All Saints' Day Homily

Revelation 7:2–4, 9–14
1 John 3:1–3
Matthew 5:1–12a

The main motif for our celebration today is found in the title for the solemnity: “All Saints” with the accent on the first word “all.” The phrase “all of the saints” is repeated in each of the three official prayers that mark our liturgy beginning with the opening collect. We are perhaps a bit prejudiced to the second of the two words, namely “saints.” And so we start looking for models of holiness. But the liturgical texts and the scriptural readings are not so skewed. “All” is also an operative word today.

This comes to us clearly in the visions of John the seer. The seer doesn’t just see saints, he sees numbers. He sees the numbers of those marked by the seal of the living God. The number 12 is at the root of his first vision. He sees the number 12 squared and then multiplied by 1000. All of this means simply that he is not really able to count the numbers. But he is deeply impressed by these numbers. What he is seeing is the Israelite community symbolized by 12, the number of tribes. He sees the whole community of Israel in vast numbers. He sees them all and sees them marked as belonging to the living God. He sees that those who belong to God are saved. He sees all the holy ones, the saints of Israel, restored. You have to be a visionary to be able to see the whole community.

His second vision is also about numbers and this time, he says they are beyond counting. But he sees them and sees that all of them come from every nation, race, people and tongue. What does he see, then? He obviously is having a vision of all of humanity gathered before God and the Lamb. It is this vast multitude of a diverse humanity that he is trying to describe. He is trying to say he is seeing all who have been touched by the blood of the Lamb.

John the seer is giving us two visions to help us think in terms of all–the whole community, the whole of humanity touched by the life and death of the Lamb. We find it hard to see all, to see the whole. It is easier to see one, to see the individual face. It is true each one in the all is an individual with a face and a story. But today is about the crowd, the masses, the whole lot of Israelites and Jews and those of humanity for whom faith in Christ has brought about a new existence.

Today we have to step back a bit from individual holy people we may have met as exemplary and courageous in faith they may have been. Today we have to imagine ourselves as standing with all kinds of people, in all kinds of dress, who eat all kinds of food and speak languages beyond comprehension….today we are asked to see ourselves with them standing before the throne and acknowledging with them that we aer saved only by God and the blood of the Lamb. The only part of their story we need to know is that in Christ they took on a new life and remained faithful to it.

Today we remember that we are part of something much, much larger than we can imagine, see or touch. We are part of a community of men and women that stretches back in time to Moses and the garden. Members of a community that will stretch forward to a moment when we will be so transformed that like the seer John we will actually see all as God and the Lamb see all. That is our goal. We will be part of a universality reconciled to God by the blood of the Lamb. Oh blessed day, when we can see all the saints…

~ Fr. Joel Macul, OSB

Homily - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2019

Our Prior, Fr. Joel Macul, OSB, presided at Holy Mass this morning. His homily is below:

Amos 8:4-7
I Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13

The prophets in Israel were not people to be messed with. And Amos was one of those prophets you would rather not see walking in the streets of your city. It was not because prophets were walking around predicting the future that made people uncomfortable. It had more to do with the fact that they spoke out loud what was really going on in the present. The prophets told it like it was and they didn’t mince words. Amos must have frequented the market place and the shops. He could see beyond the pleasant smiles of the sales person. He heard the conversation in the back room. He listened to business people talking about when the Sabbath and the New Moon feast will be over so that they could get on with making another dollar. It might sound like a conversation leading up to a rationalization for keeping shops open on Sunday. It is not a mater of convenience; it is a matter of finding another way to make more money.

In 8th century BC Israel, Amos knew very well what was happening in the economic and social life of the country. And his word, or rather God’s word he spoke, is directed against it. The system set out to make the landowner wealthier but at the expense of the poor and those in need. More money was to be had, at someone else’s expense. From Amos’ point of view the system in Israel developed to the point where it was not longer a reflection of the covenant that God has made with his people. The economic system had shifted and become a sin against the commandments and covenant.

The Word today clearly makes us stick our nose into the reality of money, wealth and possessions. The Word is concerned about how money and wealth are made, or accumulated. And the Word is equally concerned about what to do with it. Money is not something that can be avoided. It is part of human life; the exchange of goods and services is part of everyday life. But there is a value to money and wealth more than the numbers on the bills, coins and stock certificates. The value comes from the position we give it in relation to the whole of life. If we live in a society that deems having and possessing as a high value, as a reason for living and working, then all our energy will be focused on finding better ways of getting, having, possessing and consuming. Money and wealth are something to be fought for. In the struggle to acquire, we slowly lose sight of the methods of how the things are gotten. If convenience and speed are objects worth pursuing, then we will invest much to make that happen. But probably we will lose sight of how it is we are able to have so much at our fingertips when we want it. Amos had a clear vision of things; he saw very well how some people in Israel were getting richer. And he saw quite clearly that it was the poor, the needy, the immigrant, the common laborer who were being taken advantage of.

