“All Saint’s Day” is a generally thought of as a celebration of all the great women and men of faith and action who have gone before us and continue to live on in eternity with the One who made them and called them into being. According to St. Paul we are all caught up in this great cloud of witnesses, “the friends of God and prophets” who we call “the saints”. In a very real way we too are part of “the Communion of Saints”. St. Augustine says; “from generation to generation She (Holy Wisdom) passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets”, thus connecting us one to the other and engendering in us the desire, strength and courage to actively live out our discipleship in our daily lives. The saints are not people who were perfect; on the contrary some of them were quite irascible and difficult to live with while others are remembered for their kindness and charity. It’s their relationship with God and their openness to God’s Spirit that shaped their lives and emboldened them to live faith-filled lives that stand out for which they are remembered to this day. But we too, by the same Spirit, are part of this great cloud of witnesses and are, right now, in the midst of the terrible chaos around us, we are being called forth to be vehicles of God’s love and mercy to a wounded world around us. How can I deepen my relationship with God? How do I share God’s love and mercy with others in the midst of this chaos? How is God shaping my life today that I might know how to respond to the chaos in the world today?

Remember Holy Wisdom has passed into your hearts and made of you “friends of God and prophets” and given you the strength and courage to live out your discipleship of Jesus Christ in your daily lives, precisely in the midst of all that is going on in the world around us!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

In the readings this weekend we hear from the book of Exodos, God reminding us that we were once aliens…..lest we forget and treat the immigrant, migrant or refugee poorly. If we do, we risk the very wrath of God! If we treat our poor neighbors badly their cries to God will not go unheard….God makes sure we have been warned. And in the Gospel, Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as our very selves! All of the Law and the Prophets depend on these two realities. Or are they three realities, love of God, love of neighbor and love of self.

For some loving God is doable and loving neighbor is doable, but loving self is tough. While for others it’s loving neighbor that is tough and for still others it’s loving anyone that is tough. But this is what Jesus is calling us to do if we assume that we are all working on our love of God then we need to be working on our love of neighbor and our love of self too!

Many times things from our past make it difficult for us to reach out, to allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable before God, before others or even to be open and vulnerable with ourselves! And yet this is what Jesus is calling us to do: to let go of the past, to forget who is a Samaritan or a Canaanite or a leper, and to love the person as they are, as we encounter them, regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social economic status, immigration status, political party affiliation...all of us sisters and brothers, the children of God!

Perhaps in doing that we may come to be better able to love ourselves in the midst of our own brokenness, just as we are, just a God loves us! By being willing to try and love the one who has hurt us, or let us down or who scares us because they are different or because they don’t act the way we think they should or the way we want them to…by loving them as they are, we are being changed, becoming more and more Christ like!

When we step out of our comfort zone and risk to welcome the stranger, the immigrant, the refugee, “the other”, in truth we are welcoming Jesus. So in the coming months as we find new ways to “share the journey” with our sisters and brothers of color marching for racial justice and an end to white supremacy, and as we journey with our sister and brother immigrants, migrants and refugees, let us remember that we are sharing the journey with Jesus! Let us ask ourselves who do I need to work on loving better? How does this commandment of Jesus to love my neighbor as myself impact how I view and what I will do about systemic racism, DACA, ACA, limits on refugees, the struggle of the poor and unemployed and underemployed and so much of our pending legislation?

Jesus challenges us to live a different way of life, and Pope Francis has challenged us to love and care for all life…from the unborn, the elderly and the sick to the homeless, the imprisoned, the marginalized and the refugee, to caring for our common home, the earth. It is a tall order and truly a way of living on this planet, a way of being in relationship with all of creation. Falling in love with God and with “the other” and with the earth it-self! It is nothing less than inhabiting life afire with the love of the Holy Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to possess you and guide your every thought and action.

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

I believe that today’s Gospel seems to be a cautionary tale meant to warn us not to turn down the sacred invitation to the “Great Banquet” and at the same time it also challenges us in our ideas of just who is “good enough” to be invited. Clearly Jesus is giving the religious leaders a harsh warning, following on the last few week’s parables doing the same. The warning is twofold: they need to mend their ways and turn their minds and hearts to God, and that God’s invitation is broader than they think -- that the sinner, the tax collector and the prostitute are part of God’s reign as well! Jesus uses these parables to try and get across to the religious leaders that while they may be keeping the letter of the law they were missing keeping the spirit of the law. They were missing the point that all of the law and the prophets rests on loving God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves!

