Tall, Bald, and Called

This Sunday’s Readings

Have you ever considered what it means to be “called” to do something? We talk about vocations often in our diocese; the word “vocation” is an English word which is derived from the Latin root “vocare” which simply means “to call.” We are blessed to have a large number of men in our diocese in formation for the vocation of priest; we also have women and men who are considering consecrated life as religious brothers and sisters. These are what we usually think of as “vocations”.

Sometimes we refer to single life, or married life, or even our choices of profession as doctors, or lawyers, or nurses, or whatever as vocations. And while it is true that all of these things are exercises of the gifts God has given us, even those things don’t exhaust the list of “vocations “ to which God has called His people.

Consider this: Everyone is called. Everyone responds. What we each have to decide is this: What are we being called to be? And what are we being called to do?

Take a look at today’s readings. Amos, in our first reading, is being invited to get out of the northern kingdom by one of the priests of Bethel. Basically, Amos is stirring up trouble by telling the people of Israel that Jeroboam’s kingdom will be brought down. So naturally, the priest wants him to leave, thinking he’s one of the professional false prophets from the southern kingdom. Amos corrects him, telling him that his job was to herd sheep and trim trees; at least, it was until God got hold of him, and sent him to be a prophet.

The Gospel gives us a little more perspective. Remember that Jesus first called His disciples, making them “fishers of men”; He next gave them authority. The story in this weeks Gospel picks up where Jesus actually sends them out into the countryside to exercise that authority; as the text says, “The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”

The second reading connects all of this magical, mystical stuff to us: “In him you also, who have heard the word of truth … and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” The writer of Ephesians is telling the Church (including us) that we have all been adopted into Christ, and redeemed by His blood, and now sealed with his Holy Spirit for the tasks we are sent to do!

Amos received a call from God to be a prophet. He was a simple shepherd before that, with no particular skills or distinction. Yet God sent him to go prophesy to a king. Likewise, the Apostles were all simple men…before Jesus called them. He called, He gave them authority…and then He sent them to preach the gospel, to cure the sick, and to cast out demons!

God is still calling people to His service, brothers and sisters. Someone in this very room…is being called to the sacramental priesthood. Someone in this room…is being called to religious life. Others among us are called to the sacrament of Matrimony, to live faithfully as members of “little churches” within our families, transmitting the faith to our children. Still others among us are being called to life as single men and women, to live lives faithful to God’s call.

All of these “vocations” come from God. All of them are hard. And all are places where God sends his Holy Spirit to aid us.

But…there’s more, brothers and sisters, and it’s important that we see it, and act on it!

At the Mass, every Mass, we encounter the Living Christ, first in the assembly of His people, then in His Word read and preached, and most importantly and most perfectly in the Most Blessed sacrament, the Eucharist. And then, having been nourished and strengthened, we hear the priest or the deacon say, “The Mass is Ended, Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”, or similar words. At every Mass, we are all sent out on mission, just as the disciples were, to serve the Lord. That service can take a lot of forms, but at the end of the day, it’s a calling, a mission from God, to every one of us, to Love Christ and to serve Him!

And how do we serve Christ? How do we love Christ? We love and serve Christ by keeping His commands! We love and serve Christ by loving one another! And we love and serve Christ by being faithful to “the word of truth, the gospel of salvation”, that the letter to the Ephesians talks about!

This should be life-changing for us! We have received Christ truly present in the Eucharist, and then we are sent to love and serve Him by being His presence in the world! No matter who we are, even if we’re smelly shepherds like Amos was, God has called us to be witnesses to Christ, fed us for the journey, and sent us into the world!

Vocations come in many shapes and sizes. When we hear “vocation”, our first thought is often the Men in Black, our priests and our seminarians, who are public signs of God’s call to His service. If we’re older, we also think of religious sisters and brothers, some of them in habits, donating their lives to God’s service in a specific area or field. We might even think of our trade, or our rofession, as a “vocation”, because we feel particularly gifted by God to work in it.

But brothers and sisters, we all have a much more basic call, one that every single one of us shares: We are called to love and serve God in the world in which we live. We each have a religious vocation, to witness Christ in our lives, no matter where we’ve been placed.

Everyone is called, without exception. Every time we attend a Mass, we receive Christ, and we are sent on a mission by God. And no matter what the obstacles appear to be, God has given us the strength to do all He’s called us to, through the Christ whom we receive.

At the end of Mass, you’ll hear me say it: “Go; you are sent!”

God is calling us, all of us, and sending us somewhere.

What do you hear God calling you to do?

