26th Sunday - Cycle C

This homily was complicated by the addition of an infant baptism.  For this preaching lab, I tried to connect the reading to Baptism by the use of Community.  My brothers were not entirely convinced.

I had a 3x5 card in my pocket, I did not need to use it.  Did this all from a short outline in my head.  Perhaps that is why some of the transitions are a bit rough.

24th Sunday – Cycle C

For our Liturgical Preaching Class

Did God change between the Old Testament and the New Testament? We often fall into the trap of thinking that God was harsh in the Old Testament and merciful in the New Testament.  Yet in all of today’s readings, Old and New Testament, we hear of God’s mercy.

So what is going on here?  Did God change? Or are we in error? Our catechism teaches that God never changes, so it must be that our perceptions that are in error. 

Let’s review the statements of mercy in today’s readings.  God of the Old Testament was angry with Israel as we heard in the first reading.  But, he kept his anger in check and was merciful to Israel.  The psalmist, also from the Old Testament, calls upon and acknowledges the great compassion of God.  Paul, writing to Timothy mentions twice that he was treated with mercy only because that is what God, in the person of Christ, does.  Finally, in the Gospel, we see Jesus showing mercy by eating with sinners and we hear the stories of the lost sheep and lost coin in Luke’s gospel, stories that promise God’s mercy to us as we return to Him.

God’s consistent mercy is something that we have trouble understanding. We know that we have difficulty in forgiving and forgetting, yet God does this throughout the Bible.  God continues to forgive and forget today in the sacrament of reconciliation.

In the Old Testament, the New Testament and in promises for the future, we see God’s mercy. So, why do some think God has changed?  Theologians suggest that we have seen different aspects of God through the ages. Perhaps we are confusing aspects of God with change.

 

We get into trouble when we try to describe God as a human being.  God’s ways are so far above our ways, we cannot understand His ways.  If we try to describe God, we limit God.  As my Philosophy professor was fond of saying, “God is God, and we are not”.  In fact, he frequently reminded us that “God is”.  This simple message is good for us to keep in mind.  Jesus became man to cross that gap between God and man, but God (and Jesus) is still God.

Jesus reminded us of the two greatest commandments: Love God and love our neighbor.  If we are in this space, we probably love God, but how are we doing on loving our neighbor?  Are we showing mercy to our neighbors?  If God shows mercy to us, can we do less for our neighbors? Or are we rewriting God’s commandment on love our neighbor?

Many in today’s society say that, “The Church is out of touch, it needs to modernize”.  I respond, “The Church is in touch with the unchanging God, society has changed”.  Society, as a whole, is trying to become god, to write its own set of commandments. 

Our brothers and sisters in the world need our prayers to rediscover the one unchanging God.  I pray that those playing at god by writing their own commandments will find the true God’s mercy…a mercy that is full and complete…a mercy that we can never fully comprehend.

This might even show me delivering the homily

 

 

Third Year, Fall Semester Classes

I have received a couple of inquiries about my health, mental state, etc regarding my dearth of posts. I assure you that I am very much alive, well and busy as all get out.  We have a professor for two classes that likes to use, in his words, the fire hose method of giving us information.  I am working hard to keep up with the reading and assignments this year, and it has barely started.

But, I do have some things to update you on, my beloved readers.  In the next few posts, I'll look at my Pastoral Assignment and goings on back in Maine (this is to remind me as much as you about upcoming posts).

Classes this semester include the two fire hose classes, Ecclesiology and Sacraments of Initiation.  We get a double session and a single session of each of those during the week.  Coming out of those classes finds one looking for a bit of quiet space to process, but that rarely happens.  We usually go right into another class.   In addition we have Sacrament Practicum.  Since most of my brothers will be ordained deacons this coming summer (2014), we are practicing Baptisms with the well watered baby doll.  I will be the "deacon" on 9/23, practicing a baptism.

Catholic Social Doctrine is three single classes and is taught by our Moral Theology professor. It is quite deep and relies heavily on the Catechism and church documents.

Liturgical Preaching is a triple class.  We alternate here between lecture and preaching (another note to self, post those homilies as they are complete, one is already done).  The homilies are videotaped and critiqued by a subset of the class and a self evaluation is done as well.  Out instructor reviews 1/3 of the class each time for more extensive comments.

My Pastoral Assignment counts as a class, more about that in another post.

Finally, I have on elective on "The Mystery of Suffering in the Old and New Testament".  That is a double period  once a week.

When I sleeps, I sleeps well...