Catholic Preaching

Fr. Roger J. Landry

St. Agnes Church, New York, NY

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Extraordinary Form

August 30, 2020

Gal 3:16-22, Lk 17:11-19

 

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

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* To have leprosy in the ancient world was about the worst thing that could happen to someone. Not only would Hansen’s disease eat away your flesh and bones, not only would it make you stink worse than skunks, but it would lead to your total banishment from society. As outcasts they would have to stay at least 50 feet away from any non-leper forced to cry out “unclean!, unclean!,” anytime someone was approaching. Leprosy cut you off from their family members. It also cut you off from the communal worship of God because you could never return to the Synagogue on Saturday or to the Temple on the major holy days. When Jesus approached, the lepers with voices trained from yelling out “Unclean!,” stood at a distance from Jesus, raised their voice, and screamed something else: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And Jesus did have mercy. He told them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” because priests were the only ones under the Mosaic law who were able, intelligently, to pronounce a leper healed and return him or her to society. Even to say this, however, was to imply that he had cured them, but he actually didn’t pronounce them cured or let them see the effects. It took an act of faith on their part to start journeying to find a priest simply on Jesus’ word. But that’s what they did.

* As they were journeying, however, they became aware they were cured. St. Luke tells us one of them, a Samaritan, turned around. Before he would show himself to the priests — who may not have not wanted to deal with him because of the historic animosity between Jews and Samaritans — he wanted to thank the One who had given him a miracle. Glorifying God, he came to Jesus, fell at his feet, and thanked him. Jesus’ words are very powerful. He didn’t immediately reply, “You’re welcome.” He didn’t stress that he was the incarnate love of God in the world and that he had done this for him out of love. Rather, he asked aloud, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?” He knew he had cured all ten of leprosy, but only one was showing gratitude. Jesus then pointed out that the man who returned was a Samaritan, saying, “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?,” and implying, “Where are the Jews?” The Jews were accustomed to pray, “Give thanks to the Lord who is good, whose love endures forever!” (Ps 107:1; Ps 118:1); to chant, “With my whole being I sing endless praise to you. O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks” (Ps 30:13); to declare, “We thank you, God, we give thanks; we call upon your name, declare your wonderful deeds” (Ps 75:2). No Jew returned. And the reason why it mattered so much to Jesus was not because he was a jealous insecure egomaniac who wanted people to appreciate his generosity and enter into his debt. No, he wanted to give them all a far greater gift than curing them of their leprosy! He wanted to give them the fulfillment of the promise St. Paul describes in today’s passage from the letter to the Galatians.

* This is the key point: Jesus came into the world not fundamentally to heal our bodies but to restore our souls. He came not to remedy our ills but to redeem our whole life. In order to receive these greater gifts, however, we need gratefully to be in relationship with God. While all ten men were cured of the physical leprosy, nine retained leprosy of the soul, an ingratitude that took for granted the greatest gift they had received in life until then and that closed them off from an even greater one. Only the grateful leper would receive the gift of salvation because only he had a heart that was opened to receive it,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

August 29, 2020

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/8.29.20_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 we see a dramatic turnaround from what we considered a week ago. In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus called Simon Peter “the Rock on whom I will build by Church” and promised that “the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” Today, Jesus Jesus calls Peter, “Satan,” and tells him, essentially, that the gates of Hell are prevailing against him. Why does this happen? Because Peter was rejecting Jesus’ words that he would suffer, be killed and be raised: “God forbid it, Lord!,” he shouted. “This must never happen to you!” We might think that this was just the concern of a friend trying to prevent Jesus from suffering harm, but Jesus, the Lord, saw something much deeper. The reason why he called him “Satan,” was because Peter at that moment was, without realizing it, playing the part of Satan the tempter, effectively trying to steer him away from doing his Father’s will. The reason why Jesus said, “Get behind me!,” is because Peter was trying to leadJesus rather than to follow him, and no creature can ever do that to the Creator, and no disciple can ever do that to the Master. Jesus very directly summed up what was the cause of Peter’s fall: “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

* As challenging as that was, Jesus then upped the ante. It was tough enough to accept “the way God thinks” when that meant that the “Christ, the Son of the Living God” (as Peter confessed him last week) was going to undergo great suffering and be crucified. But Jesus said that if we wanted to be his disciples, we would need to undergo the same. This is God’s standard for us, too. “If anyone wishes to become my disciple,” Jesus tells us at the end of this Sunday’s Gospel, “he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Each of us is, and want to be ever better, a follower of Jesus. We want our friends and family members to be disciples of Jesus. But we cannot be his disciples unless we do what Jesus indicates — deny ourselves rather than affirm ourselves, pick up our Cross daily, and follow Jesus rather than doing our own thing, which means thinking as he thinks, willing as he wills, choosing as he chooses, serving as he serves and loving as he loves. That’s the challenge he puts before us.

* 2000 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, we are not shocked as St. Peter was when Jesus gave the first of three prophecies of what would happen to him on Good Friday, because we know that it turns out well on the third day. But most of us are still shocked when Jesus says to us that in order to be his disciple we must deny ourselves, die to ourselves through the Cross and follow him along the path to death in order to live. And we’re even more shocked when Jesus asks those we care about to follow him along the path of suffering. We still are tempted to say, “God forbid, Lord, that any such thing as pain and suffering, of the Cross, happen to me or my loved ones!” Because we struggle to think as God thinks, we’re tempted to water down what Jesus says are preconditions to being his follower. We think all Jesus is asking us to do is to “offer up” daily contradictions and hardships, but his first listeners would never have missed what he was saying when he mentioned that the only way they could follow him is through denying themselves to the extent that they would pick up...

