Catholic Preaching

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

October 1, 2023

Ezek 18:25-28, Ps 25, Phil 2:1-11, Mt 21:28-32

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/10.1.23_CCM_Homily_1.mp3

 

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* The whole Christian faith is summarized by St. Paul in his words to the Christians in Philippi in today’s second reading: “Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.” He wants us, individually and collectively, to think like Jesus thinks, to be “of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing,” not being selfish or vain, but humble, looking out for others’ interests. In one of the earliest and most beautiful Christian hymns, which we hear every Palm Sunday, he describes how Jesus, even though he was God, poured himself out, humbled himself, and became obedient to the Father even to the point of death. That’s the attitude, the mindset, we’re called to have as disciples of Jesus, as Christians or “little Christs.”

* We might be intimidated at such a high calling, to have our mind, heart and action become like Jesus’, to humble ourselves and become the servants of others, to become obedient to the Father until death. But God does not leave us on our own, as if to become like Jesus is fundamentally our work, rather than his. But he wants us to cooperate with that plan of God to make us think as Jesus thinks, love as Jesus loves, and act as Jesus acts.

* That’s what today’s dramatic Gospel reading is all about. Just as the Father in Jesus’ parable says to his two sons, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today,” so he says that to each of us every day. It could easily be called the Parable of Two Columbia Students. The Father is himself out hard at work. He wants us to join him in that labor. The vineyard is first our soul. He wants us to care for it so that it might bear great fruit. Then the vineyard is the world God created, most especially other peoples’ souls, which he wants us to help him cultivate so that they, too, may bear fruit. He engages our freedom. He urges us to do this work, but he, just like the two sons in the Parable, leaves us free to say “yes” or “no.”

* The importance of the choice is shown in the dramatic context of the parable. Jesus proclaimed it in the temple area of Jerusalem. He had already entered the gates of the city on Palm Sunday and had cleansed the temple area of the money changers and animal sellers who were exploiting and pilfering the poor who had come to sacrifice to God. He had cursed and dessicated a barren fig tree. That’s when the chief priests and elders of the people came to him to ask him by what authority he was doing what he was doing. Jesus knew that they had come in bad faith and so he told them in response that he would ask them one question, and if they answered his, he would answer theirs. “Where was John’s baptism from, … heavenly or human origin?,” he queried. It wasn’t a trick question. It wasn’t an academic one. John the Baptist’s work, we remember, was a work of conversion. If he were preaching and baptizing by heavenly origin, by divine mandate, then the chief priests and the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees, should have been converting just like the multitudes were. But those who were opposing Jesus, St. Matthew tells us, grasped that if they admitted that John came from God, then everyone would recognize that they’re hypocrites for not getting baptized and changing their lives. If they said John’s baptism was from human origin, they said among themselves, the people would turn on them, because the people knew that John wasn’t acting on his own a...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

October 1, 2023

Ezek 18:25-28, Ps 25, Phil 2:1-11, Mt 21:28-32

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/10.1.23_MCs_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* In last Sunday’s first reading, God said to us through the prophet Isaiah, “My ways are not your ways.” In today’s first reading, God tells us what his ways are relative to how we use our freedom. “When the just man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die for … the iniquity that he has committed. [But] when the wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is lawful and right, he shall save his life.” To man’s complaint that “the way of the Lord is unfair,” God responds by saying, “Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?” God, who is merciful and just, is merciful to those who convert, and just to those voluntarily who turn away from his mercy and love. God tells us that anything less than that would be unjust, rewarding people for doing evil or failing to be loving to those who change their ways for the better. But his will is obviously for us to turn to him always, receive his merciful love, and live.

* This is the context for us to understand the parable Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel about the two sons, which could just as easily be called the parable of the two priests, religious sisters, parishioners, college students, or daughters. The same lessons Jesus out of love was trying to communicate in the temple of Jerusalem to the chief priests and elders of the people he is here in this sanctuary trying to communicate to us.

* In the parable Jesus employs the image of working in his Father’s vineyard to encapsulate human life. There are two essential aspects of our life. The first is to be attached to Jesus Christ, the Vine, and to his Father, the vine grower (Jn 15:1-8). The second is to be a worker in his vineyard, to bear fruit. Jesus tells us during the Last Supper that if we remain in him and he in us like branches on the vine, then we will bear fruit and that our fruit will last. He also tells us that he never ceases to call us to this relationship with him and this work with him in the Father’s vineyard. Last Sunday, he gave us the beautiful image of going out to hire laborers for the vineyard at dawn, nine, noon, three and five, saying that if we responded to his invitation, went into the vineyard and worked hard, he generously would give us all the same lifetime wage.