Gospel Audio

Homily Audio 

Repent and Believe!

Repent…and believe. “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” That’s what He said in to today’s Gospel reading.

“To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life.” This is how the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the word, repent.

“Believe in the Gospel”. To believe (Also from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) is “to accept as true, genuine, or real”.

So by textbook definition, Jesus’ call as He returns form the desert is pretty easy to understand: “Turn from sin. Amend your life. And accept God’s Gospel as real and true.”

This is all God asks of us as Christian men and women: “Be good. And believe Me.” That’s it!

But if that’s it…then why’s it so hard? And how are we supposed to do it?

Well…the forty days of Lent can help us to get our arms around that.

Today’s readings give us a push in the right direction. The first reading reminds us of the promise God made after the Great Flood was over; God had just finished “rebooting” the Earth because of the evil of the people. He only saved eight, according to the story; Noah and his family had been the only people on Earth to avoid sliding into the evil of the times. The Flood punished the sin of the people, and washed that sin away through forty days of rain, so that humanity could start over with God.

In the second reading, Peter tells us that God renewed His relationship with humanity again with Jesus: “Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.” Christ’s death gave us a chance for a new life in God. And Peter tells us that the baptism we receive is not just a bath for the body: that baptism saves us: we make “an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.

The Gospel brings back the forty days with Jesus’ time in the desert being tempted by Satan. When Jesus returns from the desert, He goes to Galilee and proclaims that “the kingdom of God is at hand.” Then what does He tell the people? “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

The forty days of Lent begin with these readings because they set the tone. Lent should be all about two things: repentance, and belief; turning from sin, and believing in Jesus Christ and His saving work on the cross. This is the constant call of Lent: Repent…and believe.

All of us who are baptized have promised these things before, or had them promised for us. The Rite of Baptism recalls the time of the Flood as a sign of our baptism. And after the prayer over the baptismal font, those to be baptized are asked to do two things: to renounce Satan, and to profess their faith in Jesus. Repent…and believe.

This baptismal call to repentance is the same call we hear during Lent. Lent is a reminder for us that we have already been cleansed and reborn to life in Christ, but that we often fall short of living out the new life we received through baptism. Lent calls us to recall what God has done for us through Jesus; Lent calls to us make a return to the faith we professed at our baptism. We are called to repent…and believe.

But what do we need to repent for? What is it that we’ve done that’s so bad, so serious, that we need to turn away from it and do something different?

That answer is different for each one of us, I think. And no, the vast majority of us aren’t running around committing mortal sin after mortal sin, guaranteeing us a place in Hell. But Lent gives us a chance to really examine our lives, to ferret out those places where we are being less faithful than we ought. Lent gives us a chance to look at our choices in life, and to decide if we’re where we should be. And it’s a chance to take on some of the hard things in our lives, not just to give up chocolate for six weeks!

Lent gives us a chance to try to expose the lies that the Evil One sows throughout our culture: the lie that we can do whatever we like, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else; the lie that the Church is hopelessly out of touch in some of its teachings, and that we can ignore those that cause us discomfort; the lie that we are ultimately in control of our bodies and our lives, and that God is OK with it.

Is there an abortion in your past that you haven’t healed from? (Men, I am addressing this to you, too.) Pray about it; God wants to heal you and set you free! Contracepting in your marriage? Pray about it, and consider attending at least one Natural Family Planning class with the Diocese, to see if God is calling you to something different, something new. Consider using this Lent to work with the big things in our lives that hold us back from full union with God.

Will it be tough? If we’re going in the right direction, yes it will be tough! The last thing Satan wants is for us to catch on to his lies! But if we really open ourselves up to the grace God freely offers us, we can see past the lies, to the truth: that God has already given us everything we need to live as He calls us to, if we will only use it!

Jesus’ call as He returns from the desert is pretty easy to understand: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” Turn from sin. Amend your life. And accept God’s Gospel as real and true.

This is a challenging call, to be sure. And much of what the world throws at us turns us away from that call.

But Lent can give us a chance to turn back. Lent can help us to make a break with anything in our lives that holds us back from repentance…and belief.

There is something in every one of our lives that is holding us back. And Jesus’ call as he came from the desert still has meaning for us. Repent…and believe.
Repent…and believe. And accept the grace God freely offers us to help our unbelief.

Then…stand back and see what happens in our lives!

Gospel

Homily Audio

Did you see that?

You know, sometimes it takes an awful lot to impress us.  It’s hard for us to just take something at face value; it has to sing, or dance, or work a miracle to get our attention.

