FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

21 APRIL 2024

 

            The image of God as a shepherd is a classic one in Scripture.  Just as shepherds guarded, guided, protected, and watched over their sheep, God guards, guides, protects, and watches over Israel.  That is why God expected the human leaders of ancient Israel to be good shepherds of their people.  The prophet Ezekiel criticized the leaders of his day.  He accused them of being shepherds taking care of themselves and neglecting the care of their flock.  Their failure to be good shepherds resulted in the calamity suffered by their people.  He promised that God would some day shepherd his people himself.

            We see this prophecy fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.  At the top of our triumphal arch, the Good Shepherd is seated, drawing the sheep to himself.  As we meditate on this image, we are reminded that we are those sheep.  We are called to be the lamb seated on his lap.  There is another image of the Good shepherd outside the entrance to the Parish Education Center.  It is a copy of a statue believed to be the first image of Jesus the Good Shepherd.  The shepherd is young and without a beard.  He carries a lamb on his shoulders, bringing that lamb through dark valleys and dangerous places to a place of rest and refreshment.

            Today, Jesus proclaims himself as the Good Shepherd, using the words “I am.”  When Moses asked God to identify himself in the burning bush, God responded “I am.”  In the Gospel of Saint John, the first descriptive title given to Jesus comes from the mouth of Saint John the Baptist:  “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”  At the end of the Gospel, the high priest Caiaphas argues that it was “better for one man to die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”  His statement is fulfilled in ways that he could never have imagined.  At noon on the Day of Preparation, Caiaphas sacrifices an unblemished lamb on the altar in the temple to inaugurate the beginning of the Passover observance.  Across town, outside the city walls, the true Lamb of God, Jesus, voluntarily and once-and-for all lays down his life on the cross of execution, “lest the whole of humanity perish.” 

            On the night of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times out of fear.  In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter boldly proclaims the truth about Jesus Christ to the Sanhedrin.  He had encountered the risen Lord and had been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  What he tells them, he tells us.  We can trust the love of the Good Shepherd, because he knows each of us by name.  He has laid down his life on the cross for us, as shepherds would lay down their lives at the entrance of the sheepfolds at night.  There were no gates at these sheepfolds.  They became the gate preventing wolves and thieves from attacking their flock.  He has become the Lamb of God who feeds us with his Body and Blood. 

            He calls us to imitate his selfless and total love in our roles as shepherds.  He speaks to us who are priests or deacons, teachers, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, or brothers and sisters.  Filled with the Holy Spirit and fed by the risen Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist, we too must lay down our lives for those entrusted to our care.  When we are humble enough to imitate his example, it is the Good Shepherd working through us who continues the work of salvation.  There is no salvation through anyone else.

            Today’s Collect sums it up.  “Almighty ever-living God, lead us to share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave shepherd has gone before.”  We already share the joys of heaven when we give ourselves in humble service.

 

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

14 APRIL 2024

 

            In the passage preceding today’s Gospel, two of the disciples of Jesus had left Jerusalem and were heading for the village of Emmaus, seven miles away.  They were disappointed and broken.  On their way, the risen Christ joined them.  With his risen body transformed, they did not recognize him.  Thinking that he was a stranger, they told him their story.  They had been disciples of Jesus and had been convinced that he was the Messiah.  But he had been executed like a common criminal.  They were running away.  After listening to their pain, Jesus began to speak.  He connected the sayings of the prophets with his experience.  Listening to him, their hearts began to burn within them.  Even though he indicated that he was going further, he agreed to stay with them.  When he took bread, blessed, broke, and gave, they recognized him.  Despite the danger of traveling at night, they immediately returned to Jerusalem. 

            Today’s Gospel picks up that story.  As they are telling the other disciples what happened on the way, the risen Christ stands in their midst.  They do not recognize him.  But he greets them with the words, “Peace be with you.”  Jesus breaks, shares and unlocks for them the words of Scripture.  They begin to understand, and in the process are transformed themselves.  Then they share a meal with the risen Lord, whose transformed body contains the same wounds that were visible on the cross.  Then the risen Lord gives them the mandate to preach in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem to go and transform all the world.

            This is exactly what happens at this Mass.  We began the Mass by being reminded that we are baptized members of the Body of Christ with the sprinkling rite.  Then we heard the Word of the Lord.  Saint Luke emphasizes that the disciples are not seeing a ghost.  They are encountering a physical person who is eating with them. As soon as I stop talking, we will profess our faith and offer our intentions.  Then we will celebrate the Eucharist.  We do not encounter the risen Lord in the same physical way that those original disciples did.  But we encounter his risen presence in a very real way when we feast on his Body and Blood under the form of bread and wine.  Finally, we are dismissed from this Mass to spread the Good News.  We cannot keep the good news to ourselves.

            Throughout this Easter Season, the Scripture readings invite us to renew our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The first reading for every Mass is taken from the Acts of the Apostles.  In this second volume, Saint Luke helps us to understand how the good news is spread from Jerusalem to the end of the earth (Rome, at that time).  The first members of the Christian community  have accepted the testimony of the original witnesses.  They cannot keep their faith to themselves.  Peter may have denied knowing Jesus out of fear after the Last Supper.  But he has encountered the risen Lord and has known the Lord’s peace and mercy.  He has received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  He is not afraid to proclaim the central mystery of our faith to anyone who hears him.  He tells them that those who crucified him did so out of ignorance.  But with the knowledge that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has raised him from the dead, he invites his listeners to repent and be converted.       

