MOST HOLY TRINITY

27 MAY 2018

          The late Cardinal Richard Cushing told of an incident that happened when he was a young priest in Boston.  He was summoned to give last rites to a man who had collapsed in a store.  Cushing knelt beside the man and began with the traditional question:  “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?”  The man opened one eye and said, “Here I am dying, and he asks me a riddle.”

            The Doctrine of the Trinity is not a riddle.  But, it is a Mystery.  It took three centuries for the early Church to define this Mystery with precise terminology.  Throughout the history of the Church, theologians and scholars have developed very technical theological language to explore this Mystery of one God and three distinct persons.  We may not be trained theologians or experts in Trinitarian theology, but we have participated in the Mystery for the last ninety days in the Liturgical life of the Church.  We have spent forty days during Lent reflecting on the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  We focused on the essence of the Paschal Mystery when we celebrated the three days of the Triduum.  We have spent the final fifty days of Easter renewing our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            In celebrating this one Solemnity centered on a Doctrine, we know that we will never fully understand how there is one God and three distinct persons.  However, we participate in that Mystery in our lives of faith.  We were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  We bless ourselves with water in the name of the Trinity every time we enter this church.  We begin all of our prayers with that same Trinitarian sign of the cross.  In our prayers at Mass, we pray to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit.  We pray in this way, not to solve a riddle, but to allow the love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to guide us as we walk together in our pilgrimage of faith.  At the highest level of being in the Trinity, there is perfect love, perfect unity, and perfect diversity.  A famous icon by the Russian painter Andrei Rublev pictures the three persons of the Trinity seated around a table in a circle.  There is an empty space on the viewer’s side of that table, and all who gaze on this icon are invited to complete the circle.  The table is spread, the door is open.  We are invited to join them.

            This invitation is best expressed in today’s Gospel, which is the conclusion of the Gospel of Saint Matthew.  The beginning of the Gospel announces that the words of the Prophet Isaiah have been fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, whom he calls Emmanuel (“God with us”).  Even though Saint Matthew wrote his Gospel for Jewish Christian readers, the pagan Magi were the first to worship the newborn child.  Throughout his Gospel, Saint Matthew outlines the many ways that Jesus remained absolutely faithful to the will of his Father, beginning with his ministry in Galilee.  Back in Galilee after the resurrection, the eleven worship him and receive his great commission.  He tells them to go, not just to their Jewish brothers and sisters, but to all nations and to make disciples of them, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  He promises that he will be with them always.  He will continue to be Emmanuel (“God with us”) through the power of the Holy Spirit.

            We are gathered here to worship, as did the first disciples.  We have our share of doubts, as they did.  The risen Christ gives us the same commission.  During the last three pontificates, our Popes have spoken of the “new evangelization.”  They are calling us to make disciples, not just by teaching the Mysteries we celebrate here, but more so by making those Mysteries more evident by the way we live our lives.  There is a place at the table in the heavenly Jerusalem.  The Holy Spirit is guiding us to that table, and he wants us to bring lots of people with us.

PENTECOST SUNDAY

20 MAY 2018

          When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Odds are pretty good that they had no idea of what they were waiting for.  That is why Saint Luke indicates in the Acts of the Apostles that the coming of the Holy Spirit is very sudden.  He connects this encounter with the Divine with the encounter with God in the First Covenant at Mount Sinai.  Then, the mountain shook.  At Pentecost, the entire house shakes with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Just as there was fire at Mount Sinai, tongues as of fire come to rest on those gathered in the upper room.  In contrast to the Tower of Babel, when arrogance and pride prevented people from communicating with one another, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit enables everyone to understand what the disciples say.  The Holy Spirit transforms a timid group of disciples who had experienced the Paschal Mystery into a bold band sharing that experience with everyone.  With this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Church is born.

            Today, we celebrate the birth of the Church and trust that this same Holy Spirit is given to us, who have been reflecting on the Paschal Mystery for the last fifty days.  The Holy Spirit can transform us from a timid group of disciples into a bold band of disciples eager to share the Mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with everyone.  But, in order for the Holy Spirit to work in us, we must heed Saint Paul’s advice to the Galatians and live by the Spirit.

