Messiness and the Paraclete

Life is very messy at times.  Today’s first reading remind us of this truth.  As the earliest Christians are trying to discover what they are to do with the problems that come up.  You see, Jesus didn’t leave an instruction manual with all the answers in it.  He knew what was coming, but instead of setting all the rules out in a book (remember, the New Testament didn’t start to get written down until ten or twenty years later, and wasn’t finished for about sixty years after Jesus’ Ascension into heaven) – so instead of leaving them with a church manual, he gave them people.  He appointed judges to sit on thrones.  He appointed apostles who would be the twelve pillars that the new Heavenly Jerusalem that God was building.

But Jesus didn’t just give the Church these fallen, imperfect human beings to make the decisions.  Ultimately, He left the Advocate (or Paraclete), the helper who “will lead you into all truth” – that is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit, God Himself and the most difficult person of the Trinity for us to really get a grasp of, is the one who guides the Church through all the messiness, past and present, of figuring out how God wants us to live in this world.  'It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us
not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities… It is the Holy Spirit who works in the Apostles at the first Church Council (let’s call it “Jerusalem One” like “Vatican II”) makes it clear that many, many of the ancient Jewish practices are not required for us in Christ Jesus.  You can thank the Holy Spirit for bacon.  But you should thank Him for much more than that.  Ultimately, he is the one who gives that Peace that Jesus speaks of today in the Gospel.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.  This is possible because Jesus’ Spirit is given to us.  Just earlier this weekend we had our parishioners (and those of other parishes) receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.  This great gift allowed them to be fully initiated in the sacraments, strengthening their Baptismal gifts.  The Holy Spirit is strengthening them and allowing them to have a peace that the world cannot give.

What does that mean?  It means a peace that continues to “not be troubled or afraid” even in the midst of trial.  The world can give peace alright, if a person has enough food, water, shelter, health, job security, entertainment, sports to play, music to hear, and chocolate to eat.   I guess that’s my list but anyone’s list would be pretty similar.  That’s worldly peace: if I have all those things.  But if some of them start falling away, or if even one of the more important ones goes, I can’t have worldly peace.  It gets exposed as a fake source of happiness.

Jesus’ peace comes from knowing you aren’t alone, and from knowing that He “is going away and will come back to me.”  That He will take us home to heaven.  Knowing that an eternal bliss is waiting for us allows us to have peace.  Knowing that the Heavenly Jerusalem exists and is there for us allows us to have peace even in the midst of trial and messiness.  Even if we have to be shamed for being a follower of Jesus, if we have to endure our own Crosses like His own, we are ready, because the Spirit is with us and because Jesus has won the war even if the nations rage on.

Thank the Holy Spirit for the assurance that the Church leads us and guides us into all truth, and gives us a peace that the world cannot give, a peace that the world can never take away.

Amen.

Finding Jesus together

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We need community.  We need each other.  We need the Body of Christ.  We need the Church.
Paul and Barnabas worked themselves literally to death for the sake of the Body of Christ.  They spent themselves completely so that others could be built up in the faith.  I myself have still much room to grow in this area, but I think we can all say that there are ways we can grow.
Judas leaves.  He steps away from Jesus and away from those who are close to Jesus.  If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, then when we lose Jesus, we lose our way, our truth, and our source of life.  Judas thus soon ends up finding himself lost in despair, perhaps feeling stuck in the mess he has made of his life’s course, and he cannot take it any longer.  He has forgotten hope, because he is doing it on his own, without others to help him recover his direction, but instead with his eyes set on himself, his own sin, and not on Jesus.
Paul and Barnabas work hard to make sure the center of their message is not themselves.  They are meant to draw people in and then to lead them to Jesus.  The goal of the Christian community is to help each other keep their eyes on Christ.  This is, in some sense, built into the very structure of this building.  We are all, or almost all of us, facing the same direction, that is toward the Cross and the tabernacle, and during Mass, toward this altar.  This is where our eyes are meant to be fixed - not just for 60 minutes each week, but for every moment we are awake. 
If we keep our eyes there, then we will find peace, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, and all the other fruits of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives us.  If Jesus is the center of our lives, then we will be what we are meant to be: the beginning of the New Jerusalem that we heard about in the second reading. 
In the New Jerusalem that finds its fulness in heaven, God dwells with His people forever.  In the beginning of the New Jerusalem that is the Church, the Christian community is known to be followers of Jesus because we love each other: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."  And if we do that well, we will begin to draw others into the same mystery that we enjoy.  We allow them to find what fills the deepest longing of their hearts: a relationship of love with the one who makes all things new.  May the Lord renew the face of the earth by renewing our souls in this Eucharist, by renewing the Church in love, and thus renewing the world by the spreading of His kingdom of peace.

