Trust in God in times of distress

Homily: 3^rd Sunday in Lent – Cycle A

It’s news to no one here that the “novel coronavirus” has upended our lives and is causing great deals of distress.  Distress about individual health, anxiety about the uncertainty of how this virus will spread and if we’ll be able to contain it.  Distress about how to deal with the “novel” situations of having kids home from school for an extended period of time, of providing care for them, of providing food for them, and of facing any financial insecurity because we either must take time off of work or spend unbudgeted money on caregivers.  Distress, finally, (and possibly especially) about whether or not our healthcare system is equipped to respond to widespread exposure.  The number of you who are NOT here today is a sign that this distress is affecting all of us.

This distress is not unlike the distress that the Israelites were experiencing as they began their journey in the desert after being liberated from Egypt.  After having emerged triumphantly from the Red Sea, they set out towards the land that God had promised to give them (the Promised Land, in which they would live free from slavery).  A couple of days into that journey, however, (led, as they were by the cloud in the day and fire by night), having seen no water and with no signs of any ahead, they all begin to experience distress.  Insecurity always gives birth to anxiety and being without something as necessary as water for more than a day is certain to heighten one’s sense of insecurity.  It’s no surprise, then, that these folks begin to cry out to Moses, God’s point man leading them on this journey.

This journey was not only practical, however, but rather catechetical also.  The practical was to get them out of Egypt and into a land in which they could live as a free society.  In the absence of trains, buses, or planes, a journey on foot was necessary.  The catechetical, however, was to teach them complete reliance on God and his providential care for them.  In other words, the catechetical journey was to increase and solidify their trust in God alone.  Thus, the way that they followed from the Red Sea was a way on which there was no water.  God, through Moses, then provided them water in a miraculous way, just as he had already provided them with food in the form of manna and quail.  Through this, God shows himself worthy of their faith.  They were in distress, the called out to God, and God responded.

The Samaritan woman whom Jesus encounters at the well is also someone who learns to put her faith in God, but in a different manner.  She was not necessarily looking for help, but the details of this story indicate that she was certainly in distress.  She came to the well at midday: the time when, because of the midday heat, no one else went to the well.  In other words, she was avoiding others.  She encounters Jesus there and he reveals his knowledge of her and her life.  She has had five husbands and is living with someone to whom she isn’t married.  Women couldn’t live on their own at that time and if a woman was married and divorced, she couldn’t return to her father’s house and so would either have to marry again or would end up destitute.  We can’t know for sure, but it seems like this woman may have struggled to be in a stable marriage, but continued to seek it out so that she wouldn’t become destitute.  She certainly would have been looked down upon in that society and so she worked to avoid contact with others.

This day, however, she encounters Jesus, who peers into her soul and speaks to her in a way that opens her eyes and lets her see that relief from this distress is possible.  In other words, he helps her to see that there is hope for her on this journey, that the promises of the God of the Israelites could be fulfilled, and that even the Samaritans—even she, herself—could receive their benefits.  Her life was out of order, but her encounter with Jesus gave her supernatural hope that God was leading even her to freedom from this distress.  Her response was to go off and tell of what she learned to all of the people in the village.  Let that sink in for a moment: before her encounter with Jesus, she wanted to avoid all contact with the people of her village.  Now, she goes to them to share what she learned.  This is a person who has found hope and who has placed her trust in God and in his promises.

Our newly Elect, who will now intensely prepare for baptism at the Easter Vigil, are on this same journey.  Over these next three weekends, they will be called to encounter Jesus through what is called the rite of scrutiny, in which they will be challenged to see their lives, disordered as they have been by sin, and encounter the hope that, through Jesus, they can be set free from this disorder and receive all of the blessings that God has promised to those who are united to him.  Having encountered this hope, they will be exhorted to put their faith in God and to follow the path to holiness that has been laid out by Jesus.

