February 27, 2005: Converted at the Well

+ The Third Sunday of Lent

During this holy season of Lent, the Church encourages us to look at our life through Christ’s eyes and turn away from our sins. Not only are we to love God more, but we also strive to love our neighbor more.

This past Monday at Mass, for instance, we heard St. Luke’s Gospel where Jesus tells His disciples to be merciful… to forgive… to stop judging… to stop condemning others (Lk 6, 36–38).

Judging other people, condemning them, gossiping, spreading dirt: these are things, unfortunately, that people do a lot. And it’s a terrible sin. It directly breaks the Eighth Commandment. And if the evil talk is against a bishop or a priest, it may be blasphemy or sacrilege besides.

Back in college, a friend of mine named Monica was a religion major. She had a class with a Professor Durwood who was famous for some oddball antics. One day, Monica walked into class and found a large bull’s-eye target hanging on the wall with several darts sitting on a nearby table. Professor Durwood told the students to draw a picture of someone they disliked or someone who had made them angry—and he would let them throw darts at the person’s picture.

Monica said that the girl sitting next to her drew a picture of another girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another guy drew a picture of his younger brother who had gotten him into trouble for something. When everyone was done, the professor hung the pictures over the target on the wall. The class lined up and took turns throwing the darts at the pictures. There was a lot of laughter. Some of the students threw the darts with such force that they ripped apart their targets. When the exercise was over, Professor Durwood asked the students to return to their seats so he could begin his lecture.

In silence, he took down what was left of the pictures—and then the bull’s-eye target. There, underneath the target, was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled image of their Savior—holes and gashes now covered His face. His eyes were practically pierced out. Professor Durwood looked around the room and said only these words: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25, 40).

I think this makes for an enlightening lesson! When one person rips another person to shreds, there are actually three victims: the person attacked, of course… the perpetrator, since He has incurred God’s great displeasure… and Jesus Himself, who freely took the world’s suffering upon Himself.

But the Good News is, we can quickly get ourselves out this mess. Christ’s generous love, and our response to it, make it possible.

Our Gospel today is the familiar story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. It is a rich and touching story.

As the woman tells her tale, we find out that she came to the well all by herself to draw water. The other women of the village had already come and left. Normally, all the women would come together—to help each other out and to socialize a bit. The fact that this woman wasn’t with them tells us that she was an outcast—probably because of her lifestyle: five ex-husbands and now a live-in boyfriend. It’s safe to assume that this woman had been mocked, gossiped about, condemned and eventually shunned by her neighbors.

Yet here comes Jesus to meet her where she is and befriend her. He doesn’t judge her or condemn her. He doesn’t say “tsk tsk.” He simply speaks to her kindly and compassionately. And the mere fact that he spoke to her raised eyebrows! Even His own disciples scolded Him, because it was considered scandalous for a Jewish man to speak to a woman of Samaria—much less a social outcast!

So once again we see Jesus breaking society’s conventions. How come? Simply because it’s right. He sees something in the woman that goes beyond social customs or his friends’ opinions. Jesus respects her and loves her—as He does all people—and He invites her to conversion and discipleship. That’s much more important than following man-made rules of society.

And irony of ironies, this Samaritan woman is completely bowled over by Jesus, and she can’t wait to go share her discovery with her neighbors. She, the victim, actually becomes a missionary and goes out to convince her victimizers to put aside their judgments, as she welcomes them to share in the joyous truth that liberated her!

What a beautiful message for us, too—in a couple of different ways.

First, like the Samaritan woman, we are challenged to stand completely open before Jesus. He’s not going to judge us or condemn us, so we shouldn’t be afraid to bring before the Lord even the aspects of our life that we may be ashamed of or can’t seem to forgive ourselves for. The things that frighten us or make us vulnerable. The deep hurts we can’t seem to get over on our own. There’s nothing that God doesn’t see or know, so why not come clean and ask for His merciful help? Our honesty and humility are the things that melt the Lord’s heart.

And secondly, like the Samaritan woman’s neighbors, we are challenged to discover God’s transforming love, no matter what the source of it is. If the Lord could choose a sinner, a social outcast, the person judged “worst” and even shunned by the community, and make her His disciple and witness and missionary, couldn’t He choose any one of us to do exactly the same? Indeed, maybe He already has! Open your eyes and your ears and your heart; you might just be surprised!

