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!

My friends, the Scripture readings for today are, it seems to me, all geared toward each of us, as “Godly” people and as followers of our brother Jesus, to be “engaged” and even, “on fire” with a message for life that is bigger than ourselves. 

   Jeremiah says of it, “God’s message within is “like a fire burning in my heart.”  The psalmist in section, 63 today adds a piece to Jeremiah’s lament that seems to add an additional thought: “My soul thirsts for you, O God.”  Even though Jeremiah, on the one hand wants to speak the words that God has planted in his heart, doing so has caused the people to turn against him, which is hard for any one of us, as we all want to be accepted, even loved.  But in the end, even though it was hard, Jeremiah found that he could not help but speak. 

   During the month of August just passed, we were called to remember a woman from Nazareth by the name of Mary, who was called by God to give the world a wonderful gift. She, like Jeremiah, no doubt feared that she might not be believed, accepted, and loved, by her family, and friends. Yet, like Jeremiah, there seemed to be nothing her heart would allow her to do but say, “yes.”  It was like that for me saying “yes” to ordination—it was never should I do this? —it was always, “yes!”

   Each of us is, likewise, called in our world through our commitment to our brother Jesus to say our “yes” to often times being counter-culture so as to make life better for all.  Most, if not all of us can consider ourselves “blessed” with much good in our lives—while everything may not be perfect, or the way that we might want, we do have homes, food, and to spare, and those who care about, and even love us. 

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans today, instructs us [to] “not conform [our] selves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of [our] minds, so that [we] may judge what is God’s will, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”

   Our pope was able to answer Paul’s instruction recently in his weekly address, saying, “some backward conservatives in the U.S. Catholic church have replaced faith with ideology.”  He makes it clear that, “a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.” 

   The article goes on to say that “conservatives have blasted Francis’ emphasis instead on social justice issues such as the environment, and the poor, while also branding as heretical his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive the sacraments.”  Clearly the words of Scripture that, “The Spirit is continually renewing the face of the earth,” have been missed by this group in our Church.  And even deeper, and more expansively, I have to wonder, what part of Jesus’ message didn’t this group get?  And granted, if we are going to follow truly in Jesus’ footsteps, it will mean some hardships for us too.

   In today’s gospel from Matthew, we see the apostles struggling with the reality of Jesus’ message: it will mean suffering and death for their friend and teacher, and their human response through Peter, is, “No!” –this isn’t what we expected!”  And again, Jesus reminds them and us, “You are not setting your minds on the things of God, but of people.”  And further on, he clarifies, “if you would lose yourself for my sake, you will find [your life—as it really is].

   We humans, probably by nature, will often seek out the easier, more understandable to ourselves, answer, and that is why, even Church fathers come up with the notion that God sent Jesus to die for our sins, rather than, “to simply show us the way home,” in Richard Rohr’s words, through the self-giving of his life, death, and resurrection. 

   Another Franciscan, Sister Ilia Delio says it like this, “to accept the death of Jesus as necessary to save us from our sins is to have missed the point.”  She goes on, “Jesus’ death was all about him taking on the worst humanity could offer in order that we, his sisters and brothers could then recognize him in the sufferings of others.”

   My friends, unfortunately, doing what is “most loving” in any situation is not going to be the “easiest” action, but it will always be the “right” one. 

   It was always in God’s plan that we would be about loving each other—always!  Our prayer today should be that we will each have the strength and grace to do what is the most loving thing even when we perhaps may have to stand alone.  Our God, through Jesus and through each of us wants to love our world and its people—pray that we don’t let ourselves get in the way. Amen? Amen!