BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )    If the purpose of a homily is to explain the point of the readings, especially the Gospel, I could stop right here. Both the first reading and the Gospel state emphatically, unequivocally, that we cannot, may not, must not ignore the poor and the hungry. There are plenty of other passages that reinforce the message: Whatever you did/failed to do to one of these least, you did/failed to do to me (Matthew 25). It’s not enough to say “Goodbye and good luck” to a person in need (James 2). Real fasting includes freeing the oppressed and sharing your bread with the hungry (Isaiah 58). Hunger is truly a burden, a yoke, a kind of oppression. In the best case scenario, the rich man would have invited Lazarus in to share his table. That failing, he could have sent food out to him. That failing, he could have told him where he might find food...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )  Today’s readings couldn’t be any clearer. The first reading and the Gospel have the same message, and it is blunt: greed is evil. It’s not money that’s evil, not private property, but the “relationship” with money and possessions that interferes with the more important relationships—with other persons and with God. Coincidentally, one of the most direct statements on this subject in the New Testament is from 1 Timothy, though not in the passage found in today’s second reading. It comes four chapters later, in 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is the root of all evils.” The dishonest steward of the parable loves money. He is dishonest throughout. He uses his position not only to squander his master’s property, but also to save himself from being put out on the street, as either a day-laborer (digging) or a beggar. From beginning to end he is thinking only of himself. H...

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability, and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually—let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete . - by Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. from The Making of the M...

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )    Let’s make one thing perfectly clear. The celebration of the prodigal son’s return will last, in keeping with the local custom, a week or so. But when the party’s over that son will get his wish. He will be like a hired servant, maybe better off and enjoying certain privileges, but he will be forever dependent. He will have no inheritance when his father dies. His father makes that clear when he says to the elder son, “Everything I have is yours.” The elder son wasn’t concerned about questions of inheritance. He was angry because he never had such a party. This parable comes close to home for a lot of people. It dredges up images of old sibling rivalries. But that is not the point. This parable is more like the parable of the workers in the vineyard, where the question is: What’s fair? The elder brother clearly has resentments of long standing. He tr...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) About 3,350 years ago an Egyptian Pharaoh named Akhenaten decided to make worship of the Sun God the only religion in Egypt. He destroyed images of other gods and fired their priests, imposing an uncompromising monotheism. It makes sense really. Every morning a star we call the sun rises. Where have the other stars gone? You can almost hear the sun saying, “Don’t bother with those other puny stars. They’re cute but useless. I’m the only star that matters to you. I give you light. I give you heat. Where would you be without me? I am numero uno, the real star of the show known as earth.” Psalm 19 reflects in part a similar fascination with the sun. [At the utmost bounds of the world God] has placed a tent for the sun;  it comes forth like a bridegroom coming from his tent, rejoices like a champion to run its course. At the end of the sky is th...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings ) I lived a total of twenty-three years outside of the USA, mostly in an international community of Europeans, South Americans, Africans, and Asians. You can imagine the puzzlement of many of them when they heard American presidents and others constantly refer to the US as the “Greatest nation on earth,” and “Leader of the free world.” That we are a great and influential nation, no one could doubt. But that doesn’t make us better than anyone else. We aren’t alone in this arrogance. The French traditionally claim to be the greatest thinkers, and of course they have the best wines, chefs, etc. Italians claim the greatest artists, and of course they also have the best wines, chefs, etc. Ireland prides itself on being the land of saints and scholars. The list goes on. Should we go around saying we are the worst nation on earth? Of course not. There is such a thing as honest and ...