Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 4, 2022)

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 4, 2022)                         

September has returned - growing shortness in daylight- the crispness in the early morning air.  Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are becoming just a memory. Whether we are still in school or long gone from school, there is a September spirit in the air: new beginnings.  There is the start-up of activities – an unwritten, carry-over into adult life: things re-awaken in September.

New adventures need planning. We have a tradition for planning that goes back long before Jesus. It is being a realist when we initiate something. The examples that Jesus uses of the king contemplating battle and the builder contemplating construction are a stark reality.

“No one plans to fail; they just fail to plan.” is a helpful adage. The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea is a 105-story, abandoned, concrete shell that was begun in 1989.  It was expected to be the tallest hotel and one of the tallest buildings in the world. It is permanently uninhabitable because of its faulty structure and cost. It towers over the skyline as an international monument to poor planning.

No one plans to fail; they just fail to plan. Cost is an essential part of planning. Dietrich Bonheoffer, the German theologian who died in a Nazi death camp, understood this. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, he says, using different words but the same thought as Jesus, that there is no “cheap grace.”

Jesus tells us about the cost of our planning to be a disciple in today’s Gospel: you must “hate” even your father and mother. Now, we know that the Aramaic word for hate does not mean the same in English as it does in Aramaic; there, it is not emotional hate, but rather means “to love less” or “not to choose.” The meaning of the Gospel is that nothing and no one can be put ahead of God in our personal hierarchy of values. So, both the wisdom of common sense and the wisdom of the Lord is, “No pain no gain.”

I think every one of us takes a long time to come to comprehend that “hard” saying of Jesus about prioritizing God above all. We tend to ignore it.  Jesus teaches us that there must be no idolatries in our life - no matter how worthy the object of our devotion may be. People, like father, mother, loved one, children, and friends; things, like career, education, talent, physical fitness, television, and sports. We must “hate” [refuse to idolize] all persons, all things.  Discipleship with its cost is paramount; it redefines all other loyalties.

We have an advantage over the people who heard Jesus that day. Neither Jesus nor his listeners knew then all that lay before Jesus: the cost of loss of the respect of many, the cost of the passion, and the cost of his crucifixion. We have the benefit of having seen the whole picture, including his resurrection. We have seen what has happened within us after our appreciation for what he has done.

In considering the cost of discipleship, we raise another question: what is the cost of not following?  Only God knows.  In our hearts, we sense a great tragedy avoided. Jesus asked Peter after many had left Jesus when he spoke of his real presence in Eucharist, “Will you also go?”  Peter answered so many of our questions even in our own lifetime: “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of everlasting life.”

September is a time for planning. Just as football teams have a game plan, financial analysts have a fiscal plan, teachers have a lesson plan, and students have a study plan - each one of us today needs a personal, spiritual plan. No one plans to fail they just fail to plan.

How are we planning the use of our time, our talent, and our treasure? It might be a very good idea to answer that question during the quiet time after communion as we entertain Jesus in our spirits and bodies.

Smell the change in the September air.

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 28, 2022)

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 28, 2022)

I would be embarrassed to tell you how many years I read this gospel about table seating and hosting - and just didn’t get it. Perhaps you have had trouble, too. We were not there. We did not hear Jesus’ inflection, nor did we see the wry smile on Jesus’ face. I took it as seriously, whereas Jesus was poking fun. Understanding that, the reading makes sense. His point speaks to the prideful Pharisee in many of us.

Jesus’ parable about how the guests might strategize to jockey themselves into more prestigious seats is nothing short of comedy. Rather than speak directly about humility, Jesus creates a slightly outrageous story/parable to make his point.  

Humility is having accurate knowledge of ourselves and accepting ourselves. In the parable, Jesus looks at motives. Humility is elusive; it is a slippery fish. In claiming that we have it, we lose it to pride. He challenges his host, the guests, and us to become humble.

Jesus’ words: “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” cannot be ignored. We see some football players, after a great play, point skyward while others proudly thump their chests.

There are times when laughter is the best spiritual medicine.  We need to be able to laugh at ourselves. I love another of those wonderful, Alcoholics Anonymous maxims of profound wisdom;  “I may not be much, but I’m all I can think about.” The humor is so insightful.  Humility is truth as Saint Therese, the little flower, says.  It is the recognition that in God’s Kingdom every individual is a beloved child of God.  Stories such as today’s Gospel make it clear that as an after-dinner speaker, Jesus probably caused heartburn for the Pharisee host.  

In the second part of this episode, Jesus turns his attention away from being a good guest to being a good host.  If we invite those who cannot reciprocate, we trade off dining with the somewhat rich and famous now for dining later at the banquet of the just in heaven.  Throughout his ministry, Jesus judged the least, the lost, and the forgotten as those most worthy of the Kingdom of God. 

I honestly do not know anyone or have even heard of anyone – including any religious family and my family of origin - who follows Jesus’ words literally as to who is to be invited to a gathering. Jesus is on a roll with his offbeat approach. This is hyperbole – deliberate exaggeration – about his preferred guest list. These words serve as a reminder to us of Jesus’ preferential option for the poor. Jesus wants inclusion, not exclusion.

What are we to do to steer between the twin rocks of a prideful attitude and self-rejection? We take the polarities of success and failure and learn the best from each. The unitive consciousness is balance, is reality.

The humble, gifted soprano does not deny the truth of her ability, nor does a good and humble athlete speak as if he is inept. We need simply to acknowledge our giftedness, but not get carried away with ourselves. We try to think no more highly nor lowly of ourselves than what is true. When complimented for an accomplishment, we simply say “thank you.”  This acknowledges the truth-as-someone-sees-it, neither allowing our heads to swell nor groveling that we are unworthy of the compliment. 

We thereby allow our genuine, self-worth to grow, interiorly giving more of the credit to God.  For, after all, “what do we have that we have not received?”

The humble have no problem recognizing their dependence on God and others. They acknowledge their own shortcomings and forgive the shortfall of others. Because they are not pretentious, the humble can rub elbows with the world’s “nobodies” and the really “somebodies” and be grateful for the good company of both.

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 21, 2022)

Two “door stories” from the New Testament impact us. One is from the Book of Revelation: “Here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him and he with me.” That verse is supported by the familiar picture of Jesus standing outside a door without a doorknob. It must be opened from the inside . . . by us.

In the other story, the one in today’s Gospel, Jesus answers a seeker who asks, “Will only a few be saved” with “strive to enter through the narrow gate…” Here, the seeker is on the outside and Jesus is on the inside, but in both stories about the entrance to life with our God, some effort is required of us who want to be on the same side of the door/gate as Jesus. Whether it is by turning the doorknob and opening it or by walking through the gate, something is required of us.

Jesus says that the master does not know where the petitioner comes from. Jesus is surely not talking about geography.  He speaks of the necessary “striving” to enter. He adds that some will not be strong enough.  He says that he recognizes those who are coming from the same place as him. The “same place” – again, not geographical - includes those who have taken on his mindset, his heart, and strive to love everyone. This story reminds us of his saying that the sheep recognize the good shepherd’s voice, and he theirs.

So, the question for us today is whether we are among those who strive to enter, whether we  “will be in that number when the saints go marching in.” This is what the first reading from Isaiah is about. The prophet is telling the Jews that God will use every imaginable means of transportation used for both war and commerce.  Chariots, carts, mules, and camels sound like mass transportation, not the saving of only “a few.”

More significantly, they will come from the farthest places the people of that time could imagine:  from the west - in Spain [Tarshish] and from over in Africa [Put & Lud], from a tiny island around Greece [Javan (dzhay van)], from up the coast of the Black Sea [Tubal (tyoo b’l)].  These foreign people are going to enter the door just as the Israelites will.  The point: the Kingdom of God is larger than they expect and extends far beyond Israel.  Socks will probably also drop at who will be there.  Elsewhere, the God of surprises says that prostitutes and sinners will enter before those expecting admittance.

Entering the door will be a question of whom we know, but not in the politically correct sense.  Knowing and empathizing with Jesus in his mind and heart converts our minds and hearts, who we are.  Conversion will make us recognizable to him. He knows us if we are like him, living Jesus.  He came among us as a servant. That was a favorite metaphor right to the end, to the last supper foot washing and his hanging on the cross as the suffering servant.  He recognizes fellow servants. 