* We see God’s generous mercy on display in the image of the first of his sons, who reminds us, in a way, of the first of two sons in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the one who initially treats his Father as dead and refuses to live in his house, but who eventually comes back repentant and receives the Father’s love. Today, Jesus describes that the first son initially refused when his father said, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today,” but afterward changed his mind and went to work. After the parable, Jesus implies that this is the proper way to understand those prostitutes and tax collectors and other types of sinners, who even though for lengthy periods of time they said “no!” to the sixth, seventh and other commandments, eventually converted and were now living and working in the Lord’s vineyard, building up and entering into his kingdom.

* The second son responds to his father’s command saying respectfully, “I will go sir,” but never acts on that promise. Jesus indicates that this applies to precisely those he was addressing, the scribes and the Pharisees, who so many times very publicly prayed in the tem...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, A, Vigil

September 30, 2023

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.30.23_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* 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.

* For the third straight week, Jesus teaches us by means of a parable. This Sunday it’s generally called the Parable of the Two Sons. Like last week, he employs the image of working in a vineyard, because from the time of Isaiah, the Holy Land was always referred to as a luxuriant vineyard entrusted by God. Last week Jesus spoke to us about his calling all hands on deck, going out at 6 and 9 am, noon, 3 and 5 pm, to call laborers into his vineyard, because he wants us all working to take in the great harvest of souls. This time he focuses on two brothers called by their father to work in his vineyard. The first son initially refuses when his dad tells him, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.” Afterward, however, he changes his mind and goes to work. Later, Jesus implies that this is the proper way to understand those prostitutes and tax collectors and other types of sinners, who even though for lengthy periods of time they had said “no!” to the sixth, seventh and other commandments, eventually converted and were now living and working in the Lord’s vineyard, building up and entering into his kingdom. The second son responds to his father’s command saying respectfully, “I will go sir,” but never acts on that promise. Jesus says that this son represents precisely those whom he was addressing, the scribes and the Pharisees, who so many times very publicly prayed in the temple chanting their loud “amens!” to God, but who were not following through on their covenantal commitments. The Pharisees, scribes and elders, who with their lips were outwardly saying yes to the Father’s will but with their actions were saying no, ended up showing where this hypocrisy can lead: they ended up framing Jesus and having him tortured, crucified and killed.

* It’s obvious that the Lord wants all of us today to reflect not only on what we say to God, but especially on how we follow through on the commitments we make to him. We’re listening to this program called Conversations with Consequences, dedicated to helping us live better in accordance with our Catholic faith, because, I presume, we are all basically people who have said “yes” to God many times over the course of our lives. On the day of our baptism, either we or our parents and godparents on our behalf, spoke up and made our baptismal promises. At our Confirmation, we renewed those commitments to reject Satan, his evil works and empty promises, and to believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting; we also made the commitment at our Confirmation to go to work in the Lord’s vineyard, with tongues of fire, to proclaim the Lord’s Gospel with ardent passion. The Lord wants us to ask ourselves today whether we’ve been following through on those commitments and been getting down to work in his vineyard. If we have not been following through, if we’ve been saying “no” to the Lord with our bodies despite the “yes-es” of our lips, then he wants to help us to learn from the example of the first son. It’s not fundamentally words that matter, but deeds of conversion and faith.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan, NY

Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

September 29, 2022

Rev 12:7-12, Ps 138, Jn 1:47-51

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.29.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* On this Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Jesus describes for us in the Gospel the two-fold activity of angels: “ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” They “ascend” in order to serve the Lord and “descend” in order to serve us on behalf of God. This double service is also alluded to in the Opening Prayer as we turn to God and ask that he “graciously grant that our life on earth may be defended by those who watch over us [descending] as they minister perpetually to you in heaven [ascending].” As we ponder today their double work, we are also called to let them help us to learn how to ascend and descend with them in praise of God and service of others.

