october homilies

by thomas m. kocik

Pray the Psalms

27th Sunday of the Year—October 3

“A” Readings: Isa. 5:1-7 • Phil. 4:6-9 • Matt. 21:33-43

Title: The Psalms in Our Lives
    Purpose: to teach (1) the history of the Psalms; (2) the help of the Psalms to us today, in the Psalm responsory at every Mass; (3) the help of the Psalms to us in personal prayer.

Like the TV generation whose familiarity with classical music comes not from lessons in music history but from cartoon and movie soundtracks, so most Catholics’ familiarity with the psalms comes not from formal Bible study but from the sacred liturgy. Open any hymnal and read the small print just above or below the hymns. Notice how many of these hymns, whether traditional or contemporary, are based on the psalms. Older Catholics who routinely attended Solemn Mass will remember the Asperges me, chanted while the priest sprinkled the people with holy water. It comes from Psalm 51, a prayer for God’s mercy and cleansing. The men reminisce their days as altar boys, recalling (in Latin) the dialogue between priest and servers at the start of Mass: “I will go unto the altar of God: unto God Who gives joy to my youth.” These words of Psalm 42 express an exiled Jew’s longing to return to the Holy City and participate again in its religious life. The liturgical reforms of Vatican II introduced the Psalm responsory as a standard feature of the Mass. The psalms have been the prayer of God’s people throughout the centuries.

Just as the Bible is a collection of manuscripts by various inspired authors spanning the centuries, so the Book of Psalms, or Psalter, is a library in itself. There are one hundred and fifty psalms, spanning nearly a thousand years. Its authors include King David (who reputedly wrote half of them) and perhaps even Moses (to whom tradition ascribes Psalm 90). The psalms are the fruit of centuries of prayer and meditation, not only upon the marvels of God’s creation, but also upon God’s saving activity in the history of the Chosen People.

The Psalter is the “masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament” (CCC #2585). In fact, the psalms are not just prayers, but poetic prayers intended to be sung or accompanied by music. Many of the psalms were used in the Jewish temple liturgy. The Hallel or “praise” psalms (Pss. 113-118), were recited as the lambs were slaughtered on the feast of Passover. The Law of Moses (Exod. 23:17) required every male to go to the temple for three major feasts each year: Psalms 120-134 were sung by these pilgrims as they arrived at the temple. Psalm 45, a wedding song, was probably sung on the king’s wedding day.

From the synagogue, the early Church took over the practice of singing the psalms during worship, eventually setting them to plain and Gregorian chant. Today their role in official worship is mostly confined to the Liturgy of the Hours and the Responsorial Psalm of the Mass. Because it links the Old and New Testament readings, the Responsorial Psalm often illustrates how Jesus fulfills Israel’s longing for the Messiah. Consider, for instance, today’s Responsorial Psalm. In the first reading, we heard Isaiah describe Israel as God’s vineyard, so full of promise. A verse from that reading, “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel” (Isa. 5:7), is used as the responsory for Psalm 80 (“A vine from Egypt you transplanted . . .”). This psalm continues the theme of Israel as God’s plantation, the work of the Lord. But not all is well. Once God’s well-tended vine, Israel is now devastated: the kingdom is divided and many Jews are exiled. The prophets saw Israel’s woes as punishment for infidelity to its covenant with Yahweh. In the Gospel, we heard Jesus refer to Isaiah’s words in the parable of the vineyard. He did this to throw light on God’s plan of salvation. The owner of the vineyard, God, sends one servant after another to collect the fruit. These are the prophets whom God raised up to call his People back to the covenant, only to be ignored and mistreated. Finally, the owner sends his son, but the tenants put him to death. We can see the allusion to the death of Christ, the Father’s only-begotten Son.

Since the Psalter was the prayer book of the Jewish people, Jesus and the Apostles prayed the psalms. On the cross, Our Lord prayed Psalm 22, the psalm of the suffering just man: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). His dying words (Luke 23:46), addressed to his heavenly Father, are those of Psalm 31: “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.” The New Testament frequently quotes the Psalter, and the early Christians prayed and sung the psalms as hymns to Christ.

What relevance do the psalms have to our personal prayer? The psalms are prayers of the heart, written from and for the whole range of human emotions and situations: praise and grumbling, suffering and liberation, joy and sorrow, certainty and doubt, blessing and cursing, victory and defeat. The dying can find solace in the familiar words of Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. . . .” Sinners burdened by remorse can echo David’s cry for pardon in Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.” Those who have tasted the joy of forgiveness can appreciate Psalm 32: “Happy is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.” The psalms remind us that God is creator and savior, supreme among the nations, in full control at all times, no matter how hopeless things may seem. He acts at the right time and in the proper way. We need only trust him.

