Encountering Jesus

Corpus Christi

If you could meet or have dinner with or talk to any person throughout all of history, who would it be and why?  Think about it.  Whom would you want to spend time with and get to know?  Especially for those who love history, but not limited to them, there’s a desire to meet people who are dead, whether recently or for a long time, to speak with them, to get to know them, and to try to understand that person and his or her choices.  We want to have a chance to more than just read about the person, or watch a movie about that person; we want to encounter that person.

Bishop Boyea, following the lead of Pope Emeritus Benedict and Pope Francis, have been emphasizing the importance of an encounter with Jesus.  How many of you said Jesus when I asked the question at the beginning of the homily (you don’t have to raise your hands)?  An encounter with Jesus is important.  Catholicism, and Christianity in general, is not just a bunch of rules of what to do and what not to do.  Catholicism, and Christianity in general, is not just a set of ethics or a style of morality.  Catholicism, and Christianity in general, is about an encounter with a Person, a Divine Person, Jesus Christ.  Jesus gathered disciples to Himself by inviting people to follow Him.  They, in turn, told other people to come with them and follow Jesus, and so Jesus’ disciples grew in number.  Christianity was able to spread because there were people who had encountered Jesus and found in Him the key to their life.

And it wasn’t just a continuation of their lives, which were usually altogether crummy.  It was a great improvement, and a means of being happy.  Those who encountered Jesus discovered how to be truly happy, even as fishermen, or a tax collector, or a zealot, or even a Pharisee, and wanted to share that with others.  And others shared that same encounter with others, who, through their preaching, encountered Jesus, too, and found a way to be happy.  

How often do we hear, “Mass is boring”?  Some of you may be thinking that right now!  But do we realize that each time we come to Mass, we don’t have to wonder what it would be like to talk to Jesus and see Jesus.  Each time we come to Mass, we have the chance to encounter Jesus and meet Him.  We get the same opportunity the apostles had.  They could see Jesus, touch Jesus, and hear Jesus.  We hear Jesus speaking through the Word of God, and hopefully through the homily.  We see Jesus and we touch Jesus as we receive Him in the Eucharist.  

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ.  We celebrate that our God, in the Person of Jesus, has not abandoned us, but remains near to us in a ways that our senses can experience.  We do not have to pretend to hear the voice of God; we hear it in Scripture.  We do not have to pretend to see God; we see Him under the appearance of bread and wine.  We do not have to pretend to touch God; our hands and/or our tongues receive the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, died on Calvary, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven.  The Eucharist is not simply a memorial meal to remember what happened, like posing for the Last Supper.  The Eucharist is not simply the spiritual presence of Christ when His people come together.  The Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood, soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ, present under sacramental signs, but truly present for us, nonetheless.  

So, the challenge for us is whether or not we treat the Mass as our chance to encounter Jesus.  There are many retreats that give us the opportunity to encounter Jesus, like Cursillo, like Marriage Encounter, like KAIROS, like TEC, like Renew, and the list goes on.  But the Eucharist is the pre-eminent and most excellent encounter with Jesus, and encounter that is unlike any other on earth.  Today, and every Sunday you have the chance to encounter Jesus.  Give yourself to Jesus; He has made Himself available for you to hear, to see, and to touch.

Get Out of the Boat!!

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            This is one of those Gospel passages we’ve heard a lot in our life if we’ve been going to church every Sunday.  We probably heard it as children as our parents read the Bible to us or told us Bible stories.  Perhaps it’s so familiar to us that we don’t even really think about it any more, or go deeper.  But the point of repetition is so that we don’t just stay at the surface level, especially when it comes to the Scriptures and the Liturgy.  When we’ve heard a story over and over again, we’re not supposed to think: that’s boring!  We’re supposed to think: I know what the main story is, now what more is there to this that I haven’t found?

            I’d like to propose that St. Peter, who is often the “bad guy” in this story for his lack of faith, be reconsidered.  Certainly, we cannot change Jesus’ words that do mourn Peter’s lack of faith as he is sinking amid the waves.  But, where, we can ask, were the other eleven apostles?  St. Peter was at least bold enough to start out on the waters at Jesus’ command.  The others, at least from the text, never even considered going to Jesus, but just stayed in the boat as the wind and waves crashed around them.

