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Earlier this week, God reminded me that he has a sense of humor. It happened as I was beginning to prepare this very homily. I was reading today’s gospel and thinking about what to preach, but nothing immediately came to mind. I began to get impatient. And that’s where the joke comes in. Because the gospel I was getting impatient over is all about Jesus telling us to be patient! When I suddenly realized this, I felt a little bit ashamed, but I couldn’t help but smile at the same time.

Jesus, you see, had been preaching about the kingdom of God. When people heard this, many of them expected that God would soon send down his angels and destroy evil for ever. But when this didn’t happen, they became impatient. Jesus was aware of this, and that’s why he told the parables he did. The kingdom of heaven starts small, he said, kind of like a mustard seed or the yeast in bread. It will grow, but only with time. And as for evil, it will never be totally wiped out in this age. That’s the point of the parable about the weeds and the wheat. In the meantime, we need to be patient.

And Jesus is right, isn’t he? People were impatient in his day, and we are often impatient in ours. We live in a fast-paced, “drive through” society. We don’t want to wait for the things we want. And when we do have to wait, we get really frustrated. That’s why driving on the Beltway can be so darned scary!

We even get impatient in our spiritual lives too. We want God to “zap us” and make us into an instant saint. We want overnight holiness. We look for an experience or a retreat or a homily that will fix us once and for all, getting rid of every temptation and solving every problem. But that doesn’t happen, does it? Instead, we find ourselves confessing the same sins over and over and over again, and we become impatient. Which, ironically, is probably one of those sins that we have to repeatedly confess. Then we wind up being impatient with our impatience!!

The truth is, however, that Christian maturity doesn’t happen overnight. Real growth in Christian discipleship takes time! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are saints. It takes a whole life time. In fact, it usually takes more than a whole life time. Because even though we may be a friend of God, we usually have a lot of growing still to do when we die. That’s the whole point of our Catholic belief in Purgatory. It’s where God’s imperfect friends continue to grow into perfection.

Heaven, you see, is only for the perfect. And the only two perfect people were Jesus and Mary. Even the saints weren’t perfect on earth! They had to go to confession like the rest of us sinners. That’s why the Church’s measuring stick for sainthood is not perfection- because no one would qualify! Instead, the standard is what’s called “heroic virtue.” And that’s very different from perfection.

In our quest to become saints, then, we need to learn patience. As St. Alphonsus Liguori once said: “It’s by patience that we gain heaven!” To learn patience, I would suggest three things. First, don’t be a perfectionist. Second, don’t be a pessimist. But third, do be persistent.

Perfectionism is dangerous because perfectionists think that God will love them only if, well, they’re perfect. Which, as we already know, is impossible! Even worse is that for perfectionists, God comes to be seen, not as a loving friend who wants to help us, but as a heavenly scorekeeper who is quick to condemns us. Not surprisingly, perfectionists find very little joy in their faith, if at all.

Perfectionists also have unrealistic expectations and establish impossible standards for themselves. Unfortunately, this only leaves room for failure. A very new Christian once learned this when she tried to follow Saint Paul’s advice to “pray without ceasing.” She tried and tried to pray during every waking moment, but as you might imagine, she quickly tired out. She went to a wise priest with her problem who told her that she had “spiritual indigestion,” because she’d tried to take on too much too soon. Never having really prayed before, the priest explained, she couldn’t all of a sudden start praying eighteen hours a day while doing other things. Because God didn’t expect it of her, he concluded, she shouldn’t expect it of herself.

On the other hand, the priest didn’t tell her to give up and throw in the towel. And that’s important too. We can’t become a pessimist and think that nothing we’ll do will make much of a difference. Pessimists, you see, don’t just think that they’re sinners. They think instead that they’re hopeless sinners. But in God’s eyes there is no such a thing. With God on our side, there’s always hope, which means that we must be persistent in our relationship with him. Even if it seems like we’re making little headway. Even if we think we’re sliding back. We may be slow learners, we may have a lot of baggage and hang-ups, and we may be afraid of change, but God is full of more patience, love, and mercy than we could ever imagine. Today’s first reading from Wisdom told us this. And so did our Psalm.

God, you see, is love. And love is patient. God is patient with us. So we must be patient with ourselves, and take things little by little, bit by bit. We need to measure our progress by the inch, not by the mile; we need to take things one day at a time. As St. Richard of Chichester said in his famous prayer, “O Lord, may I see thee more clearly, follow thee more nearly, and love thee more dearly, day by day.”

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/071711.shtml

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It’s one thing to read about what God is like; it’s another thing altogether to experience who God is. In a nutshell, this message is at the heart of the teaching of the saint we honor today: St. Bonaventure.

Bonaventure was a Franciscan, not least because he was healed of a childhood illness through the personal intercession of St. Francis. Bonaventure would later write the famous Life of St. Francis, and he served as the Minister General of the Franciscan order.

