Homily - Sunday 2015/06/22 - Father's Day / Storms / hands

 

As some of you know, the day this homily was meant to be delivered, Father's Day 2015, my wife  Rowena's father, Generoso "Gene" Ritua, passed on from earthly life. Only a few short hours later, I served with Father Jim (whom I am so grateful to have in my life) at the 10 AM Mass and after he noticed me struggling with my grief, encouraged, well mandated, that I go home. So many thanks to Father Arnold for taking up the slack and giving his own homily at the 1:00 PM Mass where this homily was to have been given.  

 

 Homily - Sunday 

June 21, 2015

Stormy Seas, Father's Day, Hands

Mark 4:35-41 - The Readings
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

 

               I remember as a kid there would be times when I would be lying in bed convinced there was a boogie-man in my closet. My Mom and Dad were in their room across the hall, and I was so scared I couldn’t even muster the courage to call out to them, for fear the boogie-man would come, running out of my closet and get my little brother and I before my parents could even stop him.

                I remember one night, I mustered up the courage, jumped out of bed, and ran passed my closet and made it to Mom and Dad’s bedroom. I remember Dad getting up and taking me over to the closet, opening it up and making sure that I was satisfied that there was no boogie-man in my closet. He gave me a hug of reassurance that I was safe in his hands.

                As time went on I remembered that night, and how my dad was bigger than the boogie-man, and how he could protect me any time that I thought I might have an unwelcomed visitor lurking in my closet.

                Now, imagine how the Apostles felt, they weren’t facing some non-existent boogie-man in the closet, they were out, as the evening drew long, presumably in the dark, crossing the sea, likely far enough out that they were over their heads deep in water, in waves big enough to come over the sides of their boat, nearly capsizing it. Scared for their lives, and amazed that Jesus was sleeping through it all: sleeping through the rocking from side to side and up and down; sleeping through the noise of the waves crashing against the boat; the howling of the driving wind; the creaking of the boat as it twisted in the waves, as well as the shouting I imagine was going on from the boat’s occupants as they began to let panic set in.

                But what stopped them from waking Jesus sooner? Maybe as professional fishermen, having weathered other storms, they thought they could handle it on their own? or perhaps they feared that there would be nothing Jesus could do and all hope would be lost. But we know how the story ends, Jesus is awoken by the disciples, turns back the wind, and tells the sea to be quiet. They were safe in His hands.

                There is another story about hands I heard a couple of weeks ago, particularly our Dad’s hands, and since today is Father’s Day I want to share it with you, it went something like this…

                A mechanic’s son goes to a job interview at a large printing company, after satisfying the preliminary interviewer, he is brought to the director for a final interview, at which time he is asked by the director if he received any scholarships for his education, to which the young man said “No, my parents paid for my education.”,  ”What does your father do for a living?”, “He is a mechanic and has a garage” the young man replied. The director looked at the young man’s hands and noticed they were soft and smooth, and asked the young man, “Have you ever worked at Dad’s garage?” to which the young man said, “No, my parents always wanted me to study, and read more books, and focus on my education. Besides, my father is a very good mechanic, and I would only get in his way.”

                The director looked the young man in the eye and said, “I have one request for you: When you go home today, go and wash the hands of your father and come back and see me tomorrow.”

                When his father got home from work that night, he felt strange at the request of his son, but with mixed feelings he allowed his son to wash his hands. First he noticed his Dad’s hands were strong, rough, wrinkled, and callous from years of turning wrenches. As he scrubbed away the remaining grease from his father’s hard day of work, he uncovered scars, and bruises.

For the first time in the young man’s life, he began to realize what it meant for this pair of hands of his Father’s to work every day to be able to pay for his study. That the wounds those hands had suffered over the years were the price that his father paid for his education, his school activities, and his future.

After washing his father’s hands the young man stood silent and began to tidy up his father’s workshop. After the cleanup they sat and talked into the night.

The next day the young man went back to the director’s office. The director asked him what he had learned the night before.

He replied “I hadn’t realized until last night how hard my father labored so that I could get a good education and have a better life than he did. I realize now the pain, and suffering he endured, for me and my siblings, and how he instilled in us the value of helping each other. I also understand now that my father worked very hard with his hands while at the garage, but worked equally hard to push his children to be their best.”