We as disciples of Jesus are called to reach out in love to all peoples without exception! We have to ask ourselves, as a nation to whom are we denying racial justice, good healthcare, quality education, a just wage, citizenship, a safe community, safe and adequate housing? Is there any person or group of people I tend to exclude or look down upon as having less value than myself? Based on this Gospel message, if I threw a dinner party who might I invite?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

God has entrusted the vineyard to us to care for and cultivate, and to produce fine wine! And in the sense of the parable, the fine wine is not just for ourselves but for the owner of the vineyard too. Yet how do we care for the vineyard, and with whom do we share the fruit of the earth? Do we recognize who “owns” the earth and all it contains? Do we see ourselves as entrusted with a sacred trust or do we see the earth as something to be exploited for our own good, for our use without care of future generations without care of how the Creator/Owner feels for the land we abuse? Many questions! But at the core of them all I believe seems to be one of identity and relationship. Understanding our identity as the beloved of God, God’s daughters and sons, ALL of US and understanding from that identity flows our relationship! And it is this reality that then is to inform all of the actions in our lives….to live as the beloved of God!

But we find ourselves living in a vineyard filled with hatred and division, a place where everyone is out for themselves and what they can get out of life without any concern for how it hurts the other. Many businesses around the world overwork and underpay their employees forcing them to work in subhuman conditions for less money than it is humanly possible to live on. As a nation we proliferate the arms race and threaten war rather than sit down to talk of peace and mutual cooperation. We reel once again from gun violence, the largest mass shooting in our country, and already begin to fight against stricter gun laws to prevent such senseless acts of mass gun violence.

We claim that we value the dignity of all life and yet we imprison more people than any other developed nation, we own more guns per capita than any other nation and procure more abortions. We put more people to death and continue to deny basic healthcare to the most needy in our society while we round up productive, tax paying, undocumented women and men to send them back to countries where their chances of leading successful lives are far less than here.

The vineyard is not ours. It belongs to the Creator and we need to recognize that how we live on the earth and how we treat one another matters deeply to the One who made us and who made the vineyard!

On this opening Sunday of Respect Life Month let us pray for an end to all forms of violence and disrespect of human life from conception to natural death. Let us pray an end to systemic racism and bigotry, an end to misogyny and xenophobia and all actions that disrespect the dignity and sacredness of human life.

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

At first glance Jesus’ parable of the workers who come late to the field and receive a full day’s pay seems “unjust”…why should those who didn’t work a full day be paid a full day’s wages…especially when those who worked a full day receive the same pay? God’s mercy and love falls, like a gentle rain, on the just and the unjust! No one is left out of God’s Reign, no one is left unloved! While that sounds all warm and fuzzy the truth is that a whole lot of “Christians” don’t buy it and don’t like it! I believe that if we really understood this parable, and Jesus’ point, we would be having a very different debate on many social and political issues like: racial justice and white supremacy, immigration reform, refugees, universal access to healthcare, the national budget, war, a just wage….and the list goes on.

We are called to love as Jesus loved us…to build up the Reign of God…and in the Reign of God even the latecomer gets the same love. As Christians we are called to try and look at these issues through the lens of God’s justice, not human justice. God’s justice challenges our own sense of what is fair. While we know we are not to live by “an eye for an eye”, in fact, far too often it is very much how we in deed define “justice”. Far too often we seek retribution, not justice.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus shows us that justice is about repairing damaged relationships, about making sure that the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized, and all those who are left out -- that they are included…regardless of when they arrive, regardless of what color their skin is or where they were born.

What is my own sense of what is “just” or “fair” in light of this Gospel? How “just” are my relationships? How does this Gospel call me to respond to current social issues such as the demand for racial justice and an end to systemic racism, fair and just immigration reform, the refugee crisis, a just wage and access to decent healthcare?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

Revenge versus forgiveness, kindness and compassion – Today’s first reading from Sirach reminds me of “The Our Father”. It ties God’s forgiveness of our sins to our forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins against us. As we forgive so too shall we be forgiven!

