What's in the Words?

A Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Given at St. Patrick's Parish

By Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

What's in a word?

In the bulleting today the insert
about the upcoming translation of the Mass
talks about new words that may be unfamiliar to you
that will appear in the Mass this Advent

Words like Chalice, which will replace "cup,"
or Consubstantial, which "will replace one in being"

What is a Chalice? A cup!

What does it mean to be Consubstantial?
It means you are one in being!

So why not continue to use these much more common and understandable words?

All throughout the world in every religion
one of the commonalities about religion is that
people pray with a unique dialect
or even a completely different sacral language.

In Judaism its ancient Hebrew,
a language that has long been dead
and yet today can still be heard in synagogues
throughout the world.
In Islam the language is Arabic.

In Christianity there are a number of different languages
depending on which branch of the Church you are talking about

Arameic, Greek, Syro-Malbar, Coptic, Ge'ez, Old Church Slavonic are just a few of the ancient tongues that are primarily used today for prayer alone.

In our own Latin rite of the Catholic Church
Latin is our Sacral Language

Latin unites us to the Church of Rome,
which evangelized most of Western Europe,
and gives us a common language to use when praying with
Hispanic Catholics, and Asian Catholics, and German Catholics.

In just a few hours I will be leaving for Spain
on pilgrimage to World Youth Day
where although I do not speak Spanish
I will be able to join with Pope Benedict
in Prayer at Mass in Latin.

However, even in our own venacular language, English,
there is a tradition of Sacral Language
that is a dialect or sub-set of English in general.

The purpose of these sacral dialects and languages
is to make the words hard to understand.

You heard me right--
WE WANT PRAYER TO BE HARD
TO UNDERSTAND!

WHY, you ask?

BECAUSE we are talking to GOD
we are talking to a being completely different from ourselves
or anything we have experienced in creation.

We are ultimately talking to someone who is unknowable
and yet peeking from behind the curtain of creation
desires to make Himself known.

And so it is important that our language
gives us pause, and causes us to ponder
about exactly what the relation is between us
the creator and Him the creator.

Why not use cup, instead of Chalice?
Because a cup is something we drink Mountain Dew out of
while a chalice, reminds us of something elegant,
ornate and beautiful.

It makes us think about the fact that what we are receiving
is not the Wine that is brought up in the cup
but the Blood of our savior poured into the Chalice
from His pierced side as He hung upon the cross for us.

Why consubstantial, instead of one in being?
Because we know what one means;
we know what in means;
and we sort of know what being means,

but we have no REAL idea what it means for the Son to be God and the Father to be God and yet for there to be only one God.

Consubstantial reminds us of the great mystery of the Trinity
three persons in one being, three who's in one what,
a mystery that speaks so much about God's nature
and our vocation to love,
but which we often fail to ponder
each time we hastily cross ourselves
or gallop through that phrase in the Creed.

In the Gospel Jesus always uses language VERY carefully,
in order to emphasize His point
and make us think, so that we might interiorize the Gospel.


In today's Gospel He calls a woman a dog, emphazing the division between the Jews and the Canannites
before praise her Great faith.

He does so to make the Jews, AND I MIGHT ADD
US, God's chosen people
really think about the strenght of our own faith.

If a dog, unworthy of a seat at the table,
in the estimation of the chosen people any way,
can have such great faith, how much greater should me faith be
as the son or daughter of God that I am?

Language has great power if we stop and think about it
and DARE I SAY PRAY ABOUT IT!!!!

Dear Lord grant us the graces we need to enter deeper into the prayers of the Mass through the difficulties we find with the new translation. Amen.

Where do we find God?

Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Offered at St. Patrick's in Wareham

By the Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

Continuing our meditation on the new translation of the Liturgy
Today we are challenged to ask the question:

Where do we find God?

In the book of Kings Elijah is told by the Lord to go out
To encounter God on the Mountain.

So Elijah goes out to the high place
to encounter the power of nature in wind, and earthquakes, and fire
and yet God was not present in any of these mighty signs.

