Throw Your Life Away!!

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            As a seminarian, it was not uncommon to hear people talk about certain seminarians, and say, “Why is so-and-so throwing his life away?  He has such great potential!”  Bishop Mengeling, when we were on retreat as seminarians, would sometimes use that phrase to remind us of what we were doing with a twist, that we were truly throwing our life away for the Lord, just as a married couple throws their life away for each other.

            We often don’t think of throwing our life away as a positive thing.  That’s not the phrase we use to celebrate big events like an ordination, or a wedding (though the phrase may be tossed around at bachelor or bachelorette parties, or by heartbroken girls who would rather have a seminarian as the father of their children instead of being a spiritual father).    It generally has a negative connotation, as if we are wasting some sort of potential.  And yet, in our Gospel, the Lord is very clear: “‘whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.’”  It is as if Jesus is saying, “If you try not to throw away your life, you will, but if you throw away your life for me, you will truly preserve it.”

            When a man and woman pledge themselves to each other as husband and wife; or when a man is called to be a priest and responds to that call; or when a man or a woman respond to the call to be consecrated for the sake of the Kingdom; all those people are throwing away their lives.  The married couple is promising to stop looking for someone better with whom to share their entire life and with whom to have children.  The priest is promising to devote his life first and foremost to God, so that he can serve His people.  The consecrated man or woman is promising to devote him or herself to Christ and be a witness of what life will be like in the Kingdom of Heaven, especially through witnessing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience in imitation of Jesus who was chaste, poor, and obedient. 

They are throwing away other opportunities that could have come up in their life in the future.  The husbands are throwing away the possibility that they will meet another woman, and the wives are throwing away the possibility that they will meet another man, who will be a suitable partner, a lifelong companion, and the person with whom they want to share physical intimacy and raise children.  The priest is throwing away the possibility of marriage and having biological children of his own so that he can have deep intimacy with Christ and be the caretaker of His bride, the Church.  The consecrated man or woman is throwing away the possibility of being a father or a mother, and, in the case of men and women religious, is throwing away the accumulation of wealth and the ability to direct their lives how they want, and when they want, and where they want.

And yet, as proof of what Jesus says (in case we don’t take Him at His word), the happiest people I have met are those who have thrown away their lives and not looked back.  I see it in couples that have been married, for example, for 50 years, who have spent a lifetime together, struggling to make ends meet, to raise children, to live out their faith, and while things haven’t always been easy, they always, without fail, say to me that they would do the same all over again if they had the chance.  I see it in the consecrated men and women, like Judith Stegman, a consecrated virgin, or Sr. Dorothy, our Director of Campus Ministry, or Sr. Liz, our Director of Senior Ministry, in the joy that they have found in consecrating their lives to Christ.  And I also see the overwhelming majority of my brother priests, who, though they have left all to follow Christ and serve His people, are already receiving 100-fold for what they have left behind.

What concerns me a little is that our culture does not encourage us to throw everything away for marriage, or consecrated life, or priesthood.  Whether it’s middle or high school students, or the college students at MSU, or even adults, so many are afraid to make any commitment, just in case there’s something better around the corner.  As a culture, we are afraid of commitment because it means that we may have to give up the future goods that we think we might possibly get by holding out.  Even in marriage, there is a general societal view that, if things don’t work out, you can always break it off in case you find something or someone better.  We see it especially in couples living together while dating or engaged, pretending to live a married life with each other under the same roof, in the same bed, but free to call it off in case something better comes along.  Only in marriage is that decision to throw it all away for the other protected, because both spouses commit to that marital love for the entire duration of their lives.  And sadly, Jesus’ words ring true that those who try to save it all, end up losing it.  Some studies state that 67%, or 2 out of 3 couples that live together before marriage, end up divorcing, and that it’s often in the first decade of their marriage. 

Is throwing it all away easy?  Certainly not.  There are times when a couple, or a consecrated man or woman, or a priest, feels the weight of the cross.  There are times when disciples have to experience people who metaphorically beat their back, or pluck their beard, or spit on their face.  But, when we throw it away, with God’s help, when we lose our life for the Son of Man and the gospel, then we can say with the prophet Isaiah from our first reading, “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame…See, the Lord God is my help.”  When we lose our life for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, it is then that we, in fact, find it, and save it for eternal life.

The Divine Physician

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

            The Word of God is often challenging.  It calls us to deeper conversion as we turn our lives away from sin and towards Jesus, trying to live our life in conformity with the love that Jesus showed us by what we say and do.  As a spiritual father, it is not uncommon for me to have to deliver a tough message, a message which calls us to rethink the way we’re living, to re-examine our priorities, and to change our habits of sin to habits of grace and virtue.  Just like a biological father or mother who must, from time to time, correct children to ensure that they will succeed in the world, not only as citizens of earth but also as citizens of the New Jerusalem in heaven, sometimes I have to correct the sheep of the Lord’s flock.  But today is not one of those days. 

            Today, the message the Lord speaks to us is one of His healing love.  Both in our Gospel and in our first reading, we hear about the tender love of our God which wants to heal us.  The Lord says to us today, as He spoke through Isaiah then, “Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God…he comes to save you.”  We hear that he will open the eyes of the blind, and clear the ears of the deaf.  He will make the lame leap like stags, and loose the tongues of the mute.  He will turn the desert into a watered garden.  And in our Gospel, Jesus fulfills that prophecy by healing the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.  Jesus, as the very revelation of God the Father, makes present for us the healing love that God has for His people.

