Doing All Things Well

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  As a perfectionist, I would likely love to hear people say about me: “He has done all things well.”  Generally speaking, I think I try to do all things well.  
    Of course, as far as I know, I haven’t been able to make the deaf hear and the mute speak, which is why the crowds praised the Lord.  But did the Lord doing things well because of the physical miracle that He worked?  Or could we see something deeper in the reality that He did things well?
    At the end of the day, what the Lord did well entailed following God’s will.  Yes, this happened in the macro scale, of proclaiming the Gospel and going towards the offering of His life for our salvation.  St. Paul references this in the epistle as he gives the heart of the kerygma.  The Apostle reminds us that Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and then appeared to the Apostles and many disciples, and lastly to St. Paul himself.
    But it also happened in the day-to-day moments, like the one in the Gospel today with the healing.  The first thing to note is that Christ was not in Jewish territory.  He was in the Decapolis, which was pagan territory.  Yes, He was passing through, but the will of God led Him to foreign lands, not just Jewish territory.  And this pagan land the crowds brought Him the deaf and mute man, no doubt having heard about some of the wonders that Christ had done.
    Following God’s will also included being very earthy.  It wasn’t as if the Savior simply said, as He did other times, “I do will it,” and then heal the malady.  In accord with the will of God Christ puts His fingers into the man’s ears, spits, touches the man’s tongue, groans, and says “Ephpheta,” which means “be opened.”  If you had to go me putting my fingers in your ears, spitting, and touching your tongue for Extreme Unction, it probably would be even rarer than it is used today.  But that’s what God wanted our Lord to do (and, to be clear, I don’t do that for Extreme Unction).  Beyond the actual touch, it concerned the day-to-day aspects of life, not a sanitized ideal of life that doesn’t connect to the world in which we live.
    So for us, doing all things well means simply following God’s will, not just in the overarching themes of our lives, but in the day-to-day realities of our lives.  On the one hand, we should be seeking God’s will for our major decisions.  Does God want me to be a priest, a religious sister, or married?  Does God want me to study for this diocese or that, or should I join this religious order or the other one, or should I marry this person or that one?  How do I make a gift of my life to the Lord who has given me everything?
    On the other hand, God’s will often manifests itself in quotidian ways.  Does God want me to stay up late the night before Mass and spend that time with friends?  How will that affect my ability to pray and concentrate during Mass?  Which way do I take for my drive to work?  How do I greet the first co-worker I see?  When my child asks to play after I get home from work and am exhausted, can I give what little I have left, or would it be better to take a little break so that I don’t snap out of fatigue?  

    Those are all ways that we can open ourselves to God’s will and do things well.  And that’s the way we become a saint.  I think we can often feel like being a saint happen simply by choosing the right vocation, or by doing something great for God.  But what did St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, teach us?  What makes a difference is not so much doing great things, but doing little things with great love.  When we make even our small choices based upon a great love for doing what God wants, we do things well, and allow God to perfect us by His grace.  Certainly, we still need to make sure that we are seeking God’s will through prayer and counsel as we discern to what vocation God calls us.  But it can be so easy to write God off in those smaller moments of the day, and He wants to be involved in our life in those ways, too.
    So this week, think of ways that you can open yourself to the will of God.  Do you pray each day that God make His will clear to you?  When you pray the Our Father, perhaps really slow down at the phrase, “Thy will be done.”  We can, like Christ, do things well when we allow God to work through us, even when it doesn’t come naturally to us or we’re put in situations that seem a bit foreign.  May others see the grace of God at work in our lives, and observe that we have done all things well.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

Right Place, Right Time

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time–Second Scrutiny

    As many of you know, Buffalo Trace Distillery is one of my favorite places to visit in the US.  Two different times I have been there at what I would call “just the right time.”  The first time I was visiting around 11 a.m. just to see what Buffalo Trace had for the day.  I had found all the special bourbon that I wanted, along with a few other bar accessories, and was in the check-out line, when someone mentioned that they had just put out a very special bottle of bourbon.  I was allowed to leave the line to get said bottle, which was an experimental bourbon Buffalo Trace released, and which I have never seen anywhere else.  A second time, on our Basilicas and Bourbon Pilgrimage, after our tour I went back to the gift shop, though I had already visited it earlier before our tour to pick up any of the special bottles I sought.  Sure enough, they had just put out another very special bottle of bourbon called the Single Oak Project.  Twice I was in the right place at the right time to score a special bottle of bourbon to add to my collection.
    In our Gospel, the man born blind also finds himself in the right place at the right time.  There’s no evidence he sought out Jesus, but Jesus and the disciples walk past him, and ask whether the blindness served as a punishment for the man’s sins or the sins of his parents.  But Jesus uses the opportunity to heal the man, in a very earthy way.  

