A New Pentecost for a New Evangelization

Homily: Pentecost – Cycle C

As you all remember, this past week Fr. Neterer and I were at our biennial priest convocation down in Brown County State Park.  It was a lovely couple of days to be away with our brother priests.  At the convocation, there is always a speaker that speaks on some theme of priestly life and ministry.  This year, our speaker was Dr. Ralph Martin, an author and professor of theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit.

I have to say that Dr. Martin was quite refreshing.  He shared with us his story of how he ended up as an author and seminary professor and I was edified that his path began in relatively normal circumstances.  For example, the Holy Spirit first touched his heart when he participated in a Cursillo weekend.  All of you who are Cursillistas, or who have been through Christ Renews His Parish or even an Antioch retreat, have had very similar experiences to the one that opened Dr. Martin’s heart to the grace of a spiritual awakening.  He spoke very plainly and humbly, and he was a great witness to us.  And, after sharing his witness, he spoke to us about the New Evangelization.

The “New Evangelization”, if you’ve never heard of it before (or, if you have, but don’t understand what it is), is something for which our Popes have been calling for the last 40 years or so.  If you think that it has something to do with going out and finding people who have never heard of Jesus to tell them about Jesus and the saving news of the Gospel, then you will have thought well, but you will have thought wrong.  The New Evangelization is not about evangelizing those who have never heard of Jesus Christ (though that work is still necessary), but rather about evangelizing those who are already in the Church.  Sounds strange, perhaps, but here’s what it means:

Since the Second Vatican Council, it seems, there has been a disconnect between the initiation of men and women to the faith and their evangelization.  In other words, we’ve sacramentalized millions of people (meaning, we’ve given them the sacraments), but we’ve done a poor job of introducing them to the person of Jesus (that is, the person for whom and through whom they have been sacramentalized).  In the past, this didn’t seem to be so big of a problem, since the surrounding culture supported and encouraged men and women to continue the practice of the faith, even if they didn’t always have an understanding of the relationship with God that their practice maintained.  Today, the cultural support for religious practice has disappeared (in fact, it has become hostile to it); and so, those who have been sacramentalized but not evangelized fall away from the faith since they see no underlying reasons to continue to practice it.  The New Evangelization calls us to take up the task of evangelizing the baptized so that the sacramental grace that they have received may become active in their lives and draw them back into the practice of the faith.

Perhaps some of you are thinking to yourselves, “surely it is not I, Father, who hasn’t been evangelized?”  Well, chances are that a number of you sitting here this morning do fall into this category.  If so, don’t worry.  It is not a sin to be sacramentalized and not evangelized, if it happened due to no fault of your own.  And most of the people who fall into this category have already left the practice of the faith, anyway, so they wouldn’t be here (and certainly not at 7:30 in the morning!).  Regardless of whether you’d count yourselves among the evangelized or the merely sacramentalized, there is a message for us here today.  That message is the connection between Pentecost and the New Evangelization.

Dr. Martin, echoing the Popes all the way back to John XXIII, said that the New Evangelization demands a new Pentecost.  Just as the first evangelization began when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in the Upper Room, so too will the New Evangelization take flight when the Church, on a large scale, calls for the Holy Spirit to descend upon her again.  This has already begun in a smaller scale as Ecclesial Movements like the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Cursillo (and all its permutations), and the Neo-Catechumenal Way have found a footing in the Church and are evangelizing the baptized: that is, helping men and women—long since baptized—to find and establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  We have these movements here in the Midwest—some right here in Lafayette—and so if something is stirring in you right now as you hear about these evangelizing groups, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to connect you to them.  All of these groups rely heavily on calling on the Holy Spirit to enlighten them, to guide them, and to strengthen them in their efforts to evangelize.

Nonetheless, you do not have to be a part of an ecclesial movement to participate in the New Evangelization; our scriptures today show us that.  In our second reading, Paul, writing to the Church in Corinth, says “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit”.  Did you hear that?  He said, “to each individual...”  That means that each and every one of you here—if you have been baptized—has been given a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  And so, there’s no one here (again, if you’ve been baptized) who can say, “Oh, that Holy Spirit stuff is for other folks, not me.”  Each of us has been given a manifestation of the Spirit, “for some benefit”.  If we don’t know what those spiritual gift or gifts might be, then our task is to call on the Holy Spirit to enlighten us to those gifts so that we can begin to manifest them for the benefit of the kingdom of God, which has, at its root, the evangelization of peoples.  If we remember the Gospel parable of the talents, we remember that the master did not look kindly on the one who hid his talent instead of trading with it so as to multiply it.  So, too, it will be with us who have been given a manifestation of the Spirit for some benefit, but then failed to discern that gift and to apply it for the building of the kingdom.

And so, how do we come to know those spiritual gifts?  Well, the simple way is to call on the Holy Spirit regularly!  “Come, Holy Spirit” is a great prayer to the Holy Spirit that anyone can pray.  In our Gospel, today, however, Jesus shows us another way to open ourselves to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  He says: If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always...  The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”  In other words, if we love Jesus and keep his commandments, then Jesus himself will take care of sending the Spirit to us.  I like this method, because it keeps us focused on fostering our own relationship with Christ, which will be essential in any evangelizing work that we are given.  It also reminds us, however, that we cannot expect to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit if we refuse to turn away from our sins: that is, if we fail to keep the commandments of the Lord.  Thus, it is a constant urging to turn away from sin and be cleansed of it (especially in Confession) so as to remove all barriers to the Spirit’s manifestation in us.  Thus prayer, in which we communicate with Jesus daily, and frequent reception of the sacraments, are keys to unlocking the outpouring of the Spirit in us.

