God's Timing

Fourth Sunday of Lent–Second Scrutiny

    Why did it take so long?  A person might ask this question under any set of circumstances.  Maybe a person asks this question when he or she finally finds the right person to marry.  Maybe a person asks this question after discovering how to put behind harmful habits or patterns of behavior.  Maybe a person asks this after a particularly long train finally clears the railroad crossing.  Maybe it’s a seminarian after 8 or 10 years of seminary on the eve of his ordination to the priesthood.
    This question came to mind when reflecting on the healing of the man born blind, which we heard today in the Gospel.  We don’t know exactly how old the man was.  But he was old enough to give testimony to the Pharisees, which likely means that he was probably at least in adolescence.  But his parents were still alive, so he wasn’t exceedingly old.  For argument’s sake, let’s say he was around 20 or 25 years old.  So, why did it take 20 to 25 years for God to heal him?  Jesus said, “it is so that the works of God may be made visible through him.”  
    When we think about how things should go, we do so with our own vantage point and our own assumptions of how reality should be.  We can be like Samuel who presumes that God’s reasoning will be like ours.  But as the choice of King David showed, and as God Himself told Samuel, He does not see things the same ways we do.  Samuel thought that the best looking son should be king.  But God saw David’s heart, how devoted David was to God, and so chose the least-likely son of Jesse to be king.
    If you were to ask a seminarian, he would probably gladly eliminate a year, or two, or six from seminary formation, which can be academically rigorous and often pushes a man beyond what he thinks he can do.  But, of course, in the eight to ten long years of formation, the seminarian learns very important theology and how to best serve the people of God,  as well as how to celebrate the sacraments.  If you would have asked me in my second of eight years of seminary, I probably would have said I was ready enough to become a priest.  But I learned a lot about God, the Church, pastoral guidance, and how to be a good priest in the six years that followed.  Not every part of seminary was enjoyable, and sometimes not everything was even useful, but it helped form me into the priest I am today.
    It seems odd to think that it was not better for God to heal the man born blind earlier.  But who knows how receptive the man would have been to believe in Jesus later if God had healed the blind man earlier.  But because the healing happened at that point, not only did the blind man come to believe in Jesus, but it also helped the disciples to believe that Jesus is God.  
    Sometimes we might wonder about God’s timing.  We might think that something should have happened earlier, or that a different result should have happened.  And maybe in our mind our reasoning even makes sense.  But God sometimes sees things differently than we do.  And while it may seem cruel at times, God’s ways are always for our salvation and holiness and are made out of love.  God cannot do otherwise than act out of love, because God is love.  Anything else would be a contradiction of God’s nature.  
    Admittedly, this takes great trust and faith.  Because God is infinite and we are finite, we only get glimpses into His will, permissive or directive.  But when we trust in the love of God and His plan, we can accept timing that doesn’t make sense to us.  Sometimes the good is simply the growth in virtue that can only come through struggle.  A child often thinks that a parent is cruel when the child has to eat vegetables instead of ice cream.  But it’s not cruel, but rather helps the child eat food that will help it develop healthily.  We are God’s children, and our loving Father sometime wants us to develop differently than we want to develop.  Sometimes we would rather not grow in virtue, but God wants us to grow in virtue.  So we are allowed to go through crucibles which help us, by God’s grace, to grow in virtue and further our trust in God.
    My dear elect: as we celebrate the second scrutiny, you might have asked yourself on this or other occasions why God allowed you to wait until now to discover the truth and become a child of God and open your pathway to heaven.  I wish I could give you each a detailed answer, but what I can say is that, in Divine Providence, now was the perfect time so that the works of God might be made visible through you.  You see, when a person is baptized, especially adults, the faith of other Catholics is reinvigorated.  And perhaps other non-Catholics might decide to investigate becoming Catholic more because they see you becoming Catholic.  Who knows?  Maybe someone here needed your witness, your desire for baptism, to bolster his or her own faith.  If you would have come to faith earlier, perhaps that person would have lost out on what he or she needed.  But only God knows that.  We can only trust that, for you, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation, as St. Paul says.

