October 30, 2005
READING 2: 1 Thessalonians 2: 7b-9, 13
GOSPEL: Matthew 23:1-12
 Just before noon one day this week, I turned on the radio in my car and heard a woman asking a radio psychiatrist for help. She said her parents had taken her 3.5 year old daughter shopping. They let the child out of her stroller and, of course, the child was having a great time. She stopped at everything that attracted her and wanted all of it. After a while, the 3.5 year old was showing her grandmother the fiftieth thing she wanted and the grandfather interrupted to say it was time to get going. The child looked harshly at her grandfather and said, “Excuse me! I am talking to her now, when I am finished it will be your turn to speak!” The psychiatrist said this is going to be a fun child to raise. I brought a friend with me today. His name is “Sammy.” Come on out Sammy so everyone can see you. …Oh! Sammy is embarrassed, he doesn’t want to come out of the box. Why, Sammy? Because you didn’t eat the nice breakfast I fixed for you. Oh, that’s okay, c’mon out. There’s more? What! You took a donut when I wasn’t looking and ate it when you came into church? You were hungry? Well, you little stinker! Well, I don’t know, let’s ask. Everyone, would you still like to see Sammy? Will you forgive him? Well, I will. [take Sammy the skunk out of the box] Sammy when I look at you, wearing the colors that you do, I am reminded of all the times I have had to ask forgiveness and been blessed to receive it. One thing I know, whenever I point a finger, three always point back to me. “Father forgive me, I know too well what I do!” It is difficult to read these words of Jesus and not know I need to ask forgiveness for anything I may have done to disappoint, hurt or confuse you. I won’t put you on the spot, like I did with Sammy, but I am praying that you are as kind and forgiving to me. In another place, Jesus asks the people, “Which of you, if your child asks for bread, would give him a stone?” The answer appears obvious. Any decent parent would be quick to say, “I love my child; I wouldn’t give him a stone!” Only a cruel, twisted mind would think of giving a child a useless piece of rock when his little stomach is empty. Yet sometimes the child is asking for bread when she really needs a rock. Remember Jesus saying that he is the cornerstone that the builders rejected. Remember when he said that the wise build their homes on rock not sand. In Gainesville , we might say rather than clay! Remember when the tempter told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, turn these rocks into bread.”? What was Jesus answer? “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Sometimes the food our children ask for is candy, but the food they need is more substantial. If we botch raising our children, if we miss the opportunity to guide them to a firm foundation for their lives, we botch everything. I’d like to invite all our teachers, everyone who teaches children through high school, college and even graduate school to please stand. Let’s applaud these bright, hard working, dedicated professionals for the good work they do. (APPLAUSE). I could have just invited religious formation and Catholic school teachers to stand, but it would not have been right. Every teacher is teaching and forming tomorrow’s adults. Now there are children in every age group who need to be fed. More people are hurting mentally, morally, spiritually and psychologically more than ever before and we need to turn with some new vigor to the ills of our fellow man. The response to the horrid situation for the poor people after hurricane Katrina is an example of people doing the right thing. We need to experience that good citizenship more. Once there was a triple execution on a hill in Jerusalem . From the center cross was heard a cry of such desolation that it must have caused God the Father to cringe in pain. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” All the wrath of God for human sin had come crashing down on God’s Love personified, Jesus Christ. Jesus was not alone on that hill. There were the thieves. There was his mother, his disciple, John, his friends the Marys. There was also the jeering crowd, many of them so self righteous they didn’t recognize the Messiah when he was with them. Where would we be? We curse the darkness without ever thinking to light a candle. God does not ignore or excuse or condone wrong doing at any level. His antidote is radical, the crucifixion of His Divine Love. If we hide our light; if we don’t live our lives as testimonies to our Faith, we will lose the next generation. Generations we will never know will be worse off than we can imagine. Our children are asking for bread, will we give them food of substance or candy; will we feed them a security that outlasts every human endeavor or leave them lost on a sea of temporary, addictive, meaningless trends. My friends, it’s time for all of us to assume our duty as teachers, as parents, as priests in the sense of connecting others to Christ, and as light for the world. It’s time for the Good News!Fr. Jeff McGowan |