Friends, on this holy day—and at the end of this holy season—let us be bold in asking for a New Pentecost so that the work of the New Evangelization might be accomplished through us: the work of bringing our brothers and sisters to (or back to) the practice of the faith through a personal relationship with Jesus.  For it is this work that will make us saints; and it is this work that will usher in the day when Christ will return, in all his glory, to take us home to himself.  Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – June 9^th, 2019

Remain faithful to the grace of God

Homily: 4^th Sunday in Easter – Cycle C

Friends, this weekend we are celebrating a number of wonderful things: namely, the World Day for Vocations and Mother’s Day.  We also call today “Good Shepherd Sunday”, since the Gospel reading for the day, regardless of which year in the three-year cycle of readings we are in, is taken from the “Good Shepherd” discourse in John’s Gospel.  Certainly, there are many great things to preach on today, but I am going to focus in on a phrase from our first reading that, hopefully, will give us something to take home with us to ponder and to work on this week.

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of Paul and Barnabas making their way to Antioch to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the community there.  Being Jews, they went straight to the synagogue to proclaim to God’s chosen people that the long-awaited Messiah had come: Jesus of Nazareth, who was persecuted and put to death, but rose from the dead on the third day and now lives, having taken his place at the right hand of God in heaven.  They came to proclaim to the Jews in Antioch that it is only in the name of Jesus that they can find salvation.  From the sound of it, they found a positive reception that first sabbath day as it says that many who were there began to follow them.

To those who began following them, Paul and Barnabas spoke to them and urged them to “remain faithful to the grace of God.”  This phrase—remain faithful to the grace of God—struck me as important.  Of all of the things that Paul and Barnabas could have told the ones who were beginning to follow them—for example, “go learn to pray”, or “go study the scriptures”, or “go serve the poor”—they chose to urge them to “remain faithful to the grace of God”.  I think that this is a great Easter message for all of us and it’s a theme that connects with our other readings today.

In the second reading, we continue to hear of John’s visions, recorded for us in the book of Revelation.  In this vision, we see a great multitude of people, too many to count, who are identified as “the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”.  This description is “New Testament speak” for the martyrs: those who have shed their blood for Christ.  And what does “having survived the time of great distress” mean, except that they “remained faithful to the grace of God”?  These who are identified as martyrs—and who, therefore, stand before the throne of God (that is, who stand in heaven)—are the ones who have remained faithful to the grace of God and, therefore, enjoy the reward for their faithfulness.

In the Gospel reading, we hear Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish”.  He continues to say, “No one can take them out of my hand.”  This is a beautiful truth about Jesus as the true Good Shepherd.  What isn’t revealed here, however, is that, while no one can take one of Jesus’ sheep from him, his sheep, nonetheless, can wander away on their own.  Jesus’ promise is amazing and should give hope to everyone who comes to him; but it should also stir in us a desire to “remain faithful to the grace of God”, so that, having become a member of Jesus’ flock, we don’t find ourselves having drifted away from him and no longer able to hear his voice.  For when we can no longer hear his voice—that is, when we have failed to remain faithful to God’s grace—then we are no longer protected by his promise.

Friends, this really is the ongoing message of this Easter season.  Having feasted on the joy of Jesus’ resurrection, we perhaps find ourselves like those first followers of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch: excited but not quite sure what to do next.  To us the same instruction is given: “remain faithful to the grace of God”.  What does this mean for us?  Surely it means “Do not return to your life of sin”.  Sin is incompatible with the grace of God and so for us to return to the sin that we strove to leave behind during Lent would be an infidelity to the grace given to us by God (which, in point of fact, helped us to break free from that sin in the first place).  I would say that it also means to be docile to the Holy Spirit.  The grace of God, which we received at baptism, is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  This Spirit dwells in us to guide us and point us to God’s will for our lives.  He is not forceful, however.  We may choose not to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but rather choose to follow our own will: in which case we stray from Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and make ourselves vulnerable to being overcome by the Evil One who seeks to separate us eternally from God.  If we make ourselves docile to the Spirit, however, we remain faithful to the grace of God and, thus, close to the protecting hand of Jesus.  Thus, enabling us to walk more confidently: ready to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen.

Finally, I might also add, on this World Day for Vocations, that “remaining faithful to the grace of God” is also the way that we come to know and follow our vocation: whether that be to the priesthood or the diaconate, to the consecrated religious life, to marriage, or to the consecrated single life.  We cannot expect to know God’s will, which is made known to us through grace, unless we remain faithful to God’s grace throughout our lives.  Oh, and by the way, holy vocations foster other holy vocations!  Therefore, if you want to promote vocations to the priesthood, then remain faithful to the grace of God in your own vocation!  When young people see others leading joy-filled lives while following God’s will, it will inspire in them a desire to know that same joy in their own lives and they, too, will begin to discern God’s call.

Therefore, friends, let us spend some time this week reflecting on whether or not we have “remained faithful to the grace of God”; and, if we haven’t, to turn back to our commitment to do so.  In this way, we will stay attuned to the voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd who leads us to eternal life, and we will also be great witnesses—that is, martyrs—to the joy of a life united to Christ, which will lead others to him, so that there may truly be “one flock” and “one shepherd” throughout the world.  May God bless us all in this good work.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – May 12^th, 2019

"King of the Hill" through service

Homily: 29^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          In general, it seems that boys have a pretty competitive nature.  Couple that with a lively imagination and pretty much any situation in which two or more boys find themselves together and somewhat free from close supervision and you can be pretty sure that some sort of competition will emerge.  This is certainly not limited to boyhood, of course.  Rather, it seems to freely continue well into adulthood (men, am I right?).  One of these competitions in which boys always seem to find a way to engage is “king of the hill.”

          Whether it’s a jungle gym, a pile of dirt, or even a pile of trash, just the sight of something that can be climbed and conquered seems to awaken inside of a boy a “primal urge” to overcome it.  If more than one boy is around, the competition goes beyond just trying to conquer the hill and becomes a competition between boys for who can stay on top of the hill.  As soon as one reaches the summit, another seems to come to usurp his claim as king and to claim it as his own.  Mostly, of course, this is harmless competition that is good for boys (and, often, girls) to engage in, though I seem to remember that it often ends with scrapes and bruises (and probably a few tears): all in the name of being crowned “king” among your peers.

          The Apostles James and John have demonstrated for us today the truth that we really don’t grow out of that competitive spirit as we become adults.  While in the Gospels—and particularly the Gospel of Mark—we are often treated with gaffs from their headstrong leader Peter, today we see these two—the sons of Zebedee—sticking their feet into their mouths because they wanted to be crowned “king of the hill.”  In a bold move for the summit, they approach Jesus, ask to be given whatever they ask for, and then proceed to lay claim to what they think are the most prominent positions in Jesus’ kingdom: to be seated at his right and at his left.  In part, they make a beautiful act of faith, for by asking for the places of honor in Christ’s kingdom, they are affirming their belief that he is a king and that his kingdom will soon be realized.  What they revealed, however, is a lack of understanding of what God’s kingdom would look like.

          I imagine Jesus giving them one of those looks—you know, when you raise your eyebrow just a bit so as to say, “Are you really asking that?”—and he responds to them saying, “Do you really know what you are asking for?  Do you realize what it will demand of you?”  James and John, for their part, have already jumped off the cliff and so they realize that if they are going to crash they’re going to do so dramatically and so they respond, “Yes, Lord, we are ready to do it.”  Then Jesus hits them with the reality check and says, “Well, regardless you will face what I am getting ready to face, but those positions that you asked for, those aren’t mine to give, so sorry but I can’t promise them to you.”

          This exchange, of course, left the other ten Apostles upset at James and John (assumedly because they, too, wanted to be “kings of the hill”) and so Jesus seized this moment to take the opportunity to teach them a lesson about what his kingdom would truly look like.  He says that “Leaders of nations use their influence to dominate their people and make their people serve them.  But with you it must be different.  If you wish to have a prominent place among your peers, learn to serve them.  In fact, let the rivalry among you be about who can outdo the other in service.  Let my example be your guide: for I, your king, came to be a servant and to lay down my life for others.”

          We can imagine that these words hit home for the Apostles, especially James and John.  James, we know, became the leader of the Church in Jerusalem and the first among the Apostles to be martyred.  John, of course, we know as the “beloved disciple” of Jesus who took Mary into his home.  Both Apostles left us with inspired writings that demonstrate that what Jesus said that day truly took root in their hearts.

          My brothers and sisters, our task here today is to recognize that we are no different than James and John or any of the other Apostles.  We all harbor this sense of competition in our hearts and we all have fallen into the trap of wanting to be “king of the hill” so as to “lord it over” those around us.  Kids still ask their parents, “Which one of us is your favorite?”  Teenagers still strive to obtain and secure their place of prominence among the “cool kids.”  Adults still seek to connect themselves to people of influence, such as their boss or the mayor or a state or city representative.  And these are not necessarily bad things.  It actually seems to be quite natural to want to be connected to people we admire and who have influence in our lives.  The challenge for us, however, is in how we use those connections.

          My brothers and sisters, in Christ’s kingdom, greatness and power are not measured by the number of people that move according to your will.  In other words, you are not great when you stand on top of the hill and proclaim yourself “king.”  In Christ’s kingdom, rather, the great ones are those who help others reach the heights of that hill: those who help a kid learn math, or an immigrant learn English, or who give a job to a recovering alcoholic or drug addict, or reach out to a neighbor who just lost her husband after 50 years of marriage, or who invites a friend to Mass who hasn’t been for a really long time.  My brothers and sisters, these are the ones who will be greatest in God’s kingdom because they are the ones who have followed the way Christ laid out for us: to serve, not to be served, and to lay down one’s life for others.

          Here in late October, embroiled as we are in this “election season”, the battle to be “king of the hill” is dominating our lives.  Our task—as Christians and if we are able—is to elect those who seek to serve, not to be served, and then to live that example in our own lives.  My brothers and sisters, as we approach this “throne of grace”—on which Christ’s life, laid down for us, is presented to us—we are strengthened to go forth and to lay down our lives for our neighbors.  And so let us give thanks for this great gift; and then let us go forth in service to find our place on the hill of God’s kingdom.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – October 20^th & 21^st, 2018

The unexpected prophet

Homily: 15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          Fr. Ron Knott is a priest on the staff of Saint Meinrad Seminary where I received my formation for the priesthood.  A priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Fr. Ron celebrated his 48^th anniversary of his ordination earlier this year.  In some clergy circles, he’s becoming quite well-known for his work in the field of ongoing formation of priests and presbyterates.  Yet, he’s done so much more.  Before his work of teaching and forming seminarians for the priesthood, he directed and guided the discernment of seminarians for his own Archdiocese as its vocation director.  Before that, he led a multi-year, multi-million dollar revitalization program for the Archdioceses’ cathedral parish, which not only included a renovation of the cathedral church, but also generated projects for revitalizing the surrounding neighborhood in downtown Louisville.  Before that, he worked in the home missions in poor, rural Kentucky, building a sturdy parish family off of the just four or five registered Catholics who were in the entire county when he arrived.  Without doubt, in his 48-plus years of priesthood, Fr. Ron has made a positive impact on both his home Archdiocese and on priests and presbyterates throughout the country.

          Yet, one might have never suspected such things from the young man who, by his own report, was so deathly afraid to speak in front of people that he once hid on a fire escape to avoid a presentation he was expected to make.  No, even though now he can be a bit gregarious, he does not exactly fit the mold of the charismatic prophet, such as we might find on Sunday morning Tele-evangelist programs.

