Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 24, 2006
Taking a child He placed in their midst and putting His arms around him said, “Whoever receives one child such as this in My Name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but One Who sent Me.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
The First Reading today is from the Old Testament, the Book of Wisdom. The wicked many says,
Let us beset the just one because He is obnoxious to us, He set Himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.
This is a direct hit on the Gospel because in the Gospel Jesus is telling them very clearly what is going to happen and that is that the Son of Man is going to be handed over to men and they will kill Him. The First Reading is saying something like this.
”You know, He says He is so gently; let us kill Him and see if He really is gentle.”
Then after the fact they decided that He was indeed gentle. We think to ourselves that this makes no sense because it doesn’t make any sense. There is no reasoning there; this is not how you discover if someone is gentle.
In the New Testament, the Lord was giving the Apostles a warning of what would happen but they were not listening to Him, they were listening to their own passions, as the Second Reading says so clearly. They were not tuned into the truth but to the jealousy, which is static to the truth. He gave them a warning, a heads up.
This week I heard about a warning and hopefully almost everyone has heeded this warning. The farmers who grow spinach have sent a warning out across the country not to eat it. Several people have died from e-coli bacteria on the spinach. Spinach is supposed to be healthy and this is probably the more expensive, organically grown spinach. If you happen to be aware of this and you sit down to lunch with a friend of your and they order a big designer salad with spinach factored into it, you would have to get their attention and you wouldn’t be quiet about it; you would tell them not to eat it.
We don’t like warnings. My particular warning that I do not like is when I dial a phone number in Dallas and I dial the one first. A recording comes on and it is like someone taking his or her fingernails and just scraping then across the blackboard. The voice on the recording says that it is not necessary to dial a one. It is as if the phone line was going to melt down because I put a one before the number.
”It is not necessary to dial one before placing this call”
It is not necessary to make that awful noise in my ear! They got me again and they are laughing. Maybe it is only my phone! Does it happen to you?
Warnings are necessary and our lives are filled with them. The warnings that Pope Benedict XVI gave in Bavaria were not heeded. If you look at the loose sheet we handed out, that is from Zenit, September 23, 2006. I chose it because this is a good explanation, easy to read and easy to understand. I have numbered the paragraphs just so I could refer to them easier and I underlined some important text. Look at number paragraph two. This is the spokesman for the Pope, Father Lombardi, and he is quoting the Pope specifically.
Rather than being an attack on Islam, "What emerges clearly from the Holy Father's discourses is a warning, addressed to Western culture, to avoid 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom,'"
When you can get this distilled into those two lines, you have something here. Go to paragraph number ten. Cardinal Poupard, who is the Pope’s point man for Islam and Interreligous Dialogue, says,
The Pope had said: "People in Africa and Asia admire, indeed, the scientific and technical prowess of the West, but they are frightened by a form of rationality which totally excludes God from man's vision, as if this were the highest form of reason, and one to be taught to their cultures too.
Boy, that is a smart bomb on the West if ever I saw one. If you take nothing else home with you today but these two paragraphs, especially number two, then you have the essence of what the Holy Father has been preaching about since day one and I don’t mean since he has been the pope; I mean since day one of serving at the Vatican. You can go back and look at his other writings. Think of the violent reactions of so many amongst the radical elements of Islam; they have called for the pope’s death. I guarantee you that there are people that are from civilized countries like our own who would do the same if they “could” do so, for exactly the opposite reasons. The pope has got their number; the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom.
A few weeks ago I was talking to a young lady that I have been working with for several years. It was a Saturday before the 4pm Mass and she called me up and said that she was really considering whether or not she would continue going to Mass. She has been on the fence about many things for a long time so I asked her what she meant. She put it this way,
”Why do I want to belong to a Church that hates me and the way I live?”
I asked her what she was talking about. Remember on a previous bulletin there was a picture of Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth, August 22, 2006? In that bulletin there was writing by Bishop Doran of Rockford, Illinois. I put it in there because the week before this came out I preached on the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church being seven super highways of grace that God has given us so we can receive great blessings and support. It was the next week I found Bishop Doran’s writing about how the “other team” has its own set of “sacraments.” And the Bishop set the fazer on STUN. He really names names.
The young lady read this and called me and said,
”Why do I want to belong to a Church that hates me and the way I live?”
