The Heart of the Matter

Homily for Sunday, January 17, 2010

Once upon a time there was a local lord whose region included many vineyards and was called the wine country because so many fine wines were produced there.  It just so happened that the lord’s daughter, a very pretty and popular princess, was recently engaged to a prince and the wedding was to take place at the lord’s castle in a few month’s time.  

    With great joy the local lord made the announcement and invited all the villagers to the upcoming wedding and festivities. He told them that he would provide the food in abundance, rich fine food.  But to make sure everyone felt included in this very festive occasion, the lord set up a large vat in the village square and invited everyone in the village to bring one bottle of their finest wine from their vineyards and pour it into the enormous oak cask over the intervening months -- so that by the time of the wedding there would be an ample supply of very choice wine to make the wedding feast especially festive.  

    In order not to brag, each villager came at night after dark to pour in their own family’s contribution.  They came anonymously.  Each contributor could hear that the oak cask was filling up as each family came to make its contribution.

    Finally the day of the wedding arrived.  After the wedding ceremony in the cathedral, the bride and groom, the prince and princess, came to the village square for the reception.  Everyone in the town was dressed in their best outfits.  The local lord had arranged for an amazing array and variety of food.

    As the time drew near for the toast, the bride and groom went to the community’s pride and joy, their own local wine, gifted by the entire community.  The silence was deep as the wine master unsealed the giant oaken cask.  The first cup, the prince’s own golden cup, was placed beneath the spigot. Everyone held their breath in expectation of the finest wine. 

    When the spigot turned and the liquid filled the cup, everyone was shocked to see that it was as clear as water. Indeed, it was just water!  Water! 

    Suddenly the truth was out!  Everyone had thought to hoard their precious wines for economic gain in the market, saying to themselves, that others would be the fools to contribute wines to the great community cask for the feast.  But, the reality was that everyone had said the same thing to themselves.  The chance to feast and celebrate their beautiful princess’s wedding was sadly marred by their communal selfishness.  A wonderful opportunity to share and feast was missed.

    My brothers and sisters, this Eucharist, every Eucharist, is the celebration of the wedding feast of the Lamb of God, the celebration of the marriage between God and man in Christ Jesus, a taste here on earth of the feast of heaven so beautifully symbolized by the Wedding Feast of Cana.   

    You and I are so richly provided for, yet we are also asked, invited, by the Lord to bring our own gift, and add it to the rest of the community’s contribution.  In this way each of us will have an investment in this wonderful marriage between God and us.

Helping the people of Haiti

If you wish to contribute to the Catholic Relief Society as they rush to Haiti to aid those devastated by the earthquake, here is their secure website:

https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3181&3181.donation=form1

When I was a stranger, you welcomed me. Or, you didn't!

Right now there is a nationwide effort made to address the need for immigration reform. I’d like to address this as a social justice issue.

 

When we meet our Maker at the end of our days, He tells us in Matthew 25 that He will comment on a number of social justice items, like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the imprisoned, and, most poignantly for our time: welcoming the stranger. ―When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, or conversely for those deserving eternal punishment: ―When I was a stranger, you gave me no welcome.

 

It’s easy to slide into a politically driven answer to the question of immigration and get tied into knots about legal immigration versus illegal immigration. My answer to that knotty issue is that Jesus won’t be asking us about that distinction when the issue in the judgment of us will be welcoming (or not) the stranger.

 

The reality is that we have a gazillion immigrants in our midst, all over this country. Yet they are in the shadows, fearful of being found to be undocumented, like Jews hiding in Nazi-controlled Europe before ―the final solution was employed. The undocumented ones cannot be legally employed, they cannot open bank accounts, they cannot legally get a driver’s license, and their children, if not born in this country, cannot go to college. They also cannot rectify their status without seriously endangering their families. The predicament they are in is a grave social injustice that must be addressed.

