Charging our Spiritual Batteries

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

    One of the great thing about our technology like phones and Apple watches, is the ability to stay connected while one is on vacation, and eliminate the need for paper plane boarding passes.  However, those devices don’t operate on hopes and dreams.  So now, I don’t only have to pack clothes and toiletries.  Part of my packing protocol now is to make sure that I have both my phone charger and my watch charger.  If I forget the charger, then my phone and watch won’t work, and won’t be any good to me.
    As disciples of Jesus, we need to be charged.  The call to follow Christ in all areas of our life takes a lot of work to die to our fallen selves.  We need to recharge ourselves on a regular basis, or we’ll be spiritually dead.  And the way we do that is through the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the food that strengthens us for our daily pilgrimage with Christ.  It gives us the spiritual nutrients we need to die to our fallen self and live for Christ.  It is, as we could say, plugging in to the source of our spiritual power.  How often do our young people (and perhaps ourselves) make sure that their iPhone has power so that they can text, chat, gram, and tweet?  But do we take care to make sure that our spiritual batteries are charged, and that we don’t run out of juice?  You cannot be the Catholic that Jesus wants you to be without the Eucharist.  Even with the Eucharist, we can reject Jesus, but without the Eucharist, we have no chance to have the fulness of Divine Life that God wants to communicate to us.
    But into what are we plugging ourselves?  Why is the Eucharist so powerful in helping us to be whom God wants us to be?  Our readings for today’s celebration of Corpus Christi remind us of the most important fact of the Eucharist: that it is the sacrifice.
    In our first reading, we hear about the sacrifice that foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus.  The people belong to God and show that they will be faithful to Him by being sprinkled by the blood that was sacrificed “as peace offerings to the Lord.”  Jesus’ perfect sacrifice was truly the peace offering that reconciled us to God as His People. 
    The author of the Letter to the Hebrews also takes up this theme that, while the sacrifices of the Old Covenant could bring some holiness, some sanctification, how much more does the Blood of Christ make us holy?  St. John Chrysostom also said that, if the blood of the Passover lamb could cause the angel of death to Passover the doors of the Chosen People, how much more will the Blood of Christ on our lips keep eternal death away from us?
    As we listened to the Gospel, perhaps we think that we moved away from sacrifice, and went to a meal only.  But the meal that Jesus held was a Passover celebration, a celebration of a sacrifice.  And it is in the context of a sacrifice that Jesus institutes the Eucharist.  Yes, it is in a meal, but in the sacrificial meal of Passover. 
    Jesus knew that we needed a connection to His once-for-all sacrifice, which only one apostle would attend.  And He wanted that connection to last through the centuries, not just for the lifetime of the first apostles.  So Jesus instituted this way that we could always connect to Him, connect to His sacrifice that saved us from sin and death, His sacrifice which reconciled us to God and brought the possibility of peace for all people. 

It is that sacrifice which recharges us, because it is that sacrifice that is the source of all of our power in Christ.  Baptism changes us because of the sacrifice of Christ; we are forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance by the sacrifice of Christ; we are able to receive the Holy Spirit in Confirmation because of the sacrifice of Christ, who said that if He did not leave, we could not receive the Holy Spirit; the anointing of the sick heals us by the sacrifice of Christ; marriage finds its fullest expression and model in the death of the bridegroom from His bride; and the Sacrament of Holy Order exists to connect us to the ministry of Jesus through the work of Jesus’ bishops and priests, as well as Jesus’ service through deacons.  All of our life in Christ goes back to the sacrifice of Jesus.  The meal of the Eucharist means nothing without it being connected to the sacrifice of Jesus. 
    And that is why we have the crucifix behind the altar: because through the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, we are connected to the sacrifice of Jesus that is before our eyes in the sacred image.  We look upon and remember what is made present for us and what we receive in our mouths as we consume the Eucharist.  And if we receive it in a state of grace, not aware of any mortal sins, then it recharges us; the Eucharist gives us power. 
    Don’t let your spiritual batter run out!  You will not be as effective, and you may even run out of any power to communicate Christ in your daily life.  Keep your soul like you keep your iPhone or Apple Watch: keep it fully charged by worthily receiving the Eucharist at least each week.  You will be charged by the saving sacrifice of Jesus!