I told her that if she would come to Church this week end that she would hear this in the last half of the Gospel. This was on September 3rd. People that are reminding Jesus that His disciples do not wash their hands and the food they bring home from the market and they want to know what this is all about. Essentially Jesus tells them that they are very meticulous about human traditions; it is just those darn Commandments that they just can’t keep. He says very specifically,
”Nothing that enters a man from outside can make him unclean, but the things that come out of a man from within are what defile him. From within men, from their hearts come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from within and they make a man unclean.
This is essentially what Bishop Doran said. So I told the girl that if she came to Mass on that day this is what she would hear in the Gospel, which will be in every Catholic around the world. I couldn’t respond beyond this to her comment. In a sense it goes back to what the pope was saying; I couldn’t reason further and we kind of reached an impasse. Dialogue was impossible because the gauntlet was thrown down.
”Why do I want to belong to a Church that hates me and the way I live?”
This is very sad. Remember what the pope said about the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom? I pray for that young woman and her faith, that it will be strengthened, but I can do no more. I wasn’t trying to be but was in a sense obnoxious to her like it says in the First Reading.
We have a young man here that I have known for years but I only came to know him personally a few months ago. Aaron, would you stand up please?
Aaron is a Master of Ceremony(one of the Head Altar Boys)
In about a year Aaron is going to go to the Fathers of Mercy; he is going to be a priest. You can sit down now Aaron, especially after what you said. [Laughter] Aaron’s parents live out here and they would drive into Dallas to a very difficult neighborhood to a parish with a very difficult pastor…ME. So, as he was growing up his parents took him to Blessed Sacrament and there I would be. This went on for many years. Aaron knows that I go to Dallas to visit Mother Teresa’s nuns so he hitched a ride because he is a volunteer and works there as many of you do.
We were talking along the way and I asked Aaron what he was telling his parents every Sunday when they got into the car to drive all the way to Blessed Sacrament in Dallas to go to Mass. Now, you don’t ask young people a question unless you want the truth; they give it to you. He said he kept asking his parents why they kept going to that parish, Blessed Sacrament, when the pastor is always so angry and just yells at everyone. He was talking about me! That is obnoxious! Listen, I have my bad days like anyone else but perhaps all of that is in keeping with warnings; warnings can be obnoxious.
We live in a cesspool of culture; what passes for “culture” today would not have passed for culture fifty or one hundred years ago. I will give you two examples from this week. On Monday the former governor of Texas, Ann Richards had a state funeral. It was big! The “former” mayor of Dallas…thank you Lord…the “former” mayor of Dallas, Ron Kirk spoke and this former mayor of Dallas said these words;
Ann wanted to make sure that all of God’s children got a chance to play here in Texas.
This sounds like a great line if it were true. It is not true but I guess it would be true if he said it this way;
”Ann wanted to make sure that all of God’s children who made it down the birth canal safely and were born, could get a chance to play here in Texas.”
During her time as governor and afterwards, Ann Richards was one hundred and fifty million percent in favor of abortion any time during the nine months. Any way the government could advance that, she was for it. May God have mercy on her soul! As much as I disagreed with her I don’t want to see her in Hell forever; I really don’t. What Ron Kirk said was printed in the newspaper and on TV
Please look at paragraph number two again.
…avoid 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom,'"
You may think I am just bringing God into this. NO! Ron Kirk brought God into this! Ann wanted to make sure that all God’s children got a chance to play in Texas! NO, she didn’t and that is a lie!
The day after that on a big religious program that is sweeping across this country and I will put this in the form of a joke but I am telling you the truth. I am not talking about EWTN either. This is a “religious” program and at the head of it is a high priestess or a woman who wants to be. They have their sacraments too…including confession. On Tuesday, on the Oprah Winfrey show…[Laughter]…a man went to confession. Excuse, I have been able to say it at every Mass the correct way; “a guy” went to confession on national TV. He is the former governor of New Jersey. Now, I don’t watch Oprah! Excuse me….
Father Paul kneels down behind the lectern and putting his hands together in prayer says,
”THANK YOU LORD THAT I DON’T WATCH OPRAH!”