Moreover, the psalms are sacred Scripture. They are not merely man’s words to God, but God’s words to man. God inspired the psalmists to compose magnificent hymns and prayers for every sentiment and circumstance. Just as our gifts of bread and wine offered to God in the Mass become the gift of the Lord’s own Body and Blood, so our prayers addressed to God in the psalms become God’s words spoken to us. In our prayer, let us use the psalms often. They are gifts from the Holy Spirit, who helps us in our weakness and who teaches us how to pray (cf. Rom. 8:26).

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2585-2589, 2596-2597.

Preach the gospel

28th Sunday of the Year—October 10

“A” Readings: Isa. 25:6-10 • Phil. 4:12-14. 19-20 • Matt. 22:1-14

Title: The Missionary Nature of Our Faith
    Purpose: to explain (1) why our faith must have a missionary dimension; (2) how we should show our missionary or evangelistic spirit.

Today’s readings describe salvation in terms of a festive banquet which the Lord invites all to attend. Isaiah tells us that the Lord God prepares for all people a banquet of rich food and choice wines. Jesus uses the same imagery in the Gospel reading, comparing the Kingdom of God to a wedding feast. The king sent his servants to inform the invited guests that it’s “party time.” They rejected the invitation. He dispatched more servants, only to be further insulted when the invitees react with violence and kill the servants. This is the mystery of evil: God the Father wills that all should be saved (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4), but he will not override our free will; each person is free to accept or reject God’s call to conversion and salvation.

By sacrificing himself for us on the cross, the Son of God freed us from sin and death, and paid the price of our admission to the heavenly banquet. Eternal life with God is available to all through faith and baptism in Christ. The Church’s mission is to announce this Good News: “Go out into the byroads and invite to the wedding anyone you come upon” (Matt. 22:9). A major theme of Pope John Paul’s pontificate has been the call for a “new evangelization.” The Good News of salvation must be proclaimed with fresh enthusiasm in a way that is sensitive to the needs of our times. But the gospel cannot be confidently preached unless it is firmly believed. And it cannot be firmly believed unless we regain our sense that Jesus is God’s final Word, the answer to all the problems of life and death, of pain and guilt and suffering.

Perhaps we should ask ourselves some serious questions. Do I recite the Creed with sincerity and conviction? Do I think of my religion only in terms of obeying the Commandments and fulfilling obligations, or also as a relationship with the risen Christ? Have I made an effort to deepen my knowledge of the Faith, or do I know little more now than I did when I was a child? Are my views on abortion, euthanasia, marriage, poverty and other moral and social issues influenced more by the secular culture than by Church teaching? Do I pray and read the gospels in order to acquire the mind of Christ? Is my role model Madonna, who sings “Papa, Don’t Preach,” or the Madonna, who sings “Be it done unto me according to Thy word”? Unless we believe that we have something to offer the world, something which everyone should be seeking, then there can be no evangelization.

The best way to evangelize, of course, is by our example. In fact, the “new evangelization” can be carried out only by saints. This is precisely the point that our Holy Father has made in his encyclical The Splendor of Truth: holiness is “the simplest and most attractive way to perceive at once the beauty of truth, the liberating force of God’s love, and the value of unconditional fidelity to all the demands of the Lord’s law, even in the most difficult situations” (#107).

“See how they love one another!” the pagans remarked of the early Christians. We show ourselves to be Christ’s disciples by loving unconditionally, by living the Beatitudes, by caring for the sick and the poor, and by forgiving others. In his homily on today’s Gospel, St. Gregory the Great explains that the marriage feast is the wedding of Christ and his Church. The wedding garment is the virtue of charity, that is, love of God and love of neighbor. “Whoever in the Church possesses faith, but has not charity, comes in to the wedding, but does not come in with a wedding garment” (Hom. 38).

While the Church will always need missionaries to preach the gospel in remote and dangerous places, you can be a missionary without leaving your hometown. No doubt many of you have relatives and friends who have stopped practicing the Faith for whatever reason, or who have never known God to begin with. Have you ever invited them to come with you to Mass, or asked them if they have ever thought of becoming Catholic? As the Catechism reminds us: “The true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the faithful” (CCC #905).

