Who Do You Know Better? Justin or Jesus?

Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            It seems like anytime there is a great tragedy, especially a natural disaster, in a mainly Catholic area, like Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, or the earthquakes in Chile, certain fringe televangelists will blame it on the Catholics.  We are charged with believing in magic and the power of works, not faith and grace.  In fact, the words, “hocus pocus” come from a play on the Latin words of institution, hoc est corpus, and was used to accuse Catholics of believing that just by saying the right words, the bread and wine could become the Body and Blood of Jesus as if by magic.

Statue of St. Paul from the Patriarchal Basilica
of St. Paul Outside the Walls

            In today’s second reading, St. Paul makes it very clear that the Law, the law given by God through Moses on Mt. Sinai to the people of Israel, does not save people.  It just not justify, or bring them into right relationship with God.  Only by grace, “through the redemption in Christ Jesus…by his blood” are we brought into right relationship with God.  This idea may seem very Protestant, but, as we know, St. Paul was Catholic.  He was a great missionary of the one Church Jesus founded.  And so we Catholics cling to this idea.  There is nothing that we can do that can earn us salvation. 

            And, in case you don’t trust St. Paul, and believe me, some Catholics get a little leery about him (mostly, I think, because they’re afraid that he bolsters the Protestant claims), we can look to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel.  Jesus says that just because we call Him Lord; just because we prophesy in Jesus’ name; just because we exorcise demons in Jesus’ name; just because we do mighty deeds in Jesus’ name, does not mean that we will go to heaven.  In fact, to those who do those great deeds but do not do the will of the Father in heaven, Jesus will say, “‘I never knew you.  Depart from me, you evildoers.’” 

            So, if prophecy, exorcisms, and mighty deeds done in the name of Jesus don’t get us in, what will?  Those things can “get us in,” so to speak, if they are the will of God for us in our lives.  But if not, then we must be sure that we are doing the will of God as it is made known to us in our lives.  There is no magical thing to do to get into heaven.  Not even dying for the faith, if we do not have love and a right relationship with Jesus, will get us into heaven, as St. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians in the famous hymn of love that we hear so often at weddings.

            Being Catholic is not about doing the right things.  It is not about saying the right words.  Yes, we do need to do the right things and say the right words, but those acts, those words, to be helpful to our salvation must first come from a relationship with Jesus.  As Catholics we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that our salvation is caused by the things we do.  As long as we are baptized; as long as we confess our sins to the priest; as long as we receive communion; as long as we give money to the Church, then we’ll be saved.  And certainly baptism is the ordinary way that God cleanses His children from original sin and brings them into a right relationship with Him; certainly if we sin after Baptism, especially mortally, then we need to confess to a priest as the ordinary means of gaining forgiveness from God; certainly we need to come to Mass each Sunday to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to give us the strength to live out our lives as disciples; certainly being good stewards of the gifts and talents and time God has given us shows that we appreciate those blessings and give our best back to God.  The sacraments surely cause grace, but those graces call for a response from us.

            So the question for us is: how is our relationship with Jesus?  How well do we know Jesus?  Do we know Him as well as we know the Pope (which, for most of us means that we’re familiar with the guy, but we don’t really know what he’s like)?  Do we know Jesus as well as we know Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, or Katy Perry (which means that we probably know everything about them [and believe me, I know a fair amount of young girls who know everything about Justin Bieber], but without really having a friendship with them)?  Do we know Jesus as well as we know our friends (which means that we know a lot about them, and we know them personally, but there are still some things that we don’t share with them)?  Or do we know Jesus like and even better than we know our best friend or like we know our spouse (which means that we share everything with Jesus, joys and sorrows, graces and sins)?    In case you’re wondering, it’s the last one that we should be aiming for.

            What you’ll find, the closer to you get to Jesus, is that there are fewer things in life that can shake you.  As you become closer to Jesus, the house of faith that you build becomes more like a house built on the rock and less like on the sand, so that when traumatic events in life come: the loss of a job; the loss of a family member; attacks on our faith, etc., while they still shake the house a little, the house of faith is not washed away.  In a time when everything seems so changeable, where there’s a new iPad, iPod, or iPhone every year, and when nothing seems to stay the same, we can be sure that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, always relevant, but never changing.  We need that stability in our lives, and nothing else can live up to that desire for total stability, not even another person.

            We as Catholics do not believe in magic.  It is not just the right words that we say or the right deeds that we do.  Being a disciple, a good disciple, is all about how close we are to Jesus, our relationship with Him, and then responding to that love that He pours upon us in the Sacraments and in our daily lives.  My prayer is that our house of faith will be built on the rock of Jesus and will stand the many trials and tests that come along in life so that when we come before Jesus, the Judge of the Living and the Dead, we will not hear, “‘“I never knew you.  Depart from me, you evildoers,”’” but, “‘Come, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy prepared for you by my Father.’”

Jumping In

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Because February, while technically the shortest month of the year, is somehow, ironically, the longest month of the year, and because we seem to be getting pounded with snow again and again, it’s nice to remember what summer’s like, to give us hope that someday, hopefully soon, the snow will melt, warmer, sunnier days will return, and we’ll be able go outside and participate in our favorite summer activities.

One of those activities that can be a lot of fun is swimming, either at a lake, or at a pool.  At a pool, its interesting to see a young boy or young girl, usually with little floaties around their arms to help them float, waiting to jump in while mom or dad is ready to catch them.  You can almost see the thought process as the scenario unfolds: are these small orange things really going to keep me from drowning?  Is dad or mom going to catch me?  If they do catch me, can I be sure that they’re not going to let go?  But then how rewarding is it when they take the leap, splash into the water into mom or dad’s arms, and realize that jumping in can be great fun, and they don’t have to be afraid. 

