Solid Foundations for Moral Choices (30.A)

 

Two priests, the pastor and the assistant pastor, stood holding signs at a sharp curve on a busy road. The pastor’s sign said, “The end is near!”  while the assistant pastor’s warned, “Turn around before it’s too late!”

A jerk in a sports car passed by and yelled “Idiots” before raising one finger in what we can’t call a sign of peace and stomping on the gas. Moments later the priests heard the sound of screeching tires, followed by a big splash.

One priest turned to the other and said, “Maybe we should change our signs to ‘Bridge Out’.”

Let’s face it, there a lot of folks who don’t like the Church telling them what direction to take.

But there’s no room for this in our Catholic tradition. Faith—what we believe—and morality—how we act—can’t be separated.

We see this throughout the Bible, but never more clearly than in the teaching of Jesus. The Church has listened to that teaching for two thousand years, developing it and applying it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

So how do we get to know that teaching? Well, almost anything we study begins with fundamentals before we get specific. In the first year of medicine, future doctors don’t learn surgery but fundamentals. Before that, most students studied science as undergraduates to obtain the necessary knowledge of chemistry, biology and so on.

The same is true of the moral life. To understand and apply all the moral teachings of the Catholic Church—teachings that cover everything from the environment to human sexuality to business practices—you need to start with the fundamentals.

And today, the Lord gives us the two most important of them. He tells us that love of God comes before all else. And that close behind it comes love of neighbour.

Every other teaching of Christ and his Church rests on these foundations. Nothing that is opposed to love of God, nothing that fails to love our brothers and sisters, will ever be right for a Christian.

Yet it won’t always feel right, especially if we haven’t learned the basics of Christian moral theology. Sometimes we will feel that love of God conflicts with love of others.

But that can’t be true, since God does not contradict himself, and two rules cannot contradict themselves and both be true.

Just as mutually exclusive is the idea that what God wants of us and what our neighbour needs from us are opposed to each other.

If your son or daughter asks you for money so he or she can live with a girlfriend or boyfriend, it may feel more loving to reach for your chequebook as you sigh “oh, you young people.”

Speaking the truth will likely be a lot less pleasant. But speaking the truth in love, as St. Paul calls us to do in his Letter to the Ephesians, is what disciples who love God and want to love others must do.

Both the first commandment, the law of love, and the second, to love our neighbour as ourself, may require taking the harder moral road—because the neighbour, in this case the young adult child, needs the truth and deserves the truth. A shortcut from the moral road does not lead to the path of life.

Traditional Catholic moral theology has taken a beating since the 1960s, right alongside many other things on which society used to agree. Amid such confusion, it can be hard to sort right from wrong.

And yet these two great commandments provide infallible guidance—if you take them together. Loving God is the clearly the first and most important commandment, but it can’t be separated from loving others, and vice-versa.

In his first letter, St. John tells us all we need to know about how these two commandments are linked. He writes: “we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”

It’s easy to miss that point about obedience if we confuse love—whether for God or others—with feelings. St. John repeats himself in the very next verse “the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.”

Loving the Lord with all our hearts and minds means doing what he asks. And loving others as ourselves means wanting them to love God as we do—which means helping them to obey his commandments.

We can certainly do things our way instead. But if we ignore God’s direction signs, we may very well end up… in the ditch.

A final thought before I close: When Jesus tells us to love one another, we tend to think about serving others, helping the poor, and so on. Yet we also love others by praying for them.

 ***

In the next two weeks we’ll be focusing on loving God and others through prayer. November is the month of prayer for the Holy Souls; what is more loving than to pray that the faithful departed, especially our friends and family, receive the fulness of life in the Lord?

The best way to do this is by coming to Mass on All Soul’s Day, Monday November 2, if you are able.  There will be one Mass at 7, but we will add another if it fills. You must register online or by phone.

And there’s another way to pray—we’re offering an online book of remembrance. You can add the names of loved ones and so the whole community will remember those inscribed in the book at every Mass during November.

Catholics, of course, have a long tradition of praying for the dead. But we can and should pray also for the living. The parish is launching a prayer ministry in the coming weeks that will help you to receive prayers for your intentions or for you personally.

You’ll be able to make your confidential prayer requests online, and if you wish we will connect you to members of the parish prayer ministry who will pray with you by ZOOM or over the phone. A dedicated member of the prayer team is available to pray with and for the dying, even at their bedside when it’s possible.

We’ll be telling you more about this by Flocknote and in the bulletin, so please stand by.

Render Unto God... (29.A)

 

I used to enjoy preparing my homilies. Since the pandemic, not so much.

For one thing, I find it hard to preach to a small congregation spread out in the church. And preaching to a larger congregation over the internet is a bit nerve-wracking.

But writing this week’s homily was almost fun. The three readings were like a puzzle I had to figure out.

I was stumped by the connection between the first reading and the Gospel, which is usually fairly obvious. But after I went through the readings a third time, I think I solved the puzzle.

The three readings speak to three very different groups of people.

