Healed so as to serve

Saint Josephine Bakhita: Feast Day February 8

Homily: 5^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          Saint Josephine Bakhita was born in the Darfur region of South Sudan in 1869.  When she was seven years old, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery.  In the ensuing years, she was sold and resold to different slave owners, suffering physical and psychological abuse everywhere she went.  Bakhita was the name given to her by her first slave owner.  The abuse she received over the years traumatized her so much that she actually forgot the name that her parents had given her.  Finally, she ended up in the hands of an Italian ambassador, Callisto Legnani.  With this family, however, there was no abuse and Bakhita’s long journey of healing could begin.

          Because of political tensions in Sudan, ambassador Legnani had to leave Africa to return to Italy and, per Bakhita’s request, he brought her along with his family.  Upon returning to Italy, the Michieli family, who were friends of the Legnanis, requested that Bakhita stay with them.  Mr. Legnani agreed and when the Michielis gave birth to a daughter, Bakhita became her babysitter and friend.  When the Michielis were forced to move back to Africa for business, Bakhita and their daughter were entrusted to the Canossian Sisters of the Institute of Catechumens in Venice.  It was there that Bakhita would come to know God.

          After several months of prayer and study in the catechumenate, Bakhita received the Sacraments of Initiation, taking the name Josephine.  Not long after, the Michielis returned, having established their business back in Africa, to take their daughter and Josephine to be with them.  Josephine refused to go back to Africa, however, requesting to stay with the Canossian Sisters, instead.  Because Italian law had abolished slavery, the Michielis could not force her to go and thus she was granted her wish.

          Josephine stayed with the sisters; eventually following the call to enter religious life herself.  Six years after she was baptized she made her solemn profession as a Canossian Sister.  For the next fifty years, she humbly and dutifully served her fellow sisters and those with whom she came in contact through the sisters’ apostolate.  All who knew her knew the joy that radiated from her in every encounter.  She was known to say “Be good, love the Lord, and pray for those who do not know him. What a great grace it is to know God!”  In her, we today find the inspiring story of a woman set free from oppression and slavery through Christian action who then turned to offer herself completely in service to God.

          In our Gospel reading today, we hear a story with a similar outcome.  Having taught in the synagogue in Capernaum (where he freed a man from an “unclean spirit”), Jesus returned to the house of Simon and Andrew.  Simon’s mother-in-law lay seriously ill with a fever.  When they told Jesus about her, he went to her and healed her.  Then the Gospel says that “she waited on them.”  Viewed in the light of St. Josephine’s story, we can make these correlations: Simon’s mother-in-law was “enslaved” by an illness; Jesus’ disciples, having seen him cast out the unclean spirit just hours before, “immediately” tell him about her; Jesus approaches her and sets her free; and she, in her freedom, then chooses to serve.  In other words, set free by Jesus whom they encountered through the actions of his disciples, these women then freely chose to subject themselves in service to others.

          Although slavery is almost universally abolished, millions of men and women throughout the world still suffer from it.  Every day men and women are forced into oppressive work or, worse yet, are bought and sold as sex slaves to feed humankind’s exponentially growing lust.  In our own state, and even in our own county, addiction to alcohol, heroin, and prescription pain killers has enslaved many of our own family members and friends.  For many of these persons, life looks a lot like Job describes in our First Reading today: a drudgery, with days like those of hard labor with no relief in sight, and in which hope of ever experiencing happiness again has disappeared.

          Therefore, more than ever, these men and women need help to be set free.  As Christians, our first recourse is always to prayer, in which we beg the Lord Jesus to come to them, to help them up, and set them free.  Our work never ends there, however; for then we must act in the world and draw close to them, like Saint Paul did, making himself a “slave to all”—that is, becoming “all things to all”—so that, through our Christian action, these brothers and sisters of ours might actually be set free.