Read Receipt

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
    One of the things I love about the iPhone is a feature that is part of iMessage, the texting platform for iPhones.  IMessage itself is great, because you can use it over wi-fi, without using your data.  This has come in helpful when I’m in a foreign country and want to text someone a message, but don’t want to use International Roaming.  But within iMessage there’s an optional feature called a “read receipt,” which, as the name implies, allows you to see if someone has read your text.    While I love the feature, others, especially young men in high school and college, aren’t always as enthusiastic about it, and often keep it off, because there’s no excuse or fewer excuses not to respond when someone, say your girlfriend, texts you.  Still, I have found myself wondering, if friends don’t have read receipts turned on, or if they don’t have an iPhone, if they received my text or not, and if they are ignoring me or not.
    Today in our readings we hear about faith.  As we heard in our second reading, “Faith is…evidence of things not seen.”  And the author continues to talk about Abraham and his displays of faith: leaving his homeland in Ur; the conception of his son, Isaac; and then trusting in God even when God asked Abraham to sacrifice that same son, Isaac.  I think it’s fair to say that we have a decent number of parishioners who are past the child-bearing age.  But put yourself in Abraham’s shoes: imagine that you had no heir, and then God tells you that you will conceive.  You would probably laugh like Sarah did when she heard the message. 
    And then imagine even further, when that same God tells you to sacrifice Isaac.  We have the benefit of knowing that God stopped Abraham from completing the sacrifice, but Abraham didn’t know that.  And yet, he trusted God, another way of saying that Abraham had faith.
    There are no read receipts when it comes to prayer.  Prayer is an act of faith, trusting that our loving God hears us and will answer our prayers.  How many prayers have been said in this building over the decades?  Of courses there are the Masses, where we pray and offer our lives to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, but also the prayers that are written in the prayerbook by the statues of Mary and Joseph, the prayers that accompany the lit candles, the prayers said during Adoration, and the prayers from people who simply come into the church to spend a few minutes with Jesus.
    Sometimes, like with the birth of Isaac, we know our prayers have been answered.  Sometimes, they may seem to float into the air and disappear, and we don’t know if God answered them or not.  I think especially of the prayers that we say that our deceased loved ones are in heaven: we pray for that to be true, but unless they are canonized, we take it on faith and hope that they are with God for eternity.  And while we’re unsure, we continue to pray for them and offer Masses for them in case they’re in Purgatory and need our assistance to be welcomed into heaven.
    The Church has also been praying, since the beginning, for Jesus to return.  We may not use the Aramaic words, Marana tha, which means, “Come, Lord Jesus,” but the constant prayer of the Church is that Jesus return and put a final end to sin and death so that we no longer have to suffer through this valley of tears.  We maybe have even asked, “Lord, can’t you come back now?”  And it takes faith to believe that Jesus will return, and He will right every wrong, punish every offense, and judge the world with justice.  Until then, we keep waiting, with faith, for the Master to return.
    And we do our best not to beat His servants while we wait.  This doesn’t only mean avoiding physical violence against the children of God, but doing our best to treat others like Jesus did.  We don’t grow lax because we’re not sure that Jesus heard us, but stay with our daily habits of prayer, our weekly penitential practices, spreading the Gospel by word and deed, and our Sunday worship of God at Mass. 
    And we stay with that for probably one of two reasons.  The first reason is not the fulness of the relationship God wants with us, but is a childish way of responding to God.  And that reason is we don’t want to be punished.  I say childish because it’s like a child who doesn’t want to clean his or her room, but does so in order not to get grounded or a spanking.  We get the job done, but it’s done merely out of obligation.  The second reason is that we love God, and that we want to please Him because we love Him.  This is an adult way because true love always seeks to make the beloved happy.  And nothing makes God happier than spending time with Him, especially in prayer, but also in acts of charity and service. 
    In our prayer, whether our prayers of need or our desire for Jesus to return, there is no read receipt.  On this side of eternity, our relationship with God is always an exercise of faith.  But, follow the faith of Abraham, our Father in Faith, to trust that God will give us every good gift that we need, and that Jesus will return one day to make all things right in Him.

Why Advent?

First Sunday of Advent

            As I prepared this homily for the First Sunday in Advent, a question arose in my mind: why do we even have advent?  Christmas songs began on some radio stations on All Saints Day, November 1.  Christmas decorations went up in most stores at about the same time.  So why take this time, this season of hope, this season of penance?  Is it just an excuse for the clergy to swap vestments from green to violet, with rose stuck in on the third Sunday just for good measure?  Why bring out a wreath with four candles to mark the passing of time?  We have iPhones and Droids which have much more sexy apps to countdown to Christmas.  Why Advent?

