Lec
# 64- 2nd Sun of OT- Jan 19, 2014- Fr. Bresowar
My
brothers and sisters in Christ,
I
have been waiting for Ordinary time to show back up because there are a host of
things I wanted to address but because it was Christmas season, and before that
Advent, I felt the need to wait until things were a little more “back to
normal.”
A
while back, someone came into daily mass during the “Our Father,” which is
right at the end of mass. I noticed because this person came in one of the side
doors, which made a noise, which during a weekday mass you can actually hear,
and this person sat down.
Then
this person proceeded to receive communion, not from my line, but from the
person next to me, and as soon as communion was over bolted out the door and
left.
Now
that irritated me, but I thought, maybe for some reason this person couldn’t
get to mass on time and had to run. Maybe it was an emergency. So I gave him/or her the benefit
of the doubt.
But
then later this same person came back and did the same thing at another mass and
then I started to pay attention and noticed a habit.
I
wanted to address it but the person is always gone before Mass is even over. And
of course, this is not unique to this person, I’ve seen this a lot. In fact, I
use to do this when I was younger, so I can join the list of people who I would
have been irritated with.
That
got me thinking.
What
if one of you invited me over to dinner (which would be lovely by the way)? And
because I’m a humble priest, and a wonderful guest, you decided to break out
the fine china out of the china cabinet, make your most raved about meal, at
which you spend few hours cooking.
You even break out the wine and get dressed up nice, and make your
family put on nice clothes too.
Let’s
say the dinner appointment is at 7pm. Around 5 pm, I give you call and confirm
that we have dinner plans and you say “yes, everything is prepared, show up
around 7 and it will be great evening.” Well 7 pm rolls around and I haven’t
shown up. So you call… nothing, no answer. You think, “well maybe he forgot,”
but then you know I didn’t because I just talked to you a couple of hours
earlier. So you think “maybe he had an emergency,” so you give me the benefit
of the doubt.
You
might be a little annoyed with me, but “hey, he’s a priest, something probably
happened, might have been nice if he had called but whatever…. “ So you and
your family go ahead and start eating.
Your
family is also slightly annoyed that you made them clean up and get dressed up
nice, but all in all, it’s still a nice family dinner. Well, around 7:45,
everyone has just finished the main course, and your about to get out dessert,
(because remember, this was a very well planned out dinner), and all of a
sudden the bell rings.
“Here
I am!” “Sorry I’m late, time just got away from me, but I’m here. Let’s eat!”
“Well
father, we’ve already eaten but I can make you a plate real quick and you can
eat desert with us.”
“Okay
great!”
So
you make a plate of your best meal, which has now gotten cold, and you decide
to put it in the microwave and zap it for a minute to warm it back up.
Meanwhile, you are now slightly more annoyed with me because I didn’t really
have a good excuse except, “time got away from me.” So you think, lets just get
through this and I’ll remember never to have Fr. Vincent over again.
You
bring me back the plate, and I apologize for not paying attention to the clock,
and I start to eat.
At
this point, your family is ready to get up from the table but you make them
stay so that we can visit.
As
soon as dinner is over, you make the suggestion that we go to the sitting room
where we can have dessert and coffee. Everyone agrees it’s a marvelous idea! Everyone,
except for me. I, Father Vincent, the honored guest, apologize once again for
my tardiness but also for the fact that I have to go. Promptly I get up, I say thank you for dinner and I leave.
Shocked,
and very much annoyed at me now, you are not only angry, but also saddened that
all of your effort went to waste. You feel underappreciated, and you wonder why
anyone would treat someone that way.
And
I, Fr. Vincent, just won worst priest of the year award.
This
would be almost unimaginable, and yet so many people treat the host of THIS
heavenly banquet that we do here, the same way.
Jesus
who is the host, invites us to dine with him, where he prepares the meal with
his very life, and feeds us with his very self.
The
effort of this meal is his sacrifice on the cross. More than spending a couple
of hours, he spends his whole life preparing for this banquet, and we are the
honored guests. Our Lord then allows himself to be sacrificed on the altar of
Calvary, only so that we might eat of the feast and enjoy his very life, his
body and blood, all for us. There is no greater meal.
How
underappreciated Jesus must have felt when Judas left that first mass early.
When Judas refused to participate fully in this banquet. How sad Jesus must
have felt. How underappreciated he must feel now when so many disrespect his
effort. We would never dream of treating another person the way I did in that
example, and yet we are so willing sometimes to dismiss this invitation to this
heavenly banquet for something that we perceive is better, a football game, a
baseball practice, a TV show, a party, another engagement… even to go shopping.
There are many reasons we might come and leave Mass early, but outside of a
real emergency, or a real need, none of them are reasonable.
Mass
is the greatest thing that we do. In that end, that we accepted the invitation
is all that matters. We should accept it willingly and be prepared to arrive
early, and not leave until it’s over.
IN
this way we honor the one who invites us to this banquet and feeds us with food
that gives eternal life. Food that does not perish, food that fulfills our
hunger. We honor the one who paid the price for us. You may be bored at mass, I
hear this a lot, especially from young people, but I tell them, you won’t bored
in Heaven when you are fulfilled by this Eucharistic sacrifice. And the Mass is
Heaven on Earth.
In
the Gospel, John the Baptist stated, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sins of the world.”
IN
a few moments, I will hold up the lamb of God in the Eucharist and say the
exact same words. And then I’ll add, “Blessed are those, called to the supper
of the lamb.”
Blessed
we are indeed, if only we find ourselves at his word, worthy to enter into his
house.
