SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

25 FEBRUARY 2018

          This story of Abraham about to sacrifice his son is horrifying.  The ancient author rushes through this story with sparse details.  Our modern minds cannot conceive of a situation in which a mentally stable father would think about sacrificing his only son.  (Can you imagine Abraham saying to Isaac later that year, “Isaac, let’s go on a father-son camping trip?”  No thanks, Dad, I’ll pass!)  Even worse, we wonder what kind of God would demand such a sacrifice!

            Our modern instincts miss the real point.  This passage is really about an all knowing and all loving God, and about a man who places his entire trust in God.  It is about a man who trusted that God would keep his promise to give him his own land.  It is about a man who trusted that God would make his descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sands on the shore of the sea, even when he asks for the sacrifice of the son who is the link to that promise.

            Saint Paul takes this dynamic and turns it on its head.  He describes a Father who loves us so much that he has sacrificed his Son for our sakes.  The Father proves his love by allowing his beloved Son to suffer a horrible and humiliating death for us.  Saint Paul writes these words to encourage the Roman Church to put their trust in Jesus Christ, even when they are being persecuted and killed for their faith in his death and resurrection.

            Saint Mark has a similar intent in telling the story of the Transfiguration to disciples struggling with the cross.  After Jesus tells his disciples that they must share in his suffering, cross, and death, he takes them up a high mountain.  On that mountain, he is changed in appearance.  Surrounded by the two great heroes of the Old Testament, his clothes became so white that they are nearly blinded.  Peter wants to build three tents.  And then they hear a voice from the cloud affirming, “This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him.”

            The three disciples are given a mystical experience.  And that is what the Transfiguration is – an experience of spiritual things within the ordinary, using classic symbols to describe an experience that is impossible to describe in human language.  Mystical experiences place us on a mountain, where we have a clearer vision of how everything fits together.  Mystical experiences provide clarity of light – the ability to see beyond the ordinary.  Mystical experiences create a need for worship.  That is why Peter wants to build three tents.  His suggestion connects with the Jewish feast of Tabernacles – when they camped out in tents or tabernacles, like the Israelites had had camped out in tents in the desert and housed the tablets of the law in a Tabernacle.  The voice confirms that this is a very personal connection with God.

            Many of us have had mystical experiences at one time or another.  Today’s Gospel invites us to reflect on one of those times when we could not put what happened to us into words.  At the Mass when I was ordained a deacon, I had one of these experiences.  After the Archbishop of Cincinnati laid hands on me and a priest friend vested me, I was on a mountain.  Everything made sense.  I could see clearly.  After months of struggle, I had made the right decision.  Even though that feeling stayed with me for days, I could not put it into words.  God was with me!

            Be sure to reflect on a transfiguring moment in your life.  It may have allowed you to perceive the spiritual within ordinary appearances.  It may have called you to worship, to thank God.  You may have instinctively known that God loves you personally.  These mystical experiences convince us that the spiritual reality is greater and more beautiful than ordinary experiences.  We need to hold these mystical experiences in our hearts, because we too must carry the cross and die to ourselves.  As we continue our journey through Lent, these mystical experiences convince us that death is not the end.  The end is in resurrection!

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

18 FEBRUARY 2018

          In the passage preceding today’s Gospel, Jesus emerges from the waters of the Jordan, and a voice is heard from the heavens:  “you are my beloved Son.  On you my favor rests.”  Then, the Spirit drives Jesus out into the desert.  The desert is that barren wilderness home to wild beasts.  The desert is that place where the ancestors of Jesus had followed Moses for forty years to pass from slavery to freedom.  For them, the desert was a place of encounter with God, who formed the Covenant with them.  But the desert was also a place of testing, and they had flunked the test many times, not trusting in God and his promises.  It was through the desert that the Prophet Elijah traveled for forty days to renew the Covenant that had been abandoned. 

            Saint Mark tells us very little about the forty days Jesus spent in the desert.  He only says that Satan tempted him.  We can use our imaginations about the specific ways in which Satan tempted him.  We can be sure that he tested him to see if he really acts as God’s beloved Son, the Messiah who will conquer the power of Satan not by force or power, but by entering into death.  Because he is completely alone in the desert, no one is watching.  With no one watching, he could have taken care of his comfort with his divine powers.  But, he chose to remain faithful to his identity and to his mission by trusting the will of his Father.

            The Spirit has also driven us into the desert of Lent.  In this desert, we too are tested.  Are we faithful followers of Jesus Christ or not?  How do we behave when no one else is watching?  Do we display signs of God’s love that make the Kingdom of God a little more evident in our world?  Pope Francis lists a number of attitudes that keep us from manifesting the Kingdom more clearly:  selfishness and spiritual sloth, sterile pessimism, the temptation to self-absorption, constant warring among ourselves, and the worldly mentality that makes us concerned only for appearances, and thus lessens our missionary zeal.

