Scripture Journey

Accountable to you? No way!

2009-08-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

August 12, 2009
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings:
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Matthew 18:15-20

"Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector."

Accountability is something we usually like to apply to others but rarely ourselves. It is one thing to demand accountability and something harder to accept our own accountability.

Jesus is speaking of division in this morning's Gospel reading. The Body of Christ on Earth is each and every believer. We are a family that is united in our love of Christ and that requires many things from each of us and one of those things is accountability.

Jesus lays out a very simple and dignified way of dealing with division and sin in the Church. First we are to go to the one who has wronged us and seek to reconcile. Now, I don't believe that Jesus meant every time we are unhappy with someone. It is easy to get worked up and feel wronged if someone breathes wrong! Jesus isn't talking about our oft time desire to make someone be and do what we want. Jesus is referring to that true rupture of relationship where there is damage not only to the two involved but the entire Body of Christ. In other words, sin.

So. Go one on one and seek to reconcile. If that doesn't work, take some folks from the Church with you and seek reconciliation. Now here comes the kicker. If that person still refuses, take it to the whole Church! Seriously, can you imagine how well that would go over! And if that individual, or group, still refuses, then that person or group would be an outsider. Pretty harsh but it addresses just how serious division in the Body of Christ is viewed by the Lord.

If we are the Body of Christ and we are called to be the messengers of the Good News then we are all called to be accountable to one another. Not in the sense that we demand people meet requirements or pass a test to be considered worthy. It is that we are willing to admit wrong and do what is necessary to repair the rupture of relationship with God and one another. Our sin not only damages our relationship with God but also with one another as the Body of Christ. We are accountable to God for our actions and also to the other members of the Body.

So what would the Body of Christ on Earth look like if we took accountability seriously? I imagine it would look more like the Early Church. I don't mean that in an idealistic or romanticized way. I mean in the sense that the Early Church was a much smaller body and as such, it wasn't possible to hide when one had done wrong. As a result, people were held accountable. I worry that we have lost that reality of accountability and can lob "spiritual hand grenades" and then duck and hide and feel that we can get away with that type of behavior.

The community that practices mutual accountability is the one that becomes stronger because much is expected of those who have been given much. We are a community that has been given much and God expects much. It is our responsibility and privilege to work together in the best way we can and do all for the glory of God.

A new beginning.

2009-07-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I am settling in at my new assignment and new posts are on the way. I hope everyone is having a safe and happy summer.

Here is a quote I came across recently and I want to share it.

"All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone - for the good and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all of those who do us harm as much as those who do us good".
--St. John Vianney--

Thank you.

2009-06-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to all who have sent me an email asking if I am still alive! Yes I am. I apologize for being so far behind. I have been working on a new project and getting ready to start a new assignment. My time has been consumed with so many parish responsibilities that I have let this blog slip.

I start a new assignment in July and I am hoping to jump-start this site and use it as a greater source of ministry. I plan on returning to my homily posts and perhaps add even more original material. I have a number of ideas that are brewing and I am excited to share them with any and all who would like that.

May the love of God, the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always.

See you soon.
Fr. Jeff

Stuck in a rut.

2009-02-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

February 4, 2009

Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15
Mark 6:1-6

We humans are prone to getting stuck in ruts. I am a creature of habit and I have a morning routine that is seven days a week. I get up at the same time, I eat the same thing, blah, blah, blah. I realized it the other day when I realized that I even transport the morning routine with me when I am in vacation. I even take my breakfast things with me when I travel to see my family. I think my parents have just accepted my eccentricities. God love em.

The scene in our gospel text reminds of someone stuck in a rut. The people listening to Jesus believed that they knew what they needed. So determined were they in their belief, they were blinded to Jesus' message. The people firmly thought they knew just how, what, and who they needed to be the Christ of God. Sure in knowledge but wrong in practice. They could not accept Jesus because they knew him! How could someone they know be anything for them other than who they were convinced, knew, him to be? So, they knew he could only be the carpenter's son so they refused his offer of life.

I am painfully aware of how at times I am blind or deaf to God's Word because I cannot accept the messenger. There are figures in the world and even in the Church that I avoid listening to because I do not like their methods, views, or even theology. These people do not fit the way I believe things should be. I am not proud of this. It is judgmental on my part and I know it but it is the rut I am use to when it comes to these individuals. It is wrong of me to do this. Recently I made myself listen, really listen to one of these individuals and I discovered, even though I didn't agree with everything said, there were things I needed to hear. This individuals words made me rethink some of my preconceived ideas and "spiritual habits" that I just knew were the right way. I hate it when I am so sure of my self that I refuse to listen.

Needless to say, I needed to hear the words even though it was hard for me. I had to be willing to push myself out of my spiritual rut and be open to the Holy Spirit. I didn't care for the messenger but God used that person to reveal truth to me. All I had to do was shut up and listen.

The people in today's gospel couldn't take it upon themselves to push up out of their spiritual rut and be open to the Holy Spirit. It was their loss and Jesus left. It would be wise for us all to be open to the Word of God regardless of our belief that we think we know who, what and how God should speak. We may just find God speaks to us more than we ever dreamed.

So, back to the rut. We all have our routines and ways of doing things. I find routine sometimes reassuring. But, there is a big risk with being in a rut spiritually. We can dig such a deep rut in our spirit that we can no longer see or hear above the ditch we have dug.

Not so much as a slap on the cheek.

2008-11-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

November 23, 2008
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King
Mass Readings:
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Matthew 25:31-46

Kingdom. Empire. These are two words that for me at least, conjure images of mighty, wealthy, armed to the teeth countries. Empire and kingdom always trigger for me images of the Roman Empire or Alexander the Great who conquered and claimed the known world as their own.

The New Testament is loaded with tension between the people of God and the powers that be of the Roman Empire. There were zealots of the day who believed that the Jews should physically strike against the Romans and overthrow the empire and reclaim the land. Jesus even had a zealot or two in his rag-tag band of disciples.

In the century and a half before the "Word was made flesh", there was the Maccabean revolt that saw the overthrow of the Greeks. Judas Maccabee was heralded as a "messiah" and that their empire would stand indefinitely. Judas Maccabe also known as Judas the Hasmonean, Judas the Hammer was the model for a messiah. His strength in battle was the ideal and he established a dynasty of security and prosperity. That worked until the Romans decided otherwise. Thing is, the idea of a military messiah was already ingrained in the psyche of the people. The hope was that the messiah would usher in a new empire, a kingdom that would overthrow the Roman Empire and restore control to the people.

So here comes Jesus, the Word made flesh and he doesn't come into the world with a roar and a military brilliance to crush the Roman Empire. Jesus was exactly the opposite of what was hoped for. Jesus enters the world defenseless and dependant. A baby that needs love and support. How could this be the glorious entry of the Messiah sent from God? How can a baby possibly mirror the great Hasmonean Dynasty?

I think in some ways we still look for a "Christian Empire". I am currently reading a book that describes how there are radical, so called "Christian" groups who actually believe that if the Middle East would just devolve into WW III, then Jesus would be forced to return and "rapture" the faithful away and just let the sinners burn! Peace in the Middle East for them is a bad thing. Holy cow! These people even believe that military force is just fine and dandy in order to force Jesus' hand and get him to come back! How can anyone believe such things? Why do some still want to make Jesus a figure of violence? Are some Christians so desperate to escape the world that they believe any means necessary to try and force Jesus' return is okay? As if we mere mortals can force Jesus to do anything! Silly and arrogant stuff yet horrible, terrifying and worst of all, dangerous.

Today we celebrate the last Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. Today we celebrate the Kingdom of Christ. This kingdom is eternal and complete. Jesus' Kingdom is one of absolute good, absolute peace, absolute love and absolute joy and it is built without so much as a slap on the cheek. There can be no violence, hatred, malice, or deceit in Jesus' kingdom.

Jesus' kingdom is the promise of God's love! In Jesus there is life eternal for all who call on his holy name and believe. There are no hidden initiation rites that only a few are privy to. There are no physical battles that must be fought in order to enter Jesus' kingdom. There is only the call from Jesus to surrender to his love and accept his salvation. A kingdom that never fires a shot, a kingdom that is for any and all who merely believe and call upon Jesus. That's a kingdom we human beings can never build on our own because it all rests upon Jesus, the true Messiah who conquered sin and death with love and self sacrifice.

Christ Jesus is the one true and eternal King of all creation and no human being can force or hinder his act of love and redemption. Jesus is not a king of violence and hate and he does not wish for anyone to suffer and die. It is our choice to accept or deny his salvation. If there is to be suffering it is of our own choosing, not his.

So what is our part? Any and all of us who have received the Lord's great gift of salvation are the disciples of today and we are called to go forth and invite all people to the great table of the kingdom so that all may dine with the Lord. We are to build the Lord's kingdom by being the very face of Jesus to all our brothers and sisters. Jesus' idea of kingdom is one that sees to the needs of all who suffer and not the quest for geographical boundaries or riches. Jesus' kingdom is one of justice, love, and peace. Jesus' kingdom is one in which prejudice and bigotry cannot and do not exist. Jesus' kingdom is for all and not a select group that knows the secret handshake.

We gather here today and we celebrate the kingdom over which Christ is the eternal King. This kingdom is of spirit and truth. We receive the Body and Blood of our Salvation and we have a foretaste of eternity in the Lord's presence. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall. Nothing on earth stands forever so we should really be careful where we put our trust. We are to rest in the confidence that we are welcome in God's Heavenly Kingdom where Christ is the king that saves and loves.

The Power of Yes.

2008-11-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

November 21, 2008
Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mass Readings:
Revelation 10:8-11
Luke 19:45-48

This morning we take a moment to reflect on the powerful ministry of our Blessed Mother. This celebration looks to an important even that happened in the year 543, the dedication of the New Basilica of Saint Mary that was built in the Old City of Jerusalem. That basilica is no longer in existence but it brings today to pause and reflect on the Virgin Mary. This weekend Ordinary Time comes to a close and we prepare to enter the Advent Season but first we celebrate the great feast of Christ the King. It is fitting that we pause today to remember Mary's great part in the plan of salvation for she bore the great King of our salvation.

There is no greater passage about our Blessed Mother than the Magnificat found in Luke's Gospel, chapter 1;46-55. Here we have Mary's beautiful response to the angel Gabriel after he reveals to Mary that she will be the mother of God's son. Mary is faced with an unbelievable blessing but also burden. The mind boggles at the immense task God entrusted to this young woman. What courage and faithfulness Mary shows by saying yes to God!

That brings me to my point this morning, the power of saying yes to God. I am often reminded by staff here at the parish that I need to say no a bit more often. I admit to trying to squeeze as many things into a 24 hour period as possible. Not healthy I admit. However, saying yes to yet another meeting is not what we see today. Today we look at the joy of saying yes to God! Nothing can give greater joy than to accept God's call to serve Him and His Church and Mary is THE example of saying yes to God.

Saying yes to God requires our willingness to set aside our own agendas and desires. Being open to God's call requires us to abandon self and strive to be pleasing to God. This does not mean that we walk away from our life and the people in it. It means we have to be willing to follow God wherever the call may lead. That may sound scary and uncertain and in a way I guess it is. However, God always promises that when we say yes, he is always faithful and will not in any way shape or form abandon us. To say yes to God is to accept a share in the ministry of Jesus himself. That acceptance of God's call may not include fortune or fame but it does promise the joy of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, the great gift of salvation and the promise of eternity with God. Mary understood that and her saying yes to God transformed the world.

The Maginificat is second only to the great prayer that Jesus gave to us, the Our Father. Let us pray together that glorious yes of Mary;

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
(NRSV)

Praise be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! Amen!

Sacred Space

2008-11-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

November 9, 2008
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
Mass Readings:
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22

Today is one of those feasts that often make us scratch our heads and wonder. The Lateran Basilica? What does that have to do with us siting here in this church this morning? I think this feast day is a great opportunity for a bit of a Greek lesson. There are two important words when we talk about time, kairos and chronos. Chronos refers to our chronological time. It is the chronological that runs our lives. My wrist watch keeps in tune with the 24 hours a day of chronological time. Kairos time is time that exists outside of chronological time, its God's time. This kairos time is where we encounter the Sacraments. Kairos is the moment when we touch eternity.

There is another Greek word that is important to what we do here today and that is anamnesis. Anamnesis is about remembering, remembering the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord. Yet is goes further. As we celebrate Mass, we enter into that kairos time and we are present in the past, the present and the future. We are present as Jesus celebrates the Last Supper. We are present here with one another as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Yet there is more! We are touching that beautiful eternal banquet in the presence of the Lord! Do you feel tired yet? A lot is happening as we celebrate Mass each day.

Now we come to the feast day of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. I had the privilege of attending Mass there in 2000. It is an amazing structure. The Lateran Basilica is the mother of every Catholic church throughout the world. This church we sit in this morning is linked to that amazing basilica in Rome. Today we celebrate sacred space. We are so accustomed to buildings being built, torn down, and built again that we don't really think about space as holy and sacred. This church has been consecrated to the service of God and his people. This church we worship in today has been consecrated by a bishop, a shepherd of the Church, the altar and walls anointed with Sacred Chrism and dedicated to God's glory. This is holy ground! Here we leave behind the demands of our watches and we enter that sacred time that God uses to give us strength on our spiritual journey. Here at this altar we encounter the risen Lord as bread and wine is transformed by the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Jesus himself. We receive Christ and then go forth to be the very Body of Christ in the world. We are to become that which we have received. Our stepping outside of the chronological into the sacred time of God is so that we can rest our souls and be fed by God's great love.

So here we are, celebrating a building in a far away country. But no ordinary building do we give thanks for. It is from that sacred place that this place is made sacred. We are united throughout the world with every Catholic church from the small to large, the simple to the complex, the plain to the ornate. We are joined as one body proclaiming the message of salvation through word and sacrament proclaimed in our deeds. It is here that we encounter the mystery of the Uncaused First Cause. It is here in this church that our lives are transformed by the glorious mysteries of our faith and we actually touch the Risen Lord as we enter into his time!

So yeah, we celebrate a church building this morning. We celebrate that by God's mysterious love, we have a sacred space that propels us to encounter the Divine. We honor a space that has been made holy by God, where we strive to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy. Let us give thanks this day that God gives us such sacred and holy places to encounter him and to receive salvation from his Son Jesus and be filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

How 'bout a bit of anxiety?

2008-10-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

October 19, 2008
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 45:1,4-6
I Thessalonians 1:1-5b
Matthew 22:15-21

To say that society is anxious right now would be a gross understatement. The economy, politics, division amongst Christians, you can fill in the blank. I find that so many Christians are entirely too wrapped up in the world. Well, I can only speak for myself and I have come to see that I am too invested in the processes of the world and I am filled with anxiety. I hate it when I do that!

I noticed the other day that every time a political ad or a news report on the economy comes on that I have a tightness in my chest and I get unsettled, greatly unsettled. As I was sitting in my quarters and watching the news I began to realize that I am so overly invested in the world that I have become more concerned with what goes on in the world and less concerned with the "spirit of the world." As a priest, I should be more involved with proclaiming the Good News than worrying about this or that politician or whether my 401K is tanking.

Now don't hear me wrong. The economy and politics are important. The truth is that God is more important than anything! Jesus in our gospel text this morning is faced with a test. The Pharisees and the Scribes were afraid of Jesus. Afraid not because they believed he was the Son of God but that he was a rebel who would bring the wrath of the Roman Empire down on their heads. They lived in fear and anxiety of the world.

So in their attempt to get Jesus arrested, they concocted a trap. They believed that Jesus would take the bait and say something against the Roman government and be arrested and removed from their midst. So, give Jesus a coin and get him to say that paying tax to Caesar was wrong and let the Romans take care of this trouble maker. Well, Jesus did what he always did and turned the trap back on the accusers. Given a coin, Jesus declares that since Caesar's image was on the coin, give it back to him. You can almost imagine the blank stares on the faces of his accusers. Money doesn't come from God so don't try and use money against God. I see this as Jesus' way of saying that we should not be so concerned with the world that we start confusing the actions of governments or systems with God. Stop trying to use the world as a means of justifying or denying what people of faith should do.

That may sound a bit convoluted so let me explain. Recently I sat with a Palestinian pastor in Israel who said something that still lingers with me. He said: "If you put your trust in the state, you will always be disappointed." We have become so dependent on governments that we now expect politicians to do God's work for us! Huh!? This pastor was working for peace and justice and had given up on politicians and was doing what Jesus calls us to do which is to get busy, do the Father's will and proclaim the Good News of salvation through Jesus! The systems of the world will not do the work because that isn't the way it is suppose to work. Now I am not saying that politics and other worldly responsibilities are not important because they most certainly are. What I am trying to say is that we are the Body of Christ. We are the one's who are to be busy about our Heavenly Father's work and not look to some elected official to do it for us. We as believers of the Risen Lord are to practice what we preach and be the agents of change in the world. To put our trust in people or systems in which God is not the sole focus is wrong. Washington D.C. and Wall Street are not the god we are called to worship.

As we become so focused on the world we are battered by fear and anxiety because we have placed our trust in that which is temporary and will always fail or disappoint. Only God is eternal and only God can give life and certainty. That doesn't mean we are not to be concerned with the world. We are to be involved but not dependant on the world. Our dependence is upon God' love and mercy.

If we want a world that is in the image of the Risen Lord then we are to be the agents of change. Legislation will not bring about God's Kingdom on earth. It is only through the faithfulness of the Body of Christ, working and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ without ceasing and with compassion, civility and courage that we will see the change this broken and anxious world needs.

The Roman Empire would not last forever. No government or country is eternal. Only the Kingdom of God is eternal and only God can give life and hope. Only through our obedience to Christ and living a life that is authentic and faithful to the Good News will we see true change. The state will not bring that change. The Good News cannot be legislated. No politician or investment bank can bring security of spirit. Only faithfulness and authentic living in the name of Jesus will bring what we need.

Now, all that said, we should not be isolated from the world. We, as the Body of Christ must be willing to proclaim the Lord with compassion, civility and courage. We are to protest when needed, get involved with just legislation and proclaim a culture of life and love in Christ. We Catholic Christians are called to be a faithful witness to God's goodness and be the very image of Christ to the world. It is our responsibility to build a world founded on God's love and justice. It is our faith that propels us to work in the name of the Good News and be authentic and strive to do the Lord's will and not our own. The problem comes when we forget the Lord and start seeing politics or investments as the way to fulfillment. If we do that, then we are sentenced to a life of anxiety and violence, division and failure.

I may still be anxious and worried at times but I cannot lose sight of why I exist in the first place. All of us are created in God's image. Every single person on this planet is a child of God. Yes, even those we call our enemies. God is the only source of life. All people should hear the Good News and be given the chance to share in the abundant life of Christ and this will not be done through politics or money. It will only be realized when we take our baptismal call seriously and get busy and do the work of Christ wholly and solely in His holy and sacred name. Then, and only then, will healing, glorious, trans formative change come to be.

We will be anxious, we will be afraid but the Lord promises that if we are faithful to him, then and only then will we never be disappointed.

God bless you and keep you. May you always find peace, hope and above all fullness of life that comes only from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Check this out.

2008-10-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

For all who are interested in the current dialogue on Scripture, check out the web site for the 2008 Synod of Bishops.

www.usccb.org/synod

There are a great number of resources available.

Peace,
Fr. Jeff

Hope is what we need.

2008-10-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

Three posts in one day!? I am home working at my desk in the rectory due to having messed my back up. As a result I am getting a lot of catch-up work done. I am also using the chance to get back to blogging.

I marvel at Rocco Palmo over at Whispers in the Loggia. If you haven't yet, do yourself a great favor and read his blog at: whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com. His blog is the first thing I check when I fire up the iMac each morning. He put a post up today and set a quote from Blessed John XXIII. I was intrigued given that I had posted an earlier bit from our late Holy Father today. Blessed John XXIII is one of my heroes. The quote Rocco posted comes from Bl John XXIII's opening address of the Second Vatican Council. His words from October 11, 1962 are words I believe we all need to hear every day. I know I do! It is easy to succumb to the voices of gloom and doom if we lose our perspective. Holy Mother Church is alive and well because she rests in the arms of our Lord!

"...greatly to our sorrow we sometimes have to listen to those who, although consumed with zeal, do not have very much judgment or balance. To them the modern world is nothing but betrayal and ruination. They claim that this age is far worse than previous ages and they go on as though they had learned nothing from history -- and yet history is the great teacher of life.

"They behave as though the first five centuries saw a complete vindication of the Christian idea and the Christian cause, and as though religious liberty was never put in jeopardy in the past. We feel bound to disagree with these prophets of misfortune who are forever forecasting calamity -- as though the end of the world is imminent. Our task is not merely to hoard this precious treasure of doctrine, as though obsessed with the past, but to give ourselves eagerly and without fear to the task that this present age demands of us -- and in doing so we will be faithful to what the Church has done in the past 20 centuries."

Blessed John XXIII

We can never give up hope! As Pope Benedict XVI's second encyclical declares, we are saved in hope. Jesus Christ is our hope and promise! It is through our relationship with Jesus that all is well even when the world is in turmoil. This is not the worst the world has ever been and this is not the worst era the Church has ever experienced. I would dare say that the Christians who got fed to the lions at Rome would say we have it pretty good in comparison. We cannot let ourselves wallow. We are God's children! What could be greater than that!? Our goal is to be faithful to Jesus' Good News and be agents of peace and charity in the world.

Let us never give up hope and let us strive to always be faithful disciples.

P.S. Thanks Rocco.

the tumble continues...

2008-10-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at my desk and I have a browser window tuned to Wall Street. After my heart skipped a few beats I was reminded of a brief writing that always brings me joy and peace. I take this selection from a book I use a great deal; Bread of Life: Prayers for Eucharistic Adoration.

Blessed Pope John XXIII

Every believer must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying leaven amidst his or her fellow human beings; and every believer will be this all the more perfectly the more closely he or she lives in communion with God.

Pray without ceasing my friends. Pray for a solid faith and a strong spirit. And always pray that we stay faithful to the Lord's call to discipleship.

Angels divided.

2008-10-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2008
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
Galatians 3:7-14
Luke 11:15-26(27-28)

As a kid I was always a bit terrified of passages where Jesus would talk about demons. The thought of such things scurrying about the place was very unsettling. Today's Gospel text was one of those texts that troubled me. My childhood understanding saw dark ominous beings but today I view this text in a much more encouraging way.
We can read this text as one where Jesus is merely giving a lesson on demonology or we can see how we might just fit the place of those in the crowd who condemned Jesus' actions. How is it we might do that today?

Jesus responds to someone referring to him as an agent of Beelzebul, a Philistine god whose name later became used for Lucifer, aka. Satan. They weren't real sure that they could trust Jesus so they labeled him a demonic force. Jesus' response is brilliant. He launches into the deep discourse on how a house divided cannot stand. For a house divided, engaged in internal warfare can only meet with destruction. So
how could a demon be fighting against a demon? It just couldn't be because it would be assured destruction.

Jesus then uses a phrase that traces back to the Book of Exodus. The "finger of God" refers to Pharaohs magicians recognizing that God's true power was at work in Moses. Jesus is explaining that his actions are from his Father and that there is no division. All that Jesus does is in God's name and is the true expression of God's power and love at work.

I was reflecting on this passage in light of an event I witnessed a couple of weeks ago. Tempers are rising with the economic meltdown and upcoming elections. People are becoming further divided and mean. I was in a store recently where an individual began yelling at another shopper who had a button that was for the candidate she did not like. Apparently this person felt it was his right to verbally harass the other shopper. Many of us were stunned at the venom that came out. After things settled down and we had all checked out, I noticed this individual and the car he was driving. Right on the bumper was a "WWJD" bumper sticker. I was rooted to the spot. I asked myself, what would Jesus do? The answer I received back was that Jesus does anything but what we do. We know what Jesus would do but we seem unwilling at times to do it.

A house divided? If the Church is divided then it will not stand! How can a self professing Christian spew words of hatred and violence and then claim to be a messenger of God's love and peace? I then reflected on my own actions and began to ponder how I can at times be divided. If I let venom and anger seep into me and I express that then I become a member of a divided spiritual household. If we as Christians proclaim God's love in one breath and then turn and breathe words of hatred, violence and sin then we have already divided, separated ourselves from God's Kingdom and our house, our Church will not stand.

Jesus' words in today's Gospel have been lingering with me for the past couple of days. As things become more tense in our world, country, neighborhoods and houses we run the risk of becoming a source of division when what is needed is Jesus' message of love, peace and salvation to be proclaimed with joy. There is enough hatred in this world to destroy it many times over. As the Body of Christ we have the responsibility and privilege to be a source of unity. We have the honor to create peace instead of war. We have the joy of reaching out to those we may not agree with and be the voice of Jesus to them. We are the Body of Christ. Anything we do that promotes despair, anger, violence or hatred is a sign that we have separated ourselves from Jesus and we have divided our house, the Church.

When we have successfully divided God's House of Prayer, we allow the infestation to begin. We create demons out of self. I'm not talking about the type of demons we see on TV shows or in movies. I am talking about turning our lives into something that is displeasing to Jesus and assures that God will seek out someone else to share in His ministry. When that happens all we have left is our own desire and self seeking egos and we have then fully stripped Jesus out of our lives. Jesus weeps.

I have included the final verses of 27 and 28. Why? Well Jesus ends this scene with a very powerful word. Jesus says, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!" What good news! It is so simple but we insist on making it hard. If we profess to be a disciple then we better be one. If we have received God's great gift of salvation, then we better live as one who is saved. If we profess that God is love, then we better be loving. You get the picture.

God is love. God is our Lord. God sent his only Son so that we may live. God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us. So many gifts! We have the best possible life in Jesus Christ so why do we seek out the darkness instead of the light? Life is far too short to waste it with fighting and division. What a waste to be given the fullness of life only to seek the despair of division which leads to spiritual death. Politics and the economy are not our god. Our honor is to worship the True God and transform the world by being faithful to His Law of Love.

God bless you all and be careful out there. Always remember that Jesus loves you and wants us to live as God's blessed children.

Still here gang.

2008-08-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to all of you who have sent emails asking if I am still alive. No worries, I am alive and well. Problem has been that I have two assignments, my assignment here at the parish merger as well as two mission parishes that are a bit of a distance away. As a result, blogging has suffered from a lack of time. I hope to be back on a regular schedule starting next week.

In the mean time, have a blessed celebration of the Assumption of our Holy and Blessed Mother. I am heading out for a 7:00 pm Mass. We celebrated with the school kids this morning and we gave thanks for the great gift of our Mother Mary.

Peace.

All Jesus, all the time.

2008-06-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

June 24, 2008
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist Mass during the Day

Mass Readings:
Isaiah 49:1-6
Acts 13:22-26
Luke 1:57-66, 80

I want to start this post with the main part of the preface to today's Eucharistic Prayer:

Father all powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We praise your greatness as we honor the prophet who prepared the way before your Son. You set John the Baptist apart from other men, marking him out with special favor. His birth brought great rejoicing: even in the womb he leapt for joy, so near was man's salvation.

You chose John the baptist from all the prophets to show the world its redeemer, the lamb of sacrifice. He baptized Christ, the giver of baptism, in waters made holy by the one who was baptized. You found John worthy of a martyr's death, his last and greatest act of witness to your Son.

Today we celebrate the birth of the greatest of Jesus disciples. John the Baptist got it right straight out of the gate. John's whole life centered on one thing, preparing the way of Jesus. John would set aside all agenda and self gain so that he could proclaim the Messiah and his kingdom of love, grace, reconciliation and peace.