            He speaks this same message to us, who profess our faith in the resurrection while still suffering wounds and being tempted to fall back into sin.  The Letter of Saint John tells us that we express our faith in the resurrection by keeping the commandments.  When we are sent forth from this Mass, we proclaim the good news by redoubling our efforts to love God and neighbor in very specific ways.

 

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

7 APRIL 2024

 

            On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala had come to the tomb of Jesus in the dark.  The darkness was not only the absence of daylight.  The darkness expressed her grief and despair, because she had come to complete the anointing of his dead body.  Later, in the light of that eighth day of the new creation, she encountered the risen Lord and became the Apostle to the Apostles.  She announced the news to the Apostles that he had been raised from the dead. 

            On that same day, they remain in darkness.  In the darkness of the evening, they lock themselves in a room.  Saint John says that they had locked the doors out of fear of the Jews.  They fear that the authorities might do to them what they did to Jesus.  They are also afraid of Jesus.  If Mary Magdalene is telling the truth, Jesus must be angry with them.  Most of them had abandoned him at his darkest hour. Thomas had bragged that he would go to Bethany to die with Jesus.  At the Last Supper, Peter insisted that he would never deny him.  But when one of their own betrayed him and handed him over to be crucified, most of them had run away. 

            Just as the risen Christ had broken through the locked heart of Mary Magdalene, he now breaks through the locked doors of the place where the Apostles are hiding.  He shows them his hands and his side.  He has been raised from the dead.  It is the same body scarred by the nails and spear.  Instead of scolding them, his first words are, “Peace be with you.”  He speaks these words of forgiveness and mercy again and breathes the Holy Spirit on them.”  He tells them to give that same mercy to others.  We receive that gift of mercy every time we encounter the Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

            Saint John does not tell us why Thomas is not with them.  More than likely, his heart is  troubled.  Perhaps his intense grief is made worse by the guilt of what he had bragged about before going to the tomb of Lazarus.  In being separated from the community of believers, he remains in the darkness of unbelief and grief.  On the next Sunday, united with the community, he makes the most profound expression of faith when he sees the wounds:  “My Lord and my God.”  In response, Jesus proclaims that those who have not seen as he has seen will be blessed.

            Jesus is talking about us!  We have not encountered the physical body of the risen Lord as those first disciples had done.  But, we trust that they were telling the truth.  Their encounter with the risen Lord profoundly changed their lives.  In response, they gave their gifts of mercy and forgiveness to others, even to those who persecuted them and took their lives from them.

            In the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke describes the community of faith formed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They are of one heart and mind.  They share their possessions with one another, especially with those who were needy.  During this Easter Season, we will hear from the Acts of the Apostles as our first reading.  We will hear about how they cooperated with the Holy Spirit.  We will hear how they failed.

            As we reflect on their witness, we can reflect on our own community of faith.  Our community is formed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we fail.  Like Thomas, we can bring our darkness and fears to our encounter with the risen Lord when we come to Mass.  We can bring our wounds.  We can acknowledge our doubts.  We need to understand that facing our doubts and wounds can be a way of coming to a deeper faith, as Thomas did.  But we must not make the same mistake that he did.  We cannot separate ourselves from this faith community, with all our successes and failures.  Alone and isolated, we are vulnerable.  Gathered here as a community, we can allow the Holy Spirit to breathe courage when we have locked our hearts and minds to the presence of the risen Lord. 

 

EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD

31 MARCH 2024

 

            Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb early in the morning, while it is still dark.  The darkness is much more than the absence of the light of day.  In her personal darkness of grief and despair, she comes to complete the task of anointing the dead body of Jesus.  When she sees that the tomb is empty, she presumes that someone had stolen his body.  Then she runs to Peter and the Beloved Disciple, who run to the tomb.  Peter enters the tomb and remains in the darkness of his three-time denial of the Lord in the courtyard of the high priest.  The Beloved Disciple had been with the crucified Lord in the darkness of Good Friday.  He is the verge of believing that something remarkable has happened.  But there is still darkness, even for him.      

Earlier in the Gospel of Saint John, Nicodemus came to see Jesus “at night.”  He needed the cover of darkness to hide from the other members of the Sanhedrin his interest in hearing from this self-educated preacher from Galilee.  In the darkest of nights, Judas leaves the upper room to betray Jesus.  Saint John says, “And it was night.”

Today, we come to Mass knowing what Mary Magdalene and Peter and the Beloved Disciple did not know.  We know that the Lord has been raised from the dead.  But in professing our faith in the resurrection, we also bring our share of darkness.  We live in the darkness of a world where wars are claiming innocent lives.  Social media and twenty-four-hour news coverage reveal the darkness of a deeply divided nation and the challenge to distinguish between fake news and news that is accurate and factual.  In our Church, we suffer the darkness of division.  We struggle with our own individual forms of darkness – illness, the death of loved ones, the breaking up of relationships, the loss of trust, and much more.

Once we admit the many ways we dwell in darkness, we can take comfort in the witness of Mary Magdalene, Peter, the Beloved Disciple, and all the other eyewitnesses.  They did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because they saw an empty tomb.  They believed when they had personal experiences of the risen Christ, receiving his forgiveness, seeing his body transformed by the resurrection, and eating and drinking with him.  Those encounters moved them beyond their darkness.  We trust that what they experienced was true.  The news of the resurrection is not fake news.  These witnesses are credible.  Their lives were profoundly changed by their encounter with the risen Christ.  Most of them gave up their lives, because they were absolutely convinced that the Lord had been raised from the dead, never to die again.