The first reading addresses good people who aren’t religious. The second reading speaks to good people who are religious. And the Gospel is talking to, not to be unkind, bad people who are religious.

But all three have something to say to each of us.

We’ll start with the first reading. The prophet Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God directly to Cyrus the Great, who ruled much of the world about five hundred years before the birth of Christ.

The Jewish nation did not like foreigners and especially not foreign leaders, but Cyrus was a huge exception.

This wise ruler was a real hero to the Chosen People. He was the one who allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem after their long exile in Babylon and who ordered the rebuilding of the Temple. He returned the sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the First Temple. He even made a big contribution toward the construction costs.

This much was simply history. The huge point that the prophet makes is this: God can accomplish his will through a pagan. The Lord calls Cyrus and even anoints him. The king does not know the true God but the true God knows him and works through him.

What does this say to us? At least three things: first, you do not have to be religious to do good, even great good. Second, we can see God at work in many ways through non-believers. And third, Christians can and sometimes must work with good people who don’t share our beliefs.

Then we look at the second reading. It’s directed to good people who do good. Nothing dramatic here, but St. Paul does say something very important: the good works of good people are something we should be grateful for. These labours of love prove that the Gospel he preached to the Thessalonians has taken hold. And he thanks God for that.

We should do the same in our parish. Works of faith, hope and charity are constantly happening here. The men’s hostel ministry dropped off donations of food and clothing this week, while the St. Vincent de Paul Society has been busy as ever, despite the pandemic.

This month our parish conference cooked lunch three times at The Door is Open drop-in center on the downtown east side, and sponsors haircuts at the Men’s Hostel twice a month.

Those are certainly what St. Paul calls labours of love. But the parish community is no less generous with what he calls works of faith, with dedicated volunteers taking part in Alpha and Faith Studies aimed at sharing the Gospel with others.

The generous work of our parish catechists has barely begun this year, but already we saw the fruit of that ministry yesterday when two older children who were prepared for the sacraments by a dedicated volunteer over the summer were confirmed by Father Jeff.

Members of our prison ministry continue to plan diligently for their outreach within the severe limits they face in these difficult times, coming up with new and creative ideas to make life better for those they serve.

I could go on, but it’s enough that I borrow St. Paul’s words: I “always give thanks to God for all of you” and mention you in my prayers, “constantly remembering before our God and Father your works of faith” and love.

And I hope every parishioner joins me in that grateful prayer.  Good people do a lot of good.

Now let’s turn to Gospel. I didn’t mean to be mean to the Pharisees when I called them bad people; not all of them were.  But the tag team Jesus is talking with—Pharisees and Herodians, a group known to oppose Jesus and to support Herod in all his corruption, were sure not good.

They’re bad people pretending to be good people, out to trap Jesus in a thoroughly hypocritical way.

Obviously, they fail. But what can learn from this?

For one thing, as Jesus says in another passage in Matthew’s Gospel, his followers need to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We saw something of this during the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the devout Catholic nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nothing in our faith and nothing in the example Jesus gives us requires us to confront our opponents head on where a legitimate alternative exists. St. Thomas More also used his intellect to answer the charges against him, although with less success than Judge Barrett.

We can and should ask the Holy Spirit to help us when people try to trap us in arguments against our faith. Jesus told his disciples not to worry when hauled before the authorities: “the Holy Spirit,” he said, “will teach you at that very hour what to say.” (Lk 12:12)

But we know that God helps those who help themselves. We should understand what Jesus said along with these words from the First Letter of Peter: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” (1 Pt 15-16)

There are two things we can do to prepare ourselves when attacks come; happily, they’re pretty much the same things we need to do to witness to those who are happy to hear us.

First, of course, we should pray routinely for spiritual wisdom and the courage to share it gently and well. This is part of missionary discipleship.

Second, we should learn the good arguments that support our beliefs.  “The Church says…” won’t convince people who are out to trap us. The study of this even has a name: it’s called apologetics. There’s nothing apologetic about apologetics—the plural word means the branch of theology devoted to defending the faith using reasoned argument.

The bulletin this week has details about a free online conference this coming weekend hosted by well-known Catholic speaker Matt Fradd, who visited our parish some years back. He will be joined by other gifted apologists including Dr. Peter Kreeft and Stephanie Gray Connors from Vancouver.

It would be wonderful if some of our parishioners could make the time to prepare themselves to follow the example Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel.

Finally, the Gospel takes us back to the first reading and King Cyrus. He seems to have been a good man; no one suggests Herod was a good man. But sometimes we need to work with what we’ve got in order to accomplish God’s plan.

As society becomes less and less Christian, we will have to think more and more about what Jesus says about giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

We must always put God in first place, realizing that no amount of good ever justifies a morally bad action. That’s the rock on which every disciple must stand.

Thanksgiving for the Lord's Feast (28.A)

 

Unless there was a homesick Canadian working in the Vatican liturgy office, it’s just a coincidence that the Scripture readings today seem perfect for our Thanksgiving weekend.

Or at least almost perfect.