That must be part of human nature, because it’s always been like that.  Adam and Eve get the whole garden, they walk with God in it, and all they have to do is not eat from one little tree.  And what happened?  Moses leads the Israelites through the Red Sea to safety.  They watch Pharaoh’s army get swallowed up by the waters, and they get completely away.  And what happens?  They soon make a golden calf to worship in place of the God who saved them!

And we, in some ways, are sometimes even worse.  We know so much.  We can explain things that ancient peoples like the Israelites couldn’t even imagine.  And because we’re so smart, we miss some things.  Because we know so much, we forget about things that ought to be simple.  And we set up the false gods of money, or security, or status, to make us feel better.

But God constantly calls us to know Him.  God constantly invites us to believe Him.  And He constantly reaches out to us, asking us simply to love Him.  For us to hear Him, though…we have to pay attention to the signs around us.

God made it relatively easy for the people of Israel.  He gave them sign after sign.  Moses brought them out of Egypt.  Moses fed them in the desert.  Moses saved them from the snakes.  Later, other prophets worked signs and wonders.  They predicted things for Israel.  It was obvious these guys were working for God.

Then Jesus shows up, and all heaven breaks loose!  Blind people start seeing, lame people start walking. Even demons call Jesus out by name!  And people are impressed!  They saw who Jesus was, and they followed Him!

But God didn’t always show up in Person for everyone; not everyone got to see Jesus work His miracles first-hand.  And those who weren’t standing right there sometimes had trouble believing.  After all, anyone can make up a story.

But what ended up making the difference for the folks who couldn’t see Jesus for themselves?  What made the difference was the way in which those who told the stories of Jesus lived their lives.  It wasn’t just that they told nice stories; it was that their lives changed.  Those people who were preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ lived what they believed.  And no amount of persecution could get them to back down from the Truth!

Most of us have no first-person experiences of God.  Like ALL of the early Christians after the time of the Apostles, we have to depend on stories from others to understand who God is, who Jesus is.  We have to read, and study, and pray in order to understand how Jesus wants to change our lives, and who God is calling us to be.  We have to use the sacraments, those visible signs of invisible grace that Jesus established to help us on our way.

But even more importantly: we have to be prophets for one another.  We have to speak God’s truth.  We have to tell others what God expects of us all.  And we have to live our lives in a way that tells others that we know God, that we know Jesus.  This is what Christ left for us to do:  To go out into the whole world, preaching the Gospel through our lives.  To go out, according to our state in life, and be the next generation of prophets, with God’s words in our mouths!

But still…isn’t it hard to do that when we can’t see all of this stuff?  Isn’t it hard to stand up for what’s right, for what’s good, when most people around us are doing the opposite?

It is tough, brothers and sisters.  But that’s when our witness is that much more effective!  When the families with four, five, or even ten children come to Mass, or go out in public as a family, it’s hard to take the stares and the snide comments.  But showing off their large families is a witness to the world of God’s love for life!  When the conversation at work or turns bad, it’s hard to walk away and not participate.  But walking away without judging the other participants is a witness to the power of Christ in our lives.  At school, when everyone else is ostracizing the new kid, or the geek, it’s hard to expose ourselves to being made fun of alongside him or her.  But what a witness to God’s power in our lives to do it anyway!

God might perform some great miracle in our midst.  He can certainly do it if He chooses to.  But our faith shouldn’t depend on seeing those great big demonstrations of His power.  If we pay attention to the thousands of little testimonies around us, if we turn our lives into a thousand little prophetic signs, then we won’t miss out on seeing God active in the world!

God shows off in lots of ways. Some of them are big, ostentatious things; others are small and quiet.  We have to watch for signs of God in our lives, because they are sometimes so subtle that we can miss them.

And we have to stay humble, lest we fall into the trap of thinking that we know everything, and that we don’t need God for anything.

We have a choice to make about how we’re going to live.  We have a choice to make about how we’re going to represent the One who sends us out into the world to speak His words.

God is calling us to know Him.  God is inviting us to believe Him.  God is reaching out to us, asking us simply to love Him.  Pay attention to the signs.  And don’t be afraid…to be a prophet.

Gospel

Homily

Faithfulness

This is a time of year when we celebrate family, isn’t it?  We gather as family, as much as we can; we have meals together; we call family members who are too far to get home, and we write letters or emails, with pictures or video, to those who are too far away to call.  We remember those who have died, and we celebrate the new lives among us with “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments.  For many of us, if not most, Christmas is about family.

