I Cry Out to You Lord. But You Do Not Answer. Why, Lord, why?

 Sermon by Fr. Joseph Mungai
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 2, 2016
St. John the Apostle Awasi Catholic Church, Kisumu Archdiocese, Kenya

In 600 BC, the Babylonians were the

Fr. Joe Mungai

dominant power in the Middle East with their capital very near modern day Bagdad. The prophet Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:2-3;2:2-4) who speaks to us in today's first reading, lived during the difficult period that began with the Babylonian army's first assault against the Holy Land in 604 BC, its capture of Jerusalem and its enslavement and exportation of many people to Babylon in 597 BC and the eventual total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple ten years after that. 

Habakkuk asks God for relief. God assures him it will come if the people just put their

trust in God. God even gave detailed instructions to the king through the prophet Jeremiah on how they could avoid disaster, but the king did just the opposite. As a consequence they suffered greatly under the Babylonians.

Don't despair seems to fit today's theme. You can certainly hear despair in today's first reading as Habakkuk prays: "How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!" He is having quite a struggle with God. He goes on for several more verses telling God about all the things that are happening to the Jewish people. Not only were the Babylonians defeating every nation from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, but God's own people in Judea and Jerusalem had turned from their worship of God to idolatry, child sacrifice and disregard for the poor and disadvantaged. Habakkuk exclaims: "I cry out to you, Violence! But you do not intervene. "Why, Lord, why?"

God's answer always is "Trust, have faith, be patient." God's salvation will come when God thinks its the right time. God will not disappoint. Writing it down especially on tables of stone or clay, would symbolize permanence. Those struggling with faith need this reassurance for "The just one, because of his faith shall live." St Paul quotes this line twice in his letters and it applies to faith in Christ. (Rom 1:17 and Gal 3:11). Despair won't help anyone, only faith.

It took many years until "in the fullness of time" (Gal 4:4), God Himself appeared as the savior not just for the Jewish people but for all people. He began his saving work when he came to live among us, but he has not finished. So we continue to need faith until God's kingdom of eternal peace has been fully established. The apostles did have a sense that what Jesus was asking of them would require a lot of faith. In today's gospel we hear them asking Jesus to increase their faith. (Luke 17:5-10)

The little lesson at the end of the gospel where we are told to do what we are expected to do is a little lesson in humility. It is also a lesson in faith insofar as the only way we can increase our faith is to live it (taking time to pray, read Scripture and as we are doing now, coming to Mass).

If we do not live it, it will be like muscles we don't use and they will atrophy. I see it happen to people so many times. Another thing we can do is what we hear in today's second reading (2 Timothy 1:6-8.13-14): "Take as your practice the sound words that you heard from me."  

Words are so important, especially the things we tell ourselves. A whole area of counseling has developed around this idea of how what we tell ourselves affects our mood. It's called cognitive therapy. What we tell ourselves also affects our faith. If we always tell ourselves negative things such as "God doesn't hear my prayers; God isn't here when I come to Church," we are going to believe those things. 

We should tell ourselves what we hear from the Scriptures: "God does love me; Christ died for me; Christ hears me when I pray, even when he says 'no,' Christ truly comes to me in the Eucharist," etc. Telling ourselves those things, especially when we don't feel it, or when the devil whispers doubts in our ears, helps strengthen our faith. 

Jesus tells us with faith as small as a mustard seed we can do amazing things. Amen.

The Cardinal and the Little Flower: 20th Anniversary of the International Theological Institute

by Susan Fox

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”Jesus called a little child to stand among them. “Truly I tell you, He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18: 1-4)

Trumau, Austria -- In 1961, I was a young girl sitting on the floor in the family room in Placentia, California, 

St. Theresa of Lisieux, the Little Flower of Carmel

engrossed in reading the life of St. Theresa of Lisieux contained in my Catholic children’s Treasure Chest magazine.

Little Therese was playing on her swing at the age of four, and ignored her father’s request for a hug. So he went back into the house. This pierced her heart so deeply she jumped off the swing and ran to greet her beloved father. So began the Little Way of holiness of the future doctor of the Catholic Church, Therese of Lisieux.  

I was about eight years old, and at that age, she became my big sister. I had no other sibling, so she held a very important place in my heart. 