So, the question is, will we accept that healing touch of God?  Will we welcome the Divine Physician into our hearts to cure us from what ails us?  To those of you who have frightened hearts: of what are you afraid?  What causes you anxiety?  Whatever it is, open your hearts up to the Lord, and hear Him say to you as He said to the frightened disciples in the boat as the waves were crashing about it, and as He said to St. Peter as He bade Peter walk across the water, “Be not afraid!”  Those were the words that opened the pontificate of Bl. John Paul II in 1978, and we still need to hear those words: “Be not afraid!”  Because, as St. Paul says, “If God is for who, who can be against us?”  The waves of the world may crash all around us, but Jesus is in our boat, and He who separated the dry land from the water at the creation of the world will not let us capsize in the waters of chaos. 

Where do we not see the Lord?  Where do we think that He is absent from our lives?  Cry out like the blind man in Jericho, “‘Lord, that I may see!’”  Feel the warm, callused, but tender hand of our Lord over your eyes so that you may recognize Him: in the poor, the downtrodden, the infant in the womb, the elderly, the homebound, even in your enemy.  Let the Lord bring the light of the Gospel truth to the darkness of sin which blinds us to the presence of God in the world.

Where do we not hear the Lord?  Are we familiar with how the Lord speaks to us?  Sometimes it is in great moments when the Lord appeared to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Other times, like with Elijah, it is in the whisper of a soft voice inside our hearts.  Ask the Lord to touch your ears and say, “‘Ephaphtha!’—that is, ‘Be opened!’” so that when you sit in silence, you will hear the clear Word of God in your heart and recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd speaking to you, leading you to green pastures. 

How are our mouths bound so that we do not speak?  How do we mumble the Word of God in our words and our deeds?  Ask the Lord to open you lips so that you proclaim His wonderful works in all that you say and do.  Ask Him to cleanse your speech so that when people hear you speaking, they are truly listening to the voice of God.  Ask Him to allow you to proclaim from the mountaintops that our God has come to save us, and the day of our vindication is at hand! 

But know this, if we do not ask; if we leave this building and act as if nothing has changed, then we will not be healed.  Not because the Lord does not love us, but because God, who did not ask to create us, will not heal and save us without our permission.  God loves us and respects our free will so much, that He will not force us to take His medicine, even if we will die without it.  We must recognize that we need the Lord’s help (which is itself a gift from God) and then ask Him to heal our infirmities, whatever they are, whether of body and/or soul, and He will come to us quicker than any ambulance ever could. 

Brothers and sisters, the Lord’s love for us will renew our youth and irrigate those parts of us that are as dry as deserts so that they are a luscious garden, full of life.  Our Lord comes to heal us so that we may not labor under the sickness of sin, but may have the fullness of life through the power of the Holy Spirit.  “Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.”  “He has done all things well.”

Doers of the Word

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

            I’m sure this has never happened with anyone here, but imagine a scenario where a parent tells a child to do something while that child is doing something else like watching TV, or playing video games, reading, or texting.  Then imagine that, lo and behold, that child does not, in fact, do what the parent tells the child to do (I know, this must be shocking for you that this actually happens in some families).  The usual response from the parent would be some variation of, “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

            St. James tells us in the second reading, that we are to be “doers of the word and not hearers only.”  We have been blessed with the greatest message of all time.  It started in the Old Testament, with the message that God had chosen a people, and had cared for them and brought them to a land.  And, even after they were enslaved, God freed them and returned them to that land flowing with milk and honey.  He game them laws so that they might be just and upright, and know the good to do and the evil to avoid.  This is what Moses is talking about in the first reading.

            And even “when through disobedience [humanity] had lost [God’s] friendship, He did not abandon [us] to the domain of death…Time and again [God] offered them covenants and through the prophets taught [us] to look forward to salvation.”  And then, “in the fullness of time [God] sent [His] Only Begotten Son to be our Savior.  Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin…To accomplish [God’s] plan, [Jesus] gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life.”  And the Church was formed, the New Israel, who was called to proclaim this Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus, which saves us from our sins.  And, in response to this love first shown to us in God, the members of the Body of Christ are to configure themselves to Jesus, by the guidance of the teaching of the Apostles and their successors who continue the teaching of Jesus in new times and new circumstances.

            That is the Good News that we received.  That is the Good News that we are to proclaim.  But are we just hearers of the Word?  Does what Jesus said apply to us, too: “‘Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;’”?    Week after week we hear the Word of God and we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  But does it change us?  Has the Gospel penetrated our hearts?  In the movie “Godfather III,” the cardinal who hears Michael Corleone’s confession pulls a small rock out from a fountain of water.  It is wet, of course, on the outside.  But he breaks the rock in two, and the inside is dry.  He says that the people are like the rock in the fountain.  They have been surrounded by the water of Christianity for centuries, but Christ, like the water, has not penetrated them.  How many of us are surrounded by Christianity, but Christ has no penetrated us because we are hearers of the word only, and not doers?

