Jesus preached in a socially stratified society. Carpenters begat carpenters, fishermen begat fishermen, kings begat kings and priests begat priests. It was unlikely that people would have lives different from their parents, but it was not impossible. For Jewish men advancement could be found through religion. To keep its power the temple priesthood had sided with the Romans and had little practical connection with the people. So that the profound teachings of Judaism be passed down, the laity developed the synagogues. Literally, a synagogue is a place of meeting where they could learn the law and the other traditions of their people. There were readings from the Bible and then a literate person would give a commentary.  A learned Rabbi was rarely available, so someone would read the writings of an established teacher. Not exciting, but effective and it was the best way for a Jew who wished to remain faithful to his religion and people to advance. Thus, any role in the synagogue was highly coveted. 

Those who were to become the Apostles knew this and although we should not doubt the sincerity of their belief in and profound attraction to Jesus following him was a way to be acknowledged as a rabbi and attain social and perhaps financial advancement. They envisioned themselves as leading synagogues in the tradition of Jesus throughout Judea and Galilee. 

This is of course not a bad thing. Today Paul instructs his protégé Timothy on how to be a good local leader. Keeping the individual churches functioning is very important and requires the virtues of prudence and moderation. But it is not enough or more precisely it must be balanced with boldness and sometimes impetuousness to prevent the Church from being too focused on herself. 

Continue reading “Homily – 25th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

Today’s Gospel passage has been called the greatest short story ever written. Its power is undeniable, and we must admire Luke’s economy of words. Yet it is misnamed. The younger son we call Prodigal appears only briefly. The father, however, is found in each of the five episodes of the parable. Indeed, when we remember that prodigal originally meant extravagant or imprudent it is the father who seems to better fit the description. He gave his love totally and unreservedly not only to the impetuous younger son but to the cold-hearted older one. Neither one of them seemed to appreciate or respond to it.  I think we might better call this the parable of gratuitous love. 

The dictionary definition of gratuitous is “lacking a good reason” and the synonyms are unjustified and unearned. The first example supplied is ‘gratuitous violence”. It has a theological meaning as well which was not commonly used until Popes Benedict and Francis revived it. (see below 1) 

They both believed that living in a consumerist society where we can easily define ourselves by what we have, not who we are, and love can be made a mere transaction. If you do this for me, I will do that for you, and we will call it love. It is very rational and perhaps more common than we are comfortable admitting.  

Continue reading “Homily – 24th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus’ injunction that “when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled the lame, the blind: blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” The next day the parish supplied volunteers to feed participants in a workshop for asylum seekers. I would like to thank those who responded. Some of the stories were truly heartbreaking but the actions of so many of our members were heart-mending. This was truly putting flesh onto the Gospel and weight into the truism that a Mass should be judged not by how we feel leaving Church on the weekends but by what we do in our community on the weekdays. 

Later that week several buses deposited about 200 more asylum seekers on Court Street. They were told to go to Catholic Charities. There was of course no warning and by Friday Catholic Charites had no supplies. As you may have seen in our parish email, we do not know if people will be sent up this weekend and if they are St Charles will most likely be the first institution they will find. What then does Jesus’ remark today “This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish” mean for us? 

My first reaction was “Ouch, that comes close,” After remembering the background for the passage, my second was “That hit a bullseye.” 

Continue reading “Homily – 23rd Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

The opening anecdote for this homily was given by Kerin Coughlin, who was scheduled to read at this Mass but is not feeling well. So let me just thank her and hope that she feels better. 

At bible study last week, Kerin told us that Billy Joel will buy out the front row seats at his concerts to prevent rich people from taking them – not to hear him, but to be seen by everyone. Then he will send his managers up to the cheap seats and get real fans who would pay attention to the performance. Jesus’ motivation today is rather similar. 

We first need a bit of archeology. Houses in Galilee in Jesus’ time would have been centered on a courtyard. The main door was in the center of the courtyard, and the kitchen, storage rooms and bedrooms would have been off of it.  Guests would have been entertained and fed in this courtyard.  Jesus had most likely spoken at a local synagogue and now was being entertained by a leading pharisee who had the space to hold a dinner for the town’s notables This would have been a major event and the common people of the village would have crowded around the front door to see who was there and what Jesus might say. They may perhaps have heard that he had often been in conflict with some of the Pharisees and looked forward to some fireworks. 

Continue reading “Homily – 22nd Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

The connection between popularism and white nationalism has become a staple of our daily news feed. It may seem new to us, but it has particularly deep roots in American history.  The post-Civil War economic boom and bust economy was a gilded age for some people, but a time of unrelenting poverty for many more. Reformers saw this at the time and attempted to unite the poor, downtrodden, and dispossessed. They made significant progress around 1890, but ultimately failed. The rich and powerful used their influence to create divisions between native-born Americans and immigrants and especially between blacks and whites. This delayed even basic reforms for over a generation and required a major depression to finally move. (1)  

Continue reading “Homily – 21st Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

Of all the New Testament writers St Luke is most concerned about what we do with our money. We saw this last week in the parable of the foolish landowner. Luke showed us that we will not only be judged on how we made our money but how we spent it as well. Luke speaks too often and passionately about wealth for it to be of only academic interest for him. His writing style reveals a costly education. He seems to have accompanied St Paul on one of his travels at his own expense. Both require private means.  He will write sympathetically of the rich man who would not follow Jesus because he was tied to his possessions and “went away very sad” (Lk 18:18-23) Luke is a rich young man who did give up his possessions and followed Jesus.  He has much to teach us, and it only begins with money.

Continue reading “Homily – 19th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

St. Luke uses the stories of Jesus in uniquely effective ways. He employs many classical rhetorical techniques with very impressive technical names. But they are effective because they work very simply. His best is to lull us into a false sense of security and then zing us. We have seen this several times already. We feel immediate sympathy for the potential disciple who wishes to bury his father before following Jesus.  Yet Jesus seemingly coldheartedly tells them that his first responsibly is to follow him and let the dead bury the dead. (Luke 9:60) More recently Martha asked Jesus “Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all preparations” Jesus’ answer is basically that he really didn’t, and Martha should join Mary at his feet. We will see this today but with a twist. (Luke 10:38-42) 

Continue reading “Homily – 18th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →