Offer it anyway

          This past week we had to say “goodbye” to our dear friend Fr. Eder.  I’ll admit that I regret not spending more time with him while I was still Associate Pastor.  Nevertheless, he still made an impression on me.  His stories of how he decided to get a pilot’s license and then used it to take youth on trips (on his plane!) and of how, when he was assigned as a chaplain to the State Hospital and they didn’t have enough counselors, he decided to get a degree in psychotherapy in order to help out impressed me the most.  Here was a man who had a rare mix of a servant’s heart and a “can-do” attitude that was inspiring.  Like all of us he came to God without much; but when God asked him to take what he had and give it to the people he did, and what he offered was multiplied to do more than probably he could have imagined, just like the offerings that were made in this weekend’s readings.  Perhaps this week, in Fr. Eder’s spirit, we too could strive to let God multiply our meager gifts by placing them before him and responding in faith to his call to serve.

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Homily: 17^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          If you’ve read the books, or seen the film, or have been to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, then you perhaps know the story of Oskar Schindler, a businessman in Germany during World War II who worked to save over 1000 Jews from death in German Concentration Camps.  The film, titled Schindler’s List, is how I came to know him.  It dramatically and powerfully portrays how this, at times, shady businessman turned his prowess towards keeping his factory open and maintaining a mainly Jewish workforce as a way to keep as many of them as he could from the horrors that they faced daily in the camps.

          One of the most moving parts of this powerful movie happens towards the end, of course.  After the Russian forces liberate the camp from which Oskar Schindler was taking the Jews to work in his factory (and he, thus, sees a glimpse of the full horror that those camps inflicted) he begins to feel guilty for not having done more to save more Jews from those horrors.  I often wonder, if he had known the scope of the problem before he started, would he have even begun?  Or would he have thought that he couldn’t have made a difference and so turned away from the problem all together, hoping someone else would do something?  Thankfully, we’ll never know.

          But this is something rather human for us, isn’t it?  That when we look at a problem that seems far too big for us to solve alone we often turn away from it, instead of offering what we can, because we think that our offering won’t make much of a difference.  1200 Jews isn’t much when you think that 6 million were killed and so it’s not unreasonable for us to sympathize with individuals who understood the scope of the killing and could have done something, but failed to do anything because they were paralyzed by thinking that it would make little difference.  When we look at Oskar Schindler’s story, however, and the stories we read in our Sacred Scriptures today, we realize just how wrong we can be.

          In our first reading, we heard how a man brought the firstfruits of his harvest—the “fresh grain in the ear”—to Elisha, the “man of God”, in order to offer it to God.  This was a very common thing to do as a way of showing reverence to God from whom all life (and, thus, the harvest) flows.  Elisha does something dramatic, however, when he directs the man to place it before the gathered people, instead.  The firstfruits offered to God were for God alone and should not be eaten by the “common” folk (who we might call “laity” today).  This reveals, perhaps, that there was great hunger at that time and so it could be thought that Elisha was responding to the truth that “God desires mercy, not sacrifice” by directing that the offering be given to those who were hungry.

          Nevertheless, the man observes that his offering is insufficient to feed the number of people who had gathered and so he tries to object.  It seems as if he thought that because his offering would be insufficient to feed all of the gathered people, that it would be useless to offer it.  Elisha, however, knowing the sign that God wanted to show through the offering, insists that he offer it anyway, which he does.  And, as we heard, the Lord multiplied his meager offering: so much so that there was bread to spare.

          Then, in the Gospel reading, we heard how Jesus asked his disciples how they could get enough food to feed the large crowd who had gathered to hear him teach.  And we heard how Philip responded; thinking that even a Bill Gates’ sized fortune wouldn’t be enough to feed them all.  Andrew, however, found a boy who had some loaves and fish.  He mentioned it to Jesus, acknowledging that this meager amount might as well be nothing on account of there being so many to feed.  But Jesus knew the sign that he wanted to show through this offering, and so he directs the gathered crowd to recline (as if at a dinner table) as he prepares the meal that he will share with them.  What they had to offer was insignificant in comparison to the problem that needed to be solved and so they wanted to give up.  But the Lord multiplied their meager offering: again, so much so that the leftovers were more abundant than what was offered.

          One of the unique characteristics of each of these offerings, however, is their Eucharistic nature.  The man in the first reading brought the firstfruits of his harvest to offer to God as an act of thanksgiving for the abundance of his harvest.  In the Gospel, Jesus takes the gift of loaves and fish and first gives thanks to God for having received them.  In both cases, the thanksgiving offerings were multiplied to satisfy the need.  None of us, of course, has enough on our own to resolve the world’s greatest problems.  Nevertheless, if we would only offer to God what we have, in thanksgiving for what we have received, God would multiply our individual offerings, too, and thus satisfy the needs of those around us.  This is what our beloved Fr. Eder did in his life and, if you were at his funeral Mass this past Friday, you’ll know that because of this God multiplied his offering and so touched many more lives than Fr. Eder probably would have ever imagined he could have touched.

          This, too, therefore, highlights the sacramental nature of our offerings: that in spite of what our offering looks like on the outside, in God’s hands it is always something greater.  Just look at what happens here at this Mass: we bring forward our meager offering of bread and wine and as we give thanks to God for these gifts—united in thanksgiving for all of the gifts that he has given us—he transforms them into the Body and Blood of Jesus for us to receive: an immeasurable multiplication of what we offered.