Servants are expected to do things. The fact that we are servants of the Lord means that much more is expected of us than the worldly, minimum daily requirement of decency. If we set our sights only on keeping our noses clean, that is not being a servant/disciple.  That is trying to play it safe.   Playing it safe is a futile business because Jesus never “played it safe.”

The “last” by worldly reckoning will be “first” through the door in Jesus’ view, and the firsts from a worldly perspective will find themselves at the back of the line Jesus tells us.

 Each of us can rejoice in the fact that we have been invited.  We have been offered the gift of faith with its expectations.  We can rejoice that Jesus walks with us each step of the way.  Our task is to be attentive, to listen for the Lord and to respond with our continued “Yes, Lord” to our daily invitations.

 This is our task: turning the knob on our side of the door; walking toward the gate by “striving” to identify with the mind and heart of our master.  Striving to live Jesus is what we are called to do.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 14, 2022)

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 14, 2022)

 Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”  Jeremiah, the author of the first reading, wrote, “within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones.”

 What is it that is burning within? The fire of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm sounds almost too weak a word.  Athletes can surely appreciate the “fire in the gut” feeling. Being “fired up” means maximal effort, the absolute best effort within you. There is a fire-filled effort in football on the two-yard line – on both sides of the ball – that is never exceeded.

 John the Baptist, who said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, prefigured Jesus.  Here it is! The disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter afternoon returned the seven miles to Jerusalem claiming their hearts were burning within them when Jesus spoke with them. Later, tongues of fire strengthened the apostles at Pentecost to speak out fearlessly of Jesus. Fire!

Today, we do not hear more of his message. Instead, Jesus turned his attention from his message to the people who receive his message and what happens.

He asks, “Do you think I have come to bring peace? No, I tell you, but rather, division!”  Jesus tells of the different effects of his message on different households. He tells us that his message will not result in having one, big, happy family.  He said elsewhere that his word was like a two-edged sword. It cut those from Jewish culture; it cut those from secular culture. It led him to his death. 

Yet, from Jewish culture, Peter led those people who listened: Jesus’ people. From secular culture, Paul and his companions led people who listened to form a community who were called “Christians” for the first time.

Christian faith is trust and acceptance of Jesus; it is entering what philosophers call “a new sphere of existence.” The division is simple: either you accept Jesus, or you do not. Christian denominations, on the other hand, have creeds and codes.  Religion is the institution supporting faith. Religion is a means, not an end.  Christian denominations, as we know, differ: Lutheran, Methodism, Baptist, etc. In the last forty years, and a lot of meetings, there are fewer differences among Christian denominations.

Finally, there are divisions within the same Christian religion: there are progressives and there are conservatives. Some of our leaders support the decisions of Vatican II; some want the former, top-down leadership to return. These are presently having their way.  As people decide, divisions emerge. 

The unknown author of Hebrews, our second reading, urges us “to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who inspires and perfects our faith.” Jesus is the object of our faith.  May we not be distracted by human standards of religions’ ritual observances or creedal orthodoxy. In the end we will be judged on how we have lived as loving members of our faith family.

The opposite of division is unity. We remember Jesus’ prayer at the last supper: “I pray…that all may be one as you, father, are in me, and I am in you; I pray that they may be [one] in us.”  To have unity we do not need uniformity, but some, especially the hierarchy, maintain that unity requires uniformity.  Common sense says we can maintain unity in our diversity.  In our multi-culture world, how can leaders expect uniformity?  There is an old adage in political science: “You can’t legislate universally for a heterogeneous group.

May the fire spoken of by Jesus be the spark of love for Jesus that has taken hold in our hearts and grows stronger as faith grows within us. At times, it is a fire that illuminates our minds with new insights and transforms us. At times, it brightens a scene of God’s magnificent creation and lifts our spirit. At times, it becomes a driving energy as we face the hurdles of life as a fire within us to stretch ourselves. At times it is the solitary light burning at the end of the tunnel. Often, it is the wonderfully warm glow that emanates from this loving, faith community and encourages us.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 7, 2022)

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 7, 2022)               

 All three readings speak of faith. Faith is not logic; it is a conviction about what we do not see. Most basically, faith is trust.

The second reading deals with Abraham, “Our father in faith” - as our Eucharistic prayer calls him. The event occurred about the year 2000 BCE in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a territory we now call Iraq.

 What singles out Abraham from all other tribal leaders is that he came to faith in the one, true God and that he was the first historical person to do so. He did not know much about God, but he learned something about how God works:

 1. God told him that he and Sarah would have a child; it was logically impossible - Sarah was past her childbearing years.

2. God then asked him to sacrifice their son, Isaac; it seemed like insanity to be willing to accept.  How could there be a logical, divine plan in all this?  

3. God asked him to leave his home and his land and he promised him a future.  He set out for the Promised Land, not even knowing where his journey would lead. 

 That is how our God works with us: He asks us to trust, to take a risk, and to move forward to a new adventure.

The first reading begins with “that night.” We need to put on our Jewish ears to understand.  All Jews knew exactly which night that was: the night that the exodus of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery began. For a Jew, the Exodus is the most startling example of God’s saving power to save. The Jews did not move easily to the Promised Land; they spent forty years walking to get there. They were asked to put their faith in God who would accompany them.

Today’s Gospel consists of three short parables about the necessity of our watchfulness. The logic in the progression is that when one learns to trust in God’s generosity, one can wait expectantly and faithfully like servants who must faithfully wait for their master’s return, even if it is delayed. What an unpredictable reward! The master will then serve us, the servants.

 How about us? How about myself? Am I a person of faith? It seems that God has more competition in our day than at any time in history.  Our lives are filled with such a high level of distraction that God’s voice is drowned out: radio, TV, and the new electronic gadgets that seem to appear almost weekly- coupled with an increasing hardness of heart by so many toward people in need.

God reciprocates our efforts and has faith in us.  We are made in his image and likeness.  He knows us inside out because he made us.  His seed of goodness planted in us is encouraged to root deeply within us and blossom so that we may serve the people in need whose lives we touch.  Just as we trust in God, so God trusts in us to partner in works as an expression of our faith.

We have heard that a journey begins with the first step.  There are many outstanding examples.  Mother Theresa said that after she got down to attend to the first person she found in a Calcutta gutter, it got easier thereafter. Jean Vanier began his work by inviting two institutionalized adults with developmental disorders to live in his home.  That was the beginning of l’Arche.  Vanier had no idea where that idea would lead.  In 2007, hundreds of handicapped people live in one hundred and thirty ecumenical communities across thirty countries.

A book called Rescuers tells how ordinary people rescued Jewish friends and neighbors during the Holocaust. As one says, “You start off storing one suitcase for a friend, and before you knew it, you were in over your head.”

We may not be moved to do such dramatic work for the Lord, but there are so many opportunities to reach out to someone right where we live every single day…if you have enough faith to believe in God, and to believe in yourself. Don’t worry too much about getting in over your head; however much or little you do in God’s name, simply do it from your heart.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 31, 2022)

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 31, 2022)

The book, Ecclesiastes, is something of a misfit in the bible.  This is the only appearance of this book in the 3-year cycle of Sunday readings. Today, it deserves our attention.   

Quooleth [ko-hehl-ehth] [“one who conducts a school”] was a philosopher, a realist.   He was surely not a subscriber to “I’m okay; you’re okay.” He belonged to the tell-‘em-like-it-is school.

His opening words, “all things are vanity is the theme of his book. “Vanity” comes from the root of a word meaning to exhale, to evaporate. Vapor is something transient and insubstantial. 

All three of today’s readings converge - a rare occurrence. Paul in writing to the Colossians urges us to move beyond vanity, illusion and set our hearts on what pertains to higher realms.

Jesus talks about money in today’s Gospel. He sidesteps someone who wanted to put him in the middle of a family squabble. Jesus broadens the picture and addresses the bigger question: “take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Yet, who can deny the powerful influence of greed in our culture?  We see it in business executives, political figures, and religious leaders. We see it in stress in the workplace.  We see it in megastores that pay low wages to financially strapped employees and provide bargains to the more affluent. We see it in the obscenity of CEOs paid in a ratio of 500-to-1 over their workers. We see it in the ridiculous salaries and bonuses demanded by athletes and entertainers.

Greed is a spiritual disease that convinces many that what they have is never enough. It is addictive and draws its victims to possess the poison that is killing them.

