The Eucharist is a sacrifice

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

          If I were to mention the word “sacrifice” in the context in which we are standing—that is here in a Church during a religious service—most of us would probably know what I was talking about.  That’s because sacrifice, in a religious context, almost immediately calls forward images of the ritual sacrifices offered by ancient peoples: animals or other objects offered on an altar in homage to a god or gods.  And this is true enough, for in a religious context this is the basic definition of a sacrifice.  However, I think that there is a much broader definition of sacrifice—one that we encounter outside of the religious context—that allows us to understand sacrifice a little more directly and to see how sacrifice is actually something that we encounter regularly in our daily lives.

          In a more general context, sacrifice is the surrender or destruction of something that is prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.  And if we think about it, I guess we could find that, in big and small ways, we do this almost every day.  Families will give up vacations so as to save money for a new home or a college education for their children.  Parents will sell the sports car in order to purchase a minivan as their families begin to grow.  Some will refuse to take a new job because it would move them too far away from loved ones.  Others, however, will even leave their native country in order to provide a better life for their families.  Every couple of years, either in the winter or in the summer, this ideal of sacrifice is on display during the Olympics, where athletes from around the world who have sacrificed years of their lives in order to strive for greatness in a particular sport compete for one prize—an Olympic medal—that makes their sacrifices worthwhile.  Without doubt, sacrifice is something familiar to us.

          And that’s good, because sacrifice is a very important aspect of the Eucharist that we celebrate each and every week.  The unique thing about the Eucharist considered as a sacrifice, however,  is that while at the same time it is a sacrifice like those made by ancient peoples, in which an offering is immolated on an altar, it is also a sacrifice that never ends and is constantly being re-presented because of its most perfect and enduring nature.  In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read that: The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” (1367)  And so, the sacrifice that we offer week after week is the one, eternal sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.  It is the only perfect sacrifice.  And so, uniting ourselves to it becomes the only way to make our lives an acceptable sacrifice to God. (cf. 2100)

          The Church also teaches us that an outward sacrifice that is not an expression of an inward sacrifice of spirit is empty (2100).  And Psalm 51 reminds us that “the sacrifice acceptable to God is a contrite spirit.”  And so we have to ask ourselves: “When we come here each week, do we do it merely out of external duty or do we do it to offer something of ourselves to God?”  If we are here only because we fear what God will do to us if we don’t show up, then I think that we are missing the point.  Don’t get me wrong, we all need a reason to be here and if fear of punishment is all you have this week, well then that’s something.  But the real fruit of our weekly sacrifice will only be found when we come here to unite our daily sacrifices of prayer and work to Christ’s eternal sacrifice.  In other words, our sacrifice of prayer in this building will mean little to us individually unless we bring forward the sacrifices of our daily lives to be offered with Christ’s on this altar.

          Sometimes, however, we can convince ourselves that our offerings don’t amount to much.  This is not new.  As we saw in our readings today, two persons were asked to place their meager offerings before a multitude of people: to sacrifice what they had for a greater purpose.  To each of them, it didn’t look like much; but to God it was enough to multiply and satisfy.  They couldn’t see this, however, until they were invited to make the offering.  They thought their offering was barely enough to cover their own needs.  What they found, however, was that, when offered to God, their small sacrifices served a much greater purpose.  In other words: their sacrifice, united through the “man of God” to God’s sacrifice, was made abundantly fruitful.

          And so this is our work: to daily acknowledge the connection between the sacrifices we make every day and the one, perfect, and abundant sacrifice that Christ offered on the cross; and then to bring those sacrifices here to be offered with Christ’s and lifted up to God in prayer and praise.  Perhaps you can even find practical ways of doing this, like writing down your sacrifices during the week on small slips of paper and then dropping them into the collection basket next week.  Then, as you watch as the basket is brought to the altar, you will be able see your sacrifices going up to be offered with the bread and wine that will become the Body and Blood of Christ, the true and perfect sacrifice.  Whatever way you choose, find some way to recollect the small and big sacrifices that you will make this coming week so that you can offer them here and you will begin to find that your participation in this celebration will be much more fruitful. ///

          You know, I think that we have a special opportunity in these coming weeks, as we hear more from these Eucharistic passages of John’s Gospel, to reflect on and renew our experience of this miraculous event and of its sacramental renewal here in the Mass.  And so I encourage you to spend time reflecting on these Gospel passages each day of this week and the weeks following (yes, I said each day).  In fact, we can begin right now in the silence that follows before we profess the Creed.  Let these words soak into your heart and ask God for the faith to see the truth of what he has promised: that our sometimes meager sacrifices can be made abundantly fruitful when united to Christ’s one, perfect sacrifice.

