Homily - Beatitudes as Our Goal - Saints as guides

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God of surprises

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Just like we celebrated this past Christmas, God is indeed a God of surprises.  He writes His story of salvation in ways that we don’t expect.  Indeed God has a way of keeping us on our toes, and He shows up where we would least expect Him.  Sometimes God gets our attention in big ways, and perhaps many of us can think of times when we were saved from danger or had a brush with death.  One family story about this comes from a summer vacation when I was 10 years old. 

So yah, sometimes there are big ways that God sends us a message that no matter how bad things may seem, he is there with us in the midst of it (even if that still means a broken leg or 18 stitches).

But more often that not, God shows Himself in small, simple ways, that are still just as surprising or unexpected.

That is the point of the “land of Zebulon and Naphtali” in today’s readings.  These lands are the region around the Sea of  Galilee, and are thus the far northern part of the promised land, but had long before the time of Christ been completely wiped off the map.  About a century later other Jewish tribes settled there, but by the time of Christ it was considered backwater territory, and hence the reason for the scathing question of Nathaniel: “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  And this is once again how God surprises us, for indeed the greatest gift of all comes from the unexpected territory of the north: Jesus of Nazareth.

And he doesn’t come with radiant light and power, but he hides it underneath human flesh, for 30 years, and then finally starts with the humble phrase that puts no attention on Himself: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  Repent and believe the Gospel.”

The point of all this is simple for us: What is my Zebulon and Naphtali?  Where do I think God could never be found?  What part of my past do I think dead and lifeless, incapable of being redeemed?  Where in my life (and in my world) do I say “what good can come from that?”  Very often we may find ourselves surprised to find Jesus there, calling us to believe in the Gospel because His Kingdom is at hand.

Saint Paul today speaks how we are all united by one thing: baptism into the Cross of Christ Jesus.  Let us never forget how unexpected this God of ours is, especially in this most shocking and wondrous sign of our faith here at the center of our Church, and never drain the Cross of its power.  It is there at the Cross, in dying to ourselves, that we find our true Zebulon and Naphtali, and the Lord of History meets us to bring us His Kingdom.  Amen. 

Baptismal Call - Saints

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As we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord last Monday (not on Sunday this year), so now today we are presented with the Gospel of John’s version of the Baptism of Jesus, which only appears as something John the Baptist describes after the fact, explaining to the disciples his own testimony, “bearing witness to the Light” of the World, that Jesus is indeed the Lamb of God, but most important of all, as we heard in the last line: “He is the Son of God.”  You see, of all the titles of Jesus, this one is different, and indeed the greatest, because it gets most perfectly at the essence of who Jesus is.  He is the only-begotten Son of the eternal Father, and thus God Himself and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

It is in the Baptism of Jesus that his mission is first made known.  It was before now a secret kept by a select few to whom God had privately revealed it.  In their deep personal prayer, Mary, Joseph, (and perhaps his parents) Simeon, Anna, and John the Baptist (and probably his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth) had a sense of what Jesus was sent on earth to do, but now John whispers this well­-kept secret in a few symbolic phrases to his closest disciples, who now will become Jesus’ followers.  He is the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and thus be made known to Israel.

Baptism gives a mission to Jesus.  And thus it does to us.

I was fortunate to do my first baptism here last Sunday.  And this Sunday I am to be a Godfather for a local family’s child.  And even more, my sister Katie had her first child, a girl named Therese Rose after our patroness, the Little Flower, and after Mother Teresa.  What a gift.  God is so good, and new life is a blessing.  But baptism, my friends, is a calling, a calling Saint Paul makes very clear in the beginning of his 1^st letter to the Corinthians.  Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are called to be Holy (saints).

We are called Christians, little Christs, little anointed ones (“baptized with the holy spirit”)

1.      Priest – Adam (Moses/Aaron/Levi)

2.      Prophet – John the Baptist

3.      King -  David

The saints help us to flesh this out.  They bring the Bible to life in our world today.  They are like adding sound and color an old silent film, it makes everything burst out at you in a new way.

Read their lives, even in the book we might have chosen for Christmas (watch films about them – n.b. some are better than others!)

My saint = Rose of Lima.

We all have Mary, Joseph, and Therese, and our baptismal & confirmation names.

Let them show you how to live out your baptismal call, to be what you were made to be.  It’s not a secret anymore, you are a little Christ, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and meant to be a Saint who brings the Gospel to life in our world today.

