What about Christ do we wish to keep in Christmas?

 

CHRISTMAS 2024

 “Keep Christ in Christmas.”   We see this manta on many posters around Christmas time.

My question for our prayer today is: “What about Christ are we keeping in Christmas?” 

Yes, we are celebrating the birth of Christ to Mary and Joseph in the Bethlehem crib.  As we celebrate Christmas in 2024, what is the meaning of the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby?

Tonight, the Christmas message is that love has conquered fear; new hope has arrived.  God’s light has overcome the darkness.   Celebrating Keeping Christ in Christmas is about welcoming the birth of Christ in the inn of our hearts in 2024.

 

Tonight we celebrate the Christmas message is that love changes history. Make us believe, Lord, in the power of your love, so different from the power of the world. Lord, make us, like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi, gather around you and worship you. As you conform us ever more to yourself, we shall bear witness before the world to the mystery of God’s love in our lives.

The real meaning of Christmas is that God is with us.  In the inn of our own hearts, there is an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

God comforts us in the Christmas mystery not simply that we may be comfortable, but the real Christmas message is that God comforts us so that we can comfort others.

Keep Christ in Christmas.  It also means that we need to keep in Christmas the message that all are welcome at the Bethlehem crib.  What is the housing situation in the inn of your own heart?  Is there room in the inn of your heart for the family member for whom you have difficulty getting along with?  Is there room in the inn of your heart for people who think differently than you -- politically, religiously, or in any way whatsoever?  Is there room in the inn of our hearts for Jesus who lives in the hearts of the poor, the immigrants, and children of all cultures and of all ways of life?

How many people in our world today experience the message “no room in the inn” because of race, color, religion, gender, or sexuality?  The Son of God was born an as an outcast in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.  To say again, the Son of God was born as an outcast in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.

It means also we need to keep in Christmas the light of Christ that shines through all the dark places of life, transforming the world through us.  We are the people who walk in darkness – the darkness of sin, the darkness of war, the darkness of relationships that are broken, and the darkness of the threat of violence and terrorism.   The message of Christmas is that Jesus comes for people like ourselves in dark places.  The real, lasting, and deep joy of Christmas is that light shines in the darkness.

We recognize on this Holy Night that even after centuries of knowing Jesus Christ, our world still wanders in darkness. There is war in the Holy Land. Even after proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, our hearts are not yet converted completely to Him and our world even less so.  We humans are a broken people and each of us is broken.

Yet, even in the humanity of each one of us, we are missioned to be the keepers of the mystery of Christmas – God is with us. We give birth to Christ when we allow ourselves to be loved by God, when we allow the light that is within us to extend to our family, and our parish family, and to all of creation. 

Keep Christ in Christmas.  It also means keeping in Christmas the humility and simplicity of his birth in the Bethlehem crib.  Do our exterior Christmas decorations obscure how we are to discover the presence of Christ in our lives in 2024?   The Bethlehem crib reveals the extreme humility of the Lord, at the hardships he suffered for love of us.  In the Bethlehem crib, simplicity and poverty and humility shine forth.  As we ponder the Christmas mystery, are we able to get in touch with the simple, the ordinary, the humble moments of our day and to know in that simplicity we will best discover the Bethlehem crib in our lives?

Keep Christ in Christmas.  It also means the mystery of Christmas happens for us when we connect the story of our lives with the story of Christmas.  Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus.  The Christmas message is the story of God’s unconditional love for us.  As his disciples we are to fill this world with many other stories that mirror and give witness to God’s love for us.  That is the meaning and wonder of the Incarnation.  Keeping Christ in Christmas happens when we love to be loved – to be immersed in the merciful love of Jesus.

It also means that Christmas is to be found in the presence of Jesus among us and in our love for one another.  The story of Bethlehem points to a vision of hope, one that relies not on the exercise of military power but an on appeal to the common instincts of the human heart.  These common instincts of the human heart are very spiritual – a spirit of peace, a spirit of joy, a spirit of family, a spirit of love, the spirit of Christmas.

We are missioned to be the keepers of the mystery of Christmas – God is with us. We give birth to Christ when we allow the light that is within us to extend to our family, and our parish family, and to all of creation.  The Christmas mystery happens when we allow ourselves to be loved by God.

Have a blessed Christmas day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rejoice always. In all circumstances give thanks.

 

Third Sunday of Advent  C  2024

This third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday -- Rejoice Sunday.  We light the rose colored candle of the Advent wreath.  We wear the rose colored vestments expressing that the joy of Christmas is beginning to invade the Advent season.  (these rose colored vestments for all the world look pink to me.)

In ten words, St Paul expresses the theme of today’s liturgy:  Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks

“Rejoice in the Lord always…The Lord is near.  Have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and petitions, with thanksgiving make your requests known to God.  Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

These words were written by the apostle Paul in his Letter to the Philippians.  Where was Paul when these words of joy and hopefulness were written – in a prison cell!  Now mind you Paul is writing from his prison cell.  Paul was not rejoicing in the things of this world; rather Paul was rejoicing because God was with him in his prison cell as he wrote to the Philippian church.