 

I have come to the conclusion that, by this present status of how we are dealing with these immigrants, we are setting ourselves up to be judged badly by the Lord, especially if we leave things as they are. In the weeks ahead in this space I will look with you into what our Church’s teachings on Catholic Social Justice have to teach us, to help us think rightly about this immigration issue.

 

Lord, help us see things as You do.

Homily for the Baptism of the Lord, 1/10/10

Have you noticed that some people seem to muddle their way through life, sometimes making good decisions and sometimes poor ones?  There are other people who seem to be decent people who strive to do the most good and the least harm.  And then there are some others who walk with God.  They have a friendship with God and speak with God and God speaks with them.  These friends of God have a certain serenity about them and a level of compassion that emanates from them in such a way that you know you are in the company of someone who is genuinely a friend of God.

    When you and I were baptized, this is what we were called to: to be a friend of God.  To walk with God. 

    We celebrate today the Baptism of the Lord, the First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary.  What can we learn from the Lord’s baptism?  One thing is this: if the Incarnate Word of God saw it fitting and proper to be baptized, then does it not stand to reason that in the Lord’s eyes baptism is really, really important?

    One who is baptized has gone through a doorway to the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not enough to be baptized; one cannot stand in the doorway forever.  More still needs to happen in order to walk with God as God’s friend.

    Do we not see the message of comfort the Lord is giving us in today’s Scriptures and in the fact that we are baptized and in the fact that we are called to be God’s friends?  He calls us to hear the message of the prophet Isaiah:  “Comfort, give comfort to my people.”  In the days of Isaiah that message of comfort was giving hope to a people that had been sorely oppressed.  It was also a prophecy about the Messiah, that the Messiah, when he comes, will give comfort to all who follow him.    

And what is that comfort that the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, Jesus, gives to those who follow him?  It is the comfort of salvation promised us in baptism; or to put it in the words of Isaiah: “Here is your God!  Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by a strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.  Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”  

To be a friend of God means to have done more than gone through the doorway of baptism.  It also means to adjust one’s life to the ways of the Lord.  Or to put this in the words of St. Paul to Titus:  “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.”

A friend of God does not tell God what I will or will not do, nor does a friend of God declare by one’s own authority that what was formerly seen as lawlessness is now a choice one can freely make.  A friend of God finds peace not in one’s own will but in the will of God.  A friend of God lives in hope, abides in love, knows forgiveness and can ultimately extend forgiveness to those who need it, whether they want to be forgiven or not.   

A friend of God trusts in God, no matter what may happen.  A friend of God talks with God and listens as God speaks, either in prayer, or in the liturgy or in the events of life.  A friend of God cannot imagine staying away from the Eucharist.  In fact, a friend of God will say, “I cannot live without the Eucharist.” 

A friend of God yearns for God, desires God, looks for God, yet knows the pain of not yet possessing Him.  A friend of God knows the meaning of the poetry of the Song of Songs:  “On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves- I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him whom my heart loves.  I sought him but I did not find him.  The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city: Have you seen him whom my heart loves?    I had hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves.  I took hold of him and would not let him go.”  So, my dear people, do you too want to be a friend of God?

Homily for the Epiphany: January 3, 2010

Where do you or I fit into the grand scheme of things?  Today’s solemnity can help us understand.  To understand our place in the big picture, I ask you temporarily to suspend your concerns about your own situation and come with me on a tour of human history.  Then we’ll get to you and me.

    God created the universe with the Big Bang about 13 or 14 billion years ago.  (So, you can see we are looking at the very big picture.)   Did God have you and me in mind back then?  Our faith tells us, yes!  We all know that it took eons for the universe to expand, create stars from star dust, and eventually create planets like ours.

    Our planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and a mere 200,000 years ago, science tells us, there lived in Africa our most recent matrilineal common ancestor for all human beings now living.  They call her Matrilineal Eve.  Over the course of thousands of years Eve’s descendants migrated all over the globe.