Last night at the Easter Vigil, five people entered the baptismal font and emerged, one with Christ and his Church, with all their sins forgiven.  In the words of Saint Paul to the Colossians, they were raised with Christ.  They were sealed by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and fed with the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time in the Eucharist.  That is why we renew our baptismal promises today.  In Baptism, we died with Christ and rose with him to new life.  We encounter his risen presence in this Eucharist.  We renounce those temptations to slip back into the darkness of unbelief three times.  We renounce sin, so we can live in the freedom of the children of God.  We renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over us.  We renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin and fake news. 

On Easter Sunday, we turn our backs on the lies of the Devil and renew our intention to share the life of the risen Christ, who is above.  Just as the light of a tiny candle dispels the total darkness of night, we can live in the light of the resurrection to give hope to those we love, to those we encounter, and to ourselves.  The Lord is truly risen from the dead.  He will never die again.  He will share his rising with us every time we share in his suffering and dying. 

 

EASTER VIGIL

30 MARCH 2024

 

            Very early when the sun had risen on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb to complete the anointing of the dead body of Jesus.  Those same three women had stood at the foot of the cross on that dark day before the Sabbath and witnessed the death of the one they loved.  But when they arrive at the tomb, they find that the stone had been moved away.  The tomb is empty.  A man dressed in white announces that the one whose crucifixion they had witnessed has been raised from the dead.  They are to go to Galilee to tell the disciples and Peter.  The risen Lord will go before them.

            This is the eighth day of a new creation.  In their journey to Galilee, they will encounter the risen Lord.  In that encounter, they will become convinced that he had been raised from the dead.  Their lives and the life of the entire world has been changed.  We are here tonight, because these women and the other disciples were credible witnesses.  Death is not the end for Jesus Christ.  They told the truth.  It was not fake news. 

            Gathered here in this Great Vigil, we are about to encounter his risen presence in the Sacramental life of the Church.  The Lord has just spoken to us in his Word (actually in lots of words!).  We now call forward the Elect.  They will encounter the risen Lord when they enter into the watery tomb.  They will be raised completely one with him in the Sacrament of Baptism.  Along with those who will be received into full Communion, they  will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Then they and all of us will encounter his real presence in the Eucharist – in bread transformed into his Body and Wine transformed into his blood.

            Those earliest witnesses were correct.  Death is not the end.  He’s been raised from the dead and promises that we will share in his rising every time we share in his dying! 

 

 

PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION

23 MARCH 2024

 

            Palm Sunday introduces us to a week filled with contrasts.  Those who shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David” today will yell “Crucify him” on Friday.  At the beginning of the Passion according to Saint Mark, the woman of Bethany empties the entire jar of expensive perfumed  oil on the head of Jesus.  On Friday, he will empty his entire life on the cross.  At the meal, he is surrounded by his disciples.  When taken away to a mock trial, Jesus is abandoned by all, signified by the man who runs away naked.  When he comes to Calvary, Jesus is stripped of his clothing and embraces the pain, nakedness, and horror of being crucified.  He completely empties himself, as Saint Paul reports in his Philippian hymn. 

In the trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus testifies honestly about himself and is condemned to death.  A few yards below in the courtyard,  Peter testifies falsely about himself out of fear and is plunged into guilt and grief.  The Church is inviting us to admit the ways we imitate Peter and those who abandon him.  In humility and contrition, we can renew our trust in the power of Jesus Christ to forgive us and save us.  As a faithful Jew, Peter knows the custom of praying at certain hours – 9:00 in the morning, noon, and 3:00 in the afternoon to sanctify time itself.  In the Passion, Jesus is crucified at 9:00.  Darkness covers the land at noon.  At 3:00, he delivers over his Spirit.  We sign ourselves at 12, 6, 3, and 9.  Through the cross, Christ has entered and sanctified all eternity and every hour of our being.

Holy Mother Church invites us to observe sacred time during the Sacred Paschal Triduum to enter into these mysteries in a deeper way.  Please join us in this shortest and most important Liturgical Season, beginning on Holy Thursday evening and concluding on Easter Sunday evening.  Details are in the bulletin and online.  You will not be disappointed.

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

17 MARCH 2024

 

            Saint Paul writes to the Romans to tell them that they are no longer in the flesh.  Those in the flesh cannot please God.  Those in the spirit are joined to the Body of Christ when they are baptized.  In contrasting flesh with spirit, Saint Paul is not saying that our bodies are bad and our souls are good.  Those in the flesh cannot recognize any reality beyond what they experience with their five senses.  Those in the spirit, on the other hand, have come to believe in what is beyond their senses:  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit inviting them to put their trust in much more than they could ever experience with their senses.  Those in the spirit accept the Paschal Mystery and are confident that they too can share in the greatest Mystery:  the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ.

            Today, Jesus works his seventh and greatest miracle in the Gospel of John.  Even though he loves his friend, Lazarus, he waits two more days before going to Bethany.  When he arrives, Martha, the sister of Lazarus, chides him for not being there.  Good friends can yell at another.  Her sister, Mary, joins her with the same rebuke.  When Jesus asks her, Martha says that she believes that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  After grieving over the death of his friend, Jesus prays to the Father and calls Lazarus from the tomb.  Not too much later, Jesus will enter that same death.  Unlike Lazarus, who must die again, Jesus will have his trust in the Father rewarded by being raised from the dead, never to die again.

