Sunday Homily - Christ's Kingdom and My Heart

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Four ways the kingdom of this world does not align with Christ's kingdom:
1. Consumerism
2. Individualism
3. Secularism
4. Relativism

Four ways to examine if these "diseases" have started to enter our life:
1. Calendar
2. Checkbook / Wallet
3. Use of entertainment
4. House (each room) and other possessions

THE END - Nothing to Fear

Audio (9:30am Mass) - Click Here!

As we are approaching the end of the church year, our readings speak of the end of days, so I thought it would be good to look at the end.  Really there are two: the final judgment and the particular judgment, which happens when we die before the final judgment.

Jesus is speaking about the coming of the Son of Man, which we also call the Second Coming of Christ, which begins the final judgment as we profess in the creed that "he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead."  The type of imagery Jesus is using is known as apocalyptic.  Think of the book of Revelation, which is just the Latin word for Apocalypse, and is almost entirely in apocalyptic language, like our first reading today as well.  The prophet Daniel, who speaks of the Archangel Michael in today's passage, reminds us that Jesus' coming will bring glory to some and shame to others.  If we are in Christ and united to him, we can look with confident expectation for the return of the one we love and who we know loves us.  So - what are we afraid of?

Ultimately, every fear is connected with death, with the loss of some part of life.  Death is the loss of all those things combined, and thus is the greatest fear we have by nature.  We can overcome this fear, but often it comes too late.

I'm reading a book right now called Being Mortal.  It's been a NYTimes best seller for 62 weeks now.  It is very well-written, timely, and I highly recommend it.  The author, a doctor named Atul Gawande, talks about how our approach to medicine often ignores the fact that we are going to die, and how the choices we make end up missing the main concerns/needs of the patient during the long, slow process of dying.  Think of this fact: in the past, almost everyone was susceptible to death by disease or accident or war on any given day, month, or year.  We live in a totally different circumstance with modern medicine, so that outside of tragic accidents or acts of violence, we all feel much more assured that our health is not going to bring us home to God tomorrow or next week or even beyond.  Because of this, we hear the urgency of the Gospel in a very different way.  "Repent today!" doesn't hit as hard.  We feel like "the end" will have to be down the road for us, at least certainly not tomorrow.

So we often don't face death until it's right upon us.  Confident that medicine can always save us, we very often end up with only days to prepare for something that should be part of a lifetime.  For the reality is: it could be today. We know neither the day nor the hour, Our Lord tells us.
Remember I spoke about the word Apocalypse - or Revelation - which literally means to take away the veil.  Well, I think the devil has put a veil on us, has pulled the wool over our eyes in so many ways, including the reality of mortality, as well as of fear of death.
Why should we be afraid of Jesus coming back or meeting Him at our own end.  God wants to give us something so much better than this life, and we won't lose anything good that we have in this life.  All our relationships will be heightened to a more beautiful level because they will all be in Christ Jesus.  We pray "thy kingdom come," but do we ever think of how wonderful a gift that Kingdom will actually be?  Do we consider how much we really do want His Kingdom to come?

Another truth is: we live a lot better when we face the reality of being mortal.  If we face death, we can overcome the great fear that, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, "has subjected us to slavery for our entire lives."

Another book for helping us when loved ones are nearing death: Final Gifts.  My mom read it when my grandmother was dying about five years ago.  We are all called at different times in life to be like Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry his cross.  The final journey is an important time for us to be ready to lovingly support family and friends who are preparing to go to Jesus.  They may have worries or concerns or needs that we can be a support for.  Perhaps helping someone else is God's way of preparing us for our particular judgement, which will ultimately help us to live every day better.

Widow's Mite - Small Things with Great Love Capital Campaign

Audio (9:30am Mass) Click here!