But Christmas is about more than family, right?  Christmas, when you boil it down to the most important thing, isn’t about how much we spend on travel or gifts.  It’s not about how many parties we attend or give.  It’s not about most of the things the world holds out to us as important.

Our history as God’s people is full of examples of what’s really important about Christmas.  And what’s really important…is faithfulness.  The faithfulness of our forbears is the real point of Christmas.  The faith that led folks to do things that were unreasonable, to do things that were impossible, is the real miracle of Christmas.

And in the story of their faithfulness, we get a lesson for our families, whether they are families of one or of dozens.

In our readings, we see the faithfulness that led to Christ coming to Earth.  We see the beginning of His human family in Abram, who decided to listen to God when God promised Him descendants as numerous as the stars.  Why should he have listened, Abram?  He was old. So was his wife.  They’d been childless all their married lives.  In the view of the world, they were less than other people because they were barren.  But Abram listened, and obeyed God, and God honored that obedience and that faith.

Paul explains more.  Abraham went when God told him to.  Abraham trusted, even though it was illogical to trust.  And he had faith enough to be prepared to sacrifice his only son, because he knew he could count on the God who had done so much for him already.

Mary and Joseph carried on that faithfulness.  Think about it:  Mary and Joseph trusted God’s messenger, and went ahead with their marriage.  They trusted God to take care of them on the trip to Bethlehem.  And they were faithful to God’s law in bringing Jesus to the Temple.  And in fulfilling their responsibilities as parents, Mary and Joseph raised Jesus, The Christ to manhood!

These families we read about today are the examples we’re asked to follow.  We’re asked to be faithful to God’s call on our families, to be as holy as we are able to manage.  And God asks a lot of us, doesn’t He?

We’re asked to trust God as our families form, to be open to life however it arrives with us.  We’re asked to trust God with our children, to allow Him to guide them as they discern the path they should take in life.  We’re asked to be faithful to the guidance of the Church, to do certain things and to avoid certain things, because doing so aids us in our lives of faith.

And most of all, we are asked to put God first in our lives as individuals and as families.  Joseph could have been dishonored.  Mary could have been stoned to death as an adulteress!  Simeon and Anna could have given up on God’s promise, and just crawled off to die!  But they all faced their difficulties, and were faithful!

And that’s what we’re called to do, brothers and sisters!  Whatever our circumstance in life, God just asks us to be faithful.  If our job is threatened, God asks us to believe He’ll help us get through!  If we have a child who disappoints, God asks us to believe He’ll work on that child!  If we’re faced with an illness, or an unexpected crisis in our families, God asks us to remain faithful to Him through the trial!

But, God, it’s hard to be faithful, isn’t it?  So much around us calls us to not be!

Difficult marriage?  It’s so easy to seek comfort outside of it!  Children who are a disappointment?  Well, we can just kick ‘em out of the house and wash our hands of them! Unexpected pregnancy?  We can just make a trip down to Memphis and “fix the problem”!  Old and sick?  Or young, but terminally ill and in pain?  Well, we can fix that with a trip to a sympathetic doctor!  Money problems?  Can’t pay the bills, or losing the house?   Well, maybe I can hit the number in Lotto this week, or head to Caruthersville and make it up! Or maybe the government will fix it for me!

Funny, thing, though:  all of those “solutions” leave out the most important thing:  God!  Our problems aren’t unique, brothers and sisters.  And if our forbears in faith had taken these “easy” ways out, what would we have to celebrate this Christmas?  In fact, what would any of this mean, if Joseph had simply “divorced her quietly”, or if Mary had refused God’s request?  Nothing!

Christmas celebrates faithfulness.  The true meaning of Christmas in our lives is about the faith that led our predecessors in the faith to make the choices they made.  And ultimately, Christmas is about the faithfulness of the first Christians, Mary and Joseph, and the faithfulness of their ancestors, that made it possible for Christ to enter the world as a human child, like us in all things but sin.

What a gift to God it would be if we could all be more faithful in the coming year!  Does God ask us to be perfect? No!  Does He expect us to never sin? No!

But He expects us to try.  He expects us to cut those things out of our life that pull us away from Him.  He asks us to take advantage of the sacraments He gave us, as conduits of His grace.

And He asks us to be faithful.  Abraham and Sarah faithful.  Paul and the other apostles faithful.  Mary and Joseph faithful.  And in our faithfulness, He promises to bless us and our families.

Where have we been less than obedient to God?  Where can we improve our relationship with God?

God calls us to faithfulness.  Are we listening?

I Figured it out!

