Sunday Homily

There are times when it looks like God is just making our life diffi cult. It seems obvious that if God would just remove the immediate obstacles then life would be much easier, and much better.

God’s original design for the world was good and operated without suffering an injustice. When sin entered, so did suffering. This was not part of God’s original plan. The transfiguration occurred shortly after Peter fi rst confessed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and that he would suffer and die. The close connection between the transfiguration and Peter’s confession is significant – the Messiah must suffer but glorification, not suffering, is his ultimate fate. This was reassurance for the disciples to see Jesus “changed” and “glorified” as they contemplated what was about to happen to Jesus and to them (a future of suffering for Christ). We are also expected to endure some suffering for Christ as Paul says in today’s second reading.

In this week, we are looking at times when God says “no” to things that seem good to us. During these times, it even seems God wills or wants the bad thing for us, or is not powerful enough to make what we want happen.

We will be looking at this mystery through the second creation story of Adam and Eve and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to see how even when God says “no,” there is a much richer “yes” yet to be revealed.

As a result of sin, we are not comfortable in our own skin and are alienated from ourselves. We lead busy lives so that we can avoid solitude and times of quiet. In this scripture from Leviticus we are told to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our ability to love and connect with others rises and falls on our ability to love and care for ourselves. In this message we will look at ways to love ourselves so that we can overcome the feeling of loneliness and love others. And, we will look at how trusting God strengthens and heals our relationship with him.

When God created human beings he called everything good, but then he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God has created us for community, but we experience loneliness because sin alienates us from other people. In this message we look at the importance of reconciliation in relationships and how groups support relationships. We form relationships in small groups; family, friends or co-workers, that support all our other relationships in life.

God created us to be in harmony with others, with ourselves and with him. However, when human beings chose to sin, it led to a threefold alienation that has destroyed that harmony. It is this alienation that leads to a sense of loneliness. We are disconnected from God, from others and even from ourselves. In this introductory message we talk about our loneliness, where it comes from and how we can combat it. Only in dealing with this alienation can we fulfill the purpose Jesus gave us to be “the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”

Paul writes to the Corinthians saddened by their rivalries and disunity. He wants them to be united by Christ. In this message we will look at how we are to forgive others because Christ was crucified for us. Forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and discovering the prisoner was you. Forgiveness is for our benefit. The other person’s behavior may never change. It is up to God, not us, to change that person. It is our responsibility to be set free from the pressure and weight of an unforgiving attitude. Forgiveness is cheaper than resentment. It saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred and the waste of bitterness.

Jesus is the Lamb who takes away our sins. The process of forgiveness begins with understanding that we have been forgiven by God. To become people who forgive others, we accept God’s forgiveness and then allow the truth of God’s forgiveness to permeate our minds and penetrate our hearts, and direct our attitude toward others, especially those who owe us. There are a lot of people, who would certainly call themselves Christian, who are practicing Catholics, who have never accepted Christ’s work on the Cross in a personal way, they don’t even know what that means. Maybe that’s you. Maybe you’ve denied the reality of your sin, so you don’t even think there is a debt. Maybe you think you can cancel that debt for yourself, through your own efforts and good work.

God is pleased with you because he loves you. Scripture tells us today you are my beloved in whom I am pleased. To stop seeking constant approval from others calls for a certain type of self forgiveness. When appropriate, we need to forgive ourselves in the ways we do not meet the approval of others. That will reduce anxiety and worry. Our inability to forgive ourselves comes from our misunderstanding that God only approves of us if we are perfect. This can cause worry, anxiety, self loathing, self directed anger and serious depression.

The reading from Isaiah, Isaiah 60:1-6, tells us that God wants the whole earth to know him and his forgiveness. In this fi rst week, we will look at what forgiveness is and connect it to God’s desire that it be extended to the ends of the earth.