THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

28 FEBRUARY 2016

          The Israelites in the first reading are in a desperate situation.  They are in a scorching and dangerous desert.  They had considered their slavery in Egypt as unbearable.  But this is worse!  They are parched with thirst, because there is no water.  They are dying of hunger, because they have no food.  Of course, they blame Moses, their leader, for dragging them into this situation.  And they ask a good question:  “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”

            Moses answers that question in an interesting way.  At God’s direction, he brings out the same staff that he had used to part the waters of the Red Sea.  That staff reminds the people that God had worked in a powerful way on their behalf.  As he strikes the rock to bring forth water for the people to drink, he reminds them that God has not abandoned them.  God has been with them all along.  They need to connect God’s past revelations to their present difficulties.

            The woman at the well may be asking the same question:  “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”  She has not had much luck with men.  After five husbands, she is living with another man.  Odds are good that her choices have not gotten much better.  Even worse, her neighbors have judged her so badly that she goes to draw water in the searing heat of the noon day sun, instead of joining them to draw water in the cool of the morning and evening.  Into her life strides the seventh bridegroom, the light of the world (symbolized by the noon day sun).  This bridegroom, who had turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, slowly reveals himself to her, as she thirsts for acceptance.  At first, she recognizes him as a kind Jewish man who is willing to talk to a Samaritan woman.  Then, she sees him as a prophet, when he tells her the truth about herself without condemning or judging.  Finally, he comes out and reveals himself to her as the Christ, the promised Messiah.  This unlikely recipient of the Lord’s self-revelation becomes the first evangelist and proclaims the Good News of Salvation to the people of her village.  As a result, they invite him to stay with them to share his indwelling presence.

            At the 8:45 and 10:30 Masses, we call forward the Elect, those preparing for the Easter Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist.  Like the Israelites in the desert or the woman at the well, they had asked the same question:  “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”  They have been drawn to the Rite of Christian Initiation gradually.  Some of them came to us, because their spouses or fiancés are Catholic.  Some came, because they wanted their children to have an example of two parents practicing their faith.  Others were drawn, because they came to a funeral or a wedding and became interested in the Catholic faith.  For the last year, they have joined us on Tuesday nights.  We have taught them the truths of the faith, shared food and reflections, and prayed together.  They have been drawn into the life of the Church through their participation at the Liturgy of the Word at Sunday Mass and through the Rites of the Church.  As we celebrate the Scrutinies with them, we pray that they be protected from the power of the evil one and that they continue to thirst for the waters of rebirth at the Easter Vigil.

            As we pray over these good people, we have to be honest enough to admit that we ask the same question sometimes:  “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”  We ask this question when things go badly, when we experience life’s tragedies, or when we do not receive the answers we seek through our prayers.  The Lord answers that question with a resounding “yes.”  As we journey through Lent with the Elect to renew our Baptismal promises at Easter, we too take another look at the ways in which we have experienced the goodness of the Lord in our lives.  The Lord was with us then.  The Lord is with us now.  The Lord manifests his saving power in the Paschal Mystery.  We renew our faith in this Mystery at the Sacred Paschal Triduum.

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

21 FEBRUARY 2016

          Saint Luke structured his Gospel in terms of a journey.  After being baptized in the Jordan River and tested in the desert, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth.  Throughout Galilee, he reveals his identity as the Son of God through his miracles and teachings.  Then he begins his journey south to Jerusalem.  He knows that the true prophets were killed in Jerusalem.  He knows that the religious authorities will not accept him there either.  On the way, he accepts Peter’s confession of faith that he is the Messiah.  On the way, he tries to help Peter and the others understand that following him will involve denying themselves and carrying their crosses.