Christian Martyrs as Artists of the faith

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Today’s readings bring to light a theme that is pretty far from a good Mother’s Day theme: christian persecution.  While Paul & Barnabas are harassed by the faithful Jews in Antioch (just a small dose of the terrible persecutions to come for them), John has a vision of the faithful martyrs in heaven wearing white robes with palm branches.  While their earthly lives may be destroyed, this vision proves Jesus’ words that “No one can take them out of my hand.”

Martyrdom is not a thing of the past.  Bombing in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.  Two years ago similar bombing in Egypt killing many Coptic Christians.  In fact, it would take way too long to try to form a complete list for us all, as Christians are the most commonly persecuted faith in our world.  Last century in fact, more Christians suffered and died for the Lord Jesus than any other century prior.  If anything, martyrdom is a thing of the present, not the past.

The courage of the martyrs is a model for us all.  The martyrs, like trained artists, studied their subject intensely, looking at it again and again, sometimes for extended periods of time, and noticing all the little components of it.  They teach themselves to see things that we normally wouldn’t see, because they are looking so closely and paying such perfect attention to patter, detail, relationship, proportion, shape, light, etc. etc. This is how the artist can truly represent the world before them which they are trying to draw or paint or sculpt.

It is that depth of study that allows the martyrs to be martyrs.  They have studied the Lord Jesus, and His Paschal mystery, with such a similar tendency as an artist.  Instead of studying to represent it on canvas or sculpture or other media, the Christian martyrs are shaping themselves and painting the image of Jesus on their own minds and hearts by daily living.  They study Christ and then live Christ, more and more.  This is why they (and all saints) are our best models of the faith.

We should study their lives as well.  To learn from a master painter or a professional of any trade is the greatest way to grow in that skill or way of life.  So we must study Christian masters, including our patroness, but especially today the Martyrs.  Learn about Maximillian Kolbe, Tarcisius, Sebastian, Perpetual & Felicity, etc.

Father Stanley grew up in a devout German Catholic family on a farm in rural Oklahoma. He struggled in the seminary and, after failing his first year of theology, was sent to Mount Saint Mary’s. He did well at the Mount. He was great at manual labor and quite often visited the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the mountain above the seminary. He would pray and do manual work there. In fact, he helped to make the Grotto’s rock wall. And he did a lot better in his studies at the Mount. 
After his ordination in 1963, Father Stanley served five years as a parish priest in Oklahoma. Then, he volunteered to serve in the diocese’s mission in Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala. He arrived there in 1968 and served as part of a mission team. He would eventually be the only priest to remain there. Immediately, Father Stanley identified with the simple, farming lifestyle of the people of Santiago Atitlan. He studied Spanish which he never really mastered, but he also studied the native language spoken by his indigenous parishioners, the Tzutujil Indians, and he became fluent in their language. For thirteen years, he served as their priest, their shepherd. He worked very hard among the people whom He cared for spiritually and materially. He built a farmer’s co-op, a school, a hospital, and a Catholic radio station used for catechesis. He worked on the farms with the Tzutujil farmers which he saw as part of his vocation as a minister of God’s love. Amid all the hard work, Father Stanley fell in love with the people he served. 

The civil war in Guatemala reached the peaceful village of Santiago Atitlan in the late 1970’s. Some of Father Stanley’s parishioners, including his catechists, disappeared. Some were killed. The situation became very dangerous. He wrote in a Christmas letter to his diocesan newspaper the following words: “The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger. Pray for us that we may be a sign of the love of Christ for our people, that our presence among them will fortify them to endure these sufferings in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom.” 

Father Stanley returned to Oklahoma in early 1981 because his name appeared on a death list. He was warned not to return to Guatemala. Father Stanley visited Mount Saint Mary’s for a little retreat. He prayed and discerned that he could not abandon his people. He remained resolute in his belief that the shepherd cannot run. He returned to Santiago Atitlan in time for Holy Week in April, 1981. The people rejoiced that their pastor had returned. 

