St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop
Romans 11:1-2,11-12,25-29  +  Luke 14:1,7-11
November 4, 2017

“…do not recline at table in the place of honor.”

The virtue of humility is a thread that runs through today’s Scriptures.  Jesus weaves this thread through the parable that He tells after noticing that His fellow dinner guests were choosing the places of honor at the table (Luke 14:7).  They were not content to receive a sumptuous meal.  They wanted also to receive honor.

These dinner guests were looking only to receive gifts.  They were not thinking of giving.  This is natural, on the one hand, since when you accept a dinner invitation, you’re accepting a gift.  On the other hand, when you go to a dinner party, you might take a token gift such as a bottle of wine.  But your token gift would seem out of place if it were greater than the banquet itself.

But here is the metanoia—the change of heart and mind—which Jesus effects in His disciples through His saving words and deeds.  He wants His disciples—including us—to recognize every gift, every invitation to receive, as an opportunity to give.

Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 9:1-5  +  Luke 14:1-6

“My sheep hear my voice,” says the Lord; “I know them, and they follow me.”

Can you imagine a homilist only ever preaching upon the Gospel antiphon?  Sacred Scripture is so rich and deep in presenting the Word of God to us that it’s certainly possible for a homilist to preach upon only the day’s Gospel antiphon.  Today, the Church proclaims in this antiphon:  “My sheep hear my voice,” says the Lord; “I know them, and they follow me.”

There are three distinct statements that the Lord makes here.  First, He states:  “My sheep hear my voice”; Second, that “I know them”; and third, that “they follow me.”  Any one of these three could serve as matter for spiritual meditation.  Or one could take any two of the three and compare and contrast them.

In holding up all three of these statements to the light of God’s Word, the role of the Lord’s “voice” seems to link them.  The Shepherd calls to the sheep, whom He knows, by means of His voice.  Thus they follow Him.  Reflect simply, then, on the Lord’s voice:  what does it sound like, what does it say, and what must we turn away from in order to hear it?

The Commemoration of All Souls
Wis 3:1-9  +  Rom 5:5-11  +  Jn 6:37-40
November 2, 2017

The souls of the just are in the hand of God.

The belief we celebrate today is part of the “communion of saints.”  That’s a familiar phrase—we recite it in the Apostles’ Creed—but the “communion of saints” isn’t just those who are canonized saints in Heaven, but also the members of the Church who are in Purgatory, and on earth.  Today we who are members of that third group pray for those in the second, so that joined through prayer, we all may become members of the first.

Sometimes we feel torn like Saint Paul, because while it’s better to be in heaven, God wants us here for His purposes.  Those purposes call each of us to help others in many ways.  One of the most important of these is prayer for others, which is formally called “intercession”.

Even in heaven, saints are given missions by God.  Saints are not simply fixed on God, without regard for others.  Saints in heaven pray for the rest of the “communion of saints”.

We on earth are like the saints in Heaven in this regard.  While we might want to fix our attention on God alone, God wants us to offer our lives for others, because this is often where we find God revealed in our lives.  So it is through our prayers of intercession, both for fellow pilgrims on earth, and for those in Purgatory.

Does this take away from God?  No.  God wants us to turn to each other.  Intercessory prayer is a form of that command to “love your neighbor as yourself”.  If it’s valid in God’s eyes to pray for oneself, why wouldn’t it be to pray for others?  When a family suffers a tragedy, they draw closer together.  Part of this occurs through prayer, and they all are stronger afterwards, and more closely knit.

Our prayer for others draws us closer to those we pray for.  Those in heaven, in purgatory, and on earth are drawn closer together through intercession.  When we intercede for another—or ask someone’s intercession—we don’t believe that that person is God.  We ask another to take our prayers to God.  When we call our mother and ask her to pray for us, we’re doing the same as when we kneel and pray a rosary:  we are asking our mother to pray to God for us.

Through all prayers of intercession, the Body of Christ grows stronger.  In the person of Christ, God and man are united.  Within Christ, we live as members of his Body.  Within Christ, we build others up, and find God’s love for us.