            St. James tells us that if we are hearers only, and not doers, then we are deluding ourselves.  If we think that being surrounded by Christianity is enough, then we have truly not heard Jesus, just as the child did not truly hear its parent.  At our baptism, a solemn promise was made for us, if we were infants, or we made it for ourselves, if we were adults: that we would reject sin and Satan, that we would believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that we would raise the child in the faith, and practice it ourselves.  This is the same promise that these families will make today for their children.  We promised to be doers of the word.  God, for His part, promised to assist us in that promise with sacramental grace which would strengthen us to do what we cannot without His help.  Have we lived up to these promises?  Have we, in the ways we are able, changed the world to better reflect the Gospel?  Or have we tried to let the culture change the Gospel to better reflect our world?  Have we been the salt of the earth, preserving our corner of the world in holiness of life, of have we lost our flavor? 

            For months we have been hearing from politicians how they have the right policies that will bring America prosperity.  We will hear how they will do x, y, and z to protect the poor, defend life from natural conception to natural death, to turn the economy around, etc.  And politics certainly has a legitimate role to play in implementing the Gospel.  But, before that can be effective, we ourselves must be converted.  We must be doers of the word, and not hearers only.  Because if we are truly doers of the word then we ourselves will guard against greed and consumerism and will hold others to that as well.  If we are doers of the word then we will assist the poor, truly helping them to use the gifts God has given them for their benefit and the benefit of society.  If we are doers of the word then we will stand up for the rights of the defenseless infant in the womb from the moment of conception and the elderly who are sick, both of whom can easily be exploited because they are the weakest members of our society.  If we are doers of the word then we will stand up for religious freedom so that we can truly practice our faith in peace, and not be compelled to do anything which is against the teaching of Christ and His Church.  “Dearest brothers and sisters:…Be doers of the world and not hearers only.”

"As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD"

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

I think that people generally like to be the best or the biggest.  We like the ability to quantify groups, teams, positions to see if we are the biggest or doing the best.  For example: we rejoice that MSU Men’s Basketball has made it to the NCAA tournament for 15 consecutive years under the leadership of Tom Izzo.  Politicians, especially in this election year, rely on polls to see how many people agree with their position, and if they need to tweak or change their position to become more popular.  I can even fall into this trap at times.  When others ask me how many parishioners we have, I am proud to announce to them that we are the largest parish in the Diocese of Lansing, with 3500 families plus the students who live on campus.  Numbers are great, and we can want to pin our futures and actions on those numbers.

But the truly successful in Scripture do not do that.  In fact, they tend to throw any quantifiable data out the door and just trust in God.  Take Joshua from our first reading: at the end of the campaigns of the Chosen People in the Holy Land, Joshua sets before the Chosen People the choice to be faithful to God or to the pagan gods whom they had just put behind them.  Joshua knows the fickle character of the people.  He had seen how they rejoiced when they fled the slavery of Egypt, but how they also wanted to go back when things got tough.  So Joshua gives them the choice of following the God who had brought them safely from the land of Egypt and had settled them in the Promised Land, or serving their pagan gods, who were no gods at all.  “As for me and my household,” Joshua says, “we will serve the LORD.”  Joshua decides that a future with God is where he will make his claim, no matter what the others choose to do.  He is not concerned about how many join with him.

Jesus also seems to be oblivious to numbers.  He had just told the Jews that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood they will not have life in them.  And the Jews are pretty much all disgusted and walk away.  The teaching on the Eucharist is too much for them.  But Jesus does not run after them, shouting, “Wait!  Lemme explain this a little more!  I was talking sacramentally!!”  Even with his chosen band, the Twelve Apostles, He simply says, “‘Do you also want to leave?’”  He doesn’t change his teaching because of low polling results because His teaching is Truth, with a capital T.  Jesus has come to reveal the Father and the Father’s love and truth.  If people accept it, that would be great!  But if they don’t, Jesus still is faithful to the message God the Father gave Him to proclaim.

It is tough not to care about the results.  It is tough to be concerned primarily with the Truth.  But, if we are to be like Jesus, then that is our call.  Our hopes, our futures, cannot be attached to any numbers.  We cannot choose Jesus simply because a lot of other people have.  We must be personally convicted that Jesus is Lord, and that He founded only one Church that faithfully passes on His message in its entirety, or else the teachings of Jesus will be too hard for us and we, like the Jews, will leave.  

Even today, Jesus still teaches difficult things with which our current culture is very uncomfortable.  Many people today will say, “What do you mean I have to go to Church every Sunday and Holyday?!?  I can worship God wherever I want!”; “I have to get married in a church building if I’m Catholic?  But it’s so beautiful on the beach!”; “Marriage is only between one man and one woman for life?  How insensitive to those who have same-sex attractions!”; “A male-only priesthood?  Don’t you know Augusta just opened up to women members?  Get with the times!”; “the Church needs to stay out of my bedroom!”  Of course, there are so many more.  And yet, the teaching of Jesus through His Church remains firm, and is not based upon public perception.

It takes a lot of faith and trust to care not about public opinion but about truth.  It puts us under the order (subordinate) of another.  This is what St. Paul tells us in the second reading: “Brothers and sisters,” that is, men and women, “be subordinate to each other out of reverence for Christ.”  Not only are we to pin our hopes and futures on Jesus, but we are to live out His life of service towards each other.  We are voluntarily to be subordinate to each other, just as Christ was subordinate to God the Father, and the Church is subordinate to Jesus Christ.  