In many ways, the leap of faith that Jesus asks us to take in today’s Gospel is even greater than that leap of faith a child takes when it decides to jump into its parent’s arms in the pool.  Jesus tells us, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.”  ‘Sure Jesus,’ we might say to ourselves, ‘easy enough for you to say.  But you’re not living in this economy.  You don’t have to put food on the table for a spouse and kids.’  And yet, to many of the people Jesus was talking to, their financial lives were much more fragile than ours.  There was no St. Vincent de Paul society to help them out, no Meals on Wheels, no welfare.  In Jesus’ time, if you were somehow unable to work, much of which was simply to get by, then you had your family to back you up.  If you had no family, then you were really out of luck.  No one had your back.

And to those people Jesus says, “Don’ worry about food, drink, clothing, or life.”  The leap of faith that that decision takes is enormous, because we can be afraid.  We can be like scared, little children, sitting alongside the pool, wondering if our mom or dad is going to catch us.  But, of course, God the Father, the source of all fatherhood and motherhood, is never going to let us drown.  He is always there to catch us.  If He weren’t, we would cease to exist.  If His love were not sustaining us each and every millisecond of our lives, there would be no us.  And, besides, as our first reading tells us, even if our mothers forsook us, and what a horrific thing that would be, the Lord would never forsake us.  Even if our earthly parents let us go underneath the waves, even then the Lord would never forsake or forget us.  He loves you, an individual, with all of who He is.

And what is the proof of that love?  Jesus tells us that, as far as food goes, God makes sure that the birds of the air have food each day.  They don’t have freezers or microwaves; they don’t have cupboards where they can store canned goods.  And yet, God provides for them anyways.  And are we not more important than sparrows?  Certainly.  Jesus also uses the example of the flowers of the field.  They don’t worry if Abercrombie is in this year, or if this pant/shirt combo from Hollister is sheik.  And yet, even Solomon, the richest man in all Israel could not make clothes as beautiful as those flowers are.  And if the flowers, which are here today and withered tomorrow are clothed so, how much more will God make sure that we have proper clothing; maybe not Abercrombie or Hollister, but clothes to keep us warm in these winter months, clothes to help us do our jobs.

Does this mean that we can just put everything on Visa because it’s everywhere we want to be?  Does this mean that for everything else we use MasterCard?  Does this mean that we don’t leave home without our American Express?  No, buying on credit is not the answer.  God will not pay off our credit cards.  But if we, the Body of Christ, take Jesus’ teachings to heart, then no one will worry about food, clothing, or the basic necessities.  If we “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” then we will make sure that, after we have provided for our families with the capital that comes from our work, no matter how exalted or base it may be, that what we have left will go to support St. Vincent de Paul, food banks, and other charitable organizations that provide for people in their need.  If we are first seeking the kingdom, then we are not just in it for ourselves.  The way that we treat others, the way that we love others, becomes paramount. 

But that only happens if God is our Master.  We cannot serve two masters.  You will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  Who is our master?  Is it God or MasterCard?  Is it God or our jobs?  Is it God or our money?  The answer to that question can be discerned by evaluating what we love most.  What comes first in our lives?

Today we are standing at the edge of the pool, and God our Father is standing in the water.  Do we stay on the concrete, on the security we think we have built with our hands?  Or do we take God at His word and jump in, trusting that our Father will not let us drown and that, in fact, the excitement at jumping in far outweighs the false security we think we have on the concrete edge?  The Father is waiting.  Jump into His arms.

From the Heart

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            In case there are any guys out there who are not otherwise prepared and have not gotten flowers or made reservations for dinner, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  It’s a day that we focus, in one sense on love, but in another sense, on the heart.  From the very earliest days that we celebrate this holiday in school, hearts are important to this day.  We make hearts out of red paper and doilies.  We might give those little card-stock Valentine’s Day cards that say, “You’re My Valentine” with little hearts on it.  We might even give out Sweethearts candy with cute sayings like, “Be mine” or “True Love.” 

            The heart is also important in our Gospel today.  This passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount, the same place where Jesus gave us the Beatitudes, like “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”  At this point, Jesus gives us a law, not new, but the fulfillment of the Law that God gave to the Israelites on Mount Sinai.  This fulfillment of the law does not abolish the old, but as Jesus says, fulfills it.

            And this law has a lot to do with the heart.  Whereas in the Law given on Mount Sinai, certain acts were condemned, like murder and adultery, Jesus tells us that those acts stem from something much deeper.  They stem from the heart.

            Because long before the act of murder takes place, there is a hatred that stems from the heart.  And so, in the Kingdom of God, where all people live as God desires, not only murder must not happen, but even unrighteous anger, so that one person no longer says to another, “raqa,” which means in Aramaic, “empty-headed”; we might translate it colloquially as, “moron.”  If we are harboring a grudge against another who has wronged us, or even if someone has done nothing to us but we still harbor hatred towards them, then we are not living according to the Kingdom, and we might even be endangering our place in that kingdom. 

