25th Sunday B * September 22, 2024

25 th Sunday B

September 22, 2024

My father was often telling my brother, sister, and I, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.”  I am not sure this came from him, but he liked to say this.  As I look back on his life, it seems to me he followed this advice himself. I rarely heard him say a bad word about others.  (He may have, but maybe I have chosen not to remember those occasions.) 

As I get older it seems harder to follow this advice.  We turn on the radio or TV and someone is being critical about a politician or a political party.  It is easy to criticize the boss or someone who is in authority. The words “I could do better" slip out, without thinking about what we are saying.

In the gospel today the disciples are talking about who is the greatest.  When Jesus asks him about their conversation, they feel like the boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.  Just as long as they thought Jesus couldn’t hear it felt ok to talk about who is greater, but once they find out Jesus heard them they are shamed into silence.

How often do we speak ill of someone else when they are not around, but would never consider doing so to their face?  Trash talk seems ok when the person is not there to defend themselves, but we are silent when they are around.  This is how a bully acts. A bully is all bluster and wind when with his cronies, but if confronted he is silent.  This was what happened to the disciples. When their words were spoken back to them they were shamed into silence.

“If you don’t have anything good to say, say nothing.”

In the section of Mark’s gospel we are reading from this month, Jesus is giving important teachings to the disciples.  This section of the gospel is the “listen up” section.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and the cross and he wants to make sure his disciples can continue on without him when he is gone.

Last week Jesus spoke to the disciples about the cross, “Can you carry a cross?" 

Today we hear him speaking about what it means to be a disciple.

Mark tells us that Jesus sits down to speak with the disciples.  When a Rabbi or teacher sat down it was recognized that his words would be important.  This is the “listen up” position.

Today Jesus teaches about what it means to be a disciple.  A disciple is about service.  A disciple is like a child.  A child in the time of Jesus was one without a voice or authority.  The child was just above a slave and the child would be about helping out others.  A child would not question “who is greater”; a child knows he/she is powerless.

The disciple in Jesus’ kingdom is a disciple who thinks of the other first and is of service to others.  Pope Francis said; “if we are to be shepherds we must smell like the sheep.”  To serve is a willingness to be one with the poor and needy.

I am reminded of the words of President John Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”

Maybe part of being a disciple is making a decision to speak only the good news to others. Trash talk or criticism can be just fodder for the rumor mill.  The book we read from each week is called The Gospel, The Good News.  What we need is more good news, not trash talk.  Let us speak in such a way that we would not mind the one we were speaking about hearing what we said.

Jesus reminds us, again and again, that being a disciple is not easy.  One way we can school ourselves in discipleship is to be quiet.  We watch our words and are careful not to speak about another in a way we would not be comfortable speaking to his/her face.

My father was not perfect, but maybe he hit upon a good way to live life.

“If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.”

Palm Sunday, Year C

By Deacon Paul Cerosaletti • April 13, 2025
I have long thought that the Church gives us the two Gospel passages we hear today — the account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the account of his Passion and death — for very practical reasons: this is the last Sunday before Easter when we will celebrate Christ’s Resurrection and not everyone is able to attend and celebrate the Triduum liturgies during Holy Week. Therefore, the Church places these two critical Gospel passages together so that we hear and experience them in a regular Sunday Mass setting — literally, to ‘fit them in’ before Easter. But there is another equally, if not more, important reason we are to experience these Gospel passages together. And I honestly don’t know if the Church intends this reason or not, but I believe the Holy Spirit intends it. These two Gospel passages remind us as much as any passage that Jesus Christ, while fully Divine, is also fully human. He is like us in all manner except one, in committing sin. He therefore shares with us the experience of the full range of our humanity. In these two Gospel passages we experience Christ moving from triumph to tragedy, from soaring to suffering: the triumphant, soaring entry into Jerusalem and the suffering and tragedy of His Passion and crucifixion. Christ’s human experience is also our human experience, for do not we all experience triumph and tragedy, soaring and suffering? Therefore, we do not have a God and Savior who cannot sympathize with our human experience, but rather one who shares it with us! And we have a God and Savior who not only soared and suffered for us, but soars and suffers with us. Not just two thousand years ago, but right here, right now, in every minute of our lives. For what did Jesus promise? “I am with you always , until the end of time.” (Mt 28:20) When we soar and triumph, Jesus is with us, by our side. And when we suffer and experience tragedy, especially, Jesus is with us, by our side. We are encouraged to give thanks to God in our triumphs and soaring. And we are invited to unite our suffering with Christ’s suffering and offer it up for whatever or whomever is in need. Christ’s suffering was not pointless, and united to His, neither is ours. We offer it up, trust, and hope. Sisters and brothers, that hope comes from our knowledge of the rest of the Gospel story that we will experience with Christ: that His triumph and tragedy, His soaring and suffering does not end in death, but in the glory of Easter Resurrection.

5th Sunday of Lent C - April 6, 2025

By Fr. Chris Welch • April 5, 2025
5 th Sunday of Lent C April 6, 2025 Often someone will approach me and ask if I can do x y or z on such and such a date. I am not always good and knowing my schedule in the future, so I will say, “send me the dates and I will get back to you.” Sometimes they will send me the dates, sometime not. If I say yes, I may find I have a conflict. This is a stalling tactic giving me time to discern how to respond. This is what Jesus does as he writes on the ground. He knows the Scribes and Pharisees are using the woman to trap him, so he bends down to scribble in the dust to have time to answer them. When he does answer them, his statement is not about the woman’s actions, but about the motives of the accusers. He knows they hope to trap him. If he suggests the woman be released, he has broken the Mosaic law, if he suggests she be stoned he will be in trouble with the Romans. So, he focuses on the motive and state of the accusers. In our first reading we are reminded that God is doing something new. Jesus does something new. He doesn’t focus on what the law says, but he focuses on what is in the heart of the accusers. Mosaic law says that those caught in Adultery, both the man and the woman should be killed. Here we only have the woman. We are told she was caught in the act, but where is the man? For the season of Lent, we have been piling stones in our desert. These stones are the Character defects we wish to reform in this season. They are not for killing others but given to God to use to build us into a new creation. Jesus allows the woman to become a new creation. He refuses to condemn her, He encourages her to sin no more and to go free from the accusations of the temple officials. Have you been like the woman accused by others? How did you experience the forgiveness of your God? When have you been like a Scribe or Pharisee pointing the accusatory finger at another? Cast aside the stones you have wanted to hurl at the other and look inside your heart and see how God’s forgiveness has made you a new creation.

Third Sunday of Lent C - March 23, 2025

By Fr. Christopher Welch • March 24, 2025
After Moses has his conversation with God in the Burning Bush, Moses asks God for what name he should use in referring to God. God gives the vague answer, “I am who I am.” Asking for someone’s name is a common occurrence. When we refer to someone with their name, we honor them. We all like to be referred to by name. This is one way we honor a person. Not all of us are good at remembering names, but when we do remember and use the name of the other person, we honor them. One of the names for God is taken from our psalm, “The Lord is kind and merciful”. God is also patient. The parable from the gospel about the fig tree is a parable about God’s patience. God, being the gardener, is willing to wait a year for fruit. God works the same for all of us. God is patient with us. Not everyone comes to faith in the same way or the same time frame. Some take less time, others more. When we see a new face in church we don’t ask “What took you so long?” or “Where have you been?” We simply say, “Welcome! It is good to have you here.” We ask and learn the name of the new person and we speak to him or her each week using their name and making them feel welcome. Maybe you have been a fig tree or known someone who is or was a fig tree. This is a good reason to give thanks to the patient nature of God. Remember the kingdom is in the future and now.