          My brothers and sisters, if you pay close attention to what follows, you’ll see that our prayers and actions are all pointed toward making that connection between the offerings of our lives and the life offered here on this altar.  And so let us turn, now, to him and make an offering of ourselves acceptable to God our Almighty Father.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – July 29^th, 2018

The true Shepherd-King must lead us

Homily: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

          Friends, these last couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing a lot about prophets, centering our reflections around their call to prophesy: the Old Testament prophets, like Ezekiel and Amos, and the New Testament prophets (those we also call Evangelists), the Apostles.  This week we hear from another prophet, the prophet Jeremiah, but our focus today is more on his message.

          Jeremiah’s message is a message of warning to the leaders of God’s people.  He is warning them because, instead of leading God’s people in right worship and moral conduct, they had been leading them into worship of false gods and allowed moral depravity.  This was terrible for the very reasons listed: that the Kings of God’s people were more than just “governors”, meant to help maintain order in civil life.  They were shepherds, meant to lead God’s people and to keep them from falling into sin.

          Ultimately, they were supposed to be shepherds who model God’s own shepherding.  And where do we find an image of God’s own shepherding?  Today’s Psalm, Psalm 23, is a psalm of God’s shepherding.  Written by King David--a shepherd before he was made king, who shepherded God’s people rightly (in spite of his numerous failings throughout the years)--this psalm describes not only God’s shepherding, but the goal of his shepherding.  In essence it says that God shepherds his people to a place of rest: a place in which it is safe, tranquil, and in which they can flourish in abundance.  In this, we should hear an echo of the book of Genesis in which God rests after all his labors and in Exodus in which he commands his people to observe the day of rest (the Sabbath).  Also the voice of Jesus, who said, in criticism of the Pharisees, who made the Sabbath rest a thing of burden for God’s people: “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  All in all, the message of Psalm 23 is that God’s shepherding leads mankind to a place of perfect rest.

          Thus, Jeremiah’s critique: the leaders of God’s people were not leading them to rest and flourishing, but rather into greater labor and turmoil.  God, through Jeremiah, says to them: “I myself will gather them and appoint a shepherd who will lead them into my rest.”  He will be a “righteous shoot of David” (God’s true “shepherd-king”) who will be a model of right worship and of moral conduct for God’s people.  Perhaps, however, they didn’t expect that it would be God himself who would come as a descendant of King David to shepherd his people.  Enter, stage right, Jesus in our Gospel reading today.

Today we heard how the Apostles gathered back to Jesus after their mission to proclaim the Gospel in the dispersed towns of Israel and Judah and how Jesus invites them away from it all to rest a while.  As they go, however, the restless people, who have been dying for a true shepherd, follow them; and Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was “moved with pity” for them, “for they were like sheep without a shepherd”.  Jesus came to shepherd God’s people into rest--into true shalom, that is, peace--and so he cannot turn away from them in their restlessness.  Here we see the reason for Saint Paul’s words from our second reading: “He came and preached peace (i.e. shalom) to those who were far off and peace to those who were near…”

          Friends, Jesus is the Emmanuel--God with us--who has come to us to shepherd us into God’s Sabbath--his rest.  This is important for us to acknowledge today because, for the past 50-plus years, we’ve allowed the secular world to shepherd us: and it has shepherded us wrongly.  Don’t believe me?  Look around.  By my observation, people today are more restless than ever: and I’m not talking just about being too busy; rather, I’m talking about a loss of psychological, emotional, and spiritual stability.

