On this last Sunday of the church year, our crucified king hangs in our midst with arms outstretched in loving mercy and welcome.

FEAST OF Christ the King  2018

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 to them; 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 in our midst with arms outstretched in loving mercy and welcome.

            .

May we have the courage to ask him to remember us in his kingdom, the grace to imitate him in our own earthly kingdoms, and the wisdom to welcome his when he stands knocking at the doors of our lives and hearts.

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 those who have power or authority of any kind to compare their use of power or authority with Jesus. Are they using their power to serve others or to manipulate? Are they using their power for the building up of a more just society or to feather their own nest? Are they using their 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.

Even as we are confronted with the clergy sex abuse scandal, perhaps a root cause of this crisis is a clerical desire to give a royal, kingly definition to the Church – something which Jesus clearly rejects in the Gospel.  If we don’t define kingdom in the life of the Church in the same way that Jesus does – a church of humble service and love.  We run the danger of cover-op and the abuse of power.

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.  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.

Our faith is not an insurance policy that guarantees our life will be free of trouble; rather our faith in God is the only thing that will get us through the troubles that come in every life.

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 and darkness as the days grow shorter.  Snow is on the ground.  Additionally, the liturgy calls us to consider the end times as we approach the end of the liturgical year.  All things come to an end.

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.”

They 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 like our world is falling apart, for those who trust in Jesus, the message is always one of hopefulness.

The primary reason for apocalyptic literature, such as this reading from Mark, is to offer hope to those who feel there is no hope in sight.  This literature arises from a community that is facing deadly force and serious threats.  Yet even if the situation seems impossible, God will prevail.

Today Pope Francis has declared November 18^th to be the World Day for the Poor.  We are to share what we have to provide for the needs of others.  For the poor, the rejected and the marginalized, their poverty can make it seem that their world is falling apart.  The apocalyptic message of hope for all people is that no one is excluded from the Father’s love.  The hope Jesus offers is the hope he lived.  Jesus transformed the poverty of people’s lives into occasions of grace and healing.

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

            --we lost our job;

--our spouse proved unfaithful;

            --we fell into serious sin.

            --we learned we were seriously ill;

            --we lost someone dear to us;

--the clergy sexual abuse scandal has rocked our trust in the Church’s leadership;

--the dividedness of our political leaders leaves us wondering whether genuine dialogue is possible in the halls of Congress.

Our world fell apart—the sun was darkened; the moon lost its brightness.

But you did not abandon us, Lord God.   In the midst of turmoil, we receive a great grace.  We understand for the first time the meaning of our faith.  Faith in Jesus is the certainty that God can transform any situation into an occasion of grace.

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.

Today’s readings are apocalyptic.  Apocalypse is promise.  The apocalyptic mindset proclaims that the worst of times will give birth to the best of times.

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.

Our prayerful Gospel question is where do you see the tender branches and sprouting leaves that reveal Christ’s presence?  Yes, there is darkness in our world.  But God’s promise is the worst of times will give birth to the best of times.  The cross leads to the resurrection.  It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

As you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family this week, may you experience God’s presence in the love and joy and gratitude that characterizes your family life.  For you, they are the tender branches on the fig tree revealing God’s promise to us that his love for us is unending.

As we gather now to celebrate the Eucharist and to be fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord, may we know that Jesus is the North Star of our lives and no matter happens, the love of Jesus for us is unending.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the readings call our attention to the last things – the end of the world and the end of our own lives.  How do we approach and prepare for our going home to the Lord? 

I guess there are many ways for us to prepare for our ultimate encounter with the Lord.  The Gospel message is that God’s promise of faithfulness is firm.  We read in our newspapers daily about places that seem devoid of hope.  We see faces of bewildered children caught in circumstances over which they have no control.  We all know that every death on any side of the conflict of war brings loss to someone’s family, someone’s parent, or someone’s child. 

Our message of hope is found in today’s psalm response:  “You will show me the path of life, you, my hope and my shelter.”  This reminds us that we can be certain that God is found in darkness.  God is near, walking beside us, calling us to live lives of justice and peace so that the Gospel may be carried to all the places where we go.  The Gospel invites us to do the right thing no matter what. 

The Gospel gives the motivation to trust in Jesus.  Faith alone gives us the perspective to see that our current troubles are not “the end of the world.”  By trusting in God, we can successfully navigate the troubled waters of any earthly storm.  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.

Have a Blessed day.

Real Poverty allows us to know our need for God.

Still very much conscious of my recent pilgrimage to Tanzania, to St. Mary’s School in Mazinde Juu, to this land of considerable poverty, I experienced such a beautiful faith in the high school students at St. Mary’s School, in the dedicated faculty, and in Father Damien Milliken.  They were such beautiful examples to me of people of faith, who in their simplicity of lifestyle, witnessed to their trust that a loving God accompanies them every step of the way.