In an issue of the magazine, Minnesota monthly, the cover story is entitled “big winners.”  It is the story of the lottery mega-winners. The article mentions the millionaire circle club, a NY-based support group for winners. Can you imagine?  We know that there are support groups for alcohol, drug, and gambling abuse now; there are support groups for wealthy people. Why? You may ask.

• Spouses seriously disagreeing on what to do with the money;

• Relatives and friends continuously making their needs known to them;

• They no longer know who their real friends are.   

The stories are so sad that it provokes us to say: “Vanity of vanities.”

Jesus tells the parable about a man who experienced abundance and then acted greedily.  How would he manage the increased assets. His answer: build bigger barns; keep everything. Wrong! Correct answer: fill the empty barns of the poor that are already built.

The antidote to poisonous greed is gratitude.  We need to be grateful for what we have to draw us away from our attention on ourselves and turn our focus to the source of the good things in life that we already have. That strengthens our faith; it reminds us to share with others.

The early Christian community, formed by Jesus, did not follow the worldly economy.   “Steward” regards something a person becomes. A stewarding community is a community of serious gratitude and overflowing generosity. A stewarding community - family or church - replaces the worldly notions of power-by-possession with the God-like practice of sharing our abundance.

As we come to know, sooner or later, satisfaction and security in life do not come from wealth, but from the way we relate to each other, the care we have within our family, the loyalty we have in relationships, the work we do in community.

Our parish is a stewarding community. It understands itself as called into being by God and entrusted and empowered with God’s compassion to gratitude, generosity, hospitality, and service.

We need to learn not to hug what cannot hug us back.

Seventeenth Sunday in ordinary Time (July 24, 2022)

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 24, 2022)                                                                 

The only recorded time that Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus for instruction is the scene in today’s Gospel. They asked him to teach them to pray. It was a common practice for rabbis to teach their disciples a prayer in Jesus’ day. Jesus provided them with an “all-purpose” prayer. It was one they could pray alone or together, in good times and in bad.  A prayer for all seasons. It also gives us insight into how Jesus prayed.

Rather than go through the prayer itself, I thought it might be helpful to look at some background for prayer. First, we need to look at the one to whom we are praying. What is our personal image of the Father? How do we imagine Him? In our first reading from the Old Testament, God conjures up the image of a judge who will pass sentence on Sodom and Gomorrah. In Hebrew, Matthew’s Gospel, chapter twenty-five, Jesus uses the same judge image of the Father when he talks about a final judgment when the sheep and goats are separated. That is the scary image with which many of us grew up. 

In today’s Gospel from gentle Luke, Jesus addresses the father as “Abba.” As we know, abba means “Dad.” Jesus passes on to us his warm, familiar image. John the Evangelist proclaims that God is love. That image has grown most strongly in the last several decades. God is love; God is also perfect. So, God is perfect love. The popular name for that is unconditional love.  

Antony Campbell, an Australian Jesuit, writes that we cannot have a level playing field with conflicting God-images. If you want to say, “On the one hand, God is our judge; on the other, God is unconditional love,” these two tend to cancel out each other.  A judge is, by definition, coolly impartial, and even-handed. A lover is by definition biased in passionate favor of the beloved. If we try to hold both images simultaneously, we have no vibrant image of God that we can relate to. We get a spiritual headache trying to focus.  We need to choose for ourselves one as our over-arching image.

Personally, in the Salesian tradition, I chose unconditional love. The image of God as a judge then needs to fade far into the background in order to appreciate and live by the image of God as unconditional love. With a good and healthy image of God, we can then pray in a spiritually healthy way, 

If we imagine God this way, it follows that we need to imagine ourselves as sons and daughters of God who unconditionally loves. And that is wonderful. Sons and daughters need to have and express a dependent attitude. God is the Holy One, a friend to be approached in awe and reverence: “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come…” We pray thy will, not my will be done and for the coming of his kingdom, not my kingdom.  This gives both meaning and direction to our lives. Today, Jesus speaks words. During passion he both speaks and models those words: “Father, let this cup pass . . . Not my will but yours be done…into your hands I commend my spirit.”  

We cannot afford to be distracted by Jesus’ humorous example to a Jewish audience about a person wearing a friend down to get a favor. Why? We are part of a much later Christian community. If we have some spiritual maturity; we realize that we neither bargain with God nor feel that we have to beg God. There is no “us on our hind legs” begging for a treat. Abba wants to give us gifts that will help us; He loves us.  We need to go to Jesus’ own conclusion of his humorous example: “How much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” Jesus challenges us to do as he did; to ask our loving Father – with trust, period. We extend our open arms toward Him in openness. Or, in more difficult times, we remember Amy Florian’s example of the trapeze artist extending her arms back, vulnerably, towards her partner, the catcher. 

What about Jesus’ insistence on persistence in prayer? Why do we need to repeat our requests? Delay in receiving a positive answer gently pushes us to rethink what we pray for. We may need to amend our petition to what will be better in the bigger picture. Let’s never mindlessly, rattle off this precious prayer. Let’s try always to pray this prayer attentively, from our hearts. 

After all, it is the one prayer that Jesus himself taught us.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 17, 2022)

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 17, 2022)

Martha invites Jesus to dinner.  Martha and Mary live a five-minute, mile and a half bus ride from Jerusalem. I timed it when I was in Israel.  Mary and Martha are present in only this one passage in the synoptic Gospels.  Their brother, Lazarus, is not mentioned here. Luke tells us that Martha has a house in a village. John’s gospel gives the three more prominence.  He identifies the village as Bethany.

Jesus was the guest of Martha and Mary more than once, as John tells us. John also tells us that Jesus loved the two sisters and their brother, Lazarus very much. This is as close as we get in the Gospels to the private life of Jesus. 

Rather than comparing the two sisters, we can move beyond dualistic thinking; that is, something is either black or white, either this or that, either homemaker or prayer, either liberal or progressive. Dualistic thinking divides rather than unites.

Jesus’ apparent correction of Martha does not indicate her having too many things to do.  If she had less to do, she would very likely still have the same problem. Jesus identifies her problem as anxiety that is directed in being “anxious about many things.” We, like Martha, need to be unanxious.

This experience of Jesus, Mary, and Martha was long ago. Today, our parallel situation deals with being listening disciples and simultaneously being breadwinners and housekeepers and child raisers; being young, Catholic Christians and students. That takes us beyond the Mary-Martha experience and places us in our need for balance in daily life situations two millennia later.

Baking brownies does not need to be separated from union with Jesus. In the ever-increasing pace of living, we, like Martha, need to maintain our listening hearts while doing the things we need to do.

We are faced with dualities that need to be resolved by avoiding dualistic thinking and pursuing what Richard Rohr has named unitive consciousness; that is, initiate creatively; take the best from each of the “either/or” dualities, and create a new entity that includes the best of both. 

The first part of the solution is to recognize the dualities that we face.  In today’s gospel, spirituality and daily chores are not “either/or” situations but are “both / and” situations.  We need both to be spiritual and to fulfill the needs to eat and work and drive the kids – or, for young folks: to study, work, pray, and play. 

St. Francis de Sales is helpful with a practice he calls “the direction of the intention.” We invite God’s presence into our presence, ask God to help us in identifying and choosing well in our dualities as well as other situations, and offer him what good we do; this helps us keep perspective. We see ourselves as “living Jesus.” Jesus is “our ground of being” in mutual presence as we do the things we do in our mutually cooperative building of the kingdom.

As we begin any activity during the day - easy, difficult, or in between - we invite, we ask God’s help, and we spiritually do the activity together with Our Lord. This spiritual practice is one of the hallmarks of Salesian Spirituality. We sow the acts of directing our intention and reap the habit/ virtue of deeper union. In time, the practice becomes like breathing in and breathing out: the breath, the spirit in an easy relationship.

We incorporate our divine relationship with the person and situation at hand in order to bring about our union with Jesus and our enlightened effort in any situation.

In the Martha-Mary episode, Jesus himself established priorities of “good” and “better” in an apparently contentious situation.  In so many other situations, Jesus came up with a third and better solution: is it lawful to pay tax to Caesar, or not…?  The woman at the well where is it appropriate to worship God on Mt. Gerizim or the mount in Jerusalem?  And more.