These words of joy -- rejoice in the Lord always – may seem to ignore those in our congregation who are suffering greatly at this time because of a death, a diagnosis, a natural disaster or any one of the heinous crimes that are reported every day in the media.

And yet, the author of these words the apostle Paul certainly knew suffering.  As I say, he wrote these words from his prison cell.  His only crime was preaching the Good News of the love of Jesus for all people.

What the apostle Paul knew in his heart is that real joy comes from knowing that you are unconditionally loved by God.  God is in our midst -- even in a prison cell.   Joy comes from knowing that God is truly present and never abandons us through the trials and or triumphs of life.  God is always there.

The apostle Paul experienced joy in the most challenging of life situations.  That is not to say that there is not sadness in any Christian life – as in any normal person’s life – times of pain, of sickness, of failure, of great loss.  Grieving and letting go is an important part of life but these experiences do not ultimately define us as the disciples of Jesus.  Even in the midst of tears, the words of Jesus to us are:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Have faith in God and have faith also in me.”

Every experience in life, if we can only realize it, is touched by God and has its meaning.  To repeat, every experience in life, if we can only realizer it, is touched by God and has its meaning.  Once that meaning is found and accepted, inner joy and peace can return.  The great truth of our life is we have everything we need here and now to be happy.  Amen.  The problem is that we identify our happiness with people or things we don’t have and often can’t have.  

In the first Scripture from the prophet Zephaniah, we are told that sin occurs when we search for happiness apart from God, when are too caught in the busyness, the commercialism, the fleeting pleasures of life.  The prophet reminds us that the Lord, your God, is in our midst.  The Lord wishes to rejoice with you and renew you in his love.

We confess the times we have searched for happiness apart from God.  Sometimes we search for happiness in our wealth, in our successes, in our desire to control people and manage what happens in life, in our pride, in our sexuality and so on and so on.

My question for you is how have you experienced happiness in this Advent season, in this holiday season with all its festivities? 

Without doubt there is joy with Christmas celebrations with friends and family and in the sending and receiving of Christmas cards.

Our exterior Christmas decorations are up, and they are beautiful.  What about our interior Christmas decorations?  May we allow the peace of Christ to enter once again into our lives, calming all of our anxieties, and filling us with all that is good.

Will you experience Advent joy in participating in our Advent Day of Penance on Wednesday in the afternoon at Holy Spirit or in the evening at St Joseph’s.  May we experience real joy as we are immersed in the merciful, forgiving love of Jesus? The Sacrament of Reconciliation offers us the opportunity to encounter the Lord and to experience the joy that comes with God’s unconditional love.

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist takes center stage. 

As we listen to the Gospel, the image shifts.  We are standing at the River Jordan, face to face with John the Baptist with all his intensity.  John doesn’t rejoice; John says to repent. 

John’s words strike the crowd with evident power, for they seek instruction:  “What then should we do?”  John does not make radical demands.  Instead, he calls people to fidelity in the very circumstances of their lives.  Those who have more than they need, share with those who have less;  parents, cherish your children; spouses, be faithful; neighbors, live in peace.  Repentance for John calls to be faithful to who we are. 

Don’t wait to be somewhere else, or to be doing something else, or to be someone else -- begin with the road in front of you, walk that road, and so allow God to transform the real life you live right now.

John preached the baptism of repentance.  What does repentance mean in practice?  John’s advice is simple and practical – live charitably and honestly.  Share what you have with the needy; be fair and honest with others in your business dealings; don’t be greedy.   John goes on to say:  “One mightier than he is about to come who will fire us up with the power of the Spirit.”

John’s mission was to help people recognize the presence of Christ who is in our midst. 

We indeed will experience the presence of Christ when we embrace the joy that comes from within – knowing we hold within ourselves the God who wishes to be born again in the inn of our hearts and when respond to John’s call to repentance -- by sharing what we have with those in need.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

Our spirituality does not take us out of this world; rather, we are called to transform our world into the reign of God.

 

 

