Speaker 2: So father Jim gave our mission last week and got a chance to just privately talk to him. He he told us in the homily last week that he reached his four millionth mile in flying. And we know he goes all over the world and gives his talks. And I asked him, I said, of all the traveling you do and the many people that you encounter and talk to, what do you see things that are most common? Without hesitation, he told me anger, division, broken relationships.
That's what he said he encounters more than anything else in traveling the entire world. And I think that's a big thing for many people. I know in my priesthood and experience it, I see that quite often. I think I've experienced it myself. So I thought rather than just giving a homily that shakes the fist at society and tells you the problems, I thought god did a great job in choosing the beatitudes today.
You know, I have to prepare a homily every week and I wanna let you know for many years, God gives us the word right when we need it. And I think the beatitudes are a road map, a way for a Christian community, that's us, how we encounter the world. How do we live during and navigate this anger, this division, this broken relationships that many experience? Some of you are suffering with that and we have to be honest, some of you are insulated from that. You don't see a problem.
You don't, it doesn't touch you and you're not moved by it. And yet no one is exempt whether we feel it touches us personally or not to know that people are struggling. And what does a Christian community do? What road map I can give you is the beatitudes? And so I'm gonna show you eight screens today briefly and I'm going to break open each one very briefly.
Now, you know, you're gonna have permission to fall asleep at the homily once you hit the one that you need to work on. Okay? Cause you can't do all eight. But I'm gonna present it to you all throughout Lent and every week that each slide gives you some practical things. So if you close your eyes, I won't be offended this week.
You have permission to fall asleep. Next week, get back with it. Okay? So let's start off with the first beatitude that we wanna look at. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Okay. It is about talking about we are not con in control of our future, of the safety. We are not in control of politics or the economy. I think we know that. Some of us might think we do, but I think we know none of us really are in control.
Life gives us a reminder each time that we aren't. So the Christian response, the community's response to blessed are the poor is humility. That we're not self made, that we're not all in control because trust me, one day, you and I are gonna experience things when we know we have no control. Humility, dependence on god, that's what it means to have a poor in spirit. That you do not place and I don't place our ultimate security and hope and ideology in power.
A lot of Christians are doing that now. And the church has always for two thousand years struggled with being seduced by power. Always. Even now, a lot of Christians really place that above the gospel. But yet, we can admit fear without being shamed.
Had a good friend that decided I'd I I only go social media to try to figure out who the cardinals are gonna hire as their head coach. I never never write any thoughts on there because you're gonna get beat up. And so a friend just decided which was, I don't know, not the smartest thing to do, say I'm fearful for myself and my children for the future. Man, everybody beat her up. You're crazy.
You're unpatriotic. You don't understand. Get out of here. You're a Karen and all that other stuff, you know. I said, that's why I don't get involved with that.
Some of them are bought. Some of them love to stir the pot. But can we allow people to admit their fear without shaking them? And the ultimate security is in god, not in human systems. Something we gotta think about.
Number two, blessed are those who mourn. A lot of mourning going on. There is many forms of grieving that are happening. Could be loss of loved ones whether it's through death or relationships. We've lost relationships over politics or disagreement or other things that might come on and we might be grieving those losses that we don't have the people we had.
I know I've lost friends because people don't want any part of what we stand for and all and that makes me sad. We've also lost trust in institutions. Who's telling the truth now? And a lot of times, we think it's the one that you choose. You don't know.
I have to be honest with you. I think now the only place of truth for me is right there at the gospels. That's the only truth left that I know for sure. I can't even trust the sports the sports blogs. You know, we have lost in trust in church.
That's happened for a long time. Institutions that are important, they're mocked, they're broken down, and that's a way to control people to say, if you lost trust, then we get a hold of you. Loss of unity. We're always concentrating concentrating on division and a loss of hope. Are we gonna make it?
And so how does a Christian community, how do we respond for those who mourn? Acknowledge pain instead of minimizing it. No, get over it. No, you're a crybaby. No, you're whining.
If you only vote like me, think like me, talk like me, have my mindset, then you won't have any pain. And sometimes it's uncomfortable to deal with people's pains and we push it aside because we don't wanna deal with it. Listen deeply to the stories of suffering, prayers of lament, and be present to one another. If you all worked on that, including me, we would be the most powerful followers of Jesus. Be present.