          The prophet Amos was not your typical prophet either.  Back in ancient Palestine, there were actually guilds of “professional” prophets.  These were not “soothsayers” purporting to see into the future, but rather individuals—often employed by kings—who were skilled in discerning the gods’ response to current events.  These were not unlike the “political advisors” employed by public officials today.  Although it may sound quite odd to us, back then it was a legitimate way to make a living: not unlike being a part of any of the professional guilds of skilled labor that exist today.

          The hazard of the profession was that the only way to know if your prophecy was true was to wait and see what happened.  Thus if a certain employer was anxious about the potential negative consequences of a certain situation, he might take offense at a prophet that comes to tell him that what he fears is the likely course of events.  And so, on the flipside, prophets would often be tempted to compromise their professional integrity by telling their employer what they wanted to hear instead of what they discerned the true response to be.

          And so, like I said, Amos didn’t fit this bill.  God had called him from his work tending sheep and dressing sycamore trees to go into the Northern Kingdom of Israel (from his home in the Southern Kingdom of Judah) to prophesy the coming danger for the people of that kingdom.  Needless to say, it wasn’t received well up north.  The reading tells us that Amaziah—the priest, of all people (talk about a little stab to the heart right there!)—was trying to get rid of Amos, because he didn’t want to hear the message from God that Amos came to bring.  This priest accused Amos of trying to scam his way into being paid for his prophecy, to which Amos responded: “I’m no prophet.  I’m a shepherd called by God to bring you this word.  If you don’t like it, take it up with him.  I’m just responding to what God has called me to do.”  Amaziah, the priest, then, couldn’t escape the fact that Amos had nothing to gain by making this prophecy and thus that his prophecy truly must have come from God.

          In the Gospel reading we heard of a similar type of call.  We heard how Christ called the twelve apostles and sent them out to preach his message.  These were certainly no guild prophets—they were fishermen, zealots, and tax collectors—but Christ sent them out anyway.  And he instructed them to take only the barest of necessities: the tunic they were wearing, a walking stick and sandals.  For the rest, they were to rely on whatever was shared with them by those who received the message they were bringing; and this was so the people would know that they were not professional prophets.  Like Amos before them and Fr. Ron after them, these men were not what the people expected a prophet to be.  The irony, of course, is that this made them all the more trustworthy to those who were truly anticipating the coming of the Messiah.

          My brothers and sisters, God has not stopped calling prophets to carry his messages to his people.  And he certainly hasn’t limited his gift of prophecy to his ordained ministers.  Rather, he continues to call the unassuming: the bank clerk, the insurance broker, the mechanic, the hog farmer and the feed corn supplier—and he continues to send us out to bring his message to his people.  How we realize that ministry in our lives and as a faith community takes prayer and discernment—both individually and collectively—but make no mistake, by virtue of our baptism, we are all called.

          To respond, of course, is not always easy.  Rather, it takes an act of faith to give ourselves over to this call.  But, as the prophet Amos, the twelve apostles, and Fr. Ron has shown us, you don’t have to be a professional prophet to go.  You only need a willingness to do God’s will and the trust that God has provided the message.

          Thankfully, we have the Eucharist—God’s presence among us—to nourish us and strengthen us for this holy work.  May the grace we receive here today free us from whatever fears we might have that keep us from engaging this holy work and may it strengthen us to carry this Good News to those to whom God has sent us.

Given at Saint Mary Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – July 15^th, 2018

The Gospel of the Ascension

Homily: The Ascension of the Lord – Cycle B

          Friends, today we celebrate this great feast of the Ascension: the final, culminating act of our redemption.  This is not, of course, the crucial act: that was Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  Rather, it is the culminating act: the ultimate reason for which Jesus took on our human flesh; and that is, to re-unite our humanity to God.  This, of course, is a joyful thing.  I mean, just think about your humanity for a moment.  Think about what happens when you don’t take a shower or a bath for a couple of days.  Think about changing diapers on babies or when they spit up on your shoulder.  Our humanity—as we experience it in this world, at least—is a messy (and, quite frankly, often gross) thing.  Yet the Divine Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, took on our humanity, in all its grossness, suffered all of the worst things that it can experience in this world, and glorified it in his resurrection so that it could be restored to its perfect communion with the Holy Trinity: which is to say, into an existence of perfect and eternal bliss.

          Yet, in our Scriptures today, the greatness of this event does not seem to be the message.  The message, rather, seems to focus on the mission that Christ gives to his apostles.  In the first reading from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, we hear Jesus speaking about the Holy Spirit that Jesus will send to empower them to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Then, in our reading from the Gospel of Mark, we hear Jesus giving them his specific command: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”  Notice at the end of that reading, after it describes Jesus’ ascension, it doesn’t say “And the disciples sat around and marveled that Jesus has taken our human nature to be re-united with the Holy Trinity.”  Rather it says that “they went forth and preached everywhere”.  So why would the Scriptures spend so few verses on the Ascension and so many on the mission?

          This is because the Easter season is not only about celebration, but about preparation.  If you heard my homily last Sunday or any number of occasions over these past 40-some days, you’ll know that I’ve been encouraging us to consider this time of Easter as a time of preparation to be re-sent out on mission.  This is what the original “Easter Season” was, as the Acts of the Apostles records for us, saying: “He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”  What was this, but a preparation for being sent out to be his “witnesses … to the ends of the earth”?  Therefore, as I have said, if our celebration of Easter is going to be anything more than an excuse to eat our favorite foods that we gave up for Lent, and if our celebration of Pentecost is going to be anything more than a brief flash of red at church before going back to the green of Ordinary Time, then we, too, should have been preparing to renew our efforts to fulfill this great mission to proclaim the Gospel.

          But this begs the question… And what is the “gospel” (that is, “what is the “good news”)?  The Gospel is exactly that of which I spoke at the beginning of this homily: that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  “Wait, that’s not what you said at the beginning of the homily.”  Well, yes it is.  The Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ is what “giving his only Son” looked like; and restoring our humanity to its original glory so that it may dwell with God in eternal bliss once again (meaning that each of us with a human nature can also dwell with God in eternal bliss) is the ultimate result of this “good news”.

