Commentary on the Church, Life, and Other Junk
January 29, 2012
The Gospel for the day is here. The audio of my homily is here. And the full text of the homily is here.
I invite your comments on this post; I think there is something telling about the fat that an unclean spirit could immediately recognize Jesus as the Holy One of God, and yet we, who should know Him better than that, so often trivialize Him. What if we recognized Him as who He is…?
October 3, 2011
Homilies, Special Occasions Abortion, Pro-life, prolife, Respect Life Sunday 2 Comments
“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” These words are from our second reading today.
It is unusual for our Sunday readings to be as direct as today’s readings are, I think. Many times, we have to hold up a lens and look at the readings, and try to make some connections that speak to our situation today. I don’t think this is one of those times.
Today marks the beginning of Respect Life Month in our Church in the United States. One would have to never read a newspaper, listen to a radio, or watch the news to be unaware of the situation facing the most vulnerable members of our society today, in the Culture of Death that is trying to take over our society. Catholic organizations being required by regulation to provide for birth control; hospitals being forced to provide abortion services; a child killed after birth, and his mother given a suspended sentence.
What are we thinking about? What are we allowing to happen in our culture? And what will come of it? .
The first reading and the Gospel both use imagery of a vineyard to speak to us today. And in both readings, there is mismanagement going on, isn’t there?
The reading from Isaiah laments that, even though the owner of the vineyard did everything he could to make the vineyard fertile, it failed to produce good fruit. The consequence of that failure? The owner gave up on it, and let it fall into ruin! The owner knocked down the hedges so that sheep could graze. He knocked down the walls so that people could trample it. And he stopped cultivating it, so that weeds could take over.
And in the Gospel, Jesus speaks of tenants who try to steal the vineyard from its rightful owner. Time after time, the owner of the vineyard sent people to get his produce. The people he left responsible for the vineyard beat, stoned and killed everyone the owner sent, even his son! And what happened to them? The vineyard was taken away and given to other tenants!
Both readings were intended to be applied to those who heard them when they were written. Isaiah’s parable referred to a coming time of trouble for Israel. Jesus’ parable was directed at those who would reject Him, and pointed out that others would be brought in to produce fruit, in place of those who were out for their own ends.
We might be tempted to look at these stories and go, “Oh, poor Israel! Those poor Jews! If only they’d listened! If only they’d believed!” We might be tempted, but we would be wrong.
These stories speak to us, too. They speak to a culture that has taken what has been given to it, and turned it upside down. They speak to a people who have, somehow, decided that things that are clearly wrong, well, they’re ok…I mean, we wouldn’t want to judge or anything. The parables speak to a people whose judgments are sometimes so clouded that we produce robust federal laws to protect people from having to hear anyone tell them they might be making a mistake. They speak to a culture that has forgotten that life, all life, is sacred, from conception to natural death.
And they speak to a culture that has made so many compromises with the Truth that it has, in some instances, lost its way. We can now experiment on people (in the form of embryos) with the excuse that we might cure disease (killing one person to save another). We can justify giving the government the authority to decide who should and shouldn’t receive life-saving or life extending treatments.
And we can look the other way as millions of people are killed every year, in the womb, in the name of “choice”.
It’s horrible, really, when you think about it. It’s so horrible, in fact, that many of us don’t want to think about it. I can count myself in that number, at least at one time in my life; I walked out of a homily in a church in Lawton, OK, back in 1988, because I just couldn’t listen to some deacon tell me how wrong I was to support a woman’s “right to choose”. I didn’t want to hear it.
But brothers and sisters, we have to hear it. We have to hear the approximately 50 million voices silenced in our country alone since 1973 by the sin of abortion. We have to hear the silent cries of the millions of women who have been harmed in our country by the lie of “choice”. We have to reach out to them, not in judgment, but in compassion! We have to at least be willing to welcome them back into our communion, and we have to be willing to help them heal!
And we have to be willing to stand up for the Truth. Our parish will take part in the Memphis 40 Days for Life campaign next Sunday. Stand for life by coming out that day. If you can’t come out, support those that can in prayer that day. But, whatever we choose to do, we have to stand up.
The consequences of continuing on this path, as a country and a world, are terrifying to contemplate. We have a choice. We can stand up for the Truth. We can defend life. Or we can reap the consequences.