May you be blessed in your efforts not to classify yourself or another as “Mary” or “Martha” and may we all become Mary-Martha’s – and may we be blessed in our efforts to improve in achieving unitive consciousness.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 10, 2022)

I have met the lawyer in today’s Gospel many times; sadly, sometimes it’s been when I looked in the mirror.

To test Jesus, he asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus, as he does so often, answers with a question: “What is written in the law?“

The lawyer answers with the same answer that Jesus used when he was asked what the greatest commandment is: love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Then, Jesus tells him precisely what to do; “Do this [love] and you will live.” The lawyer had asked a “do to get something” question; Jesus corrected with a “do to live” answer.

The lawyer, in a legal fashion, then asked that “neighbor” be defined: “Who is my neighbor?”   Perhaps he did not want to make the mistake of offering his charity unnecessarily. The question indicates that the lawyer is more interested in the law than the love of his neighbor.

Jesus answered with the trick of threes – as, “there was a rabbi, a minister, and a priest” – or “there was a Polish man, an Italian, and an Irishman.” The third mentioned is either the punch line of a joke or the successful solution to an issue. Jesus’ story in which a Samaritan was the hero, the one who possessed the compassion of God over a law-abiding priest and a Levite would have been a severe shock to any Jew at that time.

Jesus was saying that this lawyer and his fellow Jews could not hide behind their laws or culture. True, laws give structure to our lives; few would prefer to live without them. Jesus broke laws to help people, demonstrating beyond doubt that compassion trumps law.

Neither the Jews, then, nor ourselves, now, can decide who is our neighbor. In the kingdom of God, boundaries defining neighbors do not exist. Compassion trumps law.

There is a second, subtler, more personal lesson to be learned – one that surely impacts me.  It is provoked by the closing words of Jesus, “Go and do likewise.” 

If there is any verse in all of revelation that stands out for me, it is Jesus’ answer to the question: “What is the greatest commandment?” It has been drummed into us all for years.  But . . . Why is the follow-through not in the forefront of my consciousness?  I feel a need to “go and do likewise” in a more proactive way. 

Theology may help here. Theology talks about cognitive knowing and evaluative knowing.  Some folks intellectually know that murder is wrong but fail to appreciate its wrongness.

Perhaps I/we intellectually know that love of God and neighbor should be paramount in our lived lives but fail to appreciate that spiritual truth 24/7 and thereby fail to apply the knowledge in the here and now situation.  Like the lawyer who knew the greatest commandment, I / we also begin to ponder it and do not, as Nike says, “Just do it.”  If we do not work on our faith convictions, our faith-convictions will not work for us in crunch times.  The disconnect indicates a degree of lack of integrity.

The Good Samaritan was “good,” because he saw a need. His gut was struck. He reacted - positively. The story does not speak of any debate in his mind, weighing pros and cons.  He was somehow “compassion-ready” for this moment. My goal is to increase spontaneity in compassion situations so as to model better the compassion Jesus spoke about.

To our credit, you and I have promptly reacted in critical situations in the past.  I present for your thoughtful consideration my concern for my own “compassion knee-jerk.” Perhaps, you can identify with this.  We, perhaps, need to be conscious of a possible disconnect -- or slow-connect -- between knowing about compassion and showing compassion, -- consistently identifying with the compassion of God in the here and now living our Christian vocation. 

I have a need to “live Jesus” in a state of greater readiness to react compassionately at a gut level.I hope that my reflection will be of some help to you.I have a greater hope that you don’t need any help.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 3, 2022)

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 3, 2022)                                                                 

Last week we saw in Luke’s Gospel people coming to join Jesus. This week we see Jesus sending them off two by two on a mission as “advance men.” Curious that what we see politicians do today is what Jesus wisely did two thousand years ago. He sent disciples ahead of him to announce the Good News; he will not be far behind. Two by two affords some protection on the dangerous, ancient roads; it was also Jewish custom to believe testimony based on the witness of two people.     

“Sending” has been the story of Christianity from the beginning. Jesus was sent by the Father. Disciples were sent forth by Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus’ instructions are not detailed on what they are to say. Instructions on how they are to conduct themselves are more detailed than what they are to say. They are to travel light - they are not vacationers.  They are not to lose time with lengthy, oriental greetings. They are not to upgrade their lodging.  In a word, they are to be single-minded.

We stand in this same tradition. This was actually the beginning of Christian “tradition,” literally “handing on.” In our day we are in the midst of change in the process of handing on the story of Jesus. As the number of priests, brothers, and sisters, who have been the professional “handers on,” diminishes, it is the laity who are playing an increasing role as the second Vatican Council urged. The role of the laity in celebrating the Eucharist has passed from being observers to being active participants: lectors, Eucharistic ministers, ministers of hospitality, and ministers of music. The focus of teaching both in the parish as catechists and RCIA team members and in the home is increasing.

I think it is helpful for us, as individuals, to identify those who have been the best in handing on “the faith” to us.  Most of us seem able to identify those with whom we have experienced interpersonal contact, “Ah-hah” moments in our faith development. We need to ask ourselves what we have to pass on and discern how best we, now as disciples, can pass on what is our best.

Today, I would like to focus on one line in the Gospel that may not immediately catch our attention: “The seventy returned with joy…” There is joy in being disciples, a joy that is strong and unique.

A story. When I came to teach at Salesianum in 1974, the theology department embarked on an enterprise of revising the course offerings to our students.  We had only “required” courses and we then introduced “optional” courses. 

In an effort to promote orthopraxis as well as continue the traditional orthodoxy, we decided to make as a “required,” one-semester course in junior year a service project where the students would go into the community, engage in some ministry for x-number of hours and submit regular reflection papers to the teacher. The reports were to be oriented beyond being “do-gooders,” to a reflection on putting faith to work. Praxis - this was a pioneering idea at the time.

There was some initial grumbling from students and some parents. “How can you make works of charity, love, mandatory?  This should be voluntary.” We held firm. One family withdrew their son from Salesianum in protest. The service director scouted many regional enterprises for placements. Students were free to come up with original sites with the director’s approval.

One of the strangest experiences in my years of teaching followed – one that was never anticipated by department members. We had a case of chaos at the end of the first semester. The students who had completed their service projects would not leave their projects. Many in the other half of the junior class had to find new projects and new placements.

Salesianum students had discovered the joy of serving. It was more than discovering that they had newly-found talents. Many reflection papers were revelatory. They discovered the joy of ministering, the joy of cooperating with God in helping others in the building of the kingdom. The reflective life was worth living.

The words of a non-Christian, Rabindranath Tagore speaks to this:

“I slept and dreamt life was a joy.

I awoke and saw life was service.

I acted and behold service is joy.”

“The seventy returned with joy…” We are each called to a life of discipleship. The “tradition,” the “handing on” of what Jesus taught and what Jesus did needs to be passed on.  How I do that is the question the Gospel asks us this day.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 26, 2022)

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 26, 2022)

Today’s readings are about making a decisive choice about discipleship.

The prophet Elijah - thought by Jews to be the greatest prophet - was clearly impatient with Elisha when he wanted to say goodbye to his parents before setting out on his career as a prophet. Elijah took this delay to indicate a lack of resolve on Elisha’s part.  

Elisha proved his resolve by sacrificing his oxen to God on a fire of wood from his plow.   His entire livelihood, the tools of his trade, literally, went up in smoke in his response to the Lord’s call. There was nothing to return to; he had burnt the bridge to his livelihood behind him. His God-choice was clear as crystal.

Luke captures Jesus at a climactic moment in his Gospel. Luke pictures Jesus as in an old western where the hero is standing, slightly spread-legged in the middle of the town street, thoughtfully looking off in the distance. Alone. Resolute. Brave. All eyes are focused on him. Then, one by one, some come forward to join him as a posse.

An older - and I think better - translation reads: “He set his face for Jerusalem.” The remainder of Luke’s Gospel is about the journey with his disciples to Jerusalem after this famous, pivotal verse in Luke, 9:51.

Jerusalem is not so much a geographical destination as the culmination of Jesus’ life and mission.

James and John, disciples-in-training, provide an almost comic relief from the drama.  The Samaritans have rejected Jesus because he is heading for Jerusalem; Samaritans worshiped on Mt. Gerizim and would not follow one heading for Jerusalem and the temple. Young Johnny and Jimmy want to vengefully kill the Samaritans with lightning from heaven.  They were given the nickname “Boanerges,” the “sons of thunder.” They did not yet “get it.” Jesus’ way was non-violent, surely not vengeful. He invites, not demands.  He extends an invitation to the kingdom, not a command.