          Notice, for a moment, what the “gospel” isn’t: it isn’t that Jesus came to show us how to be good persons and, therefore, we are eternally grateful to him for it.  It is that our broken, messy, and often gross humanity has been perfected (that is, glorified) in Jesus Christ; and that, through him, we, too, can achieve and enjoy that perfection.

          Friends, if you need any sign that this gospel is needed in today’s world, you don’t have to look too far.  Did anyone watch the Met Gala last week (or at least see news reports about it)?  If you did, what you saw was disfigured humanity on display.  Not in any raucous bad behavior, mind you, but in how fashion designers proved infinitely capable of desecrating beautiful things while believing that they were improving upon them.  This kind of thinking—that we can perfect ourselves by our own ingenuity and, thus, have heaven right here—is our greatest modern plague; and it usually results in things looking more distorted (and, therefore, less perfect) than they were in the first place.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer for anyone who has gone down this dead-end road.

          Unfortunately, however, many people around us do not even know that there is anything more for which to hope than this disfigured humanity and our attempts to perfect it by ourselves.  Thus, we must be re-sent out on mission.  Just like Jesus’ first apostles, we, too, are called to be his “witnesses … to the ends of the earth” to bring this good news: that life is not just about how good you can make it in this world, but that it’s destined for something so much greater, as Jesus, in his ascension, has shown us.  We are witnesses when we live as Saint Paul exhorts us to live in today’s second reading when he says: “I … urge you to live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace…”  In this way we will model authentic human community, built on love, and, thus, attract those seeking a perfect humanity so that they might find it in its fullness through union with Jesus Christ.

          Therefore, my friends, in this final week of the Easter season—that is, the final week of preparation to be re-sent out on mission—let us pray fervently for a renewal of God’s Holy Spirit in us: so that we can be Church—and, therefore, witnesses—for Christ once again.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – May 12^th & 13^th, 2018

The Risen Christ removes blindness

Homily: 3^rd Sunday of Easter – Cycle B

          One of the common threads that seems to run through our readings today is the idea that Christ’s Resurrection is the light that takes away blindness.  In the first reading, Peter is speaking to the crowd who had gathered around him and the Apostle John after they had healed the crippled man near Solomon’s Portico just outside the temple.  We hear Peter accuse the crowd of having “denied the Holy and Righteous One” and having put to death the “author of life”.  Then, in a turn of mercy, he acknowledges that they “acted out of ignorance” and assures them that, if they repent, their sins will be wiped away by the very same “Holy and Righteous One” whom they denied.  In other words, when they denied him, they were blinded by their ignorance, but now see the fullness of Christ, risen from the dead, and his saving power.  Thus, they can turn to him and receive forgiveness.

          In the Gospel reading, we hear how Peter and the Apostles were the first (or maybe second) to be enlightened by the risen Christ.  There the disciples from Emmaus to whom the Risen Christ appeared and was made known in the breaking of bread, have returned to Jerusalem and are recounting their encounter with the Risen Christ.  “While they were still speaking about this,” the Gospel records for us, Jesus appeared in their midst, rebukes them for their unbelief in the resurrection, and then “[opens] their minds to understand the Scriptures” about how the Christ had to suffer and die and then rise to fulfill what was written.  In spite of what Jesus told his disciples before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, it took his risen presence to take away their blindness so that they might see the full truth of his teaching.

          In the second reading, the words of the Apostle John also aim at opening the eyes of its readers.  Our reading begins with John saying “I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin.”  In other words, “so that you may recognize sin and, thus, avoid it.”  Then, like with Peter in the first reading, we hear him announce God’s mercy: saying, in effect, “If, in your ignorance, you have sinned, don’t despair; because Jesus is our Advocate before the Father and he has expiated our sins.”  In other words, “If you have sinned because of blindness, be blind no longer and turn to Christ who will advocate on your behalf before the Father.”  For John, it is Christ, risen from the dead, that gives light and hope to those who had been blind in their sin, just as it was for the crowd that listened to Peter that afternoon in Jerusalem, and just as it was for the disciples gathered in the Upper Room on that first Easter.

          And so, why is this important to note today?  Because it will be important to remember in the coming years as it will become necessary to propose once again these great truths to a generation who has largely turned away from it.

          Newspaper columnist Terry Mattingly recently reflected on Europe’s woes regarding young adults and religion.  He specifically quotes Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who, while still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, noted that the trend in Europe meant that the Church would be “reduced in its dimensions” making it “necessary to start again.”  Here, nearly 20 years later, we see this playing out in Europe.  A recent study showed that, in 12 of 22 European nations polled, over half of 16-29 year olds claim no religious affiliation whatsoever.  In 18 of these 22 nations less than 10 percent of young adults admit to attending religious services on a weekly basis (this includes all religions, not just Catholicism).

          According to the report’s author, a key to understanding this shift is to acknowledge that “nominal” or “cultural” faith doesn’t transfer from one generation to the next.  Which means that, if this generation’s parents are Christians “in name” only—perhaps believing in a "vaguely benevolent 'Something' out there"—then their children’s generation is likely to cut ties with religion, rather than continue the charade.  Again, this seems to be playing out: in an extremely pronounced way in Europe, but also here in the United States.  If this trend continues, Mattingly notes, “the future that Pope Benedict predicted, that a smaller church would have to return to basics”, will become a reality.  In this reality, according to the retired Pope, believers will once again have to be missionaries and to “propose again … the questions on God, salvation, hope, life, especially what has a basic ethical value."