This, of course, is not only their Lenten journey, but each of ours as well.  Every year, each of us is challenged to recognize the distress under which the world places us (this year, it is particularly apparent) and to allow ourselves to encounter our Lord, who names our distress and provides an answer to it.  This, for sure, is not always relief.  Rather, it is often a challenge to trust and to order our lives to more closely follow him.  In other words, it is the challenge to respond in faith to the distress of our lives.  One of the ways that we do that is through our intentional engagement of our increased giving program.

Last weekend, we heard from parishioners who have all had this experience of distress and have responded to it with faith and so have grown in trust of God.  Part of their experience was finding support and resources through the many ministries and programs that we at Saint Mary’s provide: ministries and programs made possible by your generous financial support.  Today, I am asking you to continue to put your faith in the fact that God is responding to the needs and distresses of peoples’ lives through the ministries and programs of Saint Mary’s by continuing and even increasing your financial support for our parish.

You know, all of us are on a journey through the desert and at different times and for different reasons we may each find ourselves in distress.  Your ongoing financial support of the ministries and programs at Saint Mary’s means that we’ll be able to respond and to help assure you in your trust in God who, like he did with Moses for the Israelites, works through us to relieve our distresses.

I hope that you brought your commitment cards with you today.  As I mentioned before Mass began, we WON’T be passing around the collection basket as a precaution against spreading germs.  If you’ve already dropped your commitment card in the box by the entrance, great.  Thank you for doing that.  Please hold in your heart your commitment as your offering to be united to the sacrifice of Jesus here at the altar.  If you still have your commitment card with you, I encourage you to keep it close to you during the Eucharistic Prayer as a reminder to unite your commitment to the sacrifice of Christ on the altar.  You may drop the card in the box near the entrance on your way out today.  If you did not bring your card, but would like to complete one today, please feel free to use one of the blank cards in your pew and do the same.  In other words, however you brought your commitment with you today, please make an intentional effort to unite it to the sacrifice of Christ that we will offer here at the altar.

As I said earlier, this “novel coronavirus” has upended our lives and caused a great deal of distress.  Very quickly, however, I saw signs that God is working among us to relieve it.  On Friday afternoon, I received an e-mail from our “Saint Mary’s Cares” ministry coordinator asking if it was okay for them to contact other parishes to formulate a plan to assist anyone, like our homebound parishioners, get groceries, prepare meals, etc. so that no one feels alone or abandoned during this time.  I’m grateful for their dedication and for the support of all of you that helps make their ministry possible.  Thank you, again, for your courageous commitments.  May they lead us to trust God even more as he leads us to our reward in heaven: the reward foreshadowed by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – March 14^th & 15^th, 2020

Obedience that leads to freedom

Homily: 1^st Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

          Here at the beginning of Lent, it seems as if God has put us on a 12-step program.  Perhaps many of you aren’t familiar with the 12-step addiction recovery program; and so, if not, let me give you a quick rundown of the fundamental elements of the program:

          The first and most fundamental step to this program involves acknowledging the reality of the situation.  In the case of someone dealing with an addiction, this is admitting that he or she is weak and overcome with a compulsion to engage in destructive behavior.  In conjunction with this step is an acknowledgement that this person is unable to break this compulsion by his or herself.  Next, this person needs to acknowledge that there is a power greater than him/her that can help him/her break this compulsion and, thus, that he/she needs to submit him or herself completely to this power.  Then the person needs to strive to make amends—both with God and with others—for the negative effects that this destructive behavior has caused.  And, finally, he or she needs to strive to help others who suffer from the same compulsivity to achieve the same freedom and healing.

          Given this description (and I pray that I’ve been accurate), I think that we can see that our journey through Lent is not unlike working through a 12-step program.  First we acknowledge that we are sinners and have fallen short of what God expects of us.  Then, we acknowledge that, by ourselves, we are unable to overcome our sin, and that we need God’s help.  The call of Lent, therefore, is to break free from our will (which has led us into sin) and to submit ourselves completely to his will (and to his mercy) once again.  It is a time to take an inventory of all of the concrete ways in which we’ve failed God and others and then to confess these in the sacrament of reconciliation.  It’s also a time that calls us to make amends with those that we’ve hurt and to strive to live renewed lives, obedient to God’s will in all things.  And, finally, it calls us to lead others to follow this same journey so that they might know and experience the freedom that comes from God.