Some listeners approach to join Jesus.  One would-be disciple claims that he will follow wherever he goes.  Jesus is up-front with him; he speaks that classic response: “The foxes have dens; the birds of the air have nests; the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”   In other words, don’t choose too quickly; consider the consequences! This is not a walk in the park. As we said last weekend, a follower must prioritize God’s will over one’s own – and may lose popularity with one’s “old crowd.”  

Another man wants to “bury his father.” This doesn’t mean that his father has just died, and the funeral is tomorrow, but that he wants to delay until after his father’s death before he will follow Jesus. Jesus replies that the choice of discipleship precludes family duties being top priority.

Another wants to say his goodbyes.  It reminds us of Elijah in the first reading. Jesus, in this different situation, calls him to single-mindedness.

Jesus tells us that when we choose him, we are like an Amish farmer in Lancaster County - who sets his hand to his plow and does not look back. No one plows a straight furrow while looking back over his shoulder. No one can be a disciple of Jesus while looking back at what is behind him and still move forward undistracted.

For years parents and educators have been concerned about the high rate of students deciding to drop out of high school and college. Studies tell us that the chief reason why students drop out is simple: they did not really want to go to school/college in the first place. The real reason they started was  peer pressure . . . parents . . . or, they just didn’t know what else to do with their lives at that point.

I wonder about the many who have decided to leave the church at this time. Your and my faith cannot be based on an institution composed of good and bad leaders, but it needs to be based on faith in Jesus. I propose for your thoughtful consideration a question: are many of the departures from the church about inept/bad bishops and cardinals and priests, or are they really like the college dropouts?  They did not want to be followers of Jesus in the first place?  The fire was not in their guts.

We are Christians because we follow Jesus. If Jesus did anything for sure on earth, he certainly gathered a group of people around him to support one another and neighbors and spread the good news to the entire world. We, the people of God, comprise the church as a community.  A title for the pope is, ironically, “servant of the servants of God.” 

Personally, the reason I stay a Catholic-Christian is that I am hooked on Jesus, his life and teaching, the fisher of men. I am also hooked on you, my brothers and sisters. We are the people of God. Let our great celebration continue!

Body and Blood of Christ (June 19, 2022)

Body and Blood of Christ (June 19, 2022)                                                                                                     

Today, the church celebrates the Eucharist in a manner second only to Holy Thursday on this superfeast – called “the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.” The feast was formerly known as Corpus Christi.

So, why is this feast celebrated since we already have Holy Thursday? The best explanation seems to be that, historically, Holy Thursday became unbearably overloaded with add-ons.  Think about it.  On Holy Thursday in holy week, the early church celebrated the return of public sinners from public penance. Then, the church added the blessing of the holy oils for the next year.  Not long ago, the Chrism Mass was moved earlier in Holy Week.   

Besides these, there is the washing of feet, which we still celebrate. All these were in one liturgy plus celebrating the institution of the sacraments of Eucharist and holy orders and added a procession to the altar of repose as its conclusion. We needed more attention to celebrate Eucharist itself; this feast was added.

We hear in this year of Luke the Gospel account of the feeding of the 5,000, the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. It is closely associated with Eucharist in the images it conjures - take, look up to heaven, bless, break, give, eat – as related in Jerusalem and Emmaus.

Food is a critically important, human concern. Since most ancient times, people have striven to give their most precious gifts to their gods, food was offered to gods. We tend to project our behavior onto god.  We project that food must be most precious to god. An unblemished lamb was the best of food, therefore, the greatest gift-sacrifice.

Many, many years earlier, the prophet Micah introduced change in our gift-giving to our God. “What shall I give to the Lord?” Micah asks, and he answers: “To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly.” He introduces the gift of giving our best-in-relating-to-others.

We heard today that Jesus responded to the human need for food. He first had the people sit in groups of 50.  He did not separate his listeners by gender, class, or wealth. Unsegregated groups were unheard of in Jesus’ day. A giant step forward in the evolution of relationships! And 50 people is a community; 5,000 is a mob.

He used what was available, a boy’s few fish and loaves of bread, as John tells us in his Gospel.  We do not hear any details as to “how” it happened. Jesus just did it. Jesus had his followers gather up the leftovers that they might feed others, later.

In his teaching the people, Jesus gave what he had received from his Father, words of loving relationship. As we know, Jesus was so different in what he said and in what he did that Jewish leaders sought to take his life. It was “expedient that one man dies”, so that they could go on with life as usual. Later, they succeeded. Jesus’ giving his loving words and loving actions was what led to jealousy and his death for his gift of self and the Father.

Like Micah, we can ask, “What shall I give to the Lord?” Our answer is the same as Micah’s.  We offer ourselves to our God. Jesus used only what was available in terms of a few loaves and fishes, and that was more than enough. We give ourselves, just as we are in our effort in “doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly”.

Some think that because they do not do those things to their own satisfaction, their gift is unworthy. It is not. We need to remind ourselves over and over that God does not love us because we are good, but because God is good. This is the direct opposite of how the world judges with its conditional love. We do what we can with what we have. God loves us just as we are. That is his gift of unconditional love.

Just as everyone sat in the group of 50, each – regardless of what they thought of themselves – and received God’s gift of bread unconditionally. Each of us receives the gift of God’s love in the Eucharist. We respond in loving relationship – in acting justly, loving kindly, and walking humbly.

 VATICAN II PROCLAIMED THE EUCHARIST “THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN LIVING.”   IF THE EUCHARIST IS TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE CELEBRATION  IN TRUTH AND NOT JUST IN WORDS, IT HAS TO BE TREATED NOT AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT – LIKE A CABOOSE ON A LONG CELEBRATORY TRAIN.   TOO MUCH FOR ONE DAY.   THIS OVERLOAD CAUSED A LITURGICAL  AND EMOTIONAL MELTDOWN.  THUS, THE SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF  CHRIST EVOLVED AS DID THE CHRISM MASS..

IF WE ARE UPSET WITH DISRESPECT FOR A PIECE OF CLOTH THAT REPRESENTS OUR NATION, HOW MUCH HIGHER A STANDARD SHOULD WE HOLD OURSELVES TO WITH REGARD TO OUR RECEPTION OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST WHO IS OUR FRIEND AND SAVIOR.

WE ARE SADDENED BY SOME PROTESTANTS AND ALL NON-CHRISTIANS WHO SEE OUR EUCHARIST AS ONLY A SYMBOL OF JESUS – A SYMBOLIC PRESENCE.   IF ONLY THEY RECOGNIZED WITH THE EYES OF FAITH WHAT JESUS TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS AND WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS HANDED ON TO US:  THIS IS MY BODY.  THIS IS MY BLOOD.  THIS IS ME.

WE ARE NOT SPECTATORS AT EUCHARIST; WE ARE HERE TO PARTICIPATE.  THE EUCHARIST IS BORING ONLY WHEN BORING PEOPLE ARE PRESENT.  WE ARE CALLED TO BE ATTENTIVE TO JESUS’ REAL PRESENCE BEFORE US. 

TODAY, ON THIS SPECIAL FEAST OF JESUS’ BODY AND BLOOD, WE CELEBRATE THE FIRST HOLY COMMUNION OF KEENAN ROARTY AND MATHEW, AND MARTHA O’BRIEN.

                                       [REBECCA HUNTER] . 

THIS DAY TO BE FOREVER REMEMBERED IN THE LIVES OF THEIR CHILDREN.

“SINCE IT WAS THE WILL OF GOD’S ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON THAT MEN SHOULD SHARE IN HIS DIVINITY, HE ASSUMED OUR NATURE IN ORDER THAT BY BECOMING MAN HE MIGHT MAKE MEN GODS.”   ST. THOS AQUINAS  opusculum 57 in festo Corporiis Christi, lec 1-4     2nd Reading. for  Solemnity

HENRI NOUWEN OBSERVES, “GOD DOES NOT HOLD BACK: GOD GIVES ALL.  THAT IS THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION.  THAT TOO IS THE MYSTERY OF THE EUCHARIST. .INCARNATION AND EUCHARIST ARE THE TWO EXPRESSIONS OF THE IMMENSE, SELF-GIVING LOVE OF GOD.   AND SO THE SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS AND THE SACRIFICE AT THE TABLE ARE ONE SACRIFICE, ONE COMPLETE, DIVINE SELF-GIVING THAT REACHES OUT TO ALL HUMANITY IN TIME AND SPACE.”

