32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2007

[Fr.Paul Weinberger]

Homily by:
Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 28, 2007

"The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.



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

Amen

Over the last twenty-five years something is happening that has happened in every age since Christ came and established His Church. There have been scandals in the Church. Remember the scandal of Holy Thursday night when all of the apostles fled from Jesus. Only St. John was at the cross.

The scandals of the last twenty-five years or so have been particularly egregious because of the nature of the scandals. It is rather easy to find Catholics who will solve the puzzle that apparently has plagued so many. Some quack Catholic might say that if priests could marry the problem would be solved. It wouldn't! Over the last 30 years we have the examples of Pope John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was the mother to so many children. She raised other people's children. Have you ever had the occasion to say that while Blessed Mother Teresa was good she could have been better had she married and raised her own family. It sounds so flat...Or try putting Pope John Paul II in that scenario. He helped so many families in tremendous ways but it could have been better had he married? It just comes out wrong, doesn't it?

You can see that if it serves for nuns like Mother Teresa it would of course serve for her masculine equivalents. Yet Catholics have time and time again answered this the easy way instead of engaging other Catholics or non-Catholics with this Gospel. This is the first time in the history of the world that this Gospel has been read in a Catholic Church! This is ground-breaking! NO, it's not and it is obviously what Our Lord is saying.

Yesterday I went to St. James Parish is Dallas. Many of you were there for the Mass in honor of the woman selected by Mother Teresa to be her successor, Sister Nirmala. Sister Nirmala is now the Superior General for all of the Missionaries of Charity. It was such an honor to see her there and hear her speak. The beauty of her life has been her focus on God and her hope for the resurrection. We know that Sister Nirmala is doing this so that she can get a big fat golden parachute and retire. No, that is not it. She is pointing to the Resurrection and is hoping to be repaid on the other side. The fact that Sister Nirmala is following in the footsteps of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta is of no surprise to us. The sisters live disciplined lives for the betterment of everyone who comes in contact with them except Christopher Hitchens who is obviously in terrible spiritual shape. He writes against Mother Teresa. We know there had to be someone who did. At least he is not American.

The example of these two people and the fact that Pope John Paul II supported Mother Teresa and vice a versa show us that great things happen when today's gospel reading is taken on face value. The scandals of the last 25 years and those scandals going back even as far as the Borgia popes are always due to the fact that today's Gospel was not followed. When discipline is present others are served.

Today is Veterans Day. Were is not for the men and women in our military our country would be attacked and plundered.

A couple of days ago was the Feast of Pope Saint Leo the Great. He stopped the barbarians just outside of gates. They were planning on sacking and destroying Rome, raping and pillaging on their way to their next city/victim. We know this could happen here and that is why we have a military to defend us. We believe it is possible for our country to be plundered and that is why we lock our doors and windows. We take precautions. The disciplined men and women on our military serve us.

The gospel today tells us that a Sadduccee was trying some lawyer trick on Jesus in discussing the situation of 7 brothers. Both the first reading and gospel today talk about 7 brothers. If you get a chance read both First and Second Maccabees. They are tremendous books of the Old Testament. The first reading is obviously about fanatics. They had 7 children and only fanatics would have 7 children. The seven brothers here area disciplined young men. Their parents have raised them well. We know this because they are disciplined when faced with sinning against God or saving their lives. One of the young brothers says as he is about to have his hands cut off that he received his hands from God and expects to receive them again from Him at the Resurrection. He believed so intensely that it affected him right then and there.

We should see in the Gospel today the treasure that the Church has at its disposal. In this case the Gospel is talking about the discipline of celibacy that certain men and women undertake for the service of others. We can see this is vowed religious and in the priesthood.

Pope John Paul II was a priest and chosen to be the successor of St. Peter and his life was at the service of others just like that of Mother Teresa. They both lived disciplined lives and we all benefited from that. Family life is similar. Disciplined parents help mold their children. I was recounting to a friend recently that even though I grew up within a mile of Buckner's Children's Home my father never stopped the car and ordered me out! I am surprised with all of the times that I tried his patience. He didn't even joke about it but I am sure he was tempted.

