Christ - The Inconvenient Truth

15th Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Is 55:10-11 Psalm Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14 Rom 8:18-23 Mt 13:1-23

Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Last year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to our Al Gore for his movie “An Inconvenient Truth” that chronicles the environmental impact of humanity on the planet. This movie is a call to all of humanity to clean up our act in how we are treating the planet – to become better stewards of the resources that we have so that our planet is around and livable for generations to come.

Impact of Environmental Sensitivity
The goal of his movie was to increase awareness of the damage that our modern, industrialized society may be causing to the planet, through pollution. Since “An Inconvenient Truth” was released countless websites have opened up to increase peoples awareness to their impact on the environment. On the Internet we can “measure our carbon footprint”. I have even heard in the news that the Democratic Convention here in Denver is gearing up an army of volunteers to have a “Green” convention – they want to have a “Carbon Neutral” impact on the planet.

Can we see the effects of our Sin?
In the Gospel today Jesus observes that people close their eyes and ears so they cannot see the love of God. Often we ignore how God is calling us in our hearts because of our addiction to sin.

The power of Al Gore’s movie is that it helped people to see the changes that are going on in the world today. A picture is worth a thousand words, when we see the snows retreating, pollution increasing and the world decaying, we become motivated to do something about it.

The readings today speak to us about the pollution that brings about corruption in our soul. The readings lead us to answer the question – What pollution is corroding away at my soul today?

• Is it in what I choose over loving my spouse?
• How I treat my family?
• My friends?
• What I watch, what I say what I do?

[PAUSE]

The American writer Upton Sinclair once wrote that “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it”. What is the paycheck that we get from our sin? Why do we, why do I choose again and again to immerse my soul in this corruption?

[PAUSE]

How the Duomo in Florence might help us to see sin

In a certain way, I think that our culture suffers from an inability – a set of closed eyes and ears to the truth of who Christ is, and the truth about the state of our souls. If St. Paul were able to make a movie about the spiritual pollution that our souls are in he might choose the painting on the ceiling of the dome of the Cathedral in Florence, Italy. This dome is painted with this magnificent scene of the Last Judgment. At the bottom we see devils taking delight in torturing poor souls that are addicted to sin. This is one way for us to visualize the affect of our sin on our soul.

Christ is the Inconvenient Truth! – Why Inconvenient?

If St. Paul were to make a movie today, he might title it “Christ – The Inconvenient Truth!” When we live lives that are immersed in sin, we encounter Christ as “The Inconvenient Truth”. Christ is inconvenient because the light of his love exposes the ugliness of our sin. He makes it difficult for us to persevere in the corruption that we surround our souls with. In the Gospel today Christ invites us to become open to His word, that He might dwell in us and bear fruit. This leads us to ask the question – What kind of soil is the life I am living for the Word of God?

• How do I accept the Word of God into my heart?
• How fertile is my life for the Kingdom of Heaven?
• Am I living a life that is liberated by the redemptive love of Jesus, or am I still mired and trapped by my sin?

[PAUSE]

Christ is the Inconvenient Truth – Why the Truth?

Isaiah reminds us in the first reading that the Word of God is effective, it has a purpose, and God sends it to accomplish that purpose. The purpose of God’s word is to cleanse us from the corruption and pollution of Sin that leads us to death. Our challenge is to open our hearts to be able to receive the Word of God. In his letter to the Romans St. Paul speaks of how all creation is groaning for the coming of God at the end of time. I think that often times the words of St Paul’s readings today strike us as empty words because we have lost sight of the power of the great gift of Baptism. So let us go back in our lives to the very beginning when we encountered God in our Baptism. In Baptism the Holy Trinity comes and makes His dwelling in us in our souls. This is a profound moment in our lives. If this is the gift that Christ has already given us – an opportunity to spend our lives with God, how much greater will it be when we come to see him face to face.

Baptism - Our First Fruit of Creation

Another way to reflect on this truth - All of us here today who are baptized have experienced the first fruits of salvation – our baptism; however we have such an impoverished sense of salvation. We are called to drink deeply of the grace that God has given to us so that we are truly groan for the coming of salvation. If we have a superficial understanding of the gifts that God has already given us (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist) then we don’t groan with St. Paul and the rest of creation because the fail to recognize the treasures that we have already been given.

Decay = Sin / Growth = Life

When we encounter decay in our world, we are reminded of decay in our soul, likewise when we encounter growth in the world, we are reminded of our need to grow in our relationship with God in our Soul. We do this by living lives that are more and more closely in touch with our creator. The more in contact to the Word made Flesh that we become the more sanctified we are, and through us the world becomes. This is what our encounter with the Inconvenient Truth does – it transforms the world through sanctification.

Reduce your Sin Footprint so that God can increase His Grace Footprint

The readings today are chocked full of the imagery of nature, of rains, growth, seeds and life. Jesus speaks of the seed – the Word of God that is planted in our hearts is watered, takes root, grows and in its own time bears fruit 30 or 60 or 90 fold. We are called to live lives that reflect “The Inconvenient Truth” to the world. As humans, paying attention to our “Carbon Footprint” is part of our stewardship of the planet. As Christians, we have the serious responsibility of taking care of our “Sin Footprint” because we are not just called to be “Sin Neutral” but we are called to be “Grace Positive” – to change the world so that it is sanctified through our living out of the Gospel; This is why St. Paul says that “All creation groans for the salvation of the Sons and Daughters of God” – because when we allow Christ to redeem our lives, our world is redeemed, purified, sanctified with us.