The first reading describes a wonderful meal. The psalm includes a well-set table. And St. Paul writes about being happy with what we have. But the Gospel parable seems to go off-message: even the most unwelcome guests for Thanksgiving dinner aren’t nearly as bad as those outrageous people the King invites to the wedding banquet.

However, if we look at the readings together, a common theme emerges. Each of us has been invited to the Lord’s feast, a banquet that will satisfy our every need.

If that’s not something to be thankful for, what is?

The readings point us toward the heavenly banquet. Our first reading from Isaiah says that this wedding feast takes place where death is destroyed, and tears wiped away. Isaiah’s words echo in the Book of Revelation, where we read “He will wipe every tear from their eyes” and “Death will be no more.”

And we’ve all heard the angel’s words in the Book of Revelation “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.”

The last thing we want is to ignore that invitation. We want to pay close attention to the warning we’re given in the Gospel parable today.  Why did the first set of wedding guests behave so badly? I can only think of two reasons. Either they are totally ungrateful for the royal invitation or they think the messengers aren’t serious—notice that some of them “made light” of the invitation.  Maybe they thought that these low-level servants were making it up

 So how do we respond? It’s simple: with gratitude and faith. These are the modest cost of admission to the feast God has prepared for us.

But are we to focus our gratitude only on the life to come? Must we wait for heaven to sit down at the Lord’s table? Surely not—because Paul says that God will satisfy our every need, not just in the future but now.

The King’s invitation to his wedding banquet is issued now, and the RSVP must also be now. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us plainly: the Eucharist is “already the foretaste of the kingdom to come.” (CCC 2837) However much these readings point to heaven, they also point to this altar.

On the Last Day, God will swallow up death forever. But at every Eucharist death and the fear of death is already being destroyed; our tears of sorrow and shame are gently dried, and we received the gift of hope and healing that each of us needs.

Our call to “every parishioner,every Sunday” isn’t just a way of keeping our parish community together at this time of trouble. It’s the Lord’s invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb of God, for which he has provided his own Body and Blood.

And if every parishioner responds with faith and thanksgiving, this ‘wedding hall’ will soon be filled with guests.

God's Invitation is Persistent! (27.A)

 

Father Jeff pointed out to me that there’s some odd behaviour in today’s parable, both by the tenants and the landowner.

Killing the landlord’s servants seems a poor way of getting a break on the rent. But after this happened twice, the landlord should have known better than to send his son to meet with these bloodthirsty people. And the tenants are crazy for thinking that by killing the rightful heir to the property they’d inherit instead.

This is, of course, the history of Israel, and our history too. We repeat our mistakes, our sins, our rejection of God’s message and messengers.  He sends his Son, anyway, knowing what will happen.

Let’s not focus on the bad behaviour of the murderous tenants. In a recent book, the auxiliary bishop of Seattle says “the first thing to notice is how persistent and relentless” the landlord is in desiring to interact with his tenants. (Come Follow Me: year A, p.293).

Have you ever thought about God as persistent and relentless? Francis Thompson’s famous poem “The Hound of Heaven” uses a very earthy image, comparing God to a hunting dog tirelessly chasing us.

But God’s persistence is gentle. He is relentless only in not giving up.

One of the gentlest ways that God pursues us in his desire for a relationship is by inviting us to Mass.  Few Catholics don’t feel that something’s not right if a Sunday passes without them getting to church. Even the expression “missing Mass” suggests an opportunity not taken.

Today, God our Father sends his Son to us, to this altar, so he can collect the fruit his gifts have produced in our lives. Unlike the evil tenants, we offer these fruits with joy.

For a long time now it has been difficult, even impossible, to gather around the altar to give the Lord his due. But “even the hardest trials can bear fruits of grace.” This is what Cardinal Robert Sarah, the head of the Vatican department for worship and sacraments, says in a recent letter titled “Let us return to the Eucharist with joy.”

His letter was published after we had decided to invite every parishioner to church every Sunday, but it’s sure been a great encouragement.

Cardinal Sarah tells us about 49 martyrs in the fourth century who were put to death because they’d gathered for Sunday worship. Their response to the judge is a bit hard to translate, but basically they said, “we can’t live without Sunday.”

Neither can we. The Cardinal says we can’t live, as Christians, without listening together to the Word of God. We can’t be Christians without the banquet of the Eucharist. We cannot be without the Lord’s Day, without the weekly observance of the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Easter mystery.

“We cannot be without our brothers and sisters, our Christian community, And we cannot be without the house of the Lord, which is our home,” without the physical place where were baptized, confirmed, forgiven, and said farewell to loved ones.

Cardinal Sarah writes gratefully of the live streams and broadcasts of Mass through internet and TV.  He calls them “a great service” to the sick and others who cannot come to church. But he warns that “no transmission is equivalent to personal participation or can replace it”—our “physical contact with the Lord is vital, indispensable, irreplaceable.”

Which is why our parish is extending the Lord’s invitation to each and every one, every Sunday, despite what this demands from our parish staff and volunteers. I don’t expect folks will be out banging pots for this army of generous parishioners, but I can tell you that they are spiritual health care workers who deserve warm thanks from each of us.