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    Not until 4,000 years ago did God raise up Abraham and give him a call to be the father of a chosen people, the Jews.  He also became the father of another people, the Arabs.  God started giving promises to Abraham that included this: that through the chosen people the entire human race would be blessed.  And another promise was that this blessing upon the entire human race would come from the land God promised Abraham that his descendants would have as their own promised land, the Holy Land. 

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    500 years later, that is, in 1500 BC, God raised up Moses to lead the chosen people out of slavery to take hold of their promised land.  Part of the blessing that would come from the chosen people was a moral code that God gave to the chosen people through the great lawgiver, Moses.  This law, or Torah, would give the world its first clear delineation of what was wrong and what was good.

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    500 years later, that is, in 1000 BC, God raised up a king for the chosen people and also promised David that one of his descendants would be both his descendant and his Lord.  

    One thousand years later God became man and that man, the Son of David and the Son of God, Jesus, would usher in the Kingdom of God with a new reign of righteousness, forgiveness, peace, redemption, justice and yet an entirely new promise: eternal life for those who believe in Him. 

    Today’s solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord shows that Jesus did not come to be savior only of the chosen people, but all the people of the world.  He revealed that the way to enter into this Kingdom of justice, peace and love was by way of faith in Him.  And with the arrival of the magi, who were Gentiles, that is, not members of the chosen people, God in Christ opened up the promise of the Kingdom of God to all people of all time.

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    His Church was born and the outreach to all of humanity was begun.  And so spread the Gospel to all the lands of the earth.  How?  By members of the Church understanding their part in the big scheme of things: each doing his or her own part in spreading the Good News of salvation that can be had in Christ.  We are no longer a mere speck of life form on a mere speck of a planet revolving around a mere speck of a star in a far-flung corner of one of but billions upon billions of galaxies.  No, we are adopted sons and daughters of this awesome God who has done all of this; and each of us has a vocation to make known the plan of God by the quality of our membership in the Body of Christ, the Church.

    And so, yes, God had you and me in mind in the vast scheme of His plan from the beginning of time until now.  Let us ask God to give us the grace to measure up to this most noble calling.

Homily for the Epiphany: January 3, 2010

Where do you or I fit into the grand scheme of things?  Today’s solemnity can help us understand.  To understand our place in the big picture, I ask you temporarily to suspend your concerns about your own situation and come with me on a tour of human history.  Then we’ll get to you and me.

    God created the universe with the Big Bang about 13 or 14 million years ago.  (So, you can see we are looking at the very big picture.)   Did God have you and me in mind back then?  Our faith tells us, yes!  We all know that it took eons for the universe to expand, create stars from star dust, and eventually create planets like ours.

    200,000 years ago, science tells us, there lived in Africa our most recent matrilineal common ancestor for all human beings now living.  They call her Matrilineal Eve.  Over the course of thousands of years Eve’s descendants migrated all over the globe.

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    Not until 4,000 years ago did God raise up Abraham and give him a call to be the father of a chosen people, the Jews.  He also became the father of another people, the Arabs.  God started giving promises to Abraham that included this: that through the chosen people the entire human race would be blessed.  And another promise was that this blessing upon the entire human race would come from the land God promised Abraham that his descendants would have as their own promised land, the Holy Land. 

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    500 years later, that is, in 1500 BC, God raised up Moses to lead the chosen people out of slavery to take hold of their promised land.  Part of the blessing that would come from the chosen people was a moral code that God gave to the chosen people through the great lawgiver, Moses.  This law, or Torah, would give the world its first clear delineation of what was wrong and what was good.

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    500 years later, that is, in 1000 BC, God raised up a king for the chosen people and also promised David that one of his descendants would be both his descendant and his Lord.  

    One thousand years later God became man and that man, the Son of David and the Son of God, Jesus, would usher in the Kingdom of God with a new reign of righteousness, forgiveness, peace, redemption, justice and yet an entirely new promise: eternal life for those who believe in Him. 