* The Archangel’s first and most important activity is to praise God. “Praise him, all you angels,” the Psalms say (e.g., Ps 148:2). They want to help us to learn how to praise God with them. We prayed together in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “In the sight of the angels, I will sing your praises, Lord!” With a watchful gaze, they want to help us to be able to say, both in this world and forever, “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth; in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise; I will worship at your holy temple and give thanks to your name.” They help us to do that obviously in the Mass, which features two great angelic hymns, the one that that derives from what the angels chanted on Christmas morning, the “Glory to God in the Highest,” and the one that comes from what the Prophet Isaiah saw in an angelic vision, the “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We precede the Sanctus by praying, “And so, with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominions, and with all hosts and Powers of heaven, we sing the hymn of your glory, as without end we acclaim.” They all help us to sing God’s glory without end. Today is a day in which we recognize that we’re never praying alone, but that the angels are constantly helping us to praise and thank God with all our being.

* Their second activity is to descend upon us to bring us God’s assistance. The Archangel Gabriel brought God’s word to both Zechariah in the temple and Mary in Nazareth, Raphael brought God’s accompaniment to Tobias, Michael brings the Church protection. Their names say a lot about how they seek to serve us. Gabriel means God’s strength and he seeks to strengthen us, like he strengthened the sinless Virgin Mary, not to be afraid to respond to God’s call. Raphael means “God’s medicine” and he strives to heal us not of physical cataracts like he did Tobit (Raguel) but rather everything that hinders our seeing God and growing in his image. Michael means “He is who like God” and he strives to defend us from the Evil One who deemed himself like God as well as from all evil that renders us dissimilar to God who is holy, holy, holy. By our baptism we are united to Christ in his three-fold identity as prophet, priest and king, and the Archangels help us in this triple munera: Gabriel helps us to become prophets like Christ, Raphael helps us to bring God’s medicine especially through the Sacraments, and Michael helps us to reign by serving, protecting us from the way the evil one seeks to help us to serve him rather than God and others.

* Their presence accompanies us in a particular way here at daily Mass. We invoke Gabriel before every Mass as we pray the Angelus at noon and...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Thursday of the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Year I

Memorial of St. Lawrence Ruiz and his Companions

September 28, 2023

Hg 1:1-8, Ps 149, Lk 9:7-9

 

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click here: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.28.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily:

* We are now in the midst of three weeks of focus in the first reading on the post-exilic writings during which the Church has us ponder, if there are no proper feasts, on three days of Ezra, two days of Haggai, three days of Zechariah, two days of Nehemiah, two days of Baruch, three days of Jonah, one day of Malachi and two days of Joel.  These post-exilic writings focus essentially on two things: first, the rebuilding of the temple and, second, the way of holiness so that there is never again an exile from God. Because tomorrow is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel and will have a proper reading for the Gospel, today is the only day in two years we will listen liturgically to Haggai. So let’s listen well to the message God wants us to get through him as we link it to Jesus’ resurrection (the True Temple), to the temple that is the Church, and to the temple that is meant to be each of us together with Jesus.

* In today’s passage from Haggai, we see how the Lord sent the prophet to wake up the people of God whom the Lord had freed from exile. It was happening during the time of King Darius, the son of Cyrus. As we’ve seen over the last three days from the Book of Ezra, Cyrus had allowed the Jews to return and helped them to start rebuilding the Temple and Darius refunded all of their sacrifices. But the Jews did not finish the job. They built something quickly and temporary on the Temple Mount, but then started to prioritize their own affairs. They were saying, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the House of the Lord.” They were delaying the things of God for their own affairs, while constructing their own luxurious paneled houses. Haggai, speaking for the Lord said, “Is it time for you to dwell in your own paneled houses, while this house [of God] lies in ruins?” He then went on to say that they would never find fulfillment in sowing, eating, drinking, clothing, or money making. The forceful appeal of the Lord was “Consider your ways!” He told them to go get timber and begin to build the house of the Lord “that I may take pleasure in it and receive my glory.” That might seem like an egocentric statement, but it’s not. The Lord takes pleasure in loving us — we prayed in the Psalm, “The Lord takes delight in his people” — and his glory is, as St. Ireneus would say at the end of the second century, “man fully alive” through the vision of God. God wanted a house so that we would fittingly worship him because it is through such worship that he builds us into a holy temple. It starts, however, with proper zeal. Before the first temple was built, we saw an opposite attitude to that of the post-exilic Jews in King David, who was eaten alive by the fact that he was living in a palace while the ark of the Covenant, the sign of God’s presence, was in a tent. He wanted to build a fitting temple, but God, through the prophet Nathan, replied that He instead would build a temple for David. That temple was obviously David’s own descendent according to the flesh and God’s own Son, Jesus. We’re all called, however, to have the same zeal to build a house of the Lord because that’s the way the Lord in fact makes us his temple. In the Gospel, Herod was curious to meet Jesus, but Jesus will never be able to build a temple for him to dwell within us by curiosity. There needs to be a true relationship, a union, with the Lord,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Wednesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

