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A collection of homilies and liturgies from St Patrick Catholic Community in Scottsdale, Arizona. We are Christian disciples in mission.
They share responsibility and they are are having a great year statistically but also in many other areas in kicking. The third kicker on the varsity is a man named, a young boy named Matthew Trejo. I met Matthew the first time at spring football and then during the summer and all I can tell you is his kicking, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. He really wasn't that good, and I'm thinking, what are we gonna do with him? I mean, I felt bad for him because I'm thinking, this is a long season for him, and he's just gonna sit there, and we'll never be able to use him or anything.
Speaker 2:And I've been watching him and he would just do and go each day and kick a lot of footballs and he would go and go and then one day, all of a sudden, I saw some couple of good kicks and I said, Matthew, was that you? Yeah. And he just kept better and getting better and better and better. Finally, what I did is I had him be part of what we call field goal conditioning every Tuesday. What we do is we get our kickers and their preset kicks that they kick.
Speaker 2:For every kick they make, that's one less sprint the team has to run at the end of practice. For every kick they miss, then they add more. And so I added Matthew that through the rotation, and some of the players went, no. Because they've seen how he wasn't that good, but they hadn't seen him throughout the season getting better, and he did good. So I put him in for a few weeks on the rotation, and he hasn't missed yet.
Speaker 2:So this past Tuesday, I decided to just have Matthew kick, all the kicks. The head coach said, are you sure you wanna do that? And I said, well, I told Matthew, two things are gonna happen. Either you're gonna leave the field as a hero or they're gonna beat you up after practice. And doggone it, he made every kick.
Speaker 2:Wow. Yeah. He made a good good job. Yeah. So the point is my responsibility to the coaches is report how the kickers are doing.
Speaker 2:They don't come and and just look all the time. I'm the one that's supposed to look and watch. When I took him out there to the team, some of the team members went, no. We know how he is. You're not gonna change our mind.
Speaker 2:We're not gonna risk it because if we allow him to do things like that, it could be a disaster and we could be running all night. For others, they didn't know because they have other responsibilities. They're learning offense, defense, how to tackle, how to improve that thing, and so they're just busy with other things they have to do. Not wrong. It's just they have to focus on that and the last thing they want to do is think about kicking and there's another group that are indifferent.
Speaker 2:They couldn't care less. I think they only joined the team to have the team photo, I guess, They just move on and you know, that's exactly what Christian communities are like. What I am grateful for are men and women who know the scriptures well. They study them. More than just knowing how to say things in Greek even though that helps.
Speaker 2:But they know the vision of god. They come to know how god wants us to live through scriptures. Men and women also learn theology. A word that we use to say, the study of god, who God is, and what God wants us to do, and how he challenges to do that. Others have learned through scriptures and theology through real life experiences.
Speaker 2:There are Christians who don't want to learn anything new. This sounds suspicious. That seems to be your opinion. No. We've seen everything already how God should behave.
Speaker 2:We don't wanna risk it because it sounds too hard. It's too risky. We're not interested. Other people, they're just busy with life. They may have health issues.
Speaker 2:They're trying to raise children. They're just preoccupied for some good things and not good things. It just varies. And for others, there are Christians that are just indifferent. They're just here or they just move on, and it doesn't mean much to them.
Speaker 2:And today's readings really challenge us to look at what God really wants from his disciples. Our first reading comes from second Kings in the Old Testament. This is the prophet Elisha, a very important prophet to God, and he comes across Naaman. Naaman is a commander of many men, and he has a skin condition, leprosy. Leprosy is uncontrollable at that time, and you're isolated.
Speaker 2:He's in charge of men, and yet he speaks to Elisha. He is a pagan. He is a foreigner. He's not an Israelite. And Elisha then tells him to go down into the Jordan River to be healed.
Speaker 2:Now that term of going down, one, is to be humble, that you are a commander of many men, but to be humble and also to trust in this one god and not his pagan gods. So what happens is he is healed. The question that we learn from today's reading is this, of all the people in Israel who have leprosy, why did god choose a foreigner to heal? Of all the people, he chose a foreigner to heal. The lesson is this, and we can't miss it.
Speaker 2:God has concern for all, both Israelite and non Israelite. God cares for all, And that's what we learn about God in this screen this reading and in our theology. The second thing, he asked for two carts of dirt. The reason is in ancient time of the many gods, people believed their god only had power in their territory. So this one god that we believe in, he may not have powers that work in Egypt.
Speaker 2:Oh, in Israel they do, but if we go to Egypt, his powers don't work there. And eventually, he comes to the point, this foreigner teaches the Israelites, there is only one god and his power is everywhere. When people say, god has nothing to say about our politics, about our economy, about our daily living, you keep god there. You know, that's because we sometimes confuse religion with god. God has power and has a lot to say about every area of our lives.