          Set free, therefore, by our prayer and our action, these men and women can then choose to serve, like Simon’s mother-in-law did and like Saint Josephine did: for having been loved, most people will choose then to return love through service to others, because Jesus assures us that “there is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

          My brothers and sisters, as a people set free by the love of Christ, who came close to us when he became one of us, and who remains close to us, especially here in this Eucharist, we must act to be his hands and his feet that draw close, in prayer and in action, to those still enslaved, so that they, too, might be set free and thus “know the freedom of the sons [and daughters] of God.”  Even as Saint Paul gave himself over freely (and free of charge) for the sake of the gospel, so that he might have a share in the blessings that come from it, so too we must bring this good news to those who are enslaved in our day; for we will only share in its blessings in proportion to the measure in which we have shared it with others.

          Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let us act so as to see the power of the Lord Jesus manifest: both throughout the world and right here in Cass County.  For when we do, we will begin to share in the blessings of the good news and, thus, when we return to this place, we will be inspired to sing, like the Psalmist in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.”

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – February 4^th, 2018

Pentecost and the Church's unifying mission

Homily: Pentecost – Cycle C

          Many of us, I dare say, remember the events surrounding the death of Saint John Paul II in 2005.  It was really extraordinary how, from the moment that news broke that he was approaching death, up to and through his death and his funeral, the world became fixated on the life of this man.  Those extraordinary few weeks also gave us a brief glimpse of mankind somewhat united as men and women throughout the world watched with and prayed for this man who had had such an impact on the world.

          It was counted that more than three thousand foreign journalists descended upon Rome as John Paul II was dying; and, almost overnight, hundreds of media broadcast tents sprang up on the outskirts of Vatican City.  This worldwide media gave around-the-clock coverage to viewers across the globe, to people of every age and ethnic group.  Then, during the week before the funeral, it was estimated that 2 million pilgrims paid their last respects in person to the pope as he lay in state: some of them waiting in line up to 24 hours to do so.

          On the night before the funeral, more than 800,000 pilgrims spent the night praying and waiting in the streets and plazas of Rome.  Most of these were young people who had come to the Vatican from all five of the continents.  All night long you could see them waiting in line for confession at makeshift, outdoor confessionals that Rome's priests had set up on doorsteps and under lamp posts.

          The funeral itself was followed closely by millions via television and radio and the amount of world leaders who were present was extraordinary.  It included four queens, five kings, seventy prime ministers or heads of government, and more than 100 other recognized dignitaries.  Dozens of Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish leaders joined them, as well.  Yes, one wouldn’t have been exaggerating if they would have said that the funeral of Saint John Paul II looked and sounded like Pentecost.

          Many of us might be surprised to discover however, that Pentecost is not a Christian festival in origin.  Rather, it was a Jewish festival (which is why it is named as if it already existed in the Acts of the Apostles).  For the ancient Jews, Pentecost was one of the top three religious holidays (known as “pilgrimage feasts”, because believers were expected to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to celebrate it).  Pentecost was known also as the feast of “weeks” because it falls seven weeks (or 50 days) after Passover.  (The word “Pentecost”, in fact, comes from the Greek word for “50”.)  For the Jewish people, this feast celebrates two important things: things that make it fitting to be the day on which the Holy Spirit descended from heaven to give birth to the Church.

          First, on Pentecost, the first fruits of the spring grain harvest were offered to God in a special sacrifice at the Temple.  Now, that may sound strange to us, because we live in a climate that has only one harvest each year.  In Palestine, however, they have two yearly harvests: one in spring and one in fall.  In this sense, it is appropriate that God sent the Holy Spirit to his Church in a public way on Pentecost.  This is because the Holy Spirit is the first fruit of the harvest of the New Covenant; and the New Covenant is Christ giving us a new, redeemed life of grace; and this life begins here on earth under the action of the Holy Spirit; and, just like the first sweet corn to come off of the stalks does not make the harvest, but is enjoyed and offered to those we wish to honor the most, so, too, the action of the Holy Spirit, which came as first fruits nearly 2000 years ago, will only reach its fulfillment—i.e. the full harvest—in heaven.

          The second thing that the Jewish festival of Pentecost celebrates is the commemoration of when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.  Soon after the Israelites had miraculously escaped from Egypt, God sent them the Law, which would be a guide for them on how they should live now that they were freed from slavery to Pharaoh.  And so, in this sense, too, it was appropriate that God sent his Church the Holy Spirit during Pentecost.  This is because the Holy Spirit is the bond of unity between the Father and the Son; and the Law of the New Covenant, that is, the Law of the Church, is unity.  Thus, the unifying power of the Spirit is the new “Law of the Covenant”, which descended upon the Church at Pentecost.  In a way, the descent of the Holy Spirit fulfilled the old covenant Law by making it universal.  For this reason, Saint Paul could write to the Corinthians and say that the Church is a body that has many parts yet remains one, united body.  Bringing unity, in Christ, to the divided human family; this is the work of the Church, which began on Pentecost and won't stop till history ends.

