THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

15 AUGUST 2021

 

            The Book of Revelation was written to give hope to the baptized who were suffering for their commitment to Christ.  They believed that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and rules over the whole world.  However, that belief clashed with the Roman emperors’ claim that they were divine.  The Roman emperor Domitian gave himself the title “Our Lord and our God.”

            To inspire the baptized to live like Christ as their Lord and God, the author of Revelation sets heavenly visions before them.  Heaven is not a distant ideal place. Rather, it is a realm that exists side by side and intermingles with the earthly realm.  In today’s passage, the author presents a hopeful vision.  The woman with the crown of twelve stars on her head represents the twelve tribes of Israel, the Church, from whom the Messiah comes.  She is surrounded by light.  The sun envelops her.  The moon is beneath her feet.  A crown of twelve stars rests on her head.  The dragon represents the powers of darkness over the earth.  The seven crowns represent its false claims to absolute authority.  A sweeping tail demonstrates its paralyzing efficiency.  The red skin symbolizes death, the fate it intends for the woman and for those who believe in her child.  However, the dragon fails.  The newborn is “caught up to God and his throne.”  In other words, earth and heaven are intermingled on the battlefield of the cross.  The Father rescues him from death in the resurrection. 

            As we celebrate the Assumption of Mary into heaven, we reflect more deeply on her role in this Mystery.  The woman is the symbol of the Church.  But Mary is the symbol of the Church who still gives birth in the lives of the faithful.  Pope Saint Leo the Great said:  “Christ placed in the baptismal font the source of his origin in the womb of the Virgin:  the power of the most high and the overshadowing of the water to give rebirth to the believer.”  Another ancient source says, “Mary carried life in her womb; the Church, in the baptismal font.  In the body of Mary Christ put on flesh; in the waters of the Church the baptized put on Christ.”

            That is why this Solemnity of the Assumption is so important.  We put on Christ when we were baptized.  Mary is the first human person to experience the bodily resurrection of her Son.  She is the promise to us that what has happened to her can happen in us.  Her Assumption gives us the blessed hope that where she has gone, we hope to follow.  This blessed hope encourages us to live our faith now, as it encouraged the early Christians to live their faith.

            This blessed hope changes the way we view life-changing decisions.  Instead of repeating the tired phrase, “it doesn’t matter,” we realize that all our decisions great and small, truly matter.  Our decisions to take care of our health and the health of our planet truly matter.  Our decisions to respect life from the moment of conception to natural death truly matter.  Our decisions to remain faithful to our permanent commitments make a difference.

            This blessed hope focuses our attention on the importance of living with high expectations.  Our faith tells us that we are moving toward transformation, not dissolution. In God’s time, heaven and earth will be transformed into a new heaven and a new earth.  Death will not be the end, both in our individual lives, and in the life of the world.

            This blessed hope keeps our eyes focused on Jesus Christ.  In celebrating the Assumption, our attention and energies are drawn to the person of Jesus Christ.  That is what both Elizabeth and Mary do in the Gospel.  Elizabeth recognizes the great gift in the womb of her cousin.  Even her child leaps for joy in her womb.  Mary praises God for the workings in her life.  She encourages us to go in haste to be a people full of grace, not living in anxiety of the future, but waiting in joyful hope and trust that the promise of the Lord will be fulfilled. 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

8 AUGUST 2021

 

          Elijah addresses a prayer to God in the first reading.  As the only remaining prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel, he had won a stunning victory over the pagan prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  Through his efforts, God had consumed the sacrifice offered on the altar.  Elijah then slit the throats of the pagan prophets.  However, in winning that victory, he had enraged the pagan Queen, Jezebel, who now had sent her armies to pursue and kill him.  Feeling that God had abandoned him, he asks for a peaceful death in the desert.

            Instead, God sends an angel to give him a hearth cake and a jug of water.  Hearth cakes are dense and dry, formed simply from flour and water.  On land, it is known as “hardtack” and at sea “sea biscuit.”  Hearth cakes are easy to carry, packing a lot of calories, and they last for months.  Because they are not particularly tasteful and hard to bite into, travelers must soak them in water before eating them.  Strengthened by this food and water, Elijah walks through the desert to Mound Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai).  There his prayer is answered in a way he could never have expected.  God had formed the Covenant on that mountain with Moses.  Now Elijah encounters that same God, with the Covenant sealed and continued for all time.