If you’re a glutton for punishment, and you’d like to hear this thing delivered live, here’s the link:

Homily – Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, Nov. 8, 2008

OK, a pop quiz.  This is the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran.  Here’s the question:

The Basilica of St. John Lateran is: a. a really big church named after St. John Lateran; b. The main cathedral of the diocese of Rome; c. Mother cathedral of the Universal Church.  By show of hands, how many say “a.”?  “b.”?  “c.”?  Both “b.” and  “c.”?

The full name of the Basilica is the Arch-basilica of the Most Holy Savior, and Saint John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, Ecumenical Mother Church of the Whole Inhabited World, because it is the parish church of the Pope, and because it was the first cathedral church in all of Christianity. Until the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christians met in secret; once Emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians, they began to occupy public buildings. The Basilica of St. John Lateran was first dedicated in 324 AD by Pope Sylvester I, who established it as the Cathedral of Rome.

Of course, one might be tempted to say, “Aw, that’s nice!”, and nod off.  But I think it might help to consider this:  What’s the significance of any church building?  Why should we care about this, or any, temple?

Maybe the readings today give us some clue.  In the first reading, Ezekiel describes a vision in which he sees waters flowing out of the temple “into the eastern district down upon the Arabah”.  He describes how this water makes the “salt waters” fresh.  He talks about how this river brings food, and life.  Ezekiel describes the temple as life-giving.

In the second reading, Paul describes the Church in Corinth as “God’s building”.  He describes the community as “the temple of God”, and “holy”.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus himself refers to the temple of His body when He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews thought He was talking about the actual Temple in Jerusalem which had been under construction for 46 years; the Apostles only understood this after the Resurrection.

So today’s readings tell us that the temple of God gives forth life-giving water.  They tell us that we, the Church, are the Temple of God as a community, as the Body of Christ, and they tell us that this temple cannot be kept down!

But what in the world does any of that have to do with St. John Lateran?

Well, consider this.  We worship in buildings; St. John Lateran ranks first among those buildings, and the feast day celebrates that ecumenical mother church’s dedication.  The Church, when it started worshiping in St. John Lateran, finally moved out of the shadows and into the light of the world, to be the light of the world.  All of this imagery applies directly to us.

Paul tells us that we are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in us!  So…what?  Well, if we’re the Temple of God, then life-giving waters ought to flow from us, and we ought to see the effects of that flow around us!  If we’re the Body of Christ, then people ought to see in us the hands and feet of Christ at work!  If we, the Church, are Christ’s Body on earth, then, no matter what calamity happens to us, no matter what challenges we have to face as a parish, as Catholics in the US, or as a world-wide Church, we can keep going knowing that nothing can destroy Christ’s Temple, The Church!

But it can seem pretty dark sometimes, in our parish, and in our Church, depending on how you see things.  And you may be unhappy about some aspects of  our community.  But what are we supposed to do with that?

Well, I’ll tell you what I think we’re supposed to do with it:  We’re supposed to stand up.  We’re supposed to step out.  And we’re supposed to be what Christ has already told us that we are: His Body, the temple of God!  We’re supposed to be the source of the solutions!

So, if something is not the way it should be in the world, we have to step out!  If sin of abortion bothers us (as it should all of us), then we have to step out and be heard.  If we don’t think the poor are well cared for, then we have to step out, and not wait for government or anyone else to do something about it!  If we think that there is too much violence in the world, then we have to step out, and get involved in the lives of people at risk from violence in our community!  If we think that unwed pregnant women should have more options than abortion, then we have to step out, and make sure that those women have the resources and the love they need to be able to give their children life instead of death.

Whatever our issues, at the end of the day, Christ calls us to stand up, and to be His presence in the world.  He calls us to take our worship of him inside this building, into the world, outside this building!

So, the Feast of St. John Lateran is not just about a building.  This feast day is about the Church, our Church, the Body of Christ, the Temple of God and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.  The building is special, but not just because of its bricks; the building is significant because of what flows from it: the Body of Christ, sent into the world to be Christ’s life-giving presence in that world.

Christ calls us to stand up for Him in the world.  Christ sends us to be the waters flowing form His temple, bringing life, and bearing fruit in the world.  He calls us to recognize that, no matter what happens in the world around us, this Body of Christ, this Temple of the Holy Spirit that is God’s Church, cannot be destroyed.  St. John Lateran has been wrecked by earthquakes and burned by fires more times than one can count over the centuries; it’s still there.

And so is Christ’s Church.  And our mission, our calling, is to flow, like the waters Ezekiel saw in his vision, into the desert of the culture around us to bring life.  We are the Church.  We are the Body of Christ. And we have to get up, get out, and be the force that brings life to the world!