            The same goes for adultery.  Long before a person has sex with a person who is married to another, the desire to do so is in the heart.  So, Jesus tells us, using a man as an example (ladies, don’t feel that you’re off the hook when it comes to looking at men), when a man looks at a woman with lust, he “‘has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’”  The objectifying of another person as an object of sexual pleasure starts the person down a path which could lead to the sin of adultery, and begins not when the couple “hooks up,” but when the desires are unchecked in the heart.  Again, this is not what God intended for the human heart, and already shows a departure from the way that life is supposed to be in the Kingdom.  The human person is never an object to fulfill a need, but is a subject with inestimable dignity because he or she was created in the image and likeness of God.  This is why, as shocking as the teaching is, soon-to-be-Blessed Pope John Paul II could say that the sin of lust could occur even with a married couple, if one or both of the spouses was simply looking at or using the other spouse as an object of pleasure.

            This can seem really hard.  The bar is certainly set very high for us.  But, by the grace of God, this is possible.  And the payoff is literally “out of this world!”  As our first reading tells us, “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; [God] has set before you fire and water…life and death, good and evil, whichever [a person] chooses shall be given him.” 

            By ourselves we cannot keep the fulfillment of the Law that Jesus gives us.  There are too many times when we are drawn to anger: when someone cuts us off while driving; when a co-worker gossips about us; when a professor gives us a lower grade than we believe we deserve on an exam, paper, or project.  It is in these moments, and all those when we feel the onset of deep anger and hatred that we need to turn to the Lawgiver Himself, Jesus, and ask for his grace that we might be able to have His peace and cast out that hatred from our hearts so that it does not poison us and lead to other hateful acts.

            There are too many times in our very sensual culture when we are exposed to images of a human person with barely a fig-leaf on; when a salacious add pops up on the computer; when internet pornography is just a click away; when a movie adds a steamy sex scene.  It is in these moments that we need to turn to Jesus to ask Him for His grace to keep our hearts and minds pure so that we do not dwell on those thoughts and passions, and then have those passions develop into actions with others or by oneself. 

            The great news, too, is that if we should fall in a major way with anger or with lust, we have a loving God who will welcome us back if we are truly sorry and will forgive our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  That even if we break the fulfillment of the Law that Jesus gives us, because of His death and resurrection, we can come back into a good relationship with the Lawgiver, against whom we have sinned. 

Part of the way we express our hearts at the Mass is by how we greet each other.  In November, the greeting dialogues will change a little, but will remain, as they are now, a way of expressing the peace that we need to have before offering our gift at the altar of God.  As the priest, the person who acts in persona Christi capitis, in the person of Christ the Head, I offer you in the name of Christ, God, in whose name Jesus came, as I will say, “The Lord be with you.”  No change there.  Or, from time to time, expanding on what I am giving you as I greet you in the name of Christ, I might say, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” expressing the gift of the Trinity, based upon 2 Corinthians 13:13.  Not much different.  But, your response will change slightly, reflecting the words of 2 Timothy 4:22, and will be, “And with your spirit.”  All of this is simply to prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Christ has set the bar very high.  He has commanded us examine our hearts to see where our love truly is.  But if our hearts are configured to Jesus’ heart, then we know that we have eternal life waiting for us.  Let us lift up our hearts to the Lord, that our hearts will lead us to act justly and lovingly towards others, and so fulfill the Law that Christ has given us.

Slam-Dunks and Salt

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            While I never really played basketball at any level, it’s always fun to watch a good middle school, high school, or college basketball game.  Although, I have to admit that this year watching Michigan State men’s basketball may require me to get some ulcer medication.  Thank God the Spartan women are doing better!  But seriously, it’s especially exciting to see an athlete get a steal and take it down the court and slam-dunk.  There’s something about a slam-dunk that is exciting and over the top.  Of course, it’s sort of showing off, since the athlete could have, just as easily, made the easy lay-up. 

            We’re always told not to show off.  It’s not good sportsmanship.  It highlights the individual over the team.  In fact, I’m told that in high school basketball, dunking in warm-ups can get one a technical.  No matter what activity or what amazing skill we might have, we seem to have it ingrained in us that showing off is never a good thing.

            Far be it from me to buck the trend, but I’m going to suggest that showing off is good, at least in one case.  It is good to show off what we have and to let others see it.  That one case is our faith, especially our faith in action.

            Jesus today uses the metaphor of salt and light to describe how Christians should be in society.  We are like salt because we’re supposed to preserve society and give it better flavor, just as salt preserved meat in the time of Jesus and gave that meat good flavor.  It made no sense to use salt that wasn’t going to preserve meat or wasn’t going to add to the flavor of meat.  It was a waste of a precious commodity.  In fact, salt was so precious, that some believe that it was used as currency for Roman soldiers from time to time.            

            Or, in a time when there were no electric lamps to keep the darkness away, light was also precious.  It allowed one to see more when there was not enough light for the eyes to work as well.  You would never light a lamp, and then not let it do its job of helping you see!  That would be stupid!

            In other words, Jesus is telling us to show off Christianity!!  Now, he’s not saying that we need to go around, saying, “I’m a Christian and you’re not, loser!”  In fact, that would only really do harm to the message of the Gospel.  But showing off that we’re Christians, that we’re Catholics, means letting our lives make a difference and letting others know how important our faith is to us in what we say and do. 

            Isaiah, in our first reading, gives us some good hints as to how to show off appropriately.  Isaiah, speaking for God, tells us to “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.”  He goes on to say that we need to “remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech.”  These are the ways that we show off our faith appropriately.  These are the ways that we are salt of the earth and light of the world.