            At the 10:00 Mass today, we celebrate the third and last Scrutiny with our Elect.  We will lay hands on them and pray that they will be protected from the temptations of the devil. In their year-long formation, they have been preparing to die to the flesh when they enter into the watery tomb of baptism.  As they emerge, they will share fully in the person of Jesus Christ.  One with Christ through his Spirit given in Confirmation, they will share his promise of resurrection. 

            It is important for the rest of us to hear today’s readings and deepen our faith as we prepare to renew our baptismal promises at Easter. Saint Paul says that even though the promise of the resurrection is given to us in baptism, the effects of the promise are not guaranteed.  We can turn our backs on that promise and return to living in the flesh.  That is why we embrace the disciplines of Lent to turn our faith more completely to the One who was raised from the dead.

            When we pray the Nicene Creed, we reaffirm our faith in the promise of our bodily resurrection.  Father Alexander Schmemann helps us to clarify what Saint Paul is talking about and how to understand the importance of our bodies as we grow in faith.  “In the long and difficult effort of spiritual recovery, the Church does not separate the soul from the body.  The whole person has fallen away from God; the whole person is to be restored, the whole person is to return.  The catastrophe of sin lies precisely in the victory of the ‘flesh’ – the animal, irrational, the lust in us – over the spiritual and the divine.  But the body is glorious, the body is holy, so holy that God himself ‘became flesh.’  Salvation and repentance then are not contempt for the body or neglect of it, but restoration of the body to its real function as the expression and the life of the spirit, as the temple of the priceless human soul.”

            As members of the Body of Christ, we use our Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving to draw us away from the animal, irrational, and lust in us to embrace more fully the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Two weeks ago, the woman at the well taught us that Jesus Christ is the Way.  Last week, the man born blind showed us Christ as the Truth.  Today, Lazarus reveals Christ as the Life.  Jesus promises resurrection.  We must remain open to that promise.

 FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

10 MARCH 2024

 

            In his Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul reminds them that they were once darkness.  Once they were baptized, their identity was fundamentally changed.  As members of Christ’s Body, they are now light in the Lord.  That light does not come from within them.  It comes from their union with Jesus Christ, the light of the world.  It shines through them when they keep their baptismal promises.  He warns them to live their identity and avoid slipping back into darkness.

           We do not know the name of the man born blind from birth in today’s Gospel.  However, he has spent his entire life in darkness.  Just as God had formed Adam from the clay of the earth, Jesus makes clay out of his life-giving saliva and rubs it on the man’s eyes.  After being sent to wash in the Pool of Siloam, he comes back able to see. 

            When the disciples ask why the man was born blind, Jesus tells them that it does not matter.  What matters is that Jesus has made him see.  But then the man gets hassled.  He tells his neighbors that he had been blind, but that Jesus healed him.  They take him to the Pharisees, who argue with each other whether Jesus is from God or not.  Next, the Pharisees interrogate his parents, who do not answer their questions for fear of being kicked out of the synagogue.  Next, he faces the harsh interrogation of the Pharisees, who throw him out, because he insists that Jesus must be from God.  Finally, he sees Jesus with his physical eyes.  Jesus reveals himself to this man who is no longer blind.  His identity is fundamentally changed.  He worships Jesus and becomes a person who is able to see the truth about Jesus Christ.

            At the 10:00 Mass, we celebrate the Second Scrutiny with our Elect, as they prepare to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  To use Saint Paul’s analogy, they had been darkness.  They may have been able to see with their physical eyes.  But their eyes of faith have been gradually opened during their yearlong formation to see the truth about Jesus Christ.  Once they are baptized, their identity will be fundamentally changed.  They will become one with Christ to allow his light to shine through them.  In the Scrutiny, they are not harshly interrogated in the way that the Pharisees grilled the man born blind.  The celebrant  calls them forward with their sponsors.  He prays over them and lays his hands on their heads.  The Scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them from temptations, and give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.  They are intended to continue their conversion and deepen their resolve to hold fast to Christ the light and to carry out their decision to love God above all as children of the light.

            As the Elect prepare for the Sacraments of Initiation, we the baptized need to hear these readings.  Even though we became light when we were baptized, we sometimes slip back into darkness.  In our sins, we lose the ability to see as God sees.  We become like Jesse, who makes judgments based only on physical stature.  We make our own judgments instead of trusting in God’s judgment.  The Church does not celebrate the Scrutinies with us.  Instead, she gives us the  Sacrament of Reconciliation to heal our spiritual blindness so we can see more clearly with eyes of faith.  Restored to the fundamental way we have been changed at Baptism, the light of Christ can shine more clearly through us as we prepare to renew our Baptismal promises at Easter.

            Last week, the woman at the well taught us that Jesus is the Way.  Today, we learn that Jesus is the Truth.  Next Sunday, Lazarus will help us understand that Jesus is the Life.  The Season of Lent helps the Elect to fully embrace the Lord as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Lent invites the rest of us to examine our consciences and admit the ways we do not see in faith.  Come to the Lenten Penance Service on Tuesday to be conformed more fully into being light.      

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

3 MARCH 2024

 

          In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul speaks of God’s incredible love poured out into our hearts.  This love has been given to us through the Holy Spirit.  We have not earned this love.  We do not deserve this love.  In fact, the most remarkable manifestation of this love is expressed in the willingness of Jesus Christ to die for us, even though we are sinners.