I always find that John the Baptist makes me feel unworthy. I mean, John is the epitome of what it means to be a faithful disciple at all times. He did everything for the glory of God. John was not perfect by any means. John shows that it isn't about being perfect because we humans will fail time and again. John's witness is that it is about faithfulness. I am sure that John made many mistakes but what he did not fail in was being faithful to the Savior. John is the proof that we can be faithful if we truly place Jesus at the center of life and practice. In all we do, may Jesus be glorified and his Good News be proclaimed so that all may know his love! That is what it is all about!

I am embarrassed at times by my failings. Most of us have experience with someone always being there to point out our failures to us. It seems to be a favorite past time for some. Good thing is that Jesus never, ever does that to us. Jesus waits for us to respond to his invitation to be a faithful disciple. Our imperfections and mistakes cannot separate us from the love of Jesus.

John the Baptist did one thing and he did it well. He proclaimed the goodness of Jesus and his salvation extended to all who will believe and follow him. "All Jesus, all the time" could have been John's tag line. May we all have the courage to follow his great example.

We just don't get it.

2008-06-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

June 23, 2008
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
Matthew 7:1-5

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

How can I add any commentary to this text? Jesus tells us to stop judging or else he will judge us in same fashion as we have judged others. If Jesus is so clear on this matter, why do we ignore him? If Jesus judges us harshly, then we have only ourselves to blame.

And we wonder.

2008-06-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

June 17, 2008
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
1 Kings 21:17-29
Matthew 5:43-48

I am a fan of Baz Lurhmann's movie version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". There is a great scene where John Leguizamo playing Tibult, sneers into the camera and says, "Peace. I hate the word, as I hate hell and all Montagues". It is a chilling line that defines his character who loves the tension and violence of his world. Every time I watch the movie I am struck by how it reveals the reality that some people just won't let go of the conflict and fighting.

We are continuing with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and like yesterday, Jesus' words turn popular thought on it's head. Yesterday I talked about the fact that it is far too easy today to label anyone we disagree with as the enemy and that Jesus is talking about a revolution of the heart. This revolution requires that we see beyond the labels and recognize that we are all God's children.

Today's text moves us along to an even more blunt teaching from Jesus. If the teaching that an "eye for an eye" must end and that revenge is wrong, then it is also sin for us to hate our enemy. In fact, God's love demands that we love our enemies. What!? How can Jesus ask such a thing!? Surely he asks too much! Simply put, no he doesn't. Jesus asks only that which he himself is willing to do.

Jesus' radical teachings are often dismissed as being only possible by Jesus because he is the Son of God. That dismissal denies the human Jesus and negates the immense sacrifice Jesus made. Jesus, fully God but fully human, had to face the same trials you and I face. Jesus was subject to the same emotions and pains. We have no problem with the human Jesus suffering on the cross because we can all experience pain. But if the fully human Jesus could love those who wanted to kill him, the enemy, then shouldn't we human beings, us Christians be willing to do the same?

If we keep invoking an "eye for an eye" and keep believing it is okay to hate "the enemy" then no wonder peace is always outside our grasp. If we refuse to follow Jesus' teachings then how do we expect anything to change? If we insist on holding on to our hatred and fear instead of forgiving and loving then we need to stop being so surprised that things keep getting worse. Jesus has given us the solution and we must practice what he preached.

So simple but we insist on making it hard.

A geek note.

2008-06-20T03:42:00.001-07:00

If you have upgraded to Firefox 3, you will not be able to view my photo blog. I experienced this problem and was told by a tech at Mozilla that this is a code problem and that the next update should fix the problem. So far, all other browsers work with .mac web pages.

Peace!

If you hadn't noticed.

2008-06-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, I actually posted finally. I have a number of homilies that are waiting to find their way into cyberspace and they will show up a bit later this week. For now, head on over to my photo blog. I have posted a few pictures of my trip to Israel. I returned this past Thursday, June 12. You will find the link in the links section of this page.

I am now doing the work of unpacking the things I experienced while there. I have a lot of emotions and thoughts that I am trying to put to some order and I will be putting some of that here on these pages. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the 15 photos I published. I took 1200 digital photos but I would not dare put you through that torture!

I hope you enjoy them.

Peace,
Fr. Jeff

You say you want a revolution.

2008-06-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

June 16, 2008
Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
1 Kings 21:1-16
Matthew 5:38-42

We are in the midst of some troubling words from Jesus. We are a people who are concerned with the individual and that is namely self. Our society is geared to defending the rights of the individual and anything that infringes on individual liberty is an affront. Jesus' words are quite often a necessary affront to our sense of right and wrong.

We are painfully use to the word enemy in our world today. I was watching one of the 24 hour news networks and I was struck by something I had never really noticed before. There was a series of sound bites from the political big shots and it seemed that these men and women were constantly pointing out enemies. Really? If I were to believe these people then I should be afraid to step outside of the rectory because there are enemies lurking around every shrub! Let's face it, fear grabs our collective attention.

That set me to thinking. I am very well aware that there are people in the world who seek to create chaos and pain and do not value life in any way shape or form. But is it necessary to label everyone who does not agree with me an enemy? As I have been reflecting on that news broadcast it looks as if we as a people are quick to call anyone we do not like, the enemy. I believe that is very dangerous.

In our Gospel text today, Jesus is talking about revolution and it is a revolution that makes all others seem like child's play. Jesus proclaims revolution that is devoid of violence, hatred, or fear. Jesus turns the idea of revenge upside down. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is sin and Jesus reveals that it has no place in his kingdom. In fact, Jesus declares that we are to actually love those who we deem our enemy! Surely Jesus was joking! Thankfully, NO!

Jesus' words of revolution are declarations of love and sacrifice instead of hatred and selfishness. Violence begets violence and is an abomination to Jesus. We are use to revolutions that result in death and destruction. Jesus says that cannot be the way. Jesus' revolution is the radical and limitless, eternal and unconditional love of the Father.

We can walk around blind and toothless, holding on to our fear and hatred or we can use our eyes to see God in each other and use our teeth to partake in the feast that God prepares for us.

Yup, I'm behind.

2008-05-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

As you can see I have not been posting lately. Not because I have nothing to say but because I have been swamped with the parish merger. It will be a couple more weeks before I post regularly again. I leave tomorrow morning for a two week study trip to Israel. I plan on having posts about the trip as well as pictures when I get back. Our group is composed of 22 clergy of mixed Christian traditions, both make and female. It will be a very interesting trip. Say a prayer for us if you could please. Take care my friends and may God bless you.

Fr. Jeff

And now for something different.

2008-05-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have received a few e-mails wondering about photos. I am not big on photos of myself and I generally avoid cameras. But I figured it would be okay to start a phot blog and share some pictures of my life. I am starting it off with a few photos from a trip I took in 2003 to visit my friends Katherine and her husband Oliver. They live in Scotland and it was perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever visited. If you are interested, just head over to, web.mac.com/jdgatlin.

I have also added a link in the links part of Scripture Journey.

Peace.

A miracle not to be missed.

2008-04-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

April 27, 2008
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Mass Readings:
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
1 Peter 3:15-18
John 14:15-21

Last night I celebrated a First Communion Mass. It was beautiful. The kids were all excited and more than a bit nervous. They had all worked very hard and were prepared yet they were a bit scared. One could say that they were scared because of being in front of a church packed full of adults snapping pictures and gushing over how nice they looked. However, I think their nervousness might be because they truly were in awe of what was about to happen, a miracle not to be missed!

As Christians we look for miracles. We pray daily for the miraculous and we often times pray for big miracles. We pray for an end to illness, poverty, war and the like. Unfortunately we can become disillusioned when we believe that our miracle hasn't been granted. So busy can we become looking for the "big miracle" that we completely miss the miracles that God showers upon us every day. The Eucharist is such a miracle and I think the kids last night understood that. The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ for us from simple bread and wine, is the source and summit of our faith. This great gift is our hope and strength.

This miracle, this gift which we receive today is about transformation. I always marvel at how blase we can become when it comes to receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. For some, receiving Communion is like going through a drive-up window. Come in late, receive, leave early so we can get to our other activities on time. Or we come forward to receive while our heart is filled with so many other things and we don't even pay attention to what we are doing. Worse, we may receive while we are angry and obsessing on thoughts of payback. Regardless, when we receive while obsessing on other things we miss the miracle.

To receive the Body and Blood of Christ is to be transformed into the One we receive. When we come forward, we are declaring that we believe, we believe that Jesus is present and that this is holy ground. We are to become like the One we receive. To receive the Body and Blood of Christ is to be committed to being transformed into the very likeness of Christ. The Eucharist is a gift. All gifts must be received, opened, and used, otherwise they are nothing. Jesus gives us this gift so that we can accept it, draw strength from it and then go forth in his name to be his disciples.

I pondered last night how do I change because of the Eucharist? Do I choose to be different because of it? Do I receive and then go back to my old ways? How do we as a people become different because of this miracle? Do we get in our cars after receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord and then proceed to curse at the other driver who just cut us off in traffic? Do we plot paybacks after we have said amen to the Body and Blood of our Salvation? How can we be the same old people after we have encountered this miracle?!

We gather together today to witness and receive a miracle. We gather today to become a people renewed by the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ. We come forward to receive the One who is our life! We leave this church building to be like the very One we have received. The gift given given, the gift received, the gift used.

I remember one of the monks at the monastery who use to pray this during the Mass; "This is the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Broken but never divided. Eaten, yet never Consumed. Happy are those called to this Supper." That is a part of my prayer every time I celebrate Mass. Let us receive this great miracle with the gratitude and reverence deserved and let us become like the One we receive. Amen.

Sorry.

2008-04-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

I am running achingly behind and I apologize. Updates to follow.

All God all the time.

2008-04-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

March 21, 2008
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 52:13—53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1—19:42

I AM. Two simple words that are the most powerful ever spoken. Jesus is using the very words that God the Father spoke to Moses. I AM. Those two simple words wrap up the most mind boggling reality. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all that is, was, and ever will be. God, the uncaused first cause. This is next to impossible to wrap our brain around. Jesus declares to the apostles that in him, all that is possible exists and is brought to fulfillment.

There is no way that we can ever be outside of God. God is everything. All that is good, life giving, is of God. When we experience the bad things that come in life, God is there to give us all that is good. When we are afraid, God is there to comfort us. God is present in all the good times and bad sustaining us and guiding us.

We cannot ever be separated from God. Even if we consciously choose to ignore God, God does not ignore us. When we choose to defy God, God does not defy us. God cannot turn his back on us. God is from the beginning, all that is, was, and ever will be. To live is to be surrounded by and filled with God's presence.

Today we reflect upon the horror of the crucifixion. We are horrified by the image of Jesus' sacrifice upon the cross. How can it be that the God who is everything can be nailed to a cross!? It just doesn't make sense to our modern sensibilities. Yet the crucifixion is again, proof that God is all that can be. God the Son becomes our weakness and takes upon himself the sin that is ours so that we may be saved. So complete is God's power that God becomes the sacrifice so that we might live! God becomes the weakness of sin so that we might be strong. God becomes the horror so that we might not be afraid. God takes on death in order to conquer it so that we might live!

God is life. God is all. God simply is everything.

A tragic love story.

2008-03-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

March 20, 2008
Holy Thursday
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

I am a man of many flaws and faults. One of those faults has become painfully clear to me because of our Gospel text tonight. I am terribly cynical and I mask that cynicism with an unhealthy dose of sarcasm from time to time. I do not like this aspect of myself. My cynicism causes me a great deal of problems. One of them is a tendency to give up on people who have let me down. I am also aware of how my cynicism can cause me to not take chances because I fear being disappointed.

So here we are at the Mass of the Lord's Supper where we celebrate the great gift of the Eucharist and Jesus' great example of service. This is a Gospel text that I am very familiar with. I pretty much now John's account by heart. So last night I was just perusing it again and I had an experience that shook me to my core. I have spent so much time viewing Judas as the "Benedict Arnold" of the scene that I have completely missed the tragic love story that is so transparent.

Jesus is painfully aware of Judas' imminent betrayal and all of the horror that will come to pass. I can imagine that most of us would have called Judas on the carpet and revealed him for the traitor he is. That, however, is not what Jesus does. Jesus does not give up on Judas even though he knows what is in Judas' heart. Jesus lovingly washes Judas' feet and shows him that he is loved. That image has produced more than a few tears from me over the past 24 hours. I never saw it before. John's account is brand new to me tonight.

It is a tale of a tragic love but also a glorious and victorious love! At the Last Supper, Jesus declares in word and deed that he never gives up on us. Jesus gives us his body and blood as salvation for the world, a life of hope and joy! Jesus' washing of Judas' feet is the assurance that he never gives up on us! We may choose to walk away from Jesus but he continues to follow along side of us. We may ignore him but he pays close attention to us regardless. We may pretend that we do not know him but he will never deny us. This to me is the message of the Last Supper.

We live in fearful times and it is easy to surrender to cynicism and anger. It is easy to give up on people and institutions and especially the Church. All of us are imperfect and flawed but also gloriously made in the image of God. We are God's children and he sent his only begotten son so that we may know what it truly means to live.

Because we are God's children, we are connected by a bond that cannot be broken. We are one people. I believe that Jesus' washing of Judas' feet is a call to each of us not to give up. To not give up on God and not to give up on one another. As we approach the altar tonight, we stand in the presence of Jesus. As we receive his body and blood we are transformed into his likeness. As we leave this church filled with God's Holy Spirit, we are called to be God's love and unfailing devotion to one another. I firmly believe that in these fearful times, it is our love for one another that will be our life boat. I believe that if we do not give up on one another, we will stand strong and have no need to be afraid. If we truly live as God's children, if we truly live as Jesus' disciples and if we truly live as a people sustained by the Holy Spirit, then we will not be afraid. I also believe that if we live as a people redeemed by the unfailing love of Jesus, then we will never feel alone because we will not abandon one another just as Jesus never abandons us.

The walking dead.

2008-03-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

March 9, 2008
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Mass Readings:
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Rom 8:8-11
John 11:1-45

Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are the times I spent with my cousin Brian. At least once a month we would have a sleep over. I always looked forward to these because it meant I got to stay up way too late, eat too much junk food, and best of all, watch TV as much as I wanted! Brilliant.

Every Friday and Saturday night, two TV stations always showed those great, cheesy horror movies from the 50's and early 60's. It was perfect! We would watch them and then the next night after we were home in our own beds, the nightmares hit much to my mom's displeasure. My favorite genre was the zombie movies and the cheesier the better. Although it wasn't a zombie, I was fascinated by Frankenstein. I remember pulling the covers over my head while watching that chilling version from the 1930's.
Here were movies where these "people" were completely devoid of everything that made them alive but they kept on going. They had no love, joy, or hope.

Today's readings brought those movies to mind. I found myself wondering how in many ways I am times a member of the "walking dead".

What I want us to look at is how do we as Christians live like Christians. To be a disciple of Jesus is to possess the joy of salvation. To be redeemed is to be one who lives a life of love, joy, hope and peace. To quote a famous comedian, "Only Christians with enough money to make Solomon blush can sing an Alleluia and make it sound like a funeral dirge"! Do we live lives that show the joy of being saved? Or do we walk around like one who is dead inside and cannot express the joy that comes from knowing the Lord? I find myself asking this question today of how do I express a life that is filled with the Lord's love and life?

The story of Lazarus always fascinated me as a kid. The idea of Jesus bringing him back to life was just the seed my fertile 10 year old imagination needed to spur a hundred questions for my Sunday School teachers. I am sure they were glad to see me eventually go to the junior high group. It has been in the past few years that I have begun to see that the miracle wasn't limited to Lazarus. The other side of this miracle is what Jesus does for the people who had come to grieve with Mary and Martha. John says that they came to believe in Jesus as Lord! I think I tend to get so caught up in the dead Lazarus being brought back physically to life that I miss the fact that Jesus brought to life the spirit of those who had gathered. Two very different resurrections in this Gospel text. One miracle brings both body and spirit to life.

The spiritual resurrection is where I want to focus today. Paul says in Romans;
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Our spirit is what Jesus reaches out to revive today. To know Jesus is to have life. To know Jesus is to have joy, hope and peace. To know Jesus is to not fear the death of the body because we know that Jesus will resurrect us and bring us to eternal life. To know Jesus is to be free of the bondage of self and live in a way that shows that we are truly alive because of Easter! Jesus' work on the cross is what truly gives us life! We do not have to be afraid in this world. We have the Lord who intervenes for us with the Father and sends the Spirit to console and give us courage and peace.

So why do so many of us walk around like we are dead inside? I believe that Paul is correct. We are susceptible to the burdens of the world and when we give into them, we lose the joy and life that God so desperately wants us to cherish.

Ezekiel addressed a people who had lost all hope and were desperate for life. I find his words to be powerful and life changing.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

Ezekiel isn't talking about the body but rather the spirit. I fear that so much of the time, many focus on life after death and miss the fact that God wants us to live now too! The Lord is opening the graves of our heart and spirit so that we can live and know joy, hope and peace NOW! The Lord wants us to be happy and alive today!

A dual resurrection of spirit and body is what Jesus offers to us today. We don't have to live a life of fear and sadness. We are the body of Christ and are one in spirit. Jesus gives us life and calls us to be his hands and feet and to be life to one another. God's goodness is so great that it can never be extinguished. God's love is never ending. There is so much to be happy about!

Life on earth is too short and precious to be lost to hopelessness or fear. Jesus gives us life and gives it abundantly. To walk around dead inside is a terrible thing when Jesus is calling to us to live. This Easter let us sing an Alleluia the way it was meant to be sung with life and joy!

My goal for today? To not be mistaken for a "spiritual zombie". I want to reflect the love of Jesus and help others to know the joy of life!

Can't see the forest for the trees.

2008-03-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

March 2, 2008
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Mass Readings:
1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41

I remember being told by a teacher once that I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I was trying to figure a math problem and I was failing miserably. My teacher was trying to tell me that I was making it too hard. I was so caught up in trying to force the equation to do what I wanted it to do that I wasn't letting the equation do its job. I wasn't letting the equation show me what it needed for me to do. That has stuck with me. The answer was staring me right in the face but I was working so hard at trying to see it that I missed it completely. There stood the forest but I missed it because I was staring at a clump of trees!

I find the phrase my teacher gave me in today's readings. Samuel is sent by God to find the future king of Israel. King Saul was a pretty vicious man and God was going to raise up a new king. So Samuel follows God's direction and goes to select God's anointed one. However, Samuel is letting his eyes be the deciding factor. In many ways we are like Samuel in that we think that if it looks good it must be so. God corrects Samuel with these words:

But the LORD said to Samuel:
“Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature,
because I have rejected him.
Not as man sees does God see,
because man sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart.”

Samuel went out looking for a forest but couldn't get past all of the trees. God needed Samuel to be open to His Spirit and set aside his personal agenda and likes and dislikes. Samuel couldn't let his eyes make the decision. Just because Samuel thought one of Jesse's sons looked the part didn't mean he was the right man for the job. Samuel had to follow his heart as it was influenced by God. Samuel had to open his ears to hear God's voice. In other words, Samuel had to let God be in control. Samuel had to let God reveal to him what it was that God could see. What Samuel got was what he least expected. Samuel was presented with what we might call "the runt of the litter". David was a kid and not as impressive looking as his brothers. Samuel would have looked right past him if it weren't for his being open to see what God can see.

Our gospel text has Jesus doing what he always did, healing some poor person and then being railed at by the religious leaders of the day. Jesus heals a man who has been blind from birth. It is a very intimate scene with Jesus actually using his spit to make clay to rub on the man's eyes. It is an earthy and raw scene. Today we cringe at the unsanitary nature of the healing but Jesus actually gave of himself to heal this man.

The man is healed and of course it ticks off the religious leaders! Go figure. A blind person receives sight and all they can do is gripe and complain! On top of that they try to negate this miracle by declaring Jesus is a sinner. Talk about the pot calling the kettle. The pharisees are all in a tizzy because Jesus did all of this on the Sabbath. Jesus performed "work" and this was of course forbidden on the Sabbath. Amazing how they couldn't see the good because they were so caught up in legalism. There's that whole forest for the trees business again.

What I love is the former blind man's response to the Pharisees:

“This is what is so amazing,
that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners,
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.”
They answered and said to him,
“You were born totally in sin,
and are you trying to teach us?”
Then they threw him out.

This guy had guts! He stands up the Pharisees and actually gives them the crowbar they needed to pry open their eyes! The problem? They chose to remain blind. The Pharisees chose to miss the forest for the trees.

I think Paul sums everything up nicely in our reading from Ephesians:

"Brothers and sisters:
You were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light,
for light produces every kind of goodness
and righteousness and truth."

To know Jesus is to live. Once the light has been turned on we can see what God wants us to see. To switch off the light and wander aimlessly in the dark is a horrible loss. Once we have been given sight, it is sad to chose to be blind. Now is the time for us to open our eyes, leave the dark behind us and see all the goodness of God!

A tree is beautiful and a forest even more so. Lets try to see it all.

A personal note...

2008-03-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

I have received a few questions ever since I first started this blog and I want to try and answer a few of them. Louisville is being pounded by a winter storm so I figured, coffee in hand, no where to go, answer a few questions.

I am currently serving in two parishes that are part of a larger five parish merger. Lots of work to be done to say the least. Like most parts of the country, demographics are constantly in a state of flux. People move about frequently and so the make-up of parishes are always shifting. Here in the Archdiocese of Louisville we have areas where we can't build parishes big enough to handle the growth and areas where we have parishes almost sitting on top of each other yet the Catholic population has moved out to other parts of the city and as a result a number of parishes are struggling. As a result, mergers are happening more frequently than in the past. A common answer I give when people ask me why there are mergers is that parishes need three things to keep going:

1) Every parish needs to raise up vocations to the priesthood in their parish! And I don't mean one vocation to the priesthood every fifty to sixty years! It needs to be more like every six to ten years. No longer do we have the luxury of thinking "someone else's son" will go into the priesthood. 2) Every member who is able needs to be active in his or her parish. The old days of 10% of the people doing 90% of the work is at an end. Lets face it, many, many parishioners are just flat tired from volunteering themselves half to death. 3) Tithing is crucial. The days of expecting "someone else" to foot the bill is over.

Priests and their parishioners need to work together on raising up vocations. There is more than enough work to be done and we must work together. Every priest along with his parishioners has to have a vision for their parish. Communities don't just happen. It takes work.

Without these three things, there is no other option but to have mergers.

The question that I fear? How old am I! Alas, I am 40 years old. And, I haven't posted a picture because I don't want to scare anyone away. I think I am kidding.

Why are my posts so late at times or non existent? I get so busy that I get behind and end up either posting late or not at all. A goal for 2008 is to really get serious with this site and use it as a tool to help with the parish merger I am a part of.

Thanks for taking the time to write in. I really appreciate your interest and I hope that my homily posts are helpful in some small way.

Hope is a necessity.

2008-03-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

February 24, 2008
Third Sunday of Lent
Mass Readings:
Exodus 17:3-7
Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42

"And hope does not disappoint..."

A while back I had lunch with a former colleague from my days when I worked as a hospice chaplain. Jim is a Baptist minister and I think one of the most spiritual people I know. Jim possesses both a great brain and huge heart and is one person who can put me at peace as soon as he opens his mouth. I miss working with him. Anyhow, Jim and I were talking about our daily lives and we were, of course, talking about the challenges and frustrations we each face regularly.

As we continued to talk, we began discussing how many people who call themselves Christian seem to be the angriest and most judgmental people around. We especially talked about some of the preachers who make their way to TV and radio. So many sermons are aimed at demoralizing and shaming people. Jim looked at me and asked a question that still haunts me; "Have you seen anything lately that would make someone want to become a Christian?" Jim always has a way of asking a question that makes you stop and think about your relationship with God. I am very grateful that he asked that question.

What do we as Christians say and do everyday that will inspire and give hope to Christians and non-Christians alike? Do we say and do things that would make non-Christians want to know more about Jesus?

In Paul's letter to the Romans, he shows that to be a Christian is to be filled with hope. To know the Lord is to be filled with the hope that flows from the Holy Spirit. We are connected to the Father through the salvation given to us through Jesus and we in turn are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the messengers of God's love and peace. So why are so many Christians just down right mean and nasty to other people who, like them, are God's children? Where is the peace, joy, hope, and love that comes from being saved?

Today's reading from John's Gospel is powerful. Jesus is tired and thirsty from traveling and he sits at the well. A Samaritan woman comes to the well. Now the Samaritans were outcasts and the victims of extreme prejudice and bigotry. Being female and a Samaritan would have meant for her being not only persecuted for being a Samaritan but also the burden of chauvinism that was extreme in the 1st Century. What Jesus does is earth shaking.

The Samaritan woman was probably afraid to approach Jesus but she does so anyway. Jesus strikes up a conversation with her. Now that may not seem like a big deal but it was revolutionary! Jesus treats this woman who has been treated as an outcast and an inferior as an equal! Jesus uses this opportunity to show the disciples that the old way of thinking and behaving is over! Thank God!

The interesting thing is that the disciples ignored what Jesus was doing. Why? Were they offended by what Jesus was doing? Did they just not want to have anything to do with what Jesus was doing? Or, did the disciples just not care about this woman? No matter what the reason, they missed a great opportunity. As the text continues, we see that Jesus seems to be doing all of the work. The disciples seem to only be interested in getting Jesus to eat instead of learning from Jesus' example. I wonder why.

I believe the point today is that when we become a disciple of the Lord we are obligated to set aside our own prejudices, dislikes, personal agendas, and most of all, stop trying to force others to conform to our image of what we think they should be and let them conform to what God wants them to be. Our responsibility is to proclaim the Good News, to live lives that are formed by God and not our own agendas, and to be a beacon of hope for all we meet. If we are so full of anger, prejudice, judgment, and cynicism then how can we expect anyone to want to become a Christian? Or for that matter remain a Christian!

Today's readings call us to embrace the joy, peace, hope, and love of Jesus! It is available to everyone and all we have to do is ask and receive! All Jesus wants to do is make us one with Him and journey with us as we go forth and share His good news. If we ask, we can receive. Receiving requires us to let go of all the things that get in the way of our relationship with God and one another. We cannot know the joy and hope that comes from salvation if we hold on to the burdens of negativity, cynicism, judgmentalism, etc. All those things do is weigh us down and make us miserable.

Lent is a season that calls us to let go of those terrible burdens. Today we have the opportunity to accept Jesus' invitation to be filled with joy and hope and be His disciples! A great gift indeed! Let us embrace Jesus' call to happiness so that we never have to ask the question again of whether or not we have seen or heard anything that would make us want to or remain a Christian. Instead, let our answer be a resounding YES! Let our lives be a shining example of why it is GOOD to be a disciple of the Lord so that others may know the peace, love, joy and hope that we have been so grateful to receive.

Doesn't get much clearer.

2008-02-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

February 18, 2008
Monday of the Second Week in Lent
Mass Readings:
Daniel 9:4b-10
Luke 6:36-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

Why do we make it so cloudy sometimes when Jesus has made it so clear always?

But I don't want to change!

2008-02-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

February 17, 2008
Second Sunday of Lent
The Transfiguration
Mass Readings:
Genesis 12:1-4a
2 Timothy 1:8b-10
Matthew 17:1-9

The Transfiguration is something that always make me take a long look at myself. The Transfiguration is all about one very small word, CHANGE. Six letters that are sometimes frustrating and maddening. I don't like change yet here I am in an vocation that is all about change. Here we all are facing the merger of our five parishes into one. There's change for you! We all are facing something that is scary but exciting, draining yet life giving. Change can be both fun and torturous at the same time.

The Transfiguration is all about change. Jesus has been preparing the disciples for a life shattering change, his crucifixion. Yet the disciples are not really grasping what is about to happen. Jesus takes the three disciples up to the mountain to witness change. Jesus is ministered to by Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. Everything is about to change because of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus' ministry would make complete the Law and the cry of the Prophets. Jesus was preparing to change the world and bring God's saving work to completion.

So what happens? Well, Jesus is strengthened by the Father and Moses (The Law) and Elijah (The Prophets) come so that Jesus is ready for the torturous task at hand. The three disciples were understandably shaken. Peter is so enraptured with the events that he purposes a solution so that nothing has to change. Peter will have them build three dwellings so that Jesus, Moses and Elijah can stay on the mountain top forever and then the disciples and Jesus' other followers can come and bask in this glory forever! Sounds great except for the fact that all mountain top experiences are temporary. Jesus wants the disciples to take this experience, learn from it, grow from it so that they can go forth and be agents of change and proclaim the good news of salvation.

Every day we are faced with having to either accept or resist change. The one thing we know is inevitable is change. Whether that change is pleasing or painful, expected or unannounced, it will happen regardless. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we discover that we change. As we learn more from God's Word, we find that we are being called to do things differently and new. As we plunge deeper into a life of prayer we see that Jesus is calling us to be more involved with proclaiming his Good News! To be a disciple is to be willing to accept whatever Jesus asks us to do and be. That means we must be open to change.

The disciples on the mountain top with Jesus would come to understand what the Transfiguration was all about. Jesus was prepared for the horrifying change of stepping up to the cross. The Law and the Prophets, all that had been proclaimed through the centuries had arrived and the world was about to change. A wave was about to sweep over humanity and it's wake would change every human being. Nothing would ever be the same again and thank God for that! The world has been transformed and God invites us daily to draw closer to His Son and receive the goodness of salvation. Then, God asks us to listen to His Son and be willing to say yes to the call. Saying yes will lead us into new and ever changing things and we will be given the strength to accept and flourish in those changes.

We have all been to the mountain top when we were saved and now Jesus asks us to go forth and change the world.

New Year's Resolution part 2?

2008-02-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

February 10, 2008
First Sunday of Lent
Mass Readings:
Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11

A few days leading up to Ash Wednesday I am always asked the same question; "So. Father what are you giving up for Lent?" I always say the same thing; "Marriage. That's what I am giving up." And I always get the same puzzled look and the open mouth wanting to ask me if I am serious. I know, I know. I shouldn't make light of such a question but I use it to try and open a conversation about what we do when we give up something for Lent.

We usually hear the same things when we talk about Lent. We often hear how many folk give up candy, soda, chips, etc. This got me to thinking. Why do we always give up a luxury item for Lent? A luxury item is something we don't need in the first place and we will just pick it up again as soon as Easter Sunday arrives. Where is the sacrifice? It isn't hard to give up something we don't really need in the first place. In fact I wonder if many times we give up things for Lent that were actually part of our New Year's Resolution. If we pledged to lose weight in the New Year we have probably fudged on that resolution and had the forbidden fruit we swore to give up. Enter Lent! Why not give up those fattening delicacies for Lent? Surely if we do it for God we won't fudge and sneak a bite of that forbidden delicacy! So again, where is the sacrifice?

Now I am not judging anyone for giving up a luxury item for Lent. I have the luxury items that I have given up for Lent too so please don't say that I am judging you. Okay? Now, while driving to an event the other day I was reminded of why I hate driving. While trying to merge onto 265 I was run off the road by someone who was, of course, talking on the mobile phone and not paying any attention. And as the mean words were coming out of my mouth, yes I must confess to experiencing road rage, the thought hit me of how good it would be to give up road rage for Lent. In fact, why don't I give up a bad habit for Lent and in return take up a good habit? That is what sacrifice is about. It is about doing something so important that our life becomes different.

Lent is about change. It is about our striving to simplify our life and rid ourself of the things that get in the way of our relationship with God and one another. Lent is about honoring the sacrifice Christ made for us. Christ's sacrifice transformed the world and made us one with God. Shouldn't our sacrifice during Lent be something that will make each of us different and a better Christian? I believe that is what we should be going for.

Why not give up the habit of road rage and in turn take up the habit of praying for the person who just cut us off and ask God to get that person home safely? Why not give up the habit of gossiping and in turn take up the habit of saying something nice when we are tempted to say something harmful? Why not give up the habit of being selfish and in turn take up the habit of doing something good for the people we may not be too keen on? Wouldn't these sacrifices make more of a difference than giving up chocolate? Wouldn't these types of sacrifices help us to be better Christians and just down right better people? I believe they can and will if we are willing to do the hard work of sacrifice. Keep in mind that these are just a few examples that came off the top of my head. I am sure that each of us can look inward and find several bad habits to give up and replace them with good habits.

If we give up the bad habits in exchange for good, I believe that come Easter Sunday we will discover that we not only celebrate Christ's resurrection but also our own resurrection to a life that is filled with more peace, hope, and joy. I believe that we will definitely be a nicer lot if we sacrifice our bad habits and take on good habits. Maybe, just maybe, we will not pick those bad habits up again like we will pick up the chocolate again on Easter Sunday.

Rend your hearts.

2008-02-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Ash Wednesday
Mass Readings:
Joel 2:12-18
2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Lent has arrived and it seems like we just put away the Christmas trees and sparkling lights. Actually, we just did! Today we shift gears hard. We see that the church has gone from ornate to simple, from bright to subdued colors focusing on dark purple. All of this is done on purpose so that we slow down, hopefully stop, and take time to look inward and examine our relationship with God and one another.

I am struck today by the simple words from our first reading, "rend your hearts, not your garments..." In the days of the Old Testament it was a common practice to place ashes on your head and rip a part of your clothing as a sign of grief and penance. It was meant to be an outward sign of the inner cry, a cry for reconciliation with God. The prophet Joel is calling for the people listening to him to be sure that they are truly seeking reconciliation with God and not merely putting on a show.

The prophet continues by begging the people to return to God and be one with Him. That is what we do today, we stop and call to mind that we are fully dependent upon God's mercy and His unwavering love for each and every person. Lent is often referred to as a journey in the desert. The desert is a dry and barren place. However, in that stark and dry landscape, the beauty that exists is piercing and easily seen. Today we begin a time where we are to simplify and throw away the attitudes and desires that separate us from God and one another.

Today we celebrate in a more somber way but we acknowledge the joy of God's forgiveness and we give thanks and praise to the Lord our God for the immense and unwavering love that is poured out upon us.

Each of us will receive ashes as a sign of our understanding that we have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory. These ashes are not a symbol to be flaunted so that we might feel superior to others. That is exactly what the prophet was crying against. What good does it do to put on a facade when the structure is crumbling? It benefits no one to look holy rather than be holy. Ash Wednesday is a time for us to make every effort to say to God, "I'm sorry. Please help me." Lent is a time of renewal as we clear out the clutter that is weighing us down spiritually and fill ourselves up with God's forgiveness and love. Confession, receiving the Eucharist, doing good deeds and possessing a willingness to admit where we are wrong is all very, very good for the soul. As we seek reconciliation with God, let us not overlook the necessity of seeking reconciliation with one another.

May you have a joy filled and peaceful Ash Wednesday. God bless you all.

Three simple words.

2008-02-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

What are those words? They would be BACK-IT-UP! I didn't follow the simple rule of backing up my homilies and now they are no where to be found. I have nothing since the last post I made in December. Lesson learned. So starting today I have the auto-archive settings up and running plus a flash drive always at the ready for good measure. I plan on posting regularly starting this weekend. Peace!

Back!

2008-01-14T07:12:00.001-08:00

Now that the Christmas business has finished, I will be posting some of my homilies starting with Christmas Mass. Peace!

Change is coming, like it or not.

2007-12-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

December 16, 2007
Third Sunday of Advent
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

The third week of Advent calls us to recognize that the Age of the Messiah is here. Our Gospel text has John the Baptist and his followers seeking to understand if the Messianic Age was truly upon them. Even though John the Baptist had baptized the Lord and had proclaimed his coming, he was still not sure if the message of the prophets had actually been fulfilled.

Our first reading from the great prophet Isaiah is a call to be ready for the Age of the Messiah. Many of his day were looking for a messiah that would be a powerful political/military leader who would deliver them. However, Isiah gives the people a very different image of what type of messiah was to come. Isaiah presents the people with a Messianic Age that is one of peace and healing. A world where the least are the greatest and the wounded are healed. Isaiah is clear that the Messianic Age is not one of politics and might but one of peace and restoration of love for one another and the search for the betterment of God's creation.

Our second reading from James calls us to be ready for the return of the Messiah but also to be aware of the fact that we are living in the Messianic Age now. Yes we are looking forward to Jesus' return but we are present in the Messianic Age now and that means that there is a great deal of work to be done in preparation for the second coming.

The reality that we are living in the Age of the Messiah calls us to mission. I fear that most of us are so busy with our personal relationship with Jesus that we forget our brothers and sisters around us. To be saved and to live in the Age of the Messiah means that we are to work to transform the world in the image of Christ and not merely seek to manipulate the world into our image. We can become so wrapped up in our own pass into Heaven that we forget we are a part of the world. Being a part of the world means that we have a role in Christ's ministry. We are called to work for peace and justice, healing and reconciliation all in the name of the one who is the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

The call of the Messianic Age is to transform ourselves and then the world around us in the image of Jesus. This means change and perhaps not the change we want. I marvel as I watch the yapping heads on TV who are always mad and calling for judgment and retribution against anyone and anything they do not like. Cable news is unbearable anymore as well as radio talk. People are so angry and seem to only want revenge on those they deem their opponent. I am stunned that many of these so called "God loving" people are some of the meanest and unforgiving people around. So much for listening to James' call to be patient and not to judge. I guess peace and reconciliation doesn't pay the bills. The bigger problem is that so many of us have the same attitude in which we seek not the way of peace and service but the way of domination and control. That is not the call of the Messianic Age.

Jesus' birth, death and resurrection brought change and it wasn't necessarily the change people wanted. Jesus came so that life might flourish and be reconciled to the Father. Jesus came so that we could bring about the change that creates a world in his image and not ours.

As we approach the celebration of Christmas, I find myself pondering just how much we have left to do in preparation for Jesus' return. So many people are currently so busy claiming that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus that I fear we completely ignore the reality that Jesus is coming back and that he will expect us to have gotten a few things done like peace, justice, compassion, support of those in need, you know, the things Jesus spent his earthly ministry doing! We can sing about peace on earth, joy to the world, and all the silent nights we can handle but our words must be followed by the actions to prove the words. Our Christmas carols are not enough to bring joy to the world or peace on earth good will to all. The words must be followed by an attitude that recognizes that we are in the Age of the Messiah and that the Messiah expects us to change and be molded in his image and not our own.

Jesus came into the world so that it could change. It may not be the change that meets the demands of our agendas and we need to get over it. We must be willing to let the Messiah change our hearts, to make us vulnerable to God's great mercy so that we can be the agents of change that seek that world that Isaiah proclaimed.

I think I need to remember the line from a hymn I always find convicting. That line goes like this, "Let there peace on earth and let it begin with me". That I believe is the call of the Messianic Age.

Be careful what you ask for...

2007-12-19T08:13:00.000-08:00

December 9, 2007
Second Sunday of Advent
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:4-9
Matthew 3:1-12

The First Sunday of Advent calls us to watch and pray for the return of Jesus. The Second Sunday of Advent calls us to prepare the way for Jesus' return. Our readings this week give us a very familiar yet perplexing scene with John the Baptist. The prophets had been proclaiming that the Messiah was coming and that there would be a herald who would prepare the way. Problem was that the people hearing the prophecies had their own ideas of who and what the Messiah should be. For centuries, the people had been crying out for the Messiah but when he wasn't what they expected, well, you know what happened. I remember being told by my grandmother that I should always be careful about what I ask for. Her warning was a sound one. I often times get what I asked for but it isn't in the form I wanted! I think my grandmother was right on target.

Our Gospel text is an interesting one. The people had known for centuries to be on the lookout for the messenger who would prepare the way for the Messiah. So they watched and they waited. Then what happens? They get John the Baptist and he isn't what they expected! Here is this wild looking man wearing smelly animal skins and eating things that would make us nauseous! On top of that he is telling people to get right with God because he is on his way! If we saw someone like John the Baptist today we would call the police and have him arrested!

So here the people are faced with a problem. This messenger is not nice and shiny like they expected God's messenger to be. Do they ignore him or do they listen. If they ignore him then they might miss out on the Messiah. If they listen to him, then they have to suspend their preconceived ideas and be vulnerable. Hard choice. So what do the Pharisees and Sadducees do? Well they hold onto their preconceived ideas but they go out to be Baptized by John, well, just in case. They are sitting on the fence trying to keep a foot on both sides. They got what they asked for but they don't want it. They aren't sure if they want this so just take a bit and hold on to the old. Just in case, you know, they are wrong. John won't have any of it!

The Pharisees and the Sadducees are so concerned with their own salvation that they are shopping around. Just in case this wild man is the real thing, they will have him baptize them but then they will keep looking. This idea really ticks off John and he lets them have it. He knows what is in their hearts and it isn't the desire to truly be open to God but rather get a "free pass" into God's good graces. They didn't want God's messenger to be this wild man but they would dabble their feet in the water just in case. Be careful what you wish for.

We are called to prepare the way for the Lord. We have been given the Messiah and salvation is ours if we let ourselves be open to God's touch. But that means we have to be vulnerable to God's will and receive the Messiah as he is and not how we think he should be. We can't play around and try and get a "free pass" by dabbling our feet in the water. We have to dive in and let ourselves be lost fully to the Messiah. Then we go forth and prepare the way by proclaiming the Good News of Salvation.

The old saying goes, "It's all about me". John the Baptist tells us that no it isn't! To prepare the way means that each of us has to be willing to accept Jesus and his call fully. That may sound easy but it can be very hard. It requires us to step aside and let Jesus be the Messiah and we be the servants. We are not in any way shape or form the Master. We are not in control. We need to get over ourselves and proclaim Jesus pure and simple! We called out for the Messiah and God delivered. We must accept Jesus as he is and not try and make him conform to our will because it just isn't going to happen that way.

We have been given a share in Jesus' ministry and that is an amazing gift. Let us not throw away that gift because we are hung up on our own agendas. Let our agenda be one that is filled with only the desire to proclaim the Good News and transform the world with the love of God! Let us go forth and prepare the way because Jesus is coming and we don't want to miss him all because we are busy trying to find a Messiah that fits our own agendas. Let's get a little wild like John the Baptist and prepare the way of the Lord!

Chaos

2007-12-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

December 8, 2007
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mass Readings:
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38

I remember being in a museum at a special exhibit. The exhibit was a collection of Old Testament themed paintings. There was one that stuck with me and it was a painting about God coming to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. It was based on our Old Testament reading today.In the painting, the Garden of Eden was in a state of chaos. The sunny sky had been replaced with gray storm clouds, animals that had lived in peace were now tearing at each other, the lush fields had become wild with weeds. And there in the middle was the frightened Adam and Eve while lurking off to the side was a dark, ominous figure. That dark figure was sin. The theme of the painting was clearly one of chaos, the chaos that sin brought into the world.

I was thinking about that painting as I was preparing for our Mass. I was thinking about the many paintings I have seen of the Archangel Gabriel appearing to our Blessed Mother. The paintings are always so serene and calm, almost sterile. That has always puzzled me. Don't you think that if an archangel appeared to you and informed you that you were going to be the Mother of God you might get a little freaked out? Don't you think that being informed that you were going to be the vessel for humanity's salvation to arrive you might be more than a bit frightened? Yet the paintings are always so calm and pastoral. I can't help but think we are missing something.

I believe that our readings from Genesis and Luke are both about chaos but two very different types of chaos. In Genesis, the world is thrown into chaos by sin. Sin is the destroyer of all that is calm. Sin creates a wave of chaos that engulfs Adam and Eve and hurls the Garden of Eden into terror as God approaches. Then, in our reading from Luke, chaos once again. However, the chaos created is one that throws sin into the grips of terror! Now it is sin's turn to flee in terror from the presence of God! In the fullness of time, the light is breaking upon humanity! The prayers for salvation, deliverance from bondage are being fulfilled and sin doesn't stand a chance!

Today we celebrate a miracle, the Immaculate Conception. We celebrate the reality that God has always had a plan for us. God has always been prepared to redeem us. Although we have repeatedly refused God's intervention, God never gave up on us! The Immaculate Conception is the reality that God, even before Mary's birth, had a plan. Mary would be kept free from sin so that she could become part of God's plan for the salvation of humanity. In the invisible realm of God, God was at work to make sure that we were never abandoned to the chaos created by sin. In the Immaculate Conception and the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel, God throws sin into a state of chaos, a chaos from which sin can never be free. Sin is destroyed because of the Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception and her willingness to say yes to God!

We celebrate today, a miracle. The Immaculate Conception is often glossed over as just a holy day that we have to come to church for. If we view it like that, we miss the miracle given to us. The Immaculate Conception is a recognition of God's power and never ending desire to redeem us and give us everything that is good. Mary, born without the touch of sin is the miracle through which our Salvation arrives. This brave young woman who said yes to God, is the miracle through which the Christ Child comes and throws sin into a state of chaos and destroys it!

Thank you Lord for the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother!

Faith from the most suprising places.

2007-12-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

December 3, 2007
Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, priest
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 4:2-6
Matthew 8:5-11

I always look forward to today's Gospel reading. I think it is beautiful and moving. Here we have Jesus and his disciples traveling to Capernaum. As they come to the city, they are met with a scene that was probably frightening to the disciples. They are approached by a Roman Centurion. I would imagine they were terrified. Was this guy going to arrest them? Was he going to hurt them? The Roman Centurion was a feared element of the Roman Empire. They were the law and were known for extreme brutality.

And what do they get? This centurion is desperate. His servant is sick and is going to die. One would think that the centurion would just get another servant when this one dies so why is he so concerned over this one servant? He is concerned because he cares about this servant, an attribute that many probably would not have thought a centurion capable of.

But this centurion goes to a whole new level. He comes to Jesus, a man that the government would have seen as a threat. Jesus who proclaimed a kingdom not of Cesar but of God. This centurion was taking a great risk by coming to Jesus and acknowledging Jesus' authority. I would dare say this centurion could have been severely punished for seeking out Jesus and maybe he was. But the risk is worth it for this man because his love for his servant is more powerful than concern for his own well being. I can just imagine the disciples eyes bugged out when this powerful and frightening man humbles himself before Jesus. and it is more than humility for this centurion believes in Jesus, another great risk for him. He is acknowledging Jesus' power and is turning to him instead of his gods. Now that is a sign of faith! And his faith is so powerful that he knows that Jesus can heal with only a word. Amen!

This centurion's faith always makes me look at my own. Is my faith as strong as this centurion's? This man who most people would have believed beyond redemption had a faith greater than even Jesus' disciples. I know that at times I must give up my preconceived notions about what I think should or should not be and open myself to the Holy Spirit. I believe this centurion has a great deal to teach us some 2000 years later. I believe that this man who was despised and feared shows us all that we need to give up our sense of superiority and entitlement and throw our selves at the feet of the Lord and ask for his grace. I think this centurion teaches us to take a risk and set aside concern for what others might think and give ourselves to God with complete abandon. When we do that, we may just find that our faith is stronger than we could ever have imagined.

Let the insanity begin!

2007-12-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

December 2, 2007
First Sunday of Advent
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:37-44

Here we go! The shopping malls already look like one of Dante's circles of hell! The parties, the stress, the over eating, over spending, etc., etc., etc... Merry Christmas! Before I go any further, I need to confess something, I really, really struggle with Christmas. It isn't because of all the extra work. I struggle because I am very uncomfortable with what is expected of us at Christmas. I mean all of us. We are expected to join in the insanity of the consumerism of Christmas.

At Halloween I noticed that Christmas stuff was already hitting the shelves. Go into the store, buy a Jack-O-Lantern and a $1 figurine of the baby Jesus! I thought for a moment my head was going explode. And there is even an ad by one of the "big box" stores that proclaims their sale prices are more satisfying than world peace!! Again, I thought my head was going to explode! I haven't seen that ad again so I am hoping people jammed their complaint lines!

And, like clockwork, the jabbering cable news heads began their search for, insert ominous drum-roll, "The War on Christmas"! Oh yeah. That time of year again for some folk to try and score viewer ratings by proclaiming that there is a "War on Christmas". So, is there a "War on Christmas"? You bet there is. Who is waging this "War on Christmas"? Christians! That's who! You heard me. I believe that there is a "War on Christmas" and it was started and is sustained by Christians. I will explain my thoughts in a moment.

The Season of Advent is about Hope. Brilliantly, Pope Benedict released on Friday his second Encyclical Letter entitled "Spe Salvi". It is a document that calls us to Hope! We are saved by Hope in Christ! You can read the document and download it at usccb.org.

Hope. We are a people who desperately need Hope. Adrian Nossest O.S.B, once wrote these words, "Our world is a sad place; it seems to be without hope, precisely because its crisis is a crisis of faith and love". When we give into despair, we lose hope. When we lose sight of hope, we turn to false gods. I believe that we have lost the message of Advent and especially Christmas because we have turned to the false gods of consumerism. More on that in a minute.

The first week of Advent calls us to Watch and Pray. What are we waiting for and praying for? The fulfillment of our hope in Christ when he will return to bring us the fullness of joy and usher us into his Father's heavenly kingdom! How do we look forward? We remember the past. We remember Christ's first coming as a human being. Christ the child who took on human form and was born in a manger to a virgin and protected by his adopted father. This child became our Hope!

So how do we remember and celebrate the promise of our salvation through the Christ Child? Well we rush out on Black Friday and weeks after so that we can gorge ourselves on trinkets that are made in sweat shops by slave labor and worse of all, child labor! Oh yeah, Jesus is the reason for the season. We celebrate Jesus' birth by hording items made at the expense of the poor. I am sure Jesus is so proud.

Sorry. I should have given a hard cynicism warning!

But I am being serious. I was in a store the other day and 99% of the items I looked at were made in countries with proven track records of using the poor in slave like conditions and even children to make the products that we will consume in order to celebrate the Birth of our Lord. That my friends is the true "War on Christmas"!

How can we proclaim a message of hope when we ourselves are contributing to the loss of hope for so many of the poor of the world? Advent and Christmas should be about restoring hope and giving freely the love of Christ that he has so abundantly given to each of us! Hope is about transforming the world into the image of Christ! The love that propelled Jesus to become human so that we might have the fullness of life, should be the force that propels us to celebrate in a way that points to Jesus the Christ! Instead, I fear that the buying and selling of products that create misery for so many is almost the sole focus. Even the "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" banners are made in countries that promote the deliberate destruction of life! The "War on Christmas" is being fought and it is at the hands of Christians.

I know that this homily may be dark. That is not my intent. My intent is to try and lead us to a celebration of the Birth of our Lord that gives life to all. We are called to watch and pray. We watch and pray for the celebration of Christmas when we give thanks and worship the Christ Child. Then we watch and pray for the return of our Lord and we strive to be found deserving of the Lord's great gift of life!

If we start looking now at how we celebrate the birth of our Lord, maybe we can change our habits and truly proclaim that Jesus is the reason for the season. Let us celebrate the fact that Jesus' birth is the source of life and hope. Let us celebrate with deeds of love and charity not just in December but 365 days a year. Let us celebrate in a way that supports and nourishes one another in the life of faith.

When Jesus returns, we will not meet him with our trinkets made in sweatshops in the Third World. We will face Jesus alone, with how we have lived our life for him and our brothers and sisters. Let us live a life that proclaims hope and life to all. Let us labor so that those who are oppressed may know the Good News of Christmas, that Jesus is the reason for our joy! Let us turn away form the insanity of the consumer Christmas and instead turn to a celebration of Christmas that is about restoring hope and striving to transform instead of consume.

If we believe that Jesus is the reason for the season, then let us celebrate the season with lives modeled on the sacrifice of Christ. Let us celebrate a season of life instead of consuming. Let us celebrate with doing good deeds, the giving of alms, the restoration of hope and faith!

Let us proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord! That my friends, is the reason for the season.

Simple gets the job done.

2007-12-03T06:16:00.000-08:00

November 30, 2007
Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
St. Andrew Academy School Mass

Today we celebrate the feast day of the patron saint of our great school! What an exciting day! All of us gathered here today, students, faculty, parents and parishioners are witness to a miracle. Our school is the result of a vision. We had a number of small schools who were struggling to keep going so we combined our energies and created St. Andrew Academy, a regional school with 438 students! That's amazing! Just look around at this overflowing crowd! We have come from form three small schools to this large, strong, and faith filled school! We are a part of the miracle of education here on our side of Louisville. Thank God! All of us gathered here today are living witnesses to God's command to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.

We look to our patron saint today, St. Andrew for strength and guidance. Who was St. Andrew? Well, we know that he is St. Peter's brother. We also know that he was a fisherman just like his brother and father. St. Andrew wasn't a man of power. He worked everyday at a very tough job. He was a hard worker. Being a fisherman is hard work. St. Andrew and his family would have put in long hours on the water and then come back to shore and do the hard, messy work of getting their fish to market. These guys weren't just standing with a fishing pole pulling in an occasional fish. These guys were doing back breaking, messy, smelly work. And it was to this man that Jesus came to and asked him to do something amazing, follow him.

Jesus asked Andrew and his brother Peter to come with him and proclaim his message of love and salvation. They accepted Jesus' invitation. Andrew and his brother Peter were not powerful men. They were not rich men. Andrew and Peter were simple men. They were just like you and me. And that is important to remember. Jesus did not chose the rich and powerful. Jesus chose the people who were willing to listen to him and follow him. Jesus made a simple request and gave them a simple job. But simple doesn't mean easy. The task that Jesus set for Andrew was not complex but it wasn't easy. Even a simple job can be hard work. And look at the work Andrew did! We are here today because of what St. Andrew did. St. Andrew said yes to Jesus and followed him. St. Andrew transformed the lives of countless people in his earthly ministry and now his example and work continues to transform lives!

This simple fisherman has changed the world. Each of you gathered here today has a very important task to do. Jesus is calling each of you to work hard, learn and grow in faith and then be a source of Jesus' love to others. You don't have to be powerful or rich. You don't have to be a celebrity or a famous athlete. All you have to be is yourself. Say yes to Jesus' request to follow him and be faithful to hom and you will do great things for him. Just like St. Andrew, we all have something that we can do for Jesus. All we simply have to do is say yes to Jesus.

We don't know what power is.

2007-11-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

November 25, 2007
The Solemnity of Christ the King
Mass Readings:
2 Samuel 5:1-3
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43

I remember watching a show on TV about the history of state dinners. Those are the fancy dinners at the White House. The show chronicled the state dinner from the earliest days of the country up until the present day. What I learned is that a state dinner will cost hundreds of thousands of tax dollars so that a group of people can dress in multi thousand dollar outfits and congratulate each other on how powerful they are. Yes I am being cynical.