            Today, he arrives at a mountain, a traditional place of encountering God.  Taking Peter, James, and John with him, Jesus goes up the mountain to pray for guidance from his Father.  Suddenly, his face is changed.  As he prays, he “gets it!”  The glory of God is “written all over his face,” and Peter, James, and John get a glimpse of the glory he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Moses and Elijah appear with him and talk about his exodus to Jerusalem, the journey that will lead from a humiliating death to the glory of the resurrection.  Peter wants to pitch three tents to keep the experience going.  Instead, the three disciples hear the same voice that was heard from the heavens at the baptism of Jesus:  “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”  In this transforming moment, they understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  They are to listen to him now.  Trusting in the Father’s love, Jesus takes the three down the mountain and resolutely sets his face toward Jerusalem.  There he will become the Lamb of God sacrificed in the new exodus to free humanity from the grip of sin and death.

            We too are on a journey through the Season of Lent to renew our faith in the Lord’s Exodus in the Sacred Paschal Triduum.  On this journey, our disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving have the power to transform us more completely into God’s people.  Lent reaffirms our trust that God will not go back on his word, as Abraham trusted.  In the ancient world, kings did not sign treaties.  Instead, they conducted what we would regard as a bizarre ritual.  The ritual involved cutting animals in two and placing them on either side of the road.  At the end of the day, they walked through the cut animals to state that they would rather be cut in two rather than go back on their word.  In the flaming torch, God passed through the animals which Abraham had cut up to signify that he would never go back on his word.

            Our journey through Lent also puts our journey through this life into proper perspective.  Like Saint Paul, who was a citizen of Rome in the first century, we are citizens of a particular country in the twenty-first century.  We American Catholics respect this world in which we live.  We do our best to care for it, and we are grateful for all its blessings which.  But our world is not the end of our journey.  That is something I have learned from my cycling pilgrimages.  On our pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome, we enjoyed the journey.  We marveled at the good things we encountered on the way.  We endured the difficult aspects as part of the journey.  But riding into Saint Peter’s Square after traveling 1,200 miles produced such an exhilarating emotion that sustained us through the theft of all our belongings.  The end of the journey put the entire journey into perspective.  That is why Saint Paul says us that our true citizenship is in heaven.  The glory that changed the face of Jesus on Mount Tabor can transform us, as we endure the crosses now and catch glimpses of our ultimate destination in those moments when God’s love shines brightly in our faces.  Saint Paul reminds us to stand firm in the Lord.  That is what transformed him from a persecutor of the early church to its greatest preacher.  We too can be transformed, as long as we stand firm in the Lord.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

14 FEBRUARY 2016

          The desert is a place of stripping away.  God led his people into the Desert of Sinai to strip away the behaviors they had learned from their years of slavery in Egypt.  They were also stripped away from the comforts of food, drink, and shelter that they had taken for granted in Egypt.  Once they were stripped away, they could recognize the fundamental truth that God loved them, formed them into his people, and was guiding them to the Promised Land.  God used their stripping away as a school to test them in behaving like free people.  Instead, they put God to the test.  We will trust God, they said to Moses, IF God provides food or water, or IF God protects us from wild animals and human enemies.  They were slow learners.  It took them forty years before they embraced the fundamental truth of God’s love for them and entered the land.

            Centuries later, Jesus emerges from the waters of the Jordan.  As the heavens open, the Spirit hovers over him in the form of a dove, and the Father declares that he is the Son of God.  Today, the Holy Spirit leads him into the desert to be stripped away and confront the fundamentals of his identity.  In those forty days in the desert, Jesus is also tested.  Weakened by hunger after fasting for forty days, he is vulnerable.  So the devil tests him, “IF you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  What is wrong with using his power to provide himself with a little sensual pleasure of food, the devil implies.  But Jesus knows that the Son of God does not use power for his own good and quotes a passage from Deuteronomy insisting that one does not live on bread alone.

            The devil tries again.  Taking Jesus to a high place, he lies to Jesus and tells him that all of this belongs to him and that he can give him power and glory.  IF Jesus worships him, he will not have to go through rejection, pain, and a humiliating death.  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to say that we can only worship the Lord our God and be faithful to God’s will and plan.

            Finally, the devil takes him to Jerusalem, to the Temple, to the place where God dwells.  Standing on the parapet of the temple, the highest place, the devil tries again and quotes Psalm 91, arguing that the angels will support him if he throws himself off the parapet.  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy again and argues that he will not make the same mistake as his ancestors.  He will not put his Father to the test.  He will not place his own ego above the identity of his Father.

