Twenty-seventh Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Something very, very
powerful in all of our readings today.
Some people think I’m going to talk about divorce and remarriage. No. I
want to go much deeper than that because the reality as you go back even to the
first reading from Genesis. And it talks
about God creating human kind, mankind.
And God said right from the beginning, “It’s not good for the man to be
alone. I will make a suitable partner
for him.” So then God tried all these
animals and everything else He put into creation. And they were not the suitable partners for
the man. And then God said, “I gotta get
this right cause I’m only going to do it once.”
So God then cast a sleep on the man and while he was asleep He took one
of his ribs, closed up its place with flesh, built up into a woman the rib He
had taken from the man.
Now some people like to say
that means man came first therefore women are secondary and women are put here
to please their man. That is not what
the text supports. What it is trying to
say is that women and men were made for each other. This one is “bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh.” Men and women are made to
compliment one another. To build on the
strengths and the weakness of each other.
In other words you would say too, that we as human beings are social
people. We are made for each other.
This goes right back to the
beginning of creation where God said, “I have created you, put you into this
world that I have created so that you people, men and women and everybody else
down through time and history can reflect really My image.” We are made in the image and likeness of God
and that’s why Jesus quotes again in the scripture, “What God has joined
together no human being must separate.”
So the sign of unity, the
sign of God’s presence in this world is the beautiful sacrament of
marriage. It is the beautiful gift of
the Eucharist that you and I have again this morning. Jesus told us unless we eat His flesh and
drink His blood we will not have life within us. So our very presence here this morning,
whether you are married or not, whether you are married and divorced and
remarried, whether you are single, widowed or widower, whether you are too
young to get married, or if you’re like me who vowed my life as a celibate that
I do not marry in this life, you the parish of St. Alphonsus are my
spouse. You are the people at this
moment in time that I commit my life to give to you what I can give and I in
turn receive from you. All of us
together are this Body of Christ, the Church.
So this is what we are
celebrating today in a powerful, beautiful way who you and I are as the image
of God. That is the core of our
scripture readings today.
Now you and I know very well
that in our world today we do many things that really separate or break this
intimacy between ourselves and one another.
Think of it this way: That in our
world today, and I tried to list some of them this way, the things that break
the unity, the things that break this symbol of our intimacy are being bound
together. War—why is it that from the
beginning it seems like mankind has waged war.
You know shortly after this particular passage in Genesis Cain and Abel
had their outing and their differences.
And Cain asked that question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yes, you and I are the keepers of one
another. We are bound to one
another. We are responsible for and to
one another. Look what we do so many
times and we try to tear that apart. So
war, homelessness, poverty, racism, sexism, all the different ways that we have
divided ourselves and separated ourselves from one another and said we are not
responsible for one another. It’s just
me, myself and I. How selfish, how
terrible. We are responsible for one another. This is the Church, you and I, the people of
God.
You know Hebrews, the second
reading said that Jesus having come from God, coming into our world, taking our
humanity and joining it with His divinity and then said, “He was not ashamed to
call us brothers and sisters because we all have one origin, God.” That’s where we came from, that’s where we
are going back. To the image of God, to
that wonderful embrace of heaven.
So there’s the circle. It completes itself.
Think of it again this way. You and I here this morning, we the people of
St. Alphonsus Parish, last night we had a fantastic celebration for our parish
school. It was the beginning of our
alumni gathering. Over 200 people,
graduates from St. Alphonsus School over the last 50 years gathered here last
night in the school and in the gym to celebrate what had been given to them by
their presence here at St. Alphonsus School.
It was fantastic. I met one young
man who came from St. Cloud. Somebody
else drove up from Chicago. Others came
from around the Twin Cities. But we got
it started, the alumni group from St. Alphonsus School.
We’ve been celebrating our
50th anniversary as a parish.
A week ago Saturday night we had a gathering for all the charter members
of St. Alphonsus Parish. You and I have
a great legacy, a heritage, a tradition that for 50 years we have been coming
around this table of the Lord in celebrating who we are—brothers and sisters in
the Lord. Responsible for and to one
another.
Think of the many different
ways that this parish community over 50 years has reached out to help one
another. Look at all the food that you
brought this morning. This food is going
to go to CEAP and to Sharing and Caring Hands to feed the hungry. Many of you use the CEAP envelop. Many people volunteer to cook food for
Sharing and Caring Hands and for the Branch.
We have our parish Sharing Fund.
You’ve heard me talk about it before, and even more so than ever right
now with the economic hardships I am called upon every week. More people than I can assist, to try to help
people stay in their homes, get food, shelter, the basic necessities of
life. That’s why it’s called the Sharing
Fund. That Sharing Fund we take 4-5% of
our Sunday collection goes into a special fund that I administer to help the
needs of the less fortunate of our parishioners, brothers and sisters. That is coming from you by the envelop, by
the contributions that you make.
You may not know all the
names of the people that you assist and help.
I do. For the last 10 years I
have kept all these names, all the people that we’ve helped, in a special file
in my office. It’s amazing what your
charity and sharing have helped for other people. You’re doing it, unbeknownst to yourself
perhaps, because of what Jesus has told us this morning. “What God has joined together let no one tear
apart.”
You and I are binding each
other. We are building with each
other. We are growing with each
other. We are sharing with each other. We are giving life to each other.
Think of it again another
way like this: It isn’t just a husband
and wife who become one. Think of the
people in your life, as I started out the Mass earlier. Who are the people that God has put into your
journey of life? Who are the ones who
are closest to you? It might be your
spouse. Maybe it’s one of your
siblings. Maybe it’s one of your
children. Maybe for some of you it is
one of your parents. Maybe it’s a total
stranger, someone who walked in and out of your life and you said, “Wow! That person reminds me and has called me to
be who I am, who I want to be.” Maybe
it’s a friend. You know we get to chose
our friends don’t? We don’t get to chose
our families, they’re given to us. And
isn’t it great and wonderful, especially of you in the sacrament of marriage if
your spouse is your friend? How
wonderful, how beautiful.
So we are here this morning
as the body and blood of Jesus, as the Church.
The image of God in the Parish of St. Alphonsus. Wherever you and I go this day we will image
God’s faithfulness, love, compassion, joy and mercy. That’s who you and I are. Are we each other’s keepers? Yes.
We hold each other up, we cry with each other, we laugh with each other,
we party with each other, we bury each other, we baptize, we marry, we forgive,
we love. We do all that because that’s
what God put us on this earth to be.
So as you go about your
lives today—I’m trying to figure out how to end this—maybe just take a little
quiet time. Just sit, in privacy if
you’re home perhaps. If you can’t find
some quiet time at home go out and sit in the car, or stay here in church a
little bit, or go find a little quiet place, and just in your mind and your
heart line up for yourself all the people that have journeyed with you in your
life to this point in time and history.
Image who they are. Put their
names and their faces together.
Now this might take you 10
minutes, half an hour, an hour, I don’t know.
Take as much time as you need with it because those are the people that
God put into your life. Whether they are
living or deceased. Think of both of
them and just as you image them just say, “Thank you God for that person in my
life.” Because then you will realize how
blessed you are, how fortunate you and I are, and then go the next little step
and say a simple little prayer for all your brothers and sisters in St.
Alphonsus Parish.