What is the Truth…about Life? Where do we stand? What are we willing to do to make that stand known?
Thank God my mother was pro-life when I was conceived. Thank God your mom was too.
“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” This is what Paul told the Philippians. This is what Paul is telling us.
What are we thinking?
December 7, 2010
Homilies Advent, Repentance Leave a comment
Gospel reading is here (but not yet…do y’all listen? This is what delays my uploads!).
Homily audio is here (again, it’s slightly different from the written; I’d be interested in any comments – Later. I’ll post it later).
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” That’s what John the Baptist told the people who heard him preaching in the desert in Judea. “Repent! The Kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
This kind of message clashes with the world around us, doesn’t it? The world outside these walls is consumed with…well, consuming. “Christmas is coming! Come on, buy your “stuff” before it’s too late! Your Christmas cards need to go out! Have you started planning that Christmas party yet? How’s your credit? Don’t worry about your credit…just buy it!”
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that there’s something wrong with planning to get things done on time, or with buying gifts, or planning get-togethers, or generally being busy at this time of the year. The problems start when the buying and partying and being busy become the only thing. If that happens, we risk forgetting what’s coming…who’s coming.
John the Baptist shouts, “REPENT!” But…repent of what?
He says that the kingdom of heaven is “at hand”. When and where, exactly, is “at hand”? And how do we get there?
Move I
John the Baptist is a strange figure as described in this Gospel. Matthew is pointing us toward the prophet Elijah; this is important because the people of Israel were expecting the return of Elijah as a prelude to the coming of the Messiah! Matthew, the Gospel writer, explicitly ties John the Baptist to Isaiah’s prophesy, and tells us that John is the “voice of one crying out in the desert”. All of this points us to Jesus as the Messiah, in a way that any Jew of Jesus’ would understand.
What was John doing in the desert? He was baptizing people “in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins”. John was preaching repentance, and people were flocking to him!
But his choicest words in this Gospel passage are reserved for the Pharisees and Sadducees; he challenges them to show proof of their repentance by changing their ways. Then he threatens them with eternal punishment if they fail!
Our circumstances are radically different from those of the Jews of Jesus’ time. They were oppressed; we live in freedom. By modern standards, they were poor; even the poor in our society are better off than they were. Most of us don’t walk around in fear that the government will just decide one day to kill us off; the Romans could just kill them in the street, and no one would care. Compared to them, we live pretty benign existences, don’t we?
One drawback to not living under pressure is that it can make faith an optional part of our lives. When you’re living in fear of death, God is an ever-present part of one’s thoughts; when Christians stopped being persecuted they kind of let that focus on God slip just a bit.
But still, we show up for Mass. And we send our kids to PRE, or to Catholic school, to reinforce the faith we teach them at home. We make sure our kids complete the Sacraments of Initiation, and then we do our best to get them to Mass even after they don’t have to show up.
We ourselves frequent the sacraments. We receive the Eucharist; we get anointed when we’re sick; We go to confession. We try our best to understand why we’re here. In many ways, we’re just like the people who traveled out into the desert to be baptized by John.
But in some other ways, brothers and sisters, we risk falling in with the Pharisees. And our risk is, perhaps, greatest during this season of the year, when we’re super busy, but when we should be most focused on Christ.
The coming of Jesus that we’re focused on in these early weeks of Advent is not His coming as an infant; as important as that event is, it is not the event that saves us. John’s message is that Jesus is coming as King, that He’s coming as Judge. And if we don’t repent, we risk losing everything!
Repent of what? Well…most of us aren’t wallowing in sin. But none of us is perfect. And all of us fall into sin on occasion. The repentance John is preaching covers everything in our lives; it covers the TV shows and movies we allow into our homes; it covers the books and magazines we read; and it covers the way we relate to our spouses, our children, and our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. If any of those things leads us away from God, then it must be put aside.
And it covers all our holiday revelry. Jesus’ birthday is an occasion for celebration. But we must not lose sight of what’s most important: Our eternal salvation.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Repent, for Jesus is coming! Be better than we are, because a new order of things is being put in place by Christ!
This is the message of Advent. All that hubbub outside of here is OK; but it misses the point. We have to get it, that the Kingdom of heaven is already here; we experience it every time we turn the things of the world upside down, so that it resembles Isaiah’s description in our first reading. We see the Kingdom of heaven we serve the poor, instead of making them serve us. The Kingdom of heaven is here when we act selflessly instead of clinging to our “stuff”. The kingdom of heaven is here, every time we act justly, every time we show mercy; It’s already here, every time we let our attitude be like Christ’s.