September 27, 2023

Ezra 9:5-9, Tob 13:2-4.7-8, Lk 9:1-6

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.27.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following points were attempted in the homily:

* As we continue for the third of three days to ponder the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem after the exile and apply it to the rebuilding (resurrection) of Jesus the True Temple, to the constant reconstruction of the Temple of the family of the Church, and each of us as a temple of the Holy Spirit, today we see that that rebuilding project is first and foremost the work of God. Ezra tells us in the first reading that after all of Israel’s sins led to their being delivered up, the mercy of the Lord came to them, leaving a remnant, giving them a stake in his holy place, relieving them of their servitude, turning even the will of the pagan kings of Persia toward them, and giving them new life by raising again the house of God and restoring its ruins. As we have read over the last two days, the Israelites of course needed to collaborate in this work by sacrificing their possessions and a lot of their elbow grease for this building project, but the work was principally God’s, and their principal contribution was their openness to and recognition of their need for him, for his mercy, for his word, for his help.

* We see the same primacy of God’s action in the Gospel today as Jesus sends out the apostles to rebuild the People of God. It’s always been interesting to me that St. Luke quickly summarizes, with indirect discourse, “Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” What would that conversation have gone like, when Jesus bestowed on them divine power? Would they have had any questions? Would they have asked what words or gestures they would have needed to use, if any? Yet, he records nothing of Jesus’ and their conversation. Yet he documents very carefully Jesus’ instruction about what not to take and not to do, almost as if these instructions were more important. “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Jesus sent them out with nothing for the journey precisely so that they would be able to preach by their witness, and not just by their words, the God is provident, that he cares for all our needs, that he enriches the poor in spirit with the riches of his kingdom, that if he provides for the birds of the sky and the grass of the field he will care so much more for us. After a few days of Jesus’ speaking to them and us about how to receive the seed of his word and bear fruit, to hear and act on that word, now he shows us that he plants it within us so that it can produce fruit with seeds that in turn can be implanted in others. After Jesus has healed us with the mercy for which Ezra cried out in today’s first reading, Jesus sends us out with the same medicine, to “proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Preaching and healing went together because just as much as God wanted to heal the wounds of the Israelites after the exile he wanted to address the sufferings of the people, transfiguring their wounds such that they could enter the Kingdom. For people to be open to the proclamation of the Gospel, they have to have their wounds addressed.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Tuesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

Memorial of SS. Cosmas and Damian

September 26, 2023

Ez 6:7-8.12.14-20, Ps 122, Lk 8:19-21

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.26.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today we can ponder anew the lessons of yesterday, in how the rebuilding of the Temple after the exile by Ezra and Nehemiah, with the help of Cyrus, Darius and the Persians, is meant to be a sign of the Resurrection of Jesus (the rebuilding of the true Temple on the third day) and our rebuilding on him the Cornerstone. To do so we build ourselves solidly on the rock of his word, just like the exiles, as we will hear a week from Thursday how the post-exilic Jews listened to the scrolls of the covenant from dawn to midday with attention, tears and eventually celebration.

* In the Gospel, Jesus says that the family he has come to found is comprised of those who hear his word and act on it, just like his Mother, who conceived the word through her “ear” and in her heart before she had ever conceived the Word made flesh in her womb. We’re able to “conceive” the word in the same way and allow it to grow within us until we have to give it to the light. The Word of God, heard and put into practice, helps form the family of God. It unites. The family that prays together stays together and the family that prays the Word of God together similarly has a much greater bond. That’s why the liturgy is so important when the Word of God is celebrated as it deserves, well proclaimed, well preached, well received on good soil. That’s why pondering the word of God in the family is so important. That’s why praying with the Word of God in religious communities, rectories, small groups in parishes, Bible studies and more are so important. Pope Benedict in Verbum Domini, his apostolic exhortation on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, focused on the power of the Word of God to form and strengthen familial bonds, which has analogous lessons for the Church as a whole and for every Church in miniature. He wrote that “with the proclamation of the word of God, the Church reveals to Christian families their true identity, what it is and what it must be in accordance with the Lord’s plan. … Through their fidelity and the unity of family life, spouses are the first to proclaim God’s word to their children. The ecclesial community must support and assist them in fostering family prayer, attentive hearing of the word of God, and knowledge of the Bible. To this end the [Church urges] that every household have its Bible, to be kept in a worthy place and used for reading and prayer. …  [She] also recommend[s] the formation of small communities of families, where common prayer and meditation on passages of Scripture can be cultivated.”

