St. Dominic Catholic Church

Homilies

July 8, 2018

There’s a question I get fairly regularly in confession.

“Father, is it a sin if …” and then they go on to explain some behavior or attitude.

Sometimes they’re describing something they don’tlike that someone elseis doing and they want to tell that person, “Father says you’re sinning”.

Sometimes I get the sense that the person wants to do the behavior and is wondering just how close to sinfulness they can get without crossing the line.

This is a minimalist approach to faith.

Rather than asking “how good can I become”, it’s asking “how bad can I be without being toobad.”

It’s like working justhard enough to avoid getting fired, instead of doing our best.

 

Today’s Gospel doesn’t tell us what Jesus taught that day in Nazareth, just the response of his neighbors.

They were astonished.

It’s tempting to wonder what he said that day, but there are plenty of astonishing things Jesus didsay that are recorded in the Gospels.

We know howhe taught was astonishing, too.

He taught with authority, not like the Scribes who dedicated their lives to studying the scriptures and their interpretations and offered commentaries on them. 

Jesus said things like, “you have heard it said, ‘whoever kills will be liable to judgment, but Isay to you ‘whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment’.

This addresses more than behavior. It addresses our attitudes and thoughts.

He said, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mt 5:44)

He said to a rich young follower of the law, “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.” (Mk 10:21)

He said, “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mt 5:28)

Jesus said, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Pharisees were a reform movement in the Judaism of Jesus’ day who desired to live strictly by the Law of Moses.

Both groups were highly respected by the people of their day.

They were astonished that he expected more from them than the most religious people in their culture.

Most astonishing of all, he says “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48)

The law sets minimumstandards for behavior, and Jesus was saying their goodness should be limitless.

 

Mark tells us another reaction of Jesus’ neighbors.

They knew his brothers and sisters – and in the Semitic world that term includes nephews and nieces, cousins, half-brothers and half-sisters.

They knew he was a carpenter – he was like his neighbors – so they thought.

Yet he acted radically differently, though.

He was holy; and they were convicted by his holiness so they took offense at him.

When asked once what was the greatest commandment, he said, to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind”. (Lk 10:27)

Jesus demonstrated unlimited love in his teaching and actions.

And his fellow villagers felt judged for not measuring up.

 

People today, Catholics included, take offense at the Church, who calls us to holiness and tries to prepare us to live as saints.  

Our faith is not about being nice people with hearts of gold, or folks with good intentions, but about loving God first, always, and more than anything else.

Faith in God demands we courageously seek heroic virtue.

 

Many people, the majority of Catholics included, think the Church’s teaching on contraception, economics, masturbation, immigration, just war, abortion, or even Mass on everySunday and Holy Day of obligation is unrealistic.

Of course they are!  They’re astonishing!  They leave us dumbfounded!  Only a saint could fulfill them, or would even try.

The Church teaches moral norms for people who are striving for real holiness.

To soften the demands because they’re hard and most people have a hard time living up to them is to betray the mission of the Church and to betray Jesus.

When our own thorns in the side get the better of us, Jesus offers forgiveness to the contrite in the sacrament of reconciliation 

But Jesus, God incarnate, never ceases to call us to perfection.

Like God says to Ezekiel in our first reading, we can either heed or resist him.

 

How can we achieve the impossible? How can we be perfect, like God?

Only with God’s help.

This was the genius of St. Therese of Liseux, the little flower.  

She knew her weakness and inability to achieve anything on her own.

So she simply lifted her arms up to God like a little child and asked Him to pick her up – to lift her to heroic sanctity.

 

How do we proceed?

1) Pray – use your own words and bring your concerns, anxieties, fears, gratitude, questions to God.

Ask for conversion and holiness and believe He will respond.

2) Come to Mass on Sunday. If you’re married outside the church and thus unable to receive the sacraments, come talk to us about the sacrament of matrimony.

The Lord gave us this source and summit of our lives as Christians, as the best means to help us follow Him.

3) Do spiritual reading.  Scripture is the best, because it’s God’s word, and there are many other books that can help deepen your faith.

Currently I’m reading “Vibrant Paradoxes, the Both/And of Catholicism”, a book by Bishop Robert Barron.

It’s composed of short essays 3-4 pages long with titles like, “the Myth of the War between Science and Religion” and “Stephen Colbert, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Henry Newman and the Providence of God”.

All of them are aimed at helping the reader know Jesus and know their faith.

4) Use your free subscription to FORMED to watch videos or read articles on Church teachings that don’t make sense to you, rather than dismissing them like popular media does.

5) Ask for the Holy Spirit to enter your life.

Ask for his guidance when you’re at work about very specific things; calmness with an irritating patient, guidance when trying to solve a problem.

And be ready to experience a change in your priorities and perspectives – that’s what conversion brings.

 

Change is hard; conversion is hard, but it is what Jesus demands of all of his followers.

That’s what astonished Jesus’ listeners 2000 years ago.

It’s still astonishing today for those who lack faith.