[The homilist was away on August 3.]

2025 Aug 10 SUN: NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Wis 18: 6-9/ Ps 33: 1. 12. 18-19. 20-22 (12b)/ Heb 11: 1-2. 8-19/ Lk 12: 32-48

About 60 years ago, there was a popular song that began "Don't Know Much About History." Well, as we think about that opening line, we must understand that you and I, in fact, must know much about history.

There are people who say that history repeats itself. We've heard people say that it doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme -- an interesting thought. And we also heard it said that those who do not know the mistakes of the past will be condemned to repeat them. So we have all these ideas about history, and in the case of believers in Jesus Christ, we understand that God intervenes in our history in surprising ways.

We start today considering Old Testament times. In Hebrews, we do have an account of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who came to know God. And in the case of Abraham and Sarah, it came about in a most remarkable way by their having a son, Isaac, in their old age. 

The Book of Wisdom describes the Exodus from the slavery of the children of Israel in Egypt. Again, God is intervening in human history in a surprising way. And then we come to the Gospel, and we understand that these words of Jesus have to do with His bringing all things to completion.

You know, we talk about that quite a bit during the season of Advent. People talk about the end of the world, and the idea that seems to be behind that is, well, everything's over, but that's not what it means. When we come to what we call the last day, it is the last day because time is over, and we enter into timelessness. And we forever will be able to praise our God. We will be able to behold Him. 

Now, again, we tend to think of this as somewhat forbidding, rather scary. We think of a judgment, and we imagine that we will just squeeze in by a hair. But we have to consider what is going on in this Gospel passage, in this parable. Jesus is setting up a situation in which we imagine ourselves as servants at some great estate. And we are hoping that it appears to the Master that we are at our jobs, and we hope that He will look favorably upon us and not fire us and allow us to keep our jobs.

Jesus is describing something utterly different. He is saying that when the Master meets the servants, He will surprise them. He will say, "I am so happy to see you that I want you to recline at the table, and I will wait on you." That's something we do not expect.

But if we are truly to appreciate the love that our God has for us, we need to reflect on that idea. So as we think about the course of history and our brief moments within it, we remember that time is followed by timelessness. And that timelessness as we gaze upon the loving face of our God forever will be filled with great joy.

2025 Jul 27 SUN: SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Gn 18: 20-32/ Ps 138: 1-2. 2-3. 6-7. 7-8 (3a)/ Col 2: 12-14/ Lk 11: 1-13

We can take the second reading today to provide a foundation for what is being discussed in the first reading and the Gospel. So from St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, we have a statement about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the sacrament of baptism. He says that each of us in our baptism has been joined with the death of Jesus and with his resurrection. So these are gifts. This is a mystery which we are living now. And if we are aware of how great this gift of baptism is, we will understand how to pray and particularly we come to understand that we must pray in order to emphasize and affirm the relationship which is set up because of this entry into Jesus' Paschal Mystery. So in the first reading we have Abraham bargaining with God. And there really is no definite conclusion here and in fact Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. But this bargaining that Abraham carries out is a sign to us of the mercy of God. And we must have mercy on our minds when we pray. We say God is merciful; we must be merciful as well. 

So we come to the Gospel. We have a parable and we are called to imagine someone who has called it a night and locked the door and gone to bed. And then at midnight somebody comes knocking with this request. And it is a perfectly normal thing to say, "I can't do that." But Jesus says it is because of persistence that the man in bed will get up and give what the petitioner is asking for. I always want to edit one of the lines in here. Jesus says he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. I always want to read it: He will get up to give him whatever he needs just to get rid of him. 

And then we have the promise from Jesus. Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. We understand that [in] living the mystery of being united with our God, prayer is essential to that relationship. And yes, we ask for many things, but again going back to our foundation in baptism, we come to understand that our God has given us many things, many things which we never thought of asking for. We have our life, we have our health, we have the company of the people that God has put into our lives and they are gift to us. Jesus says if you ask, you will receive the Holy Spirit and that could be like looking at a box we haven't unwrapped. We still need to find out who that Holy Spirit is and what strength God the Holy Spirit gives us. So we need to consider these things about prayer and realize that prayer is not merely petition, it is also thanksgiving. And we enjoy and indeed revel in our relationship with our God as along with the petitions we give thanks for everything.