          If we think back now to the funeral of Saint John Paul II, we see a further illustration that this effort of the Church to reunite the human family continues today, symbolized by the architecture of the Church's most famous plaza, the place where Saint John Paul II’s funeral was celebrated: that is, Saint Peter's square, in Rome.  Almost a hundred thousand people can fit inside that plaza, which is as wide as three football fields and located in front of Saint Peter's Basilica.  It is constructed in the shape of a rectangle connecting the basilica's entrance with a huge oval space surrounded by almost 350 massive columns and pilasters.  If you look down at the plaza from above, those curved lines of columns surrounding the oval look like huge arms spread in welcome.  The artist who designed the plaza, Gianlorenzo Bernini, described this as a symbol of "the maternal arms of Mother Church".

          As we know, the arms of a mother are always ready to welcome all her children, both the ones who are already full members of the family, and those still looking for their spiritual home.  And these arms of Mother Church have indeed welcomed pilgrims from every continent, age group, and walk of life for the last 500 years—ever since this expanded plaza was first constructed.  And the crowds are still coming. Every Wednesday the Pope welcomes pilgrims to the plaza, and in the last two years the number of pilgrims in those audiences has averaged 20,000 per week.  The unity symbolized by this space even goes beyond the limits of time; because lining the columns and walls around the plaza are 140 taller-than-life-sized statues of saints: men and women, peasants and kings, hermits and housewives, who come from every period of history and every corner of the globe.   Again, this is the Church's work—reuniting the divided human family with God and with each other—a work that began on Pentecost.

          Now, there are many people, many of whom are non-Christians, who would agree that uniting mankind is a worthy goal.  In fact, there are many international lobbying groups who are dedicated full time to noble causes like achieving world peace, eradicating poverty, and reducing the sale of military weapons.  Indeed, the modern world is full of creative initiatives for unity.

          As Christians, though, our efforts are different.  This is because we aim not only at the symptoms of disunity, but at its cause.  The Church has taught us throughout its history that the fundamental cause of disunity in the human family is sin, the rebellion of the human heart against God.  “How can we all be united in one family,” she argues, “unless we all love and obey one Father?”  Now, we know that it wasn't the Apostles' human brilliance that enabled them to speak in foreign tongues on that first Pentecost, but rather that it was God's grace—the Holy Spirit—working in and through the Church.  And so, if we are to fulfill our role as members of this Church whose mission is building unity—that is, if we are to be active, efficient, and effective builders of unity in our families, schools, communities, and workplaces—then we must, first and foremost, be men and women of prayer.

          Prayer, my brothers and sisters, binds us firmly to God, so that through us his strength can bring together the scattered pieces of fallen humanity; and a mature prayer life makes us partners in the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.  Today, therefore, when the Holy Spirit renews his presence in us and in the world during this Mass, let's renew our commitment to becoming mature men and women of prayer, so that we can then become mature men and women of action and boldly advance the Church's beautiful and urgent mission to bring true unity to the human race: the unity in God’s Spirit that we hope one day to know fully in heaven.

Given at All Saints Parish, Logansport, IN – May 14^th & 15^th, 2016

Pray and Act to End Slavery

          Today (among other things) is the first annual day of prayer and awareness to end human trafficking.  Fitting that it falls on the liturgical feast day of Saint Josephine Bakhita, who herself was a victim of human trafficking.  Please go to the US Bishop's website for information on how you can become more aware of the problem of human trafficking and what you can do to help stop it (click on the "Become a SHEPHERD" link on that page).

          Most of all, pray!  Make known to Jesus the sufferings of these people and he will draw close to them to set them free.