Epiphany - The Gift of the Saints!!

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There is an ancient tradition that is kept in our Roman Missal of chanting today the dates for this year’s moveable feast days.   I will sing this now before the homily.

Today in Epiphany we recall three moments in Christ’s life, events that show forth his divine nature in a special way as He embarks upon His public ministry.  1 – The Wise Men come to adore the Christ Child, as you see below in the nativity scene. 2 – Christ’s Baptism where the heavens are open and the Father’s voice is heard as the Spirit descends.  And 3 – The First Miracle at the Wedding at Cana.
Although today ends this joyful season of the beginning of our salvation in the Savior’s birth (Monday begins Ordinary Time), the joy of this season lasts all year.  Like the wine at Cana, it brims over, because as far as Christmas goes, Jesus is the real gift that keeps on giving.
The mysterious wise men (the Bible doesn’t say how many) represent all of us, seeking out the true king of our hearts, and finding Him in unexpected surroundings.  God indeed is a God of good surprises, surprises of love.
Like the gold, frankincense, and myrrh, this infant child deserves a great gift from us, so let us offer what alone He truly deserves: our hearts, our lives, our dreams, our futures, our passion, our thoughts, prayers, works, joys, sufferings, even our littleness and weakness and imperfections.  Let us in short, brothers and sisters, offer our entire selves this year to Him.
And the Lord, as I said, keeps on giving to us, and this is exactly what the rest of the Church year is about.  We now transition to the Lord’s public ministry before we prepare with Lent for His great victory over death in the holiest days of our calendar.  Today God manifests Himself as the infant king, and throughout the year we see what that means in so many varied ways.
But the gift of today is more specific, for today I wish to share with you one of my deep joys, and one of Jesus’ greatest gifts: the Communion of the Saints.  Saint Faustina Kowalska recounts a tradition of her convent in Poland that I wish to make new here at our parish: “There is a custom among us of drawing by lot, on New Year’s Day, special Patrons for ourselves for the whole year.”  Well, it’s not New Year’s but it is the last chance to squeeze this in as a Christmas gift.  So here you go: at the end of Mass, there will be baskets at the three doors of the church with names of all our big brothers and sisters in heaven, part of our family in Christ Jesus, who want to choose you as their own close friend this year.  It gives you another person to ask for help, another special day to party, and another great way to grow in your faith as you learn about them.  Also it includes a special intention to pray for this year, in connection to the saint’s own mission.  May they guide you to know and love Jesus in a new way throughout this year.

Maria, Mater Dei

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As we continue the Christmas season with this second Sunday of Christmas, we focus particularly on the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.  If we like the shepherds seek out the Christ child, we always find Him with Mary His mother, and with Saint Joseph.  Mary held this child, and looked into His eyes again and again for thirty three years.  She was the first to experience the fulfillment of the words we heard in the first reading and the psalm: “The Lord let His face shine upon you.” Indeed, in Jesus, the Lord has “looked kindly upon” Mary and upon all of us, giving us His peace.  This is precisely what we experience during the Christmas season: God’s face shining upon us.  In fact, this mystery is ours throughout the whole year, for in the sacraments of the Church, especially regular Confession and the Eucharist in the Mass each week, we encounter the face of Christ looking kindly upon us.

Our Blessed Mother Mary is the perfect example of discipleship.  Even Saint Joseph, himself a righteous man, must have learned something from Mary’s faith, who shows us today how to become holy: by letting God’s face shine upon us, and by pondering these things in her heart.  God is working externally, looking upon her kindly.  She is working internally, pondering these things in her heart.  There is a resonance between the two actions, but the first step is that receptivity that is perfectly shown in Mary’s “Fiat,” her “let it be,” her great “yes!”

So too for us to become saints, we must start with that “Yes” that openness to God, letting Him into our daily lives and into the depths of our hearts.  We must let His face shine upon us, let Him look kindly upon us (even when our feelings deceive us that it isn’t so kindly).  But even that is not enough, we must like Mary “keep all these things, pondering them in our hearts.”  We must allow our hearts to echo what God is doing, to resonate with his love and peace.

Ultimately this is done in prayer.  We have to be people who are close to God in prayer throughout our lives.  And this means personal prayer lives as well as communal prayer lives.  We can’t do this alone, but we can’t rely solely on the faith of others either.  Just like we need two legs to stand on our own, we also won’t stand up spiritually without personal prayer and communal prayer.  The books offered as a Christmas gift were one example of fostering personal prayer.