 The director said, "This is what I look for in my people. I want to hire someone who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the hardship of others, and a person who does not put money as his only goal in life".  “You are hired.”

                And so it is with this story in mind that I encourage you to look to those you love that have made sacrifices for you, especially your Fathers as we celebrate Father’s day today and … if we still have the opportunity, perhaps even wash their hands, or allow your children to wash yours. You may find scars, or you may find that their hands are smooth. Don’t let that change your opinion of how hard they work. I am sure if we were to look at Father’s hands, we would find that they are smoother than those of a garage mechanic, but his hands still make great sacrifices for us, as they clasp together in prayers for us, as they are raised over us in forgiveness during confession, as they offer us blessings, and they are the same consecrated hands that offer the Mass.

                As we reflect on those that love us, and have put their hands to use for our benefit through sacrifice for us, let us also not forget the love of God the Father, who, as part of the trinity, was incarnate of the Virgin Mary as Jesus Christ. Let us take a moment to reflect on His hands. Imagine those hands, the pain endured as the nails were driven through them. How they were present at the crucifixion when Christ’s life was sacrificed so that we might have eternal life in heaven.

Those hands, the hands of Christ, that hold us up when we need strength, that are raised over the storms in our lives, and bring calm, the hands of Christ that embrace us with compassion when we need empathy, the hands that held up Jesus during his last breaths, the hands that are part of the body of Christ which is the Church. The hands of Christ which we have be called to emulate, through our sacrifices for others, with love, compassion, and undeserved sacrifice.

So when we have boogie-men in our closet or it feels like we are going to sink in the storms we call life, know that our God is more powerful than the things we fear, can calm the storms we think are unsurvivable, and can us bring eternal life by defeating death. We can feel safe in those hands.

               

Homily - Sunday 2015/05/17 - The Ascension / Saints

Homily - Sunday 

May 17, 2015

The Ascension - Saints

Mark 16:15-20- The readings
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

            A little over a week ago I saw a post on Facebook… it said “What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?” The kindness of strangers was inspiring… some took effort, one person told a story about the kindness of a stranger on the street that stopped in his tracks and came over and helped them lift a couch up through four stories of fire escapes to their new apartment, some were very simple acts like a hug in an ER waiting room, or the sharing of an umbrella at a bus stop, others took bearing discomfort: one stranger helped someone else shovel their car out of the snow… obviously,  this didn’t happen in San Diego… many did happen in foreign lands though, stories of strangers that were helped out with directions, rides to hotels and airports, and even temporary lodging while they were traveling. Still yet other people had amazing stories of shortcomings, all overcome by God’s grace of providing our needs through the kindness of a variety of unrelated strangers.

            You may remember just last week the Gospel reading was about God’s commandment to Love one another. A commandment, whether acknowledged or not, is being lived out by these kind strangers. These strangers, by living out this commandment to love one another, are conforming themselves more perfectly to God’s will.

            In this week’s readings, The Ascension, we see the perfect example, of living out God’s will. We see Jesus’ life, after living it out sinlessly in constant unison with His Father’s will, coming to its earthly end, as he ascends into heaven in body and soul to join God the Father for all eternity.

            But let’s face it, it’s not in our nature to be sinless like Christ was sinless, we have a characteristic known to the church as concupiscence, an effect of original sin, it is our unavoidable desire to sin that dwells within our broken spirit.

But while we may have a desire to sin, we also have a God given desire to please our creator, to love Him, who is love. And so it is, as we live our lives in a constant struggle, between our desire to sin and our desire to please God, a struggle that has been lived out by every person beginning with Adam and Eve, and on through the ages.

Many have failed to live out a life pleasing to God, so much so that we have seen God in a way hit the reset switch, to start over, as he did in Noah’s day, when all men were living evil corrupt lives except for Noah, who found favor with God. After guiding Noah to prepare for the flood, God flooded the earth, washing away all of his creation. It was from Noah and his family, and the animals on the Ark that God’s creations continued.

But the Church recognizes that there have been others, many others since Noah, that have found favor with God. In the Old Testament we can look at the prophet Elijah, taken up to heaven without dying, and Moses who certainly lived out his life trying to follow God’s will. Both appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration.