Speaker 2:The question is, we really wanna hear it. Are we open to it? The second reading or rather the gospel comes from the gospel of Luke. 10 men with leprosy. Again, a condition that separates them from the community.
Speaker 2:It's lonely, and they have to beg. And what they do is they see Jesus at a distance, and they call him master. Now it's a term only the disciples have lose used, and they're not asking for food or clothing or whatever. They are asking for mercy and compassion. Jesus, have pity on us.
Speaker 2:Now here's the interesting thing. Jesus doesn't go and talk to him and decides to heal him and go, ta da. He doesn't do any of that. He just says, alright, go show yourself to the priest. We'll talk later.
Speaker 2:Unbelievable. What's he doing? And all 10 who are holy, they're good people, And god loves them. All 10 were healed on the way to show themselves to the priest because they're the ones who decide whether they can reconnect to the community or not. And all of them are healed and only one, a hated Samaritan, a foreigner returns to Jesus.
Speaker 2:And notice, Luke has Jesus being very, very aware of this. We're not all 10 made whole? Or where where are the other nine? Why has only this foreigner come? And the foreigner leads to gratitude and to be in a relationship with God.
Speaker 2:So the theme for these readings today are hard for us to miss, and we have to try very hard to ignore and not hear. The question is this that we get in today's reading. How are we, as God's people in our country, treating foreigners now? How are we treating them now? I think what we're seeing is a real problem of ICE migrants being mistreated and being arrested in front of children, people who've been here for twenty years, sent away to countries they're not part of.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's a lot of stories, and some of you don't listen to news that gives you the whole story because you're comfortable with what you're hearing. But these stories were gonna be coming out more and more about the mistreatment. So today's homily is specifically about treatment. Don't take your minds and go, it's what about this? Or this policy is good?
Speaker 2:Or that policy good? Or it's their fault? My friends, it's only one issue right now and I am so grateful that polls are showing that our country is turning away from that policy and saying that is not right. I am hopeful but hearts still need to be changed. Pope Leo has spoken about that.
Speaker 2:Now, first of all, even though Pope Leo is a White Sox fan, we still have to listen to him. And here's the beauty, he is one of us. No longer can we listen to a pope and said, he sounds Marcus, Marxist. Oh, he sounds like a socialist. He's from a different country.
Speaker 2:He doesn't know us. My friends, we can't use that anymore. He is one of us and he has spoken directly about the mistreatment of migrants, of the poor. His very first letter this week is on the treatment and the preferential treatment for the poor first. That's his very first letter as a pope and he spoke about life issues, that life issues is more than just one issue.
Speaker 2:And so in the coming weeks, our parish through flyers, through email connection, and through the bulletin, we're going to share with you information what the pope has talked about and what our teaching is on the faith. I think that's better because what I find is if we just pick a hot topic and then you catch you off guard and say, and usually you guys go, because you're you're you're hit and you're going, this isn't right. And then you go down paths where you're more protective of what you believe rather than what God is trying to say. You keep looking, and I can keep looking for affirmation of what I already believe. And I'm gonna choose churches that support that.
Speaker 2:That's what happens. That's called consumerism. That's not what we're about. So what I'd like you to do in the coming weeks, we're gonna share with you information and teachings about our faith, about many subjects, and pope Leo is starting to speak clearly about some important issues. We want you to sit with it.
Speaker 2:You're gonna have to make the final decision. But here's where we can never disagree on. It is okay to mistreat human beings. You can't. Well, but they're good policies.
Speaker 2:There's other things going on. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about mistreating a human being, and that is against god. And so my role and the role of men and women in the church is to know the scriptures and to know theology and look at real life experiences. And I'm sharing that with you.
Speaker 2:Some of you are gonna respond like Sunny Slope team. We don't wanna hear that. We've already decided. You're wrong. We have nothing to know because we know how it all is.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Some of you are gonna do that. For others, you're so busy that you're not aware of the suffering of your neighbors. And some of it because you're doing important work for others, you're just occupied, and you're missing that. And for others, you're indifferent to suffering.
Speaker 2:As long as it doesn't affect us, why should we worry? Because there are better benefits. As long as my YouTube and social media is working, I'm fine. What's God's desire? That we stand with people who are being mistreated.
Speaker 2:Naaman, the foreigner, is decided by God to heal him of all people. Why? Because god is concerned for all people. Why did the Samaritan come back and Jesus go? Only this foreigner, this hated Samaritan, they were hated by the Jews and I'm sure they said, we don't like any stories that make Samaritans look good and yet Jesus says, go.
Speaker 2:Your faith has saved you. What's the theme? It's not your politics or the ideology people. The one thing today to take home is mistreatment of people is never accepted by God.