A prophet of our own time, Blessed Pope Paul VI, predicted unrest 50 years ago when he released his encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae, otherwise known as, On the Regulation of Birth.  In it, Blessed Paul VI sought to reinforce and clarify the Church’s teaching on the immorality of the use of artificial methods of birth control.  His prescient moment, however, came in section 17 of the document in which he predicted three detrimental outcomes if the use of artificial contraceptives became widespread: 1) marital infidelity would increase (possible pregnancy, while not a positive deterrent to infidelity, was an effective one, nonetheless); 2) men would begin to view women as objects for satisfying their pleasure alone and begin to discard them as soon as they ceased to satisfy them (Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, anyone?); 3) Governments, seeing that these methods have become accepted within the family, will begin to impose the use of contraceptives on people.  Believe me when I tell you that the HHS mandate that coverage for contraceptives be included in “health care” plans is but a few short steps removed from “you must abort your baby if it is diagnosed with Down Syndrome”.

Friends, the results of these predictions are on display for us today: a deep restlessness as families, who have allowed the secular culture to shepherd them, struggle to find ways to keep it all together as the barriers to infidelity, objectification, and government influence have been dismantled.  Unfortunately, Catholic families have not been immune as surveys have confirmed that Catholics follow the trends of the public at large in regard to attitudes surrounding the use of artificial contraception; and the statistics regarding marital infidelity and divorce bear this out: with Catholic families trending along the same path as the public at large.

And so, what is the answer?  Well, it’s to return to Christ and to allow him to shepherd us rightly into the rest--that is, the shalom (or peace)--that he wants for us.  To do this, we need to allow the Church, led by Christ’s Vicar, the Pope, to lead us.  Statistics have also shown that families who conform themselves to the teachings of the Church have happier and more stable marriages; and that children who come from homes in which these teachings are followed lead more stable and fulfilling lives.  It’s no guarantee, of course, human weakness always must be accounted for, but social science bears out that this is a much more solid foundation on which to build a family.

And we are so blessed here in this diocese to have many dedicated persons who can help couples learn responsible family planning through natural family planning methods: methods, that is, which do not separate the unitive and procreative aspects of human sexuality and thus work to enhance a married couple’s relationship, even as it helps them to responsibly space out births.  If even just Catholic families embraced these methods as a way for Christ to shepherd them as a family, our society would be affected in positive ways and our restlessness would begin to subside.

Friends, Christ is our Shepherd--Emmanuel, God with us--who has come to gather us: those who have been far away and those who are near, so that he can lead us into his rest.  As we worship him here today in this Eucharist, let us allow him to shepherd us anew in our daily lives so that the peace (or shalom) that each of our hearts seek might be known; and that the world’s restlessness might be transformed into the peace of God’s kingdom.

Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN - July 21st & 22nd, 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

Being a faithful prophet

Homily: 14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Friends, it's important as we begin our reflection today to remember that we must give thanks in our hearts for the Word of God that we just heard.  We know that every encounter with the Word of God is an encounter with Christ, the living God, whose very life is our salvation.  This is why we say at the end of each reading "thanks be to God" and at the end of the Gospel reading "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ".  Those moments of silence that occur after each reading and the Responsorial Psalm are moments to relish that our God has spoken to us.  And so, while it is not always possible to relish in those moments (a squirmy child or an ill-timed sneeze can get in the way), we should always strive to be recollected in those moments.

The truth is that, when the word of God comes to us, it changes us... if we let it.  [repeat]  This is the story of all the prophets, especially those about whom we heard in today's readings.  In each case, the Word of God breaks into their lives and urges them into a new direction.  Although the prophet can choose to refuse the calling that God has given to them, they cannot ignore the fact that they have been called; and by that very fact, itself, their lives have been changed.  The prophet Jonah is a great example of the latter.  He refused God's call to prophesy to the people of Nineveh, but couldn't go back to his life before he encountered God's Word.  Rather, it sent him in a completely different direction.  Ultimately, into the belly of a whale!

The prophet Ezekiel, however, is an example of the former: one who encountered God's Word and responded positively to it.  His life, too, was sent in a completely different direction in order to fulfill a task that God had given to him.  Notice, however, that the defining characteristic of these prophets is not the success they had in getting people to conform to God's word, but rather it was their obedience and their faithfulness to the call that was their glory.