God wants us to give Him everything before we can receive everything.  This is the lesson of the readings today, both the widow of Zarepath who is called by Elijah to give up her last bit of food in service of God's will, and of the widow at the temple who in the Gospel gives up her whole livelihood for God.  They seem to be at rock bottom, but still they give.  What a testimony of faith and trust in God.  And for that they are richly rewarded.
It seems that God chooses to work most powerfully in the lives of those who completely depend on Him, who hold nothing back for themselves.  If we give God everything, then we are finally empty handed enough to receive the abundance he wants to offer us (usually not material abundance).  Sometimes that's how God works.  Perhaps that's always how God works.
Mary was asked by Gabriel to trust God with her life.
Joseph, when he took the holy family and fled for Egypt, was putting their lives completely in God's hands.  Traveling at that time didn't have any of the protections we have nowadays that make it safe and less stressful.
David when he faced Goliath without any armor and only a sling was giving up control entirely to God and trusting Him alone, something none of the other soldiers of Saul's army were willing to risk, even fully equipped.
Job had to abandon himself to God's will when he lost everything, and eventually God blessed Him abundantly.
Elijah himself will put everything in God's hands when he challenges the 450 false prophets by himself alone at Mount Carmel, just in the chapter following today's passage.  He has to run out of the country to escape the wrath of the queen Jezebel.
Giving up everything to God is a requirement of the spiritual life.  This is what Jesus means when He says "everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."  But not just possessions, Jesus mentions that we must put our relationships (father, mother, sister, brother) and even our own lives second to following Him, which is why the martyrs are so important to us: they did precisely that.
Sacrifice is a special word.  It literally means to make something holy or to do a holy deed.  In the Old Testament, things were made holy by being offered to God in the temple.  Yes animals and food offerings were sacrificed to God, but also the people and the things that were before God were made holy through those rituals.  Then they were dedicated only to God's service.  This is what our entire lives should be: given completely to God, then returned back into our control to be used for His Glory.  The word Stewardship means pretty much the same thing: a steward is in charge of something that does not belong to him, so he must take care of it and use it in the way his master desires.  Our lives, and all we have, are meant to be lived in stewardship.  Like Mary, Joseph, David, Elijah, the widows of today's readings, and all the saints, we need to live as if our lives are not our own, but about something much greater than ourselves.  In this Eucharist, God wishes to give us the abundant blessing of Eternal Life that is found in His Son Jesus.  But we must give Him everything first.  Let us pray to the saints to show us how to do that day after day.

Today is committment Sunday for our capital campaign and so I would like to ask the ushers to distribute the pledge cards as I begin to review the case of our campaign.  As you receive your pledge cards, please fill out the basic information as I do a quick run-through again of our needs which you've heard about in the past weeks and received a letter in the mail outlining the campaign.  Our parish is looking to raise $1.3 million dollars over three years for various projects to help our parish church to be a visible sign of the vibrant life that is present here day after day.  In order to ensure our church stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer, we are planning to replace the over 60-yr old boiler and the A/C units which will require replacement in a few years by government regulation.  We will also install A/C for Payne Hall below the church.  The church itself will receive new lighting to brighten up the space and spread light better on our ceiling and paintings of the stations of the cross.  The 30-yr old flooring will be replaced.  The church pews will have the kneeler pads replaced.  The tabernacle will receive a larger altar of repose.  The choir and Mary shrine will trade places, and the chapel will have a glass divider allowing the chapel to be used as a "calming area" during Masses, with a door toward the rear of church.  New audio technology for hearing aids should assist people with difficulty from ambient noise and allow them to participate more fully in the liturgy.  An information kiosk in the back of church will provide a central location for helping people get involved in the parish.  Finally, we also will cover the Annual Bishop's Appeal and prepare to replace the parish center roof and resurface the parking lot.  These plans will cover our foreseeable needs to put our parish in position for continued success and growth as we bring the love of God to the world from our prayer and through our service to the poor and needy.
But this is going to require all of us to be a part of it, and today we are doing this together, because we really are doing this together.  As we prepare to make our own pledges, I am happy to confess that we have already received pledges from about 60 households to amount to almost $400,000 of our goal, of which my personal pledge is a part (yes, my meager salary is going to help build our church!).  This pledge total is a phenomenal sign of the dedication of our parishioners and evidence that we can attain this goal.  I am truly grateful to those who have stepped forward in faith already to reach this huge portion of our goal, almost one third already!  But to finish our goal, sacrifice is needed on behalf of all of us, and so I ask you to consider at least the commitment to give $1.50 each day (that is, $45 a month) for 36-months to our pledge campaign.  This is truly a case of the widow's sacrifice, putting everything into God's hands.  I am excited about the work that this parish offers to South Bend and St. Joseph County in so many ways, and am hopeful that this project will be a true benefit to our parishioners and really enable us to continue our mission and ministries.
Please look over your pledge cards to be sure they are complete, and I now invite our ushers to come to the front of church and begin to collect the pledges.
I want to thank you for your pledge today, for your commitment to give everything to God like Mary, Joseph, and Therese the little flower.  May we continue to do our small things with great love, and find joy in filling the heart of God with our love.
Every single pledge will receive a thank you letter in the mail.  If we have not heard from parishioners due to travel, etc., they will receive a series of follow-up mailings inviting them to participate in this important campaign.