            There are other ways, too, in our parish life.  If you are strong in your faith and want to pass on that faith to others, you can help Pete Ries in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the RCIA, helping to prepare those who desire to become a part of the Catholic faith.  Or, if you love working with children and want to pass on the faith to them, you can volunteer at our parish school to help Rod Murphy, our principal, or religious education programs to help Annie Kitching.  Or, if you want to work with those are looking for help in these rough economic times, you can work with our St. Vincent de Paul Society.

            And, outside of the parish, there are countless ways to make your faith known to family members, friends, co-workers, and others, as a way of sharing the Gospel with them.  The point is that we share it by both word and deed in a way that shows the joy of what it means to be Catholic: to have a God who loves us so much that he would send His only Son to die for us so that we could be eternally happy with Him in heaven!  That’s good news that people want and need to hear!  If we just keep it to ourselves, then it’s as foolish as salt that doesn’t preserve and doesn’t add taste, and a light that is kept under a basket where it does not help us to see.

            We constantly hear about the evils of greed that led to the recession.  We hear about violence on the roads, in schools, in the workplace, and around the world.  We hear about injustice in the Middle East and in our own country.  Those things won’t change if we do not promote the Gospel in the world.  We cannot have the peace that only Christ brings if we do not have Christ preached.  We cannot have the justice of the Kingdom of God if we do not act with that same justice to others. 

            Spreading the Gospel is not just for missionary priests and religious and lay people on some remote island or some jungle in South America or Africa.  Spreading the Gospel is for us Catholics who have been called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world by our Master, Jesus.  Let’s show off our Catholic faith, so that, just like a slam dunk motivates the crowd, it will motivate others to join the Body of Christ, the Church, and to proclaim His Gospel, His Good News, to every nation on earth.  “‘You are the light of the world...your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.’”

God-smarts

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time—Catholic Schools Week

            There is a group of people who have a lot of common sense and who know how the world works. We refer to them as people who have street smarts.  They may also have a degree and be book smart; they may not have any degree.  But they’re the sort of people that know how to get along in the world.  They know how to work well with others.

            Our second reading and Gospel today focus on a different kind of smart, not book nor street smart, but what we might call God smart.  It is not a worldly knowledge, as St. Paul says, “Not many of you were wise by human standards.”  It is, again, quoting St. Paul in our second reading, “wisdom from God.”  A person who is God smart knows how to connect with others according to the mind of God.  And the wisdom of God is often contrary to the wisdom of the world.

Fr. Mike Byrnes celebrating Mass at the bottom of the
Mount of Beatitudes in Israel, along the coast of the
Sea of Galilee

            For example, in the eyes of the world, if you mourn, if you’re weepy, then you’re weak.  We hear it in different forms: men don’t cry; “Big girls don’t cry,” to quote the song; or even, quoting Tom Hanks, “there’s no crying in baseball!”  And yet Jesus tells us: “‘Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.’”  Jesus is not simply rewarding the melancholic, but is saying that blessedness, true happiness, is found in those who mourn for the sinful state of the world.

            Or, as another example, in the eyes of the world, it is the man or woman with the most weapons or power who wins the day.  We saw this during the Cold War, when we wanted to have more weapons than the Soviets in order to prevent them from nuking us.  We see it today in so many nations deciding that war is the first and easiest way to solve differences.  And yet, Jesus tells us that the peacemakers are the ones who are blessed and will be called children of God.  These are not values that come from worldly wisdom.  They come from the mind of God and are active in those who have God smarts.

            Why this reversal of fortunes?  Why are the ways of God so different than the ways of the world?  St. Paul tells us that “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise…and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.”  God helps us realize that we are nothing without Him by showing His greatness in those that the world considers nothing.  He recognizes and loves those who recognize their true poverty, that they have nothing without Him, and raises them up, while at the same time lowering those who think they are rich because they are the masters of their destiny, money, or power.

            Just like street smarts, which have to be learned, God smarts must also be learned.  But, while street smarts generally cannot be learned from a book, we have a collection of books, the Bible, as well as the teachings of the Church, which can guide us in becoming God smart.

            This week we celebrate Catholic Schools and the gift that they to the Church in the United States.  Of course, we have a number of you who teach or administer in public schools, and we thank God for your Catholic witness that you provide in those public schools.  Yet, we celebrate Catholic Schools because they are fulfilling in a very purposeful way, the command of the Lord to make disciples of all nations, including children, by giving them God smarts, and becoming disciples of Christ.  In no public school can an explicit, purposeful mention be made about the way that God communicates with His creation as the truth that sets all people free and gives all people life.  While our Catholic teachers in public schools do, and should, provide by their lives a witness of the blessings of being poor in spirit, meek, and peacemakers, in our Catholic Schools we are able to back it up with daily study of God’s revelation through Scripture and Church teaching which help all of us to become God smart. 

            Are Catholics Schools perfect?  I wish I could say they were.  But in our parish school, in which I am often present, I can assure you that besides forming the mind in academics, forming the body in physical education and sports, we also work at forming the soul, helping it to realize that true blessedness is in following Christ.  And when there is a problem, as problems do occur, we can relate it back to how Jesus calls us to be so that we can be truly happy and find real blessedness.  As one of our students recently pointed out to a visiting parent who was thinking about enrolling his child in our school (uncoached and without cajoling), what makes the difference in our Catholic Schools is the formation in faith.

            Many of us are book smart.  Likely many of us have street smarts.  But what a great thing if all of us were God smart and lived out the beatitudes in our daily life, so that God could prove His wisdom in us, “as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.”