The Eucharist is a foretaste of heaven, the eternal wedding feast of Christ and his Bride the Church (cf. Rev. 19:9): Blessed are they who are called to His Supper, the supper of the Lamb who was slain for our sins. Notice, however, that every eucharistic celebration involves a sending out, a mission: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” In fact, the very name given to the Church’s supreme act of worship, the Mass, comes from the Latin missa, meaning dismissal. May our communion with the Lord Jesus in this Holy Mass inspire and strengthen us to make him known, loved and served by all.

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 767-768, 849-856, 858-859.

Resident aliens

29th Sunday of the Year—October 17

“A” Readings: Isa. 45:1. 4-6 • 1 Thess. 1:1-5 • Matt. 22:15-21

Title: Church Support
    Purpose: to describe the difference between Church support in nations in which the Church and State are united, and in the USA; (2) to describe the ideal of a Catholic life in regard to parish support and special collections (e.g., the principle of tithing).

In America, the Church and the State are separate bodies living side by side, each having its own life and purposes. The State exists to preserve order and justice in society. The Church, on the other hand, has a higher objective—namely, to promote true religion and to win souls for the Kingdom of God. Despite what many say, the constitutional separation of Church and State does not mean that religion has no place in public life. It means, rather, that the government must not favor any particular religion: America has no “established Church” sponsored by Uncle Sam.

In Europe, however, Church-State separation is not quite as sharp. Some governments sponsor the parochial schools, pay the clergy’s salary and even fund the construction of churches. Americans struggling with school tuition and weary of special collections and fund-raising campaigns will surely find such an arrangement appealing. Actually, there is increasing support in America for “vouchers,” that is, public monies given to parents to pay for private and/or religious schooling.

In the Gospel reading of today’s Mass, our Lord does not tell us precisely what form the Church-State relationship is to have. He simply instructs his disciples to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to give to God what is God’s. Neither the anarchist (who opposes the State) nor the totalitarian (who idolizes it) will find in these words any justification for their cause. A good Christian is a responsible citizen. While it is constitutionally possible to set up a wall of separation between Church and State, it is not permissible for a Christian to excuse himself from contributing to the common good of society; nor may a Christian exclude his religion from civil life.

Give to “Caesar” what is rightfully his: pay taxes, vote honestly, defend one’s country, and obey the laws of the land (unless they happen to be immoral). Saint Paul instructed Christians to pray for those who bear the heavy burden of authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2). Obeying the Apostle’s injunction, the Church directs us to include prayers for both civil and ecclesiastical authorities in the General Intercessions of the Mass.

While Christ recognized the rights of government, he also made clear that God, too, has rights. The State does not have absolute power and dominion. When authorities mandate something contrary to the Gospel or to the fundamental rights and dignity of persons, Christians are morally obligated to disobey. Although our constitution does not expressly prohibit the Church (or any religious body) from receiving support from Uncle Sam, we should still exercise vigilance. The State could demand, for instance, that Catholic hospitals provide abortion and sterilization services as a condition for continued assistance, or that Catholic schools teach “diversity appreciation” aimed at legitimizing the homosexual lifestyle and moral relativism. In such cases, the Church would be compelled to defy the State and suffer the losses. (Such a dilemma is already taking place in Germany.)

Give to God what is his: our worship and submission. Because the Church is the sign and instrument of God’s Kingdom, giving to God requires supporting his Church. The Catholic who cherishes the Faith is willing to give of his time and talents, because that is how to help the Church in her mission. A good Catholic is the kind of parishioner whom the pastor will not hesitate to call when he needs a sponsor for the baptism of a catechumen, or a small repair job on the rectory, or any of several tasks for which priests often rely on the help of the faithful.

The practical Catholic knows, too, that the Church cannot progress in this world without money. And so he considers it a duty to contribute according to his means. In the Old Testament, the Law of Moses (Exod. 27:30) prescribed that a tenth of all produce, animals and plants be offered to the Lord God. Similarly, in Christian usage, a tithe is usually a tenth of one’s gross income given to the Church. While there is no strict obligation to tithe, we should remember that God, who is never outdone in generosity, always rewards our charity both in this life and in the next.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. On the one hand, Christ’s followers must take civic responsibility seriously. The Second Vatican Council (Gaudium et Spes #40) calls us to be a leaven in the world, renewing and sanctifying society with the spirit of Christian truth and charity. On the other hand, we must keep in mind that “here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come” (Heb. 13:14). Neither socialism nor capitalism nor any other ism can ever be equated with the Kingdom of God.

In the second century, a high-ranking pagan named Diognetus asked his Christian friend for information about Christianity. In his Letter to Diognetus, which the Catechism quotes, the unknown Christian explained: “[Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it” (CCC #2240). Resident aliens: that pretty well sums it up. As long as we keep our dual citizenship in mind, God will be glorified and “Caesar” will be blessed.

