Staying Connected

Fifth Sunday of Easter

    As a child, we had one telephone in the kitchen, and a cordless telephone in my parents’ room.  The kitchen phone hung on the wall, and had the super-long cord, which was great because you could take it into the living room, but then you also, every so often, had to dangle it from the second story railing so that it could untangle.  This will come as a shock to some of the younger people here, but when people called you, you didn’t know who was calling until they identified themselves.  And if you were on the phone, no one else could call you, unless you had a second line (which we didn’t). 
    Back then, the best way to connect with people, of any age, was to actually see them, whether at school, or at the mall, or by going over to their house.  You would meet up and talk with each other, in person, and learn what was going on in their life.  As a kid, you might play together outside, or explore woods around the house, or just eat a snack together.  You might even spend the night, like times at grandpa and grandma’s house, which usually meant amazing food and maybe even a fishing trip or watching grandpa work on something in the shed.
    With the assistance of today’s technology, we can, as we say, connect with each other in ways we couldn’t before.  We can send pictures of ourselves (appropriately) to others, or maybe post a picture of what we’re eating for dinner.  We can send someone a quick text to check in, unless it’s very serious, and then we might actually call someone (but, again, only if it’s serious).  If it’s really sentimental you might FaceTime, or maybe even do a Zoom meeting to see what the other person is doing.
    And yet, with all that technology, with all our capabilities to “stay in touch” with each other, young people are more disconnected today than before, with many who are very active on social media saying that they feel lonely, though they have the opportunity to see what others are doing 24/7.  So as much as we think we’re connected to everyone, perhaps we’re not as connected as we think.
    Jesus tells us today in the Gospel that if we want to have life, we have to be connected to Him.  This doesn’t mean that Jesus is our Facebook friend (a person we just keep in a list of contacts that reminds us of his birthdays and shows us pictures of Him); or that we ‘gram with Jesus (take pictures of holy stuff and stuff we think he would like); or that we follow His short sayings on X (formerly known as Twitter).  In order to be connected to Him we have to develop a real relationship with Him, which means spending time with Him and getting to know Him personally, not just through a platform.  There are no shortcuts to having a relationship with Jesus, and it doesn’t come through social media.  We cannot substitute time anything else for time with Jesus.
    Of course, this means that we have to make sure and create time for Jesus, because our lives are filled with so many things.  We have responsibilities at home and responsibilities at work.  We wake up, get ready for school or work, get to school or work, spend the day learning or working, come home to do homework or make dinner, maybe clean up a little or spend time with family, and then we go to bed.  So the days are full.  But if we value something, or in this case, someone, we make time.  All of those activities are important, but Jesus is even more important than those.  So can we carve out some time for prayer, for speaking and listening to Jesus, in each day? 
    It may mean getting up 10 to 15 minutes earlier, so that we can read over the Scripture for the day or pray a rosary or chaplet of Divine Mercy.  I have a friend who has had a fifty-minute commute to work for the past few years.  He developed a new routine of praying a Rosary or Chaplet of Divine Mercy while driving, and then listening to the readings for the day in a podcast. 
    It may mean giving up some time on the television or on a game or show on a tablet to do some devotional reading or learn about a saint.  Or it can mean trying to pray together as a family for some minutes before the kids go to bed.  This can be as simple as asking each child to say one thing for which they are thankful, or seeing if they have something or someone they want to pray for.  Or maybe reading a Bible story together as a family.  But making sure that there is time for Jesus in our daily family life.
    Lastly, St. John reminds us in the second reading that staying connected with Jesus also means filling His commandments.  Whether it’s going to Mass every Sunday and Holyday, or being honest, or keeping God’s Name holy, or not missing the precious gift of human sexuality, or praying for those who do us wrong, or any of the other commandments that Christ, whether through Scripture or through the Church, has given us, if we wish to remain in Christ, to stay with Him, we follow His will, rather than just our own.  Both prayer and fidelity to what God has revealed to us connect us to Christ, and allow His life to flow through us. 
    Despite all of our technological advances in communication, we are often more disconnected than ever before, because the things we think connect us only do so in a fleeting way, and not in the deep ways that our human natures truly crave.  Make time for Christ; prioritize Him in your daily life.  If you do so, you will remain with Christ, not only on this earth, but in the new heavens and earth that will come.