            Saint Paul contrasts two very different ways of living – either in the flesh or in the Spirit.  When he talks about the flesh, he does not imply that our gift of sexuality is bad or that we can be holy only if we separate ourselves from the body.  Rather, by living in the flesh, he means a way of living that is centered on satisfying our selfish desires.  If we live in the flesh, we use our sexuality for self-gratification instead of giving ourselves totally in love to a committed spouse.  The easy access to pornography emphasizes living in the flesh.  Living in the flesh erodes our trust in God’s providence and encourages us to hate those who are not like us, making them rivals.  Living in the flesh causes jealousy, dissensions, factions, and drinking bouts.  In other words, living in the flesh is destructive of healthy relationships within the community.

            Living in the Spirit produces very different effects, or as Saint Paul calls, them:  fruits.  The first fruit is love, the greatest gift.  Love is not merely a feeling, but a sincere desire to want what is best for the other.  When we learn to love, then we will experience joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

            We pray today for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our community.  In truth, we live in both worlds.  There are aspects of living in the flesh and living in the Spirit in all of our lives.  Because we entered into the Mystery of the dying and rising of Christ when we entered the waters of Baptism, Saint Paul insists that we nail those aspects of the flesh to the cross of Christ and learn to live in the Spirit.

            Jesus promises at the Last Supper that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, will guide us to all truth.  He makes this same promise to us, who are gathered here to celebrate this Memorial of the Last Supper.  As a parish, we have a unique opportunity to trust his promise and to take steps in faith to become that bold band of disciples who can proclaim with one voice the Good News to our local community.  As we complete the final phase of our construction project during this year, we are embarking on a five year strategic plan to guide us in the future.  We will invite the entire parish to give input and guidance.  As we nail our ways of living in the flesh to the cross of Jesus Christ, we trust the Lord’s promise and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, just as the Holy Spirit guided those disciples on the first Pentecost.

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

13 MAY 2018

            Several years ago, the Bishops moved the Solemnity of the Ascension from the fortieth day of Easter to this Sunday.  Their concern was that too many Catholics were not present on a Thursday, and that many more would be present on Sunday.  The Ascension is an integral part of the Paschal Mystery.  However, the move wreaked havoc with the number forty.  In the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke says that Jesus spent forty days with his disciples after he rose from the dead, presenting many proofs after he had suffered and speaking of the kingdom of God.

            The number forty indicates that we are dealing with a Mystery when we reflect on the Ascension.  In the Book of Genesis, it rained forty days and forty nights to create the flood.  The Israelites spent forty years in the desert learning how to act like free people.  The prophet Elijah walked forty days to reconnect the Covenant at Mount Horeb.  Jesus spent forty days in the desert to prepare for his public ministry.  We spent forty days during Lent in praying, fasting, and giving alms to prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mysteries.  Saint Luke uses this symbolic number to indicate that the risen Christ had spent sufficient time with his disciples to prepare those who had witnessed the resurrection for the mission of the Church.

            That is the challenge for us as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension.  We have reflected on the presence of the Risen Lord in the Sacramental life of the Church for over forty days during this Easter Season.  The Scriptures have invited us to recognize his risen presence in our daily lives.  In doing so, we are like those original disciples in many ways.  Even though Jesus had clearly taught about the kingdom of God, they still wanted the kingdom to conform to their ideas.  As Jesus departs, they want to see God’s kingdom freeing them from the domination of the Romans.  Despite hearing the Word of God every Sunday, we still cling to our own ideas of what God’s kingdom should look like in our world.  They stand there looking up at the sky, paralyzed with fear.  We tend to do the same; fearful about taking new steps to put ourselves in humbles service of others.  They are told to wait for the Holy Spirit.  We are invited to wait and pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

            In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives his disciples a commission.  They are to go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.  He gives the same commission to us, his disciples today.  Like those earliest disciples, we are sent to drive out the demons of hate and division with words and actions of respect.  We are given the new language of love at Pentecost.  Unlike Adam and Eve, we can handle the serpent, whose real power was destroyed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That is why people stomp on the image of the serpent when they enter into the main door of our church.  As much as there are so many poisonous elements of our culture, they cannot harm us.  We can extend the healing hand of Jesus Christ to those who are sick through our pastoral care for them.

            Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians that God has given each of us gifts to build up the unity of the Church, centered in Jesus Christ.  We go into the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature not only with our words, but with humble service.  It is ironic that we celebrate the Mystery of the Ascension on Mother’s Day.  If we want to serve with humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another through love, we look to our mothers and grandmothers.  They teach us the paradox of the Ascension.  The risen Christ is more present to us now than he could have been in his earthly ministry, located in one geographical place.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he encourages us to continue his ministry in our own time.  To all mothers, thank you for showing us the face of Christ.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

6 MAY 2018

          As we continue to reflect on the Lord’s Resurrection during this Easter Season, both the first Letter of John and the Gospel of John make a critical point about the love of God.  Not only is God love, but God has loved us first.  God loved us in the Mystery of the Incarnation when Jesus took on human flesh.  Jesus Christ demonstrates his incredible love by giving his entire life on the cross for us.  We know the love of God as he remains in us.  We imitate the love of God when we lay down our lives.  In that action, we understand the intimate friendship which we share with the risen Lord and with each other as members of his Body at this Eucharist.

            You parents know this kind of sacrificial love when you lay down your lives for your children.  There are countless examples when each of us has responded to the love of God by laying down our lives for another.

            Please consider another way of laying down your life for others.  God has given each of us gifts and talents.  Be sure to take some time to reflect to thank God for your talents.  Please consider sacrificing some time to give them in humble service to our parish.  Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our parish is active and alive, because so many parishioners are grateful for their gifts and are willing to use those gifts to meet the needs of our parish.  Please pick up your family packet in the Parish Life Center and pray over your decision.

            You would expect me to say these things.  I have come to believe the truth of the Gospel message.  I also have a vested interest in making sure that our parish remains alive and well.  For that reason, Cindy Hestad will tell her story of how she came to participate in the Stewardship of Service at Saint Pius.

           

Greetings (Good evening/morning)

My name is Cindy Hestad and I am humbled to speak to you today about stewardship of service.

My husband Ron and I have been married for 32 years. We have two children, Brad who is in the Army and currently deployed in Afghanistan, and our daughter Hannah who is a second-grade teacher here at Saint Pius X school.

As a family, we have been parishioners of Saint Pius for about 24 years.

My involvement in our parish has grown over the years but my main commitment of stewardship has been in teaching religious education to children. Beyond teaching CCD, I also serve on the parish council, coordinate the military board, meet with parents once a month during Sunday catechesis, lead a book study group, and together with my husband, meet with engaged couples as part of the Pre-Cana program. Next year I am also looking forward to assisting with Saint Pius’ wonderful Family Catechesis evenings.

 Yes, my children are grown and no I don’t work outside of the home. But it wasn’t always that way.   My involvement in the parish slowly grew over the years when my children were at home and I was working full time and that is why I am so happy to share with you today two little secrets (I think) of stewardship of service.

Trust me, I am not here to tell you that stewardship means signing up for everything and volunteering for hours on end. That is the beauty of it and the first secret. Stewardship can be involvement in only one thing!  Our parish offers many, many different types of opportunities to serve. I started with teaching CCD. I knew nothing about it but it interested me.

One year of teaching led me to the next and the next and before you knew it I was over 10 years in.

Looking back over the years of teaching I learned through my experience the second secret of stewardship…. Joy! A true gift from God!

The fruits I have received by doing God’s work, which is what we are all called to do, have given me such immense joy and has graced my life in ways that are beyond amazing!

 Within my marriage, in my children’s lives, in my friendships and most importantly, in my faith and love for Jesus.

God never called me to do His work, no matter how difficult or easy, without giving me the desire to learn and the gift of joy to want do more.

Where I thought I had no time…. God made time. Where I thought I couldn’t do something, God gave me the desire to learn. Where I thought I was stepping way out of my comfort zone, God gave me peace. All I did was check a little box indicating I was willing to help and he took care of the rest and for that I am very thankful.

I sincerely believe that embracing stewardship of service within my life has allowed me to serve from the heart and to be better prepared for whatever God has planned for me.

As I conclude, please let me leave you with a little visual to think about. How awesome will it be to stand some day before the face of God and hear him say…. Well done, my good and faithful servant!

Thank you for your time and I wish you Christ’s peace and joy as you prayerfully consider where God is calling your hands, your heart and your talent.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

29 APRIL 2018

          Being close to the vineyards of southwestern Michigan helps us to understand the images which Jesus presents in today’s Gospel.  Once the workers in the vineyard plant the first vines, they have to wait several years for the first grapes.  Rooted in the earth, their tendrils reach out and travel under the earth, forming long rows.  Close to the earth, the tendrils are brown, thick, and woody.  However, nearer to the branches, they are green, pliant, and flexible.  Not only do the vines have to be propped up to keep them above the ground, but they also have to be pruned continually.  The pruning enables the water and nutrients to be directed toward the grapes, and away from the woody stalks.  Once a healthy vineyard has been given a few years, those branches begin producing tasty grapes every year.  Riding through the vineyards on my bicycle around Labor Day is great, because I can smell the sweet aroma of grapes ready to be harvested.