It’s only in the quiet whispering of the wind did Elijah find God.

The Scriptures we hear today are so important because they speak to us
About the different places we find God.

In the Gospel of Matthew the Apostles are in a boat
in the midst of a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

And in this moment of Crisis,
Jesus appears, walking on the water,

He invites Peter to walk with Him on the Sea
And when He enters the boat He calms the sea.

These two paradigms of encountering God are really important
Because they point out the fact that
while God CAN appear in dramatic ways
most often He does not!


In Scripture we read about God appearing in many and in varied ways
In a booming voice or a burning bushes
In a column of fire, as a giant hand and in the power
that manifests God’s presence in the Arc of the Covenant

These stories of God manifesting Himself at critical times
in very explicit ways can lead us to have
an almost cartoonish understanding of how God reveals himself to us
on an everyday basis.

This can be such a problem for novices in the Faith,
Who come to Mass and hear in the Scriptures
these marvelous theophanies, and then wonder
why they don’t experience God
as a booming voice or a burning bush.

This is why it is so important
to realize that while God can reveal Himself to us in showy ways,
He does this in Scriptures only a handful of the times, at crucial points, during the 7000+ years of History recorded in scriptures,

He usually doesn’t, and when He does, He reveals Himself dramatically
Not to tell us about Himself, but to save us from some danger
That might destroy us.

In the book of King’s Elijah encounters all the wonders of nature
that many of us expect to experience God in,

And of course we do encounter God in nature.
Thunder, lightning, earthquakes, fire, tornadoes, storms, and hail all point to the Power of God who created these things,

As does the beauty and goodness of nature,
but God is not nature.

Just like a painting may tell us about the author but is not the author
Nature can tell us about its creator,
and granted God is present everywhere in creation,
but He is not nature.

What the passage from the book of Kings is reminding us is that
It’s important not to imagine God as Zeus
making Himself know by lightning bolts
or as Oden announcing His presence
with the thunderous blows of His hammer.

Rather, USUALLY God reveals Himself in the whispering of the wind
In the silent depths of our heart—through honest prayer.

The reason why God does not usually reveal Himself
In flashy ways is that no matter how flashy He gets
Any show of Power ultimately falls short of truly revealing God
AND God wants us to TRULY know Him!
and be in relationship with Him!

God is the creator of everything that was created,
Think of the power of the atom bomb and then multiply that power
Times infinity—and still you get nowhere near to
the awesome power of the Big Bang.

If we truly believe that God is the cause of existence
Then the awesome power which created all things that are
is by definition less than the power of God.

In theology this realization is called the via negative,
the negative way of approaching God.

Which is simply the realization that
God may be the creator of all things,
and He may reveal Himself through the things He creates,
BUT…
God is always more different than similar
to anything we experience in creation.

Think about the paradigmatic fairy tale about a prince
Who casts aside His royal robes and dresses like a commoner
To win the true love of His beloved.

All the glory of creation are just decorations,
What young people may call “bling:
that point to the True glory of Who God is.

God reveals himself to us intimately, as the Song of Songs suggests
Like a lover whispering in His lovers ear,
Because that intimacy is more authentic and profound
Than all the flashy gifts you could imagine:
roses, gold, diamonds, boats, cars, houses, you name it…

So, how does this relate to the Mass
and the changes in the translation of the Mass
we will be receiving in December?

Well the Mass, and the Sacred Scriptures
that we hear proclaimed at the Mass,
are the most exalted and intimate prayer.

Its Jesus’ prayer, which becomes ours IF we enter into it.

God may not appear to us in the WEAK signs of
a burning bush or thunder or lightning at the Mass,

Rather He reveals Himself in very REAL and POWERFUL,
though not flashy, ways:
Through the people, the body of Christ the Church,
Through Sacred Scripture and the Traditional Prayers of the Church
Through His ordained priests
And most especially through the Most Blessed Sacrament.

When we come to Mass, we are SUPPOSED to be quiet—

I often tell people about my experience of a Ge’ez Catholic Community
In Washington, DC—this community which doesn’t use the Latin Rite like us but the Ge’ez rite a 3rd century Ethiopian for of the Mass.