          My brothers and sisters, our Church, our parish, is not dying: it’s alive!  It will only live, however, if we continue to trust that God will multiply our gifts when we offer them to him in thanksgiving for all that we have received; which happens whenever we respond to the needs of the materially and spiritually poor.  And so, in thanksgiving for all that we have received, let us make our offering today; and then let us go forth in faith to see how God will work a miracle of grace in our lives and in the lives around us.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – July 25^th & 26^th, 2015

Nuestro encuentro comienza en el hogar

          Queridos amigos, nos están vagando como ovejas sin pastor, pero la verdad es que tenemos un pastor en Jesucristo. Cuando ponemos nuestra confianza en la voluntad de Dios, ya no divagar, pero tienen dirección y llegamos a un encuentro con Jesús que transforma la vida. Esa primera parte es tan importante, sin embargo! Tenemos que dar la vida por completo a la voluntad de Jesús si queremos ver a su potencia de trabajo en nuestras vidas, esto incluye especialmente la vida de nuestras familias.

          Planificación Familiar Natural (PFN) es una forma importante en la que ponemos la vida de nuestras familias bajo la voluntad de Jesús. Los invito a todos a explorar sus beneficios espirituales, emocionales y físicos para usted y sus familias. Empieza aqui.

          Que Dios nos bendiga a todos mientras nos esforzamos para encontrarlo a través de seguir su voluntad en nuestras vidas.

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Homilía: 16º Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario – Ciclo B

          Hace cincuenta años, era más fácil ser una persona religiosa. Esto se debe a la cultura en general apoya la práctica religiosa. De hecho, era algo que se esperaba de personas que se consideraban a sí mismos "los miembros de respeto" de la comunidad. Aquellos, por ejemplo, que no asistió a algún tipo de servicio de la iglesia el domingo fueron considerados con recelo como si tuvieran algún tipo de "segundas intenciones". Desde entonces, sin embargo, tanto el paisaje de la Iglesia y de la cultura en general han cambiado drásticamente. El Concilio Vaticano II marcó el comienzo de una época de gran renovación en la Iglesia, mientras que al mismo tiempo el tejido moral de la civilización occidental comenzó a desmoronarse. Debido a esto, el apoyo tácito de la cultura de la práctica religiosa comenzó a desaparecer aquí en los Estados Unidos. Pastores de todo tipo de religión cristiana no estaban preparados, al parecer, para este cambio y así han luchado para adaptarse a las necesidades de las dos generaciones más recientes.

          Por estas dos generaciones más recientes ya no se considera un marco de "estatus social" para ser directamente involucrados con o conectado a una iglesia. Durante dos generaciones ahora, nos hemos enseñado (para bien y para mal) que la fe es su elección personal, junto con decisiones acerca de la carrera, el matrimonio, y similares. En cierto modo, nos hemos enseñado a los hombres y mujeres de estas generaciones a ser sus propios pastores: para guiar sus propios destinos en base a lo que ellos piensan que es mejor. Lo que estamos encontrando es que ahora parece que tenemos dos generaciones de personas que parecen como ovejas sin pastor, que vagan sin rumbo, buscando algo para satisfacer el anhelo más profundo de sus corazones.

          Yo sé que esto es diferente en la cultura latina, porque los latinos todavía tienen un fuerte sentido cultural de la religión. Pero para aquellos de ustedes que se han trasladado aquí, ya está siendo visto el peligro de que la cultura dominante aquí afectará a sus niños que son criados aquí, y por lo que todo esto se aplica a ustedes también.

          Y así, en esto podemos ver un eco de la imagen pintada por nosotros por el profeta Jeremías en la primera lectura. Allí estaba el fracaso de los líderes del pueblo de Israel para reforzar la práctica religiosa y la devoción de la gente, pero el resultado fue el mismo: una cultura que ya no se admite la verdadera devoción a Dios solo—a consecuencia de los líderes religiosos que ya no guiado a su pueblo—y así la gente comenzó a pastorear a sí mismos: lo que les deja dispersas como ovejas perdidas.

          Esta forma individualista de tratar la fe no es necesariamente una mala cosa, pero le falta un elemento importante: un esfuerzo para llevar a la gente en un encuentro con Cristo. En el pasado, el apoyo cultural de la práctica religiosa significaba que la gente vino a encontrar a Cristo un poco más "implícitamente": es decir, lo consiguieron simplemente por estar expuesto a ella en dosis altas a través de la práctica religiosa. Y esto fue efectivo, como se evidencia por los numerosos miembros "más maduros" de nuestra comunidad que se mantienen fieles a su práctica religiosa hoy. Hoy, sin embargo, este encuentro con Cristo debe ser mucho más explícito: es decir, que tiene que ser algo que ocurre de manera consciente y deliberadamente en el corazón de una persona. Cuando lo es, sin embargo, el efecto es el mismo: un compromiso de por vida para seguirlo y la práctica de la fe en una comunidad de fieles.

          En la lectura del Evangelio de hoy, vemos cómo Jesús ha cumplido la promesa de Dios de que él hizo por medio del profeta Jeremías para ser un verdadero pastor del pueblo de Dios. Jesús había estado enseñando, expulsando demonios y sanando a los enfermos-y sus apóstoles habían estado haciendo lo mismo en su nombre, y así cuando volvieron grandes multitudes de multitudes se reunieron para oír más de Jesús. Lo habían encontrado personalmente y por lo tanto nada podía evitar que le seguían: ni siquiera el intento de Jesús para escapar a un lugar desierto con sus discípulos. Eso, amigos míos, es la verdadera devoción. Y eso es lo que sucede cuando los hombres y las mujeres tienen un auténtico encuentro con Cristo.