Michigan or Michigan State?

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

            As I have been assigned, first as a seminarian, then later as a deacon, and now as a priest, at any parish that has a school, there is one early question that can change the effectiveness of my ministry.  It’s always asked by at least one student in every school, and the question can be simplified into four words: Michigan or Michigan State?  Generally, the question refers to athletics, and if I answer correctly, then that young man or woman has a connection, because we like the same team.  Now, as far as athletics goes, for the most part, we have been teaching our “Older Brother,” (their words, not mine) a lesson.  But, as happens, coaches change, teams improve or get worse, and that’s what feeds a good, competitive spirit.

            Problems happen when the rival mentality that feeds a University’s student body and the alumni creeps into the Church.  And, unfortunately, the United States is no stranger to this phenomenon.    While it is certainly fine to connect to certain causes more than others because of a similarity in personality of one of the leaders, or a focus in an area that is near and dear to our hearts, the Church is not the NCAA, made up of opposing teams that, while keeping good sportsmanship, are trying to destroy each other on the field, court, ice, or any other venue.

            This problem is not new.  We hear about the exact same problem in the second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the people of Corinth.  Paul writes, and we heard, “I urge you, brothers and sisters…that there be no divisions among you…For it has been reported to me…that each of you is saying, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas.’”  Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus somewhere between AD 52 and 57, which means that not 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his followers were already finding ways to attack the unity that Christ desired of His Church.

            The problem continues today, with some claiming, “I belong to this cause,” or “I belong to that movement.”  Again, while it is fine to look up to these causes and groups and to admire them as much as they promote causes that we find important and give us the true faith, we cannot treat our allegiance as to one camp over and against another in the Catholic Church.  Truly, none of you belong to any one cause.  You belong to Christ!  As much as those bishops help you to belong to Christ and follow the true faith, they are to be followed.  As much as they divide you from Christ and the true faith, they are to be avoided. 

            At the end of today’s Gospel, we heard about the call of the first of the Twelve Apostles.  And already we begin to see some of the diversity in unity.  Peter was no doubt a little different than Andrew, as are any set of brothers.  The same probably went for James and John, the sons of Zebedee.  And then among the four of them, there were probably many differences, even though they were all fishermen.  And yet, they were unified in following Jesus and obeying Him as He preached the Gospel and cured the infirm.  One can only imagine the diversity of personalities when all Twelve were gathered together.  And yet all, minus Judas, were first and foremost concerned with following Jesus.  And then you add Paul into the mix, Paul who chided Peter, not for his teaching, but for his lack of action that followed his own teaching of saying that Gentiles did not have to keep kosher law. 

            There is no problem with true diversity.  It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the different cultures into which the Gospel has been preached.  It is a gift to those who take seriously the teachings of the Church, and seek to make those teachings a reality in the world.  We see diversity in unity in the 21 different rites of the Catholic Church, who have legitimately developed certain traditions that vary among the rites.  But they are all unified by their basic structure and their fidelity to the legitimate authorities who guide how the Mass develops in their rite.  We see diversity in the many ways that Catholics try to bring their faith in the public sector and decrease the social evils that plague us: abortion, poverty, racism, and many more.  But that diversity is also bound in unity to teaching which is in harmony with what we have first received from Christ and have developed over the centuries in harmony with Scripture and Tradition.  Just like an orchestra, we are made up of many instruments that play individual parts, but those instruments and parts must be united by a common score of music, lest we are left with a cacophony.  

This Tuesday ends the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  And while we certainly pray that all who bear the name of Christ, all Christians, may be drawn together into the one Church that Jesus Christ founded, where the fullness of grace and truth are found, the Catholic Church, we cannot neglect the real need for unity in the members of that same Catholic Church. 

This cause and that movement are not Michigan State and Michigan.  We are all a part of the Body of Christ, the family of God’s adopted children in Christ.  Follow those causes who draw you to a closer relationship with Christ as they pass on the authentic faith of Jesus’ one Church.  But do so only to the extent that they promote unity and charity in truth and in fidelity to the Gospel of God.  May Jesus’ prayer in the Upper Room be fulfilled soon: “ut unum sint”: “that they may be one.”

Mistaken for the Father

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

            It’s a pretty common occurrence, I think, that happens to many young men and women during adolescence.  It has certainly happened to me a number of times.  The phone rings.  “Hello?”  “Hi Rob, how you doing?”  “Actually this is Anthony.”  “Oh, sorry, you sound just like your dad!”  I know it also happened a at least a few times with my sisters picking up the phone, and the person on the other line thinking it was my mom.  While it can be frustrating for the young man or woman, there is a certain fittingness to the fact that the child sounds like his or her parent.

             As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord today, we notice a similar series of events taking shape, albeit without the telephone, in our readings.  As we listen to the words of the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading, we hear God the Father promising to send a servant who will bring justice to the nations.  The servant will open the eyes of the blind, bring out prisoners from confinement, and bring those in darkness out from the dungeon.  This servant will be one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests, and with whom God the Father is pleased.

            To those who had ears to hear and eyes to see at the Jordan River, to those who had remembered this passage from Isaiah, Jesus’ baptism would have been a jaw-dropping moment.  Because just as Jesus came up from the water, the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, came upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven said, “‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”  The prophecy from Isaiah was fulfilled in their hearing, and it is reaffirmed for us in our hearing today. 