One of the remarkable things about this community
Is that after praying their version of the Mass,
which lasts about three hours,
they spent the remainder of the day in feasting and fellowship,

Fellowship, enjoying the gift of other people is really KEY
to living the Sabbath obligation, BUT

as the greatest commandment reminds us before loving our neighbor
we must FIRST love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul.

I love the fact that people want to share fellowship
here at Church on Sundays,

but we are falling short of the Greatest commandment
and our Sunday obligation,
if we don’t make some space to listen to the quiet whispering of God.

AND we are failing in our duty to love our neighbor
if after taking our quiet time for prayer
we interrupt their quiet time for prayer.

Coming to Mass we must pray ACTUALLY
This doesn’t just mean saying the words or doing the actions

It means really being quiet and reflective enough to see
in the persons, actions, and words of the Mass
GOD speaking not to us in general but ME in particular.

The new Translation of the Mass will give us
two new opportunities to meet God here at Mass:

First by translating the original prayers more faithfully
We will receive a portion of the Tradition, of Jesus’ self revelation
That to date has been hidden from us.

For the past 40 years it’s like we have been reading Shakespeare,
in cliff notes, dumb down.

And now for the first time in a long time, we will get to hear Shakespeare
As Shakespeare wrote it, and though the language may be more difficult

If we actually pray the prayers,
thinking about them and what God is telling us through them
we will get so much more out of them.

And secondly, because these prayers are different, new,
and sometimes difficult,
the new translation really challenges us
to enter into that deeper relationship.

The Day of the Lord

Homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary time

Given at St. Patrick's in Wareham

By the Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

Have you ever taken your kids, or grandkids for ice cream
And being good, not gotten an ice cream yourself?

What happened when you asked your kids for a taste?
Well if your kids are anything like my nephews and nieces
it was like pulling teeth, to get some ice cream.

Despite the fact that most likely some ice cream will be wasted
And some will melt and drip to the ground,
Despite the fact that you paid for it.
Kids can be very attached to their ice cream,

But you know, it’s not just kids, all of us can be the same.
All of us have been given ice cream in the form of our life
Our talents, our treasures, our experiences, families, and friends.

And yet when God asks us to give just a little back
How often to we selfishly guard our ice cream, our life,
From the God who gave it to us in the first place.

And the thing about giving God back a little
of what He gave us in the first place is that
whatever we give to God He multiplies and blesses and gives back to us.

In today’s bulletin you will find an insert about the Day of the Lord
It’s the first in a series of inserts that will be in the bulletin
To help us prepare to pray Mass just a little bit differently,
And perhaps more profoundly, next December.

But before we rush to changes in words,
It is important to think about what the Mass and the Sabbath is!!!

The third commandment of God’s law teaches us to:
keep holy the Sabbath

As Catholics we know that going to the Holy Mass
is a key part of keeping Holy the Sabbath.
What Jesus teaches us to do when he makes that perfect prayer to God
The Father from the Cross is what the Sabbath is all about!

God asks us this, as Jesus taught us,
“not because man was made for the Sabbath
but because the Sabbath was made for man.”

Just like the boy in the gospel today offered Jesus fish and loaves
We are asked to give God, 1 day out of 7 and 1 hour out of 168.

How small and insignificant a gift
considering how much God gives us

BUT God does not ask us to keep Holy the Sabbath
because we were made to give God praise,
He asks us to keep it holy because by doing so,
By giving our simply gift to God
God desire to multiply it and give it back to us ten fold.

Like the boys gift of fish and bread,
which seemed so little in comparison to the hunger of the crowd

Our little sacrifice and gift of a day, and particularly this hour each week
Though, when we really think about, it seem so meagar
Is all that the Lord needs to satisfy not human hunger,
But even more important,
the human desire for right relationship with our creator and God.
Pope Benedict writes of the creation of the world,
That for five days God prepared the world,
Making a space, a home, for us.