As we continue our Lenten journey, may Our Lord’s plea that we love God and neighbor truly resonate within us with new fervor. God bless you!

Today’s Readings:
Exodus 17, 3–7
Psalm 95
Romans 5, 1–2 and 5–8
John 4, 5–42 (Key text)

February 20, 2005: Heaven

+ The Second Sunday of Lent

When I arrived here in Cullom on Tuesday, it was fairly warm — and then, all of a sudden, the winds came up and the temperature dropped down into the teens at night. No wonder they call this “flu season”!

Let me ask you a strange question: do you believe in the flu?

You may be wondering: what kind of crazy question is that? But I think it’s a legitimate question. After all, you can’t see flu bugs, can you? You can’t see germs. So why should we believe that they really exist?

And come to think of it, there are a whole bunch of invisible things that I’m not sure we should really believe in: radio and TV sound waves, electricity, microwaves, gravity, X-rays…

Now you must really think I’m off my rocker! Of course we believe in those things — and in many other things, besides, that we can’t see.

Yet some people perhaps draw the line when it comes to believing in heaven. Maybe for them, heaven is just pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking to keep us on a good moral track as we go through this life… kind of like a parent making the kids eat their broccoli with the promise of chocolate cake for dessert!

But according to today’s Gospel account, we can state with certainty that heaven is not just a fantasy; it really does exist, and Our Lord’s three companions got a tiny glimpse of it.

St. Peter, St. James and St. John saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes. They saw Christ’s face shine like the sun, and His garments become white as snow. That’s something similar to His appearance in heaven.

Actually, I don’t have to prove to you that there is a heaven. The fact that you’re here today shows you believe in it; why else would you bother to come to Mass? We have it on Christ’s own word that He has gone to prepare a place for us. Faith tells us that there is a place of future reward. Reason and logic say this must be so. How else could we explain the desire of every human heart for perfect happiness? You and I want to be as happy as we can. This life doesn’t give it. Wealth and health and fame and honor don’t guarantee happiness. There must be something somewhere that completely satisfies. That “something” is God; that “somewhere” is heaven. The trick, of course, is to get there ourselves.

When I got here this week, I needed some stamps. So I asked Mike Kane where the post office was. He told me, I thanked him, and I said, “If you come to Mass this weekend, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven.” Mike said, “I don’t think so. You don’t even know your way to the post office.”

Fortunately, I know my way around Cullom now, so I hope now you’ll be more willing to listen!

What exactly is heaven? First of all, heaven is not the place that we see in cartoons or in movies where people have haloes and wings, wear long white gowns, fly around with harps and basically do nothing else. To me, that doesn’t at all sound like the heaven that St. Paul describes when he says, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2, 9).

So it’s wrong to picture heaven as a place where we lounge around doing nothing. To be sure, heaven is a place of rest — a place of rest from worry, sin, sickness, suffering and death. But we’re not going to sit around and rust! It’s not a place of idleness. In heaven, we’ll have interesting things to do. Some folks wonder whether there will be golf courses or euchre tables or video games in heaven; some people worry about taking their cats with them. Others would like to believe that heaven will be a place of sensual pleasure. But those things are not what heaven will be all about.

So what then is heaven?

Very simply, heaven is the home of God, a place where we will fully enjoy absolute peace and love. And we are not uninvited guests. God wants us to be there with Him. He’s rolled out the red carpet for us. It is His gift to us!

What a contrast to our earthly home! Here in our world, even pleasant things soon become tiresome. How quickly we’re bored to death if we’re not constantly given something new, something different, something exciting. We can eat only so much of our very favorite food and no more. We can listen to our favorite song or watch our favorite TV show only so many times. There is a limit to earthly pleasure.

Not so in heaven. There, pleasure is never-ending — in fact, it’s ever-increasing. It’s always interesting, always new, always getting better and better. There will be no pain, no illness. No more toothaches, headaches or arthritis. No cancer, heart disease or mental illness. And we’ll never again have to worry about paying our Visa bill, making a mortgage or car payment, paying the Nicor bill, or otherwise making ends meet.

But the very best thing about heaven is that there, we get to see God face to face. Like the apostles Peter, James and John in today’s Gospel, we will see God… and be with Him… and bask in His awesome presence. What an unspeakable joy! Imagine the most beautiful face, the kindest face, the most loving and adoring face that you can. That face wouldn’t hold a candle to the face of God, Who is all-beauty and all-kindness. To be with God will certainly be the greatest joy of heaven; to be separated from God the greatest pain of hell.