When we hear this reading, we may think that this was just a chauvinist writing.  But St. Paul calls both men and women to subordinate themselves to the other, especially in marriage, which witnesses the relationship of Jesus with the Church.  Of course, the husbands many smile when they hear the line, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord,” and the women may bristle.  But St. Paul also outlines how the husbands are to subordinate themselves to their wives, by telling them to love their wives as Christ does the Church.  There was nothing that Jesus would not give for His Bride, the Church.  He lowered Himself for her by taking on our human nature; He was constantly at her service; and, in the greatest act of subordination, He gave up His very life and descended to the depths of Hell so that she could live and not have to die.  That is certainly subordination on the part of the man.  

Every day we have the choice: do we follow the teaching that is most popular?  Do we join the ecclesial community that has the biggest following?  Or do we receive the Scriptures, “not [as] a human word, but, as it truly is, the word of God,” as St. Paul says?  Whether it’s the teaching on the Eucharist, or marriage, or sexual morality, or whatever, Jesus, even today through His Church, teaches us the Truth that the Father has given Him.  And Jesus asks us, “‘Do you also want to leave?’”  May our answer be the same as St. Peter: “‘Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.’”

Do You Smell Good?

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            A couple of weeks ago I went out to lunch with a guy named Joe.  Joe graduated from Lansing Catholic this past May, and was getting ready to move down to Ave Maria College in Florida, where he will play football, and he wanted to catch-up a little before he left.  While Joe and I were eating lunch, the waitress, a 45-50 year old women came over and said, “I just have to say, one of you smells really good.”  There we were, left with the option of a woman liking the smell of either a young priest (dressed in clerics, mind you), or an 18-year-old. 

            A few days later, playing volleyball with some friends on a Thursday evening, my teammate tells me as he’s about to serve, “Father, you smell really good!  What type of cologne do you wear?” 

            We each have our own smells.  Some are highlighted (or hidden) by deodorants and/or cologne or perfume.  But our “scent,” if you will, helps to communicate who we are.  St. Paul, in our second reading, tells us to “be imitators of God…as Christ loved us and handed himself over…as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”  So if we are to be like Jesus, we must smell like Jesus, not in the sense of our musk, but in the way we live.

            When a person is baptized and later confirmed, Sacred Chrism is put on his or her head.  The Chrism is a mixture of olive oil and a special perfume.  Parents of baptized babies notice the smell of the Chrism.  Those who are confirmed certainly notice the smell, especially since most of those who are confirmed around here are in adolescence and are very concerned with how they smell.  But Sacred Chrism smells for a reason.  It reminds us that we are to have a special smell, the aroma of Christ, the odor of holiness.

            How do we smell differently?  How do we have the odor of holiness?  There are a lot of ways, but based upon our first reading and our Gospel, I want to suggest one very practical way: the way we treat Sundays.

Sunday is a Christian’s day, because it is the day that Jesus rose from the dead.  That’s why we set it aside every week for worship.  It is the new Sabbath, fulfilling the rest that God commanded we take in the Ten Commandments.  It is a day to be given over to the worship of God, charitable works, family and friends, and relaxation.  And it used to set us Catholics apart, just as Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, set Jews apart.  But we have fallen away from the sacredness of the Lord’s Day.

Why do we need the Lord’s Day?  Frankly, we need the rest.  I’m sure I could ask any one of you how the past week went, and you would have myriad events that took place that, whether simply required or even recreational, drained your batteries.  We need rest, just like Elijah, working for God, needed rest.  In fact, he was running away from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who were going to kill him, because he had demonstrated the power of the true God, and put to death the false-prophets of Baal.  But, Sunday is not just about sleeping all day.  Even Elijah is told to take bread, because He will need it for the journey to the mountain of God.

Sunday is also about worship, and for us as Catholics, that worship means the Mass.  We are not fulfilling the Sabbath Commandment if we just sleep all day and vaguely think about God.  We need to come to Mass because it is only in the Mass that the Bread of Angels, the Eucharist, is given to us.  We come to Mass because it is there, in a special way, that we are taught by God through His Word, read to us to strengthen us to live out our baptismal call to holiness.  Jesus promises us that, if we are not conscious of grave sin, which makes us unworthy to receive His Body and Blood, than we will live forever, because the bread that He gives is his “flesh for the life of the world.”  The Eucharist is precisely what we need to have strength to do those million things that naturally arise in life between Monday and Saturday, from work, from family, from sports, etc. 

Now, there are lots of people, even Catholics, who do not go to Mass on Sunday, who do not receive the Eucharist, and we may think that they’re doing just fine.  But “just fine” is only a shadow of the “great” that God wants for them, if they would only come to Mass to worship and receive, in a state of grace, the Eucharist.  Without the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive at Mass, we are only a shadow of who we can truly be in Christ.

For the rest of the day, as a way of having the aroma of Christ, let’s say no to almost everything else.  That will be hard, without a doubt.  And some of us have to work, especially in emergency response jobs or the service industry like in restaurants or gas stations.  But, many of us can say no to anything which is not truly relaxing and God-focused.  Many of us can say no to sports practices and menial work which can be done on other days.  If we pledge to each other that we will say no to lesser things, which allows us to say yes to God, family & friends, assisting the poor, and relaxation for one day per week, then our families will be able to worship God and find strength in the Eucharist, and will be able to enjoy each other’s company and strengthen their familial bonds, and we’ll have the strength and energy we need to do the work that lies ahead of us from Monday through Saturday: at work, at school, on the field, in the gym, and around the house.  And in this one way, we will have the aroma of Christ, the odor of holiness, so that we will smell good, not for a waitress or a friend, but for God.