Little did I know that my devotion to big sister Therese would blossom into my attending graduate school now in Trumau, Austria, later in life. Here today, on Oct. 1, 2016,  the Little Flower of Carmel became my mother.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical International Theological Institute (ITI) by Pope Saint John Paul II. 

We celebrated this great event with numerous priests and bishops of both the Roman and Byzantine Rites and Cardinal Christoph

Cardinal Schönborn at ITI today

Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and Grand Chancellor of the ITI. 

He gave the homily at Mass today celebrating the Great Feast of St. Theresa of Lisieux, and the anniversary of our school.

He said when Pope John Paul II asked for a pontifical institute in Austria, the Congregation for the Catholic Education picked the date the school would be started, and it was Oct. 1. “The Little Flower is the founding date of the ITI,” he said. “We saw it as a sign to be under her protection. She was our first Patron.”

So Theresa’s “Way of the Child” became the way of ITI, Cardinal Schönborn explained, “The Little Way is to be like a child in the arms of the Father.” He also explained it the way St. Theresa herself did. By doing little acts with great love, you enter an elevator (the

Cardinal Schönborn speaking about St. Therese at Mass  on Oct. 1, 2016

Father’s arms) and He brings you up. She developed this method of holiness because she felt she could not — by herself — become a saint. And Therese passionately longed for holiness. 

“St. Theresa wants to be a child, but she also wants to be a mother,” The Cardinal said. “And ITI is full of children. You are in good company.”

He then told the story of St. Theresa’s first child  Henri Pranzini, serial killer whose brutal murder of two women and a little girl shocked the people of France in 1887.

One woman “was found on the floor of her chamber dead, her throat cut and her body terribly mutilated. Lying near the door leading from the chamber to the drawing room was the dead body of Annette, whose throat had also been cut, and in her bed in another apartment was little Marie . . . her head almost severed from her body by the murderer’s knife. It was obvious that Annette had gone to the rescue . . . and had been struck down by the assassin, and that the little girl had been murdered to put out of the way the only other witness of the terrible crime.”

Therese Martin — then 14 years old — read the account in a newspaper. “Everything led to the belief that he would die impenitent. I wanted at all costs to keep him from falling

into hell, and to succeed I employed all means imaginable, feeling that of myself I could do nothing. I offered to God all the infinite merits of Our Lord,” she wrote in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul.

As the time of his execution approached, Pranzini remained unrepentant. Little Therese increased her prayers. He was brought before the guillotine on Aug. 31. He refused

confession, but at the last minute  before he was to put his head in the guillotine, he took hold of the crucifix and kissed the Wounds of Christ three times!

Therese understood this to mean that Pranzini was saved from hell, and she called him her “premier enfant” — my first child. “I want to spread the Blood of Jesus over the whole world, so Divine Love may touch all souls,” the Vienna Cardinal said quoting St. Theresa.

Then he told the students and those gathered to celebrate the ITI anniversary, “So don’t be afraid to be under the protection of the Little Flower. You are in good company with Pranzini.” His remark was met with gentle laughter. Regarding ITI, the cardinal said, “He (Jesus) is really leading it.” 

Since ITI was founded, 269 students from 30 countries have graduated. Our students study primary sources written by great masters of the Western tradition. The library is so full of great books that my husband, Lawrence, wants to spend his vacations reading there. 

The international character of the school allows students to experience the genuine beauty of the Universal Church with both Eastern and Western traditions. 

We have a rich community of priests from both the Latin and Byzantine Rite, seminarians, religious, married families, and lay single.

ITI offers all a solid theological education, ending in a Master of Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Sacred Theology (allows you to teach in seminary), Doctorate in Sacred Theology and Master of Studies in Marriage and Family. We also have a one-year course for people graduating from high school, known as the Studium Generale. This offers me no end of delight because I love these young people and their enthusiasm. 

Cardinal Schönborn, The Grand Chancellor,  and St. Therese, patroness of ITI, with friends 

Susan Fox is working on a master's degree in Marriage and Family at the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria. 

Interested in studying at the International Theological Institute? You can apply here.