XX

TOMORROW WE CELEBRATE FLAG DAY.  THE AMERICAN FLAG IS A POWERFUL SYMBOL; IT IDENTIFIES US AS CITIZENS OF THE U S A   AND THE CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO BE A NATION OF, BY, AND FOR THE PEOPLE.   FRANCIS SCOTT KEY WROTE THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER” WHEN HE SAW THAT “THE FLAG WAS STILL THERE,”  FLYING OVER FORT MC HENRY.

WE REVEL AT THE PHOTO OF THE MARINES’ ERECTING THE FLAG ON MT. SURIBACHI ,

[SURABATCH’I ] WE THRILL AT NEIL ARMSTRONG PLANTING THE FLAG ON THE SURFACE OF THE MOON. WE ARE MOVED BY A FLAG CEREMONIOUSLY  REMOVED FROM A CASKET, RESPECTFULLY FOLDED, AND HUMBLY PRESENTED TO THE SPOUSE OF A VETERAN – OR A PRESIDENT.

ON THE OTHER HAND, WE ARE HURT, EVEN ANGERED,  WHEN WE SEE THE FLAG  DISRESPECTED BY BURNING OR TRAMPLING.

XX

The Most Holy Trinity (June 12, 2022)

The Most Holy Trinity (June 12, 2022)                                  

We have all wrestled with the question: “What is God really like?”  If you are confused, it is a perfectly normal reaction. It is impossible to fathom our infinite God. 

The ancient Jews had an idea. Realizing the impossibility of comprehending God, they would not even speak the word “Yahweh,” God. They used a substitute word, “Adonai,” to emphasize their awe before God.

Jesus knew he could not give his disciples an explanation. Instead, he spoke of relationships and reassured them that the Holy Spirit would guide them “into all truth.”  In other words, the mystery of God does not preclude that we can grow in our understanding of our relationship with God as Abba, Jesus the word made flesh and the Holy Spirit.

Our God is revealed in John’s letter as “love” - a unity of three persons in relationship.  In very early Christianity, the origin of the use of the word “person” came from the ancient theatre where one actor wore several masks for the different persons he played. So, God could be said to be one, yet somehow three persons. That we are made in his image means that we are rational, relational, and loving.

Today’s feast also reminds us that we cannot be rugged individualists; that is against our relational nature. We are children of our father; therefore, we are brothers and sisters to one another, interrelated with our God and our families, friends, church community, and the world.

So, how do we grow in our understanding of God?  Doctrines and dogmas can help us to begin to learn about God being a three-person community of love, but it is only in experiencing God, experiencing his love for us as persons that we finally “get it.”  

I am not one who grows from reciting litanies to our Lord composed by someone else; I am one who grows in understanding God’s working in my life in litanies of my own gratitude. That builds relationship.

I thank God in my own words for the wonderful people that are in my life. I see the love, the goodness, the generosity, and the compassion of the Trinity in you. You lead me into a closer relationship with our God, and I hope that I am helpful in your growth.

I thank God for the gifts that I have . . . and do not have. Thank you, Lord, for seeing the sunrise - or the sunset. Thank you, Lord, for being able to see.  Thank you, Lord, for the health that I have enjoyed, and thank you, Lord, for sickness that I have not had and how I have grown from what I have had.

As we grow in experience of God’s love for us, we are moved and enabled to love and care about others.  God intends Trinitarian love to flow from God to us, but also to flow out from us to all whose lives we touch.  Our God’s credibility is dependent on whether love and unity are seen in us to attract non-believers to God and to our community.

Let us not fail to acknowledge the many blessings and grace that the Triune God makes present to us each day as part of the divine desire to fill us with the fullness of divine life and draw us into the unity with the three and the one.

PENTECOST (June 5, 2022)

Today we celebrate one of the “big three” solemnities in the liturgical year: Pentecost.  Pentecost stands tall along with Jesus’ birth and resurrection.  It is not as “popular” as the other two because our society has not made it a day for giving/receiving gifts or dyeing eggs.  You never hear how many more shopping days ‘till Pentecost. Pentecost is 100% spiritual; zero material payback.

As we read further into the acts of the apostles, we find the holy spirit becomes less a spectacular experience and more a guide and problem-solver in the day to day life of the believing community. 

The main difference between the disciples before and after the Pentecost experience is not the flames dancing on their heads or wondrous communication skills or that wind-blown look.  Pentecost is fundamentally a story about the disciples’ courage, overriding their fear of being arrested, and their fear of those who might angrily – even murderously -- protest their proclaiming the message.  They no longer fear Jewish leaders or Jewish followers. 

Courage is a language that the world scarcely speaks. We do recognize it when we hear a story of it or we see it.

Jesus’ followers were so filled with the Spirit of God that they felt moved to do just what Jesus did:  speak life and love into our world. They also left as their heritage a community that would begin to shoulder the burden and the joy of carrying the message of love.

Today, fear is palpable. There are reports of terrorist attacks, rising crime, jobs going out, the undocumented coming in, guns everywhere, losing our civil liberties and the cost of keeping them, plane travel, anthrax, the cost of gas, staying in the war, pulling out of the war, global warming, medications that kill, the rising cost of medical care -- to name just a handful.

Fear is the meat and potatoes of the media, but it is directly opposed to the spirit of Pentecost.  Our courage is based on a radical trust in and reliance on God’s grace; that is, his presence in our lives.

We choose either to allow ourselves to live in fear or to live in faith; that is, have a radical trust in our Father – just as Jesus did. We can courageously approach life one day at a time.  Spirit-driven courage makes our approach to living a challenge, not a dread. We can step up and face a world full of fearsome things and also recognize, primarily, the wind and the fire of God in our souls because it is already there, waiting.

We are tempted at times like Christmas, Easter and Pentecost to think in terms of commemorating historical events that happened long ago and to someone else. We are not called to page through salvation history like a memory book.  Just as in the Eucharist when we invite the living Christ to enter us, so on this feast of Pentecost we pray to the Holy Spirit to enliven us, to embolden us, to encourage us.

We do not simply recall a reported event on this day. Holy memory, anamnesis, recalls the past only to make it live again within our community of faith. The Holy Spirit moves through this worship space this day. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are desperately needed in our world: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  The message is in need of messengers. Paul makes it perfectly clear that the greatest gift, the overarching gift of the Holy Spirit, is love. The others, when we stop to think about them, are manifestations of love, shoots off the vine.

The difference between the disciples of the first Pentecost and this one is the balance of our courage.

Red is the color of excitement – from red convertibles and red roses and valentines to red fire apparatus. Red is the color of the badge of courage. Red is the color of Pentecost.

Come, Holy Spirit – enkindle in our hearts the fire of your love and the courage to use our already, God-given gifts. 

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 22, 2022)

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 22, 2022)         

Every living organism must constantly change. If our bodies do not constantly change air and nutrition, we die.  Death is the cessation of our ability to change. The need to adapt emotionally and spiritually is equally necessary for life.

Mega-change in the first century is what the first reading is about. It shows us when and where this mega-change began. The time was about 50 A.D. The place was Antioch. Antioch was 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place where Stephen, the first deacon, was martyred.  Following Stephen’s martyrdom. Persecution broke out against the other followers of Jesus.  

Many Christians fled north to Antioch, the capital of the Roman province of Syria. It would be the place from which Paul and Barnabas, the earliest missionaries, would set out on their first 2 missionary journeys.

So, the Antioch community was formed, and the people of that area, non-Jews, were becoming “Christians” - a term that was coined in Antioch. These “gentile-Christians” saw no need to follow the practices of the Jewish Christians down south in Jerusalem.

Some Jewish Christians from Jerusalem visited Antioch; they were amazed to find Antioch Christians not following Jewish practices. They said that the Gentile-Christians were not “real Christians” because they were not following the law Moses had given to the Jews. Big trouble in the Christian community!!!

The Gentile-Christians in Antioch became upset. They thought Christians should separate themselves from Judaism. They held that a continued connection weakened Christianity.  Christianity should stand on its own feet.

Two extremes. Remember: many followers of Jesus were still a sect within Judaism. The question - how does one enter this new sect - was a real one!