            When we embrace acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in this desert, we are making a commitment to free ourselves from these kinds of attitudes.  If we are serious, then we can expect a battle with Satan.  The devil, who is the father of lies and prince of darkness, wants us to be selfish and lazy.  He wants us to be pessimistic and absorbed with ourselves.  He loves it when we fight with each other and worry only about our appearance. That is why the focus of Lent is so clearly on baptism, on being incorporated into the Body of Christ.  We anoint those preparing for Baptism with the Oil of the Catechumens every week.  We will use the readings from Cycle A for the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent, as we pray the Scrutinies over our Elect.  Those Rites for the Elect reveal the ways in which we have not been living our Baptismal promises and have turned away from an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ.

            In his letter, Saint Peter reminds us of the centrality of Baptism in this Season of Lent.  He reminds us that Baptism is not a removal of dirt, but a complete washing away of sin, just as the flood washed away the disintegrating effects of sin from the earth.  Those who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil will renounce Satan and all his empty promises.  They will emerge from the Baptismal Font completely one with Jesus Christ, with their sins washed away.  Then the rest of us, who have been baptized, will renew our Baptismal Promises.

            Just as no one knew what Jesus was doing in the desert, no one really knows what each of us is doing with our own Lenten exercises.  We can freely choose to use the Lenten disciplines to practice dying to our own concerns and comforts, trusting that we will share in the transforming life of Jesus Christ.  The Kingdom of God is definitely in our midst.  Lent opens our eyes to see how we have obscured that Kingdom.  Lent prepares us to renew our trust at Easter.

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 FEBRUARY 2018

          The laws concerning skin diseases in the Book of Leviticus were designed to protect the community.  Because leprosy and other skin diseases were contagious, lepers were forced to rend their garments, declare that they were unclean, and stay away from contact with the community.  While these laws may have protected the community, they had terrible effects on the poor people suffering these ailments.  The leper who approaches Jesus not only suffers terrible physical pain, but he is completely alone.  Even worse, he is considered spiritually unclean.

            He breaks the Law of Moses by throwing himself at the feet of Jesus, because he trusts in the power of Jesus to heal him.  Seeing his faith and having pity on him, Jesus also breaks the Law of Moses and touches the leper.  Restored to health and intimacy with his family, the man spreads the good news of his healing to anyone he meets. 

            On this last Sunday before Lent, the Scriptures invite us to reflect on the way we have made ourselves lepers.  We become lepers when we fail to live our Baptismal Promises, when we separate ourselves from God or other people through our sins.  By embracing the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus and ask for healing.  That is why Lent provides a perfect opportunity to renew our stewardship of prayer, the most important of the three dynamics of stewardship.  Please listen carefully to Stephanie Allen, as she shares the ways in which prayer has transformed her life.

Stewardship of Prayer – SPX 2018

Thank you Fr. Bill/Eric.

Good Morning/Evening. My name is Stephanie Allen and my husband Dan and I have been parishioners of St. Pius for over 6 years and we have 4 little boys, ages 6,4,3 and 10 months. 

When I was asked about speaking today about the Stewardship of Prayer, my first thought was, how am I supposed to talk about Prayer when it can be such a deeply personal and different experience for everyone?  But then, I prayed about it.  And I felt God telling me that it was going to be just what I needed.  Witnessing about one’s prayer life is a scary thing.  Do I pray correctly? Do I pray enough? I got interrupted again, did that count?  As I go through my daily life, I am constantly interrupted.  As a stay at home mom of young kids, I rarely have a quiet moment, or a moment to myself.  I have had to adapt and modify my prayer life.  Where I used to be able to say a decade or more of the Rosary easily, I now can find myself saying “Hail Mary…” and stopping there.  I modified by downloading an app on my phone that prays the mysteries of the Rosary and I can pray along while driving, doing dishes, or folding laundry.  The mundane becomes sacred because I choose to make it so.  I am choosing to create these sacred moments so that my boys see and can hear me talk to God.  My goal as a wife and mother is to get my husband and our children to heaven.  Prayer is my tool to do that.

One thing I have consciously done in our house is to display some of our favorite scriptures in art.  To be surrounded in scripture makes it extremely difficult to forget God’s words.  My favorite verse hangs in my kitchen.  1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “Pray Without Ceasing.”  To see this verse reminds me that even a quick, Come Holy Spirit, or Help me Lord, that I am praying.  I am speaking to God and I know whenever and however I talk to Him, He hears me. 

