THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 JULY 2018

          Last week, a 14 year old parishioner was killed in a senseless accident.  He was a well-liked and respected young man connected with many others through our parish and sports.  The outpouring of support and love for Nolan’s family was incredible.  But, his death raised many questions about our trust in God’s providence.  Many asked the question:  was his death part of God’s plan?  Even if it was not part of God’s plan, why did a loving God allow it?

            The first reading from the Book of Wisdom gives us some guidance in answering these questions.  The Book of Wisdom states very clearly that “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”  The author reminds us of the truth found in the Book of Genesis.  God created us in his image.  God intended us to be imperishable.  Death was caused by the envy of the devil and by the disobedience of our first parents.  They believed his lies and separated themselves from God.  And that is what death is:  a separation not caused by God, but by our sinful rejection of God.

            The two miracles in today’s Gospel reveal God’s plan to destroy death in the person of his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.  Whenever Jesus teaches by the sea in Mark’s Gospel, he reveals something about himself to the large crowds gathered to listen.  Both miracles involve women.  One is a daughter of an upper class and influential synagogue leader.  The other is an anonymous woman without resources.  In both cases, the number twelve is significant.  The daughter of Jairus is twelve years old.  The woman has been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.  Both women represent God’s people:  the twelve tribes of Israel.  In both cases, there is the pain of separation.  The twelve year old girl is separated from her family by physical death.  The woman is separated from society, because the flow of blood makes her ritually impure and excluded from society.  In both cases, the situation is hopeless.  The daughter has died.  The woman has exhausted her finances trying to find a cure.

            Jesus marches boldly into both situations, where he encounters a deep faith.  Jairus trusts that Jesus can save his daughter by laying his hands on her.  The woman trusts that that the one she had heard about can save her.  In both situations, Jesus moves beyond the restrictions of the Law of Moses and shows that it has been fulfilled.  Jesus risks ritual impurity by touching the woman with hemorrhages and by touching the body of a dead person.  In raising the girl from the dead, Jesus prefigures his own victory over death in the resurrection.  In healing the woman, he shows the power of his death and resurrection to free us from the separation that comes from sin.

            Jesus gives strict orders that no one should know about raising the girl from the dead, because the miracle will only draw attention to himself.  The miracle will make sense after his own death and resurrection to those who have come to believe in him.  Then he orders them to give her something to eat.

            We are among those who have come to believe in him.  We will eat and drink at this Mass, where the mystery of his death and resurrection is made present here.  Like Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage, we believe that Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of sin and death.  We entered into the dying of Christ in the waters of Baptism.  We emerged one with him when we came out of the watery font.  We trust that our union with him will not be destroyed by physical death.  We trust that our life will be changed at the end of our earthly life, not ended.  Our task is to remain connected with the person of Jesus Christ and live our baptismal promises.  This is the message that grieving people need to hear.  It is the message all of us need to hear, because we all live in the shadow of death.

THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

24 JUNE 2018

          John the Baptist was born into a family associated with priesthood.  Elizabeth, his mother, was a descendent of Aaron, the first priest.  Zechariah, his father, was a priest associated with worship in the Temple.  Zechariah had been chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.  As he was performing his priestly duties, the angel of the Lord announced that he and his wife would give birth to a son.  Zechariah refused to believe that he and his wife could conceive, because they were really old.  Rendered speechless for his unbelief, Zechariah must have reflected on his experience during his wife’s pregnancy.

            Because of the family connection with priesthood and temple worship, his neighbors presume that John would follow in his parents’ footsteps and be named after his father.  But, Elizabeth objects.  She insists that he be named “John,” which means “the Lord has shown favor.”  To echo what he had heard from the angel, Zechariah takes a tablet and writes, “John is his name.”  His tongue is loosened as he proclaims the greatness of God.  That Canticle of Zechariah is omitted in today’s Gospel reading.  But we pray it at Morning Prayer, and we will sing it as the hymn of thanksgiving at this Mass.  His neighbors quickly understand that there has been some kind of divine intervention.  They are amazed, yet fearful:  common human responses to an encounter with God.  They gossip among themselves about what role this child will have.

            Saint Luke says that the child grew and became strong in spirit.  As an adult, John does not go to the Temple in Jerusalem.  King Herod is in the process of rebuilding that Temple on a grand scale, bringing with the reconstruction a host of abuses and corrupt practices.  Instead, John goes to the desert, that wilderness long associated with the liberation of his ancestors from slavery in Egypt.  The desert had been for his ancestors a place of protection and testing.  It was in the desert that they encountered God at Mount Sinai.  It was in the desert that death could come quickly if people were not careful.

            In the desert, on the banks of the Jordan River, John the Baptist would invite people to undergo a baptism of repentance, expressing their desire to change their ways.  In the desert, John the Baptist would point to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who would give his life in sacrifice, not on the Altar in the Temple, but on a hill of execution outside the city.  In the waters of the Jordan, John would baptize his cousin and witness the voice from the heavens announcing that this is God’s beloved Son, in whom the Father is well pleased.  In the desert, John the Baptist would condemn Herod for marrying the wife of his brother Philip.  In response, Herod locked him up and eventually beheaded him.

