Sunday Homily, November 16, 2014, 33rd Ordinary Time & Last of the Year
Readings:
Proverbs 31, 10-13, 19-20, 30-31, When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.
Psalm 128, Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6, You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day.
Matthew 25, 14-30, A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
Intro and homily by John Cade
The Book of Proverbs was also called in earlier times the Book of Wisdom. It is written in poetic verse form and its first verse lets us know it is intended to ‘teach wisdom’. It is a compilation of several collections of such sayings about life both secular and religious. The collections were written at various times and are one of the few Old Testament books not connected with the destruction of Jerusalem and Babylonian captivity.
About Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he formed this community in Greece about 50 after Jesus’ time. Apparently his preaching and gathering converts to the Jesus group caused quite a disturbance among the Jewish people living there, to the point that, to prevent further disorder, Paul left Thessalonica (Thessaloniki in Greek) and went on to Corinth where he wrote both letters to them. I’ll speak more from this later.
There is a parable of the talents in Luke similar to today’s in Matthew. The word often translated as ‘talent’ actually referred to a goodly sum of money in Jesus’ time. Some biblical studies say the parable wasn’t about how we use our ‘talents’ but was an attack on the scribes who were not fair in their treatment of the poor and marginalized, and not caring in their sharing the wealth of God’s mercy.
Homily
For many years I didn’t like the Sunday readings at the end of the Church year, and the scary ‘you better watch out’ sermons. It always seemed to be doom and gloom and scary judgment upon us. Kinda like ‘you better not pout, you better not cry, you better watch out, I’m telling you why’ but much worse—not just Santa will punish you, we’re talking God.
Turns out we can find more hopeful and positive messages about us and what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the readings at this time of year.
I like the verses in Paul today to his community in Thessalonica: “Friends, you’re not in the dark…..You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand….So walk out into the daylight…dressed up in faith and love and hope….
Last night I had a party celebrating my 80th birthday. I want you all to know that, if it were possible, every one of you would have been invited. The 70 or so people who were there are all friends and all mentors of mine in one way or another, including Leo and Freddie my grandsons, who show me a fresh look at everything in the world.
All those friends have treated me as a son of Light and never tried to diminish me for any reason. I have always felt received and accepted, as I do with you here. My friends and I have not always completely understood where each other was coming from and that’s human and natural and OK.
What also stands out is their enduring connection with me through life and work and times of crisis and so many good times. My three living sisters all traveled to Dallas to be with me and I find that very touching. Even more so, because, like most families, my family too have had our share of hard times and hurt feelings and broken connection, a theme many of you have shared with me.
Isn’t that what the Mass, the Eucharistic Meal, is all about? Jesus took bread and broke it. We can see in this a symbol of our brokenness, and then we share the bread, a living symbol that we are indeed connected one with another.
I chose words from Paul’s letter today because I heard him talking about his friends in Thessalonica as sons of Light, daughters of Day, who demonstrated their connection with one another through acceptance and loving care.
My question for us today is how do we show our connection with our friends and our family, and how do we appreciate and celebrate the connection with us from all the people we have had in our lives?