Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Friday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor

August 28, 2020

1 Cor 1:17-25, Ps 33, Mt 25:1-13

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* In today’s readings there is a huge contrast between wisdom and foolishness. In the Gospel, Jesus focuses on the wise and foolish virgins, with the hope that we will learn to imitate the wise and learn from the mistakes of the foolish. In the first reading, St. Paul speaks about how God will destroy the “wisdom of the wise and the learning of the learned,” how he has “made the wisdom of the world foolish” and established the Cross, which is a “scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” as the “power and the wisdom of God,” establishing this “foolishness of God” as “wiser than human wisdom.” And in the Opening Prayer of the Mass, we asked God that “filled with the same spirit” as St. Augustine, whom the Church celebrates today, “we may thirst for you, the sole fount of true wisdom.” So today we learn three different things about true wisdom.

* To understand the message about wisdom from the Gospel, we first need to understand the ancient practice of a Jewish wedding. There were two main stages in a marriage. The first would be the exchange of vows. When this took place, they were married, but they would continue to live apart for a while, even up to a year, while the husband prepared everything to welcome his new wife into his home. It was during this time, for example, that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary; she was already wedded to Joseph but they had not started to live under the same roof. The second stage was when the bridegroom, the husband, would come to the house of the bride to pick her up and take her to his home. He would be accompanied by all the guests from his side as he went to her home. There he would meet her and all the guests from her side, her bridesmaids and others, who would be waiting for him along the way. Both groups would process back together to his home and when they arrived, they would celebrate the nuptials for eight days with all their friends and family — something they would consider far more enjoyable than leaving all of them behind for a honeymoon. The bridegroom could come at any time to pick up his bride and so people needed to be ready. Before he would come, he would send out a herald who would announce along the path, “Behold the Bridegroom is coming,” but the Husband himself could come within hours, days, up to a week. He could come in the middle of the night. There was a law that said that if one were out at night, one had to have a lamp, which was not only common sense but prevented any ambushes, etc. People could either wait with the bride or accompany the bridegroom — but most would prefer the former because it was less walking! As soon as the Bridegroom took his Bride into his house, the doors really would be shut, to prevent latecomers crashing their party. This wedding tradition, which was universal at Jesus’ time, is still found today in certain parts of the Holy Land and Middle East.

* Jesus used that image as the background to communicate to us how we should be living our life in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, at the end of our life or at the end of the world, whichever comes first. Jesus contrasts five wise bridesmaids versus five foolish ones, wanting us to imitate the lessons we see in the five wise ones. We can focus on three lessons.

* The first is vigilance for the Bridegroom’s coming. The heralds have already gone out to announce that Jesus is coming.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of St. Monica

August 27, 2020

1 Cor 1:1-9, Ps 145, Mt 24:42-51

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today Jesus uses a shocking image to describe himself in relation to us. We’re used to so many other titles he gives himself that are rich and inviting: Good Shepherd, Son of Man, Son of God, Savior, Lord, the Way, The Truth, the Resurrection and the Life, the Light of the World, the Gate, and more. Today he labels himself as a Thief, putting that title in parallel with “your Lord” and “Son of Man.” We normally don’t hold thieves in esteem. The whole reason why the Good Thief is remembered by that title is because “good” and “thief” together are paradoxical terms. But this is clearly what he means to communicate. In the Book of Revelation, he addresses St. John twice by saying, “If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief and you will never know at what hour I will come” (Rev 3:3) and “Behold I am coming like a thief” (Rev 16:15). St. Paul, in his First letter to the Thessalonians says, “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. … But you, brothers, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief” (1 Thess 5:2-4). St. Peter in his Second Letter likewise reminder the early Christians, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Pet 3:10).