So here we have a group of people who think that they are powerful. They have the finest clothes and the choicest foods and they drive around in elite limousines. In fact I once had someone say to me that having a limousine is a sign of being rich and powerful. I've been in a lot of limousines but they were always because someone had died and we were in the funeral procession. So much for rich and powerful! Yet that example leads me to think this, how can someone feel that he or she is powerful when all the power in the world won't stop a massive heart attack or stroke that kills? All of these people who relish their power can find that it is all gone in an instant if his or her heart decides to stop working. All the earthly power possible cannot stop the body from shutting down.

That show caused me to start thinking about how we view power. My observations have led me to believe that many people in our world view power as either the ability to destroy or to buy. I fear that many folk view power as the possession of guns and bombs or purchasing and selling power. This is fleeting and hollow power. It is power that seeks self gratification and is not true power.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. This celebration is the acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is Power. Jesus Christ is the source of life, of all creation. Yet how is that power displayed? Jesus' power is made manifest in his broken and bloodied body on the cross. To most people this would not be a sign of power. We want our power to be glossy and fancy and in many cases, destructive. Yet today we look to the source of life hanging upon a cross.

I remember hearing a parable that went like this. A European city was being destroyed by a marauding force in the 13th century. There was a monastery in the town and the monks, all but one, had been slaughtered. As the commander of the army rode into the monastery on his horse, the one surviving monk stood and faced him. The commander asked the monk a question: "Do you not fear me? I have the power to take or spare your life." The monk replied: "Do you not fear me? I have the power to give you my life." There it is. There is power! How can that be?

Jesus' power is not in the destruction or purchase of life but in his ability to give life. Jesus' life was not taken from him but rather Jesus gave it freely. Jesus Christ, King and Lord of Creation freely offered himself up so that we might live. Jesus' power is in life not death or the pursuit of riches. Power is what gives life. Destruction and riches are merely hollow pursuits and have no power.

There is not a bomb that can blast a hole into Heaven. There is no limousine that will slide us into Heaven. There isn't enough money that will grease the palm of St. Peter so that we can sneak into Heaven. All the things we humans may deem as power have no influence on God. In fact, we will all face Christ the King on the same footing. We will all give account of what we did with the life that Jesus gave to us in his death, burial and resurrection. None of the things we hold as power on earth will make a bit of difference when we face the True Power, Christ the King.

At Calvary Jesus proclaims the truth of power. Power is from God and God alone. All of our earthly powers will mean nothing when we stand face to face with Christ the King. Our guns and bombs, our money and possessions will be gone and rotted and we will stand there powerless in the face of Power.

All of our "false gods of power" will fail us. We can worship at the feet of the latest celebrity idol or long to have favor from a politician but all we succeed in doing is selling our own soul for brief earthly power. The favor we should strive for is that of Christ the King. From Christ the King we receive life and power. The power we receive is to go forth and proclaim the Gospel of Life that was born on the cross as Jesus shed his blood for us. Power is when we seek to do all things in the image of Jesus. To humble yourself before Christ the King is the first sign of being powerful. Not powerful in the eyes of the world, but powerful as a disciple of the Lord. The power we receive from Christ is the power to proclaim the life giving message proclaimed by Christ.

Let us seek the power of life that comes from Christ the King, the power to be his faithful disciples.

Those with sight are often blind.

2007-11-19T09:40:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2007
Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63
Luke 18:35-43

This text from Luke is a familiar one. I have heard many sermons on how the Lord heals and gives us what we need. But this Gospel text has more going on than meets the eye. Pardon the pun.

Jesus is traveling to Jericho and as usual, his entourage is in force. As they are traveling, a blind beggar begins to call out to Jesus. Here is a man who has never witnessed one of Jesus' miracles but that doesn't matter. The blind beggar has heard the stories and he is now desperate to have Jesus' attention. That in and of itself is not what I believe the focus is. Rather, it is the response from Jesus' entourage. Here is a group of people, including the 12 Disciples, who should know better than to try and silence a poor, blind beggar. Don't you think they would have wanted this man to experience the power of Jesus? One would think. But that is not the case here. Jesus' followers are blind to this man's needs.

I can't help but think that we are in many ways like Jesus' entourage who wanted to keep this needy man away from Jesus. More often than not, it is the blessed who want to horde their blessings instead of sharing. Why is it that those with the most are often the most selfish? God's blessings are not a commodity that is to be squirreled away for a rainy day. The reality is that the gifts of the Spirit are to be freely given and then, and only then do they grow. God's blessings are not something we can put in a bank to draw interest. God's gifts of the Spirit must be used, given away in order for them to grow and return.

The folks who were traveling with Jesus should have known better and we may read this text and shake our heads. The problem with shaking our heads is that we might be too busy feeling superior and completely miss our own deficiencies. In what ways do we stand in the way of others being able to experience God's love? In what ways do we set up obstacles and place burdens on others who are seeking an encounter with the Lord? I am not saying we do it deliberately. I am just wondering how we often times get so entrenched with what we believe God should do that we forget that God is going to do what God wants and we have no say. God's love is for everyone and we cannot dictate to whom that Love will be given. I think the folk following Jesus to Jericho thought they were the "bouncers" who could determine who got to enter the party or not. Jesus showed them quickly that they had absolutely no power over who God shows love to.

In that respect I think it was the members of the entourage who were the blind ones. It was the one who was blind who could see God's love was present and begged to receive. Out of his neediness the blind beggar could see that God was present. The entourage gathered around Jesus were blinded by their sense of importance and almost missed a chance to see God's love in action. Worse, these folk could have deprived another of God's children from being healed. That is a frightening thought.

How we treat death reflects on how we treat life.

2007-11-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

November 11, 2007
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Luke 20:27-38

Our readings this morning are more than a bit tough. We have our reading from the book of Second Maccabees and Maccabees only comes around once every three years on Sunday and it is a doozy! We have a very gruesome reading and this portion of Scripture has been cut down. The full text is very graphic. So why is it in our Sunday lectionary? I believe this is an important piece of Scripture because it gives us an example of how we treat death and for that matter life.

We have these sons along with their mother and they are being subjected to religious violence. The Greeks were forcing the Jews to practice the Greek religion and to defile their faith in the one true God. Many Jews would not stand for that and they would eventually lead a revolt that would topple the Greeks. So we have this group of Jews being threatened with death while they are being tortured and it is all because they will not turn their backs on God. These individuals believe that their lives are less important if they deny God in order to live.

This causes me to ponder how we view death. Life is a rather cheap thing for many. All we have to do is take a look at how we so casually view death. We seem to be more calloused by the day when it comes to the horrors we human beings can inflict upon one another. Even comedians have noted how we humans seem to not really even budge emotionally when it comes to death unless it is an event that is extremely gruesome. Most times we will just click past the latest news of horror without even skipping a beat. Why?

I notice that I am receiving more and more frantic phone calls from people who have a loved one who is five minutes away from death and they expect me to be there even though I may be at least 30 minutes away. More frequently, the person in question has been very ill for a very long time yet haven't been to church in ages and have never called to see a priest except right at the very end. I am not passing judgment. I am merely presenting fact. Why do we seem to think that we can put things off until our death-bed and THEN we want to get right with God? Wouldn't we be valuing our life more if we took stock now instead of waiting until we are in a panic because we put things off and now we are terrified of death? If death is unimportant until we are at death's door then won't we treat life with as much disrespect?

Our Gospel reading has the Saducees being rather flippant about death. The Saducees were a group who didn't believe in life-after-death. These folk believed that what you got in this life was as good as it gets. Although they weren't so crass as many of us today, we might translate this into an "eat, drink, and be merry" attitude where we try to get as much out of life and give little to no thought about God's Kingdom.

The Saducees that come to Jesus toss out a rather goofy question and they know it is goofy because they are making fun of Jesus. They give Jesus the scenario of Moses' direction of how a woman who loses her husband and is childless is to be treated. Moses had the brothers of the deceased marry the widow. Not good for her! Anyone who says the Bible should be taken 100% literally needs to start queuing up to marry their brother's widow! Okay, that was snarky of me. Sorry.

So the Saducess want Jesus to give an equally ridiculous answer to their ridiculous question. These Saducees see death as trivial and so they ask a trivial question. But Jesus gives a very serious answer. Jesus reminds them that the very man they quote about the marriage deal is also the man who talked about life after death. Jesus reminds them they can't have it both ways.

How we live is a sure sign of how we view death. If we live a life in opposition to the Gospel then we must be saying that life after death isn't a concern. Well, that works until we face death and then we go into panic mode and we scramble to get our life straight with God. That is a shame really. We can have so much in this life if we follow the Gospel. I am not talking material things or power. I mean a life of spiritual blessings and peace. Imagine living a life that is modeled on Jesus instead of the latest celebrity. Imagine living a life of compassion, mercy, charity and grace. Imagine what we can experience with the Lord if we just open ourselves to his glory! If we do that, then we don't have to go into panic mode when our number is called and we are facing death. We can enter death with peace and comfort knowing that Jesus is waiting to welcome us home.

So we think we are powerful?

2007-11-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2007
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10

Power. Countless numbers of people want it, countless numbers of people will do whatever it takes to get it and countless numbers of people will misuse it. Power is the subject of entertainment and is the source of a great number of crimes. We human beings think we are so powerful. Yet what do we lift up as power? Money, land, bombs, guns, politics, etc. We think these things are powerful and we don't stop to think that all these things can be taken away in an instant.

Our first reading from the Book of Wisdom shows us what true power is and it isn't with us but God. We read in Wisdom: "Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth." That's power! To God, the universe is no more than a grain of sand or a drop of dew. Yet we humans like to think that because we can push a button and all manner of things happen, good and bad, that we are powerful. A bit arrogant on our part to say the least.

Not long ago I was saying Mass at a parish out of town and afterwards I was approached by someone who was furious over something that had happened recently. A former parishioner who hadn't darkened the doors in decades had died and was buried from the parish. This man had been, to put it kindly, a bad seed. He was rather notorious in that area. Apparently, on his death bed, he took stock of his life and realized his sinfulness and called for the priest and made his confession and made peace with God. The person who was angry and venting to me, was furious over the fact that God forgave this man and the priest had enabled this sinner to be saved! Wow! Mad at God because God showed mercy! That experience has been bouncing around in my head especially with today's readings. God is power. God is the source of all that is good in the world. If the universe is but a grain of sand to God, then where do we get off thinking that we are the powerful ones?

Our Gospel text today is another example of God's great power. Jesus is walking through Jericho and he comes across Zacchaeus. Now Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the Roman Empire. This meant he was a licensed extortionist and he was free to charge what he wanted as long as the Empire got what it required. Zacchaeus was a hated man and was a sinner in the eyes of the religious folk. I would dare say the religious folk were salivating at the thought of Jesus condemning Zacchaeus and making a public display of him. So. What does Jesus do? He forgives him and then goes to stay with him at his house. How dare he! What's up with this? How can Jesus be so forgiving? Does Jesus not care about sin? Does Jesus condone what Zacchaeus has been doing? Of course not! To think otherwise is silly at best. Jesus forgives because he is doing the will of the Father and that will is that all people be saved.

God's power is in his mercy and not condemnation. God's power is his willingness to save rather than destroy. It doesn't take much power to destroy. It takes power to forgive, console, reconcile, and give life. God's great gift of forgiveness and life is not a sign that he is weak and condones sin but rather it is the sign of his absolute power and love! God's love is power!

So what happens after Jesus forgives Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus gives half of his wealth to care for the poor and then goes even further. Zacchaeus goes forth and restores to those he has wronged not just the amount he stole from them but repays four times over! Zacchaeus' experience of God's great power brings life not only to him but brings comfort and support to countless numbers of people. What would have happened if Jesus would have followed the will of the religious folk and condemned instead of granting forgiveness? There would have been more misery and theft and Zacchaeus would have been lost. God's great power of mercy transformed the lives of countless numbers of people that day. Now that's power!

So back to that man who was buried from the parish I was visiting. God exercised his power and the man was forgiven. God's power rescued this man and redeemed him, reconciled him and restored him. The person who was furious over this, I believe, was rejecting God's power and as a result was missing out on a miracle. The one who was angry was in a place where God's great gifts of joy could not be received due to the harboring of resentment, selfishness, and a refusal to acknowledge that God is power and not us humans. We are the creation not the Creator.

If we refuse to accept God's power, if we think that God should do our will, then we are the ones who are showing our absolute weakness. We are invited to share in God's power of life. What a shame if we miss out on God's power of life all because we can't let go of our own selfish and wrong ideas about power.

Happy Dia de los Muertos, y'all!

2007-11-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
(All Souls)
November 2, 2007
Mass Readings:
Wisdom 3:1-9
Romans 6:3-9
John 6:37-40

Yesterday we celebrated All Saints and now we celebrate All Souls. I love these two days. I always take time on these days to reflect on the fact that death is not the end and to remember and celebrate the lives of my family and friends who have already died in the peace of Christ. I miss them no matter how long it has been since they died but I also celebrate that they are alive and well in God's Kingdom!

I have been fascinated for years with the Mexican celebration known as Dia de los Muertos. The first time I became aware of this celebration I was a bit confused by the garish costumes, skulls made out of sugar, and eating meals in the cemeteries where loved ones are buried, etc. Then it hit me, why be afraid of the dead? Why shouldn't I go to the cemetery and reflect and remember my family and friends who have died? It is now something I look forward to every year.

This morning's Mass is in memory of all our faithful departed. We call to mind all of those who have died in the peace of Christ and are now rejoicing in the Lord's presence! How beautiful is that! We have every reason to dress brightly and laugh and celebrate, to feast and rejoice! Death is not the end but the beginning! it is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to prepare a place for us in his Father's Kingdom! For those who believe, life does not end but merely changes.

We grieve and mourn the loss of our family and friends. Every year I find myself sad when I think about how I cannot call-up my friend Liz or listen to one of my grandfather's stories. I miss all of my family and friends who have died. Yet at the same time I am happy for them because they have received the perfection of love in God's great gift of salvation! We are baptized into Jesus' death and also his resurrection! We die physically but live eternally in spirit in God's presence. Amen!

This morning I prayed the Office for the Dead and reflected on how blessed I am because of all the people who have touched my life. Those who have died have left their mark upon me and they continue to do so because I know that they are still with me in spirit and are praying for me in Heaven. I am sad and happy today at the same time.

Let us all take time today to remember and mourn, give thanks and celebrate all of our faithful departed. Let us acknowledge our grief but take time to give thanks and be happy for our memories and for the future when we will all be reunited. Tonight I will be going to a celebration of Dia de los Muertos and I am going to eat a few of those sugar skulls and maybe even join in a dance or two. I want to remember with joy the times I had with my family and friends before they died. I want to give air and light to my grief so that I don't ever lose hope. I want to look forward with longing to the time when I will be reunited with all those who have gone before me.

I wish to you all a very life giving All Souls Day. Let us remember and honor, grieve and rejoice, cry and laugh as we honor all of our beloved dead.

Thanks Liz!

2007-11-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

Solemnity of All Saints
School Mass at St. Andrew Academy
November 1, 2007
Mass Readings:
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12a

What did we celebrate last night? Halloween! I sat on my front stoop and gave out candy to a lot of ghouls and goblins and a few zombies to boot! Last night we had fun with the ghoulish, ghastly and ghostly. It was all just for fun and especially chocolate! I over estimated and now I have a lot of candy bars left over. Or did I do that on purpose?

Today we celebrate a very important day in the Church. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. We celebrate the reality that those who die in God's grace are received into his Heavenly Kingdom to live forever and worship God. We celebrate the fact that for us to die does not mean the end. It means that we live forever in God's presence in Heaven. It also means that we join what the Apostle Paul called the "Great Cloud of Witnesses" in Heaven. When we die, we meet up again with all our family and friends who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith and we get to be together again. However, this time we get to be together in eternal life and be perfectly happy!

The vestments I am wearing this morning were made for my very first Mass after I was ordained seven years ago. This stole and chasuble were made by my best friend Liz. Liz died a few years ago and every time I wear this, I am reminded of how much she loves me and how much I love her. I don't say that in the past tense because Liz and I are still connected. This is what we celebrate today, that even though we may die physically, we do not die spiritually. When we we get to Heaven, we aren't cut off from one another. Those who go before us into Heaven become a source of strength for us and our loved ones pray for us continually and we continue to pray for them.

We often times think that when someone dies that we are finished with knowing them. That's not true. When we believe in Jesus and we die, we go to Heaven where we become a member of the "Great Cloud of Witnesses" who intercede on the behalf of those who are still alive on earth. When we go to Heaven, we have work to do. We celebrate in God's presence and we worship God in perfect praise and we also intercede for those who are still alive. I know for a fact that my friend Liz is praying for me! Liz is also probably shaking her head and laughing when I do something really silly. It makes me feel good and safe to know that she is on my side and praying for me to God. I need all the help I can get.

Today we celebrate the glory of God's gift of salvation and the share in God's Kingdom that each of us receive. There is nothing ghoulish or ghastly about All Saints Day. Today we celebrate all that is beautiful and holy, eternal and perfect. For those who believe in Jesus, life does not end, it changes when we die but it doesn't end.

Let us give thanks to God this morning as we celebrate with all the Saints in Heaven. They are a part of us and we are a part of them and death does not change that. Thank God and Amen!

God is in control, not us.

2007-10-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
October 30, 2007
Mass Readings:
Romans 8:18-25
Luke 13:18-21

Control is something we like to think we have down. None of us like to admit that we are not in control of any particular situation. When we are kids we learn quickly how to manipulate others in an attempt to get what we want. That is a normal part of development when we are kids. The problem is that we continue to do it when we know better as adults. We tend to think that if we can master the manipulation of people, things and events then we will be in control. We usually find out the hard way that we truly do not have control.

Many of us try to control God. Sounds really silly when you stop and think about it but we try it anyway. I believe that our readings today are a strong reminder that we are not the ones in control but rather God who is in control. Take the parables Jesus gives us today. A seed and the yeast are items that have a plan and will carry that plan out. The seed grows and the yeast leavens and makes bread. Simple.

I believe that Jesus is showing us that God's plan is simple and cannot be manipulated by anything we say or do or don't say or do. The Kingdom of God is in God's control, not ours. We may think that God is on "our side" but the fact is that we must always work to be on God's side. I don't understand how we get off thinking that we can control God.

God's Kingdom is a gift. We are given the great gift of salvation and we are invited to accept that gift and use it not control it. The only thing we do have control over is how we respond to God's great gift of salvation. It is simple really. We either say yes or we say no and then we live according to our response. The gift is given, the gift is received and the gift is used. How we live shows whether we value God's gift or not.

I believe these readings fit in perfectly with our readings this past Sunday. We pray out of our neediness and God hears us. We ask for our needs and not merely our wants. We pray because we are dependent upon God and not the other way around. We need God! We need his love! We must be open to God's plan. Our relationship with God is about our living to do his will and not our own. Our prayers should be about our need and not about us trying to get God to bend to our will.

If we ask God, we will receive. If we try to play games with God, we refuse his great gift of life and all we receive is our own empty self righteousness.

Keep the Sabbath holy? I'd rather go shopping.

2007-10-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
October 29, 2007
Mass Readings:
Romans 8:12-17
Luke 13:10-17

I had a strange experience yesterday. I had finished up the last mass of the day and I was looking at the list of things I needed to get done. I need to get a new passport photo taken so I got in my car and thought I would hop down to the corner Walgreens and get it taken. I developed a knot in my stomach. I started remembering when I was a kid how most all the stores were closed on Sunday except for drug stores. Even few grocery stores were open. I didn't get that photo taken. I couldn't bring myself to spend money on Sunday. I pondered that the rest of the day.

I remembered how when I was a kid, we spent time together as a family. I would go bike riding with my friends after church. We fixed dinner and sat together while we ate at the kitchen table. Sunday was always about church and family when I was a kid. After church there was the understanding that the front door was open and family and friends would get together. I miss that. I am only 40 years old yet I remember a time when Sunday was holy. I know, I'm getting nostalgic and that is always tricky. Nostalgia can often times be more about what we once hoped for but never had, yet I have talked about this with other folk my age and they remember it this way too. There is something true here.

I got up this morning and checked the readings and lo and behold, Jesus talks about the Sabbath and what it means to keep it holy. God was working on me yesterday. Jesus is faced with some self righteous folk who want to accuse Jesus of not keeping the Sabbath holy because he had the audacity to heal! Apparently watering an animal on the Sabbath was holy but healing someone was a violation! Nice.

How do we keep the Sabbath holy? Each of us do it differently. Going to Mass is a part of our Sabbath celebration. But what do we do after that? Are we obsessing over whether Mass goes 50 or 55 minutes just because we have to hit the mall at a certain time? Do we treat Sunday as merely another shopping day? Is the Sabbath just another day of business because we have crammed the other six days so full we use Sunday as an overflow day?

After my experience yesterday I think I miss those blue laws. Maybe we would spend more time with family and friends if we didn't hit the latest sale at the mall. Maybe we would be less tense if we actually took a day of rest. Maybe we would be happier if we actually took a day to slow down and reconnect. One thing I know for sure, we would spend more time with God if we viewed the Sabbath as a gift and not merely an obligation. Mass should be a time to be with family and friends as we celebrate and worship God together. Then, as we leave Mass, wouldn't it be nice to spend time with each other instead of fighting check-out lines at the local big box store? What a novel idea. Spending time with God and family on the Sabbath. Now that sounds like a holy time.

Close to the earth.

2007-10-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 28, 2007
Mass Readings:
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

Not too long ago I saw a t-shirt that has stuck with me. It was one of those with a saying plastered on the front of it and it read: "My Attitude? Your Problem!" I was sort of taken-aback by it. What struck me most was that it was worn by a child no more than five or six years old. Today I wonder about how we cultivate and celebrate a culture of arrogance and a sense of superiority at the expense of others. I think that t-shirt reflected an idea that many of us believe that we can do and say whatever we want and other folk just have to put up with it, an "it's all about me" attitude.

Our readings today are about an attitude of humility. We often view humility as being a state of being where we have a low opinion of our self and walk around with a "woe is me" attitude. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our word humility comes from the Greek word humus which means close to the earth. Humility is about being grounded, knowing who we are and more importantly, whose we are.

Our Gospel text is a glaring example of how not to treat God. The Pharisee comes in and seems to think that he is doing God a favor by spending time with him and God should feel honored to be in his presence because he is so good and holy instead of the other way around. The way we pray reflects on who we think God is and our relationship with him.

The tax collector, a tool of the Romans, used to extort money from the people is painfully aware of his dependence on God. He prays out of his desire to know God instead of trying to prove his holiness to God. The two men pray in very different ways. One prays out of a sense of superiority, while the other prays out of the need to know God and hear God. Jesus tells us that it was the cry of the needy and not the arrogant that was heard. The tax collector went away justified while the Pharisee went away with what he walked into the Temple with, his ego.

Our reading from Sirach instructs us that God hears all of our prayers but it is the prayer of the one who seeks God's will that is answered. In other words, God isn't merely a celestial department store where we just get what we want by going down a request list. Prayer is about drawing close to God so that we can be one with him and do his will. The prayer of the humble is answered while the prayer of the arrogant is heard but doesn't get a response. It is about being grounded, "close to the earth".

Close to the earth. I think this is an important term for me to remember whenever I get too full of myself. I came from the earth and to the earth I will return someday. We all are alike in that we were created by God from the earth and some day we will all return to the earth and we will all have to face God. No one is better than anyone else when we are standing and facing God. So much for arrogance!

So I find myself pondering why we seem to always gravitate to an attitude of arrogance, sense of entitlement, and self righteousness. Why do we do that? All these things give us are broken relationships with one another and with God. We may look like a big deal in the eyes of the world but what we should be concerned about is how we present ourselves to God. God doesn't care about how important we are in society. Our social status doesn't mean squat to God. Our level of importance in our jobs doesn't mean squat to God. What matters to God is that we give our all to be close to him and do his work in the world. Everything else is nothing but our own egos.

Being "close to the earth" is about setting aside our selfishness, arrogance and sense of entitlement so that we can be open to God's call to serve him and one another. We are all in this together. We all came from the earth in Creation and we will all return to it and we will all have to face God on equal footing. In God's presence, none of us can hold to our ego for it is an even field and we have to answer for how we treated one another and how we treated God.

Let's face it. We are in this life together and we should be striving to draw closer to God and with one another. Everything else is just ego. I pray that I can remember this. I pray that I never adopt a sense that my attitude is someone else's problem. It will always be my problem because I will have to answer for it alone.

D'oh!

2007-10-17T17:05:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. There is much business at the two parishes I serve and I am far behind on my homily posts. I will have more posts up soon. Thanks for bearing with me.

Am I really as important as I think I am?

2007-10-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
October 1, 2007
Mass Readings:
Zechariah 8:1-8
Luke 9:46-50

I really enjoy this feast day. St. Therese is a great example for each of us today. St. Therese is, in my opinion, the model of how important it is to keep things simple. Simplicity is not a thing most of us do well. We tend to want things complex and we tend to want to be in charge.

Jesus is facing a problem in our Gospel today. the disciples are in a fit. The disciples are arguing about which one of them is top dog. Imagine it. Here the disciples are in the presence of the Savior yet they are more concerned about which one of them is going to get the most glory. Now we may be inclined to think that the disciples are being childish, but don't we do the same thing? How many times do each of us struggle to be in the top spot or what we think is the top spot?

Jesus gives us the moving scene of calling a child to him and elevating that child as the example of what it means to be the greatest, to hold the "top spot". Now, Jesus isn't calling us to act like children! Acting like a child edifies no one! Rather, Jesus is calling us to empty ourselves of our sense of self importance, our sense of independence, our sense of entitlement and become wholly dependent upon God. Children our dependent upon their parents or guardians. A child does not have the luxury of being self sufficient and must rely upon love and generosity. Jesus calls us to live a life of simplicity, humility and dependence upon God.

To be great, each of us must place ourselves upon God's mercy. Being great does not mean a life of perks and praise. Living a life of greatness means that we are to be a servant. To live a life of greatness is a calling to live a life of trust upon God's great love.

Whenever I get into the trap of feeling I am more important than I really am, I like to repeat this mantra to myself: Get over yourself! Get over your sense of entitlement! Get over your feelings of grandiosity! Get over your idea of greatness and let God be in charge! God wants us to get over our selfish, self seeking ways. God wants us to let him be in charge, to realize that it is God who is the greatest and we are wholly dependent upon him! We come and go but God is forever! In comparison, I don't think any of us have room to claim to be the greatest.

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.
Saint Therese of Lisieux (of the Child Jesus)

Amen, St. Therese. Amen!

Compete well for the faith rather than wealth.

2007-09-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
9/30/2007
Mass Readings:
Amos 6:1a, 4-7
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19-31

A very popular train of thought in Christianity these days is that if you are rich then it is a sign that you are blessed by God. Material wealth is a sign of how faithful one is and how God is so very generous. I have a big problem with that way of thinking and here's why. I know a lot of very poor people who are very, very faithful to God. So what gives? Does God have a grudge against these holy people? Have these people done something so wrong that God doesn't want them to have adequate sustenance, shelter or health care? What happens if one Christian is rich while another is poor? Does this mean that God loves some people more than others?

Most people would be horrified if someone was to teach that if you are poor then God doesn't love you. Yet I find that the "Prosperity Gospel" comes dangerously close to saying that.

Our first reading today is a harsh one. The Prophet Amos is calling to the religious folk to share the wealth. The prophet even invokes the great figure of faith, David. King David was a man after God's own heart. God loved him and set him over His people to rule with justice and mercy. Unfortunately, David's heart and soul became lazy. David's great empire would fall in on itself due to greed, lust, murder and abandonment of faith. David would watch as debauchery infested his kingdom and destroyed it from the inside out. So much for prosperity! It cost David everything because it became more important than God.