[Laughter]
I am sorry, that is a prayer that just has to be said! I heard about this on the radio on Wednesday. They play a sound bite from her program. This “guy”, who is the former governor from New Jersey married wife number one and had daughter number one. He then married wife number two and had daughter number two. Then after saying good-bye to his second wife at the hospital, who was recovering from a difficult cesarean section after delivering daughter number two, he left her bed side and you can just see him throwing the kisses as he backs out the door, and then he goes and finds his alternative way to live. He takes this individual back to their home and I will leave the rest for Oprah.
He has written a book…ka ching, ka ching! Right? But that is ok because he dedicated it to daughter number one and daughter number two. What a vile thing to do. This former governor of New Jersey continued to say during his time on that “religious show” that what he did was a Godly action, and how he is living now with his new partner is a Godly thing. He said that the night that he left his wife’s hospital room and went and found out who he was, who he REALLY was, that it was God’s grace. PLEASE! Again read paragraph number two.
…avoid 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom,'"
This “guy” has written a book and it is called “Confession”. St. Augustine wrote “The Confessions” but this guy labeled his book, “Confession.” Other people have gone to confession on the Oprah show; in fact just in the last twelve months two individuals have been brought up quick on that show because they lied. HA! Can you imagine that, people lying in Confession? [Laughter] What will they think of next, right? Two guys went on her show and promoted books that were lies. This former governor is telling ever intimate aspect in his book to sell them.
In the Catholic Church absolution is when the priest raises his hand saying,
I absolve you in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen”
This is how absolution is done on Oprah…. Father starts to clap
I have never before experienced this, but so many people were clapping I could feel, which is a word used often on Oprah, I could feel them smiling as they are clapping, and this coming through the radio. I am not kidding! So this man…excuse me…this “guy”, the former governor of New Jersey has just told a nation that what he is doing and what he has done is Godly and that it is God’s grace. The Muslims couldn’t do this much damage to our country as he has done in that hour of religious television. That IS a new religion and it has been going on for quite sometime.
On page seven of your bulletin you will see what I mean. I have included an article called “Dream Child”.
Once you decide to have a designer baby, where do you stop? Would you prefer a healthy baby or a sick one? Healthy obviously. But why stop with that question?” “Do you want your child to suffer the humiliation of premature baldness? A tendency to be overweight? Near-sighted?
Diogenes, Catholic World Report
http://www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offt ... ecnum=3814
It goes on. We have technology today that can give people designer babies. After preaching this homily at an earlier Mass a mom brought up her daughter, whom I guess is in her forties or fifties. She is a special child; they brought the gifts up. That young lady, the special child is so innocent and this is exactly what our Lord is talking about in the Gospel today.
Taking a child He placed it in their midst, putting His arms around him and said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in My Name receives Me and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but the One Who sent Me.”
The child in this world today is under attack and it is not by radical Islam, but by the West. The pope’s remarks are directed at the West. The radical elements of Islam and so many of the people in the media were faked out…read what the pope actually said! These are examples that I have given and they are just a few.
One of our parishioners just came back from Lourdes last week. She went over as a volunteer and she meets this couple and they started talking. This couple was getting ready to tighten their belts and send their son to Princeton University. Now this is not a catholic University but was founded as Christian University to train ministers. So our parishioner from St. William’s told them that Peter Singer was a professor there. He is a wretch who has tenure. He believes like so many, that no only should you be able to abort your child at any moment during the pregnancy but also to be able to kill a child nine or ten years after they are born. I won’t go into detail but he has rather odd beliefs, which he proclaims to his students at Princeton about interspecies intimacy. I won’t describe it further. This wretch teaches at Princeton.
When our parishioner told them they were in shock. They are not going to send their child there or waste their money.
The child is under attack and Jesus has a child in His arms and in His embrace and tells His Apostles that whoever receives a child such as this in His name receives Him and that whoever receives Him, receives not Him but the One Who sent Him.
We are in a culture that is anything but uplifting and edifying and this culture can drag us down; children are influenced, teens are influenced and adults are influenced as well. On page four of the bulletin look at the schedule for Monday from 5:15pm to 5:30pm. There will be Bible readings and distribution of Holy Communion in English, 5:30pm – 5:45pm: in Spanish etc. Go on to Tuesday and you see 6:00am – 6:15am: Bible Readings & Distribution of Holy Communion – in SPANISH, 6:15am – 6:30am: Bible Readings & Distribution of Holy Communion in English, 6:30am – 6:45am: Bible Readings & Distribution of Holy Communion – in English, 6:45am – 7:00am: Bible Readings & Distribution of Holy Communion – in English. Then there is a Holy Hour and 8:15am – 8:30am the same thing in English and the afternoon services.