* Why does Jesus choose this image? I think for two reasons. The first is to help us acknowledge and overcome our sense of ownership of our life, our time, our things. We’re afraid of thieves because we are afraid of losing what we have. But none of what we have — even our life — is our own. We’re stewards of a gift. We can’t and won’t be afraid of the “thievery” of God if we’re already seeking to give him all we have and are. The second reason is to focus on the aspect of surprise. We’re afraid of thieves because we want to feel safe, we want to think that while we’re asleep or awake that we, our loved ones and our possessions are protected, that they’ll all be there when we return or wake up, that somebody won’t kidnap those we love, liquidate our bank account, or empty our house of all its valuables, or even swipe and use our identity. Unlike armed robbers who act in daylight overpowering us with threat of force or death, thieves are more like pickpockets, working when we don’t expect. Jesus does not want us to be surprised, but rather always expecting him, always awake, sober, looking forward to an encounter with him, so that we’re never surprised when he comes, in day to day life, or, more apropos to today’s Gospel, at the end of our life on earth.

* The types of virtues Jesus wishes for us in awaiting his thievery are given in the second part of today’s Gospel, when Jesus describes the “faithful and prudent servant.” Faithful, pistis in Greek, means first “believing” or “trusting,” indicating that it’s someone who trusts in the Master and in turn earns the Master’s trust. He believes in the Master. He loves the Master. He believes the Master is good and worthy of his trust and so behaves, intentionally, consistent with that. The other virtue is phronimos, which is generally translated “wise” or “prudent” but basically means practical, acting considerately on the truth, incarnating goodness in needs. It’s someone who is passionately committed to fulfilling one’s duties out of that trust and love in the ruler. The faithful and prudent servant does two things. First, he remains awake and alert constantly to God’s presence and “prepared” to respond to him. Jesus calls us to be more alert to God’s coming than a householder would to a burglar’s. Many times we go through life asleep.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of St. Monica

August 27, 2020

1 Cor 1:1-9, Ps 145, Mt 24:42-51

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today Jesus uses a shocking image to describe himself in relation to us. We’re used to so many other titles he gives himself that are rich and inviting: Good Shepherd, Son of Man, Son of God, Savior, Lord, the Way, The Truth, the Resurrection and the Life, the Light of the World, the Gate, and more. Today he labels himself as a Thief, putting that title in parallel with “your Lord” and “Son of Man.” We normally don’t hold thieves in esteem. The whole reason why the Good Thief is remembered by that title is because “good” and “thief” together are paradoxical terms. But this is clearly what he means to communicate. In the Book of Revelation, he addresses St. John twice by saying, “If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief and you will never know at what hour I will come” (Rev 3:3) and “Behold I am coming like a thief” (Rev 16:15). St. Paul, in his First letter to the Thessalonians says, “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. … But you, brothers, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief” (1 Thess 5:2-4). St. Peter in his Second Letter likewise reminder the early Christians, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Pet 3:10).

* Why does Jesus choose this image? I think for two reasons. The first is to help us acknowledge and overcome our sense of ownership of our life, our time, our things. We’re afraid of thieves because we are afraid of losing what we have. But none of what we have — even our life — is our own. We’re stewards of a gift. We can’t and won’t be afraid of the “thievery” of God if we’re already seeking to give him all we have and are. The second reason is to focus on the aspect of surprise. We’re afraid of thieves because we want to feel safe, we want to think that while we’re asleep or awake that we, our loved ones and our possessions are protected, that they’ll all be there when we return or wake up, that somebody won’t kidnap those we love, liquidate our bank account, or empty our house of all its valuables, or even swipe and use our identity. Unlike armed robbers who act in daylight overpowering us with threat of force or death, thieves are more like pickpockets, working when we don’t expect. Jesus does not want us to be surprised, but rather always expecting him, always awake, sober, looking forward to an encounter with him, so that we’re never surprised when he comes, in day to day life, or, more apropos to today’s Gospel, at the end of our life on earth.