Second Sunday of Advent  C  2024   The living Word of God is always being spoken in the midst of the circumstances of our own lives and in the reality of the Church and the world we live in.  Our spiritual lives do not take us out of the world; rather we are called to transform the world we live in into the reign of God.   Recall the words of Scripture:  “That God so loved the world that he send his only begotten to save the world.”   Please note how today’s  Gospel begins:   “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip the tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.”   It is important to note that the evangelist is placing the ministry of Jesus in the wider historical context.  The point is the sacred ministry of Jesus emerged right in the midst of secular history.  Secular history does not get in the way of the Word of God.    Rather, for us to hear the Word of God proclaimed in this moment of history means we need to know the circumstances of our own history.  God’s Word is being spoken in the midst of the circumstances of our own lives and in the reality of the church and the world we live in.   We cannot absent ourselves from the challenges of life.  Rather, we need to recognize how Jesus is being birthed in the secular history of our lives.  This is such an important point.  Our world is characterized by war and violence – the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East.  The message of the institutional Church doesn’t speak to the lives of some younger families.  For some of your children and grandchildren, the Church doesn’t seem to be a big part of their lives.    In 2024, this is the Church that Jesus chooses to be born into.   We are called not to leave the Church.  Rather, we are called to transform the Church and our world into the reign of God.  That’s why Jesus came – to teach us how to transform our church and our world into the reign of God, which means where God’s love controls everything, guides everything, and we all live together in peace under that reign of the love of God.   It is in the messiness and the questions and the fears of our lives that God chooses to be born.  This is the story of the first Christmas and it is the story of Christmas in 2024.   The evangelist Luke in today’s Gospel tells us that the Word of God was spoken to John the Son of Zachariah in the desert.  Say that again!  Where was the Word of God spoken and to whom?    Note that the Word of God was not pronounced by the religious and political leaders of the day.  It bypassed them all.  The Word of God did not come from the Palace of the Temple.  The Word of God came from an outsider in the desert.  The Word of God came to John in the desert.    This certainly leaves us to pause and ask where we hear and recognize the Word of God spoken to us.  We make a grave mistake if we don’t listen and seek to hear the Word of God spoken to us from the outsiders of our lives.   Who are the outsiders of our lives?  Who are the people who don’t look like us, who do not share the same religious beliefs, who do not have the financial resources we have and so forth?  Just maybe, these are the people who proclaim God’s Word to us.   Who is your John the Baptist?  Who is the person in your life that is pointing you in the direction of Jesus?  Who reveals the face of God to you?   So now in December, while everything  jingles with excitement about the Christmas holidays, the Church invites us into an Advent desert with John.  The desert is the antithesis of the suburban malls.  No matter how much money you have, there is nothing to buy in the desert.  Far from the city lights whose twinkling lights grab our attention, the desert allows us to fix our gaze on the stars, the beauty that is beyond our reach and yet has been created for our delight. The Advent desert is where our soul can expand, where we can remember what we really thirst for.  How do we fashion a desert for ourselves in this Advent season of busyness and parties and celebrations?

 

I like to think of Advent as a time of listening to what God is birthing in me.  I need to quiet down and listen.  During this gift of time that is the four weeks of the Advent season, may we find moments of quiet each day to listen to how God is speaking to us.

 

 

The prophet Isaiah describes John as one crying out in the desert:  “Prepare the way of the Lord.”  Every valley shall be filled and the winding roads shall be made straight.  Instead of seeing this mission as part of highway reconstruction, John the Baptist calls us to repentance and metanoia.  For John real change comes from within.  The prophet Isaiah refers to the geography of the heart.  This is where change needs to occur.  We are to clear the path to welcome Christ who is born into our hearts as truly as Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 

 

But this inner change is not just about our personal salvation.  The inner change is always in the context of community, of church, of the ways we love and serve people.  As St Paul writes in the second Scripture reading in his letter to the Philippians:  “I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now.”

 

Jesus seeks to be born again within our own hearts in 2024.  Jesus’ humble birth within us may be likened to his humble birth in the Bethlehem manger.  May we be Spirit-filled in embracing the Savior within us and may be missioned to sharing the love of Jesus in ways that will transform our Church and our world. 

 

 

 

May God give you the gift of listening to the ways that God is birthing within you.

How is Jesus the king of your life?

 

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING   B   2024

 

 

Today on this the last Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.  We ask:  is Jesus the King of your life – over both the small and big decisions of life?  What is the power, the dominion Jesus exercises over your life as Christ the King?

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, is the crown of the liturgical year.  The Gospel in fact presents the kingship of Jesus as the culmination of his saving work.

However, today’s feast always creates problems.  One word is at the root of the problem: king.  What does it mean?  How is it applied to Jesus?

Given the Gospel reflections on the ministry of Jesus, “kingly” would be the last adjective anyone would use to describe the ministry of Jesus.

In fact, in today’s Gospel, Jesus in so many words tells us not to celebrate today’s feast. 

Jesus kept company with tax-collectors, sinners and prostitutes, so much so that the authorities described Jesus as “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners.”  You would expect kings to receive important people and dignitaries, but Jesus received the lowly and rejected people of his time. A king might expect to receive a gift, but Jesus gave gifts, he restored health to those who were sick. Jesus was not the kingly type according to our understanding of king; he is a powerless king! Kings wear a crown. What sort of crown did Jesus wear? It was a crown of thorns.  What throne do we see Jesus sitting on in the Gospel today?  It is the cross.

In today’s passage, Jesus is basically saying, “If you insist on calling me a king, you have to give a brand-new definition to that title.  I’m here to tell people about truths only God can reveal; not the kind of work in which kings normally engage.

For Pilate, a king can only be understood in political terms. Yet, Jesus assures Pilate, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.’

Who is welcome in the spiritual kingdom of Christ the King??

Who, if not the condemned Savior, can fully understand the pain of those unjustly condemned?

