Showing posts with label Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trust. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2019
Monday, December 10, 2018
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Dealing with the Thorns - Homily for July 8
Readings for Sunday, July 8 / 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Ezekiel 2:2-5 | Psalm 123 | 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 | Mark 6:1-6
When 'Thy Will be done' and my own personal will are not the same, how do I respond? Today's readings help us to see the 'how not to respond' and a beautiful of example of 'how to respond' in the person of St. Paul.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Lent: Exposure - Homily for March 11
Today we recall the 40 holy martyrs of Sebaste who were stripped naked and exposed to bitter cold until their death. Today the Lord invites us to expose our hearts and souls, no longer hiding behind our fear, guilt, shame, or pride, but conquering all for love of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Lent: Learning to Trust - Homily for February 25
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| Abraham and Isaac, c.1617 - Anthony van Dyck |
Today we reflect on the faith of Abraham and the role of the Transfiguration in the faith of Peter, James, and John.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
How To Find Peace - Homily for July 9
Readings for Sunday, July 9 / 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Zechariah 9:9-10 | Psalm 145 | Romans 8:9, 11-13 | Matthew 11:25-30
The human heart is wired to seek peace. The scriptures today tell us how to find it: submit to the will of Jesus Christ and there we will find rest for our soul.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Pre-Lent: Almsgiving - Homily for February 26
Readings for Sunday, February 26 / 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Isaiah 49:14-15 | Psalm 62 | 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 | Matthew 6:24-34
Ash Wednesday, just a few days away, we come to the end of the Lenten homily series, the pre-Lent. And so we have reflected in recent weeks on the aspect of fasting, reflected on prayer, and today we come to that invitation the Lord God gives to us of alms-giving, to continue to correct our hearts to show to show generosity, but even more so to instill within us trust in our God.
At the college seminary, things were pretty easy as far as a life of discernment and prayer, relatively speaking, it wasn't too stressful because priesthood was still somewhere else, it was still far in the distance, it was a good at-least four years away at most. And so there was not a lot of pressure, but when I moved to the theology seminary in New Orleans, there was a whole different ball game. You would walk out the door and the guy next to you is already wearing a Roman collar and you referred to him as deacon. It is a different reality as it puts a whole lot more stress on the actual discernment of one's possible vocation to the priesthood. There was a lot more focus on the life of prayer and trying to trust in the Lord that He would in fact give me everything that I needed. And one of the things that helped me more times than I can even count was the statue of Our Lady over the entry way of the seminary itself. As you came in the front door through the parking lot, there was a statue of Our Lady, and at her feet a simple phrase, two words, "Deus Providebit", "God will provide." And over and over again as I walked into the seminary so many times, to look up and read those words, it was a consolation to me "God will provide." It was a reminder that my God loves me and if I actually believe the things that are said about Him, I ought to trust that He will provide for my needs, and not to be consumed with worrying about so many things, but rather simply to trust and do my best each day to follow after Him. Deus Providebit, God will provide."
It's that sense that the Lord invites us to give alms. Really ultimately to trust in Him, that He will provide for us. Alms-giving comes in a variety of ways, but ultimately it's a recognition that it's something given to us that we are called to give to others. In our seminary course, we had a course on the spiritual life, and there was one reality that they described, the way of God's grace that comes to us, that has continued to resonate within my heart. And it's something that comes in very practical days through the course of the days, and grace was described in two separate ways. The Latin phrasing for one, gratia gratum faciens, which is grace that makes one graced, so it is grace that does something in the individual. And gratia gratis data, grace which is to be freely given. And so it was this recognition that God's grace that comes to us has one of two purposes: either it changes me or it's given to me to help change someone else. On a practical level, it comes out as things such as in the midst of my day when I am struggling with being impatient over something or I want something to happen faster, or I'm stuck in traffic, frustrated with any number of things, I can pray one of those little "arrow prayers" as they say it, those prayers that pierce the heavens and go to the heart of God, and I can simply say, "Lord, help me." And in that moment, God can hear my prayer and grant me the race to be patient in the particular moment, and if I am open to receiving the grace, it can change my heart. And in that particular place, I can become more patient - grace that makes me graced - something that changes my heart. But as we know, there are a number of gifts that are given to us not for me, but for others. Before my ordination to the diaconate, I spend a number of days praying various novenas to different saints and I was praying for certain spiritual gifts that I knew I would need if I was to be able to perform my ministry as a deacon and as a priest in any way, shape or form. I noticed a lot of deficiencies in myself and one of those was in public speaking and in preaching. And so, I prayed for the grace to preach. I don't know if you believe that I have the gift of preaching or not, but I think I do simply on account of the fact that when I was leading community prayer, I knew every single guy, we lived all in the same house, there weren't knew faces or anything else, and all I had to do was simply read out of a book and my hands would be shaking the whole time because I was so nervous. At my first Mass, I forgot the words of the sign of the Cross because my human nature was so freaked out about being in front of people. And so I knew if I was to do anything other than be a mumbling fool in the pulpit, that I would need God's grace. And so I prayed, and I believe it was received.
But it's not for me. I don't stand up here and preach for myself. I preach to myself quite often, but I don't preach for myself. Rather, I preach that others might be able to hear, that the Gospel might be able to be spread and have some actual transforming power in the midst of our world. It's a grace that comes and is given to me simply, and only, to be given away, that others might be able to receive freely of the gift of God. And that's almsgiving - it's the way in which God gives to us some special gift, He makes us stewards as our second reading refers to today, and He invites us to be generous stewards of our gifts. Every single one of us has received a whole variety of gifts from the Lord our God. They come in different ways. They kind of break out into the three general categories of generosity with our time, generosity with our treasure/finances/world means, and generosity with our talents - the things we are good with essential. So God invites us to make use of these things to whatever extent we are able, to be able to continue to build up the Body of Christ because they are given to us for others, not for ourselves. Again, certainly that doesn't mean that every penny that we take in we have to give away and we just have to trust that someone will pay our light bill and someone else will pay our house note and someone else will pay the car note and insurance - obviously that's not the way it works. But it's not to make the things of this world our God. That's what the Lord speaks of in the Gospel - you can't serve God and mammon; mammon being possessions, things. Rather, we have to trust in the providence of God for us, that our God loves us, He knows what we need, and He will grant it to us. And so He invites us, with the gifts He bestows, to be generous. It's easy for us to say no when asked to be generous with our time. Most of us are pretty busy these days, whether it's things at work, at home, things we are doing with the church, whether it's kids, grandkids or other family obligations that takes us here, there and everywhere and it seems like we don't have a minute to stop, and Father asks us to stay a few minutes after Mass, which I'm going to ask y'all today, to stay a few minutes after Mass. And it's easy for us to go, "I got so many things," and to not give our time. Or to know we have other opportunities to grow in our faith or opportunities to serve someone else, not just in the church but in a larger community, and sometimes we can become stingy with out time, which try to hoard it all to our self, not to be able to give it up. We try to store it up for ourselves - the gift of our time.
The Lord also bestows upon us many treasures, the things of the world. He gives us many gifts and they can be use for incredibly good things, but sometimes we place our security in the things of the world. I think that if my checking account is big enough, I don't have to worry about anything because I don't have to take care of myself. And as soon as I think I can take care of myself, the Lord usually quickly, and boldly, such is not the case. Remember the man in the Gospel, who having an abundance harvest. He looks out and says, "My barn isn't big enough to hold all this, so I'm going to tear down my barn and build an even bigger one." It doesn't work out for him because he tries to hoard it for himself, take for himself, which was not rightly his. Rather the Lord bestow it upon him, to bestow it in generosity to others. So also our talents, the things that we are good at. A lot of times we think that when we can't do anything for the church because we think we can't read in front of people, we can't do whatever we think we are supposed to be doing to be good Christians. But every single one of us has gifts that can build up the Christian community. If there is something you're good at, I can almost guarantee there is a way the Church can utilize that for the good of the community..To be willing to put ourselves at the service of God and the Church, yes but also in our community. But sometimes we can shrink back and say, you know someone else is better than me in that particular aspect, so I'm not going to do that. But we can tie our talents with our time, and go you know I really could do that, but I just don't have time these days, and then we shrink back. Again, it's not to be able to give wholly even to the detriment of our self, but rather to give generosity when we are able to because it teaches us to trust.
The temptation often times is to control things for ourselves. We get it from our first parents. Adam and Eve, when Eve looked upon the fruit in the garden, she noticed there was three things about it, and one of them was that it was pleasing to the eyes and it was good. She wanted it for herself, and rather than trusting the Lord God would give her what was good and holy, she took it and she tried to keep it for herself. A similar is what the Lord experienced when we was tempted after his 40 days of fasting in the desert; of how the devil came to Him and took Him up the mountain to show Him all the kingdoms of the world, and he says, "All these things, I can give to you. I can give you the souls that you have come to die for, Jesus. All you have to do is bow down before me." And Jesus has the opportunity to take every soul for Himself right on the spot, and the emphasis is to take it. To be able to take rather than to receive. By being obedient to the Father, He now reigns glorious as the King of all the heavens and the earth, and all those souls that could have rightly been taken, have now been given, and even more. Our Lord God provides for us in the same. To the extent that we desire to take something, we will fall short. The desire that we are generosity in our giving and allow the Lord to provide for us, we will always be surprised because our Lord is never outdone in generosity. If we give one, the Lord gives a hundredfold He says, in this world and in the next. What a gift, to know of the love of our God.
And so when those fears come into our heart in the course of our days and whatever way the Lord is inviting us in generosity, in so many ways we can do exactly as is said in the Gospel. We worry, we worry about tomorrow, we worry about what our food, our drink clothes, what about this, what about that, what if what if what if .... And we worry ourselves, and there is so much concern, and at the root of it all, is because I'm trying to provide for me rather than to let the Lord provide. And so when those moments of fear, reservation and concern come into or hearts, we don't only listen to the words of the Lord spoken to us the prophet Isaiah today. The Lord God says, "Can a mother forget her infant? Be without tenderness for the child of her womb." As crazy as that would seem to us, as if a mother can simply bare a child and forgot that it every happened, she would bore a child in her womb for nine full months and gave birth with joy. As crazy as that seems, the Lord God continues, "Even should she forget, I will never forgot you." I will never forget you. The Lord God knows your needs, He knows your longings, He knows everything. It's simply an invitation to come and to trust.
Deus Providebit, God will provide.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Increase Our Faith - Homily for October 2
Faith is a very important thing in the scriptures. At various points, we hear people praised for their faith, as being the means of their salvation, hearing the word of God and finding trust in Christ. But a lot of times when we say the word "faith," what we think, what we understand and what the world understands as faith, are two very different things. When the world hear "faith," they think often of mere superstition They see us as Christians and if we say the right number of prayers , the right number of times, if we pray the right verse or in the right situation ... if we do things just perfectly, God will reward us, God will bless us. They see it sometimes as a complete submission of self to God and the Church in a mindless manner - to put aside all reasoning, rationality, thought, and whatever God says, we follow whatever. Whatever the Church says, we follow whatever. Whatever the priest says, we follow whatever. If Fr. Brent gets up and says the sky is green, by faith the sky is green. They seem also that prayer or faith is simply an easy way out. They see it as taking the easy way, so they don't have to - so we don't have to - deal with the hard things; Those great mysteries, the sufferings and pains of people throughout the world, unjustly so often. They see faith as us washing our hands saying ... you know, we trust, God is God ... and we chalk it off as nothing big. And they see that as faith, but none of those things are really faith. They are false ideas of faith.
Faith is really what St. Paul describes to St. Timothy in his letter today - a profound trust, a rich trust. A confidence in the Lord that He is with us - that's faith. Knowing that when we pray, yes we pray different prayers, novenas, rosaries and chaplets, but it's not a magically superstitious thing. It's a place where it draws us to an encounter and conforms us to a more confident and trusting relationship with the Lord.
Sometimes yes, our faith goes beyond reasoning, but it's not because reasoning has been set aside, but because we know that God is able to work miracles. He's able to do things in this world that don't make sense. It's being able to follow in a manner that can look like the easy way out, but really it's the difficult way of staying with people in their suffering, not trying to walk away. This is faith, and it's the faith that the Lord invites us to reflect upon especially in the scriptures this weekend.
The disciples come and look at Jesus - they had been walking with the Lord for a while and they recognize they need more faith - who is telling all these people "your faith has saved you... your faith has healed you." They ask the Lord to increase their faith, "Here I am, Lord. Make it happen Big Guy. Work Your magic, increase my faith." And the Lord responds in an interesting manner, as He always does. He doesn't say "Wish granted, you got faith." Rather He says, "If you had faith the size of of a mustard seed, you'd be able to say to the mulberry tree 'Get up and be planted in the cedar wood." Jesus, in His other parables, uses things in an extraordinary manner. But when it comes to us, He uses the smallest things - a mustard seed. He knows wee struggle with faith. he knows that in the depths of our heart, it's hard to have faith. it may seem like the easy way out, but it's incredibly difficult to have faith, to have that rich trust in our God, to have that confidence that whenever things get difficult that God still is with us when everything around us seems to say otherwise. That kind of faith is difficult. And the Lord says that even if you have the smallest of bits, that's enough. That's a starting point. If we have even the smallest amount of faith, it's something that can grow. It's also interesting that the Lord uses the mustard seed, as so many of His parables involve plants, because plants are a beautiful analogy of the soul. There are seeds, there is growth, there is sometimes a lack of growth, there's the death of the plant, there's pruning, there's seasons, there's fruits - much the same with the soul. The Lord God comes and plants the seed of faith, that little bitty seed of faith in the gift of our Baptism and He invites us to allow it to be nourished. But the only way faith is nourished is for it to be used. We can't just open our arms in front of the church, "Lord increase my faith," and expect it to instantaneously happen. It doesn't work - I've tried. It takes us to go forth and be people of faith. In the little things, to trust in the Lord. That willingness to walk day after day after day, trusting over and over again. Having confidence that the Lord is with us.
As we heard in the Gospel a couple of weeks ago, whenever we are able to make something out of a little bit of wealth, we are trusted with more. If we are faithful with little wealth, God will give us great wealth. And if we put to use the little bit of faith we do have, God will increase it and make it a great faith - a faith that has transforming powers, a faith that whenever the big things come, and we walk in the little ways of faith, trust in the little things, that whenever the hard things come, it seems second nature for us. It's normal for us to trust, despite all things otherwise telling us God is not with us. When we have faith, things change. It's that confidence in the Lord; He calls us to trust and confide in Him. .
We have these two stories set side by side in the Gospel - the Lord always moves and throws curve balls to keep us on our toes and help us grow in our understanding of things. And so, the disciples are hoping to get a little boost of faith, and in response they get, "If you had even a little bit of faith, you could say to that tree to get up and go into the sea, and it would" - a challenge to recognize they faith that they have. But secondly he gives that parable of the unprofitable stewards/servants. "Who among you would go out and have your servant who has been working in the field, to when he comes home you say, "You sit down. I'm going to serve you dinner." Who among you would do that? Nobody because that's not your job. In fact, it's his job. It's fitting, right, it's the normal thing to do, that when he comes in from a day in the fields, you would say "Now you can finished the second half of your job. You can serve me at table and after that you could have your meal." That's normal. It's a story about justice in a certain sense; what do we deserve.
A lot of times whenever we approach faith, it seems as if that simply having faith in God, simply having that rich trust in the Lord, that sometimes we feel it should be a special gift we get in response. That if I have faith, trust in the Lord and follow His ways, that I should be rewarded and God should give me special blessings for it. That after laboring in the vineyard and trusting in Him, I should go home at the end of the day and God should come serve me. That's kind of what the disciples are looking for. They are looking to have themselves cared for, as Peter elsewhere would say, "Lord, we've give up all these things, what do I get in return." And so to the same things with faith. But that's not exactly how it works, Christ reminds us. He says very gently, connecting the two stories side-by-side, that we ought to have faith, He can work with faith. But also, if we do have faith, good. We are supposed to; we're supposed to have that confidence in the Lord. If we labor in the vineyard all day long and trying to give ourselves and increase that faith by trusting in God through the big and the small. Good. We're supposed to. It's not supposed to be a special privilege for only a few. It's something that all of us are called to.
It's something that God rightly deserves - our trust. He deserves to be completely trusted because He is a loving Father. He's a Father that wants the best for us. He's a Father that comes to us and is willing to give us everything, more than what we dare to ask, as the opening prayer eluded to. We can't even to dare ask for the great gifts that God is willing to bestow upon us every day. That's the love of the Father. And that's why it is right, just, that we should trust in Him. Faith is not a special gift. It's the normal course of the Christian life. And so we ask the Lord to be with us today, and by the grace of this Mass that He would come and strengthen us. We pray that prayer of the apostles we hear today for ourselves, "Lord, increase our faith."
Monday, August 8, 2016
Monday, July 25, 2016
Signs of the Times - Homily for July 24 (Feast of St. Ann)
Readings from July 24 (Feast of St. Ann)
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:12-14
Luke 11:1-13
Announcement: St. Ann Parish has a website now: www.goodsaintann.com - check us out!
The Lord often uses physical, relatable examples in his teaching to his disciples. Today He uses a clear one of someone coming at midnight to ask for food. Every one of us knows that even if we don't want to get up, their persistence will lead us to give them whatever they want...even if we do it less than gracefully and kindly. He also uses physical things to teach in numerous other examples so as to help the people understand. He does this because He knows that we are good at understanding physical realities, but the more important for us is to understand the spiritual realities. Speaking to the disciples, Jesus told them that they know well the 'signs of the times' physically; how to read the skies and understand that when the wind blows this way rain is coming, or when plants change that seasons are changing, and so forth. They rightly read those things, but the greater gift is to be able to read the signs of the times in the Spirit. To know that when things are happening around us what is the work of God and what is the work of the evil one.
Reflecting these past few weeks on the Sunday scriptures, as well as the saints' feast days that we've remembered through the course of the week and the recent events around our country, it seems rather clear to me that the signs of the times are all pointing toward a common refrain: pray, pray, pray.
It is good for us to pray, but if we don't know how to pray or how to pray well, our efforts may be less fruitful than otherwise may be the case. The disciples recognize this and wisely ask Jesus for help: "Jesus us how to pray just as John taught his disciples." In response the Lord gives them a little catechism lesson on prayer. In it He gives us what we can discern as three main points today.
The first point is the fact that we need to pray. When the request is made the Lord doesn't shrug it off as something inconsequential, but rather immediately responds. Unlike many places where He asks questions or invites them to reflect, He acknowledges the importance of prayer and feeds them with the proper manner of prayer. The prayer He gives, an abbreviate form of the Our Father is what is given by St. Luke, even reminds us that we cannot provide our own daily bread - our legitimate needs and other desires - but that it comes from God. We can forget this sometimes and go through the course of our day forgetful that the gifts we have and exercise are there only because of God's goodness and we can implicitly take them as our personal traits or skills we've honed and developed. But it is the Lord who does these things and it is He to whom we turn for help.
The second point on prayer is that we must begin with the Lord first and our petitions second. St. Peter Julian Eymard, known often as an Apostle of the Eucharist and one who wrote and preached extensively on the Most Blessed Sacrament, said that when we go to prayer before Our Lord, we ought to begin by loving the Lord and pouring out our love for Him. This is modeled by Jesus as He begins the prayer with "Father, hallowed be your name...". Honored be Your name, holy be Your name. Saturday was the feast of St. Bridget of Sweden and the Office of Readings for her feast was a beautiful reflection on the Passion of Christ. What is different than most narratives is that preceding each portion of the Passion reflection is a line to the effect of 'Glory be to You, Lord', 'Honor be to You', 'Eternal praise be to You', and the like. She poured out her love and then would reflect on the petition or need. So, how often do you begin your prayer with "In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, I need your help right now with...." or something to that effect? I know that I do it often because the time when we our to prayer most quickly and fervently is when we are in need. But the Lord reminds us to praise Him first, pouring out our love, and then after having done so being able to bring forward our petitions and needs which now have a new strength and power because they are purified by our praise and adoration.
The third point is the need for persistence in prayer. How many souls have been lost for the lack of persistence! How frequently have I seen in other and myself the struggle of faith when a petition is prayer about for week, month, or years and right when it seems like the Lord is about to move, the prayer is given up for lack of faith and persistence. Right at the threshold when the gift was to be given! Persistence in prayer is everything because it shapes our heart to become more like loving nature that is the Lord God's. The problem with persistence is that we often treat it like a great haggling match with God. When we hear the reading from Genesis today we can think that Abraham is talking God into not destroying the city, almost as if God is really angry and Abraham is the merciful one. Jesus' description of God as a good father helps us to reorient things. Abraham thinks he's going out on a limb asking God to preserve the city if there are 50 righteous ones there. Abraham sees bargaining but the Lord sees the call as way too little to ask - our Good Father wants to much more for us! As Abraham goes from 50 to 45, 40, 30, 20 & 10, it's as if the Lord is saying in response, "Abraham, I will go much farther than you think. I love you and these people so much more than you realize! To what depths I would not go to prove this!" It is not Abraham who is haggling for souls, it is the Lord haggling with Abraham in an attempt for Him to realize the Love that is within the heart of our Heavenly Father. Persistence was not so much about changing God's mind as changing Abraham's heart. In the end, there were not even 10 righteous people found and the city was lost (a testament to the wickedness of the people and not the vengefulness of God) but Abraham learned a valuable lesson that day about the Lord and His goodness toward us. We must persist in prayer. We must ask, seek, and knock continuously on the Heart of Christ. He is all-loving and wants to give us good things, more than we even want to receive them.
So we pray. This week we were asked by our bishop to pray and fast for peace. Join me in persisting in that prayer; let's keep it going. And let us pray that the prayers we have offered, the fasting we have taken up, and the acts of charity that we've shown may be taken up into the hands of St. Ann, where they can be purified, sanctified, and made fruitful in the sight of our good and loving Father and bring forth peace. Good Saint Ann, pray for us!
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Things & Stuff
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| Desires and Dreams and Expectations. Oh my! |
1 Kings 17:10-16
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
As we continue to draw near the
end of the Liturgical Year, Mother Church wisely encourages us to make sure
we’re detached from the things of the world. It is not hard to find ourselves
in a place where we’ve begun to cling to our own will, desires, or expectations.
The problem with clinging to the things of this life is that they ultimately
fail to satisfy our deepest longings and leave us unable to receive the Will of
God, which brings true happiness, on account of us having out hands full of our
‘stuff’. Anyone who has made an act of faith before by giving up something for
God knows that the truth of the matter is that God won’t leave us hanging. He
always shows up and it’s always better than we could have anticipated. That
doesn’t mean we don’t have crosses. Surely we do; we must. But the Will of God
is such that we can handle the crosses more gracefully.
To help our reflection this
weekend Mother Church brings to mind two women, both poor widows. The first is
the widow of Zarephath in her encounter with prophet Elijah. He comes into the
area and asks the women for a drink of water and a bit of food. In response we
hear the unhappy story of how she was in that very moment going to make a
little bit of food for her son and after partaking they would die on account of
starvation. You can imagine the great weight on the woman’s heart as she knows
that not only is her death imminent, but also that of her son. To this Elijah
responds with a word of encouragement and that she not be afraid, that they
would not starve. Then he oddly renews his request for some food, knowing she
has almost nothing for herself and her son.
In agreeing to his request she essentially shows that she was willing to
die for Elijah, in that she gave the last of her sustenance in faith that God
would provide. In letting go of her will, her expectations, and likely her
desire for the food herself, she was able to receive a new plan that overflowed
in its abundance.
To this image we are also given
the example of the woman in the Gospel. She, too, is faced with a decision to
try to save something for herself or to give up everything in an act of faith.
She is applauded by Jesus because her seemingly small gift was her whole
livelihood. Following the model of the ancient story and the pattern of God’s
love and generosity that is never outdone, I’d love to know the rest of the
story. How is it that God responded? Did Jesus do something after this scene
that changed everything for her? A miracle at Cana type of miracle? Or
something deeper? We’ll find out in Heaven. But before then, we have to follow
their example.
To each and all of us God gives
the reminder that we cannot continue to cling to the things of this life and be
ready for the next one. The Letter to the Hebrews talks about the eagerness of
Christians for the Lord’s return, but how many of us would rejoice if Jesus
showed up right in front of the altar and said “I’m here, who wants to leave
this world and go to heaven right now?” I think some of us might balk and be
like those elsewhere who have excuses that they’d love to but they have to take
care of just one thing real quick before then. What is it that we are clinging
to today? Where is it that the Lord inviting us to a sacrificial gift? An act
of faith that seems absurd and yet it is the exact thing the Lord desires? The
Lord wills it – can we receive it?
[At this point the homily leads
into the reading of Bishop Muench’s address regarding the Bishop’s Annual
Appeal. For more information on that –whether to learn about what it does or to
make donation online - you can visit baabr.org]
Sunday, August 23, 2015
The Invitation (John 6 - Part 5)
Readings for Sunday, August 23 / 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time:Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18
Psalm 34
Ephesians 5:21-32
John 6:60-69
“Wives should be subordinate to
their husbands.”
I laughed a bit to myself as I
was praying with the readings this week, as having this feather-ruffling
reading from St. Paul alongside the conclusion of the 5-week series on John 6
makes for a easy ‘out’ for all the priests who ‘would love to address St.
Paul’s words’ but ‘really need to focus on this last week about the Eucharist’.
But my thought is why not do both?
The words of St. Paul that we
just heard a moment ago are incredibly beautiful and powerful message to
husbands and wives. It should be the joy of two hearts to hear them on their
wedding day, and yet how rarely they are heard. Why? Because our culture
doesn’t understand them. When the world today hears the words “wives should be
subordinate to their husbands” walls immediately go up against them on account
of their supposed misogynistic viewpoint that presumes that St. Paul has as his
goal the suppression of women, particularly in their marital relationships. But
let’s look at it for a moment. If you look at the meaning of the word
‘subordinate’ that is used here the Latin root translates as ‘put under’ or ‘to
plunge into’. St. Paul is inviting wives to places themselves under the care of
their husbands as to the Lord, with complete trust. But why place themselves
under their husband? Why not alongside? To understand we simply look to the
call of St. Paul to husbands in regards to their wives: ‘love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her.’
What is interesting here is that the call of a women is to place herself under
the direction or order of her husband, while the call of a husband is to be
able to lay down his life in service of his bride, as Christ did for the
Church, to make her beauty and holy. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing at all
to me! Recognizing the beauty of it is easy; living it is not. To live this
mutual submission to one another requires an immense amount of trust. Trust on
the part of the wife that her husband will not abuse the role of husband and become
an oppressor. And trust on the part of the husband that his self-gift will be
received by his wife for her own good and not simply disregarded. It’s all
about trust.
And this is exactly where the
Lord brings us with this last of the five weeks’ reflections on John 6. In
recent weeks Jesus has said and done some really incredible things. We saw his
authority-claiming actions of climbing the mountain, sitting, and performing
the miracle of feeding 5000+ people with a few loaves and fish. He spoke to us
of manna & quail that failed to satisfy and a True Bread that would satisfy
not only a small nation but the entire world. He took it a step further and
announced that the True Bread would be His very own flesh and by eating it we
could attain heavenly life. And then He capped it all off by saying that it was
not only His flesh that we would have to eat, repulsive enough an idea as it
was, but that we would also have to drink His blood to have that heavenly life.
After hearing this litany of absurd claims, we could easily place in this
context the command of Joshua to the Israelites: Decide today whom you will
serve!
Again, we know the difficulty of
accepting so many of the things that the Lord has spoken to us because they are
outside of our understanding, contradict so much of what seems common sense,
and makes a claim that is absolutely incredibly. Really, after hearing this
speech you have to believe either Jesus is the real deal and He can give
everything He says OR He’s a raving lunatic who needs to be cast aside and
ignored as one who has no grasp on reality. Many of his disciples, we hear,
left that day. His disciples. Not just the people who followed Him to get some
food, but the disciples who had been walking with Him for days, weeks, maybe
months by this point. It was too much for them to take; they couldn’t trust in
the words He spoke. What I find fascinating is that Jesus doesn’t go groveling,
trying to get them to come back to Him. He simply turns to the disciples and says,
‘Do you also want to leave?’
I love Peter’s response because
it’s honest. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the worlds of eternal life.”
Notice that he doesn’t say ‘No, Lord, I don’t want to leave.’ You can almost
read the confusion in his response. It’s as if he is saying ‘Lord, I don’t understand
what you mean entirely and I don’t know how you’re going to make it happen, and
it causes me discomfort to hear it, but I’m going to trust you and keep going. You
have the words of eternal life. I’m gonna trust you.’ I may be interpreting it
wrongly, but it sounds as if Peter doesn’t completely understand everything
himself just yet but that he’s willing to keep on the journey.
And the invitation is extended to
us the same. Can we every fully understand the Eucharist? No. Will we ever
really be able to wrap our minds around the mystical words that Jesus says and
the miraculous things that He does? No. Are we ever going to reach a point when
the Eucharist doesn’t require of us a radical act of faith? I don’t think so.
Because that’s the whole point. Jesus invites every human person to an
encounter with Him, particularly in the Eucharist. The question is whether we
are able to trust Him enough to believe and follow despite our lack of
understanding?
Decide today whom you will serve?
As for me an my house, we will serve the Lord.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Just Trust Us
Readings for Sunday, April 26/ 4th Sunday of Easter:Acts 4:8-12
Psalm 118
1 John 3:1-2
John 10:11-18
Growing up, I was a bit of a
picky eater. Generally it was poptarts, meats, cheese, bread, ketchup, and
french fries. So basically, poptarts, cheeseburgers, french fries. Thankfully
as I’ve grown in age, I’ve also grown in my tastes and willingness to branch
out. In recent years I’ve gotten into the habit that if I’m looking over a menu
and find an item with the description including the phrase ‘just trust us.’ I
usually get that thing. Saturday morning I went to Denham Springs to celebrate
my nephew’s baptism. Afterward we went to a local restaurant, Big Mike’s, for a
bit to eat. Looking through the menu there were several things that sounded
good when I came across the Peanut Butter Bacon Cheeseburger. “8oz black angus hamburger topped with peanut butter and bacon. Served on a sweet sourdough bun with a side of french fries. Just trust us.” So... I got. And it was delicious!
The thing about it is that most
of the items that have the ‘just trust us’ statement are either too good to be true or too weird to be good. Either way, customers might
need that extra encouragement to be willing to take the plunge.
As we come this weekend to
celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday, we recall the fact that God is ever-watchful of
us, the flock. As members of the flock, it is our role to follow the shepherd
which means first and foremost being able to trust the shepherd; and this is the
hard part for most of us. I don’t know about you, but if I were to look at the
Lord Jesus’ life as a menu, nearly every item on it would require that extra
push to ‘just trust us’. Think about it: God became a human person, bearing our
own flesh and enduring every trial and temptation we do. Eh…that sounds weird.
“Just trust us.” A virgin gave birth to a baby boy? That doesn’t sound right.
“Just trust us.” The same baby boy, who is also God, grew up and walked around
almost unnoticed for 30 years. Really? “Just trust us.” After 30 years He up
and becomes one of the most famous people of his day? That just sounds made up.
“Just trust us.” At the end of His 33 years, He willing climbed a hill with His
cross in order to be killed? Whoa. That’s just crazy. “Just trust us.” Then the
dead man came back to life three days later. Seriously. That’s just not even
possible. “Just trust us.” Then that dead man who came back to life ascended up
to Heaven and opened Heaven for us follow after Him and be united to God forever.
This madness has to stop! “Just trust us.” Over an over again the life of Jesus
Christ challenges us trust in God that things are what He says they are,
despite the fact that those things just don’t happen…and yet they did.
This past week we celebrated the
feast of St. Anselm, who was a great philosopher and theologian. One of the
great axioms he gave to the Church was his little phrase ‘credo ut intelligam’
– I believe so that I might understand. Often times in our world today we have
to seek to make sense of something before we place our trust in it. And if
you’re waiting to fully understand the life of Jesus Christ before you put your
trust in Him, then good luck with that! St. Anselm shows us that in the ways of
faith, the first step isn’t understanding but rather the step of faith. We take
a step out in faith first and trust that God will help to unveil things and
bring us to a deeper understanding as time goes on.
Celebrating First Holy Communion
this weekend, it strikes me that one of the best places to start with this
‘credo ut intelligam’ approach of faith is right here in the Eucharist. We can
seek to understand all sorts of things, but the life of God only comes alive
when we first make that act of faith and let the Lord Jesus and His grace come
alive within us. And so I want to reflect for a brief moment on how we are able
to act in faith first and let the Lord open up the gift of the Eucharist to us
in the time that follows.
The first question that came to
mind was ‘How do I show my belief that the Eucharist is really Jesus Christ?’
The little actions we do – genuflecting, praying on our knees, visiting the
church when it’s open, making the sign of the Cross as we drive past – are all
ways that our body speaks something to our soul. By actually going through the
motions, we help to inform our soul that something special is happening.
The second question is ‘How often
do I receive Jesus in the Eucharist?’ If we don’t come often, it tends to
lessen the value we place on the Most Blessed Sacrament. But if we came each
weekend and made it a point to come each weekend, or even during the week, our
actions show that what we’re here for is more important than all the other
things on our schedule. How often do we receive Jesus?
And lastly, ‘How do I prepare to
receive Holy Communion?’ It’s easy to get caught up in so many concerns and
worries that when we get to Mass we’re not even there. Or to listen t
In all the times I’ve gotten the ‘Just
trust us’ special at a restaurant, not once have I been disappointed. And if it’s
true of burgers and strange foods, it is even more so about our God. Today He
comes once more and invites us to come and follow more closely. It’s a strange
invitation and sometimes we shrink back from giving Him everything. But there’s
no need to fear. Just trust me.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
HWP: Fruitless Efforts
Yesterday was the feast of St. Ansgar (more on him here) who is generally passed over on account of his sharing a feast with the more notable St. Blaise. In reading about him, it actually seems rather appropriate to be so. St. Ansgar had a great desire to be a martyr for the faith and sought this by way of his attempts to evangelize the pagans of Scandinavia. He went on numerous missions and converted a few souls each time but ultimately they lapsed back into their paganism after his departure. His devotion to the poor and sick was a noble example of charity and he lived a life of great holiness, dying of natural causes rather than his desire of martyrdom. St. Ansgar gives us an example of a man who had a desire to do great things, but who often encounter fruitless efforts and had to accept that some things were not the will of God. And so, this week's HWP is one that helps us to align our will with that Divine Will and continue to seek the Lord in all things. Please join me in praying...
O my God, I do not know what will happen today, but it is enough for me to know and to believe that nothing will happen to me that is not permitted by You from all eternity for my greater good.
I adore Your holy and eternal dispositions. I surrender myself with all my heart to Your fatherly love. I make of everything a loving sacrifice in union with that of my Divine Saviour.I ask, in His Name and through the merits of His Passion, the grace of patience and perfect submission to You in all my sufferings, so that whatever You permit to happen may be for Your greater glory and my sanctification. Amen.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
HWP: St. Teresa
Today is the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church and foundress of the Discalced Carmelites. Noted for her great spiritual insights, gleaned from years of poor prayer followed by fervent prayer, she was one in whom I found much consolation in my early years of seminary. So, this week we honor her with:
A Prayer of St. Teresa
Let nothing trouble you,Let nothing scare you,All is fleeting,God alone is unchanging.PatienceEverything obtains.Who possesses GodNothing wants.God alone suffices.Amen.
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