My friends, Ordinary Time is beginning to wind down and within a few short weeks, the end of the Church Year will be upon us and the beginning of a new Church Year with the coming of Advent the end of November.  But before that happens, we will continue to be challenged to “be our best,” as we are today. 

   Let’s begin with the 1^st reading from the Old Testament Book of Exodus, which I think you maybe would agree, we could have skipped because of its theme of the Israelites waging war on their neighbors and the fact that our God appears to be supporting this action.  And upon reflection, we might be thinking that “this God” doesn’t sound like the God of our brother, Jesus, who in fact, we believe, becomes “the Christ,” Jesus that is – a God big enough for all, a God surpassing all religions. 

   Even so, exegetes tell us not to skip this 1^st reading, but to look deeper than just the surface story of humans going to war against each other.  And, in our own reality, we are aware of too much war and fighting in our world today, among the Israelites and the Palestinians – not yet fully settled, among the Ukrainians and the Russians, and we long for the ability among all these humans to seek after peace. 

   I mentioned exegetes telling us, “Not to skip this 1^st reading, and to “cut the people writing this story, a break” because they didn’t yet “know Jesus as we do, to show them the way.”  Thus, my friends, going deeper, the psalm refrain for today is a better, higher perhaps message to hold onto, “Our help is from God who made heaven and earth” – and that coupled with our knowledge of Jesus’ life among us, does more clearly, show us the way.  In other words, no matter what life brings, God will be there for us! 

   And this notion then moves us nicely into Paul’s letter to Timothy in the 2^nd reading, “preach the Word…stay with the task whether [it is] convenient or inconvenient…never losing patience.” 

   And finally, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ words are both an encouragement and a challenge, “[pray] always and [do not] lose heart,” – persist – persevere.  It seems that Jesus is saying, in the story of the unjust judge, “if a person who cares little can do good, how much more will our God do, for those who ask?” – this God who loves us beyond all imagining!

   So then, if we were looking for an overall theme in the readings, “persistence,” exegetes say should be the theme that unites all of the Scripture choices today. Along with persistence, perseverance is a quality we Christians should strive after.  While the two words are similar, perseverance is a “step up” in that it comes into play when what we strive to accomplish, like “justice for all,” becomes very difficult. 

   “Persistence,” is continuing an action consistently, for whatever purpose.  A recent article in the Winona Daily News about the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who have been praying in Lacrosse, Wisconsin for 147 years all day and all night for the rest of us would be an example of persistence. 

   An example of “perseverance” would be the Monday night demonstrations in Winona, Minnesota asking for “justice for all,” in a climate that at times is quite depressing.  The postcard writers on every Thursday morning in Winona is also an example of this “perseverance” in troubling times. One could perhaps argue that the FSPAs in Lacrosse are not only persistent, but that they persevere in praying for all of us humans that we will one day strive more wholeheartedly toward being our best selves. 

   Along these lines, I would like to lift up Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, whom I consider her to be “a friend for the journey” even though I have never met her, because she was the 1^st woman writer that I discovered back 30 years ago in my own personal journey, who was putting into words what I had believed for so long about the equal natures of women and men, and that the voices of women were simply not being heard. 

   Clarissa names our perseverance to stay at a task until it is completed, especially when it is about, “justice for all,” “soul-showing.”  She has this to say about becoming “disappointed/discouraged” by the meanness, selfishness and greed that we may see in our world:

    “There will always be times when you feel discouraged.  I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it.  I will not entertain it.  It is not allowed to eat from my plate.  The reason is this: In my uttermost bones, I know something, as do you.  It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to earth, who you serve, and who sent you here.  The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours.  They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here.” I too,  often find myself feeling, very humbly, that the words I give you each week are not mine alone, but given me by the Spirit of our good God.

   My friends, I am not sure I could have said from my heart all that Clarissa Pinkola Estes said here from hers, but I know that I am mightily challenged by her words!  In that spirit then, in a world that needs each of us every day to persevere in good, truth and justice—basically, love, in broad strokes, I invite us all to consider these final words from her: “When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt [and most of us want to be here – safe].

 “But [she says], that is not what great ships are built for!”  Perhaps when we are most discouraged, and we can’t see, as the psalmist says today, that “our God is with us,”  maybe the “gift we get” is simply the strength to “hold on,” doing the good we do. And friends, whatever good we can do is so very important – not just for us and the people we can help, but as an example to others to know they are not alone, and to do the same!  Amen? Amen!