But since the beginning of New Testament, since Jesus was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man and died for our sins, many have been recognized as holy, or Sanctus in Latin, the root of the word Saint. Saints come in many forms: there are Arch-Angels, like Saints Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael. There have also been many Popes that have been recognized as Saints, even as recently as Saint John Paul II. Other saints are Martyrs, those that have died in defense of our faith, like eleven of the Apostles, including Saint James, Stephen, Peter, Paul, all gave their life during the attempt to eliminate early Christianity, all gave their life because of their undeterred belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and there are other martyrs like the Franciscan Friar, Saint Maximillian Kolbe, who gave his life in place of a stranger that was about to be executed in the German death camp Auschwitz during the holocaust of WWII, all gave their life because of their belief in Jesus, and in doing so encouraged the faith of others, and Martyrdom continues throughout the world today with more than 100,000 giving their lives each year because of their faith in Jesus… And governments, and militia intolerant of that faith.  Another type of saint, are the Doctors of the Church, like Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Leo-the-great. These Saints helped us understand better the Word of God, and how to live our life pleasing God.

            But I think the most important saints, are those that we can relate to, those saints that have similarities to our own lives, saints that lived the struggle with concupiscence in their everyday life just like you and I, saints that we can model ourselves after, to achieve holiness. It could be someone that lived a holy life from a very young age like Saint Therese of Lisieux, or someone that lived a less than holy life until a moment of conversion, having experienced a reset, if you will, in their adulthood, making a sudden change in their life toward God, like the Apostle Saint Paul, or the saint that is the namesake of our current Pope: Saint Francis of Assisi who after his conversion, established a religious order to serve the poor after living a life in pursuit of pleasures in his youth

No matter which Saint we look at, we can find some quality in their life that if we incorporated that quality into our life, it would make us holier. Would make us more pleasing to God. Would make use more saintly. I know it is hard to imagine ourselves as saints, but when we live our lives one saintly action at a time, when we live our lives - loving, fulfilling God’s commandment to love one another, we are indeed behaving saintly. When we lift a strangers couch four stories, when we share an umbrella with a stranger at the bus stop, if we, heaven forbid, ever have to give our life for another, we take a step closer to our own canonization.

When we look at the kindness of Jesus, living a sinless life, deserving of no punishment, but dying on the cross for OUR sins, ultimately, the nicest most loving thing someone has done for us, and we look at how he has been raised up to heaven, bridging that infinite gap between our earthly lives and God’s divinity, once again, offering mankind an opportunity to reset our relationship with God the father, we have the perfect example of giving of ourselves for others.

Perhaps if our life hasn’t been worthy of being a saintly example to others, that today might be a day of reset, today might be a day of restarting to a right relationship with God and each other. And my hope for you, is that when someone is asked “What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?” they will talk about a time that they were lovingly helped by you.

Homily - Sunday 2015/04/19 - Recognizing Christ - Four letter Words

Homily - Sunday

April 19, 2015

Recognizing Christ - Four letter Words

Luke 24:35-48 Readings - USCCB.ORG
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

 

            Often after Mass, I make my way to the West Patio and join the crowd between Masses to socialize, and maybe indulge in breakfast, lunch, or even a doughnut. And while I am out there I will occasionally hear someone slip and let out a four letter word. Its’ comical to me when among the people they are talking to, one of them will sometimes say “hey, the deacon is right there”. As an ex-sailor I must say I have been known to throw out a four letter word once in a while, thankfully it is a lot less frequent than it used to be. Sometimes when we throw around these four words we fail to recognize, that while Father or the deacon might not be sitting nearby, our omnipresent God, that is present-everywhere God is there. We, just like the two men in today’s Gospel traveling to Emmaus, we often have trouble recognizing Christ being present among us. And even more like the two men on the road to Emmaus, we may only recognize God when we are breaking bread, that is, we often only recognize God when we are here, in this Church, celebrating the Mass, participating in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We are holy as we sit here, quietly worshipping our God, absorbing the beauty of our Church, breathing in the scents of the Church, listening to the sounds of the Church, the bells, the hymns, and the prayers, and equally important observing the absence of sounds in the prayerful silence between the noises.

            It’s easy to remember that Christ is present when we are in here, its easy to remember not to use four letter words in here. But how are we outside of Church, when God is not so easily recognized, what four letter words do you use then?

