3rd Sunday of Lent 2007

[Fr.Paul Weinberger]

Homily by:
Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
3rd Sunday in Lent
March 11, 2007



All ate the same Spiritual Food and all drank the same Spiritual Drink for they drank from a Spiritual Rock that followed them and the Rock was the Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them for they were struck down in the desert; for these things happened as examples of us so that we may not desire evil things as they did. Do not grumble as some of them did and suffer death by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The famous engraving on the front of the bulletin is Jesus betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. The figure to the right of Jesus is obviously Judas Iscariot. If you look on the left shoulder of Jesus there is something very creepy up there. It is the very serpentine hand of this viper that is coming up to betray Christ. He has his other hand occupied as well. Judas is either pulling himself towards Christ or pulling Christ towards himself in order to betray Jesus with a kiss. The look of this Judas ready to betray Christ is all the more offensive to me because I can see myself in that position next to Christ. So many times in my life and perhaps the same can be said for you.

Judas was an apostle; one of the Twelve Apostles. If you recall I mentioned last week that only one of the Twelve Apostles was there at the foot of the Cross with Our Lady. One committed suicide and he is pictured on the front of the bulletin; the other ten were AWOL, absent without leave. They were studying the whole scene from a cowardly distance. These men had been personally chosen by God, Himself and look at the results; they all were taught by Jesus. These were the Twelve Apostles and Jesus is starting the Twelve Tribes of Israel over again and just look at the miserable results... at this thing about to betray Christ.

Christ instructed the Apostles personally. They walked and lived with Christ; they ate with Christ and they sat across the campfire from Christ. This was an intimate time that the Apostles spent with Our Lord and Judas betrayed Him.

The first reading talks about Moses. Moses was chosen by God to lead the people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. It took them 40 years to get across that desert.

The 40 days of Lent mirror the 40 years in the desert. During that time God gave the people the Law as training. Parents are familiar with this. For example, when teaching a child to ride a bicycle you go from a tricycle to a bicycle with training wheels because most children do better with the help of training wheels until they get the hang of it. When they are more able, you take off the training wheels and let them go.

It is the same way with the Law that Moses received from God. It was training in God's service, preparing them for something much better. God did not want to give them the Law and leave them with the Law. It is very much like primary and secondary education. Most of grade school and high school is training that is preparing the student to learn later on. The training consists of learning cursive letters and multiplication and things like that. It is a training preparing for something greater that is coming later on. That is exactly what the Law of Moses was, training for the Israelites. Some chose to go no further and just stop right there as if they wanted to spend their life in the desert instead of entering into the Promised Land and participating in the freedom that awaited them in the there. They stopped because they knew it was going to be difficult; some just turned around and went back into the desert because to serve and live in the holy land was not appealing to them. They would rather live in the desert with the law.

This figure of Judas on the cover of the bulletin is disturbing for many reasons. Contrast that face of Judas, which is so corrupt, with that statue of St. Joseph. Yesterday we started the novena, the nine days leading up to the 19th of March, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary. St. Joseph and Our Lady were husband and wife but Our Lady conceived her Child through the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Joseph and Our Lady did not have other children because they did not have That Child. The Child, Jesus, was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Joseph guarded the Holy Family. That was his post, his duty was to be the steward or guardian of the Holy Family. He was to watch over Our Lady and Her Child and to provide for them. You will notice the statue above the guardian angel is that of the Baby Jesus resting in the arms of St. Joseph, so near to his face. The Child is asleep, in peace, and at rest on the shoulder of St. Joseph. What an idyllic representation! The Child Jesus wouldn't be there if it weren't for the contents of the other arm of St. Joseph. In the other arm is the lily. The lily is the sign of purity and always synonymous with St. Joseph, and were it not for the purity of St. Joseph, he would not have that closeness and intimacy with Christ.

As St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote,

"No tickey, no washey!"

I think it was St. Thomas who wrote that.