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!

Truth and Decision

Homily for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle C

What kind of division does Jesus Bring?

In the Gospel today Jesus says that he came to bring division – and this message can be a little unsettling for us – It leads to the Question – What kind of division does Jesus bring?

Jesus brings division because he causes a decision

Jesus brings the division of knowing the Truth – which is who he was. Truth, by it’s nature forces us to make a decision, we either chose to accept the Truth, and incorporate it into our lives, or to reject the truth and believe some lie instead. In this way Jesus is the Word of God – whom St. Paul says earlier in the letter to the Hebrews (5:12) that “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”

Truth is the light of Reason

As Humans we have a fundamental need for the Truth, just as we need food and water to live, we need truth to think.

Truth convinces us to make a decision – we either see the truth in the argument or we reject it.

Some Examples of how we need the Truth in our lives.

• For example, drink milk, because your bones need calcium. I give you a reason for wanting to buy milk.
• You need to take this medicine because it will lower your blood pressure.

Because Truth is at the foundation of all of our thinking and living life, we are attracted to Truth – We are designed for knowing the Truth. This is one of the ways that we are created in the image and likeness of God. As Christians we are called to live our lives in such a way so that we bear witness to the Truth in all that we say and do.

Truth is universal
For Truth to be universal means that it means the same thing to all people in all time.

An Example of a how universal and relative truth work. – Red and Green colors work in traffic laws.

Moral Truth is Universal
In the same way moral Truth is universal. We “Get it” when we think about universal truth applying to traffic laws, but we often don’t like to think of moral truth as applying to our behavior.

Being a successful liar only works if people assume you are honest.
Being honest as a person is important to our world – in fact everyone assumes it. This is why liars try to lie, because they assume that you and I will believe the Truth.

Our culture today teaches that there are no Moral Truths, this is why we murder the unborn, we have corrupt politicians, and have infidelity in marriage. We live in a society that is in darkness, and as Christians we are called to bring the light of Truth into the world with how we live out our lives.

What does it mean to “Witness to the Truth”?
The Example from the First Reading – Jeremiah witnesses to the Truth, and how the world Responded

Have you ever heard the adage “Don’t shoot the messenger just because you don’t like the message?” This adage is based on a desire to know the Truth, and to deal in the Truth. In the First Reading today, Jeremiah is a prophet of God, and he is bringing the message of Truth to the people of Jerusalem. They had turned away from God and were worshiping false Gods. Jeremiah was sent by God to proclaim the Truth of God to them, to teach them that God loves them truly, purely, completely. They did not want to hear it, so the people denied the Truth and threw Jeremiah into a well, where he was sitting in the dark, stuck in the mud. Jeremiah felt that he was dead.

The beauty of Truth is that it’s witness endures in spite of its rejection. Truth speaks to the soul and so it will come back even though we want to suppress it. This is what happened to Jeremiah today, he was sitting in the Mud when the Truth convicted Ebed the Cushite to go to the King and explain how the King had allowed people to commit a wrong against the Truth. Ebed said to the King – Look, you just shot the messenger, the messenger of Truth is in the Mud, lets get him, and so they did.

What are the offenses against the Truth? – Each Day we live is an opportunity to Repent.

Whenever we are confronted with the Truth we need to make a decision. The great thing about the Gospel is that God is always leading us to conversion, he is always asking us to change our mind, to reconsider. Each day that we are alive he asks us to convert, to change our mind and to accept the Truth a little more deeply in our lives each day.

Two ways that we offend the Truth, that we sin against God is though lying and through Gossip.
Lying
If I have a habit of lying, of speaking falsely I must ask myself why? Why to I behave in a way that I know is contrary to the Truth. I must become uncomfortable with the false witness I am giving. I must reject the lies that I tell myself – they are only “white” lies – This is a lie that I tell myself so that I don’t have to examine my own reasoning and find see the flaws in my own character. If you struggle with lying then ask the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Truth each day to point out to you when you are tempted to lie, and then speak the truth instead. Each evening examine your behavior, again call on the Holy Spirit to witness to you how you did, and to help you to do better tomorrow.

Gossip
Gossip is when we take pleasure is speaking about someone’s faults – even if they are true. There is a right time and place to speak about faults, and it is when that conversation will bring about conversion. An example of this would be in confession with a priest, he might speak to you about your faults to help you understand them and to correct them. When we speak about our neighbors faults to another, we are destroying their reputation, we are not treating them with love. We all have faults, and we all need to live with one another’s faults. Jesus showed us how to do this when he said that Mercy (Love) wipes away a multitude of Sins. Rather then talking at great length about the faults of another, rather than gossiping about them, we are called to bear with another’s faults out of love.

St. Therese of Liseux, the witness of Love verses Gossip.

Love converts the soul of the one loved, and of the one who is loving.

Conclusion

St. Paul calls us to persevere to the end – To run the race to the finish, but to run the race so as to win. Everyone, in every state of life has an opportunity to bear witness to the Truth – Even Jeremiah, sitting in a well in Jerusalem bore witness of the Truth to the King – and so he was pulled out of the Mud. We too are called to bear witness to the Truth with our lives each day this week – We are called to reflect the love of Christ into North Star community center in how we greet and treat those around us – our room mates, care takers and fellow residents.

The Gospel today challenges us to answer the question – How am I going to witness to the Truth of God’s love this week?