Parents exercise discipline every day but it goes unnoticed. Missionaries of Charity, men and women religious, priests and others exercise discipline every day and that too goes unnoticed. Some do notice. For example, my first grade teacher in San Antonio, Sister Annette is still teaching. It was studying with Sister Annette day after day that I began to think about being a priest. Sister Annette and the others in her order were good religious. If any one had deserved being hit with the ruler it was me, but she never did. The sisters were so good and pointed to the Resurrection.

The world has a great hold on us and yet we fail to diagnose the problem. I will give you a test right here and now. What if I demanded that all present here must return to this parish on Thursday night at Midnight? And don't forget to resume your exact positions here. What would you say? Well you might say that Father is a big crazier than usual today. We are not coming. We have work the next day or whatever. Now let's fast forward just one week and now it is Thanksgiving. Did you know that the busiest shopping day of the year is the day after Thanksgiving? A lot of stores open at 5AM and now some are opening at Midnight. When these stores open there will be crowds pushing and shoving at the doors. There will be an undisciplined mob at the store. Folks might even camp out to get this toy or that phone...You know where I am going with this. We can be disciplined in worldly ways about what we want. I have asked kids how they get what they want from their parents. They have told me that they ask again and again and again. I told them that if they want to go to Church they needed to ask and ask and ask mommy and daddy. You see when it serves us we don't mind nagging. We need to be more disciplined on the things that will take us all of the way to Heaven.

This week's cover picture is that of St. Josaphat. This picture is better than last year's. Chris just took this picture when he was in Rome in September. St. Josaphat's body is in an altar just to the right of the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica. He was martyred in 1623 and he was a zealous archbishop at a time and a place where people didn't care to be in union with Rome and with the popes that succeeded St. Peter. Yesterday's feast was that of Pope Saint Leo the Great and at one of the councils that he attended another bishop said that Peter spoke when Pope Leo spoke. St. Josaphat understood this. He spent his life trying to reunify the Church. One day he said to the people that one day he hoped that God would accept his life so that he could be a martyr for unity with Peter. Several days later he was pulled from his house, stripped totally naked, had dogs attack him, his body was then cut up in pieces and put into a net. The net was weighted down with rocks and thrown into the deepest part of the lake. Some Catholics fished his body out and his body in now in that altar at St. Peter's.

St. Josaphat was a very disciplined man. The seven young men from the first reading were very disciplined men. They would not eat the pork. They would rather die. The discipline they had and the discipline we should have is so obvious that the Lord wishes for there to be people living in this day and time pointing beyond ourselves. What would you say if I told you that sometime today you should go to the cemetery to pray the Rosary with your family? It is Veterans Day and the Lord's Day. You would probably say, "Forget it." You see it is a nice day and it would be great to go outside but....Now you can see where your kids get it from. We are at crossed purposes because of our lack of discipline. Our Lord shows us how ridiculous we can be. These Sadduccees were laying a trap for Jesus and Jesus showed them Moses and turned the trap back around on them. Those who would say that the Church would be richer if we didn't have the treasury of the Missionaries of Charity, the good priests and nuns, Pope John Paul II, and all of those who were disciplined and worked for the good of the Church down through the centuries. We are so gullible that we would easily take the cow to market and exchange it for three beans like Jack and the Beanstalk.

Yesterday after Mass in Dallas I stopped by the hospital in Greenville to anoint a man who was dying. I had never met this man before. I got back right after the scheduled Confession times. I didn't have to call ahead and say to my wife that I was going to be late for her special anticipatory Veterans' Day meal or whatever. Instead I did as a priest does and took care of other people's children.

Jesus Christ, at the age of 33, was far beyond the typical age that Jews would have entered into marriage. Most Jews at that time were married at 12 or 13. Those marriages were arranged by their parents for good reason. Most people didn't live into their thirties. Jesus was 33 when He was crucified. Jesus was not married. He had no wife. Don't listen to what Dan Brown said in the Davinci Code.

The Lord, Himself, took as His Bride, the Church. The Missionaries of Charity take care of other peoples children today. They care for the ones that others step over. Each morning after Mass and prayers and a Holy Hour the sisters go out in pairs looking for their Spouse, Jesus, in His Most Distressful Disguise as the poorest of the poor.

The only problem that the Missionaries of Charity have is that so many bishops what MC houses and there are not enough sisters to go around. I thought that celibacy was bad. No, it is only when we don't follow the gospel and live it correctly.

Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

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

Amen

transcribed by Lori