* There’s a very important lesson in today’s first reading. During the years of exile, God’s people longed for freedom to return home to rebuild the Temple and worship God aright. Eventually, as we heard yesterday, they were permitted to return. Cyrus actually encouraged people to help them with donations that would help them adorn it. With great eagerness, with their own resources, they started building. But, as we see today, King Darius decreed that they would be reimbursed for all of their expenses, “in full and without delay.” They were, in other words, wanting to do something for God, and quite willing to sacrifice for him. But God through Darius wanted to show them that he was going to be blessing them far more. Rather than a sacrifice, it would be a gift received! The same thing happens with the Word of God.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Monday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

September 25, 2023

Ezra 1:1-6, Ps 126, Lk 8:16-18

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.25.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following points were attempted in the homily:

* Today we get the first of three days from the Book of Ezra, the only three days in the two-year daily lectionary. It begins three weeks of post-exilic writings in which we will have two days of Haggai, three days of Zechariah, two days of Nehemiah, two days of Baruch, three days of Jonah, one day of Malachi and two days of Joel, before we enter into a four-week examination of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans.  These post-exilic writings focus essentially on two things: first, the rebuilding of the temple and, second, the way of holiness so that there is never again an exile from God. In today’s passage from the prophet Ezra, we ponder the extraordinary decision by the non-Jewish King Cyrus not only to allow the Jews to return home from Babylon, but also to help them to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Cyrus encouraged everyone, Jews and non-Jews, to participate in the rebuilding of the house of God, by giving their “silver, gold, good, cattle, … [and] free-will offerings.” We know that this Temple rebuilding project is more than just about a building. It points prophetically to Jesus’ incarnation, to the destruction of the temple of his Body and its resurrection on the third day, and on the way he wishes to rebuild each of us to become, individually and together, the temple of God, where he, Risen, dwells within.

* The simple architectural plans for the rebuilding project are found in the Gospel. Jesus’ message can be summarized by his saying, “Take care how you hear.” He wishes that we build ourselves on the rock of his word, that we bear abundant fruit from the seed of his teaching sown within us, that we faithfully receive what he generous gives with love.

* He tells us, “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light.” In other words, if we’re listening correctly, we’re hearing what he seeks to implant as “words to be done.” It’s not supposed to remain hidden, private or secret, but is meant to illumine the world. If we’re not listening with this apostolic dimension, we’re not going to bear abundant fruit. We’re not going to be fully rebuilt on the rock.

* He adds, “There is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.” Jesus tells us that if we’re fighting to give our full wits to his words, even if we’re struggling, that effort, too, will one day be known. He’s also saying that if we fake as if we’re paying close attention, our going through the exterior motions will eventually be exposed.

* He then concludes, “To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” This is a law of physical exercise, musical growth, and intellectual progress: we use it or we lose it. To the one who gives the word both ears as well as the mind and the heart, he will become more and more fruitful; but to the one who is not really hanging on every word, he’ll lose eventually even that superficial adherence. This is what we see, unfortunately, when Christians (priests, religious or laity) “lose” their vocation by not living the truth God proclaims to them.

* The Lord seeks to accomplish this building project each day at Mass, when we take care how we hear the word of God, seek to be illumined by its light,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

September 24, 2023

Is 55:6-9, Ps 145, Phil 1:20-24.27, Mt 20:1-16

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.24.23_CCM_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,” God tells us through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading. Each of us can see the validity of this truth by the typical reaction we have to the parable Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. Without the prodding of any labor union, we’re prone to agree with the beef of those who worked a grueling 12-hour day but who didn’t receive a penny more than those who worked only one hour. Even though they received what was promised, they still cried foul. Fallen human beings, after all, are generally envious of those who seem to have it easier. From the time we’re children, we’re highly sensitized to any situation of perceived injustice. “That’s not fair!,” we protest whenever our brother or sister gets something and we go without. We howl whenever anyone cuts us in line or cuts us off in traffic. We rebel whenever we lose out due to seeming favoritism in academics, sports, clubs or jobs. And we’re particularly upset whenever we think the Lord is unfair. Why are some people blessed with great health, seemingly perfect families, connections in high places, academic, athletic and musical talents far beyond us? Why do others have it easier? Like the Prophet Ezekiel, we’re tempted to exclaim, “The Lord’s way is not fair!” (Ezek 18:25). With the Prophet Jeremiah, with frustration, we cry out, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?” and “Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jer 12:1). But we see that, according to our evaluations, the Lord is regularly unfair. Why does Job suffer the loss of family members, lands, and health when nothing happens to his friends? Why does Abel die while Cain lives? Why is the good and moral Joseph sold into slavery while his brothers remain free? We can multiply the examples from Sacred Scripture and human life. Life isn’t fair. And God not only sometimes permits that injustice but seems to commit it.