Each student at ITI is only charged 6,000 Euros a year in tuition, but the actual cost of the education is 20,000 Euros.
Donate here

Or contact: Dipl. Ing. Alexander Pachta-Reyhofen, Director of Development (Europe), International Theological Institute, Email: a.pachtareyhofen@iti.ac.at

Woe to the Complacent Lying on Beds of Ivory!

Sermon by Fr. Joseph Mungai

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 25, 2016

St. John the Apostle Awasi Catholic Church, Kisumu Archdiocese, Kenya

"Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall! They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph! Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry shall be done away with. (Amos 6:1a, 4-7)

Today again we listen to the prophet Amos. His words are directed to the Judeans, those living in the southern kingdom of Israel. He addressed them as "the complacent in Zion." (Zion is another name for Jerusalem).

Perhaps this warning came after the Assyrians destroyed the Northern kingdom of Israel which in today's reading is called "Joseph." Joseph is the name of the patriarch who was sold into slavery by his brothers, ending up next to Pharaoh in power in Egypt.

Many of his descendants had settled in the northern portion of Israel, which the Assyrians destroyed. The complacent in Jerusalem were living pampered, comfortable lives paying no attention to the devastation of the north and not concerned that their own country was headed towards the same fate because of their social and moral depravity. Amos' words proved true.

A lot of people say "money is the root of all evil," thinking they are quoting the Bible. But what the Bible actually says in 1Tim 6:10 is that "the love of money is the root of all evil."

Jesus never condemned the wealthy for having wealth. He condemned them for letting

Fr. Joe Mungai visiting the United States

wealth cause them to forget about God who had blessed them so generously.

It is like the farmer we heard about several weeks ago. He had such a great harvest that he had to tear down his barns to build bigger ones and he gave no thought to the afterlife.

Jesus condemned the wealthy for letting their wealth lead them into dishonesty like the unjust steward we heard about last week.

This week Jesus condemns the wealthy because they let money turn them into complacent self-centered persons like the man in today's gospel, (Luke 16:19-31), who commits the sin of indifference. 

Lying at his door every day was the poor man, Lazarus, covered in sores, who would have gladly eaten the scraps from the rich man's table. 

Today's parable would have been quite a shock for the Pharisees who heard it. For in those days, many people thought a wealthy man was a good person, whom God favoured. If a person was poor, sick or infirm, they were assumed to be sinners, whom God was punishing. 

But things didn't work out that way for the rich man, who ignored Lazarus and ended up in a place of torment when he died. 

This is the kingdom that Jesus preached. Those who wish to be part of this kingdom must love God and neighbor.  Love is not a warm fuzzy feeling, but a willingness to make sacrifices for others. 

Jesus did ask some to give everything away, but not all. He told everyone to love God with our whole heart and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. 

What should the rich man have done? Jesus doesn't give us a specific answer. Perhaps he wants us to ask ourselves what we might have done if we were in his place. 

He does hint at the answer later in the parable. The rich man wanted Lazarus to visit his brothers and warn them about how they should be living. Jesus said they have Moses and the prophets, that is, they have the Scriptures to guide them. If they don't pay attention to the Scriptures, they probably won't be impressed by someone who rises from the dead. 

In reading the Holy Scriptures, we are constantly reminded of God's love for the poor. We are invited to share with the needy and learn how to live generously so that others may live. 

Money is a good servant when properly used, but becomes a tyrant when it controls our lives. To hear the voice of God in Holy

Is money your boss? 

Scripture, we must take time to study, pray and live it.

In Jesus' days, people never knew what was going on elsewhere in the world. Now with the internet we know the instant earthquakes, tsunami, drought, and other catastrophes happen and leave countless people dead and  homeless. 

Knowing all this can make us feel guilty. But we can't help everyone. I try to help people in need according to my time and resources, according to their need and according to the responsibility I may have toward them. 

Charity does begin at home, but it does not stay there. If we all tried to do what we can,  we would be more peaceful within ourselves and beginning with our own communities the whole world would be transformed with love.  

As we come to the Eucharist today, remember where our blessings come from and offer thanks to God. We ask God to help us in the days ahead when we might be in need. Amen

Fr. Joe Mungai was first mentioned on this blog in I Was Thirsty and You Gave Me to Drink