HOMILY FOR SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

I can still remember the day God spoke with a loud, clear voice and opened my heart to understand why I was here in this space and time and what was expected of me.

When I tell you the story, you may laugh. I know the idea is amusing, but after you hear it, you may better understand my love for the musical group U2. Perhaps you’ve seen my personalized license plate: LOVE U2. And wondered, “What’s up with that?”


In 1999, when I was desperately searching for meaning in my life, true meaning, I found God. I found God in a simple lyric to the song “Walk On” by U2. Up until that point, my life had been all about success, making a mark in the world, climbing the corporate ladder, running a business… and so on.

But the opening line to the song knocked my stony heart for a loop and has become the true North on my moral compass. The lyrics reads:

“Love. It’s not the easy thing. The ONLY baggage that you can bring. It’s all that you can’t leave behind.”

In other words, when we leave this earthly plain, the love we share with others is all that matters. It’s the ONLY thing we can take with us to Heaven. Not our successes. Not our awards or accomplishments. Nothing but love. Love is all that matters.

Love is the true North on all our moral compasses.



Love is the supreme law, the ultimate wisdom for humankind. Love is the guiding principle for how to live a good and meaningful life. Love is the key that unlocks the door to all human happiness. Love rings true in our souls. Love brings about the Kingdom. Love changed the world.

The wisdom of love is what Jesus and Paul are talking about in today’s readings.

Love is easy. And love is hard.

I felt the tug of true love when I asked my wife to share our lives together 25-years ago. I understood pure love when I held each of my newborn sons for the first time and felt an overwhelming desire to do anything, everything for this child’s well-being. The unconditional love we experience for our own children, our grandchildren and our spouse definitely brings us the closest to understanding the love God feels for each and every one of us… and the love Christ has for us and why he died on the cross for our sins. His love opened a door to eternal life.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is addressing his Jewish brothers and sisters who believed salvation came through adhering to 613 laws of the Torah. But Jesus wanted them to see the driving principles behind the Law. Jesus cautioned that following a surface level understanding of the Law was not enough. You have to drill deeper to intentions. Not just surface level behavior. We need to drill into the very core of our own heart. Only there… in the pure, truthful reaches of our human heart… can we get understand what it means to love, what it mean to do the right thing. The wisdom of love dictates that we do the right thing in all we do.

Love is the true North on all our moral compasses.

For Jesus said in Matthews Gospel, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill.”

Love is that fulfillment. When we fill ourselves with Christ’s love we learn to love ourselves. When we fill ourselves with Christ’s love, we learn to love others as we love ourselves. When we fill ourselves with Christ’s love, we learn to love our God with all our hearts.

Paul’s message to the Corinthians was in part directed at some Christians in Corinth who believed they possessed a “wisdom” that made them “mature” or “perfect.” These Christians believed this gave them the right to look down on others as “children.”

Paul teaches true wisdom comes from God… through Christ… alone. No man or woman can be truly wise by his or her own estimation. We need to rely on God’s loving mercy as we fumble our way in the dark and find the love that fulfills our every yearning.

As Paul quotes Isaiah: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

If we truly love our fellow brothers and sisters as we are taught, we will NEVER allow ourselves to feel superior to anyone. Christ’s love allows us to find humility. Christ’s love inspires us to look beyond self to others. Christ’s love inspires us to share that love with all we come in contact with. Even our enemies. That’s when love can be hard.

In the first reading from the Book of Sirach, we understand that God gives us all the free will to choose to keep the commandment of love or not.

Author Ben Sira writes, “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given to him.”

A little over a year ago, a good friend reached out to seek prayer for a family struck by an awful tragedy. Their daughter had been in a nearly fatal car accident. The 17-year-old was in a coma and doctors were afraid she might not make it.


We all lifted up little Mary Drake in prayer. I kept up with the family though an extraordinary online family support website called “CaringBridge.” Every day, Mary’s mother would update us on the latest news. Early on, the news was not good. But after several months, the news got better. Eventually, Mary woke up. This was just the beginning of the journey back from a major brain injury.

The most remarkable thing about the Drake family is the love they’ve shown for one another throughout the entire ordeal. Mary’s mom, dad and brothers each write updates on Mary’s progress and ask us all to pray a special prayer of healing for Mary (see link below). Their love for Mary is remarkable. The website has had over 400-thousand visits. That’s a lot of healing prayers from family, friends and total strangers. And all because we were inspired by the love of Mary’s family to join in the prayer chain. Christ’s love in action.

It may be years before she leads a normal life, if ever. But Mary’s family and Mary are surrounded by love, share this love with each other and this love keeps them from falling into the depths of despair. Christ’s love in action.

Jesus wants us to NOT get too caught up in a litany of laws or pile of rules and regulations. Jesus wants us to keep it simple. Jesus is calling us to understand the greatest commandment … the law of love of God and love each other… and act accordingly.

As it is written in today’s modern poetry, “Love. It’s not the easy thing. The only baggage you can bring. It’s all that you can’t leave behind.”
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http://www.ctklr.com/church/spiritual-growth/prayer-opportunities/prayer-of-healing-for-mary-drake/

Thy Kingdom Come... thanks to the Salvation Army

From the Seattle Times
By Maureen O'Hagan
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Alicia Daniel could be your sister. She could be the nice woman next door. She's bubbly and warm, a nurse's aide who wants to become a physical therapist. To look at her, she's not that different from you and me.