What is disturbing about the prophet Amos, as is the case with all prophets, is that what he sees God sees. Better perhaps is that he follows where God is looking. As a true prophet, his response is really God’s response, God’s word to what he sees happening in the economic-social arrangement of the day. What is disturbing is that when God sees, then the prophet makes sure we see who and what God sees. God sees those who are affected by the business deals, namely, the poor. And in his seeing, God makes it clear on whose side he stands: the side of the needy, the lowly, the poor. The final words of the oracle today should pierce our heart and consciences: “Never will I forget a thing they have done.”
If our God remembers, then he remembers the victim of other people’s greed and selfishness, the exploited. He remembers if a land is raped to make someone else rich. We are called upon today to hear the Word of God through Amos so that we do not forget where our God stands. Not only does he stand with the poor, but he stands with them because they have become the victims of injustice, of an imbalance in human relationships, and imbalance between human beings and the earth, the common home of all that lives. God sees and understands what the poor see and experience. Those living by the covenant of God, namely you and I, are meant to find ourselves seeing with the eyes of God. And since we are in relationship with God, we are called upon to become part of restoration of the use of this world’s goods and wealth. Jesus and the Kingdom are precisely how God remembers the exploited.

Jesus tells a parable today that is strange by all accounts. A manager or steward who decides to reduce his master’s debts actually gets commended for his cleverness in spite of the fact that he was caught squandering the master’s property. The question inevitable arises is Jesus condoning playing around with someone else’s property? Thinking about that doesn’t get too far. Jesus is not above using shady characters or less than likeable people and situations to speak about God and his Kingdom. It is Jesus’ power as a story teller that he can use the most human situations, filled with ambiguity and even bad ethics, to make us sit up and take a look at how God works.

What comes across clearly is that the steward-manager finds himself in a crisis. His squandering of the property of someone else has caught up with him. He is being fired. He must now take the consequences. And the consequences, we hear him say, are not at all appealing. The crisis he finds himself in forces him to take action. Admittedly, it is a self-serving action, but he wakes up to the situation and responds. He is commended in the parable for being astute enough to act in way that involves relationships rather that possessing.

Crises often make us act. We often come to find resources that we did not know were there all along. Amos and Jesus are speaking out of a crisis. The crisis is not money or wealth per se. The crisis is that something has been forgotten. Wealth and money are subordinate to primary relationships. And primary relationships are founded not on possessing or gaining but on being responsible for what is gift in the first place. The network of human relationships is a treasure, a treasure initiated by God. The relationship with the earth itself is grounded on responsibility. It is ours to care for, not exploit at the expense of others.

If we are children of light, as Jesus says, then we should see a crisis when the covenant between God and humanity, humanity and the world is cracking and becoming loose. The way to restore the fracture, the broken relationships will be through the new covenant in Jesus, the one mediator, the one who can hold all things and people together. It is he who can teach us how to live with others in a way that enhances human dignity, that treats others as neighbors and not objects to be exploited or commodities to be bartered away. He can teach us that wealth is a blessing to be shared and not hoarded. He can teach us that who we are and what we have is a gift to be nurtured and loved. Our way of life is not one of taking but one of giving thanks and of blessing the one from whom all good things come.

Prior, Fr. Joel Macul, OSB



Homily - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time-2019

Homily by Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB

LK 14:1.7-14
Sir 3:17-18.20.28-29
Hebr 12:18-19.22-24

FOCUS: Being a Christian makes it possible for us to be humble, to be realistic and to be humorous.

Dear sisters and brothers in the faith, St. Francis of Assisi once traveled together with one of his brothers minor who came from a noble and influential family. Francis was weak and ill and, therefore, rode on an ass. The companion, weary from walking, thought of his noble birth and was irritated by the fact that he had to trot behind the son of a merchant who, in turn, was using a riding animal.

To his amazement, the saint suddenly dismounted from the ass and said, “It occurred to me that it’s very improper for me to ride while you are walking, even though you were a great and powerful man in society!”

Now the brother began to weep, his heart was really touched; and red with shame, he confessed to St. Francis the vain thoughts that had gone through his mind. The great humility of the saint made it possible for his follower to recognize his wrongful attitude.

In today’s gospel Jesus speaks about the places of honor at a wedding feast; and he gives the advice not to choose the place of greatest honor: a more eminent person could arrive late and then the person who sits at the place of honor may be asked to step down. Very embarrassing! One should rather choose the lowest place!

What Jesus is saying here is a rule for prudent behavior at social events. But it is more than that. “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The attitude of humility, which Jesus illustrates, isn’t only politeness. Rather it’s a way of viewing ourselves and others. Also, it shows something about our relationship with God.
Our English word humility comes from the Latin word humus, which means earth or ground. Humility means: being on the ground, connected with the earth; being grounded in the earth like a tree which is rooted and, therefore, stands firm. It cannot be overthrown by the wind. It means being down to earth, realistic. It means being aware of our reality, of who we really are.
The word humility is also related with humor. A humble person doesn’t take himself/herself too seriously and can smile or even laugh about himself/herself. Stories about Pope Saint John XXIII can come to mind here: Visiting a hospital, he once asked a boy what he wanted to be when he grew up. The boy said, “Either a policeman or a pope.” - “I would go in for the police if I were you,” the pope said. “Anyone can become a pope, look at me!”