            We are those branches, and we have been grafted to the vine when we passed through the waters of Baptism.  To use the words of the First Letter of John, we are the Beloved of God.  As branches connected to the vine, we grow in God’s love when we keep the commandments to love God and one another.  We can bear much fruit, and we can make our world smell much better by the way we treat one another.  Jesus makes it very clear that we can bear fruit, only if we remain connected with him, the vine.

            At this Mass, our second graders are receiving the Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.  After the homily, they will walk to the Baptismal Font, where they were first grafted as branches onto Jesus, the vine.  They will renew the promises made for them as babies and bless themselves with water.  Clothed with the white garments reminding them of the white garments put on them at Baptism, signifying their union with Christ, they will bring up the gifts of bread, wine, and the sacrificial tithe and will receive the Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.

            They will receive bread baked from wheat that has been harvested and ground up and transformed into the Body of Christ.  They will drink wine that comes from fermented grapes and which has been transformed into the Blood of Christ.  Boys and girls, the Lord promises that he will strengthen you every time you receive Holy Communion, just as he strengthened the Apostle Paul as he boldly proclaimed the risen Lord to people who wanted to do him harm.  Every time you come to Mass and receive the Body and Blood of Christ, he will strengthen you to keep the commandments to love God and neighbor and remain with you.

            In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses the word “to remain” 67 times.  He promises to dwell with us, to abide with us, to stay with us, to remain with us.  These children remind us of that promise today.  They remind us that we are the branches, grafted solidly on the vine that is Christ.  Just as the tendrils of vineyards connect with each other under the earth, we are connected to one another through the Eucharist as members of the Body of Christ.  We promise to support you as you bring your children to the Eucharist every Sunday.  We promise to be with you, even when you and your children might be pruned by difficult events in your lives.

            Today, we prayed Psalm 22 as our Responsorial Psalm.  The last time we prayed this Psalm was on Palm Sunday, when we prayed the first stanzas to reflect on the death of Jesus, the Suffering Servant.  Today we pray the later stanzas of this Psalm, reflecting on the Servant’s vindication in the resurrection.  He will remain with us in our suffering and even in our dying.  He promises to remain with in a very real ay as we continue to be fed with his body and blood, especially when difficult situations in life will prune us.  He will keep his promise to remain with us forever, as we share in his dying and trust in his rising.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

22 APRIL 2018

          Throughout the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus often uses the words “I am” to identify himself with his divine nature.  In the Old Testament, God used those words “Yahweh,” or “I am who am” to identify himself to Moses.  In most instances, Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life, or the light of the world, or the resurrection and the life to indicate what he, as the Son of God, has to offer us.  Today, he identifies himself in a human role when he says that “I am the good shepherd.”  To a culture which understood the role of good shepherds with their flocks, he speaks of his own costly freedom, as well as his mutual relationship with the Father and with us, his followers.  The people of that culture knew the devotion of good shepherds to their sheep.  They also knew the examples of shepherd leaders who cared more for themselves and their own comfort than for the common good of the people they were supposed to be leading. 

Jesus speaks this parable to the religious leaders of his day.  He had just given sight to the man born blind.  As that man gradually came to see Jesus as the Christ who is the light of the world, the religious leaders refuse to acknowledge the truth standing before them.  They are the hired hands who are much more interested in the prestige and perks of their office than serving the needs of their people.  They will become the wolves who bring death to the good shepherd, because he threatens their authority and influence.  The good shepherd will willingly accept that painful and humiliating death and lay down his life for us, his flock. 

The image of the good shepherd is familiar to our parish.  At the entrance to the Parish Education Center is a copy of the most ancient statue of the Good Shepherd:  a young shepherd, without a beard, dressed in a short tunic, and with a pouch around his neck.  On his shoulders he carries a lamb.  The other image is on our triumphal arch:  the Good Shepherd seated on his heavenly throne, drawing the sheep to himself from Bethlehem (on the left) and from Jerusalem (on the right).  Beneath that image on both sides are images of two religious leaders who have served as shepherds.  On the left is Saint Peter, who has been transformed from denying Jesus on the night he was betrayed to boldly proclaiming the resurrection in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  On the right is Pope Saint Pius X, a successor to Saint Peter, who decided to admit children to the Eucharist when they reached the age of reason.

