Saint
Francis of Assisi
556 South Jersey Street; Denver, CO 80224
National Catholic Church (PNCC)
St. Francis of Assisi Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) @2008
Homily - September 5th - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the parable preceding today’s Gospel, our Lord tells us of a man who invited many friends to a great supper, but everyone invited found some excuse for not attending. The host then sent for the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. The reference in this parable is to the banquet in God’s kingdom. The leaders of the Chosen People refused to come. But, the ordinary sinners, outcasts according to the Pharisees, and the Gentiles, flocked to the kingdom in their place. Jesus is warning that certain conditions must be met before you can gain entry to the kingdom.
In today’s Gospel Jesus is telling us we won’t get there by accident. The message is that like everything we do in our life, we must consciously set a plan to achieve the kingdom of God. We must take on the trials and challenges put before us as Jesus did and carry on. I have to tell you, I really dislike the translation of this Gospel in your pew missiles. I can assure you Jesus is not telling us we must hate our father and mother, spouse and children, sisters and brothers and even ourselves before we can become his disciples. I’m going to present to you another translation taken from the New American Version of the Roman Lectionary for Mass. I think you’ll find this to be as you would expect Jesus to speak.
“On one occasion when a great crowd was with Jesus, he turned to them and said, "If anyone comes to me without turning his back on his father and mother, his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, indeed his very self, he cannot be my follower. Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
What Jesus is saying is to be his true follower you must be ready to sacrifice even what’s nearest and dearest to you, if it comes between you and him. Jesus said, “In the same way, none of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his possessions.” The essential con¬dition for true discipleship, demanded by Jesus is total dedication, total commitment to him. There can be no such person as a half¬ Christian. Jesus has told us, "He that is not with me is against me." We can’t be for Jesus on Sunday and against him the other six days of the week. To be his true disciples, his true followers, we must live our Christian life all day, every day. By following Jesus we make our way to heaven. It’s a life journey.
We have a limited time to complete this journey. Therefore, we must travel a certain distance each day. It’s like driving across the country. You study the map before you start the journey. You then determine how far you can travel in a day and identify where you will stop to spend the night. In this way you know exactly what you have to do each day to meet your plan and achieve your goal. It’s the same with your journey to achieve the kingdom of God. You must be conscious of your plan everyday. You must be diligent in following it. This doesn’t mean you must spend all day every day in prayer and meditation. There’re other tasks to be done, but you must “Christianize” (I just made up this word) these other tasks. Even the members of religious orders who "leave the world," have to busy themselves with other cares and tasks like teaching, nursing, tilling the soil, house keeping, writing and many such activities. They really can’t and in fact don’t spend all their day in prayer and meditation. Nor does Jesus demand that they do. Much less does he demand this of the ninety nine per cent of his followers who have to take on financial and family responsibilities. It’s by fulfilling these worldly duties in a Christian way that they’re dedicating themselves to his service. This is their total commitment to Christ.
The married person who is loyal to their partner and family, and who provides diligently and honestly for their own and the family's spiritual and temporal welfare, and who always does this with the intention of pleasing God, is following Jesus Christ. And in doing so is moving steadily day by day toward heaven. There is no doubt this is more easily said than done. There are temptations. There are pit falls everywhere we turn. While we’re in this life we’re travelers. We’ve not yet seen the beauty, the joy, and the happiness toward which we’re travelling. What we do see is this world, this world with its attrac¬tions, its limited joys and pleasures, distracting us everyday. This is what makes the going difficult for most, if not all, of us. But, we’ve been fore¬warned Jesus tells us we must take up our cross daily we must "turn our backs!' on earthly attractions whenever they threaten to impede or obstruct our heavenward journey. We must “Christianize” our daily work. We can do this by accepting work and honestly carrying it out as a necessary condition of Christian discipleship. If we offer our day's work to God for his honor and glory, our work will be a continuous prayer. We’ll be working for God and moving a step closer to heaven each day.
If in spite of our honest labor we find it harder to make ends meet, and we’ve done everything possible to better our situa¬tion, we must remember our Savior who “had nowhere to lay his head."
Be assured God is not forgetting us. The times of difficulty may be the very moments when he’s nearest to us. On the other hand, those amongst us who find life running almost too smoothly, who have no family or financial difficulties, could well look into their consciences. They must be sure they’re remembering to thank God. They must be sure they’re keeping God in their daily lives. They must look closely on their financial success and be sure it is built on Christian honesty. They must look into their hearts and do what they can to help others not as fortunate. To be a true Christian you must act as Christians should all your lives. You mustn’t let this world detain you on your journey home. You must use the world and not let it use you. You must be ready to give up and turn your backs on anyone or anything, no matter how near or dear to you, if they are an impediment to you on your way to heaven. On the day we were made Christians, we set out to build a tower that will reach to heaven. We became prepared to win the battles against whatever foe we met in life. By perseverance, we will win our battles, we will finish our tower, and we will reach the home God has prepared for us.