* The types of virtues Jesus wishes for us in awaiting his thievery are given in the second part of today’s Gospel, when Jesus describes the “faithful and prudent servant.” Faithful, pistis in Greek, means first “believing” or “trusting,” indicating that it’s someone who trusts in the Master and in turn earns the Master’s trust. He believes in the Master. He loves the Master. He believes the Master is good and worthy of his trust and so behaves, intentionally, consistent with that. The other virtue is phronimos, which is generally translated “wise” or “prudent” but basically means practical, acting considerately on the truth, incarnating goodness in needs. It’s someone who is passionately committed to fulfilling one’s duties out of that trust and love in the ruler. The faithful and prudent servant does two things. First, he remains awake and alert constantly to God’s presence and “prepared” to respond to him. Jesus calls us to be more alert to God’s coming than a householder would to a burglar’s. Many times we go through life asleep.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

August 22, 2020

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/8.22.20_Landry_ConCon.mp3

 

The text on which the homily was based was: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday. In it, he’s going to ask us the same two momentous questions he asked the apostles 2,000 years ago in Caesarea Philippi: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and “Who do you say that I am.” They get to Jesus’ real identity. Who is Jesus? And who is he in my life?

* In response to the first question, the apostles said that their informal poll showed that the people were numbering Jesus among the greatest figures, past and present, in Jewish history. Some, like the murderous Herod Antipas who had decapitated the Lord’s precursor, were saying Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Others were claiming he was Elijah, the greatest of all the prophets, the one whose return they believed would set the stage for the Messianic age. Others said he was Jeremiah, the one whom they believe had hidden the ark and the altar of sacrifice before the destruction of the Temple and the one they anticipated would return to reinstitute true worship. At the time Jesus asked the question, many of the Jews were accustomed to say that there had not been prophets for 400 years, and therefore, whoever Jesus was, they crowds believed that he was likely the greatest figure in four centuries. But as high as those estimations of Jesus’ reputation were, they weren’t even close. We hear similar things today about Jesus. Many, including Christians, say that Jesus was a very good man, compassionate, kind, encouraged people to love, imparted a peaceful philosophy of life, and was the holiest guy who ever lived. In short, they admire Jesus, but Jesus didn’t come and die for people’s approval or admiration. But that’s not enough. As CS Lewis once wrote, Jesus was either who he said he was — the Son of God made man — or a lunatic who mistakenly thought he was, or a fraud and the worst liar of all time.

* That’s why Jesus’ second question is so important. He asked his closest followers, “Who do you say that I am?” It’s clear that each of the apostles would have been grappling with the question as they heard Jesus preach, watched him heal the sick, cleanse lepers, exorcise demons, multiply food, walk on water and calm storms, but eleven of the 12 apostles stayed silent. They probably feared going on record, even if every ounce of their being recognized that Jesus was someone beyond what the mob was murmuring. Peter, however, took that risk. He stood up and boldly replied that Jesus was far more than a great prophet, far more than the greatest figure in centuries, far more even than Moses. He wasn’t just the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior for whom the Jews had been waiting for a millennium. He was the Son of the Living God. Peter’s was a great act of faith, a bold profession holding nothing back, one that Jesus noted he couldn’t have said all on his own. “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” The only way we can confess Jesus to be Messiah, Son of God, Savior of the world, and Lord is by a special grace of God the Father, who reveals this wisdom to us by the same Holy Spirit by which he revealed it to Simon Peter.

* And like Simon Peter we need to respond to God’s grace to confess Jesus in this way, to go out and give courageous witness that Jesus is the Savior and the long-desired of the nations.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) (Vigil)

August 15, 2020

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/8.15.20_Landry_ConCon.mp3

 

The text that guided the homily was: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, when Jesus will give a pagan woman the greatest compliment he could give to anyone, the type of tribute he wanted to give to every one of his fellow Jews, the accolade he wants to give every Christian, the commendation he wants to say about each of us now and when we meet him face-to-face: “Great is your faith!” Jesus’ praise was not cheap. It was a result of the way the woman responded to the terrible problem of having a possessed daughter and all the problems that likely led to her possession and followed it. It was the result of a dialogue with Jesus that would have tested her faith to the limit. It was the end result of a process of growth in faith that culminated with Jesus’ amazed acclaim. In Sunday’s Gospel we are able to enter the scene and learn from this Syro-Phoenician woman how we, too, can grow in faith so that our faith may genuinely become great.