Statue of David in Jerusalem

    In a similar way, David never sought to be king.  In fact, Samuel, one of God’s great prophets, thought that David’s other brothers would be good kings.  But God did not choose the greatest king of Israel based upon appearance.  And so David, who did not seek the position of king, ends up receiving the rule of the land of Israel.
    Skyler, I imagine if I would have known you and asked you ten years ago if you had any desire to join the Catholic Church, you would have said no.  But God sought you out and, with the help of others, piqued your interest in the Catholic Church, which has brought you to today and your upcoming baptism.  Through new connections with others, you were in the right place at the right time to hear God’s call that He makes to every person: to join the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.  
    And it is this relationship with Jesus that will help you see the world more clearly.  We all have blind spots in our lives, things that we don’t notice, or sometimes even that we choose not to see because admitting that we see could be painful and necessitate change, which always seems difficult.  Our world often proposes that happiness comes from having power over others, having large amounts of money, and ever-increasing varieties of physical pleasure.  But Christ shows us that true happiness comes from laying down our life for another, being poor in spirit so that we recognize our dependence on God, and that while physical pleasure like the taste of a good meal or good bourbon, or the embrace of a loved one, is good, it cannot be the goal of our life, because we are made for more than just what this world provides.
    And while this transition can feel difficult, which is why we have a ritual before you are baptized to pray over you and ask God to strengthen you to leave behind in you all that is fallen, we do gain true liberation and joy from living more and more for God each day.  And as you open yourself up to God more and more, you find that you are in the right place at the right time, and actually become yourself a conduit of God’s grace and action, just as others helped draw you in, Skyler, to the Catholic faith.
    Today is also special for Xavier, who will be making his First Holy Communion today.  Xavier, you are also in the right place at the right time, as the anniversary of your baptism is just in a few days, and we remember your baptism as you carried the candle in procession with us.  Today, Xavier, you get to receive Jesus into you in a very special way, in a way closer than you’ll ever be to Jesus until you make it to heaven.  Jesus loves you so much that He doesn’t want anything to keep you from being united to Him, and He wants to strengthen you with spiritual food that will continue to help you choose Jesus and do what He would do. 
    And while I’m sure there are days where you wish you could be an adult and do all the cool things that adults get to do, today Skyler, a young adult, is actually wishing she could be you, because you will receive the Eucharist today and Skyler will have to wait two more weeks until she is baptized and gets to receive Holy Communion for the first time.  
    But God has called both of you, Skyler and Xavier, and all of us, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to allow Him to put us into perfect place at the perfect time.  Sometimes it benefits us, like the man born blind.  Sometime it also benefits others, like when God chose David to be king.  But may we all seek docility to the will of God to allow us to glorify God in every circumstance.

Distinction without Jealousy

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  One of the great gifts of the human mind is the ability to distinguish one thing from another.  We (generally speaking) see different colors, different shapes, different textures, etc.  Our senses give us distinctions in sounds or tastes or smells.  And we find some shapes, colors, smells, tastes, etc., more appealing than others.  
    But with this great gift comes a certain danger: the desire to have what others have.  We see something we like, and we notice that we don’t have it, and we want it, either simply to have, or perhaps even that the other person be deprived of that good.  We see this all the time with kids: two children have their own toys, but for whatever reason, one child wants the toy that the other has, and perhaps the other doesn’t want to share right away.  Or maybe you find yourself getting the same toy for both children simply to try to avoid that conflict in the first place.
    We call this desire for some other good (or perhaps other person) jealousy when it exists by itself, and envy when we seek to deprive another of that good so that we can have it.  It includes a certain pride or presumption that we know best what we should have or if another should have it.  
    Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting to have a certain excellence.  In the earthly realm, we might see a bigger house and think how nice it would be to have more rooms for all the children.  Or we might work hard to make sure that we can afford, along with the basic necessities of life and basic charitable given, some fun things or some vacation time.  
    But, we tend not to stop at simply things that we can strive to achieve for the betterment of our lives but move on to things that we don’t really need.  I think this can especially be a challenge for a couple of generations of young adults who have grown up with great wealth from their financially very successful parents and grandparents.  Using my own family as an example, we grew up with a nice house, always getting pretty much any food that we wanted, having an RV of some sort for the camping trips we would take many weekends in the summer, and occasional trips to other States.  And yet, one of my parents grew up in a one-income families, with one car, and my mom’s family took one main vacation per year, and that was driving down to Texas in a station wagon without air conditioning for a week to see my grandfather’s family while the GM plant was being retooled for the next production year.  But if I would have started on my own rather than going to seminary, I can see how I would have wanted exactly what my parents had as adults, rather than what they experienced as children.  As a very affluent society, we should remember that we often have more than we need, and it may take some time as young couple start out to have all the niceties that they remember from their own childhoods.

    But it can also happen spiritually.  And St. Paul in the epistle reminds us that there are many gifts.  That same observation of differences can lead one to become jealous or even envious of other’s spiritual gifts.  We notice virtues that others demonstrate, or maybe even some special spiritual gifts like healing, or maybe spiritual insight, or they’re family looks pious all the time, and we get jealous because we work hard at that virtue but never seem to make progress.  Or we don’t have any special gifts that we can tell that are demonstrated with others.  Or our family doesn’t simply walk quietly into the pew and kneel down to pray.  And yes, it can be good to work towards virtue and try to help our family recognize the special nature of a church building and appropriate behavior in it, but we shouldn’t be jealous of what others have spiritually.  And, for the record, sometimes kids, any kids, are just rambunctious.  I’d rather have a lot of kids with the noise they bring than no kids and pristine silence.  We’re happy to have your children here, even if sometimes you feel like they’re a distraction.
    Others preach better than I, or better administrate parishes than I, or envision new possibilities more creatively than I.  But those are their gifts, not mine.  I do the best I can with what God has given me and use those gifts, whatever they are, for His glory and the building up of the Church.  God doesn’t want me to focus on others’ gifts, except to praise Him for giving those gifts to those He decided needed those gifts for the building up of the Church.  God wants me to praise Him for the gifts I have, in whatever measure, and use them as best as I can to build up the Church.  Perhaps someone else looks at me and admires what God is doing through my gifts, just as I look at others and admire what God is doing through their gifts.  But the key is not to become jealous or envious.  

