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Petersboat
The Monday After | About a Girl at The Bar
00:10:08
If being together at Mass on Sundays is called "practicing the Faith" that means the world is our playing field, which means that Christ is training us to give thanks to God always and everywhere.
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So that one leper from among the 10 who were healed who comes back to thank him is a sign to us of how the human heart desires something more than just getting what it wants. The human heart desires a relationship with God. Now, all 10 lepers were healed, but nine of them were like, well, we got what we wanted. Let's make our way to tomorrow now and see if we can get what we want tomorrow. But this one, and he was Samaritan, which is significant. The one man who comes back to thank God is saying, there's something in me that desires something more than just getting what I want. And it is to have a relationship with the one who has given me this healing. It is awesome to think that this guy who might have thought he was out or unloved by God or forsaken by God because of his leprosy, because of his sickness, for him, the healing reawakens in him the possibility of a relationship with God. Maybe I'm not abandoned. Maybe he hasn't forgotten me. Which is why the Samaritan man comes back to thank God by falling at the feet of Jesus. He's saying, I realize that God is blessing the whole world through you. And that's who we are. Now quickly, this is who we are, as evidenced by the fact that we come together in the church on Sundays to pray as Christians. But look what we're doing. We're thanking God through his son, Jesus. We're thanking him through Christ our Lord. Amen. Right? Every prayer we make through Christ our Lord. Amen. That's what we're practicing. We call it practicing the faith. And that's what we're trying to live well in the world, which is why we need to practice this. So this is what we said yesterday, which some of you found interesting. When we come together in the church, it's just like the team coming together with the coach. There's nobody in the stands or on the bleachers at the time. None of the opposing teams are here. We jokingly said there's the occasional scrimmage with, say, guests that are here for a baptism, probably baptized, but don't really know how to act in a church, could be a little disruptive. Sometimes they come in, sometimes all dressed up like they're wearing pennies, and it's like a little scrimmage takes place. Or some of them come in wearing so. So little that they. It looks like a shirt, Skins game. In any case, we come together as Christians in the church to practice being merciful with each other, saying, peace, Be with you. We have our routines we go through, we have our drills, the prayers we pray, the songs we sing, the gestures, so that when we go out into the world, we can play the game well or live well. And basically, what it would mean, among other things, would be, no matter what happens, to be a person who is prioritizing the relationship with God through prayer and thanksgiving, so that I can be merciful with people in the world, remembering that he's being merciful with me, that I can be generous with people in the world and remembering that he's being generous with me. And I don't have to make a distinction between Christian or non Christian. I can treat everyone in the world as if they were a person next to me in the pew on Sunday. And not only is Christ okay with that, this is what he wants, and this is what he's like. Remember, look at the Gospels. He's treating everyone he meets like a saint, not because they're all saints, but that they might become one. And that's what he wants for us. He wants us to treat everyone in the world as a Christian, not because they necessarily are Christian, but that they might become one. And it doesn't mean to join our cult or our club. It means to know God according to His Holy Spirit so as to know him in truth and to know that we are also loved by him, even as Jesus is loved by Him. That's how we say we become his sons and daughters by this relationship with Christ. So here's another anecdotal story that I shared yesterday. If you were there, you're probably looking forward to me revisiting it, because it is kind of interesting. I met a young woman in a bar on Friday after watching a band play. And as she talked to me about her spiritual life, she was all over the place with her images and her words. A lot of contradictory or at least complicated ideas about God and spirituality, not unlike a lot of our family and friends. She used words about Reiki and sage that she uses when she goes home. But she also talked about, like, her Bible, which is always in her room. And then she mentioned her rosaries, and then she talked about reincarnation and psychics. And, you know, so she's all over the map. And she said, but I believe in Jesus. And she is a Catholic, a baptized Catholic who hasn't been to church, though, for years and years now. This is where I was really moved, because in talking to her, listening to her, at one point I said, you know, my relationship with God through the church and through his son, Jesus. It helps me to feel really close to you. And she started to cry. I could see that, really it touched her heart. And I think it touched that deepest part of her heart, which is a desire for a relationship with God. It's an even deeper desire than just getting what she wants. And I think the fact that she wept a little was a sign of how she might feel, too. Like that she's no longer his daughter. But I think just hearing this word of affection for her touched something in her that was similar to what happened to this Samaritan leper who. Maybe I'm not out, you know, Maybe there is hope for me. Maybe God still does love me, even though I have been unfaithful. Maybe he will remain faithful to me, which is what St. Paul said to us in the second reading this Sunday. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. It means his spirit is living in us. And if we turn back to him to say, I'm sorry that I've been away, it is even by his spirit that we turn back to him. And he will not deny what he is doing or be unfaithful to what he is doing in our lives. So even as we turn back to him to say, I'm sorry I've been away, and I want to be. I want to say thank you for all the gifts you've given me. He is happy to receive us back like the father who runs out to embrace his prodigal son as that son is returning. Right. You know another way of picturing this? Way of prioritizing the relationship with God? Imagine it's your birthday, and your father gives you this bicycle that you always wanted. And you're so happy that you got what you wanted. And you ride the bike around the block, and you ride it further away, and you just keep riding and keep riding, keep riding. And you just ride and ride and ride. Then you start to feel like you're so far from home that maybe it's impossible even to go back. But your father's got you on Life360 or something. And he reaches out to you. He either texts or calls or something, says, where are you? Where are you? And you say, oh, dad, I'm probably too far away now. Why would you go away from me like that? I was just so excited to get what I wanted. He said, come back to me. And when I gave you the bike, I was. I wanted you to have it, but not at the expense of a relationship with me. And then to Think that we can ride back to him and say, I'm sorry that I let my lesser desire for getting what I want distract me from that deeper desire of being with you. So I hope you'll take with you from this weekend that there's a desire in every human heart for a relationship with God and one that is fulfilled when we come to him to say thank you. Free me by your Holy Spirit to live in the true freedom of the children of God, which is I can be happy anywhere in any circumstance, because I know that you are with me and that life is your gift to me. Lastly, we'll move into baptism. I'll share with you a little joke. Last week there was like a two year old in the vestibule in the arms of her grandmother. And the grandmother said, would you like Father Rob to bless you? And the 2 year old was like, no. And then I saw a friend of mine from the church, she was there, she saw it and I'm like, oh. And then she goes, I'm sorry, Father Rob. I'm like, that's okay. It bruises my ego a little bit, but that's all right. But I jokingly afterwards said, you know what I wanted to say to the little girl? Look, either let me make a little sign of the cross on your forehead now or it's going to be an exorcism later. But you know, it's true. It's like we either let him bless us little by little right now, these little gestures, like at practice where you actually find yourself developing the skills little by little, drill after drill, or it's going to be this painful, fiery confirmation to his will in the experience of dying. It doesn't have to be that way, but he wants us for himself and he will get us, either with little blessings or an exorcism. So why wait? I mean, wouldn't you rather like, as I try to also live joyfully with God now?