Deacon Dollars!

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Is 45:1, 4-6; Psalm 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10; 1 Thes 1:1-5b; Gospel: Mt 22:15-21

Soundbite Traps
I am sorry to say brothers and sisters that we are not too far from the beginning of yet another presidential campaign cycle, where we will soon be bombarded with endless commercials that for the most part will have some 20 second sound bite telling us what an oaf the President Obama is, or what a goof the Republican candidate is.

Every one of these commercials will be taken out of context from some speech that one of these two contenders will have made and be blown out of proportion in order to scare us into voting for the “other guy”.

Today’s Gospel is a soundbite trap
The reason why today I am the herald of this bad news, is because this is what the Pharisees are doing in today’s Gospel. They want to trap Jesus into making a 20 second sound bite that is either going to get him into trouble with the Romans, or get him in trouble with the Jews. They are so smart that they have an iron-clad mousetrap that is sure to get them the results that they want!

Jesus in the trap - Fiddler on the Roof meets Kung Fu Panda
I would like you to imagine this part of Matthews Gospel like a scene from a movie. If I was directing this movie, I would do this scene like Fiddler on the Roof meets Kung Fu Panda.

Ok, hold on, I know that half of you are thinking – “What is Fiddler on the Roof”, and the other half is thinking “What is Kung Fu Panda?” Fiddler on the Roof is the story of Tevye, a devout Jew who is always talking to God like this:

“Lord – this is my problem. On one hand I could do this… On the Other hand I could do that…

Kung Fu Panda is an animated film about a Panda who becomes this super-powerful kung fu warrior who protects his village from an evil foe. Whenever he fights, the scenes are portrayed in super-slow motion, showing the Panda doing amazing feats while his opponents stand awestruck.

In Deacon Paul’s imagination of this scene…
I would combine the two styles of these movies into this scene, because I would have Jesus caught in a slow motion fight scene with the Pharisees, they spring their trap, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” and then our film transitions to a slow-motion scene, where in Kung Fu Panda, the Panda would be able to hit his opponents 14 ½ times, while they move in slow motion, and he moves at super-panda speed. Except, instead of Jesus doing Kung Fu, he enters into prayer to his Father like Tevye

Father – I don’t know why I have to deal with these guys. If I answer that it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar they will brand me as a supporter of Rome and use that as proof that I don’t love you, and I won’t be able to preach.

On the Other Hand…
If I say that it is not lawful to pay taxes to Caesar then they will report me to the Romans as a revolutionary and I will most likely get killed.

Then, a flash of Divine inspiration, and Jesus gets this slight smile on his face, and the scene transitions back into normal speed for everyone.

What does it mean to give myself to God?
We give ourselves to God when we choose to be free. In a certain way, Jesus is saying it does not matter who is ruling us, the Persians, the Greeks, or the Romans, what is important is that we live our lives as lives of freedom, so that we can give ourselves freely back to God.

[[ASK FOR SOME HELP FROM THE CONGREGATION]]

Solve the National Debt
Last night I worked hard on my computer and solved the national debt crisis. Here is my solution – Deacon Dollars.

QUESTION: Who created this Money? Deacon Paul

QUESTION: Who do these dollars belong to?
QUESTION: How do you know?
When someone creates something, they are the owner of it, unless they are able to sell it to someone else.

Then it belongs to him, give it back because in truth, the act of giving me this money is truly worthless in the eyes of heaven. It is just a thing.

QUESTION: Who created you? [[GOD]]

In the Gospel today Jesus transforms the trap into an opportunity to teach a truth about the Kingdom of God and our own nature as well. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but to God what is God’s.

What does it mean to be free? - To do what I want?
If I think that Freedom is to do whatever I want then I can go home and print millions of Deacon Dollars. Then I am going to take a sack-load of Deacon Cash and buy my Groceries. This way I will have plenty of food (especially ice cream). They may not like my Deacon Dollars is their problem – it is a free country after all.

What is the Sin here?
What would I be doing if I printed up a bunch of Deacon Dollars and used them to buy my groceries at King Soopers? What crime would I be charged with? Stealing? Yes! Would my action be sinful? Yes!

Doing whatever I want is not freedom, it is license.
Jesus is teaching us that God has given us the gift of Freedom, and He invites us give that gift back to God in return. The Freedom that we have is to choose to do what is good over what is evil.

Choosing Good Frees me
There is a beauty in this gift that God gave us, when I use my freedom to choose good, I become more free, I have a greater ability to choose the good, and that allows even more freedom. This is what the lives of the Saints teach us. When they choose the good, avoiding sin, forgiving their enemies, loving even those who do not love in return, they discover that this is a gift from God, and it helps us to love the world more and more and more. The more we are able to love, the more we are free from sin to love.

Choosing Evil Enslaves me
If on the other hand I choose to do evil, then I become enslaved. The more I sin, the more addicted I become to my sin, and the less free I am, until my sin becomes a compulsion and I sin without even thinking about it. I become less and less a person.