Ezekiel was called to preach to his own people who had fallen away from the right practice of religion and moral conduct.  He wasn't someone of high social status to whom people would automatically listen and he was bringing a message that would surely be unpopular: "God is angry with you for the way you are living.  Repent and turn back to God in penance or else he will punish you!"  For a people who don't think that they're doing anything wrong, this is a tough message to sell!  Throughout Ezekiel's call, however, God emphasizes that it is imperative for him to follow-through: noting on more than one occasion that for him not to speak is to bring the Israelite guilt on his own head; whereas if he does speak to them—in such a way so that the Israelites "shall know that a prophet has been among them"—any further refusal on their part will cause their guilt to remain on them.  Again, what we see in this is that it is Ezekiel's job to bring God's Word into contact with the Israelite people, so that it might change their lives; and that his success will be measured not by converts, but by his obedience and faithfulness to the call.

Christ, as we heard in our Gospel reading today, is the example par excellence for us.  From the very moment of the incarnation in the virginal womb of Mary, Christ was obedient and faithful to God's will.  Time and again, Jesus was rejected by his own people—in other words, he was unsuccessful by any standard—yet he remained faithful and obedient, nonetheless.  Because of this—that is, his faithfulness to the end—he is now glorified in heaven with the Father.

Friends, each of us have been touched by the Word of God and so have been changed.  Therefore, we, too, must respond to God's call to prophesy.  How often, however, do we refuse to follow God's call—that is, we refuse to speak God's Word of truth—simply because we think that we'll be unsuccessful?  In other words, how often do we refuse to speak up—to a family member, a friend, or a coworker—because we think that they will ignore us or, worse yet, reject us: thus, damaging our relationship?  Friends, these are not excuses in God's eyes; and so, even when we think that we will be unsuccessful, God, nonetheless, demands that we go; and so, we must go, remembering that God will not judge us based on whether we were successful in turning hearts back to him, but rather on whether we were obedient and faithful.

Thus, the questions for us today are these: Who is it with whom God is asking me to share his Word?  If I am resistant, why?  What's holding me back?  How can I exercise trust in God in small things, so as to be prepared to trust him in these big things?  This is our "homework" for this week: to allow these questions to lead us to discern where and with whom God is calling me to act.  If we don't feel ready to act (perhaps because it's a big conversation that we're not ready to have), then our work is to ask God to reveal smaller ways in which we can act throughout the week—for example, a simple act of kindness for a stranger that we might not otherwise do—so as to build our trust in God and in his call.  Ultimately, however, if God's Word has called us, we need to act.  Whether or not the person (or persons) to whom we bring this Word respond is God's problem, not ours.  Our problem is to ensure that the Word of God has been spoken to them: that is, in such a way that they "shall know that a prophet has been among them."

Friends, Christ is with us in this work.  He is the Word that we are called to speak.  As we receive him in this Eucharist, let's abandon ourselves to him and allow him to speak through us.

Given at Saint Mary Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – July 8^th, 2018

Your faith has saved you

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 Saint Mary’s Cathedral Parish: Lafayette, IN  - July 1^st, 2018

Dios puede llevarnos a nuestro mejor fin.

          Esta es mi homilía para mi último fin de semana en Todos los Santos en Logansport. El próximo fin de semana (del 30 de junio al 1 de julio) comienzo mi tarea como pastor de la Catedral de Santa María la Inmaculada Concepción en Lafayette. Por favor, oren por mí, por el P. Jeff Martin (el nuevo Pastor de Todos los Santos) y para ambas parroquias durante este tiempo de transición.

Homilía: La Navidad del Juan el Bautista – Ciclo B

          Hermanos y hermanas, somos muy bendecidos hoy para celebrar esta gran fiesta del nacimiento, o Natividad, de Juan el Bautista. Cada año, esta fiesta cae el 24 de junio, y la Iglesia cree que es tan importante que celebremos esta fiesta, que su celebración no se suprime cuando cae el domingo: lo que ocurre cada seis años, más o menos. Por lo tanto, después de solo un par de semanas más de domingos “ordinarios” en el Tiempo Ordinario, disfrutamos de otra celebración especial.

