27 Sun B - Proposed Women's Pastoral

Title: Reflecting Upon a Meeting on the Proposed Women's Pastoral

Date: Sunday, October 1, 1988 - Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)

Readings: Genesis 2:18-24 / Psalm 128:1-2,3,4-5,6 / Hebrews 2:9-11 / Mark 10:2-16

This morning I attended a consultation held at Blessed Sacrament Parish for those concerned about the first draft of the bishops' pastoral on women. Four groups corresponding to the four chapters were formed. The first three topics, entitled, "Partners in Personhood," "Partners in Relationships," and "Partners in Society" drew moderate numbers but the fourth topic, "Partners in the Church" was so large it had to be broken in two. This was the part of the document which most made the news, dealing with the question of the ordination of women. Wearing my collar, and fearing that I would be leaped upon as a symbol of patriarchal oppression, I was happily surprised by the generally sober tone the discussion took. I listened more than I spoke; however, a few times I did contribute. It seemed that a majority present favored the ordination of women, even after the Papal clarification against it this week. A representative of the National Organization for the Ordination of Women was particularly concerned about the role of the so-called "institutional" Church. She said that she resented the fact that each time a woman's response was offered in the letter, the bishops would counter by quoting official documents which did not reflect women's sentiments. Earlier, she had interpreted the Pope's recent pronouncement as his attempt to play the Devil's Advocate in forcing more theologically in-depth inquiry into the issue. I don't know, I cannot help but think that the Pope meant exactly what he said and that it reflects not only human rhetoric but in some mysterious fashion, the will of God.

Others, like our Sister Mary Madden went to the discussion which encountered the issues surrounding relationships. These are especially pertinent today, given our readings regarding the unity of man and woman intended from the beginning of creation. The first sentence of our very first reading states: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." Partner -- that is a word which our Holy Father used and which the U.S. bishops used in the title of their letter, "Partners in the Mystery of Redemption." In marriage and out, the sexes complement and aid one another in their pilgrimage back to God.

For those who have encountered problems in their relationships, and who have even endured the death of marriage relationships, the readings today might be particularly painful. They point to a unity that they have failed to achieve; and it is not always the fault of both, either. If one is willing to work with a relationship and the other is not, where can you go? It is for this reason that the Church works so hard with couples prior to marriage to help avoid the tragedy of separation and divorce. The bishop's letter seeks improved avenues of healing and acceptance for those who have gone through these difficulties. We as a community need to refrain from stereotypes and seek to console and work with these fine people. As for those who remarry, unable to receive an annulment of a previous bond, the request that they refrain from the altar of communion is a sign of love and not of disgust or rejection. We all know how hard life can be; it is not our place to condemn another, even if they have sinned grievously in our eyes. The sacrament we share is a sign of a complete and full unity of the Catholic people throughout the world. Marriages outside the Church fracture that unity and the sacrament of unity, the Eucharist, is forfeited; however, what is not lost is our love and concern for them as our brothers and sisters.

For those of you contemplating marriages or who have been particularly blessed in solid and intimate ones, these readings stand for you as an ideal which you need to ever seek to achieve. It can be such a lonely existence. Even the author of Genesis realized that. Philosophers and psychologists alike tell us that human beings are among the loneliest creatures in the world. Maybe that is why so many of us cluster to cities, and yet there in the midst of tight schedules and cold apartments, the loneliness seems intensified. Sometimes, maybe the loneliness and fear causes couples to play at spousal love even before they have a right to it? Slow to condemn, prudent to offer correction, and quick to heal should be the way we deal with those who walk the road of prodigal brothers and sisters.

Marriage was meant to last a lifetime. To minimize this teaching would only cause more harm than good. In this special sacramental covenant we see reflected back just how much Christ, the groom, loves his bride, the Church. He will never abandon us. This is the reality that fidelity would offer us. Christ will never divorce himself from his Church. He will love us over and over again, until we meet him face to face. In this life he does not compete with the love of one spouse to another. In every word and gesture of love, from the prayer on their lips to the glory they give to God in their flesh, they surrender themselves to God. To the extent that they love one another, they love Jesus. This is the core of the partnership they share, they are helpers to one another in becoming saints. Sometimes it will be hard, maybe very hard. But from those who succeed in being faithful to one another, we can take heart and be glad. Like the little children whom Jesus calls to himself, whatever comes, all of us need to trust the Lord who is ever with us and guiding us, yes guiding us, even when the road seems long, and hard, and maybe even lonely. I end on this note because the pain of separation is something most all of us will also have to experience, either in a marriage where one stops giving or when death comes and takes away a beloved. God willing, there will be times on that pilgrimage of ours for great joy. And one day, that unity symbolized in the unity of man and woman will be fully realized, and we will all rejoice in the happy and peaceful presence of God forever.

