THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

28 JUNE 2020

 

            In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul teaches about Baptism.  We hear this same reading at the Easter Vigil.  We hear it after listening to seven readings from the Old Testament as we sit in a darkened church looking at the newly lit Easter Candle.  Those readings speak of the history of God’s people, beginning with the creation of the world.  We hear about the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.  We hear about Moses leading his people through the Red Sea from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the desert.  We hear the prophets calling God’s people to greater faithfulness to the Covenant and promising redemption.     

Saint Paul speaks to us after the lights come on and all the candles are lit.  God has fulfilled the promises in the Paschal Mystery.  Just as Jesus Christ had been buried in a tomb, the Elect will be immersed in the waters of baptism (in normal times when we are allowed to fill our baptismal font with water).  Just as Jesus Christ emerged from the tomb never to die again, the newly baptized will emerge from the water to live in newness of life.  Saint Paul calls all of the baptized to keep our baptismal promises.  We need to trust that every time we choose to die to ourselves and our own selfishness, we share in Christ’s dying and share in his resurrection. 

The earliest disciples believed this message.  By the time Saint Matthew recorded these words from Jesus Christ, his Jewish Christian readers had to make difficult choices about belonging to families.  In the ancient world, it was critical to belong to a human family.  When some members chose to become members of the family of the baptized, they were thrown out of their human families.  In their human families, they had been protected by Roman law, which recognized Judaism as a legal entity.  Expelled from those families, they were no longer protected.  Jesus makes it clear that they must make a choice.  They must choose membership in his family formed by baptism over their own human families, even if that choice involves the cross of persecution, exclusion, and even death.  In keeping their baptismal promises and losing their lives, he promises that they will find life in the resurrection.

Knowing the context of this message helps us to understand his seemingly harsh words about loving our parents or immediate family.  He is not saying that we must break the fourth commandment to love and obey parents.  For most of us, choosing to be a disciple will not cause us to be kicked out of our human families.  Sometimes, those preparing for baptism or reception into full communion with the Catholic Church face resentment and even opposition from their human families.  At other times, disciples might face possible recriminations when making a decision to live their baptismal promises in certain circumstances.  

Keeping our baptismal promises will not have those dire consequences.  However, we must heed the command of Jesus to love him first.  If spouses and parents put the love of Jesus Christ first, they will be better parents and spouses.  In keeping their baptismal promises to die to themselves, they will share the resurrected life of Jesus Christ more fully with children and spouses.  Parents can die to their desire to please their teenagers by allowing them to do what they want and live to trust that discipline will be more beneficial in the long run.

Just as the woman of influence in today’s first reading received much more because of her hospitality to the prophet Elisha, those we love will receive more precisely because the hospitality of the family of Jesus Christ will strengthen their bonds.  That is why Baptism is the first and most important Sacrament.  Keeping baptismal promises brings death to self.  But it also brings life with Jesus Christ and greater life for our families.        

TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

21 JUNE 2020

 

          Our readings from the Gospel of Saint Matthew resume again this Sunday.  To understand today’s passage; we need to recall the passage immediately preceding it.  Jesus has sent out his disciples to proclaim that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.  He told them not to take much stuff with them.  They would show signs of that kingdom by curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and driving out demons.  But in sending them out, he also warned them that they would face opposition.  He did not sugar coat his message or make false promises about their success.  He warned that they would be rejected, much as Jeremiah had been rejected for speaking the truth, and much as he himself would be rejected and killed.          

Today, he tells them not to be afraid.  He knows that the values of the Kingdom of heaven will collide directly with greed, the desire for power and wealth, and the need for revenge.  By the time Saint Matthew had written this Gospel, many disciples had been thrown out of synagogues, separated from their families, and some of them killed.  Yet, Jesus tells them not to be afraid.  His Father loves them so intimately that he counts the number of hairs on their heads.  While tyrants have power to kill the body, they have no power to kill the soul.