But it’s also a great idea to try to join Mary in her prayer.  There are two ways you can join your personal prayer to Mary’s work of “guarding all these things, keeping them in her heart.” (those things being the mysteries of her Son).  First and foremost, the greatest Marian form of prayer is the Rosary.  Do not underestimate its power.  The Rosary, particularly if done in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, is absolute spiritual dynamite, but doesn’t feel that way.  It quiets the heart and lets us look at Jesus’ life through Mary’s eyes.  If we do this regularly, we will resonate with God’s will and carry it out like Mary did, finding happiness and peace.

Another, perhaps less daunting option, is the Angelus.  I’ve talked about this prayer before, on December 8th.  This prayer is a simple way to contemplate the mysteries of Christ’s Incarnation with three Hail Mary’s. It takes about two, maybe three minutes.  But it is a great way to ponder in your heart exactly what Mary would ponder for years: the gift of Jesus in the flesh.  It also remembers Mary’s great yes, and invites us to participate in that yes as well, so that the Lord can continue to come into our world through us.  If you need help learning this prayer, just ask me.

Finally, the greatest way to pray with Mary is here in the Mass.  We don’t speak of her at every Mass, but she is always here, as is the entire Body of Christ.  Mary carried Jesus in her own person, and soon we will do the same.  It is our turn now, and so we can ask Mary to help us to do so as worthily as she did.  Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, guide us and teach us to contemplate the gift of your Son, to stay close to Him, and to treasure Him in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.  Amen.

Christmas homily

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Pope Benedict XVI: The history of salvation is not a small event, on a poor planet, in the immensity of the universe.  It is not a minimal thing which happens by chance on a lost planet.  It is rather the motive for everything, the motive for creation.  Everything is created so that this story can exist, the encounter between God and His creature.

The Gospel is Good News.  The word euangellion (evangelium in Latin) was first and foremost good news of military victory.  It would be brough back from the front lines by “reporters.”  It was the first and most important type of new and postal service.  And so when the Apostles were running all over the earth with their lives on the line, and the Evangelists were writing their own Good News about a generation later, they meant to include this fact in their news stories: there have seen a great military victory in Christ Jesus, by his birth, and above all by his passion, death, and resurrection.  Isn’t it interesting to think that about 2000 years ago, this was a real as what we read in the newspapers and see on television and hear on radio.  It really happened.  Jesus was a real person on this earth, and the stories we hear are family stories, our family stories.

We all have our own family stories, and when we share them, we include all kinds of interesting details that help us to understand more about the people and the events and why they are important.  For example, one Christmas tradition we had as kids was trying to figure out how to sneak one of Grandma’s Christmas cookies before she brought them out and unveiled them herself.  It was tricky business, but even my dad would play the game, and if grandma noticed and said “who’s been stealing cookies?” all our eyes would run around the room to see who it was (or to see if we would get caught).

The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ infancy are family stories: it is first and foremost history, but it is blended with meditation and deeper insight into the meaning of the facts.  So the details can be quite important, because it was God who wrote the story, and so on the macro and the micro levels we see a deep use of people, places, and events to help us know what is the point of it all, to know what is really going on with this person Jesus.

Matthew’s Gospel includes details such as the genealogy and later the wise men, while Luke uses the reference to Caesar, Herod, and Bethlehem.  Both are using these details to point to the fact that Jesus is a KING, in fact THE king, the new David who would fulfill God’s promise to reign forever as the long­-awaited Messiah.

It is truly amazing that Jesus, to fulfill His role as the new David, had to be born in Bethlehem, but couldn’t live there, since Herod would slaughter all the young children in his paranoid rage.  So God chooses Mary and Joseph, of Nazareth, to care for His Son, and he finds a way for them to get to Bethlehem by Caesar’s selfish census (which was a way of estimating one’s source of power through taxing and forced military service).  While human beings grasp for power, it is the Lord who truly has things under control to carry out His designs of love for us.  The Lord in these stories is certainly carrying out what Saint Paul so beautifully described in his First Letter to the Corinthians: the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

And why does God do all this?  Why does He need to become man?  The angels remind us through their words.  To Joseph they say: “name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  To Mary: “He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  To the shepherds they say: “a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord…Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will.”  So why does God do the unthinkable?  To save us, to give us His peace, to establish a kingdom without end, and to bring about the greatest and most important military victory of all time: the victory over sin and death.  The answer to the question why? Can be summed up in one word: Heaven.

