7/12/2011 – Tuesday of the 15th week of ordinary time – mass of the anointing of the sick – Exodus 2:1-15; Psalm 69

     We welcome everyone to our mass of anointing today. On this day that we come to our Lord for healing in our lives through this special sacrament of the anointing of the sick, we hear the story of Moses, of how Moses started his life as an infant in a time of great danger & violence for the people of Israel.  Before Moses was even born, God had chosen the people of Israel as his special people.  Yet, the people of Israel were not the most powerful, or the smartest, or the most advanced civilization in the world at the time. To the contrary, they were slaves whose destiny was controlled by the mighty Egyptian empire.  God made a commitment to the people of Israel: he made them his people.  In honoring that commitment, God chose a leader who would bring them out of bondage.  So, today, we hear the story of a baby who was hidden in the a basket amongst the reeds in order to save his life, a baby who would be raised by Pharaoh’s daughter as her son, a baby who would grow up to be the leader chosen by God to free his people.  God works in remarkable ways, doesn’t he? 

         The Exodus story gives us all hope, of how God chooses the weak & makes them strong, of how God works so many miracles in our lives, miracles both big & small.  “Turn to the Lord in your need & you will live” – this is what the psalmist tells us today.  Like in this psalm, there may be times in our lives when we feel like we are stuck in a swamp without a foothold, when we are in pain & are afflicted, when we see God as our only hope.  The psalm assures us that the Lord indeed hears the cries of the poor, that he does not spurn his people who are oppressed & in bonds.  Like the followers of Christ throughout the ages, we put our trust in the Lord.  We know that the Lord hears our cries, that through him our struggles & our sufferings have meaning.

         So, we come to the Lord today, asking him for healing. We are all here at this mass for a reason today.  We are all asking for healing in our lives.  Perhaps we want to be healed in a very specific way, but we are called to be open to the healing that God desires for us. We also lift up today the shut-ins of our parish community, those at home, in the hospitals, at the nursing homes.  We ask God for healing for all of them as well.

7/10/2011 – 15th Sunday of ordinary time – Matthew 13:1-23

         In today’s Gospel, we hear a parable comparing the kingdom of God to a sower who scatters seed in various places.  We’ll get used to hearing parables in the next few weeks, because for 3 Sundays in a row, we’ll hear a series of parables in our Gospel readings from the 13^th chapter of Matthew.

         The prophet Isaiah sets the stage for what we hear in today’s Gospel.  Isaiah spoke to the people of ancient Israel during their exile in Babylon.  They’d seen their beloved Temple in Jerusalem destroyed, as they were taken away from the promised that God gave to them.  Thus, Isaiah & his people were living in a very broken, fragmented world.  You can imagine how they questioned their faith, how they wondered if God had abandoned them completely, if they’d ever recover & regain hope.  The people of Israel lived in a very arid desert climate; they understood the message that Isaiah delivered to them about the importance of moisture from the snow & the rain that would keep the soil fertile & that would produce abundant crops.  Just as the nurturing rain could change dry land into a lush oasis, so God’s word can bring about a dramatic transformation in our lives as well.   God word nurtures us & replenishes our souls, giving us new life & a renewal of spirit. God tells us that he has confidence in his word as it works in the soil of our lives, that his word will produce results, that it will not return to him empty & void. 

         So, in the context of what we hear Isaiah saying about how God’s word is planted here on earth, we hear Jesus explain the parable of the sower this morning.  Planting seeds would have been very familiar to the people of Jesus’ day just as they are familiar to most of us here in this part of Mississippi.  We have so many farmers in our parish community, & besides farmers, most of us have gardens that we tend during the spring & summer months.  I myself planted an herb garden this spring; I love watching the plants grow and develop.  We all know that a sower can plant his seeds in different places, in different types of soil, affecting how the seeds will take root & later produce the fruits of the harvest.  The word of the Lord is like that in our lives as well.  There may be times in our lives when we have a bunch of barriers & distractions & rocky ground taking up all the space in our lives, making it very difficult for God’s word to take root & to have a chance to grow. 

         In today’s Gospel, the disciples question Jesus about why he speaks to them in parables.  Jesus responds that some look but do not see, that some hear but do not listen or understand.  Even some who are searching for God’s kingdom are not able to find it because they’re not willing to open up their hearts to the Lord’s word.  Perhaps they don’t really want to hear what God’s message asks of them. 

         Jesus tells us to really hear the word of God in our lives; this recalls the prayer that Jesus prayed daily as part of his observance of the Jewish faith, a prayer that the Jewish people still pray today – the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever.”  The Shema prayer emphasizes the unique relationship that God had with the people of ancient Israel.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus amplifies this special relationship with God beyond the people of Israel, to whomever hears his word and is willing to accept its teachings, to whomever is willing respond to the proclamation of God’s kingdom that Jesus makes to all.