Let’s party! But let’s pray, too. Have fun, but let’s remember that the gifts we have, and the gifts we give, are ultimately from God, and that they need to serve God’s purposes. And let’s examine our lives: where’s the “good fruit” that shows our repentance?
Because…the kingdom of heaven…is at hand.
November 13, 2010
The Gospel Reading is here.
Homily Audio is here.
What are we afraid of?
We fear death, in our culture. We spend billions of dollars every year to trying to keep people from dying; we look at death as a failure when it comes. We hate the thought of dying; even when we’re going through it, we don’t like to talk about it with our closest family members. Even people like me, who are supposed to minister to people when they experience a death, are uncomfortable around death.
The daily news brings death right up to our doorstep; violent weather, warfare, terrorism, evil people; all seem to threaten us, or to threaten someone, with loss of life! Anyone my age or older spent hours away from home when we were 8, 9, 10 years old; no one worried about us. Today… how many of us would wait more than 10 minutes before getting in the car and to look for our children? We’re very aware of death.
But…how does this focus on death affect us? What does this concern about death…keep us from doing?
What, exactly, are we living for? And what, if anything, are we willing to die for?
Here at the end of the liturgical year, our readings ask us to reflect on the eschaton, the End Times. Each week, we get another glimpse at what Scripture has to say about the end of the world, when Jesus returns to establish new heavens and a new earth. Everything points to the reason for our hope: that Jesus Christ has died, is risen, and will come again.
The first reading today is from the Second Book of Maccabees. This reading tells us two important things. First, the brothers were willing to die rather than disobey God’s laws. Second, they believed in an afterlife that was worth dying for. The seven brothers were bold in their belief in the resurrection.
The Sadducees of today’s Gospel were equally bold in their disbelief in the resurrection. The Sadducees just couldn’t imagine any life after death that would be any different from the life they were living. And Jesus turns their question on its ear by explaining that the life they are thinking of is nothing like life with God after death! Then He goes on to remind them of Moses, in whom they did believe, and of how the Lord described Himself on Mount Horeb: “…the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. Jesus explains, in terms the Sadducees can’t deny, that the Resurrection of the dead is real.
Unlike the Sadducees, we live in this age of technology where it seems that we can do almost anything; doctors and hospitals exist precisely to push back illness and death. We work hard to make our bodies strong, to eat the right way, and to maintain the right weight. And we shepherd our finances carefully, investing here, making a smart purchase there, to prepare for our old age. We act, sometimes, as if we’re never going to die, and we carefully prepare for a long life.
On top of this, we make decisions about what we do in response to our Christian call with the fear of death in our minds. We can be apprehensive about putting ourselves out there for people, especially for strangers, because we can’t always control what happens.
So what does all this have to do with the End Times? How does this affect what we do every day?
Basically, Jesus is telling us not to fear death. He is assuring us that death is no end, for the Christian. He is telling us that even those who have preceded us in death are alive, because God is the God of the living.
But…death…kinda sucks, doesn’t it? At least, it does for all of us who are left behind. Death leaves a hole in our lives. It takes out people we love. Death hurts. And we can spend years mourning the loss of loved ones.
But brothers and sisters, the problem is not with death itself. Our problem is with our conception of death. The culture strives to make us all think that this… is all that there is, and that we have to “go for the gusto” in this life so that we don’t miss out. And thinking like that, there is nothing, really, that is off-limits or out-of-bounds. Sin doesn’t matter…being faithful doesn’t matter.
We have to deny the lie. We have to embrace the “everlasting encouragement and good hope” of which Paul spoke in the second reading, and let Jesus ”encourage [our] hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word”!
Yes, death sucks. But as our readings point out, there is something more.
It’s understandable that we might fear death. Most of us have experienced death in our lives, and it isn’t pleasant.
But Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has shown us that death has no real power over us: death is only a step along the path to eternal life with God. The seven brothers in the first reading understood this; the Sadducees in the Gospel reading didn’t.
But we have the advantage of knowing that, just as Jesus was raised from the dead, all of us will be raised to eternal life with God. This is the core of our faith, and once we embrace it, it frees us in a way that nothing else can, to live life for God.