Bl. Solanus Casey

    There’s nothing wrong with wondering, ‘Why now?  Why not earlier?  Why not later?’  But, on this side of eternity, we will never know exactly why.  Still, today God invites us to trust in His loving will, His Divine Providence.  After we ask this question, our response should be, “God, I may never know why you chose to allow things to happen as you did.  But I praise you, God, for your will and how it moves me closer to the end you desire for me: eternal happiness in heaven.”  To quote Bl. Solanus Casey, “Blessed be God in all his designs.” 

You're So Vain

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
    When it comes to ironic songs, certainly one of the top ten is “You’re So Vain,” by Carly Simon.  She spends an entire song talking about a particular person, only to repeat in the refrain time and time again, “You’re so vain / You probably think this song is about you.”  While Carly has revealed to a select few whom the song was written about, there is still widespread speculation about the person who’s so vain.
    When it comes to the virtue of humility, if you think the readings are about you and how to grow in humility, they probably are.  In the end, we all need to grow in the virtue of humility.  Pride is the one sin that we probably will all need to work on until we die, though maybe we have others as well.  
    And, ironically, the virtue of humility helps us to realize that life is not, in the end, about us.  Pride seeks to replace God with our own ego, our own self.  St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us that the original sin consisted of pride: “man’s first sin consisted in coveting some spiritual good above his measure: and this pertains to pride.”  We know the story about the serpent testing Eve, and convincing her that if she ate of the fruit, she would be like God, which enticed her to disobey God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Adam followed suit, probably with Eve telling Adam exactly what the serpent told him.  
    Pride can be so insidious because we do have legitimate personal needs upon which we should focus.  It’s legitimate to focus on our need for food and drink; clothing; housing; friendship.  Yet we can twist all those things so that our desire for them becomes inordinate as we convince ourselves that, because of how important we are, we only eat and drink the best.  Or because of our status we cannot shop for clothing at regular stores, but have to only wear Banana Republic or Burberry.  Or if we don’t have a big enough house, the neighbors won’t recognize how well we’re doing.  Or that everyone should like me because, well, what’s not to like?  
    Humility consists, the Angelic Doctor says, in tempering and restraining the mind from focusing on high things immoderately against right reason.  It does not seek after honors or things beyond the greatness to which God calls us as His children.  It allows God to be God, rather than trying to take His place and control all things according to our desires.  

St. Benedict 

    St. Benedict, the great Patriarch of Western Monasticism and founded of the Benedictine Order, lists twelve degrees of humility.  Don’t worry, there’s not a test on memorizing them, but they will be available at my blog, which has all my homilies, and which you can access at the parish website.
    The twelve degrees are, in descending order: “that a man fear God and bear all his commandments in mind”; “by not following one’s own will”; regulating one’s will according to the judgement of a superior; not begin deterred from good actions because of difficulties and hardships; acknowledging one’s own shortcomings; “deeming oneself incapable of great things”; putting others before oneself; “that in one’s work one should not depart from the ordinary way”; not being in a hurry to speak; not overly laughing or being too cheerful; not being “immoderate in speech”; and “restraining haughty [or arrogant] looks.  Again, it might be good to go back to this homily, or simply do a Google search for St. Benedict and the Twelve Degrees of Humility to help us in examining our conscience.  Honestly, as I read through that list, I could probably check off mostly all of them as ways that I need to grow in humility.
    The great thing is that humility allows God to exalt us in a more perfect way.  If we really desire to be great, then we need to serve greatly and humble ourselves, because, as our Lord tells us, “every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  And to be clear, Jesus is not telling us to act humble so that God can exalt us, but truly to be humble.

Bl. Solanus Casey

    We see this in the lives of the saints.  First and foremost, in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who sought after no special privileges, but became the Mother of God.  Or St. André Bessette, who was a simple porter, or doorman, at a religious house in Quebec, but became knows as the Miracle Man of Montreal.  Or our own Bl. Solanus Casey, who was only ordained a priest simplex, meaning he could not preach or hear confessions, but whose fame because widespread across the US for the miracles worked through his intercession, even while alive.  None of these sought after fame or miraculous powers, but simply sought to be the person God wanted them to be, and because of that focus on God and doing His will, God elevated them.
    I can tell you that if you don’t think you need to grow in humility, then this homily is about you.  And if you know you need to grow in humility, then you at least recognize the insidious nature of pride.  Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. André Bessette, and Bl. Solanus Casey, may be put God first in our lives and work for His exaltation, rather than our own.  In all things, may God be glorified!

Thanksgiving for Faith, Hope, and Charity

Resumed Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  This week our nation takes a break to celebrate Thanksgiving: a day of food, family, and football (and the Lions might even win this year!).  So how fitting is it that St. Paul, in the epistle today, begins with thanksgiving for the people of Thessaloniki.  According to one Scripture scholar, St. Paul gives thanks in all but four of his epistles: his second epistle to the Corinthians; his first epistle to St. Timothy; his epistle to St. Titus; and his epistle to the Galatians.  In particular, in this first epistle to the Thessalonians, St. Paul gives thanks for their “work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope.”  In other words, St. Paul expresses gratitude for the three theological virtues active in their lives: faith, hope, and charity. 

    If Bishop Boyea, a successor of the Apostles himself, were to write a letter about us, what would that letter say?  What virtues would he praise in us that he has seen at work?  What would he have to say about our faith, our hope, and our charity?
    When it comes to faith, we can use the word ambivalently.  We sometimes mean the articles in which we should believe and we sometimes mean our trust in God.  In today’s epistle, St. Paul seems to highlight the former, as he talks about the people’s conversion away “from idols to serve the living and true God.”  And that aspect of faith is important.  Do we believe what God has revealed as true?  Not too long ago we took the Disciple Maker Index, and I have to say that our answers from the questions on beliefs of the Church were quite high.  So that’s good.  But one of the areas that we discovered we need to work at is sharing that faith that we hold so strongly with others. 
    Because our beliefs, the revelation of truth and happiness from the God who made us, is not only for our own benefit, and then we hide it under a bushel basket (to use a Gospel metaphor).  If we truly have charity, the love of God for others, then we want others to know the truth and happiness that we have found in following Christ and making His life our own.  The Gospel is not our possession to be buried in a field until the master’s return (to use another Gospel metaphor).  We are called to invest it and help it to multiply so that the Master receives a return on what He gave to us.
    The other aspect of faith is harder to quantify, but is no less important.  Do we trust in God?  And do we trust, not only when things are going well, but when they do not go the way we want them to?  Bl. Solanus Casey comes to mind in this regard.  He would say, “Thank God ahead of time.”  We can only do that if we trust in what God will give us to or allow us to experience. 

