26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

There is no homily this week

Good Works: They Don't and Do Work

Preached by Fr. Alexis Luzi, Capuchin, in a Temple not built by human hands (Acts 7:48)

September 18, 2011, 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Friday, September 23 - The first day of Autumn



Good Works: They Don't and Do Work

September 18, 2011, 25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Isaiah 55:6-9 Philemon 1:20-24, 27 Matthew 20:1-16

First reading from Isaiah: My thoughts aren’t your thoughts

Seek the Seek the Lord God while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the Lord God for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord God. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

The First Day of Autumn

The year is rolling on; this coming Friday September 23 is the First Day of Autumn – a season filled with mixed emotions, as ”the leaves of brown come tumbling down in September in the rain.” It’s a season filled with gratitude for the fruits of the harvest, but it’s also filled with a kind of mystic melancholy. The possibilities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies grow grey, and many people turn inward, both physically and mentally. Keat’s poem To Autumn emphasizes the lush abundance of the season, but it also sounds a note of melancholy. French poet Paul Verlaine’s Autumn Song is likewise characterized by strong and sad feelings. Yeat’s poem The Wild Swans at Coole sees Autumn as symbolically representing his own ageing self who has reached his prime, and now must look forward to the inevitability of old age and death.

Good work didn’t work for those who started at early dawn

After Labor Day we all settle down to school or to work. The student works hard to get a good grade from his teacher. The day laborer works hard to get a good check from the boss. No work - no pay! Good work - good pay! Very good work - very good pay! That’s the market economy: we live by it all week long, all year long, and all lifelong. At first thought, the market economy sounds pretty fair and square.

But it is not God’s economy. In the parable today some workers go into the vineyard at early dawn, some at 9 a. m., others at 12 noon, some at 3 p.m. and finally some come straggling in at 5 p.m.. At sunset they all line up for their pay, and the boss gives them all the same pay! The good work of those who started at early dawn didn’t work! So they (and we with them) cry out: “Foul! Unfair!“ But the boss fires back, “Isn’t that what we agreed upon? If I want to be generous to these last guys, that my business.” That disturbs us who live and die by a market economy. At first glance, paying the late stragglers the same wage as the guys on the job at the crack of dawn doesn’t seem very fair.

We, who put in a good day’s work, are perplexed and even disappointed by a God who pays the same wage to late stragglers as He pays to laborers who are in the field at early dawn. For those who are perplexed by such an `unfair’ God, the first reading doesn’t offer much light, as it simply reminds us that God’s thoughts are not like ours, and His ways are different from ours [and God’s economy is different from our economy.](Is. 55:9)

Good work didn’t work for the industrious farmhand

That good work doesn’t work is a New Testament theme. It’s found also in Jesus’ parable of a farm-hand who goes out at sunrise and bears the day’s burden and the heat, plowing the fields and tending the sheep. At sunset he returns to the farmhouse, feeling good about his good work and expecting his boss to reward him. Instead, the boss tells the tired farm-hand that his work isn’t finished; he still has to prepare the boss’ supper. The farmhand’s good work obviously didn’t work, as the boss reminds his servant he’s simply done what was expected of him. (Lk 17: 7-10) That parable too reminds us that God’s thoughts are not like ours, His ways are different from ours, and God’s economy is different from ours.

Good works didn’t work for Luther

Good works didn’t work for Martin Luther (1483 –1546), the father of the Protestant Reformation. He is famous for his attack on the corruption of the 16^th century Roman Church. He is equally famous for his attack on `good works.’ An attack on good works! Luther, a devout (and perhaps also scrupulous) Augustinian monk was conflicted by the Question of Justification: How is a man set right with God? His question was deeply personal. As a devout (and also scrupulous) Augustinian monk, he feverishly worked away at good works. He performed all the monastic observances: he prayed, fasted, scourged his body, went on pilgrimages and gave alms. To no avail! At the end of the day, he felt that good works hadn’t worked for him! They hadn’t worked either because he thought that they weren’t good enough for God, or because he thought that there weren’t enough of them to satisfy God. In that period of his life Luther’ lived with a constantly tortured conscience.

Amazing Grace!

His historians relate how Luther’s tortured conscience was wonderfully set free. They speak about his “tower experience.” One day as Luther was studying St. Paul’s Epistle to Romans in his heated study in the tower of the Black Cloister in Wittenberg, he came upon the words, “The gospel tells us that God makes us right in his eyes when we put our faith and trust in Christ [not in our works] to save us.” (Rom. 1:17) With that reading Luther, exhausted by trying for years to buy God off with good works, suddenly had a huge burden lifted from his back by a very privileged moment of revelation. In Romans 1:17 Luther says he rediscovered the `lost Gospel’ – the wonderful Good News that there is nothing that he has to do to gain salvation, because there is nothing he can do in order to gain salvation. And what’s more, there is nothing that Luther has to do to gain salvation, because Christ has done it all for him. Salvation is not the work of works but the work of Grace alone. So wonderful was that Good News that it gave birth to the Reformation’s mother of all hymns: Amazing Grace.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

(John Newton 1725-1807)

Good works don’t work for God

The parable of the boss, who paid the very same wage to the late stragglers as he paid to those on the job at the crack of dawn, proves that the Lutherans are right when they insist that good works don’t work for God.