            Saint Paul explains this dynamic in his letter to the Romans.  He contrasts the sin of Adam with the redemption won by Jesus Christ.  Saint Paul defines death as separation.  Adam caused separation from God and brought death into the world by disobeying and refusing to trust in God’s love.  Jesus is the new Adam who has destroyed death by entering physical death and restoring us to intimate union with the Father.  There is no death for those who keep their baptismal promises and remain united with Jesus Christ.

            Jesus gives this same message to us, his disciples.  He sends us out to proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  He knows that we will not always be met with success.  If we boldly proclaim the message that the human person deserves respect, whether in the womb or in the person of someone of color, we will know resistance and rejection.  That is what happened to the prophet Jeremiah.  He has the courage to tell the truth to his people that they had not been faithful to the Covenant.  As they cling to their conviction that the temple in Jerusalem will save them, he insists that they face destruction by the Babylonians.  For telling the truth, he is labeled an enemy of the kingdom and is treated horribly.  After crying out his lament at his unjust treatment, he insists that the Lord is with him as a mighty champion.

            In these difficult days, as we emerge gradually from our confinement, we need to trust that the Lord is with us as a mighty champion.  In the midst of divisions and arguments about how we should proceed, he strengthens us to proclaim the light of the Gospel.  We have learned through this ordeal that our families and relationships are the most important qualities of our lives.  They reveal to us the Kingdom of heaven.  One of our parishioners wrote a beautiful commentary about how the shelter in place made him more aware of his role as husband and father to two children.  His message is in my bulletin column.  Fathers, be sure to read it today.  In keeping these priorities, we need not be afraid.  Dorothy Day trusted that God would remain a mighty champion in the 1930’s, when she faced withering criticism for opening the first Catholic Worker house and publishing her periodical, The Catholic Worker.  Karol Wojtyla was educated in a secret seminary when the Nazis controlled Poland.  He served his priesthood and episcopate under Communist domination.  He fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel in those conditions.  When he was elected Pope as John Paul II, his first words were “Do not be afraid.”  Because the Lord loves each of us, we can proclaim the Kingdom of heaven without fear.         

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

14 JUNE 2020

 

          After Moses had led his people into the Sinai Desert, they found themselves in a hostile and deserted place.  There was no food and no water.  Moses showed them manna, which was the resin of a tamarisk tree or the secretion of an insect found on it.  They had never known this food and named it manna, which in Hebrew means “what is this?”  Moses also struck thin rock formations in the desert to reveal water concealed from human sight.  Moses told the people that manna and water were gifts from God.  Manna and water became their food and drink as God tested them and taught them through adversity how to behave not as slaves, but as free people.

            Centuries later, Jesus of Nazareth led a large crowd of people to another hostile and deserted place.  He fed them with five loaves and two fish, not to satisfy their physical hunger, but to reveal to them the truth about his identity.  He is the living bread come down from heaven, the Incarnate Word of God dwelling in their midst.  He gives them his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, promising eternal life to those who respond.  Just as manna was something completely new, so this gift of his flesh and blood was completely new and unexpected. 

            The Lord is leading us these days into new and uncharted territory.  He is leading us out of our isolation from this pandemic.  We are taking baby steps.  For those who gather for Mass, we must wear masks, refrain from any kind of singing, and keep social distancing.  We are trying to figure out how to open up our parish ministries and school in a gradual way to keep everyone safe.  We are emerging from this pandemic with a clearer awareness of sins that divide us in our culture, especially the sin of racism.  We are trying to learn how to handle this sin against the dignity of the human person. 

            In these new and uncertain times, we become more grateful for the gift of the Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.  Especially after having been deprived of the Eucharist for over two months, we can better appreciate the importance of this gift.  We are in intimate communion with the Lord when we receive his real presence.   Saint Paul also says that participating in the Eucharist also strengthens our communion with each other.  That is why we process together as we approach the Sacrament.  In more normal times, we raise our voices in song as we join the Communion procession.  As Saint Augustine remarked, we say “Amen” to the Body of Christ, because we are saying “Amen” to who we are – Christ’s Body on this earth.