Being Intimate

75^th Anniversary of the Diocese of Lansing

            When I was at Lansing Catholic High School as a student from 1998-2002, our principal was famous for one phrase: “Don’t dig yourself a hole.”  While many of us in the class heard it so often that we started to make light of it, as  high school students are wont to do, looking back, it was great advice which serves a person well in academics, sports, and extra-curriculars of any kind.    In essence, what our principal was saying was that starting out is very important in anything we do to being successful in the long run.

            As we begin our Year of Prayer as a Diocese, our Gospel starts us out strong, because we begin with the prayer of Jesus, the one who prays perfectly.  In our Gospel passage, we are allowed to enter into the private, intimate exchange between the Father and Son, just as the apostles were at the Last Supper, when this prayer was originally prayed. 

            Our Year of Prayer, as a Diocese, is precisely about entering into that intimate relationship between the Father and the Son, a love so strong that it breathes forth the Holy Spirit.  And we can only do so because we have been consecrated by Christ in Baptism.  We have been consecrated into the truth.  And because of that consecration we can take part in the pouring forth of love between Father and Son and Holy Spirit, which forms the foundation of any true love that exists in the entire universe.  How blest we are to be able to listen to the words of Love Incarnate to His Father!  Without God’s permission, we could never presume, as creatures, to be worthy of hearing that dialogue.  But God welcomes us, through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to not only observe the dialogue, but to become part of it in Christ. 

            In this Mass, we celebrate the dialogue in ritual ways.  God speaks to us grace and peace, and we respond.  God speaks His Word, and we say, “Thanks be to God.”  Jesus ultimate gift of love to the Father, His very self on the cross, is re-presented for us on this altar of sacrifice in the Eucharist.  And this act of love is so great that we are invited to respond after the Words of Institution and I remind us that this is the Mystery of Faith. 

            Celebrating Mass, this celebration, is the best thing that I will ever do in my life.  Joining in the celebration with me is the best thing you will ever do in your life.  Nothing can top it, except heaven, of which this Mass is an anticipation.  In the reality of God, there is no more intimate union with God then what happens right here, because we are involved in the total gift of the Son, in whom we are members through Baptism, to the Father.

            But we are not given this great gift so that we can keep it to ourselves.  Jesus does not consecrate us and allows us to share in the most powerful, intimate love ever just to keep it to ourselves.  We then are called to be in union with Jesus, all of us together, through His teachings, given to us in Scripture and in the teachings of the Church.  And we are also called to share it with others, so that the world will believe that God sent Jesus, and that God loves us even as He loves Jesus.  And when we share that love with others, in union of action and belief with who Jesus is and what He teaches us through the Scriptures and His Body, the Church, then others want that.  They hunger for it.  They want that love, because they were created for that love.

            Each week, in the Mass, we enter into the most powerful, most intimate love ever: the love of the Trinity Who is Love itself.  Each week, if we receive the Body and Blood worthily, we are given grace to then share that love with others.  During this Year of Prayer, draw deeper into the love of God by growing deeper in love with the Mass, and with daily prayer which continues that love each day.  And then share that love with others, so that all may be joined to Christ in His Church, and experience the Love that God has for us.

From Pippen to St. Thomas

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            One of my favorite movies is the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.  While the purists may argue about the real value of the movies, I like them.  One of my favorite comedic dialogues from the Trilogy, is between Aragorn, Pippin, and Merry, as they’re going to Rivendell, the home of the Elves.  Pippin wants to stop for breakfast, but Aragorn tells them that they have to keep going, and besides, they’ve already had breakfast.  Pippen then says, “We’ve had one, yes.  But what about second breakfast?”  Merry chimes in, “Don’t think he knows about second breakfast, Pip.”  To which, Pippen replies, “What about elevensies?  Luncheon?  Afternoon tea?  Dinner?  Supper?”

            In the overall picture of destroying the One Ring and defeated Sauron, all those meals, as good as they are, were not as important.  There are greater goals which trump the goods of “nice, crispy bacon.”  The same can be said for our Gospel passage today.

            Today marks the beginning of a continuous reading of John 6, called the Bread of Life discourse, as we hear about the Multiplication of the Loaves.  The Multiplication itself was prefigured in God giving the Israelites manna in the dessert (though, as we’ll hear in the next few weeks, the people later thought it was Moses who gave them manna), as well as in our first reading, when Elisha fed one hundred people with only twenty barley loaves.

            But the Multiplication of the Loaves was not the goal.  The goal was the teaching on the Eucharist, a tough teaching indeed.  In fact, it was so tough, that most of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him.  But we’ll hear about that in a few weeks.

            Still, the problem is that we can be more like Pippen than we’d like to admit.  The story of the food can distract us from the point of the miracle that Jesus performed.  And John is quite clear that Jesus is the agent, not the people.  John writes, “[Jesus] himself knew what he was going to do” and “Jesus…distributed [the loaves] to those who were reclining,” after he had first given thanks (in Greek eucharistesas…it sounds like Eucharist).  But, as will hear later, the people get stuck with the feeding, and they don’t understand the spiritual truth for which the miracle was meant to prepare the way.  And that spiritual truth was that Jesus was to give Himself as the Bread of Life for the people in the Eucharist, which is truly His Flesh, and the Wine of Salvation which is truly His Blood.