That good works don’t work for God is indeed very strange news, but it’s also amazing good news! For it frees us weak human beings from the impossible and terrifying burden of having to buy God off with good works. God is not for sale simply because He is beyond price. The Gospel is the good news that what we could not do for ourselves (buy God off), that Christ did for us on cross.
                                  
                                            Good works do work for us

But Catholics also are right in their driving conviction that good works do work for us. That conviction down through the centuries built an endless chain of hospitals, hospices, old-age-homes, orphanages, schools, etc. Good works do work because Jesus said they do. “I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. Good works work not only for those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned, but also and especially for those who come to their aid. To them the Son of Man will say, “Come you blessed of my Father and take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of creation.” (Mt 25:31-40)

Conclusion

Good works: they don’t and do work

Good works don’t work for God who doesn’t transact and cannot be bought off. But they do, indeed, work for us. A Samaritan on the road to Jericho came upon a man waylaid by robbers and was left half-dead. He stopped and poured the oil of compassion upon the poor man. The Samaritan’s good work didn’t work for God (who doesn’t transact), but it did, indeed, work for the poor man waylaid by robbers. It carried him off to the nearest inn and there provided for the man’s care and cure. More importantly, the Samaritan’s good work worked especially for himself. He needed his own good work even more urgently than the poor victim on the road to Jericho. His good work turned him into that Good Samaritan whose praises have been sung down through the ages.

The Last Statistic of All: Not 7 Times but 77 Times



The Twin Towers Before 9/11 







The Twin Towers During 9'11











The Last Statistic of All: Not 7 Times but 77 Times

September 11, 2011, 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sirach 28: 1-7 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35

First reading from Sirach: “Hate not your neighbor.”

The vengeful will suffer the Lord God’s vengeance, for He remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord? If he shows no pity for another, can he then plead for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive him his sins? Remember your last days and set enmity aside. Remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Remember the commandments and hate not your neighbor. Remember the Most High's covenant and overlook people’s faults.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Glory to you, Lord.

The Gospel: Not 7 times but 77 times

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as 7 times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not 7 times but 77 times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.

But when that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe!' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction

A timely parable

This great parable about forgiveness is always read on the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A. It is intriguing and somewhat ominous that this 24th Sunday with its parable about forgiveness should land this year on Sunday, September 11th 20ll -- the 10th anniversary of that very horrific event which brought down the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan and 2,752 innocent human being, and which greatly challenged a nation to forgive. This Sunday’s parable about forgiveness is, indeed, timely.

One decade ago todayOn September 11th 2001, one decade ago today, two hijacked 767s crashed into the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, bringing down New York City’s signature Twin Towers and murdering 2,752 innocent human beings. That horrendous event reduced the WTC to smoldering and mountainous heaps of brick and mortar. It took a ten-month operation working day and night to haul away 2,000,000 tons of debris. Among the rubble were rescued 20,000 body-parts! September 11th 2001 ushered in the age of terrorism which now preoccupies us 24/7, consumes our psychic and financial resources, and robs us of a simple abiding peace which we used to take for granted. September 11th 2001 was an event of such apocalyptic proportions that the nation now dates time as `Before 9/11’ and `After 9/11.’

Bin Laden’s `pay-back’

The attack on the WTC and the deaths of 3,000 innocent human beings was Osama bin Laden’s `pay-back’ for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Bin Laden (killed by Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011) believed that that U.S policy in the Middle East had oppressed and killed Muslims. At first he denied but later admitted his responsibility for 9/11. He also believed that only the restoration of Shari'a (a code of religious laws for Muslims) would "set things right” in the Muslim world.

A faithful Muslim

Islam is an Arabic word meaning `to surrender,’ and a faithful Muslim is `one who surrenders to God.’ He surrenders himself to God with the `Five Pillars of Islam.’ (1) He ardently professes that only Allah is God, and Mohammad is his Messenger (Shahada). (2) He falls to his knees five times a day for ritual prayer facing Mecca - the holy birthplace of Mohammad (Salat). (3) He puts aside a fixed percentage for almsgiving (Zakat). (4) He goes on a once-in-a-life-time pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). (5) He fasts from all food from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadan (Sawm). This year Ramadan ran from August 1 to August 29.

Hijacked Muslims and a hijacked Church

That’s the faithful Muslim. But then there’s the hijacked Muslim. That’s a Muslim who is driven by religious fanaticism. It was fanatical Muslims `inspired’ by Osama bin Laden, who on 9/11 took over two 767s and flew them into the Twin Towers, shouting “Allah Akbar!” (God is Great!), as they murdered 2,752 innocent human beings. Such fanaticism is not characteristic of most Muslims, but it does represent a sizeable part of Islam that can’t be ignored or denied.

