FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

20 JANUARY 2018

          Moses was the greatest figure in the Old Testament.  As a prophet, he spoke God’s Word directly to his people.  Long before Israel had priests or kings, he sacrificed himself for the good of his people and led them from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  But, as great as he was, he tells his people today that God would raise up a prophet like him from among his kin who will speak in God’s name.

            Throughout the history of Israel, Rabbis would remember that promise.  When they taught, they would cite Rabbis who had gone before them, much as lawyers today base their arguments on legal arguments that preceded them.  Ultimately, any Rabbi would trace his teaching back to Moses, the greatest teacher.  However, that is not what Jesus does when he teaches in the synagogue in Capernaum.  He does not cite previous authorities.  He speaks on his own authority.  His teaching astonishes those listening to him.  Ironically, it is the unclean spirit who knows exactly who Jesus is.  He is the one promised by Moses.  He does not cite any authority, because he speaks the truth in his own name as the Son of God. 

            It will take the rest of Mark’s Gospel for the disciples to understand who Jesus truly is and what he accomplishes through his death and resurrection.  It is the new reality that Paul explains to the Corinthians, a new turning toward Christ that will take priority over everything else in our lives, even the many blessings of married life. 

            During this liturgical year, we will hear the words and actions of Jesus Christ on most Sundays from the Gospel of Mark.  Through this Gospel, Jesus will invite us to deepen our understanding of him and make a new commitment to be his faithful disciples.  He will invite us to hear his voice and to let go of our hardened hearts.  He will invite us to trust that he has power over unclean spirits.  And we all have our demons:  whether they are addictions, habits that rob us of true freedom to embrace the person of Jesus Christ, or hearts so hardened that we cannot recognize Christ in the people around us.  In our contemporary culture, there are demons lurking in all kinds of instant communication:  email, Instagram, twitter, Facebook, and on and on.  Recently, Pope Francis proposed a prayer modeled after the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi:

            Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

            Help us to recognize the evil latent in a communication that does not build communion.

            Help us to remove the venom from our judgments.

            Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters.

            You are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of goodness for the world:

            Where there is shouting, let us practice listening;

            Where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony;

            Where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity;

            Where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity;

            Where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety;

            Where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions;

            Where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust;

            Where there is hostility, let us bring respect;

            Where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.  Amen.

            The Internet did not exist in that synagogue in Capernaum.  But, faced with its reality today, both good and bad, the Pope’s prayer might help us to recognize the truth about Jesus Christ and learn to respond better as faithful disciples. 

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

14 JANUARY 2018

            When we encounter Samuel in today’s first reading, he is a young child sleeping in the Temple in Shiloh.  Months before, his mother, Hannah, had come to this same Temple in absolute anguish.  She and her husband had not been able to conceive a child.  When the priest Eli heard her crying out her pain to the Lord, he thought she was drunk.is mHis  When he understood what was happening, he sent her home with the confidence that she and her husband would conceive a child.  On her way home, she made a promise.  If the Lord would bless them with a child, she would dedicate him to the Lord.  Hannah kept her promise and brought him to live at the Temple, trusting that Eli would form him and help him understand God’s plan for him.

            In a sense, Hannah becomes a model for all parents.  In gratitude for the gift of a child, parents bring their child to the waters of Baptism.  They promise to do what Eli had done for Samuel – to raise their child in the ways of faith and to teach the child to listen carefully to the Lord calling them to follow him.  As parents learn, the process of teaching children in the ways of faith is not always easy.  It took Eli three times before he understood that the Lord was calling Samuel to become one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel.  In the Gospel, John the Baptist clearly points out the identity of Jesus as the Lamb of God.  However, it takes the rest of the Gospel for Andrew and Simon Peter to understand what that means.  Eventually, they will learn that Jesus is the gentle lamb led to slaughter.  They will see him as the suffering servant of Isaiah.  They will understand that this lamb will destroy evil and death.

            That is why it is so important to gather here every Sunday to listen to the Word of God.  The Lord speaks to us just as surely as he spoke to Samuel, or just as surely as Jesus spoke to his first disciples and invited them to stay with him.  We stay with him and abide with him as he feeds us with his Body and Blood at this Mass.  Through Baptism, he has called every one of us to live a life of holiness, a life that will eventually make us saints.  As we listen, we guide our children to listen carefully also.  In time, with our guidance, they will respond. 