To resolve the problem, Paul and Barnabas decided to go south to Jerusalem. It is significant that they recognized Jerusalem as authoritative.  

So, the first ecumenical council of the church was held, the council of Jerusalem. It is the oldest example of what Vatican II was. The insights of the church fathers were excellent; their solution was not an either/or, but a both / and.  They recognized the need for change and yet maintained continuity with Jewish tradition. They compromised.

They decided that the new Christians would be both baptized as Jesus directed and follow only 3 of the 700+ prescriptions of the Mosaic Law. The same 3 that non-Jews living in Israel were bound to follow. The major change was that the new converts would not have to follow the law of Moses, and males would not have to be circumcised, the sign of the covenant. In short, all would not have to become Jews before becoming Christians.

The council fathers did not insist on tradition [“but, we always did it this way”], but stated: “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain…”

• From food sacrificed to idols, thus avoiding even indirect contact with false worship from pagan, second-hand animals;

• From blood from the meat of strangled animals; strangled animals still had blood within them. Blood was identified with life, life belonged to God alone;

• From [fornication] . . .” [fornication] is the translation of the Greek “porneia” which meant marrying too close cousins. “Incest” might be a better translation in this context.

These three involved the things that would prevent Jewish and gentile Christians from sitting at table together.               

As we know, the compromise solution was not the final solution. The Christians in 72 A.D. were excommunicated from the Jewish religion. The two dietary laws prescribed here were dropped.  Only incest remained banned – for good reason. 

Curiously, the first-century leaders recognized the need for insistence on the inclusion of the holy spirit in their deliberations, the spirit is the one Jesus said would help them in the future - and it worked. 

How might the Holy Spirit invite us to compromise today, that is, to be flexible on detail but firm on principle?

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (May 26/May 29, 2022)

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (May 26/May 29, 2022)

Luke alone among the Gospel writers, describes the Ascension of Our Lord, which we celebrate today. At the end of his first book, his Gospel, he places the ascension on Easter Sunday night. At the beginning of his second book, the Acts of the Apostles, Luke places it 40 days later. A scripture scholar answered the obvious question: “When was it, really?” “It probably was Easter Sunday night, but the day was so jam-packed, that Luke decided to spread the events out over 40 days in his acts. We don’t know the time for sure, but we see, once again that we cannot look at scripture as history as we know history.

For me, there are two challenging questions in Easter-time scripture readings. The curious thing is that on both occasions the question, “where,” was asked by a follower: where have they put him? Where are you going?”

As we know, often, in Scripture, a question is answered with another question. In both these instances, the where-questions are responded to with why-questions.

The first re-framed, where-question in Luke’s Gospel is on Easter: to Mary of Magdala and the other women to their question of “where have they put him?” Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not a body to be anointed with spices. Jesus is very alive and quite well.

The second re-framed question, “Where are you going” [from Peter in John’s Gospel] is answered in today’s Gospel with another why-question: Why do you stand here looking up to heaven? You are looking in the wrong place. Jesus is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.” 

We know from our experience that “why questions” are the toughest of all questions. The liturgy provides Easter season to ponder the answers to those two questions.

The question, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” is an important one for us in our day. We know Jesus is alive. Some church leaders who claim to speak in his name appear not to be living, but dead. Personally, I read, listen to spiritual persons, and pray to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. I am not left an orphan, as Jesus promised. I try not to seek the living among the dead.

There is a separate challenge in the second question, the one we heard in our Gospel, “Why do you stand here looking up to heaven? To intentionally mix a metaphor, we are not to stand here sitting on our thumbs. We are called to do something, to be alive as a follower of Jesus, to become the person we are called to become.

Luke tells us today that right after Jesus left them, they went to the Jerusalem temple and spoke the praises of God. In his second book, the Acts of the Apostles, he testifies that they did the actions recorded and witnessed Jesus – truthfully.

There was not distance but closeness to Jesus after the Ascension. The gift of presence is part of the blessing that Jesus gave to his disciples and to us as he left.  He fulfills his blessing to be with us here in Eucharist, in our community, among our friends and families. 

We re-enflesh Jesus in Eucharist and become Christ for others to help shape our world into the body of Christ. Our challenge is to bring our life-giving enthusiasm to our home and family, parish, and friends. We are his body, made visible, audible, and tangible. We bring Christ to others, and we see Christ in them. We are the church, the body of Christ.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 15, 2022)

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 15, 2022)                                      

The time of the Gospel was the Last Supper, specifically, immediately after Judas had left the table to betray Jesus when he would go to the garden of Gethsemane. The end was near.  Jesus had tried so hard to teach his disciples his message of love. This is his final effort with words, the next-to-last words of a man close to death.

Jesus says, “I will give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” 

The apostles still did not “get it.” Jesus spread the message of love and deeds of love that his father had chosen to deliver through him. The way that we humans learn to love is through a human person. The way that we learn to love deeply is to learn from a perfectly loving human: Jesus. Jesus was not only human; he was the archetype of humanity.

Now he was near the time of his death. Why did Jesus have to die the way that he did? How could our loving father decree that his beloved son would have to suffer so tortuously?  The image of God as Father, “Abba,” does not suggest a vindictive, vengeful God who has to settle a score with Adam and Eve and their sinful descendants. 

As we heard in last Sunday’s first reading, Jesus had to die because the leaders of his chosen people were jealous.  As they said, “It is expedient that one man must die.” Their fear and anger prevailed. Their precious-to-them status quo had to remain, and be maintained at any cost.

Why did Jesus call what he said “a new” commandment? The message of love had been proclaimed long before, in the third book of the Bible, Leviticus. What Jesus was adding that was new was that our loving God first loved us; he showed his love in the person of Jesus, who was love enfleshed.  Being the archetype of humanity included his archetypical loving.

Jesus showed in word and example, in confrontations with others, in the sickness and the death of others, in being rejected by those he came to serve, the loving message of his father.  His father and Jesus continue to love us. And he loved us first. We cannot love back without the love with which he embraces us. He loves us because that is his very nature. He cannot not love us.

He tells us that being loved will enable us to love everyone. That folks we do not know, who are not his disciples will see us, will be drawn to us, and through us, will be led to Jesus. This loving kingdom of God begins now – our future will not be some notion of “pie in the sky when you die.”   

John tells us in his first letter, “We love because he first loved us.” That was surely one of John’s most revelatory, divinely inspired insights.

Jesus left the upper room for the garden of Gethsemane where Judas would betray him with a kiss, so ironically a symbol of love.  Jesus will play out the unfair hand he was dealt.  He will pray on the cross for those who failed, pleading their ignorance. And us.  We do the best we can with what we’ve got.  We “do” lovingly, forgivingly.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 8, 2022)

Conflict is at the heart of a good story. In literature, on the stage, on the screen, the green-eyed monster of jealousy has provided many a tale of conflict. Lovers, business partners, politicians become involved in intrigue, revenge through jealousy that is said to be the one that no one of us easily admits.  

Fear and anger are at the root of jealousy: fear of a possible, personal loss; anger at a perceived threat to something we consider our own and worth protecting – be it a relationship, a possession, our reputation.

We do not seem to identify jealousy with the same frequency as the early church did.  The biblical writers used “jealously” more frequently. They seem to have thought through an individual situation of fear/anger one level deeper than we to give a name to this reality.

We recall in Matthew’s Gospel during Jesus’ trial scene: “He [Pilate] knew, of course, that it was out of jealousy that they handed him [Jesus] over.” Pilate defines the Jewish motivation as “jealousy” – in this, the Greatest Story ever told.

In today’s first reading, Paul and Barnabas were well received at Antioch and returned the following Sabbath to speak again in the synagogue. Paul and Barnabas remind the Jewish congregation that no less a prophet than Isaiah spoke of the ideal Israel as a light to the nations; that is, the non-Jews, the Gentiles. The leaders were fearful about the apostles’ reminder of Isaiah’s statement that they would like to forget. The two, in speaking of salvation for the Gentiles, became a perceived threat to the Jewish leaders’ conviction of having sole ownership of being God’s chosen people.  

The basic ingredients for jealousy were there: they were fearful that they would have to accept this correction from Isaiah and correct their own teaching.  Also, they might well lose their status/authority as teachers. We heard: “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said.”