* The question we ought to ask at the outset, however, is whether our faith is great or small or just average right now. Are we living by faith? Is our faith the most important aspect of our self-identity? Jesus once wondered aloud whether we he returned whether he would find faith on earth at all (Lk 18:8). If Jesus were to come right now, would he compliment us like he praised the Canaanite woman or would he say of us what he often said of some of his closest followers at the beginning: “O you of little faith?” Most of us, if we’re honest, would be like the man whose son Jesus healed of possession to whom Jesus said, “All things are possible to one who has faith,” who responded, “Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief!” This Sunday Jesus gives us that help through his interaction with the Syro-Phoenician woman. We see her great faith shine and grow in three tests Jesus gave her.

* The first test happened when she went up to Jesus and called out, “Have pity on me Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” What was Jesus’ response? Total silence. St. Matthew, an eyewitness, tells us, “He did not say a word in answer to him.” It seems almost a cruel thing to do to a desperate mother. But Jesus, who almost certainly was prepared to work the exorcism, wanted to effectuate a far greater miracle on that day on behalf of the woman, on behalf of the disciples with him, and on behalf of all of us, and to do that, he needed to try her faith. For us, we, too, need to learn how to deal with God’s silence. We pray and we don’t seem to get a response. We pray again and it seems the door has remained shut. How we do handle it? Many of us give up, we stop praying, we think God doesn’t care, but what God is often doing in these circumstances is giving us a chance to learn how to pray perseveringly so that we may grow in faith to such a degree that we will always persevere in fidelity. Regardless, when Jesus responded to the woman with cold silence, perhaps even seeming to ignore her, the woman didn’t give up.

* Her second attempt was intercession. She ran up to the disciples and asked them to intervene. We can imagine her grabbing on their clothes and arms, raising her voice, begging their assistance. The disciples had had it. They approached Jesus and said, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” They were asking Jesus to work a miracle just to get rid of the bothersome lady.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

August 12, 2020

Ezek 9:1-7.10:18-22, Ps 113, Mt 18:15-20

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Jesus had come to found a family, to bring us through the communion of saints somehow, mysteriously, according to our condition as creatures, into the communion of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. During the Last Supper he prayed repeatedly that we might be one as the Father and He are one, so that the world might believe that the Father sent the Son and loves us like he loves the Son (Jn 17). Jesus’ plan is always for unity, for communion, for a love that binds. At the end of today’s Gospel Jesus speaks about the power of that unity with Him and with others. He tells us whenever just two or three gather in his name, he’ll be present in the midst. When we pray in his name to the Father, the Father is guaranteed to hear it. When we together with the whole Church in his name bind something on earth it will be bound in heaven, and when we loose something on earth in his name, it will be loosed in heaven. In order for this to occur, we need to do so, he tells us, “in his name,” which in the Biblical understanding of name means in his person, in total communion with him, asking for what he himself could and would ask for. We can specify it a little by remembering his names, “Emmanuel,” “Jesus” and “Christ.” To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray conscious of the fact that God is with us, that he is with us precisely to save us, and through that salvation he seeks to make us “little Christs,” anointed by the same Spirit who anointed him. God is with us to unite us, to save us from rupture and division, to help us to follow him and to become his icon in the middle of the world carrying out God’s plan to restore and unite all things in Christ. The devil’s plan, on the other hand, is always to divide. The word diabolos in Greek signifies one who attempts to throw off course. The consequences of sin are always a triple division, a division from God, a division from others, and a division within ourselves. The devil’s work is to get us to try to make a name for ourselves, rather than hallow and pray in God’s name. He wants to frustrate God’s plan of salvation and to get his to live according to the flesh rather than according to the Holy Spirit.