Who, if the not the king scorned and humiliated, can meet the expectations of the countless men and women who live without hope and dignity?

Who, if not the crucified Son of God, can know the sorrow and loneliness of so many lives shattered and without a future? 

On this the last Sunday of the liturgical year our crucified king hangs on the cross arms outstretched in loving mercy and welcome.

In our parish community, could there be anyone who is not welcome in our parish community?  In witnessing to the kingdom of Jesus, all are welcome.  There is no one who is excluded from the unconditional love of Jesus, the king our hearts and our lives.

Jesus does wish to be the King of our Hearts.  He will usher in the Kingdom through love, by appealing to the hearts of people. 

Jesus as the King of our hearts opts to be the suffering servant.  And that is why, as the Gospels describe, he ends us as a king who hangs on the cross.

It is interesting to note that the dialogue between the two criminals who were Jesus’ companions in his last moments.  These two criminals  raise this conflict once again – the conflict between what the people thought Jesus’ kingship was and what Jesus himself had chosen to be.  The so called “bad thief” becomes the spokesman for the people: “If you are the Christ save yourself and us as well.”

The “good thief”, on the other hand, understands the role of Jesus in this world more clearly.  Jesus does not save us from human limitations of suffering and even death itself. Rather, Jesus gives us hope, He provides meaning to our human lives.  Therefore the criminal surrenders his heart to Jesus. He makes a choice to be part of the real Kingdom of God.  And Jesus assures him: “Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

 

This is what the feast of today invites us to: to surrender ourselves to the loving reign of God, to make a choice to be part of the Kingdom of God, to be free from the tyranny of power, possession and pleasure.

This feast is an invitation to all of us who have power or authority of any kind to compare our use of power or authority with Jesus. Are we using our power to serve others or to manipulate? Are we using our power for the building up of a more just society or to feather our own nest? Are we using our power in any way that might cause pain to others or in a way that could help to alleviate pain? In the prayer Jesus taught us, we pray, “thy kingdom come.” Jesus has shown how to bring about that kingdom. Let us pray that nations and individuals will be humble enough to look at how Jesus used power and bring about the kingdom of God.

His kind of kingship has to be learned and not in palaces and in schools of diplomacy but among the poor and needy and those whom the world has forgotten.  For our king is the servant of the poor and we only belong to his court when we do likewise.

 

This last Sunday of the Church year challenges us to decide – who is our king?  What are the goals and dreams that we should really be working and sacrificing for?  May we pray for each other that we are all centered in our faith that Jesus is the Lord and King of our lives.  This day Christ the King isn’t just the conclusion of the Church year.  It’s a sign of our hope.  In the words of the good thief on the cross, we are one prayer from being immersed in the mercy of Jesus.  “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

 

The apocalyptic message is one of hopefulness.

 

Thirty Third Sunday in OT  B  2024

Autumn now seems to be giving a hint of the winter to come. Many leaves have fallen, and others are continuing to fall.  There seems to be more cold darkness as the days grow shorter. 

Additionally, the liturgy calls us to consider the end times as we approach the end of the liturgical year.  The first reading from Daniel and the Gospel from Mark uses very apocalyptic language designed to be sensational.  “The sun will be darkened.  The stars will be falling from heaven and the power in the heavens will be shaken.” Everything is out of order, out of focus, chaotic.

The Scriptures speak of the breakdown of the stable parts of our surroundings.  Yet, apocalyptic language is a message of hope.  Why?  Because Jesus has triumphed over sin and evil.  The ultimate victory belongs to Jesus.  Even though it seems at times like our world is falling apart, for those who trust in Jesus, the message is always one of hopefulness.   To say it again, even though it seems at times like our world is falling apart, for those who trust in Jesus, the message is always one of hopefulness,

Even before the ultimate end times, all of us at one time or another experience our life being shattered.    

              --we lost our job.

--our family like is not what I would like it to be.

              --we are experiencing depression and/or anxiety.

              --we learned we or a family member were seriously ill.

              --we lost someone dear to us.

              --we may be over-joyed or we may be depressed by our election results.

Sometimes we can seem to be in an apocalyptic mood: Our world fell apart—the sun was darkened; the moon lost its brightness.  We ask ourselves:  Why doesn’t God make things easier?  WE are left wondering at times of God’s silence and his seeming indifference. 

No matter what happens, may our faith in Jesus lead us to prayer and trust: :  But you did not abandon us, Lord God.   In the midst of turmoil, we received a great grace.  We understood for the first time the meaning of our faith.  We discovered inner resources we didn’t know we had; friends rallied around us.

The faith perspective we seek is not that having faith in God is an insurance policy that guarantees that our lives will be devoid of troubles, but that having faith in God is the only thing that will get you through the troubles that come in every life.

Yes, none of us get a free pass from the crosses that come our way.  But the apocalyptic scriptures speak to us today that even in the darkest moments of life, the promise we have from Jesus is always a message of hope.  That to the dying moments of life, with our trust and faith in Jesus, the cross is our very pathway to sharing in the risen life of Jesus.