Or: Saint John XXIII had a conversation with a newly appointed bishop who came to him—for the first time—in private audience and complained: “Holiness, since I received my new office I can’t sleep anymore.” – “Oh,” John answered with a compassionate sound in his voice, “the same happened to me during the first weeks of my pontificate. But then I saw in a daydream my guardian angel; he told me: ‘Giovanni, don’t consider yourself too important.’ Now I sleep again.” Pope John XXIII could sleep calmly in spite of his immense tasks because he was humble and humorous, because he viewed the working of God’s Spirit to be much more important that anything the he could do out of himself.

We are created by God according to God’s image and likeness. We are given, as Vatican II says, “the sublime dignity of the human person.” Humility means, seeing and acknowledging the good things within ourselves—and knowing that every good thing comes from God. All that we have, our strengths, our abilities and talents, all these are gifts from God. St. Paul writes, “It is no longer I who live. Christ lives within me.” And, “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple, that the Holy Spirit lives within you?” Our true reality is that the Triune God lives within us. Within us there is a place where God dwells in us. There our real worth, our dignity originates which we don’t have to earn and which nobody and nothing can take away from us. Humility means living this freeing message of Holy Scripture.

Dear sisters and brothers, being a Christian makes it possible for us to be humble, to be realistic and to be humorous. Aren’t we sometimes like St. Francis’ companion who was tempted to define himself through other people, in this case through the noble family into which he happened to be born?

Can we see ourselves in a way in the new bishop, worrying too much about what we, with our own strength, can do or can’t do? Jesus is calling us to humility today, to the fresh realization of where our true value comes from and of who ultimately can make our work fruitful and effective. Let’s open our hearts to this freeing gospel. If we do that then we don’t have an all too great need any more to seek the places of honor in life. Then we become similar the Christ who said about himself: “I am meek and humble of heart. My yoke is easy and my burden light.”
 ~Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB

Homily - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time-2019

Our Prior, Fr. Joel celebrated Holy Mass this morning. The video and text of his homily are below:

Isaias 66:18-21
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30

The question how many will be saved seems to be a perennial question. It was asked by sincere people in Jesus’ day. It is no less a concern among some Christians today.  The person in the story asks Jesus if only a few will be saved? The real question of course is am I among the group that will be saved? The next question is how do I make it into that small group? Jesus answers the questions with some pictures or images.

The first picture is that of the narrow door. Entrance into the Kingdom is not easy; first you have to find the door. We find Jesus along the way to Jerusalem. That travel detail might not mean much at first. We see Jesus moving along surrounded usually by a large crowd. They seem to like what he is saying. They find Jesus an attractive person to be with. They enjoy his company. They listen attentively to his words. Some even share a meal with him.

But the story says Jesus is headed for Jerusalem. But what does it mean that the goal of his journey is Jerusalem? What awaits him there? We know it already. What awaits him is his passing, his cross and his death. All Jesus words are really focused on getting us to see that his life is headed in that direction. His word to us has been: take up your cross each day and follow me. …. The people milling around may have lost that perspective as they see large crowds around Jesus, experience him as a wonderful person. There is no indication that the crowds are going to Jerusalem. Do the people know that the way to salvation will cost their lives? It doesn’t mean following Jesus on a dusty road for a while; it means bearing the same cross. Salvation cost Jesus his life. It will cost the same for any who are interested in the kind of salvation that Jesus is talking about. The narrow door into the Kingdom. What is it? Maybe it is the cross. Maybe it is really going up to Jerusalem with Jesus. It is taking the words of Jesus and living them out.

The narrow door, the way to salvation, may just mean doing God’s will even when it goes in an unexpected direction. Salvation means being stripped down, like Jesus, so we can fit through the door. We carry a lot of baggage on our journey of life. Nice things are in those bags, wonderful dreams. And there are many illusions in those bags also: illusions about life, about people, about situations. Carrying them can be a distraction from even finding the narrow door. Yes, we might have illusions about who is to be saved. If we carry them, we might have difficulty entering through the narrow door.

The next picture hits rather hard at our expectations of who is to be saved. In the next picture it is the Lord himself rising up and locking that door to the Kingdom so that no one else can enter. And we are shocked, as well we might be. “I don’t know you and I don’t know where you come from.” But what are we claiming as we loudly knock on the door? We are claiming that we know Jesus, we recognized him when he walked about among us. We know that he taught us. We even ate and drank with him. In other words we claim a solid and firmly established relationship to Jesus. Put it another way: we have been to Church regularly, we have shared in the Eucharist with Jesus; we have followed his teachings and the teachings of the proper authorities. How can the Lord now say to us, “I don’t know you” and lock us out of the Kingdom? What has gone wrong that we are not among the saved?

It is not enough to follow Jesus around, it is not enough to be familiar with what he said; it is not enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right people. It is not enough to make our relationship with Jesus look good.