Bl. Solanus Casey

    I have been working on this with the replacement of our boiler.  We ordered our new boiler towards the end of May, and were told it could take 26 weeks of lead time, due to supply chain and employee issues.  I had hoped back then that we would get it before it got cold.  That, obviously, did not happen.  But, as the cold weather started to approach in October, I asked our Blessed Mother to watch over us and intercede for us to get our boiler sooner, or at least to keep our church at a temperature that we could still occupy it.  I tried to thank God ahead of time for taking care of us.  And I have not been disappointed; well, not totally.  I certainly wish we had our new boiler already.  But, as cold as it has gotten at night, our building has not dropped thus far below 57 degrees.  And we have had some nice, sunny 60 degree days interspersed which have also helped.  I choose to believe that our Blessed Mother has been keeping the church warm, despite cold outside temperatures.  I choose to have faith, even faith as small as a mustard seed, that everything will be alright, and our church, while not a toasty temperature, will stay warm enough where we can stay here until we get our new boiler.
    Very much connected to that trust is hope.  St. Paul describes hope as the confidence in receiving that which is, as yet, not seen.  Hope helps us to persevere towards the fulfillment of Christ’s promises to us, though we do not experience them in their fullness right now.  Heaven and the fullness of new life in Christ is our ultimate hope.  Hope helps us to keep going, even though it seems like heaven and the life Christ desires for us is so far away, or even when what Christ promises seems impossible.  Living the virtue of hope especially helps us when somethings or everything seems to be working against what we desire.
    Many bemoan the state of the Church these days.  Many have wandered away from the Church to do what they consider worship on their couches in front of a screen; or to attend ecclesial communities whose music is more adapted to their secular tastes; or simply to stop living according to the teachings of Christ altogether because they seem so antiquated.  We have had our own struggles with the Extraordinary Form restrictions, though, for the most part, we have not had to endure many restrictions outside of the sacrament of Confirmation.  Even within those who profess to be Catholic, many are confused or sow confusion and try to change teachings that cannot be changed.  So the Church seems attacked from without and even from within.  But in the midst of all of this, we keep our eyes on Christ and his promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, nor will death and sin have the final say, because Christ has already conquered sin and death.  Hope gives us the ability to cling to Christ throughout whatever storms arise, knowing that if we stay with Him and His Church, we will arrive in safe harbors at the appointed time.
    Lastly, charity.  When many hear the word charity, they think of going beyond the norm to give to someone in need.  But the theological virtue of charity animates us to love with the love of God, at least as close as we can on this side of heaven.  Charity, a specific form of love, helps us to give God our best out of devotion to Him, and to care for those for whom God cares, especially the poor, widows, and orphans.  The love which is charity draws us out from ourselves and wills the good of the other.  We love because God first loved us.  And God’s love for us didn’t come because we deserved it, but as a generous gift to those who were totally unworthy of love. 
    And that love was sealed with the sacrifice of Christ, which is re-presented for us today in an unbloody manner in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Charity, the love of God, means sacrificing ourselves for the other, just as Christ sacrificed Himself for us.  And the more we share in the fruit of that sacrificial love, the more we share in the result of that sacrificial love, which is the resurrection and pure joy with God in heaven.  Love, especially sacrificial love, doesn’t always feel good, but it always brings about good, because when we love others we are sharing God, and God is Goodness itself, just as He is Love itself. 
    There are many ways that we can sacrifice for the other.  This can be in our own families, and letting them get their way rather than our own (as long as it is not harmful for them).  It can be in the work we do for the poor and the needy, especially as holidays approach.  I think we’re all paying more for just about everything.  For those who don’t have more to spend because of unemployment or underemployment, can we help them to still have a good Thanksgiving or a good Christmas by our generosity?  I say generosity, but it’s really just good stewardship, because every good thing is a gift from God, and we’re merely passing on those gifts that God has shared with us.
    Today I give thanks for you, my beloved children in Christ.  I am truly blessed and humbled to be your pastor.  Throughout my time here I have been inspired by your faith, by your hope, and by your love.  We are not done in growing in these virtues, but we have a good foundation in Christ for our future.  May God continue to inspire your “work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,” who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign for ever and ever.  Amen.  

Humblebrag?

Sexagesima

St. Paul from his basilica in Rome

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  It seems, at first glance, like St. Paul might be doing what we call today a humble brag.  He spends more than half of today’s epistle talking about all the things he could claim fame to.  He starts by sharing the things he could brag about: his heritage, his nation, his connection to Abraham.  Clearly, other ministers in Corinth had been claiming some sort of prestige because they were Jewish.  But St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that his bonafides are no less than any others, and probably greater than many others.  He then continues by talking about all the ways that he has suffered for the Gospel: receiving lashes, beatings, being shipwrecked, in danger almost everywhere he goes, whether on land or sea, getting threatened by Jews, threatened by Gentiles, being betrayed, not having enough food, drink, or proper clothing.  He then continues talking about “someone he knows” who had visions of the third heaven (today we might say: A friend of mine has this thing).  And he ends up by speaking about a thorn in his flesh, which he had asked the Lord three times to eliminate.
    So is St. Paul trying to direct pity and sympathy towards himself?  Not at all.  The Apostle was combatting those who were trying to modify the Gospel according to their own vision, and basing their ability to change the Gospel on their heritage.  So Paul, in essence, is saying, “You think they’re qualified?!  If pedigree is the issue, mine is better, so listen to me!”  And his list of sufferings is then further proof of why the Corinthians should listen to Paul, because he has laid everything on the line for the Gospel and endured much suffering.  And yes, sometimes people get special gifts, special charisms or visions of things about which we cannot even speak.  Probably, Paul was such a person, as he definitely had a special vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, and perhaps at another time, as well.
    But Paul doesn’t put much stock into those.  Rather, he glories in his weakness, so that what matters is not Paul but the power of Christ within Paul.  It is, as St. John the Baptist says, “He [Christ] must increase; I must decrease.”  Whatever helps the Gospel be spread, that is what is most important.
    Part of spreading the seed of the Gospel is trying to make sure that the soil is ready.  We prepare the soil by our witnessing by word and by deed, and doing so in a way that meets that person where he or she is at, so that we can draw him or her to Christ.  Sometimes people need to see a degree or some sort of formal qualifications.  Other times people need to know that you have gone through similar life experiences in order to trust our proclamation of the Gospel.  Other times people need to hear about specific encounters with God.  So as we proclaim the Gospel, we’ll want to get to know what will help that specific person, and tailor the methods we use to the way that they will be receive the Gospel.  It is, as St. Thomas Aquinas said, that what is received is received according to the mode of the receiver.