The Gospel calls us to learn a lesson from the fig tree.  Even in the midst of the deep winter of our lives, the twigs on the fig tree have become supple indicating that summer is near.  In the big picture, before this generation has passed away, new and wonderful things will have taken place.

As Bette Midler sings in THE ROSE: Just remember that far beneath the winter snow lies the seed that in the spring becomes the rose.

The central mystery of our faith is the paschal mystery:  Dying and Rising of Christ Jesus and our sharing in this paschal mystery in the dying and rising we experience.

Ultimately, we deeply believe that in dying, we are born to eternal life.  That is the meaning of our funeral liturgy in which not only celebrate the memory of the deceased, but much more importantly we celebrate that the deceased now share in the fullness of the Lord’s Risen Life.

We prepare for the last day of our life by living this day in our lives with a profound awareness of our sharing in the Lord’s paschal mystery of dying and rising this day and every day.  What do I mean by that?  Our discipleship of the Lord Jesus leads us to embrace the cross daily, be willing to die to our self-centeredness and live more fully in the service and love of others.   In so doing, we are following in the footsteps of Jesus who washed the feet of his disciples and came not to be served, but to serve.

What happens for you when the person you have championed does not get elected?

What happens when you are disillusioned by spiritual and government leaders you have trusted?

What happens for you when addiction causes you or someone you love to lose control of their lives?

What happens for you when your doctor gives you test results that leave you numb?

What happens for you when you grieve the loss of someone you love?

And so on and so on.

 

The tire hits the road in the spiritual life when we do not have all the answers to the important questions, when we are not in full control of what happens, may these moments of questioning lead us to trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

 

Lord, prayer is trusting totally in your love, knowing with unshakeable confidence that heaven and earth will certainly pass away, but your love for us will not pass away.

Why the horrible imagery of apocalyptic imagery, especially now with the beautiful season of Advent just a few weeks away?

Maybe the liturgy is such so that we might find within us a need for relief from all the turmoil.  In other words, for the coming of the simple Christ child.

Maybe we always have the courage to trust in the grace of Jesus that is given to us.

 

In the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe!  Plans to give you a future full of hope.  When you call me, when you pray to me, I will listen to you and bring you back.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

Love of God and love of neighbor

 

 

Thirty First Sunday in OT B  2024

 

This coming Wednesday morning as you awaken, hopefully we will know who our next president will be. We will be overjoyed or perhaps we will be despondent.  As important as our political landscape is to how we live our lives, I suggest that the world will not come to an end, and may we have always have the context that a far more important event happened two thousand years ago in the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and on the day of our baptism when we received the life of Christ Jesus within us.

While the rhetoric leading up to election day is getting louder and louder and we should most definitely exercise our constitutional responsibility to vote.  Yet, our participation in the mystery of this Eucharist, our participation in the love and life of Christ Jesus is even more important than election day.

In today’s first Scripture reading from the book  of Deuteronomy, this is what Moses has to say, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

The connection between the words of Moses and the Gospel from Mark is very apparent.  Mark’s Gospel reading today builds on that teaching of love.  It links the Law of Moses to the teaching of Christ.  “One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, today’s message is the simple message at the heart of our faith, the command to love.  You are commanded to love God and to love everyone.

Now it is so significant  that Jesus is making this statement that the two great commandments are essentially connected with each other. Our love of neighbor grows out of and is an expression of our love of God.  If we really love God and pray, we will be led into active, generous love for someone who needs us.  The authenticity of our celebration of the Eucharist, the genuineness of the time we spend in Eucharistic adoration will be seen in the love and the service we share with one another. Our right and duty to vote responsibly is so important, but its importance grows our of our larger commitment to live life fulfilling the command of Jesus to love God and one another.

How do I and how do you show our love of God in the day to day moments of our lives?    Many of us need to confess that too often we live our lives devoid of our awareness of God’s presence in our life.  Too often we live  in a manner apparently that we don’t need God, we can shelf Him.  Sometimes, God can be likened to one of the applications on our iPhone to open and shut at will.

To borrow an analogy from our IPhone, in this liturgy, we humbly ask for the grace to experience God in our lives not as an application on the iPhone but rather to experience God as our very operating system by which everything else in our lives draws its existence and meaning.

So, as you continuously use your iphone throughout this day, ask yourself if God is merely an app on your phone or is your faith the very operating system by which you live your life.  Our relationship of God, our love of God and love of neighbor is the operating system of our spiritual journey.

Jesus said to Peter:  “Peter, do you love me?”

Peter says, “You know I love you. Why are you asking three times? Why are you asking me this?”

Jesus responds:  “Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep.”

Love is what drives this Church on. And love is what we have to begin to judge ourselves on. Not do we understand. Not do we read enough books or are we on top of career charts.

We have to learn how to love. And, of course, that’s what Jesus does.

Jesus has come not to teach us grammar, not to teach us the wonders of the world, Jesus has come to teach us how to love. Because we don’t know how. We think we know, but we still have much to learn.

Why?