            The Holy Spirit has led us into this desert of Lent, so that we can be stripped away.  In allowing ourselves to be stripped away through the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we take a look at all those things which are part of our lives.  Sensual pleasures are part of our lives.  There is nothing wrong with enjoying food, drink, and sex.  The same goes for the lure of power.  We can use power to provide good things for our families.  And the same is true of our egos.  With a strong sense of self, we can be more confident in the ways we live our lives.

            If we allow Lent to strip ourselves, then we can see that these passing elements of our lives are not essential to our identity given by God.  Sensual pleasures, the lure of power, and the building up of our egos cannot sustain us.  The desert of Lent has the power to reveal to us the fundamental reality of our lives:  God loves us and wants the best for us.  The desert of Lent reminds us that my life is not about me.  My life is about God and God alone.

            The people of Israel failed to learn this lesson over and over again.  Jesus learned the lesson completely.  In remaining faithful to his identity as the Son of God, Jesus faced many more temptations from the devil and gave his life for our salvation.  The Holy Spirit is with us during these forty days as we learn the important spiritual lesson of being stripped away, so that we can embrace the fundamentals and embrace more fully the Paschal Mystery.

Stewardship of Prayer                                                                      February 6, 7 2016

Thank you Father Bill for encouraging me to pray more by asking me to share my prayer journey!!

Imagine a family of seven children after dinner sitting around the table …

“Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day.  Please help me with my studying for Algebra test and help Joan with her track meet – thank you for this great meal.  Amen!”

Each person in the family would pray before and after each dinner – followed with an Act of Contrition, prayer to Jesus and a prayer to the Holy Spirit.

Prayer was a daily part of our family life but the corporate experience of my Catholic faith was dead. 

I was married in the Catholic Church but quickly decided to pursue God through a non denominational Christian Church.  I was involved in Young Life a High School outreach program, as a leader –and I learned more about prayer and my faith through attending Young Life meetings than I learned growing up.  As a leader my role was limited to supporting high school students with bible studies and taking them where they were with their faith and directing them to scripture and an adult encouragement to make good decisions with their life choices.  As a leader, I was exposed to retreats and small group gatherings that taught me about prayer, journaling, conversational prayer, listening prayer and more.

This prayer knowledge and experience was tested when our youngest was prenatally diagnosed with Spina Bifida.  We prayed for healing and strength to deal with whatever God provided.   I remember telling others that those 5 months of knowing we had a special needs baby drove me to my knees asking for strength to deal with the challenges ahead.  It dawned on me one day that being on my knees in prayer is a great place to be!

My final prayer experience to share has to deal with my struggle with sleeping -  we had “rediscovered” the Catholic church – through my youngest son Gavin’s desire to become a Catholic.  My wife found great comfort in stopping into St Pius and praying in the back of church.  Fr. Dan, Fr. Bob, Fr. Bill and Deacon Tug have all been instrumental in our family return to the Catholic Church!  Thank you! 

But back to my struggle with sleeping…  during a particularly difficult parenting period, I was frustrated with my lack of peace, lack of sleep, lack of relief from the stress of parenting and all life struggles.  My pattern was to wake up …  again! and try to pray my needs to God – pray for direction, pray for relief etc..,  after months and months of no relief one night I thought, “I am out of words – I don’t know how to pray anymore!” then I had an idea,  I bounded out of bed and went looking for a rosary!  I prayed the rosary like I had never prayed it before! I thought I will pray the prayers of my Catholic faith.  I love it still to this day!  I try to keep a rosary close to me always – It has been instrumental in regaining some peace in my life.

My closing challenge is to use this Lenten season to grow in your individual and our corporate church experience.  Remember that seeking God looks like something!  Take Matthew Kelly’s challenge in his book Rediscovering Jesus!

Prayer is the so personal yet our Catholic faith provides so much in the way of the mass, sacraments and direction.  You don’t have to go alone!