            Walter Ciszek was a Jesuit priest who served as a missionary to the Soviet Union in the middle of the last century.  He was imprisoned in a Siberian gulag, where he was not allowed to celebrate the Sacraments.  In his memoir, He Leadeth Me, Father Ciszek recalls that the faithful would wait until the noon break to gather.  “In small groups the prisoners would shuffle into the assigned place, and where the priest would say Mass in his working clothes, unwashed, disheveled, bundled up against the cold.  We said Mass in drafty storage shacks, or huddled in mud and slush in the corner of a building site foundation of an underground.  The intensity of devotion of both priests and prisoners made up for everything; there were no altars, candles, bells, flowers, music, snow-white linens, stained glass or the warmth that even the simplest parish church could offer.  Yet in these primitive conditions, the Mass brought you closer to God than anyone might conceivably imagine.  The realization of what was happening on the board, box, or stone used in the place of an altar penetrated deep into the soul.”

            We celebrate this same Mystery at this altar.  As the Lord feeds us with his flesh and blood, we trust that he forms us more completely into one Body, testing us, and teaching us how to behave as truly free people learning to trust in God’s love.

THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

7 JUNE 2020

 

            Saint Paul loved the Christian community of Corinth.  He preached the Gospel there and invited its diverse community to see their unity in Christ.  Jews and Greeks, rich people and poor people, slaves and free people responded to his invitation.  Within these divisions were factions divided by social class, intellectual class, and economic class.  Yet all were baptized into the one Lord Jesus Christ.  He expressed his love for them in writing two letters, affirming the ways in which they displayed that unity in Christ.  But he also loved them enough to call them on the ways they had failed to live their baptismal promises.  He criticized them for abuses in the Lord’s Supper.  He told them to stop arguing about which gifts of the Holy Spirit were more important.  He chided them for being selfish in contributing to his collection for the poor in Jerusalem.  He warned them against accepting false prophets.  He corrected their false teachings about the resurrection and their arguments about who was the most Christ-like.

            In today’s second reading, he brings his letters to the Corinthians to a close.  His ending makes it clear that he loves them very much.  Ironically, he tells his fractured community to rejoice.  They can rejoice when they mend their ways and stop arguing.  They can rejoice when they make efforts to reach across their divides to encourage one another.  They need to agree with one another.  Paul is not saying that they cannot have different points of view.  Rather, they need to agree with one another on the essentials of the love of God.  He urges them to live in peace, respecting one another’s differences.  And he tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss – not the betraying kiss of Judas, but the loving kiss of those who live as one family.

            Saint Paul gives this advice, not because the Christian community of Corinth has gotten it all together, but because of his words in the final sentence – the greeting which the priest gives at the beginning of Mass.  Saint Paul knows the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, a grace that transformed him being a murderous opponent of the Body of Christ into being its most effective evangelist.  Saint Paul dedicated his life to the love of God, manifested in today’s Gospel statement that God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son.  Even in the midst of his own struggles and persecutions, Saint Paul was sustained by the fellowship of believers, knit together by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

            Saint Paul speaks this same message to us today.  We live a culture that is deeply divided and turned against each other.  We are trying to emerge from a pandemic with those divisions in full display.  We see with painful new eyes the sin of racism in our country.  The many who march in peaceful protest are harmed by those who are intent on looting and violence. We are fearful for the future.  As Saint Paul gives his message to us, who are members of the Body of Christ, we know the divisions and tensions within our Christian community.  We are divided into conservative and progressive camps.  We are trying to be healed of the damage done by the clergy sexual abuse crisis.  We do not always agree with one another.

            We are beginning to emerge from our isolation, and we have the opportunity to appreciate anew the fellowship which is at the heart of our parish.  At the very highest level of being, the triune Godhead breaks through to heal and strengthen us.  Within the Trinity of absolute unity, there is also absolute diversity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We are not only invited to participate in that Mystery, but the Trinity gives us courage to confront injustice, work for peace, and learn to respect one another in our differences without fear.  May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.  

PENTECOST SUNDAY

31 MAY 2020

          On Easter Sunday, we heard this Gospel.  The risen Christ breaks through the locked doors of the upper room, where his disciples are huddled in fear.  They are afraid of the Jewish authorities who killed their leader.  Would those authorities now come for them?  But, they might also be afraid of a particular Jew, who had been their leader.  If he is truly raised from the dead, as Mary Magdalene alleges, he would surely be upset with them for abandoning him in his darkest hour.  But he breaks through those locked doors, shows them the wounds on his glorified body, and gives them the gift of peace.  He forgives them for their cowardly behavior.  His gift of peace is a gift that the world cannot give.

