September 25, 2011

Readings for The Twenty-sixth Sunday in ordinary time: Ez 18:25-28; Phil 2:1- 11; Mt 21:28-32

A little boy was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of a city block. He was obviously waiting for something. An older man approached him and asked for what he was waiting. The little boy confidently told the older man that he was waiting for the bus. The man laughed and said the bus stop was in the next block. The boy acknowledged that fact but insisted the bus would stop for him right here. The older man became annoyed at what he thought was insolence. He raised his voice and told the little boy that he'd better start walking if he hoped to ride that bus. The boy politely turned down the suggestion and said he would wait for the bus right where he stood. The man fumed at the little boy and started walking off. But before he was too far away, he heard the screeching of brakes. He turned around and couldn't believe his eyes. The bus was actually stopping for the little boy. The bus door opened and the boy started climb aboard. But just before he did, he turned toward the man down the street and yelled, "my daddy is the bus driver"(Billy d. Strayhorn, Seing is Believing).

In today's Gospel Jesus confronts the chief priests and elders of the people who believe that they have all of the answers. They have been the ones responsible for teaching the way of God, but they themselves have been slow to act according to the will of God. Our Lord presents the parable of the two sons who were asked to go work in the vineyard. One said that he would not but eventually did, the other said that he would, but never went. Both sons were wrong, but the one who had all of the right words but failed to act was worse by far. John the Baptist is also presented in the Gospel. He is the perfect example of one who humbly heard the Word of God and responded throughout the course of his life.

The scriptures remind us today that we are called not to just opinionate on how things should be, we are invited to be humble enough to hear and respond. The sin of humanity right from the beginning is that we think we know better than God. Adam and Eve were not satisfied with paradise, the Garden of Eden; they wanted to be like gods (Gen 3:3). It was through their sin of pride and disobedience that they put themselves out of paradise and estranged themselves from God. Very often all of us are arrogant, thinking we know better than everyone else. We know better than our parents, our coaches, our teachers, our bishops, our priests and definitely we all know better than politicians.

This is why today's second reading is always one of my favorites and a great reminder for me as a priest, and hopefully for all of us, that we need to constantly evaluate our position in life. First of all we are reminded to "do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather humbly regard others as more important than yourselves." (Phil 2:3) As a priest it is very easy for me to begin to believe all the kind things people say about me and begin to think that I am better than others. I constantly need to ask myself; am I speaking for others to sing my praises or in order for others to come closer to Christ? We all need to evaluate; are we more concerned about what others think about us like the Pharisees or are we humbly responding to God’s call in our lives?

Paul proceeds to remind us that we should have the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped." (6) I do not know about the rest of you, but if I was in the form of God, if I had God's power, things would be a little more like Fr. John would want them to be. No one would be sleeping during my homilies and if you did not wake up on time for Mass I would send a little lightning jolt towards your house. We would have the best ordered Church, but it probably would not be a Christ centered Church. Jesus chose to become a part of our messy world, with all of its sin and division; all of its poverty and sickness, all of its corruption and injustice. He became a part of our real world and emptied himself, taking the form of a slave assuming our human nature and He "humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (8) Jesus did not rescue us by throwing a rope and inviting us to climb out of the pit; He jumped into the pit with us and pushed us out.

We as humans from our beginning have been proud, arrogant and disobedient. Jesus as the true man, was humble unto his death on the cross. This is a great reminder for us the next time that we begin to fill ourselves with pride and think that we know more and are better than those around us. Jesus exalted us through his unconditional yes to His Father and becoming one with us. As God speaks to us through the course of all the events of our lives let us not say yes or no, let us just hear the word of God and humbly respond. If Jesus who is God could become human for us, then hopefully we who are human can become truly human towards each other through our love and kindness.

• Many have been asking me when I will be beginning our Adult Catechism Class. This year I am planning on teaching the History of the Catholic Church. This has always been one of my favorite topics and I had the privilege of teaching it a number of times as a High School teacher. We will have a twenty-two week program with one week for introduction and one class for each century of the Catholic Church. Our First Class will be on October 10, 2011 at 7:00 P.M. in the Knights of Columbus Room. All are invited and encouraged to buy "A Concise History of the Catholic Church" by Thomas Bokenkotter in the Stella Maris Bookstore in order to prepare for the class.

God Bless,

Father John Provenza

Pastor