         God presents his word to us in the reality of lives; we need to respond to his word in the midst of that reality as well.  We respond to God’s word in the midst of our strengths & weaknesses, in the middle of our joys & our sorrows. And we all see God in different ways: in the midst of our environment, our experiences, & the relationships we have in our lives.  We have the liturgy of the word in the mass we celebrate together. We have the liturgy of the Eucharist in the real presence of the body & blood of Christ.  These are two very concrete ways Jesus speaks to us as individuals & as a community of faith.  But it is also up to each one of us to seek out the ways in which God will best speak to us in the other facets of our lives.  Last fall, right before I came here to Yazoo City, one of my parishioners at St Richard came to me about going on a retreat.  He is a very outdoor, action oriented person, but he was asking about a silent retreat where he could to pray at one of the monasteries in Louisiana.  In the midst of our conversation, I mentioned to him the pilgrimage hike I had done in Spain, a hike which I am planning to do again next spring.  He ended up researching this pilgrimage, he prayed a lot about it, & in less than a month later he was in Spain hiking for 2 weeks.  Now that he’s been back for some months, he can very clearly see that this hike was the right place for him to encounter God in his life, especially since he loves physical activity & so directly sees God in nature & in creation.  He said that trying to go to a silent retreat would have been like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole at this point in his life.  Yes, we all need to see where God is speaking to us in the reality of our lives, in the context of our personalities & our interests.  God speaks to us in different ways: We may see God speaking to us in what is familiar & comfortable, but also need to be open to the new & creative ways that God is willing to speak to us as well.   

         It is through God’s grace & mercy that his word nurtures our lives & finds fertile ground.  Yet, it’s up to us to help provide fertile ground for God’s word in our lives.  In our lives are too busy, if we have too many distractions, if we just leave his word on the surface & don’t let it take root, then we are not really giving God’s word a chance to do all it can do.  Indeed, how can we help God’s word grow & grow in the rich soil of our lives? 

Altar at St Mary Catholic Church, Yazoo CIty, Mississippi

Homilia en español - 7/10/2011 – Décimoquinto domingo del Tiempo Ordinario – Mateo 13, 1-23

En el evangelio de hoy, podemos reflexionar sobre la importancia que damos la palabra de Dios en nuestra vida de fe.  En su proclamación del reino de Dios, Jesús nos enseña en una manera que podemos entender.  Con las parábolas, Jesús explica las caracteristicas de nuestra fe en un manera muy sencilla y muy útil.  En verdad, es muy fácil para recordar los cuentos en las parábolas de Jesùs.  

Entonces, cuando escuchamos la parábola del sembrador en el Evangelio de hoy, podemos contestar esta pregunta: ¿Qué papel tiene la palabra de Dios en mi vida diaria?  ¿Me doy espacio a la palabra de Dios en mi vida para leer, para meditar sobre su significado, y para implementarlo su palabra en la realidad de mi vida? 

La palabra de Dios que esta enviado a nuestro mundo puede caer en qualquier terreno. Todo el mundo recibe la misma palabra, pero cada persona debe recibirlo en la realidad de su vida y ponerlo en la tierra que tiene en esta realidad.  Necesitamos recibir la palabra de Dios con ánimo y con atención. 

Jesús nos dice que algunas personas conocen los secretos del reino de Dios, pero otras personas no los conocen.  Los discípulos de Jesús tenían un conocimiento del reino de Dios que la otra gente de Israel no conocieron.

Las semilla del sembrador debe caer al terreno, y la palabra de Dios debe caer en nuestra vida y en nuestros corazones.  Pero, ¿que pasará si nuestros corazones no están perparados para receibir la palabra de Dios? Si nuestros corazones están llenos de inquietudes o ira o miedo o deseos, si el centro de nuesta vida es en las cosas materiales del mundo, no tenemos el espacio en nuestra vida para nuestro Señor. 

         Para recibir la palabra de Dios con sinceridad y con autenticidad, necesitamos vivir su palabara.  Podemos ir a la misa cada domingo.  Podemos dar limosna y las ofrendas regularmente.  Podemos rezar el rosario y orar a Dios cada dia. Podemos seguir las reglas y las normas de nuestra fe.  Pero, poner la palabra de Dios en práctica significa mucho más. La palabra de Dios necesita transformer nuestros corazones.  Su palabra necesita transformarnos interiormente.  Y esta transformación en nuestros corazones va a cambiar nuestras vidas exteriormente también.  Esta transformación va a cambiar  nuestra conducta, nuestros hechos, nuestra carácter, nuestras obras. En la laz de nuestro Evangelio que recibimos hoy dia, podemos orar que el Señor puede ayúdanos a sembrar el Evangelio de Jesucristo a cada persona.  

Today is a rainy day in Yazoo City, but this is a photo of our garden behind the church that I took yesterday

Stained glass window - St Mary Catholic Church, Yazoo City

7/5/2011 - Interior of church from the altar - St Mary, Yazoo City