Do we choose to use the four letter words like FEAR or do we speak of HOPE, hope that through Christ’s death on the cross we are offered eternal life.

Do we look for the DEAD in things, or do we look for LIFE, do we dwell on the things that bring us down, like us anxiety, negativity, and hate. OR do we look at the positives in our life, the graces that God has given us, the opportunities we are given to grow from.

Do we HATE or LOVE, do we yell, chastise, and belittle those with opposing views to ours, or do we show them the benefits of following a loving God, and his son Jesus? The healing freedom gained from a good confession, the spiritual food we reap as we participate in the Sacraments, and the hope he offers us?

What four letter words dominate our lives out there?

Do we HURT, or HEAL? Do we FAST or FEED? Do we give MORE or LESS? Do we build GATEs or WALLs?

In the Gospel today they feared Jesus, because they thought they saw a ghost, But Jesus tried to first calm them, offering them peace, and then tried to reassure them that he is real, that he was in fact present to them, they were able to touch His hands and His feet, real flesh and bones. Since the ascension, since Jesus raised himself up to heaven, we no longer have Jesus here in the flesh dwelling among us as he did then, he makes himself present through others, and in His Church, of which he is the head. Perhaps that is why it is easy to recognize Christ present when we are here, we see the face of Christ in the head of the Church, but when looking at the rest of the body, which is us, the people,  is much harder to recognize as Christ. But if we go out living four letter words of virtue, Christ will be much more visible to us, and we will make Christ more visible to others.

When we JOIN instead of RUIN, when we seek to GAIN and not LOSE, When we are JUST and not EVIL when we seek to FEED instead of REEP we bring the kingdom of God to others.

When we live a life to GIFT to others and not to make them EARN our resources, when we focus on what is TRUE and not FAKE, it is then that we will see all that is HOLY, Jesus who conquered EVIL, who DIED to give us LIFE.

Let us remember as we go out those doors today the most important of the four letter words our faith offers us, His LOVE, and His HOPE  

 

Homily - Sunday 2014/09/21 - Workers in the Vineyard

Homily - Sunday

September 21, 2014

Workers in the Vineyard

 

Matthew 20:1-16A

Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

 

           Imagine for a moment if I said to pull out your missal from in front of you and open it, and in it, each of you were to find a 20 dollar bill hidden inside, enough twenties so that everyone here got one and only one. Nice?!?! Huh? Everyone would be happy right? … well except for me, I would be out about 10 grand. That is why we are only imagining, so you can stop looking, it is not there, I promise. But going back to my imaginary scenario, imagine you are standing there with your new twenty, and you hear someone on this side scream out, “OOH I got a hundred dollar bill” and then over on that side, “Ooh mine has a hundred too.” Suddenly your twenty isn’t so great, you wish you had that hundred instead, right?

            So now you can imagine what it was like for the workers in the parable we read in today’s Gospel. The first group begins there day, happy to have found work right away, they have the opportunity to provide for their family. They are glad they will be able to eat, maybe get cloths, and pay toward some shelter. Then half way through the morning, the second group, they too are probably thankful for the work, they go to work for “what is just”. Again the landowner went back noon, 3, and again around 5, each time getting more workers, presumably agreeing to pay them a just wage to finish out the day. 

            But when he goes to pay them he starts with those who had worked the least amount of time. Making sure that everyone knows what he is doing. He gave out the same to everyone, regardless of the time they worked. Suddenly those that started, so thankful to have work for that day, are now upset that they feel cheated. But were they cheated? Didn’t they agree to work for a day’s wage? They felt much like I imagine you would feel standing there with your free twenty, they were upset because they didn’t get the best deal, the hundred dollars.

            But God, he is the landowner. It is through his grace, and his grace alone that we have anything at all, the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the jobs we have, the friends, family, and loved ones in our lives, all gifts from God. What we get from God is never earned, it is gifted. God gives, he doesn’t sell. Our salvation, our eternal rest in heaven with God isn’t bought by trading in points for good deeds. Our salvation is gifted from God.