    St. Augustine wrote, “I tell you again and again, my brethren, that in the Lord’s garden are to be found not only the roses of his martyrs.  In it there are also the lilies of the virgins, the ivy of wedded couples, and the violets of widows.  On no account may any class of people despair, thinking that God has not called them.”  God calls each of us to a beauty in His kingdom which compliments each other.  We distinguish different types of beauty, but each beautiful thing adds to the overall beauty that God desires.
    So while we notice differences as part and parcel of being human, do not let the notice of others lead you towards jealousy or envy.  Rather, recognize what great things God is doing in both them and you, each with your own gifts, to build up His kingdom.  Where He lives and reigns, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.  Amen.  

Looking for Love at a Well

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time–First Scrutiny

    While our elect are not old enough to have seen this movie, or maybe even heard of it (and, to be honest, I wasn’t even born when it came out), one of the top movies in 1980 was “Urban Cowboy,” starring John Travolta and Debra Winger.  IMDB gives the following synopsis: “Bud Davis is a country boy who moves to the city to visit his uncle and his family. He starts hanging out at Gilley's, the popular nightclub owned by Mickey Gilley himself. He takes a job at the oil refinery where his uncle works, hoping to save enough money to buy some land. He also meets a cowgirl named Sissy, they dance together and fall in love. When a bull-riding contest at Gilley's is announced, Bud decides to sign up. Can he win the contest?”  And one of the hit songs from that hit movie, which has continued its popularity through the past 45 years is “Looking For Love,” most famously sung by Johnny Lee.
    The first verse and refrain say, “Well, I spent a lifetime lookin’ for you, / Single bars and good time lovers were never true. / Playin’ a fool’s game, hopin’ to win, / And tellin’ those sweet lies and losin’ again. // I was lookin’ for love in all the wrong places / Lookin’ for love in too many faces / Searchin’ their eyes / Lookin’ for traces of what I’m dreaming of. / Hoping to find a friend and a lover / I’ll bless the day I discover another heart / Lookin’ for love.”  
    The Gospel passage of the Samaritan woman at the well is precisely the story of a woman looking for love in all the wrong places.  She has had five husbands, and the man she’s with now is not her husband.  But in her encounter with Jesus, she finally finds true love, a love that doesn’t give her a lesson in leavin’, to quote another country song.
    Raegan, you, and Skyler, who will be baptized with you, have been searching not for an earthly love, though you both have also found that, but for a love that is not of this world.  God created you in love and has sustained you in love since your conception.  He has wanted to be in a deep and loving relationship with you which you began as you were welcomed into the Order of Catechumens some months ago.  And now God prepares you for the culmination of your preparation, and the beginning of a new life as His adopted child through Holy Baptism, which you will receive in a few short weeks.  

    Like with the Samaritan woman, this has been a dialogue between you and Jesus.  Over these next two weeks as we celebrate the scrutinies, the Lord will invite you to put behind you all the false lovers of your past who have not given you true happiness, or the distractions which have kept you from the deep trust that the Lord desires for all His children.  I will ask, after the homily, the Holy Spirit to put away from you all that is fallen, so that you can be truly prepared for the indwelling of God and His grace that will happen at your baptism.
    And once you are baptized, you will have a spring of living water welling up inside you, a source of continuing grace that is meant to refresh and strengthen you, just as water refreshes and strengthens us, especially in the heat of the day, when the rays of temptation oppress us the most.  But unlike a well, to which we have to return again and again, this water will truly be inside you (though the waters of baptism will be poured on your head on the outside) so that all you will need to do is go to you inner room, where Christ is, to deepen you communion with Him.  
    While the day of your baptism is a big day, and certainly a cause of celebration, baptism continues day after day, so you are not just pledging yourself to God for a day, but for a lifetime.  Jesus changed the Samaritan woman’s entire life, and Jesus wants to change your entire life, taking away from you all that is fallen, and increasing your joys and walking with you in the midst of sorrows so that you do not carry those burdens alone.  
    And like the Samaritan woman, your responsibility given to you with this great gift of new life in Christ through baptism, will be to tell and show others just what God has done for you so that they, too, can believe.  Your new life, lived for Christ each day, will speak to others about the importance of the spring of water welling up inside you, and the importance of doing your best to abandon those distractions and false lovers who promise you true joy but can only deliver momentary pleasure.  
    And we, your parish, are happy to walk with you, not only through these scrutinies and in your baptism, but also in the weeks, months, and years ahead where we will also help each other to abandon our false lovers, the sins that we turn to when we turn away from God.  Just as your witness rejuvenates us, so we hope that our witness will help strengthen you as we all walk towards the springs of eternal life in heaven.  May God strengthen you through your holy resolve, and help you to find love in all the right places.  