Bonaventure was also a great scholar. Alongside his colleague St. Thomas Aquinas, he was a thirteenth century professor of Theology at the University of Paris. Because of his great scholarship, he is recognized today as a Doctor of the Church. On account of his virtue, he is celebrated today as a saint.

As he was both learned and holy, Bonaventure was well aware that knowing God is more important than knowing about him. He wrote, “…seek (your) answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research.”

The God whom Bonaventure calls us to seek is a God of love. Bonaventure speculates that even if humankind had never sinned, God would still have become one of us in Jesus, because God loves us so much that he always has wished to live among us as one of us. Nevertheless, Jesus had to die for our sins on the cross, which Bonaventure tells us to reflect upon “full of faith, hope, and charity, devoted, full of wonder and joy, marked by gratitude, and open to praise and jubilation.”

Bonaventure the scholar would never discourage us from seeking Jesus with our head. But Bonaventure the saint challenges us to seek Jesus, most of all, with our heart.

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Conversion often comes at a price- a reality that our Lord made quite clear in today’s gospel. He warned that following him would break up entire families. “One’s enemies will be those of his own household,” he said.

This is as true today as it was in Jesus’ day, especially in those places where becoming Christian is understood as rejecting one’s cultural heritage, as is experienced by converts in predominantly Muslim or Hindu lands. In our society, converts might be thought of as crazy; in other societies, converts can be thought of as almost criminal.

This was the experience of Blessed Kateri, whose memorial we celebrate today. We call her the “Lily of the Mohawks,” but her uncle and adoptive father, a seventeenth century Mohawk chief, did not think of her in such glowing terms. When she became a Catholic with the help of French missionaries, her family treated her as a slave, and even denied her food on Sundays, since she refused to work on the Sabbath. Ultimately, her life became endangered, and she was forced to flee to a Catholic community some 200 miles away, where she remained the rest of her short life.

Blessed Kateri’s witness can remind all of us that we need to place allegiance to Christ above anything else that may lay claim to us, and regardless of what the cost may be. As she herself said: “I am not my own. I have given myself to Jesus.”

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/071411.shtml

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When my son Charlie was 3, he said to me: “Daddy, when I grow up, I’m going to be an astronaut, a fireman, a librarian, and a teenager! For him to have said this is pretty normal. Most children, even though they enjoy being kids, sincerely look forward to growing up.

I think this childlike desire to grow up can help us understand Jesus’ words in today’s gospel. If you recall, Jesus said that God doesn’t reveal himself to “the wise and the learned”- people who think they have it all figured out, who in their mind can see no need to grow. Instead, our Lord continued, it is to the childlike that God is revealed- those who recognize their need to “grow up,” so to speak, in God’s grace.

This should present a challenge to us. Maybe today we need to examine ourselves and ask: Do I recognize my need to grow? Do I really want to grow? What should I do in order to grow? And then we should look forward with excitement to what we’ll become when we do “grow up”- not a fireman, not an astronaut, certainly not a teenager- but a saint, completely refashioned into the image of Christ.

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/071311.shtml

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Mother Teresa once said, “The only thing that should make us weep is the fact that we aren’t saints!” But do we weep over this?

I ask this because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking: “Hey, maybe I’m not a saint, but I am a pretty decent person, all things considered.” And I would imagine that most of us ARE pretty decent people. Which is a good thing!

However, Jesus hasn’t called us to decency. Instead, Jesus calls us to sainthood. And if we’re to take his call to sainthood seriously, we need to take our sinfulness seriously.

I think this is what today’s gospel is calling us to do. If you recall, Jesus was angry with the people of certain cities. He had done “mighty deeds” in their midst, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. They didn’t repent; they didn’t try to change.

For us, Jesus has done more than “mighty deeds.” Jesus died for us- because he takes our sins seriously. In gratitude, so should we. We need to repent; we need to try and change. Because every time we sin, it’s as if Jesus is nailed to the cross, all over again.

Pope John Paul II put it well. “When we forget we are sinners,” he said, “we forget our need for Christ. And when we forget our need for Christ, we have lost everything.”

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/071211.shtml

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When I moved into my home eleven years ago, I inherited a backyard that once had been landscaped and beautiful. Yet everything had become completely overgrown with weeds, all because it has hardly been touched for nearly twenty years. As the man from whom I bought the house said, “If you don’t stay on top of it, nature quickly takes over.” Ever since then I’ve spent many hours my yard- weeding, tilling, mulching, seeding, planting, fertilizing, and weeding again. And as soon as I think I can take a break, “nature quickly takes over,” and the crab grass and weeds make their appearance once again.

I thought of my yard as I reflected on today’s gospel. Jesus told us that he wants us to be good soil that is receptive to the seed of his word and brings forth abundant fruits of the Spirit. Yet in order for us to become this type of soil, we need to invest effort, discipline, and time- just like with my backyard. Because the moment we don’t stay on top of it, our fallen human nature quickly takes over.

This is because when we aren’t attentive to God’s word, other voices will quickly fill the void. And then it’s these voices- and not God’s word- that will shape our thoughts, actions, and our character. Specifically, I’m referring to the voices of our culture, common sense, and our feelings.