The real following of Jesus makes demands that go beyond an appearance of what is good and right. Relationship with Jesus demands fidelity in all areas of life. Discipleship means living a life in harmony with the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord must take over our lives and becomes the norm not for the moment or when it is advantageous. Relationship with the Lord means making it all the way to Jerusalem. There is much more to a relationship than being seen in the company of Jesus. There is being faithful to the Lord when no one is around to watch or even care. There is living out our discipleship when we feel abandoned by friends and family. Last week Jesus warned us that a relationship with him would bring about division among our other relationships. That is part of the experience of the narrow door. In the end there will be no crowds with acclamations; only a man hanging on the cross and a few, very few, faithful followers to weep.

The last image Jesus offers us as a response to the question of how many will be saved is the feast or the meal in the Kingdom of God. This scene has to do with expectations. Those who were quite sure they had the dinner invitation right are those who find the host turning them away on the last day. Those who though they had a place with the ancestors now find themselves only looking in through the windows but not sitting at the table. The ones who thought they were among the acceptable because they had done the right things and maintained relations with the right people are now outside. But the reality is the table seems to be rather full. And notice, they are not people who could have known Jesus or heard him in their streets. They are those who lived far away from Jesus’ place. They lived at another time and place. They come from east and west, north and south—the whole family of humanity is now invited and is sitting at the table in the Kingdom. These are the saved. The names of the countries they come from in Isaiah are old names. Today they are the people from Somalia, Libya, Ukraine, Congo, Kirabati, Guatemala, Tibet, Kashmir, Myanmar, Mexico and so on.

Jesus is again breaking the expected, the assumed. What is being shattered is any thought that I have a right to be in the Kingdom. Being related to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not a guarantee of a place in the kingdom. Or even more, just being in the company of Jesus doesn’t mean you enjoy the final meal. Jesus is at least letting us know that you and I cannot claim entrance because we are part of the club. He is letting us know that salvation is not just for our group, our church, our people. Salvation is a real possibility for those whom we might not consider inviting but whom God wants at the table.

The narrow door is for those who set aside their right to be in the Kingdom. Instead, and this is the paradox, the narrow door is having the vision of God as found in Isaiah, the breadth of humanity coming to the Lord in Jerusalem. Or the vision of humanity from the compass points of the earth seated at the banquet in the Kingdom. The narrow door is really a vision that sees and thinks as God sees and thinks. Jesus’ point is that God makes his own choices. He does the inviting and he does the saving. The Kingdom is always his. He is the host at the final banquet. We do not determine who is in and who is out. Our task is to be on the road following the Lord to Jerusalem. Our task and responsibility: you find salvation in dying to self and rising in the new creation Jesus establishes in the resurrection.

Fr. Joel Macul, OSB

 

Holy Mass - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Adam Patras celebrated Holy Mass at St. Benedict Center with many guests and benefactors in attendance.

Isaias 66:18-21
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30

The question how many will be saved seems to be a perennial question. It was asked by sincere people in Jesus’ day. It is no less a concern among some Christians today.  The person in the story asks Jesus if only a few will be saved? The real question of course is am I among the group that will be saved? The next question is how do I make it into that small group? Jesus answers the questions with some pictures or images.

The first picture is that of the narrow door. Entrance into the Kingdom is not easy; first you have to find the door. We find Jesus along the way to Jerusalem. That travel detail might not mean much at first. We see Jesus moving along surrounded usually by a large crowd. They seem to like what he is saying. They find Jesus an attractive person to be with. They enjoy his company. They listen attentively to his words. Some even share a meal with him.

But the story says Jesus is headed for Jerusalem. But what does it mean that the goal of his journey is Jerusalem? What awaits him there? We know it already. What awaits him is his passing, his cross and his death. All Jesus words are really focused on getting us to see that his life is headed in that direction. His word to us has been: take up your cross each day and follow me. …. The people milling around may have lost that perspective as they see large crowds around Jesus, experience him as a wonderful person. There is no indication that the crowds are going to Jerusalem. Do the people know that the way to salvation will cost their lives? It doesn’t mean following Jesus on a dusty road for a while; it means bearing the same cross. Salvation cost Jesus his life. It will cost the same for any who are interested in the kind of salvation that Jesus is talking about. The narrow door into the Kingdom. What is it? Maybe it is the cross. Maybe it is really going up to Jerusalem with Jesus. It is taking the words of Jesus and living them out.

The narrow door, the way to salvation, may just mean doing God’s will even when it goes in an unexpected direction. Salvation means being stripped down, like Jesus, so we can fit through the door. We carry a lot of baggage on our journey of life. Nice things are in those bags, wonderful dreams. And there are many illusions in those bags also: illusions about life, about people, about situations. Carrying them can be a distraction from even finding the narrow door. Yes, we might have illusions about who is to be saved. If we carry them, we might have difficulty entering through the narrow door.