            On this, the last day of the Easter Season, we hear the same Gospel.  On Pentecost, we focus on the risen Lord giving them another gift.  In breathing on them, he gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Centuries before, the prophet Elijah had encountered God in a tiny whispering sound on Mount Sinai.  With God’s strength, he mustered the courage to continue his prophetic mission in the face of opposition and death threats.  Now the risen Christ breathes on his disciples and empowers them to grant that same mercy and forgiveness to everyone else.

            In the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke gives a different account of the gift of the Holy Spirit.  He recalls an earlier encounter between God and the Israelites at Mount Sinai in their journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  Under the leadership of Moses, the people experienced God in dramatic signs:  an earthquake, thunder, lightning, and a mighty wind.  Similar dramatic signs accompany the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles gathered in the upper room.  Driven quite literally out of their comfort zone, they proclaim the Good News of Salvation to their Jewish brothers and sisters on the fiftieth day after the Feast of Passover.  Even though the large crowd includes people from many different cultures who speak many different languages, they understand the message clearly.

            Today is the birthday of the Church.  As members of Christ’s body, we open ourselves to new ways in which the Holy Spirit is given to us.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit nudges us to move out of our comfort zones and be more intentional about being effective evangelists.  So many times, the Holy Spirit gently gives us the courage to undertake tasks that we think are beyond our abilities.  At other times, the Holy Spirit is much more forceful in pushing us to be reconciled with alienated family members.  The Holy Spirit can fire us with the zeal to tear down the walls of hatred or racism that we have built around ourselves. 

            Whether we experience the Holy Spirit as a gentle breath or powerful gusts of wind with tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit is given to us as members of the Body of Christ.  Just as there were many different gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church at Corinth, so there are many different and varied gifts in our parish community.  In that community, the variety of gifts caused many divisions and arguments.  Some argued that their gifts were better than others, making them superior members of the Christian community.  Instead of allowing the gifts of the Holy Spirit bring them closer together, they used the gifts to further emphasize their differences.

            Just as Saint Paul reminded the Corinthians that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given for the common good, so he says the same for us.  We are gingerly emerging from our isolation to realize how important this community is for all of us.  We need to discern through our prayer the individual gifts which the Holy Spirit has given to each of us.  We need to trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the courage to place those gifts at the service of this parish community to help us recover from the time spent apart.

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

24 MAY 2020

          Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee.  In Galilee he taught his earliest followers how to become disciples.  Over time, he taught them how to listen to him.  By listening, they began to learn how to live.  He taught them how to pray.  Most importantly he taught them how to do what is pleasing to the Father.  Not only did he teach disciples how to live in a totally different way, but he formed them most powerfully through his own example.  After he had given himself completely to them in his sacrificial death, he instructed the women who had encountered him in the resurrection to tell his brothers to return to Galilee, where they will see him again.

            That is exactly what they have done.  Today, they gather on a mountain in Galilee.  Mountains had always been incredibly important in the process of Jesus teaching his followers how to be disciples.  He had often gone to a mountain to pray to the Father.  He was tempted on a high mountain in the desert before his public ministry.  He gave his most famous sermon on a mountain.  He had been transfigured on a mountain, and his final agony was at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.  On this mountain, the risen Christ encounters the eleven, as he had promised.  Like the Magi at the beginning of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, they worship him.  But interestingly, Saint Matthew reports that they continued to doubt.  Like the Magi, they do not completely understand the mystery before them and with many questions.

            But those doubts and questions do not stop the risen Christ.  Even though he had instructed them throughout his public ministry to go first to their fellow Jews, he now sends them to make disciples of all nations.  After baptizing those drawn to Christ, these witnesses of the resurrection would do for the new converts what Jesus had done to them.  They would teach them how to listen to the risen Lord in his Word.  They would teach them how to live and how to pray.  They would teach them how to do what is pleasing to the Father.  At the beginning of his Gospel, Matthew had declared that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, which means that God is with us.  As he gives this great commission at the end of the Gospel, he assures them that he continues to be Emmanuel.  He continues to be with us always, until the end of the age.