Which makes it all the more disconcerting when you learn that last year, she found herself homeless.

Drugs didn't get her there. It wasn't alcohol, either. Mostly, it was bad luck — that and the vagaries of starting life in a new city, thousands of miles from friends and family, and believing in something that, it turns out, was too good to be true.

But as Daniel, 31, is the first to tell you, it was also her.

The Salvation Army, one of 13 charities supported by The Seattle Times Fund for the Needy campaign, helped her get back on her feet.

"I got help on issues I've had all my life," the West Seattle woman said. She says over and over how grateful she is.

Her connection to The Salvation Army began with a car. It was a Jetta, she doesn't know the year. But in July 2009, it was the only place she could call home.

"That's the last thing I would think would happen to me," she said. "I always worked. I always had a place."

She had arrived in Washington less than a year earlier, hopeful and eager. Back in Florida, where she grew up, a marketing company had offered her a job heading up a new office here. The company also owned an apartment it offered to rent to her.

What an opportunity, Daniel thought! Friends were skeptical.

"I believed in the company," Daniel said. She also saw a chance to get far away from an abusive boyfriend.

Daniel remembers his threats, beatings and promises to do better. She remembers believing him — only to get more of the same.

It's a typical story of abuse, but Daniel didn't understand that at the time. He had convinced her the problem, in fact, was her.

She felt worthless, and it showed.

The marketing job turned into a bust. It became a black hole, sucking up her time, her hope and her savings. She said she wound up working six or seven days a week for small commissions.

"They sold me a big dream," Daniel said.

The day she quit, she lost her job and her housing. She had met a new boyfriend in Seattle, but he was struggling financially, too. They piled their stuff into his Jetta and felt trapped.

Daniel had entered a new world — the world of the hidden homeless. Parked in out-of-the-way corners, she saw people who made her start the engine and drive away. But she also met people who wanted to help, sharing food or advice or just listening. They were old or young, working or unemployed, strong or sick. She saw people who seemed like her.

"For the most part, homeless people do make a really sweet community," she said. "You just stick together. You don't judge each other."

But she knew she couldn't do it for long. The summer heat meant they had to keep the windows down. She would lie awake in fear. She was consumed by shame.

"Your head isn't even clear," she recalled. "You can't think where to go. You're just in despair."

She asked herself: "How could I get so low?"

Calling shelters every day, she learned there aren't enough beds to meet the need. Eventually, The Salvation Army women's shelter had an opening.

In addition to shelters, The Salvation Army in Western Washington provides counseling, training, substance-abuse rehabilitation, food and rent assistance and other services to people in need.

The shelter didn't just put a roof over her head. The staff there put her through some hard work. That meant digging down to figure out how she got into this mess in the first place, she said. Counselors talked to her about domestic violence and patterns of behavior. They noted how often she put herself down, how she didn't think she could succeed.

Salvation Army counselors helped her make goals and figure out the steps to reach them. One by one, she checked them off.

"I can't say enough good things about her," said Kasey Schoenfeldt, Daniel's case manager. "She's a really sweet person, and she's really compassionate."

Daniel got a job on her own, as a part-time home-health-care aide. Her main goal was moving into her own apartment, but on her salary, it was going to take a while to come up with a security deposit, plus first and last month's rent.

Then she learned about a Salvation Army program that would pay part of her security deposit. The agency also contributes toward the rent, decreasing the subsidy as the client becomes more self-sufficient. Last March, Daniel moved out of the shelter and into an apartment.

Recently, she was able to cut that financial tie with The Salvation Army.

In the 18 months since she moved into the Jetta, she's become a certified nursing assistant and taken specialty classes in the field. She hopes to get a hospital job, where the hours are steadier and the pay higher. In the meantime, she's thrilled.

"I love my work!" she exclaimed. "I get to help people. I get to tell them they can do it.

"I actually feel I'm making a difference."

She still checks in monthly with her case manager at The Salvation Army, and they're still keeping her to her goals.

"Let them know how good they've been to me and how much they've helped," she said.



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About the program: The Salvation Army serves nearly 400,000 people annually in Western Washington. It provides a variety of services, including rent assistance, a food pantry, clothing, day-care services, summer camps, services for the aging, shelters for battered women and children, family and career counseling, vocational training, and substance-abuse rehabilitation.
Current donation needs: Cash donations can be put to the best use at the agency, but donations to the food pantry are also appreciated.

For more information: www.salvationarmynw.org

Source: The Salvation Army
What donations buyat Salvation Army

• $20 buys full turkey dinners for 10 needy people.
• $50 covers two nights of emergency shelter for a homeless person.

• $100 helps a family in crisis avoid eviction while a case manager helps them reach stability.

Source: The Salvation Army

Merry Christmas!

As we celebrate of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, let us always remember the poorest of the poor were the first to to hear the Good News of Jesus' birth. Let us not get caught up with the affluence and chaos of the holidays, but find the peace that stilled the hearts of poor shepherds who understood they were going to see the greatest gift ever given to humanity.

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Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them,

"Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

Lk 2:9-19

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From our family to yours,

We wish you a peaceful, blessed and joyous Christmas season!