Both...And Not Either...Or

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the first things Bishop Boyea was asked in 2008 when he was introduced as the newest Bishop of Lansing, and one of the things that priests are often asked in their first weekend as they begin at a new parish is the four word question: Michigan or Michigan State?

We often tend to put things into an “either…or” category.  In academia we all this a dichotomy, a choice between two different things.  In our politics: Republican or Democrat; in our fountain drinks: Pepsi or Coke; in our schools: Catholic or public; in our housing choice: rent or own; in our cars and beer: domestic or foreign.  Maybe it’s easier for our mind to operate this way, but we tend to put people in one of two camps.

So today, given our predilection for dichotomies, perhaps we think of it as love of God, or love of neighbor.  We probably don’t think of it that way, exactly, but we tend to focus on one, and perhaps we don’t focus on the other.  Maybe we like going to church, we love a beautiful liturgy, we love learning about our faith; or we like serving the poor, working at food pantries, promoting social justice.  

But to the scribe who comes up to Jesus and asks him the first of all the commandments, Jesus doesn’t try to pigeon-hole His answer into simply one or the other.  He says both love of God and love of neighbor.  Love of God is from the first reading we heard today in the Book of Deuteronomy.  Love of neighbor as oneself is from the Book of Leviticus.  Both are the most important commandments.  Both are part and parcel of following Jesus.

One could rightly point out that serving God is more important than anything else.  Part of what is radical in Jesus is that He demands total obedience, even above family, which only God could claim.  Being a do-gooder is not the same as being a disciple.  There are people who serve the poor, and yet reject God, and while I’m not the judge, rejecting God on this earth, especially in a purposeful way, is probably more on the road to Hell than Heaven.

But still, St. John, in his first Letter, says that we cannot serve the God that we don’t see, if we do not serve our neighbor (he uses the word brother) that we do see.  Being a philanthropist does not assure us of heaven.  But ignoring Jesus in the least of His brothers and sisters (to paraphrase Matthew 25) is also not helpful in us receiving eternal salvation.  St. John Chrysostom, one of the saints in our icons, says it this way: 

Do you want to honor Christ’s body?  Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked.  For he who said: This is my body, and made it so by his words, also said: You saw me hungry and did not feed me, and inasmuch as you did not do it for one of these, the least of my brothers, you did not do it for me.

Jesus instructs us of the great Catholic principle: both…and.  Both love of God and love of neighbor, not either or.

Most people focus on one or the other, love of God or love of neighbor.  So today Jesus challenges us to make sure that a focus on one does not mean the exclusion of the other.  Do you love worshipping God here in the church, being formed by the Mass and by our faith formation groups, learning more and more about what God has revealed through Scripture and Tradition?  Wonderful!  But remember: those clothes that you never wear in your closet or dresser: those belong to the poor; they have a right to them.

Do you love being with people and bringing them the love of God through your actions?  Do you feed them, clothe them, work for justice on their part?  Wonderful!  But if you skip worshipping God at Sunday Mass to serve the poor, then you are making an idol of the poor and worshipping them rather than God.

St. Theresa of Calcutta, Mother Theresa, is an embodiment of both…and.  Yes, most of her day was spent working with the poor, the outcast, and the dying.  But she never missed her opportunities for daily Mass and a Holy Hour of Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  That was the most important part of her day, and it gave her the strength to serve the poor, the outcast, and the dying.

Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati is another embodiment of both…and.  He loved being outdoors, enjoying the beauty of God’s creation, being sustained by the Eucharist in Mass, but he secretly did work with the poor, contracting and dying of polio that was so prevalent among the poor he served.  And his secret was so well kept, that his rich parents had no idea who all the people were who attended his funeral, though the poor knew Pier Giorgio as a person who cared for them and their needs.  