          Por supuesto, hay muchas maneras de conducir a nuestros hermanos y hermanas de vuelta a un encuentro con Cristo: a través de servicio de los demás, a través de compañía en los momentos difíciles, a través de la adoración eucarística, y con el testimonio de una vida llena de alegría, sólo para nombrar unos pocos. Hoy, sin embargo, quiero destacar sólo uno de ellos. San Juan Pablo II explica a menudo cómo la familia es el lugar donde muchas personas primero vienen a conocer a Jesús. Y por lo que animó a todos los padres para ayudar a fomentar en el hogar sea un lugar en donde el amor se vive: con cónyuges pastoreando, amando y cuidando a uno al otro y sus hijos. En otras palabras, él llamó a la casa de la familia para ser el primer lugar donde la gente se sirven mutuamente, apoyarse mutuamente en los momentos difíciles, y dar testimonio de una vida llena de alegría de la fe con el fin de ser el lugar privilegiado de encuentro con Jesús.

          En su exhortación apostólica sobre el papel de la familia cristiana en el mundo, Juan Pablo II dijo: "Consumado es, de hecho, a las familias de nuestros tiempos que la Iglesia debe llevar el inmutable y siempre nuevo Evangelio de Jesucristo, tal como son las familias que participan en las actuales condiciones del mundo que están llamados a aceptar y vivir el plan de Dios que pertenece a ellos. "Una de las maneras en que la familia acepta y vive el plan de Dios que pertenece a ellos es en la forma en que el marido y la mujer viven el pacto conyugal que se formaron ante Dios. Las parejas tienen una vocación noble encarnar el amor de Dios en sus gestos maritales de la vida y el amor, por el bien de los demás, de sus familias y de la sociedad en general. Los métodos de planificación familiar natural respetan diseño de Dios para el amor conyugal, por lo que la Iglesia apoya sus diversos métodos. La esencia de la enseñanza de la Iglesia es animar a las parejas a celebrar y unirse a su amor con el espíritu creador de Dios, es decir, para encarnar el amor de Dios, y por lo tanto hacer que su hogar sea un lugar de encuentro con Jesucristo: un encuentro que transforma vidas por buena y forma discípulos de toda la vida de Jesús, nuestro verdadero pastor.

          Destaco especialmente el apoyo de los diversos métodos de Planificación Familiar Natural de la Iglesia hoy, porque esta semana los obispos de Estados Unidos están promoviendo una Semana de Concientización de la Planificación Familiar Natural y así quiero invitar a todas las parejas—de los que han estado casados durante muchos años hasta llegar a los que están ahora sólo planea casarse—a explorar PFN como una forma profunda de hacer sus hogares un lugar de encuentro con Jesús y así empezar a reunir de nuevo a él a sus ovejas que han estado vagando como si ellos no han tenido pastor.

          Mis hermanos y hermanas, la cultura en general, aparentemente ha abandonado la religión como uno de los elementos centrales que se sostenía junto. Al abrazar la voluntad vivificante de Dios para cada uno de nuestras vidas, sin embargo, vamos a crear una nueva cultura de encuentro con Jesús que dará vuelta a la marea contra las fuerzas destructivas que dispersaron a las ovejas de Dios de su rebaño. Y vamos a conocer una vez más la alegría de la comunión en él con nuestros hermanos y hermanas perdidos: la misma comunión que celebramos hoy aquí en esta Santa Misa.

Dado en la parroquia Todos los Santos: Logansport, IN – 19º de julio, 2015

Our encounter starts in the home

          Dear friends, we are wandering like sheep without a shepherd, but the truth is that we have a shepherd in Jesus Christ.  When we put our trust in God's will, we no longer wander, but have direction and we come to a life-transforming encounter with Jesus.  That first part is so important, however!  We have to give our lives over completely to the lordship of Jesus if we want to see his power working in our lives, this especially includes the lives of our families.

          Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an important way in which we place the lives of our families under the lordship of Jesus.  I invite you all to explore its spiritual, emotional, and physical benefits for you and your families.  Start here.

          May God bless us all as we strive to find him through following his will in our lives.

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Homily: 16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          Fifty years ago, it was easier to be a religious person.  This is because the culture at large supported religious practice.  In fact, it was something that was expected of people who considered themselves “respectful members” of the community.  Those, for example, who didn’t attend some kind of church service on Sunday were considered with suspicion as if they had some sort of “ulterior motive”.  Since then, however, both the landscape of the Church and of the culture at large have changed dramatically.  The Second Vatican Council ushered in a time of great renewal in the Church, while at the same time the moral fabric of Western Civilization began to unravel.  Because of this, the culture’s tacit support of religious practice began to disappear.  Pastors of every sort of mainline denomination were unprepared, it seems, for this change and so have struggled to adapt to the needs of the two most recent generations.

          For these two most recent generations it is no longer considered a “social status” marker to be directly involved with or connected to a church.  For two generations now, we’ve taught (for better and for worse) that faith is one’s personal choice, alongside choices about career, marriage, and the like.  In a way, we’ve taught the men and women from these generations to be their own shepherds: to guide their own destinies based on whatever they think is best.  What we’re finding now is that we seem to have two generations of people who look like sheep without a shepherd, wandering aimlessly, looking for something to satisfy the deepest longing in their hearts.

          And so in this we can see an echo of the image painted for us by the prophet Jeremiah in the first reading.  There it was the failure of the leaders of the Israelite people to reinforce the religious practice and devotion of the people, but the result was the same: a culture that no longer supported true devotion to God alone—a result of religious leaders who no longer shepherded their people—and so the people began to shepherd themselves: leaving them scattered, like lost sheep.

          This individualistic way of treating the faith is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is missing an important element: an effort to lead people into an encounter with Christ.  In the past, the cultural support of religious practice meant that people came to encounter Christ a little more “implicitly”: that is to say, they got it simply by being exposed to it in high doses through religious practice.  And this was effective, as is evidenced by the many “more mature” members of our community who remain faithful to their religious practice today.  Today, however, this encounter with Christ must be much more explicit: that is to say, it has to be something that happens consciously and willfully in a person’s heart.  When it is, however, the effect is the same: a life-long commitment to following him and practicing that faith in a worshiping community.