Because love gives, love doesn’t take. There’s nothing in love that takes. It only gives and gives.

We worship God because He’s a giver. Have you ever noticed God doesn’t take anything from us. He gives and gives and gives.

And that is what He expects of us as Christians.

We’re not to ask what I get out of things. Will I get this? Will I go to heaven? Will I do this? Will I do that? This is a waste of time.

What matters is: will I learn to love, will I learn to appreciate, will I learn to walk through life knowing that everyone that I see is my brother and my sister and we are linked together in one long march through this life and into eternal life.

The question is not how high you make it in the world, how smart you are, your marks at school, even. The question is none of these things. These are secondary.

The question is can you love, are you afraid to love, are you running away from love, or are you going to follow Jesus’ love which finally leads to a cross? Jesus dies on a cross to tell us that there is only love in life that carries us through life into all eternity.

This is what God intends: that we learn how to love, that we learn how to care, that we learn how to sacrifice, that we learn how to become human beings.

And in all of this we are privileged to know that it is Jesus who has taught us, his children, and continues to teach us, for he is with us all our days, and the one thing he is teaching us is to learn how to love.

As Meister Eckhart has taught us, “At the end of the day, we are going to be judged by love alone.”

May God give us the grace to love God and to love one another.

 

 

Lord, that I may see.

 THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN OT B   2024

Today’s Gospel describes the beautiful miracle of Jesus giving sight to the blind man Bartimaeus.  In the account, Jesus asked Bartimaeus:  What do you want me to do for you?  He responded: “Lord, that I may see.”

In today’s liturgy, Jesus is asking us the same question that he asked Bartimaeus:  What do you want me to do for you?

Would like you to pause for a few minutes before you answer the Lord’s question to you.

In today’s Gospel, the disciples were the security guard for Jesus as He was leaving Jericho.  To keep some order and to keep people from bothering Jesus, the disciples kept people like the blind Bartimaeus at a distance.  The disciples basically told the blind beggar to shut up.  He was disturbing the peace.

The irony of this Gospel passage is that it was the disciples who were blind.  They had a spiritual blindness to the healing, merciful mission of Jesus.  They simply did not get it.  They were very content to leave people with disabilities as unnoticed people on the side of the road.

Yet, the ministry of Jesus was to reveal the merciful love of God to people in need.

Wondering if there is a message for us today.  Do we sometimes suffer from spiritual blindness and sometimes mistakenly try to keep Jesus from people in need?

I wonder if we faithful Churchgoers, starting with the pastor, sometimes act as the security guard for Jesus in the same way that the disciples did in the Gospel account.  Who are the people we tell to shut up, and we want to keep at a distance from our faith community?

Perhaps it is people who we judge are not living a moral life -- people with a different sexual orientation, people who have experienced separation and divorce in their married life, people we judge not to be living a Christ-like life, people we think are phonies, people who are disruptive to the ways we pray. 

Like the first disciples often we are unaware of the ways we can keep people from experiencing the merciful love of Jesus.

May the blind man Bartimaeus represent all the unnoticed people, all the forgotten, people with disabilities, and the people we try to shut up in very polite words. 

And may see have the spiritual sightedness to witness to the merciful love of Jesus to all who are in need.

As we pray over today’s Gospel, be aware of the physical blindness of Bartimaeus, and be aware also of the spiritual blindness of the disciples.  As we pray in the words of Bartimaeus, “Lord, that I may see.”  We pray for both physical and spiritual sightedness to the ways Jesus is present and the ways Jesus wishes to be present to all who are in need.

This week’s Gospel invites us to place ourselves along the way with the blind Bartimaeus.    How would you name your spiritual blindness -- contemplate and admit your own blind spots?  This is bit of a challenge for all of us because it is so easy to be unaware of our own blind spots.

Do we have a blindness to the unnoticed people on the side of the road that we so easily pass by?  How aware are we of the people near us in Church today?  What can we do to connect more fully with the people in our faith community?

Who is the person in our family life that we have built up a wall of blindness that makes it so difficult to reach out to?  Lord, that I may see how your grace can bring healing to this relationship?

A blind spot in our spiritual journey may be the blindness that keeps us from experiencing the merciful healing of Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  What is the last time we have experienced this sacrament?  What would it take for you to remove this spiritual blindness and know the forgiving love of Jesus in this beautiful sacrament?

The dialogue of Jesus with Bartimaeus is the dialogue Jesus has with us today.  Bartimaeus, like each of us, needs to be loved, and is fortunate to receive by Jesus a loving question.  Not “what do you want to do?” asks Jesus, but “What do you want me to do?”  It’s a question that comes from the heart of Christ and shows His compassion.

The Lord is asking us:  What do you want me to do for you?  May we respond with Bartimaeus: “Lord, that I may see.”  Let Bartimaeus be our guide.  He asks for the most important gift God can give.  May we see what is of real value in life.  May we know what is true.  May we judge rightly and walk confidently in the light of Christ. 