            Sadly, many Catholics today get stuck with the food, and don’t realize the truth.  Too many Catholics see bread and think…bread.  Or taste wine and think…wine.  Some surveys say that only 30% of Catholics believe that the bread and the wine, given by the people to the priest, to offer in their name to God, really becomes, for as long as it exists, the Body and Blood of Jesus.  And even if we didn’t have a scientific study, actions speak louder than words.    

            For example, I have often heard people say, “I prefer going to the Lutheran service, or the Evangelical service, because they have better music and better preaching.”  They might have better music (arguments can be made), and there are a great deal of priests that struggle with preaching (you may think you’re looking at one).  But what others don’t have is Jesus’ Body and Blood.  They may celebrate communion, but no Protestant theologian would ever say that they believe in Transubstantiation: that the substance of the bread and wine change into the substance of Jesus, that is, His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.  They might believe it becomes a symbol of Jesus’ Body and Blood, or even that it’s in the bread, with the bread, underneath the bread, and around the bread, what some call Consubstantiation, but that it remains, in essence only bread.  But, getting back to the point, it breaks my heart when people go to a service elsewhere and don’t go to Mass, because they’re missing out on union with Jesus through the Eucharist, a special union where we become one with Him in a way that cannot happen through any other means, as good as those other services may be.

            Or, when people drink coffee or eat food right before Mass starts, or chew gum, even during Mass itself!  The reason why the Church tells us to fast 1 hour before receiving communion is to prepare not only our souls, but also our bodies (since the two are integrally connected) to receive our Lord.  Practically, an hour before receiving communion is about 20 minutes before Mass, which is not that long.  Not fasting before the reception of Holy Communion can demonstrate a lack of understanding of what the Eucharist truly is.  We get stuck at the food part, and don’t consider the reality that what looks like bread and wine is not bread and wine, but Jesus.   

            If we truly believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, then no other service, no matter how much we enjoy it, is ever the same, because we lack that intimate connection that comes only through the Divine Liturgy of the Mass.  If we know that we are going to become one with our Savior, then holding off on food or drink (except water and medicine), as long as it does not truly injure our health, is a way of saying that nothing matters more than Jesus, and that we will hunger and thirst for Him.  Even though it looks like bread and wine, let us not be deceived by our senses, but affirm with our faith that the One we receive is none other than Jesus Himself.  As the beautiful hymn Adoro Te, Devote by our parish patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, says about the Eucharist,

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:

How? says trusty hearing that shall be believed;

What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;

Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.

"Babeling"

Pentecost

            In the story of the Tower of Babel, the sacred author of Genesis tries to explain how all the people of the earth at that time were speaking different languages.  The people try to build a tower to be able to go up to God.  Instead, God makes them speak different languages, so that they cannot complete the tower.  The Solemnity of Pentecost is the undoing of the confusion of Babel.  St. Luke records for us in the Acts of the Apostles that Jews from all over the world, who were in Jerusalem, heard the apostles speaking to them in their native languages, languages that the apostles did not know or speak minutes before the Spirit was given to them. 

While it is a work of God the Holy Spirit to allow the apostles to be able to speak to the Jews from all across the world in their own varied native languages, the story of the Tower of Babel, and the undoing of Babel at Pentecost, is about something much greater than being able to speak many languages.

            In the story of the Tower of Babel, humanity tries to make itself equal with God, to decide for itself what is right and wrong.  And the result of this pride is that everyone starts speaking differently so that no one is understood.  Our society is still a culture of Babel.

            We are a culture that values having our own opinions on just about everything and we often feel that our opinions are necessarily right, just as our neighbor feels that his opinion is necessarily right.  The result is that we often talk past each other without any understanding.  Take, for example, cable news stations like MSNBC, Fox News, or CNN.  Each presents the same facts, more or less.  But then those facts are pushed through a particular filter by which that station views the world, their opinion about how things should be, and we end up getting 3 different stories even though the facts are the same. 

            This is true also in the faith.  More and more people are deciding that their opinions about God, faith, and morality are necessarily the right ones, and no one should be able to contradict what they say, unless, of course, they want someone else’s opinion.  Whether it’s on who Jesus is, how marriage should be defined, women’s ordination, or contraception, or any other major issue, we have become the judges of right and wrong.  We are trying to build our own towers to God to tell Him how He should be.  And the result is confusion as each person speaks past each other as they share their opinions.

            Pentecost stands in stark contrast to this.  Rather than us trying to be on equal footing with God, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the Blessed Mother, and the disciples to lead them into all truth, as Jesus says in the Gospel according to John, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.  He is not the Spirit of Opinion.  And while the many languages that were explained by Babel are still present, each person hears the truth, that Jesus is Lord and all that flows from who Jesus is, from the lips of the disciples in his or her own language.  No longer are opinions just being tossed about, but the truth is delivered, and the truth is convincing. 

            This gift of the Spirit of Truth did not end on Pentecost, as if it were a one-time event.  The Holy Spirit continues to pour Himself out to the apostles and disciples in the Church.  Through the successors of the apostles, the bishops, in union with the successor of St. Peter, the Pope, the Spirit fulfills Jesus’ promise to St. Peter that the gates of hell would never prevail against the Church and that what the apostles would be inspired to hold bound or loosed on earth would be held bound or loosed in heaven.  This gift is called the Magisterium: the bishops in union with the Pope, who teach, without error, on matters of faith and morals, like on who Jesus is, marriage, ordination, and contraception.