            Advent is lost to the extent that it’s misunderstood.  It loses its force and its power when we don’t know why we do what we do.  And to understand in order that we might believe, perhaps we need to take a look at Advent again, to capture its beauty and its power.

            Advent comes from the Latin word adveniens and means “a coming.”  What we celebrate in Advent is not just any coming, any expectation for any person, but the expectation for the Person who reveals man to his very self, as Gaudium et spes, 22, from the Second Vatican Council says.  We are awaiting Jesus.  Because we are only 23 days away from the celebration of Jesus’ birth, that naturally leads us to feel like we are preparing for Christmas.  But St. Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us that Advent is really a celebration, an expectation, of three comings of Christ: the first coming at Bethlehem which we celebrate at Christmas; the second coming of Christ at the end of time, which our readings focus on today; and the thid coming of Jesus: the desire of Christ to come into our hearts daily and make a home there, so that Christ might be born in us.

            To help us prepare for the first coming, the celebration of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem, we use symbols: some in the home, some at Church.  In the Church we use an advent wreath with four candles, traditionally 3 violet and 1 rose, to give us a visual reminder of how close we are.  And candles are fitting because they remind us of Jesus who is the light of the world.  The closer we get to celebrating the birth of Jesus, the more light there is, even as the days get shorter around us and darkness increases.  Even the traditional colors of the candles are dark, and yet the third rose candle reminds us that our wait is almost over, that we are more than halfway to the joyful celebration of our knowledge that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”  In your homes you might have an advent wreath as well.  Others will use a calendar where you open little panels that reveal a fuller picture of the Nativity, sometimes with recommended passages from Scripture, other times with little chocolates.  However as we draw closer to celebrating the birth of Jesus, we are meant to be more and more excited as the day of celebration draws near.

            The second coming is the main focus of the first two weeks of advent, when we still hear readings of how Jesus will come in glory to establish the fullness of His kingdom, where Christ is King of the Universe and all others are subject to Him.  That is why advent takes on a penitential tone, because all of us are in need of further conversion.  Some of us may be more ready than others for Jesus’ second coming, but we take on penances to atone for our sins that have placed ourselves or another on a throne, rather than Jesus.  Whether Jesus comes on December 21, or tomorrow, or whenever, Advent reminds us to stay awake and be ready for the bridegroom to return.  For at the moment we least expect, He will come.  We light our candles in imitation of the wise virgins who kept enough oil in their lamps to be ready to welcome the Bridegroom with their flames burning brightly.

            The third coming of Jesus—His desire to enter into our hearts—is something that we can grow in every day of the year, not just at this time.  But we take this special time to redouble our efforts to make straight the pathways of our God.  We take this time to level the mountains and fill in the valleys that make an obstacle for Jesus to come to us.  Just as we clean our house to welcome family and friends over for Christmas celebrations, so we should be daily striving to clean our hearts and souls to welcome the Trinity into us.  Maybe we take time each day to slowly read over the meditation from the Little Blue Book, or Magnificat, and spend the time and energy it takes to develop a deep, strong relationship with the Lord; maybe we attend sung Evening Prayer on Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m. at St. Thomas to stretch our usual forms of prayer; maybe we join a Bible study, or a faith-sharing group; maybe we celebration the Sacrament of Reconciliation on the usual days or with the greater Lansing area on December 16 at 2 p.m. at St. Thomas; whatever we do, the key is that we are trying to make more time for Jesus so that He is comfortable in our hearts, rather than a stranger.  And, we pray for those who have been away from the Lord, away from His Church, inviting them to join us again in this holy place, because Christ wants to enter their hearts as well, and He often uses His disciples to extend that invitation.

            If we treat this time no differently than any other; if we figure that we’ve been preparing for the parties, the eggnog, the gift giving, and the hype of the secular celebration of Christmas since November 1, then I can assure you that you won’t be ready when Christ comes: for the celebration of the first coming at Christmas; for the celebration of the second coming at the end of time; and for the daily desire of Christ to come into your heart.  But, if amidst the hustle and bustle of the secular season, you take time to spend with the Lord in prayer, getting to know Him better and letting the symbols touch your heart and soul, then I can also assure you that you will know the joy of the angels as they sang “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will,” as we celebrate the first coming; you will know the joy of the elect as Christ comes a second time as the eternal King of Glory, with everything subjected to His reign; and you will know the joy of the abiding presence of God as He comes into your heart and makes His home there, truly making you a temple of the Holy Spirit, and the dwelling place of God.