That summer, amid all the tensions, Father Stanley and his parishioners still had their annual celebration of their patronal feast, Santiago, Saint James, on July 25th. Father Stanley was warned the day before that his assassination was imminent, but he proceeded with the celebrations. A few days later, at 1:30 in the morning on July 28th, three masked men broke into the rectory and attacked Father Stanley. He fought them hard, but they shot him twice in the head and killed him. The whole room was splattered with blood. The religious sisters who found his body wiped up the blood which is venerated in the parish church today. His beloved people cried and mourned at his death. A couple thousand came to his funeral. He had served faithfully as their priest, their spiritual father, their shepherd, for 13 years. And he laid down his life for them. They considered him “their” saint. Father Stanley’s family wanted his body returned to Oklahoma, but they agreed to allow his heart to remain and it is kept in the parish church of Santiago. Today, Father Stanley is venerated there and also in Oklahoma. 

The early Church Father, Tertullian, in the third century wrote the famous words: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians.” These words ring true today. During Father Stanley’s lifetime, there were few, if any, priestly vocations among the Tzutujil Indians. Today, there are many priestly vocations among the Tzutujil Indians. Reflecting on Father Stanley Rother’s martyrdom and its fruits among his people, we can say: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of priestly vocations.”

I shared this summary of Father Stanley’s priestly life and his death at this Chrism Mass especially as an example for our priests, an example of our calling to love our people and to be close to them.

Father Stanley Rother fought his attackers. You don’t often hear that in regard to our Christian martyrs. But, Father Rother did not want to be taken by them and tortured, nor did he want to risk the lives of his people who would try to rescue him. Here he is also a model for us. I hope we have the courage to fight to protect our people from the forces of evil. This is “the good fight” spoken of by Saint Paul. It is the battle won by Jesus on the cross. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did not run from the cross. Father Stanley, an icon of the Good Shepherd, did not run from the cross. The Good Shepherd cannot run. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” My brother priests, this is our vocation and the great promise we renew at this Mass. Like Father Stanley Rother, may we follow Christ the Head and Shepherd, not seeking any gain, but moved only by zeal for souls. My brothers and sisters, please pray for me and our priests, that we will love you and all our people with the heart of Jesus and that we will never run from the cross. In the words of Father Stanley Rother to the people of Oklahoma in his last Christmas letter: “Pray for us that we may be a sign of the love of Christ for our people.”

The Mass - God's ultimate destiny for humanity

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Jesus' Resurrection isn't the end of God's story for us.  Revelation is the end of the bible, it shows what the end of the story is.  It foretells God's ultimate goal for us.  This is what it's all about.
In cryptic language, it explains what heaven will be like: adoring the Lord God Himself, and the lamb who was slain but now lives (who as we heard last week from the beginning of this book is also the one like a Son of Man whose clothes were dazzling white, etc) that is Jesus.

God desires heaven for us.  and Heaven is to forever be close to God, where he lives. to even be made one with Him. to adore Him.

That my friends is the Mass.  In the Mass we are close to God.  At Mass we are where He lives.  In the Eucharist we are one with Him and we adore Him.  He is really present here, and so the Mass is higher than any other prayer we can be a part of.  That is why we make such a big deal about everything that we do here.  Because the Mass is God's gift to us that we can turn and give it back to Him.  So we have music and singing, we have processions, we read from the Bible, we receive Holy Communion from beautiful and special vessels and we decorate the church with flowers and art.  All this beauty is meant to emphasize how important what are doing is.  Really, everything we do is meant to be about the Mass, it is all something that is meant to glorify God and be something we can bring to the Lord of our entire lives.  We could even say that God gave us the Bible for the Mass, He gave us music for the Mass, He gave us art and flowers and everything else for us to praise Him through it all: to worship the Lamb of God, Jesus, at all times and places of our lives, which leads us to what we do here and what we will do forever in heaven.

This is the Mass here in God's home, where He dwells.  God wants you to spend time at His house every week.  You can come over more often if you want.  I used to go to my neighbors almost every day and now I do this with the Lord in daily Mass.  And when you are at your friend's house and it's time for a meal, do they say "you need to go sit out in the living room while we eat?"  No, they share it with you.  It's a way of showing friendship.
So today in the Gospel even Jesus says "Come have breakfast" this His disciples.  He prepares a meal for them to show His friendship, but it is even more than that.  He wants to give us the best gift He can, and that is something much better than what fills our stomachs, even if fish tacos are really good.  Food is a way of sharing, but what is the greatest thing someone can share with you?  It is themselves.  When someone tells you about their thoughts and dreams, spends their time with you, they are giving you the best gift you can receive from them.
So God wanted to give us the greatest gift too.  This is why Jesus came.  and this is why He left us the Eucharist, which is to say He gives Himself to us and He never stops giving Himself to us.
So how do we say thank you?  We join in the songs of the Mass, we pray the prayers.  Give Him back the greatest gift you can offer: Spend time with Him!  Go and pray in any chapel or church you can.  Jesus is there.  He is waiting for you.  Heaven is only behind the veil that covers your eyes when you are in the Mass.