          In the Gospel reading today, we see how Jesus has fulfilled God’s promise that he made through the prophet Jeremiah to be a true shepherd of God’s people.  Jesus had been teaching, driving out demons, and healing the sick—and his apostles had been doing the same in his name—and so when they returned great throngs of crowds gathered to hear more from Jesus.  They had encountered him personally and thus nothing could keep them from following him: not even Jesus’ attempt to slip away to a deserted place with his disciples.  That, my friends, is true devotion.  And that is what happens when men and women have an authentic encounter with Christ.

          Of course, there are many ways to lead our brothers and sisters back to an encounter with Christ: through service of others, through companionship in difficult times, through Eucharistic Adoration, and through the witness of a joy-filled life, just to name a few.  Today, however, I want to highlight just one of them.  Saint John Paul II often explained how the family is the place where many people first come to know Jesus.  And so he encouraged all parents to help foster in the home a place where in love is lived: with spouses shepherding, loving, and caring for each other and their children.  In other words, he called for the family home to be the first place where people serve one another, support one another in difficult times, and witness to a joy-filled life of faith so as to be the privileged place of encounter with Jesus.

          In his Apostolic Exhortation On the Role of the Christian Family in the World, John Paul II said: “It is, in fact, to the families of our times that the Church must bring the unchangeable and ever new Gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it is the families involved in the present conditions of the world that are called to accept and to live the plan of God that pertains to them.”  One of the ways in which the family accepts and lives the plan of God that pertains to them is in how the husband and wife live out the marital covenant that they formed before God.  Couples have a noble vocation to embody God’s love in their marital gestures of life and love, for the good of each other, their families, and the larger society.  The methods of Natural Family Planning respect God’s design for married love, which is why the Church supports its various methods.  The essence of the Church’s teaching is to encourage couples to celebrate and join their love with the creative spirit of God—that is, to embody God’s love—and thus make their home a place of encounter with Jesus Christ: an encounter that transforms lives for good and forms life-long disciples of Jesus, our true shepherd.

          I specifically highlight the Church’s support of the various methods of Natural Family Planning today because this week the United States Bishops are promoting Natural Family Planning Awareness Week and so I want to invite all couples—from those who have been married for many years all the way down to those who are now just planning to get married—to explore NFP as a profound way of making your homes a place of encounter with Jesus and so to begin to gather back to him his sheep who have been wandering as if they have had no shepherd.

          My brothers and sisters, the culture at large has seemingly abandoned religion as one of the core elements that held it together.  By embracing God’s life-giving will for each of our lives, however, we will create a new culture of encounter with Jesus that will turn the tide against the destructive forces that have scattered God’s sheep from his flock.  And we will once again know the joy of communion in him with our lost brothers and sisters: the very communion we celebrate today here in this Holy Mass.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – July 19^th, 2015

Remember the mission

          Sorry for the delay!  Adjusting to all of the additional responsibilities of being Administrator means that my routine has been thrown off and I almost forgot to post this.  Blessings to you all!

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

          I don’t know how many of you out there are Facebook users, but if you are I hope you won’t be offended if I criticize it a little here.  Facebook had been around for a few years before I first encountered it.  I had joined the e-mail revolution and thought that it was a pretty efficient way to communicate with friends and to keep up with what was going on in their lives.  I came to know of Facebook in the seminary and I quickly decided that I didn’t need it because it just sounded like another form of communication and, since I was happy using e-mail, I didn’t feel like I needed another thing to “check” on a regular basis.

          As an ordained minister in the modern world, however, I quickly discovered that it would be necessary to have a Facebook account so as to communicate with a much larger number of people.  Thus, I reluctantly opened one.  Since then I’ve come to appreciate its positive aspects (a way to connect with friends that I had long since lost touch with and to share good information with people who share my interests without a lot of work), but have also lamented how it has simply become part of the system that has led us to lose the art of dialogue in the public square.

          Like much of the more traditional media (like TV and radio), Facebook has become a place where debate has devolved into “who can argue the loudest, longest”, and thus where the majority opinion quickly drowns out the voices of those who dissent from it.  And so we see that, in Facebook as in other forms of media, messages that run contrary to popular opinions are increasingly marginalized: that is, pushed out of the public square by the “bullies” in the majority.  This, however, is nothing new.

          In the first reading for today’s Mass, we heard of how the high priest Amaziah was trying to bully the prophet Amos to take his message out of the public square and back to his home town.  In other words, the man in high political power was trying to bully the man without any power who brought forth an unpopular message into retreating back to the margins, thus silencing his message.  “Go back home and preach to your choir”, he seems to say, “and leave us alone.”

          It should be a surprise to no one when I say that the fullness of our Christian message is being increasingly pushed to the margins.  Without directly saying it like the ancient high priest Amaziah did, the political powers of our day are enacting laws and policies that essentially are telling us to take our message out of the public square, because it isn’t welcome there, and so to keep it at home, inside the walls of our churches, thus marginalizing our message along with those of us who proclaim it.  So what do we do about it?

          Some would say that we should retreat, shaking the dust off of our feet in testimony against them, as Jesus instructed his apostles to do when he sent them out to preach.  I’m not so sure, however, that this is the correct approach.  Jesus was thinking about individual towns and villages, not the overall landscape of political power.  He was thinking of dialogue with individuals and groups of individuals, not wholesale rejection by the majority.  Therefore, I think that in order to know what we must do, we must first remember our mission.

          In the Gospel reading today we heard that Jesus sent out his apostles to preach the kingdom of God and gave them authority over unclean spirits.  Later we hear that the apostles went out and preached repentance and both drove out demons and healed many people who were sick.  In other words, they preached repentance in preparation for the coming kingdom of God and demonstrated its nearness by doing acts of great power and mercy.