A place of rest, the home of God, the home of the children of God — that is heaven. Don’t you think that a place like this is worth working for?

God’s directions are beautifully simple and clear. He said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him. Do what He says.”

That’s what Peter, James and John did. And that’s also what we must do. In the words of our opening prayer today, “Father, help us to hear your Son. Enlighten us with your word, that we may find the way to your glory.” Amen.

Today’s Readings:
Genesis 12, 1–4
Psalm 33
2 Timothy 1, 8–10
Matthew 17, 1–9

February 6, 2005: Salt of the Earth

+ The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time


When I went home after Christmas a couple of years ago, I discovered to my surprise that the house was filled with all kinds of fancy objects made of glass and ceramics—stuff that came from auctions, estate sales, flea markets, garage sales and the like. It seems that several members of my family had discovered eBay—that do-it-yourself, on-line auction operation. Collecting is a huge business these days. I’m always surprised when I hear the prices that some items fetch.

As I’m sure you know, people collect everything: stamps and coins, thimbles, buttons, bottles, rare books, glassware—you name it. Before the computer age—and even today, for that matter—folks might come together at an exhibit hall to buy and sell and trade their favorite collectibles.

One time, a group of collectors decided to hold an exhibit in a Catholic parish hall. One of the parish societies ran a little snack bar as a way to make a little extra money. One visitor bought a cup of coffee and a hamburger, and he was walking around as he ate. Just as he passed a collection of salt and pepper shakers—a couple of hundred of them—he realized that his hamburger could use some salt. He set his coffee down and reached for a salt shaker. No salt. He tried at least a dozen salt shakers. No salt in any of them! Finally, he went back to the food stand to get his salt.

A couple of hundred salt shakers but no salt! Isn’t that a picture of life? Too many people who are supposed to have “salt” actually do not have it. This image may help us to understand what Jesus is talking about today when He says to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.”

The same way that a spoonful of salt spreads itself all through a kettle of soup, that’s how every Christian must spread his influence to all the people he meets every day.

Look how many people we meet whose lives are dull, tasteless, meaningless. Like a hamburger or soup without any salt, their existence is flat—without meaning or purpose. But, by the things we say and do, and the way we say it and do it, we can be “salt” for those who find life tasteless!

Did you know that salt has about 1,400 different chemical and commercial uses, apart from preserving and seasoning food? Maybe that’s why in the ancient world, salt was considered so valuable that it was even used as money. The word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium, which meant the money given to Roman soldiers so they could buy salt.

For instance, salt can be used as an antiseptic—that’s even in the Bible (Ezek. 43, 24). I have seen it applied to reduce the swelling of a bee sting. The symbolism is clear: the evils of the world can be cured or at least lessened by the application of the salt of our faith.

Just as salt preserves food from decay and corruption, so do we—as followers of Jesus Christ—help to preserve the people we meet from corrupt, false answers to all the important questions of life.

In all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, salt played a part. An agreement of salt meant an agreement of friendship. In fact, in many cultures, salt is a symbol of friendship. The salt of our faith must make us friendly, even with the unfriendly and the unfriendliness we sometimes encounter. Christ wants us to be that kind of salt.

Our Lord also wants us to season our speech with salt—in the sense that we must speak with intelligence and wisdom and understanding, which comes from faith in Him (Col. 4, 6).

Jesus says in St. Mark’s Gospel: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mk. 9, 50). Most likely, Christ is referring to salt as the charity which seasons the relations that people should have with each other. Do we have that kind of salt in our system? How sad and tasteless life can be without it.

The covenant which God made with His people (Num. 18, 19) must be pure, lasting, strong and pleasant. These are the characteristics of good salt. That’s why it was used in that divine agreement.

Charity, friendship, peace, faith, understanding—salt is a sign of all of these virtues. And we, as Christians, are especially charged with carrying this salt everywhere we go.

May we be good and faithful Catholics who always bring our salt to Mass… and may we always pray to get a new supply from Mass, so we can leave this sacred place and carry these precious gifts of the Holy Spirit to everyone we meet.

May God bless you always—and fill you with His holy salt!


Today’s Readings:
Isaiah 58, 7–10
Psalm 112
1 Corinthians 2, 1–5
Matthew 5, 13–16