The voice of our culture was loud and clear the other day as I sat next to two young women on an airplane who were deeply engrossed in a copy of “Cosmopolitan” magazine. From what I could see and hear, the articles were all about explicit love-making techniques, horoscopes, shopping, and beauty products: a spirit-killing diet of materialism, self-gratification, superstition, and soft porn. This reminded me that as Christians we need to be very, very careful about our media intake if we don’t want the voice of culture to drown out the voice of God.

The voice of “common sense” of can also be ungodly, although in a less obvious way. Yet if you think about it, so much of what Jesus taught us, and so many of his commandments to us, simply defy common sense. For instance, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies…to carry a cross…to humble ourselves as a servant…to give without counting the cost…that marriage is forever…that all life is sacred…that we should trust only in God. Yet common sense would have us hate our enemies, avoid suffering, promote ourselves, maximize our returns, divorce without fault, judge life by it’s so-called “quality”, and trust in our own abilities. Truly, common sense and godly wisdom can be very different things indeed!

Then there’s the voice of emotion. I imagine that we’ve all done things that felt right at the time but that we came to regret later on. Or maybe we’ve tried to convince ourselves that what we were doing was right because we were feeling afraid or angry or lonely or were caught up in the excitement of the moment. Feelings like this are given to us by God. They serve a purpose and we need to pay attention to them. Yet they can lead us down the wrong path if we’re not grounded in the Word of God.

That’s why Jesus says it’s so important for us to listen to God’s word. In today’s gospel, Jesus quoted a passage from the prophet Isaiah. It said that when we listen to God’s word, God can change us, and God can heal us. And deep down, that’s what we all want! But if we truly wish to receive these gifts, we truly need to listen. Lots of people came out to see Jesus in today’s gospel, but not all of them really listened. I imagine that’s probably true of our gathering today as well. I confess that I can be just as guilty as anyone else about letting my mind wander during the Biblical readings or a homily. Yet the truth is, as I heard it put recently, that we should listen at Mass as if we were listening to the instructions on how to open our own parachute!

Of course we need to do far more than be attentive at Mass in order to truly hear all that God wishes to say to us. As Catholics, we believe that God’s word comes to us in two ways: through the pages of Holy Scripture, and in the authentic teachings of the Church. We need to make it a priority to be receptive to both.

Bishop Robert Morneau of Green Bay says that whenever he confirms young people, he always tells them to remember two numbers: 144 and 168. 144 is the number of ten-minute periods in a day, and 168 is the number of hours in the week. He then asks them from that point on to give ten minutes a day to the study of God’s word and one hour every week to attend Sunday Mass.

And surely that isn’t too much to ask when it comes to the word of God. In reality, it should be just the beginning, or a bare minimum. We’re all busy people. Yet at the same time a typical American today spends dozens of hours each week in front of a television set, not to mention a computer screen. But if we stopped watching one thirty-minute television program a day and read Scripture instead, we could read through the entire Bible twice a year.

I’ve heard it said that one can’t become an effective preacher if all you read is Sports Illustrated. It’s just as true to say that we won’t become strong Christians if we fail to take in the Word of God. Our soil will become shallow, rocky, and weed-infested: precisely what Jesus warns against! We’ll become worldly people, instead of the people of God. That’s why what Jesus told the crowds, he also says to us: “Whoever has ears,” he said, “ought to hear.”

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Three individuals came to mind as I read today’s gospel. The first is a married woman, distressed because her husband left the Catholic Church for an anti-Catholic sect which is pressuring her to join too.

The second is a recent high school graduate preparing for college. She’s concerned that her faith will be challenged on campus through peer pressure, ideas and philosophies she’ll encounter in class, and a culture sometimes hostile to her religion.

An elderly Chinese bishop is the third person. He was recently featured in National Geographic, and he recalled years of government persecution of the Catholic Church in his native land.

On account of their Catholicism, all three experience opposition- from family, society, governments, other religious groups. Just as Jesus said the twelve apostles would face. His words to them in today’s gospel are words which are just as true for us today, because we too encounter resistance to our faith.

In a nutshell, what Jesus says to us is: don’t be surprised when it happens; trust in the Spirit when it does; be shrewd but simple; and persevere throughout it all. If we do, chances are we’ll find our faith is stronger in the end. The Chinese bishop, who is witnessing a Church renewal in his country, knows this well. “The more the suppression,” he said, “the more the rebound.”

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/070811.shtml

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Money is something that many people worry about, and most couples fight over. When it comes to our money, the Lord certainly calls us to be good stewards of it. But he doesn’t want it to be a source of anxiety or conflict.

Just consider what Jesus told his apostles in today’s gospel. He instructed them to:

1. Travel lightly;
2. Live simply;
3. Trust that the Lord would provide; and
4. Be concerned, not about money, but with doing the Lord’s work.

This was his commandment to his apostles. And it’s his good advice for us.

Readings for today’s Mass

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