            I heard a story that explains it well. A man gets to heaven and is at the gates talking to Saint Peter, and Saint Peter says to the man, “Let’s go over your life and we will tally up the points and if you get 200 points you will be let in.” So Saint Peter says “Tell me what have you done to get into heaven?” “Well”, says the man, “I have been married for 37 years to my wife, I have always been faithful, I’ve never even raised my voice to her, and always made sure to put her needs ahead of mine.” “Wow” Saint Peter replies “that’s great”, he looks in the book of points, and says “That’s worth 5 points.” The man begins to be very worried, if that was only 5 points, he still has 195 left. The man goes on “I worked for the same employer for 39 years, was never late, always put in a hard day’s work, and never stole, not even a pencil.” Saint Peter says “Yep, I see that here in your records, well done.” He glances at the book of points “3 points”

            At this point the man has 192 points left and he proclaims, “But Saint Peter at this rate I will never get to 200 points, the only way I will get into heaven is by the grace of God, with that Saint Peter says, “Well done, 192 points, welcome home.”, as he opens for the man the gates of heaven. I imagine that God wants us to come to heaven with the most points possible, because by doing so, we show our love for Him, but ultimately the points we earn are meaningless, without the mercy of God, and the sacrifice of Jesus.

            We aren’t going to earn our way in to heaven, we aren’t to earn enough points so that he has to open the gates. The only way we are going to get into heaven is if we are sinless, or in the absence of being sinless, as most of us are, we have to reach out to God for forgiveness. It is Jesus that offers us that forgiveness. By dying on the cross, he gave his life and in doing so allowed us to reconcile with God, making up for our massive shortage of points if you will. 

            So in this parable God is indeed the generous Landowner. That makes us -- the workers. The workers that were found in the marketplace, sitting idly. You may not have noticed, but the landowner he didn’t go out to their homes and lift them up from sitting on the couch in front of the TV while eating chips and dip. Nor did he go up to them and hand them a day’s wage and say “Here, the day is almost done take this money and go home.” They had to work for the landowner, they had to show the landowner that they were willing to do what he wanted. It was the gift of the landowner to make up for the rest of the day that they had missed already.

            So, as workers, do we go to the marketplace, sure, we are here today, celebrating the Eucharist at Mass, participating in His sacraments, we have shown God that we are willing to be disciples, followers of him, his workers. But what ways are we sitting idly, when we could be working for Him? How much of our time, talent, and treasure do we put forth to God?  Do we spend our time seeking Him in prayer, seeking Him through fasting, thanking God for his graces, his gifts?

In what other ways do we do the work of God, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, bringing those that live life outside the acceptance of others into the fold? Lifting up the fallen, bringing hope to those in despair, compassion to those who ache. Do we humble ourselves to be the servants of the lowly? God wants us to work in his vineyard, he wants us to go out into the fields, not sit idly at the marketplace.

Homily - Saturday Daily Mass 2014/09/2- Spreading the Seed

Homily - Saturday Daily Mass
September 20, 2014
Spreading the Seed
Memorial of  Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions

Luke 8:4-15 View Readings
Deacon David Lewis
Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

 

As many of you know, I grew up in upstate NY and spent a lot of time fishing with my dad and the rest of my family on the Saint Lawrence River. The river runs through an area known as Thousand Islands where it winds its way from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean through Islands of hard granite, many with cliff sides of nothing but stone hard rock. What would always amaze me is how in the middle bare rocky cliff would be a lone tree growing out … no soil, just the roots embedded into the rocky cliffside like the fingers of a seasoned mountain climber. I wonder about out of all the saplings that started out on that rocky cliff, some fell down into the water, as the wind blew, some dried out during dry periods. Some, I am sure, succumbed to the harsh winters. The likelihood of surviving such an inhospitable environment must have been insurmountable.

Today’s readings, they talk about spreading the seed of God’s word. Nothing serves as a better example of spreading the word of God’s love than the story of the Saints, some of which are Martyrs, that gave their life for their faith, especially those whose memorial we celebrate today, Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions.  Let me read a bit of their story from Americancatholic.org:

This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred himself during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15, Andrew the son traveled 1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang the other Saint we memorialize today was a lay apostle and married man, aged 45, who lost many family members to Martyrdom, and gave his own life traveling to China in an attempt to bring priests into Korea.

Christianity came slowly to Korea beginning in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for bringing taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.

