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17 Apr 2016 - Preaching the News for Sunday

If I did not believe . . . that the works of mercy do lighten the sum total of suffering in the world, the problem of evil would indeed be overwhelming. –Dorothy Day, On Pilgrimage Exploring the Word for Sunday, April 17

corporal works of mercy dorothy day

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18 Sep 2011 - Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Nothing makes nice Catholic Bible study groups more disgruntled than the parable of the landowner who pays everyone alike, no matter how much they worked. It’s not fair, they argue. What’s the point of being good all your life when a deathbed conversion is enough to gain you the whole enchilada of salvation? They don’t seem to notice that the person they’re arguing with is Jesus, and the cause they’re arguing for is less mercy. (What would they prefer: more wrath? The surprising answer is yes—so long as it’s aimed at someone else!) What’s really illuminating is that many are apparently convinced that being good is undesirable. When we protest this parable, we’re saying that if it were up to us, we’d be bad as long as possible. Is a good life not a benefit in itself? The philosopher Blaise Pascal thought so. In his famous defense of faith known as Pascal’s Wager, he said believing in God is a win-win situation, whether or not there is a God. If it turns out there is, and you’ve been virtuous, you win the prize of everlasting life. If there is no God and you lived virtuously, you’ve lost nothing and in fact come out ahead. The virtuous person has the best possible life, the love and esteem of others, and the satisfaction of great moral purpose. What worked for Pascal, however, obviously doesn’t for the average modern believer. A lot of us are not convinced, frankly, that laboring in the vineyard is the best possible use of our time. The prophet Isaiah seems to confirm the disconnect between God’s ways and ours. God’s thoughts are so much higher, better, truer than ours that whatever we have in mind it simply doesn’t compare. If we are to “put on the mind of Christ,” in Saint Paul’s words, to reach for those higher thoughts, this decision will inevitably displace our own baser ideas. So right now I’m thinking a pizza would be nice and so would skipping the rest of the work day in favor of lolling in front of a matinee. Putting on the mind of Christ keeps me at my desk and fat-free, but is that a personal misery? If it made no difference to God which choice I make so long as I get viaticum at the end, would I be on the phone to Pizza Hut right now? The truth is, those who worked in the vineyard since morning have already been paid with the satisfaction of a life of integrity. Those who wasted their lives have to live—and die—with that reality, which is not a pleasant prospect. That God’s mercy encompasses both parties is a pretty wonderful thing. Scripture links Justice and mercy: Isa. 1:18; Pss. 25:6-7, 51:3-21, 130:1-8, 143:1-2; Luke 1:76-79; 1 Col. 1:13-14 Not tit-for-tat justice: Matt. 5:7, 9:13, 12:7, 18:23-27, 23:23; Eph. 2:4; Titus 3:2-7; James 2:13 Fathoming the mind of God: Gen. 18:20-32, 45:4-8; 1 Sam. 16:6-7; Job 38:1-42:6; Pss. 8:5-7, 36:7; Rom. 4:1-8, 12:2; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 3:2 Catechism links Kingdom: CCC 440; 541-556

Authors Alice Camille

Mercy parable of the workers in the vineyard

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Homily stories

20 Feb 2011 - Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

A TRUCK DRIVER, in a hurry, pulled into a parking spot, jumped out of his car, and ran into a store. A moment later another driver came out of the store, and when she got to her car, she saw that she couldn't open the driver door because the truck had parked too close to her car. Furious at the inconsiderateness of the truck driver, the women climbed into her car from the passenger side, and when she got behind the wheel, she opened her window and ran her key along the truck's door and created a deep foot-long scratch. Satisfied with her revenge, she started her car and drove away. Serves the truck driver right, some might say. He should have been more considerate. Drivers are just so darned selfish these days. Yes, drivers can be selfish. Some may have good reasons for being distracted and rushed, but others may be just plain rude. But the question for Christians is: Is that for us to judge? "I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you": That is Jesus' advice to us in matters like this. The women who sought revenge may have felt a moment's satisfaction that somehow her act set things right, but she will soon find that she made her world smaller and more hostile. Those who choose revenge over mercy will never be at peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

revenge Mercy Peace

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20 Feb 2011 - Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. The English author Oscar Wilde once said, "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." His words are closer to the meaning of one of the more well-known passages in the gospels than he might have thought. One the "face" of it, Jesus seems to be telling his followers that if a person strikes them they are to say, "Good. Now hit me just as hard on the other side." True, to slap someone with the back of the hand was considered particularly insulting in the ancient Near East--and all the more reason to become enraged in response. Offering the other cheek, then, showed that the one struck refused to retaliate and therefore "won" the encounter, defeating the shame and violence of the slap by "shaming" their attacker into remorse. Jesus' words fulfill perfectly the command in Leviticus to "not bear hatred for your brother or your sister in your heart" and embody the kindness and mercy which come from God.