But if you notice, God does not simply fulfill the prophecy.  No, he goes beyond its fulfillment.  He does not simply send the Spirit upon Jesus in a nebulous, invisible form, but allows the Spirit to take the form of a dove, so that all might see it.  And Jesus is not just the servant with whom the Lord is pleased, but Jesus is the servant who is the beloved Son of God, with whom God the Father is well pleased.  God’s abundant love is seen here, going beyond what the Chosen People were taught to hope for.  God outdoes His own promises, out of love for the people He has made His own.  And Jesus’ public ministry, the proof that He is the servant and Son of God, is Jesus opening the eyes of the blind, freeing prisoners from the slavery of sin, and bringing the light of truth and grace to those who were kept in.

Brothers and sisters, if we have been baptized, then we have been joined to the Body of Christ, and this prophecy, which was fulfilled in its fullest form in Jesus, also is meant to speak of us.  If Christ is the Son and servant of God who is called to open the eyes of the blind, free prisoners, and bring light to those in darkness, and if we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, through our baptism, then we are also called to do the same.  When people hear our voices, they should hear the voice of Christ, the revelation of the Father; when they see our good deeds, they should see Christ present, and in seeing Christ, know of the Father’s love in action; when they hear us proclaiming the Gospel, and telling people to repent and believe because the Kingdom of God is at hand, they should recognize Christ, and in recognizing Christ recognize the Father, because Jesus is the manifestation of the Father in the world.

It is as if we were on the telephone, and because we are so like Christ, who is the full revelation of the Father, people mistake us for the Father’s beloved Son, not by the treble of our voice, or by the way we look physically, but because we are continuing the proclamation of the Good News: that God loves us so much, that He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.  Just as can happen with young men and women on the telephone, people should confuse us for Jesus when they come into contact with us because of our devotion as disciples to the Master.

Now, certainly this is a tall order.  But you have what it takes.  It is not limited to a particular race, gender, or those with good speaking abilities, or priests, or religious.  No, as St. Peter said in the second reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, “‘God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.’”  We have the ability because we were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, and we have a fountain of graces, ready to flow, if only we would accept it, and let it flow, rather than blocking it by embarrassment of seeming “extreme;” by false humility of thinking, “I can’t spread the Gospel because I don’t know enough;” or by sin which separates us from God.  Certainly we do have to work at presenting the truth of the Gospel in Love, and we must know Him about whom we preach, and all of us need to return to the Lord for forgiveness for those times when we have fallen into sin, but God has already given us all we need to spread the Gospel to all nations, so that they can be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and become members of the Body of Christ, and co-heirs of eternal life. 

We have a mandate from our Lord to preach the Gospel to all nations, and we must use both our words and actions.  We cannot hide behind an alleged saying of St. Francis that we only need to act.  We need both words and deeds, so that when people hear our words proclaiming Jesus as Lord by what we say and how we say it; so that when people see our kind deeds to the least brothers and sisters of the Lord by the actions of our daily lives, they do not see us so much, as see Christ.  I pray that all of us, by the graces given to us in our baptism, are so like Christ, that we can be known as the continuation of the His ministry, the manifestation of the Father’s love, even more than, when the kids are at their parents home, they can be confused over the phone for their parents.

Gifts better than Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

Solemnity of the Epiphany

            I have often thought that having a birthday on or near Christmas is a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, you get the joy of knowing that everyone will remember your birthday and that, in many cases, the whole family is around to celebrate.  On the other hand, the celebration that usually takes precedence is the birthday of Jesus Christ, while the birth of the other person usually takes a back seat.  And, in terms of presents, I would think that many people have “present fatigue,” if you will, and aren’t really in the mood to shop for another gift.

            The solemnity we celebrate today, that of the Epiphany, is sort of like having a birthday around Christmas.  In our modern age, the celebration of the birth of Christ, when the Incarnation was made known to the shepherds, is the major celebration.  But, in the overall history of the Church, the Epiphany was always the greater celebration, because Christ was made known, not just to the few shepherds around Bethlehem, but also to the whole world, to the Gentiles, through the adoration of the Magi.  In fact, the very word epiphany comes from two Greek words meaning, “to show forth.”

            While Christ did make Himself known to the Gentiles through the three kings or wise men, traditionally named Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, He did not stop revealing Himself, and indeed, the entire Trinity, on that one day.  No, Jesus continues to make Himself known to us so that He and we might not be strangers, but might know each other well, like the best of friends, or like a spouse.

            Four ways that Jesus is made known or present are experienced in this very Mass!  Jesus is made truly present in the Word, since Jesus is the Word of God, as St. John tells us in the Prologue to the Gospel which bears his name.  Jesus is also truly present in the most august Sacrament of His Body and Blood.  He is made present through this community, gathering together, since He promised, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst,” as well as through me, your priest, who acts in persona Christi capitis, in the person of Christ the Head.  In this Mass, God, through Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, is making Himself known to all of us so that we might have union with Him in this privileged way.  What is important is, not so much that we show up to Mass (although it is important to come to Mass), but that God wills to communicate, to share, Himself with us, in the way He has given to us as a gift.

            This year the Epiphany, which was traditionally celebrated on January 6, also coincides with the New Year, the time when we look forward to more joys, and hopefully fewer sorrows, than the previous year.  We make new resolutions to better ourselves and the world.  This year, as a Church, we have a great opportunity to make some new resolutions that also go hand-in-hand with Christ making Himself known.