When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 he canonized, besides Andrew and Paul, 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women, 45 men. During their canonization the Pope said "The Korean Church is unique because it was founded entirely by lay people. This fledgling Church, so young and yet so strong in faith, withstood wave after wave of fierce persecution. Thus, in less than a century, it could boast of 10,000 martyrs. The death of these martyrs became the leaven of the Church and led to today's splendid flowering of the Church in Korea. Even today their undying spirit sustains the Christians in the Church of silence in the north of this tragically divided land"

We can see from this one example out of many how the spreading of the seed can take hold in what may otherwise seem like unfertile ground. That even when seed lands on the hopelessly rocky Cliffside it can, if it is God’s will take root, and sustain, blossom successfully and bear fruit. That we are not to judge where we spread the seed of the Gospel, but to spread it generously, and let God determine if it succeeds to bear fruit. Go forth and share God’s love, with everyone you meet, be God’s love to everyone you meet, and as today’s Gospel ends: embrace the Word with a good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”

Homily - Sunday Mass 2014/08/17 Being Different

Homily – Sunday Mass

2014/08/17
Scraps for the Dogs - Being different

Matthew 15:21-28 View Readings
Deacon David Lewis
Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach/San Diego, CA

             One of my favorite movies of all time was Forrest Gump. One of the earlier scenes was the young Forrest getting on the school bus for the first time, and after introducing himself to the bus driver so that they were no longer strangers and could now take a ride from her, he proceeded to search for a seat. Seeing Forrest’s braces on his legs, one kid after another, scoots over to make it unwelcoming to Forrest, and some say “Not here” and “Can’t sit here, this seat’s taken.” He makes his way all the way to the back of the bus without being able to find a seat, turns around, and as he begins to make his way forward again, he comes to Jenny’s seat when She says,  “You can sit here if you want. Well you gonna sit down or aren’t you.” It was a beautiful scene of welcoming someone that is different.

             In today’s Gospel, this mother from Cana, she is looked at as different too, kind of like Forrest. As Jesus and his disciples leave Tyre, and Sidon, an area occupied by gentiles or non-Jews, she approaches the group and asks Jesus for help in healing her possessed daughter. And ultimately Jesus ends up healing her daughter. Forrest

            But it wasn’t without some effort on her part. First as a Canaanite, she likely would have been recognized by the disciples and faced discrimination. Going back to Old Testament times, there was tension between the Jews of Israel, and the Canaanite Gentiles. The Canaanites were the corrupt idol worshippers that the Jews hoped to transform, they were looked at as dogs, less than human by the Israelites, who considered themselves the children of God.

            You can tell she was really trying to approach Jesus and his followers in a humble, peaceful non-threatening way, addressing Jesus as “Lord, Son of David.” She certainly knew who Jesus was, and in this small fragment of a sentence, we can see that she has at least some faith in Jesus as the Messiah, as the awaited savior. She must have heard of some of the other instances of Jesus performing miracles of healing.

In her peaceful attempts to call out to Jesus, she was first uncharacteristically ignored by Jesus and then turned away by the disciples. Then Jesus speaks that he was only sent for “the lost sheep of Israel.” He was sent for the chosen race of the Israelites, implying that he was not sent to save the gentiles from Cana, to which the woman replies, Lord help me. Jesus replies again saying that it isn’t right take the food from the children and throw it to the dogs, Jesus said that it is not right for his help to go to the people of Cana: the dogs, instead of the children of God: the Jews. However, seeing that Jesus did not say no, she so wisely replies “Please Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” It is a meaningful response of great faith, and her perseverance is rewarded, by Jesus complying with her request, and offering to heal her daughter if it was the mother’s will.

            Today’s Gospel is not only a great example of Jesus’ miraculous healing, but it is a redefinition of who it is Jesus has come for. As some of you know Jesus didn’t just show up, the Jews were expecting him. Throughout the Old Testament there were prophecies that a savior would come to restore the people of Israel’s relationship with God. So you can imagine, that those Idol worshipping, Pagan people of Cana would not be expected to receive the graces of the Messiah, what Jesus did had great significance in including them.

            And today’s Gospel is also a great story of a woman’s faith, and her perseverance to get her child help. She had a daughter that was sick, and contrary to all that she would have been taught as a child, she recognized Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, as being able to help. She overcame being a Canaanite, she overcame not being a Jew, she overcame the disciples’ rejection, and ultimately with the help of Jesus, she overcame her daughter’s possession by demons. As most parents would do, with her daughters well-being on the line, she gave it her all to get her daughter help.