My friends, the readings this week from the prophets, Elisha, Jesus and Paul, call us to consider the virtue of faith, what it is, what it is not, and what it personally means to each of us.  We all come out of somewhat the same experiences, given our ages, as far as faith goes.  Prior to the 2^nd Vatican Council when Pope John XXIII was about, “opening windows and doors,” speaking poetically about letting, “fresh air” into our beloved Church that hadn’t known any significant changes in belief or practice in hundreds of years, we all were trained to be “black and white” believers – that is, if Father said it, it was so – “Father,” the priest, was pretty much synonymous with God.

   Then came Angelo Roncalli – “Good Pope John” who wanted our beloved Church to be more open, inviting, and compassionate, where basically “love” would supersede law.  And history tells us that this was no simple fix – we humans very easily get stuck in our ways and find change hard, even if it is for the best.  In fact, we see a concerted effort at present within our Church, among some of the bishops, our own especially, to back track to pre-Vatican II times.

   So, that brings us to today’s readings which I said in the beginning revolve around our faith.  So, what is faith anyway?  If I were to ask each of you, the answers may be somewhat the same, yet somewhat different.  I will jump into the middle here and say first what I believe faith is not.  It is not “lack of doubt, but really the opposite.   So, to give us a working definition, I would say, “faith is believing in something or someone that we don’t have all the answers about, yet we believe, and trust in that “truth” anyway. 

   Think of the articles of faith that you have believed in, or perhaps accepted all your life that we really don’t have proof of:  creation of our beautiful world by a benevolent God who supposedly wants good and not bad for us; that this benevolent God became one-of-us in Jesus, to show us the way, that this same Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead, to give us a path to follow, and so on.  Now, we don’t have proof of any of this, except that if we look historically, there was a man, Jesus, from, as some have said, “the little backward town of Nazareth,” that did indeed live, but beyond that, the rest we take on faith from those who first believed.  And, without a doubt, our human ability and willingness to believe, has been abused over the years and centuries by those with power, to write the story for their own benefit. 

   In the past I have shared the untruth around the belief in our mother and sister Mary’s immaculate conception, which would have us believe that she was conceived and born without the “original” sin that the rest of us were supposedly “stained” with.  Now, it must be remembered that to be “human” means that we are “imperfect.”  If Mary was without sin at birth, or ever, then she was not human, which was why supposedly Mary was needed – to give Jesus the human component. 

   My friends, this is just one example of how those with the power in our Church decide what the narrative that they want to promote will be, and then they back track, to basically make it so.  And that chosen narrative was that we humans really “blew it,” God became angry with us, and only the death of his beloved son could make up for our sins, and make us right with God again. 

   Now, if you have ever doubted that such a story could be true, I would submit that your faith is intact!  Because you see, faith does not mean that we have “certainty” about a given thing, but in fact, we may doubt because we just don’t know, but yet, we can believe perhaps in a bigger concept, such as, that our God loved us enough to become one-of-us, and live-with-us.  If we have “certainty,” then there is no need for faith. Let me repeat that: If we have “certainty,” then there is no need for faith.

   So then, let us turn to today’s Scriptures for the ways they can enlighten us.  In the 1^st reading, Naaman, a man with leprosy is asked to believe in the prophet Elisha who tells him to wash in the river Jordan in order to be “made clean.”  He takes the prophet’s word on faith, not knowing if what he hopes for will come to pass.

   Paul, in his 2^nd letter to Timothy tells us that, “there is no chaining the Word of God,” unlike the chains that imprison Paul as he writes to Timothy.  My friends, when our “faith” is based simply on “black and white” rules – do this, don’t do that, no questions asked, and often set in place by those, as I said earlier, who want to control the story, so as to control the people, then “faith” ceases to exist.  Faith, grownup faith that is, shouldn’t necessarily come easily –ideally, it is something that we should struggle with. 

   Jesuit priest and musician, Dan Schutte has rightly stated that our faith must be approached through both our hearts and minds, beginning with our hearts.  Using this approach, of starting with the heart, allows us to apply love, compassion, and understanding, to a situation which can really “open us up” to much more than just beginning with our minds – basically, the law says no, therefore it must be wrong. 

   Naaman’s cure from leprosy was about believing in something he couldn’t fully understand, yet trusted in – somehow…  Paul’s counsel to his student Timothy, was, “the Word of God couldn’t be chained” – boxed in, that is. 

   I have shared many times over the years that my personal call to priesthood moved outside of a man-made law that said, “this couldn’t happen” in order that I could hear, “the Word of God,” that wasn’t, “chained,” that could move beyond the law, in order that love, compassion, and understanding could happen.

