Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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Birth of Mary, September 8, 2007, Year: C

23^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 9, 2007 - Year: C
Wis 9:13-18; Plm 9-10, 12-17   Lk 14:25-33
Wisdom that saves

First Reading...
“For who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills?
For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,
and our designs are likely to fail;
for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and this earthly tent burdens the thoughtful mind.

We can hardly guess at what is on earth,
and what is at hand we find with labour;
but who has traced out what is in the heavens?
Who has learned your counsel,
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?

And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,
and people were taught what pleases you,
and were saved by wisdom.” [Wis. 9:13-18]

Second Reading...
“I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.

I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.

Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother - especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.” [Phlm. 9-10, 12-17]

Gospel Reading...
“Large crowds were travelling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, spouse and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.

So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.’” [Lk. 14:25-33]

Helpful Story:
A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out.

Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment.

He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him. “I can see that something is troubling you,” he said.

After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.”

He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”

Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.
The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! “I can erase my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the un-cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you.

He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller. “

And she led the old man away by the arm.

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

Jesus tells that ‘I am with you always.’ It is not an imagination, but real person who is with us. That is why he says, ‘without me you can do nothing.’

At this point in his ministry, great crowds traveled along with Jesus wherever he went. There was something exiting and magnetic about this Jesus of Nazareth. The authority with which he taught and the power of God at his beck and call, drew multitudes to him. But on this particular day, like any other day, not everyone traveling with Jesus was there for the same reason. Some were hoping for healing. Some were political activists looking for a liberator. Some were merely curious, as people tend to be when some new movement arises.

But some considered themselves Jesus’ followers, his disciples. I’m not speaking here about the twelve disciples that Jesus had chosen. I’m speaking about a much larger group outside of the Twelve (See, for example, Luke 6:13, 17, 20). Exactly what they believed about Jesus is not clear. But in some sense they had committed themselves to being students and followers of Jesus. They considered themselves disciples. Still others in the great crowds that followed Jesus on this day were thinking about becoming his disciples.

So Jesus turned to these great crowds and told them, in no uncertain terms, what being his disciple involves. He did this with three conditional “cannot” statements.

• “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

• “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

• “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

From the time Jesus first spoke these words until now, they have been considered among the “hard” sayings of Jesus: those difficult to understand. When they have heard or read these words of Jesus, many Christians have just ignored them, because they don’t know what to do with them.

On the surface, in these three statements, it seems that Jesus is going out of his way to repel disciples, not make them. “If you don’t hate your family and yourself, you can’t be my disciple.” “If you don’t carry your cross like a condemned criminal you can’t be disciple.” “If you don’t give up all your possessions, you can’t be my disciple.” This doesn’t sound like a winning formula for church growth. What is Jesus up to here with these words that seem to defy common sense? Why does he say this and what does it mean for us? Let’s look more closely at the text to get to the bottom of it.

First, Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” How shocking this must have been to those who first heard him. How shocking to us.

From the time of the Sixteenth Century Reformation, there has been an important rule of Biblical interpretation that “Scripture interprets Scripture.” In other words, when you come upon a difficult-to-understand passage, before you turn to a learned commentary or your own reason, you look for another passage that treats the same subject, but one that is clearer, and use it to interpret the difficult-to-understand one. Scripture interprets Scripture assumes, by the way, that the Bible is a unified whole, because it has one divine author, the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Bible cannot contradict itself, even if it appears to.

How does “Scripture interprets Scripture” help us here? This way: If Jesus truly means for us to “hate” our families and selves in the conventional sense, then it contradicts many other clear teachings of Scripture about hate. Such as 1 John 3:15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Such as 1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” In addition, this hate saying of Jesus would contradict the many commands to love, such as, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39) and “"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). So unless Scripture contradicts itself, Jesus cannot mean “hate” in the conventional sense.

Fortunately, there is another passage in which Jesus speaks on the same subject, and clarifies this hate passage. In Matthew 10 our Lord says: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (10:37-38). When Jesus says whoever does not hate his family and self cannot be my disciple, he doesn’t mean that we should not love them in any sense. Of course we are to love them! Marriage and family are good gifts of God! He means that we should never love our relatives or ourselves more than Him; for then we would love the creature rather than the Creator and committing idolatry. For those who would be disciples of Jesus Christ, love for Jesus must come first. Loyalty to Jesus must come first. Obedience to Jesus must come first. So when even the dearest family wants you to something that is the opposite of what Jesus wants for you, you must remain faithful to Jesus, not the family member.