Two for the price of one

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There is no other commandment greater than these, Jesus says, after he answers the scribe who puts Him to the test.  The Pharisees and scribes (two different groups but both very united against Christ who threatens their power), they both try again and again to put Jesus on the trial of public opinion and hope for Him to make a huge mistake.  Every time, however, Jesus undoes their snares and today is no exception.  What is the greatest commandment? Is a test to hopefully humiliate Christ so they can maintain their authority.  However, this man has a heart that is more focused on God than it is on shaming Jesus, as we see in Christ's final words to the man after he responds with understanding: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."  This is probably the greatest compliment Christ gives to an adversary, and it is worth noticing.  If we truly understand these two truths the man says today, then we ourselves "are not far from the Kingdom of God." 

So let us look at these two commandments that Jesus gives as sort of one and the same.  I guess you could say it’s two for the price of one.  Or better yet, it is if you want one, you gotta take them both.  So here we go: First, Jesus answers with the prayer every faithful, praying Jew would have known, for it is something they recite twice a day.  It is called the She'mah from the book of Deuteronomy which we heard as the first reading today.  In seminary I learned to sing it in my Hebrew class.  It goes like this...  v'hayoo ha-d'v'rim ha-aleh asher anoki blah blah blah (I don't remember the rest, maybe because it wasn't set to music - or because I'm getting old, or because I don't recite it twice a day like a good Jew would have done!) Anyways, it was a beautiful prayer that affirmed the monotheism of the Jewish people: nothing can replace God or compare with God, so they need to live that way, loving Him with all that he deserves, which is our entire self.  Thus we have the poetic repetition to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  (Jesus adds, by the way, with all your mind. Perhaps to speak more clearly to the audience of his time that the mind isn't excluded from the everything that God deserves from us)

The second commandment comes from Leviticus: to love your neighbor as yourself.  Love is not a fuzzy feeling for Jewish people.  It was much deeper.  It was more closely tied to justice, to how you treated someone.  Freely giving them what they deserved as human beings was loving them.

And all that comes back to God.  Why they deserved anything was because of the biblical truth that we are all created in God's image and likeness.  God has made us all, unrepeatably, and we must honor the truth that each of us is called to a relationship of love with Him, and thus with each other.

          If we live these two truths, if we meditate on them deeply, then we are not far from the Kingdom of God.  This is truly something worth modeling our lives around!

Now how do you eat a whole pie?  One bite at a time, or so I hear.  I’ve never actually tried to do it myself.  I promise!  So for us to live this 2-in-1 commandment, we should really look for one way we can make our daily lives fit more closely with what these words of our Lord require of us.  How can I love God more today, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength? (Perhaps it should start with a daily examination of conscience.  Five minutes each day, we can reflect back and ask "how in the last 24 hours did I love God or fail to do so?")  How can I love my neighbor as myself more today?  Perhaps it starts with our family or our friends or co-workers. Can I forgive the way I wish them to forgive?  Whatever it may be, let us ask God to show us how to live these two lessons a little more deeply one day at a time.  If we do so, we are not far from the Kingdom of God!