Thank you

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

7 FEBRUARY 2016

          Simon and his partners had been working all night with nothing to show for their efforts.  Sweaty, smelling like fish, and exhausted, he is washing his nets.  He must be a bit surprised when this itinerant preacher from Galilee invades his private property and asks him if he could use his boat as a pulpit.  Simon Peter agrees and listens to his teaching.  He must have been impressed, because he calls him “master.”

            Jesus startles him when he tells him to put out into deep water and lower his nets for a catch.  Peter knows his profession and makes excuses for not going back out again, much as Isaiah had argued that he was too sinful to be a prophet.  But, he shows his respect for the master and does what he is told.  To his amazement, putting out into deep water brings him and his partners an abundance they had never experienced.  Like Isaiah, Simon Peter realizes his inadequacies and acknowledges his sinfulness.  Addressing Jesus as “Lord,” Peter abandons his familiar way of living and joins his brother and the Zebedee brothers to follow Jesus on the way.  Putting into deep water has brought a rich quality to his life that he could never have earned.

            Jesus Christ has a way of entering into our lives, even when we are sweaty, smelling of the messiness of life, and exhausted.  Like the crowds in the Gospel, we gather to hear him speak to us.  So many times, we remain in the shallows of our spiritual lives and stay close to the familiar ground of being in control.  But Jesus invites us to put out into deep water.  Lent can draw us much more deeply into our faith.  Please read the information in the Stewardship of Prayer packet.  The disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving can take us deeper into the spiritual life and immerse us more completely into the Mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In letting go of the familiar ground of our need to control, we open ourselves to an abundance of graces which we could never imagine.

            Lent provides a remarkable opening to improve our prayer, which is the cornerstone of stewardship.  Had Isaiah not spent time reflecting in prayer the implications of his calling, he could never have become the famous prophet we know.  The same is true of Saint Paul.  Like them, we spend time in prayer to make sense of the ways the Lord is present in our daily lives.  Please listen to David Provost, as he tells the story of his experience of prayer.

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

31 JANUARY 2016

          In his Gospel, Saint Luke clearly reveals the identity of Jesus of Nazareth.  At the beginning of the Gospel, the Angel Gabriel had announced to a lowly young woman that she had been chosen to be the mother of God.  Mary believed and accepted the child in her womb through the power of the Holy Spirit.  At his birth in Bethlehem, the angels announced to the outcasts of the area the good news of the Savior’s birth.  The shepherds believed and worshipped him. When John baptized Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River, the voice from heaven clearly announced that “this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

            When Jesus comes home to Nazareth as an adult, his reputation preceded him.  The local people had heard of his miracles.  They probably wanted him to prove himself to them by working a couple of miracles at home.  Instead, he goes to the synagogue, where he reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and announces that the prophecy is now fulfilled in their hearing.  They marvel at the words which come from his mouth.  But, they cannot believe what he says.  They cannot believe that he is the Son of God, because they see him only as the son of Joseph.  Their blindness turns to anger when he tells them that his mission will extend from the children of Abraham to everyone.  He reminds them that a pagan widow had welcomed Elijah, and that a pagan general from Syria had been healed by Elisha.  They cannot open their eyes to recognize the Son of God standing in their midst.  They do not want to share Isaiah’s vision of liberation with strangers and foreigners.  They cannot accept the love of God which will include everyone.  They try to kill him.  But, his time has not yet come.  He walks through their midst to continue to reveal his identity and his mission to anyone who will accept it.

            Knowing that God is love, Jesus is manifesting God’s love to them.  In his first Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul defines God’s love.  Paul’s definition is very close to the definition of love given by Saint Thomas Aquinas:  love is willing the good for another only for the sake of that other.  God’s love is pure.  God does not love us to put on a huge show.  God is not interested in looking good to others.  God does not brood over injury, nor does God take pleasure when we have to suffer the consequences of our bad choices.  In fact, God forgives completely. 