And on the sixth day He created us,
He created humanity, the pinnacle of creation
So that on the seventh day we could enjoy the world God created
And through that enjoyment know the love of our God
And return that love in thanksgiving.

Thus Pope Benedict writes that man was made for the 7th day
Man was made to rest and enjoy God’s goodness
and thank Him for that Goodness.

When we lost that, because of disobedience
Because we imagined that we could figure out
what makes the human heart happy, without asking its creator,

we were cast out of paradise, into a world where we had to work
to seek a happy life, that God desired to give us as a gift.

God told us in the beginning that what will satisfy our heart
Is enjoying creation and giving Him thanks,

And yet we decided to look for happiness in all the wrong places
In our work, in our pastimes, in our hobbies, in drugs and alcohol and sex and wealth, and in so many other dead end pursuits.

The third commandment was made to remind man
where true happiness lies,
and what we have to look forward to, and hope for,
for all eternity in Heaven.
So how do we live the day of the Lord?
Like the crowds in the Gospel today
we start by placing ourselves in God’s presence,
which really means simply realizing that He is with us always!

We need to stop and smell the roses.

We start by stopping all the busyness
And pushing anything that could come between us and God
out of our life for just one day, including:
not just work but also chores,
cooking, cleaning, mowing the lawn, and shopping,
and this includes sports and activities that get in the way.

Doing this we are able to listen to Jesus teach us
about the goodness of life
and enter into conversation with God.

We enter into this conversation, this prayer, most intensly
when we come together with Christ in His Church
to offer our prayer of thanksgiving for all that we have received
together with the our whole Catholic family,
with Christ leading us in prayer from the Cross.

At Mass Jesus teaches us that life is so good that
We should love God enough to give Him everything
EVEN our sufferings and sorrows and our death.

Jesus takes our simply weak gifts and uniting them with our prayers
He turns ordinary bread and life, which is a symbol of our very small gift
Into His total self, body blood soul and divinity.

Jesus gives all of Himself to the Father
so that we might learn to do the same.

And He transforms our simple gifts
Into a food that will satisfy the multitudes His Body and Blood.

It’s important to remember however
that Jesus doesn’t just ask for one hour from us!

He wants the WHOLE SABBATH, the whole Sunday,
So that the gifts we receive and give at Mass,
can be celebrated and enjoyed with our whole family during this day.

Maybe for some, who have gotten into the habit of working on Sunday
Giving up a whole day seems too hard,
Its especially difficult for those whose jobs
require them to work on Sunday,

but I once hear a story of a man who with his wife
decided to take a huge risk and really live Sunday,
refusing to work or travel or shop or be a temptation for others to work
on the day of the Lord.

He was really afraid that he would loose his job because of it.
What happened was a every day miracle.
Athough he struggled with his choice to truly live the Sabbath,
So many opportunities opened up for him, and his business truly thrived.

When we trust the Lord with our fish and loaves,
It might seem like we will lose our lunch and go hungry
But God always repays us a hundred fold for all that He gives us.

Ecce Agnus Dei

Ecce Agnus Dei, originally uploaded by fr.ron_floyd.

The Mass, the way its meant to be.

Be careful what you ask for

Homily for the 17th Sunday throughout the Year
Given at St. Patrick's Church
By Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd

Be careful what you ask for,
I once heard a true story of a lawyer who didn’t believe in God,
(It’s amazing how often those who do not believe in God
Talk about him, isn’t it?)

Anyway the lawyer and two buddies were fishing
on Caddo Lake in Texas when a lightning storm hit.

Most of the other boats immediately headed for the shore,
but not our friend the lawyer.

Alone on the rear of his aluminum bass boat with his buddies, he stood up and mocked God.

Spreading his arms wide, he shouted:
"HERE I AM LORD, LET ME HAVE IT!"

Needless to say, God delivered.

Striking the man dead while leaving the other two passengers on the boat with only minor burns.

In today’s first reading from the book of Kings,
God offers Solomon a wish.
Saying, “ask for anything and I will give it to you.”