You don't have to convince people to think like you or behave like you just to be present. That's all people need is that, you know, when I used to try to fix people problems, they told me to shut up. I don't I just need you to listen and understand. I want to be visible. And you know, that's probably the best way to be people with mourn and trying to fix them.
Be present and listen to their stories. You know, God only gave us one mouth and two ears because he wants us to listen more. Most people think I talk too much, which is okay, but we need to listen. Next, number three, blessed are the meek. We have a misunderstanding of meekness.
Meekness is strength under control, not weakness. We meekness is strength under control, not weakness because you and I, when we think meekness, I'm not gonna be meek. Meek means you get rolled over. That means people take advantage of you. They stomp on you, and you're just a weakling there and people have to save you.
We meekness is that asked of the beatitudes is strength under control. Same thing Jesus did. In fearful times, anger and blame rise. When's the last time we've been peaceful as a country? There's always somebody to be against, always someone to fear.
It never ends. Once a group is done, they pick another group, and Christians can't buy into that. So what are we supposed to do? Our response is reject verbal violence. We use language to demean people, dehumanize them.
We call them every name in the book, and Christians do the same thing. You know, I thought bad language was only on the football field at Sunny Slope. Compares nothing to what I hear from Christians. How do we use our language and how our language dehumanizes? Speak truth without being cruel.
Yeah. Just to speak truth without being cruel or shaming people. Model calm, respectful dialogue. That's hard. That's hard these days, but that's part of the meekness with strength under control.
Next, four. Wake up up there. There you go. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right. Fear grows when people feel injustice is ignored or truth is distorted.
Fear grows when we know things are wrong, when people are abused and mistreated, when their rights are stomped on anyone's rights, any person. Fear grows because people don't care. And we know when something's wrong, when we know it's not god's plan that anyone should be treated that way, When it's ignored, this fear grows and truth is distorted, always changing the mindset of other people so that we never have to address the truth. Christian response to our community is to remember our Catholic social teaching. Lot of parishes don't get it because a lot of these young guys that are ordained now just poo poo it and think it's political.
Every pope has written powerful things on human dignity, on the economy, on labor, on rights, in encyclicals, and highest teaching. And that's what we need to rediscover. And because all of social justice and social teaching defends human dignity across all political lines, acting for justice without hatred. That's when we hunger for we know what's right and we know what's wrong in treatment of people. Five.
Blessed are the merciful. Fear causes peoples to harden their hearts. Isn't that true? Isn't that true? We don't become merciful.
We don't see the good in people. We become very judgmental and our hearts close-up and say, I don't have time for this. I don't have time for weak people. I don't have time for your suffering. I don't have time to listen.
I got enough on my plate. And to be merciful means that our hearts can harden if we don't won't watch out. Our Christian response is mercy counters fear by refusing to reduce people to labels. Catholics are some of the worst people that labor that label people. You know that?
We're the worst. Oh, you're an ex catholic. You're a lapsed Catholic. Oh, we're gonna call you a cafeteria Catholic. And we're gonna call you CEOs.
Christmas and Easter only. Do you think those things inspire people to be god, to be god like, to love god, and to love us? What labels do is they deminimize the people and no longer have to listen. I'll just share my personal experience. I'll just use one example and I think we all struggle with this.
I'm often a lot of times called a liberal priest. But here's what they do is they say, you're a liberal priest and then they mention 50 things that I must be supporting. Which one, I've never said. They've never talked to me about what I stand for, but because they label me liberal, I must stand for those things. That those are people who are not serious about their faith.
They don't wanna listen. All they're looking for is someone to beat up verbally. You know, I don't know anyone else who's a liberal. So father, I'm gonna give you the title liberal and I'm gonna beat up everything I hate about liberalism. And it works the other way too.
You're conservative or whatever labels we put. And so labels say, I don't have to listen to you. Offering forgiveness, another chance, caring for those who are most afraid or excluded. It's part of mercy. Number six.
Blessed are the pure of heart. Fear thrives on misinformation and lies. Suspicion and mixed motives. Yeah. There is so much misinformation out there.
And you know, we've accepted lies. The cate catechism of our faith teaches when people have a right to know and we keep that from people, that is a serious sin. We have a right to the truth when it comes to serious things and you can look that up for yourself on what a lie is. And it causes people to be suspicious and not trust. What is our response?
