Preached on the Holland American Westerdam Cruise Ship through the Northern Mediterranean Sea.

It dawned on me as I was preparing this particular homily during the eleventh year of my priesthood that I never actually have preached on the readings on which we are focusing today. As many of you might know, the Sunday scripture readings run on a three year cycle, from Cycle �A� to �B� to �C� and back. Since my ordination in 1996, this is the fourth time that we have passed through the Cycle �C� readings during the Church year. And yet, in 1998, 2001 and 2004, it seems that the readings for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time have been replaced by the readings for Trinity Sunday or Corpus Christi.

For me, this conundrum is a shame, because we have bypassed too important a theme on which I choose to focus today�s homily, although the gospel on which we focus today, the anointing of Jesus� feet, can be found in all four of our gospel accounts and is a text we read each year, in one form or another (see Mt 26: 6-13, Mk 14: 3-9, Lk 7: 36-50 and Jn 12: 1-8).

In Luke�s story of this anointing, I would like to point out at least four differences that distinguish this gospel from then other three. First, the Lukan passage takes place in Bethany, as opposed to the other passages, which locate the setting in Galilee. Second, the Lukan passage places this story at the beginning of his ministry, whereas the other three gospels tend to place it towards the end. Third, the author in Luke�s gospel describes the woman anointing Jesus� feet as a sinner, whereas Mark and Matthew describe the woman as neither a saint nor sinner and John�s Gospel gives a name to the woman, the name of Mary, the sister of Martha.

The great conundrum of Luke�s gospel, though, comes from the fourth difference, a difference on which I have reflected over the last few days. The question which I pose to you today comes from the scholar M. Zerwick, who, in his book, The Bible Greek, offers the following problem on which this homily is based: does the sinful woman turn to the life of love as a result of her being forgiven or did Jesus forgive the sinful woman as a result of her offering him love? Referring to the original biblical Greek, Zerwick would argue that Luke�s gospel leans in favor of the former, stating that love reveals itself when a sinner asks for forgiveness. Zerwick argues that Jesus reinforces this theme when he cites the parable of Simon, a parable that states that greater love comes from the result of greater forgiveness.

This theme is so important in my own faith life because I often see love and forgiveness as such an integral part of our faith life that they two cannot be separated. A person who claims to love God, must, by the nature of that love, be required to forgive those who have sinned and seek forgiveness. As a result, the gift of forgiveness is like a seed in our garden of faith which takes root within us and grows into love, the fruit of which is more amazing to the soul than we could ever imagine. To take this analogy one step further, the person who claims to love God must, by the nature of that love, be required to plant that seed of forgiveness in the souls of those who have done us wrong, regardless of whether (or not) these wrongdoers seek forgiveness at all. Christ plants that seed in today�s readings; he plants that seed on the cross. He planted the seed of the Holy Spirit within each of us with the hope that we allow that seed to grow within us.

All that said, we must ask ourselves why it is so hard to seek God�s forgiveness for the sins we have committed. Why is it so hard to forgive others that have sinned against us? I suspect that part of the answer to this question is that people like me have been the victim of sin by others and do not allow the grace of God, to some degree, to allow ourselves to forgive those who have sinned against us. I suspect that part of the answer to this question is that people like me have treated others like victims and have sinned against them and do not have the courage to ask for forgiveness. I suspect that people reject the sacrament of reconciliation (or try to put it off) because of their fear of rejection by the Lord, who will gently remonstrate us with the words of the �Our Father� (the subject of our homily in six weeks) on which I have preached to myself time and time again: �Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.�

In my research for today�s homily, I came across an Apostolic Letter that Pope Leo XIII once wrote called The Light of the East (Orientale Lumen), which talks about an empty void that exists in a faithful person�s life without that person being able find one�s purpose in their live through the guidance of the divine. In this text, the Holy Father challenges all of us to follow the path of Eastern Prayer, to silently approach the Lord in order to recognize that, through this silence, we may enter into this �Sabbath rest� with God and encounter this love and forgiveness which are essential for us to realize that life is not empty but so full of grace and the presence of the divine. Pope Leo explains that we encounter love and forgiveness most fully in the sacraments, which is why he encourages us to pray more, to become silent more, and to enter into the scriptures and the life of God more often because as we encounter god loving and forgiving, so we are inspired to imitate the life of the divine and do the same.

In my reflection, I believe that Luke intentionally places this story of love and forgiveness at the beginning of his ministry as a basic theme to which he will refer over and over again throughout his gospel as the prerequisite to the life that reflects the life of God and gives our own life purpose as well. Over the next twenty weeks that are yet to come in this Season of Ordinary Time, St. Luke will present us with one story after another of love and forgiveness and how both of these themes are so interrelated that we are called to incorporate these themes as inseparable themes within our lives.

Among these stories, we will read from the 10th Chapter of Luke, which will focus on the despised Samaritan who assists an abused stranger out of the sake of love (15th Sunday in Ordinary Time). In the 14th Chapter of Luke, Jesus will remonstrate us to seek out those who are the sinners, the lame and crippled and treat them as the most cherished brothers and sisters by loving them and forgiving them (22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time). In the 19th Chapter of Luke (32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time), we read the story of Zaccheaus, the malevolent tax collector who turns to the Lord in forgiveness, receives God�s love and radically transforms his life. And, in the extremely popular Lukan story of love and forgiveness from the 15th Chapter of Luke (24th Sunday of Ordinary Time), we read about the journey of the Prodigal Son who turned to his father in forgiveness and received a much greater love and forgiveness in return.

As we celebrate this 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time in the �C� Cycle for this first time in some 12 years, we give thanks to the people of faith who have served as examples of love and forgiveness among us and who have modeled for us what our purpose in life actually means. Most prominently of which, we remember our fathers whom we commemorate today for their sacrifice and commitment they have provided for their families and the love that they have modeled for the rest of us. At the end of today�s homily, I would like to offer a special blessing to the fathers of our community as a sign of thanksgiving for their role of shepherd in the home and pray that all of us might see the example of faith that is carried through from today�s gospel and is lived within our own Christian community.

May we always remind ourselves that the path to salvation requires us to love and forgive, especially when it is most difficult to do so. May we offer these gifts of love and forgiveness to the people that we meet, as our Lord modeled 2000 years ago in our gospel story and each time we approach our Lord in the sacraments. This is how we find our purpose in life, through the graces of love and forgiveness. This is our prayer.

God our Father,
in your wisdom and love you made all things.
Bless these men,
that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers.
Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
May honor them always
with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then the priest blesses all present
And may almighty God bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.