          Entonces, ¿por qué la Iglesia considera esto una celebración tan importante? Bueno, sin duda porque Juan fue un jugador clave en la historia de la salvación. Él era el heraldo (es decir, el anunciador o proclamador) de la llegada del Mesías (aquel por el que los judíos esperaban, que anunciaría la plenitud del reino de Dios); y así, su nacimiento—y las circunstancias que rodearon su nacimiento—marcan el momento en que comienza este crucial "pivote". Podría pasar tiempo desempacando para ustedes cómo todas esas circunstancias son significativas; pero preferiría centrarme en dos puntos que la celebración de hoy parece presentarnos: 1) la sorprendente verdad de que Dios obra a través de nosotros, no a nuestro alrededor; y 2) que no es la forma en que uno comienza su vida lo que hace la diferencia, sino cómo se termina.

          Primero: Dios trabaja a través de nosotros, no a nuestro alrededor. Una de las cosas que se pasa por alto en nuestra celebración de los santos es que Dios no los necesitaba. En el libro de Génesis, leemos que Dios creó todo ex nihilo, es decir, de la nada. Y entonces surge la pregunta: si Dios no nos necesita para llevar a cabo su trabajo, entonces ¿por qué él confía en nosotros? Al responder esta pregunta, llegamos a comprender mejor el plan de Dios. Dios nos creó, no para ser sus esclavos, o para ser un juguete para su entretenimiento, sino para poder compartir con nosotros, sus criaturas, la dicha eterna de su vida divina. Al invitarnos a cooperar en su trabajo, nos invita a estar unidos a él y a ayudar a otros a unirse a él también. Aún más, nuestra cooperación en su trabajo nos hace sentir amados y queridos por Dios; y su interacción en nuestro mundo demuestra su amor y cuidado por nosotros. Al final: Dios obra a través de nosotros no porque nos necesita para compensar algo que le falta, sino para unirnos a él y así cumplir su plan para la creación.

          La evidencia de esto está allí misma en las Escrituras: a pesar de las numerosas ocasiones en que el plan de Dios para traer salvación fue frustrado por la falta de cooperación de los hombres y mujeres que él llamó, Dios continuó llamándolos. Y, por muchas personas numerosas que sí cooperaron, movió su plan hacia adelante. Por lo tanto, llegamos a Juan: en cierto sentido, el predestinado a ser el heraldo del Mesías (aunque nadie realmente entendió eso en su nacimiento): uno que cooperó con el plan de Dios y ayudó a hacer realidad la plenitud del plan de Dios cuando anunció a Jesús como el Mesías.

          Esto, en cierto modo, nos lleva a nuestro segundo punto: que no es tanto la forma en que comenzamos nuestras vidas, sino cómo es que terminamos con ellas. Usted ve, mientras que Juan pudo haber sido predestinado desde su nacimiento para este trabajo que Dios le había dado, él no estaba predeterminado. En otras palabras, Juan podría haber optado por resistir el llamado de Dios o incluso abandonar a Dios por completo. Sin embargo, no lo hizo. Más bien, cooperó con el plan de Dios y anunció un bautismo de arrepentimiento—una purificación—para prepararse para la venida del Mesías desesperadamente anticipado. Cuando apareció el Mesías, él continuó pidiendo el arrepentimiento, tanto que finalmente fue asesinado por aquellos en el poder a quienes condenó para silenciar su voz. Es por la forma en que Juan terminó su vida—siendo cooperador fiel en la obra de Dios—que honramos a Juan y, por lo tanto, a su nacimiento. Por lo tanto, como Isaías, cuya voz escuchamos en la primera lectura y quien fielmente cooperó en la obra de Dios hasta el final de su vida, Juan ha sido honrado muy por encima de su pueblo judío y se ha convertido en una luz para todas las naciones.

          Hermanos, estas mismas cosas son verdad para nosotros. Ya ven, Dios quiere trabajar a través de nosotros. Y para Dios, la forma en que realiza sus obras es tan importante como lo que logra. Lo que logra es creciendo su reino al unir más hombres y mujeres a él. La forma es a través de nuestra cooperación. Para la mayoría de nosotros, esto significa que debemos santificar nuestro mundo y los que nos rodean a través de acciones cotidianas: como, por ejemplo, vivir vidas virtuosas de acuerdo con los Diez Mandamientos, amar a Dios en nuestra oración y adoración y por nuestro amor a nuestro prójimo, sirviendo tanto a su aspecto físico como a sus necesidades espirituales y apoyando sus esfuerzos para crecer en santidad. Para algunos, esto también significa predicar, enseñar y dirigir a otros. Para todos, sin embargo, es discernir cómo Dios nos ha llamado a cooperar con su trabajo—continuamente, en cada etapa de nuestras vidas—y luego continuamente a entregarnos a él.