Today’s Gospel speaks to us about forgiveness from the heart. Not a walking away from a wrong done to us, not a “simple letting it go”, but a deep decision to forgive. This is more than simply “moving on”…this is about a way of being in the world…a way of living. Forgiveness is a decision of the heart, one that we must live into, one that takes time when the wound has been great.

We live in a society that often confuses justice with revenge. We seek “an eye for an eye” and we call it justice! And yet that is precisely what Jesus warned us against…he calls his disciples beyond the usual standards of conduct, beyond just loving your neighbor to loving your enemy! This is the crux of the matter! How can I forgive someone who has wronged me, someone who has hurt me, made me look foolish, how do I forgive someone who has taken away something I wanted or worse, someone I loved?

I think that in the parable we hear in the Gospel it is a case of the forgiveness received not having been allowed to transform the heart of the one who had been forgiven. For, if he had truly accepted this gift of forgiveness and taken it into his heart, he surely would not have treated his coworker as he did, but would have reacted with the kindness and forgiveness that had been shown to him. This issue was not about whether the money was owed or not. It was about passing on the kindness, compassion and forgiveness that had been shown to the man who owed the large sum to his master who had forgiven his debt.
   
It is about acknowledging the recklessness of the kindness, compassion and forgiveness that God so lavishly showers upon us in the midst of our sin…and our response to that lavishness is to shower it in turn upon each of our sisters and brothers regardless of the size of their sins against us!

Who most stands in need of my lavish forgiveness today? To whom do I need to seek forgiveness, from God, from sister or brother? How can I let go of my desire for revenge and seek reconciliation and forgiveness instead, and repair relationships?

The current national reckoning for racial justice, is really about this very topic, isn’t it? It is about lavishing kindness, justice and compassion on all of my Black and Brown sisters and brothers. It is about repairing broken relationships. It is about standing up and speaking out against all forms systemic racism and White supremacy in our government and in our institutions both secular and sacred! Let us stand up with the Black Lives Matter movement and demand change; not ask for it -- demand it! Let us march, let us write letters, let us make phone calls and let us VOTE, to end systemic racism and bring about racial equality in our nation! Let us be bold enough to have challenging conversations about racism and biases with family and friends. Let us take time to look deeply into our own hearts and acknowledge our own biases and as the African American, lawyer turned activist, Verna Myers says “walk boldly towards our biases”…because then when we have named them and claimed them, only then, can we change them! And it’s WAY past time for change my sisters and brothers, way past time!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

In the Gospel this weekend Jesus is essentially talking about mending relationships, about restoring that which has been broken. And when I think about broken relationships I tend to think about “shalom”. The Hebrew word “shalom” we often translate into English as “peace” but as so often happens in translation, so much is lost when we translate from one language to another! “Shalom” means so very much more than just peace, so much more than just absence of war. Shalom means happiness, good health, prosperity, friendship and well-being, and right-relationship with God and with your neighbor…so much more!

In today’s Gospel, in a very real way Jesus is talking about shalom, about working to restore the ancient roots of our relationships with one another, recognizing that we are sister and brother, that we are bound to each other in and through our creation by God. Jesus recognizes that we hurt one another and that we must seek to repair the injuries, and to seek and to offer forgiveness. We must work to forgive and to restore what was taken or destroyed as well as be willing to be healed of the hurt and the suffering that was inflicted upon us. We must be willing to “be SHALOM” for the world -- not for ourselves -- but for the sake of the world!

Shalom means “Black Lives Matter”, Shalom means racial equality, Shalom means a recognition of our common sisterhood and brotherhood of our interconnectedness that flows through our very veins. It is a recognition of our common lineage; our common ancestry as the children of God made from the dust of the earth and given life by the very breath of God.

Shalom mean there is no place for white supremacy and white privilege -- a world where we value one person over another based on the color of their skin or the place of their birth, their sexual orientation, their socioeconomic status, their gender or their immigration status!

Shalom means that I must stand up against the plague and sin of racism and bigotry, that I must demand an end to the systemic racism that infects our institutions both private and governmental, secular and sacred!

Shalom means that I am called to stand back and reflect on my own biases in how I treat my sisters and brothers, how and what I think of them in the recesses of my heart!