          Today, it seems, our scriptures are emphasizing this point by highlighting some of these “first steps” of the journey.  In the reading from the book of Genesis we were reminded of the sin of our first parents and that, thus, we are weak and subject to giving in to temptation.  In the reading from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans we are reminded that death is the consequence of sin and that, therefore, since all men die, all men, too, are sinners.  Thus, these readings are calling us to acknowledge the reality that we are all sinners (and sometimes compulsively so).

          In the Psalm we hear how the psalmist not only acknowledges his sinfulness, but also that he is powerless to break free from his sinfulness; and so he turns to God, acknowledging that God is much more powerful than himself, and he submits himself completely to God’s power so that he might break free from his sin.

          Then, in the Gospel, Jesus shows us that there is a power greater than our weakness that can help us and sustain us in our fight against sin.  After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert (which, in biblical terms, means that he’s weak: physically, mentally, spiritually), the devil comes to tempt Jesus.  In each of those three temptations, Jesus chose to submit his will—both his human and his divine will—to his Father’s will, as revealed through the scriptures.  Through this, Jesus demonstrates that by submitting ourselves to the will of God—which we come to know by coming to know what he has revealed of himself to us, both in the Scriptures and through Sacred Tradition (that is, the teachings handed down to us through the centuries)—we can break free from sin and the attacks of the devil.

          Notice, however, that the fundamental act that helps someone move from compulsivity in a destructive behavior to freedom is, ironically, to submit his or her life over to the will of God: in other words, to give up the freedom to choose for him/herself.  Saint Paul confirms this clearly in the second reading when he wrote, "Just as through disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous."  Obedience, therefore, is the key to freedom.  Our sin was to disobey God's command and we were led into it by allowing ourselves to believe that by knowing what was good and what was evil—that is, by becoming more like gods—we would be better off.  History has proven, however, that this has not been the case!

          The fear that Adam and Eve immediately succumbed to—that the other has the capacity to use me for evil means—was evidenced by their desire to cover their nakedness.  By knowing what was good and what was evil, they then knew that they had to protect themselves, even from one another.  By acknowledging that this knowledge has only made us infinitely more susceptible to sin, we can then submit ourselves once again to God's will and, through obedience, find true freedom.

          My brothers and sisters, let's not engage in empty practices this Lent (or, at least, practices that only scratch the surface of what keeps us separated from God).  Rather, let's allow the traditional practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to lead us on this journey to freedom once again: the freedom that we knew at our baptism; the freedom that will be renewed at Easter; the freedom made possible for us through the obedience of Jesus, whom we encounter here in this Holy Eucharist.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – March 5^th, 2017

October Baby

 

Friends,

This Friday a movie opened entitled "October Baby". Basically, it is a movie about a young girl who finds out that an attempt to abort her failed and that she was subsequently adopted (and, thus, she embarks on a journey to reconcile with her biological mother). It's a film about looking life in the eye, acknowledging its brokenness, and learning to live anyway. In other words, it has a very "pro-life" theme (in the transcendental sense, not the political one).

I saw this film last night and I can attest that it is a powerful story.  Cinematically, it isn't perfect, but by the end of it you won't really care.

Given the current climate in western media, it is somewhat of a miracle that a movie like this would be produced and so I believe it important to support it to show the entertainment media (i.e. Hollywood) that we want more movies that address topics like this to be produced. It's especially important to support a film during its opening weekend as box office numbers during an opening weekend often determine if similar films will be produced.

Please take the time this weekend to see this film.  I guarantee that you won't regret it.

Peace!

P.S. If the link isn't active for you, the website for the movie is http://www.octoberbabymovie.net/