Are you scared?  Seen the news lately?

These days, if you’re watching the stock market ticker, it can make you a little crazy.  The Dow dropped, what was it, almost 1,600 points last week?  And there’s a steady drumbeat (has been for several weeks now) about potential financial ruin facing everyone in the United States if the government fails to act, and to act quickly!  Or is it that everyone is going to lose their homes?  Or that everyone’s retirement savings are going to evaporate in a puff of smoke?

It’s a common theme on TV, on talk radio, in campaign ads and YouTube videos that this candidate or that one is going to “save America”, or that one is “too erratic” or “too risky”.  And I have been told more times than I care to think about how this one or that one is going to “take care” of me and my family.

But there’s an underlying question we have to answer, brothers and sisters:  What are we afraid of?  What, exactly, is it that is keeping us awake, or occupying our minds? What is it we are trying so hard to “protect”, or to “rescue”?

And who’s really going to take care of us?

The reading from Isaiah this morning speaks in beautiful images about the banquet of the Lord, and about all the great things that will flow from the establishment of God’s kingdom.  But what did Isaiah talk about just before this?  Devastation.  Ruin.  Apocalypse.  Fear! Of whom?  Of what?  Judah in Isaiah’s time was afraid of being conquered.  The Kingdom of Israel to the north had been taken over by the Assyrians.  Enemies threatened all around, and the kings of Judah were tempted again and again to make alliances with pagans, and to turn away from trust in God.  Sound kind of familiar?

Jesus told a story in today’s Gospel about people who’d lost sight of what was important.  He compared the kingdom of heaven to a king giving a wedding feast; he sent out invitations twice.  His invitations were turned down the first time, and even after he laid the whole party out for the invitees, folks went about their own affairs.  Some of them even went as far as to shut his servants up by killing them.  And the king decided that was enough!  He did away with the first group, and invited others to attend the feast!

But what are they talking about?  Are these predictions of the end of the world?  The Church would tell you, “No.”

What is it, then?  It’s a description of what can happen when we turn away from God, and start to trust only in our own wisdom! Isaiah and Jesus both are talking about what happens when God’s people turn away from Him, and what awaits those who remain faithful to him!

Paul knew this.  And Paul says something in the second reading that is profoundly important for us to hear in this current set of circumstances:  “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”  All things.  Paul says that he has “learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.”  And because of that, nothing can throw him!

But where did he learn these secrets?  Where did Paul go to figure out how to be comfortable whatever his circumstances?  To God.  Paul turned to Christ.  Paul learned to trust, that whatever needs he had, God would supply them. And he learned to count on the communities of believers, who, like the Philippians, provided his support.

So how do we weather this current situation we’re in?  Through Christ. Because we can do all things in Him who strengthens us.  How do we decide how to vote, and who to support politically?  We stay faithful to what we have learned from Christ!  And we keep going!

But what about our 401(k) funds?  What about our investments that are worth 20% less today than they were on Monday?  What about the credit I can’t get for my business to help me make payroll this week?  What about the bailout package that is helping all those rich guys on Wall Street, but ain’t doin’ SQUAT for me and my family?

Well, here’s the rub.  Playing the “Blame game” right now misses the entire point God could be making with us!  And if we’re looking for someone in government to swoop in and save us…well, maybe they will.  But the question is…What is that going to cost us?

Isaiah told the kings of Judah time and again that they should look to God…and time and again, they ignored him.  They made deals with the pagans in order to survive, and it didn’t work.  In Jesus’ parable, the king’s subjects were invited to the feast…and they were too busy.  And when they got tired of hearing the king’s invitation, they abused and killed the king’s messengers!

What’s it gonna be for us?  Do we ignore God and try to figure this out on our own this time?  Do we listen to these talking heads and their promises to save us?  Or do we listen…to God?  I’m not sure what we can do on our own.  But Paul promises that we can do all things in Christ, who strengthens us!

What are we afraid of?  More wars? No healthcare when we get old?  What are we afraid of?  The government “invading our privacy”?  Not being able to go get things “taken care of” if we make a “mistake”?  Losing our house and all of our “stuff” because we can’t pay our bills?  Or are we more afraid of what will happen if we cut ourselves loose from God?

No man, no woman, can “save” us.  No “rescue package” is going to magically make everything all better.  And no matter what happens this election cycle, everyone who takes office at the local, state, and federal level will still just be a human person, doing a job.

