Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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The Sacred Heart of Jesus
June 15, 2007

Eleventh Sunday of the Ordinary Time
June 17, 2007 Year: C
2 Sam. 12:7-10, 13; Gal. 2:16, 19-21; Lk. 7:36-8:3

First Reading...
David did what displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan said to David, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; if that had been too little, I would have added as much more."

"Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed Uriah with the sword of the Ammonites."

"Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife."

David said to Nathan, "I have sinned agains the Lord." Nathan said to David, "Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die." [2 Sam. 12:7-10, 13] 

Second Reading...
"We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. As we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God."

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing." [Gal. 2:16, 19-21]

Gospel Reading...
One of hte Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

A woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of oitment. She stood behind Jesus at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the oitment.

Now when the Pharisees who had invited Jesus saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him that she is a sinner."

Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "speak."

"A certain creditor had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly."

Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

"You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with oitment."

"Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Soon afterwards Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. THe twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. [Lk. 7:36-8:3]

Sinfulness is part of humanity. There is no humanity without sin. Hence, man is born sinner. There ought to be a way out of this sinfulness, as there ought to be a way out of our sickness. The way out of our sinfulness is through a man without sin – Jesus. Only the innocent has the right to cast the stone at a sinner. But Jesus does not do that. He simply forgives and forgets the sin. He came to give and forgive. That is his secret weapon of love. 

Helpful Anecdote:
In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it.

Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand.

Every obstacle, sin presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

We are all born in sinful conditions. There are four types of sinfulness: 

First one is what we inherit from our parents. The defects of our parents, at times become part of our own life. An alcoholic will certainly leave traces of alcoholism among his children. A person with some sort of bad habits may also transmit those elements of bad habits in his children.

The second one is when we break the Commandment of God: This one happens at times due to our weakness of our flesh, or due to certain traits we have been imbibing through the years. This is disobedience to God. A child does not learn disobedience through parents, but it is the effect of Original sin. 

The third type is because of the influence of others. Well, this needs a bit of explanation. We at times become victims of the opinions of others and because of the environment in which we live. A child born among slum dwellers becomes gradually one among them and perhaps also becomes a victim of circumstances. 

Fourth type becomes our nature because of circumstances in which we live. One becomes an alcoholic because of depression, defeat, or other factors of life. Due to harshness of life around, one becomes a victim, sinful. But he/she may not be aware of this development. 

There is also objective sinfulness and subjective sinfulness. Objective is when we break the traditional conventional rules and regulations given in the Scriptures or laid down by the society. Subjective is something we feel personally wrong, which we should have avoided by all means, and we are directly responsible for it before God. 

Most of our sins are of sins of judgment: When we are told not to judge, yet we continue to judge others.  

NO POINTING FINGERS
A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?" The father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticize your wife for her shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a better husband than you."

We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at. This is the start of a war.

If we forgive the others, others will ignore our mistake too.

For many people forgiveness is one of the hardest steps of all in our progress toward freedom of spirit. Yet it is essential. For as long as we are unable to forgive, we keep ourselves chained to the unforgiving. We give them rent-free space in our minds, emotional shackles on our hearts, and the right to torment us in the small hours of the night. When it is time to move on, but still too hard, try some or all of these steps. (Note that these steps are appropriate for events resulting from an ongoing adult relationship with anyone. They may not all be appropriate for the random act of violence from a stranger, nor for someone who was abused as a child or while in some other position of true helplessness.)

       i. Understand that forgiving does not mean giving permission for the behavior to be repeated. It does not mean saying that what was done was acceptable. Forgiveness is needed for behaviors that were not acceptable and that you should not allow to be repeated.

     ii. Recognize who is being hurt by your non-forgiveness. Does the other person burn with your anger, feel the knot in your stomach, experience the cycling and recycling of your thoughts as you re-experience the events in your mind? Do they stay awake as you rehearse in your mind what you would like to say or do to 'punish' them? No, the pain is all yours.

  iii. Do not require to know 'why' as a prerequisite to forgiveness. Knowing why the behavior happened is unlikely to lessen the pain, because the pain came at a time when you did not know why. Occasionally there are times when knowing why makes forgiveness unnecessary, but they are rare. Don't count on it and don't count on even the perpetrator knowing why.

    iv. Make a list of what you need to forgive. What was actually done that caused your pain? Not what you felt, what was done.

      v. Acknowledge your part. Were you honest about your hurt or did you hide the fact that the behavior hurt you? Did you seek peace by reassuring the perpetrator that it was all right? Did you stay when you could or should have left? If so, then you, too, have some responsibility. (Here you start to move away from being a victim.)

    vi. Make a list of what you gained from the relationship, whatever form of relationship it was. Looking back you may be focusing on the negatives, the hurts. Yet if they were repeated, you must have stayed to allow the repetition. You did not remove yourself. Why? There must have been some positives if you chose to stay around. What were they?

 vii.    Write a letter to the person (no need to mail it). Acknowledge what you gained from the relationship, and express forgiveness for the hurts. Allow yourself to express all your feelings fully. Do not focus only on the hurts.

viii.     Create a ceremony in which you get rid of your lists and the letter, so symbolizing the ending of the link between you. You may choose to visualize placing them on a raft and watching it drift gently away down a river. You may prefer to burn them and scatter the ashes. You may invent some other form of ritualized separation.

   ix.   Visualize the person you are forgiving being blessed by your forgiveness and, as a result, being freed from continuing the behavior that hurt you.

     x.  Now that you have freed yourself from the painful links and released the pain, feel yourself growing lighter and more joyous. Now you are free to move on with your life without that burden of bitterness. Do not look back in anger.

Body Forgives:
It is said that our body is quick to forgive. Whenever there is a hurt, the blood vessels help to contain that hurt or injury and will make its best to heal the wound through its natural attempts. The moment hurt is experienced, the healing process begins. That is nature. We have in us the normal animal nature, human nature and then we are endowed with Divine nature to help us forgive. That is what Jesus has taught us, ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’. 

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