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MOVIECLIPS (3:31) – Rodrigo (Robert De Niro) makes it to the top of the waterfall with his burden, but then faces the judgment of the Guarani tribe which he previously enslaved.

Forgiven People

In the movie The Mission, one of the leading characters is converted from being a slave-trader of the Brazilian Indians to being a Jesuit priest. But he insists on doing penance, dragging a heavy bundle through the jungle back to the Indians he used to enslave. Once back, in a dramatic, cliff-side scene, where the bundle threatened to make him fall, the Indians cut away the bundle. The people he had formerly enslaved forgave him and set him free.

LIFE MESSAGE:

We have to power to do the same for each other… we are a priesthood of believers who are to be priests for one another, forgiving one another as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us. We have the power to forgive as God’s sons and daughters. (John R. in Hear His Voice; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

Jesus loved Zacchaeus–the greatest of sinners–and by that love Zacchaeus was transformed. How many parents and teachers can accept children lovingly, without first setting up standards of behavior as conditions for being loved? Sometimes we have the temptation to withhold love from people we consider sinners. For example, a husband and wife may have qualities that grate on each other, prompting one spouse to withhold love from the other. There may be a temptation to withhold one’s love from a rebellious teenager. Perhaps our children make choices that disappoint us, and we become so frustrated by the consequences of their poor choices that we withhold our love from them. Our boss may be unlovable and autocratic, or our neighbor may become an object of hatred because of his incessantly barking dog. But just as Jesus loved Zacchaeus, even though he was the worst of sinners, and loves us the same way, so we must love others in spite of their sin. Jesus expects this of us, so he offers us the strength and grace to do it, if we will accept these gifts and use them.

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homily’s

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

“I Can be a Lady to You”

Many of you have seen the delightful Broadway musical and motion picture, My Fair Lady. It is based on George Bernard Shaw’s wonderful play, Pygmalion. It is about a brilliant professor, Henry Higgins, who transforms a humble flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into an elegant English lady. In the midst of her brilliant transformation, Eliza falls in love with Henry Higgins, but he treats her only with disdain. Towards the end of the play, she expresses her complaint to their mutual friend, Colonel Pickering: “You see,” she says, “Really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking, and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not in how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”

LIFE MESSAGE:

It is both interesting and encouraging to notice how Jesus treated people, whether it be the woman of the streets or the tax collector in the tree. He saw something no one else could see. That is the first thing we need to see. Jesus was even more eager to see Zacchaeus than Zacchaeus was to see him.

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homily’s

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Laurin Chapin Encountered Jesus as Zacchaeus Did

eCelebrityFacts – Lauren Ann Chapin is an American former child actress, most remembered for her role as the youngest child “Kathy Anderson” in the television show Father Knows Best, which was produced between 1954 and 1960. She appeared in 196 episodes of the 203 in the series. It’s been over 60 years since we’ve heard from the little KittenKitten. So today, let’s find out where the 75-years-old Lauren Chapin is now.

One of the most popular weekly programs in the early days of television was Father Knows Best. One of the stars of that show was little Laurin Chapin who played 11-year-old Kathy Anderson. Those familiar with this wholesome family program remember little Kathy in all of her innocence and charm. Unfortunately, Laurin Chapin’s real life was nothing like Kathy Anderson’s. We are told that Laurin’s mother drank very heavily. When the Father Knows Best series ended, Laurin couldn’t get another job in television. Alienated from her mother and from the world of make-believe that had given substance to her life, she began running wild. She turned to drugs, casual lovers and fast company. The next several years of her life were filled with eight miscarriages, welfare, a mental hospital and a host of times in and out of jails.

LIFE MESSAGE:

At 38 years of age, Laurin Chapin encountered Jesus as Zacchaeus did in today’s Gospel. “All my life I’ve wanted to be loved,” she said. “God’s love is the most complete love, and I think that’s what I was looking for.”

We have one thing in common with Zacchaeus: like him, we are all sinners, and we all need salvation. The total rehabilitation of a formerly sinful man accomplished by a process of discipleship: seeking, meeting, undergoing conversion, and following Jesus Who is God. To refuse to admit that we are sinners is a fundamental impediment to the working of the mercy and grace of God in our hearts.

A second, more common impediment is to refuse to listen to the call to repentance, which God so frequently sends out to us. We are all sinners to a greater or lesser degree. Jesus is inviting each one of us to total conversion today by means of this Gospel lesson. Jesus is our loving Brother who died that we might live. He is the Son of God, a God of Infinite Love. Hence, let us expose and confess all our weaknesses and injustices to Him.

Let us remember that Jesus loves us in spite of our ugly thoughts, broken promises, sullied ideals, lack of prayer and Faith, resentments, and lusts. He will put us back on the straight road to Heaven. We will become again true “sons and daughters of Abraham.” In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus, acting through the priest in the confessional, ministers to us individually, just as he interacted individually with Zacchaeus. As Zacchaeus did, we, too, need to “come down,” to leave the perches of our pride and allow Jesus to go to work through his ministerial priests.

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homily’s

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Hands Off, Zacchaeus

CCC 2401-2418 – Fr. Mahan continues his Tour of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, where it teaches the 7th Commandment, “You shall not steal” (Ex 20 : 15) where the Catechism explains the principles behind private ownership and how this relates to the dignity of a person.

The Seventh Commandment is God’s way of screaming “Hands off!” There are hundreds of ways to steal. Just consider all the words we have for it: gyp, lift, loot, nab, pinch, pluck, pilfer, snatch, swindle, embezzle, defraud, and plagiarize. Stealing can be as direct as a woman putting on three slips in a fitting room, putting her dress on over them, and walking out. Or, stealing can be as complicated as borrowing money on non-existent ammonia tanks or setting up bogus corporate accounts in which to deposit illegal fees.

Consider these modern means of theft: junk bonds, computer hacking, stock manipulation and influence-peddling. Or a cotton broker could sell cotton to himself while collecting under the agricultural subsidy program.

Larceny is in our blood. Look back across our history. We stole land from the Native Americans by trading beads, baubles, and alcohol. We built the entire economy of the South on the legal theft of liberty and labor from African American slaves. We have a long and infamous history of theft.

LIFE MESSAGE:

There is a socio-economic injustice related to stealing. Poor people, with no money to hire skilled attorneys, waste away in prisons for stealing a car or TV, while officers of huge corporations manipulate the stock market, embezzle, and bill our government for defense contract overruns. Few of them are ever even accused of wrong-doing. Ours is a society “on the take,” and stealing is one of our most blatant sins. Today’s Gospel challenges the stealers to follow the example of conversion shown by Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus was changed from being greedy to being generous, from selfishness to selflessness. There was a change deep within his heart. Jesus wants us to move from our small and feeble Faith to a greater and more powerful Faith, just as Zacchaeus did. God wants us to be financially and spiritually generous. When we feel the warmth of God’s presence within us, that warmth will, in itself, melt our coldness and selfishness and lead us to repentance and a change of life.

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homily’s

Jokes of the Week

1)  A pastor was asked by one of the presidential candidates, “Name something my government can do to help your church if I am elected president.” The pastor replied, “Quit making one-dollar bills.”

2)   Dear Lord, so far today I’ve done all right.  I haven’t gossiped, haven’t lost my temper, and haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.  I’m very thankful for that.  But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot more help.  Amen

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homily’s

Please be patient
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