            But the disciples, too, are gifted with the Holy Spirit, to be persevered in the Truth.  Vatican II, in the document Lumen gentium, put it this way: “The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief…when ‘from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful’ they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals.  It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience…”  The lay faithful are guided by the Spirit, and, under obedience to the Magisterium, are kept in the truth so that what is believed about God, faith, and morals is not simply a matter of opinion, but is protected by the Holy Spirit as true and right. 

            Does this mean that the Church has every detail figured out?  Certainly not.  There are still prudential decisions to apply the truth to everyday situations.  But these decisions should not simply be based upon opinions, as if we decide what is right and wrong, but should be based upon the principles of faith and morality which are united to the Spirit of Truth.

            The gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is a great gift of Jesus to His Body, the Church, because it saves us from the endless babbling of opinions on what should be believed and how one should live.  There are so many voices that tell us that we should believe this or do that because they know better.  Even some Christian ecclesial communities have started to reject the parts of Scripture that do not fit modern “sensibilities.”  In the midst of this babbling, we have a sure guide in the Pope and the Bishops united with him who are protected from preaching error in matters of faith and morals because of the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And the you, lay faithful are also given the Spirit to lead you to believe and to hold on to what is taught by the successors to the apostles.  Rather than being divided among our own opinions of what we think we should believe and how we think we should live, let us be united in the Spirit of Truth in the Church so that the Gospel may be proclaimed to every language under heaven.

Love One Another in the Truth

Sixth Sunday of Easter

            How fitting it is that, on Mother’s Day, love is one of the themes of the readings, especially of the second reading and the Gospel.  For many people, if asked to draw a personal representation of love, that representation of love would be a mother.  Mothers, out of love for their unborn children, bear the loving responsibility of protecting the child in the womb.  Mothers are often the ones to express love when a child is injured.  Mothers just seem to exude love.

            And so today, we hear the command of Jesus, repeated by St. John in his first epistle, to love.  In the Gospel, Jesus tells us: “‘This I command you: love one another.’”  And St. John repeats it in the second reading: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God.”  Love is who God is, and love is made incarnate in Jesus, a love which mothers do their best to share with their children.

            St. Augustine is also quoted when it comes to love.  In Homily 7 on the First Epistle of John, St. Augustine writes, “Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will.”  In my life, I have heard many people use the phrase: Love, and do what you will.  Sometimes it’s used in a positive way.  Sometimes it’s used to defend any type of action.

            What does it mean to love?  If one of the most basic commandments of Jesus is to love one another, then to fulfill it we have to know what love means.  If we start with today’s Gospel, we see that Jesus explains one of the implications of love.  Jesus says, “‘Remain in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.’”  Love is rooted in obedience to Jesus and his commandments.  Love is marked by obedience to the One who is Truth.

            Truth is important with love.  Pope Benedict XVI entitled one of his Encyclicals with those two words of truth and love: Caritas in Veritate; Love in Truth.  The Holy Father points out that,

Without truth, charity [love] denigrates into sentimentality.  Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way.  In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love.  It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite.  Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content…

So what does this mean practically?  It sounds nice in a theology paper, but what does it mean for the average person?  Well, Pope Benedict is talking precisely about the abuse of the word love, especially with St. Augustine’s quote, “Love, and do what you will.”  If we do not relate love to the truth that God reveals by reason and by revelation, then it stops being love. 

            We see how love is connected to truth in the response of our mothers, and other family members.  Some would say that love means giving every person what they want; that’s the most loving thing.  But the truth is that not everything we want is good for us.  How many times have children asked their mothers in the check-out line for a piece of candy, and a mother has refused because she knows the child does not need it?  The child may even throw a temper-tantrum to try to get its own way.  But the mother who loves her child knows that she cannot give the child everything it wants, because it will be bad for the child, not only in the present moment, but even in the long run.  Or the mother who grounds her child because he or she stayed out past curfew: is that any less loving?  Of course not!  It helps a child to learn that actions have consequences, and the consequences of disobedience are not fun.  That is certainly a loving act to help the child to grow and mature into the young man or woman that God has called that child to be.

            Most parents recognize how love works in principle.  They understand that what is truly loving is not always what makes their child feel good.  And yet, more and more, parents act like the principle does not apply to their child.  Their child is the exception to the rule.  Of course, eventually everyone’s child is the exception to the rule, so there becomes no rule at all.  Now, I’m not saying that you always have to let the hammer fall.  Often times mothers are great at knowing when a punishment is most loving, and when a child has already gotten the message and needs some leniency.  But more and more our society wants to separate love from truth so that you never have to tell a person “no,” or “you can’t,” or “you shouldn’t.”

            Jesus shows us what love truly is: love is sacrifice for the other.  Love means laying down your own life so that the other can live and thrive.  Jesus laid down his own life to give His people life, even though most of the people, including his disciples, abandoned Him.  He didn’t give them the Messiah they wanted, He gave them the Messiah they needed.  It’s not easy to live that love in the world.  When I walk the halls and I have to correct a child’s behavior, it’s tough to tell them that they might have to come in to school on Saturday because they crossed the line repeatedly or in a major way.  I’d rather not have to correct a child’s behavior.  I’d rather have the kids like me.  But if I truly love them, then I have to help them to know that a person cannot always give in to their desires, that being a man or woman means having self-control, that there are consequences to actions that people have to face, no matter how well intentioned they were.  Thank you, mothers, for your love.  Thank you for your sacrificial love which carried us for 9 months in the womb and continued afterwards.  Thank you for your love in truth.