          This is where these lessons from today’s Scriptures come in.  Many of these young people—and, of course, many of the adults—who have strayed from the faith will, at some point, “hit a wall”, so to speak.  Having lived a life of what Benedict XVI has called “practical atheism”—in which God is not explicitly denied, but one’s life reflects no consideration of God—many will find it empty and will begin searching for answers.  Our job will be to be there and to propose again the hard, yet merciful truth that Jesus proposed to his disciples when he said: “How could you doubt?  Look at how this fulfilled everything that the Scriptures proposed”; and that Peter proposed to the crowd when he said: “You killed the author of life!  But if you repent you will find forgiveness”; and that John proposed to the early Church when he said: “Those who say ‘I know him’, but don’t follow his commandments are liars!  But those who sin have an Advocate in Jesus”.  If we have been faithful witnesses—not just in word, but in action—then these persons, their blindness lifted, will turn back to the Lord and the Church will begin to grow again.

          This is why today I want to encourage you to study closely the Acts of the Apostles during this Easter season.  Just as Lent was our time of preparation to celebrate the Resurrection, so should Easter be our time of preparation to re-propose the Gospel to a generation that is abandoning it; and studying how the early Church proposed the Gospel the first time will be a great way to prepare.

          Friends, the joy of the resurrection and the promise that Jesus is our advocate—two things which are renewed each time we celebrate this Eucharist—will be our strength to fulfill this good work.  So let us take it up, trusting that Christ, whose light broke through the darkness of death, can break through the blindness of those around us and bring them to new life.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – April 15^th, 2018

Keeping focused on the destination

Homily: 29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          Have any of you ever noticed that it takes different levels of concentration and focus to drive in the city versus driving on the highway?  For example, if you’ve taken a trip to another city—one that you’re not familiar with—and it’s time to leave and return home, you have to put a lot of focus and attention on making sure that you are taking the right turns so that you can get on the correct highway that will take you home.  If it’s a larger city with a lot of traffic you have to be even more focused so that you don’t miss the turn to enter the highway.  On the highway, however, you don’t need to pay as much attention.  You know that if you keep going the way that you are going that you’ll get there.  This is where our minds start to drift a little and we focus less on where we are going and how we are getting there and more on whatever else our minds try to focus on.

          I myself always tend to focus on other cars.  My car is a perfectly good car, but I like cars and I like to think about owning other cars, so most of the time I’m watching other cars go by and I’m thinking about whether or not I’d want to own one of them.  Even when I’m on my way to do something important, my focus drifts away from that important thing and I pay attention to the cars passing by.

          Jesus’ apostles, it seems, suffered from the same condition.  In our Gospel reading today, Jesus and his disciples are on a journey from Galilee towards Jerusalem.  This was no short trip, but the way was well known to them.  Thus, they were each subject to the temptation to enter into “cruise mode” where their minds could drift from the task for which they had set out on their journey and focus on other things.

          This particular trip to Jerusalem would be a “one-way” trip for Jesus.  After arriving, he would not leave Jerusalem again before being crucified.  So aware of this was Jesus that he even predicted it to his disciples while they were on the journey.  In Mark’s Gospel, it would be the third time that Jesus told his disciples that he would have to suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests and the scribes.  Nonetheless, the temptation to enter “cruise mode” was too strong for the Apostles and their focus drifts away from Jesus’ prediction and onto things.

          James and John, the sons of Zebedee and two of Jesus’ first disciples, had allowed themselves to think about the reward they would be receiving as Jesus’ disciples.  Remember in last week’s Gospel reading, as Jesus and his disciples were setting out on this journey, Jesus told his disciples that those who had given up everything to follow him would receive a hundred times more.  Thus, as their minds drifted during their journey, James and John decided to see if they could get a specific commitment from Jesus on what that reward might look like.

          They asked to be seated at the right and the left of Jesus when he was seated on his royal throne.  The seats to the right and the left of the king were the two most powerful seats in any kingdom and those who sat in those seats would have great influence over the king.  It would be hard to find fault in their request given what Jesus just said about the reward that they would receive and that elsewhere he had taught them that if they “ask, they will receive” and that if they “knock, the door will be opened to them.”  It’s not as if they had strayed from the mission—that is, the purpose for their journey—rather, they let their focus drift away from it.

          This is a risk that all of us can fall into, right?  When we begin to follow Jesus seriously it’s kind of like trying to find our way out of the town that we are unfamiliar with.  We’re paying close attention to what we are doing and we are trying to follow each direction as precisely as we can.  We are focused on following him because we know that, if we don’t, we may find ourselves lost and, perhaps, even in danger.  After that initial intensity, however, we make it out onto the highway and begin to cruise.  We’re still heading towards our destination and we haven’t forgotten the purpose for our journey, but we don’t have to pay as close attention as we did initially and so our minds begin to drift.  Perhaps we even begin to think about how we are going to be rewarded for our faithful discipleship.  Like James and John, we haven’t strayed from the mission—we’re still on the road, travelling to our destination—but we’ve lost focus on the destination and have begun to focus on ourselves.

          Jesus, as he did with his Apostles that day, steers us clear of all of this in order to refocus us on our destination.  In the Gospel, when James and John ask for positions of power, Jesus instructs them to stop thinking in those terms.  Instead, he tells them to focus on the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God.  “Serve one another in serving the mission,” he says, “and the reward will take care of itself.  This is the example that I am giving you.”  Jesus knew the reward that awaited him and so he knew that there was no need for him to spend time thinking about it. Thus, he could remain focused on the mission so that he might fulfill it completely.

          Perhaps we don’t have the same perfect focus as Jesus and perhaps we’ve allowed our minds and hearts to drift from their focus on our mission and destination.  This should not lead us into despair, however, because, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.”  Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses and so we can come to him confidently, asking for help when we’ve lost our focus.