            The crowd in today’s Gospel also addresses a prayer to Jesus.  They had been impressed when he fed 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish in a deserted place.  They have followed him around the Sea of Galilee.  Now, they want him to continue to feed them, as Moses had fed their ancestors in the desert.  Instead, he tells them that their prayer will be fulfilled in ways they could never have expected.  Once they can accept the truth about him, they can embrace the mystery of the Incarnation.  He is the living bread come down from heaven.  He will give himself to them and nourish them for eternal life.  We who have read the Prologue to the Gospel of Saint John know this truth.  He is the Incarnate Word who has pitched his tent and dwells among us.  But they refuse to believe him, because they think that they know his origins.  They know his mother and the one whom they presume is his father.

            We too address prayers to God on a daily basis.  We ask for any number of good things:  health for ourselves and for our children.  We ask for a good job to provide for our families.  We ask the Lord to spare our afflicted friends and relatives from death.  We ask for a quick end to this current pandemic, which is raising its ugly head again.  It is fine to ask for these things, as Elijah asked for a peaceful death in the desert, and as the crowd in the Gospel asked for food.  Sometimes the Lord answers these prayers in the way we ask.  At other times he does not.

            But he promises us what he promised that crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  He promises an intimate relationship with him that even death cannot destroy.  His promise rests in the Eucharist we celebrate.  If we eat the unleavened flour and water that has been transformed into his Body, we will live forever.  Not only that, but we will be strengthened by this bread from heaven to continue our journey, just as Elijah was strengthened by the hearth cakes and water on his journey to meet the Lord on Mount Horeb.

            That is why we will be dismissed at the end of this Mass and told to go in peace.  As Saint Augustine noted, we become what we receive.  We are formed a little more into the Body of Christ to be imitators of God, as Saint Paul points out to the Ephesians.  We can be more kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ.  Those simple actions have a greater effect than we think, especially in our troubled and divided world.

 

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 AUGUST 2021

 

            Last Sunday, we heard from the Gospel of Saint John that Jesus fed a vast crowd of over 5,000 people in a deserted place with five barley loaves and two fish.  They not only shared a feast that satisfied all of them.  There were twelve baskets of fragments left over.  Today, that same crowd travels by boat on the Sea of Galilee seeking to find him.  They have failed to see the spiritual reality in the sign Jesus had worked for them.  They want him to continue to provide free meals to satisfy their physical hunger.  They think that this Rabbi might be another Moses who can provide manna in the morning and quails falling from the sky in the evening.

            Jesus tries to correct their thinking.  He points out that Moses had not provided that food in the desert.  It was God, responding to the intercession of Moses, who provided the food for their journey.  He tells them that he is not another Moses.  He is the new Moses, the Son of God.  He invites them to believe in him, to put their trust in him.  Instead of working for food that perishes, he invites them to work for the food that endures for eternal life. 

            Then they ask for a sign, so they can believe in him!  What an amazing request.  He has just fed the huge crowd with five barley loaves and two fish – an incredible sign.  Now they want another!  They cannot see the work that he had accomplished in the multiplication of the loaves and fish.  They do not want to do the work of yielding to the divine action and trusting that Jesus is the bread come down from heaven.

            We are tempted to judge this crowd negatively for their lack of faith.  However, we are more like their ancestors in the desert than we care to admit.  The Israelites had trusted Moses and followed him to escape the harsh reality of slavery in Egypt.  Once they find themselves in the harsh reality of the desert, they lose faith in God and want to return to the security of their daily meals in Egypt.  Like them, we too can easily lose faith when our journey through the deserts of life becomes difficult.  Instead of trusting in the Father’s love for us, we tend to rely more on food that perishes.  That food takes many forms.  It can be smugness, or a denial, or certitude that we are right, or righteousness, or material comforts, or pride, or even a delusion that we know everything.  When we rely on any of these perishable attitudes, we fall into the futility of our minds that Saint Paul warns about in the second reading.

            When we reflect on the incredible sign of Jesus feeding a vast crowd with five loaves and two fish, we become more convinced of the mystery of the Eucharist which we share here.  The Lord truly feeds us with his very self, so that we can continue our work.  He feeds us so that we can become the Bread ourselves.  Fed by the Bread of Life, we can allow ourselves to be broken, shared, and be life-giving ourselves beyond this Eucharistic Altar.