This same powerful message is found in the widows in today’s Scriptures.  In the first Scripture reading from the book of Kings, the prophet Elijah was asking the poor widow of Zarephath first for a cup of water and then for a bit of bread.

If we are to understand the widow of Zarephath, we need to notice something about her that has not been probably part of our experience:  she is starving.  She and her son have strictly rationed themselves as their store of food diminished.  Meals would have gotten fewer and fewer.  She and her son must have been wasting away long before they got to the last handful of flour.

Yet when a stranger asked her for something to eat, she looked him in the face – and did not say no.

Would we have the compassion of the widow of Zarephath who was worried not just about herself but about her son a well.  She gave to the stranger the food she had saved for her son.

There is such an important lesson here.

To give from our livelihood is not only an act of generosity; it is also an act of trust in God.  We can give from our need only if we trust that God will provide for us.  Jesus himself demonstrates the ultimate act of generosity and trust in God as he gives his life for us on the cross.

And as the Scripture tells us, she was rewarded for that trust in God: “her jar flour did not run dry.”

When does our giving and giving generously challenge us that we have to trust in God for that next bit of bread? 

If we really love God and pray, we will be lured into active, generous love for someone in need.

Thirty First Sunday in OT  B  2018

In the scriptures this weekend, our first reading is from Deuteronomy chapter 6, an iconic passage for the Jewish people. This passage is so important to the Jewish people that they nail it to their doors and at times even wear little containers with this passage on their foreheads. 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. “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.”

The two great commandments are essentially connected with each other.  If we really love God and pray, we will be lured 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.

I would like to share with you a bit of my recent trip to one of the poorest regions in all of Africa, the area of Mazinde Juu in Tanzania.  A necessary background to my experience is the story of a young boy who grew up in a humble family in Elmira, New York.  He was one of 14 children.  His father was a journalist for the Elmira, Gazette.  The love of God was deep in the heart of this young man, and he had a desire to become a priest, a Benedictine priest.  His name is Damien Milliken.  He is now Father Damien and has spent the last 57 years of his life as a priest in Africa, in Mazinde Juu in Tanzania.

He has started a number of schools in Tanzania to give young girls an educational and spiritual opportunity that they would not otherwise have.  From October 8^th to the 20^th, I and five other parishioners from St. Joseph’s had the opportunity of spending time with Father Damien, the religious sisters of Usambara who staffed St. Mary’s School, and a I,000 high schools girls at St. Mary’s.  This school is a residential school where the girls live here in the academic year, and the school is situated on the side of the mountain surrounded by significant poverty in this area of Tanzania.

Try to imagine at 6:00 am each and every morning, 1,000 high schools at Mass singing and praying in a fashion so very beautifully.  For the purpose of comparsion, try to imagine everyone here in our Church singing the opening hymn with full voice and then multiply that by more than three times and you will get a sense of the angelic voices of these girls.  The only musical instrument in the Church was a young girl in the choir loft beating some drums with all her heart.  Even our Christmas Eve liturgies would be challenged to match for the spiritual vibrancy of the weekday Mass at St. Mary’s School.

More than that, these girls were present at the liturgy and throughout the school day with much joy in their hearts and so thankful for the opportunity they have to learn and grow and to be together.  My heart was so touched by the way these girls loved God and loved one another.

I tell you all this as an inspiring example of how this young boy from Elmira, New York lived out his love of God.  Father Damien is now in his 80’s still providing incredible leadership and love and prayer for many, many Tanzanians who are now given opportunities for academic and spiritual growth flowing from a young boy’s desire to show his love for God.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us about the way of love in his words and in his life.  Father Damien has shown me and so many others that his love of God led him to love and serve the poor on a humble mountainside in Tanzania.

How do I and how do you show our love of God in the day to day moments of our lives?  Perhaps for us, it is the best of times and in the worst of times; it is the season but it can also be the season of darkness.  Isn’t it true we all have to confess at times that when we need God, we spend time with God.  But then when apparently 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.

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.

In the dismissal rite of the Mass, the priest says:  Go in peace glorifying God by our lives.  We respond:  Thanks be to God.  We also need to respond by witnessing to our love of God in all the ways we love and service of one another.

Our Eucharistic spirituality is lived out in our home, in our neighborhood, in our work place, in our schools and in all of life.  Do we treat with love and respect the incidental people of our lives – the people we meet at Wegman’s, or on the street as we are driving, or the people in front of us in a waiting line?  As we prepare to vote this Tuesday, what values motivate us in the people we choose to elect to be our government leaders?  As members of the faith community of the Church of the Holy Spirt, are we a parish community that is identified by our love and service to people in need.  What needs still for us to us to be a faith community that shows our love of God in the way that we love one another?

Father Damien went from Elmira, New York to the eastern rural region of Tanzania in his witnessing to God’s love in his life.  May we too in the neighborhoods of Penfield and Webster witness to the love of God in the ways we serve the needs of one another.

.