Notice in the account that the very first thing Bartimaeus sees when he is healed is the face of Christ.  To know Jesus is the key to the Christian life.   To know Jesus is to know God and our true self.

Bartimaeus’ prayer is answered.  Once he has seen Jesus’ face to face, there is no other life for him except to be with Jesus and to follow him.  He leaves behind his beggar’s cloak and joins Jesus and the other disciples on the way to Jerusalem.  Like a man in love, he has seen the face of his beloved, and there is no turning back.   May we too be cured of our blindness which keeps from seeing the face of Jesus.

What would it take for us to have a vision of life in which we trust that Jesus goes with us in all experiences of life?   What would it take for us to have a vision of ourselves as a faith community in which we welcome everyone as one who is made in the image and likeness of God, and there is room for everyone in our faith community?

Bartimaeus never gave up.  He was persistent.  He made known his request to God.  He was a man of faith.  In this account, he understood the mission of Jesus far better that the disciples did.

May we with the persistence of Bartimaeus ask the Lord that I may see.  May we see and experience the truth of our lives.  God’s love for us is unending.  Whatever anxiety we experience, whatever struggle we are dealing with, whatever disabilities hold us down, we all are the recipients of the abundant merciful love of Jesus.  Lord, that I may see how you are present to me in my time of need.

May God give you the gift of peace and beautiful sightedness.

What do you want me to do for you?

 

 

Twenty Ninth Sunday in OT  B  2024

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asked his disciples:  “What do you wish me to do for you?” 

 

There’s no doubt about it.  Competition is as keen today as it was during Jesus’ time.   Human nature hasn’t changed much in the last two millennia.  We are still driven to be No.1, to earn the most, achieve as much as we can, be recognized for our accomplishments, to have that seat at the “big table.”

 

Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Mark is filled with images of how difficult it is to be a disciple, a follower of Christ.  Jesus says a commitment to a spouse is a lifelong one, as discipleship to Christ must be a lifelong commitment.

 

Jesus goes on to teach the disciples that we must be willing to approach God with the innocence of a children, with total trust in Him.  He admonishes the rich man that he must sell all he has, give it to the poor, and he would have treasure in heaven.  Discipleship means being willing to give up all we have for the kingdom.

 

How often do we struggle with the same things?  When we are faced with issues in our relationships, are we willing to do all we can to meet our commitment to love one another as Christ loves us?  Are we willing to put our total trust in God, in God’s plan for us?  Are we willing to go where God leads us, without question, without doubt?  Can we meet the demand of discipleship by helping those on the fringes of society; feeding the poor; providing shelter to those in need’ welcoming the strange or the refugee reaching out to us?

 

Which brings us to today’s Gospel and the question James and John ask Jesus.  They most likely have reflected on the teaching of Jesus discussed above.  They have acknowledged that they are making a lifelong commitment to follow Him; they have put total trust in his message in in his ministry.  They have given us everything to follow the Lord.  They are saying recognize us for the disciples we war; allow us, when you come into your glory, to sit on either side of you; to sit in a position of respect and honor.

As to opening up his apostles to the true meaning of discipleship, Jesus must be disappointed, because they are thinking of power and glory and praise and all these great, wonderful things, and he is thinking of his own death.

 

And so he says to them,

“Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

 

The cup is the cup of suffering.  Are we able to be followers of the crucified Christ, the Christ who came not to be serve but to serve, the Christ who was willing to lay down his life out of love for each and everyone of us.

 

And then he says,

“or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

 

We usually think of a little child being baptized, a new life being baptized. Baptisms of infants is such a precious part of my ministry and brings much to all.

 

But the word baptism means “to be immersed in water.”

 

And the whole story of baptism is we are immersed and drowned in the waters that we might die to our old lives and be brought up out of the waters and live to the new life in Christ.

 

This is why I so prefer immersion baptism so that we may be immersed in the life giving water of Jesus.  But we must know that to be immersed in the life of Jesus in to enter into the paschal mystery – the dying and the rising of Jesus.

 

And so, Jesus knows that he is going to be baptized means that he must die, but in three days he will rise again.

 

James and John said: “We can drink of the cup and we can be baptized with the baptism,” not understanding at all what they are talking about.

 

But Jesus softens and he looks at them and he knows in the future they will return and he says to them, “Yes, someday you will have to drink the cup and someday you will be baptized in this kind of baptism.

 

“But to give you places in heaven, that is not for me to talk about, that is for the Father. It is the prerogative of the Father to speak of rewards, to speak of the things that you are crying out for so much.”

 

 

But the other disciples hear about it, and they protest.  Why do they protest?

They are jealous. They, too, want the first places at the table. They, too, want to be honored. They, too, want power. They, too, are in the competition game. They want to be winners and not losers — finally. They have been losing their whole life and now this man is going to make them winners.

 

And Jesus listens to them squabbling. These are the men that he’s going to found the Kingdom of God?

 

These are the men that want the authority of the world. As we well know, in this life, you do not rise high unless you want power, unless you are somewhat arrogant and forceful. It’s a world in which the authority of the world is based on might and power.