"No purity, no Jesus."

It is not a punishment it is a prerequisite, like Moses taking off his sandals in His Presence. God required it of him. Look in that first reading and how when Moses realized that he was in God's Presence he covered his face with his hands. It is very different from this pose with St. Joseph. You see, God had planned all along to bring Israel out of slavery through the desert and train them and prepare them for the coming of Christ, so that they would no longer be slaves but that they could be friends. Christ says again and again that,

I no longer call you slaves but friends.

The image of Moses with his head in his hands is very different from that of St. Joseph and then contrast that with this image of Judas' face so near to Christ in the betrayal.

If you look in the bulletin at the readings that we just read and focus on the first reading, you can see the Collect, the opening prayer, right above it. The English translation,

"Father you have taught us to overcome sins by prayer, fasting and works of mercy. When we are discouraged by our weakness, give us confidence in Your Love."

Prayer, fasting and works of mercy… if this is the first time you have heard these three mentioned together where have you been? This is the Third Sunday of Lent. Don't worry but take note. Where have you been? We have been charged with dedicating ourselves since Ash Wednesday, to prayer, fasting and doing acts of mercy. But don't worry, we still have time. We can catch up and we can do more. This image of purity is celebrated on the 19th of March, just nine days from yesterday.

St. Joseph is a model for purity for all of us, but especially for men since we are more visually attracted to the things of this world. Visual things have more of an attraction it appears, on men than on women, and I am talking here about things relating to purity. As men we have to battle this on a level that appears greater than women ever have to do with of course, exceptions.

So, I want to deal with purity because without purity there is no intimacy with Christ. It is a prerequisite. It is an absolute obligation. No purity no Christ. Many people here today probably have computers. When you check an email and you see there in the email that a virus or a worm is included in the email you are not going to open that email, you are going to delete it. Then you will call your provider to find out why that wasn't filtered out. That could have ruined everything relating to your computer because a virus or a worm will just bore through programs and files. Instead of the computer working and responding to programs the whole thing will just seize up because holes will have been made through your computer like Swiss cheese but not good even for a sandwich. You will have to throw it away and get a new computer.

The same obvious results happen with impurity in our lives. I am talking about impurity with TV, cable, DVDs, VCRs, computers, and printed material. These are readily at hand in our lives. Even somebody's cell phone, or the car ahead of you could have it on a drop down screen. There are temptations against purity all over the place and we fail to recognize what incredible damage can occur by not opposing this impurity and walking right into the mall of impurity.

The same thing that happens to the computer happens to the individual. Think of it with your dog. You break a little pill over the food; it is a heartworm pill. You have to get your dog to swallow it or any worms that it comes into contact with bore holes right through the little heart and Fido just drops over. The same thing could happen with us if food is not prepared correctly. Certain worms could pass into our bodies and when it is not heated to the proper temperatures the worm survives and then bores holes through internal organs. Great pains begin to appear and the body begins to shut down. The same thing happens on the spiritual levels with things that are impure, and it goes right past us. The
havoc that can be wrought with impurity is definitely underestimated by this generation.

We are so much influenced by people like Descartes who said that we are essentially a body and a soul but with no connection between the two, or interplay between the two. When something impure comes into our vision and we begin to entertain the thought it begins to cause in the soul and the person's life the same kind of havoc that worms can do to your dog.

Let's look at the parasites that have been around us recently, a virus or bacteria that goes through an entire family. A lot of people end up missing work or losing their voice, RIGHT? Look at what a little virus or bacteria can do on the physical level. The same thing does occur with things that are impure and so we need to avoid those things that will cause us incredible harm.

I have heard too many times from children about the impure things they have seen on TV, videos, or on the computer, that has taken away their innocence at a very young age. Parents should try everything to guard the innocence of their children as long as they can because such havoc can fall upon the young. This image of purity should be considered the next time you turn on your TV, computer, or watch a movie, or even pick up the paper.