What an offer! I mean Solomon has hit the Jackpot
Who here wouldn’t want God to offer us anything we want?

And yet Solomon’s answer however should give us pause,
And should cause us to consider
what exactly it is that we ask God for on a daily basis.

we all know the Greek myth of King Midas,
Who loved gold so much that he was afflicted with
The ability to turn everything he touched into Gold,
Even and most tragically those he loved.

Each of us, at some point in our life
have asked God for something:

[Some of you may know that in a former life
I worked for the US Government
What wou may not know is that
I worked for the Senate Committee on the Budget

I knew it was time for me to leave that job, and that career,
When our economist told me with a straight face
We can never have too much debt.

A lot of people treat the government like God, or Santa Clause,
Expecting that the government will provide for them
everything they need and want—
but the fact of the matter is
as our government is finding out today,
its not necessarily a good idea
to give everyone everything they want

I remember the comedy movie Mr. Deeds
where the main character inherit a whole bunch of money
and bought everyone in his small town a red sports car
at first thought you might think that sounds great,
on second thought however the results were traffic
and a really strange looking town.
today the wisdom of Solomon challenges us to
Think about what we ask for from God’s perspective.

How many of us, offered Solomon’s wish
would ask God to prove Himself?
How many would ask for something petty? Money, a Car, toys?
How many would ask for something that God is not willing
to do because he is not willing to take away human freedom?

God always answers our prayers,
but sometimes his answer is no
because God knows what we need to become the persons
He made us to be.

The question is will we ask God, like Solomon
For nothing more than the Grace, wisdom, and courage
To fulfill our life’s vocation or will we

Or will we seek things that will never give us
true happiness, joy, and peace?

Remember at the end of our life
God will ask us a few things too.

On that judgment day...

1. God won't ask what kind of car you drove;
He'll ask how many people you helped and loved
by driving those who didn't have transportation.

2. God won't ask the square footage of your house,
He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3. God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet,
He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4. God won't ask what your highest salary was;
He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it, and performed your job to the best of your ability.

5. God won't ask how many friends you had;
He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

6. God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived,
He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

7. AND He won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation;
He'll just ask you how you loved Him after receiving it.


In the Bible it says ask and you shall receive seek and you shall find

The Lord wants to give us all that is good
and lead us into the fullness of happiness, but
we must seek to know His plan and understand
that so often He has much greater things planned for us
than we have for ourselves

Ask the Lord today for the Courage to improve the things
you can improve in this world,
the serentity to accept the things you can’t,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Made for Love

A wedding homily

Given at St. Patrick's Church

On Saturday July 23, 2011

By Rev Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd

SO A man died and went to Heaven.
When he finally met GOD, he asks GOD if he can ask him a few questions about women.

GOD smiled and said, "sure, go right ahead".

"OK," the man says. "Why did you make women so beautiful?"

GOD says, "So you would be attracted to and like them."

"OK, but how come you made them so gentle and nurturing?"

To which God replied: "So you would learn to LOVE them.”

The man ponders a moment and then asks, "But why did you make them such airheads?"

GOD says, "So they would be foolish enough to put up with you
just long enough to learn to love you!


In the book of Genesis we read that God created man, in His image and likeness God created him, male and female God created them.

Giving us a body, to touch and feel and learn with,
God created us in His image and likeness,
And this image and likeness is not a physical resemblance
But a spiritual likeness.




St. John tells us God is Love, and so we are in God’s image
In that each of us has the freedom and ability to love.

Love is what the world is all about,
love is why we exist,
love is the answer to all our problems and prayers

And yet love is so often absent from the world.

Because while God gives us the ability to love,
love can only exist in freedom, we must choose to love
this image must be put into action in order for us to be like God.

And this is difficult, because despite the frequency
that we use and throw around that word: LOVE

Ultimately most people can’t imagine what true love means.

Think about it we use the same word to talk about chocolate or pizza
That we use to talk about our family.