   Finally, the story in Luke’s gospel today about the one man with leprosy, now cured, who returned to “thank” Jesus is compelling for us simply because of the more expansive reaction (love-gratitude) that his faith brought forth.  We see this same reaction in the response of Naaman to the prophet Elisha in the first reading today, who cures him from leprosy. Naaman wants to gift Elisha for what has been given to him, but Elisha won’t accept a gift for what he feels God has done through him. Still, Naaman takes the next step, which you may have wondered about, asking Elisha to give him “two mule-loads of earth” to take to his home – Naaman’s purpose was that he would kneel on that earth each day to pray to, and show gratitude to the God of Elisha.

   Jesus’ reaction to the man – a Samaritan in fact, who most Jews at the time looked down on, “your faith has been your salvation,” could no doubt be discussed at length as to what Jesus actually meant, and I would simply suggest that he meant more than physical salvation, but “heart and mind” salvation too, that ability then, going forward toward  becoming more open, more loving , more understanding – of all that he would meet. Amen? Amen!

My friends, we are challenged once again this week to see beyond the “black and white” story as presented in Luke’s gospel today about the poor, sick man, Lazarus, at the gates of the rich man, hoping only for the scraps falling from an abundant table. The story might be seen simply as one selfish man refusing to share with an unfortunate neighbor. 

   But actually, as is always the case with our brother Jesus, he is asking us to see more.  The actual “sin” here is not the selfishness of one human to another, but the sin of being “complacent” which the prophet Amos is railing about to his Israelite neighbors in the 1^st reading today.  He says, “Woe to [you who are] complacent!” 

   When we become complacent, we don’t recognize evil when it is right in front of us, or we can’t be bothered, and eventually this attitude blocks us from being our best selves, which is really what following Jesus is all about. 

   Again, looking deeper at the gospel story, you may have noticed that the poor man is named while the rich man is not.  We are told that this lack of naming the rich man is a way to downplay his actions while uplifting, through naming, the plight of Lazarus. 

   By uplifting the poor man Lazarus, Jesus calls our attention to him, the good he embodies, and the need to recognize him, and others like him – or in other words, not be complacent.  As we spoke of last week, we may not be able to totally fix every problem that we encounter in our world, but we must have eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that engage with those in need, doing what we can. 

   I recently, through one of you, was introduced to a really wonderful book, entitled,  Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan.  In the first chapters, I was a bit concerned as he seemed to be down-playing so many of the events and places connected to Jesus as historically not possible – events that we remember in our yearly liturgical calendar, such as Jesus being born in Bethlehem and his parents traveling to Egypt to escape King Herod. 

   Now, Aslan isn’t the first to write in this fashion about the historical Jesus of Nazareth who did live, teach and preach, and die as a result of how he had lived, and he won’t be the last, no doubt, but his book in its entirety has led me to believe even more so than before in all that Jesus did and has meant to our world.  Let me tell you why. 

   As with everything that we read in the Bible, we must go to the heart of the message.  Our God did send our brother Jesus to be one of us, encouraging each of us through his own life to live, as we heard today in Paul’s letter to Timothy, “as one dedicated to God, [striving] to be a person of integrity, [one who can reverence all of creation] filled with faith  and love, [one who is] patient and gentle. 

   Aslan, in his book, relates the message of Jesus of Nazareth as those first followers knew him and believed him to be the Messiah, alongside Saul of Tarsus, who later would become Paul, who gave the world Jesus, the Christ.

   We must remember two things here – Jesus’ 1^st followers didn’t necessarily think of him as both human and God, whereas Paul, who never knew Jesus in the flesh, proclaimed him, in his belief, as the Christ, a God big enough for all believers – not just Jews.  Writers like Franciscans, Sister Ilia Delio and Father Richard Rohr speak of Jesus as the “Cosmic Christ” in this regard – again, a God big enough for all of us. 

   Aslan, in Zealot, lays out the real struggles between the church in Jerusalem headed by James the Just, most likely Jesus’ brother, and not his “cousin,” as we Catholics were told through the years,  and the church of Paul who took Jesus’ message to the Gentiles. 

   Over time, the two belief systems would be melded, and in Aslan’s words, [the person, Jesus of Nazareth] “would be almost lost to history.”  Personally, I always wondered why I very seldom, if at all heard the message, the words and actions of Jesus lifted up in my brother priests’ homilies.  Aslan helped me see perhaps a bit of the answer. 