The news would have us think that the world is falling apart, and that the only route to salvation is through things that we humans do, before it’s too late.

But God has a different prescription.

God calls us to be faithful citizens.  God calls us to a culture of life.

And God calls us to be fearless.

We can do all things in Christ, who strengthens us.  And that includes getting through this current turmoil.

So, who are we gonna believe, and believe in?  What are we afraid of?

And who can fix it?

Have you ever thought about what it would be like…to be able to save the world?  What if. Single-handedly, you could end hunger?  End war?  Stamp out disease?  Give everyone a home?  What if you could wave your hand and give everyone work that supplied their physical and emotional needs?  What if you could teach people how to tell the truth…how to be honest all the time…what if you could keep them from stealing, or murdering, or causing scandal to one another?

That’d be a pretty neat world, huh?

But it’s utterly impossible for any one of us to do!  In spite of the speeches and ads we hear in this political season, no vote we cast is going to save the world.  No matter the commercials we hear to the contrary, no contribution we make is going to Save The Children.

But does that mean we do nothing, then?  If we can’t do it by ourselves, then what is our role?

We know God’s role in all of that.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that he who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”  God intends to save the world, or at least, to make it possible for all to be saved.

Jesus is explaining all of this to Nicodemus, who has come to Him under cover of darkness to ask questions, and to try to understand who Jesus is. He understands that Jesus is from God, but Nicodemus doesn’t understand how Jesus fits into it all.

And Jesus makes it clear, at least to Nicodemus, what His role is.  And He uses imagery that Nicodemus can’t miss: Moses lifted up an image in the desert to keep the people from dying of snake bites, bites they’d gotten as punishment from God; Jesus would be lifted up in the same way, so that everyone who believes in Him shall have eternal life.

So Nicodemus would have understood the Old Testament reference, even if he didn’t understand exactly how this was all supposed to happen!

How do we understand Jesus in this passage?  We have the advantage of 2,000 years of history, and  2,000 years of Church teaching to follow; but how is this supposed to work for us? The Apostles thought Jesus would be returning to Earth in their lifetimes: they figured that God’s kingdom would be established by Christ on Earth just shortly after they watched Him ascend!

But here we are, twenty centuries later, still waiting.  So when is all this saving that Jesus is going to do going to get started?

Brothers and sisters, it’s been going on for 2,000 years!  God has been saving the world continually ever since Jesus died on the Cross! God has been saving the world through Jesus ever since Jesus humbled Himself to become one like us in all things but sin!  God has given us the Way to eternal life!

But there’s a little catch to all of this saving that’s going on.  Jesus isn’t waving a magic wand and making things all better.  God didn’t just snap His cosmic fingers and make everything all better.  He’s been saving the world through the example of His saints, starting with the Apostles, and continuing through all those whose lives have been dedicated to the Truth of the Gospel!

And He’s saving the world…through us!

All those who are listening closely probably just said, “Whoa! Wait a minute, deacon! What do you mean, “through us“?  Brothers and sisters, I mean through us.

We are the Body of Christ, here and now.  We are god’s instruments, here, and now. There’s no “magic wand” in Jesus’ hands…because we are His hands.  God doesn’t have to snap His fingers…because He has us to do His will!

This weekend, or Festival of Ministries focuses on Parish Social Ministries; these ministries are the Hands and Feet of Christ, carrying His Word, and His Will, to the world.

So maybe you can’t End World Hunger…but you can feed a family for a day, or for a week, through St. Vincent DePaul.  Maybe you can’t end homelessness…but you can help build a house for one family through Habitat for Humanity.  Maybe you can’t cure all disease…but you can help one person keep track of their blood pressure through the Parish Health Ministries.  Maybe you can’t end all gang violence or thievery, but you can mentor a young man through the Not Even One program.

Wanna save the world?  Get involved.  Wanna save the world?  Start with one person!  One situation!  One!

“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him“.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that he who believes in Him might not perish, but might have eternal life”.

We are the Body of Christ, here on earth.  We are the ones who are called to do Christ’s work, so that “the world might be saved through Him”.

No, we can’t save the world.  But we can make one situation in the world better, by getting involved in it!  Our Parish Social Ministries are where the rubber meets the road:  these ministries are Christ, visible to the world, so that people can believe.

I urge you to get involved.  Even if it’s only through financial support, the ministries you help will in turn perform corporal works of mercy that make Christ present to those in need.

Wanna save the world?  What could do more to save the world, than to make Christ present to our world?