* What happens when we’ve succumbed to the temptations of the great Divider and experienced this division he seeks to provoke? We need conversion. Jesus, greater than Jonah, came to call us to conversion. His first public words were, “Repent and believe.” He called us to pluck out eyes and cut off body parts if they led us to sin. He corrected St. Peter and called him “Satan,” when he was trying to oppose Jesus’ messianic and salvific mission. He repeatedly called the Scribes and the Pharisees to let go of their false interpretations of the law. He called all of us to a higher set of standards that the most righteous Jews and Gentiles, to become Good Samaritans, to wash the feet of others, to care for the poor and needy, to love even our enemies. But that was just the supreme expression of God’s lovingly calling us to conversion. Throughout the Old Testament, God sent his prophets — like we see with Ezekiel in today’s first reading — to call us to repentance, to give us another chance, to lift us up out of our pigsties, and to be bathed in the mercy of God’s covenant. Just as much as he sent Moses to free the Jews from physical slavery in Egypt, he sent his prophets to free us from self-imposed moral slavery. He himself came and sent out the Church to continue that mission of holiness.

* And so today in the Gospel he has us focus on ...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

August 12, 2020

Ezek 9:1-7.10:18-22, Ps 113, Mt 18:15-20

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Jesus had come to found a family, to bring us through the communion of saints somehow, mysteriously, according to our condition as creatures, into the communion of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. During the Last Supper he prayed repeatedly that we might be one as the Father and He are one, so that the world might believe that the Father sent the Son and loves us like he loves the Son (Jn 17). Jesus’ plan is always for unity, for communion, for a love that binds. At the end of today’s Gospel Jesus speaks about the power of that unity with Him and with others. He tells us whenever just two or three gather in his name, he’ll be present in the midst. When we pray in his name to the Father, the Father is guaranteed to hear it. When we together with the whole Church in his name bind something on earth it will be bound in heaven, and when we loose something on earth in his name, it will be loosed in heaven. In order for this to occur, we need to do so, he tells us, “in his name,” which in the Biblical understanding of name means in his person, in total communion with him, asking for what he himself could and would ask for. We can specify it a little by remembering his names, “Emmanuel,” “Jesus” and “Christ.” To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray conscious of the fact that God is with us, that he is with us precisely to save us, and through that salvation he seeks to make us “little Christs,” anointed by the same Spirit who anointed him. God is with us to unite us, to save us from rupture and division, to help us to follow him and to become his icon in the middle of the world carrying out God’s plan to restore and unite all things in Christ. The devil’s plan, on the other hand, is always to divide. The word diabolos in Greek signifies one who attempts to throw off course. The consequences of sin are always a triple division, a division from God, a division from others, and a division within ourselves. The devil’s work is to get us to try to make a name for ourselves, rather than hallow and pray in God’s name. He wants to frustrate God’s plan of salvation and to get his to live according to the flesh rather than according to the Holy Spirit.

* What happens when we’ve succumbed to the temptations of the great Divider and experienced this division he seeks to provoke? We need conversion. Jesus, greater than Jonah, came to call us to conversion. His first public words were, “Repent and believe.” He called us to pluck out eyes and cut off body parts if they led us to sin. He corrected St. Peter and called him “Satan,” when he was trying to oppose Jesus’ messianic and salvific mission. He repeatedly called the Scribes and the Pharisees to let go of their false interpretations of the law. He called all of us to a higher set of standards that the most righteous Jews and Gentiles, to become Good Samaritans, to wash the feet of others, to care for the poor and needy, to love even our enemies. But that was just the supreme expression of God’s lovingly calling us to conversion. Throughout the Old Testament, God sent his prophets — like we see with Ezekiel in today’s first reading — to call us to repentance, to give us another chance, to lift us up out of our pigsties, and to be bathed in the mercy of God’s covenant. Just as much as he sent Moses to free the Jews from physical slavery in Egypt, he sent his prophets to free us from self-imposed moral slavery. He himself came and sent out the Church to continue that mission of holiness.

* And so today in the Gospel he has us focus on ...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) (Vigil)

August 8, 2020

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/8.8.20_Landry_ConCon.mp3

 

The text that guided the homily was: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, in which Jesus helps the apostles, especially St. Peter, to overcome their primal fears and through which he seeks to help us, too, go from fear to faith, to overcome our terror of failure, abandonment, struggle, sickness, pain, the past, the future, death, the possibility of hell and anything and everything else, too.