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1905-1927, 2238-2246.

Our Father

30th Sunday of the Year—October 24

“A” Readings: Exod. 22:20-26 • 1 Thess. 1:5-10 • Matt. 22:34-40

Title: God the Father
    Purpose: to teach (1) that Jesus used the title Father to teach God’s knowledge, love and care for us; (2) that we are to be obedient, loving, trustful children of our heavenly Father.

By using our own reasoning powers and without any help from God, human beings can know certain things about God: that he exists, that he is the Supreme Being who created all things and who keeps them in existence, and so on. That is about as far as we could go without God’s help. In order for us to know who God is, God would have to “clue us in,” so to speak. As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is the revelation of God, God’s Word spoken to us, indeed, God in the flesh.

Were it not for Christ, we would never know that God is an eternal union of three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and that our destiny is to share in the life and glory of this heavenly Trinity. Christ teaches us that God is not merely the Creator of the world, but a Father who knows us and loves us and who calls us to be his children. The Fatherhood of God is not merely one Christian belief among many; it is the primary truth taught to us by Christ and the basis of our entire religion.

Jesus used the Aramaic word Abba to express his own relationship with God. Abba is a child’s word, like our “Daddy” or “Papa.” It expresses familiarity and tenderness. As an adolescent in the Temple, he would tell Mary and Joseph, who had come in search of him, that he had to be in his Father’s house (Luke 2:49). During his agony in Gethsemane, he prayed: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). All the way up to Jesus’ last words of prayer, God remains for him the “Father”: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34); “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Our Lord continually distinguished between “my Father” and “your Father” (cf. John 20:17). He understood himself to be the Son of God in a unique sense: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27). The natural Father of Jesus is the First Person of the Holy Trinity, who is God the Father. Why, then, did the Father send His Son into our world? Why did the Second Person of the Trinity become man? The key is to be found in Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request to teach them to pray: he tells them to begin with the words “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9).

The Son of God became man to redeem us from sin and to make us children of God, sharing in his glory. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). He was not speaking of biological life, but of God’s life. Through Christ, we share in the life of the Trinity, knowing and loving God as God knows and loves himself.

As St. Paul reminds us: “God sent forth his Son . . . so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). In baptism we were born into the life of grace and joined to Christ, whose natural Father became our Father by adoption. In other words, baptism made us sons and daughters in the one Son, with the right to say Abba, Father. Our rebirth as God’s children brings with it the gift of God’s life, eternal life. As the philosopher Peter Kreeft puts it: “Because of Jesus, this utterly, unimaginably, incomprehensibly, and infinitely awesome abyss of eternal perfection, this dazzling light of Truth that designed the entire universe down to each grain of sand and still guides the paths of each falling hair and sparrow—this God is now our Daddy! Christians are the kids of the King.”

Being a Christian means believing in Christ, loving him, obeying his teachings and following his example. But it means more: “You are no longer a slave, but a son” (Gal. 4:7). What does it mean to be a child of God? The Catechism tells us: “The free gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and new life” (CCC 2784). To be a child of God means to be the saint that God intends us to be. It means being “another Christ,” doing the will of the Father in all the circumstances of life, loving our neighbor unconditionally. It means acknowledging our total dependence on God for everything. As Blessed Josemaria Escriva explained: “Our life becomes the active abandonment of children who trust completely in the goodness of a Father who has control over all the powers of creation. The certainty that God wants what is best for us leads us to a joyful abandonment full of peace even in the most difficult moments of our lives.”

The child of God realizes that Christ came to bring peace and salvation to all people, regardless of status, race, or ethnicity. The only blood that rates in God’s eyes is the Blood of Christ, shed on Calvary and given to us in the Mass for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Therefore, our charity and goodwill must exclude no one; for we are all redeemed by the death and Resurrection of the Father’s only-begotten Son, whose Spirit bestows on us a dignity which even the angels do not have.

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 232-267, 2779-2802.

The six precepts

31st Sunday of the Year—October 31

“A” Readings: Mal. 1:1-4—2:2. 8-10 • 1 Thess. 2:7-9. 13 • Matt. 23:1-12

Title: Precepts of the Church
    Purpose: (1) to explain in general the six special Precepts of the Church and (2) why the Church has Precepts; and (3) to encourage their faithful observance.

Nowadays one seldom if ever hears anything about the precepts of the Church. Older Catholics may vaguely remember them from their catechism days, while the young are apt to shrug their shoulders when asked to name even one of them. What are the precepts of the Church, and what have they to do with our lives as disciples of the Lord Jesus?

