BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) The word “hate” is a powerful word so in sharing my thoughts with you today I want to first note that in the language Jesus spoke back then the word “hate” was a Semitic expression that we should not take literally. We should think of it as telling us that loving God is more important than anything else. Jesus is asking for first place in our hearts, he’s not asking us to abandon our families. After all in the society in which Jesus lived people’s whole lives centered on their families. Our lives should be also. Jesus used extreme language so that people would not forget what He is asking, namely our wholehearted and uncompromising commitment to follow in His way, live in His truth, and share life with Him. We all have obligations, responsibilities, and commitments, especially to our families, and only twenty-four hours in any one day to meet our responsibilities. Time is precious. Today’s first reading note...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) “Well, Father,” I was asked, “what’s wrong with being proud of yourself? Aren’t we supposed to have some pride? Why are we supposed to be humble – what good does it do other than to allow others to take advantage of us?” That’s a good question, one that we should consider. Balancing pride and humility is a problem for us all. My answer to the question about bring proud is: “It all depends.” It all depends upon what we’re being proud about. There are forms of pride that are good… and there are certainly forms of pride that are bad. Let’s start with good pride. We should have enough pride to render good quality to our workmanship. We should do things well and be properly proud of that quality of the product of our craftsmanship. We should be honorable, a quality lacking in today’s world. We should render an honest day’s labor for an honest day’s wage and be proud of it. We should care for our employees and...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Pope Francis caused a bit of a stir when in a homily he suggested that everyone, even atheists, could be saved. This excited newspaper reporters all over the world to declare that according to the Pope everyone will be saved. Actually the news reporters got it wrong. Cooler heads realized that the Pope was simply stating what is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church . It is God’s desire that all men and women of good faith be saved. To that end His Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died to redeem us, to bring us back to God our Father. Everyone has been, by Christ’s death and resurrection, redeemed. But that doesn’t mean that everyone will be saved. There is a huge distinction between being redeemed and being saved. In His Son, Jesus Christ, God has redeemed all of the children of Adam and Eve. He has breached the chasm between us and released us from the power of death. The word “redemption,” after...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Of the four Gospel accounts written by Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, St. Luke’s has been characterized by some scripture scholars as the most beautiful of them all. St. Luke’s Gospel contains accounts of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, for instance. Mary, the mother of Jesus has a special place in his Gospel. Moreover, St. Luke has a special regard for women, for the hurting, the outcasts, and those who were seen to be at the bottom of the social heap in those days. The tender and compassionate heart of Jesus is prominent in St. Luke’s accounts of His life. Given that context it’s startling to hear the words in today’s Gospel account taken from St. Luke. Whatever happened to the Christmas message about peace on earth and good will toward all men and women? How do we understand the words of the Prince of Peace that we just heard in today’s Gospel? There are those who think of Jesus as being acc...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) What awaits us in our future? Today’s scripture readings put that question to us. What does the future hold in store for us? What awaits us when we die? Is what is awaiting us when we die determined by what we did or didn’t do in this life? These are the big questions we face today and in all of the days of our lives. Jesus talked with His disciples (and we are His disciples) about the future, telling them they were to face it not with fear but with hope and in a spirit of positive expectancy. He spoke to them in terms of making investments, investments in their future. “Sell what you have,” He told them, and buy into the sort of retirement plan I am offering you, a never-failing treasure with my Father and with me in heaven.  “Wherever your treasure lies,” Jesus told us, “there you heart will be.” Stated the other way around he’s telling us: “Wherever your heart is, there will your treasure be found.” ...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) I think Ecclesiastes had a favorite song. It was the ancient Hebrew equivalent of “I’m forever blowing bubbles.” The refrain was: “Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!” Is life worth living? Of course it is. Then what makes it worth living? All we are really told in today’s readings is what doesn’t make life worth living. It is clearly not the accumulation of things. Greed is mentioned twice in today’s readings as the opposite of what we should seek in life. Jesus suggests that there are other ways, good ways of being rich, “Rich in what matters to God.” We can intuit what that might mean. St. Paul, with another one of his lists, helps us to understand, again in a negative way, what Jesus does not mean. But earlier in the same text he writes, “Seek what is above.” And later he says we have “put on a new self.” In the Old Testament, “rich” is often a sy...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) About 30 years ago I worked at a seminary. We had a librarian named Sr. Frances. Whenever she would remind me of something I had promised to do, I would answer, “In due time.” To which she always replied with a paraphrase of Luke 16:22: “In due time the beggar died.” Most of us know the type. They ask for something. They remind us the next day. And the next, and the next... Until we do it, convenient or not, just to make it stop! Today’s story of Abraham has a brief prologue that is not included in the lectionary.  “With Abraham walking with them to see them on their way, the men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom. The LORD considered: Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, now that he is to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him? So the LORD said”—and here begins our text...