            And today’s Gospel serves for us to realize that being different does not mean being excluded.  It means that no matter how we view ourselves as unworthy, unfit, incapable, undeserving, or just different. We are worthy of Jesus’ love and healing. That if we walk towards him, when we show our faith in him, he will respond.

But it also means that when we encounter people in our lives that are different than us we shouldn’t cast judgment first. We need to be willing to be welcoming to others that appear different than us. Whether bound to a wheelchair, covered in tumors or scars, or unable to talk, walk, or see. They too are worthy of Jesus’ love, and should be worthy of ours.

            I encourage you, to look at your lives, look for an Uncle or Aunt, brother or sister that has been shunned out of the family, look for a neighbor or old friend that you no longer talk to, look for opportunities to serve a stranger, and exercise mercy like Jesus did, exercise kindness like Jenny did for Forrest. There are many people we turn away from because we are uncomfortable. Exercise kindness and understanding. There are many opportunities to show our perseverance in our faith to show that we believe that Jesus did not come for some, but came for the many who believe in him.

Homily – Saturday Daily Mass 2014/08/16 - Matthew 19:13-15 - Let the Children Come to Me.

Homily – Saturday Daily Mass 

2014/08/16 Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 19:13-15 View Readings
Deacon David Lewis
Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach/San Diego, CA

This last week, as you probably know we lost Robin Williams. The well-known comedian who got his start as Mork from Ork. Among many other movie roles, he played Patch Adams, an adult medical student, who understood the need to heal the emotional as well as the medical, which Patch did through rather unorthodox means. As I recall one scene from the movie, there was Robin Williams as Patch Adams, in a scene set in the children’s cancer ward at a hospital. All the children are lying in their beds, somber and melancholy and then Patch walks in, and begins his visit with one of the girls by cutting a red squeeze ball and attaching it to his nose like a clown. He starts joking with the young patient, and then grabs a couple of swabs and puts them behind his ears like bug antennae and pretends to fly around bouncing off the glass of the window, all the while the children begin to giggle and laugh, and so the healing begins. 

In today’s Gospel, the children were BROUGHT to Jesus, that he might lay his hands on them and pray… they were brought to Jesus, and yet Jesus’ own disciples turned the children away. But Jesus said to "Let them come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

I began to imagine myself there with Jesus, trying to imagine who I was in this reading: Have I brought people to Jesus? Or have I been the one that turned people away that were seeking Jesus? Or have I been a child being led to Jesus?

So… Have I brought people to Jesus… Have I attracted people to come to Jesus, have I personally invited anyone? When I look at the ArchBishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, I see joy, happiness, and a love of the faith. When I see Father Jim, I see an attractive peace, calm, Father Sam, a life dedicated to service, all examples that lift me closer to God. You can see in them how Jesus brings peace and joy into their lives, and it makes us want what they have.

But… when we put ourselves above others, putting ourselves before others, when we look down at others, we push people away, when we come off as unwelcoming, when we lives as hypocrites, we drive people from Jesus, we turn them away.

We should really be like the children, going towards Jesus, even when it seems unwelcoming. Have I sought out Jesus, perhaps at times to heal things in my life. Whether it was when I desired to quit smoking, or when a loved one was sick, there have been times in my life when I have needed Jesus. But have I also continued toward Jesus when others were telling me not to.

When we look at the Patch Adams character, one of the conflicts in the movie was that Patch’s techniques were not the straight laced, proven techniques that were dry and ordinary as prescribed by those responsible for his training as a Doctor. Instead he healed with love, giving spiritual strength to the patients, to heal through laughter, and joy. While some people have some trouble with laughing and carrying-on in a Church, and perhaps rightfully so, as the Church should be a place of reverence, and the Mass a time of deep reflection and prayer, but what stops us from being joyful Catholics the other 23 hours a day we are not at Mass?

Shouldn’t we be a bit more childlike in the way children make friends with anyone? Shouldn’t we take ourselves just a little less seriously and embrace our flaws as gifts? Shouldn’t we be willing to stop and look at the sky, and see what creations God has made in the clouds in the sky?

Shouldn’t we be skipping towards God in our lives, inviting everyone on our path to join us, ignoring those that discourage us so that we can be with Jesus, so that we can experience the Kingdom of Heaven?