* Let’s put ourselves first in this dramatic scene whose main elements are recapitulated in some way or another in the life of every disciple. Since Jesus, as we saw in last week’s Gospel, had just had everyone sit down on the green grass, we know that it must have been mid-March to mid-April in the Holy Land, because the grass begins to get scorched by the sun by the end of April. That would mean sunset would have happened about 6 pm, which is the time the apostles got into the boat to begin the journey across the top of the Sea of Galilee, which would have been about a 5-6 mile journey that should have taken a few hours. The storm began to rage, St. Matthew tells us, when they were in the middle of the Sea, so about an hour or two along their trek. Jesus came to them in the “fourth watch of the night” — the period stretching from 3-6 am — which meant that by that point, they had been in the boat 9-12 hours, battling a ferocious storm, fatigued, soaking wet and fearing for their life. Jesus was placidly praying on the mountain as they were struggling for hours not to drown to death. Why did Jesus wait so long as his friends were in peril? It brings us back to the other time that they were afraid for their life on the Sea, when Jesus was asleep in the bow of the boat as they thought they were about to perish. In both cases, it was to increase their faith. Jesus was introducing them to a central truth of the spiritual life: that in order to be able to abandon ourselves to God, we must first feel what appears to be total abandonment by  That’s when we’re able to make the leap, when all human means are exhausted, when even God even seems to be absent, that we make the act of faith to believe in him even when we can’t see or hear him.

* After hours of struggling for their lives, Jesus comes walking along the white caps of the churning sea. Their first reaction was to think they were seeing a ghost — after all, no one had ever seen a man walk on water before, not to mention surf waves without a surfboard. There was also a superstition that there were monsters at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee and likely that played into their alarm as well. But Jesus said to them across the howling winds, “Take courage! I am (here)! Do not be afraid!!” They were words of confidence. They were words that could help assuage their fears and give them courage. We see the first fruit of that in Peter. “Lord, if it is you,” he said, “Bid me to come to you across the water.” He first refers to the walking “ghost” as “Lord,” but then he qualifies it by saying, “if it is you.” He was hovering between belief and unbelief. But at the word of Jesus, “Come!,” he did what he had precisely been trying to avoid or the previous 7-10 hours or more: he went overboard. The time fearing for his life made him that much more desirous of being with the Lord Jesus. He wanted to get to him as soon as he possibly could. The whole scene in some way summarizes the mystery of the Incarnation,...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Domus Ecclesiae Mass at the Kroeker House, Fresno, California

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

August 2, 2020

Is 55:1-3, Ps 145, Rom 8:35.37-39, Mt 14:13-21

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s Mass, please click below:

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today in the epistle, we have some of the most consoling words in all of Sacred Scripture. St. Paul tells us that nothing in all of creation — “neither death, nor life, not angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature” — can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. God’s love for us is the one constant that explains creation, redemption, sanctification and our vocation to eternal communion. Even when we sin, God’s love still remains, although we need to open ourselves up to receive it and live by it. Today we have a chance to be able to ponder this truth and examine how we cooperate with God’s love.

* In the Gospel, we see the love of God on full display. When he disembarked and saw the throng awaiting him, it would have been easy for him to have gotten a little frustrated or irritated — after all, he had tried to escape to pray — but that wasn’t his reaction. He was filled with mercy. St. Matthew tells us, “His heart was moved with pity for them.” That expression is a softening of the original Greek verb “esplangchnisthe,” which is a compound of the word splanchna, which means “viscera” or “guts” or “womb.” A more literal translation would be he was “sick to his stomach” with compassion as he saw the crowds. An even more accurate translation is that his “bowels exploded” with pity. Jesus’ compassion was like a volcanic eruption in his innards. In the Gospels, this expression is used several times of Jesus and it describes five things that Jesus, in response to these intense stomach cramps of mercy, did.

