Gospel, Homily and Coffee

“Love of God, Love of Neighbor” there it is summed up, the entirety of the Judeo-Christian faith history. There it is, the summary of salvation.  “Love of God, Love of Neighbor”; nothing else beyond this mindset, no other action on our part has merit without love of God, love of neighbor.  If we truly desire peace, wholeness, transformation of this world: love of God, love of neighbor. Our whole lives become a journey, of growing in our experience of this love; growing in our capacity to  Love. It is growing from knowing Love and then taking the final step to actually do love.  The Love that Jesus speaks of is “agape”. It is not the emotional reaction we have and we tend to equate with love. That is more “eros” to use the Greek translation. Love, as Jesus speaks of and as he lived it out, Love, agape, believes in the goodness of the other. Love, agape, responds to that goodness by working for that goodness; by our willingness to give of our own selves for the good of that other;

Ever have this experience...with a spouse, with a friend, on a date, arranging dinner with seminarians...whoever. We ask “What do you want? Where do you want to go?” and the answer is “I don’t care, whatever you want.”  I usually do not like the answer, mainly because I am the type that if I have an agenda it will happen, you won’t get to choose. I am asking, so that means I really want to know and I care to know. “I don’t care” frustrates me.  Then again, when people ask me that question, to be honest, many times I don’t know. A Patronal system is one in which those with power, money and influence tell others what they are presumed to want.  A Patronal system is one in which others give, not really based on the want or need, but on a presumption of the other.  So at its core, it tends to disrespect, not treat with dignity, other people. The people meant to be helped. Freedom, true freedom, is the capacity to listen to others, and truly hear them.  Freedom means to place aside o

Let's return to an old theme but an essential one: Salvation. The freedom to choose to do good for others is Salvation. Salvation means the freedom to be the good people that God created us to be. Salvation means the freedom to become and experience the person we are to be. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, tells of God creating harmony out of chaos. God creates humanity to work to help build that harmony in the world. We do this by being in harmony with God and with others and with the world around us. As a sign of this harmony God creates the two, male and female. They signify not just marriage, but the value and importance of relationships; the value and importance of community. God, we must believe as Christians, is relational. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a harmony of three, a community. Into God’s image we are created; as relational beings.  We are created to relate to God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact it goes deeper that just a “friendship”.