A precept is a rule or requirement. In addition to those God-given precepts we call the Ten Commandments, the Church has given us six special precepts. Their purpose is to ensure “the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor” (CCC #2041).

Since the original sin of Adam, human nature is wounded. So often we find it difficult to love God and to love others as we ought. We would rather follow the path of least resistance than the hard and narrow way that leads to eternal life (cf. Matt. 7:13-14). Without God’s grace, we are incapable of keeping the Commandments, of living a virtuous life, and of attaining salvation. The precepts of the Church are not meant to burden us in the way that some of the Pharisees in Our Lord’s day imposed hard rules and regulations on the people. Rather, they are intended to help us meet the basic requirements of a “moral and Christian life united with the liturgy and nourished by it” (CCC #2048).

The first precept is to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. The celebration of the Eucharist is indispensable to the Christian life. The death and resurrection of Christ redeemed us from sin and death, and opened to us the way to union with God; the Mass makes Christ’s sin-forgiving and life-giving sacrifice present to us.

The second precept is to confess our sins at least once a year. Of course, anyone who thinks he has committed mortal sin should beg God’s pardon in the Sacrament of Penance without delay: our eternal reward depends on the state of our soul at the moment of death—and only the Lord knows the hour and the day! A good rule of thumb is to confess our sins monthly; for the sacrament is always a channel of grace.

The third precept is to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, during the Easter Season. This may strike us as an unnecessary precept, since most Mass-going Catholics receive Communion. But this was not always so. In the not-too-distant past, many Catholics attended Mass without receiving Communion. Whether this was because previous generations had a greater sense of sin and of the need to avoid receiving the Sacrament sacrilegiously, or because they were scrupulous and failed to appreciate the Eucharist as a remedy for sin is open to debate. The precept to receive Communion at least annually may seem archaic today, but it indirectly reminds us that the obligation to attend Sunday Mass does not necessarily mean we must also receive Communion. Although we participate in the Mass more fully by receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood, we should not receive Communion if we have not repented of serious sin and been reconciled to God and the Church through sacramental confession.

The fourth precept is to keep holy the holy days of obligation by participating in the liturgical feasts honoring the mysteries of Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints. Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, is the original Christian feast day and holy day of obligation. We “keep holy” the holy days especially by participating in the celebration of the Eucharist, and by avoiding work that keeps us from enjoying appropriate rest and relaxation. Sadly, more than a few Catholics—including those who would never think to miss Sunday Mass—have slackened in their observance of holy days (except Christmas). In so doing they fail to celebrate (and learn more about) important truths of the Faith, such as Christ’s Ascension, Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Assumption, and the Communion of Saints. The saints are our role models in the imitation of Christ. It is appropriate to ask their intercession and to honor them, particularly in the Mass celebrated on their feast days.

The fifth precept is to observe the penitential days, primarily through fasting and abstinence. On days of fasting, we are permitted to have only one full meal; on days of abstinence we are not permitted to eat meat. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence. Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence. All Fridays throughout the year are penitential days. By observing this precept, we discipline our instincts and desires and do penance for our sins out of love for Christ.

The sixth precept requires us to provide for the material needs of the Church, according to our abilities. For most of us, that means dropping more than the usual dollar or two in the collection basket! We should be generous not only with our money, but also with our time and our God-given talents.

If we sincerely love the Lord and his Church, we will not see these precepts as “legalistic” or burdensome. Chances are that we have already exceeded their modest demands without even realizing that we were “fulfilling precepts.” Where there is love, rules are superfluous. Two people in love do not ask each other, “What is the minimum amount of time I must spend with you in order for our relationship to endure?” When they have a spat, they do not reconcile with each other at only certain times of the year. Similarly, our love for Christ should move us beyond the language of law and obligation. As St. John says, “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). The exhortation found in the old marriage ritual can be applied to our relationship with the Lord and our duties toward him: “Sacrifice is usually difficult and irksome. Only love can make it easy; and perfect love can make it a joy.”

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2041-2043, 2048.

Reverend Thomas M. Kocik was ordained in 1997 for the diocese of Fall River, Mass. He is currently serving as parochial vicar at St. Francis Xavier parish in Hyannis, Mass. He is the author of Apostolic Succession in an Ecumenical Context (Alba House 1996) and is an occasional contributor to the Catholic Answer magazine. His last article in HPR appeared in April 1999.

Back to Homiletic & Pastoral Review August/September 1999 Table of Contents

Back to Catholic information Center on Internets Main Periodical Page