There is only one true freedom, and that is to choose the good. To choose to do evil means that I choose slavery to sin.

How does evil enslave?
By addiction, by making a lesser good seem like the ultimate good. Then we are willing to sacrifice the greater good for the lesser good.

The Cookie Monster
A 2 year old wants a cookie. Mom says you need to eat your vegetables first. The two year old gets upset and throws a riot, trying to wear the mother down. The mother now has to make a choice between two things. 1. Choose the good and teach her child the value of good nutrition, or choose the good and give the kids a cookie so she can have 5 minutes of peace and quiet.

Which is the greater good? Why would we choose a lesser good?

Because we are upset, overwhelmed and our reason isn’t fully working.

The greater good is for the child to eat there vegetables, ultimately their body will be healthier from eating healthy food over junk food. More importantly, their soul is learning to listen to the voice of love (their mom), and the virtue of delayed gratification – earning what you work for.

Choosing the good over evil – telling the truth.
The two year old demanding cookies from his mother is much like us when we are addicted to sin. We struggle to choose the good because we fail to see the greater good. We choose lying over the truth because we think that the benefit of getting caught today is better than the benefit of eternal life. We are so worried about getting caught today that we fail to see the greater good at the end of our life.

To choose the good would be to tell the truth and accept the consequences in order to grow in humility and truthfulness.

Choosing the lesser of two goods, food vs fast.
We choose gluttony today, because we don’t clearly see the true cost of being overweight, getting diabetes, loosing limbs in the future. We choose the lesser good (a full tummy) over the greater good (a longer healthier life). More importantly, when we choose gluttony, our stomach becomes greater than our brothers and sisters who are hungry, who are starving, who we can really help.

To choose the good would be to eat a simpler meal and to give some of our excess to the poor.

Blessed John Paul II
Blessed John Paul II used to give himself to God each time he met someone in his day. His interior prayer was always to the Holy Spirit saying “Father, help me to open myself up to your will at this moment. Help me to give myself to you, so that you might use me as your humble instrument.” It was in that John Paul gave his heart back to God.

How are we going to give our hearts back to God this week?

Use your life to choose life!

19th Saturday Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Ez 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32 Psalm Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19 Mt 19:13-15

God’s gift to man is Freedom

Today’s readings speak about the gift of freedom that we have been given. We have been given freedom to choose what kind of actions we can have in this life. The readings from Ezekiel today speak about the consequences of freedom in our lives. If we use our freedom to choose life in the way that we live then we will live. If on the other hand we use our freedom to choose death, then we will die.

What is true Freedom?

Freedom is not the ability to do anything that I want, but rather it is the ability to see the good, and then the responsibility to choose the good for my life and the life of my children. Ezekiel preaches this morning about the blinding effects of sin, pointing out that sin blinds us from being truly free and encouraging us to free ourselves from sin so that we can live.

Freedom is evidence that God wants us to make a choice (GWUTMAC)

• GWUTMAC - This is why we have human freedom. We have an ability to freely choose our own actions.
• GWUTMAC - Out of love, because only out of free choice can we choose to show God our love.
• GWUTMAC - When we choose to be selfish, when we choose to be sinful, we choose to reject God, an action that separates us from the source of life itself. The consequence of this choice is death.
• GWUTMAC - He wants us to choose life! To examine the choices that we have made, to act in a way that demonstrates self-less love – in that way we follow Christ.

In what way is the heart of a child ready for the Kingdom of Heaven?
Christ says in today’s Gospel that “The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these…” a child, who is raised in love, whose heart is open to correction, is one who seeks the good of God always. When we choose to have open hearts, then we choose life with our actions. When we choose life in our actions then our lives are filled with joy, happiness and peace. God wants us to make a choice, in our sinfulness we often choose death instead of life. How is Christ calling us to choose life today?

Speak the Truth

Baptism of the Lord, Cycle A

Is 42:1-4, 6-7 – Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 - Acts 10:34-38 - Mt 3:13-17

Conscience allows us to speak the Truth and to recognize the Plan of God

John the Baptist is shocked today to discover that Jesus is the next one to receive the baptism of repentance. He speaks the truth to Jesus and he says “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”

John’s Conscience prompts him to speak the Truth

John’s conscience is prompting him to speak the Truth – because that is what a conscience does – it witnesses to us about the truth of God. At the same time, John’s conscience witnesses to his own sinfulness and shortcomings – his need for the Baptism of the Christ

Because of this John and Jesus have an argument, which ends with Jesus convincing John to go along with God’s plan and to baptize Jesus.

Conscience is not Opinion or Emotion

Each one of us has a conscience - but many of us are confused about what a conscience truly is - how it works and how we are to use it. Our culture confuses conscience with opinion mingled with emotion. If it feels right, then I must do it. This is not true.

