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02/18/2007

Knights of Columbus

FR. OLMAN'S HOMILIES

01/14/2007

01/21/2007

01/28/2007

02/04/2007

02/11/2007

02/18/2007

Almost everyone knows the story of how in combat David, the youth, overcame Goliath, the giant.  By doing so David saved the Israelites from a terrible war with the philistines.  The victory won favor from the people for David, but hatred from King Saul because he could not bear that David was held in greater esteem than he.  Saul convinced himself that David was his enemy and would try to usurp the throne.  He tried without success to kill David.  In today’s first reading the tables are turned.  David has the opportunity to kill the King, but out of respect for him as the Lord’s anointed he refuses to do so.  He actually forgives the King for his attacks upon him.

 People in Jesus’ society also interpreted their experiences in terms of deserve/not deserve.  People like the Pharisees who thought those who were physically, mentally or morally defective deserved to be segregated from the community.  Thus, the lepers and the blind and the lame deserved to be segregated from the community because they must had done something deserving of what befell them.    Even Jesus’ disciples had this outlook.  As for those who were tax collectors or prostitutes or others morally unclean, they, too, were considered by the Pharisees to be out of favor with God and like the physically defective, they, too, deserved to be expelled or segregated from the community.  The same was true of those possessed by demons.    Jesus’ response to those lacking in physical, moral or mental integrity was decidedly different. Throughout his public ministry he practiced what has come to be known as open table fellowship, that is, he made it a point to eat with any and all persons whom his society considered undeserving.  All were welcome, deserving and undeserving alike.

The God whom he proclaimed was not a God of deserve/not deserve.  This was the God Jesus spoke of when he said, in our gospel reading for today “but love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”.

 We are being like God.  We are to imitate the ways of God with our brothers and sisters.  As it is God’s way, so it must be ours.  We find an example in the person of Pope John Paul II.  After he had recovered from the blatant attack upon his life when he was shot in St. Peter’s Square, one of the first things he did was to visit his assailant in prison and offer him forgiveness and reconciliation.

 Jesus tells us and we heard it in the gospel of today: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who abuse you”.

If we follow Christ we have to forgive our enemies.  If we forgive our enemies, only then are we followers of Christ.

The instinct of revenge, although it is deeply rooted in man’s sentiments, has been definitively superseded and fully conquered by the power of the love that pardons.  The Gospel tells us that not only friends but also enemies are to be the object of Christian love.  “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you”.

Christian forgiveness requires not only a refusal to take vengeance, but also a response of love for the enemy, not only passivity in the face of insult and wrong, but the most eloquent moral response that can be given: affection and prayer for the one who is the enemy.  Only the power of God and the grace of Christ can lead us to this attitude of love.

But it is through a more profound transformation of the heart that one acquires the capacity to forgive and to love one’s own enemies.  Human existence need to be healed and to be saved from the constant temptation that arises from man’s egoism.  Therefore, there is need of an assiduous conversion that involves all the expressions of the person: the effort of thought, concern about one’s actions, and the effort of the will. We need to love our enemies and love each other in our parish.  Accepting each or us as we are, recognizing our virtues and help to change our weakness we can built a better community.

 Today is a special occasion because we are celebrating the rite of sending of our candidate and catechumen.  Today as a community we send them to the rite of election with our bishop.  We pray for them and during lent season they and we are preparing to receive them in our community when they receive all the sacraments of the Christian initiation.

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Last modified:02/18/07