Harrison Butker

    There is also an important demonstration from St. Paul when it comes to showing the power of the Gospel is not our own power.  We tend to get really excited when a famous person converts.  There was a lot of hay made when Shia Lebouf spoke about his conversion, and how the Extraordinary Form helped him connect with God in a way that the Ordinary Form did not.  Mark Wahlburg often posts messages about how important his faith is, and he spoke about playing Fr. Stu and how that impacted his own faith.  I have recently been intrigued by the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Harrison Butker, who is a Catholic and attends the Extraordinary Form Mass, and talks about being a disciple first, a husband and father second, and a football player last, but doing all these things with the greatest effort he can.  So praise God for famous people who live the faith.
    But there’s also something to the small people living the faith, the people who aren’t famous, who don’t have everything going for them, or who struggle to make it through week-by-week, but who stay with God and find in Him the pearl of great price.  I think the non-famous people draw us because, when something great happens, we realize that it’s not that person’s natural gifts, but the power and grace of God made manifest.  St. John Vianney, St. Andre Bessette, and Bl. Solanus Casey are perfect examples of this.  From a worldly point of view, they didn’t have much going for them.  And yet, each in their own way, they drew others, often in droves, to Christ.  And the power of Christ was made manifest through their weakness. 
    That should give us hope, because I am not famous, nor are many of you.  As far as I know, none of us are the richest people in Flint, or the most powerful or well-connected.  We each have struggles that we deal with each day and each week.  But in our weakness, God manifests His power.  And those others who are not famous, not rich, not powerful or well-connected can then know that the Gospel is for them, too; that God cares about those who don’t have it all together. 
    We have a lot for which we should give thanks to God.  We have a beautiful church; we have a beautiful Mass; we have a beautiful community here which is committed to the Catholic faith and strives to live that faith out each day as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters, employers, employees, retirees, etc.  Some have had amazing experiences of God through prayers and retreats.  Others experience God in the every-day happenings of life.  Each of us have our own temptations.  But through it all, God desires that we glorify Him in our greatness and weakness, in our joys and sorrows so that others can experience His saving Word, truth, and grace.  God’s great power is made perfect in our smallness.  Let us glory in being small parts of the great work of salvation of God: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

"Thank God Ahead of Time"

 Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Bl. Solanus Casey

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  “Thank God ahead of time!”  This was a phrase that I had heard Bl. Solanus Casey used in counseling others.  When I looked it up on the Internet, just to make sure I was getting it correct, I found a story that accompanied the phrase from the Capuchins Vocations Director.  Bl. Solanus said this phrase to the parents of a sixteen-month-old girl, Elizabeth, who was dying of leukemia.  I don’t know what I would think or say if a priest, no matter how holy he was supposed to be, told me, as I presented my dying one-year-old, to him.  And yet, the girl got better once she got home, with no trace of leukemia.
    Thank God ahead of time.  It’s easy to thank God when we get something we want.  I would dare say that most of us are probably the type of people who, when we get something we want, say thank you, especially to God.  It’s a lesson we learn with others, too, from a young age: when someone gives us something, we say thank you.  The Samaritan leper in today’s Gospel certainly was grateful and returned to Jesus to express that gratitude.
    But can we thank God ahead of time, when we don’t know what will happen, or when we don’t get what we want?  That is much harder.  This Friday is my birthday, but my best friend is working, so we had made plans to spend Wednesday afternoon together.  I had it all planned out (as we planners tend to do): he’d come to Mass, then we’d grab a bite to eat, then watch a minor league baseball game.  A fun time.  Then, two Fridays ago, my friend told me that he had been unexpectedly scheduled to work on Wednesday, and wouldn’t be free until 5 or 6.  Thanking God was not on my mind or in my heart.
    That afternoon is really not all that important.  There are certainly things much more grave and important than having a good time with a friend to celebrate a birthday.  But I still found it hard to thank God, because I felt like something had been taken away from me that I deserved.  
    Perhaps that’s what makes thanking God so hard when it’s not what we want: we feel we deserve better, or are being cheated.  And when that’s the case, there’s very little room in our hearts for gratitude.  That mentality can still be present when we get what we want: we deserve this blessing; we earned this good thing that God allowed for us.  Perhaps that’s what the other nine lepers were thinking: I put my faith in Jesus, I have confidence that He can heal me, so when I am healed, it’s exactly as I planned.  When we receive good things from God, things we want, that mentality may even creep into our minds: I go to Mass every Sunday (maybe even some weekdays); I donate time, talent, and treasure to the Church; I pray my daily devotions and my rosary; I deserve good things from God.
    Contrast that mentality with the mentality of another saint, St. Thomas More.  He wrote these words to his daughter Margaret from his cell in the Tower of London, and, soon after writing this, witnessed to the faith by his death:
 

Although I know well, Margaret, that because of my past wickedness I deserve to be abandoned by God, I cannot but trust in his merciful goodness.  His grace has strengthened me until now and made me content to lose goods, land, and life as well, rather than to swear against my conscience. […] And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world.  Nothing can come but what God wills.  And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.

Here was a man who was falsely imprisoned, who had lost material stability, as well as personal access to his family, and was facing death, and yet he could say that whatever God wills is for the best.  This was not a man who thought he deserved anything, except for abandonment by God because of past sins.  And yet, he could stay faithful to God and thank Him for whatever occurred.

St. Thomas More

    I’m clearly not a model of this virtue, and no saint.  But I suppose that what helps me is to try to abandon the belief that I am owed anything by God, other than His love, and even love cannot, we could say, be owed; it must be freely given or not be love.  Yet God does love us, and He does give us many blessings, but also allows certain difficulties.  But anything that God even allows, somehow is meant to work for our good, the good of our salvation.  And if it is for our good, then perhaps we can, even begrudgingly, thank God for it, even ahead of time.
    Saying thank you to God usually happens after something happens to us, usually for the better.  But, in order to grow in this virtue of gratitude, in order to embrace thanking God ahead of time, we should start the practice each day, as part of our morning offering or morning prayers and devotions, to thank God for whatever will happen to us during that upcoming day.  Even the simple phrase, “Thank you God for whatever will happen today” can put us in the mindset that whatever happens, “however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best,” as St. Thomas More said.  Or perhaps you can make as your own the phrase of our beloved Michigan saint, Bl. Solanus Casey: “Thank God ahead of time!”: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

A Catholic View of Work

 Second Sunday after Easter

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Today we are celebrating two important people: St. Joseph the Worker, and our First Communicants.  First, I'll speak about St. Joseph.

St. Joseph's Workshop in Nazareth

    Holy Mother Church chose today, 1 May, to celebrate St. Joseph as a way to combat and convert celebrations that celebrated work in a communist mentality.  Pope Pius XII established the feast in 1955.  While we are not communists (at least I hope no one here is!), in many ways our understanding of work is still not fully in line with the Scriptures.  Many think of work as the thing to avoid at all costs, to get away from as much as possible.  We even may look back at Genesis and see that God cursed Adam and Eve and told them that only by their toil would the fruits of the earth come forth.  But in Christ, our understanding of work developed, no longer as a curse, but as a way that we can grow in holiness.  Christ was not subject to sin, and yet He still chose to work as a carpenter with His foster-father, St. Joseph.  He redeemed work as He accomplished it.  And so for us, work is no longer simply a drudgery, something to be avoided as a curse, but as a way that we grow in holiness, following the pattern of our Redeemer.  