So what Jesus is doing here in Luke 14, is warning those who want to be his disciples, telling them that the life of a disciple will be difficult. They will be put in situations where their own flesh and blood will oppose their faith or tempt them to disobey Jesus. As Jesus says elsewhere, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). Indeed, it will get even worse, as the end draws near: “And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death” (Mark 13:12).

To have one’s own family or one’s own flesh oppose our faith is one of the severest trials. At such a time the temptation is great to compromise our faith in order to make our family happy. But to do this is to love our families more than Jesus. And one cannot be a disciple if one does such a thing.

Second, Jesus says, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” This also must have shocked the great crowds. After all, unlike us, many of them may have witnessed what Jesus here described: a condemned criminal bearing his own cross through the streets of a town out to the place of crucifixion. Only the vilest felons were had to carry their crosses. Why on earth would Jesus say that they too had to do this?

But of course, Jesus didn’t mean that each of them must carry a literal cross to a literal crucifixion. Here the word “cross” takes on a new meaning. It means “suffering.” To “bear one’s own cross” means to be willing to suffer for the sake of Jesus.

For many who followed Jesus, they sensed that a new age was dawning. The kingdom of God was at hand. But they wrongly understood that to mean that victory, peace, and prosperity would be theirs. Some new Christians make the same mistake today.

Here Jesus sets them straight. He is saying, “You do not understand. The life of a disciple is a life of suffering. It will be difficult. And if you are not prepared for this you will fall away. You will be persecuted because of me, and suffer loss because of me (See Luke 8:13; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:3-5; 2 Timothy 3:12). At that point you will have a choice. You can remain faithful to me or you can be unfaithful to make the cross go away. You can shut up rather than openly share your faith, be silent rather than speak of Jesus, go along with the crowd, rather than obey Jesus. You can compromise the truth instead of standing up for the truth of God’s Word. To do any of these things, to compromise or become silent or go along with the crowd rather than confess, speak, and live the life Christ has called us to, is to drop the cross instead up carrying it. But if you refuse to carry the cross of suffering you cannot be my disciple.”

Third, our Lord says, “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” For example, when Zacchaeus gave half of his possessions to the poor, Jesus did not rebuke him and command him to give all his possessions away. Jesus rejoiced and called him a son of Abraham (Luke 19). There were wealthy people among the first Christians and the apostles never commanded them to give all of their wealth away. Instead they say, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.” (1 Tim 6:17-18). It is not money that is evil, but the “love of money that is a root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). It is the love of money and mammon, loving it more than Jesus, which Jesus warns about here in the severest of terms.

When Jesus says that we cannot be his disciples unless we give up our possessions, he means we must be willing to give up all our possessions if need be; or if it comes down to a choice between being faithful to Jesus, on the one hand, or keeping our possessions, on the other, disciples must give up the possessions. Otherwise they commit idolatry and cease to be disciples.

So why did Jesus utter these three hard sayings, so shocking to ancient and modern listeners? He intended, in the strongest possible terms, to prepare his disciples. Prepare them for what? To prepare them for the reality that a being a disciple of Jesus will be difficult--and they will be tempted to give up.

The two parables that Jesus tells in our texts emphasizes this need for disciples to prepare. The man who wants to build a tower must count the cost to make sure he has enough to finish the job. The king who is going to war must first count his troops and resources to make sure he can win the battle. In both parables the message is clear: Those who begin a major endeavor need to be prepared to see it through to the finish. Our Lord is telling us that being a disciple is a major endeavor. Disciples need to be prepared to see it through to the finish.

Throughout our lives we will be tempted to quit when suffering threatens us. Throughout our lives as disciples we will have to choose. Will I choose what Jesus wants even it means suffering and rejection? Or will I side with my unbelieving family in order to escape suffering and rejection? Will I remain faithful to Jesus only when times are good? Or will I remain a faithful disciple, when people reject or hate or shun me because of what I believe? Will I carry the cross when called to do so? Or will I drop it?