            We need to trust that the Lord can multiply our actions, even our smallest actions, to feed the spiritual hungers of our world.  We can make a difference in our divided and hostile world.  We can trust that the Lord has led us through the desert of this pandemic and that he will not abandon us as we move ahead, even in the midst of so many uncertainties.  In our parish, people have taken fabric squares and have written what we have lost in the pandemic.  But they are also writing what we have gained, what unexpected graces we have received.  Those fabric squares will be made into a quilt that will be hung in a public place.  It will remind us that the Lord has fed us and will continue to feed us with food that endures for eternal life.  It will help bolster our faith that the Lord is reliable.  Unlike the crowd seeking and finding Jesus for food that perishes, we seek and find the one who feeds us with food that endures for eternal life.

 

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

25 JULY 2021

 

          In last Sunday’s Gospel, Saint Mark recorded that Jesus took the twelve to a deserted place so they could rest from their labors and continue to be taught by him.  However, they encountered a vast crowd waiting for them.  Instead of telling them that they needed a well-deserved rest, the Good Shepherd was moved to pity, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  He gave of himself to them and taught them, as he would give his life entirely for the salvation of all on the cross.

            Today, Saint John picks up the story.  Not only does Jesus teach them with his words.  He feeds the hungry crowd with a miracle recorded in all four Gospels.  We need to remember that the Synoptic Gospel authors (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) record the institution of the Eucharist in their account of the Last Supper.  Saint John does not include the institution narrative in his account of the Last Supper.  He records Jesus humbling himself to wash the feet of his Apostles.  The Eucharistic implications of the feeding of the five thousands are in this account.

            Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee, as Moses had led his people through the Red Sea.  Jesus goes up the mountain, as Moses had gone up Mount Sinai.  The Feast of Passover is near.  Jesus is the new Passover, the Lamb of God whose blood will free us from the slavery of sin and death.  Just as only God could feed the Israelites in the desert with manna, no mere human could feed this vast crowd.  Jesus asks Philip if he knows where they can buy food, because Philip is from that area.  He responds that there is not enough money to buy such a huge crowd even a little food for them to eat.  Andrew points to a boy carrying five barley loaves and two fish – not enough to feed such a large crowd.  Jesus instructs them to have the people recline on the grass, reminiscent of the Garden of Eden.  That grass is in contrast to the thorns and thistles that Adam and Eve encountered when they were expelled from the Garden.  We are reminded of the words of Psalm 23 that assure us that the Good Shepherd will lead us to green pastures.

            Then Jesus does what the Synoptic Gospel authors say that he does at the Last Supper.  He takes bread, gives thanks to his Father, breaks, and gives it to them as they are reclining, the position of free people at a banquet.  He also gives as much of the fish as they want.  The Greek word for fish (ichtys) is an acronym for “Jesus Christ Savior, Son of God.”  John leaves no doubt that Jesus Christ is the new manna come down from heaven to nourish his disciples until the end of time.  That is why his disciples collect twelve wicker baskets with fragments to speak of the fragmented Christian communities gathered together at the end of time.

            The crowds do not understand the implications of what they have just experienced.  They want to make Jesus their king, so that he can continue to provide free meals for them.  So, Jesus withdraws again to the mountain alone.  His mission is not to draw attention to himself.  He will wait until life returns to normal to explain this sign to the crowds.

            That is what he will do for us during the next three Sundays.  The Bread of Life discourse will invite us to reflect more deeply on the Eucharist as the source and summit of our lives of faith.  This three week reflection is even more important this year, since we were unable to gather in person to celebrate the Eucharist during the pandemic.  It is wonderful to sense the enthusiasm of so many people as we gather in person now to be fed by the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist.  These next three weeks will deepen our understanding of the Eucharist as we continue to walk in faith together through the thorns and thistles of our world.

 

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 JULY 2021

 

          Jeremiah criticizes kings and prophets who are too intent on taking care of their own needs and ignoring those of the people.  Using the image of shepherds, who gave themselves completely to the care of their flocks, Jeremiah promises that God will raise up shepherds who will care for their people.  That shepherd will be the ideal king, a righteous shoot to David.

            Saint Mark sees Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of that prophecy.  Last Sunday, Jesus sent out the twelve to proclaim his divine authority to those who will hear them.  Today, they report to Jesus all that they had done and taught.  Modeling the pattern of healthy ministry, Jesus invites the workers to take time to rest in a deserted place.  In that place of rest, he will instruct them about his identity and his shared mission with them. 