* That’s why today’s readings, especially today’s Gospel, is so important. It unmasks how God’s thoughts and ways are different are indeed sometimes higher than the heavens away from our thoughts and ways. To align our thoughts, ways and lives to God’s wisdom, however, we first must understand the context of the parable, get to the root of why on various levels it offends our sense of justice, and then examine what it’s teaching us about God, ourselves, and the kingdom he’s summoning us to enter and help build.

* Let’s first understand the parable. When we compare the men who worked twelve hours and those who worked for one, we think that the latter group had it better, especially since they all ended up receiving the same pay. But this manifests the jaundiced view many of us have of human work, which certainly influences our reaction to Jesus’ story. Most of us have come to think about work as a burden rather than a blessing, even though we know that God gave us the vocation to work — to “subdue the earth” and have “dominion” over all animals — beforethe Fall (Gen 1:28). Work is a part of our vocation, how God has us grow and develop; as we do honest work, we not only make something, but we make ourselves, we build our character, through the qualities we bring to our work.

* If we understand the way work happened in the ancient world, we see clearly how great a gift work actually was. Men used to go to the market place in the morning hoping to be hired as day workers....

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

September 24, 2023

Is 55:6-9, Ps 145, Phil 1:20-24.27, Mt 20:1-16

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.24.23_MC_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord tells us in today’s first reading, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways.” Each of us can see the validity of this truth by the typical reaction we have to the parable Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. Without the prodding of any labor union, we’re prone to agree with the beef of those who worked a grueling 12-hour day but who didn’t receive a penny more than those who worked only one hour. Fallen human beings, after all, are generally envious of those who seem to have it easier. In order to have our thoughts become more like God’s thoughts and our ways resemble His ways, however, we first must understand the context of the parable, get to the root of why on various levels it offends our sensibilities, and then examine what it’s teaching us about God, ourselves, and the kingdom he’s hiring us to enter and help build.

* Let’s first understand the parable. When we compare the men who worked twelve hours and those who worked for one, we think that the latter group had it better, especially since they all ended up receiving the same pay. But this manifests the jaundiced view many of us have of human work, which certainly influences our reaction to Jesus’ story. Most of us have come to think about work as a burden rather than a blessing, even though we know that God gave us the vocation to work — to “subdue the earth” and have “dominion” over all animals — beforethe Fall (Gen 1:28). Work is a part of our vocation, how God has us grow and develop. As we do honest work, we not only make something, but we make ourselves, we build our character, through the qualities we bring to our work. If we understand the way work happened in the ancient world, we see clearly how great a gift work actually was. Men used to go to the market place in the morning hoping to be hired as day workers. They did all they could to be chosen, arriving with their tools, running up to meet those who were hiring, selling themselves as hard-workers, much as men in the United States did during the Great Depression. In the ancient world, many men and their families were living on the semi-starvation line. To be unemployed for a day was to court disaster. If they were not picked at dawn, they would be filled with anxiety. If they were not picked later, at 9, they would have been concerned about letting their wife and children down. If they were not selected by noon, they would have begun to wonder if any sandals and deprecations would be hurled in their direction upon their embarrassed return! If they were not hired by three, they would have begun seriously to worry that their family, and especially their children, might go to bed ravenously hungry and malnourished. It’s not like those who were not hired would have been in the market place playing cards, smoking, drinking and gawking at passersby. Most of them would have been eaten alive by apprehension. They easily would have traded in 11 hours of hard work in the fields for the eleven hours of anxiety waiting in the square.

* These considerations bring us to the first application of the parable. Jesus was using this story to preach to the Jews about salvation. By the time of Jesus, the Jews had already been God’s chosen people for about 1800 years, since the time of Abraham. For thirteen hundred years, they had been committed to keeping a covenant with God based on the faithful fulf...