Jesus knew that he needed to prepare his disciples, for he knows what is in man. He knows that every one of us has a powerful inborn desire to be liked and loved by everyone; to be happy and prosperous; to enjoy pleasure, rest, fun. Because of this we have the tendency to avoid anything that might make people dislike us, to drop the cross and run away from suffering, and to be faithful to Jesus unless such faithfulness results in some sort of loss--loss of reputation or possessions of family.

But why must the life of discipleship be so difficult? Why so many temptations, trials, and traps? First, because Satan is, as Scripture says, the god of this world (2 Co 4:4); and the entire unbelieving world lies in his power (1 John 5:19). As Revelation 12 says,

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

Satan knows his fate. That he is already conquered by the death and resurrection of Christ. He knows that his time is short until Christ returns. Therefore, in his intense anger, his goal is to keep as many people from becoming disciples as possible, and causing those who are disciples to become unfaithful and lose their saving faith in Jesus.

Victory comes, says this text in Revelation, in two ways. First disciples conquered Satan “by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” In other words, they remained faithful. They didn’t love their lives even unto death. They put Jesus first, even if meant that family disliked them, enemies persecuted them, and loss of property and even death pursued them.

Yet far more importantly than their faithfulness was the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The disciples “conquered him by the blood of the Lamb.” The Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world by shedding his blood at Golgotha’s cross. It is this that defeated Satan. For by that shed blood, all sins and failings are forgiven to those who believe the Gospel. Including the sin of unfaithfulness. Including failing to love Jesus more than family or self; including the failure to willingly carry the cross of suffering, or the failure put Jesus before our possessions.

Yet this sweet forgiveness through the blood of the Lamb should not inspire laziness and lukewarmness. It should inspire us to strive more than ever to be faithful to Jesus above and ahead of everything and everyone else; even if it means rejection; even if it means suffering; even if it means loss. Amen.

Birth of Mary.
September 8, 2007, Year: C
Rom. 8:28-30 OR Mic. 5:2-5a
Mt. 1:16, 18-23
The Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

First Reading...
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified." [Rom. 8:28-30] 

OR First Reading.... (Second Choice)
"The Lord says this: You, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

Therefore the Lord shall give them up until the time when she who is in labour has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.

And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth: and he shall be the one of peace" [Mic. 5:2-5] 

Gospel Reading...
"An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham,
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father Hezron, Hezron the father Aram, Aram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph, Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." [Mt. 1:1-16, 18-23]

“All that I can call ‘me’ I owe to a woman from the time of my childhood.  Women opened the windows of my heart and doors of my spirit.  If it were not for a woman my mother, for a woman my sister, for a woman my friend, I would have been left to sleep with those who seek the tranquility of the world in a blessed snore”, says Kahlil Gibran, a Nobel Laureate for literature.  “Why then”, we ask today as we celebrate the Girl Child’s Day, “do girls and women are done away with in our society?” 

If we are imagining that this is happening only in some remote villages of rural a Tamil Nadu or of an arid Rajasthan, we are mistaken.  Recent census data in fact reveals that sex ratio imbalance is highest in India precisely in the economically advanced states like Punjab and Delhi and in the financial capital of India, which is our own Mumbai. All India survey reveals that there are at least 20 – 25 million missing little girls in India.  So, where are these little girls gone?

Infant Mary, the Wonder Kid
The birth of Mary was not marked by worldly wealth or grandeur. Her parents were Joachim and Anne. They were not blessed with worldly wealth, but Mary was said to have wealth beyond that of kings in this world. In the eyes of God, worldly wealth and power are of little consequence. We notice that God has never blessed His dearest and chosen friends with an abundance of worldly goods, because this would only cause people to set their hearts in the world at hand, and its flurries and pleasures. Mary was not wealthy, but she had treasures beyond. She was chosen to be the Mother of Jesus, above all women of her time. She had a life of grace in her soul. External honors and dignitaries are of no consequence to God.

Tradition Says
When Mary was three years old she gave herself to the service of God. She lived in a temple for twelve years. Historians know very little of her life at this time. It is thought that she cared for the sick and suffering children. When the Archangel Gabriel appears to her and tells her that she has been chosen to be the Mother of the Redeemer, she says neither "yes" nor "no." She only asks how this is to be when she has taken a vow of virginity. She states: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to thy word."