            The largest change I have noticed in my prayer life in the past several years, is on days that I do NOT pray, my day is more unraveled, less structured, angry thoughts and words have an easier time creeping into my head, and I have less focus and less patience.  When I get up and focus my morning with prayer, a short Morning Offering, a scripture reading, or sometime just  ‘Good Morning God, This is your Day’, my attitude, demeanor are more positive, my spirit is uplifted and I know that is God working within me.  God wants me to have a great day, and I need only ask Him to help me.

            Two of the most impactful moment of prayer for me came from when others were praying for me and I knew of their prayers.  The night before our wedding, Dan and I received a Spiritual Bouquet from friends and family, near and far, telling us how they would be praying for us on our wedding day.  Dan and I sat in the chapel reading these prayers and intentions and we could feel the Spirit of God come around us, blessing us and our marriage through the prayers being said for us.  The second came after the birth of our third son. Nicholas was born with some significant health issues and as soon as we were able, we started telling people and trying to explain what was going to happen.  We were both so overwhelmed with 2 other little boys and now a third that was going to need a lot more than a typical newborn.  Immediately people said, We’re praying for you.  They prayed and brought food, prayed and hugged us, prayed and watched our other boys, they prayed through masses and candles, and they prayed over a quilt as they made it so that I could hold it and pray along with them as Nicholas was in surgery.  Knowing so many people were praying for our family each time brought me such peace and comfort.  Prayer is an intimate moment and praying for others shows people how much you truly care and love them when you are willing to ask God to watch over and bless them.

            My prayer life is continually changing and adapting to my current stage of life.  Prayer can sometimes be hard.  It can be hard to find and make time for it, and it can feel awkward and uncomfortable when we’ve been away from it for a while. But Prayer is our direct connection to God.  He is always there waiting for us and will help us in our prayer life we just ask Him.

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

4 FEBRUARY 2018

          Last Sunday, we heard that the people in the synagogue at Capernaum were amazed, because they heard Jesus teaching with authority.  Unlike other Rabbis, Jesus did not base his teaching on the authority of others.  The demon expelled by Jesus knew exactly why Jesus taught in this way.  He knew that Jesus was the Son of God who had come to destroy what demons love best:  sin and death.  Today, Jesus expresses that authority again by grasping the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law. During this flu season, many of us know how a fever can turn us into ourselves.  So Jesus helps her up.  Saint Mark uses the same Greek verb to describe the Father raising Jesus from the dead.  Peter’s mother-in-law has already experienced a foretaste of the mystery of the Lord’s dying and rising in her healing.  His healing power frees her from concern for her welfare to the welfare of others.  Saint Mark will use that same word two more times to speak of the humble service embraced by followers of Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve.   

            When the risen Christ reached out to Saul on the road to Damascus, he helped him up from his narrow focus on the Law and himself.  Completely changed by that experience, the Apostle Paul did the same thing that Peter’s mother-in-law did.  He died to himself and gave himself in humble service to proclaim the Good News to anyone who would listen.  In a culture where a majority of its citizens found themselves as slaves, Saint Paul proudly announces that he has made himself a slave to all.  He did not become a slave by having his home town invaded.  Nor did he become a slave because his parents could not pay their bills.  He freely enslaved himself to the mission of telling the Gospel to as many people as possible.  His Jewish brothers and sisters had heard stories of people speaking for God and bringing glad tidings.  His glad tidings centered on Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of glad tidings.  The Gentiles had often heard the glad tidings of a military victory won by the armies of the emperor.  Paul gives them the glad tidings that Jesus Christ has won the ultimate victory over sin and death.

            In just a couple of weeks, we will enter into Lent and spend forty days preparing to renew our faith in the Mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in a special way at the Sacred Paschal Triduum.  We celebrate that Mystery at this Mass and we are sent out to live the Mystery we have encountered in our daily lives.

            Saint Mark is one of the four Evangelists who proclaimed the glad tidings some forty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But evangelizing did not stop with the writing of the Gospels.  We too are called to evangelize, to tell everyone about the glad tidings which we have received and experienced.  We do that by our example – by the way we welcome strangers, or forgive those who have hurt us, or respond to the needs of the poor, dying to ourselves out of love for those who depend on us.  We also need to talk about our faith.  That is exactly what is happening this weekend with the men who are participating in the Christ Renews His Parish Retreat.  They are learning to talk about their faith in the ways that Saint Paul talks about.  In becoming all things to all, he entered into the lives of those who listened to him.  He did not beat them over the head with the truth, but spoke boldly and kindly to anyone who would listen.  All of us need to learn how to speak boldly and kindly about our faith. 

We live in a world that knows the pain and suffering described in the first reading from the Book of Job.  Jesus Christ did not take away that pain or explain that suffering.  He entered into it and gave us hope.  That is certainly glad tidings, and we cannot keep those tidings to ourselves!

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.