Verso l'alto! The Exercise of the Gospel

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
    An object at rest stays at rest.  This is Newton’s first law of motion.  And it’s not only true for things.  It’s true for people.  A resting person doesn’t like to have to get active if at all possible.  A few years ago I saw an ad for a belt that you put around your abs with little electrodes that shock you.  The idea is that the electrodes would simulate exercise, and would strengthen your abs so you can get that six-pack look, rather than the pony keg that is all too common.  Or I recently saw a reel that said if you just do this stretch for 30 days in a row, you will lose that beer belly that is so hard to shrink.  I think if we spent as much time actually working on getting fitter as we do finding lazy ways to get fitter, we might actually see some changes.
    But the struggle is real.  Real change doesn’t happen on accident or without effort.  And our readings today remind us of that fact.  It would be nice if following Jesus meant everything goes well for you.  But we all know that isn’t the case.  In fact, the more we follow God, the harder some things seem to become.
    Take Jeremiah in our first reading.  God gave Jeremiah some tough messages to deliver.  Jeremiah told the people they needed to abandon their false gods and their injustice, or else the temple would be destroyed and they would be exiled.  What does Jeremiah get for this?  He’s thrown into a mostly-dry well, but with mud at the bottom, so he starts sinking in.  They do pull him out, but then Jeremiah is put under house arrest, until all that he says comes true.  And even after all that he prophesies happens, the people still don’t listen to Jeremiah.
    And in our Gospel, Jesus says that following Him will not always cause rainbows and lollipops.  Families will divide over following Christ.  Elsewhere He promises that those who follow Him will have to take up their cross each day, which meant real and humiliating suffering for the Gospel.  Following Jesus will not always be easy because it means putting to death all that is fallen in us, and all that is fallen in us doesn’t want to die; it fights for its existence.
    This does not mean we can go picking fights with family, nor that we should blithely say difficult things that people don’t want to hear.  Our focus should be on following God, no matter what the costs, and let the consequences fall where they will.  Our goal is to do what God wants in all circumstances.  
    And that takes perseverance.  The Letter to the Hebrews talks about continuing to run the race.  Our race is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.  Or, to use the popular phrase from the Disney movie, “Finding Nemo,” “Just keep swimming.”
    But we’re not in this alone.  Christ never calls us to something without giving us the grace to get through it.  The Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation give us an indelible mark, which not only claims us for God, but gives us a stream of graces every day so that we can believe in God (Baptism) and share the Gospel (Confirmation).  Likewise, receiving the Eucharist in a state of grace each Sunday is so important because it is our spiritual nourishment which gives us the spiritual nutrition we need to run the race well.  It’s like the Elven lembas bread from Lord of the Rings that provides super substantial strength to keep going.  That is one reason why the Church has a precept that you have to go to Mass every Sunday and Holyday under pain of mortal sin, unless your sick or more than 30 minutes away from a church: we cannot follow Christ as He wants without the Eucharist.  To absent ourselves from Mass means that we spiritually starve ourselves.
    And, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, we also have the saints to encourage us onward, the “great…cloud of witnesses,” that show us what it means to persevere in the faith even in the midst of struggles.  In a few weeks, Pope Leo will canonize Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was a young man and a Third Order Dominican who lived the Beatitudes in a real way in the early 20th century.  While from a rich family, he dedicated his life to serving the poor in Turin, Italy, where he grew up.  He ended up dying of polio at the age of 24.  His parents expected many noble people of Turin to come to help them mourn their son, but they were shocked when they saw the streets lined with thousands of mourners who were the poor that he had served on the streets, a service he did not trumpet to his family.

Bl. Pier Griogio Frassati

    Bl. Pier Giorgio especially had two phrases that are memorable, though one is longer and I had to look up to get it exactly right.  The first and easiest to remember is: “Verso l’alto!” or “To the heights!”  Bl. Pier Giorgio was a mountain climber, no easy task, but he encouraged everyone to climb to heaven by engaging their faith, not just letting it be a passive part of their lives.  The second is a bit longer, but also inspiring: “To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living but existing.”  
    Just like when it comes to exercising our bodies, many find it easier just to veg on the couch and hope that they will get fitter through new inventions and the least amount of work as possible.  But that is not living, that is just existing.  God has given us faith, has given us a patrimony to defend, has asked us to struggle steadily for the truth.  That is the life God calls us to live, a heroic life, a life lived to the heights, verso l’alto.  God grant that we may engage, even through the struggle is real, and not just remain at rest because it’s easy.  Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us!! 

Tempting

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost-Commemoration of St. Lawrence