            In the Gospel, Saint John uses the story of the woman at the well to present this incredible gift of God’s love being poured out for us.  Jesus approaches an unnamed woman, a hated Samaritan who comes to the well at noon to avoid the other women.  He treats her with respect, even though Jewish men would never converse with Samaritan women.  After asking her for a drink from the well, Jesus speaks of the life-giving water that he will give.  As they talk, she is amazed that Jesus does not condemn her for her previous six husbands.  He is the seventh bridegroom who truly loves her and who will satisfy her deepest thirsts.  She gradually comes to believe that he is the long-promised Messiah.  She leaves her jar, her most valuable possession, to bring the good news to the rest of the town.

            This is what has been happening to our Elect.  They have been meeting for months to explore the possibility that Jesus Christ is inviting them to have his life-giving love poured out to them in Baptism.  They have received catechesis.  They have learned that God has always poured out his love.  That is the point of the first reading from the Book of Genesis.  When the Israelites are complaining because they have no water, Moses strikes the rock to provide water.  Instead of throwing rocks at Moses, the pouring out of water tells them that God has not abandoned them and continues to pour out his love for them.  The Elect have prayed together and with us at Mass.  They have been formed into the traditions of the Church.  Bishop Rhoades elected (or chose) them to spend this Lenten Season as a time of Purification and Enlightenment to prepare for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.

            At the 10:00 Mass, we celebrate the First Scrutiny.  Of all the Rites of the Church, the Scrutinies are the most misunderstood.  In English, we tend to think of “scrutiny” as a form of harsh interrogation.  That is not what happens.  The priest calls the Elect forward with their sponsors.  He prays over them and lays his hands on their heads.  The Scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them from temptations, and give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.  The Scrutinies are intended to complete the conversion of the Elect and deepen their resolve to hold fast to Christ and to carry out their decision to love God above all.    

            The Scripture Readings for these three Sundays have been used for centuries to purify and enlighten the Elect during Lent.  That is why we switch to the A Cycle readings, because we are a parish preparing these good people for the Sacraments of Initiation.  Even though we celebrate the Scrutinies only at the 10:00 Mass, all of us baptized people hear these readings as a way of reflecting on our own preparations to renew out Baptismal promises at Easter.  The love of Jesus Christ may have been poured out in our hearts at Baptism.  But, we have not always lived our baptismal promises.  We have tried to satisfy our thirst with lots of other stuff.  We embrace the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to empty ourselves of those ways that do not ultimately satisfy.  We join the woman at the well and our Elect in renewing our desire to be reconciled to Jesus Christ, who is the Way.  Next Sunday, we join the man born blind to see Jesus as the truth.  On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Lazarus teaches us to see Jesus as the life.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light.  Lent invites us to embrace him more completely.

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

25 FEBRUARY 2024

 

          Abraham is our father in faith.  God had called him to leave his native land of Ur, which is in modern day Iraq.  He trusted God’s promise that he would be given he would be given a land and children of his own.  When he occupied that land, he continued to trust God’s promise that he would be the father of a great nation.  As his wife, Sarah, and he grew older and beyond child bearing age, they began to wonder whether God would keep this second promise.  But in their old age, they conceived a son and named him Isaac. 

            But now God tells him to sacrifice his only son.  No matter what ancient circumstances may have contributed to this request, God’s command frightens us.  A very talented lector read this passage as the second reading at the Easter Vigil. She was able to express the horror of a loving father taking his only son to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him.  But God prevents Abraham from sacrificing his only son and sends a ram to take his place.  This is not an account of a father willing to kill his son.  It is the account of a man who places his entire life in the hands of an all-knowing, all loving, and ever-present God.  On Mount Moriah, Abraham realizes that God will keep his promise.  That covenant in our center aisle depicts his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the shore of the sea.           

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus continues to maintain his trust in his Father, who is all-knowing, all loving, and ever present in his life.  In his early ministry in Galilee, the religious leaders disgraced Jesus and accused him of being a fraud.  When he reaches Mount Tabor, he takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain by themselves.  There, his Father reveals the truth about him.  He is the fulfillment of all the promises made through Moses and Elijah.  Just as they had suffered for being authentic prophets speaking for the Lord, he too would suffer.  But he is greater than they were, because he is the only beloved Son of the Father.  It is on Mount Tabor that Jesus knows that he can trust his Father’s love and promise, even in his death on the cross.

As much as Peter wants to build three tents and remain in this transfigured state, Jesus leads them down the mountain to continue their journey to another mountain.  On Mount Calvary, the Father will allow him to be sacrificed out of total and complete gift of himself to everyone, even those who rejected him.  The Father commands the disciples to listen to his Son, who trusts his father’s promise that he would raise him from the dead.  Jesus tells them that they should not tell anyone about what happens on Mount Tabor.  It will only make sense after his own sacrifice and his transformation in the resurrection.

Saint Paul echoes this faith when he writes to the Romans.  He says that God is for us and asks, “Who can be against?”  God has shown his incredible love by not sparing his own Son.  There are plenty of people and life situations that can be against us.  Saint Paul knows that and invites us to maintain the same faith of Abraham and Jesus Christ himself. 

We hear the account of the Transfiguration on this Second Sunday of Lent each year.  The Lord invites us to renew our trust that we can walk with him on the road to Calvary, trusting that we can share in his resurrection.  Authentic faith always involves some kind of sacrifice.  We sacrifice our wants, our desire to take care of ourselves, and our conception of who God is out of trust that God can give us more than we can ever imagine.  We fast in order to open ourselves to increase our hunger for God alone.  We pray to express our gratitude for all God has given us, especially for being called disciples.  We give alms to connect with those who are hungry.  In whatever crosses or sacrifices we may encounter, God keeps his promises.          