          My brothers and sisters, our mission is the same.  Thus, if we are engaging in the public square, we cannot be in it for the sole purpose of winning debates and asserting ourselves over others because our message is the most powerful.  Rather, we must be in it for God’s purposes: to preach repentance in preparation for the coming of God’s kingdom and to bring mercy to those who are desperately in need of it.

          To emphasize that he didn’t want his disciples trying to gain political power or influence, Jesus sent them first to small towns and villages, instead of to Jerusalem to engage the ones with great political influence; and he sent them without provisions so that they would remember that they were God’s missionaries, relying solely on His providence, instead of trying to build clout by growing their wealth and political influence.

          And so, Jesus sends us today, instructing us to bring no worldly help along with us—that is, nothing that can help us gain political power.  Rather, we are only to bring his message (repent for the kingdom of God is at hand) and the authority that he has given us as his apostles to do works of mercy.

          Part of the challenge we face today is that the message has lost its credibility because it has increasingly become separated from works of mercy.  This is why Pope Francis is having such a great effect on people.  Pope Francis is pushing to put works of mercy in the forefront so that we might rebuild our credibility and thus gain a hearing for our message.  He is showing us that to retreat from the public square because our message has been rejected would be to fail in our mission.  Rather, he wants us to see that we must first manifest the kingdom of God by doing works of mercy and that, in doing so, we will gain a hearing for our message.  This is because he knows that, in a culture soaked in cynicism and distrust, we must first build a bridge of trust with those whom we hope to reach with our message: which we do when we enact the works of mercy.

          My brothers and sisters, this is uncomfortable work, to be sure.  It requires us not only to go outside of our comfort zones—engaging, perhaps, with someone outside of our normal circles—but it also demands sacrifices of us—forgoing, perhaps, that vacation or purchasing that new car or new couch or new pair of jeans—so that God’s mercy can be worked through us; and this with no guarantee that our message will be heard and accepted!

          We must not let the fear of rejection keep us from going, however, because we have the power and authority of Jesus and have been given a commission by him; woe to us, therefore, if we do not go.  And so, my brothers and sisters, let us go boldly to bring mercy to God’s people so that they, too, might hear and accept God’s call to repentance and thus be joined with us at this table of God’s mercy: the Eucharistic banquet which is a foretaste of eternal happiness that we all long for.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – July 11^th & 12^th, 2015

The "eyes of the kingdom"

          It's transition week!  On Wednesday, Fr. Mike officially transfers to St. Joseph's in Rochester, I become Administrator of All Saints, and Fr. Clayton joins us as Parochial Vicar (Associate Pastor).  Please pray for us this week.

          My prayer is that I will always see my ministry through the "eyes of the kingdom", working always to give those whom I serve not just what they ask me for, but what God wants for them: the complete restoration of their lives in His kingdom.

Verso l'alto!

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Homily: 13^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          One of the more “epic” moments in television in the last twenty years occurred in 2004 on the Oprah Winfrey show.  In many ways, Oprah was at the height of her popularity at this time and she was using it to great advantage for others.  Now, I don’t recall of the background of that day’s show, but I remember that Oprah started by gifting eleven teachers, who were reputed to be extremely self-giving and, thus, were in financial trouble, with a new car.  This was an incredible gesture by itself, but Oprah wasn’t finished.  She then told the audience that she had one more car to give away and that one of them in the audience would receive it.  The staff then brought out identical gift boxes for each member of the audience and Oprah instructed them that in one of these boxes was a key to the twelfth car and whoever had that key in their box would take that car home.

          What happened next, of course, is what launched this moment into “epic” status: when Oprah commanded that the boxes be opened, the audience members found that each and every one of them had a key in it.  No, this wasn’t a trick.  Oprah intended to give each audience member a brand new car.  Because there was so much excitement—screaming and crying—mixed with confusion about whether or not this could be real, all you see is Oprah screaming over and over again: “You get a car, you get a car, you get a car… everybody gets a car!  Everybody gets a car!”  Now, perhaps none of us were in the audience that day, but you would have to have a pretty cold and hard heart not to feel a sense of joy for those audience members who received such an undeserved gift from someone that they didn’t even know.

          I can imagine, too, that every audience for every show after that day walked in wondering “Will today be another day like that one?  Will I walk out of here with something I never dreamed of getting?”  None really have since then, of course, which is what makes that moment in 2004 so epic.  Sometimes, however, I wonder if this isn’t how we approach Jesus, especially here at Mass.

          As we read the Scriptures, especially the Gospels, we learn of how Jesus often healed the sick and even brought back to life those who had died.  Most of us, I’m sure, were already following him before we came to understand his incredible power to heal: in other words, we were coming to Mass and trying to follow his teaching.  Perhaps one day we came to know that Jesus worked a healing in someone else’s life.  And perhaps, once we learned of this healing, we began to expect a healing for ourselves.  And so, perhaps, we began to come to Mass hoping that this time would be one of those times that Jesus would appear before us and, like Oprah that day, dole out healings to everyone: “You get a healing, you get a healing, you get a healing… everybody gets a healing!”

          Perhaps, however, we aren’t even expecting anything that dramatic.  Perhaps, we are more like the woman in the Gospel today, who had been afflicted for twelve years with a hemorrhage.  Since a bleeding like that made her “ritually unclean”, she was excluded and needed to refrain from coming in contact with others for fear of making them “unclean” also.  And so, it’s understandable that she would approach Jesus in the way that she did.  “I’m embarrassed enough to have this defilement,” I imagine her thinking, “so instead of approaching Jesus directly, I’ll simply sneak up behind him and touch his clothes: surely his power to heal will come to me.”  Surely enough, it did.