St. Patrick

Title: St. Patrick

Date: Thursday, March 17, 1988 - St. Patrick, Bishop, Apostle to Ireland

Readings: Exodus 32:7-14 / Psalm 106:19-20,21-22,23 / John 5:31-47

In our Gospel, Jesus makes reference to John the Baptizer who witnessed on his behalf. All of us who are given the vocation as Christian are to do likewise. Today, we celebrate a feast in honor of a man who did much to bring Christ to others, Saint Patrick.

Born about the year 389 to a British deacon, Calpurnius and his wife Conchessa, he was taken prisoner when about sixteen and kidnaped to Ireland as a herdsman. He survived the rugged life and held onto his faith. Six years later he escaped. However, he would have a dream urging him to go back and Christianize Ireland away from the Druids. Ordained in 417, he was sent upon a mission in 431 to assist Bishop Paladius in Ireland. He succeeded as bishop in 432 and widely traveled the land there spreading the faith. In 442, Pope Leo the Great commissioned him to organize the Church of Ireland and he established various sees. He spread faith and learning where ever he went. Although many of the monastic communities and the physical structures and lands of the Church would one day be pillaged and confiscated by the advocates of the British Protestant reformers, his living legacy of faith given to the Irish would remain strong. Indeed, despite the Reformation, the faith in England, France, and Switzerland would always be indebted to his early work in Ireland. For us all, the monastic rule in Ireland would do much to revitalize the faith in the entirety of Europe, and its view of Confession would rescue the Church in its dilemma over repentant sinners and the danger of scandal.

May we, like Saint Patrick, be a people of such deep-seated faith that it will always manifest itself in sincere gratitude, holy prayer, and good works.

The Fidelity of Christ

Title: The Fidelity of Christ

Date: March 16, 1988 - Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Readings: Isaiah 49:8-15 / Psalm 145:8-9,13-14,17-18 / John 5:17-30

Our long Gospel today calls to mind the extraordinary unity of Christ with the Father. Various members of the Jewish community plotted to kill him, not simply because they viewed him as violating the Sabbath by healing the sick; but most importantly, because they saw him speaking about God as his Father. For him to make himself an equal to God would seem to violate their stark monotheism, that there is but one God. Jesus attempts in his answer to resolve this very real question. He begins by explaining that there is no competition or inner rivalry in God. The Son follows the will of the Father and none other. He explains that the Father loves the Son, and indeed, the Church would identify this love as also being God, the Holy Spirit. The Son is God's self-expression in the world. He comes so that we may more fully know God and possess eternal life. The damage due to our sins had seemed irreparable. Man owed a dept which left to his own resources he could never repay. Only God could eradicate the indignity to Himself which we showed him by our sins. By becoming a human being, the price we owed was repaid by the only one who could possibly pay it, God. We see in all these words, not only an explanation of who God is but also of his plan to save us. Totally submissive to the Father's will, he shows us the way of obedience and life. Like Lazarus before us all those who recognize his voice will one day emerge from the tombs to live. Those who have rejected his word will fall back into the grave, into that prison which we call hell. Let it be our prayer, that we will all recognize that Christ is indeed the Lord of our lives, the one in whom we have placed our trust, the Son of God, who now calls us to follow in his footsteps as God's adopted children.

The Living Water

Title: Living Water

Date: March 15, 1988 - Tuesday of the Fourth Week of the Year

Readings: Ezekiel 47:1-9,12 / Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9 / John 5:1-3,5-16

Living just down the street from an American version of Bethesda, we have a constant reminder of this story in the Gospel. The Jewish people had the custom of lowering sick people into this particular pool; tradition had it that the stirring of the waters might bring a healing. This sort of belief is not alien to us. After all, many people today make pilgrimages to places like Lourdes where their hopes for healing are directed. In both cases, the custom was not merely a reflection of crude magic but of a belief in God's power to heal.

Christ reveals in this Gospel today that he is the living water which brings healing. No one was generous enough to lower this lonely man into the pool which he thought might cure him; little did he know that a short command from this stranger Jesus would have him walking.