turn the other cheek Forgiveness Mercy

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25 Sep 2011 - Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Some of us can’t balance a checkbook—although in these days of online payments and direct deposit, who writes checks anyway? But we spend enough time in the kitchen, at least, to know how to measure things, or have enough arithmetic under our belts to know when a sum is equal to its parts. One thing’s for sure: God’s mercy doesn’t add up. There’s far too much of it around, most of it undeserved. Do we want what we deserve, then? Not if we’re honest. As the psalmist points out, in our younger days many of us weren’t as smart as we are now. We made errors in judgment, which is to say we often failed to judge at all in our eagerness to embrace life’s enticements. Few would want to be judged on the merits of our first 20 years. Or our first 40. Some of us would rather be taken at face value now than by what we did last week! A scorekeeping God would do that: keep credit-and-debit columns on each of us. If everything we ever did was weighted equally, no matter when or under what circumstances we acted, we’d all be doomed right now. We might as well lock the doors of the church and go home to embrace our ruin. But the merciful God responds with a complex algorithm of grace we can’t comprehend. Intention and deliberation affect our culpability, according to sacramental theology. Having an informed conscience matters. Our present state of contrition and intention for future amendment factor in. The gravity of an issue, venial or mortal, is a question to be asked. Above and beyond and around all the parts of our dilemma as sinners is the sum of the whole, which is God’s desire to save. God’s determination to rescue the lost is much, much greater than our feeble power to get lost in the first place. Because God resolves to be the God who saves, the sum will be freedom from sin and death no matter what our actions merit. It’s as if God writes the happy total at the bottom of the page and then erases whatever necessary to make it so. God’s not as worried about the math as we are. This is the God who multiplies a basket of food and feeds 5,000, or counts 1,000 years as a day. It’s not that God can’t add but that the algorithm of grace is so much finer than what we arrive at on our own. “The wages of sin is death”: One plus one equals two, but who wants this dreadful solution? Better to grant God the courtesy of doing the higher and more gracious math. Related scripture links Let your yes be yes: Matt. 5:33-37 Saying and doing: Isa. 29:13-14; Ezek. 33:31-32; Mark 7:6; Matt. 7:15-27, 12:33-37, 50, 15:7-8; Luke 6:44-49 Some who spoke yes and did no: Luke 9:57-58, 20:45-47, 22:33-34 Other two-son stories: Gen. 4:1-16, 16:1-15 and 21:1-21, 25:19-34 and 27:1-46; Luke 15:11-32 Catechism links Unlikely kingdom outcomes: CCC 535; 544-546 The mind of Christ: CCC 461; 520-521; 1693-1698; 2842

Authors Alice Camille

Mercy fairness

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12 Sep 2010 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

The high-sounding term for what people will hear in scripture this week is the "mystery of sin and redemption." On the ground are people looking to God and church for a healing word to address their hurts, given and received. The story goes like this. Yes, we sin, despite our best intentions, sometimes because of them. God leaves us free to make mistakes. We think too much of ourselves or too little; we do too much or not enough. We let our appetites and instincts get the better of us. We hurt others by our selfishness. But sinfulness does not summarize the human condition. Life holds out the possibility of repentance, to which God responds with mercy and forgiveness. Not only that, God can relent, as the Exodus reading shows, when we regret what we have done or failed to do. Minds and hearts can change on both sides of the divine-human equation. In forgiving there is joy and a feast to welcome back the prodigal. Our invitation comes from our Lord and God, who welcomes sinners and eats with them.

Mercy Forgiveness sin redemption

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13 Mar 2011 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

A friend tells this story about the first apartment he rented after leaving the college seminary. His downstairs neighbor, for reasons never determined, was militantly anti-Catholic. So on Friday mornings as he was leaving for work, she would stand in the doorway waving a strip of bacon in his face. And then, on his way back into the building on Friday evenings, she would wave a pork chop at him as he headed up the stairs. One day, fed up with her strange behavior, he grabbed the pork chop and brought it tantalizingly to his lips. The look of triumph on her face quickly switched to horror as he flipped the chop to her ragged dog, which had been yapping at him from behind her housedress. She never again opened her door as he went up and down the stairs. So much for temptation. The devil tempted Adam, and Adam fell, losing his righteousness and innocence. The devil tempted Jesus, and Jesus resisted. Paul lets us know that we were all made righteous by Jesus' saving actions. But that doesn't mean we won't be tempted and won't sin. It means simply that we have another choice with our lives. As we prayed in Psalm 51, we need to admit our sinfulness and ask for mercy not just one time, but every time we sin. Certainly there are temptations all around us. Some of them we should be able to toss off pretty easily, like that pork chop. Others won't be so easy. That's why we need Lent to help us do better even as we ask forgiveness for the times we failed.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

Temptation Devil psalm 51 Mercy

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19 Sep 2010 - Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What would be the spiritual parallel to what the unjust steward did in the material world? Why, he freely gave away his boss' wealth. He offered business patrons forgiveness of debts, relief from burdens, and "got in their good graces." If we were to do the same with our "master's" wealth, we would be forgiving trespasses, offering relief to those who are burdened, and doing whatever we could to live in their good graces.

money Wealth Mercy

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26 Sep 2010 - Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

In today's gospel, the rich man in the place of torment pleads with Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers about the eternal peril they face if they ignore the poor as he did. Abraham replies that the living have all the evidence they need in Moses and the prophets to motivate them not only to bring comfort to the suffering but also to believe in the resurrection. In hearing this Word of God, people have the opportunity the rich man's brothers did not get. They have the chance to rouse themselves to serve justice and feed the hungry. They know of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy; their doing awaits. The good news of resurrected life has been proclaimed. It remains for those who hear it to believe and act as they believe.

Wealth social justice works of mercy

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26 Sep 2010 - Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Father Daniel Berrigan, S.J. once told the editors of U.S. Catholic that when it comes to responding to social ills, "no person, even with the most fervent of wills, can do everything. But every person can do something. And the moral distance between doing something and doing nothing is momentous indeed." Here are a few examples of that difference: Pick one cause a month to read about and respond to (with however little you have to give) vs. throwing out all charitable solicitations unread. Smile at one person you don't know as you walk down the street vs. maintaining a perennial scowl on your face. Let it be known that you don't appreciate vulgar, racist, or otherwise offensive comments the next time you hear one spoken vs. going along with the crowd. Offer one compliment to a family member or coworker, no strings attached, vs. assuming they know you appreciate them.

social justice Charity works of mercy

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