The next picture hits rather hard at our expectations of who is to be saved. In the next picture it is the Lord himself rising up and locking that door to the Kingdom so that no one else can enter. And we are shocked, as well we might be. “I don’t know you and I don’t know where you come from.” But what are we claiming as we loudly knock on the door? We are claiming that we know Jesus, we recognized him when he walked about among us. We know that he taught us. We even ate and drank with him. In other words we claim a solid and firmly established relationship to Jesus. Put it another way: we have been to Church regularly, we have shared in the Eucharist with Jesus; we have followed his teachings and the teachings of the proper authorities. How can the Lord now say to us, “I don’t know you” and lock us out of the Kingdom? What has gone wrong that we are not among the saved?

It is not enough to follow Jesus around, it is not enough to be familiar with what he said; it is not enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right people. It is not enough to make our relationship with Jesus look good.

The real following of Jesus makes demands that go beyond an appearance of what is good and right. Relationship with Jesus demands fidelity in all areas of life. Discipleship means living a life in harmony with the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord must take over our lives and becomes the norm not for the moment or when it is advantageous. Relationship with the Lord means making it all the way to Jerusalem. There is much more to a relationship than being seen in the company of Jesus. There is being faithful to the Lord when no one is around to watch or even care. There is living out our discipleship when we feel abandoned by friends and family. Last week Jesus warned us that a relationship with him would bring about division among our other relationships. That is part of the experience of the narrow door. In the end there will be no crowds with acclamations; only a man hanging on the cross and a few, very few, faithful followers to weep.

The last image Jesus offers us as a response to the question of how many will be saved is the feast or the meal in the Kingdom of God. This scene has to do with expectations. Those who were quite sure they had the dinner invitation right are those who find the host turning them away on the last day. Those who though they had a place with the ancestors now find themselves only looking in through the windows but not sitting at the table. The ones who thought they were among the acceptable because they had done the right things and maintained relations with the right people are now outside. But the reality is the table seems to be rather full. And notice, they are not people who could have known Jesus or heard him in their streets. They are those who lived far away from Jesus’ place. They lived at another time and place. They come from east and west, north and south—the whole family of humanity is now invited and is sitting at the table in the Kingdom. These are the saved. The names of the countries they come from in Isaiah are old names. Today they are the people from Somalia, Libya, Ukraine, Congo, Kirabati, Guatemala, Tibet, Kashmir, Myanmar, Mexico and so on.

Jesus is again breaking the expected, the assumed. What is being shattered is any thought that I have a right to be in the Kingdom. Being related to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not a guarantee of a place in the kingdom. Or even more, just being in the company of Jesus doesn’t mean you enjoy the final meal. Jesus is at least letting us know that you and I cannot claim entrance because we are part of the club. He is letting us know that salvation is not just for our group, our church, our people. Salvation is a real possibility for those whom we might not consider inviting but whom God wants at the table.

The narrow door is for those who set aside their right to be in the Kingdom. Instead, and this is the paradox, the narrow door is having the vision of God as found in Isaiah, the breadth of humanity coming to the Lord in Jerusalem. Or the vision of humanity from the compass points of the earth seated at the banquet in the Kingdom. The narrow door is really a vision that sees and thinks as God sees and thinks. Jesus’ point is that God makes his own choices. He does the inviting and he does the saving. The Kingdom is always his. He is the host at the final banquet. We do not determine who is in and who is out. Our task is to be on the road following the Lord to Jerusalem. Our task and responsibility: you find salvation in dying to self and rising in the new creation Jesus establishes in the resurrection.

Fr. Joel Macul, OSB

 

Homily - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time-2019

Seek and you shall find.JPG

Lk 11:1-13 Gen 18:20-32 Col 2:12-14

Focus: Those who ask God will receive, those who seek God will find.

Function: Jesus’ call to us is to pray persistently, trustingly, and with openness toward God’s will and God’s guidance for our lives.

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

A young man came to the abbot of a monastery and said, “I really like it here. But before I stay, I have one question. Does God do miracles?” The abbot looked at him and replied, “It all depends on what you think is a miracle. There are those who say that a miracle is when God does the will of the people, but we say that a miracle is when people do the will of God.”

In today’s gospel, we find Jesus at prayer. His disciples had seen him pray. So they approached him and asked him that he may teach them about prayer.

Part of Jesus’ answer is two parables. The persistence of the man knocking at his friend’s door finally moved the friend to open his home at midnight and fulfill the request. This was a major project: Quite possibly, in his small house with no light during the night, the friend had to climb over the sleeping bodies of other people who were laying on mats on the floor in the house in order to get to the door! But in the end everybody was awake anyway; and because he was a friend he knew he had to help! Persistence had the effect that the man did not walk away emptyhanded!

Or, Jesus says, think of a father whom his child asks for something to eat. Would a good father give anything harmful to his child? A snake instead of a fish, a scorpion instead on an egg? No, a good father wouldn’t do that. This was clear to every one of Jesus’ listeners. Even thinking of that made them shudder! Jesus’ conclusion: “If you then who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? ” If we pray with persistence and trust, we will receive the Holy Spirit with its fruits and gifts.