Interestingly enough, the same lack of self-giving which prevented others from helping this man is later directed against Jesus who heals him. Jesus is criticized for violating the Sabbath. Eventually the man who was healed discovers who Jesus is and is asked to repent from his sins. One has to wonder, even though he knows the name of Jesus, do those to whom he speak really appreciate who this Jesus is? The answer seems no. Instead of thanking God for this healing or recognizing the divine presence in Christ, they begin to plot against him. As mystery writers might say, "the plot thickens." May we always recognize Christ's healing and forgiveness in our midst. May we also be generous enough to help others receive God's blessing and healing in the waters of baptism and in the other sacraments.

Mass at Theological College

Title: Mass at Theological College

Date: March 14, 1988 - Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Readings: Isaiah 65:17-21 / Psalm 30:2,4,5-6,11-13 / John 4:43-54

I recall when I was a seminarian here how funny I used to think it was when men would come back after only a year or two as priests and speak as if they knew all the ropes. Well, I tell you, I do not know them, indeed, sometimes I get tangled up inside of them. I must be honest with you, being a priest has been harder than I thought it would be. Nothing, I mean that, nothing comes easy. If you think things are hard now, just wait. I tell you this not to discourage you but to warn you to be prepared. Right now many of you might view homilies and the celebration of the Mass as the most stressful; but I have not found that to ultimately the case. It is everything else.

It is only when you deal with your people that the real struggles begin. You find yourself trying to discern how close to get to people, when to love and when not to love too much, when to challenge and when to wait for the storm to pass. You don't always set up the right boundaries and you make mistakes. You find that it is 10:30 at night and you are still doing parish work. You begin to let things eat away at your day off. When you do take time out for yourself, you feel guilty.

Some of the things I thought might be a lot of fun are often a great deal of work. Take marriage preparation for instance. I used to think only a few might be living a life that the Church would not be happy about. I exaggerate only a little bit when I tell you that they are all living together. And what's worse, once you get them married, they don't want to live together anymore. I also do baptismal preparation, I have never even seen these people before. Many of them have not been in a church since their marriage, and that is if they were married in the Church. You cannot presume anything. Many people quite literally see the sacrament as a form of magic. And even though I am very conservative, as half of you probably well recall, I still very much believe that these parents must have the faith alive in their hearts if the grace of baptism is to ever have a chance of growing in their children. I often admonish them that there are a lot of strange cults and philosophies out there after their children. There is no guarantee that even if we do all the right things for the children that they will not stray away for awhile. However, if we give them a firm foundation now then they will have a home to which to come back after facing the storm of life. But, as I said before, you have to start at the beginning, even for adults. People are so ill prepared these days that even in Confession you can't often give a few simple prayers to say because they do not know them. The Hail Mary and The Act of Contrition which are rudimentary prayers for us might be unknown to them. And then, you have to help them to learn to pray and talk to God in their hearts. People don't even understand the formal prayers of the Church which we use at worship. Take the term Paschal Mystery. Death and Cross they understand. Paschal Mystery, what is that? Although I know that we were all taught that there is a difference between a homily which is a proclamation and catechetical teaching, more and more I am having to offer instruction in my homilies as well. People just do not understand what is being said otherwise.

There is so much to do. Alone you and I are unable to do it. The job ahead of us is so immense that we are going to need all the help we can get. We need it from other priests, deacons, religious, and the lay people -- especially the lay people.

There may not be much knowledge of the teachings of the Church; however, I do not want to give the impression that there is a shortage of faith. It is there. But, it is starving to be nurtured and informed. In our Gospel today a royal official, who probably knew very little about this Jesus, besides his being a loving and caring man, goes to him and asks for him to heal his son. Jesus does something which he also does elsewhere in the Scriptures, he heals from afar. Remember the case of the soldier, in that story too, there was faith that Jesus could bring healing. After the miracle, we are told that the entire household became believers. That is how things are today. There is faith out there, but these people need desperately to see God's love, care, and healing in us. One of the greatest burdens I have felt is from the responsibility of just being as a priest, a special living symbol of Christ in the community. Because of this, we cannot be so judgmental of people that we slam our fists on the pulpits and condemn people who are in the plight of serious weakness and/or sin. Even in seminary I came to the understanding that things would not always be black and white. The trouble is that they are not necessarily grey either. The people we serve represent a whole mosaic of patterns which are largely undecipherable. In my parish we have a homosexual couple for instance. In they eyes of God and the Church, I really believe that their relationship is wrong. But, here is the irony. They come to the church every day. They pray. They believe. What do you say to them? What do you say and do in all the cases I mentioned this evening? Sometimes you will be unsure. However, I would urge you to be like the figure in our Gospel today who "put his trust in the word Jesus spoke to him." First and foremost, the Word has to live in us. We cannot allow ourselves to get into the way of the ministry which Christ wants to perform in us. Sometimes it will be easy; often it will be difficult. But never should our eyes turn away from Christ or his Church.