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  St. Theresa of Calcutta, aka Mother Theresa, famously once said, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.  I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”  Given that this is also the feast of St. Lawrence, who is commemorated today, this seems fitting as both this comment and St. Lawrence’s famous quote while being burned alive on a grill (“Turn me over, I’m done on this side,”) can elicit a chuckle.
    But when we’re in the midst of temptations, it doesn’t seem so funny.  And today’s words from St. Paul, that God does not test us beyond our strength, may not seems funny or may seem discouraging.  Temptations, which, by the way, are not sins in themselves, can sometimes seem overwhelming that clamor for our attention like a petulant child.  It’s one thing when it’s just that draw to say something about another and we catch ourselves before we actually say anything.  It’s another when that temptation just seems to take all our attention and won’t let us go.  
    There are different approaches to try to fight temptation.  Many saints of course will recommend turning to prayer when you are being tempted.  And for some people and for some temptations that can work really well.  Pious phrases like, “Jesus, deliver me!” can help us focus away from that which tempts us and calls upon divine assistance to open us up to the grace that will keep us from giving in to that temptation and committing a sin.
    For some people and some temptations, prayer doesn’t seem to work as well.  I think this can certainly be true with sins of the flesh.  Many people when facing a sexual temptation find it difficult to focus on anything else, even just being able to say a quick prayer.  St. Francis of Assisi famously jumped naked into a rose bush to fight temptation (though some say it was to fight discouragement, not sexual sins), and that rose bush no longer has thorns.
    But no matter what the temptation and how we fight it, it may seem odd that we even have to undergo temptation.  I mean, isn’t original sin washed away in Holy Baptism?  So why, to paraphrase St. Paul, do we not do the good we want to do, and we do the evil that we don’t want to do?  Why would a loving God allow us to have to choose between Him and sin more than just once in our life?
    While Holy Baptism does wash away original sin, that original disobedience that was passed down to us from Adam and Eve from their choice against God, we are still left with concupiscence, or a disordered affection for that which is contrary to God.  Concupiscence is not a sin in itself, but is the fomes peccati, or the tinder or fuel for sin (and the dating app Tinder is often a fuel for sin).  
    But concupiscence is part and parcel of a system where we have free will.  Our proper use of free will allows us to choose the good.  But baked within that free will is the ability to use free will poorly and choose the bad.  But we can’t love without free will, which is the main desire of God: that we love Him and grow in our relationship with Him so that He can configure us more and more to Himself.  God does not want us to fall to sin, but He also loves us enough to allow us to exist in a system that allows us to love Him, but also allows us not to love Him.

Church of Dominus Flevit, where Christ wept over Jerusalem

    And as we look to the Gospel, as we look to Christ weeping over the city of Jerusalem, we see Him weeping over the misuse of that free will.  The Chosen People had been prepared as best as God could to welcome the Messiah who was not simply a human leader of the Jews but the very Son of God Himself.  While He worked many miracles to back up His claim that He was God, many, in the end, would not accept that revelation, which would lead to the very destruction of the Holy City itself.  
    And we are more important even than the City of David.  Yet God demonstrates His love for us time and time again, just like He revealed His divinity.  In the midst of our temptations God never abandons us or leaves us to temptation.  In fact, the Church teaches us that God always gives us sufficient grace, the grace we need to respond to His will and avoid all mortal sin.  But we do have to accept that grace.  Grace never forces itself upon another.
    Part of our response should be to avoid what we often call the near occasion of sin.  If we know that we are tempted in certain circumstances, we should do our best, whenever possible, to avoid those circumstances.  It should be no surprise that when an alcoholic goes to a bar, he or she is more likely to have a drink.  The alcoholic can’t really complain that temptation is so hard to fight when he or she goes to a place where the temptation is readily present.  Or, if a young man and a young woman who are dating go into a bedroom when no one else is home and sit on the bed, it’s not so surprising if they end up giving into grave sexual sins because they put themselves in a near occasion of sin.  They not only have the kindling for the fire of sin, they brought a butane lighter and poured lighter fuel on the kindling.  
    With other sins like judgement, we cannot always avoid other people who tend to upset us or make us want to judge them, but do we have the foresight to pray before we get into that situation, or maybe even just finger the beads of the rosary that we keep in our pocket to help us remember to whom we belong and what He wants for us to thrive spiritually.
    In order for us to love God as He wants us to love Him and in return for His love for God, God does trust us to choose the good in a situation where good and bad are two different options for us.  God does trust us to choose Him even when sometimes we find that very difficult.  May we lean into the grace of God that helps us to fight temptation and avoid sin, and so come to enjoy the bliss that St. Theresa won by her charity to the poor and St. Lawrence won by the shedding of His blood for Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign for ever and ever.  Amen. 

How We Name God

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Growing up my name has progressed a bit.  I was born and baptized Anthony John.  But very early on my family called me Tony, the natural nickname for Anthony.  However, in kindergarten there was another Tony in my class.  And so, rather than going by Tony L. (my classmate) and Tony S., I decided to switch to TJ, Tony John.  That name stuck all throughout elementary and middle school, until I went to Lansing Catholic High School.  Sometime 27 years ago, as I tried out for the soccer team, the coach asked my name.  I said TJ, but then said, “actually it’s Anthony, but everyone calls me TJ.”  The coach must have heard Anthony clearly enough and J clearly enough, but did not catch TJ.  So he started to call me AJ.  And since I wanted to make the team, and didn’t think correcting a coach would help, I went by AJ.  That worked until I applied to seminary.  I introduced myself to Bishop Mengeling (God rest his soul) as AJ.  He asked me, “What does the A stand for?”  I answered, “Anthony.”  He said, “That’s a great name!  You should use it!”  And, as I didn’t want to disagree with the bishop, I started going by Anthony starting my senior year of high school, continuing to the present (though I know a number of you feel more comfortable with calling me Fr. Strouse, which is fine).  Back before cell phones, I could always tell from which period in my short life a person came based on who they asked for on the phone: Tony; TJ; AJ; or Anthony.  And, for the record, I don’t go by Fr. Tony, Fr. TJ, or Fr. AJ.
    How do we address God?  This might seem like an odd question for a homily at Mass, but the way that we address a person, be it a human or Divine Person, says something about our relationship with that person.  As we consider how we address God, it, too, changed through the centuries.  For the longest time during the ages of the Patriarchs, God was simply the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God chose to be known as the God of a particular family, whom God had called to leave modern-day Iraq to the Promised Land (even though they were enslaved in Egypt for some 400 years).  
 