Mary trusts that God will not corrupt her. She has the Immaculate Conception of her child, as the Son of God. We can not separate Jesus from Mary. He spent thirty years of his mortal life with his Mother, who he gave a willing and perfect obedience. By being the Mother of God, Mary was elevated higher than all the other saints put together.

Many think Mary lived twenty-four years after the Ascension of Jesus. The daily Communion of Mary towards the end of her life was practically all that she ate. St Agnatious of Antioch asked Mary to assist him in his struggles regarding his own faith. Mary spent all her spare time before the Tabernacle in loving converse with Jesus.

Today’s Readings
The Biblical readings of the Feast have a clear Christological- salvific orientation that forms the backdrop for contemplating the figure of Mary.

Micah 5:1-4a.
The Prophet announces the coming of the Lord of Israel who will come forth from Bethlehem of Judah. The Mother of the Messiah, presented as one about to give birth, will give life to the prince and pastor of the house of David who will bring justice and peace. She will work with the Messiah to bring forth a new people.

Romans 8.28-30.
This passage does not speak directly about Mary but about the believer justified by the grace of Christ and gifted with the indwelling of the Spirit. He or she has been chosen and called from all eternity to share Christ's life and glory. This is true in a privileged manner for Mary, Spouse and Temple of the Holy Spirit, Mother of God's Son, and intimately united with Him in a Divine plan of predestination and grace.

Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23.
The meaning of this seemingly and genealogy is theologically profound: to place Jesus, the Messiah Lord, within the dynastic tree of His people. He is a descendant, and in fact "the descendant," of Abraham (cf. Gal 3:16) and the Patriarchs in accord with the promises, and He is the semi-heir of the Prophets. The ring that united Christ with His people is Mary, Daughter of Zion and Mother of the Lord.

The virginity stressed by the Gospel text is the sign of the Divine origin of the Son and of the absolute newness that now breaks forth in the history of human beings.

The Christological-salvific purpose and tone dominate not only the Bible readings but also the Eucharistic Celebration and the Liturgy of the Hours.

It has been observed that, although the texts of this Feast's celebration are less rich than those of other Marian feasts, they do have one outstanding characteristic: "The number of themes is rather restricted, [but] there are extremely numerous invitations to joy".

Indeed, joy pervades the whole of this Feast's liturgy. If many "will rejoice" at the birth of the precursor (cf. Lk 1:14, a much greater joy is stirred up by the birth of the Mother of the Saviour. Hence, this is a Feast that serves as a prelude to the "joy to all people" brought about by the Birth of the Son of God at Christmas and expressed by the singing of hymns and carols.

Added to this theme of joy on this Marian Feast is that of light because with Mary's birth the darkness is dispersed and there rises in the world the dawn that announces the Sun of Justice, Christ the Lord.

For us a Family Feast:
This is a family feast for majority of us in the south. In most of the families we take the blessed paddy and consume it mixed with variety food items and enjoy a family meal, preferably vegetarian. In the Church children who come with flowers to honour Infant Mary are given sugarcane to indicate the sweetness being with Mary our Mother. Every birthday is a sweet day to all of us.  

This year we are going to inaugurate the FAMILY CELL in our parish. As we know that the number of families has touched a whopping 4700 figure, totaling the membership of our parish to 19000. As the numbers grow we face multiple problems of broken families, problems with alcohol, drugs, dispute, abortion etc. Hence this cell is the need of the hour in our parish. Hence, let us all pray for the success of this new venture in our parish for the benefit of all families and for the greater glory of God.  

Inauguration of the WEBSITE:

www.stjosephchurchocd.org

This is another feather in the cap of St. Joseph Church, the website, for the use of our parishioners as well as for all those who are interested to know more about our parish. This website will be updated regularly and you will enjoy browsing its contents. All the material that is found in the recently published ST. JOSEPH CHURCH DIRECTORY is available in this website. There will be interesting sections that will keep you interested to brows this site. Bishop Agnelo Gracias, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bombay will inaugurate the website. This is to celebrate the blessings our parish enjoys under the patronage of St. Joseph who has never said ‘no’ to our requests and petitions. May God be glorified on this wonderful day of the BIRTHDAY OF MARY OUR MOTHER. AMEN.

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