Our Gospel today is a very familiar one. It makes us uncomfortable, all this about dogs licking the poor, hungry, sick Lazarus. It should make us very, very uncomfortable because that is what Jesus intended!Jesus wants us to be appalled and sickened by the scene! Jesus is addressing a group that is content in it's wealth and power and sense of superiority. The Pharisees had no problem placing burdens upon other's while they sought a life of ease and luxury. They did this at the expense of the most defenseless and poor. I think we can see how that is happening even today!

Jesus sought to remind these folk that because they have been fortunate they have an obligation, a calling to see to it that those in need are cared for. This ties in to the whole "to whom much has been given much is expected" stuff Jesus so boldly proclaimed. To have much means that much is expected. To be blessed with wealth and power means that it must be used to help the most defenseless and poor. To sit back and demand more at the expense of others, is sinful and Jesus calls it out for what it is, greed. Contrary to popular belief, greed is not good! Greed is a disease that eats away at the soul and destroys one's relationship with God.

So what do today's readings want from us? I believe that it is summed up with one sentence from Timothy. "Compete well for the faith". What could be more important than giving it all we've got to have a strong faith? We tend to work ourselves to death in order to have the latest and greatest this or that, a bigger house, a fancier car, etc., while we ignore our soul. We do so at our own peril.

Last weekend's Gospel had Jesus Telling us that we cannot serve both God and wealth. If we do, one is going to lose out and it usually isn't wealth. God becomes less important to us when we spend all of our time trying to get more and more stuff.

So what do we think would happen if we were to put as much effort in to our faith as we do getting ahead in the world? Wealth will come and go but our faith is our life. there is nothing more important than our relationship with God and relationships with one another. If we put everything in to getting rich and ignoring the things of God, we may gain the world but we lose our soul. As Christians, I believe that we must seek to make the world a better place for everyone and not just self. What good does it matter if we are rich and powerful yet facing down God's judgment for not being faithful?

Compete well for the faith my friends and may we all follow God's call to serve!

No one is an outcast in Jesus' eyes.

2007-09-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist
September 21, 2007
Mass Readings:
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13
Matthew 9:9-13

All of us at one time or another feel like we don't fit in. At one time or another we each are made to feel like an outsider, an outcast. Most of us can remember those times in school when we weren't cool enough, rich enough, good looking enough, etc. We can remember how horrible it made us feel to be left out.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist. In our Gospel text we see that Matthew was an outcast. He was a tax collector, a man who was looked upon with great disdain and disrespect. He was despised. Yet Jesus comes along and invites Matthew to become a part of his inner circle, a move that would insult the Pharisees.

Matthew invites Jesus to his home and prepares a meal for him. Along comes Matthew's friends, these sinners as the Pharisees are quick to point out. They are insulted that Jesus would dare associate with these outcasts and they let their feelings be known. Jesus gives us his famous line of how the healthy do not need a doctor but the sick do. Jesus is the healer of our soul, the Great Physician and he invited the sick, the sinner to eat with him and receive his amazing grace and forgiveness.

Matthew was an outcast yet Jesus saw through the bad to the good and made him a great evangelist, an Apostle who would give his life for the good of Christ. How's that for an outsider?!

For Jesus, no one is an outsider. For us to demean, belittle, judge another person puts us outside Jesus' circle. We make ourselves outsiders whenever we let our pride and arrogance rule and we pass judgment on others and deem someone to be an outsider, unworthy. We do it in school when we are kids and then we do it as adults. We form cliques, we form societies that say who is worthy and who isn't. What arrogant rubbish! If Jesus doesn't do it then I feel pretty safe in saying we shouldn't do it!

No one is an outcast to Jesus. However, we make ourselves outcasts when we do not honor one another, love one another as Jesus loves and honors each and everyone of us.

He deserves it?

2007-09-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
September 17, 2007
Mass Readings:
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 7:1-10

Picture it. Jesus is preaching and teaching and traveling. Pretty normal day for Jesus and the Apostles. They enter Capernaum and Jesus is approached about healing someone. Sounds good. A Roman Centurion has a slave and he is sick. Obviously this centurion cares deeply about this person. He is so dedicated to providing for this man that he calls for the elders to go to Jesus for him and ask for a miracle. But why doesn't the centurion go himself? We will get to that in a moment.

So here come the elders. They approach Jesus and ask him to provide a miracle. However, listen to how they ask Jesus to do this.

They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,
“He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” (emphasis added)

The religious leaders ask Jesus to do this because it is the politically astute thing to do. If Jesus heals this slave then surely the centurion will be even more generous to them! Heal a slave and get a bonus!

I always recoil a bit when I read this particular passage. The religious leaders want Jesus to heal this slave because they think the centurion "deserves" it. Would the religious leaders have gone out of their way for someone who was poor or lacked power? We don't know the answer to that question but it is an important question to ask. The religious leaders didn't ask Jesus to do this because they were concerned with the health of the slave but rather because the centurion was powerful and had been generous to the people. So. A miracle is needed and the centurion deserves to be given this?

Jesus goes with the religious leaders but I feel safe in saying that Jesus wasn't trying to score political points with the centurion. As Jesus approaches the centurions house, he is greeted with a very humble act. The centurion does not even feel worthy to have Jesus enter his house, a sign of just how respectful the centurion was of Jesus and how much he valued him. The centurion wasn't trying to score points the way the religious leaders were. There is a valuable lesson there.

Jesus is impressed by the centurion's willingness to humble himself and accept God's authority. The centurion did not place himself above others and declare himself worthy of Jesus' miracle because of his political or military power. The centurion's motives were all about his slave and getting him the care he needed. The religious leaders motives? Well, that is a different story.

How many times do each of us view ourself as so important that surely Jesus will do our bidding? Do we honestly believe that we can manipulate Jesus into doing what we want because we have an over exaggerated sense of self? There is no nation, people or individual so powerful that they can manipulate our Lord and Savior! All are deserving of Jesus' love. Power, money, influence, etc. are never, EVER influences on our Lord. Jesus gives of himself because he loves us and not because we have power.

Our responsibility is to humble ourselves before the Lord. Jesus' love is not something we deserve. Jesus' love is the greatest gift that can ever be given and our responsibility is to accept it and live it.

Doing it right but getting it wrong.

2007-09-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 16, 2007
Mass Readings:
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32

The parable of the Prodigal Son is one that has been the source of inspiration for many artists throughout the centuries. Paintings, statues and even plays have been created to tell the story of the wayward son.

Many of us can identify with this prodigal boy. He is selfish, greedy and wants it all right now. He is self seeking and self centered. All of us have been the prodigal at least once. Many of us even have prodigals in our families who we try to bring back in to the fold. We can understand this tale of redemption, reconciliation and restoration.

However, the prodigal is not the sole focus of this parable. Jesus is addressing a group of people who are the religious leaders of the day. These "religious" folk are complaining and judging Jesus for eating and enjoying fellowship with sinners. How dare him! Imagine that, the one who is our salvation daring to spend time with us sinners! So Jesus gives them the parables of how he is there to save the lost and that no one is outside of God's love. Then, as Jesus has them seeing the value of all God's children, he slips in a warning, the elder son.

Most times the elder son is just waxed over and never given any attention but I think the elder son is perhaps the most important part of the parable. It is easy to identify with the prodigal because he comes to his senses and we want to see ourselves that way. We do not want to see our self as the elder son.

Why do we avoid the elder son? We tend to see the elder son as the injured party in the parable. Here he has been faithful for all of these years yet the father doesn't give him the same treatment as the prodigal. Or does he?

The elder son's motives are revealed to be no different than the younger. The elder son has been biding his time and waiting for the father to die and leave him his inheritance. Has his faithfulness been merely so he can get the money? If so, aren't his motives just as selfish and shallow as the younger son? I think the answer is yes. The elder son is an example of doing it right but getting it wrong. We can do everything by the book but if our motives aren't true then we haven't gotten it right.

The elder son is an example of those of us who may think that if we do or say the right things then all is well. However, we fill our hearts with resentments, jealousy and greed. We pile up baggage that gets in the way of our relationship with God and one another. Then, when we are faced with something we feel is unfair, we throw a tantrum just like the elder son. How dare the father be so forgiving that he take in this hooligan! How dare the father be willing to forgive and restore! The elder son stands outside of the house throwing a fit and he completely misses the joy of the father. This moment of redemption, reconciliation and restoration is lost for the elder son. All he can see is that he didn't get things the way he wanted and he cannot see that the gifts have always been there for him and all he had to do was ask.

We can strive to do and say the right things. That's good. Yet, we can strive for the externals and completely miss the internals. Doing and saying the right things become irrelevant when our hearts are filled with resentments and jealousy and our motives become selfish. The baggage we pile on our shoulders do nothing but weigh us down. The resentments and petty grudges keep us standing outside of the house and we can see the feast but our tantrum keeps us from enjoying the gifts so freely given. Why do we do that? Why do we get so caught up in being jealous and holding on to grudges and we willingly step outside of the feast in order to pout and throw a tantrum?! What a monumental loss!

Jesus concludes the parable of the prodigal with a heads up for us all. Let go of the motives that get in the way of our relationship with God and one another. Let go of the resentments, petty disagreements, jealousies and sense of entitlement we may harbor. If we don't, we may just miss out on the feast because we are too busy pouting in the back yard.

He knows what?!

2007-09-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 26, 2007
Mass Readings:
Isaiah 66:18-21
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30

"Thus says the LORD:I know their works and their thoughts"

The Lord speaks through Isaiah and lets us know something very important. A little bit of info we need to keep in mind is that God knows what is in our hearts and minds and what we do. We can't "fake-out" God.

When we are kids we think that we can lie to our parents and they will never figure out that we are trying to pull a fast one. Well, they know. Yet when we are kids we think that we can pull anything over on anyone if we just lie or manipulate. How can anyone figure it out? Easy! Our lies and games are never that good. So the lies and games build up and become increasingly complex and harder to maintain. Then, they fall apart and we are surprised that anyone saw through them. A bit naive I'd say. Problem is that we all do it at one time or another. We are human and humans play games. Sad but true.

Eventually we begin to use the same tactics with God. We begin to try and barter with God, a quid-pro-quo attitude. We actually begin to think we can lie to God and manipulate the Father! Thing is, God knows our works and our thoughts and he sees right through our charades.

This is one reason why I find politics hard to stomach. Every politician thinks that God is on his/her side. Especially during campaigns, each politician thinks that he/she has the market on God cornered and that he/she speaks for God and everyone else is wrong. By election day I always have a migraine. Just because someone has the public spotlight doesn't mean he/she is God's servant. God is neither a Democrat nor Republican and God can't be manipulated by any political machine. God is God, the creator of the universe and is beholden to no person or group.

We do it in the Church as well. We have so many groups fighting one another because one group thinks that they have the market cornered when it comes to God while another group is seen as the enemy. Surely if we ridicule another group or person loud and long enough that proves us right? So we fight and believe that we can rally God to do what we want him to do because, after all, how can "WE" be wrong?

God is not a commodity that can be controlled and manipulated. No matter how closely we choose our words or actions. No matter how pious we strive to convince God we are. No matter how "religious" we are. No matter how right we may think we are, God will not be controlled or lied to because he knows our thoughts and our works. We cannot hide our true motives and agendas from God. God sees and knows our spirit. Nothing can be hidden from God and we only delude ourselves when we think we can fool God. The only person we fool is our self and we miss out on the glories of being fully open to God's Holy Spirit.

When we delude ourselves into thinking that we can play games with God, we lose the game. All God asks of us is to be open, honest, receptive and willing. God wants us to be open to his love and willing to answer the call he gives. It isn't so hard when you stop and think about it. Yet there we go thinking that we can pull a fast one on God and manipulate him to do our will instead of us doing his will.

The greatest gift that God has given us is love. God's love is an invitation to live a transparent life where we live in communion with The Trinity and one another. It is a joyful communion that gives life and peace. The glorious thing is that this gift is free and requires no manipulation or lies to get it. All we have to do is ask and then give ourselves over to God's will. So simple yet we make it hard when we think we need to play games with God.

Those pesky "Lower Case gods".

2007-08-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

August 21, 2007
Memorial of Saint Pius X, pope
Mass Readings:
Judges 6:11-24a
Matthew 19:23-30

Today's Gospel got me in trouble a few years back. At a morning mass this was the text that I preached on and a certain individual got very angry with me for using it. Why? Well, she is a very wealthy person and she thought that I was "condemning her for being rich". I did nothing of the sort and neither does Jesus in this text.

I believe that Jesus is giving us a warning about what I like to call "Lower Case gods". These "gods" are all of the things we place before our relationship with Christ. These "gods" can be anything, money, internet, cars, sports, houses, hobbies, etc... Anytime we sacrifice our relationship with Christ we are worshiping a "Lower Case god". It isn't just about money but rather our seemingly endless list of desires and agendas that put up obstacles between us and God.

I believe that this is an example of why we need to always keep the teachings of Jesus always with us. If the Gospels make us uncomfortable then we need to listen to that. Jesus' words are just as critical for us today as they were in the 1st century. Perhaps they are even more crucial today. We can devote ourselves to "Lower Case gods" without ever having to leave the house! We can tear down our relationship with Christ without leaving the comfort of our own homes and it isn't just about money.

I try to always remind myself that anytime I commit myself to some "thing" and that "thing" becomes more important than Jesus then I have sacrificed myself to one of the "Lower Case gods" and it tears down my soul.

I believe that this is what Jesus is warning us about in today's Gospel reading. Anything that takes the place of Jesus and serving one another as Christians is going to tear us down. Yes, it becomes hard to see Heaven when we are so committed to acquiring so many of those pesky "Lower Case gods".

Division is a choice.

2007-08-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

August 19, 2007
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings:
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Hebrews 12:1-4
Luke 12:49-53

Jesus' words today seem unbearably harsh. All this talk of division and warring among family members is hard to hear. Well, it is hard to hear if all we do is read this one particular part of Luke. Jesus repeatedly throughout the Gospels talks of how God's love is for all creation and that he has come to save the world. So why does Jesus give us this harsh warning about division?

Jesus was preparing the disciples for a hard reality. It would become clear very quickly after Jesus' Resurrection that division would begin right in the heart of the Church. The Apostle Paul would write numerous letter addressing division. Jesus wanted the disciples to be ready and he also wanted them to strive to stay above it.

I believe that Jesus is setting us up to see that division is our doing and not his. Each and every one of us must make a choice whether we strive for unity or we work for division. God's love unites us but we can choose to live divided by our infighting, agendas, selfishness, prejudice, grandiosity, anger, sense of entitlement, delusions of superiority, etc. Divisions within the Church, the Body of Christ, is our doing. We only have ourselves to blame.

Let us all work hard to dismantle the things that divide us. We can remain strong and true to the Faith and at the same time work for unity. Being different from one another does not mean we have to be divided. True unity is when we can agree to disagree and still work together faithfully for the Kingdom of God. We must choose to be united rather than divided.

Hail Mary! and bless Archbishop Kurtz!

2007-08-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

August 15, 2007
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mass during the Day
Mass Readings:
Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56

Today we celebrate the Assumption of our Blessed Mother. So great is her place that Jesus took her body and soul to the glory of Heaven before the corruption of death could touch her body! Hallelujah! What a glorious day this is in our life of faith. For not only do we celebrate the First Disciple, the Blessed Mother, but also the feast day for our cathedral and the instillation of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz! It's a full day so fasten your seat belts because Louisville is alive and kicking! I might also add that today is also the 30 anniversary for Archbishop Kelly's ordination as bishop. A full day indeed.

I must note that Archbishop Kelly ordained me and I give him a great round of thanks this day. He has been a loving father to me and I am very grateful for his leadership and kindness.

On this feast day we look to the great example of our Blessed Mother. Mary was just a young woman, a teenager when she was asked to be the mother of our Lord. Her "yes" to God would open the door to salvation!

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Mary? This young woman, approached by an angel and given the task of giving birth to the son of God must have been terrified! I have always wondered about all of the paintings and movies that display our Blessed Mother as this stoic young woman who hardly flinches when approached by God. I would dare say that her reaction was one of confusion, terror and stress! How could she not have been distressed? However, she said yes! Her trust in God was stronger than her emotions and concerns and would guide her to be the first disciple. How blessed we are that Mary was strong in her faith and would do her all to follow God.

This brings me to what I believe all of our Marian feast days call us to do. I believe that every time we celebrate our Blessed Mother we are called to examine how each and every one of us say yes to God. Or for that matter, do we even say yes to God? Do we follow the example of the Blessed Mother and follow God with sheer abandon?

Each and every one of us is called to be a faithful disciple. Each and every one of us is given a mission by God. Each of us is asked to say yes to God. Do we? Do we follow the example of Mary by putting God's call ahead of the desire for wealth, fame or power? Do we humble ourselves so that we may serve for the good of God's Kingdom? Do we set aside our own selfish desires so that we may have full life in Christ?

May we each learn from our Blessed Mother. Mary was the first disciple, the Queen of the Apostles and she is our model of faith today. May we find the same joy in serving the Lord as our Mother Mary.

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed;
the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,
casting down the mighty from their thrones
and lifting up the lowly."

Amen!

Trusting like a child but not acting like one.

2007-08-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

August 14, 2007
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr

Mass Readings:
Deuteronomy 31:1-8
Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Be like a child. Jesus gives a command in our Gospel text that is often times misinterpreted. We live in a society that tries to not grow old and spends billions trying to stay young. And I dare say that there are times when we all act a bit childish for our age. I know I am guilty of that from time to time.

Jesus is not calling us to act childish. Jesus, I believe, is calling us to have a child like spirituality. I have three nephews who are one of the core parts of my life. The youngest is eight. Every time I see him, I am reminded of just how cynical a man I am. My youngest nephew is an amazing kid. He is honest, loving, generous and trusting. No matter how long it has been since I have seen him, as soon as I enter the room, he trusts me. Even if it has been several months since I was last home for a visit, he treats me like a beloved uncle whom he trusts. That is an amazing gift he gives to me each and every visit.

I think that is what Jesus is getting at in today's Gospel. We are not to act like a child! I dare say that if we all acted like we were eight years old again we would be in a lot of trouble! No, I believe that Jesus wants us to trust like a child, love like a child and pray like a child. It was much easier as a kid to believe and trust God. Unfortunately, as we get older, we lose some of that due to world weariness. Jesus calls us to shed that callous layer that drains the soul of joy. Jesus wants us to live boldly as God's children and trust, love and welcome one another as we give God our lives in service. As God's children, let us give God our trust, love and service.

Maybe if we greeted God each day as the beloved Father whom we trust, love and cherish we would find that the joy we experienced as a kid is still there.

Did you just call me a dog?!

2007-08-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

August 8, 2007
Memorial of Saint Dominic, priest
Mass Readings:
Numbers 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
Matthew 15: 21-28

Today's Gospel text is amazing! Well, they all are, but today's really hits me. Some have commented to me how Jesus seems to be mean in this text and maybe even downright sexist. Nothing could be further from the truth! This text is a prime example of just how in tune Jesus was, is and always will be to what it means to be human.

We have the scene where a Cannanite woman is very, very bold. Here she is, an ancestor of those who were an enemy of the Israelites. The tension goes back to that whole incident with Moses and the Promised Land. There would be great stigma associated with being from Cannan, a gentile. It would even be a sin for an Israelite to marry a Cannanite. These people were outcasts in the 1st century to say the least.

So here we have Jesus being approached by a Cannanite woman. She is an outcast in two senses by race and gender. However, she is obviously a woman with great chutzpah! She comes to Jesus and clearly expects him to hear her and give her what she needs. Of course, the disciples are miffed by this. How dare her! Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a very important lesson. That lesson? No one is an outcast in God's eyes.

Jesus appears to give the disciples what they want, he seems to insult this woman. Yet that isn't what Jesus is doing at all, he's waiting for her to be even more bold, to express her great faith and teach everyone a lesson. Jesus places an obstacle in front of her and she steps right over it. She follows Jesus even though it seemed that Jesus was indifferent to her plea. This brave woman follows Jesus and is faithful in spite of any hardship. That we should all be so faithful!

This Cannanite woman is heard and her need is met. The Cannanite woman, an outcast, is shown to be what she truly was, a child of God. We tend to put obstacles and artificial divisions in our relationships. We tend to view some as more worthy than others. We tend to categorize each other and rate one another's value. It is something we all do and it is sinful. Jesus shows the disciples and all who were gathered that no one is outside of God's love. No one is rejected by God because of sinful human judgments. There is no outcast in God's eyes.

What's my responsibility?

2007-08-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
8-3-2007
Mass Readings:
Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37
Matthew 13:54-58

"And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. "

This sentence from today's Gospel is one that I find a bit haunting. Often I will hear people complain that the days of miracles are over. Many folk seem to believe that there is no use in praying since they do not believe that miracles can happen. And they wonder why nothing miraculous ever happens!

Our culture tends to expect everything without having to do anything. We live in an age when entitlement is an epidemic that drains the life out of the soul. I remember an episode of The Simpson's where Grandpa Simpson is walking down the street and complaining about how the young slackers want everything for free and are lazy and unworthy of anything. He then walks in to a government office and screams; "I'm old! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe. How right on target is that scene. Often times we can be so self absorbed that we think we should have everything fall in our lap.

Our faith can get that way at times. We want the most return without any investment. If we do not exercise our faith then how can we expect to experience the miraculous? Do we honestly expect Jesus to do all of the work while we just sit back and expect him to drop our heart's desire in our lap? Don't we realize that Jesus has done all we need through his death, burial and resurrection? Jesus has already done the hard work and what does he ask of us in return? Faith.

If we think of Jesus as just some "celestial granter of wishes" then have no doubt, we will not experience the miraculous. If we let our hearts become lazy and cynical then how can we expect Jesus to work miracles with us? Today's Gospel reading shows the consequences of being hard hearted. The people missed out on the miraculous because they could not open their hearts. I believe our text calls us to open our hearts, exercise our faith and expect amazing things! And the most amazing thing that can happen to us is the deepening of our relationship with the Lord. As we exercise our faith we draw closer to the One who is our salvation. How great a miracle is that!?

I Love NY!

2007-07-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the sparse posts of late. I am still trying to settle in at the new assignment and then I took vacation and went to Jersey City and New York City. This past weekend I spent a lot of time knocking about The Village and SOHO. The weather was insanely beautiful!

So there I was in this massive stream of people with all of the sights, sounds and smells and it was a little overwhelming. Then it hit me how amazing God's love is! What a wild mix of folk we humans are! So many differences but we share something that makes us unable to be truly separated from one another and that is the fact that we are all God's children!

I was standing in Washington Square Park and I marveled at how we can be so different from one another yet ultimately we are all the same for we are all created in God's image. No one is better than anyone else because God loves us all, no matter what. Now I already knew all of this but it hit me in a very profound way just how great God's love is since God loves us all, faults and all. A religious experience in Gotham. Not a bad vacation...

July 11, 2007 The Feast of St. Benedict

2007-07-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

A happy feast day to my brothers at St. Meinrad Archabbey!

I spent two years living at St. Menirad studying under the Benedictines. Those are two years of happy memories! I was given a copy of The Rule by a dear friend from St. Meinrad. It was his very first copy and it holds a very special place in my library. I also have a link to St. Menirad listed over to the right of this page.

Angels aren't like they are on TV.

2007-07-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

14th Week of Ordinary Time
7-10-2007
Mass Readings
Genesis 32:23-33
Matthew 9:32-38

Here in America we seem to have an obsession with angels. You can rarely walk in to a bookstore without finding little resin statues of cute, fluffy angels. We turn on the TV and we have angels with an Irish brogue who is pretty and holding every one's hands and giving them a doe eyed look. We have shows where angels wander the highways seeking to do good deeds. I even saw a book that claimed to be able to teach anyone how to get his or her guardian angel to give up their name. Angels are a multi million dollar a year industry. I am sure that makes the angels really proud.

The Biblical image of angels is far from the American syrupy image. Throughout the Bible, angels are God's warriors. The angels were created by God to first serve him not to be at the beck and call of humans. Angels are not the fluffy beings we like to make them out to be. In the Bible, when an angel appears to someone, that person's life is about to be turned upside down! Angels arrive to give a charge from God and it isn't just some fluffy little love note. Angels are God's messengers and spiritual warriors.

We see in our reading from Genesis this morning that Jacob has an encounter with an angel that leaves him scarred and charged with a great task from God. We can also see in other accounts from scripture how life altering angelic encounters are. Our Blessed Mother is visited by an angel and she becomes the Mother of God. Joseph is visited by an angel and he is charged with being the adoptive father of our Lord and asked to accept his wife's divine pregnancy. Angels appear when some of the Apostles are held prisoner and the earth quakes and prison cells are wrenched open. These angelic appearances aren't exactly innocuous afternoon teas. No, angels appear when something major is about to happen and if we are visited we can be assured that our life will be forever changed.

I also remember hearing some folk say that when we die, we become angels. Where did that come from? Nothing could be further from the truth. Scripture tells us that we were created above the angels. We were created with the very Breath of God. We are created in God's image. To be made an angel when we die would be a major step backwards! No. We are the Children of God and we are made in God's image. When we die we become a part of that Great Cloud of Witnesses" the Saints in Glory!

To be touched by an angel is to be transformed and charged with great responsibility in God's Kingdom. Angels aren't like the one's on TV. Angels are God's Spiritual Warriors and harbingers of God's commands.

Fake it till you make it?

2007-07-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
Tuesday July 3, 2007
Mass Readings:
Ephesians 2:19-22
John 20:24-29

I believe that the Apostle Thomas has been given a bad rap. How many times have you heard the phrase, "Doubting Thomas"? It is an insult when one is referred to as a Doubting Thomas. The phrase implies that one is obstinate and deliberately unwilling to believe someone or something. I do not believe that Thomas deserves such a reputation.

Thomas had not had the joy of seeing Jesus yet and so his response to the other Apostles is perfectly understandable. Imagine losing the love of your life and then have someone run to you and tell you they just saw that person! I imagine that I would react angrily and think the one speaking to me was trying to make fun of me. I imagine that is the way Thomas felt. He must have been hurt and angry.

I think that Thomas was brave. He didn't hide his doubt. He voiced his pain instead of just repressing it. I have never liked the phrase, "fake it till you make it". I think it is dismissive of how one feels. When we don't express our doubts and fears, they weigh us down. Thomas reacts honestly. When Thomas does actually see Jesus, he responds with humility and recognizes he was wrong and admits it. Jesus doesn't scold Thomas but actually offers to him the very things he said would be needed in order for him to believe.

How many of us admit to believing something but secretly hold an opposing view? Not exactly an honest thing to do. I believe that if we do not give voice to our doubts and our fears then those things have power over us. I think it is good for us to admit our doubts and then ask God to help us. Lord, help my disbelief! Honesty with God is a sure fire way for God to be able to break down our doubts and fears.

Let's not "fake it" but rather be honest and allow God to help our disbelief.

Don't fling yourself in to the pigsty!

2007-06-26T05:58:00.001-07:00

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
6-26-2007
Mass Readings:
Genesis 13:2, 5-18
Matthew 7:6, 12-14

One of the most surprising things for me about Jesus is his great sense of humor. Every time I see a movie about Jesus, he is portrayed as some solemn, moping, humorless guy who is always stern. Well, that and he is usually blond haired and blue eyed. Last time I checked, Jesus wasn't from Switzerland.