            In the liturgical calendar of the Church, we normally celebrate the feast of a Saint on the day that the Saint died and was reborn into eternity.  That is not true with John the Baptist.  We also celebrate his birth, his nativity.  The only two other nativities that we celebrate are the birth of Mary, the Mother of God, on September 8, and the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25.  We celebrate the Baptist’s birth soon after the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.  We celebrate the Savior’s birth soon after the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.  The placement of these feasts reminds us of the role of John the Baptist.  He must decrease, so Christ can increase.

            That is our role also.  Our lives of faith must point away from ourselves toward Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is present in the good times and the bad times of our lives.  When things go badly, we depend on the Lord to walk with us.  If things go well and we are successful, it is because of the presence of Christ.  In decreasing ourselves, Christ can increase.

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

17 JUNE 2018

          The prophet Ezekiel writes to his people who are in exile in Babylon.  Although he is honest with them that their infidelity to the Covenant caused the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem and the Temple, he also wants to encourage them.  They have given up and presume that they will never return to their homeland.  However, he uses the image of a mighty cedar to give them hope.  The mighty cedar represents Zedekiah, the corrupt and powerful king who had dominated the scene before the exile.  But he was gone.  The Lord has made low the high tree.  Now, the Lord will take a tender shoot off the top of the tree, who is Jehoiachin, the king’s nephew.  The Lord will transplant Jehoiachin and the remnant of his people back to Jerusalem.  The Lord will lift high the lowly tree and rebuild his people.  God’s plan is to restore his people from exile.  But it is also God’s plan to establish a future messianic kingdom.

            We see the fulfillment of this prophecy in Jesus Christ.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses two other images from nature to help us to understand the kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is not a place.  Rather, the kingdom of God is what happens when God is totally in charge of life.  The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seeds and then watches the plants emerge from the ground and are eventually brought to the harvest.  The kingdom of God is also like a mustard seed, the smallest of the seeds on the earth, which eventually grows into the largest of plants.  In both cases, the growth occurs beyond human control.

            The earliest disciples of Jesus needed to hear these parables, because they were becoming discouraged.  They had embraced the person of Jesus Christ.  But their communities were small and being persecuted.  These parables instilled courage in them and gave them hope.

            These parables also give us hope.  We live in a world filled with violence, hatred, division, injustice, and fear.  Our eyes are drawn to the big cedars of our world – the powerful, the wealthy, and the famous.  The parables draw our eyes away from them and point to the ways in which God tends to begin small and grown his kingdom gradually.  C.S. Lewis said that God took on human flesh in a dusty outpost on the fringes of the Roman Empire.  Jesus snuck in behind “enemy lines” and was executed for his efforts.  But, because of the resurrection, many other disciples took heart and started small.  Saint Francis heard the Lord speaking to him in a tiny chapel in Assisi.  He founded the Franciscans, and order that has served the Church for many centuries.  Charles Lwanga (on our triumphal arch) refused to give up his faith.  For that refusal, he was executed.  Those who killed him thought they were done with him.  On his feast day last week, a million Africans gathered at the shrine of the martyrs in Uganda to celebrate their faith.  Mother Theresa (also pictured on our triumphal arch) began picking up dying people and orphans on the streets of Calcutta.  Today, the sisters of her religious order attend to the most desperate people throughout the world.  Many people have planted seeds and trusted that God would work through their initial efforts to make the kingdom of God more visible.

            Saint Paul was another one of those people who stared small.  He encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, and the seed was planted.  Through his efforts, the Gospel spread to the gentiles.  He reminds us that our efforts will please the Lord while we are at home with our bodies.  He encourages us to trust that our smallest acts of kindness and feeble attempts to love will make a difference.  Today, we fathers especially need to hear this message.  It is easy to get discouraged.  It is tempting to think that our sacrifices are in vain.  We wonder how we can make a difference in a world full of towering cedars.  Keep planting those seeds.  Even if you don’t see results, even if your children rebel against you, don’t lose hope.  God will do the rest!

TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 JUNE 2018

          Being a disciple of Jesus Christ in the first century was difficult for many reasons.  Opposition to the belief that Jesus Christ was crucified and raised from the dead came from three sources.   The pagan Roman culture regarded that belief as ridiculous.  The Roman authorities executed Saint Paul.  The Jewish community rejected the followers of Jesus Christ and threw Saint Paul out of many synagogues for preaching the Gospel.  Saint Paul also suffered rejection from some of the Christian communities that he founded, because some accused him of not being an authentic Apostle.  Despite all of this opposition, Saint Paul never let go of his encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and did not lose heart.

            To be honest, it is easy to lose heart and waver in our faith.  Sometimes we lose heart, because we are fooled by false promises, like Adam and Eve, and suffer the consequences of our bad choices.  We blame each other and cause further division.  Sometimes life serves up disappointments, failing health, career crises, and all kinds of challenges.  In these situations, we might want to ask Saint Paul:  how did you do it?  How did you not lose heart?  He gives us the answers today from his second letter to the members of the Corinthian community.