Life is too complicated to be simply divided into two things.  Our faith is too rich to be simply divided into two things.  It’s not Scripture or Tradition, it’s both Scripture and Tradition; it’s not faith or reason, it’s both faith and reason; it’s not Word or Sacrament, it’s both Word and Sacrament; it’s not love of God or love of neighbor, it’s both love of God and love of neighbor.

What is Love...Baby Don't Hurt Me

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

If you were to say the phrase, “What is love?” to a certain generation of people, they would immediately think (or say or sing), “Baby, don’t hurt me,” and would, if not too beyond the pale, probably start bobbing their head side to side (and even if they couldn’t, they would want to).  It’s almost a conditioned response, like Pavlov’s dog drooling when a bell rings.

Today Jesus gives us the two greatest commandments, and they both focus on love.  The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  The second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.  In both of these cases, we are called to love.  This makes perfect sense, as, if we look at the object in all Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, the first three deal with love of God (thou shalt not have other gods besides me; thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; and the Sabbath rest), while the other seven deal with love of neighbor (Honor thy father and mother; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife or thy neighbor’s goods).  

In theory, love is easy.  We all probably know that loving God is most important (especially because we’re here at Mass), and we know we need to love our neighbor.  In the theoretical realm we are with Jesus 100%.  But as it gets down to the nitty gritty, things can seem much more complicated.  We can truly start to wonder, “What is love?”

After all, we use the word for lots of things and people: I love my parents; I love my spouse; I love my siblings; I love my friends; I love pizza.  But if we love pizza in the same way we love our parents, something is off.  And if we love our friends in the same way we love our spouse, that tends to lead to trouble.  So love is not so clear a word to understand.

Love today often means a kind of respect for another person’s choices whatever they may be, as long as that person’s choices do not affect me personally.  Love seems to mean that anything goes, as long as person really desires something or someone, no matter what objective reality, or even the Church or Bible says.  People can try to rationalize all sorts of behavior by stating that God loves us, as if the love of God turns a blind eye to anything fallen or sinful.  People are very quick to say, as they’re rationalizing something contrary to Catholic faith or morality, “God loves me as I am,” to which I quickly respond, “But He loves you too much to leave you as you are.”  God’s love is a divinizing love; it is a love that seeks to make us like Himself, which means it is a love that calls us to reject all that is sinful and broken in us.  We cannot appeal to the love of God to support the killing of an elderly person in euthanasia; we cannot appeal to the love of God to support sex outside of marriage; we cannot appeal to the love of God to support doing that which is contrary to God’s law or the natural law.

And that divinizing love, because it is who God is, does not stop with God.  It begins with God, and the love we have for God has to be the most important, but to truly be the love of God, it also has to extend to our brothers and sisters.  St. John says it this way in his first letter, “whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  […]whoever loves God must also love his brother.”  We are given a challenging example of that in our first reading: “‘You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.  […] If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.’”  Now, before you tune me out because you think I’m going to support one political party or another, let me make this clear: I am not supporting a Republican or Democratic Party platform.  The Church supports both the right to immigrate, as well as the right of states to legitimately limit immigration.  The following are quotes from Paragraph 2241 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent that they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. […]

Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption.  Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens. [emphasis original]

We can civilly discuss all day current policies in place in the United States.  But the key is whether or not our approach to immigrants is one based in love.  And as Catholics we should especially consider the plight of immigrants, even as we protect our own country, because the words from Exodus could very easily be changed to: You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens from Italy, or Ireland, or Germany, or Poland.  If we can stand before the judgment seat of God with a clear conscience on the way we speak about and treat immigrants, and that it was based on love of God and neighbor, then we have nothing to fear.  But so often, our idea of love, whether it comes to immigrants, or to other moral issues, needs to be purified by the Word of God and the teachings of the Church, so that it truly reflects the love of God which seeks to make us like Himself.