for them; will he not convert them, if only we persevere in prayer? We need only entrust them to the Divine Mercy!

No, we must not fear the second coming, we must not fear the day of judgment. There will indeed be tumult and distress, but this will not be from Christ – it will be that final assault of evil, that sad moment of human weakness and sin. For the world will not slowly get better and better, progressing to become the Kingdom of God. Rather, the world will get worse and worse, and the Church will suffer intense persecutions and trials. But then, when it seems that the gates of hell are about to prevail against Christ’s Bride, then he will come!

The second coming will not be a time of chaos, but, for those who believe, it will be the end of all sorrow and the beginning of eternal peace. Indeed, for Christ’s faithful, the second coming will scarcely be a day of judgment – rather, it will be a moment of vindication!

When the Lord tells us that he will soon return in glory to judge the heavens and the earth, this is not a threat. No, it is a promise which gives rise to a great hope. And this hope wells up within us unto life everlasting.

On the resurrection of the flesh, November 7th

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.

November 7^th, 2010

Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus…

When an architect builds a house, he must consider every angle and every board in relation to the final product he is trying to accomplish. And, if even for a moment, he should lose sight of his goal (which is the finished house), the angle or wall will be out of place and, perhaps, the whole structure will collapse. Moreover, though the work is difficult at times, the architect finds great encouragement in thinking about how great the house will be when it is finally completed – thinking of the goal, he is able to persevere.

I think that there is an analogy between the work of the architect and the Christian life – we Christians must be constantly thinking about our goal, we must be constantly thinking and speaking about heaven! Perhaps one of the reasons we are sometimes not as joyful and as happy as we would like to be is this – we are not thinking often enough about life everlasting. The mere thought of heaven brings joy in the midst of difficulty and sorrow; and, as we keep our eyes on the prize that awaits us, we are able to persevere through all trials and sufferings.

It may be that we do not think of heaven as often as we should because we often have too small an image of what heaven will be like – many think of heaven as disembodied souls just floating around in the clouds, not doing much; sure, we are with God, but we are just floating there. If you tell this to a child, the boy or girl will tell you that that sounds pretty boring! And the child is right!

Heaven will not be just floating around as a separated spirit – we will not be angels. We will be human beings and, in the last day at the resurrection of the dead, we will have our bodies returned to us. We will have our bodies in heaven! These very bodies, this flesh which dies and is buried and corrupts; we will have this very flesh returned to us in the general resurrection! It is too great for us to imagine – but we must try to imagine it, we must think about it, and we must think of heaven in concrete terms; we are humans, that is how we have to think.

The brothers in 2 Maccabees give us a great witness to this hope in the resurrection. The one is so convinced that he sticks out his hands and tongue and says, “Go ahead and cut these off, destroy my body as you like; for God will one day restore these very hands and this very body to me, in the resurrection of the flesh!” The thought of the resurrection gave the brothers the strength to persevere and even to rejoice in the midst of intense suffering and persecution.

But many “learned” scholars today will come up with all sorts of objections to the resurrection of the body. 1,500 years ago, St. Augustine said , “On no other point does the Christian faith suffer more opposition, than on the resurrection of the body.” It is true today as well; many will admit that the soul lives on, but the world will yet deny that this very body will rise glorious and renewed.

The objections which some will make in the modern day to the resurrection remind me of the Sadducees’ objection in today's Gospel. These men were considered among the wisest and most learned in all of Israel, and they come to Christ with a very long and complicated objection – did you notice that it took them several verses to explain the intricate problem they had thought up? And yet, almost with a single word, with only a sentence, Christ is able to refute their objection and show them to be fools. The Sadducees were indeed fools, and so are all who doubt the resurrection of the body.

This is what we must say today to any and all objections against the truth of the resurrection – God created the whole world out of nothing, surely he can give us our bodies back at the end of time. If God has the power to create the universe, surely he can figure out whose body goes to whom and which part goes to which person. For God, all things are possible; he has promised and he will do it.

In any case, let us say this: If the dead are not raised, then neither has Christ been raised from the dead. And if Christ has not been raised, then his body is still in a tomb somewhere; and he is dead. But if Christ Jesus is dead, then our faith is in vain and hope is for nothing – if Christ is still dead, then all we do here in the church is worthless, we may as well all go home! But, alas, Christ has been raised and, by his power as God and even in a mysterious way through the power granted him as man, he will raise up even our bodies to share in the glories of his own resurrection. For those who hope in him, the Lord Jesus will indeed make us co-heirs with himself in life everlasting.

Sermon on the rich man and Lazarus, September 26th

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. September 26th, 2010.
Gospel. Luke 16:19-31, The rich man and Lazarus.

Abraham replied, “My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.”

Hell is not a topic many people today are comfortable hearing about. In fact, of all the doctrines of the Catholic faith, hell is certainly one of the most neglected. Perhaps we have never, or hardly ever, heard a homily about hell.
Indeed, we live in a world which denies the existence of hell, a world which refuses to believe that eternal punishment is a real possibility. Perhaps we ourselves can fall to this temptation at times. Even if we do admit the reality of hell, we might be inclined to reserve damnation to a select few, to those particularly horrible sinners – terrible murderers, war criminals, and the like. Hell is for people like them, hell is for monsters.
In doing this we separate ourselves from sinners, we save ourselves from having to confront the judgment of God, we make hell a place for “them” not a reality which has anything to do with “us”. But then we are confronted with a passage like the parable of today’s Gospel.


We hear that there was a rich man and a poor man, and the rich man did not help the poor man. For this sin alone, the rich man was condemned to hell; but the poor man was saved. It strikes me that we know almost nothing at all about the rich man…we do not even know his name. He may have been married, perhaps he was a good father and a good husband. He was most likely an active member of his community. He was certainly a fun guy to be around. We might note with some surprise that he might have even been fairly generous to some poor people – we have no reason to think that he wouldn’t have given to the food bank (or the 1st century equivalent thereof).
All we know about him is that, whatever else he did in his life, he did not help Lazarus. And for this one sin – a sin which cries out to heaven for vengeance – for this one sin he was condemned to the everlasting punishments of hell. He was rich and he refused to relieve the poor man who begged from him. This cost him his salvation.

And I ask, my brothers and sisters, has anything changed in 2000 years? Perhaps this: if the rich man ignored the poor man’s cry, he at least allowed Lazarus to sit and beg at the door. I think it likely that, if a poor man was begging outside our homes day and night, we would probably call the police and have him taken away. If the rich man ignored Lazarus’ cry, we live in a society which systematically suffocates the cry of the poor!
Some day we will all come to understand what our Savior meant when he said, “Blessed are you poor, but woe to you who are rich.”

The poor are God’s gift to us. It is through mercy and charity toward them that we will work out our salvation. Pope John Paul II has said, “It will be necessary above all to abandon a mentality in which the poor – as individuals and as a people – are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced.” Whatever we do to the poor, we do to Christ. And whatever we do not do to the poor, we do not do to Christ.

And so I ask: Without almsgiving, how should we ever inherit life everlasting?