  It was not until the burning bush, when Moses asked the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob how He was to be called, did God reveal Himself with His more personal name: “I AM WHO AM,” or, even more simply, “I AM.”  This Sacred Name God reveals, but then it is never to be used, and, in Hebrew, even though there was a word for it, the Jews would always say, “Adonai,” which means Lord.  Only the High Priest on Yom Kippur while in the Holy of Holies could utter that sacred name of God to which Adonai referred.
    Of course, there were other terms for God in the Old Testament, too: Elohim, which means simply “God”; El Shaddai, which means, “God Almighty”; Immanuel, which means “God with us”; El Elyon, which means “God Most High”; Adonai sabaoth, which means, “God of hosts” (and in the Sanctus we keep that title, not even translating sabaoth).  But in the end, God’s Sacred Name was not said, and He was simply referred to as Adonai or Lord (and in the Bible, when you see Lord in small caps, that is the way of saying that this word Lord refers to the Sacred Name of God).
    But then Christ in the New Testament gives us a new way to address God: Abba.  No, not the 1970s band with such hits as “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia,” and “Fernando,” but the Aramaic word which is probably best translated as “Daddy,” or a very familiar word for father.  St. Paul reminds us that, through baptism, we have become adopted sons and daughters in the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we can call on God as Abba.  But this was radical.  In John 5:18, the Evangelist writes, “For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill [Jesus], because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father.”  
    It is one thing to address God as simply God, or Almighty, or Most High, or God of Hosts.  And maybe even we soften it a little with Immanuel, God with us.  But to call God Abba was to acknowledge a very close, personal, even intimate relationship with God that the Savior had by nature and we share by adoption.  It’s the difference between having a dad in the military and calling him Major or calling him Daddy.  The first is for those he commands; the second is for those he loves.  
    This might seem even more strange as we use a foreign language, Latin, to address God.  And in the English translations of this Mass, and even in the English translations of the Missal of Pope St. John Paul II, we use very formal language to address God: “Bestow upon us, O Lord, we beseech Thee….”  I don’t go to Chick-Fil-A and say, “Bestow upon me, O server, the three-piece chicken strip meal, I beseech thee.”  If I did, I might end up in a padded room.  We use very formal language for God in the Mass.
    Though, this is probably a good time to say that not everything in the Mass is so formal.  When we hear Thee and Thy, we tend to think formal.  However, in English, Thee and Thy are actually more informal than you and your.  We get this from the Dutch/Flemish who say, “je” or “jouw” when speaking informally, while “u” and “ur” are used for formal speech.
    But this just goes to show how both are proper and necessary in our prayer.  If we only treat God as a far off King, for whom we are servants, than we are missing out on the familial relationship into which God brought us through Holy Baptism.  And this is especially true in our personal prayer when we should fling our arms around our loving Father with the confidence and ease of a a child with its father.  However, if we only treat God as a close family member then we are missing out on the fact that He is also utterly transcendent, His ways are not always our ways, and we are not His equals.  A way of expressing this would be to say, “My father, the king.”  He is both family and ruler, familiar and otherly.
    We probably each have different ways that we address God based upon our personality, or maybe even simply the season of life in which we find ourselves.  But may we always remember both that God is our King and Lord of the Angelic Army who will vanquish evil without a struggle, but also, through Holy Baptism, our Father who loves us and gives us every good gift that we need through our Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.  Amen.   

True Devotion to God, Not Money

 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    When I think about those who are greedy for money, the first two images that come to mind are Disney characters: Scrooge McDuck and the Disney version of Prince John from Robin Hood.  I can see in my mind’s eye cartoons with Scrooge diving into his supply of gold coins in his vault or Prince John wrapping a bag of gold around his arm while he sucks his thumb and sleeps.  I think this is a bit ironic, as I feel like you now have to take a second mortgage out on your house if you wish to visit Disney World with you kids.  
    Clearly, if our readings are saying anything today, they’re saying don’t make money a god.  Ecclesiastes reminds us that whatever we work for we have to leave behind, and this is a vanity.  The Gospel talks about making sure we’re not greedy, like the parable of the man who builds bigger places to store all his wealth, only to lose it by his own surprise death.  And even the epistle from St. Paul, which does not always connect to the first reading and Gospel, tells us to set our minds on the things above, heavenly things, rather than those of earth.  
    And so, one could easily think that God says not to worry about money.  And in one sense, that would be right.  But, all of us have basic needs we need to care for, like food, drink, clothing, housing, and healthcare, and all of those (more or less) require money.  And it’s one think if you decide to ignore your own needs, but if you are married and have children, your family may depend on you to earn income so that they also have food, drink, clothing, housing, and healthcare.  So it seems like you have to worry about money.  But the readings tell us not to.  So do we just ignore these readings because they’re difficult?  Or do we stop work and run off to a monastery or convent (the word nunnery could also be used) and never worry about money again?

St. Francis de Sales

    Money does easily tend towards dominating our thoughts and affections, but it is not in itself bad.  Those who live in the world need to exercise wisdom in how they earn and spend money, and this is actually part of how they live their vocation to be saints.  St. Francis de Sales helps us understand this in his great work, Introduction to the Devout Life:
 

When God the Creator made all things, he commanded the plants to bring forth fruit each according to its own kind; he has likewise commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one in accord with his character, his station and his calling….
Tell me, please, my Philothea, whether it is proper for a bishop to want to lead a solitary life like a Carthusian; or for married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing their income; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like a religious.… Is not this sort of devotion ridiculous, unorganised and intolerable? Yet this absurd error occurs very frequently, but in no way does true devotion, my Philothea, destroy anything at all. On the contrary, it perfects and fulfills all things. In fact if it ever works against, or is inimical to, anyone’s legitimate station and calling, then it is very definitely false devotion.