So…what do we live for? What are we willing to die for?
The seven brothers knew.
Do we?
March 29, 2010
Homilies, Special Occasions Leave a comment
Audio of this homily is found here.
Everybody take a moment and collect yourselves. That was a workout!
And, I fear…That’s the way we so often approach this Passion reading each year. After all, we hear it twice, every year: once from a Synoptic gospel (Matthew, Mark, or Luke, then once from John on Good Friday. I mean, the reading is almost as long as the rest of Mass combined, right? And we stand for all of it!
But, brothers and sisters…why do we do this? Why do we suffer through so much verbiage on Palm Sunday? And why do we go through such long liturgies during the rest of Holy Week?
This week, Holy Week, is the high point of our liturgical year.
But…why?
Why is it Holy?
Holy Week is Holy Week because the events we re-present during this time are the events that saved us! I mean, think about it:
No, NONE of those thing were what saved us from Hell. What saved us from Hell is the choice Jesus made: the choice Paul discussed in the second Reading:
“Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.”
THIS is what saved us! GOD…emptied Himself! God the Son, obedient to God the Father, and died for us! The Act that is saving us, even right now as we deal with the sin in our lives, is THAT ONE. THAT’S why a Corpus is on every crucifix. And THAT’S why this week is Holy: because everything that happened to save, and to keep on saving every one of us happened during that week!
But…So what?
I’ll tell you So What. SHOW UP.
Our sin, brothers and sisters, was nailed to the Cross this week.
SHOW UP.
Our savior became the first-born from the dead this week. And His choice, HIS death, gave all of US the ability to be born to new life!
SHOW UP.
The most important thing Christ left for us, and the most important thing He did for us, came about this week!
SHOW UP!
Show up for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday! Show up to venerate the Cross of the Lord on Good Friday! And come see our new brothers and sisters in Christ be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil! SHOW UP!
This Holy Week, remember what Christ did for us! This Holy Week, ponder God’s goodness. Think about God’s Mercy. Consider His Love.
John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
The Most Important Things in your eternal life and mine are being made present in this sanctuary this Holy Week. NCAA Basketball can’t touch this.
SHOW UP.
November 2, 2009
Homilies, Special Occasions 1 Comment
Gospel reading Audio is here. Gospel Text is here.
Homily audio is here.
Who Wants To Be A Saint?
Have you ever thought about what it takes to be a saint? We have feast days of saints all the time; our churches are named after them most of the time. If our children are baptized or confirmed, we probably had to pick out the name of a saint for our child, or help them pick one. There are even cities named after saints: St. Louis; St. Petersburg; St. Paul; San Francisco. Saints are all around us.
But how often do we think about what it takes to be one? The Feast of All Saints, which we celebrate today, was originally established in the fourth century to commemorate the martyrs of the early Church, those who were too many to name, or even remember individually. Later, it was amended to include all the saints who’d died in Christ, all those who, by popular opinion had led a life of sanctity. Today, the Church has extensive rules and processes for canonizing, or officially recognizing, a saint. But the Feast of All Saints recognizes everyone in heaven, saints named and unnamed, and celebrates their lives.
But what does it take, really, to be a saint? And what does it matter to us?
Today’s readings tell us a lot about who the saints are, and how they get to that status. In the first reading, from the book of Revelation, John recounts a vision of heaven, in which he saw “of a great multitude, which no one could count” standing before the throne of God. These people, dressed in white robes, were “the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” These are people who have overcome sin in their lives through the saving power of Jesus’ blood.
Jesus Himself tells us about those who will be with God, in the Beatitudes. These eight categories of those who will be “bless-ed” tell us a lot about how we ought to live our lives; striving to do these eight things outlined by Jesus will make getting into heaven pretty simple! If we can be humble of heart; submissive to God; mournful over the power of evil in the world; eager to grow in holiness; merciful toward the less fortunate; focused on seeing God’s glory; willing to make peace; and willing to suffer for the sake of God’s kingdom, we will be together with God in His kingdom!
But all of that “Church-speak” doesn’t really tell us anything about how we’re supposed to live, does it? The Beatitudes don’t directly address the things that are problems for us…do they?