This New Year will bring with it a new translation of the way we celebrate Mass starting at the end of November: not in a new language, but in an English translation to which we are not yet accustomed.  FAITH Magazine has been preparing us, and will continue to do so even more, for these new words.  Our parish is preparing times when we can gather as a community to learn more about the Mass and to prepare for the new English words that we will say.  Change can hard.  Whatever our personal New Year’s resolution is, we have to work at it; it does not simply happen.  The same goes for our parish resolution  It will take a while to get used to the priest saying, “The Lord be with you” and the people responding, “And with your spirit.”  But frankly, the bulk of the changes will have to be made by the priests, rather than by the people.  So the burden is mostly on Fr. Mark, Fr. Joe, and I to work at being good leaders for you to guide you through the transition. 

            Our New Year’s resolution as a parish, as a Church, united in Christ, is to give God gifts that we know He wants to receive: not so much the “Caravans of camels…from Midian and Ephah,” or “from Sheba…gold and frankincense,” nor even the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that the three Wise Men brought.  But, as we prepare for these new ways of responding during Mass, it is our parish New Year’s resolution to give Jesus the gold of humility, the frankincense of patience, and the myrrh of obedience. 

Humility is like gold because it is precious in the eyes of the Lord when we realize that God is in charge, and we are not.  It helps us to value the fact that our God so loves us that He makes Himself present to us through the Mass in a four-fold way, rather than clinging to our own opinions of whether or not we like the way the new responses will sound.

Patience is like frankincense because when we are patient with the transition to the new responses, it is like the sweet smell of incense which rises before the Lord, and because, if you’re anything like me, the way that I grow in patience is to pray for it from the Lord as a gift.  Incense is a symbol of our prayers rising before God.

Obedience is like myrrh because myrrh is a perfume that was used to anoint dead bodies, and obedience means that we really have to die to our own wills, our own opinions, our own preferences, as good as we might think they are, and adapt to the great gift that the Church is giving us: to worship God in the way that He wants to be worshipped.  And, the more that we die to ourselves, the more we will rise to God, just as Christ, who was anointed at His death and burial, rose to new life in the resurrection.

Let us not pass over this great celebration of Jesus making Himself known to the Gentiles, but rather, let us offer God the great gift and New Year’s resolution of humility, patience, and obedience in thanksgiving for the four-fold way He makes himself known to us in this Mass: His Word, the Eucharist, the People gathered, and the priest; and in the manifold ways that He makes Himself known to us in our day-to-day life.

How to be a Holy Family

Feast of the Holy Family

            A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure to visit Lansing Catholic High School and talk with the sophomores in Theology class.  Part of the class was spent talking about how I had discerned that the Lord was calling me to be a priest.  The other part of the class was answering prepared questions that they had penned anonymously.  One of the many great questions they asked was why marriage and family isn’t talked about more.  And so, here we are, at the feast of the Holy Family, the day after Christmas, when we get to focus on family life, including marriage.

            Having a holy family, based upon the example of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, is often thought of as impossible.  After all, Jesus is fully God and fully man, Mary was conceived without original sin, and Joseph kept getting these dreams from God to tell him what to do to care for the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child. 

Statues of the Holy Family in Flight to Egypt,
in Bethlehem, the West Bank

            But what made the Holy Family holy?  It was that, in every circumstance, they were obedient to the will of the Lord.  They were always ready to say “yes” to God, even if it meant leaving home and family to go to Egypt, so that Jesus would be protected from King Herod’s murderous decree.

            The life the Holy Family led was not easy!  Following the will of God included challenges, real and monumental challenges. But still, despite the trials and tribulations, they were resolute in saying “yes” to God.

            Things have not gotten any easier for families in the two millennia since Christ walked the earth.  Too many mothers feel forced to kill their unborn child because there is no support from the father of the child or from the mother’s family; marriage as it was created by God, between a man and a woman for life, seems to be under constant attack from the secular culture in the name of a false view of compassion and diversity; too many children do not have enough to eat or drink because of underemployment and unemployment; families, especially in our own State, have had to leave their homes and families in search or a stable job in other States.

            How hard it is to say “yes” to God these days! To choose life in a culture of death; to take seriously the call of every husband and wife, not just to be open to life and have children, but to raise them and form them in the faith, starting with the life of faith lived out at home, but also including trying to make sure that children receive the best education and religious formation possible; to stand up for the indissolubility of the marital bond between a man and a woman.  While many of the challenges are different now then they were in first-century Palestine, striving for holiness as a family, striving to say “yes” to the will of God in all circumstances, is no easier.

            In the midst of these trials, and many others that I have not named, the Church stands behind you!  While we need priests to bring the sacramental life to the People of God, most especially the Eucharist, we also need families to fill the culture with the Gospel; to preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead; to pass on the faith to their children.  From these holy families will come holy priests, and more holy families to continue to prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths.

            How does the Church stand behind you?  First and foremost through the Sacraments which give you the grace to be holy families.  It is impossible to be a holy family without the grace, the inner life, the love, of God in you.  And so we stand ready to impart that grace to you through the Sacraments.  We also stand with you to help you through the tough times, whether they are financial or emotional.  Through the work of so many great services that the Church offers, we can help you to choose life, even if no one else wants to support you in that choice; to find a way to provide for your children; to talk problems out and find counseling for the times when families are struggling to simply be civil in dialogue; to give your children the full benefit of a quality academic and religious formation, especially in our Catholic schools, so that they can become, not only good citizens of the City of Man, to quote St. Augustine, but more importantly good citizens of the City of God. 

