TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

23 SEPTEMBER 2018

          When Jesus takes a child into his arms, he tells his disciples that whoever welcomes this child welcomes him.  Tragically, we have heard too many horrific reports of priests who have done great harm to children, and by extension, to Christ and to his Church.  If you are outraged, scandalized, ashamed, and confused, please know that you are not alone.  Bishop Rhoades, Father Eric, I, and our staff share these feelings. 

            However, we also need to remember that the holiness of the Church relies not on the leaders of the Church, but on the total self-giving love of Jesus Christ.  That is what he says to his disciples and us today.  He invites us to respond to his total gift of selfless love by imitating him and dying to ourselves.  As we rely on his total gift of selfless-love, it is important that we express our feelings.  We also need to look to the future and trust that Christ will heal his Church as she is now being purified.  Trust is hard, because trust has been lost.

            Saint James says that conflicts arise when our passions are disordered.  While we need to express our passionate feelings, we have to be careful not to allow our anger and fear to do any further harm to the Body of Christ.  We need to remember that under the leadership of both Bishops D’Arcy and Rhoades, successful reforms have been put in place to ensure the safety of our children.  As time goes on, we will find ways of dealing with this situation.  But, they must be positive ways that bring about healing and renewal. 

In just a moment, Bishop Rhoades will explain the good work done in our Diocese through the Annual Bishop’s Appeal.  Please listen with an open heart and prayerfully consider what is being asked of us.  Also, remember that our parish is so accustomed to the generous response of so many that we rely on the funds which come back to us once we go over our goal.

 To be honest, those of us on staff questioned whether it is wise to do the Bishop’s Appeal video after the names of the credibly accused priests was listed last week.  But, it really provides an opportunity for reflection.  A good friend told me that he had considered withholding his contribution as a way of sending a message.  But he prayed over it and talked to his wife.  He was able to let go of his anger and choose love instead, and love changed him.  He recognized that he was being tempted by Satan to lose faith in the core of the holiness of the Church: the total self-gift of Jesus Christ.  As you will hear from Saint Paul in the video, “The love of Christ urges us on.”

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

16 SEPTEMBER 2018

          Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  They respond that the gossip circles are saying that he might be Elijah, or John the Baptist, or one of the prophets.  The expectation is that he will be a powerful leader who will overcome the Romans, their current oppressors.  Peter blurts out the correct answer:  “You are the Christ.”  However, Peter has the same expectation about a messiah.  He rebukes Jesus when he defines his role in terms of suffering and death.  In turn, Jesus rebukes Peter and says to him, “Get behind me, Satan.”

            Even those Jesus rebukes Peter harshly and says that he is tempting him to disobey his Father’s will, he tells Peter to get behind him.  In other words, he wants Peter to continue to follow him and to learn the difficult lessons of the cross.

            As followers of Jesus Christ, we have also chosen to “get behind” and follow him.  Like Peter, we find the message of the cross to be very difficult.  That is why I have come to embrace stewardship as a way of life, as a structured way of getting behind Jesus Christ.  Good stewards spend generous amounts of time in prayer, with the Eucharist as the source and summit of our lives of faith.  Good stewards give themselves in humble service, as our Lord washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.  Good stewards share a generous portion of their treasure with the Body of Christ, and not just what is left over.  Jesus clearly said that it is by your love for one another that everyone will recognize you as my disciples.  Stewardship, simply, is love in action.

            We renewed our stewardship of prayer at Lent and our stewardship of service during the Easter Season.  This weekend, we invite you to make a commitment to sharing a sacrificial gift with the parish.  Please read the information in your stewardship of sacrificial giving packet and pray over your decision.  Currently, Saint Pius tithes 5% of our income to Saint Adalbert and another 3 ½% to those who come to us in need.  Pray over your decision and set aside a portion for the Annual Bishop’s Appeal.

            You would expect me to say these things.  But, please listen to Brian Jacobs, as he tells his story of coming to embrace stewardship as a way of life.

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

9 SEPTEMBER 2018

          Saint Mark tells us that Jesus has been traveling from the district of Tyre and passes by Sidon to the Sea of Galilee into the district of the Decapolis.  In other words, Jesus is moving out of the comfort zone of his Jewish roots and is proclaiming his message about the Kingdom of God to pagans.  Saint Mark is signaling to us that the Gospel is intended for everyone, and not just the descendants of Abraham and Moses.

            It is in this area that people bring to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment.  Trusting that Jesus has healing powers, they ask him to lay his hands on him.  Jesus takes the man away from the crowd and becomes very physical with him.  He puts his hands into his ears.  Like many healers of his day who regarded spit as a healing substance, he spits and touches his tongue.  He looks up to heaven, because he wants people to know that his healing power comes from the Father.  Using the Aramaic word, Ephphatha, he commands that the deaf man’s ears be opened.  Immediately, the man can hear and is able to speak.