• The human conscience is grounded in Truth – It prompts us to do good and avoid evil.
• it recognizes the difference between good and evil (especially in our own actions – it is by our conscience that we recognize when we have done good or evil).
• and always bears witness to the Truth – Our conscience remembers what we have done in the light of the Truth of God.

Human Conscience is the truth of Gods Love etched on our hearts by God himself. The Catechism teaches that our conscience always calls us to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil. It is the most secret core of our being, and it is there that we are alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.

Like John, Christ invites us to participate in His mission – we start this with Baptism.

One of the ways we cooperate and participate in the plan of God is to be Baptized, we enter into the Body of Christ. Christ chose to be baptized so that we could be united to Him – we could become His brothers. Our Baptism is more than membership in the Church – it is our joining Christ in His mission to show the Father’s love to the world.

What is the mission of Christ? – The 5 ways of the Prophet Isaiah

Isaiah speaks of this in the first reading today – He prophesies that the Messiah will do 5 distinct things – Isaiah is prophesying our mission, defining for us the our Goals as the Church.

Baptism makes us the covenant people that Isaiah speaks of in his reading today – Baptism makes the Church.

Our Mission is to be a covenant for the People – This is the mission of the Church. As the People of God, our covenant is the Eucharist – the Body and Blood of Jesus. In a similar way, we are the Body of Christ – We (the Church) are the way that God has chosen to show His love to the people!

How do I represent the Love of God to those whom I live with? Why or Why not?


A light for the nations - Forming your Conscience

In order to be a light to the nations we need a well-formed conscience. Conscience is like a plant – it needs the light of God’s word to grow properly. When someone justifies sin by saying that they are listening to their conscience then either they are lying, or they are negligent in the formation of their conscience. The Catechism says that the conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It judges according to reason and conforms itself to the will of God. Forming our conscience is needed because we are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin that makes it easy for us to rationalize our actions.

Our actions witness to our relationship with God

By the witness of our actions we shed the light of Christ into peoples lives. We do this by not joining in the sinfulness of the world, but by being like Christ - which is what it means to be a Christian. Christ lived with the sinners not as a sinner himself, but as the one who offers them healing and hope by the sharing of His relationship with God. Baptism strengthens us for this witness by washing away sin, and giving us a profound relationship with God – The Holy Trinity dwells in us, to illumine our conscience and lead us into the depths of His love. How do I share my relationship with God, the grace of my sacrament of Baptism with others through my actions?

Isaiah calls us To Open the eyes of the Blind

People are blind today as to what sin is – They do not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They use rationalization to justify their behavior. Be it pornography on the internet or your cell phone, or our addiction to violence in our entertainment, or our insensitivity to our neighbor.

Our conscience is formed by absorbing the word of God and putting it into practice.

To form our conscience we must absorb the Word of God in faith put into practice. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit who speaks through us and the advice of others guided by the teaching authority of the Church.

Where does the Light of Christ need to come into my life?

Again, we need to answer the question - What sin am I blind to that God’s love illuminates? What situation exists in my life that needs the light of God’s love? How is Christ calling me to reflect His love into that situation so that the blind can see? As a corollary to this, consider that the blind always came to Christ for healing – not the other way around.

To Bring Prisoners out of confinement

A well-formed conscience leads us to freedom. Because of this we need to have a life long habit of forming our conscience, through action and reflection. A Well formed conscience gives us confidence in the goodness of our action, and it leads us to live lives that are filled with Joy and Peace, frees us from the confinement. This is part of the brilliance of God’s plan, as we are freed from slavery to sin and death our lives become attractive to others – they inherently recognize the goodness that we live, and they are drawn to Christ like a magnet.

Thanksgiving helps us to give the reason for our joy!

When people ask us about the reason for our joy and happiness– we need to be ready and able to respond to them about the great things that God has done, or is doing for us.

If we are not there yet, then we are called to begin with thanksgiving – to make a daily habit of giving thanks to God for one thing each day, and then branch out – make a breakfast, lunch and dinner thanksgiving and so on. Thanksgiving opens us up to be aware and grateful for the gifts that God has given us, and so prepares us to be able to give the reason for the joy we experience.

To free those who live in darkness from their dungeons

The Church (means us – the Body of Christ) has a mission to free those trapped in darkness and dungeons. The world is enslaved to sin. It is our mission to the underground railroad – to free those trapped in slavery and help them to find the freedom of truth. To be shining witnesses to the world of God’s radical love.

CONCLUSION

Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord celebrates the end of Christmas and the beginning of Ordinary Time. In this feast today we celebrate the start of Christ’s Mission.

To be a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
and to bring out prisoners from confinement,

Because of our Baptism, we share in the Lord’s Baptism, which means that we share in his mission. It is time for us

To be a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
and to bring out prisoners from confinement,

Ordinary time begins tomorrow – and Christ has given us work to do this year!