Maybe they do. Look for a moment. If we are “poor of heart”, then money and things aren’t our first priority: God is. If we have a sense of the greatness of God, then we will also understand why we need to submit ourselves to His will. If the evil we see in the world makes us sad, and if we act to oppose that evil, then we’ll act to lessen its effects on people. If seeking God is the first priority of our lives, then everything we do, every decision we make, will move us closer to Him. And if we work to establish peace among men, and if we accept that people are going to beat us up for it, then we will establish the kingdom of heaven where we are.
It’s really pretty simple. Jesus gives us the formula for achieving sainthood right here in this Gospel text! And when we examine the lives of the saints, we see examples of all of these traits that we can follow. The very reason we keep track of all of this is so that we will understand how to live holy lives!
But if it were that simple, sin would already be defeated, right? If it were just a matter of following eight simple rules, no one would ever have to worry about becoming a saint, would they? Everyone would be a saint!
Reality, though, is that we are constantly pulled in the opposite direction: much in our world is simply not of God, and is designed to pull us away from Him. But, fortunately for us, God gave us tools to use to help us on our way. First, he gave us the sacraments, those outwards signs instituted by Christ to give grace. They are the most important weapon we have in fighting for sainthood.
More importantly, though, God gave us each other. We all have a role to play in each others’ journey to heaven! Look around you. Husbands and wives, your first priority is to help your spouse get to heaven! That’s your job! Parents, as I have told so many of you at baptisms, your job is to keep little Johnny or Jane…out of Hell! Those of you with brothers or sisters, it’s your responsibility to model what it means to be a Christian, to be a saint, for your siblings.
Every one of us in the Body of Christ has a job to do: to help all the other members of that body get to heaven! And if we’re all doing our job, then all of us will join the saints!
What does it take to be a saint? The Church has a lengthy process for “making saints”; it can take decades sometimes for the Church to officially recognize a saint.
But brothers and sisters, we all have the job, as Christians, of striving to become saints. Sainthood isn’t easy; the lives of the saints are full of sacrifice. But that sacrifice has a goal: To be with God in heaven.
We’re not alone on that journey. Everyone here around us should be helping us toward that goal. And God wants us all to be with Him in Heaven.
Think about it: who’s helping you to become a saint? Who are you helping? What’s holding you back from becoming a saint? And who might you be holding back?
October 25, 2009
Commentary, Special Occasions Leave a comment
back in the summer of 2008, I posted this challenge to the parish. I was serious then, and I am still serious. I’ve had one mother of ten take me up on my challenge; I told her that I could only count her older at-home kids, since the younger 5 are all under the age of 9, and had to go where she goes… 
Eucharistic Adoration is the single best gift that any of us can give to God and to the parish. Spending time before the Blessed sacrament, especially in prayer for the parish, will bear more fruit than any other thing we can do.
So…go back and read my post. the challenge was this: I will spend an hour in Adoration for every three people who commit to an hour during the week. I’ll pray for those folks, and I will pray for our parish an d our city. And I will spend as much time as it takes to answer this commitment I am making.
So…how would you like to make me stay up at the church? All it takes is showing up! Adoration hours are from noon to 10:30 pm every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, except for national holidays. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed at noon, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm each day; Evening Prayer is celebrated at 5:30 pm, and Night Prayer is celebrated before Reposition at 10:00 pm.
So…who’s showing up?
October 4, 2009
Audio for this week’s Gospel is here.
Audio for the Homily is here.
Comments appreciated.
Back when I was engaged, I am sure that I heard the words in today’s Gospel. I am equally sure that I wasn’t listening at all. After all, what 23 year-old is focused on the Bible and its implications on his life? I was much more concerned about my job in the Army, my next duty station, and whether Ann Marie would still want me when I got back from overseas than I was about discerning the meaning of a passage of Scripture (I don’t think I even owned a Bible back then…).
I was a product of our culture, a culture which looks at marriage as a convenient contract between two people, and which looks at children as a matter of convenience and “choice”. So in looking at marriage, our culture didn’t prepare me to think about “higher things”; everything that Jesus referred to in the Gospel today went right over my head.
But have you ever thought about what it means to be “one flesh” as Jesus declared in today’s Gospel? The implications of that declaration are huge. And they mean something, not only to couples who will marry, but to the whole Church.