   Believing in mysteries such as God coming among us in human form, [however that may have happened] living a time, dying, rising, and ascending into heaven – actions that we humans are really not capable of, make the belief in such a God/human in some ways more palatable then believing in a human/God who journeyed through life as we do – trying and succeeding at doing his best – encouraging us to do the same – in fact, expecting us to!  Aslan says that “this is a shame, because the one thing any comprehensive study of the historical Jesus should reveal is that Jesus of Nazareth – Jesus the man, is every bit as compelling, charismatic, and praiseworthy as Jesus, the Christ. He is in short, someone worth believing in.”  And I would add, modeling in our own lives. 

   So, my friends, what is the author of Zealot  saying here?  That Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus, the Christ are two different beings?  No.  What I think he is saying is that the two are one, but that we must take the whole package and especially, “not be complacent” in following our brother Jesus who spoke truth-to-power when needed, even if those who needed to be challenged were so-called leaders in Church or State.  To be a Christian, not to be confused with those who today tie this title to “nationalism,” means that we will “have to be bothered,” we can’t look away, we must respond as Jesus did, because “not responding” seems to be the true sin spoken of in today’s gospel.  Let’s not be guilty of that sin – complacency.  Amen? Amen!

   My friends, the message of today’s Scriptures really couldn’t be clearer – live attentively – see the world through open eyes, listen with ears connected to your heart – seek balance in your lives. The message is clear that is, for those who are looking for more than a literal meaning. 

   Let’s take a closer look:

• The prophet Amos addresses the Israelites – “Listen, you who trample on the needy and try to suppress the poor…”  these actions will never be forgotten – not “a single thing you have done.”
• The psalmist in number 34 clearly states, “our God hears the cry of the poor…”
• Paul instructs Timothy to “live [a] godly and reverent life,” [praying] “for everyone, especially for rulers and those with authority.”
• And finally, Luke shares our brother Jesus’ words to basically look for balance in our lives.  “You cannot worship both God and money.” 

   With that much of a beginning, let’s look closer so as to really tie these Scriptures into our daily lives.  The 1^st reading from the prophet Amos clearly states that our God will not look kindly on us if we “trample on the needy and suppress the poor.”  So what does that actually mean  for our daily lives, up close and personal?

   In a general way, as citizens of our United States, at least, but around our world too, we should be looking and hearing with eyes wide open and ears fully tuned in to those who live with less than the basics of life – we should try and understand why that is –what part do I play in this fact?

   In my reading, my people who live with less than the basics, don’t want to live that way – and do want, in reality, to take care of themselves, and sometimes just need a hand up when misfortune happens.  There are many stories out there of people who were, as we say, “on the top of their game,” and very quickly, it seemed, lost everything.  There but for the grace of God, any of us could find ourselves. 

   The multitude of reasons that people can find themselves “in need,” isn’t a “black and white” thing, easily or simply understood; but the least that any of us can do is to listen, to show compassion, and to help if we can.  The only thing we can’t do is ignore the stated problem if in fact we claim to be human, and for us, Christian too. 

   Today’s gospel from Luke is a bit confusing if we simply look at the meaning literally.  We may wonder if Jesus is praising the steward for being dishonest and simply thinking of himself.  Exegetes tell us, “No,” that what Jesus is uplifting is the steward’s “creativity” in finding “a way” to solve his problem. 

   Taking this lesson forward, the message is clear for us too – looking at our world, our Church, we must find ways toward needed solutions, even, like in the example of the steward in today’s gospel, the answer may not be perfect, but the needs of all are addressed in some way.  Jesus speaks to the complexity we find at times in doing our best, “If you can trust others in little things, you can trust them in greater.” 

   Sometimes, we just need to move in faith because the “balance” we seek in doing the most good is found there. For myself personally, and other women priests – we had to move ahead following our God-given calls to pastor God’s people without the approval of the powers that be – not a perfect solution, but one that has brought much good to many.  As the psalmist says of it, and we sang beautifully, “Our God hears the cry of the poor,” and helps us if we are willing, to find a way. 

   We get a clearer instruction from Paul to Timothy in how to do our best, even if seemingly, not always enough… “live a godly and reverent life.”  This tells me that we have to first decide what we value in life – for ourselves and others, and then do all we can, and again, even if not enough, to make life better where it is not.  And the piece that “seals the deal, “ so to speak, is that we “pray for everyone, especially for rulers and those in authority.”  To me, it seems, in both Church and State, those prayers are more than needed. 

   Looking one more time at Jesus’ words today that we cannot “worship both God and money,” I would like to suggest that “money,” is a catchall word for anything that gets in the way of our hearing the message of our God – it may be in fact, money, or power, our need to control, other riches, passions, and it is good to know what it is that distracts us, takes us away from doing the good we might do in our world, except for this distraction. 