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Homily: 5^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          Saint Josephine Bakhita was born in the Darfur region of South Sudan in 1869.  When she was seven years old, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery.  In the ensuing years, she was sold and resold to different slave owners, suffering physical and psychological abuse everywhere she went.  Bakhita was the name given to her by her first slave owner.  The abuse she received over the years traumatized her so much that she actually forgot the name that her parents had given her.  Finally, she ended up in the hands of an Italian ambassador, Callisto Legnani.  With this family, however, there was no abuse and Bakhita’s long journey of healing could begin.

          Because of political tensions in Sudan, ambassador Legnani had to leave Africa to return to Italy and, per her request, he brought Bakhita along with his family.  Upon returning to Italy, the Michieli family, who were friends of the Legnanis, requested that Bakhita stay with them.  Mr. Legnani agreed and when the Michielis gave birth to a daughter, Bakhita became her babysitter and friend.  When the Michielis were forced to move back to Africa for business, Bakhita and their daughter were entrusted to the Canossian Sisters of the Institute of Catechumens in Venice.  It was there that Bakhita would come to know God.

          After several months of prayer and study in the catechumenate, Bakhita received the Sacraments of Initiation, taking the name Josephine.  Not long after, the Michielis returned, having established their business back in Africa, to take their daughter and Josephine to be with them.  Josephine refused to go back to Africa, however, requesting to stay with the Canossian Sisters, instead.  Because Italian law had abolished slavery, the Michielis could not force her to go and thus she was granted her wish.

          Josephine stayed with the sisters; eventually following the call to enter religious life herself.  Six years after she was baptized she made her solemn profession as a Canossian Sister.  For the next fifty years, she humbly and dutifully served her fellow sisters and those with whom she came in contact through the sisters’ apostolate.  All who knew her knew the joy that radiated from her in every encounter.  She was known to say “Be good, love the Lord, and pray for those who do not know him. What a great grace it is to know God!”  In her, we today find the inspiring story of a woman set free from oppression and slavery through Christian action who then turned to offer herself completely in service to God.

          In our Gospel reading today, we hear a story with a similar outcome.  Having taught in the synagogue in Capernaum (where he freed a man from an “unclean spirit”), Jesus returned to the house of Simon and Andrew.  Simon’s mother-in-law lay seriously ill with a fever.  When they told Jesus about her, he went to her and healed her.  Then the Gospel says that “she waited on them.”  Viewed in the light of St. Josephine’s story, we can make these correlations: Simon’s mother-in-law was “enslaved” by an illness; Jesus’ disciples, having seen him cast out the unclean spirit just hours before, “immediately” tell him about her; Jesus approaches her and sets her free; and she, in her freedom, then chooses to serve.  In other words, set free by Jesus whom they encountered through the actions of his disciples, these women then freely chose to subject themselves in service to others.

          Although slavery is almost universally abolished, millions of men and women throughout the world still suffer from it.  Every day men and women are forced into oppressive work or, worse yet, are bought and sold as sex slaves to feed humankind’s exponentially growing lust.  More than ever, these men and women need help to be set free.  As Christians, our first recourse is always to prayer, in which we beg the Lord Jesus to approach them and set them free.  Our work never ends there, however; for then we must act in the world and draw close to them, as Jesus would, so that, through our Christian action, they might actually be set free.

          Set free, therefore, by our prayer and our action, these men and women can then choose to serve, like Simon’s mother-in-law did and like Saint Josephine did: for having been loved, most people will choose then to return love through service to others, because Jesus assures us that “there is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

          My brothers and sisters, as a people set free by the love of Christ, who came close to us when he became one of us, and who remains close to us, especially here in this Eucharist, we must act to be his hands and his feet that draw close, in prayer and in action, to those still enslaved, so that they, too, might be set free and thus “know the freedom of the sons [and daughters] of God.”  Even as Saint Paul gave himself over freely (and free of charge) for the sake of the gospel, so that he might have a share in the blessings that come from it, so too we must bring this good news to those who are enslaved in our day; for we will only share in its blessings in proportion to the measure in which we have shared it with others.

          Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let us act so as to see the power of the Lord Jesus manifest: both throughout the world and right here in Cass County.  For when we do, we will begin to share in the blessings of the good news and, thus, when we return to this place, we will be inspired to sing, like the Psalmist in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.”

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – February 7^th & 8^th, 2015