            This is the love that Paul recommends to the people of Corinth.  Some members of the community were trying to impress everyone with their extraordinary gifts and demonstrations of faith.  Some of them spoke in tongues, while others paraded around their gift of prophecy.  Paul flatly dismisses any of these gifts or talents if they are not done with love.  Paul gives this same message to us.  We who embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior have the opportunity to witness to God’s love in our world.  Loving as God loves us is very hard work and goes well beyond those sentimental feelings we have for those for whom we care.  In fact, this kind of love enables us to love our enemies, in the sense that we will what is best for them, not for our own benefit, but for their good.

            Jesus, like Jeremiah centuries before him, found that his words spoken in love would eventually bring him to death.  Like, Jeremiah, Jesus trusted that his Father would never abandon him in his efforts to put a human face on God’s love.  When we were baptized, we were anointed as priests, prophets, and kings.  Sharing in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, we gather here to pray and celebrate the central Mystery of our faith.  As kings, we know that the Father loves us as much as he loves his Son.  As prophets, we can have the courage to speak the truth in love, willing the good of the other, even when that love is not returned to us.  God’s love never fails, and God will never fail us.

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

24 JANUARY 2016

          Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor tell their people that they should not be sad and that they should rejoice and feast on rich foods.  The people need to hear these words, because they are in a desperate situation.  They had just returned from fifty years of captivity in Babylon.  Most of them had never been to Jerusalem.  They had only heard about it from their parents.  Now, they are facing a very different reality.  The Babylonians had breached the walls that had protected their beloved city.  They are facing the difficult task of rebuilding the walls and the Temple. Ezra reads from the Law of the Lord to encourage their work of reestablishing their physical identity.  Now we have had some long-winded associate priests in my time here.  But none have ever preached from dawn until mid-day!  But that is what Ezra does!  He reads from the Scrolls of the Torah –the first five books of the Bible – to help the people recover their connection with the God who restores them and their social connection with each other as members of the Covenant, originally sealed through Moses.  Ezra and Nehemiah remind the people that God has never forgotten them, even though their parents had forgotten God.

            Centuries later, Jesus comes home to Nazareth and opens another one of the scrolls of God’s Word, deliberately choosing the Prophet Isaiah.  Like Ezra and Nehemiah, Isaiah had told his people that God had not forgotten them, even when their bad choices had caused their exile.  Isaiah promises that God would recognize them in their poverty, that he would free those held in captivity, that he would restore sight to the blind, free the oppressed, and that he would proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.  To the utter astonishment of the congregation, Jesus announces that “today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

            The Gospel of Luke is not a history lesson, but the living Word of God through which Jesus speaks to us here and now.  During this Liturgical Year, we will hear the Gospel of Saint Luke on most Sundays, opening our hearts to reflect on the Lord’s presence in our daily lives.  Jesus invites us to be mindful of the poor in our world.  He wants us to trust that he can free us from whatever binds us and keeps us from reaching out in love to others.  He can open our eyes to see his presence in those around us, especially in those who annoy us and are difficult. We can do these things, because the same Spirit that empowered Jesus empowers us to live as his Body in our world.  As Saint Paul reminds us, each of us has a part in this Mystical Body.  Each of us contributes to the working of this Body, even when we are tempted to consider our actions and our gifts do not matter.

            When Isaiah speaks of a year acceptable to the Lord, he is speaking of a Jubilee Year, a year in which debts are erased and people are given a fresh start.  Pope Francis has declared this year a Jubilee Year, a special year focused on God’s Mercy.  In declaring this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis does not imply that there is no right or wrong.  He is not changing the moral teachings of the Church.  Those moral teachings are intended to prevent our making choices that cause the exile and suffering faced by the people addressed by Ezra and Nehemiah.  Instead, he encourages us to face the ways in which we have not taken our place as members of the Body of Christ.  He wants us to be honest about how we have ignored the poor or caused damage to other members, especially in our families, in the places where we work, and in our parish.  Embraced by God’s limitless mercy, we can open our blind eyes to see the wounds we have caused and make a new beginning.  Once we become more aware of God’s mercy in our own lives, we can give it more freely to those who have wounded us.  In accepting and giving God’s mercy, those words of Jesus are being fulfilled, here and now, in our midst, in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.