          Al entregarnos continuamente al trabajo de cooperación en el trabajo de Dios en el mundo, entonces estaremos preparados para terminar bien nuestras vidas. Hermanos, incluso si hemos vivido muchos años y nunca nos hemos entregado a hacer el trabajo de Dios, aún podemos responder. Muchos santos vivieron vidas lejos de Dios solo para volverse finalmente a Dios y cooperar con su trabajo. Algunos solo por un pequeño porcentaje de su vida útil; pero fue la parte más importante, el final: y es el final de nuestras vidas al que la mayoría de la gente mira para evaluar qué es lo que más valoramos. Por lo tanto, si nos volvemos, incluso ahora, para buscar a Dios y el trabajo que él nos ha dado, él bendecirá nuestros esfuerzos y no nos decepcionará.

          Entonces, ¿cuál es la mejor manera de terminar con nuestras vidas? No creo que podamos buscar un mejor ejemplo que Juan el Bautista: quien terminó su vida señalando a Jesús. Nuevamente, no importa cómo hemos vivido nuestras vidas hasta este punto, si terminamos nuestras vidas arrepintiéndonos y cooperando con el plan de Dios, y habiéndonos alejado de nosotros mismos y hacia Jesús, habremos terminado bien. (Lo cual, por supuesto, es lo que espero que me hayan visto hacer en mi tiempo aquí: buscar el arrepentimiento y ayudar a otros a hacer lo mismo y señalar no a mí mismo, sino a Cristo).

          Oigan, no muchos de nosotros tuvimos un comienzo auspicioso, como lo hizo Juan el Bautista. Todos nosotros, sin embargo, podemos tener un final como el que conduce a la gloria. Y entonces te animo: ora y escucha lo que Dios le pide; luego sea valiente para salir y hacerlo, incluso si eso significa que será rechazado; y confía en que Dios, obrando a través de ti, manifestará su reino entre nosotros. Hermanos, esto comienza aquí, en esta (y en cada) Eucaristía, cuando lo adoramos con nuestros corazones y somos alimentados por su Palabra y por su Cuerpo y Sangre.

          Juan el Bautista dijo una vez: "Debo disminuir y él debe aumentar". Mientras "disminuyo" de su vista, que Cristo y su reino continúen aumentando entre ustedes.

Dado en la parroquia Todos los Santos: Logansport, IN

24 de junio, 2018

God can bring us to our best end.

          This is my homily for my last weekend at All Saints in Logansport.  Next weekend (June 30-July 1) I begin my assignment as Pastor of the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Immaculate Conception in Lafayette.  Please pray for me, for Fr. Jeff Martin (the new Pastor of All Saints) and for both parishes during this time of transition.

Homily: The Nativity of John the Baptist – Cycle B

          Friends, we are very blessed today to celebrate this great feast of the Birth, or Nativity, of John the Baptist.  Every year, this feast falls on June 24^th, and the Church thinks it so important that we celebrate this feast, that its celebration is not suppressed when it falls on Sunday: which it does every six years or so.  Thus, after only a couple more weeks of “ordinary” Ordinary Time Sundays, we enjoy another special celebration.

          So, why does the Church consider this so important of a celebration?  Well, certainly because John was such a pivotal player in salvation history.  He was the herald (that is, the announcer or proclaimer) of the arrival of the Messiah (the one for whom the Jews were waiting, who would usher in the fullness of God’s kingdom); and so, his birth—and the circumstances surrounding his birth—mark the moment that this crucial “pivot” begins.  I could spend time unpacking for you how all of those circumstances are meaningful (and if you’re interested, you might seek out Bishop Robert Barron’s homily for today on the internet, as he explores this nicely); but I’d rather focus on two points that today’s celebration seems to make for us: 1) the amazing truth that God works through us, not around us; and 2) that it isn’t how one begins one’s life that makes a difference, but rather how one ends it.