          Having been healed, the woman then tried to slip away; but Jesus wouldn’t allow it.  You see, Jesus didn’t come just to bring healings: that is, just to spread joy by doling out healings to anyone who approached him, without concern for who the person was.  Rather, he came to bring forth the kingdom of God, which was a restoration of God’s original plan for each of our lives.  Therefore, when the woman was healed—that is, when the power of healing had “gone out of him”—Jesus took notice and decided to make this moment a teaching moment.  He wanted people to see this woman—whom they all knew to be the one who had been afflicted by hemorrhages for twelve years—and to see that she was now healed by her faith in him and thus restored to her status in the community.  In other words, for Jesus it wasn’t enough that she was healed; rather, he desired that her life also be restored; and for that, he needed to address her personally.

          This is also true of the young girl whom Jesus brought back to life.  Jairus, the synagogue official, came in faith to ask Jesus to heal his daughter, who was sick and at the point of death and Jesus agrees to come.  Even though the delay of addressing the woman healed from hemorrhaging meant that the child died before he arrived, Jesus remained unperturbed.  When he arrived and saw the mourning of those already in the house, he invited them to see this situation with the “eyes of the kingdom” when he said “the child is not dead but asleep.”  It was a reality that wasn’t visible to them, but that he would soon make visible to them: for in the “eyes of the kingdom” worldly death is no longer death, but rather a temporary sleep; and to prove this, Jesus resuscitates the twelve year old girl.

          As incredible as this was, Jesus once again proved that he didn’t come simply to dole out healings or to resuscitate people after they died.  He came with a concern of restoring people in the fullness of the kingdom of God.  Therefore, Jesus didn’t simply give the breath of life back to the little girl; rather he then saw that the girl was hungry and demanded that she be given something to eat.  In other words, his healings were never functional only; but rather they always came with a tenderness—a deep and abiding concern for the one who was healed: that he or she would not only experience healing, but also have his or her life restored completely.

          This, my brothers and sisters, is God’s plan for us.  We heard in the reading from the book of Wisdom that “God did not make death”; and in the Gospel reading Jesus proves to us that, even though God did not make death, he certainly isn’t powerless before it.  No, death was never part of God’s plan for us.  Death, rather, entered the world because of Satan’s envy, which led him to deceive our first parents into sinning against God.  God sent his Son, though, not just to demonstrate his power by doling out healings to anyone who asked for it, but rather to restore us to life—that is, to his original plan for us—by freeing us from eternal death.

          This restoration, however, isn’t automatic.  Like Jairus, the synagogue official, and like the woman afflicted with hemorrhages, we must first come to Jesus in faith to seek this healing if we ever hope to receive it.  This faith, however, must not only be in Jesus’ power to heal—though that is fundamental—but it must also be faith in his will: faith, that is, that Jesus’ will is wiser than my will so that, if his will is that I not be healed at this time, I might not despair and thus lose all faith, even in his power to heal.

          Ultimately, my brothers and sisters, the choice is ours.  When we choose to place our faith in Jesus—and in his power to save us—we choose God’s original plan for us: which the book of Wisdom tells us is a plan “to be imperishable; the image of God’s own nature…”  When we do otherwise—placing our faith in ourselves or in someone or something else—we place ourselves in the company of the devil, through whose envy death entered the world.  The book of Wisdom tells us that to keep company with him makes us susceptible to it: death, that is, in the “eyes of the kingdom”, which is eternal suffering and sorrow… eternal separation from God.

          You know, Oprah did a great thing that day back in 2004.  Her gift, however, was a momentary thing and could not restore the lives of the people in her audience that day.  Through Jesus God offers us so much more than a one-time gift can give us: he offers us the opportunity to have our lives restored to his original plan: a plan where death—and the sorrow and suffering that comes because of it—no longer has any place.  Ultimately, we must choose this plan over the many others that the world offers.  We choose it by saying “Amen” to Jesus when he appears on this altar; and when we live our lives with the “eyes of the kingdom”, looking beyond our life in this world to our life in the world to come.  My brothers and sisters, God desires to give us this life, because we matter to him.  Let us choose this life for ourselves today—and everyday—so that we, too, may go in peace, healed and ready to proclaim this Good News.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN  - June 27^th & 28^th, 2015

Él está allí en la tormenta

          Amigos, gracias por sus oraciones esta semana pasada! Toda la experiencia del Campo de Trabajo Corazón Católica fue bendecido de principio a fin. Nuestro Señor tocó los corazones de cientos de jóvenes (y sus adultos!) Esta semana y todos regresaron a salvo. Sólo puedo alabar a Dios por su bondad y por las oraciones y el apoyo de todos los que ayudaron a hacer que suceda. GRACIAS!

          Durante la última semana antes de salir, cuando todo parecía que estaba a punto de derrumbarse, yo sabía que era sólo por la gracia de Dios que este viaje iba a pasar, así que me decidí a alabar a Dios exteriormente siempre que sea posible. Cada vez que vi a Humberto (mi "socio en el crimen" para la planificación de este viaje) yo diría: "Oye Humberto, ¿cuántas veces es Dios bueno?" y él respondía: "¡Todo el tiempo!" Y entonces yo digo: "Todo el tiempo ¿lo que es Dios?" y él respondía: "¡Bueno!" Esto nos ayudó a colocar este viaje completamente en manos de Dios y habló con nosotros en esta tormenta, proporcionando una solución que pensamos que no sería posible.

          Ahora que estamos de vuelta, vamos a seguir para alentar a nuestros jóvenes para Amplificar su fe en las acciones con el fin de hacer crecer el Reino de Dios aquí en el condado de Cass. Que cada uno de ustedes tienen el coraje de responder a Dios de esta manera con el fin de unirse a nosotros en esta buena obra.

¡Feliz Día del Padre a todos los papás (natural y espiritual)!