    This may still seem counter-intuitive.  And may ring empty from a priest who just got back from a vacation.  But, we see that God has given each of us gifts, and our Lord tells us that we are to use our talents to progress society, as He tells us in the parable of the talents.  It is to the lazy servant that Christ has the harshest words.  You have gifts and talents that I don't, that are meant to build up society and help it to grow to be more like the City of God.  When we don't use those gifts and talents, society suffers.  We see that, not only from our unemployment numbers, but from how our society suffers when we don't band together to make it better.  

    But it even affects our salvation.  When we use our gifts and talents, we are giving glory to God who has given us those gifts, and letting our light shine before others.  When we don't use those gifts, we are hiding them under the bushel basket.  We are not to brag about our gifts, but we are to use our gifts, recognizing that, without God we cannot do anything.  At the same time, rather than looking in jealousy or envy towards others, we should see that they, too, have a part to play in building up society with their gifts, just as we do with ours.  Both they and we are necessary for the building up the world, whether we feel like our job is glamourous or is menial.  All work has dignity, and is a means of becoming a saint.  In fact, some of our more popular recent saints had very menial work, and yet are celebrated more.  St. Theresa of Calcutta worked with the poorest of the poor, taking those society had rejected, those who were often treated like trash and smelled worse than trash, and embracing them with the love of Christ.  Or think about our own Michigan saint, Bl. Solanus Casey.  He was ordained a priest simplex, not given all of the faculties that other priests had.  He was a porter at St. Bonaventure, opening the door for and greeting people.  And yet how many pilgrims flock to his site and seek his intercession!  I think this is a beautiful way that God elevates the humble and shows their importance, even while so many "important" priests and bishops and lay-faithful are not counted among the saints and blesseds.  They may have exercised jobs that the world considered more important on earth, but an earthly perspective doesn't count for much, if anything after death.  

    Indeed, St. Joseph was a nobody in his own day!  He toiled without making much money, but had the important role as protector of the Holy Family.  While he was one of the most unknown among his contemporaries, he is numbered among the greatest of the saints, after the Blessed Mother.

    My dear first communicants, St. Joseph is also a perfect model for you today as you receive our Lord for the first time in Holy Communion.  St. Joseph was obedient to the will of God in caring for Christ during the time before He started His public ministry.  He cared for our Lord, making sure that He was safe, and felt the love that a child should from parents.  Like St. Joseph, Christ will be coming to you in a miraculous way.  Holy Communion is nothing other than a miracle, the greatest miracle we have.  God changes ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ so that Christ can enter the home of our heart and live there.  

    You, like St. Joseph, are able to welcome Christ into your home today.  Our Lord will be even closer to you than He was to St. Joseph.  Your "job" as it were, is to welcome Jesus into you, and live a life that shows that you want Him to continue to be a part of who you are.  No one else will know, except God, how well you do that, just as no one really appreciated all that St. Joseph did while he was alive.  But the better job you do at making Christ feel at home within you, the more you can look forward to an eternal home in heaven with St. Joseph many decades from now.

    I encourage you to never stop loving our Lord, especially in the Eucharist.  Never lose the joy that you have today at being able to receive the Lord.  And when you fall into sin, let that gift of Holy Communion push you towards the Sacrament of Penance, which we often call confession, so that you can, by the grace of God, clean your house of anything that makes our Lord not feel like a welcomed guest.  It is so easy to treat Holy Communion like something that is a habit, something you do every Sunday just because it's what we do.  But Holy Communion is the greatest gift God can give to you, greater than any present you could ever receive.  

    After you have received Holy Communion and returned to your pew, make sure you thank God for the gift that you just received in the Eucharist.  I imagine St. Joseph, before he went to bed each night, thanked God for another day that he was able to spend with Jesus.  Each time you receive Holy Communion, thank God that you were, once more, able to receive the same Jesus for whom St. Joseph cared.  In that way, you will live like St. Joseph, and receive the same reward he received for always caring for our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live for ever in heaven.  Amen.