God wants us to be with him in heaven.  His love will not allow any less.  A good life on earth is not enough, because earth cannot contain the amount of joys he wishes to bestow on us.  He love us infinitely, and needs an eternity to bestow it on us.

He wants us to be with Him, and to do that, He first needs to be with us.  He needs to dwell among us, to make his home here with us, to come find us and bring us home.

Just this past Thursday I went out to visit my spiritual director in Ohio and then pray beside the casket of a priest whom the Lord had called home outside of Fort Wayne.  And thanks to modern technology, I had no problems getting back to here, my new home.  After I changed that address in the system, all I have to do now is tell it to take me home, to lead me home, then follow where it leads.  Brothers and sisters, this church here, just like every Catholic Church in the world, is not just the home of the priest.  It is your home.  In fact, it is your Bethlehem.  You know, Bayit Lechem literally means house of bread.  Jesus was born in the town called house of bread, and was placed in manger where animals eat food.  Brothers and sisters, this is your Bethlehem.  It is here where God dwells with us.  It is here in the Mass where God becomes bread for us.  O Come All Ye Faithful to your home, O Come let us adore Him in the Mass, in your Bethlehem.  When we discover God present here among us, becoming poor so that we can become rich in heavenly gifts, it is then that we can truly say: Joy to the world, the Lord is come.  Amen.

"Obedience of Faith" - following their examples

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What does it look like for someone to be a great basketball player?  We look to Michael Jordan, to Larry Bird, to Magic Johnson, Alan Iverson, etc.  These people excelled at the sport and show us what it means.

Today Saint Paul talks about the “obedience of faith” that was the goal of Jesus’ mission on earth.  What does “obedience of faith” look like?  Well, during Advent, we have looked at John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and now today have another great example today in Saint Joseph.

Joseph is named after a character of the Old Testament who was the youngest of the 12 sons of Israel (whose actual name was Jacob).  He was a righteous young man, who had fantastic dreams.  He was betrayed by his jealous brothers and sold as a slave to Egypt.  Eventually he saved their lives when they came starving to the country he had preserved from famine.

Now today we have another Joseph, this righteous man who receives a divine message in his dreams, asking him to accept Mary as his wife because the mysterious child of God will “save his people from their sins.”  What does “obedience of faith” look like?  It looks like Joseph’s response today: “He did what the angel of the Lord commanded him.”  Even though he could not understand exactly what was happening, he did not deny; he did not doubt.  That is the obedience of faith.

Ahaz in the first reading is the perfect example of what not to do.  In the midst of the most difficult situation this king has ever faced, seeing a huge enemy planning to conquer him, Ahaz sounds very pious when he says to the prophet Isaiah, “I will not ask, I will not tempt the Lord.”  But the reason Ahaz is saying this is actually because he does not want to hear from God, he has blocked Him out and turned his back on God.  He doesn’t have any faith, doesn’t trust what God is doing.  But Ahaz gets his sign anyway, a sign that finds an unexpected fulfillment centuries later in the beginning of the Gospel.

Where do we find ourselves at this point in our lives?  When things aren’t going well, do we react like Ahaz and try to trust in ourselves, to do we act like Joseph and listen to what God is asking of us, trusting that He knows what He is doing even if we don’t understand it.  Perhaps when things are going well we seem more like Joseph and Mary and John the Baptist.  But how about when things are not clear?  When things are scary?  When we don’t have control?  Do we revert back to Ahaz?

We have one more week before Christmas.  I think we need to immerse ourselves in these stories so that we can really enter into the season.  There are many ways to do this, but I think the best would be to simply pray with the Word of God this week, particularly the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel and the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  You could get your bible out today and put it on your favorite chair, or next to your alarm clock, or on the kitchen table.  Wherever you can take 5-10 minutes each day to read a little bit and pray, seeing what “obedience of faith” looks like from the great masters.  Another way, if possible, is to attend daily Mass at any parish you can.  The Gospels this week take us right through these stories.  Nothing prepares us better than prayer, Confession, and the Word of God.  Carve out time for silence, for waiting, for “dreaming” like Joseph, so you can hear and follow God’s will before, during, and after the Christmas holy day.