Fr Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Memorial of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist

August 29, 2020

1 Cor 1:26-31, Ps 33, Mk 6:17-29

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today we celebrate the final way by which St. John the Baptist made straight the paths of the Lord. He had been his precursor in birth, making a joy-filled in utero proclamation of Christ’s presence. He was his forerunner in preaching the message of conversion, with the Word made flesh eventually echoing what the “Voice of One crying out in the wilderness” was crying out: repent, change your ways, have a revolution in your conduct. He was his predecessor in the work of baptizing, showing in a non-sacramental anticipation what Christ himself would sacramentally institute, do and send his Church to continue to do to the ends of the earth and the end of time. And today we mark how he was his precursor in imprisonment, death and in a vague sense his resurrection, with Herod saying of Jesus the very words that the angels at the tomb would say, “He has been raised from the dead,” applying them to Jesus whom he viewed in the paranoia coming from a guilty conscience as John the Baptist redivivus. Tertullian said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of future Christians, and the blood of this protomartyr was what prepared the way for Christ’s own martyrdom and the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the apostles, and so many others after Christ. Christ himself made that link after the Transfiguration, when Peter, James and John asked him about whether Elijah whom they had just seen speaking to Jesus would precede Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus replied, “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands” (Mt 17:12). So we need to look at John the Baptist’s martyrdom in a Christological key and in a Christian key, because all of his actions point to Christ and insofar as our actions are meant to flow from our following and our union with Christ, John’s actions also implicate us just as much as they implicated Herod, Herodias, Salome and all Herod’s courtiers, military officials and the leading figures of Galilee.

* We can also understand them from the perspective of St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians about those he calls to his kingdom. In one of the most consoling passages in Sacred Scripture. St. Paul said, “Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.” It’s tempting for us to picture St. John the Baptist as one of the giants of all time, of the greatest born of woman, as the son and heir of one of the 20,000 priests of the Temple, but to the world, he was foolish, weak, lowly and despised. He lived not among the rich, famous and powerful but in the desert eating locusts and wild honey. While the meek and lowly came to him in great numbers, the connected classes thought him a madman. The only way he got invited to the meet the somebodies of the world was through being arrested and he was paraded before them almost as entertainment. But there’s a truth here we can’t miss. The reason why God ordinarily chooses those whom the world discredits is precisely so that they will be far more dependent on him. When we’re spiritually poor, we’re more aware of our dependence on God. When we’re weak, we’re strong. When we’re humble, as St.

Fr Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Memorial of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist

August 29, 2020

1 Cor 1:26-31, Ps 33, Mk 6:17-29

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today we celebrate the final way by which St. John the Baptist made straight the paths of the Lord. He had been his precursor in birth, making a joy-filled in utero proclamation of Christ’s presence. He was his forerunner in preaching the message of conversion, with the Word made flesh eventually echoing what the “Voice of One crying out in the wilderness” was crying out: repent, change your ways, have a revolution in your conduct. He was his predecessor in the work of baptizing, showing in a non-sacramental anticipation what Christ himself would sacramentally institute, do and send his Church to continue to do to the ends of the earth and the end of time. And today we mark how he was his precursor in imprisonment, death and in a vague sense his resurrection, with Herod saying of Jesus the very words that the angels at the tomb would say, “He has been raised from the dead,” applying them to Jesus whom he viewed in the paranoia coming from a guilty conscience as John the Baptist redivivus. Tertullian said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of future Christians, and the blood of this protomartyr was what prepared the way for Christ’s own martyrdom and the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the apostles, and so many others after Christ. Christ himself made that link after the Transfiguration, when Peter, James and John asked him about whether Elijah whom they had just seen speaking to Jesus would precede Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus replied, “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands” (Mt 17:12). So we need to look at John the Baptist’s martyrdom in a Christological key and in a Christian key, because all of his actions point to Christ and insofar as our actions are meant to flow from our following and our union with Christ, John’s actions also implicate us just as much as they implicated Herod, Herodias, Salome and all Herod’s courtiers, military officials and the leading figures of Galilee.

* We can also understand them from the perspective of St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians about those he calls to his kingdom. In one of the most consoling passages in Sacred Scripture. St. Paul said, “Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.” It’s tempting for us to picture St. John the Baptist as one of the giants of all time, of the greatest born of woman, as the son and heir of one of the 20,000 priests of the Temple, but to the world, he was foolish, weak, lowly and despised. He lived not among the rich, famous and powerful but in the desert eating locusts and wild honey. While the meek and lowly came to him in great numbers, the connected classes thought him a madman. The only way he got invited to the meet the somebodies of the world was through being arrested and he was paraded before them almost as entertainment. But there’s a truth here we can’t miss. The reason why God ordinarily chooses those whom the world discredits is precisely so that they will be far more dependent on him. When we’re spiritually poor, we’re more aware of our dependence on God. When we’re weak, we’re strong. When we’re humble, as St.

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

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.