In the Old Testament reading, God creates woman to “complete” the man Adam. Something was missing in Creation after everything else was made. What was it that was missing? A suitable partner for the man! According to the story, the man Adam had dogs, and cats, and cattle, lions and tigers and bears to hang out with; none of them was a suitable partner for the man. So God took something out of Adam, and from that created the first woman, Eve. So Eve contains what was now missing from Adam, and she completes him, makes him whole.
A lot of time passed from the creation of man until the Pharisees were hassling Jesus; and so had a lot of sin in the world. The Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a question about divorce, which was a legitimate practice under the Law. They wanted to put Jesus in the position of contradicting The Law, so that they could then punish Him. And Jesus put it right back in their faces: “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.” And then, Jesus pointed to the creation story: God created male and female to become one flesh.
It’s interesting to see how these teachings play out in our modern world. One flesh. Jesus says we’re to join with our spouses and become one flesh. And that teaching is supposed to drive our conduct in and outside of marriage.
For example: This teaching tells us that our sexuality should be reserved for marriage, when we become one with our spouse. And it tells us that we should not contracept, because all forms of artificial contraception interrupt the union of spouses, and keep them from becoming one flesh.
It tells us that our marriages are intended to be permanent. Not perfect, just permanent. And it tells us, as we read further in the Gospel today, that the products of our marriages, our children, are special in the eyes of God, and that we should not only care for them, but strive to make them holy.
And Jesus teaches us all of this even in the midst of a culture that sells us the exact opposite message. Jesus teaches us that the perfect unity of marriage is a gift from God, a gift that that our First Parents compromised in The Fall, but that we are now able to reclaim through grace. And He encourages us to strive to achieve that grace!
But…what if we’re already divorced? What if we’re contracepting? What if we’re… sterilized? What if we’ve already tried marriage and it just didn’t work out for us?
Brothers and sisters, all of these are realities in our lives. If we aren’t personally in those situations, we know lots of dear friends who are. And I wouldn’t stand here and tell you “Too bad…there’s no hope for those folks”… because that would not be true!
Jesus, and his Church, both call us to a high standard. Our marriages, and our children, deserve our best effort to try to achieve that standard. But when something goes wrong, when our best efforts fall short of the goal, we still have God’s mercy to fall back on. Divorced? That doesn’t kick you out of the Church! Go talk to our priests. They will help you understand your situation, even if it’s been years! Contracepting? Come talk to any of us; let us help you understand what the Church teaches, and how beautiful it is. And consider trusting that God created you correctly, and fertile. Sterilized? Again, our priests can help you, first to understand why that wasn’t the best decision, and then to understand how to move beyond it. No one will judge you. All of us just want to help!
At the end of the day, God gave us the gift of marriage to let us help each other to get to heaven. And He gave us the gift of children to let us be co-creators with Him in building His kingdom!
“One flesh”. God calls us to be one flesh. And all that went right over our heads when my wife and I married. And I don’t think our experience was unusual!
But in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, and the Pharisees, what God has called us to. Marriage is no small thing; it’s not just a contract between two people to hang out together. Marriage is the sacrament which creates ONE out of TWO. Marriage joins together a man and a woman just as Christ is joined to His Church. And marriage is important enough that we ought to do everything we can to strengthen it against the assaults of this world.
So much in the world works against marriage. We have to take hold of all that God provides us to help us on our journeys together. If you’re married, ask yourself:
“What have I done to become more united to my spouse today?”
If you’re not married, the question is: “What am I doing to become more united to Christ, and to His bride, the Church, until I marry, if that’s God’s will?”
Strong marriages, and strong families, are what build up the Church. And God’s grace is the glue that binds those strong families. Ask for His help. And see what happens!
August 9, 2009
Link to audio of the Gospel is here.
Link to audio of the homily is here.
Have you ever had to go through something, and you just didn’t know how you were going to get through to the other side? All of us have; when we’re young, it might be something as simple as moving to another part of town and changing schools. Later in life, maybe it’s an important assignment that we just can’t figure out. As we grow toward adulthood, perhaps we lose a close relative or friend to death. All of these things can be hard, depending on our age.
Or maybe we end up in a bad work situation, or worse, we end up unemployed, and we have no prospects of getting another job. Or we end up suffering from a grave illness, or we lose a parent, or a child, or a spouse to death. These things can all make us cry to heaven, asking God to just “take me now, Lord!” Or they can even make us reject God altogether, and make us think we don’t need a God who can’t do any better by us than that.