            First, he argues that we do not lose heart, because the foundation of our faith does not come from an idea or a system of beliefs.  Our faith is grounded on an encounter with a real person, Jesus Christ, who has been raised from the dead. Because he lives, we live.

            Second, we do not lose heart, because we are not alone.  We are part of a community of believers.  Even though the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel might have shocked his family, who are worried that he is out of his mind, his family is much broader, and includes us. We can endure hardships, because we are walking together as members of this parish, supporting one another, praying for one another, and comforting one another when life becomes difficult.

            Third, we do not lose heart, because God has only begun his work in us.  That is what Saint Paul is saying when he points out that our outer nature is wasting away.  No matter what happens to us in our lives, our inner nature is being renewed every day.  As long as we do the will of God as members of the Lord’s family, nothing can take away that inner sharing in the life of Christ.  In fact, Paul argues that these afflictions actually prepare us to share in Christ’s glory.

            Finally, we do not lose heart, because we trust that even when the earthly tent in which we live is destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.  In other words, we can stare death in the face and trust that death will not have the last word.  The last word lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his promise of eternal life.

            Over the past ten years, I’ve had the privilege of going on pilgrimages with other people – usually on bicycles.  Twice we’ve travelled the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and I walked the final 100 kilometers on the second pilgrimage with our youth group.  Twice I rode my bicycle on the Via Francigena, once from the Alps to Rome, and the second time from Canterbury to Rome.  These pilgrimages have taught me the importance of traveling together – enduring the hardships together, sharing the joys together, and sharing prayer and meals together.  Being on the journey has taught me some valuable lessons about our common pilgrimage through life.  We need to make the most of our pilgrimage together.  But, we also need to remember that we have a final destination, not Santiago or Rome, but the new and Eternal Jerusalem.  Jesus warns us that the only obstacle to reaching that destination is when we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.  Saint Paul would argue that this blasphemy involves losing heart and giving up on God.  With Paul’s advice in our minds, we continue this pilgrimage together.

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

3 JUNE 2018

          Blood was a very powerful sign for the people of ancient Israel.  They regarded blood as sacred.  When God entered the Covenant at Mount Sinai with the people he had freed from slavery, Moses used the blood of bulls to seal the Covenant.  He took half of the blood and poured it over the Altar, signifying that his people were now blood relatives with God.  Then he took the other half of the blood and sprinkled it on the people, signifying that they were blood relatives with one another as God’s chosen people.  This sprinkling of blood is very strange to our modern sensibilities.  As I watched people recoil from the sprinkling of holy water at the beginning of all the Masses during the Easter Season, the prospect of Deacon Lou gleefully showering everyone with the blood of bulls would be preposterous.

            We need to consider the important symbolism of blood to understand what Jesus is doing at the Last Supper.  Jesus is clearly in charge as he gathers the disciples to eat the final Passover Meal with him.  He sends two of them to find the place where they will celebrate the meal, giving as a sign the man carrying a water jar.  They could not miss a sign like this, because carrying water jars is something women do.  Once they gather at table, they immediately recognize the ancient rituals of the Passover Meal.  Although Saint Mark does not mention the exact foods, Jesus would have shared the symbolic foods and reminded them of God’s saving action in freeing his people from slavery in Egypt.  But then, Jesus makes a radical departure from the traditional Passover meal.  He takes bread, says the blessing, breaks it, and gives it to them.  Then he takes an extra cup, gives thanks, gives it to them, and they all drink from it. 

He shifts their attention from the Covenant sealed with the blood of bulls at Mount Sinai to the new Covenant that will be sealed with his blood on Mount Calvary.  He takes the old symbols and applies new meaning to them.  He will become the Passover Lamb.  His blood will be poured out to free the people of the New Covenant from sin and death.  As the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, the tabernacle made of stones on Mount Zion in Jerusalem has been replaced with the tabernacle of the Body of Christ.  The one sacrifice of Jesus Christ is made present every time we celebrate the Eucharist in his memory.

That is exactly what we do at this Mass and every Mass.  At this Mass, we will take gifts of bread and wine at the Preparation of the Altar and Gifts.  The celebrant will lead the assembly in blessing (praising) the Father in the Eucharistic Prayer for the sacrifice of Jesus made present as we remember.  As we chant the “Lamb of God,” we break the consecrated Host and give the Body and Blood of Christ to all who walk in procession to the Altar.

Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine taught about the Eucharist when he offered these time-honored insights:  “So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul speaking … ‘You are the body of Christ, member for member’ (1 Cor. 12:27) … You are saying ‘Amen’ to what you are: your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. … Be a member of Christ’s body, then, so that your ‘Amen’ may ring true!”

With Saint Augustine’s words in our heads, we approach the Holy Eucharist admitting that we are not worthy for the Lord to enter under our roof.  In saying “Amen”, we affirm our conviction that we are receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord under the form of bread and wine.  We also affirm our conviction that every Eucharist received in an open-hearted, mindful, humble, and prayerful way forms us just a little more into our true identity:  members of the Body of Christ, washed clean by his blood.

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.