Anyhow, we find in the Gospels that Jesus has a great grasp of the absurd. Jesus uses phrases that make us sit up and listen because they seem, well, absurd. Take today's Gospel for instance. How many of us throw holy things to dogs? How many of us take a handful of pearls and throw them into a pigsty? So yeah, Jesus gets our attention by making us scratch our heads.

I think Jesus gives us some beautiful spiritual direction today. I believe that in Jesus' absurd phrases he tells us several things. First, don't throw your life away. I find in his talk of throwing holiness to dogs and pearls in to pigsties is a warning to not throw our lives away. We tend to seek the softer easier way in all things and we can end up selling our soul. We are "fearfully and wonderfully" made in God's image. So why do we seek out all manner of ways to degrade our selves? We can so readily throw what is holy and priceless, our soul, away for a little bit of pleasure and ease. Jesus calls us to live a different way.

Second, seek to do what is right. Do unto others as we would want them to do to us. Jesus is telling us to "be nice". A very simple command yet we find a thousand ways to defy it. The more venom we spew, the more venom we receive in turn. Everything gets worse and then we wonder why the world is "going to hell in a hand basket"! Nothing gets better if we don't try to make things better. Kindness, mercy, forgiveness is what Jesus calls us to practice.

Third, quit trying to find the back door in to Heaven. Jesus instructs us to be focused on God. the way to life is not about doing whatever we want. The "narrow gate" is easy to see if we quit trying to find a way over the fence. We can be so obsessed with wanting to make God do and see things "my way" that we completely miss the right way standing in front of us.

Prayer. Respect. Faithfulness. Jesus calls us to surrender our self to his love, his way of life. If we live what we claim to believe, then we will stay out of the spiritual pigsty, treat one another as children of the Living God, and focus on the path that leads to God.

Settling in...

2007-06-26T05:56:00.001-07:00

Well I am partially moved in to my new assignment and should be back to regular posts soon. I am serving two parishes on the South-West side of Louisville that is part of a larger five parish merger. Please pray for the people and myself as we look to the future.

Peace!

The inefficiency of love.

2007-06-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
June 15, 2007
Mass Readings:
Ezra 34:11-16
Romans 5:5b-11
Luke 15:3-7

In our Gospel we have a very familiar text. The image of Jesus carrying a lost sheep on his shoulders is on everything from cards to coffee mugs. It is an image of Jesus that makes us feel happy and safe. Unfortunately, we mostly miss the absurdity of what Jesus says. Go off and leave 99 sheep unprotected in order to go save one? Efficiency would demand that one should protect the 99 that are still safe, leave the lost one and cut your losses. Can you imagine taking financial advice that asks us to take our money out of 99 strong investments in order that we dump that money into one that is going down the drain? We would laugh at such advice. Yet that is what Jesus is saying in today's Gospel.

The people hearing Jesus would have been puzzled at what he said. They maybe laughed at this absurd image Jesus presents. The shepherds in the crowd were probably laughing at Jesus and scratching their heads. Risk 99 good sheep for one that got lost? Sorry, not good business advice. Jesus uses the absurd to show us just how much God loves us.

Lets face it, love is not efficient. Love isn't something we put on a spreadsheet and plot the greatest return for the dollar. The greeting card and florist industries would close over night if love were about efficiency. Love causes us to act out of immense generosity. We don't mind being lavish when we show how much we love one another. We do things to make the other happy and not just for return on the dollar.

This is the image of The Father's love that Jesus portrays. God's love is so immense that one lost person means everything to him. God doesn't just cut the loss and move on. Just the opposite happens. God's love is so great that he sends Jesus to redeem us all. Of course it wasn't the most efficient method. Jesus' crucifixion was a high price to pay. That is the depths of God's love for us. No price it too high in order to redeem us. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit giving everything so that we may live.

God's love for us knows no bounds. God lavishes love upon us. God gives us love that inebriates our soul. God isn't worried about efficiency. Love is freely given and all God asks in return is that we follow him. God gave all for us. Giving up everything for love would seem inefficient and we would shake our heads at someone who does such a thing. Fortunately for us, God isn't worried about the most bang for the buck and he gives everything freely so that we might live. Jesus' Sacred Heart has no limit to love and we are the beneficiary of such a great gift. Thanks be to God!

The power of thought and words.

2007-06-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
June 14, 2007
Mass Readings:
2 Corinthians 3:15—4:1, 3-6
Matthew 5:20-26

We have all done it. There we are in our car and we get angry at other drivers and lo and behold, venom that would make our mothers scream comes flying out of our mouths. We rant, we rage and we use words that we would not use in a crowd. Yet we find our cars to be a safe place for unreasonable anger.

Our Gospel text today is a familiar one. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that unbridled anger and how we mistreat one another is wrong. Now I am not saying that we are not supposed to get angry. Anger is a normal emotion and really shouldn't be repressed since that causes bad things too. The problem is when we become angry and start treating others as persona non grata. Our anger, if not monitored, can become a terrible weapon. Unfortunately, we all fall victim to rage.

Jesus states clearly in the Gospels that he came not to abolish the law but to complete it. The law? The Ten Commandments. Here Jesus pulls out a biggie. Most people will nod their heads in agreement with "Thou shall not kill". It makes sense. Killing is sin and God wants us to respect all life. Then Jesus takes it a step further. It isn't merely about not killing the body, but also about not killing the spirit of a person. We are more than a body. We are spirit, the very breath of God. How we treat one another is a sure sign of what state our relationship with God is in. It is impossible to declare our love for God while systematically living a life of hatred for one another. What dwells in our heart is just as real as what we do with our hands. The two cannot be divorced.

One of the things that always shocks me is how some folk can come to mass, receive the Body and Blood of Christ and then immediately afterwards come to me and begin ranting and railing against someone who they are angry with or in fact rant and rail against me. (That's what my office is for and I always encourage folk to come and vent there away from the holy place of church.) How can one receive the body and blood of Christ while also plotting out what harsh words or actions they want to use as soon as mass is over? Jesus addresses that in our reading today as well. Jesus wants us to first work on our resentments and anger before we receive him in the Eucharist. Now that doesn't mean that we can keep our heart and mind free from everything while we are at church. We aren't robots who can just switch off everything bad. We come to the Eucharist as wounded people and the Eucharist is the life and peace that heals us. However, that doesn't mean we can just sit and fume through mass, receive the Body and Blood of Christ and then go on the attack of another child of God. No, we must honor the spirit just as we honor the body. Violence against either one is a violation of "Thou shall not kill".

We are called to become that which we have received. The Eucharist is to empower us to go and do and say good things in His name. We cannot love and hate at the same time. We cannot be a disciple of Jesus while at the same time seeking to lash out at and denigrate another of God's children. The two cannot co-exist. "Thou shall not kill" applies to both body and spirit. What we do in our heart will be expressed through our actions and words.

So what do we do? We all get angry and there is no way to abolish anger. We will always experience anger but the crux is what we do with that anger. Do I chose to step back, reflect and give myself time to calm down and react appropriately? Or do I react off the cuff and lash out with venom and foulness? That is a choice we face whenever we get angry.

We can follow the letter of the law while at the same time destroying the spirit of the law, the Ten Commandments. Jesus wants us to follow both letter and spirit. Just because we may not kill the body doesn't mean we don't try hard at killing spirit. Both are precious to God and we must respect the spirit as well as the body.

I am going to try and listen to my own words here. The next time I start to react out of anger, I must try to step back, reflect and allow myself to respond with compassion instead of anger. What a world it would be if we responded with compassion instead of anger.

A bit behind

2007-06-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

I'm running behind on posts so they may be out of sync for a bit. I start a new assignment this week. Peace!

Sticks and stones...

2007-06-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
5-6-2007
Mass Readings:
Tobit 3:1-11a, 16-17a
Mark 12:18-27

As a kid I remember using the phrase, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me. What a load of stuff that was! Bruises and cuts heal a lot quicker than the emotional, psychological wounds we get from hateful people. I think the phrase should go, sticks and stones may break my bones but words can crush the spirit.

I remember getting into tussles when I was in school like a lot of school boys. It always seemed that I went home with a black eye and then had to explain to my parents why. That was painful! Facing mom after getting into trouble was never fun. And now as I am turning 40 I find that I don't remember the pain of a black eye but I can remember the pain caused by cruel words. The human tongue can be a vicious weapon.

Daily I will speak with people who are trying to move past very cruel and damaging words. The spiritual and psychological cuts that cruel words inflict are hard sometimes to recover from.

Our reading from Tobit today is a scene of two people who are suffering from being outcasts. Tobit and Sarah have been enduring relentless verbal attacks. These attacks have crushed their spirit and has led them to despair. They feel alone, unloved, depressed and hopeless. Their despair leads them to pray for death. I think many of us today can relate with, at some point, feeling so alone and unloved that not being becomes a consideration. That's scary. Too many people feel that way today.

As Christians, we are called to be messengers of God's love. Unfortunately, we don't do enough of proclaiming and practicing God's love. Everyday we see and hear verbal abuse in so many forms. Everything from outrageous road rage, yelling at one another over parking spaces, rudeness at the checkout lines, people taking private arguments out into the public arena, etc. We are bombarded by these verbal grenades. No wonder so many people are depressed and feel hopeless.

I think a good place to start is at the beginning. God is love. We are God's children. We are to mirror God's love. We are to express God's love to one another. A common penance I give at confession is for the individual to think of one person they have been uncharitable towards and pray for God to bless that person. It is hard to be angry with someone when one is praying for that person.

Yes we all get angry. Yes we all say things we shouldn't. Yes we all hurt other people's feelings. However, we have the obligation of making amends and living as brothers and sisters in Christ. We have the chance to make things better by keeping our tongues under control. When we don't, we need to realize and accept that our hateful words can crush another person's spirit. We don't need sticks or stones in order to hurt one another since our tongues do a pretty good job. Let us strive to seek reconciliation so that no one needs to feel like Tobit or Sarah.

Sticks and stones may break our bones. But words? They can crush the spirit. Today, may we strive to keep our tongues under control so that God can speak a message of love through us all.

A gracious giver should receive with as much grace.

2007-06-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Memorial of Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr
6-5-2007
Mass Readings:
Tobit 2:9-14
Mark 12:13-17

Upfront let me say that the Book of Tobit is my all time favorite! Well, along with the Gospels. Tobit is for the most part overlooked. That is unfortunate. Tobit is a book that speaks to us about suffering, restoration and family. I believe that Tobit is easier to relate to than Job.

The Book of Job is beautifully written but I admit that I don't connect with Job. Job is a very wealthy, pious man who loses everything and is faced with questions of good vs. evil. Tobit is a poor, pious man who goes blind and faces the challenges of physical illness. I find that Tobit is more like people I meet everyday.

Tobit is a very holy man. Tobit is not only committed to his faith but to his people. However, Tobit is guided by charity and not merely letter of the law. Tobit is seen as an outsider. Tobit is willing to touch the dead and bury them. Instead of following complicated laws in order to remain "pure", he goes out, sees a need and does what is needed. He pays a price for his dedication and charity. Tobit is marked for execution by the king because he shows such respect to his people. King Sennacherib wanted the people he slew to merely be left to rot. Tobit could not stand for this. Tobit's love and respect for his fellows led him to lose his property and almost his life.

Yet Tobit must endure another hardship. His eyes become infected and he loses his sight. Tobit becomes despondent which is understandable. His wife, Anna, is the money maker for the family now and Tobit is feeling isolated. Anna's employer shows kindness and gives her a goat so that her family may have meat to eat. Tobit is incensed by this and believes that surely, out of their poverty, Anna stole it. Tobit is hard to convince. Perhaps his pride is in the way?

Anna finally has had enough and yells back. Tobit, for all of his generosity, is unable to receive an act of charity. Anna calls Tobit to account for all of his charity and why he cannot receive something good. Perhaps Tobit's charity was just to make himself feel better? Maybe his true character was that he had become dependant upon the feeling he got from being charitable and burying his kinfolk. He did wonderful things but were they for the right reason?

I believe that the scene from Tobit we just read is a call to us all. We are all connected as the Body of Christ and that means we help each other. For many, giving charity is okay but their mood changes if they are on the receiving end. It is hard to accept help when our pride gets in the way. Pride can cause us to miss out on some glorious moments of God's grace. As we give, we are to receive. A selfless giver will receive because others will recognize the charity of the other. Now that doesn't mean we look for anything in return for our acts of charity! Giving only out of the expectation of receiving is just as damaging as pride standing in the way of receiving.

I believe the core message in today's reading from Tobit is that we are called to care for one another. We take care of one another. We give and receive out of wanting to be the bearer of God's love. That means no agendas. When we can give and receive out of the desire to further God's will then we truly are blessed. Giving and receiving graciously and selflessly, I believe, opens our hearts to that grace so freely given by God in Jesus the Lord. Jesus gave with no expectation of return. Jesus received the goodness of others in thanksgiving. No agendas, just being in communion with one another. I think that is what Heaven will be like, giving and receiving the joys of God's love as we celebrate together the goodness of God.

No one is an island.

2007-06-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Sunday-6/3/2007
Mass Readings:
Proverbs 8:22-31
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

I remember a class in seminary that was hard, and that is an understatement. It was a follow up to a Christology class and it was on The Trinity. I think the true final exam was to see if any of us would break down during the exam and cry! It was tough. So, after a very trying semester, the prof looks at us and tells us that no matter what we wrote and no matter what we preach, The Trinity is a mystery. However, if we had written that as our exam answer we would have failed!

We cannot fully wrap our head around The Trinity. Our language is very limited and let's face it, God has not sat any of us down and explained all the mysteries of our faith. So how do we describe The Trinity? How do we express God as Three, Three is One? All the Greek, Latin and metaphysical inquiry of the ages cannot fully express the glory and mystery of The Trinity. However, there are many things we can understand that apply to our daily life.

In The Trinity we see that God is a God of relationship. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were, are and will be in relationship. God, the uncaused first cause, is relationship. The Trinity has always and will forever be in relationship. God so powerful that He is expressed as three in one, one in three. We use the word Persons and we capitalize person yet that is still not clear. God is not a human being. God the Son walked the earth in human and divine form and God the Holy Spirit is the very breath of God giving us life. Is that clear? Hmmm. Language just cannot grasp the mystery. And thank God it can't! It is the mystery that keeps us seeking to grow in understanding of God.

We see in The Trinity that God is relationship. We were not created because God had to create us. We were created to be in relationship with God and in turn with one another. We humans like to brag about our independence. We like to think that we are an island, so individual that we are alone. Please, we can't even turn on a light without being in community. It takes thousands of people to keep the electricity flowing and we become part of that community every time we hit the switch. Even alone in our houses we are not alone. We are always connected to one another in some way.

The Trinity is God expressed as community. Three in One, One in Three through eternity moving and flowing through creation. As a result, we are called to be in relationship with God and one another. Jesus even prays in the Gospels that we be one as Jesus is One with the Father and the Holy Spirit. That is a pretty big prayer. Jesus desires that we be as united with one another as The Trinity is united. That's big stuff!

We can leave Mass today assured of one thing that is clear. God is a God of relationship. We are God's children and so we are in relationship with God. We are the disciples of Christ and we are in relationship with the Lord. We are filled with the Holy Spirit and we are in relationship with the Holy Spirit. We are the Body of Christ and so we are in relationship with The Trinity, God as Three, Three in One is our God. Being in relationship with the Creator means that we are in relationship with one another. We cannot neglect that reality. We are to look to the prayer of Jesus that we be one as The Trinity is One. That means we have a lot of unification to get to work on.

No one is an island so let us live as one people.

Missing the forest for the tree.

2007-06-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Memorial of St. Justin, martyr
June 1, 2007
Mass Readings:
Sirach 44:1, 9-13
Mark 11:11-26

Today's Gospel text is amazing and beautifully complex. It takes place in several scenes.

Jesus goes to the temple and takes a look around. It's late and things are closing up so there isn't much to do. Jesus is probably frustrated. We seem to always think of Jesus as just walking along not a care in the world and calm and at peace, no matter what. Jesus went to the temple for a reason and he is greeted with the late hour of the day. He has a schedule and it is off kilter. Sounds a bit like us. We don't like it when we run out of time and I would dare say Jesus didn't like it either.

They leave and Jesus is tired an hungry. He goes to pick a fig and finds none. He is frustrated, hungry and tired. He lets go of some stress and curses the fig tree. Sounds very human when you stop and think about it. Recall how many times we take our frustration out on one another. Sounds like a much better idea to yell at a tree instead of a person.

The next day. Jesus and the disciples return to the temple. What Jesus sees is more than he can accept. His Father's house has been turned into a market place, just another business. This sacred place has been corrupted and Jesus has had enough! His nerves at the edge and he "cleans house"! Jesus tosses the money changers out and not metaphorically but physically! You can almost hear the Twelve gasping and getting out of the way. What has happened to their leader? What is he getting so upset about? Jesus goes a step further and he blocks people from bringing their purchases in with them! Can you imagine doing that today?!

Jesus is crying out against the corruption freely accepted and reducing his Father's house to nothing more than a shopping mall. God's house is a place of prayer not commerce. Jesus even teaches clearly that it is a place of prayer. Jesus is very clear about why he did what he did.

So they leave. As they walk along the Twelve see that the lowly fig tree is dead. They are amazed and Peter speaks first. The curious thing is that the Twelve get excited over the fig tree but we don't have any record of them sharing Jesus' outrage over the corruption seen at the temple. They seem to miss the forest for the tree. What Jesus said about holiness and prayer isn't nearly as exciting as a dead fig tree. Hmmm. How human. For the Twelve, striking down a tree with a word is more interesting than being taught about holiness.

Do we do that today? Are we so busy seeking something exciting that we forget to just be in God's presence? Do we want a parish that is entertaining instead of prayerful? Do we want a parish that is flashy rather than striving to be holy? Are we focused on tasks rather than formation? I am talking about seeking to grow in faith rather than just doing a list of things. Do we demand to be served instead of being servants? We must first grow in faith and holiness before our actions will bear fruit.

If we aren't careful we can slip into the trap of looking for things rather than looking for spirit, action before faith. We must first listen to Jesus before we can be fruitful disciples. We must strive for the "whole package" and not just bits. If we seek to listen and follow, we will be able to see the whole forest instead of just a dead tree.

United as one?

2007-05-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Seventh Week of Easter
Wednesday, 5-23-2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 20:28-38
John 17:11b-19

“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one".

Division. Infighting. Character assassination. These are typical practices today and in many cases they are celebrated. Few seem to give a rip about healing the rifts that cause so much pain. Unfortunately, this is true in the diverse Christian traditions.

I grew up in a very fundamentalist tradition. Needless to say that there were a number of folks I grew up with who were convinced I was doomed and going to hell when I became a Catholic. Then I dropped the bomb that I was going to study for the priesthood. For a few of my old colleagues, I had joined ranks with Lucifer himself! How sad.

We see daily how Christians war against each other. If you don't adhere to this group or that group then you are doomed. What gives? Sadly enough, we have the same thing happening in house here in the Catholic Church. We have so many groups who scream that They are the "true" Catholics. Web pages can be viral in nature and some Catholics use the world wide web to savage anyone and everything he/she does not agree with. What gives? When did it become okay to actively pursue division?

Jesus calls us today to work together. He didn't say that we would always agree with one another and sing Kumbaya. Jesus calls us to be one as he is one with the Father. Let's face it. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are as One as possible. Jesus wants us to be that close to one another. So why do we relish in creating division? Are we so self centered that we have to turn to attacking one another? We need to stop pointing fingers at Protestants being divided and clean up our own house.

It is natural for us to disagree with one another. It is natural to get angry with one another. However, it is sin to openly seek division. We cannot be united if we turn to the world wide web, television and print media to launch attacks against those we do not agree with. That is not what Jesus would do. If we are serious about being a Christian then each of us will strive to be in the same room together and work together. That doesn't mean we will always live in harmony. I am not a Pollyanna. I do not believe that we will always hold hands and be at peace. Human nature will always leave the door open for division. However, it is sin to openly seek to separate our self from one another or to disparage one another. Division is not what Jesus calls us to in today's Gospel.

We may never live in perfect harmony and unity. As long as two people have two different ideas there will be a natural tension. If we deliberately seek to create division, then we deny who and whose we are. Faith in Jesus demands that we seek reconciliation and not division.

Frozen in time.

2007-05-23T06:58:00.000-07:00

Ascension of the Lord
Sunday, 5-20-2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53

Yes I know, Ascension was traditionally celebrated this past Thursday. We are one of the many dioceses that has moved Ascension to Sunday. This way we get you when we know you are more likely to come to Church!

In our reading from The Acts of the Apostles, we have the disciples standing around with their eyes focused on the sky. Granted, they have just witnessed their Lord and Savior ascending back to the Father. I think we would all be taking a prolonged gander! Then, two angels appear and give them a bit of a smack. My sense of humor has me hearing the angels kind of hitting them in the shoulder and saying: 'Oi! What are you doing standing around like a lump? Don't you get it? Jesus is going to come back but right now you have to get busy. There is a lot that needs to be done so stop gazing at the sky and get at it!' That's what I hear when I read this passage of Scripture.

The scene describes us to the letter I believe. The disciples are wounded by their past and are so desperate for the future that they forget the here and now. We can become so paralyzed by the past that we look to some "magical" future yet to be seen and we forget to live NOW! We can obsess over the past and pine for a "perfect" future and in the process, forget to live.

The Ascension tells us many things. First, this is not the end! Jesus will return, descending from Heaven to claim his faithful followers. Second, we can't just sit around and wait for Jesus to return and get lazy. Third, we are called to do God's work in the world NOW! Not tomorrow or next year but today. The past cannot be changed and we cannot pine away for the future. What we have is today. The very moment we live in right now is all that we know. So what are we doing with today?

Many in the early months after Jesus' Ascension were convinced that there was no future because Jesus was coming back the day after tomorrow. They clambered to the hills and mountains and waited. What they learned in the past was not important. They longed for Jesus' return and they sacrificed the present in the process. Many of those folks died on the mountain-top.

Being a Christian doesn't entail sitting around obsessing over the past and being lazy just biding our time until the Second Coming! Being a Christian means that we go forward working for the conversion of the world right now! The Ascension is a call to get to work. We don't know if Jesus will return tomorrow or a 1000 years from now. What we do know is that we are called, today. There is much to be done, today. We can't change the past and we can't force the future to bend to our will. However, we can transform our self, our world, TODAY!

So the angels call to us today: 'Oi! What are you doing standing around like a lump? Don't you get it? Jesus is going to come back but right now you have to get busy. There is a lot that needs to be done so stop gazing at the sky and get at it!

Do we expect Jesus to check our schedule?

2007-05-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

Sixth Week of Easter
Thursday/5-17-2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 18:1-8
John 16:16-20

A little while. Three simple but controversial words. Jesus uses these words and the disciples go into confusion mode. It wouldn't be just the disciples. Many in the early Church were so convinced that Jesus' return was imminent that they went out to the mountains and waited for Jesus to come and deliver them. They died on the mountain top. Apparently Jesus didn't check with their schedule.

I grew up in a rather fundamentalist Protestant tradition. I remember coming to church and finding a huge poster on one side of the church building that had the "End Times" on an easy to read grid. Did Jesus check with the pastor's schedule and confirm his arrival? That church is now closed.

We humans tend to want Jesus to do things according to our schedule. We are a very impatient lot. We can grow very disenchanted with waiting. The early Church experienced that. A little while was thought to mean right now. Sort of like a child that you tell to wait a little while to go to the store. Thirty seconds later that child cannot understand why it hasn't happened yet! We tend to be that way when we wait for Jesus. St. Paul would address the problem of why Jesus was "delayed". The Second Coming didn't happen the way the early Church expected. So why do we today expect to have the "time line" figured out? We can be bombarded by televangelists who declare that Jesus is coming now! A little while for them seems to mean right now.

The problem is that we cannot place restrictions on God Time or Kairos Time. We have no idea of how long a little while is for God. How long it is before Jesus returns is known to the Father alone. We cannot quantify Kairos Time. We are to live as if our souls were to be claimed today yet not obsess or worry over the schedule for the Second Coming. When it is time, it is time.

A part of one of the Eucharistic prayers asks God to help keep us aware to the signs of the times. What does that mean? We can interpret it numerous ways but I believe it is a call for us to be always aware of God's presence. It calls us to be vigilant about the opportunities given to us to proclaim the Good News! We cannot abandon our call as disciples. Everyday should be a day to proclaim Salvation. Everyday should be a cherished moment to draw closer to the Lord. Jesus will return in a little while so let us not view Jesus' "delay" as an excuse to give up discipleship and go wait for Jesus. Jesus could come today or a 100 years from now and we must use every opportunity to be Christ to the world.

Am I an Athenian?

2007-05-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Sixth Week of Easter
Wednesday/5-16-2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 17:15, 22—18:1
John 16:12-15

St. Paul goes to Athens and is hit with a pretty amazing sight. The Athenians were such a religious lot that they wanted to make sure they didn't miss an opportunity, or really tick off a god. So they made a shrine to the "unknown god". Just in case they missed something! Don't want to get on the bad side of a god they missed.

Okay. I shouldn't make fun of the religion of people who have been dead for almost two thousand years. That is bad of me. The scene is almost comical and we can shake our heads and talk about how we think the Athenians got it wrong. Problem is that in many ways, we can be just like the Athenians.

Over the course of my priesthood so far I have met folk who are so petrified of getting God angry that they practice any and every devotion they can find. These folk are so afraid of doing something wrong that they live in constant fear of God. That isn't faith. Now don't get me wrong. I have daily devotions that I practice and they enrich my daily life. The problem is that if we are not careful, we can develop a faith complex. This faith complex drives us to try and hit every spiritual base known and unknown in an attempt to keep God happy. If we fear we have missed something then add another prayer or make up a new ritual for we think that surely will make God happy. Then, we become like the Athenians.

Devotions are good. Praying for the intercession of the saints is good. However, we must first heed Jesus' command to be faithful. Jesus does not want us to live in fear of committing an unknown sin so bad that God chucks out the window! A life of faithfulness is one that relies upon the mercy granted by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Trying to get in every possible devotion we can and making some up just in case we miss something is not the life we are called to. We ar called to serve and not shut ourselves off in fear fo doing soemthing wrong.

Our life of faith must be founded upon Jesus' call to discipleship and faithfulness. Our prayer, our devotions should spring from our desire to serve Jesus and not out of a fear that Jesus will strike us down. That is no way to live and it is in no way what Jesus calls us to.

We can learn a great deal from the Athenians of 2000 years ago. St. Paul gives us an example of what toxic faith can do to us. It can cause us to rely upon doing instead of being, following ritual at the expense of faithfulness. We must always remember who and whose we. We are God's children, the faithful disciples of Jesus the Savior and vessels of the Holy Spirit! How blessed we are! Let's not burden ourselves with the fear of missing something that will send us to hell. If we live like that then we will miss the freedom of salvation. Let us be faithful Christians who pray our of gratitude and not out of fear.

Unnecessary burdens.

2007-05-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

Fifth Week of Easter 2007
Friday/5-11-2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 15:22-31
John 15:12-17

In the Book of Acts we have the scene where the Apostles have been receiving disturbing reports. Folks have been going out and preaching some fringe things. These "missionaries" have been imposing their idea of what it takes to be saved and the hoops they believe people must jump through in order to be in God's love. On the surface that doesn't seem too bad. However, the problem is that these people have been distorting Jesus' commands. These folks have been making people adhere to their individual preference of what they believe constitutes true religion. The Apostles aren't having any of that! The Apostles seek to clear things up ASAP. The Apostles set out to do a refresher on the basics.