And Jesus teaches his disciples the “Our Father,” known to us as the Lord’s Prayer. The word that Jesus uses in his Aramaic language for Father was used by children. Abba – daddy. A very familiar and trusting address.

The first petitions in the prayer focus on God. “Father, hallowed be your name.” The name of a person in the Bible is this person’s reality. Thus this expression means, Father, may your reality, your presence, your gracious love, be experience by the people!

“Your kingdom come” says: O God, may your definitive reign on earth unfold, right here and now, which breaks down the boundaries that separate rich and poor, healthy and ill, men and women, clean and unclean, saint and sinner.

“Your will be done.” This line, found only in Matthew’s gospel, presupposes for Jesus that the will of our loving Abba-God is always salvation and happiness for human beings, even if doing the will of God may involve conversion, time and again..

Only then petitions for concrete human needs follow: for the daily bread, for forgiveness, for preservation in trial.

Dear sisters and brothers, Jesus’ message to us today is that those who ask God will receive, those who seek God will find, and to those who knock, God will open a door. Jesus’ call to us is to pray persistently, trustingly, and with openness toward God’s will and God’s guidance for our lives.

Here are some good questions for us to ask ourselves this morning:· How is the “Our Father” comforting to me? How do I find it challenging and difficult to live it? How can I practice persistent and trusting prayer in the morning, in the evening, and in the course of my day?

An elderly lady in Alabama, asked about her praying, said she always says these lines before saying the Lord’s Prayer itself: “Father, hallowed be your name…not mine; Your kingdom always…not mine
Your will be done…not mine.” She explained that this is a daily reminder to her to place herself humbly before God….as she begins her day…as she goes about her chores…and as she ends her day.

Indeed, as the abbot said to the young seeker, it is a miracle if we are really attentive to God’s will in our lives and do it. Thomas Merton (Thoughts in Solitude) once expressed it in this well-known way: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor, do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.” AMEN.

Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB

Holy Mass - Solemnity of St. Benedict - 2019

Below is a video of our Eucharistic Service this morning. The text from Fr. Joel’s homily follows the video.

Proverbs 2:1–9
Ephesians 4:1–6
Luke 22:24–27

It is an unusual choice of readings at Mass to find one from the wisdom literature in which the speaker is an elder, a wise person, a teacher speaking to a disciple. Even more unusual is it when the elder speaking of wisdom is understood to be an image or witness of a saint. Today’s choice from the book of Proverbs helps us to remember Benedict as the elder, the master of life in the Spirit. But the master who wants to teach and pass on that way of life.

But for us in the Benedictine family such a reading is not so unusual. We first meet Benedict in a similar fashion in the prologue to the Rule. He speaks to us in words that are so familiar to us: “Listen, my son, my child, to the master’s instruction, and attend to them with the ear of your heart” (RB Pro 1). In listening to a passage from Proverbs, we are reminded that the man we are gathered to remember and honor today is a man who stands solidly in the wisdom tradition. He is the elder who has observed life, lived it, found a way that is true and wants to draw us into it. Benedict is the wise person who has imbibed wisdom, wisdom about God and wisdom about being human.

It is easy to hear Benedict speaking to new comers, inviting them to life, to take up a way that leads to peace. But Benedict is also inviting us to listen beyond himself and to hear the voice of the Lord himself speaking to us from the Gospel. It is the Gospel wisdom, the Gospel way that will come to be our true guide, our regula, to new life that leads to final glory. In a masterful way Benedict steps aside so that the newcomer finds that the voice of the elder speaking wisdom to him is really the divine voice, the voice of God and the voice of Christ himself.

It is not inappropriate to hear Benedict and to listen to the word of the Rule as a word about a human way of life. It is not out of place to listen to Benedict as that wise person, the elder, the man of experience in ways human and yet divine. Benedict has discovered wisdom. He has sought and found what works. Wisdom as portrayed in our Scriptures is the order and harmony that God has placed in the world and the human heart. Benedict has discovered something of that way, its rhythm, its movements and it peace.

Perhaps what has kept Benedict alive and well over 1500 years is that his reflections are deeply human, they are rooted in the wisdom that we humans need to live well, peacefully and securely. The human wisdom of Benedict may not be showy and dramatic but it is always about the heart as he says in his first sentence and as the author in Proverbs likewise says in his first sentence. His wisdom can be found in small things: in keeping a candle burning in the sleeping quarters during the night, in making sure that the clothing fits, that people have the basic necessities, that there is a choice of foods, that one does not strike a fellow member if one is angry, that one learn how to speak and use words wisely, that people don’t make fun of or laugh at one another, that when you go out your clothes can look a little better than ordinary, that one needs to work, pray together and follow a schedule. Moderation in all things, he says, extremes don’t make for full human growth. This is just a little of the daily wisdom Benedict has experienced and passes on.