Holiness comes according to our vocation and our avocation, and avoiding the duties and responsibilities of our own vocation so that we try to be like those living in another vocation is, as St. Francis de Sales says, “false devotion.”
    So, then, what does that mean for you and me?  How do I guard against greed but also work enough to support my family?  Am I allowed to better my family’s life and circumstances, or should I only have the basics?
    Those are each questions that only you can answer in the particular, but with certain principles the Church has to guide you.  First of all, do you own your money or does your money own you?  If you’re not sure, how much time do you spend thinking about money and possessions?  Sometimes I see my spending habits and realize that I need to pull back so that my expenses don’t exceed my income.  That’s virtuous.  But sometimes I might think that if I just had a million dollars I could be truly happy.  That’s greed and idolatry.  
    Can one take nice vacations to tropical places?  Sure, as long as you are meeting the basic requirements of taking care of your family and giving back to God some of what He has given to you.  While we don’t necessarily use the 10% rule (and, truth be told, Catholics on average give less than 1% of their income to the Church), how much is spent on unnecessary niceties, and how much is spent on charity, including the Church, the poor, other charitable organizations, etc.?  If we’re stingy with how much we give the Church, but liberal with what we spend on ourselves or our own creature comforts, then maybe we do need to re-prioritize.  
    A great way to keep money in perspective is to remember that we cannot take it with us.  As the author of Ecclesiastes, by tradition King Solomon, reminded us, we can work as hard as we want for all the money in the world, but we can’t take our money with us.  When we see it as a means of helping us be saints, then we are probably keeping it in the right perspective.  May no one look at us and think of Scrooge McDuck or Prince John, but may they recognize our stewardship of what God has allowed us to enjoy, no matter how much or how little.

Flirting with Death

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

A trail at Zion National Park

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  In my visits to National Parks, which are a great treasure of our country, there have been some, like Zion National Park, where you can hike up high mountains and use trails that seemingly climb to the heavens.  Now, when I say trails, I don’t mean nice, paved, even trails.  These are usually parts of a mountain, sometimes with rudimentary railings, but often not, with sharp drop-offs if one were to lose his or her balance.  Some more adventurous folk like to get right to the edge.  As for me, I try to stay as far away from the edge as possible, because I definitely have a fear of losing my balance and falling to my death.
    While I, and many others who have a fear of heights, may not enjoy the idea of flirting with death by falling off a path, how many others enjoy flirting with the death that comes from sin.  St. Paul says it clearly enough: “The wages of sin is death.”  And even if the English grammar doesn’t hit our ears quite right (wages, though it sounds plural, is a singular idea, and so yields a verb in the singular), the message is clear enough: do you want to die?  Then sin!  Sin is like floating one foot over the edge of the gorge with nothing to hang on to in case you fall.  

    It can be hard to take sin so seriously, especially with such ready access to the Sacrament of Penance at this parish.  If I sin, then I go to confession.  And that is a good rule to follow.  We rightly focus on the mercy of God, because God, through Christ, has revealed the Father’s great love for us, a love which never wants us to be separated from Him, and a love which will be wasteful in mercy and look foolish just to reconcile us to Him.  
    But while not giving sin more power than God’s mercy and grace, we do also need to recognize the horror of sin.  And, our appreciation for the mercy of God increases with our appreciation of just what we deserve when we sin.  If I don’t think that sin makes all that big of a difference, then God’s mercy also doesn’t mean as much.  But if I know that the wages of sin is death, that I deserve death every time I sin, then when I do confess my sins and when God reconciles me to Himself through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, I recognize just what an amazing thing God has done.
    If we forget just how awfully sin takes a toll, then we need only look at a crucifix.  And, if we really want to understand crucifixion, then a Spanish crucifix is probably the best, as they are the most gruesome depictions of the death of Christ, rather than the very placid depictions we are used to seeing in bronze, silver, or gold.  Think of the excruciating (literally, from the Latin, from the cross) pain of having nails hammered into your hands and feet.  No matter where exactly the nails would have entered, they would have hurt.  Think of the struggle just to breathe, which is the way most died from crucifixion, as your lungs slowly filled with fluid and you struggled just to take a quick breath, all the while your body seeking any way to stay alive, but without any way to do so.  Add to that the shame of being totally naked before all, and we begin to get the idea of how terrible undergoing crucifixion was.  
    That, the crucifixion, was the wages the of sin.  No just sin up to the time of Christ.  Not just sin at the time of Christ.  But all sin, from all time, nailed to the cross and carried upon the shoulders of the spotless Lamb of God.  That was the price for our salvation.
    But the Apostle doesn’t end with “the wages of sin is death.”  He continues: “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Death does not get the last say, though we deserve it.  We don’t have to fear falling off the side of a steep cliff.  God remains vigilant, ready to grab us and pull us back to safety if we but call upon His Name.  Earlier in this epistle, St. Paul reminds us that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.  God’s mercy and grace are infinitely more powerful than our sins.  It’s as much a competition as my legos trying to fight me.  
    But it’s still good to keep in our mind that sin yields death.  Because the Church teaches us that if a person were to die in a state of mortal sin, we do not know how that person could go to heaven.  When we choose separation from God who is the source of life, we choose separation from eternal life.  It’s not that God sends us anywhere, as much as we choose by our actions if we want death or if we want life.  God will lovingly take us back if we desire, but if we don’t, God loves us enough to respect our misuse of free will, because true love never forces itself on another.  
    Yes, God is merciful.  If we ask for God’s mercy then He will grant it to us.  But if we choose sin, then we choose death.  And if we choose death, no matter how attractive it looks at the time, we will get death, eternal death.  Do not presume that just because we can say, “Lord, Lord,” we will go to heaven.  But do not despair of God’s mercy, as long as you seek to do the will of God the Father, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen.   