When we wish “Shalom” to someone we wish happiness, good health, prosperity, friendship, and well-being, and right-relationship with God and with all our neighbors…and so much more! You and I are called “TO BE SHALOM” to and for all of our sisters and brothers, and for the world itself! In the midst of all that is happening in the world today we hear the clarion call for total racial equality. In the midst of the pandemic, in the midst of economic suffering, in the midst of all of the suffering of our sisters and brothers, how can I “BE SHALOM” in my family, my work, my school, my community, my country?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

In today’s Gospel Jesus asks the disciples “who do you say that I am?”…Peter proclaims that he is “the Christ”…the Messiah! And from this declaration, Jesus proclaims that “Simon” is blessed and that he has come to this insight, not by human knowledge, but Divine inspiration. In the Gospel of Matthew this is another pivotal moment. Jesus acknowledges that he is more than a prophet, more than a messenger…He is the “Son of God”! From this moment forward Jesus’ public ministry takes on cosmic proportions…from now on his mission is to the whole world, not just the People of Israel.

But what does this mean for me? Who do people say I am?….when I am not there to hear? Who do “I” say I am?….by my life…by my words and by my actions? The American educator, Parker Palmer, once proclaimed….”let my life speak”, but speak of what? Can people tell that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ by how I life my life? Is the message of God’s deep and passionate love for all people of every race and Jesus’ clarion call to love and care for others, evidenced in the way I live my life? As a Christian -- a disciple of Jesus Christ -- I am called to love God with my whole being and to love and care for my neighbor as if they were myself! And yet down through history to this very moment in time Christians have perpetrated sins of racism, bigotry, antisemitism and misogyny and outright hatred of their neighbor whom Jesus has commanded they love. And yet we call ourselves followers of Jesus. We cannot hate our neighbor, act with racist and bigoted hearts and believe that we are living as Christ has called us to live. We must ask ourselves: do I harbor hatred, distrust or ill will towards my neighbor? We must name and call out the sins of racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny when and where we see them!

It is in this way that “our lives will speak” to the world the truth of who Jesus Christ is. That is how our lives will be prophetic! What prophetic witness will I give today to who Jesus is by how I live?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

Today’s readings overturn our presumptions about the relationships between “insiders” and “outsiders”. From the Prophet Isaiah to Psalm 67, from Paul’s letter to the Romans to the Gospel of Matthew….we are treated to God’s vision of who is “in” and who is “out”. Some of us may feel a bit disconcerted by what we encounter in today’s readings. It seems there is something innately human about drawing boundaries between those who are like us and those who are different…”insiders and outsiders”. Down through the centuries wars have been fought, nations destroyed and societies pulled apart in efforts to protect social boundaries that delineate who are the insiders and who are the outsiders. Slavery would be a perfect example of a social construct that delineated between peoples and that destroyed individual human lives, families and entire nations! All based on social constructs of what made a human life matter and be of value.

Today’s readings call on us to reflect on our own social constructs…who we treat as insiders and who we treat as outsiders…whose lives we believe matter and whose lives we believe don’t matter! What scripture makes clear is that we are called by God to work to eradicate all social structures and attitudes that exclude and marginalize “the other”. In today’s Gospel we see that even Jesus is challenged by the Canaanite woman to “revision his mission,” and to proclaim the Reign of God so that it goes beyond the People of Israel and includes absolutely everyone! Because each one is a child of God and, yes, even the Canaanites are included! There is no place for racism or bigotry or xenophobia or misogyny in the Reign of God because we are all God’s children -- and racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny are all sins against the Reign of God! Everyone is invited and as St. Paul reminds us “the gifts and the call are irrevocable”! The Word has gone out…all are invited to be part of the Reign of God…and the Word of God once spoken cannot be called back!

I believe that all of us who call ourselves Christians do well to reflect on all of this in light of the racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism and outright hatred displayed in the violence in what we saw three years ago in Charlottesville and the violence we have seen today against the Black Lives Matter protesters, protesting for racial justice, perpetrated by our very own government. We have to ask ourselves: Are there people I exclude?...How could I be more inclusive in my life? What socio-political and religious structures does the Gospel call me to work to change to be more inclu-sive so that no one is left out? In order to more faithfully follow the call of Jesus Christ what idols to slavery, exclusion, hatred, marginalization and war do I need to work to pull down in my life?...In this nation?...In the world?

Blessings,
Fr Tim