If we were left on our own to get through all of these situations, if it was on us to figure out how to get through, alone, we’d never make it through. But we aren’t alone. And we have something to sustain us, someone to give us strength, even in the worst of times.
Why was Elijah running through the desert to Horeb? Why did he leave everything he knew? Elijah was running for his life. His work situation, as prophet of God, had gone really badly; after he killed the prophets of the false god Baal, the wife of the king decided Elijah had to die, too. So Elijah was running to save his life. And you know Elijah got tired. Not just physically tired; Elijah was spiritually tired. And he just wanted to give up, lie down and die, because he couldn’t understand how things had gone so wrong. Ever felt that way?
But God didn’t let Elijah just starve, or die of thirst, did he? Instead, God sent Elijah heavenly food and drink to sustain him for his journey, not once, but twice! God had things that He still wanted Elijah to do, so God fed him for the journey!
In the Gospel, Jesus connects Himself to that same food in the desert. He hears the Jews murmuring as He explains who, and what, He is. The Jews cannot understand Jesus’ reference to Himself as “bread”; after all, they know his parents. And Jesus explains further to tell them that His flesh is the bread he’s giving! Jesus claims that those who eat his flesh won’t just make it through their journey: Jesus tells them that those who eat His flesh will live forever!
The Jews, of course, were scandalized. No one ate people. So what Jesus was saying was nonsense, at least at first hearing.
But God fed the Israelites in the desert. And God fed Elijah on his way to Mount Horeb. God had already performed fantastic miracles for His people. And Jesus is the ultimate miracle! Jesus gives us his flesh to eat, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, from this altar. And the food is for the same purpose. God fed the Israelites so that they could continue their journey to the Promised Land. God fed Elijah under the broom tree so that he could continue his journey to his next mission. And Jesus feeds us with His Body and Blood so that we can do what He has ordained us to do!
And what is it that Jesus calls us to do? What is it that He calls us to be? Paul gives us insight in the second reading. Christ calls us to “…be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us”! Jesus feeds us, in order to strengthen us to live in the Holy Spirit! And He feeds us to give us eternal life!
But …how are we supposed to believe that God actually feeds us through Christ’s body when we line up and stick out our hands? After all…that’s just a little round wafer. That’s supposed to be God? Jesus? And how does that help us with all this…junk in our lives? Is the Eucharist going to get me a job? Or bring my wife, my brother, or my child back?
Brothers and sisters, the answer to those questions…is yes. Yes, Jesus will help us! Is He going to make things just like we want them to be? No! But what Christ will do is this: He will give us the strength to make it through! Out of work? Come to Jesus! He’ll sustain you and guide you as you search! Someone died? Come to Jesus! Jesus has the words of everlasting life! Our relatives and friends who die in Christ will rise with Him! Spouse cheating on you? Come to Jesus! He will strengthen you against the pain, and He will work on the heart of your spouse to bring them back to Him!
Whatever the hurt, if we can bring it to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we will receive strength to live through it! We are all drawn to Christ through the Father, just as Jesus said: we’re here this morning! And now that we’re here, we can receive the Bread of Life, and live forever! All we have to do…is believe!
Life is a journey. And during that journey, we all go through things that seem too hard to survive: death, disappointment, and despair, are all part of our human experience. They can sometimes pull us into a hole we can’t see a way to climb out of.
God, however, has a different way planned for all of us. We have all been drawn to Christ, by God, through our baptism. We have all received the gift of faith from God; it’s why we came in here this morning. And God does not leave us to figure all this out on our own!
Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from Heaven”. When we receive that Living Bread from the hands of our priest, we are given the strength to live as “imitators of God”, His beloved children. And nothing can really hold us down.
Feeling down? Feeling like you just can’t go on? Let Christ refresh you in this meal we’re about to receive! Christ is the Bread of Life. Christ is our food for the journey.
Take, and eat…and believe!
Homily – Respect Life Sunday 2010 (January 24, 2010)
February 17, 2010
Deacon Chip Commentary, Homilies 1 Comment
The audio differs a bit from the printed page; you may actually want to listen to this one.
The Kingdom of God is At Hand?