I crammed so much of my work here in seminary that there is little I remember. Nevertheless, one thing which I do recall is from Rahner. He said that before we do anything else we need to be humble. We are nothing without God. And yet, in God, nothing is impossible.

Reconciliation with God & Man

Title: Reconciliation with God & Man

Date: February 26, 1988 - Friday of the First Week of Lent

Readings: Ezekiel 18:21-28 / Psalm 130:1-2,3-4,4-6,7-8 / Matthew 5:20-26

A central theme of our readings today is reconciliation with our neighbor and with God. In our Gospel, Christ exhorts us to nurture a holiness which goes beyond external appearances and which emanates essentially from within. Our hearts need to be forgiving and willing to accept forgiveness. Our minds need to elevate good thoughts about our brothers and sisters, and not to be centered upon how we might get even with those who hurt us. This is what Christ would do for us who murdered him by our sins. Instead of utterly destroying us with thunderbolt and fire, he offers us a share in his victory over death. He died, loving and forgiving his murderers. When we come together to celebrate this great gift offered by Christ, the Lord desires us to respond in kind. He says, "If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift." With the bread and wine which comes up here to this altar, we have to offer ourselves for transformation, so that Christ may live more fully in us. This is the essential meaning behind the sign of peace. This becomes even more essential when we recognize that Christ identifies himself with the persons in our lives whom we least love. This is the kind of love which grants blessings upon another and not curses, even when we find it difficult to like someone. It is this kind of love which is quick to forgive and which makes one willing to admit his or her sinfulness, and need for forgiveness. The first reading challenges us to forgive as God forgives. Ezekiel said, "None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced." When God forgives, he forgets. We are made as white as snow. For this reason, let us forgive as God forgives, without resentment and backstabbing. Let us forgive ourselves, recognizing that we have no right to hold bound what Christ in the Church has loosed.

Realizing the Love of God

Title: Realizing the Love of God

Date: February 25, 1988 - Thursday of the First Week of Lent

Readings: Esther 12:14-16,23-25 / Psalm 138:1-2,2-3,7-8 / Matthew 7:7-12

Our Gospel offers us a line which should never fail to touch us with the absurdity of being harsh to those whom we love. "Would one of you hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf, or a poisonous snake when he asks for a fish?" Jesus goes on to tell us that if even we who are a sinful people know how to give that which is good to our children, just imagine what our Heavenly Father has in store for us.

I wonder though whether or not Jesus would use this analogy today? It seems that the depravity among men and women has reached such a monstrous point that even the children are no longer safe. Abortion in our society is well into its second decade, so commonplace that most of us hardly give it a thought. The papers and television are filled with the news of children being abused both by their parents and by those in whose care they are placed. Recently there was a story about a woman who hired a hit man to kill her husband. We are not talking about minor squabbles in families. All these concerns involve murder and abuse. This does not make matters easy for us who try their best in living out Christianity. Yesterday our Gospel had Jesus teaching his friends how to call God, our Father, in the Lord's prayer. How do we teach children in this city about a loving Father with situations so bad, with divorce plaguing half of all marriages, or where the mother gives her favors to a different man on any given night? It is not easy.

I would encourage you all, as parents and grandparents, as uncles and aunts, as brothers and sisters, and as friends in Christ, to give the kind of witness which will make the Father's love believable. Allow that love to shine out and to touch others through you. Do this especially for the children. God knows it is a tough enough world. We can help make it easier for them. They are the future of our nation and faith. We have to invest in them. Jesus understood this well when he said, "Treat others the way you would have them treat you: this sums up the law and the prophets."