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Homilía: 12º Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario – Ciclo B

          Como la mayoría de ustedes saben, la semana pasada estuve con un grupo de 27 jóvenes y sus acompañantes adultos en el Campo de Trabajo se llama “Corazón Católico” en Virginia. Aunque lo llamamos un "viaje misionero", en realidad aquel en lo que los jóvenes y adultos participan durante esta semana es un campamento católica para los que han sido iniciados en la fe. El propósito del campamento es proporcionar jóvenes católicos con una experiencia de discipulado que les llevará a la transición de tener una fe que se recibían simplemente (es decir, una fe que se limita a repetir lo que se enseña) a tener una fe que es propiedad (es decir, una fe que es reconocido y aceptado como la propia elección personal). Para ello, proporciona un entorno dinámico que mezcla la programación de alta energía con tiempos de oración y reflexión y, más excepcionalmente, la oportunidad de experimentar lo que significa vivir esa fe verdaderamente en las acciones, por servir a los necesitados a través de los proyectos de trabajo.

          El resultado esperado de esta experiencia de campamento es que los jóvenes van a traer esta energía recién descubierta para poseer y vivir su fe de nuevo en sus comunidades de origen y comenzar a actuar con el fin de ser una fuerza para construir el reino de Dios aquí en la tierra. De este modo, la programación campamento enfatiza lo que escuchamos de la carta de San Pablo a los Corintios, en la segunda lectura de hoy: que "el amor de Cristo nos apremia" para seguir adelante y trabajar para la edificación del reino de Dios, en parte, a través de aliviar el sufrimiento de los pobres. Puedo testificar personalmente que esto es lo que pasó con nuestros jóvenes (y los adultos, también) después de esta semana de campamento.

          Una de las otras cosas que el campamento reconoce es que habrá desafíos para vivir esta fe una vez que regresen a casa. Hay muchas tormentas que los jóvenes enfrentan hoy en día: la intimidación, la separación y el divorcio de los padres, las traiciones de los amigos, y las presiones de los medios sociales de ser notada y gustaba por sus pares. Para muchos jóvenes, esto les deja temerosos, tanto que Dios puede haberles abandonado en su necesidad o, peor aún, que Dios no es suficientemente potente para salvarlos de estas tormentas. En realidad, cada uno de nosotros debe enfrentar tiempos tormentosos en nuestras vidas y cada uno de nosotros tiene que luchar con los miedos que vienen con ellos. Agradecidamente, nuestras lecturas de las Escrituras hablan de esto hoy.

          En primer lugar en el libro de Job, nos enteramos de que Dios habla a Job "desde la tormenta". De inmediato, nos enteramos de que no es de fuera de la tormenta que nos encontramos con Dios, sino que nosotros le encontramos allí mismo, en medio de ella. En otras palabras, Dios está allí con nosotros en la tormenta y si lo buscamos dentro de ella, en lugar de desde el exterior, que nos hablará allí. También oímos cómo Dios recuerda a Job de su poder sobre la tormenta mientras se le recuerda que él hizo los mares y las nubes de tormenta y establecer para ellos los límites que no deben pasar. Job había temido tanto que Dios lo había abandonado en este tiempo tormentoso en su vida y que Dios, tal vez, no tenía el poder para superarlas. Dios, sin embargo, vino a él para asegurarle de su presencia y, con gran autoridad, le recordaba de su poder sobre todas las tormentas.

          Luego, en el Evangelio de Marcos, escuchamos la historia de cómo Jesús y sus discípulos estaban cruzando el Mar de Galilea después de un día completo de enseñanza cuando una feroz tormenta se levantó contra ellos; y nos enteramos de que los discípulos temían por sus vidas mientras Jesús dormía. Finalmente cedieron y clamaron a Jesús: "¿no te importa que nos hundamos?" Su temor no era que Jesús no tenía el poder para salvar a ellos, sino más bien que Jesús no estaba eligiendo para salvarlos al permanecer dormido. En otras palabras, su temor era que Jesús les había abandonado en su necesidad. Los dos pasajes de las Escrituras, entonces, nos invitan a reconocer en nuestras propias vidas cómo fallamos en reconocer la presencia de Dios en medio de las tormentas en nuestras vidas, así como la forma en que dejar de tener fe en su poder para superarlas.

          La llamada que recibimos hoy en día, por lo tanto, es la llamada que San Pablo dio a los Corintios en su carta de la que leemos hoy: es decir, la llamada a mirar todas las cosas de una manera nueva. Pablo audazmente proclama que, "al pensar que si uno murió por todos", también hay que reconocer que en Cristo "todos han muerto"; y puesto que Cristo vive ahora, también ahora nosotros vivimos en él. Por lo tanto, "el amor de Cristo nos apremia", dice Pablo, para ver todas las cosas de una manera nueva: porque la muerte mundana no es muerte nada más y por lo tanto no hay nada que temer: porque ¿qué temor más grande puede haber que el miedo a una muerte irreversible? Por lo tanto, esta nueva forma de ver conduce a una nueva manera de vivir; porque ahora tenemos que vivir sabiendo que Cristo está con nosotros en cada tormenta; y por lo tanto hay que tener coraje para reconocer que él no nos ha abandonado para morir, sino que él está con nosotros y que él tiene el poder de calmar cada tormenta. Armado con este conocimiento y el coraje, podemos ir hacia adelante con valentía para servir a aquellos que se sientan abandonados en sus propias tormentas para que sea la poderosa presencia de Cristo a ellos. Este es el mensaje que el Campamento de Trabajo Corazón Católica espera inculcar en el corazón de cada joven que participa en uno de sus campamentos, y es el mensaje que estamos recibiendo en esta misa de hoy. ///

          Mis hermanos y hermanas, este nivel de fe no florecen durante la noche. Más bien, el logro de este nivel de la fe es un proceso de crecimiento y florecimiento en el tiempo. Alimentada por los sacramentos y fortalecido por nuestras obras de amor, nuestra fe crece y el reino de Dios se amplifica aquí en la tierra. Que el amor de Cristo encontrado aquí, en este altar, impulsarnos a este crecimiento en la fe: la fe que realmente puede hacer presente el reino de Dios aquí.