          In many ways, this is what we do when we gather here each week.  Notice that we do not come here to receive accolades or rewards, but rather to be refreshed and re-commissioned.  By engaging in this act of worship, we take the focus off of ourselves and place it back on Jesus and the mission that he has given us.  The Word that is proclaimed to us instructs us and inspires us, while the Sacrament that we receive strengthens us and reminds us that the promised reward is already ours.  Thus refreshed and strengthened we can continue on the journey with the same focus and intensity that we had when we first took our discipleship seriously.

          My brothers and sisters, our world needs active apostles, not disciples in “cruise mode”.  May our participation in this Eucharist awaken us to the apostolate that Jesus has given us, so that the kingdom of God may be more fully realized among us.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – October 18^th, 2015

Get squish, just like grape...

          Last week I enjoyed another "away" session for the leadership formation program that some priests of my diocese and I are participating in called "Good Leaders, Good Shepherds.  During it, we watched the classic movie "The Karate Kid" and I was inspired by a connection I saw with last Sunday's Gospel.  I'm not sure how well it went over in Spanish, but I think many took something positive from it.  Enjoy!

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Homily: 23^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle C

          Some of you may have seen the film from the 1980’s called “The Karate Kid” (or, perhaps, you saw the 2010 re-make of the film, which had essentially the same story line).  The basic story is about Daniel, an outsider from New Jersey who moves into the upscale Los Angeles suburbs, who overcomes rejection and bullying by training and winning a prestigious karate tournament.  The key to Daniel’s success is an older Japanese man, Mr. Miyagi, who takes Daniel under his wing to train him for the tournament.

          One of the great lines from the film happens on the first day of Daniel’s training.  Mr. Miyagi is about to give Daniel the terms on which he must agree upon in order to be Mr. Miyagi’s “disciple” and he asks Daniel, “Now, ready?”  Daniel replies, “Yeah, I guess so.”  Mr. Miyagi was looking for something a little more committed and so he told him a parable.  He said (and please pardon my attempt to imitate Mr. Miyagi’s Japanese accent), “Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later, [makes squish gesture] get squish just like grape. Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate do ‘yes’ or karate do ‘no.’ You karate do ‘guess so,’ [makes squish gesture] squish just like grape.”  For Daniel, this was a lesson in the cost of discipleship.  And the lesson was that, if he was going to do this, he had to be “all in.”

          In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus gives his disciples a similar lesson.  Jesus can see that these disciples have potential to be great apostles and evangelizers, but he can also see some hesitation among them.  And so, as the Good Teacher, he knows, therefore, that he must clarify for them the cost of being his disciple.  Thus, he tells them “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” and “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”  These were extremely strong images, because in the culture of the time family was your life and to carry a cross meant you were better off already dead.  But Jesus knew that he had to use strong images if he was going to make his expectations clear.

          Perhaps, however, he could see the shocked faces of his disciples and so he adds a couple of parables to help them understand his reason for using such strong images.  The story of the man who builds a tower and cannot finish it and the story of the king who measures his ability to conquer an opposing army serve to illustrate the same thing that Mr. Miyagi tried to illustrate for Daniel: You had better be “all in” as my disciple, because if you’re not, “[makes squish gesture] squish, just like grape”.

          My brothers and sisters, this is exactly the lesson that the Church is inviting us to learn today by giving us this Gospel reading for Mass.  The Church is reminding us that to be a disciple of Jesus we have to be “all in”.  Does that mean that we must take Jesus’ words literally and hate our fathers, mothers, siblings, spouses and children?  No, of course not!  That would contradict Jesus’ mandate to love everyone, even our enemies.  What it does mean is that we must detach ourselves from everything that we hold dear in this world so as to be ready to turn away from it to follow him.  And why?  Because it’s the right thing to do?  Well, that’s part of it (and I suppose that for some of you here that will strike a positive chord).  More, however, it is because of Jesus’ promise to return to us a hundred fold whatever it was that we had given up in order to follow him.  But first, we have to be “all in”.

          You know, if we take a look at Catholics today, we can find that we all could be classified in one of three categories: all in, all out, or somewhere in between.  If you read the reports (or better yet just look around), you’ll see that a large number of us have made the decision to be “all out”.  Those of us who are here, then, are a mixture of “all ins” and “somewhere in betweens”.  My guess, however, is that the majority of us who are here fall under that latter category.  And I don’t blame us!  It’s hard to live the kind of intense discipleship that Jesus is demanding of us.  The challenge for us, however, is to trust Our Lord, much the way Daniel trusted Mr. Miyagi when he agreed to be “all in” even though he had no idea what it would demand of him.

          My brothers and sisters, Jesus needs us to be “all in” so that through us he can reach out to our friends, neighbors, and family members who have decided to be “all out”.  They have to see that our lives are different because we are disciples of Jesus, and that those differences actually make us happier, if they are going to be drawn back to consider once again Jesus’ promises to those who follow him.  In many ways, this is what we’ve been called to do in this Year of faith: to consider again the Faith and our commitment to it and to rededicate ourselves to being “all in”: to being evangelizers in our words and our actions so that others who have lost the Faith may return to it and be reconciled to God and the Church.  Let us then be true disciples and place all of our trust in the guidance of our master, for he will truly “make our paths straight” so that we can become the apostles and evangelizers that he already knows we can be and so that he can lead us to the eternal joy that we all desire.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – September 8^th, 2013

The Memorial of the Birth of Mary

It all starts with communion...

I had a very joyful experience yesterday as I celebrated the Mass of First Communion for about 30 kids.  It was so beautiful to see them come forward and receive Jesus for the first time in the Blessed Sacrament.

Today I was (finally) able to complete the degree exemplifications in the Knights of Columbus.  I had been stuck at First Degree for years, but am very happy and proud that I am now a full-fledged Knight.  If you or someone you know is looking for a way to connect in a deeper way with his parish and with other men striving to live out their baptismal call as men in the Church, then the Knights of Columbus is where they need to be.  Here's the link to the Supreme Council's website: http://www.kofc.org/en/

All of this had me thinking a lot about communion as I prepared my homily for today.  May God bless your week!