    Today’s solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord shows that Jesus did not come to be savior only of the chosen people, but all the people of the world.  He revealed that the way to enter into this Kingdom of justice, peace and love was by way of faith in Him.  And with the arrival of the magi, who were Gentiles, that is, not members of the chosen people, God in Christ opened up the promise of the Kingdom of God to all people of all time.

    And still God had you and me in mind.

    His Church was born and the outreach to all of humanity was begun.  And so spread the Gospel to all the lands of the earth.  How?  By members of the Church understanding their part in the big scheme of things: each doing his or her own part in spreading the Good News of salvation that can be had in Christ.  We are no longer a mere speck of life form on a mere speck of a planet revolving around a mere speck of a star in a far-flung corner of one of but billions upon billions of galaxies.  No, we are adopted sons and daughters of this awesome God who has done all of this; and each of us has a vocation to make known the plan of God by the quality of our membership in the Body of Christ, the Church.

    And so, yes, God had you and me in mind in the vast scheme of His plan from the beginning of time until now.  Let us ask God to give us the grace to measure up to this most noble calling.

Homily for Holy Family Sunday, 12/27/2009

Have you ever noticed how it’s possible to mature physically, emotionally and intellectually, but not mature spiritually?

    Don’t we all know people who have matured physically into an adult but remain emotionally underdeveloped?  Think of someone who is petulant like a spoiled child, or selfish like a narcissist. 

    Don’t we also know fully grown adults whose intellectual light never went on, and have no interest in stretching themselves intellectually - to keep learning, or keep reading, or keep thinking?

    Likewise, there is the possibility to mature physically into an adult, be mature emotionally as an adult, and be mature intellectually – even into an intellectual giant; - but remain underdeveloped in spiritual growth, remaining at the level, spiritually speaking, of a rebellious teenager.

    This kind of immaturity is rampant and is sanctioned by the group-think of our society as being “enlightened” and no longer trapped by those absurd myths people were force fed while they “grew up Catholic.”

    Come now, let us set things aright.

    What sense does it make to reject the wisdom of our ancestors who faced much more difficulty than most of us face?  What kind of maturity is it that goes in search of things Eastern without really knowing our own faith beyond that of a seven year old when prepared to receive 1^st Holy Communion?

    Is it not an adolescent reaction, spiritually speaking, to prefer the mindset of our unbelieving peers who mock that for which martyrs have died?  Is it not an act of intellectual hubris to think that we are more enlightened than those who have gone before us, those who walked by faith, the faith of our fathers – and mothers?

    What kind of spiritual maturity is it to kill our consciences when they cry out to us that we have done wrong?  What kind of spiritual maturity is it to deaden our consciences by repeatedly sinning in the same way until there is no longer a chirp of self reproach on the morality of our choices?

    Let’s look at this feast of the Holy Family to learn something about spiritual maturity.

    It is indeed an act of spiritual maturity to question our faith, just as Jesus did as a 12 year old.  And, like Jesus in the Temple, it is a mark of maturity to discuss those questions with people, who really know what they’re talking about, who really know and understand the ancient faith of our ancestors.

    Parents, learn from this 5^th Joyful Mystery, the Finding of the Lord in the Temple.  Be like Mary and Joseph who raised their son with profound respect for the practices of the faith. If you want the respect of your children for what you hold to be true and oh so valuable, then be careful about how you talk about your own parents.  And be careful how you talk about your parish, your father – that is, you parish priest.  And be careful how you talk about your Mother, the Church. 

    The Scripture we heard earlier from Sirach said: “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.”  As soon as we undercut these father- and mother- images, we also undercut our own authority as parents.

    A spiritually mature adult would look at the quirks, the failings and even the outright sinfulness of fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, priestly fathers, and other members of our Mother the Church and know the beatitude of “Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted.”  If you deal kindly with your own parents and the Church-family’s fathers and mothers, then your own lineage will not only keep the faith, but they will be kind to you in your later years as well.