Hopefully we don’t love these two things in the same way
Because if we did it would give a whole new meaning
to having our family for diner—[very “silence of the lambs”]

A thirteen year old may “love” his first girlfriend,
but we all know that this love is mostly
physical attraction, emotions, and hormones
which eventually fade whereas true love is not just long lasting,
but forever.


Sadly, even many of those who come together
and vow themselves to each other in marriage
“till death do us part”

end up breaking their word to each other,
because they didn’t know what love truly meant and requires!

All of us from the youngest here to the oldest
Are still learning about love,
and until the day we die school is in session

As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, “from the beginning”
God created marriage and the family to be a elite prep school of love.
Preparing each and every one of us to love and be loved forever.

And when Jesus was born to remind the world what true love means,
to remind mankind what it means to be made in His image and likeness
he made marriage a Sacrament, a sign,
through which Christians could participate in
and bear witness to His perfect act of Love on the Cross.

In doing so He gave the Church and married couples the grace to love,
Not just like an animal who selfishly picks a mate
But like Christ who selflessly died for His bride the Church.

If you want to know what love means,
all you need to do is meditate on the Cross.

As Paul does in the famous passage from the 13th chapter
of the first letter to the Corinthians where he tells us:
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Sadly you are not always patient
And you will not always be kind,
Jealousy may rear its ugly head
And perhaps from time to time
you might get pompous or rude with each other.

Love may bear all things, but the temptation for both of you will
be to get fed up, and to consider allowing your love to fail at times.

You see we are not saints,
and no matter how much you think you love each other
right now in this moment,
you don’t love each other enough for “the worse”

you are about to promise to love each other
for better or for worst till death does you part.
The temptation for us on this beautiful day when we are all dressed up
is to consider only the better and not the worst,

but the worst is important to think about too,
because its in the worst of times
that you their family and friends will need to give them
their most important wedding gift: your lover, support, and prayers


and because its in the worst of times, that if you cling to love
making a choice not to let love fail no matter what
that your love, weak as it is now, will grow so much stronger.

Jesus Christ has made the natural bond of marriage a Sacrament
A great mystery as St. Paul calls it in his letter to the Galatians,
Through which a husband learns to live the love of Christ
And wife learns to response as the Church responds to Christ.

Through this sacrament and your married life
God will help you become kind and patient and understanding,
He will help you grow in holiness and become Saints,

God is Love, and if you allow Him into your hearts and home,
He will transform you both over time
Into great lovers.

One of the most beautiful things I see as a priest
is love in difficult moments:
the newly weds struggling to survive in tough times
the young mother or father pacing the halls with a sick child
a father on his knees crying and praying when His family is in danger
the elderly couple gazing lovingly into each others eyes,
more in love now than ever after 5 or six decades together.

Remember its only in contrast to the sourness of the lemon that the sweetness of sugar tastes so refreshing on a hot day like today.
God is the sweetness

God is Love, if your faith makes you ready to take a risk on love,
I invite you to come forward now to express your intentions before God, your family, friends, and the whole Church

The Reality of Hell

A Homily for the 16th Sunday throughout the Year

Given at St. Patrick's in Wareham

By Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

The other day I was talking to a mother
Who told me that her son always says to her,
“Don’t worry mom I am not going to hell”
Whenever she encourages him to take his faith more seriously.

And I thought to myself, He’s not?
How does he know?

In a day and age where people are so quick to forget God
And dismiss heaven,
How is it that so many people seem so sure they are not going to hell?

I mean Hell is a reality of our faith, you cannot be a Catholic Christian
And not believe in the reality that Jesus talks about in the Gospel today
And throughout the scriptures.

I often remember the humility of St. Paul’s word’s
in his first letter to the Church in Corinth, he says:
to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man;
but neither do I judge my own self.
For I am not conscious to myself of any thing,
yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me, is the Lord.

St. Paul reminds us often that Jesus’ teaching,
judge not lest you be judged
applies equally to ourselves as it does to others.