            However, he finds a vast crowd waiting in that deserted place.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, takes pity on them.  His pity is a deeply felt gut reaction to their plight.  He sees that they are like sheep without a shepherd.  Instead of complaining about being robbed of a well-deserved rest, he tends to their needs and teaches them.  He gives himself to them, as he will give his entire life to all in his death on the cross.

            In his pity for the crowd, the Good Shepherd teaches us how to be compassionate.  First, he sees their need.  We need a compassionate eye to see the needs of people we encounter.  For example, we are stopped at a traffic light on Indiana 23 to see a panhandler holding a crudely made sign asking for money.  It is easy to pretend that we do not notice.   Instead, we can at least look the person in the eye and have compassion.  Whether we give the person a gift card stored in the glove compartment or even a portion of the groceries we just bought at Martin’s, at least we can see that the person is human and have compassion.

            Once we see the suffering of another person, we can express our compassionate heart.  When Jesus has pity for the crowd, it is not just an emotion of feeling sorry for them.  The English word “compassion” comes from the Latin words:  cum passio (to suffer with).  If we have true compassion for others, we are willing to enter into their pain and suffering.

            With a compassionate heart, we can re-vision another reality for the suffering person.  The compassion of Jesus allows him to see the potential for this hungry crowd to become part of the Kingdom of God in their midst.  In 1958, a six-year-old African-American girl named Ruby Bridges was escorted every day by Federal marshals to a court-ordered school.  Each day, she passed hecklers at the schoolyard gate who shouted horrible things.  One day, Ruby appeared to be talking to the crowd.  When asked by her psychologist what she was saying, she said, “I wasn’t talking to them.  I was praying for them.  They need praying for.  That’s what God would want me to do.”  At the age of 6, she had a vision.

            Finally, we can turn our compassionate hearts into action.  Jesus not only teaches the crowd.  He feeds 4,000 of them with five loaves and two fish.  When we turn our compassion into action, we can live in a confessional way.  We can confess that God is the only one with power to turn our lives and the lives of others around.  Mother Theresa was asked how she could keep on caring for the poor in Calcutta when there were so many of them.  She answered, “All I can do, all any of us can do, is the best we can, for the most we can, for as long as we can.”

            Saint Paul expresses his vision to the Ephesians that the divisions between Gentile and Jewish converts within the Body of Christ could be healed.  His vision endures for us.  We too can begin to heal the many divisions within our society and our Church by regarding others with compassion, especially those with whom we disagree and those who feel alienated.

 

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 JULY 2021

 

          In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus is rejected by his hometown, because he is too ordinary for them.  Instead of withdrawing, he imitates the persistence of the Prophet Amos.  Amos ignores the order of the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, and continues to challenge the northern kingdom of Israel in their ignoring the poor and vulnerable.  Jesus doubles down after his rejection and sends the Twelve to preach repentance as the first step to being part of the Kingdom of God.

            His instructions are clear.  Having given them authority over unclean spirits, he sends them out in groups of two.  Their message is urgent, and they are to take nothing for the journey except a walking stick.  They do not need food, or a sack, or money, because they are to depend on the hospitality of those who receive them.  They should wear sandals, because the wearing of sandals is a metaphor for discipleship.  They do not need a second tunic, because a second tunic is a sign of wealth.  Like Amos, they are not working for payment, but giving their message free of charge.  If they are rejected, they need to shake the dust from their feet and move on, without taking that rejection personally.  Jesus himself gave that example when rejected in Nazareth.

            A few years ago, I joined a group of cyclists on a pilgrimage from Canterbury in England to Rome.  After a very difficult climb up the Alps into Italy, we thought we had it made.  But when we got to Lucca, thieves had stolen three of our bikes.  We took our supply van to Florence and bought replacement bikes.  On Sunday, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, we rode into Saint Peter’s Square in Rome as Pope Francis was celebrating Mass.  After receiving his blessing and praying the Angelus with him, we went to the convent, where my sister had parked the van.  There we discovered that thieves had broken into the van and had stolen everything.  We were completely devastated and defeated.  We had to walk to the closest H & M Store to buy one set of clothes to last through the end of the week.  We bought sandals at a local pharmacy. 