Why are you afraid?

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Love is silly.
The Cross is foolishness, except for the love with which it was done.

God is in love with you.  The Cross is proof of that.

When I was a kid, I knew my dad was strong.  Every once in a while I'd wrestle him around a bit and I was never any match for him.  He barely exerted any effort and had me picked up or moved around however he wanted.  But despite all that, I wasn't afraid of him.  Because I knew he loved me.
So I guess the biggest problem in our world today is that people don't know that God really loves them.  That's why they are afraid.
But how did people fall into that trap?  I don't know.  Perhaps there are hundreds of ways.  Maybe they felt their sins were too heavy to be forgiven.  Maybe they believed someone who said they need to do such and such before God will love them, and they never got around to it.  Maybe they just got too busy with life to really feel a sense of God's love, to see His fingerprints in their lives.  Perhaps they stopped going to Church, stopped praying, stopped reading Scripture, or whatever other spiritual practices they were accustomed to, and ended up losing touch with God.  But I think whatever the long version of the story is, the reality is that it all boils down to the same fundamental cause: they have taken their eyes off Jesus.  Jesus on the cross, and Jesus after the Resurrection with those glorified wounds in his body.  If we don't keep that picture of Jesus in our mind, then he turns into a pretty scare figure in the story of Revelation that we heard in the second reading, the just judge  It reminds me of this mosaic of Jesus in the basilica in Washington DC that shows Jesus really buff and looking a little angry.  Yikes.  And that's exactly what many people think God is like.  They get one aspect of God and paint it as everything.  God's desire for justice is not all of God.
God is also Mercy.  Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, established by Pope JPII.  It reminds us to refocus on who God really is - as Pope Francis famously said, the name of God is Mercy.
So the Alpha and the Omega, the one before whom we should all be terrified to see, is not a fright to us because we know he loves us.  John, the author of Revelation, falls down in fear.

When Jesus appears to the disciples, he says "Shalom," or "Peace." This word in Hebrew means the right ordering of all aspects of life, that the whole of your life is set aright, and therefore you are at peace.  Like me, I'm sick right now with a sinus infection, so one part of my body is a little off, and it affects all the rest, so my body is really not at peace.  Shalom is much more than just a physical peace.  It means every aspect of ourselves, and particularly the most important aspect, the soul, is set aright.  So we can say that Christ is the only true source of peace, because Christ is the only way we get our souls set straight.  And a huge part of that, as we discussed earlier, is knowing God's absolute love for you, no matter what.  The only peace that lasts forever is the peace of knowing we are right with God, and that peace comes from the risen Jesus Christ, who comes back not for revenge, but forgiveness.

Look at the saints who have fixed their eyes on Jesus. They were never afraid of God.  They were profoundly confident in His love for them, and they loved Him back with all they had.  May we all truly encounter the Divine Mercy of God on this second Sunday of Easter.  The Mercy that is the source of all true peace.

Easter-UnfinishedWork

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Brothers and sisters, today's feast is a declaration that God is not done yet. He has more work to do in us. There’s more up His sleeve.

Everyone thought God was done working. That they knew His plans. 

Jews thought that reaffirming the law in Moses was all that the Messiah was going to, because it seemed perfect in itself.  They were wrong.  God wasn't done yet.

The Pharisees thought the traditions of the Hebrews were all that was needed to gain eternal life.  They were wrong.

The Zealots thought throwing out the Romans and establishing an earthly kingdom was enough.  Guess what, they were wrong.

Disciples in upper room.  Thought Jesus's mission was destroyed as a failure by His death, and that perhaps He was not the Christ after all, or somehow it was tragically sabotaged.  They were wrong, because soon they would discover that God had more to His plan than they realized.

Christian disciples over the centuries have misunderstood God's ways and plans, and again and again they had to realize that God had something better in mind than they could have conceived.  God had something else in mind.

If they were all wrong, why do we so often think that we know that God is done working?