            I could spend hours talking about all the ways that we as a parish community help each other out to be holy families.  Our St. Vincent de Paul Society works tirelessly, not only to provide clothes, but also to help with utility payments, and other basic necessities, especially after one or two members of the household have lost their jobs and are coming up a little short to keep a roof over their heads. 

            Our students do great work with Alternative Spring Break, and so many members of the permanent community here help them in many ways, to provide basic necessities for the underprivileged members of our nation and in other countries.

            Our Right to Life committee works hard to make sure that new mothers and fathers know that there are people who will support them in bringing their child to term and providing for the needs of the family during pregnancies.

            Our school children provided a vast amount of presents to families that otherwise would have gone without this year, spreading their own blessings out to those who are struggling.  And our pastor, teachers, and family members of the school are very generous in ensuring that, if a child of our parish wants to attend our great school, and receive the quality education and formation which it provides, money will not be the issue that prevents that desire from becoming a reality.

            The Holy Family had challenges in living a holy life, and families today have challenges in living a holy life.  But the basic ingredient in the Holy Family’s life, and in any family’s life that wants to be holy, is saying “yes” to God: in the big things and in the small, seemingly insignificant things.  But remember, you are never alone.  We as a Church: the saints in heaven like Mary and Joseph, and those still struggling here on earth to make it heaven, are behind you 100% so that you can say “yes” to God.  

The Face of Love

Christmas Eve & Day

            What does love look like?  Does it look like a couple of high school sweethearts, snuggled up together watching a movie?  Does it look like a young couple, kissing for the first time as husband and wife at their wedding?  Does it look like a mother, holding her first-born child and gently rocking it to sleep?  Does it look like a couple that has been married for many years, simply sitting together, enjoying the pleasure of each other’s company?  What does love look like?

            While all of the examples I have listed above are instances of where love can be found, as Catholics we know what love looks like, because love is not some invisible force.  Love is a Person, a Divine Person, who took on human nature, who became one like us in all things but sin.  What we celebrate this evening/morning is love, which was made present to us through the face of the Christ Child. 

            What we celebrate this evening/morning is the incarnation of love, a love for a particular people, a people which was not the greatest nation on the earth, but which was, as Deuteronomy says, “peculiarly” the Lord’s.  We celebrate the love of God, who, as St. John tells us, is love, which, through the birth of Jesus, has fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah and “brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing.”  We celebrate the God who became man so that “the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster,” the yoke, pole, and rod of sin and death, could be smashed into pieces and destroyed.  We celebrate God who “has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ,” as St. Paul tells us in the second reading from the Letter to Titus.

            What is amazing is that this love that fulfills the prophecies of all the prophets, the love that puts and end to sin and death, smashing them into small pieces as a piece of glass is shattered when thrown down upon the ground, the love which took flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the annunciation as she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and which, after nine months was made manifest for the first time with a human body, this love which is pure power itself, was also itself so helpless at its appearance in the world.

The place of the Nativity of Our Lord at the
Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank

            This love, which could be compared to a great fire, began its manifestation in the world as nothing but a small flame, like the flame that lights a single, small candle on a birthday cake.  It was so small and so fragile, that the slightest breeze might put it out.  And yet, while there was no room for this small flame in the inn, love’s fire was protected by St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother, and allowed to start to burn brightly.  And the fire grew because it was received by St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother.  From that one flame of Divine Love, small though it was, more candles were lit to illumine the night of darkness.  Mary and Joseph’s candles received that love, that fire, and the flames, ever so slowly, grew. 

            And then the angels, seeing their God, their King, fulfill the prophecies of old, broke into song to announce this great news, that what no human had dared hope for or suspected, the incarnation of the Second Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Word who was from the beginning “with God” and “was God,” through whom “All things came to be…and without him nothing came to be”, the light of the world, the “light [that] shines in the darkness,” could be known by all in swaddling clothes in a manger in the City of David, Bethlehem, “and the darkness has not overcome it.”

            And the shepherds, hearing this great news from the angels, and hearing them sing “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests,” went in haste to see this light, this fire in the night, and upon seeing it themselves were filled with the love that they saw and received the fire of love themselves, giving strength to the flame which has started out so small.

            Brothers and sisters, we stand in a line of many who have received this fire of love, and by our own reception have helped the flame to grow.  We come tonight/today, like the shepherds, to celebrate news which seems too good to be true: that our God loves us so much that He would become like us in all things but sin.  But, while the fire of love which illumines those who have received Christ could illumine almost every part of the world because of the great acceptance of Jesus Christ by the people He came to save, our own flames of love, first received from Christ in our baptism, relies upon our faith and the actions which stem from it, to continue burning brightly.  Christ will not force the fire of His love upon us.  If we let it go out, then He stands ready to enkindle the flame of love in our hearts again, but will not impose Himself upon us.  Love never imposes itself, but freely gives and waits to be received. 

            We all know the darkness of the evils that face our world: greed, poverty, racial strife, war, the great sorrow of abortion and euthanasia, and so many more.  If we want to illumine the darkness so that it no longer exists, we must bring the fire of our faith, the fire of our hope, the fire of our love (all of which are gifts from God), and let it shine before all “that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”  In this way we help others to see what love looks not, not by looking at us, but by seeing the face of love, Jesus Christ, in us.  Love is not some invisible force.  It is not the sum of all the ways that it is expressed through people.  Love is a Person, and today we celebrate that Person being born in the flesh.  We celebrate the ability to see love in the face of the Christ Child.  Come, let us adore Him!