 

 

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

18 FEBRUARY 2024

 

          The Season of Lent has been used for centuries to prepare Catechumens for Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist.  Our Catechumens have been meeting every week for months with their sponsors, support people, and formation teams.  Their time of formation has included catechesis, prayer, retreats, and different methods of helping them to understand what their relationship with Jesus Christ will look like once they are baptized.

            They were marked with ashes on Ash Wednesday.  Next Sunday, we will send them to Bishop Rhoades at Saint Matthew Cathedral for the Rite of Election.  He will elect (or choose) them to spend these forty days as a time of Purification and Enlightenment.  Their motives for seeking Baptism are being purified.  They may have begun the process to please a loved one.  Now, they are beginning to understand that the Lord is calling them to the Sacraments. 

            Our Scripture readings in Lent help to enlighten them about Baptism.  The First Letter of Peter uses the story of the flood to help them understand.  The first two chapters of Genesis use very simple stories written to tell a profound truth.  Everything that God created is very good.  God created humans in his own image to be in absolute union with him.  But our first parents shattered that union with their disobedience and pride.  In the following chapters, people’s sins devastated the beauty of God’s creation.  In the flood, God destroys the wicked and washes away the corrupted world.  But, God saves eight people in the ark and gives the rainbow as a sign of his Covenant with them (the third covenant in the center aisle of our church).

            Like the flood, the waters of baptism wash away the sins of those who are baptized.  When the newly baptized people emerge from the watery tomb, they are one with Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead on the eighth day.  They are incorporated into a new ark: The Church, often known as the Barque of Peter.  They will continue to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ in this boat built on the foundation of Peter’s Profession of Faith, even though it is often tossed abound by the storms of life. 

            Our Scripture readings do not speak to our Catechumens alone.  They speak to all of us, who need to hear the message.  We who are baptized have had our sins washed away, whether they were original sin or actual sins.  We were incorporated into the person of Jesus Christ and joined the rest of the baptized in the Church, this Barque of Peter.  But we have not always been faithful to our baptismal promises.  Like Peter himself, we too often have chosen to become stumbling blocks rather than growing more in union with Christ, the rock of our salvation.

            Saint Mark’s account of the temptation of Jesus in the dessert helps us to understand that Lent is also about our baptism.  The Spirit drives Jesus into the desert immediately after his baptism in the Jordan.  He enters the desert not because he needs to repent.  He enters that place of testing because he shares completely in our human nature.  In the desert, the ruler of the present age (Satan) encounters the Spirit-filled Son for the first time.  Unlike his ancestors who failed their forty-year testing in the desert, Jesus resists all temptations and continues his battle with Satan until his final victory on the cross.

            The Spirit has led us into this forty-day Season of Lent.  We may be sincere about embracing the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  We are off to a good start.  But we will be tested.  We may fail to be faithful to the disciplines.  Even if we fail, we can grow in an awareness of our own vulnerability and become more convinced that we need a savior.  We cannot save ourselves.  Throughout these forty days, the Lord’s mercy will prevail, and we can renew our Baptismal promises with the newly baptized at Easter.

 

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

SOLEMNITY OF THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH

11 FEBRUARY 2024

 

          Physical buildings have long been important to the descendants of Abraham.  King Solomon built the first temple after the death of his father, David.  Our first reading describes the dedication of that temple.  As part of the ceremony, Solomon placed the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies.  The ark contained the two tablets of the Law given to Moses at Mount Sinai.  So many sheep and oxen were sacrificed that they could not be counted.  In the newly built temple, animal sacrifices would occur on the altar in front of the Holy of Holies.  People would bring animals valuable to them to be slaughtered and burned on the altar.  As the smoke of the holocaust went into the sky, believers would ask God to accept the animal sacrifice as a sign of their desire to be in union with God.

            When Bishop Rhoades dedicated our new church seven years ago, no one brought oxen or sheep to be sacrificed.  That would have been a mess!  Instead, those who gathered for the dedication brought their individual sacrifices.  They had sacrificed a first and generous portion of their treasure for the building of this beautiful structure.  When Solomon dedicated his temple, the clouds of incense were so intense that he knew that the Lord was present.  The Lord remains present in our church in the Tabernacle and in the Sacramental life of the Church.  Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist in this church, the Lord’s sacrificial death on the cross out of love for us is made present in our liturgical remembering. 

            Today’s Gospel takes place in another space sacred to pagans.  Jesus and his disciples are standing in front of a shrine dedicated to the pagan god, Pan.  The shrine is cut into a massive rock face.  It is here that Simon Peter answers Jesus’s question about his identity.  Peter does not make a good guess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  He has received divine inspiration.  In response, Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter, which means “rock.”  It will be on the rock of Saint Peter’s profession of faith that Jesus will build his Church.  No matter how often Peter and his successors or other members of his Church may fail and become stumbling blocks, Jesus promises that his Church will endure.

            We are the Church gathered to celebrate the anniversary of dedication of our physical church today.  Saint Paul reminds us that we are God’s building.  We are that spiritual temple, not built from physical stones.  We were incorporated into God’s living temple when we were baptized.  We not only give thanks to God for our beautiful physical church.  We give thanks to God for forming us on the foundation of Jesus Christ and breathing his Spirit within us.