    “My son, my daughter, take care of your parents when they are old; grieve them not as long as they live.  Even if their minds fail, be considerate of them; revile them not all the days of their lives; kindness to a parent will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt of your sins - a house raised in justice to you.”

Christmas Homily, 2009

Merry Christmas!  May everyone you love be filled with Christmas joy.  

On that first night we call “O Holy Night,” something happened that altered the human race.  In some very mysterious way God took on humanity.  God, the undivided, incomprehensible and inexpressible One, mingled with proud, petulant, passionate humanity.  God enclosed this mix of divinity and humanity in one small body, the body of a baby.  Mysteriously, the all too human mingled with the divine and was not vaporized by this union.

    Now, as a result of this birth of God made man, being human is forever altered, for those who believe in Him.  

How is being human altered by this blend of the human with the divine?

    Aside from the well-known benefits of this human and divine fusion, namely the forgiveness of our sins and the opening of the gates of heaven, there are three gifts that God gives to those who believe in the Incarnation: grace; the meaningfulness of suffering, and the close presence of God.

    One gift is grace.  God reveals to us in Jesus the relationship we have with Him that we call grace.  When we are in the state of sanctifying grace we are in a habitual, stable friendship with God, and we have a supernatural disposition to live with God and to act by His love.  God is never far from our thoughts.  God is very real and this gift of grace keeps us desiring ever closer union with God.

    We can indeed harm this state of grace by sin, but the relationship is so strong that sooner or later we desire to be made right with God and can do that so easily in the sacrament of penance.  “The Son of Man did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it.”  No wonder this saving grace is called amazing grace.

    A second gift is the meaningfulness of suffering.  If God can lie down in a cattle trough, can humiliation be so terrible?  If this newborn King of the Jews can be crucified for the very same title, can we not re-examine how we deal with the pain of being human, and with suffering caused by injustice?  

    Oh, this savior that has been born to us indeed saves of us from seeing the difficult parts of being human as absurdities.  He saves us from meaninglessness, and from despair in the face of extreme suffering.  Yes, this babe in the manger shows us that all suffering is redemptive.  He grows up to be the absolutely innocent one who takes on our torments so that we will never again have to face life as a farce, so that we need never become cynical and scornful of the precious gift of being human.

    And lastly, the third gift: this Word that was made flesh, the Incarnate Word of God, gives us human beings unparalleled access to God.  This close presence of God, especially in the Eucharist, but also in our payer and in our reading of His Word, means that we are never alone.  We have no need to be lonely, confused, deserted, abandoned - if we but have faith in the truth revealed to us this night.

    If a peasant girl can become the Mother of God, is any life safe from the invasion of the eternal? 

      

[Inspiration and phrases came from “A Christmas Prayer” by Ian Oliver, pastor of University Church, Yale University]

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent - 12/20/09

Today’s readings show us the Scriptural basis for one of the mysteries of the rosary.  So I’d like to thread my homily through our praying this mystery, the second joyful mystery, the Visitation.  

    First the context: this Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth takes place right after the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announced the invitation by God for Mary to become the virgin mother of the Christ, the Son of God.  The Incarnation relied on this 14 year old virgin’s willingness to accede to what seemed to be the impossible will of God. After Mary gave her response, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me as you say,” she proceeded in haste to visit Elizabeth who was now 6 months pregnant with John the Baptist.

    Mary’s willingness to accept the mysterious, impossible will of God is reflected in our second reading’s emphasis on doing the will of God, “Behold, I come to do your will, O God.”  This is also captured in the prayer our Savior gave us, "Thy will be done"; so let us begin by praying the Our Father.  I’ll say the first half of these prayers, you say the second half.  Our Father . . .

    It was a 4 day journey from Nazareth to where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived.  Who did she go with?  What does it mean that she proceeded in haste? Did she have her parents’ permission?  Did anyone go with her?  Hail Mary 1 . . .