Each time you pick up the Dallas Morning News you look at these articles and pictures that are temptations against purity. These temptations are everywhere so we have to be incredibly vigilant and our avoidance of it because it can really make things mis-fire and not have that intuition that helps us through life. The kind of intuition parents depend upon, parents seeing around corners or knowing what children are doing upstairs out of site. That is not merely parental intuition, but a grace from God and as the person who is living a life of grace and trying to raise a family you need all the help you can get.

Purity in our lives is indeed a fruit that God expects to find. In my life and in yours, with out a doubt this Gospel today of the fig tree with no fruit comes knocking at my door this lent and shakes me up. So I must do everything I can to make sure that when God is looking for fruit he finds the kind of fruit he is looking for.

Purity in the life of St. Joseph… St. Joseph wasn't God, but was a man just as we are and St. Joseph was able to maintain his purity as he was the guardian or foster father of Jesus as He was growing up. So it is possible when we claim that it is impossible. We have the saints staring right back at us saying it is possible. Blessed Mother Teresa, who recently passed away, as well as Pope John Paul II, it is possible to live lives pure. It is not easy in this world, but it is possible.

Lets move on from purity and look at another fruit that God demands to be on the tree of my life in the year 2007. God looked for the fruit in the lives of the Israelites and so many of them were found wanting. They all drank and ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; they drank from the same spiritual rock and the rock was the Christ. Yet, God was not pleased with most of them and they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things as they did. Jesus says the same thing in the Gospel today quoting those different things that have occurred.

“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?

Jesus explains that that is by no means the truth. He says again and again that if we do not repent we will all perish.

It is time to get on the stick about Lent. If you want to make up for lost time because so far you have frittered away Lent and perhaps you have done nothing with prayer, fasting and works of mercy and would like an "instant winner." So many people would like to just pay off the loans that they have and win the lottery. We have so many great plans and they are going to be fixed in an instant and it is totally possible in the spiritual life if we find this next fruit in our lives during Lent and after Lent. This "instant winner" is the fruit of forgiveness, pardon. This one really hurts. Talk about a Work of Mercy! What is a work of mercy if not forgiving someone from the heart. You have every reason to mad and to be unforgiving and every reason to hold a grudge but you also have every reason to forgive. I don't mean just forgiving and forgetting and allowing that person to treat you like a doormat. I mean putting it down and walking away from it because Our Lord demands it from me and from you. What were those words of Christ from the Cross?

Father forgive them they know not what they do.

I glory at those words.

The Mercy of God is so lavished on me through those words and I, benefiting from such Mercy, cannot produce mercy in my life. It is a challenge for me and it is a challenge for you. But suppose I choose not to forgive from the heart and I march up to receive Holy Communion, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ and I am also holding a grudge; the same thing is going to happen to me that happened to Judas at the Last Supper. They ate the same Spiritual Food at the Last Supper and drank the same Spiritual Drink at the Last Supper. They received Holy Communion from Jesus for the first time.

St. John says that when Judas received his Holy Communion light and grace did not enter into his soul rather evil and darkness entered into his soul. That is a great warning for me if I hold on to a grudge. If I do this I am putting my entire eternal life in peril. By holding onto that grudge I cannot receive the light and peace and the divine intimacy that I desire. Oh, you can receive Communion but Our Lord tells us not to in that disposition. We can do it (receive Holy Communion unworthily, like Judas) and evil and darkness will enter into our soul if we hold a grudge as we approach Holy Communion. Purity of heart will bear the fruit of forgiveness. If it means giving up the grudge to be intimate with Christ... do it. He calls us to be His friends not slaves. If you want to be a slave, hold a grudge. Hold it tight in your hand and you have made yourself a slave. To my discredit I have done it too many times in my own life. I am tired of being a slave I would rather be a friend of Christ.

I no longer call you slaves but friends.