            The great Mystery of the Ascension is that the risen Lord is more with us now than he was ever with his disciples during his earthly ministry.  He is present to us in the Sacramental life of the Church.  He promises to be with us, whenever two or more of us gather in his name.  During this last forty days of the Easter Season, he has led us in reflecting on the Mystery of his resurrection.  We have come to believe that the words of the witnesses are true. 

            As we wait to celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost next Sunday, we pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Through Baptism, we have become his disciples.  We have listened to him speaking to us in his Word.  He has taught us how to live, and we have learned to pray in new ways, especially in the confinement of these pandemic months.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to help us learn how to do what is pleasing to the Father, we too can be effective evangelists in our day and in our world, even in the midst of our doubts and hesitations.  The Lord entrusts this mission to us, just as he entrusted this mission to the earliest witnesses of the resurrection.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

17 MAY 2020

          The First Letter of Saint Peter provides a catechesis on Baptism.  It includes teaching, homilies, and hymns used in the ancient celebration of this Sacrament.  Not directed to a specific congregation, this letter is intended for the Church in general.  By the time this letter was written in the name of Saint Peter, disciples of Jesus Christ found themselves living in many different cultures.  These cultures provided no support for the faith of believers.  In many cases, disciples were persecuted, causing them much suffering.

            Today’s selection tells disciples how to respond to this suffering.  Instead of responding with anger and vengeance, disciples should respond with kindness and compassion.  If others are baffled by their response, disciples can give the reason for their hope in enduring suffering.  Their hope is rooted in the love of Jesus Christ, who suffered greatly himself, even unto death.  In their suffering, they share in the suffering of Jesus Christ.  In suffering, they also hope confidently to share in his resurrection.

            Sadly, disciples continue to be persecuted in various parts of the world today.  Persecuted disciples can take courage from the words of the Letter of Saint Peter and know that many disciples who have gone before them are interceding for them.  In our country, we are fortunate that we have the freedom to practice our faith.  Even so, we share in the suffering of Jesus Christ when others question us or cannot understand the choices we make in being faithful to our baptismal promises.  We can be criticized for our insistence on the sanctity of human life from conception through natural death.  We can be mocked for trusting when God seems absent. The Letter of Saint Peter advises us to respond to criticism and skepticism by giving reasons for our hope.  We can do so, not with defensiveness and anger, but with gentleness and reverence.

            In one way or another, all of us have been sharing in the suffering of Jesus Christ during these last few months.   All of us have been isolated.  Some have been infected by this virus.  Others have lost their jobs and worry about supporting their families.  As we begin to emerge from our isolation, we are faced with divisions and challenges about the best way to begin our return to a communal life.  It is fine to express our anger and frustration in healthy ways.  But the Letter of Saint Peter challenges us to remember our baptismal promises and avoid responding with bitterness and vengeance.  We can reaffirm our faith in the power of the Resurrection, which we have been celebrating these last five weeks.  We can also recognize the ways we have experienced the Resurrection already, in the time spent with our families, with more time to pray, and growing in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.

            We can react positively, because the Holy Spirit is working in our midst.  The Holy Spirit was with the Greek speaking disciples when they fled Jerusalem after Stephen was martyred.  They recognized in their pain and suffering a new opportunity to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Philip cooperated with the Holy Spirit and brought the Gospel to the people of Samaria, long enemies of the Jewish people.  Peter and John confirmed their unity with the mother Church of Jerusalem by giving the Holy Spirit.  The Church grew, even in the midst of great suffering.

            As we continue to hear the farewell address of Jesus at the Last Supper, we are reminded that he has given that same Holy Spirit to us.  The Holy Spirit advises us, comforts us, and mediates for us.  The Holy Spirit strengthens us to keep the commandments of Jesus to love as he loves us.  The Holy Spirit can guide us through these times and make us more faithful and fruitful disciples.