That is why you are here, boy and girls.  You became children of God when you passed through the waters of baptism.  The Good Shepherd knows each of you by name and has laid down his life for you.  He has become the Lamb of God (portrayed in the mosaic on the front of the Altar) who now feeds you for the first time with his Body and Blood.  When you were baptized, your parents, who are your shepherds, carried you to the font and made the baptismal promises for you.  When you emerged from the waters of Baptism, you were clothed with a white garment, indicating that you put on Christ.  Your parents were told to keep that garment unstained, so that you could go out to meet the Lord.  Now you will walk on your own two feet to renew those promises and bring up gifts of bread and wine.

Celebrating First Communion at this Mass is very important, because we are reminded of the important role of this parish community in supporting you parents in training your children in the ways of faith.  Parents, you are good shepherds when you sacrifice everything for the good of your children.  Just as you sacrifice for their material needs, be sure to sacrifice for their spiritual needs.  The first Letter of Saint John assures us that children of God can be transformed by contact with the risen Lord, just as Peter had been.  Trust the power of the Eucharist to transform your family and your children in our shared pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem.  

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

APRIL 15 2018

          When we meet the disciples in today’s Gospel, they are listening to the two disciples who had just returned from Emmaus.  These two disciples had told the gathered community what had happened to them.  They had been running away from Jerusalem on that first day of the week, because they were devastated by the public execution of the one whom they had thought was the messiah.  Since they could not imagine God’s messiah being treated in such a horrible way, they had given up all hope and were leaving town.  The risen Christ joined them, even though they did not recognize him.  He listened to their pain and began to apply the familiar words of Scripture to what happened to him.  Those words caused their hearts to burn within them.  When he accepted their invitation to stay with them, they recognized him in the breaking of bread.  Then, they returned to Jerusalem convinced of the power of the resurrection.

            As they are speaking, the risen Christ appears again and greets them with the words, “Peace be with you.”  We would expect them to be overjoyed.  But instead, they are startled and terrified.  Those two reactions are important for an understanding of our own Easter faith.  Part of their reaction comes from their sense of guilt.  They had not been faithful to Jesus when he was betrayed and executed.  Instead, they ran away in fear.  Despite the consistent greeting of the risen Christ, “Peace be with you,” they must have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the Lord to chide them for their infidelity. 

            But another huge part of their reaction has to do with their terrifying experience.  Despite Jesus speaking continually of his role as a suffering servant, they could not let go of their expectations that a messiah should be a conquering hero.  So jarred by their experience of his horrendous dying, they still had trouble embracing this entirely new concept of rising.

            That is why the risen Christ has to assure them that he is truly raised from the dead.  He shows them his wounds, not to make them feel guiltier, but to allow them to see the real effects of sin.  Instead of feeding them, as he did at the Last Supper, they feed him with a piece of baked fish, proving that he is not a ghost.  Then he opens their minds to the words of Scripture, just as he had done for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Filled with a deeper understanding of the Paschal Mystery and with joy, they accept his commission to spread the good news.

            During this Season of Easter, the risen Lord speaks to us at every Mass, just as surely as he spoke to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and to the gathered community in today’s Gospel.  He feeds us with his Body and Blood at every Mass, just as surely as he shared these meals with the original witnesses.  But like those disciples, we too can become startled and terrified when we are confronted with those elements of the Paschal Mystery that involved suffering.  When we are faced with the death of a loved one, or when we suddenly have a very heavy cross placed on our shoulders, we react in the same way as those disciples did.  Like those disciples, we too make some bad choices and are faced with the guilt and weight of our sins.  But like those disciples, we can turn to the Lord and receive his peace and divine mercy.

            Not only does the risen Christ reveal himself to us here in Word and Sacrament, but he also reveals himself in the graced encounters with other people.  In his speech in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter explains that he and John had healed a crippled man, not by their own power, but by the power of the risen Christ.  The Easter Season invites us to consider the advice of the First Letter of John and grow in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  When that happens, we begin to understand the intimate connection between loving him and loving others.  Then, we too can experience the joy and amazement of the presence of the risen Lord in our broken world.