Today we remember Benedict the elder, the wise man, the master of life. Today the abba Benedict is the man with a word for us on how to live. We remember him today as the man who showed us a human and consequently wise and loving way to live with one another. Because we are rooted in a deeply human, therefore, wise way of life, it should be attractive. In a society where the ‘nones’, those who seemingly have no commitment to God in their lives, are increasing, it may happen that Benedict’s wise way may prove to be a way that speaks. It will speak because it is rooted in wisdom, wisdom which is from God, is of God and ultimately is the face of God. To live such a wise life already speaks of God and of a world and a human community that can be charged with love, beauty and goodness.

As we remember Benedict, the man blessed by God, let us be grateful for any and every bit of wisdom we have gleaned from being in this way of life. And let us also remember that every wise way opens and expands the heart so that wisdom’s gift of joy and peace will have a home in that heart.

Prior Joel, OSB

Homily - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time-2019

Isaias 66:10–14
Galatians 6:14–18
Luke 10:1–12.17–20

We all know the importance of greetings. We all had to learn the rituals of greeting others. There was the proper way to greet someone you didn’t know; there was the way of greeting family members or those who are friends. When we study another language, one of the first things we learn are the words of greetings. And when we get to that country, we quickly learn the gestures that must accompany those words: the handshake perhaps, and the kinds of handshake, or the folded hands or the bow. Greetings are important because that is how we make the first contact with a new fellow human being and how we continue that contact. We cannot do away with greetings. In the greeting is the beginning of the atmosphere for the trust and the talk that will follow.

The Gospels are full of the greetings of the Risen Jesus. “Peace be with you,” he says. And today we hear that the greeting of the Risen Lord is to be the basis of greeting of his disciples and followers: “Peace to this household.” But the greeting is more than the right words to say; it is more than a sound. The greeting is a word with power. In the greeting of peace, shalom, it is the reality of peace that comes toward the other. When the disciple greets with peace, that peace literally looks for a place to rest; it looks for a peaceful person. Peace, once spoken looks for a receiver. It looks for a home, looks for someone who will recognize it. It looks for a welcome. Peace is interpersonal by nature.

But we have to be careful here. When we greet with peace, we are not saying that we are the authors of that peace or that we created it. Rather we are sending out the word of power in which we stand. We stand in peace and so we offer that to others that we may stand together. Human beings are trying to let peace flow from one to another. But at times Jesus recognized it does not happen.

Peace is really a gift from God. It is an expression of God. God’s peace is finally given to us in and through Jesus, the risen one. It is Luke who makes it very clear that with the coming of Jesus, God’s peace has entered the earth. Such is the message the angels sing when Luke tells of the birth of the Messiah: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The old father of John the Baptist, Zachariah, sings of Christ as the Dawn shining from God that will allow us to walk in the ways of peace. Last week we heard Jesus setting out on his journey to Jerusalem. He does not journey empty handed. Jesus walks through Galilee and up to Jerusalem as a messenger of Peace. And after his resurrection, that is his greeting.

We understand that the death and resurrection of Christ is the great act of making peace. In the movement of Christ’s dying and rising, we are brought together, humanity, and even humanity and the natural world. Hostility is bridged and something is born. The cross draws together what was separated and stood in opposition to one another. There is a new sense of wholeness that happens with the resurrection and it is out of that wholeness that we greet one another.

The prophet Isaiah offers some images of what peace looks like. Isaiah is describing a restored Jerusalem, a city renewed and given back to a people who were in exile. A new home, as it were. It is the Lord who will make this happen and the first image he uses is that of prosperity spreading over Jerusalem like a river. Prosperity here is another word for shalom, peace. It is the sense of order, of being cared for. In Isaiah’s stock of images, it is to know the nurture and contentment of being fed by one’s mother, being held close, of being loved. Peace flows, flows like a river. Peace is not static. It is not a situation of a truce or a standoff. It has movement; it comes toward one and envelops all of one’s very being. Peace is something interpersonal, as interpersonal as a mother feeding a child.

We hear today how Jesus commissions 72 others and sends them out before him. His instructions include what they are to say in greeting and how they are to react to those who welcome them. These 72 others sent out by Jesus are another way of proclaiming that Christ is sending out his peace to the whole world. In the book of Genesis there is a table of the nations of the world. In the Greek version it comes to 72. For Christ to send out 72 disciples to be bearers of the greeting of peace is to say that God’s peace is flowing out from Jerusalem and beyond. God’s peace is all encompassing. And the first encounter with that peace is all in a simple greeting.

We are among those 72 being sent out to the ends of the earth. We carry a gift with us, a gift from God. As Jesus went visiting and brought peace and its power to heal with him, so we are sent out to visit those who need to know that God is working peace in their lives. We carry a message, a simple message: the message that in Christ God is still sending out peace like a stream. There are parts of our world, there is our time in human history that needs to hear this message, not as a dream but as a gift waiting to be accepted.

Remember, you and I are on a journey. According to Jesus we need not carry anything, at least material. That is not what we are bringing. Instead we carry a word a greeting and with that greeting we can we can open a door and give hope to others and begin to give them a glimpse of what the Kingdom really looks and feels like.