            But we also know that we have not always lived our lives as a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Like so many of Peter’s successors, we have failed to conform ourselves completely to Christ.  In our actions and in how we have failed to act, we have not behaved as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  That is why this Season of Lent is so important.  On Wednesday, we will be marked with the ashes that remind us that we will return to dust.  In the light of the reality of our death, we commit ourselves to fasting, prayer, and almsgiving as a way of admitting our sins and allowing the mercy of God to build us up again.  For our Catechumens, these forty days will be a time of Purification and Enlightenment, a time for their final preparation for the Sacraments of Initiation.

            Please read the information in the bulletin and online about taking advantage of the Season of Lent.  As God’s living temple in this physical temple, we will allow the Lord to continue to form us into his Body, the Temple that replaced the temples of ancient Israel.

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

4 FEBRUARY 2024

 

          Today, Saint Mark gives us a snapshot into the daily mission of Jesus in Galilee.  He preaches the Good News and proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God.  He grasps the hand of Simon’s mother-in-law and heals her.  In gratitude, she becomes a humble servant.  After sunset, Jesus drives out demons, demonstrating his power to bring people out of darkness into the bright light of the Kingdom of God.  Instead of looking for praise, he goes off by himself to spend time in prayer.  Responding to Simon’s invitation, he moves to the nearby villages to continue his preaching and driving out demons.

            This snapshot gives us an insight into how disciples can embrace stewardship as a way of life.  In response to the gift of the Kingdom of God, we commit ourselves to be humble servants, as Simon’s mother-in-law does.  We will renew our commitment to stewardship of service during the Easter Season.  We take time to enter into the stewardship of prayer, which we renewed at Advent.  Today, all of us are invited to renew our stewardship of sacrificial giving.  Saint Paul makes a sacrificial gift of preaching the Gospel to the Corinthians free of charge.  We are invited to take a close look at the financial blessings we have received from God and commit ourselves to giving a first and generous portion back to God.

            Please read the materials in your stewardship of sacrificial giving packet.  Pray over your decision to make a commitment for one year.  Please listen to Tim Will, who will talk about his commitment to sacrificial giving as a way of expressing his family’s profound gratitude to God.

 

My wife Lindsay and I moved to Granger and joined the Saint Pius X community in March of 2014 when our oldest son James was 10 months old. On Monday we closed on our house. On Wednesday, we bought a new car. And on Friday, we found out we were expecting our second child, June. 

 

I like to joke that it was the most exciting (and expensive) week of our lives. 

 

Over the last 10 years our family has grown to include four more children (Jonathan, JT, Jack, and Josie) and each year we have been called—just like every other member of Saint Pius—to embrace Stewardship as a way of life by committing ourselves to prayer, service, and sacrificial giving.

 

Every night when we sit down for dinner, we make an effort to go around and play “High-Low-Buffalo” where everyone talks about our “High” (best part of the day), “Low” (a not-so-good part of the day), and our “Buffalo” (a surprising part of the day).

 

I can’t help but notice so many of the conversations that flow from this one simple prompt revolve around this place—Saint Pius—and so many of the wonderful ways the Parish community has wrapped its proverbial arms around our family.

 

From our 5-year old JT telling us that the best part of his day at the Little Lions preschool was going to Atrium for religion class, or 7-year old Jonathan saying the high point of his Sunday was helping to set up the placemats for the Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast, or Lindsay sharing about how she met a new mom friend at Kids of the Kingdom—it’s so evident to me how Saint Pius has blessed and impacted our family in so many positive ways.

 

Thinking about that—even right now—fills me with an immense sense of gratitude for this place, and all of the good our Parish community is trying to accomplish through our different initiatives, ministries, and outreach programs.

 

When we approach Sacrificial Giving from this sense of gratitude, rather than one of sheer responsibility or duty, it transforms our commitment from something that we feel like we “have to” do every year into something that we “get to” do to sustain our mission so that multitudes of other people— such as those in our local community, our sister parish of St. Adalbert’s, and the families of Fr. Larry’s parish in Uganda—can experience that same sense of Christian community that we are blessed to have here at Saint Pius.

 

And so I’d just like to offer this in closing. Before you pick up your Stewardship of Sacrificial Giving Commitment Form this year, take a moment to do a brief mental inventory of all the people, events, and graces that have filled your life—both directly and indirectly—because of Saint Pius.

 

Then, with gratitude at the forefront of your mind and a fresh realization that all of those good things come from God, complete your commitment for this year.

 

I’m confident it will transform your experience. It certainly has for our family.

 

Thank you for your time today, and for your continued generosity toward our Saint Pius community.

 

 

 

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

28 JANUARY 2024

 

          At the time of Jesus, scribes and anyone claiming to be a teacher based their teachings on the authority of a previous scholar of the law.  Ultimately, they traced all their teaching authority to Moses.  In today’s reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses calls himself the prophet.  But he also promises that God will raise up for his people among their kin a prophet like him. 

            Mark sees this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, who returns to Capernaum, the center of his ministry in Galilee.  Unlike the scribes and other rabbis, he preaches with his own authority.  People are amazed at his teaching, but are unable to connect the dots to know his true identity.  However, the unclean spirit who possesses the man knows exactly who he is.  The unclean spirit knows that Jesus is the prophet promised by Moses.  The unclean spirit realizes that Jesus is lord of the Sabbath, unlike the scribes who will eventually condemn Jesus for ignoring the Law of Moses by healing on the Sabbath.  The unclean spirit knows that Jesus will eventually destroy the power of the demons by entering into the darkness of death himself.