    Why did she go to see Elizabeth?  Was it care for an elderly cousin who would need the help Mary could offer her in the last months of her pregnancy and during the birth of John?  Or was it also that she wanted to share with Elizabeth the awesome events that had taken place with her most mysterious way of conceiving a child?  Surely Elizabeth would find her story believable!  Hail Mary 2 . . .

    Imagine being Elizabeth, hearing the greeting of Mary as she entered the house.  How would she have known that “the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  Perhaps another message from Gabriel?  But imagine the joy of being visited by the mother of my Lord! Hail Mary 3 . . .

Imagine Elizabeth’s feeling John’s leap in her womb, John who was still 3 months away from being born.  And imagine the experience she had of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and knowing it!  Hail Mary 4 . . .

    Trust.  That was the virtue of both of these women.  Trust in God who could indeed do what He promises to do, even if it seems impossible.  Hail Mary 5 . . .

    What am I asked by the Lord to do that seems impossible?  Keeping my vows?  Loving and honoring a spouse all the days of my life?  Raising a child and loving a child when the child becomes seemingly unlovable?  Keeping the faith, when all around me it seems that falling away is easier to do?  Hail Mary 6 . . .

    Yes, the Lord does indeed sometimes ask “the impossible” of us, like sobriety for those who are addicted.  Or, chastity for those who are beleaguered with temptation.  Hail Mary 7 . . .

    “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  Do I believe the promise of the Lord? That “this is the will of my Father, that I should nothing of what He has given me.”  That he will search for me, and for my loved ones, like the good shepherd going in search of his lost sheep.  Hail Mary 8 . . .

    “Lord, let us see your face and we shall be saved.”  This Friday Lord we celebrate your birth.  Give us through the intercession of Mary your mother that we too in some mystical way may look upon your face and be saved.  Hail Mary 9 . . .

    O Mary, intercede for us and ask Your Divine Son that He may give us the grace of yearning to see His face, the grace of final perseverance, the grace of being with you in heaven.  Hail Mary 10

    And now, O God, teach us through this mystery of the Visitation that we need never be afraid, and following the example of Mary and Elizabeth, we can place all of our trust in You.  Glory to the Father . . .

 

Extreme Prejudice

I don’t get it.  Some of my parishioners tell me that in the local public schools can teach about Hanukah.  It's not only permissible but expected.  They also teach about Kwanza.  But there can be no mention of Christmas at all.  Why?

 

I agree with teaching kids about the wonderful story of Hanukah and the relatively new story of Kwanza.  But why is it forbidden to mention the word “Christmas”?   Why is it OK to tell of gift giving at Hanukah but it is forbidden to tell of gift giving at Christmas?

 

This is extreme prejudice.  If the reasoning is to draw a line between religion and our school systems, then why is the Jewish story part of the curriculum?

 

I suggest that everyone who has kids in public school invite their children to ask their teachers why they can’t talk about Christmas but they can talk about Hanukah. 

 

This prejudice is so pervasive that it has taken over Starbucks.  Here’s a little vignette from one of my parishioners, Jill:

 

The kids and I just stopped into a Starbucks in our town, Longmont, to pick up some coffee beans. I noted a sign on the door which read "Christmas Blend $5 off today only." I don't normally buy those beans.....but it was a great deal, more than 40% off! So, I asked the young man at the counter to tell me how the Christmas blend was different than my usual bean and his pitch was good enough that I said, "Ok, I'll try it!" When I reached for a bag of "Christmas blend" all that was left in the closest basket was decaf. Yet, in this giant festive basket near the counter there were tons of "Holiday Blend" bags. I kind of pouted and told the young man at the counter, "I guess your out." He leaned over and whispered, "No we're not really.....Holiday and Christmas blend are the same thing! One is just in a politically correct package." I told him, "Well, I want the Christmas Blend!" His response was to laugh and say...."You and everyone else!" Sadly, I went home with a Holiday Blend bag as there was truly not one bag of Christmas Blend coffee beans left in the store.