   In conclusion then my friends, the world in which we live can seem sad and hopeless at times, but I want you to know that I see, as does our God, the good that you all are about in your lives, and I am here to encourage you to keep on – it all matters – it does! Our God hears the laments we sigh from day to day, and stands by supporting us and loving us as we work toward the betterment of all in our country, Church, and world.

Amen? Amen!

My friends, being that I needed to prepare for two services this week, with Wayne Purtzer’s Celebration of Life yesterday, I opted to use parts of a homily for this Sunday from three years ago.  With the gospel for today then, I used the longer version to include the story of the Prodigals – a son and a father, and what the Spirit and I put together then seems still, most appropriate, and worth a second “listen,” unless you weren’t here three years ago, and then it will be brand new! 

   All the readings today address the virtue of mercy – responding to what life brings us through people and experiences, giving folks a break when bad things happen and trusting and expecting better going forward. 

   The first reading from Exodus today is a curious one in that we see Moses acting more like God than God!  Moses has to plead with God to spare the Israelite people who seem to forget the goodness they have been shown by God who brought them out of Egypt and then, so easily “run after” other gods. 

   In order to understand the actions of this seemingly merciless God, we must remember that the people in the Old Testament saw God as a reflection of themselves – therefore in  their lack of faith, trust, mercy and so on, God must be the same way, was their thinking. 

   This reminds me of a conversation I had this past week with someone who thought she couldn’t ask God to help with a problem that was causing her a lot of stress, “because God probably had too much already to take care of.”  I encouraged her to ask anyway because, as I lifted up, we may be too busy, but God never is, and wants to help us in every way possible.  This was depicted well in today’s gospel of the prodigal parent. 

   This notion of living “mercifully,” is carried through in our 2^nd reading where Paul is writing to Timothy who is his disciple, that he, Paul was shown mercy for his many sins and is instructing his student that when mercy is shown, mercy, going forward must be shown as well. 

   Then we move into the beautiful gospel from Luke who shows us three wonderful images of our merciful God: First we hear about the Good Shepherd who will always search out the lost one, the woman who turned her house upside down looking for a lost coin—which by the way, is the same story as the Good Shepherd, only giving a feminine face to our loving God. (show picture)  The final face of God given us to consider from Luke is probably, in my mind, the most beautiful depiction Jesus gave us of who our God truly is—the story of the “Prodigal Son,” but more so, the “Prodigal Parent.”  The son shows us, “over-the-top” selfishness, and disregard for the mores of his family and community, and the parent shows, “over-the-top” love, and acceptance, regardless of mores, for the errant child, and thus, we, today, get a clear view of how God will look upon us as well. 

   In order for us to truly get a view of what Jesus is saying here about God in using the story of the Prodigal, it is important for us to look at how the people in Jesus’ time and culture would have heard and understood it. An inheritance was given to an offspring at the death of the parent.  In this story, the son asks for it early —  the first custom broken, which shows disrespect for the parent, which the parent dismisses, and gives the inheritance anyway. 

   Now it would have been one thing had the son gone out and used the inheritance wisely, but as the story reveals, this was not the case.  When the son, who eventually becomes penniless and is basically starving, having squandered his father’s gift, comes to his senses and returns, expecting to no longer be treated as a “son,” but as a “servant,” he discovers instead, the over-the-top love of his father. 

   It is good to look further into the cultural mores of this time, to get a better, complete view of the parent’s action.  The story tells us that the father “runs” to meet his son.  This is important because the custom would have been for the “errant one” to be met at the city gates by a representative of the community, who would have broken a clay pot at the person’s feet, signifying that the relationship with the community had been broken, and going forward, “the sin” would always be remembered.  The Prodigal Dad, wanting to spare his son that humiliation, runs ahead, meets him, and lovingly takes him home.  In our time, we would say, this dad “had his son’s back!” 

   So, my friends, because “mercy” is so dominant the theme today, I used some literary license in changing the psalm response to the prayer of the 23^rd psalm, “Shepherd Me O’ God,” and we will use it likewise for the Prayers of the Faithful, because it is the on-going prayer of one who wants God to always show them the way.

   In conclusion then, the heartfelt words of Paul to Timothy, “that he did not know what he was doing in his unbelief,” seem perhaps, a response to much that is wrong in our Church and world today.  We must all pray that the God who loves us so much will show us—shepherd us, into the best ways of being for ourselves and for others.  Amen? Amen!