I am going to move on to prayer now. That opening prayer mentions prayer, fasting and works of mercy.
The last six months I have marveled at Pope Benedict and how he has spoken about prayer in his general audiences. I have heard him speak about prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Rosary. If you would please now turn to page three in the bulletin you will see there on that page that the Divine Office is mentioned again and again. You see the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and also the Holy Rosary. The Liturgy of the Hours contains Evening Prayer orVespers, Night Prayer, which is Compline, Matins, Office of Readings, Morning Prayer and Lauds. This is an obligation that is mine as a priest. I have to pray the Divine Office for the good of the Church and my parishioners. It is an obligation and also a joy. And you know what happens with obligations. Obligations are things I gotta do and they are easily
depreciated.

I gotta say the Divine Office and I gotta get my tooth pulled.

These are two things that I don't especially look forward to.

The Liturgy of the Hours starts and it wraps itself around the world. It is like dominoes that stretch around the world. We are all on the same page so to speak, with the Liturgy of the Hours. It is an obligation and being human beings, I can easily look at that and say I am too tired and that I can't do that.

The Holy Father has been talking about the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary even during the week and noting that it is the only time in the day when we are free to move around. I mean any individual who prays the Divine Office, attends the Mass, or prays the Rosary. It is kind of like the astronauts in space who can float around without gravity. They have complete liberty of movement. That is what the pope is talking about.

Picture for a moment a maximum-security prison in the United States with one person to one cell with one bed, one toilet, one sink and one TV. All meals are brought to the cell and there is enough room to walk around. At these prisons, if the inmate respects the rules, the inmate can be let out and go to the recreation yard for ONE HOUR. He can walk around or exercise in almost freedom. They can see the sky. There are many inmates who drag themselves to the recreation yard even when they are ill because it is an experience of freedom, almost. If you can take the image of that inmate and instead of going to the recreation yard he is taken out of that prison, changed into his regular clothes from home and dropped into his regular environment in his hometown and he can walk around and do whatever he wants, that is the kind of image that the pope has been describing these last six months in reference to the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary. These three prayers, including the most perfect prayer, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, allow us a freedom of movement that is not experienced the rest of the day. After those prayers are concluded we go back to our cell.

I have a friend who is going through a lot of physical therapy and they are working and working the shoulder and the arm. It is like being the wishbone at Thanksgiving and being pulled apart. The only reason she goes is that at the end of the therapy they have a heating pad from Heaven and they do something that has electrical shock and when it is placed on the shoulder she has no pain for fifteen minutes. She can move that arm around as if she were a young girl. But then the contraption comes off and the pain returns. She can't wait to get back to physical therapy because of the great heating pad.

In the same way we look the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Rosary as things we have to do and when we are face to face with prayer at home by ourselves we are like animals caught in a trap and we can't wait to get out of there.

Hail Mary ful..o..gra...(praying at lightning speed).

We pray the Rosary at such speeds just to get through with it. That is not from God. This Lent it is recommended that we bear fruit. God's first words to Adam and Eve were,

Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.

Married couples are called to bear one kind of fruit but that is not the only kind of fruit. There are many married couples in the country that do not want children. They just forgot the first words of God to Adam and Eve and to us and they also forget the words of Christ in today's gospel. These words speak right to my heart as hard and encrusted as it is with sin. The saints are the ones to indict me. They lived in terrible circumstances that I will never face yet they lived lives of purity and forgiveness. They ran to prayer like I run from prayer, the way you run from prayer, specifically the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary. We have time to produce fruit but if you throw all of this away there will be a reckoning. Our Lord says it. We have time with prayer, fasting, and works of mercy. These are the ways the Lord can break up the soil around the roots of our lives with the hope that this year we will begin to produce spiritual fruit.

All ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them and the Rock was the Christ yet God was not please with most of them for they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as examples for us so that we might not desire evil things as they did. Do not grumble as some of them did and suffer death by the destroyer.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.