My friends, this weekend once again, brings us to the section of the Church Year known as “Ordinary Time.”  As I have said in the past, Ordinary Time is a period, the longest of the Church Year, wherein there are no huge feasts—Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, but a series of weeks wherein we are called to simply be “present” to our daily lives, checking again and again, with the words and actions of our brother Jesus, to see if our “footsteps” are more and more in line with his. 

   Paul’s words to the Philippians in the 2^nd reading today, say as much: “Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel.”  With this thought in mind, I was struck by the fact that a number of Evangelical Christians met this past weekend in Iowa for what might be called, “political rallies” to hear Republican hopefuls for the presidency in 2024, speak their opinions/views on abortion and guns—against the first and for the second.  Politics aside, is it possible to be “for life” on one end of the continuum and against it on the other?

   I think my friends, if our own personal view is rather, “black and white,” with no middle ground, or we might say, “gray area” where any such decisions are not as simple, then it is easier to support life in the womb and deny it in light of the out-of-control gun issue in our country. 

   I found it interesting that the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) once again had an editorial commenting on the complaints of our local bishop, Robert Barron against Pope Francis’ attempts to make our beloved Church more inviting, welcoming to all, less “black and white” and more open to differing views, really trying to see if truth can be found in the differences.  Bishop Barron has called this, “dumbing down” the Church. 

   Now, as I think about this more, I would have to agree from a little different angle, in that what I see Francis doing is not, “dumbing down,” but “simplifying” the Church. Isn’t that what Vatican II was really all about? –making the Church more relevant to peoples’ everyday lives? 

   If one listens to Bishop Barron’s weekly pod casts, which I have done on occasion, you hear him quoting “supposed” scholars from the past, and other “influential,” in his mind, people, many of which I have never heard of, who apparently spoke to the importance of rule and law, (some have called this, “the Romanization” of the Church), and the bishop would have us go back there. 

   Bishop Barron speaks in scholarly tones that strike me as arrogant, and one gets the idea that, “he has the truth” and is unwilling to hear anything to the contrary.  When I consider his silence to our board’s invitation to speak with our faith community, and reflect on his “black and white” view of religion, and other’s personal belief systems, I am not surprised that he chooses not to meet with us, but, at the very least, not extending the pastoral care of a response, does surprise me if he takes his commission seriously.

   Sister Joan Chittister speaks of this desire of not just our bishop, but of many within our present-day Church, “to go backwards,” saying that “the trouble is, they haven’t gone back far enough!”  Of course, she is speaking of going back to “the message of Jesus.” 

   Moving onward then, the prophet Isaiah speaks of our God, in today’s 1^st reading as one who, “will take pity on us.”  And he continues, “Our God is so far above and beyond where we are,” simply meaning, God’s justice, mercy, understanding, and ultimately, love, comes out of a well so much deeper than any of us can go.  And really, we should be so glad of that—glad that our God is like this—wanting so much to be, “in relationship” with us, not to punish, or make us, “tow the line,” but simply to know us and to love us.  The psalmist says of it, “O God you are near to all who call…”

   Then, my friends, let’s look to the Gospel selection from Matthew today; one that for most humans, is hard to understand, and even to the point of seeming “unjust” in many ways.  If we are looking at this story in a purely “black and white” way— “an hour’s pay for an hour’s work” than the beauty, and real justice of the story will be missed on us. 

   Before even reading this Gospel, or any for that matter, we must remember that Jesus always calls us to go deeper, expects us to respond, “outside the box,” stand apart, often times, from the status quo.

   Several other things are also important to keep in mind in teasing out this story. We must remember, as the prophet Isaiah said, “God’s ways are not our ways.”  We can probably be glad of that too when we see how some are treated in our world with much less justice, mercy, and love simply because of the color of their skin, their gender, who they love, their culture, their age and so on.  It is good that the Cosmic Christ, (a God for us all) doesn’t treat each of us, not carrying any of these human-made burdens in like manner!

   Our most, inclusive God, who loves us beyond all imagining—in an over-the-top way, represented by the owner of the vineyard, perhaps knows some things about these “last” workers that aren’t obvious to others looking at the picture on a surface level.  This owner may realize that the workers chosen at the end of the day would have worked the whole day if they had been given the chance. 

   It is kind of like picking sides for ball teams, queen, or king of the mountain—the best, and the strongest are always chosen first.  The worker chosen last has every bit as much need of a full day’s pay as those originally given the chance. 

   This story reminds me of a news piece I heard this week about those incarcerated, and the struggle they experience in finding work once they are released. As one woman said who had, “done her time,” improving herself through education while in prison, “I keep paying for what I did, because the fact that I am ‘felon’ goes with me on every job application. Is it right, she asks, that this should be the case?”  Jesus, in today’s Gospel, says, in my read, “No.” 

   The God of today’s readings my friends, is one of “relationships,” wanting, “to be near,” as the psalmist says, wanting us to become our best by challenging us to live-in- line with the gospel messages.  This same God, has, “pity on us” when we don’t do our best, and always gives us another chance, if we want it.  And finally, our God knows what we need before we ask, and walks with us, ready to supply, when we do ask, as is depicted so beautifully in today’s gospel.  Even though we humans may not show up when needed, or forget, our God never does.  Amen? Amen!