          First: God works through us, not around us.  One of the things that gets overlooked in our celebration of saints is that God didn’t need them.  In the book of Genesis, we read that God created everything ex nihilo, that is, out of nothing.  And so the question arises: If God doesn’t need us to accomplish his work, then why does he rely on us?  In answering this question, we come to better understand God’s plan.  God created us, not to be his slaves, or to be some plaything for his entertainment, but so that he could share with us, his creatures, the eternal bliss of his divine life.  By inviting us to cooperate in his work, he is inviting us to be united to him and to help others to be united to him, too.  Still further, our cooperation in his work makes us feel loved and wanted by God; and his interaction in our world demonstrates his love and care for us.  In the end: God works through us not because he needs us to make up for something he lacks, but rather to unite us to him and so fulfill his plan for creation.

          The evidence of this is right there in the Scriptures: in spite of the numerous times in which God’s plan to bring salvation was thwarted by the lack of cooperation from the men and women he called, God continued to call them.  And, by many numerous persons who did cooperate, he moved his plan forward.  Thus, we come to John: the one, in a sense, predestined to be the herald of the Messiah (though nobody really understood that at his birth): one who cooperated with God’s plan and thus helped make the fullness of God’s plan a reality when he announced Jesus as the Messiah.

          This, in a way, brings us to our second point: that it’s not so much how we begin our lives, but how we end them that matters.  You see, while John may have been predestined from birth for this work that God had given to him, he was not predetermined.  In other words, John could have chosen to resist God’s call or even to abandon God altogether.  Yet, he didn’t.  Rather, he cooperated with God’s plan and announced a baptism of repentance—a cleansing—in order to prepare for the coming of the desperately anticipated Messiah.  When the Messiah appeared, he continued to call for repentance: so much so that he was eventually killed by those in power whom he was condemning so as to silence his voice.  It is because of the way that John ended his life—remaining a faithful cooperator in God’s work—that we honor John and, therefore, his birth.  Therefore, like Isaiah, whose voice we heard in the first reading and who faithfully cooperated in God’s work until the end of his life, John has been honored far above his Jewish people and has become a light to all nations.

          Friends, these same things are true for us.  You see, God wants to work through us.  And for God, how he accomplishes his works is just as important as what he accomplishes.  The what is growing his kingdom by uniting more men and women to him.  The how is through our cooperation.  For most of us, this means sanctifying our world and others through day to day actions: such as, living virtuous lives according to the Ten Commandments, loving God in our prayer and worship and through our love for our neighbor, serving both their physical and spiritual needs and supporting their efforts to grow in holiness.  For some, this also means preaching and teaching and leading others.  For all, however, it is to discern how God has called us to cooperate with his work—continuously, in every stage of our lives—and then continuously to give ourselves to it.

          By continuously giving ourselves to the work of cooperating in God’s work in the world, we will then be prepared to end our lives well.  Friends, even if we've lived many years and have never given ourselves to doing God's work, we can still respond.  Many saints lived dissolute lives only to be turned, finally, to God and to cooperate with his work.  Some for only a small percentage of their life span; but it was the most important part, the end: and it is the end of our lives to which most people look to gauge what it was that we valued most.  Therefore, if we turn, even now, to seek God and the work that he has given to us, he will bless our efforts and we will not be disappointed.

          And so, what is the best way to end our lives?  I don’t think we can look for a better example than John the Baptist: who ended his life by pointing towards Jesus.  Again, no matter how we've lived our lives up to this point, if we end our lives having repented and cooperated with God's plan, and pointed away from ourselves and towards Jesus, we will have finished well.  (Which, of course, is what I hope you have seen me do in my time here: to seek repentance and to help others do the same and to point not to myself, but to Christ.)

          You know, not many of us had auspicious beginnings, like John the Baptist did.  All of us, however, can have an ending like his that leads to glory.  And so I encourage you: pray and listen for what God asks of you; then be courageous to step out and do it, even if it means you'll be rejected; and trust that God, working through you, will manifest his kingdom among us.  Friends, this begins here, in this (and in every) Eucharist, when we worship him with our hearts and are nourished by his Word and by his Body and Blood.

          John the Baptist once said, "I must decrease, he must increase."  As I “decrease” from your sight, may Christ and his kingdom continue to increase among you.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – June 23^rd & 24^th, 2018