            Boys and girls, you are never too young to listen to the Lord as he calls you in specific ways to live your baptism.  My guess is that most of you are being called to enter into the vocation of marriage.  Our parish team is working now to prepare a number of young couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony.  Some of you will dedicate yourselves to serving the Lord in the single life.  Some of you are being called to serve the Lord as priests or religious.  Our parish is blessed with two young men who are pursuing the vocation of priesthood and have returned to the seminary to continue to listen.  Two young women are being formed into the religious life with the Sisters of Saint Francis in the convent across from Marian High School. 

            The Lord will continue to speak to us through his Word every Sunday in our journey through Ordinary Time.  In listening, the parish offers several opportunities to hear him more directly.  One of those ways is the weekend retreat, Christ Renews His Parish.  The women’s retreat is scheduled for the first weekend in February, and the men’s will be the next weekend.  Over the years, many members of our parish have benefitted from this retreat, which brings them closer to Jesus Christ, connects them in a more intimate way with other members of the parish, and helps them to renew the parish in some remarkable ways.  Members of this retreat would love to talk to you after Mass.  Like the original disciples of Jesus who remember exactly the time (4:00) when they encountered the Lord, these ordinary men and women remember how the retreat touched them.  Come and see!  Talk to them.  You too can be changed in ways that might surprise you!  

EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

7 JANUARY 2018

          The Magi had set out on a journey to discover God.  In their search, they were using all the tools at their disposal – their knowledge of the stars, their study, their wealth, and their natural intelligence.  These tools had led them to Jerusalem, the capital city where a proper Jewish king should have been born.  But that was as far as they got.  To find this king, they have to ask questions of the Jewish religious leaders.  The chief priests and scribes quote the words of the prophet Micah and tell them that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, the city of King David’s birth.  These Gentile visitors need the truth of revealed religion to complete their journey to Bethlehem, where they encounter the newborn king of the Jews.  In searching for God, they find that God had been searching for them and reveals himself through his Word that had been entrusted to the people of a particular religion.

            Today, many people, especially young people, are honestly and sincerely searching for God, just as the Magi were searching.  They use the tools at their disposal – philosophy, science, spiritual writings, the beauty of nature, and the study of world religions.  But, like the Magi, they need the help of our living religious tradition to realize that God is searching for them.  Through Word and Sacrament, the Lord reveals himself as he is, and not as we create him to be.

            There is an interesting analogy to this search in the many dating services found on line these days. There is a Catholic dating site.  The searcher is told that the match will be a practicing Catholic and provides all kinds of information about that person.  But, in order to form a real relationship, the searcher has to meet the other person.  In the course of dating, the desired person gradually reveals herself or himself.  In the course of that self-revelation, the searcher discovers the truth about the other and can enter into a loving relationship (or not!).

            In the ancient world, astrologers regarded the stars as gods who determined the fate of human beings.  The Magi used God’s creation in their search and eventually encountered the truth that the God who had created the stars was incarnate in a tiny child in Bethlehem.  Saint Matthew uses their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to express the truth about the child.  He is a king.  He is the Son of God.  He is the Suffering Servant who will give his life for everyone.

            As we continue to celebrate the Mystery of God taking on human flesh, this Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that the Lord has revealed himself as a tiny child for everyone, and not just for us.  That is why we need to do everything we can to allow the light of Christ to shine through us.  We need to be patient and hospitable to those who are truly seeking.  We who hear God’s Word and celebrate the Lord’s presence in the sacramental life of the Church must be bold in sharing the joy of the Gospel.  The evangelist, Saint Matthew, tells the story of the Magi to help the Church at his time understand the same point which Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, makes to the Ephesians.  It was the Lord’s intention all along to draw everyone to himself, and to invite everyone to encounter the Lord, who has been searching for them all along.

            This task is not always easy, and it requires a profound faith in the Christmas Mystery.  When the prophet Isaiah proclaimed to his people many centuries before Christ’s birth that the glory of the Lord was shining upon them, they were struggling in the darkness to rebuild the ruined temple and city of Jerusalem.  As the Magi prostrated themselves in the presence of the Lord, Herod was plotting to kill him.  The Feast of Epiphany invites us to trust in the glory of the Lord, even in the midst of darkness of our world.  When Saint Matthew tells us that the Magi returned home by another way, he implies that they have been transformed by their encounter.  We too are transformed by our encounter with the Incarnate Lord, and we need to share it.