Job, Not Karen

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
    There is a stereotype of a person who, when not getting the answer he or she wants, especially at a business, starts arguing to get his or her way, especially asking to see the manager.  Unfortunately for those with this name, this type of person has been called a Karen.  A Karen is going to get her way, no matter how long she has to talk to the person or the manager.  And sincere apologies to all those named Karen here, who, I am sure, are wonderful people.
    Perhaps this is the image that comes to mind when we hear the second part of today’s Gospel, where Jesus talks about a friend who needs three loaves of bread, and won’t stop asking until the friend, who has already gone to bed, gives him what he wants.  In other words, if I just go all Karen on God, He will give me whatever I want.  But is that really what our Lord is saying?  Does God want us to be so convinced that we’re right that we refuse to give up any ground when it comes to something that we want?

St. John Henry Newman

    I think we need to look at the nature of prayer as we begin to answer that question.  What is prayer?  St. John Henry Newman describes prayer as “Cor ad cor loquitur–Heart speaking to heart.”  Prayer is the speaking, and listening, to the God who created us out of love, sustains us in love, and works for our salvation in love.  Prayer lifts our hearts and our minds to God, entrusting not only our needs but also our desires to Him, but then also paying attention to God’s response by making room for Him and the ways He communicates in our lives.  
    God calls us to have a childlike trust in Him.  And we know that experience of a child who does not worry that mom and dad will provide what the child needs.  But perhaps, as we hear childlike, we turn it more into childish, like the spoiled three-year-old who won’t stop crying and screaming unless it gets the candy bar it wants from the checkout lane at Meijer’s, the younger version of a Karen.
    We could be forgiven for hearing both the first reading and the middle part of the Gospel and thinking that God wants us to ask for what we want until we get it.  After all, Abraham keeps bartering with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until God seems to relent and promises not to destroy it if He can find only ten good people in the cities.  And certainly, God does want to teach us about persistence in prayer and not giving up on what we truly desire and what we think we truly need, even if we don’t get it immediately.
    But God is not a salesman nor a manager that we can wear down until He gives us what we want.  God is our loving Father.  And while sometimes He does allow us to keep asking until the time is right to give us what we desire, we also have to make sure that our desires are in accord with God’s will.  God will not give us something that we don’t need, or something that is actually harmful for my salvation, no matter how adamantly or persistently I ask for it.  And some people lose faith when they do not get what they want; they feel that God has not answered their prayers.
    We might understand this if a person asks God to win the lottery, or for some material good.  We understand how God doesn’t give us everything we want if what we want doesn’t fit a need.  But we find it more difficult to understand when our request in prayer seems more noble and asks for something we perceive as a great good.  I’m thinking in particular of the many different scenarios when a loved one is unexpectedly in a hospital: it may be a grandparent, parent, friend, or even a child.  We pray for God to heal our loved one, and we don’t understand why God wouldn’t heal that person.  Certainly a person’s life, maybe even a very good person, a faithful and devoted Catholic, has more worth than money or material possessions.  How could a loving God not answer that prayer?  And if we don’t get healing immediately, then certainly God would grant our prayer if we are persistent.  After all, He’s the one who said, “‘ask and you will receive.’”  
    But I have been in too many situations, and known too many people who have gone through situations, where the loved one dies.  And where is God in that?  Why didn’t He answer my prayers, or the prayers of tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who were asking for a good thing?  
    This is where we have to return to heart speaking to heart, of the lover and the beloved in conversation.  At the end of the day, we don’t know why God answers some prayers in the way we want, sometimes of people who are not so good, and God answers the prayers in the way we don’t want, even though we strive to be good disciples and faithful Catholics.  We don’t always know the mind of God.  
    In those moments, we can certainly pour out our hearts and tell God that we are upset that our loved one didn’t make it, or that we didn’t get some spiritual good that we wanted.  There is nothing wrong with telling God that His answer, which sometimes is no, doesn’t seem to make sense with what we know of a loving Father who gives His children good gifts.  But we also follow the example of Job who, upon losing everything–property, his children, and even his own health–said, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Job loved God, and could trust in God’s plan, even when it didn’t make sense to him.  Job hadn’t even heard the response of God yet, though he was listening, but could trust that God had a plan where that loss made sense in the divine economy.
    The message of the readings today is not to annoy God until He acquiesces to our requests.  The message of the readings is to be persistent, but to also know that God always answers our prayers, even if we don’t get what we want.  He wants us to bring our needs and our wants to Him, and He promises to do what will work out best for salvation history, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.  That only comes as an act of faith.  And the act of faith only makes sense for one who loves us deeply, and one whom we love as deeply as we can.  When it comes to prayer, God does not ask us to be a Karen, but a Job.