People often misinterpret Jesus, thinking that He is saying,
Mind your own business,
don’t tell other people if they are doing something wrong

When in fact, Jesus CONSTANTLY does this,
and tells us to do so too!
Love, requires us to correct out brothers and sisters when they sin
Because we don’t want them to go to Hell
We want them to please God and accept His love

“Judge not lest ye be judged” in fact means
That we must never write off the possibility
That the worst sinner could go to heaven
OR…. That the kindest person could go to hell.
After all, we believe that
all it takes is one serious sin.
At St. Paul tells the Phillipians:
work out your salvation with fear and trembling
because the determination, about whether we are wheat or weeds
is the gardener’s call.

My friends, HELL IS NOT A BOOGIE MONSTER
Designed to scare the children into being good.

In a strange way the logic, necessity, and reality of Hell
Is more readily evident in this sinful world,
than the much more obscure reality of heaven

St. Paul says: eye has not seen nor ear hear nor has it ever entered the heart of man
what God has prepared for those who love him.

BUT EYE has seen the results of sin,
We need not think back very far.
War, the debt crisis, murder, rape, iniquity, injustice
The 5 o’clock news daily shows us a glimpse of the reality of hell

And just like in Hitler’s Germany
though a few really bad men orchestrate things, each and every day
a lot of minorly bad people, like you and I make it possible.
People who play minor parts or sin simply by standing by
and watching evil happen.

Hell is not just for the really bad, but for those who make evil possible,
By not bearing fruit, not loving,
for in reality evil is simply the absence of good!

As the French philosopher John Paul Satre once quipped:
“Hell is other people.”

When we fail to remember God and seek to love and serve Him
Our selfish pursuits prove this statement true.

In the Gospel today Jesus speaks of each of us as seeds,
Full of so much potential and growth,
But some seed, sowed by the enemy uses this potential
not to build up God’s kingdom but tear it down.

When I was praying over this passage
I thought to myself how wonderful a parable it is, full of meaning.

Have you ever asked yourself: what is the difference
between weeds and wheat?
I am not a farmer but I would guess that wheat bears fruit
While weeds do not, instead just taking up space and choking out
The desirable plants.

I use to think that weeds were a particular type of plant
But then I realize that weeds are simply undesirable plants

If we expand this definition to a more diverse garden
We see that the difference between weeds and wheat
truly is in the eye of the beholder, or rather the master gardener

I remember my grandmother always joking about the fact that
Back in the day, I am guessing during the depression,
she and my great grandmother would gather dandelions,
a weed to many, for salad.

She found it amusing that dandelions were now very fashionable

The same I am told is true of lobster,
Which at one point only fishermen ate.
Lobster was the accidental byproduct of fishing
for the types of fish people actually desired.

The gardener in Jesus’ parable has a design for his field,
The yield he desires is grain.
He who planted is by right the judge of the good and the bad
Of the desirable plants and the weeds.

And so we must ask ourselves
what is the fruit which the master gardener desires?
Which is the fruit that He will gather into his barn?

The fruit is love. For He says:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,
and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.
And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:

This essentially is God’s one desire of us—
so simple that Augustine actually says: LOVE,
and do whatever else you want.

God desires real fruit though, and not just words.

In many ways the weeds look like the wheat,
This is why it’s so important not to judge, ourselves or others
But continuously to strive to bear fruit.

First by loving God,
And if we love Him, desiring to know Him better.

We do this simply by acknowledging the goodness of every life
And seeking its source.

Each of us has a desire put in our heart by our maker
For our maker.

No matter what doubts or difficulties or questions we have about God
First and foremost LOVE requires us to authentically seek Him

Aristotle, a pagan, often accused of atheism, observed this
long before the Birth of Christ.

As Blessed John Paul II once noted, we are not being authentically human if we ignore our hearts desire to know God, we allow the business of life to cloud our minds to the mysteries of life.

And because He reveals Himself to us, love also requires that once
we begin to know him we eventually seek to serve God
by loving our neighbor, our brothers and sisters, and even our enemy.

This is the fruit He desires, the question we must ask is
Are we bearing fruit?