Facebook Friends with Jesus

Fifth Sunday of Easter

            Stay connected: that’s what social media says it can do for you.  It tells you that if you use the site, then you can keep track of all your friends’ (and general acquaintances’) birthdays, see what they are up to, rejoice in their triumphs, weep with them in sorrow, and stay connected. 

            And yet, the social fabric of our society is very disconnected.  You can have 700 friends on Facebook, and not really have anyone with which to share truly personal details.  You can follow hundreds of people on Twitter, read all of their accomplishments, sing along with their mopey song lyrics after a break up, and retweet their hilarious messages, and not truly have a real relationship with that person.  Now don’t get me wrong: I have no problem per se with Facebook, Twitter, or social media.  But, what I have noticed is that as much as social media says that it connects people, there are way too many people who feel adrift, without a true friend in the world.

            So when Jesus tells us today in the Gospel, “‘I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,’” our idea of staying connected to Jesus might be a little skewed.  After all, we’ve liked that picture on Facebook that says, “If you share this picture with your friends, Jesus will acknowledge you in heaven,” and we’ve retweeted the tweet that says, “Retweet if you love Jesus; keep scrolling if you love Satan.”  So we’re connected to Jesus, right? 

            Jesus reminds us that, “‘Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless your remain in me.’”  Our life, especially our spiritual life, depends on our attachment to Jesus.  If we are connected, then we bear fruit.  If we are separated, then we die, just as a branch connected to the vine bears grapes, while the braches that have been separated from the vine die and are good for nothing other than fuel for the fire. 

            More and more as a society, we don’t know how to be connected with each other.  We try to fake it and take the easy way out.  We’re so busy, either with our own schedules, or those of our family, that we are losing the ability to stay in touch with each other, even when it’s our own families.  How long has it been since you had a nice, Sunday dinner, where you sat around the table and just spent time with one another: hearing about what’s going on, sharing jokes and funny stories, supporting each other in hard times?  Some families still do, and they tend to be happier families.  Too often, though, there’s a game on Sunday, or work to be done, and if the family eats at home, it’s whenever each person wants, not together, and is usually enjoyed while watching TV, so there’s no real conversation.  We run around, and get fast food, and are experts at doing lots of things.  But we have become novices at simply being together, which accounts for the deep feelings of loneliness and separation that exist, especially among our youth.

            And because we don’t know how to be connected in our human relationships, we also are lost in how to be connected in our spiritual relationships.  More and more people come to me and say, “Father, I feel like God has abandoned me.  I can’t feel anything from God.”  For some, this is due to the fact that they do not know how to be connected to God, other than the shallow connections that are as ubiquitous as the dandelions in a field of grass this time of year.  So let me suggest a few ways to be connected to Jesus.

1.     Carve out daily time for God.  We’re all busy, I know.  I often feel like I’m running from one thing to another.  But, I have found that the more I am able to set aside blocks of time: 30 minutes here, 5 minutes there, 15 minutes there, the more I can respond to the spiritual needs of the parish, because I am more connected to the vine, the life, the wisdom, the patience that comes from God.  Just like an iPhone, which cannot work very long without connecting the tether to an outlet, so our souls cannot be refreshed unless they are connected to God in daily talking and listening with Him.

2.     Follow the commandments.  In our second reading, St. John tells us that the way we know we belong to the truth—Jesus—is that we keep His commandments.  Do we follow the 10 Commandments, and the precepts of the Church?  Do we strive to live an honest life, putting God first, others second, and ourselves last?  And when we fail, as we all will, then return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to be re-grafted onto the vine of life.

3.     Enjoy Mass.  Now, you might think this is outside of your control.  Maybe you don’t like the homily; maybe you don’t like the music; maybe the pew’s not as relaxing as you would like; maybe you can’t stand that young priest.  But, while we can’t control the homily, the music, the pews, or the priest, we can come to Mass thanking God that we can set aside time to rest and relax in Him.  We can come to Mass at least 5 minutes early for silent prayer, and not leave Mass immediately after communion, rushing off to the next event, but make time to be with the Lord.  Vatican II taught that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.  It is where we get our energy to be Christians and it orients us, if we are open, to the eternal liturgy of heaven where the angels and saints (and hopefully someday we will be saints) worship God.

4.     Read your monthly copy of FAITH Magazine, or check out or download a spiritual book, like The Lord by Romano Guardini, or Story of a Soul, by St. Thérèse of Lisiuex, or Peace of Soul by Archbishop Fulton Sheen, or To Whom Shall We Go? by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, or another Catholic book.  The soul is not separate from the body, and so feeding our mind with spiritual reading also feeds our souls. 

We live in a disconnected world.  We are so busy doing things with other people or for other people, that we have forgotten how to simply be with other people, including Jesus.  And no matter how many friends we have on Facebook; no matter how many followers we have on Twitter, we are not going to feel whole, to feel connected, unless we are united to Jesus the Vine.  Take time to spend with each other.  Make time for Jesus.  It will be the best investment you will ever make.