In today’s Gospel Jesus is telling us we won’t get there by accident. The message is that like everything we do in our life, we must consciously set a plan to achieve the kingdom of God. We must take on the trials and challenges put before us as Jesus did and carry on. I have to tell you, I really dislike the translation of this Gospel in your pew missiles. I can assure you Jesus is not telling us we must hate our father and mother, spouse and children, sisters and brothers and even ourselves before we can become his disciples. I’m going to present to you another translation taken from the New American Version of the Roman Lectionary for Mass. I think you’ll find this to be as you would expect Jesus to speak.
“On one occasion when a great crowd was with Jesus, he turned to them and said, "If anyone comes to me without turning his back on his father and mother, his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, indeed his very self, he cannot be my follower. Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
What Jesus is saying is to be his true follower you must be ready to sacrifice even what’s nearest and dearest to you, if it comes between you and him. Jesus said, “In the same way, none of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his possessions.” The essential con¬dition for true discipleship, demanded by Jesus is total dedication, total commitment to him. There can be no such person as a half¬ Christian. Jesus has told us, "He that is not with me is against me." We can’t be for Jesus on Sunday and against him the other six days of the week. To be his true disciples, his true followers, we must live our Christian life all day, every day. By following Jesus we make our way to heaven. It’s a life journey.
We have a limited time to complete this journey. Therefore, we must travel a certain distance each day. It’s like driving across the country. You study the map before you start the journey. You then determine how far you can travel in a day and identify where you will stop to spend the night. In this way you know exactly what you have to do each day to meet your plan and achieve your goal. It’s the same with your journey to achieve the kingdom of God. You must be conscious of your plan everyday. You must be diligent in following it. This doesn’t mean you must spend all day every day in prayer and meditation. There’re other tasks to be done, but you must “Christianize” (I just made up this word) these other tasks. Even the members of religious orders who "leave the world," have to busy themselves with other cares and tasks like teaching, nursing, tilling the soil, house keeping, writing and many such activities. They really can’t and in fact don’t spend all their day in prayer and meditation. Nor does Jesus demand that they do. Much less does he demand this of the ninety nine per cent of his followers who have to take on financial and family responsibilities. It’s by fulfilling these worldly duties in a Christian way that they’re dedicating themselves to his service. This is their total commitment to Christ.
The married person who is loyal to their partner and family, and who provides diligently and honestly for their own and the family's spiritual and temporal welfare, and who always does this with the intention of pleasing God, is following Jesus Christ. And in doing so is moving steadily day by day toward heaven. There is no doubt this is more easily said than done. There are temptations. There are pit falls everywhere we turn. While we’re in this life we’re travelers. We’ve not yet seen the beauty, the joy, and the happiness toward which we’re travelling. What we do see is this world, this world with its attrac¬tions, its limited joys and pleasures, distracting us everyday. This is what makes the going difficult for most, if not all, of us. But, we’ve been fore¬warned Jesus tells us we must take up our cross daily we must "turn our backs!' on earthly attractions whenever they threaten to impede or obstruct our heavenward journey. We must “Christianize” our daily work. We can do this by accepting work and honestly carrying it out as a necessary condition of Christian discipleship. If we offer our day's work to God for his honor and glory, our work will be a continuous prayer. We’ll be working for God and moving a step closer to heaven each day.
If in spite of our honest labor we find it harder to make ends meet, and we’ve done everything possible to better our situa¬tion, we must remember our Savior who “had nowhere to lay his head."
Be assured God is not forgetting us. The times of difficulty may be the very moments when he’s nearest to us. On the other hand, those amongst us who find life running almost too smoothly, who have no family or financial difficulties, could well look into their consciences. They must be sure they’re remembering to thank God. They must be sure they’re keeping God in their daily lives. They must look closely on their financial success and be sure it is built on Christian honesty. They must look into their hearts and do what they can to help others not as fortunate. To be a true Christian you must act as Christians should all your lives. You mustn’t let this world detain you on your journey home. You must use the world and not let it use you. You must be ready to give up and turn your backs on anyone or anything, no matter how near or dear to you, if they are an impediment to you on your way to heaven. On the day we were made Christians, we set out to build a tower that will reach to heaven. We became prepared to win the battles against whatever foe we met in life. By perseverance, we will win our battles, we will finish our tower, and we will reach the home God has prepared for us.