            Saint Mark records this story to help us to believe that the Lord’s healing power is in our midst.  We gather for Mass, because we believe in the Paschal Mystery.  We believe that Jesus died to destroy the power of sin and death.  We believe that he rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father.  We believe that he has sent his Holy Spirit to continue his saving work in our midst.  For us, this is not a story of what Jesus did 2,000 years ago to help a deaf mute.  What Jesus did for that man, he does for us today.

            Truth be told, we have trouble hearing.  There are many loud and competing voices shouting at us today.  Posts on social media encourage us to lash out in anger at those who seem to offend us.  Advertisers try to convince us that their products can save us and bring ultimate happiness.  With the current crisis in the Church, some argue that the Church is completely corrupt and not deserving of trust.  The Lord takes us aside from all that noise into this church, as he took the deaf mute aside, and speaks his Word to us.  He continues to use signs that appeal to our senses.  We hear the words from Scripture.  He gives himself to us in a very real way through ordinary bread and wine.  We also hear the words from the Diocese giving us correct information about what is happening with Bishop Rhoades.  I will offer a question and answer session a week from Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Parish Life Center.  Just as the Liturgy has us say “Ephphatha” at the baptism of both adults and children, the Lord invites us to open our ears to hear him.

            That is why Jesus tells the crowd not to tell anyone what he had just done.  He did not want to draw attention to himself as some kind of wonder worker.  Only after he had died and rose from the dead could people understand the full impact of what he was doing.  Opening that man’s ears and allowing him to speak was only a sign of what he is doing with us today.  He invites us to believe that he does all things well today.

            Once our ears have been opened, and once we hear what the Lord says to us, then we too can continue to listen through reading the Bible, through reflective prayer, and through adult education series that speak to us.  As we come to hear clearly, then we too can speak, as the deaf man began to speak.  We can speak the message of Saint James that God loves everyone, and that we cannot discriminate based on what people wear or what race they belong to.  We can speak the truth about the special responsibility we have to the poor and the vulnerable.  We can also speak of the Lord’s presence in our difficult situation.  It is the Lord who saves us, because he has already conquered the power of sin and death.  It is the Lord who purifies our Church and keeps his promise to Peter that he will remain with us to the end of time, no matter what.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2 SEPTEMBER 2018

          When the Pharisees and scribes criticize the disciples of Jesus for not washing their hands before eating, they are really accusing Jesus, their teacher, of having no regard for the Law of Moses.  But that criticism is not true.  Jesus understands the intent Moses words in the first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy.  He accepts the Law as a gift from God to guide the people to live a holy life in communion with God.  He accuses the Pharisees of doing exactly the opposite.  They had introduced many customs intended to become a “fence” around the Law to protect it.  Instead, those fences had become rituals putting the emphasis on external piety instead of true internal holiness.  Our readings today help us understand true holiness.

            We are holy when we are aware of God’s presence in our lives. That is why Moses erected a tabernacle in a tent in the midst of the camps of the Israelites in the desert.  God was traveling with them.  God fed them with manna and water from the rock.  God would not abandon them.  God will not abandon us either, especially in these dark times.

            Saint James reminds us that a holy life is focused on God’s call to action.  He encourages us to hear God’s Word.  We hear God’s Word at every Mass, only after we have admitted at the beginning of Mass that we are sinners.  But Saint James also insists that we must be doers of God’s Word.  We are dismissed from Mass to put that Word into action.  That is why the current crisis in our Church is so shocking.  We have learned that bishops and priests who have led us in pious exercises have done horrible things that have caused so much pain.

            Once we understand the importance of acting on God’s Word, we can understand better the importance of being part of the Church.  The recent revelations of sexual misconduct on the part of the clergy have caused many people to give up on the Church.  However, we need to remain connected with one another as the Body of Christ even more in this time of crisis.  The Lord does not call us to live solitary lives in isolation from one another.  The Lord calls us to gather for the Eucharist and to trust that he continues to walk with us, even as God traveled with the Israelites through their worst times in the desert.  His presence allows us to trust that our Church is being purified so that we become more truly holy and conformed to the Lord’s love.

            Like the Pharisees, we Catholics have developed many human customs and traditions intended to draw us into closer communion with the Lord.  Before the Second Vatican Council, we observed the Church law of abstaining from meat on all Fridays.  Those who were not Catholics saw this as our identity:  we were fish eaters!  But abstaining from meat was not the heart of our identity.  Being the Body of Christ remains our true identity.  To be honest, we tended to abstain from meat more out of obligation than out of a desire to become more holy, much as the Pharisees and their scribes were more concerned about purification rituals than about turning more completely toward God.  After the Council, the law was changed to require abstinence from meat only on Fridays during Lent.  These days, I see more and more Catholics returning to this practice voluntarily, embracing the external practice as a way of doing penance on the day that the Lord died and drawing them more closely into his Passion.

            This is the challenge for our Church today.  We need external reforms to protect innocent children and address the problem of clerical privilege.  We need external reforms to purge the Church in many ways. But we also need to listen to the words of Scripture today.  The Lord remains with us.  He calls us to act on the Word we hear.  We are all sinners who are connected to one another as the Body of Christ, seeking better individual holiness.