            If anything, we should applaud the fact that St. Peter was willing, at his own suggestion, to walk on water like Jesus.  It was Peter who said that if that specter on the horizon was Jesus, to command him to walk on water.  St. Peter showed a deep faith at first, trusting that Jesus, His Master, and His Lord, would not let him sink.  Instead, we tend to focus on that one line, “‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’”

            But where was the faith of the eleven other apostles?  Where were their bold acts of rushing towards Jesus?  But, lest self-righteous indignation start to creep in, whether at the lack of faith of St. Peter or the lack of faith of the other eleven, we then have to turn back to ourselves and consider: where are our bold acts?  When was the last time we rushed to the Lord?

            Besides maybe breaking local speed laws to get to church on time, when was the last time we rushed to see Jesus?  When was the last time we went out on the waters, though the wind was strong and the waves were around us, to be close to Jesus?  For the ancient people, especially the Jews, water was a sign of life, but it was also a sign of chaos and death and destruction.  At the beginning, God has to order the waters of chaos.  Water is what kills the evil generation in the days of Noah.  Water just as likely killed as give life.  And yet, Jesus is out there, with no fear of the chaos, and, in fact, standing over it, with the waters of chaos under the dominion of His feet.  And it is over those waters of chaos that Peter goes out to Jesus.

            We are sometimes afraid to go to meet Jesus because of the chaos that surrounds our life.  Our fear to run to Jesus is related to whether or not we know Jesus.  St. Peter loved Jesus, and was willing to do anything for Him, because Peter had spent months and years following Him.  How much time do we spend with Jesus?  Do we know how to recognize His presence?

            In our first reading, the ways that Elijah does not experience God are classical ways that God reveals Himself, what we call a theophany.  In the Old Testament, God frequently reveals Himself in a strong wind, in an earthquake, in a fire.  But this time, with Elijah, God only reveals Himself in the silence.  And this presence of God is so powerful that Elijah has to hide his face in his cloak. 

            God still reveals Himself in many ways: in the poor; in those who mourn; in a beautiful Mass; in a stunning sunset; and the list goes on and on.  But God often reveals Himself in silence.  And we are not a society that likes silence.  I certainly include myself in that last statement.  I love to have my iTunes playing on my phone, or the radio on in my car, or the TV on, even if just for background noise.  It takes effort for me to have silence, even though I try to get at least a good 45 minutes per day of silent prayer with God.  Silence is difficult sometimes.  Sometimes silence is scary, because in the silence, we can actually hear God speak.  And if we are afraid of what God will say, it’s easier to flood our world with noise.  I try to provide some silence here in Mass: purposeful silence, not just waiting for the next thing to start.  But we need more than what we can get in the Mass.  We need time to be alone with God.  We need time to encounter God in a real way.  One easy way is by spending time with Jesus in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Tuesday evening form 5:45-7 p.m.  Jesus is there.  All we have to do is come by and visit. 

Another great way to be alone with God is through a retreat.  In our diocese we are trying to reinvigorate the Cursillo retreat, a time where we get to know God and know ourselves better, and have a personal encounter with God.  We all need a personal encounter with God.  We all need to have a time in our life that we can say that we met Jesus.  If not, our faith will grow weaker, and we will not be convincing witnesses to Jesus.  You cannot give what you don’t have.  If we don’t have Jesus, we cannot give Him to others.  Whether it’s Cursillo, or any other Catholic retreat, we need to encounter Jesus.  Only then will we have the courage to get out of the boat like Peter and rush to Jesus.  I know we’re all busy.  But this is important.  In the coming years, it looks more and more like our faith will be tested in public.  If we don’t have a personal encounter with Jesus, we will deny Him by our words and deeds.  If you knew your eternal salvation depended on a time with Jesus, would you take it?  Because our eternal salvation does rely on personally knowing Jesus, not just knowing about Him.  Retreats are perfect times to encounter Jesus.  Our times of Adoration on Tuesday nights are perfect times to encounter Jesus.  May our faith be strong enough to jump out of the apparent safety of the boat of our lives and rush to Jesus, even walking on water to get to Him, knowing that He will not let us drown.