August 31, 2025: Pro-Jesus, Pro-Peacemaking

Pro-Jesus, Pro-Peacemaking

So... it’s my birthday today. I’m 69. You know, birthdays are great excuse to celebrate. When I turned 50, I decided to do something different. So, I invited my whole family to join me for a special event. They were excited, thinking, “Oh boy, maybe a dinner, a party, something fun.” Instead, I led them to... a Habitat for Humanity project. Which is volunteering to help build a house for people who need help. Let’s just say, the reactions were not what you’d call enthusiastic. “Wait, you brought us to WORK?” “I could be at home fixing my own house instead of someone else’s!”

But by the end of the day... something changed. There were smiles. Laughter. Sore muscles, yes — but also full hearts. Because helping someone you don’t even know? That’s real joy.

Now today’s Gospel is all about how we treat other people — especially people who can’t repay us. Jesus is having dinner — again — at a Pharisee’s house. And once again, he’s shaking things up. He says, basically: “Stop jockeying for the best seats at the table. Stop inviting only the people who can repay you. Invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame — people who can’t give you anything back.”

In other words: stop playing politics with your kindness. Just be kind. It’s about humility, generosity, and even hospitality. But it’s also about justice. Jesus is saying: "Honor those who are usually left out." Now there are issues occurring all over the world regarding people feeling left out. Last weekend Bishop Pat Neary asked all parishes to have a second collection for the people starving in Gaza. Our parish collected $4,144.35. That is wonderful and you can still contribute.  

The whole issue between Israel and Palestine is complicated. Let me help explain things: Israel is a small country on the edge of the Mediterranean — about the size of New Jersey. Minnesota, by comparison, is nine times bigger. Within Israel, there is two regions called Palestine, as: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — together, roughly the size of Delaware. . Just like we call ourselves Minnesotans, the people who live in Palestine are Palestinians. And yes — there are Catholic Palestinians, Jewish Palestinians, Muslim Palestinians, just like we have a mix of faiths right here. Now, the West Bank is governed by Palestinian Authority (PA), dominated by Fatah, and the Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas.  

But here’s where it gets hard: for decades, Palestinians have been living under extremely harsh conditions. I’ve seen it firsthand. I lived there for four months. I led a pilgrimage there just before the war. 

Those living in Palestine have to buy water — Israelis don’t.
They can’t drive on certain roads — Israelis can.
A retired Catholic man in Bethlehem (which is in Palestine) is forbidden from visiting Jerusalem — his own holy city.
And there’s now a massive cement wall surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods.

One Palestinian told me, “We feel like prisoners in our own country.”

And right now, people on both sides are hurting. In October 2023, Hamas committed horrific violence — innocent Israelis were killed. Hostages were taken. And since then, Israel has responded with more violence — many more innocent Palestinians have died. It's a cycle of pain. Fr. Richard Rohr wrote, "If we don't transform our pain, we will transmit it."

And closer to home... that pain showed up again — just this past week — right here in our own city. There was a young man with lots of pain, and he never learned how to transform it. He transmitted it with a shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Killing two, wounding many, with seven still hospitialized.  It’s heartbreaking. It’s confusing. And it’s so easy to feel hopeless.

But we are not a hopeless people. Even in tragedy, even in senseless violence, there are still helpers. There are still peacemakers. Still people sitting beside the grieving, feeding the hungry, holding the scared. Still people showing up — not to be repaid, but simply because that’s what kindness does.

So what do we do?

Well, maybe we start by remembering what Jesus said in today’s Gospel:

Invite the people who can’t pay you back. Treat all people with dignity, not just your friends.

Choose love over revenge.

Choose humility over pride.

Choose compassion — always.

I received a birthday gift recently with many of my favorite sayings on it: 

Be kind

Be the change you wish to see in the world. 

[Sing]
Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.

I’m not asking you to pick a side based on politics, platforms, or parties. I am not asking you to be pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. I am not asking you to be anti-assault weapons or pro-NRA. I’m not asking you to echo headlines, hashtags, or partisan talking points.

I’m asking you to be pro-justice.
Pro-mercy.
Pro-truth.
Pro-human dignity.

I’m asking you to stand where Jesus stands — with the poor, the grieving, the displaced, the persecuted. To mourn with those who mourn, to speak up for the silenced, and to hold space for the hurting. To believe that peacemaking is not weakness, but courage. That forgiveness is not forgetting, but freedom. And that love — radical, sacrificial, inconvenient love — is the most powerful force in the world.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded us, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

[Sing]
Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there's sadness, ever joy.