Jealousy trumped rationality: “I’ve made up my mind; don’t confuse me with the facts.”  This is jealousy at the institutional level of religion. The Jewish leadership, “filled with jealousy”, had to nip this threat in the bud, so they rabble-roused the congregation, and the apostles were expelled from the area.

The Book of Revelation, the second reading speaks about the multitude of heaven, “which no one could count from every nation, race, people and tongue.” That newer phrase has translated the older version that used the symbolic number 144,000. That number appears twice in scripture, once to count the saved of Israel and once to count the followers of “the lamb,” Jesus. So, 144 thousand is symbolic shorthand for both Israel and the Gentiles. It indicates the direct opposite of an exclusive elite.  It holds the door open for all, just as Jesus showed in his day.

It is a shame that divisions within and between religions and churches exist.  Divisions set up “either / or dualism.”  Dualism then sets us up for jealousy. “Both / and” precludes jealousy. Religions seem to have always showed a bent toward being exclusive just as nations have had a bent toward nationalism and isolationism. Triumphalism seems to be a perennial temptation.

Recall the recently proclaimed account in the Acts of the Apostles when the apostles are brought before the angry Sanhedrin. Gamaliel, a highly respected member said that if Jesus were a phony, the movement would die. He gave two historical examples of failure. We applauded his wisdom. His argument prevailed – but only for a time. 

For your thoughtful consideration: in the big picture and the current swirl of condemnations, would it not be wise not to rush to judgment as the Jewish Gamaliel pleaded for Jesus?  Jesus said long before Gamaliel when asked what to do with weeds growing together with and resembling wheat: Wait! Wait until time and growth prove what is good. Be patient.

God, the light of the world, shines as love, on everyone. Light has no borders that it cannot cross. The light of love and truth will always, eventually shine through. At a time when fears and angers spawn jealousy, let us not do anything foolish. Two Jewish rabbis from two thousand years ago advised us well. One is still very much around.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 1, 2022)

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 1, 2022)                     

A Scripture teacher, Neal Flanagan, taught us that the term “charcoal fire” appears in two places in John’s Gospel. The two charcoal fires form brackets, and bookends, to the story of Peter’s poignant experience with Jesus before his Ascension. I did some further checking and discovered that those are the only times that the word “charcoal” occurs throughout both the Old and New Testaments!

That got me started on further study. “Charcoal fire” appears for the first time in Chapter 18 of John’s Gospel. Jesus had been arrested. Peter was in the courtyard during Jesus’ questioning.  It was at night. Some were gathered around the charcoal fire, warming themselves. Three times Peter was identified as a companion of Jesus; three times he denied it.

John’s gospel is filled with symbolism.  “Night,” in John, indicates darkness of the light of knowing – as shown earlier in Nicodemus, the Pharisee, who spoke with Jesus “at night” before his conversion, as shown later in Mary Magdalene who came to the tomb “before dawn” in the predawn darkness. 

Peter, when asked if he was with Jesus, replied, “I do not know the man.” Darkness!  Jesus would say a few hours later from the cross, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing. John uses “at night, before dawn” to indicate a state of not knowing, being in the dark.

John’s Gospel has an epilogue, Chapter 21. We heard a wonderful passage from it today. The time is dawn – the beginning of the light of day. The setting is the Lake of Geneserath, a sparkling emerald jewel of a lake, lying below the mountains of Galilee where Jesus multiplied bread and fish. Bread and fish appeared there again that morning. 

Jesus is by the shore, standing, grilling fish, and perhaps toasting bread over a charcoal fire.  Peter and his seven companions have experienced catching nothing without Jesus’ presence. “I am going fishing . . .We will go with you,” said Peter and the seven earlier.  Do you hear ego in the “I” and “we?” There is no mention of Jesus. Interesting! When Jesus became present to them on the beach, an enormous catch was made.  Jesus’ absence, no fish; Jesus’ presence, fish.

Breakfast with Jesus grilling on a charcoal fire must have been awkward for the apostles. Also, Jesus looked somewhat the same and somewhat different. Remember, in his resurrected body, he was mistaken as the gardener by Mary and as a stranger by two disciples on the Emmaus road.

After breakfast, Jesus speaks to Peter, who has been haunted since his denial.  He does not ask Peter for an apology, a pledge of allegiance, or a testimony of faith.  He already knows Peter’s sorrow and repentance. Jesus simply asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Love is Jesus’ only question. John Shea and Richard Rohr offer helpful reflections. Although it is often ignored, we humans have a spiritual core.  The ancients placed it in our gut. If we are the salt of the earth or light in darkness, it is there; if not, we have “lost our flavor” or put our light “under a bushel basket.”

John had recognized him with the eyes of love while they were still offshore in the boat.

Jesus calls Peter and each of us to this spiritual center where we may have an elevated form of consciousness.  It takes long-term, continual effort to sustain this consciousness.  Why?  Because our egos like to be in charge and crowd out our spiritual consciousness.  Remember, Peter who, at first, would not let Jesus wash his feet.  Remember Peter when he denied he knew Jesus because his own safety was in jeopardy.  That was ego, not Jesus-consciousness.

How is our ego dislodged?  Loving deeply!  Loving another mysteriously supplants our selfish ego.  We know that from our life experiences. Such it is with Jesus and ourselves.

Jesus used that fact when he asked Peter the triple “do you love me?”  If we have love in our spiritual center, replacing ego, then we have salt; we have light in our gut.

It is likely that Jesus saw a large ego in Peter and knew that if Peter could supplant his ego with a clear love of Jesus the Christ in his heart/gut, he would be an outstanding leader.  He would be able to feed Jesus’ lambs and feed his sheep. When Jesus saw that Peter acknowledged him, he could and did say for the second time:  “Follow me.”

We are faced with the same question. Will we love and allow Jesus the Christ to transform our gut from being egoistic to “Living Jesus”?  That is the major question of Eastertide.

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (April 24, 2022)

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (April 24, 2022)                                                            

The readings this weekend offer so many points to break open that no one homily could include them all -- without a lunch break, that is!

Our Gospel comes from near the end of the first of two distinct endings to John’s Gospel.  It celebrates Jesus’ appearance to the apostles as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit – the Pentecost experience. John does not place Pentecost 50 days after Easter. For him, both the Resurrection and Pentecost happen on Easter Sunday, one before dawn and the other, in the evening.

The Apostles were huddled behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” There they were, immobilized with fear, terrified that they might be next. They were also guilt-ridden for having abandoned Jesus so miserably.

Jesus came through the locked door and stood before them. We might expect Jesus -- who was betrayed by Judas, denied three times by Peter and abandoned by all except John -- to lambast the men he had called “friends” at the Last Supper.  Some friends! His greeting was “Shalom”. He repeated it – perhaps because of the startled looks on his Apostles’ faces when he did not fulminate at them.

He allays their fears with his gift of peace – shalom. He did not remind them of their misdeeds. His one word evaporated their fear and dissipated their guilt.  Shalom “made it all better.”

Today’s gospel reminds us of Jesus’ prayer to his father on the cross, “Father, forgive them…” The Jewish and Roman authorities that condemned him to death…the throngs that had been amazed at his miracles…wonder-filled at his teaching-with-authority…sated with bread and fish in their empty stomachs …people who had strewn palms in his path when he entered Jerusalem – and screamed “crucify him…We’ll take Barabbas by the end of the week.

It is not by chance that the worldwide Catholic Church recognizes Jesus’ magnificent forgiveness in today’s remembrance called Divine Mercy Sunday.  Pope John-Paul II initiated it in 2000 at the urging of Sr. Faustina Kowalski. Private revelations usually do not move me, but celebrating the extravagant abundance of compassion by Jesus in this Gospel seems appropriate on this day. 

Jesus gave us the two great commandments. Surely contained within love is forgiveness, and mercy. Today’s celebration of divine mercy highlights a most important aspect of love that is often overlooked, or not even recognized as being, perhaps, the most important and most difficult aspect of love: forgiveness.  Disagreements inevitably do happen. There is a solution.

We, the Church, must finally recognize that forgiveness is to love what grease is to gears. In the long run, if there is no forgiveness the relationship of love grinds to a screeching halt. 

The apostles’ experience of forgiveness in today's Gospel keeps us rooted in Jesus who forgave his apostles without condition and forgives us the same way. With his loving forgiveness and its effect on us, he sends forth his disciples and us to preach and to practice what we preach.