The Jews of Jesus’ time had some funny ways about them.  They were pretty particular about who they hung out with; Samaritans and Gentiles, as well as known sinners, were all strictly off-limits!  You just didn’t hang out with them.  You didn’t talk to them.  And sometimes,  Jesus appeared to buy into that. 

Look at how he reacted to the woman in today’s Gospel.  First, He ignores her.  Then, He talks about her, but not to her, when He tells His disciples, “I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.”  Finally, when she’s in the dirt in front of Him, Jesus metaphorically equates her to dogs!

But what’s her response?  She keeps after Him!  She knows who He is!  And she knows that He can help her, that He can change her circumstance! And so she keeps pursuing His help for her possessed daughter!

And what happens?  Jesus compliments her faith!  He casts the demon out of her daughter because she had faith He would do it! And He did this in spite of the fact that she wasn’t one of them! He does exactly what the Law says He shouldn’t do, because of her faith.  She was convinced of the truth of what she had heard about Jesus…and Jesus responded to that conviction!

Have you ever known anyone who was a convert to Catholicism?  I know a bunch; heck, I live with one.  One thing I notice about converts, almost universally, is that, if they came to Catholicism on their own, if they made a decision to come into full communion with the Catholic Church, there was something that drove them there.  There was something positive about being a Catholic Christian that answered a question in their hearts.  And, having made that decision to join themselves to Christ in His Church, they are a lot of times the most on fire for the Church!

But what about those of us who were born into this faith of ours?  What do they see, these brothers and sisters who have decided to join us, that has them so on fire for the faith?  And why is it hard for us to see the same thing, and to have the same fire?

 Today’s readings really hit to the heart of that question.   

In our day, we would look at someone who showed as much conviction as this gentile woman like she was a nut.  Religion isn’t supposed to get you abused.  Religion is not supposed to cause “controversy”.  In fact, what’s the maxim about conversation among people you don’t know well?  Don’t discuss politics…and religion, right?  So for us, this Gentile woman is way strange! 

But in reality, isn’t that the kind of faith Jesus calls us to, brothers and sisters?  A faith that makes us act out of our realizing who Jesus is, and what He’s left us in the Church?  Sure it is!  We’re called to a faith that motivates us to tell everyone about what we believe!  We’re called to be disciples of Christ, spreading the Good News about who He is, and who He’s made us to be!

And we’re even called to be disciples in the face of criticism.  We’re called to be disciples in the face of ignorance and prejudice.  And we’re called to be disciples to all, even if it causes some people to turn their backs on us, and to reject us for who we are as Catholic Christians!

But…that gets pretty hard, doesn’t it?  If you’ve ever had a die-hard Baptist evangelizing you (in your face), and criticizing your faith, then you know how hard it can be.  If you’ve ever plucked a flyer from Tony Alamo “Ministries” off of your windshield after Mass, or had someone step up to you at school or at work and ask you “Why do Catholics do this or that?”, and been without an answer, then you know how hard it can be.  If you’ve ever lost a family member to some other denomination, or some other faith tradition, because “something isn’t right about Catholicism”, then you know how hard it can be.

But…if you’ve taken the time to learn about the why’s of Catholicism, then you know it doesn’t have  to be that hard!  If you read the articles in publications like “Word Among Us”, or if you’ve picked up any of the CDs in the narthex, then you know that our faith is reasonable!  If you’ve read books by Scott Hahn, or Jeff Cavins, or any other convert to the faith, then you know why these people left everything to find Jesus in the Catholic Church!

And if you’re yearning for that kind of knowledge, if you want to learn more about the “why’s” of Catholicism, then you can start reading, and talking, about it.  And you can plan to attend the Apologetics class we’re starting in the parish in September.  And you can learn to explain your faith clearly, to defend it charitably, and to share it confidently.
Conclusion

Remember the woman who petitioned Jesus in today’s Gospel?  No one asked her what she believed.  They just assumed she was wrong, because she was  gentile, and they ignored her until she got so loud that they had to deal with her.  And it was her faith that Jesus saw. It was her faith in Jesus that saved her daughter from possession.

That woman saw something in Jesus, and in the stories she had heard about Him, that convinced her He could help her.  The converts we were talking about also saw something of Christ, in His Church, that caused them, in some cases, to brave persecution (yes, even today!) for the sake of the Church.

What is it they see?  What is it about the Church of Rome, the Church of the Apostles, that would cause people to turn themselves inside out in order to get it?

We should know.  And we can know, if we just try. 

Can we defend our faith charitably?  Can we share our faith confidently?  It’s what Jesus calls us to be able to do. 

But…What do we see?