No, my brothers and sisters, it is always ourselves who have the small picture of what God is doing.

Today is the definitive proof that God has bigger plans for us.  Just when we think all is finished, all is lost, God restores us and conquers the greatest foe: death.  We no longer have to be afraid of death! Think of all the things we fear: all of them boil down to a sort of death, an aspect of dying in one way or another.  We are afraid of losing things, losing the goods of life.  In Christ, we have already died and risen.  "You were baptized into His death," Saint Paul tells us.

In Baptism, God begins his plan of a new creation within us, continuing the story of creation in Genesis.  If you've ever seen a baptismal font with eight sides, or a baptismal room in the shape of an octagon, it is precisely to emphasize this truth.  Even the north rose window of the great Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which this past week survived a fire that consumed the roof and tall spire, that rose window has a circle of eight panes, then 16, then 32, then 32, totaling 88.  Eight, once again, is not a coincidence.  It is seven plus one, for in Jesus' resurrection is the beginning of the new creation.  God who created the world in seven days, now begins a new creation, an eighth day, wherein the new order of the universe is begun.  In Christ, we start that new life, and the more we disappear into Him, the more we are truly alive to what God's full plans for us are.

In fact, there is another connection to today's feast that connects to the fire in Parish.  Just as Notre Dame will be restored in the years to come, God in Christ has decided to rebuild fallen humanity.  He does this as a whole, but also individually.  In his cross we are all renewed.  The sin of Adam is undone.  Heaven is reopened.  However, we ourselves must walk that path one bit at a time.  In the church universal, which has itself experienced the great spiritual damage of egregious sins exposed this past year, God wishes to restore - not so much through huge financial donors, but through the hidden prayers of the faithful. 

God wishes to restore us individually too.  When you think your plans for life are good, ask God to show you His plans for you.  Look at Christ this Easter Season: the one who as risen from the dead has ascended to heaven and sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts that we may be called sons and daughters of His heavenly Father.  He takes our humanity into heaven and brings us into the communion of the Trinity!  I guarantee your plans aren't that good.  I hope you weren't thinking about winning the lottery or something.  I know mine would never have been.  I would have been pleased to have my sins forgiven.  That would have been good.  And be pastor here forever, which would be great, and has the added benefit of never having the responsibility of a bishop!  Double bonus! =)

But seriously - In Jesus, God is saying, "your plans are too small.  I want to restore you to something greater than you can imagine." 

This year Passover fell on Saturday, just as it did in the Gospels on the year of Our Lord’s Paschal mystery.  The message is the same now as it was then: while we rest, God is working his salvation for us.

No matter how bad life is going for you right now, and no matter how good your life seems to be, God wants to draw you to something much greater.  Your response to Jesus is the deciding factor.  Do not be afraid to take the plunge, to go all in, and to let God continue His new creation in you.  He has more up his sleeve.  There's more He desire to work in you.  God is not done yet.

Holy Thursday

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THE PASSOVER – Sedar Meal with Youth Group

Roots

Pope Francis – WYD

It is impossible for us to grow unless we have strong roots to support us and to keep us firmly grounded. It is easy to drift off, when there is nothing to clutch onto, to hold onto. And here is a question that we older people have to ask ourselves, those of us who are here, but also a question that you need to ask us, a question that you, young people, need to ask us, older people, and which we have to answer: What roots are we providing for you, what foundations are we providing for you to grow as persons? It is a question for us older persons. It is easy enough to criticize and complain about young people if we are depriving them of the jobs, education and community opportunities they need to take root and to dream of a future. … I remember once talking with some young people, and one of them asked me: “Why are so many young people today not interested in whether God exists or find it difficult to believe in him, and they seem so bored and aimless in life? I asked them in return what they thought. I  remember one particular answer that touched me and it relates to the experience Alfredo shared – “Father, it’s because many of them feel that, little by little, they stopped existing for others; often they feel invisible”. Many young people feel that they have stopped existing for others, for the family, for society, for the community... They often feel, as a result, invisible. This is the culture of abandonment and lack of concern for others. Not everyone, but many people feel that they have little or nothing to contribute, because there is no one around to ask them to get involved. How can they think that God exists, if they, these young people, have long since stopped thinking that they exist for their brothers and sisters and for society?

We must remain rooted.

The Eucharist, the Mass, is the greatest part of our roots.

Jesus takes the Passover and makes it His own, because God knew we need roots.