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Homily: 6th Sunday of Easter – Cycle C

You know, I find it kind of interesting how we came to be as a nation.  If you look at it (from a very high vantage point, of course) you can see that, at least on the surface, no one living in the original thirteen colonies in the middle 1700’s wanted to break away from British rule.  Nevertheless, as the British government continued to enact laws and ordinances that many of the colonists considered to be unjust, there arose a movement among them towards declaring independence from Great Britain.  Had they remained a loosely banded group of individuals, however, the movement would have never gotten anywhere.  Instead, they formed a congress that could speak with one voice to the King of England and, when their demands for just treatment under British law were ignored or flatly denied, could declare their independence from England and form a new nation.  In a sense, it was as if they had realized that the only way that they could maintain individual freedoms, was to bind themselves to each other so as to speak and act as one body.

In many ways, this was not unlike the movement of the Early Church towards independence from the Jewish religious laws and customs from which it emerged.  The first Jewish Christians saw this “Jesus movement” as an extension/renewal of Judaism and, thus, they continued to follow the Law of Moses as they embraced the Risen Jesus as Messiah and King.  Some maintained this so closely that they believed that all non-Jewish believers would have to submit themselves to following the precepts of the Law: especially the Law of circumcision.  Given the incredible success that Paul and Barnabas (along with others) were experiencing in converting non-Jews, however, this proposed obligation seemed to be an excessive burden that wasn’t consistent with what Jesus had taught.  Besides, it would also be rather constrictive: only men can be circumcised, right?  And so where would that leave the women who came to believe in Jesus’ power to save them?  Thus, as the Scriptures tell us, “a great dissension arose among them,” and, as a loosely banded group of believers, they realized that they needed to form a “congress” (if you will) in order to address and solve this problem.

Certainly, this is not something that is foreign among believers even today.  There is no shortage of issues that Christians face in this day and age that haven’t already created a considerable dissension among us.  And while the Church has already issued definitive statements about many of these, there are other issues that the Church hasn’t made any over-arching, definitive statements on that still create division among us.  For example, let’s say that a Catholic came down from Lafayette and walked into the church and said that all politicians who support abortion should be denied communion.  I suspect that there might arise some dissension among us as to whether or not this would be an appropriate move to make, and if the Catholic Church was just a loosely banded grouping of parishes formed on the individual preferences of each of the parish’s members, then it doesn’t seem like we would have much recourse to resolve the problem, does it?  And I suspect that one of the first things we might do is call up some of the other parishes to see what they were doing, perhaps even getting a group of representatives from each of the parishes—particularly the elder members of the parishes—together to discuss and pray about how we could resolve this problem.  In other words, we’d probably form a “congress” of some sort; almost as if it was a natural thing to do.

Going back to the Early Church, we notice just how confidently Paul and Barnabas went off to Jerusalem to try and resolve this problem.  It seems that they didn’t allow this dissension among them to cause them to despair or any desire to break away from the Jewish-Christian community.  Rather they engaged it, traveling to Jerusalem to meet with the other Apostles and elders of the Church there.  Why could they do this?  Well, I believe that it’s because of the peace that they received from Jesus.  In the Gospel Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.”  This was no ordinary peace.  The peace that Jesus was talking about was not just the absence of conflict—thus distinguishing it from the pax romanum, which was only a “peace” from war, because Rome had conquered all of the world’s powers—rather, the peace that Jesus gave was a confident hope that allowed them to see beyond the difficulties and conflict to the peace of the resurrection: the peace of eternal rest.  And so, with this confident hope Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the other Apostles trusting one other thing: that Jesus’ other promise would also ring true that the Holy Spirit would teach them everything and remind them of all that Jesus had told them.  In other words, although there was dissension among them, they had peace because they knew that Jesus had promised them the help of the Holy Spirit and that he could be relied on—that is, when the Apostles “congressed” together—to help them resolve this crucial question.

My brothers and sisters, with charity and trust that this same peace and this same grace of the Holy Spirit have been given to us, we, too, can resolve all of the conflicts that arise among us.  You know, the Apostles made rational decisions about these conflicts; decisions that were informed by their faith.  Certainly, we can do the same, but only if we allow Jesus’ peace to fill our lives and, thus, bring us a sense of calm in the midst of turmoil.  So that, when dissensions arise among us, we’ll have confidence to submit ourselves to the faith of the Church, which has been handed down to us from the Apostles through their successors, the bishops.  This peace is a peace that withstands dissensions, because it is the peace of knowing that all will be definitively resolved when Christ returns.  And this trust in the faith of the Church is a trust that comes from the guarantee that it will remain true in every age by the grace and help of the Holy Spirit.

You know, I was blessed to be able to participate in the National Day of Prayer service that was held at the county government building last Thursday.  In it, the new pastor of River of Life community, Keith Kincaid, noted in his message that our Founding Fathers did not begin writing our nation’s constitution with the words “I, the person…” but rather that they had used the words “We, the people…”, indicating that this was not a declaration of loosely banded individuals, but rather that it was a declaration of a people united in thought and spirit.

My brothers and sisters, as individuals there will always be dissension among us.  As Church, however, (that is, as we become “we”, instead of a grouping of “me’s”) we are able to transcend our differences and discern the movement of the Holy Spirit who reminds us of what Jesus taught us and teaches us how to interpret it for our lives today.  So how do we begin?  Well, it all starts with communion.  As we approach this altar to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we demonstrate our willingness to become more “we” than “me”, and we effect that communion when receive its transforming grace, the grace that actually makes us the “we” we desire to be.  Trusting, therefore, in the peace given to us by Christ let us confidently come forward, giving thanks for the grace of the Holy Spirit that has led us here today and with hearts ready to be sent forth as instruments of this communion in our world today.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – May 5th, 2013