   My friends, often, I speak and write to you, through my weekly homilies about how, as Jesus’ followers, we must react more and more from our hearts, and less and less from our heads.  Last week I suggested that perhaps we “shouldn’t over-think” our response to the world in our attempts to follow our brother Jesus. 

   Our prophets in today’s Scriptures; Sirach, in the 1^st reading, the writer of Psalm 103, Paul, in the 2^nd reading, and Jesus, in the gospel, give us some good clues on how to do this:  Sirach seems to combine the thoughts of all in repeating the phrase heard so much throughout the Scriptures, “treat others as you want to be treated.”  He goes on by saying that “wrath and anger” are the ways of hate—we should instead, “show mercy and forgive others.” 

   The psalmist tells us of our God, who is “tender and compassionate, slow to anger and most loving,” again indicating how we are to respond in our world.  Jesus fine-tunes this point, in the well-known story of the compassionate ruler who was, “moved with pity” toward the official who owed him a great deal.  We could say that this ruler didn’t “over-think” his response, but acted from his heart, instead of his head. 

   Looking to Paul’s message to the Romans where he speaks in a more ethereal way about Jesus, as the Christ, we must remember that Paul never knew Jesus, the man, but only the spiritual figure that came to him one fateful day in the image of a “blinding light.”  In today’s reading then, Paul simply says that “Christ reigns” [over all in creation].

   To help us more fully understand Paul’s meaning, Father Richard Rohr says it like this: [The] “Christ mystery,” simply put, means that God is in every thing that is created—notice that the two words, “every” and “thing” are used, as opposed to one word, “everything,” to be very clear that every-single-person, and thing in creation is infused/filled with God.  Imagine our world, Father Rohr suggests, if we truly believed this idea, and treated others and our world accordingly—that each, and all are, filled with God! 

   I am presently working my way through Tracy Kidder’s new book, as of this year, entitled, Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission To Bring Healing To Homeless People.  This book begins 30 years prior as Dr. Jim is finishing his medical school residency at Harvard and has been selected for a prestigious fellowship working in the field of oncology. In the midst of all this, he has also been asked to give one year toward setting up a program to care for the medical needs of Boston’s homeless population.

   Now as you may have already guessed, one year turns into 30 as Jim finds that he can’t leave this ministry because of the magnitude of need that he discovers there.  Over the years, more doctors and nurse practitioners have come to join this team that had originally begun with registered nurses doing what they were able to do at the time. 

   For Dr. Jim and those who would follow, it was not something that they either, could “over-think”—it was about, “listening from the heart.”  And additionally, not to sugarcoat this, not everyone could do this work—many couldn’t get past the smells, the raw-look of disease, and lack of care over the years of these homeless (rough sleepers) individuals, to get to the stories of how they had come to such an end. And it is worth mentioning that, unless you were willing to listen to their stories, these homeless folks didn’t really want anything else you had to offer. 

   Thankfully, for many of them, Jim was able and willing, and had the patience to find the “human being” disguised beneath the filth and lack of care.  Thus, this became his life-long journey. 

   So, for those of us who don’t feel “called” likewise to this ministry, are we let, “off the hook?” No, we are not!  In a country as great as ours is, can any of us be okay that thousands upon thousands are living on the streets of our cities across this nation?  I don’t think so.  It seems that this may be one of those “problems” that too many have “over-thought.”

   There is a good deal of false theology out there in our Catholic world about “Jesus coming to save us from our sins,” and because of that, “we should be worshipping him all our days.”  This is very black and white theology. 

   Fr. Rohr speaks of the Incarnation as a trilogy of action:  First action, “creation of all of life, second action, Jesus’ entry into humanity [showing us, in fact, how to be human], and the third action is on-going to the present and beyond, of God, as “Christ” being “infused” into all people and our beautiful world of life.  So, in this, I think we can see that we need to be beyond “denominations,” one over another.

   Rohr says, “this beautiful notion, of the Christ –infusing all of creation was halted” in the 3^rd Century with the “romanization” of the Church, which for all intents and purposes, became more about law (over-thinking the matter) than about love.

   Rohr continues, we need to get back to the church that Jesus prayed for in his priestly prayer the night before he died—a church where, “all would be one.”  And again, as you all know, this is the very reason why our community of believers, 15 years old now, our piece of the Body of Christ is named, “All Are One” where all are welcome at our table, and where we attempt to be accepting of every one. Richard Rohr would say, “Take your Christian head off, shake it wildly, and put it back on!”

   All that brings us back to our universal calling as followers of Jesus, our brother, who in his living, dying, and rising, became, “the Christ”—the face of God big enough to include every-one-and piece of creation. Our walk with Jesus calls each of us to find a way to make life better and more just for every one—we can’t get caught up and distracted by surface religiosity which seems to be the case of one group of the two opposing factions within our beloved Church today. Let us each, and all, pray today for the strength to “get out of our comfortable boxes,” “walk on those sometimes-scary waters,” and again, as Father Rohr says, “shake our Christian heads wildly” and get on with the work of our brother, Jesus.  Amen? Amen! 