But on the next day, we experienced the hospitality Jesus describes in the Gospel. The sacristan at Saint Peter’s trusted my story and allowed us to celebrate Mass in one of the chapels, even though I was dressed in ill-fitting H&M trousers and a pastel shirt. After spending the entire day at the American Embassy getting replacement passports, a gracious American guide took us through the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.  Friends of Paolo Carozza hosted us in a wonderful meal that evening.  As we spent the final few days in Rome without any belongings, we were able to shake off the dust of anger and resentment from our feet.  We came to realize that thieves could not steal what was most valuable – our companionship with one another.  We now speak of that stripping away of possessions as a gift which opened our eyes to what was most important – the Lord’s presence in those 1,200 miles and the bonds that held us together.

We are just emerging from this pandemic, which has robbed us of so much.  Many have suffered from the virus itself.  Family members have had to grieve the loss of their loved ones.  All of us have been isolated and lost the freedoms that we took for granted.  We have endured the divisions and arguments about wearing masks, social distancing, and the directives of the County Health Department.  However, we are emerging as the community of the Church.  It has been a gift to welcome parishioners back to Mass in person and to see the joy and excitement of coming together again.  The Lord speaks to us in his Word and assures us that he has given us authority over the unclean spirits of our day.  He feeds us with the Eucharist to proclaim with our lives that the Kingdom of God is in our midst.  Heeding his call to repent from sin ourselves, we invite others to do the same.

 

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

4 JULY 2021

 

          When Jesus returns to his native place, he encounters astonishment.  The locals have heard of his wisdom and the mighty deeds wrought by his hands.  They are amazed that he has attracted disciples who have left everything to follow him.  However, their astonishment is not one of pride.  Instead, their astonishment is driven by unbelief.  The residents of Nazareth had known him all his life.  They had seen him working with his father as an ordinary carpenter.  They know his family in a tightly knit community that does not have language to distinguish between siblings and cousins.  In a culture which names a man as a son of his father, they sneer at him and call him the son of Mary.  They know that Mary had conceived him before she was formally married to Joseph.  They refuse to believe that one so great could come from among those who are so wretched.  He is far too ordinary for them. 

            We tend to judge the people of Nazareth harshly.  But, we resemble the folks in Nazareth more than we think.  Unlike them, we have the advantage of the Scriptures that proclaim Jesus Christ is the Son of God who is capable of such wisdom and mighty deeds.  At Christmas, we celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation, of God taking on our ordinary human flesh. 

            But like those folks in the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus Christ might be too familiar to us.  We tend to put the truth about him into our own narrow categories.  Today we celebrate our freedom as Americans.  We are grateful for our freedoms and many blessings.  But, we can take our freedom and comfortable standard of life for granted.  Those of us who have traveled or lived in third world countries know how privileged we are.  But, we can put our citizenship first and forget our responsibility to the poor and vulnerable of our world.  With modern technology, it is easy to become the rich man ignoring Lazarus starving at our doorsteps.  In our divided country, we can put membership in a political party first and view our discipleship from that narrow lens.  We can become so alienated from those with whom we disagree that we cannot see the presence of Christ in them.  It becomes more difficult to see the daily miracles (or signs of the Lord’s presence) in our narrow vision of faith.  Jesus can become too ordinary in our daily experience.

            Jesus understands the fate of being in the long line of prophets.  Like Ezekiel, he and his words will be rejected, even though he is the Incarnate Word of God.  Saint Paul understands this dynamic.  In his ministry of evangelizing the Gentiles, he has experienced his share of suffering and rejection.  But he also knows his successes.  In writing to the Corinthians, he makes it clear that the fruit of his ministry is up to God, not him.  His “thorn in the flesh” has helped him to see this truth more clearly in his ministry.  Saint Paul does not tell what his “thorn in the flesh” is.  Some speculate that it may have been a painful physical defect.  Others wonder whether it might be a persistent habit that he cannot break.  Whatever it is, he prayed constantly that the Lord would remove the thorn from his flesh.  When the Lord does not remove it, he realizes that God’s grace allows the Lord’s power to dwell more powerfully within him.

            Every one of us has a “thorn in the flesh” – some weakness that causes great pain. Like Saint Paul, we may beg the Lord to remove it.  When he does not, we can understand our call to evangelize more clearly.  Our thorn tells us that the Lord does not expect success from us.  He expects faithfulness.  We can manifest how extraordinary is the ordinary indwelling of the Son of God in our midst by our words and actions.  That is the mission of evangelization.  Once we embrace our thorns, we see the opportunity for divine grace to enter, transform, and manifest to others God’s incredible love and power now, in our hometown of Granger.