Homily - Bartimaeus and Us

Homily & Campaign Proposal: Click here to listen

Jesus healed many people in the Gospels, and a lot of the times we don’t hear the details of it.  Sometime there are individual encounters, but almost never are they named.  Today’s encounter is remembered because it is special, and it is told in such a way that it outlines what the every Christian life is meant to be – in one way or another.  The blind man from today, Bartimaeus, must have been known to the early Christian communities.  This is the best explanation for why his name is remembered.  It says he got up and followed after Jesus, which is not just a fact, but is also symbolic language for becoming a disciple.  The same goes for Jesus’ call.  He indeed calls the man to come to him (notice that the community of faith brings this man to Christ, kind of like the man who is lowered through the roof on a stretcher – a great lesson of intercessory prayer), but that calling is a symbol for the invitation to the church, to be invited into the faith community.

2. I want to see.  – How rarely do we truly express our need.

Symbolic for the light of faith.

3. Jesus heals.  The doctor needs to know our needs.  Do we trust him?

4. With transformation comes the demand for response – DISCIPLESHIP.  Will we follow?

Trust God.  Draw close to him (through church).  Express your needs.  Walk behind him in faith.

Campaign Presentation #1

I am very excited to announce that we have launched the 3-year (36-month) pledge drive titled “Small Things with Great Love” to raise $1.3 million dollars for the benefit of our parish facilities. In fact, the past week or two we began with some individual visits and two small-group information nights. As of today, a number of us who were asked to pledge ahead of time have already committed to a total of ~200,000 dollars (15% of goal), showing that we are on track for success if we have a similar amount of commitment and support from all of us. Although this will require all of us to make significant sacrifices, it will be a great blessing to the parish.

This is an exciting opportunity for our parish, so please allow me to explain to you as I have with the initial pledge-group some of the main projects that we are looking at. The largest portion of the funds raised will be toward something many of you are aware of: our church boiler which has been faithful for over six decades, decided to take a couple weekends off last winter. Judging by the coats I saw everyone wearing those days (not to mention the hats and gloves) I am sure this is something that everyone can be supportive of. We also will need to change our air-conditioning units, as these machines use a cooling technology that is not very environmentally friendly and the government is phasing it out. The initial quote I received for this was $450,000. This is the main reason I stand before you today, but I would like to share all the others as well.

The finance council recommended that we do a campaign once and do it right, so we looked at other items of deferred maintenance or general upkeep that could be part of a capital campaign.

First off, the Annual Bishop’s Appeal is still a need that we as a parish must contribute to for our wider church, and this year’s parish contribution will be included in the pledge drive so that we are not sending confusing and mixed signals by two campaigns at once. Next year, we will do the ABA as a separate commitment.

As we looked at parish needs, the focus was directed to the church interior which has not had a widespread project since the renovation of 1987. One of the things that came up was these lights, which are original like the boiler, and the wiring is very dried up and rotted off in places so that it is truly a hazard to our church. Our parish maintenance man has cut back the wiring multiple times. Instead of rewiring, I had the lighting specialists from Notre Dame come over when they were working on the basilica last winter/spring, and they gave us a proposal for lights that will be brighter, be dimmable, and shine light more generously than just down, allowing the church’s beautiful ceiling and stations of the cross to be more visible in these winter months. It would also make the sanctuary brighter, which is important for the lectors to read well at the ambo. I recently heard that the lights were going to be replaced decades ago but a leaky roof diverted funds to that more important project. I think it will be great to finally see this old dream brought to completion.

The carpet also needs replaced as it has served well these 31 years. But for the area where Communion is distributed (and the sanctuary) I would like to return to a hard surface similar to the church’s original set-up. This is so that the Most Precious Blood of Christ can be easily cleaned and properly cared for in the instance of a spill.

Something else I think we all could appreciate is new kneeler pads in our pews. The pews themselves, which were used when we purchased them, are in pretty good shape, but we have received some donations in the past for their refurbishing and I think it would look great to have them stained to match the beams and ceiling of our church.

Other ideas are not focused as much on current needs but are meant for the enhancing of our Eucharistic worship. Along lines with Fr. Tom’s revised proposals just over two years ago, the tabernacle will have a more substantial base for it, often nowadays called an altar of repose, allowing for a cleaner look in our sanctuary. The back wall will not be touched, and I have a drawing of what the altar potentially would look like (at least size-wise).