* In today’s Gospel, we see that his heart was moved with pity for them “and he cured their sick.”

* We also saw that he fed the crowd of 5,000 men, probably 5,000 women and likely at least 15,000 children. Similarly in the feeding of the 4,000, Jesus says in the first person what St. Matthew described about him today in the third: “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat” and once again in response he fed

* Elsewhere, St. Mark describes a third thing Jesus did out of mercy. He says, “When he saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity or them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (Mk 6:34).

* Several times in the Gospel, Jesus’ heart was similarly moved with pity, like with the paralyzed man on the stretcher, or the women caught in adultery, on the woman in Simon the Pharisee’s house, and he forgave their sins.

* And when Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for the crowds because they were “mangled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd,” he told his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so pray the Master of the Harvest to send out laborers for his harvest,” a prayer that would be answered immediately when Jesus would from among those praying disciples call 12.

* Jesus’ visceral compassion, in short, led him to teach, to heal, to feed, to forgive, and to pray for, call and send out laborers with the same compassion on the crowds. He wants to transform us by that mercy to see things with the eyes of his own bursting heart, to notice how many are wandering without direction in life and teach them the truth and instruct them how to live by following Jesus the Way. He wants us to see how many are suffering physically, psychologically and spiritually and seek to become nurses of the Divine Physician.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Domus Ecclesiae Mass at the Kroeker House, Fresno, California

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

August 2, 2020

Is 55:1-3, Ps 145, Rom 8:35.37-39, Mt 14:13-21

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s Mass, please click below:

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today in the epistle, we have some of the most consoling words in all of Sacred Scripture. St. Paul tells us that nothing in all of creation — “neither death, nor life, not angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature” — can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. God’s love for us is the one constant that explains creation, redemption, sanctification and our vocation to eternal communion. Even when we sin, God’s love still remains, although we need to open ourselves up to receive it and live by it. Today we have a chance to be able to ponder this truth and examine how we cooperate with God’s love.

* In the Gospel, we see the love of God on full display. When he disembarked and saw the throng awaiting him, it would have been easy for him to have gotten a little frustrated or irritated — after all, he had tried to escape to pray — but that wasn’t his reaction. He was filled with mercy. St. Matthew tells us, “His heart was moved with pity for them.” That expression is a softening of the original Greek verb “esplangchnisthe,” which is a compound of the word splanchna, which means “viscera” or “guts” or “womb.” A more literal translation would be he was “sick to his stomach” with compassion as he saw the crowds. An even more accurate translation is that his “bowels exploded” with pity. Jesus’ compassion was like a volcanic eruption in his innards. In the Gospels, this expression is used several times of Jesus and it describes five things that Jesus, in response to these intense stomach cramps of mercy, did.

* In today’s Gospel, we see that his heart was moved with pity for them “and he cured their sick.”

* We also saw that he fed the crowd of 5,000 men, probably 5,000 women and likely at least 15,000 children. Similarly in the feeding of the 4,000, Jesus says in the first person what St. Matthew described about him today in the third: “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat” and once again in response he fed

* Elsewhere, St. Mark describes a third thing Jesus did out of mercy. He says, “When he saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity or them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (Mk 6:34).

* Several times in the Gospel, Jesus’ heart was similarly moved with pity, like with the paralyzed man on the stretcher, or the women caught in adultery, on the woman in Simon the Pharisee’s house, and he forgave their sins.

* And when Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for the crowds because they were “mangled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd,” he told his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so pray the Master of the Harvest to send out laborers for his harvest,” a prayer that would be answered immediately when Jesus would from among those praying disciples call 12.

* Jesus’ visceral compassion, in short, led him to teach, to heal, to feed, to forgive, and to pray for, call and send out laborers with the same compassion on the crowds. He wants to transform us by that mercy to see things with the eyes of his own bursting heart, to notice how many are wandering without direction in life and teach them the truth and instruct them how to live by following Jesus the Way. He wants us to see how many are suffering physically, psychologically and spiritually and seek to become nurses of the Divine Physician.