            At this Mass, we continue to listen to Jesus speaking directly to each one of us.  We know that he fulfills the prophecy of Moses.  He speaks with authority to us.  In celebrating his death and resurrection made present at this Eucharist, we know what that unclean spirit knows.  He has defeated the power of Satan.  He has the power to drive him out.  But the demons never quit.  They do everything possible to distract us from believing this mystery.           

            There is no shortage of the demon’s activities in our world today.  Wars are raging out of control, and innocent victims are suffering greatly.  We live in a deeply divided and polarized society, where we tend to demonize those who disagree with us.  There is a callous disregard for the sanctity of human life.  It is so much easier to put other priorities first.  It is becoming more difficult to tell the difference between what is true and what is false.  As the father of lies, the devil loves the chaos caused by so many untruths.

            Saint Paul is fully aware of his own demons when he writes to the Church at Corinth.  He had been blind to the truth about Jesus of Nazareth and had persecuted his followers.  He had been arrogant and prideful of the way he practiced his faith as a Pharisee.  But he encountered the Lord on the road to Damascus.  He recognized Jesus Christ is the long-promised Messiah who could cast out his demons.  He preached this message to the Gentiles as a celibate man.       Each one of us is a follower of Jesus Christ in our current vocations.  Most of you are married, and some of us remain single or committed to living a celibate life.  In his Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul is speaking from his own perspective.  As a celibate man, he concentrates all his energies in embracing the person of Jesus Christ, who had cast out his demons.  We also need to acknowledge that we have demons that speak lies to us and tempt us to believe that division and hatred and chaos are part of the fabric of human life.  Jesus has the power to cast out those demons.  He can free us to trust more completely in his power.  With our demons cast out, we can have the serenity of the man in today’s Gospel.  We can know the peace that Saint Paul lived with, even in the midst of all of the challenges he faced.

            The Season of Lent is coming much more quickly than usual this year.  As we prepare to enter those forty days of repentance, we might spend some time in prayer to identify the demons that each of us possesses.  It might be the demon of arrogance and pride.  It might be the demon of attraction to an unhealthy habit.  It might be the demon of envy or greed or jealousy.  It might be the demon that continues to tell us that we cannot trust in the Lord’s plan for us.  Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we can face our demons and allow the Lord to drive them out.

 

THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

7 JANUARY 2024

 

          The prophet Isaiah knows the darkness that covers the earth and the thick clouds over his people.  They had just returned from their fifty-year exile in Babylon.  Most of them had never been in Jerusalem.  They had been born in captivity.  They heard of the glories of the city of Jerusalem and the beauty and grandeur of the temple from their parents.  However, there is no glory and no beauty or grandeur in the land they now inhabit.  The Babylonians  had left the city in absolute ruins and destroyed the temple.  They face the daunting task of rebuilding both. 

            But the prophet insists that this darkness and the thick clouds will not last.  The prophet promises that the bright light of God’s presence will shine forth in Jerusalem.  That light will attract people from far off places and bring their sons and daughters to be part of this great light.  Caravans of camels will come from Midian and Ephah and Sheba bringing expensive gifts to proclaim the praises of the Lord. 

            Saint Matthew announces that the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled.  He does not tell us why the mysterious magi come to pay homage to the newborn king of the Jews.  They more than likely come from the remains of Babylon where there is a strong and active community of Jewish people who continue to live in exile.  They are drawn by what may have been a super nova lighting up the sky and casting its light on the city of Jerusalem.  After a long journey, they meet the present king, Herod. 

            Herod asks the chief priests and scribes about the birth of the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah.  They quote the prophet Micah who speaks of Bethlehem as the place from which the Messiah will shepherd his people.  Herod is both devious and paranoid.  He does not want any newborn king to rival him.  He has already killed some of his own sons.  The religious leaders have gotten the message and ignored it.  Herod sends the magi who have no understanding to Bethlehem.  He tells them to bring the information back so he can pay the newborn king homage.

            They recognize the divine light in the child who is with his mother (and more than likely with Joseph) in a house in Bethlehem.  They give him gifts.  There is a running joke that if they had been wise women instead of wise men, they would have given more practical gifts – diapers, warm clothing, and baby formula.  But these gifts are not practical.  They reveal the true identity and mission of this child.  The gold points to the reality that he is a king.  The frankincense indicates that he is God.  The myrrh reveals his mission as the Suffering Servant.  The wood of his manger will eventually be replaced by the wood of the cross.  As a human person, he will embrace the most difficult part of being human – sharing completely in our suffering and in our death.  His body will be anointed with myrrh at his burial.  He will be raised from the dead.

            We too know our share of darkness that covers the earth and the thick clouds over us.  The wars in the Holy Land, Ukraine, and Sudan give us reason to mourn over the destruction of so many innocent people at the hands of ruthless leaders.  Our own country is torn apart by anger and hatred.  We suffer divisions in our Church that cause fear and confusion and pain.  And yet, we have also encountered the incredible reality that God has taken on human flesh and dwells in the midst of all our darkness.  Have you ever noticed that all religious art depicting the birth of Christ is filled with light?  That light does not come from some external source.  That light comes directly from the child lying in the manger.

            We can leave the Christmas Season tomorrow with the same hope that the prophet gave to his people.  God dwells in our midst.  No darkness can overcome it.  God’s light, present in the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in our midst, will prevail.