Though we Catholics would like to forget it, we remember that the institution of the Church in times past had also been hijacked by religious fanatics. It was a hijacked ecclesiastical institution which persecuted Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) for saying that the earth goes around the sun, and not the sun around the earth. It even pursued St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) for her `suspect’ mystical writings. The hijacked institution’s most signature victim, however, was St. Joan of Arc (1412– 1431), `the Maid of Orléans," whom the institution burned at the stakes for nebulous charges of heresy. In the Crusades, the Inquisitions and the bloody religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, Christians have spilled much more blood than Muslims have.

A hijacked Christian pastor

The Rev. Terry Jones, pastor of the small Christian Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has great fears (rightly or wrongly?) that the U.S. will become like Europe where Muslims, as they grow in population, try to take over and impose their Shari'a law on others. Last year Jones sparked international outrage for declaring Sept. 11 "International Burn a Quran Day." He encouraged Americans to burn the Quran, which is for Muslims what the Bible is for Christians. After some thought, however, Jones felt that burning the Muslim’s Bible might elicit a violent response which could kill many innocent people. He suggested instead “shredding or shooting or dunking the Quran in water!”

Is Rev. Jones a hijacked Christian pastor, as he threatens to burn or shred or shoot or dunk in water the Muslim’s holy Quran? Has he been hijacked from his own holy Bible which warns him in the first reading today that “if a man nurses anger against another, he cannot expect compassion from the Lord?” Has he been hijacked from his own holy Bible which bids him in the gospel reading today “to forgive not 7 times but 77 times?”

A Christian’s response to 9/11

Just a few hours after the nation experienced 9/11, Pax Christi USA released a statement the very next day, affirming what must be the Christian’s response to that apocalyptic event. He must be a follower of the Jesus who told Peter that he must forgive not 7 times but 77 times. He must be a follower of the nonviolent Jesus who said, “You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Mt 5:38–39) The Pax Christi statement in part read:

We recognize that as the reality of the magnitude of loss becomes clear, our grief will soon move toward rage. As people of faith and disciples of
the nonviolent Jesus, we must be willing, even now in this darkest moment, to commit ourselves and urge our sisters and brothers, to resist the impulse to vengeance. We must resist the urge to demonize and dehumanize any ethnic group as ‘enemy.’ We must find the courage to break the spiral of violence that so many in our nation, we fear, will be quick to embrace.

Imagine what courage it took to speak words of forgiveness and non-violence on September 12, 2001, to a nation overwhelmed with unbelief and grief, and soon to be overwhelmed by anger and a desire for revenge. Imagine what courage it took to speak words of forgiveness and non-violence to a nation about to be faced with the grim task of hauling away 2,000,000 tons of debris, and of gathering up 20,000 body-parts.

Forgiveness – hard work even for Jesus’ heavenly Father!

Strange to say, forgiveness seems to be hard work even for Jesus’ heavenly Father. In the gospel reading today the heavenly Father doesn’t seem to live up to His own standard of forgiveness, for the reading ends strangely with Jesus invoking a disturbing image of God as a torturer: “So will my heavenly Father do to you (hand you over to torturers), unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” (Mt. 18:35) Forgiveness is hard work not only for the heavenly Father, but even more so for all of us. On a good day, we might forgive 1 time. 7 times seems very hard. But Jesus’ 77 times is just about impossible!

Conclusion
The last statistic of all

The horrendous event of 9/11 2001 is told with overwhelming statistics:

2 imposing 110-story towers costing $400 million in Lower Manhattan were reduced to ashes and rubble on 9/11, when struck by two hijacked 767s.

2,752 innocent human beings were also reduced to ashes with the Twin Towers on 9/11.

2,000,000 tons of debris were hauled away by an operation working day and night for 10 months.

20,000 body-parts were found among the debris, and were gathered for appropriate burial.

343 firefighters of the NYC Fire Department died in the ashes of the WTC, and among them was their very beloved chaplain, Franciscan Fr. Mychal Judge, who rushed to the WTC to administer the last sacrament to a dying fellow-fireman and was struck by falling burning debris and died on the spot, and who now goes down in history as 9/11’s first and most famous martyr.

3,000 mourners attended Fr. Judge’s burial Mass which was celebrated by Cardinal Edward Egan and attended by former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea on September 15, at St. Francis of Assisi Church in midtown Manhattan. And when a `Month's Mind Memorial’ was held for New York City’s very beloved priest on October 11, 2001, an endless flow of priests, nuns, lawyers, cops, firefighter, homeless people, rock-and-rollers, recovering alcoholics, gays and lesbians, local politicians and middle-age couples from the suburbs streamed into Good Shepherd Chapel on Ninth Ave, an Anglican church, to do a memorial for Catholic Fr. Judge.

Among all these stunning statistics describing the horrendous event of 9/11 stands the last statistic of all: To Peter asking whether he must fprgive a brother 7 times, Jesus replies, "No, not 7 times, but 77 times."



No Homily