Fr. Joel Macul, OSB

Homily - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kings 19:16b, 19–21
Galatians 5:1, 13–18
Luke 9:51–62

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It so happens that this year we resume our reading of Luke’s gospel on Sundays at a turning point in the Jesus story. Though we have just finished celebrating the climax of Jesus’ life with his betrayal, death then resurrection and ascension in Jerusalem and its environs, we are now picking up the story at that point where Luke says “Jesus resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” In Greek Luke writes that Jesus “set his face toward Jerusalem.” It is clear that Jerusalem is more than just a geographical location. Jerusalem is a goal for Jesus. Jerusalem is where Jesus must go. Luke began his account in the temple in Jerusalem, his story of Jesus ends with the disciples returning to the temple each day after his ascension to praise God. In Acts the new community makes the temple the place where preaching the good news of the resurrection begins. And it is in the context of the temple that Paul finds out that he will leave from there and begin his journey to Rome.

Luke makes this journey to Jerusalem a key element in Jesus story. His days in Galilee are fulfilled. The next task is to head to Jerusalem to fulfill what the Messiah must do: suffer and die and in this way be taken up in glory. Luke collects many events, sayings and parables of Jesus and weaves them into this journey. This journey story is not just about Jesus setting out for Jerusalem, it is also about how the disciples journey with him. So it is today that we begin to learn something about being on our journey with Jesus.

You cannot get from Galilee to Jerusalem except by going through or around Samaria. The word Samaria or Samaritan is loaded. Jews and Samaritans do not mix literally. for the Jews the Samaritans are outcasts racially and religiously. When James and John approach seeking hospitality, they are rejected because the Samaritans hear they are going to Jerusalem. Samaritans had their own center for worship. Or is there perhaps another reason why they are rejected? Jerusalem for this journey means to suffer and die. Who wants to undertake a journey that will lead to suffering and death? Is this the road that leads to glory? For a true disciple it will mean embracing suffering and death as part of the transformation process that will release the new person that Jesus says comes with the Kingdom. Note how John and James react to being rejected! They want God to burn up the village. Is this the way of Jesus who has been preaching mercy and called disciples to be compassionate like the heavenly Father? Is violence the response to rejection or not getting things my way, our way? Is a simple rejection in hospitality met with a scorched earth policy? Jesus passes no judgement and in fact is rather practical: move on to a place where you will be received. The disciple is not about invoking violence when one’s way is not met, when one faces hostility in many forms. These two disciples are not displaying basic love of God and love of neighbor.

Jesus now offers instruction to three would-be disciples. The first approaches Jesus. He is ready for anything and says he will follow Jesus everywhere. We could say he is brashly self-confident. But Jesus challenges the boast with powerlessness. If you want to follow me, then you will have to be willing to do without the creature comforts that society may offer. A true disciple may find that he or she does not fit in with the very society in which he or she is actually living. There will be a certain sense of homelessness, of not fitting it, of somehow being on the edge. There will be the tension of belonging and yet not belonging. In the end, says Jesus, the Son of Man will be handed over for not quit fitting in. Are you willing to follow me for that? Your nest, your home: where is it really?

Jesus calls the next would-be disciple to follow him. BUT not yet. I have family obligations and they come first. The example is extreme perhaps. The would be disciple must wait till his father dies until he can follow Jesus! Jesus’ invitation to follow is an opening to a whole new way of life called the Kingdom of God. It asks for total commitment here and now. The opportunity that Jesus is offering is God’s offer for something that is totally new and totally engaging. It will change the way you viewed your previous life and commitments. It is a new perspective. One must grasp it now or it will slip through your hands.

The situation of the third would be disciple is similar. He wants to go get the blessing of his family. We could sympathize with this follower. It would seem appropriate to make sure that your family contacts are in order and they are with you before setting off on something new. If you don’t do that then you might be standing at the plow but looking back to see if they approve. Jesus’ point is clear. If following him is what attracts and holds you, then being faithful to that following will bring its own affirmation and a new family.

What should be clear is that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem knowing what that would mean. Remember, he backs up his determination to set out knowing that a prophet does not die outside Jerusalem. Those who follow him need to have that same determination. And the strength and determination for setting out on the journey with the Lord and the goal of the journey must be, as Jesus says, the Kingdom of God. Our life must be lived from the perspective of the Kingdom of God. And that Kingdom embraces within its perspective such issues as care for the environment, the loss of biodiversity, racial relations, treatment of migrants at the border, sexual abuse, dialogue between religions, social media—to name some issues in our contemporary society that desperately need a Kingdom viewpoint. As long as we live our lives from another perspective, the challenges of Jesus we hear today will rightfully and necessarily be echoing in our ears and hearts. Jesus makes the point that living in the Kingdom will look different from living the way the world would offer and expect.

Paul makes the point rather clearly today. If you live like the world might suggest, then you will go on biting and devouring one another. In the end you will be consumed by violence. The fire won’t come from above; it will come from within and destroy. The Kingdom’s Spirit, on the other hand, brings love and a freedom that allows for growth in the ways of the compassionate God.

Prior Joel, OSB

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