The choir will move about ten feet and trade places with the statue of Mary so that we have the devotional space in the front of church. This also allows the choir to be more connected with the congregation, facing more toward the altar, the focal point of our prayer. We could also consider moving the statue of Therese up here somewhere, since right now she is not so visible to us while we are at prayer.
In order to allow for easier access to the church from the chapel during the liturgy, we would install a permanent glass division as well as a door at the back of the chapel area. This also allows the area to be a temporary calming area when parents feel they need to use the space for a short time before returning to their pews. It could still also be used for our large Masses twice a year at Christmas and Easter.
Beneath the pews, under the carpet, we have hopes to install a relatively inexpensive audio-loop technology that works with hearing aids to allow for much clearer audio of the readings and music at Mass.

In the back of church, an info kiosk (probably movable) would be very helpful for both parishioners and visitors alike to have a central and conspicuous location to go for answers to any questions or concerns they have about involvement in the life of our parish, to pick up flyers, etc.

The last idea for the church is to create a priest vesting room in our current decoration storage area that can also serve as a second Confessional when needed.
Not too many years down the road, we can foresee two other significant expenses that will be essential: the roof of the parish center, which is now 18 years old, and the parking lot, which will need re-grading at parts, and a new surface after some more winter seasons.

I’m sure that was a lot to take in, and you may have only heard about some of these things in the past. Don’t worry, all this is going to be on the parish website for access anytime, anywhere. You can also see the table in the back of church.
Although we have asked several parishioners to come forward with their pledges beforehand (with some still discerning their finances to make an accurate pledge, we are not asking for pledges today from the rest of the parish. We want two weeks of information to help guide and direct your pledge process, and to give us time to think about how we can be a part of this important time in our parish.

This is an exciting opportunity for our parish to prepare itself for the decades to come, so that our worship space looks a little fresher and can continue to speak clearly about the vibrant life we have in the parish, making it an inviting space for guests who can more easily be brought into the community of faith and encounter Jesus here, like Bartimaeus in today’s Gospel.  May we be driven by this initiative to continue our work of building God’s kingdom through small things with great love.

Power-trip

Audio: Click Here

Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This formula works only with humans who have a tendency toward sin and have not yet overcome it by grace.  Well I guess fallen angels too.  Those who have abused their freedom will abuse any power they have as well.
James and John come before Jesus today walking on seriously thin ice: they know that Jesus has given Simon Peter a special role in the kingdom because he gave him a new name and the keys.  They want some of that power for themselves.  They got nicknames too, it says in Mark's gospel, boanarges, the Sons of Thunder (doesn't that sound like a rock band?) and they are wondering if some power can come along with that name.  But they are blind to all Jesus has been trying to say again and again.  Talk about selective hearing.  The only thing that stays in their head is the glory part and not the suffering part, which goes in one ear and out the other.  Jesus might have felt like he was dealing with teenagers - no offense to teenagers, because we all act this way at our worst.

What we see is the potential for a power-trip.

This is indeed a reality that hits close to home, for we are seeing nowadays the exposure of ways leaders in the church have abused their power in horrific, sinful ways.  Just this past week, Archbishop Vigano issued a third testimony letter in response to the problem of human weakness within the leaders of the church which has lately centered around the U.S. ex-Cardinal McCarick.  And unfortunately, this isn't new, for the saying that "power corrupts" can be traced back thousands of years.

Jesus shows us how authority is meant to be used.  To love is to spend yourself for others.  "Can you drink the cup?" James and John don't know what Jesus really means here, but are more than happy to say yes.  Indeed, they will drink the cup of martyrdom someday, but only after their delusions of grandeur are shattered by the crucified Lord, between two other criminals bleeding and suffocating to death at Jesus' right and his left, ironically in the exact places James and John are just asking to be seated.  Jesus' lesson is a wake up call for not only the twelve apostles, but for all of us:  "great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The temptation to abuse power is always there for us fallen creatures.  It is the same temptation that the devil offered Adam and Eve "you may become like gods."  This is a spiritual battle we continue in, and so Bishop Rhoades (and Pope Francis) want us to remember to call upon divine assistance.  This is why we now have prayer cards to Saint Michael the Archangel.  Please leave them in the pews to be prayed after every Mass for the months ahead.

The final question for us is: how will I serve today?  Who will I serve today?  For if I do not serve someone, then I am only serving myself.