These weekly schedules can be viewed here
http://www.saintwilliamtheconfessor.com
The schedule on Tuesday is repeated again on Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday it ends with the 8:15 to 8:30 service because I have an obligation to Mother Teresa’s nuns in Dallas. Now, look at something; 6:am is early and I hate getting up early in the mornings. I remember as a kid that my parents made us get up early. They would get us out of bed and make us come to the breakfast table and make us eat. Is there a lawyer here? I need to speak to a lawyer to see if I can sue my parents. Do you know when the former governor of New Jersey was going to confession on that religious program that he blamed? He blamed two people, mom and day, because they are Catholic. And this is terrible…he father was a former Marine! Awe…not you see clearly how deprived and underprivileged he was. This guy is tall and handsome and knows the proper way to speak and not underprivileged at all and he is blaming it on mom and day because they are so easy to blame.
I am going to do a little blaming right now; my mom and dad forced me to get out of bed and they made us get dressed and eat a good breakfast. Can you imagine them making us get dressed? Of course the boys always got dressed quicker than the girls so my brother and I would plant ourselves in front of the TV and watch cartoons or the Three Stooges…you know…culture! Then my parents forced us to walk two blocks through a neighborhood to school; TWO BLOCKS! Argh, I am really mad. They made us get there about 7:20 am so my brother and I could serve Mass. I am so privileged and I was so spoiled as a kid by my parents so why am I doing this stuff with Bible readings and distribution of Holy Communion. If you want to receive Holy Communion everyday you can’t just walk into Church and open up the Tabernacle and give Communion to yourself!
A priest has to say Morning Prayers and Office of Reading everyday and this is what St. Augustine had to say today; again, set the fazers on stun! This is a sermon on pastors by the saint.
”You have failed to strengthen the weak.” says the Lord
He is speaking to wicked shepherds, false shepherds, shepherds who seek their own concerns and not those of Christ.
They enjoy the bounty of milk and wool, for they take no care at all of the sheep.
Do you know why I have to get up at 6am, because I can and it is for your spiritual benefit? The only thing that you could do that would be more important in your day besides hearing the readings and receiving Holy Communion is going to Mass. That is the only thing that would top a Communion service but not everyone can make it to Mass in the evenings.
After seventeen years as a priest, isn’t this a commentary on how slow I am to realize things? It took me seventeen years of God pounding me on this and I finally got it. I tell you what, this is going to stay and it isn’t going away. If you come, that is great and if you don’t, well, the last twenty four hours of your life would be much easier if you do come, because during that twenty-four hour period there will be great struggle and temptation. The strength that you will derive from all those Masses or Communion services will be unbeatable. No one can prepare for this but you.
One day I will have to go before God and I have plenty of my own sins but, when I realized this week, and I attributed it to this guy; you’ve probably seen his picture in the post office. No, this is Padre Pio and his Feast Day was yesterday. For over fifty years he had these…one, two, three, four, five wounds of Christ. St. Pio was grumpy and he was difficult. People went thousands of miles to go to Confession to him. No, I am not trying to explain away my own character defects and say that I am just like St. Pio in attitude; no, not at all. Padre Pio had the most profound appreciation for the Blessed Sacrament. Like St. Francis, his five wounds bled for over fifty years until he died in 1968. St. Pio lost so much blood and for someone to exsanguinate to that degree is not medically possible but he lived a long life. He would prepare for Mass for maybe an hour or two and then offer Mass, which could be two or three hours and afterwards his joy was to make a very long thanksgiving. He did this for hours if possible but many times he had to cut that short to hear confessions. I think that maybe St. Pio helped me to see what can be done for your spiritual benefit.
Perhaps once during the week you can come to one of the services. There is no collection and that makes Rudy on the finance council real sad, I bet. I am just kidding. But, you have to see that God must be connected to our everyday lives.
The people I have spoken about today go there one step at a time while walking away from God and influenced by the culture around them and so are we. In a beautiful way Jesus comes to us, not to harm us or make us cry and feel bad but to lead us to Heaven.
Taking a child He placed in their midst and putting His arms around him said, “Whoever receives one child such as this in My Name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but One Who sent Me.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen