Corpus Christi: No Mere Symbol - Homily for June 18

Miraculous Host & Blood at Lanciano

Readings for Sunday, June 18 / Corpus Christi: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16  |  Psalm 147  |  1 Corinthians 10:16-17  |  John 6:51-58

The Holy Eucharist is no mere sign or symbol, but is a the true Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, we must approach this mystery with great attention, reverence, awe, and love. May the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus increase these virtues in us until the day He calls us home!

Building Blocks: Sacred Tradition - Homily for January 29

Readings for Sunday, January 29/ 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13  |  Psalm 146  |  1 Corinthians 1:26-31  |  Matthew 5:1-12

"Where is that in the Bible?" Have you ever heard that question before? Often it comes in response to a teaching of the Catholic faith when speaking with a brother or sister who isn't Catholic, but is from a Protestant denomination. They raise that question of things of the faith, "Where is that in the Bible?" The implicit belief or statement of what they are saying is that unless it's in the Bible, we shouldn't believe it. And yet, that's not exactly what we understand as Catholics. If fact, nowhere in the scripture does it say that only in this book are the things that are the teachings of God. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, "This is the only place where we find the teaching of the truth." Rather we find something that's quite the opposite. In St. Paul's letter to Timothy, he explicitly speaks of the Church as the defender and pillar of truth; not the scriptures, but the Church herself, the Body of Christ, the Living Membership of the Lord. It's thus that we, the Body of Christ, rely not exclusively on the scriptures, but with the scriptures as well as tradition - the living tradition passed down to us from Christ Jesus, to the apostles, to their disciples and down to our present day. It's that that we lean upon, and it's in that that we rejoice. 

If you remember, in the early Church there wasn't exactly a Bible that was passed out to all the Christian communities to say that this is the fullness of belief of the things that we are to teach, the things that we are to believe. Rather, they had the oral tradition. The disciples would go and pass on the things that were taught to them. The apostles, hearing all of the things that came from the lips of our Lord, seeing the things He had done, the ways in which He had prayed - they went forth and began to spread that in the Christian community. Only later did they write it down. It was mainly by the gift of the spoken word, the living tradition. 

How many times has it been said by new parents, "If only kids came with a manual, things would be a little bit easier." How many times has that desire been there in the midst of a screaming baby at night, you're trying to find some way to console the child, or in the same way teenagers as they are becoming young adults, trying to understand young people, even in the course later in life as children become adults - how do we respond to them as parents. All of these questions would be welcomed to have a manual that answered every single one of them, and yet we know that that's not always the case. Certainly, there are many books about babies, we can know the many do's and don'ts of raising children. But quite often what happens when a person is struggling with how to respond to something that is happening with their children, to a friend or someone else, rather than go to a book, they go to someone with the experience. We go to our own parents and say, "What do I do? How would I respond? How did you respond?" And more often than not, things that are not always written in books are given to us as advice, and often times they work. Not just a written tradition passed down, but a living one. Something that is given from generation to generation and is passed on, and is true. It's much the same with things of Christ in the Church. Of how indeed we do have the scriptures. There are the holy scriptures - the Word of God written for us to help us walk in the path of heaven. Remember too, that we have the living tradition, the family of God. 

In the Gospel of John, toward the conclusion, it said that if he wrote down all of the things the Lord Jesus said and did, there would not be enough books in all the world to contain them. So there is this recognition, necessarily so, the gift of faith that we live is not confined to books, but rather is a living gift, the gift of faith passed from one person to the next. Much in the same as Jesus; He didn't pass out papers saying, "Everybody read this paper and reflect on it." Rather He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit... Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness... Blessed are the peacemakers..." Remember, too, the many accounts that our Lord Jesus would speak in parables and all of these various stories, but then He would go back with His disciples, His inner circle, they would ask more questions and He would give more answers. He would clarify things that often times were a little bit unclear, and we don't have every single one of those clarifications in the scripture, but we do have them passed down from one person to the next, generation to generation to generation. The living gift of our faith. 

As Catholics, we understand, believe and profess that there is nothing that the Catholic Church teaches that is contrary to the scriptures. Nothing. But there are things we believe that are not explicitly contained in the scriptures. We can dig a little and see implications there, but it doesn't have to be explicitly stated because we know they have been given to us from Christ; they are a part of our family story. 

On the March for Life the other day, on Friday, I was struck by a particular group of individuals who came out to protest. They didn't come to protest abortion. They didn't come to protest the protesters of the abortion. They came to protest the Catholic Church because they know that the Catholic Church is one of the most prominent voices in the right to life movement. And indeed, as we looked around, as we were marching ourselves, some 450 or so students and young adults from the Diocese of Baton Rouge, most of the signs around us were so-and-so Catholic Church or college. It was a very Catholic experience. As we were praying the rosary, we would look around and groups we didn't know would be praying with us. As we were singing the chaplet of Divine Mercy, so too there were many others around us that were praying along with us. It was intriguing because in the midst of that, there was one particular group who came to protest the Church. They had microphones to be able to yell at us over our prayers, and they had signs to let us know that the Pope is the anti-Christ, that all Catholics are going to hell, and we need to repent and believe in the Gospel. I was trying to listen to the individual who was preaching at us as we walked passed. One of the things he said caught my ear. He said, "Brothers and sisters, in 1952 the pope proclaimed Mary assumed into heaven. In 1952, the pope said Mary never died, and we know that St. Paul says the wages of sin is death, and no one is free from death. Therefore the Catholic Church is wrong, and all of you who are Catholic need to understand, repent and turn from the Church." I was marching at that point next to a brother priest, smiled and said to him, "Apparently he never read the document the pope wrote." Because firstly, the pope never said that Mary never died. He is just forcing that reading into it. The pope was very clear; he never said Mary didn't die. But also, there is this implicit belief that because we stated and clarified something in 1952, it doesn't mean that it wasn't true and it doesn't meant that the Church didn't believe it for the previous 1,952 years. 

It's a simple reality that never has it been claimed by any Christian Church, by any Catholic community, that they have the tomb of the Blessed Mother. Have you ever thought about that? We can go and point to all the tombs of the apostles. We can point to all the tombs of the saints. We can say they were here and here and here, we know where the Blessed Mother's house is in Ephesus, we can point to all kinds of things, but not one single soul has ever said in the history of the Church or the history of the world, that they have the tomb of the Blessed Mother, and they know where it is. From the first days of the Church, we believe and understood that Mary was assumed into heaven, body and soul. It took us 1,900 years to come to a full explanation and to be able to say definitively because, and only then, it came under attack. If you remember in the early Church the letters of St. Paul - when he was writing, he didn't come to give a catechism lesson. He didn't say, "Let me lay out the entirety of the Christian belief of our faith for you." Rather he said, "I notice in your community, you are struggling with this. Let me respond to that." None of the letters were meant to be a catechism lesson; they were responding to the needs of a particular church in their struggle. So too, it continues down to our day. A question of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, ultimately led to the pope going, "I see that in our current day there has been a question, a struggle. Let me clarify. Here is what we believe and here's why." Is it in sacred scripture? No. Is it contrary to it? No. Is it something we believe from the beginning? Yes. And we can go down that with so many things that our Catholic Church teaches. Several of them revolve around Our Lady: the Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity and those sorts of things. But also they look to the things of the Eucharist, the sacraments of the Church, the life of faith, the life of prayer. Not always included in the scriptures explicitly, not contrary to them, but very much a part of our faith because we have believed it from the beginning. 

For 2,000 years, generation upon generation, has received the gift of faith, and every generation's duty is to receive it in its fullness and to pass it on to the next generation in its fullness. To fall short is a grave error on our part. So we receive and pass on. Those family remedies, those tales of things that seem odd and yet they work. Wonderful gifts of our faith. 

Often times, whenever we speak of tradition, it is seem as a bad thing. We cling to our human traditions, often times it is said. Us Catholics. And because we cling to our human traditions, we are at fault. But there is a different between human traditions and Sacred Tradition itself. Human traditions can change, and indeed they should, according to the need and the culture of the day. The fact that there is certain days where we fast or feast according to the liturgical calendar, the fact of the liturgical calendar itself, the manner in which we celebrate the sacred liturgy. Sometimes we get the new translation of the liturgy or a new part is added or something is taken away or changed. The fact there are so many other things through the course of the life of the Church, indeed those are human traditions, and as they come and go according to God's will, God be praised. If they served their purpose and they are done, fine, we move on. But Sacred Tradition itself, is non-negotiable. These are not things that come and go according to times and season, but rather are perennial teachings of the Church, from the start, form the hearts of our leaders, the hearts of the faithful. 

Something good, true and holy. Not to be set aside, but rather to be cherished because they come forth from the lips of Christ our God. And so we rejoice in this gift. We rejoice in the fact that for 2,000 years, we have had a continuous heritage and history, a family story connected to Jesus Christ. Not confined to a sacred word or text, but rather a part of a true family, one that knows the story and shares its story. So let's pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, to pray that the Holy Spirit would help us to receive the gift of our faith, to receive it in its fullness, and to go forth from this place each and every weekend to share the gift of faith with others, that so too the next generation may rejoice in this gift that we share and pass it on there next.

The Response

Readings for Sunday, June 28/ 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time:
Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Psalm 30
2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15
Mark 5:21-43

In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis spoke to us these words: “The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these beonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with tohers depite our differences and to belong to one another; it is alos the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage no tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensable contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple. As the French bishops have taught, it is not born ‘of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but form the depth of the obligation assumed by spouses who accept to enter a total communion of life.’”

As you all presumably know, the Supreme Court of the United States announced their opinion Friday, decided by a 5-4 vote, to reject the traditional view of marriage in light of a new definition that permits ‘same-sex marriage’ in all 50 states. While this may upset us, it should surprise us because traditional marriage has been under attack for a long while and this is just one more step. Catholic theology on marriage notes that marriage has two ‘ends’ or ‘goals’, namely procreation and the good of the spouses, which basically means the union is emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, & physically beneficial. We can see that attacks on procreation began decades ago with the introduction and encouragement of contraceptives. This fundamentally separates marriage and its first end. Following behind it is the continued attack on children. Abortion necessarily follows because when contraception fails there has to be a means to be rid of the child one sought first to avoid. From there society made ‘advances’ in being able to choose certain attributes of their children and ‘get rid of’ children who had undesirable attributes. In vitro fertilization and other unethical means of creating life only further the chasm between marriage and the gift of children. The good of the spouses came under attack with the introduction of no-fault divorce, which necessarily makes marriage less binding and thus less valued. To this we can add the devaluing of women in general. It’s interesting to me that in an age when feminism fights so strongly for the rights of women to equal pay, equal job opportunity, etc. (rightly so!) that the culture continues to treat women worse and worse. Women are generally not valued in themselves for the gift that they are, but rather are used for their bodies and their ability to increase sales. This is only encouraged by the acceptance of pornography and pornographic films and books, which only seek to make people objects to be used instead of persons to be loved. With all that has happened to the two ends of marriage, it is no surprise then that the very definition of marriage itself should be free from attack.

The question is this: how do we respond?

I’ve seen responses ranging from fear, anger and despair to excitement, relief, and celebration. As Catholic we ought to stand on neither end of that spectrum but rather firmly planted in the middle full of faith, hope, and love. We are called to have faith that God is in control of this country and this world, regardless of what happens around us. We are called to have hope that Marriage would shine brightly in our culture and remind us of the love of God for us and our call to heavenly life. And we’re called to love. Love of every single person who stands in front of us, regardless of their age, sex, race, social status, sexual orientation, or any other personal attribute, because they are a person. Because they are created in the image and likeness of God. Because they were made to love and be loved.

A lot of times the Catholic Church is painted as this hate-filled body that spews its hatred and condemnation at people who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bi-sexual, queer, etc. But did you know the Church says the stands for the exact opposite? The Catechism says unambiguously that we are called to show them ‘respect, compassion, and sensitivity’ and that we are to avoid any sign of unjust discrimination toward them. Holy Mother Church loves all of her children and wants to have all of humanity rest in her loving arms. Sadly, we Catholics and fellow-Christians often failed to convey this truth, but the call still stands for us to be images of God’s love ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we condone or celebrate ‘same-sex marriage’ or relationships that lead to such, but it does mean continuing to love the other by showing respect, compassion, sensitivity, and honoring the dignity of others.

So our response needs to be one of faith, hope, and love, which is exactly the same at it has always been. The Supreme Court can say whatever it wants, but the ultimate reality is that the true King of this world is Jesus Christ. I love my country deeply, but we all have to remember that we’re Catholic first and American second. And that means that our Catholic faith informs everything we do. And what is our mission as Catholics? To shine with the light of Christ.

Did you hear the Collect at the beginning of Mass today? It’s easy to miss but it was beautiful: “O God, who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth.” I love that last line ‘be seen to stand in the bright light of truth’; not just to stand there, but to be seen standing there. We are called to be witnesses that reflect the Light of Christ as the moon reflects that of the sun.

As I noted last weekend, Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders both are sacraments of service. The entire goal of the individual is to get the other person to heaven. I’m a priest. I’m obligated to be a holy priest, a saintly priest. The Catechism tells me that my life as a priest is to be entirely consecrated to service of the others. Every moment of my day is to be dedicated to getting every single one of you and many others to walk through the pearly gates of heaven and sing the Gloria along with the angels and saints. And if I get there too, good! My call is to shine with the Light of Christ in holiness and priestly ministry.

Single people, your call is much the same. To consecrate your days to loving whoever stands before you. Love them as if it were Jesus Himself and seek to recognize in them the Christ who seeks to love you as well. Be holy and happy Catholics, radiating the joy of the Gospel in your eyes as well as on your lips. Seek the Lord at all times and trust in His guidance of you through all that life brings.

Married people, your call is the same, but even more important. When marriage is under attack, the need is for good, holy marriages to be even more visible and even more effective in their outpouring of love and witness of the goodness of the sacraments. You are called to be icons of the Most Blessed Trinity! The love of husbands for their wives and wives for their husbands is a powerful sign of the love of God for us, and the love of both for their children speaks even more fully of the life and love of God in Himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Husbands and wives, remember that your goal is not to get to Heaven and hopefully to drag your spouse along with you. The goal is to get your spouse to Heaven and for them to drag you! When this mutual selfless love is present then it produces saints, both in the parents and the children. The parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, Bl. Louis & Bl. Zelie Martin, will soon be canonized and only for the fact that they were a holy family. Be models for your children and for all the world of the gift of God’s grace, and the joy of selfless giving. It can seem that you have little effect on the world, ‘what good can I do in such a big world?’ you might be tempted to think. But remember that Pope St. John Paul II called the family the basic cell of society and a blessing to the world. Strong words. St. John Chrysostom has some strong words too in a homily on marriage as he reminds each and all of us that “The love of a husband and wife are the force that welds society together.”

Be the force and the weld. Be the blessing and the light. Be saints.

What Would Jesus Do?

Readings for Sunday, August 31/22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9
Romans 12:1-3
Matthew 16:21-27

What Would Jesus Do?

I’m sure you’ve all heard the question and maybe have or had the catchy little WWJD wristband, t-shirt, or bookmark. What Would Jesus Do? It seems like a perfectly good question and it caught on quickly as a way of focusing in the moment on the idea that if Jesus were here, what would He do in the situation and then to do that for ourselves. But I’ll be honest with you, I have a couple of bones to pick with ‘What Would Jesus Do?’

First, it presupposed that Jesus ISN’T present. A priest at the seminary one time pointed out that it might be more appropriate to say ‘What Is Jesus Doing?’ because in every situation we find ourselves, God is there at work and wants of us some particular response. It’s just phrasing, but I think it’s important.

My second bone is much more significant and that bone is the fact that sometimes what we THINK Jesus would do is exactly the opposite of what Jesus actually WOULD do. Our imperfect humanity makes it easy to imperceptibly move from knowing what God wants to thinking to saying what we want as if God wants it. Case in point: Simon Peter.

Last week we heard Jesus asking the Twelve who the people thought He was and their responses of ‘Jeremiah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets’ and Peter’s answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” When Peter gives his response the Lord praised him, “Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly Father.” I’m sure Peter was rather pleased with himself, allowing that pride-monster to well up in his heart and bring him to think he was better and brighter than the others because the Gospel passage we hear today is the very next line. It’s not a new chapter, not a new conversation. The reality of Jesus as the Son of God is directly connected with the mission of the Cross, which we just heard. And so Peter, who just a moment ago was highly praised by the Lord, asserts himself in his supposed authority and rebukes the Son of God Himself and says “God forbid! It shall never happen to you.” And just like that the rollercoaster of Peter’s journey went from an incredible high to a disastrous low – “Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does but as men do!” Imagine the heart of Peter at that point. Imagine the shock at the rebuke of Jesus. He thought he knew ‘What would Jesus do?’ and if it happened to Peter in his journey, it surely happens to us in ours.

This reality is why the words of St. Paul to the Romans are so important for us to hear and heed today: “Do not be conformed to this present age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may know what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The reality is that all of us are born sinners and part of the consequence of original sin is that our minds struggle to see things as God sees them. We get focused on the things around us, this earthly life, and fail to see the bigger picture at work. This is what God wants to renew and transform within us; He wants to stretch our minds to be more inclusive, to be more receptive to the eternal instead of just the small world around us. Ultimately, He wants us to be transformed so that over time our mind comes to resemble more and more that of Christ.

How do transform our minds? Or rather, how do we let God transform them for us? The same two ways when we wants our physical bodies to get in better shape: diet & exercise. Fortunately, I talked about the exercise portion last week; that in order to keep our souls in good shape we need to have time for prayer daily, Holy Communion weekly, and confession monthly and that if we want to grow stronger, quicker, then we need only increase the frequency of those three things. Today I want to hit on the other aspect: diet.

We know that everything we put into our bodies affects us in some way: it either makes us healthier or unhealthier. In much the same way, everything we put into our minds – every movie, song, tv show, book or online article – affects our souls. They either make our minds more like that of Christ or less. We must choose wisely, so I want to suggest to you three concrete things to help in the diet for your soul that are basically the same: read good books.

Catholic author Matthew Kelly once said, “Read great books. Books change our lives. Why? Because we become the books we read.... I'd like to come to your house sometime. I'd like to see your books. You show me your books and I'll tell you what sort of person you are. You tell me the ten books you're going to read in the next twelve months and I'll tell you how your life is going to change in the next twelve months.” And it’s absolutely true. Books have power not because they are magical, but because they plant seeds in our souls. This past Thursday we celebrate the feast of St. Augustine. You know how he was converted? He read a book. Recently we also celebrated St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. You know how he was converted? He read a book. I could go down a whole list, but the simple fact is that books can change our lives for the better.

So my first suggestion is to find good Catholic books and read them. There is something for everyone: lives of the saints, theology, history, spirituality, prayer, personal conversions, living daily life, and the list goes on. Read good Catholic books. I’m not talking about these people whose gospel message is the power of positive thinking. I’m talking solid Catholic literature that feeds your soul and challenges you in the process. If you want suggestions, just ask me.

Second, but more importantly, read the Bible! If we want to have our minds become more like that of Christ, we need to read the Word of God where the Lord reveals His thoughts and shows us how His plans unfold. We need to familiarize ourselves with the Divine Word and the story of salvation, which helps us to make sense of this life and find encouragement in the figures of faith from years past. Not only that, the Word of God is living and just as it was written to speak to people’s hearts 2000 years ago, God intended it to be able to do the same for us today.

 

Lastly, read the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you want to know anything about what the Church teaches on a specific topic, it’s there. It is admittedly thick and I want to speak to that real quick. A lot of time we Catholics get a bad rap for being a ‘religion of rules’ that people have to follow (usually from Catholics who have been enlightened and left the Church). The simple truth is this: there are lots of rules because the road to heaven is narrow and the road to hell is wide. It is easy to get lost on the way and think we’re on the right track, when we’ve strayed far away, just like Peter. And rules aren’t bad things. If I want to take a road trip to Washington state, I would plug it into my GPS and get a list of directions I have to follow in order to get there. Never have I met a person who got upset at the GPS for all of it’s rules that they had to follow in order to get to their destination. But when it comes to rules to get us to Heaven, the tables turn quickly – all these rules! The rules aren’t there to make life difficult. The rules are there to show us how to love God, neighbor, and self. The rules are there to mold our minds to resemble that of Christ and the process of molding is sometimes painful. This is where we have to listen to Christ and deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and keep following Jesus.

If you want to know how to get to Heaven, read the Bible and read that handy instruction manual given to us by the Church. Because the simple reality is this: we will all be judged. We don’t like to think about it and we don’t often hear about it, but the reality is that Jesus will come to judge us on our life’s deeds. The good news, if you read the rest of the books, is that He wants to show us mercy and He can if we but open our hearts and minds to be transformed. Peter struggled to grasp the mystery of the Cross, but with God's grace he came to understand it in a profound way. He himself died by crucifixion just like Our Lord, but Peter then knew how important the Cross was and asked to be crucified upside-down on his because He wasn't worthy to die in the same way as the Lord Jesus did. May God grant us the grace today to experience the conversion of mind that Peter did as we come to receive the Lord Jesus once again in the gift that is the Eucharist. 

____________

If you don't have one already, you can purchase the Catechism from Amazon.com (Kindle available) or BN.com (NOOK available) or view it free online HERE!

Come Sit With Me

Readings for April 18/ Good Friday:
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday. I’ll always remember that random fact because it was also the day that one of my favorite bands’ new album was to be released. I didn’t have time to get it before school that morning so I decided to go right after getting home from school. When I got home my mom was watching the news update on the attacks and she said, “Brent, come sit down and watch this with me.” I told her I would but first I had to run to the store to buy a CD. She said a bit more forcefully, “Brent, come sit down.” “Mom, I’m just gonna run to the store I’ll be back in like 15 minutes,” I replied and walked out the door. I knew the story of what was happening, but I didn’t grasp the full implications of it.

Today Mother Church says to each of us ‘Come sit down and watch this with me’ as we hear again the story of the Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus. The story we come to hear is far more significant than that of September 11 because it has consequences for every person throughout all time and even into eternity. Many fail to take the time to stop and listen, but if we do come and sit with our mother we are able to deepen our understanding of those events that took place 2000 years ago and yet take place again today. We learn our story – the story of the Cross.

The story of the Cross is a story of apparent contradictions. This shouldn’t surprise us since the whole life of Jesus is characterized by such. A God who takes on human flesh, a king born in a stable, one possessing riches unending is born poor and homeless, the Almighty God is helpless in the arms of His mother. Those are just a few of the images that come to mind, but if we look at the Passion of the Lord these images increase in frequency and intensity. The faithful Bridegroom of the Church is betrayed with a kiss. He who frees us from slavery to sin and death is bound in chains. The King of all creation is crowned with thorns. The Word of God stands silent before His accusers. The Innocent Lamb is made sin for us and sacrificed. He whose hands healed the blind is blindfolded and slapped in the face. He who wrapped the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple cloak of mockery. He who made man from the dust is pressed into that dust under the weight of the Cross. He who is adorned with every virtue is stripped of everything He owns. He who hung the earth and the skies in their order is hung upon a tree. He who came to heal our wounded hearts allows His to be pierced. He who is the Giver of Eternal Life gives up His Spirit and submits to death.

This is a stumbling block to the Jews, St. Paul tells us, and foolishness to the Gentiles. But to we who believe and are being saved, Christ: The Power of God and the Wisdom of God!

The Cross permits us to make sense of this life and understand our own story. The apparent contradictions above are signs that things are not always as they seem. The devil likes to make us think otherwise. He always calls to mind the half-truths in the story of our life. Think back on the trial account of Jesus. We heard all sorts of testimony against Jesus, false and true, but where were the positive accounts of the things done by the Lord? Who recounted the feeding of the 5000, the healing of countless blind, mute, lame, and dead? Where was that part story? When only half of the story is told, terrible things happen. Likewise with ourselves.

Are your sins not great ones, only venial?

Come to the Cross and behold the price for even the smallest sin.

Are your sins great ones?

Come to the Cross and see that there is nothing that God will not forgive.

Have you wounded others by your sins?

Come to the Cross and see what that sin does to others.

Have you been wounded by others sins?

Come and be healed by the wounds of Jesus.

Is your faith strong?

Come to the Cross and see how quickly it can become weak without Him.

Is your faith weak?

Come to the Cross and see how quickly He can make it strong.

Do you gossiped about others, uttered harsh words or made false judgments?

Come to the Cross and see the power of words.

Have you been gossiped about, spoken to harshly or judged?

Come to the Cross and see the One whose judgment alone matters.

Do you feel loved by others?

Come to the Cross and see the extent that we are called to show love.

Do you feel unloved?

Come to the Cross and see the extent of God’s love for you.

In just a moment we will have the Veneration of the Cross, when we will have the chance to come forward, genuflect or bow before a splinter of the True Cross that Jesus died on, and allow the Lord to help you hear the rest of the story. We all know most of the story of the Lord and of ourselves. But let us pause in this moment to really take the time to rest with our mother and see if there is more yet to be said. Come to the Cross of Jesus. Come and meet the Lord once more. Come, let us adore.

How's Your Prayer Life?

Readings for Sunday, March 23/ Third Sunday of Lent:
Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42

A couple of weeks ago a friend sent me a book. I opened it up and started looking through the first few pages and found a fill-in the blank self-test with questions such as: Who is the first person you turn to for advice when you’re having problems with a spouse or significant other? Who is the first person you turn to for advice when you have tough financial decisions to make? Who is the first person you turn to when you’re not feeling well? At the conclusion of the little test there was an answer key of sorts and what it basically said was ‘If your answer to each of those questions was not ‘Jesus Christ’ then you have some work to do. Keep reading the book.’

As a priest I often have people come to me to discuss things that are going on in their life where they are looking for answers. Things such as those above, as well as major life decisions, struggles in faith, problems with sin, and a whole host of other things. And one of the questions that I often ask in response is simply, “How’s your prayer life?” The normal response is, “Well, it’s pretty good. But, Father, this what's really bothering me is…” and they revert back to their point. To which I respond again, “I know. But how is your prayer life really? What is the Lord doing in your life right now?” My question about prayer is not just a nice little thing that the priest is supposed to ask. It’s actually at the core of everything. If we believe Jesus is who He claims to be, if He is the one who created us, loves us, forgives us, and wants to heal, restore, and sustain us, then our life must necessarily revolve around Him. And we meet Him in prayer. Prayer is everything.

The story we just heard from St. John’s gospel is actually a synopsis of the Christian life of prayer. It starts with Jesus coming to the well to find rest and then a Samaritan woman comes to draw water. This simple intro would be raising red flags all over the place of any Jewish listener. First, the event happening at a well evokes marital imagery, as every time a well is found in the Old Testament it is in connection with a man seeking a spouse. Except the Lord comes to wait not for an earthly bride, but for one to bring with Him to the heavenly marriage feast of Heaven. He’s looking to save her soul, thirsting for it. And so he says, “Give me a drink.” The fact that Jesus was there was bad enough, but for Him to speak, that it too much! Think about it for a second. Who here goes out and cuts their yard at noon? Nobody. Why? It’s hot! Nobody in their right mind is going to go out to labor at midday unless there’s some specific reason. And we know her reason – she was sinner. She was an outcast; someone that the other ladies of the village wouldn’t have associated with, someone the others would have whispered about and treated cruelly. So to save herself the trouble, she goes at noon when nobody else is there because that what she thinks she deserves. She can’t live a normal life anymore. And there’s Jesus at the well. She thinks, ‘Oh, well He’s a Jew so it won’t matter.’ But then He speaks and with that she is in shock. First, she is a woman and he is a man. The two weren’t supposed to interact in public. Secondly, Jews and Samaritans don’t mingle or even use the same buckets. And yet He comes and asks for a drink. He tears down every wall that could be between the two of them, and many of us have more than just two. We separate ourselves from God because we’re ashamed of our past, we're afraid of our future, we’re not convinced we can do what He calls us to do today and so we set up walls. And Jesus comes over and again to tear them down to meet us. Rather than flee, she decides to stay. There’s something about this Jesus that settles her despite all of the social rules she’s breaking right in public. She is open to the encounter of prayer.

What follows is a dialogue that includes many things we’ve likely experienced personally. The opening point is that it is a dialogue. All of us are guilty, I’m sure, of giving monologues to God where we tell Him everything and then politely dismiss ourselves before God can get a word in edgewise. We’re called to speak and to listen. The first thing that the woman experiences after deciding to stay in this encounter of prayer is misunderstanding and confusion. She’s at a well and Jesus is talking about living water and she wants it but has no clue how He’s gonna get it because He doesn’t even have a bucket (maybe the heat got to His head?). And she asks for the living water He gives thinking that she’ll never thirst again and won’t have to come to the physical well anymore, but she is missing the whole point. Jesus is speaking and she can’t make sense of it. How many of us have decided in good faith to pick up the Bible and we do so only to find that we can’t understand a single thing happening? So we get frustrated because now we need to go find another book to explain the first book. Or how many times have we gone to pray about something – we need to know which choice to make in a tough decision, or we are looking for some guidance, peace or consolation from God – and we go pray only to realize that nothing is any clearer when we walk away? Misunderstanding. Confusion. If you’ve ever been in that place, it’s okay. But don’t let it be the reason you quit prayer. The woman, too, decides to continue the conversation despite not knowing really what is happening and so she comes to a new experience. Jesus says to her, “Go get your husband and bring him back with you.” She quietly replies, “I don’t have a husband.” You can imagine the knowing-look as he says, ‘I know’ and proceeds to tell her about her whole life. Here Christ comes to the deepest place of shame and sin in her heart and wants to address that. And what does she do? What do all of us do? Change the topic. He comes close to that painful place and she becomes a great theologian and starts debating Jesus on which religion is the true and other such things. We too like to change course to some other aspect that’s easier to discuss, to some theological idea or something we’ve heard before that we want to reflect on further. But Jesus wants to heal that place where we need Him most. The woman again perseveres in prayer and the Lord continues to guide her on the path. Finally, she starts to come down again and speaks of this messiah that is to come and will tell everything. Here her life changes as the Lord looks her in the eyes and says, “I Am He.” I Am He. The Messiah, the one to reveal everything, the one who created you, will save you, and wants to fill you with peace. I Am He.

We arrive at this most powerful moment of the whole passage and what happens next? We now interrupt your program for this commercial break! This scene cuts away to Jesus talking about reaping the harvest, speaking of the souls to be won for eternal life. Meanwhile we’re on the edge of our seat waiting to hear the conclusion of things. And we return to the story to find that the woman has gone to the town, told everyone about the Messiah and brought a slew of people back with her. They came trusting in her word and then came to believe on their own because the Lord stayed two days talking with them. Jesus, the Jesus man, spends two whole days talking, eating, and praying with these people He isn’t even supposed to go near.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is at the well in this very moment waiting for us to go to Him and to encounter Him again. There’s absolutely nothing that can keep us from Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter where we’ve been, where we are right now, or where we’re going in the future - He’s already there waiting for us. Waiting to have the chance to ask us for a drink, to ask us to give Him our whole life to Him for eternity.

All of us start Lent with our penances and we have great aspirations of what is going to happen and hopes to have a good Lent. I doubt that I’m the only one who has given myself a free pass from time to time on these things. When Fr. Ed brought home a bunch of sweet the other day I reasoned myself into it. I mean, after all, it really was an act of charity since he had two whole cakes that I eat part of both of them so He wouldn’t have to have it go to waste. And a couple of the cookies too. And the brownies. And the fudge… So there I stood licking my fingers of the last few crumbs, frustrated that Lent wasn’t going as well as I had hoped. If you’re in a similar place, the good news is that we’re not even halfway through the season. We still have four full weeks before Easter comes and that is more than enough time for God to do incredible things in our lives.

So, I want to make a challenge to everyone in the Church today to encounter Jesus in these next four weeks and to do so in a specific way. Hopefully you all know about the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel at the Lutcher Chapel. In that chapel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year except the three days before Easter, the Lord Jesus is present in the Eucharist, exposed so that you can look upon His Body and Blood and in a sense speak to Him face to face about whatever is happening in your life. He is truly waiting for you to go visit. So that’s my challenge: for each of you here to spend at least 30 minutes in Adoration twice a week for the next four weeks. That’s only four hours out of a month. But here is a promise I can make: there is not a single person here today that can go and spend 30 minutes twice a week in Adoration and really seek the Lord in prayer who would be able to look me in the eye on Easter Sunday and say that nothing has changed in their life. If we spend time with Christ in prayer, we’ll be confused sometimes, we’ll be challenged to repent of sins, we’ll sidestep the Lord here and there, but in the end we will encounter the God who was waiting for us the whole time. So I ask you, How’s your prayer life?

Photo by Jeff Geerling

Perfecting the Sinner

Moses receiving the Law of the Lord

Readings for Sunday, February 16/ 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Sirach 15:15-20

Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34

1 Corinthians 2:6-10

Matthew 5:17-37

“Blessed are they who follow the Law of the Lord.”

I hope that all of us can point to times in our lives when we followed the Lord’s commands in some way and experienced blessings as a result. It’s not like a treat for playing nice with God, but more a reality that when we do things according to His plan it works out better for us because that’s how things were made to work in the first place. But as much as I know that in my head, sometimes when I hear that phrase, “blessed are they who follow the Law of the Lord” part of me wants to call shenanigans. I don’t know about your lived experience of the faith each day, but mine isn’t easy. There are many times when I feel anything other than blessed by trying to follow the Law of the Lord because doing so is difficult. Anyone who thinks that being a Christian is easy clearly hasn’t given it a genuine effort. Think about the challenging words we just heard from the Gospel. It’s relatively easy to avoid murdering someone, but to avoid even getting angry with them? Not so easy.

In the Gospel we heard the Lord say to His listeners and to us, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” He takes the requirements of Law and rather than strip them away, He goes even deeper. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was caught up in the externals. The hearts of the people were not yet ready to be what God wanted them to be so He gave them externals to help shape their hearts, or at least that was the intention. And so if you don’t kill someone, you’re a good person. If you don’t commit adultery, you’re a good person. If you do the right ceremonial washings, house cleansings, etc., you’re a good person. It was so much in the external. But with the coming of Christ everything changes.

With Jesus’ death and Resurrection, He has redeemed us and given us the grace – His life within us – to be able to live not only by externals, but even by the deeper realities they were meant to bring about. No longer is it enough for us to simply not kill, we have to not be angry with others. No longer is it enough to not commit adultery, but we have to look upon others with a pure heart. It is the grace of Jesus Christ that enables us to do these things. The concessions that were there ‘because of hardness of heart’ for the Jews have been taken away and we are called to enter into that real relationship with Christ that goes to the heart. That’s the most important part for us now: the transformation of the heart. We can do all of the external things such as going to Mass, praying a rosary, reading the Bible, and doing acts of kindness, but if we never come to know Jesus Christ and let Him change our hearts, then we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We should do all of those externals, but we need to make sure that they correspond to an internal disposition of our hearts, that we open ourselves to His grace.

Now I’m saying all of this about opening to God’s grace and relying upon Him to help us do the things we’re supposed to do, but at the same time I look at myself and realize that I celebrate Mass daily, go to confession regularly, spend time in prayer each day, and try to serve others as Christ calls me to, and yet I still sin. A lot. It frustrates me quite often, which is why I sometimes get frustrated with those words from the responsorial psalm. And yet, the thing is that I know God still loves me and sees the effort I’m giving. Elsewhere in the Gospels Jesus tells us to ‘be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” He calls us to perfection, but He also knows that often we will fall short. The most important thing for us to remember, though, is that we have to keep getting up and following after the Lord. If we do our best to remember that the unimaginable glory of Heaven awaits the righteous and always strive to act like Jesus wants us to, then things will work out and we will indeed be blessed. It’s about keeping our eyes on Christ and trying to be perfect, knowing that it takes a whole lifetime for His grace to make that happen.

There’s a beautiful quote that I came across yesterday in the Liturgy of the Hours that summarizes this well. It’s from Blessed Isaac of Stella and it says this:

The more any way of life sincerely strives for the love of God and the love of our neighbor for God’s sake, the more acceptable it is to God, no matter what be its observances or external form. For charity is the reason why anything should be done or left undone, changed or left unchanged; it is the initial principle and the end to which all things should be directed. Whatever is honestly done out of love and in accordance with love can never be blameworthy. May he then deign to grant us this love, for without it we cannot please him, and without him we can do absolutely nothing, God, who lives and reigns for ever. Amen.

Love Your Elders

Woodcut of Anna, Simeon, and the Holy Family

Readings for Sunday, February 2/ Presentation of the Lord:
Malachi 3:1-4
Psalm 24:7-10
Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40

Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which rarely falls on a Sunday but when it does it trumps the Sunday celebration. This feast is one that the Church has celebrated since her earliest days. In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, it was known up until the reforms of Vatican II not as the feast of the Presentation but rather the feast of the Purification. The latter emphasizes the ritual purification of Mary that was required by the Jewish Law after having given birth to her child. The former emphasizes the coming of the Lord to the Temple and His revelation to the people of Israel through the great canticle of Simeon and the words of Anna. In that proclamation we hear the infant Lord described as the ‘Light for revelation to the Gentiles’. That description of the Lord, built up by many Old Testament images, is also commemorated in the procession and blessing of candles used at home and in the church parish. Just as Jesus was brought to the Temple in the arms of Mary, so we also entrust our prayers to these candles and pray that they might be brought before God and found pleasing in His sight.

I say all of those things rather quickly because I don’t want to talk about candles today. I don’t want to talk about Mary and her purification. And, God forgive me, I don’t really even want to talk about Jesus’ presentation in the Temple specifically. As I was praying about this homily what continued to strike me again and again were the presence and words of those two great symbols of faith today: Anna and Simeon.

Some of you may know that I had the privilege a week and a half ago to join some 400 youth from our diocese for the annual March for Life Pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. to march for an end to abortion in our country. While the March is mainly about ending abortion, our particular group though doesn’t limit ourselves to that focus but instead emphasize human dignity and the value of all life. Our trip schedule helps to highlight this fact. We go to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the various war memorials near the Washington Monument and speak about the fight for human rights and freedoms. We visit Arlington Cemetery and witness the changing of the guards, which is an impressive ritual at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We pray before an abortion clinic and listen to several talks on respect for life in general and against abortion in particular. But the thing that always strikes me the most is our visit to the Holocaust Museum. This Museum, set up to commemorate and honor those lost in the Holocaust of World War II, shows to what depths the human heart can go in its rejection of others’ dignity. Every time I go I am reminded of the many whose dignity was not seen and that the fight in our world continues on for human dignity, rights, and freedom. And while the child in the womb is in such danger today, there is another group of people in need of our respect and remembrance of their dignity and that group is the elderly.

Each month the Holy Father asks the Church and the world to join in prayer for two particular intentions, the Monthly Papal Intentions, and this month the first intention is “That the Church and society may respect the wisdom and experience of older people.” In the Gospel account we just heard it was not the young zealous priest who recognized the Christ, as much as I would kind of like it to be. It was the older wisdom of Simeon and the prayerful presence of Anna. Their age permitted them to see something different that others could not. Think about it. If every woman who gave birth had to come for their purification after giving birth and each firstborn male had to be ‘redeemed’ as they called it, then the Temple wasn’t a nice quiet place waiting for that one special couple to come with their little boy. Quite the opposite! There were probably hundreds of families daily coming to the Temple to make their offerings to God. Simeon and Anna, being in the temple day after day for so many years, had likely seen tens of thousands of families come through, all looking the same; a bit disheveled from travel, maybe tired or overwhelmed at the occasion or lack of sleep from a crying baby. There wasn’t any special radiance about the Holy Family as they came humbly to the Temple for the presentation of Christ and purification of Mary, but Anna and Simeon recognized them for who they were and pointed it out to the people gathered. They were able to do this because their many years following the Lord God gave them wisdom, an openness to the Holy Spirit, a grasp of the story of Israel, a story of their own journey of faith, and a willingness to share of those blessings with the community of faith. In the Letter to the Hebrews we heard it spoken of Christ that He was tested in the flesh so that He could lift us up when we ourselves are tested. In other words, Christ walked the journey already and would be able to strengthen us afterward because He already knew the path. He had run the race, as St. Paul elsewhere alludes. And the same goes for our elders in the faith.

In our church today, in our community, in our families, there are many Anna’s and Simeon’s; men and women who have journey many years close to the heart of Christ, who have gained much knowledge, who have a story to share personally, and who can relate well the story of faith in the local and universal Church. We have before us a vast wealth of knowledge, experience, wisdom and a whole slew of virtues that are a gift to the Church and the world of immeasurable value.

One thing we all know is that as we age our definition of ‘old changes’. As a little kid I though 30 was old; but as a 29 year old, my view has changed. And I always have to laugh when I visit with some of those who are in their early 90’s and they still refer to some other group as the ‘old people’. I guess to them ‘old’ is the 100+ category. Who knows? But the fact is that all of us are called to value those who have the grace of many years in this life.

So a little invitation for us to consider: spend time with one another sharing your stories and your faith. If you are a younger person, turn to your elders and ask them questions. Listen to their journey, soak up their wisdom, and appreciate the gift they are to you. If you are an older person, don’t be afraid to share your story, your wisdom, your faith and the gift you are with others. If Anna and Simeon had simply rejoiced quietly in their heart at the coming of the Lord to the Temple, we wouldn’t have this beautiful account of the transformation of hearts that day in the Temple and if the younger people had not listened, it would not have been recorded. So let us rejoice in the gift of life and the gift of faith on this feast of the Presentation of the Lord. And let us pray with our Holy Father that the Church and society would always respect the wisdom and experience of older people. And let it begin in our hearts today.

Christian Unity?

Sts. Peter & Paul

Readings for Sunday, January 26/ Third Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23

How are we building up the Body of Christ? Or more personally, how you and how am I building up the Body of Christ?

Toward the end of John’s Gospel we hear the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in which He prays that we all may be one as He and the Father are one. The perfect union of mind and will that the Father and Son share is what Christ truly desires for each one of us. In fact, the whole mission of Jesus Christ on Earth was of a unitive nature.  When He took on flesh to save us, it was by drawing us into union with Himself as individuals and as a community that that union would be then drawn up into eternity. This is what we hear in the first reading from Isaiah today as the people in darkness have seen a great light. They have wandered looking for something to guide them and the light that is Christ has appeared to them and they are drawn to Him. In the Gospel we hear that this calling of all people to Himself is not done just by generic calling of crowds but by the specific calling of each person to come and follow after Him. Everything Jesus did was with the ultimate goal of uniting broken humanity to Himself and perfecting that union in the glory of Heavenly life.

While we recognize that unitive nature of Christ’s mission to humanity, we also recognize that we often fail to live that unity out in our own lives. It’s nothing new though, as if there was a ‘golden age’ of Christianity in the past and we’ve fallen away from it. Quite the opposite. Paul’s letter to the community in Corinth shows us that shortly after his departure from them rivalries began to spring up and the Christian community was divided among itself instead of being united. And similar things happen in our own day. So the question again for each of us to reflect upon today is how am I building up the Body of Christ? How am I building up the Church?

In reflecting on this question, it seems to me that there are three levels of union to which each of us are called to labor in the Church: personal union, universal union, and local union.

Let us begin with personal union. Are we letting ourselves be truly united to Jesus Christ? It is often the case – and I point fingers nowhere other than myself – that we have good intentions that we fall short of living out. We agree that we should avoid sin, and yet we often cling to our sins and form defenses of them. How many times have we said, ‘That’s just my personality.’, ‘That’s how God made me.’, or some similar line that excuses us from actually working to root sinful inclinations out of our lives? Additionally, are we allowing ourselves the time to encounter Christ and be united to Him? The world around us tries to keep us so busy that we don’t have time for the Lord. Are we letting ourselves be united to Christ?

The second level is that of the universal union with Christ. There is a temptation often in the world today to say that if a person is Baptist that’s okay, if they’re non-denominational, that okay, if they Methodist, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist or anything else under the sun, it’s okay – all roads lead to Heaven, right? That view is called religious indifferentism and it is condemned by the Church. Christ didn’t come to us and offer His life on the Cross in order for us to keep following whatever path we feel like. He called us to Himself and to the Church He set up to continue the salvation of souls, and that Church is the Catholic Church. There is a fine balance here between being too soft and too hard on people, but we should be actively encouraging people to become Catholic. After all, if we are who we claim to be, if we are the One True Church founded by Jesus Christ, the Church with the Eucharist, Confession and the other sacraments, the Church which wrote and discerned the holy book we know as the Bible, and are the pillar and defender of the Truth, as the Scriptures say, then why wouldn’t we want others to join us? And while we are at it, let us invite our fallen away Catholics to come home. I don’t need my glasses to see that we have a number of empty seats in Mass today. We have around 2800 families between our three parishes here and if you think that each is at least 2-3 people, then we should be looking at 5-10 thousand people at Mass every weekend and we are certainly far from that mark. Think about how difficult it would be for us if half of our body completely quit working and how much stress and difficulty that would add to the side that is functioning normally. That’s what is happening in the Church here and throughout the whole world. Many in the Body of Christ have simply fallen away and we who remain struggle to press forward still. The crazy thing is that we do more good than any other organization in the whole world. How much more good work could we accomplish if the whole body worked together?

The third level is that of local union. In the Corinthian community there were divisions among the people because they belonged to Paul or Cephas or Apollos, or the perpetual trump card – Jesus Himself. This kind of thing can easily happen in the local church as well with parishes not being open to one another and even being hostile. While we should have a certain pride in being from a particular parish and have a sense of family in that community, it should never be such that we approach things in a manner that implies a sense of superiority because we belong to a particular parish. When we begin to set ourselves against other Catholic Churches in the area. And the same goes for the individual community. When we see a brother or sister in Christ and speak a word of judgment, gossip, negativity, or rejection against them, then we damage the Body of Christ.

There is one person alone who rejoices in such divisions and that is Satan. Christ came to bring life and unity and the devil seeks to bring about death to each of us by separating us from one another. This is his only hope because he knows that as a whole body we are stronger than anything he can throw our way, but if he is able to divide us and separate us from each other and from Christ then we easily fall into his traps. May God grant us the grace today to be instruments of His peace and unity, that drawing closer to Christ ourselves we might be able to work for and enjoy the gift of unity in our Church now and for ever.