Seek truth sincerely. That takes a lot of work. That doesn't mean we all know the truth right away. And how about examining our own biases? We're all biased including me.
But we have no reflection because we're too busy pointing fingers. We're too busy being right. We're too busy winning arguments. We're too busy saying, if you think like me, then I win and I'm right and I don't have to feel any guilt for anything else I feel. Seek truth by examining one's own bias.
We don't do that because we're too busy. And how about love not fear guides our decision? When's the last time our country passed a law out of love and not out of fear? Something happens. The airport.
Something happens where people are here without papers. Something happens where there's violence. Something happens that makes us uncomfortable. So we pass laws right away and decisions out of fear so that everyone feels safe and we feel safe. When's the last time we said we're passing this because children around the world are dying and we have abundance and we're gonna pass a law because we love.
Doesn't happen often. It can happen but that's not the norm. And we do a lot of our decisions based on fear, not in loving neighbor. Number seven, blessed are the peacemakers. Peacemaking is not avoidance, rather it is courageous bridge Building.
Bridge building. So the Christian response could becomes a place where opposing voices are humanized. Yeah. That if you don't agree with something, you are not ostracized. So as a pastor, there are people who have different voices that oppose what we're struggling with here, what I'm saying, and you have the freedom to do that.
Here's where I base my decision on if you don't believe me. Pope Francis says this, the church is not your conscience. It helps form your conscience. You get it? We're not a cult.
We're not one where the priest has to be agreed with a 100%. That's why I'm in Scottsdale because none of you agree with anything, not even my super bowl predictions. That's probably smart. And you know what? If someone leaves and says, I disagree.
I've had enough of this guy. It's blowharder. I don't wanna be here anymore. You're free to go. That's why I love being 66 year old.
I don't care anymore. I really don't. I only have so many Christmas and Easters left. And I'm not gonna ruin it because other people aren't happy. Go.
But you know what? You can always come back and you have a right to your opinion. So remember, I try to live what Pope Francis reminded us. The church is not the conscience of you. It helps form.
And so if you disagree or you leave, you are free to do that. And if you return, you are most welcome because this is hard stuff. So our Christian response is then also where unity in Christ outweighs division. We're not very good at that. We always look at what separates us and we forget.
We still use terms like you're a protestant, you don't have the real truth, we have the best truth, we have Notre Dame football and all that. I mean, we think we're above all that And yet, we have so much in common with so many people who love God, whether they're Christian or not. And unity in Christ outweighs division. And yet, division's winning right now, my friends. Talk to father Jim.
Maybe talk to many of you. Talk to your families, my family. It's not easy. Where reconciliation is practiced. And last, number eight is blessed are those who are persecuted for what is right.
It's hard staying up for right. It's hard making yourself vulnerable. When people's fear leads to hostility toward your faith or your moral conviction, my friends, we know what lying is. We know being unethical is. We know being cruel is.
We all know it but we look the other way. I don't know. Was I taught wrong? I was taught how to love people. I was taught not to be cruel.
I was taught not to lie. And then you're being attacked for because you're not part of the group. You're not part of the mindset. You're not part of our our our area. We know.
And so remember, our Christian response is, it's not popularity we're looking for but faithfulness and suffering for the love of truth is not failure. Oh, poor father. Everyone's leaving him. You know, suffering for love of the truth is not failure. I'm trying to stand up for truth with love and people don't want to talk to him anymore.
Well, meaning you. Suffering for love of truth is not failure. So God has given us a road map as a community to deal with anger, with division, with broken relationships. Just take one. If we work on one, we could be a powerful community.
There's the road map, my friends. I don't have to shake the fist at society and tell you all the bad things. You already know. But here's the road map that god gives us. So in my huddle up, in the email connection every Wednesday or Thursday rather, we're gonna send that out, you know, a few, but you'll be able to re listen to this homily over and over with all screams that are there.
And I'm gonna do that all from now through Lent and through Easter. Cause Cause those are things we can live forever. And so use the screens. I'm gonna give you two at a time. Don't do all eight at once.
If you do, I feel sorry for you. I can't do all eight. Okay? Just take a few and try to live that. Father Jim is right.
4,000,000 miles and a lot of people and he sees what you and I see but God gives us a roadmap of how we ought to live. Thank you for listening.