Dado en la parroquia de San José: Rochester, IN – 20º de junio, 2015

y en la parroquia de Todos los Santos: Logansport, IN – 21º de junio, 2015

He's there in the storm

          Friends, thank you for your prayers this past week!  The entire Catholic Heart Work Camp experience was blessed from start to finish.  Our Lord touched the hearts of hundreds of youth (and their adults!) this week and everyone returned safe.  I can only praise God for his goodness and for the prayers and support of all of you who helped make it happen.  THANK YOU!

          During the last week before leaving, when everything seemed like it was about to fall apart, I knew that it was only by God's grace that this trip would happen, so I decided to praise God outwardly whenever possible.  Each time I saw Humberto (my "partner in crime" for planning this trip) I would say: "Hey Humberto, how often is God good?" and he would reply: "All the time!" And then I would say: "All the time God is what?" and he would reply: "Good!"  This helped us to place this trip completely into God's hands and he spoke to us in this storm by providing a solution that we thought wouldn't be possible.

          Now that we are back, we will continue to encourage our youth to Amplify their faith in actions so as to grow God's kingdom right here in Cass County.  May each of you have the courage to respond to God in this way so as to join us in this good work.

Happy Father's Day to all Dads (natural and spiritual)!

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Homily: 12^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

          As most of you know, this past week I was with a group of 27 teens and their adult chaperones at Catholic Heart Work Camp in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Although we call it a “summer mission trip”, in reality what the teens and adults participate in during this week is a Catholic summer camp for those who have been initiated into the faith.  The purpose of the camp is to provide Catholic youth with an experience of discipleship that will lead them to transition from having a faith that is merely received (that is, a faith that simply repeats what is taught) to having a faith that is owned (that is, a faith that is personally acknowledged and accepted as one’s own choice).  It does this by providing a dynamic environment that mixes high-energy programming with prayerful times of reflection and, most uniquely, the opportunity to experience what it means to truly live out that faith in actions by serving those in need through work projects.

          The hoped-for result from this camp experience is that the teens will bring this new-found energy for owning and living their faith back into their home communities and begin to act in order to be a force for building up God’s kingdom here on earth.  Thus, the camp programming emphasizes what we heard from Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in today’s second reading: that “the love of Christ impels us” to go forward and to work for the building up of God’s kingdom in part through relieving the suffering of the poor.  I can personally testify that this is what happened with our teens (and the adults, as well) after this week of camp.

          One of the other things that the camp acknowledges is that there will be challenges to living out this faith once they return home.  There are many storms that teens face today: bullying, separation and divorce of parents, betrayals by friends, and the pressures that social media place on them to be noticed and liked by their peers.  For many teens, this leaves them fearful both that God may have abandoned them in their need or, worse yet, that God is not powerful enough to save them from these storms.  In reality, each of us must face stormy times in our lives and each of us has to wrestle with the fears that come with them.  Thankfully our Scripture readings speak to this today.

          First in the book of Job, we hear that God speaks to Job “out of the storm”.  Right away, we learn that it is not from outside of the storm that we encounter God, but rather that we encounter him right there in the midst of it.  In other words, God is there with us in the storm and if we seek him within it, instead of from without, he will speak to us there.  We also hear how God reminds Job of his power over the storm as he reminds him that he made the seas and the storm clouds and set for them the limits which they must not pass.  Job had feared both that God had abandoned him in this stormy time in his life and that God, perhaps, did not have the power to overcome them.  God, however, came to him to assure him of his presence and with great authority reminded him of his power over every storm.

          Then, in Mark’s Gospel, we hear the story of how Jesus and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee after a full day of teaching when a fierce storm rose up against them; and we hear that the disciples feared for their lives while Jesus slept.  Finally they gave in and cried out to Jesus: “do you not care that we are perishing?”  Their fear was not that Jesus didn’t have the power to save them, but rather that Jesus was choosing not to save them by remaining asleep.  In other words, their fear was that Jesus had abandoned them in their need.  Both of passages from Scripture, then, invite us to acknowledge in our own lives how we fail to recognize God’s presence in the midst of the storms in our lives as well as how we fail to have faith in his power to overcome them.

          The call that we receive today, therefore, is the call that Saint Paul gave to the Corinthians in his letter that we read from today: that is, the call to look at all things in a new way.  Paul boldly proclaims that, “once we have come to the conviction that one has died for all”, we must also acknowledge that in Christ “all have died”; and since Christ now lives so do we also now live in him.  Therefore, “the love of Christ impels us”, Paul says, to see all things in a new way: because worldly death is no longer death and thus there is nothing left to fear: because what greater fear could there be than the fear of an irreversible death?  Therefore, this new way of seeing leads to a new way of living: for now we must live knowing that Christ is with us in every storm; and thus we must take courage to acknowledge that he has not abandoned us to die, but rather that he is with us and that he has the power to calm every storm.  Armed with this knowledge and courage, we can go forward boldly to serve those feeling abandoned in their own storms so as to be Christ’s powerful presence to them.  This is the message that Catholic Heart Work Camp hopes to instill into the heart of every teen that participates in one of their camps, and it is the message that we are receiving in this Mass today.

          My brothers and sisters, this level of faith doesn’t bloom overnight.  Rather, achieving this level of faith is a process of growing and flourishing over time.  Nourished by the Sacraments and strengthened by our works of love, our faith grows and the kingdom of God is amplified here on earth.  Therefore, may the love of Christ encountered here at this altar impel us to this growth in faith: the faith that can make God’s kingdom truly present here.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – June 21^st, 2015