My friends, the psalmist in section 95 this week challenges us to ponder something quite significant: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.”  Now, at face value, we are being instructed, “to be open,” “receptive,” to God’s call, and whether the request is easy or difficult—in our minds, the psalmist is saying, “listen, don’t turn away.” 

   I think too, it is interesting that the challenge from the psalmist concerns the “heart” and not the “head.” In other words, we are probably not supposed to “over-think” this, but just do! 

   Coming back then to, “hearing God’s voice,” can we ever be sure that it is God who is speaking and not someone or something else like, our egos?  Over the years, and in my attempts at “being my best self,” I have come to realize that God does speak through other people, times, and events, and if I am living in the present, and not in the past, or in longing for a future time, I will hear God’s voice. 

   Additionally, when I am in doubt about what I am hearing or feeling about the “truth,”  the “rightness” in any request, I have to be aware of my own, interior state of mind and heart.  I have come to realize that when there is “peace,” basically, even though I may be experiencing some anxiety over “moving” or “acting” in a certain way, the request is coming from God.  If peace can’t be found in what I am attempting, then it is not of God. 

   That moves us into Paul’s words to the Romans in today’s 2^nd reading.  Along with finding “peace” in what we are attempting to do, we should also ask whether “love” can be found in this action.  Paul says that “Lov[ing] your neighbor as yourself” and acting accordingly, is all that is needed—all the commandments that he followed as a good Jew (over 600) are really nothing to worry about in the end, if “love” is being addressed in what we are attempting to do.

   So what does this really mean?  Paul continues, we owe “no debt, except…to love one another.”   In other words, our decisions to, “harden not our hearts,” moving in “love” in our world, are necessarily about, not only love of ourselves, but additionally, and always, “love of others.” 

   The prophet Ezekiel, in today’s 1^st reading spells this out by basically saying that each of us is responsible for our sisters and brothers, and when we witness others doing, “evil,” we must speak up! 

   Now, you are probably thinking; who am I to tell anyone else that what they are doing is wrong?  Again, it will ask us to place ourselves in the present—it will demand that we be people of prayer, that we seek out trusted others to help, and clarify our concerns, and then move ahead only when we are as sure as possible that our actions are based in love.

   Moving into the gospel selection today from Matthew, I find myself, once again, attempting to hang onto hope that our bishops and pope will strive to find common ground, moving not from their “heads,” but from their “hearts” to lead us all into a Church that is about “love” and not just, “law.” 

   Pope Francis, I believe, is for the most part, trying to listen to the Spirit of God, through all those telling him to be more open and inclusive,  as he is diligently working toward the Synod on Synodality this fall with the world bishops and next year, with the entire Church participating.

   The bishops in our country have been a very real, “thorn in his side” as they are working in an opposite direction on a Eucharistic Congress that is basically looking toward—in a very black and white way, uplifting—in peoples’ minds, the Body, and Blood of Jesus, on the altar.  Additionally, this same group of hierarchical men, minus the pope, seem resistant to, or unable to see our brother Jesus’ human characteristics in the poor and suffering of our world. 

   That was always Jesus’ intent for those who would lead and those who would follow—to take what we do at the table, each week, into the times and places of our world.  This is how we accomplish Ezekiel’s challenge that we [be] “responsible for our sisters and brothers.” 

   You may have noticed that I have alternated between “altar” and “table,” and that is precisely to get our attention away from “sacrifice” (altar) and move it on to “self-giving,” (table) which was always, God’s first, and only reason for sending Jesus among us. 

   Several of our gospels in the past couple of months, including today’s, have included Jesus’ wonderful command to those who would lead after he was no longer physically with us: “Whatever you declare bound or loosed on earth, will be so.”  In my mind, it seems that the hierarchy over time has heard only part of this command, that is, “to [bind], which seems about “being in control,” close-minded, and certainly not about the self-giving love of our brother Jesus. 

   Our world, Church, and State, is so in need of fearless leaders who will instruct and lead from their hearts, along with their heads. Both entities need women and men of truth, justice, mercy, love, and concern for all of creation—not egotistical individuals concerned only for their own advancement. 

   I will end today with another line from today’s gospel that I found new meaning in, for the first time.  Matthew quotes Jesus as saying that, “if two of you join in agreement to pray for anything whatever on earth, it will be granted you by my Abba God, in heaven.”  Most of us are probably in the habit of praying for all our “perceived” needs, realizing that some we will get, some we won’t.  When, after the fact, we take the time to figure this all out, we realize that sometimes what we ask for may not have been the best thing for all involved. 

   Today, with this Scripture, I found myself thinking, in a different way, that perhaps I/we don’t actually take Jesus as seriously as we should—perhaps we don’t believe enough, that God does want good and not bad for us.  Jesus continues, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in [your] midst.” In other words, we never have to do any of the above alone.  Amen? Amen!