We have all experienced someone's ideas proclaimed to us as gospel truth. There are individuals in all traditions who declare him/herself as the bearer of truth. To disagree with these people results in him/her declaring that one isn't saved unless you do what he/she tells you to do. It doesn't necessarily mean these people mean any harm. But it does mean that they have stepped away from the basics and want to make the Church in his/her image.

When you stop and think about it, we face the same issues today that the Apostles faced in the first century. Someone was out there telling folks to do it 'my way or your lost'! Lovely. Nothing like a self proclaimed prophet running amok! Individuals, groups and even parishes can be torn apart when they buy into a self proclaimed prophet. As soon as we start veering from the core of our faith we are doomed to follow any passing teaching that will dissolve before we know it. That isn't to say that there aren't some really good unofficial teachings out there. On the contrary. There are many sound and edifying devotionals and practices of faith that are great. Yet it does become a problem when an individual is followed over the long standing teachings of our faith.

It doesn't matter if you call yourself a liberal or a conservative. Following the teachings of self ordained prophets before the revelation of God is always a dangerous path. To try and make the Church in our individual image is always a recipe for disaster. I often here many folk complain about how the Church use to be this or that and they lament any changes that come along. Point is the Church changes and grows as we come to understand more and more about God. The Church was different in the 1st century than it was in the 7th century, than it was in the 14th century, than it is in the 21st century. The true test is that the Church is based on Jesus' commands. The practice may be different from one generation to the next but it remains founded on the basics. Expression may change but the foundation is permanent. It is when we start trying to alter the foundation that we begin to crumble.

There are folk who want to try and create his/her own image of what church should be. That cannot be done. Well it can be but then it isn't The Church. Jesus gives us the core in today's Gospel. We cannot pick and choose what we want to follow in Jesus' words. When we do that, then we stray from the basics and we try to make the Church in our own image. Folks on all sides do it and it tears us apart just like the communities crying out in our reading from the Book of Acts.

If we follow what Jesus commands us to do then we find that we are united. If we do what Jesus commands us to do then we grow in faith. When we demand that things must be done our way, we turn our back on the basics of our faith. We must love God, love neighbor, and go forth and preach and teach God's salvation. Nothing less.

The joy of being a priest!

2007-04-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

Fourth Sunday of Easter 2007
World Day for Vocations
Mass Readings:
Acts 13:14, 43-52
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30

Today we not only continue our celebration of Easter but we also take time to talk about vocations in the Church. Today we call attention to vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life.

To be a servant of God is to be happy! Nothing can bring more peace and satisfaction than to be about God's work. All of us are called to be Jesus' disciples. All of us are a part of Jesus' Great Commission to go forth and proclaim the good news of Salvation. All of us are called.

Some are called to take a different path. For some, service to God means dedicating one's life to full time service, to be married to the Church. Priesthood and religious life are a lifetime marriage to God and his Church. The diaconate is also crucial for it is an office in which married men can serve in an ordained role. Deacons are very, very important to the life of the Church and as a priest I can attest to the great service they give and their help to me.

We often hear the doom and gloom folk who lament the lack of vocations in the Church. Most of these folk will cite reasons why there is a lack of vocations and their reasons almost always reflect their personal agenda. If the Church only did things the way he/she wants them to be done then everything would be right and perfect. Uh, yeah. Right. Sorry. Don't think so.

Vocations in the Church face a number of obstacles. Most parents want their kids to make money, have a family, a big house. I remember my mom going through a whole list of things that she thought I would be giving up in order to be a priest. I remember her great fear that I would be lonely. Let me say that yes, there are days when I am a bit lonely. BUT! After seven years as a priest I have to say that some of the loneliest people I have met have been folk who are married and have families. You can be in a house full of people and still be lonely.

My mom worried that I would be unhappy. Is everyday just a day of sunshine and joy? No. But then again, no one has everyday be perfect. Happiness is a choice. No one or no thing can be the source of one's happiness. Happiness comes from being at peace with who we are and what we do. So yes, I am very happy with my life. I am happy being a priest and I look forward to the years to come.

When did a life of service cease to be a viable option? I have heard on more than one occasion how some families become angry when their children turn to service in the Church instead of what many deem to be a life of prestige and money. Last time I checked, money was a rather fluid resource and can be lost quickly. I even had a young woman ask me for prayer as she was getting ready to enter religious life and her parents were furious because they wanted her to be a doctor. Imagine being angry at your child for wanting to serve God by serving other people as a nun. I was truly upset by this young woman's situation. I pray that she is happy and that her family has come to respect and support her decision. We need more people who are willing to follow God's call instead of society's call.

To serve God is to be happy. To serve God's people is to have joy. I can think of nothing else that could give me the great joy I have. Being a priest means everything to me and I invite any and all who may want to discern if he/she has a vocation to feel free to contact me.

God's Peace to you all!

Why?

2007-04-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Third Sunday of Easter 2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

The homily I had prepared for this weekend has taken a back seat in light of the tragedy this week at VA Tech. We have been bombarded with images and sounds from the media and it has been numbing to say the least. It has been asked of us priests here to announce where there will be ecumenical prayer vigils for the victims. I am glad to do that. However, I must add that it has caused me to think hard about a few things.

Here are some of the things I have been pondering. Why does it take a tragedy to stir us out of our complacency? Why are we not outraged every single day at the tens of thousands of people who are victims of violence in the world? Why do we immediately start playing the blame game after there is a tragedy? Why do politicians always use tragedies as a way to stump for votes? Why does it take a tragedy to get us to pray?! Why don't we pray daily for peace and an end to violence against all life? Why don't we respect ALL life?!

I must admit to feeling more than a bit cynical today. Why? Why? Why? Indeed, why do we always act so surprised when something bad happens and then immediately ask this whopper of a question, 'How could God let something like this happen'? I have received numerous calls asking me that question. And here is, I believe, the answer to that. God DOES NOT let these things happen. WE HUMANS DO. Our sinfulness, our brokenness, our disregard for life, that is what allows tragedies, violent acts to happen. God doesn't allow these things. These are acts committed by human beings and not God. We cannot blame God for what a human being does.

I am also asking myself the question of why am I not outraged every single day over the utter lack of respect for life? What am I doing to be a source of hope and change in the world? Why am I complacent and desensitized? As a human being I am part of either the solution or the problem. We all are.

The papers have been full of editorials with people pontificating on who is to blame and I must say that I found them to be rubbish. I know that I will get some folk mad at me for saying this but I was utterly horrified by numerous writers assertion that if we had let our college students carry guns on campus then this tragedy would not have happened! I mean, come on! I don't know about you but I painfully remember my college years. A college student is not always the most calm, rational thinking person. The college years are hard enough as one grows into adulthood without adding guns to the mix. Can you imagine hormonally charged, alcohol fueled parties where students are carrying guns?! Imagine what would happen at out of control college parties fueled by alcohol and toss in some bullets! That thought is enough to make me drive to the university where my middle nephew attends and pack him up and never let him go back! I do not want any of my nephews, now or in the future, to be subject to a campus like that. I don't want them to have to try and get an education at The OK' Corral worried that if they tick someone off they will fire a gun at him. It's insanity.

Why do we jump to violence as the solution to violence? Why do we think that killing is the solution for killing? We can look to the Bible to see that this type of thinking doesn't get us very far. We can look at our own history and see that!

I do not stand here today and claim I have a solution. As long as there are people on this planet there will be violent acts committed. For some reason, in general, we tend to pick and choose who we think is worthy of life. Without a consistent ethic of life, we will always pick one group as worthy of life and another as not worthy. That is the ultimate tragedy. All life from conception to natural death is to be respected and protected. God does not pick and choose who is worthy or not and wipe out "these people" over "those people" so why do we think we can? As God loves us, so are we to love one another. That is the only way things will ever get better. All life must be respected. That is what Jesus commanded when he said we must love God with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor just as God has loved us.

Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Peter has to tell Jesus three times, not for Jesus to understand but so that Peter himself can understand. Loving Jesus means that we are to love one another and serve one another. As Christians we are commanded by Jesus to treat one another as Jesus has treated us. That is hard to accept at times but it isn't optional. ALL LIFE from conception to natural death is sacred. If we do not attempt to live that way, then we cannot expect things to get better and we better stop blaming God for our own messes.

We are Catholics and we are Saved!

2007-04-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

Second Week of Easter 2007
Wednesday
Mass Readings:
Acts 5:17-26
John 3:16-21

I live in a rather bohemian area of Louisville. It is full of eclectic shops, restaurants, a rather artsy movie theater and my favorite is a huge record store. One of the things I like best is that I can leave my car in the garage and walk to just about anything I need. One of the joys I experience is being able to go out and take a stroll in the evening especially when the weather is nice.

Recently there has been a group of young adults standing outside in multiple spots up and down the street and trying to witness for Christ. I am all for that. I remember doing that when I was in my church's youth group. They start off with the typical question of "if you die tonight, where will you go"? I have been stopped multiple times by this group and asked the same question over and over. Of course being the smart mouth I often am, my first response was that I would be going to the funeral home right after I died. Apparently this individual didn't care for my humor. So he asked me with a little more force and a note of impatience and added that if I died tonight I would go to hell if I wasn't a Christian. OK. I am still fine with this although he still doesn't think I am funny. That's OK. A lot of people think I'm not funny. So I responded that yes I know where I would go. He says, "you need to tell me where you will end up". Alright, I go along and say that I KNOW I will go to heaven because I believe in Christ and that I have dedicated myself to ministry as a Catholic priest. That threw him. You could have heard a pin drop. Apparently being a Catholic meant to him that I am doomed to hell and he needed to "save" me. At that point it wasn't funny anymore and I walked away.

Throughout American history there have been individuals and groups who proclaim that Catholics aren't saved and are going to hell, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure many of you have heard that too. Truth is, WE ARE SAVED! The very blood that saved that man witnessing on the street is the same blood that has saved you and me! As Catholics we are Christians saved by the blood of Christ! You and I have been reborn by water and the Holy Spirit in baptism. We are fed with Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. We are SAVED and don't let anyone try to tell you that you aren't!

I have grown weary of people who know little to nothing about Catholicism and then declare that we are not Christians saved by the blood of Christ. Enough! Let us Catholics boldly proclaim that yes, we are Christians, and we are saved just like every believer. Everyone that professes Jesus is Lord is saved!

Now go you Catholics, you born again, saved disciples of the Risen Lord and proclaim it boldly!

I'll do anything for Jesus! But not while American Idol is on.

2007-04-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Second Sunday of Easter 2007
Mass Readings
Acts 5:12-16
Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
John 20:19-31

Recently I was at a very nice dinner. I was very impressed to say the least. It was a rather large gathering and I was seated with folks I had never met before. As I was taking my first bite, THE comment came from across the table; "Father, let me tell you what's wrong with the Church". Well, so much for a nice relaxing dinner. I have heard that statement many times along with things like; "The Church isn't what it use to be", the Church isn't doing this or that, etc. Interesting enough, I never hear anyone claim that there is anything wrong him or herself. It is always The Church that is the problem.

I have read op-ed pieces on various religious web sites that deal with the Roman Catholic Church and I am greatly puzzled by some of them. Why is it that there is always something "wrong" with the Church and never anything wrong with us, the people? We are the Church! If there is so much supposedly wrong with the Church, then why aren't we blaming ourselves? If we think the Church is not fervently proclaiming the Gospel, then wouldn't it make sense that it is our own personal lack of commitment that is the problem?

Listening to this individual say that the Church "isn't what it use to be", I asked what era of the Church he was referring to. Should we be more like the Church of the 3rd Century? 10th century? 18th Century? What century saw perfection?

So I was reflecting on what he said, especially when he talked of the Church's "lack of commitment". That statement made me almost choke on my food. So I asked him if he had ever tried to get people to come to a prayer service on the night American Idol is on! I mean, come on! you can't get people to turn off Sanjaya long enough to barely breathe let alone come to church! The blasted television, sporting events, concerts, etc. seem to always be more important! It isn't the Church that has changed but rather it is us! If we think the Church is lacking fervor then the blame rests on us. If we think the Church is watered down, then the problem is that WE the people are watering things down! The Church stands today firmly on Jesus Christ just as it did the day Jesus gave the Great Commission.

In our Gospel text today, Jesus gives the disciples the fantastic gift of the Holy Spirit. They are given power to proclaim the Good News of salvation. Fact is, we have been given that same gift! We have been baptized, confirmed, and receive the Body and Blood of Christ and are called to go forth and preach Jesus! The Church hasn't changed in it's mission, WE have. I think it is actually about US and OUR lack of commitment to God that is the problem.

Jesus stands before the disciples in our text and gives them everything they need to be his disciples. The same gift of the Spirit that Peter and the other disciples received is the same Spirit given to us today. However, WE have to say yes to that call and receive the gift. WE have to be dedicated. WE have to be faithful in our devotion and service to God. This is one of those times when we can say it is truly all about US. WE are the only one's responsible if things aren't going as well as we think they should be. God hasn't changed so it must be that WE are the one's who have changed.

With all that God has given us, WE must be diligent in doing God's work. So the next time WE think that something is wrong with the level of dedication in the Church, maybe WE need to turn off The Idol, get busy with prayer and be the faithful disciples we say the Lord needs. If WE are not willing to do that then WE need to stop complaining.

Sorry Jesus. I didn't recognize you.

2007-04-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter 2007
April 10, 2007
Mass Readings:
Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Mary Magdalene's response to Jesus at the tomb was something that perplexed me no end when I was a kid. I was that kid every Sunday School teacher dreads, the one who asks a myriad of questions trying to make issues of faith into tangibles. I am sure I gave my teacher a few gray hairs. I guess I still cause a lot gray hairs! SO why didn't Mary Magdalene recognize Jesus? Was it a Clark Kent moment? Did Jesus part his hair different that day?

I post those questions with tongue in cheek so please forgive me. No disrespect is intended. It's just that it is a bit confusing. Mary Magdalene knew Jesus so well and it is curious she didn't recognise him. Or is it? Jesus has risen from the dead, his earthly body has been transformed into the perfect body that we will all receive on the day of resurrection. Jesus is transformed into what we await, the perfection of spirit and body that will enter Heaven.

Mary Magdalene is first witness to the Resurrection and is given a vision of what awaits all who proclaim Jesus is Lord. What an amazing gift she is given! It is no wonder that her senses are overwhelmed. Mary Magdalene sees fully the promise of Salvation and Resurrection. So I gues it isn't so surprising she didn't recognise him. The problem is our refusal to reconise Christ.

So how does this apply to us in the 21st century? I believe that we are challenged by our Gospel text today to recognise God in everything and everyone. That means seeing God in one another, the glory of God in creation. We are called to recognise God in the Eucharist the Body and Blood of our Lord! We are called to become that which we receive! We can be blinded by sin. We can be blinded by our apathy and cynicism. As a result we fail to recognise Christ among us and we miss the glorious miracles that are worked in our midst every single day.

We come to Mass to worship our Lord. We come to Mass to receive the Body and Blood of Christ and become that which we receive adn to in turn be faithful witness to the Gospel. We are called as the Lord's disciples, to see the face of our Lord in one another. When we are able to do that then we can truly be like Mary Magdalene, our eyes will be opened and we can see Jesus as he truly is, the source of our Salvation!

What seemed the end was just the beginning!

2007-04-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday 2007
The Resurrection of the Lord

Mass Readings
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Col 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

The Lord's body is gone and the disciples are frantic. To dare show their faces in public is a sign of how distraught they are. The ones who had run away from Jesus as he was being crucified are now running to his tomb to see for themselves if Jesus is gone. Yet they still don't understand. They believed in the resurrection when it was just a theory but now they are faced with the immense reality and it overwhelms them. the first thought is that Jesus' body has been stolen.

Their heads must have been swimming with frightening thoughts. Is he alive? Has he been stolen? Is he truly the Son of God? Was he just moved to another tomb? Are we really going to see him again??? The questions must have been myriad! Soon, they would all know the answer. Soon, Jesus would stand in their midst and give them the power and authority to proclaim the Resurrection and the gift of God's Salvation. What was feared to be the end was truly the beginning of our salvation!

We gather here today because we are a people redeemed by the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. Today we proclaim and celebrate that Jesus is God the Son and that he conquered the power of sin and death and has freely given this gift to his disciples. We are the very disciples Jesus loves! All of us are saved by the blood of Christ! Today we celebrate LIFE!

For those who profess Jesus is Lord, everyday is Easter. Daily we celebrate endings and beginnings. Everyday we strive to die a little more to self so that we might live in the fullness of being Jesus' disciples. We never arrive at perfection until that day when we are seated with Jesus in God the Father's Kingdom. But each day we work to be a bit more faithful to Jesus' commands. And what joyful commands they are!! Everyday we strive to be a bit more loving, a bit more faithful, a bit more prayerful, and the list goes on. Everyday we work towards truly loving God and neighbor, to see the very face of God in one another. Easter Sunday is about being truly alive! And to be truly alive is to live as one of God's children striving to be free of hatred and violence so we can live in peace and service for the glory of the Kingdom of God!

Our purpose on earth is to be the very image of Jesus. We are passing glances in this world as we long to be united with God. The things of this earth are fleeting and will decay and that includes us. Yet we have the eternal, right inside of us, our soul. And that which is eternal must always be the first fostered. We grow in Spirit as we dedicate ourselves to following the Lord. Each and every day we become more alive as we live Jesus' commandments of life, love, faith, fidelity, and service.

As we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, we also celebrate our resurrection. Salvation brings us all from the death of sin and into the life of Christ! We are reborn today by Word and Sacrament. Today we receive the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Today we are given a share of God's Kingdom and we are called to live boldly Jesus' command to Love God and Neighbor. We live because Jesus lives! Christ the Lord is risen today alleluia! Amen!

The Alpha and Omega

2007-04-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion 2007
Mass Readings
Isaiah 52:13—53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1—19:42

Today we celebrate the most somber of our Holy Days. Today we remember that event which brought us our Salvation, the crucifixion of our Lord. We quiet ourselves and we reflect upon the horrifying sacrifice Jesus made so that we can live.

Sitting in the church last night I was amazed by the contrast between the glorious Holy Thursday, The Mass of the Lord's supper and the stark, somber celebration of Good Friday. We gave praise to God last night in song and the washing of feet. Today we gather in quiet and simplicity. So powerful is what we celebrate today that no song or instrument can lift us above the horrible scene of the crucifixion. The horrible torture and death of our Lord. But that is not the end for tomorrow night we celebrate the amazing Easter Vigil!

I want to focus upon two simple words that Jesus speaks in our Gospel today. Jesus' quiet and humble voice shatters the power of sin. What are those words? I AM. We remember these words because spoke them to Moses in the desert. Jesus proclaims that he is the beginning and the end. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one, is the uncaused first cause. God is the beginning, God is the end. Yet for God time isn't the same thing as it is for us. We are a linear creation. We live in 'kronos' (chronos) time while God exists in 'kairos' time. There are no 24 hour days for God. There is no chronological time for God. God is everything! God exists beyond time and space. And here Jesus presents himself as the physical manifestation of all that was, is, and will be. Jesus is the fulfillment of God's love!

It is impossible to fully wrap our heads around the power that is proclaimed by Jesus with those two simple words. The human tongue cannot truly proclaim the depths of Jesus' proclamation. What we can and do know is that Jesus, God the Son, screams into the face of sin and death and destroys it. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross renders sin and death powerless because nothing is or can be more powerful than God. Jesus is truly 'I AM'.

We look to Jesus' sacrifice this day and we give God the gratitude he so richly deserves.

Amen

We are not to seek prestige but be humble servants of Christ.

2007-04-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Holy Thursday 2007
Mass Reading:
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

Today we celebrate the glorious Mass of the Lord's Supper. Holy Thursday begins the holy time of The Easter Triduum. We pause and take time to remember and honor the journey of Jesus to the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection. We celebrate the glorious gift of our salvation and God's unwavering love for us.

Holy Thursday is a vibrant call to us all that we seek the good of God's people over our own desires and wants. We commemorate this through the action of washing one another's feet. To say that this can be uncomfortable to some would be an understatement.

Every day we are bombarded with the message that we are to strive to be powerful, rich, or famous. Actually the slogan of "I want it all" is programmed in to us beginning in childhood. Prestige is almost a commodity in our modern culture. However, we selfishly pursue prestige, fame, and wealth at our own peril. Now I am not saying that being respected and having money is a bad thing. However, it does become a problem when those things are our reason for living. They are fleeting things in the cosmic scheme of things.

Jesus does something shocking at The Last Supper. Jesus places himself as the disciples servant and does a very intimate thing, he washes their feet. I can think of few things more intimate than taking someones feet and washing them. It is a fantastic sign of respect. It is an action that places the other person above and beyond our own wants. The disciples actually protest Jesus' doing this. How can the Lord humble himself so? Peter is shocked by Jesus' humility. Jesus' gentleness and love is shown in this very simple but spectacular gesture. I can think of nothing more symbolic of being a servant than washing feet.

And so we reenact the Last Supper by the washing of feet and celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We enter that night when Jesus proclaims that in order to be a disciple of his, we must empty ourselves of the lust for power, prestige, wealth, and authority. To truly be a disciple, we must be willing to be the servant of all. In doing that we fulfill Jesus' command to love God and neighbor.

We are all called to "wash one another's feet". We may not physically wash feet but we do the same thing when we willingly place the good of God's people above our own desires and seek to serve. We can do nothing more powerful than to work for the good of God's Children. We can have no greater respect than when we see in one another the face of God. We have no greater wealth than when we say yes to Jesus' call.

When we answer Jesus' call we have more prestige, power, and wealth than we can imagine! To truly and faithfully follow Jesus gives us a part in God's Kingdom and nothing on earth can remotely equal that.

Perfect Fidelity

2007-04-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday 2007
Mass Readings
Procession:Luke 19:28-40
Phil 2:6-11
Luke 22:14—23:56

Honesty. Loyalty. Faithfulness. Love.

We have a burning desire for fidelity. We crave it. We make movies and stage plays and write songs ad nausea about how the lack of fidelity crushes us. Betrayal is a frightening event that wounds and maims. It is a universal experience, the betrayal of love and trust. We humans tend to always find a way to break the commitments, the vows we make seeking a "moral loophole".

The Passion is a scene of great love and devastating betrayal. Jesus is facing the horrors of crucifixion. He is anguish beyond description and he has his friends with him. However, he knows that he has been marked by Judas and that Peter, the Rock upon which Jesus will build his Church, will turn his back on him and deny him. It is gut wrenching to imagine the heartbreak that Jesus experienced at he looked into the eyes of those who would betray and deny him even though he would be faithful to them. Now, Jesus is utterly alone.

The Apostles have walked with Jesus, shared food and hardship, joy and pain, yet they would not be faithful to Jesus on that day of horror. Fidelity would not rule the day but betrayal and fear would reign in the hearts of Jesus' friends. Through it all, Jesus remains the definition of perfect fidelity.

Judas is often overlooked as merely a money hungry and corrupt man. If Judas was so shallow as to merely want money then his great expression of remorse is hollow. It is thought that perhaps Judas was trying to force Jesus' hand by getting him to prove that he was the Messiah. Many, including the Zealots, believed that the Messiah would be a mighty warrior who would crush the Romans and restore Israel. Was Judas trying to get Jesus to do what he believed the Messiah should do? Were the thirty pieces of silver just icing on the cake? We do not know for sure. I do believe Judas' motives were more complicated than merely getting money out of the deal. We do know that Judas would turn his back on Jesus and betray him. Judas would betray the one he claimed to love. Judas would abandon Jesus for his own selfish desires.

Then we have the denial of Peter. Here was the one who proudly proclaimed his love of Jesus. Yet when the reality of the horrors that awaited Jesus arrived, Peter would deny Jesus with venom. Three times Peter would renounce his Lord. Three times Peter would seek to nullify his relationship with Jesus. Three years of living, eating, travelling and sharing in miracles would be as nothing when Peter became terrified. Peter sought to save his own skin while Jesus was facing his death. With friends like that...

We have the scene of Peter watching as Jesus is mocked and questioned. It is a frightening scene for Peter and as he denies Jesus for the final time, Jesus turns and looks at Peter. In that moment, Peter comes face to face with his own betrayal of his Lord. One sells out his Lord, the other denies having ever known him. Absolute failure of those who proclaimed their faith in the Lord. We can only imagine the look on Jesus' face as he looked into Peter's eyes.

Then there is the betrayal of the people. They have witnessed God's hand at work. The miracles that Jesus worked should have been enough! Jesus has loved them and taken care of them. Yet they refuse to believe and they want Jesus silenced. They betray Jesus by asking for the release of a Zealot who had committed acts of religious terrorism. Barabas was a killer and they preferred him over the Jesus. Everything Jesus had done for them meant nothing. Jesus went against what they thought the Messiah should be. Their selfishness led them to betray, convict, and kill an innocent man. Humans are a fickle lot to say the least. As soon as we don't like something, we seek to dispose of it whether it be a possession, an obligation, or a person.

But who is the one who is faithful? The prisoner condemned to die alongside Jesus! The one who would be written off by society is the one who believes in Jesus even as he faces his own terror. This criminal hanging beside Jesus proclaims his faith even while being executed. The onlookers betray while the condemned believes. The ironies of The Passion are amazing!

Jesus is willing to die. Jesus is willing to be sacrificed because of his limitless love of humanity. Jesus would accept the cross because of his perfect fidelity. Regardless of how we respond to Jesus, he still loves us unconditionally and he will never abandon us. We chose to abandon him and we condemn ourselves in that action.

We are given the choice of saying yes or no to Jesus' call. We are invited to share in Jesus' limitless love. Jesus' is the model of perfect fidelity, a fidelity that never betrays, denies or abandons. We are so jaded as a people in part due to the betrayal of trust that we experience in our life. The "moral loopholes" that are practiced is numbing to the soul. In Jesus we have the love that will never betray, lie, cheat, or abandon. Why is it so hard for us at times to see the fullness of Jesus' love?

Can we practice such unwavering fidelity? I believe that we can, in part. We will always be tempted to practice "premeditated moral failure" (A definition of sin I got from a good friend that I think is brilliant.) Or we can just call it sin. Sin isn't something that just happens. We make a choice, it is premeditated. We are imperfect and we will mess up from time to time. The glory is that even when we willfully disobey Jesus, he never abandons us. His perfect fidelity will not be shattered. Jesus will love us even when we believe that we are unlovable.

We are given Jesus' love so freely that it is hard to wrap our heads around it. Jesus' faithfulness is beyond anything we experience in our day to day life. Yet it gives us the model to strive for. We are called to be faithful to God and to one another. We are given a choice to accept or deny Jesus' call to perfect fidelity. To accept his call is to be given a share of God's Kingdom. To refuse, well, the loss we would experience is too much to bear. We will not be perfect. We will stumble and mess up. That is why we have the love of Christ to carry us home to God's glorious Kingdom.

Sin's consequence and God's revulsion.

2007-03-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Fifth Sunday of Lent 2007: Third RCIA Scrutiny
Mass Readings: Cycle A
Ez 37:12-14
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45

Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead is a miracle that stands alone in it's immensity. Our English cannot truly convey what is happening as Jesus goes to the tomb of his beloved friend.