 

And Jesus is offering the authority of God.

And what is the authority of God?

 

The authority of God is not in domination. It is not in winning.

The authority of God is in loving. It is in silence. It is in quietness. It is in accompaniment, a quiet presence. It is in listening. It is in caring. It is in accepting.

It is learning how to love the way the Father loves, because the Father is a giver and not a taker. It is learning how to love the way Jesus loves, so great that he will lay his life down for his people.

 

And this great mystery, that we take so readily today into our own lives, is not understood, or not heard, by the Apostles.

 

And so it is Jesus comes together and he explains it to them. And he explains it to them in these words:

Jesus summoned them and said to them,
“You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their 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.”

 

 

 

May God give you the gift of peace and a missionary spirit of listening, of compassion, of caring, and loving as God loves us.

 

 

 

 

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

 

Twenty Eighth Sunday in OT  B  2024

 

I would be glad to have the rich young man in today’s Gospel account  as a parishioner of St Joseph’s.  What we know about him was that he kept the commandments.  He was a good rule keeper.  He was in Church every Sunday.  He contributed to the support of the parish and perhaps the CMA as well.  He probably would volunteer to serve on the parish council.  Sounds pretty good, does it not!  What is there not to like about this rich young man in the Gospel account?

He knelt before the Lord and asked the right question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?  Hopefully that is our question to the Lord in prayer as well.  Jesus looked on him with great love and said there is one thing you lack.  “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and then come follow me.”  Wow!  Talk about being asked to get outside your comfort zone.

Placing ourselves in the young man’s shoes as we come before the Lord, what  would we ask to inherit?  Would it be financial security for you and your family?  Would it be a vacation home?   Would it be good health for all the members of your family?  Would it be that you win the lottery?  Would it be that you find the perfect life partner?

Would eternal life be in the top three requests you make of the Lord?  Would it be in the top five or even in the top ten requests.  Eternal life is what the rich young man in the Gospel account asked for.    When we come to think of it, our relationship with God is the one thing we take with us into the next life – all else will be left behind.  Doesn’t it make sense to cultivate our relationship with God while we can?

 

We all need to ask the question the rich young man asked of Jesus.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  The rich young mas has a leg up on many of us as he responded to the Lord that has kept all the commandments.  I am very impressed by anyone who gets A plus in keeping the ten commandments.  Am I right?

 

How do we answer the Gospel demand when the Lord asks us: “You are lacking one thing.  Go. Sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me.”

This challenges us to ask what is our relationship with God?  What is the real treasure of your life?  What is the North Star for you that everything else is seen in relationship to it?

So, what is your treasure?  We all have treasures – what is yours?  It’s serious question.  What is your treasure?  What do you give your time, your energy, your love to mostly?

Your treasure may be your good reputation, your beautiful family, the job you are very successful at, your golf game, the Buffalo Bills or the fighting Irish of Noter Dame, or your hard-earned assets?

 

In the Gospel, the man with many possessions wasn’t able to let go of them in order to follow Jesus more completely.  I need to ask myself:  what possessions do I cling to?  Am I possessed by my possessions, or do I use what I have as an opportunity to serve and share with others?

 

What is my tipping point in terms of prayer??  What is my limit?  Is it the hour for Sunday Eucharist?  Does it happen 52 weeks a year?  How much time each day do I commit to prayer?  Is family prayer a part of my spirituality in any way?

 

If there was a competition to my use of social media and my addiction to the smart phone or to develop a life of prayer?  Would my time I spend in prayer each day match in any way my time with my smart phone?

 

What is my tipping point in sharing with those in need? -- whether in parish ministry, Penfield Hope, or responding to people in need anywhere?  How much time am I willing to share to be of service to others?

 

What is my tipping point in terms of treasure?  What percentage of income do I tithe?  Do I give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal?  What is my comfort zone with financial generosity?

Does the use of my time, energy, and resources indicate what are the important relationships of my life?

The first scripture reading is from the book of Wisdom:  the sacred writer prays   “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom was given me.”

 

May we be givent he wisdom indeed not to be possessed by our possessions.  May we use what we have to share with others.  This is the kind of wisdom we desperately needs.  The whole world needs this kind of wisdom.  Instead of using and violence to solve our differences, may we be given the gift of wisdom to value and to share all of God’s creation with one another.

The Gospel lesson is clear.  Our relationship with God must be our greatest, our prime relationship, the one which gives meaning to all our other relationships.  If it is not so for us, we doom ourselves to go hungrily seeking for substitutes which invariably disappoint – a succession of dashed hopes and new infatuations, leaning us empty and cynical.  When we come to think of it, our relationship with God is the one thing we take with us into the next life – all else will be left behind.  Doesn’t it make sense to cultivate our relationship with God while we can?

The invitation and challenge is clear.  Jesus is asking each one of us to give priority to God in our lives and to get rids of all that we love more than Him, everything which prevents us from saying yes to His wonderful invitation: “come, follow me.”

Have a Blessed Day.