There is a lot going on in the world right now, isn’t there? Our country has been at war for almost eight years. Our economy is still struggling to recover from some very bad times, and millions are still out of work. Eleven days ago, an earthquake virtually destroyed an entire city, leaving tens of thousands of people dead, and well over a million people homeless.
So…we’re supposed to believe that the Kingdom of God is at hand? When we look around at the world, when we watch the news and see the suffering that is present, we can get the idea that things are literally going to hell. When we feel the constraints of limitations on our religious expression at work, at school, and in the public arena, we might be tempted to believe that the world is coming apart at the seams: God forbid that we utter a prayer in any place that might be overheard by someone who doesn’t share our belief in a Higher Power!
But yet…Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God is at hand! And we know Jesus is no fool, so… what? How are we supposed to reconcile what we see…with what we know?
Today’s readings help us some. The first reading, from Nehemiah, describes how the people of Israel stood before the gate of Jerusalem and listened to the Law being read aloud. Their joy at hearing the Law proclaimed and explained …made them cry! But Ezra instructed them to go and throw a party, because it was the Day of the Lord! He wanted them to realize that what they were hearing was a cause for celebration!
In the Gospel reading, Jesus shocks the people of his hometown as he starts his ministry. He reads from the book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” Jesus was announcing that He had arrived, and that the Kingdom was now at hand!
What a shocking statement to make in front of a bunch of people who have known you since birth! But Jesus proceeded to prove what he was saying: He went out to captives of sin; he restored sight to the blind! And ultimately, He set all the oppressed free, through His death on the Cross! Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God being at hand…then He went out and made it happen!
I noted that there was an awful lot going on in the world that seemed to contradict this Kingdom of God thing. And if we just look at the surface, we could despair. There is a lot of pain and suffering in the world; there are wars, and economic turmoil, and natural disasters. But…look beneath the surface!
Sure, there is a war; but look at the work our brave soldiers, sailors and airmen are doing in the lives of the people affected by those wars! They are working to keep the civilian population safe, and to improve their lives, even as they try to root out the evil-doers in their midst! Yes, there is economic disaster; but look at the people stepping up to help those most affected by the times! From food pantries to networking groups, churches in our city and around the country are working to help those who cannot get by on their own, and who need help.
And watch the news coming out of Haiti! People from all over the world have donated hundreds of millions of dollars; individuals and corporations have shipped ton upon ton of supplies; people have literally put their lives on hold, dropped everything and gone to Port-au-Prince to try to make a difference in the lives of the people affected by the earthquake.
These people are the Kingdom of God at hand in all of these disasters! This is why we can proudly proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand!
But there is one area in which, just maybe, there is more prophetic work to be done. This past Friday marked the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe V. Wade, a decision which has led to almost 50 million unborn children never seeing the light. Talk about something working against the Kingdom! And yes, it is a shame.
But as sad and wrong as those statistics are, I am not going to talk about them; I’d like to talk about us. I read a commentary this week by Sr. Bernadette Reis, FSP, in which some tough questions were asked. Essentially, Sister’s point was this: Are we just mouthpieces for the Church’s teaching on abortion, running around talking about how evil it, and how it carries the penalty of automatic excommunication…or are we actively addressing the things that push women into abortion clinics?
Are we just protesting outside clinics…or are we offering to take in women in crisis pregnancies? And I am sure we are all for supporting abortion alternatives…but have we considered opening our doors, and our wallets to ensure women who need our help really do have an alternative to abortion?
Maybe it’s time for the People of God to stand up, take stock, and step out into the streets, to proclaim with our lives that the Kingdom of God really is at hand…in our lives, and in the lives we touch!
I asked how we are supposed to reconcile what we see in the world…with what we know to be true. Here’s how we do it: We quit talking about what we know, and we go out and do something about it!
Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom didn’t happen in a vacuum. And He didn’t say all that pretty stuff just to impress somebody; Jesus immediately got up, got out, and started making His kingdom a reality on the ground He walked. He liberated captives, gave sight to the blind, and freed the oppressed; And He continues to do it today, through His body, the Church. All of us are parts of His body; we all share the responsibility to do His work in the world.
We see Christ at work in his Church every time there is a problem or a hardship in the world. We make the Kingdom of God present every time we extend a hand to a neighbor in need.
Christ is counting on us. How can we help make His kingdom more apparent in the world?
Whose life can we change, by standing up, and stepping out for the Kingdom of God?