In this event we are given an insight into God's utter horror and offense at what sin has brought to His beautiful creation. Death is the horrible reality of sin. Jesus the Son of God is offended and angry over it. English translates that Jesus was "perturbed" and "deeply troubled". However, Jesus' reaction is far deeper than that. Jesus/God the Son is shaken by our sinfulness to the point that the Spirit convulses and rolls and is sickened by the consequences of sin. In response, Jesus will suspend the laws of nature and restore the flesh of Lazarus that is now infected by corruption and decay. This miracle is beyond Jesus' turning water into wine or curing the sick. Jesus will actually reverse death and reanimate dead, decayed flesh into new matter and reunite soul with body. This is too much to fully wrap our head around. Jesus resurrects Lazarus' mind, body, and spirit!

This isn't like watching a movie where the dead are brought back to life through a medical marvel. This is beyond restarting someones heart with a defibrillator. Jesus cannot stand to look upon what sin has done to God's perfect creation. As a result, Jesus gives us a foretaste of God's plan to resurrect all who confess Jesus as Lord. What Jesus does for Lazarus he will do for us on the Last Day.

God cannot bear our succumbing to sin. God is utterly offended by what we have brought upon ourselves. Instead of leaving us to sin and death, Jesus transforms us through his sacrifice upon the cross. Through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, we are restored to perfection. I mean perfection by the salvation of our soul and the promise of bodily resurrection and restoration. We will be restored to the beauty and perfection that we were given when God breathed life into us.

Yes our temporal body will still suffer corruption. Even Jesus experienced the frailty of the human body. However, our soul is freed and restored by our faith in Jesus. Our soul is kept and held by God the Father. But the salvation of our soul is but one part of God's gift. Our body is just as precious to God and God has promised that we will be made whole in the resurrection of the Last Day. Hallelujah!

Jesus, angered by sin and death, cries out to Lazarus and commands that he be resurrected. Jesus yells in the face of sin and death and conquers it. Lazarus becomes the proof that God is in control. And Jesus will go even further. Jesus will suffer and die on the cross and be buried. Jesus will take upon himself our sin and death. Jesus will free us from our sin and give us eternal life. In an inconceivable act, Jesus will be resurrected. God will raise God's self from the dead! This is the ultimate sign that God is life!

Today we are Lazarus. We gather today with our soul restored to perfection because of Jesus' sacrifice. We are Lazarus today in the fact that not only will our soul be welcomed into Paradise but our soul will be reunited with our body and we will spend eternity as God's perfect creation.

Let us live as a people of The Resurrection. Let us respect life as truly the gift God intended it to be. We are reborn in Christ and we will be resurrected on the Last Day because Jesus is Lord!

Jesus loves us! In spite of our resistance to believe.

2007-03-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

Friday Fourth Week of Lent 2007
3-23-2007
Mass Readings
Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

We are all familiar with Jesus getting fed up with the business folk selling things in the Temple. Jesus became so frustrated and offended that he physically drove them out. Jesus was not afraid to show his emotions. Today our Gospel text shows Jesus reaching the limit with the folks listening to him during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Jesus has been with the people day in and out. Jesus has raised the dead to life. Jesus has made the lame walk. Jesus has made the blind see and the deaf hear. Jesus has fed thousands with just table scraps. Jesus has cast out demons with simply a whisper. But it still isn't enough to convince most people. Jesus had the faithfulness of the women who ministered to him and the ones he healed, but most people still didn't see. Even Jesus' disciples were still not sure. I cannot imagine the level of disappointment and frustration Jesus must have been feeling when the folks listening to him decided that he wasn't "all that" merely because they knew where Jesus had lived growing up. Of all reasons! Truly the Messiah couldn't come from Nazareth! You can almost feel Jesus' disappointment.

Jesus cries out in the midst of the people. This isn't merely a scolding the people are about to receive but rather Jesus' plea for them to let go of their obsession with physical geography and to surrender to God's spiritual geography. Jesus wants the people to see that this isn't about him growing up in Nazareth but being sent from God's Kingdom to enter the world so that we can know God's salvation. Jesus is tired and frustrated by their lack of belief in spite of all he has done in God's name. Raising the dead to life isn't even enough! You can almost hear the people saying, "Nope. Sorry. You are from Nazareth so you just get points for the miracles but we can't believe you are from God let alone The Christ".

But instead of giving up on us hardhearted and dimwitted lot, Jesus loves us regardless. Our resistance to fully opening our hearts and accepting His love would not make a difference in His love for us. Thank God!

Jesus' love is open to all of us. We stumble, we make mistakes, and at times we can be resistant to fully accepting God's Law of Love. Yet we are always welcome In God's house. We are not discarded by Jesus. We are never shut out of Jesus' love for us. However, we can miss out on Jesus' unlimited love by our own stubbornness.

Jesus cries out today and asks us to believe and accept Him. We may be reluctant at times but Jesus still loves us and this I know is true.

Uh, maybe we shouldn't bury the Saints?

2007-03-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Fourth Week of Lent 2007
March 19, 2007
The Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mass Readings
2 Samuel 7:4-5a,12-14a,16
Romans 4:13,16-18,22
Mt 1:16,18-21,24a

The Solemnity of St. Joseph is one of my favorite feast days. St. Joseph is a most overlooked hero of our faith. St. Joseph took on the responsibility of raising God's son as his own.

We see in our Gospel text today that Joseph was a good and faithful man. When Joseph discovered Mary was pregnant, well, he didn't exactly react with anger and malice. Joseph had every right to react with outrage. Instead he chose to protect Mary by not going public with her pregnancy and instead he was going to divorce her in secret so as not to bring any shame or danger to her. If Joseph would have gone public, Mary would have been an outcast. Instead Joseph reacted with the desire to protect and conceal Mary and in essence, hide her away so that she would be safe.

God was definitely at work with the Holy Family! God chose a woman of great faith, devotion, and immense love to give birth to our Salvation. God also chose a good, gentle, and holy man to be the adopted father of Jesus. What a great example of faith! Not only was Joseph faced with the reality that his wife was pregnant but soon God would speak to Joseph and explain it all. So picture it. Mary has been reeling from accepting her vocation as the Mother of our Lord, and now Joseph has to accept Mary's God given vocation and take on one himself. Joseph decides to accept God's call and raise Jesus as his very own. Joseph's display of faith in God and in his wife is monumental. An ordinary carpenter and husband who is faithful to God becomes the one who will guide and teach Jesus as he moves through childhood into adulthood. What an amazing responsibility!

So why then, do we take the adopted father of Jesus and bury a statue of him upside down in the backyard in order to sell a house? This truly baffles me.

Not long ago I was in a church supply store and came across the "St. Joseph Home Selling Kit". But it wasn't just any old kit, it was the deluxe model! Wow. Printed on the exterior of the package it said that if you are having trouble selling your house, buy this statue, get it blessed and then bury it upside down in your backyard and bingo! your house will sell. And it isn't just Catholics doing this. The market for these kits can be found in realtor's offices as well as Protestant bookstores and the World Wide Web. Nice. We take an image of the man who accepted God's call to raise His Son and we turn him into a "magical" trinket? Something is wrong here. St. Joseph is an icon of faith not magic.

By my comments you can tell what I think about this practice. I do not say these things in order to offend. I say these things in order to draw us out of superstition into a deeper understanding of St. Joseph. What a blessing to see how St. Joseph was willing to adopt Jesus as his very own and raise him and love him. We should be celebrating the great example of family and parenthood that St. Joseph lived.

I firmly believe that the Saints hear our prayers and intercede for us. I have complete faith in the intercessions of the Saints. What I do not believe is that we have to pay $5.95 for a plastic statue and carry out a real estate hoopdy-doo in order for our prayers to be heard.

St. Joseph is a model for us to imitate. St. Joseph was willing to answer God's call and live a life of devotion and to nurture God's Son. St. Joseph received God's Son as his own and prepared the way for Jesus to bring us all salvation. What a fantastic example of faith! What an amazing example of family devotion!

Let us strive to follow St. Joseph's example of faith. Let us ask for St. Joseph to aid us in being faithful disciples. Let us pray for St. Joseph to intercede on our behalf. But please, let's not bury him in the back yard.

Redemption, Reconciliation, Restoration

2007-03-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2007
Mass Readings
Jos 5:9a, 10-12
2 Cor 5:17-21
Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Well here he goes again! Jesus has the audacity to sit and eat with "those people"! How dare Jesus place himself at table with people who, you know, SIN. The Pharisees and the scribes are in a tizzy over this. Surely if Jesus was sent by God, he would only want to talk to them since they were so holy and most importantly of all, worthy of God's love. One can almost imagine Jesus letting out a soft sigh as the Pharisees and scribes get all self righteous.

Jesus in turn gives them a parable and it is one we are all very familiar with. The Prodigal Son has been immortalized not only in Scripture but also paintings, music, and sculpture. We may immediately turn our thoughts to images of the young son's father holding him and weeping from joy at his son's return. But what about the elder son? We will get to him in a moment.

Being a disciple of Jesus means that we have encountered Jesus' three R's; redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. All of us have been in the place of the younger son. All of us have at one time or another turned our back on God and have been unfaithful, we've sinned. Eventually we come to our senses and we turn back to God and we experience God's redemption. Nothing we do can earn redemption. It is given freely, fully, and with overflowing love. God races to embrace us!

We experience reconciliation with God and one another. Our relationship with God is broken by our sin. Turning back to God, asking for forgiveness repairs that relationship. But our sin effects our relationships with one another, the Body of Christ. God's forgiveness repairs that relationship as well. We are united as Jesus' body on earth. We are all brothers and sisters no matter what we may want to think.

Restoration. When we turn away from God we walk away from our share in God's joy. We become poor and destitute in spirit and our soul starves. God embraces us, forgives our sins and we are retsored to the dignity of God's children.

Now the elder son. We sometimes fill the role of the elder son. How dare "those people" be given the same share as us! We begin to feel superior in our faith, self righteous, and we think that we deserve more than someone who has lived a life of riot only to turn to God and be embraced, forgiven, and given an equal share of God's riches. To fall into this trap is to forfeit the joy of the blessing of being rich in our communion with God and one another. Self righteousness weakens our relationship with God and one another. Self righteousness isolates us, weakens us, and worst of all, disappoints God.

Too often, we become so filled with self that we lose sight of God's desire for us to live for Him and proclaim his salvation to everyone. When self righteousness fills our hearts we forget that we too have been the disobedient child, the one who rejected God's love and squandered God's heavenly gifts. How can we reject someone who is just like we are? We have all fallen short of God's glory but all of us are worthy of God's love. That's why God loves us! God loves us because He made us worthy of His love by giving us the breath of life! Let us embrace that fact. Let us embrace God and our neighbor. To love God is to love neighbor and to love our neighbor is to love God.

Let us accept God's invitation to redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. When we do that, we can all sit at God's table and join together to feast and live! May God soften our hearts to see the glory of God in all His children.

I love you God! But not, you know, "Those People".

2007-03-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Third Week of Lent:Friday (16/3/2007)
Mass Readings
Hosea 14:2-10
Mark 12:28-34

Jesus is being put to the test. The scribe is hoping to catch Jesus blaspheming since along with the Pharisees, they want to have Jesus arrested. If Jesus answered with anything but Love God with all your being they would get him. So Jesus answers correctly but he doesn't stop there. Jesus proclaims that the second greatest Commandment is to love your neighbor and you can't love God if you don't love your neighbor. Now the test is put to the scribe. Will he agree? If he doesn't then he shows himself to be less than faithful to the Ten Commandments.

The message Jesus gives us is that Loving God and neighbor cannot be separated. We cannot practice one while rejecting the other. The depth of our love for God will be reflected in how deeply we love our neighbor and how deeply we love our neighbor will be reflected in how deeply we love God. Sounds great until we have to love, you know, "Those People"! Now we are the ones put to the test.

Everyday we are bombarded with propaganda that tells us that we are supposed to despise this group or that group. Bigotry, classism, sexism, and character assassination are actually glorified in some groups of people! Now that is a complete refusal to follow God's Law of Love. It becomes easy to make a list of people we despise and then start the process of rationalizing our deliberate violation of loving neighbor as we love God. Rationalizing sin sometimes seems like an honored practice! It is very sad. Some people actually recruit people to hate other people. How sad that some people deliberately separate themselves from God to the point that they hate other people and want others to do the same. People who practice hatred of their neighbor are in desperate need of our prayers. We cannot in turn despise those who hate. If we do, then we become just like them and we separate ourselves from God's love.

No one is unlovable in God's eyes. No one is an outcast in God's eyes. No one is beyond redemption in God's eyes. God never abandons us or gives up on us. So why do we label other people and treat them as unworthy and abandon God's command to love each other? Are we trying to chase away our own feelings of unworthiness by treating others unworthily? When we give into feeling superior, we are breaking the very Commandment that Jesus tells us is second only to loving God. Kind of important to not do that.

Let us always remember that God is love and we are to mirror that. Whenever we treat someone as less than a child of God, we are mistreating God. There is no "Those People" but only Us, the Children of God.

Thank you God for loving us. May we prove ourselves grateful by loving our neighbor as much as you love us.

I love the Law! Well, as long as it doesn't apply to me...

2007-03-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Third Week of Lent 2007: Wednesday (14-2-2007)
Mass Readings
Daniel 4:1,5-9
Matthew 5:17-19

God gave the Ten Commandments to us all! These Commandments are God's Law and it is a law of love. The Ten Commandments are not a list of harsh rules and regulations. When you look at them, you see a way of living that is about being in communion with God and one another, of respect for God and one another. The most important aspect, love for God and for one another. The Ten Commandments are about being faithful. No one is perfect but we must strive to be faithful.

How can something so easy be so hard? Well, we humans are vulnerable and prone to giving in to temptation. If we weren't vulnerable to sin, Jesus would not have sacrificed his life for us. So, sin is a reality and we must rely upon God for mercy and forgiveness. This means we can't pick and choose what Commandments we want to follow and which ones we want to toss out. Jesus states in our Gospel today that he is the fulfillment of the law and that the law is still in place. The Ten Commandments are just as important to God today as they were when God gave them to Moses. The problem is that we tend to not take the Ten Commandments seriously. When we do that, sin is right around the corner.

Nothing has been removed from the Ten Commandments. We have not been exempted from any of them. It is curious that we tend to ignore our own sin while preaching to others that they have broken a Commandment and have sinned. We deflect attention from our own sin by placing a spotlight on the sin of someone else. There are ten sins that we can commit but we can find find a thousand ways to commit each one. I know that I am guilty. I have sinned and I am dependant on God's forgiveness. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

One of my personal commandments is "Thou shalt not talk about politics in the pulpit". I am breaking my own commandment by bringing this up so I ask for your forgiveness. I read a newspaper column this morning that is troubling me. The writer implied that ignoring the blatant violations of the Ten Commandments by the politicians who benefit us and blindly supporting them is a sign of "political maturity". What? Is this the way we Christians have come to view the Ten Commandments? Did I read it wrong? Nope, I didn't. I believe that this column is a prime example of how we ignore the teachings of God that are unimportant to us yet lambast others for doing the same thing. So, according to this writer, in order to gain power we are to ignore blatant violations of the Ten Commandments?? NO! We all sin. That is just reality. We can be forgiven and praise be to God for that! I found this column very sad and disappointing.

To be a disciple of Jesus means that we are to work as hard as we can to honor God's Ten Commandments. What would Jesus do? He would be faithful. What are we to do? We are to be faithful. The Ten Commandments are the guide that leads us to a strong relationship with God and one another. The Ten Commandments are to be written upon our hearts. The spirit of the law must fill us. We can argue all we want about posting the Ten Commandments in buildings or other properties but if we do not live the Ten Commandments then it is just useless chatter. If we do not embody the law, our actions are merely self seeking. I do not believe there is any "maturity" political or otherwise associated with being willing to ignore the Commandments we don't want to practice.

The Ten Commandments apply to all of us. To live God's Law is to be free. To love God's Law is to love life.

Heal me Lord! But please, do it my way...

2007-03-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Third Week of Lent 2007:Monday
Mass Readings
2 Kings 5:1-15
Luke 4:24-30

Naaman was a powerful man and was the commander of the Aramean Army. He was so respected that even the King of Aram favored him. This favor would naturally have brought great social status and wealth to Naaman's house, yet there was a problem. Naaman, who had everything a man could want, had a dreaded and fatal disease. Naaman was a leper.

Leprosy is a slow and painfully destructive disease and was fatal until recent history. Naaman was surely aware of the fact that he was going to die and that death would be painful. The man that had the power to conquer whole countries was powerless in the presence of leprosy. However, Naaman had people faithful to him especially his wife's servant. It is this humble servant who informs her mistress of the power of Elisha the Prophet. There is hope after all and Naaman prepares to seek out Elisha and ask for God to heal him. Sounds great except for one thing, Naaman wants God to heal him on his terms. Now there is a problem.

Did Elisha ask Naaman to do something horrible? No. All Elisha asked of this mighty and powerful man was that he wash himself in the Jordan. Problem is that Naaman felt too superior to insult himself by getting in the muddy waters of the Jordan. Surely a pristine pond in his homeland would suffice. Well, Naaman's plan did not fit into God's plan. Naaman's pride and his sense of entitlement almost cost him his miracle.

We can read this text from 2 kings and view Naaman as less than smart for almost turning his back on God's miracle. But aren't we like Naaman at times? As a society we have more luxuries than we can even count. We are accustomed to things being easy and the thought of sacrifice or of humbling ourselves can be most disagreeable. We can take on an attitude of; "here's want I want God and I know the best way for you to give it to me". A bit arrogant of us.

God gives us so much everyday. We have so many blessings that we lose sight of what it means to be blessed by God. If we are not careful, our vanity and sense of entitlement can result in the glorious and the miraculous becoming just another commodity we want and that we can demand of God the what, when, why, how and where of a miracle. I know I am guilty of doing that. I know that there are times when I am ungrateful and I want God to do things the way I want it to be done. I am ashamed of those times. Asking for a miracle and then dictating how I want God to deliver it is an act of selfishness and is a show of ungratefulness.

Receiving a miracle requires us to be open to God's will and not our own. As much as we humans like to dictate terms, God's love is not something to be manipulated and turned to our self-will. To receive God's miracles is to be willing to give up our pre-conceived ideas and selfish desires and be open to taking a challenge from God. God may ask us to step outside of our "comfort zone" and we must be open to that. We may be asked to accept something that our own desires tell us to reject. If we do reject God's call, we stand to lose something miraculous. God may present us with a "muddy Jordan" and God may ask us to plunge into it! Can we set aside our pride, arrogance, selfishness and stubbornness long enough to see the glories offered?

Heal me Lord! And please help me to accept it your way.

Bigotry has no place in God's Kingdom.

2007-03-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

Third Sunday of Lent:2007
First Scrutiny/Cycle A readings
Exodus 17:3-7
Romans 5:1-2,5-8
John 4:5-42

The Samaritan woman at the well is a Gospel story that we easily recognize. The word Samaritan also conjures memories of the Good Samaritan. But who were these people and why did Jesus use them as examples?

The Jewish and Samaritan relationship is ancient. I know that I am over simplifying by saying that the Samaritans were distant relatives of the Jews so please forgive me. I recommend the article on Samaritans found in The Anchor Bible Dictionary. The Samaritans were viewed as a "mixed race" and were looked down upon. They were outcasts for their race and their worship. To many people in the first century, a Samaritan could not be of any worth. As outcasts it could be said they were viewed as little more than a stray that is a nuisance.

For Jesus to raise a Samaritan above the level of a fellow Jew was insulting to say the least. But here we have Jesus doing something scandalous! Not only is Jesus talking to an outcast, but this outcast is a woman! Now to us this may seem like a trivial if not irrelevant fact. However, Jesus was making an earth shaking statement. Jesus makes several things clear by sitting and talking with the Samaritan woman Jesus declares that no one is an outcast to God! No one is beyond God's love! No one is beyond redemption!

The disciples were shocked when they returned. How could Jesus talk to an outcast, a person viewed no better than a stray? And then, how could Jesus, a male Jew, talk to a woman? Jesus' actions placed the disciple's bigotry in the spotlight. The treatment of the Samaritans was second only to the treatment of women! This Samaritan woman stood little chance in first century Israel, but Jesus changes all that, at least spiritually. Jesus used the opportunity to show that God does not place divisive markers on people. God does not judge us by race, color, gender, and we can go down the list. In place of the Samaritan woman we could write down the names of groups who are ridiculed, despised, and treated as "non-humans" today. We seem to be a people who always looks for someone to demonize and despise. Why?

We are human and we fail. No matter how we are raised, we seem to naturally seek some form of division between one another. That is part of being sinners. No matter how close we become to God, we still face the natural temptations that parade in front of us. Tearing down another person is almost a sport nowadays. Everything from "reality T.V." to so called "talking heads" on T.V.,we seem to bathe in everything from petty name calling down to the malevolent art of character assassination. Why do we enjoy watching someone else be treated as an outcast or undeserving of life? Why is it so much fun to publicly despise and mistreat another person? The answer to that is the sin of pride. Pride can lead us to destroy another person in order to build up self.

It seems like we crave someone to be our enemy so that we can justify abandoning Jesus' call for us to follow his law of love. I know that I am guilty at times of not practicing what I preach. I hate that. I hate it when I fail. However, I am not an outcast to God. I am not beyond God's love. I am not beyond redemption. THANK GOD! I am incapable of saving myself and I am wholly dependant on God's mercy. We all are. Not a single one of us is beyond God's love! Not a single one of us is beyond redemption! Not a single one of us is an outcast in God's sight! THANK GOD!

No matter how important we may think we are. No matter how powerful we may be. No matter how wealthy we become, we are all dependant upon God's love. To give up God's love in favor of worldly things is a great act of violence against the soul. It is sad, but sometimes we do that. To mistreat another person is to do great violence against God himself. Every time we practice bigotry and seek self gratification at the expense of others, we commit great violence against God. To do unto the least is to do unto the Creator.

Let us put ourselves in the place of the Samaritan woman. We need to sit in Jesus' presence and let ourselves receive his love. When we do that, we are able to look at our sisters and brothers and see the very face of God. It becomes hard to treat someone badly when we see God in that person. May we all seek to see the preciousness of God in one another because bigotry has no place in God's Kingdom.

Who needs God when you have power!?

2007-03-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Second Week of Lent 2007: Thursday
Mass Readings
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke 16:19-31

I must admit to being troubled by today's readings. I am convicted by the words we read today. How often do I depend upon self and material things and forget all about God? Probably more often than I care to admit. Our readings today are a call to step outside of self and reflect on just how much faith we wrongly place in earthly things instead of God.

King Solomon's empire was glorious beyond belief. His kingdom is the stuff of legend. Solomon was wise and faithful to God and his kingdom grew. Yet at the height of his wealth and power, Solomon gave into the delusion that he was self sufficient and that all he needed was right at his fingertips. Slowly, his kingdom began to crumble and it began in his very own house. The "god of self" destroyed him.

Humanity has accomplished amazing things. Especially here in the U.S., we have enough money and power to make Solomon blush! We can do so much with just the simple flip of a switch or the writing of a check. We have become very, very dependent on self. Yet these "blessings" have required a price. I believe that we have become very obsessed with self and have in many ways forgotten about God. However, this is true of all of humanity. Today we humans can write a check or flip a switch and make problems disappear. Who needs God when you have all of that? That is the type of thinking that gets us in a lot of trouble.

Trouble. Amazing how when we make a mess out of things and our power and money have failed us, THEN we turn to God! God is often the hope of last resort. When all else fails, ask God. After we have created a mess, ask God to bail us out. I know I am guilty of doing this. Every time I think I am in control, I am given a wake up call when I mess something up. Sure enough, I turn to God and ask him to bail me out. Why didn't I just turn it over to God in the first place? Well, I'm human and I mess up. We all do. Fortunately God is forgiving and loves us beyond comprehension.

Jeremiah's proclamation and Jesus' parable of the rich man and the poor beggar Lazarus, call us to give up the delusion of self sufficiency. I was pondering the fact that we inscribe "In God We Trust" on money. A bold statement of faith is placed on a piece of paper or a piece of metal! I think that is very revealing of our belief that we humans can solve all problems. We place a statement of faith on an inanimate object. Curious. In God We Trust should be written on our hearts! Then we are to publicly profess and live our faith! We are called to seek the things of God's Kingdom and not merely the things of earth. Only the gifts of God are eternal. Power, authority, money, etc., are merely passing things. We must first seek God's Kingdom and place our trust in God. Otherwise, we can gain the whole world yet lose our very soul.

Let us pause and ask God to remove the selfish thought that we don't need him. Let us remember that we are created in God's own image and that we are given a share of the Heavenly Kingdom which is forever unlike the kingdom of earth. Let us ask God to help us to let go of "stuff" so that we can be free to receive the eternal gifts God freely offers. We don't have to wait until we are at the bottom to call upon God. May we all place our trust in God first.

God help us that we don't gain all the things of earth and lose our very soul. Please God, help us to see.

Enough about you. How about me?

2007-03-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

Second Week of Lent 2007: Wednesday
Mass Readings
Jeremiah 18:18-20
Matthew 20:17-28

Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem and he is preparing his disciples for his imminent torture and crucifixion. Jesus is undoubtedly tormented and frightened. We don't often think about Jesus' emotions since that requires us to pay close attention to his humanity. We often have images of the stoic Jesus who is seemingly unmoved unless of course we want to think of Jesus expressing love. But what about fear? Jesus is facing what he knows will be unrelenting horror so naturally he would have to be frightened and stressed beyond imagination. Yet in the midst of this, he ministers to his disciples and wants to prepare them for the worst. He thinks of the disciples before himself.

Jesus instructs the disciples of what is to come. Jesus lays out for them the torture he is to face. What are the disciples thinking? What are the disciples feeling? Well, for two of them, its "Enough about you. How about me"? Jesus has opened up and shared the facts of his impending death for a third time but for James and John, the sons of Zeb'edee, its time to talk about their promotion! With friends like this, well, you know the saying. But James and John think they have an ace up their sleeve, their mom. Send mom to do the asking and surely Jesus can't say no! I can't help but hear this scene in my head; "OK Jesus, really sorry for the pain you are going to go through and, well, we appreciate you saving us. Since were talking, would you give my kids a promotion? I know you have a lot on your mind but could you do me this favor"?

The hurt Jesus must have felt is unimaginable. Instead of reacting harshly, Jesus uses the moment to teach a very important lesson. Jesus proposes a new way of living to the disciples. To be his disciples, they must first seek the good of others before their own advancement. To drink from the chalice is to be willing to live for the good of others and not merely the advancement of self. You can almost imagine James and John and especially their mom feeling a bit deflated to say the least.

Being a disciple of Jesus is not about power, money, or prestige. To be a disciple is to seek the emptying of self so that we can be filled with Jesus' word and love. We in turn reach out to others so that they may grow closer to Jesus. To be a disciple is to seek the way of humility, patience, understanding, and most importantly, love. To profess that we are Christians means that we are to draw focus away from us and direct it to Jesus. Nothing is more important than Jesus.

Unfortunately, self gets in the way more often than not. I know it happens to me and I get wrapped up in what I want and I what I think needs to be done and I forget what Jesus wants me to do. It happens to us all. The good news is that we can always change that. When we recognize that self advancement is becoming more important than the advancement of God's Kingdom, we can pause and ask for help to decrease so that Jesus may increase. We Christians are not to crave power and wealth so that we can lord it over others. The pursuit of earthly pleasure is not the primary reason why we were created. We were created so that God could love us and we in turn love God and one another. Our existence is about relationship. To live is to be in communion with God and one another.

Perhaps during this Lenten season we can try to practice a new way and say; Enough about me. How about you"?