A Greater Than Jonah Here

Title: A Greater Than Jonah Here

Date: February 24, 1988 - Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

Readings: Jonah 3:1-10 / Psalm 51:3-4,12-13,18-19 / Luke 11:29-32

In our first reading, the prophet Jonah came to Nineveh with the warning that lest they turned away from their sinful ways, the city would be destroyed. So struck with fear were they at the impending doom in forty days that the king declared that man and beast alike would be covered in sack cloth and ashes. Perhaps, just perhaps, God would relent and forgive them? Sure enough God did preserve them from destruction. Our Gospel revealed a far more serious kind of impending doom. In the latter, mere physical life and property was threatened; now spiritual life was at risk and the loss of the greatest treasure possible, Christ himself. The people around Jesus sought a sign, being blind to the significance of this new prophet who healed the sick and who forgave sins. Jesus said quite explicitly, "For at the preaching of Jonah they reformed, but you have a greater than Jonah here."

What does this incident say to us? It reminds us that Jesus makes all the difference, even for those who do not clearly know him for who he really is -- God come among us as one of us. Not deserving such an honor, our only response is one of humility, repentance, and praise. Because he makes a difference, this reality must be reflected in our lives. Because he makes all the difference, we cannot hesitate to proclaim the Good News to non-Christians and to those who have lost track of Christ somewhere upon their paths in life. We must not be ashamed of him or try to explain away his significance. Because of him, nothing shall ever be the same again. If we have a greater than Jonah here, then why do we sometimes hide him? Why are we not quicker and more resolved in turning around our lives so that Christ may live more fully in us?

Polycarp, Handing on the Torch of Faith

Title: Polycarp, Handing on the Torch of Faith

Date: February 23, 1988 - Polycarp, Bishop & Martyr

Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11 / Psalm 34:4-5,6-7,16-17,18-19 / Matthew 6:7-15

Our psalm offers words which might have proven a comfort to Saint Polycarp as he faced martyrdom for his steadfast faith. "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears." However, even though he, like us, might be rescued from distress, this does not necessarily mean that we will not have to undergo hardship. Eusebius tells us that Polycarp embraced Christianity as a young man in about the year 80. Indeed, he was made a bishop of a see called Smyrna by none other than St. John the Evangelist himself. Polycarp represents the handing on of the torch of faith from the first Christian generation to the next. In about the year 158 he journeyed to Rome to consult with the Pope regarding the appropriate date for Easter. It was agreed that the East and West would follow their own traditions regarding the dating. In the fourth general persecution of the Church by the empire, he was apprehended and brought before the proconsul. Because he refused to deny Christ, he was condemned to be burned. However, witnesses claimed that the flames avoided him in forming an arch over his head. Undaunted, he was pierced by a sword and he hemorrhaged so badly that it put out the fire. Although his death is recorded as in 166 AD, his bones were collected and remain til this very day in the church of San Ambrogio in Messina, Rome. His faith upheld him so that he might face death well. We should pray to be just as faithful in our many sufferings and in facing the specter of death. In his witness, he also handed on the faith which comes all the way through history to us today. We stand upon the testimony of the generations as well as upon the current experience of Christ's Spirit present in our midst. Now we too are called to nurture the faith and to hand it on uncorrupted to the generations which follow us.

Peter & the Papacy

Title: Peter & the Papacy

Date: February 22, 1988 - Chair of Peter, Apostle

Readings: 1 Peter 5:1-4 / Psalm 23:1-3,3-4,5,6 / Matthew 16:13-19

Today we celebrate the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle. It is an occasion of great joy for us in the Western Church. Twenty centuries have passed and still this central chair of our Church stands firm. However, the sadness of this day is that Peter who should be for all Christians a focus of unity has instead become an issue of controversy and division. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters while willing to recognize him with their bishops as the first among equals, cannot yet work out among our churchmen a mutually acceptable view of his primal authority. The Lutherans are willing to admit some sort of role for him as the ecumenical seat of the Church but not as one who could officially and infallibly teach. The Anglicans find difficulty in regards to the tension between the papacy and the role of their conferences and nationalist leadership. And some of our Baptist friends, like Mr. Falwell would not accept him as a full associate unless he dressed in business suits, got rid of the rituals and costumes, and slid down slides for money at amusement parks. {Pastor Fallwell did the latter recently.} I mention all this lest we forget how others sometimes see us and the one whom we discern as Christ's Vicar on earth.

As a fan of history I cannot help but remark about that title "vicar". At first, those who were the bishops of Rome were actually called the Vicars of Peter and only later was this term redefined as the Vicar of Christ. After all, he is the one who is visible on earth replacing or better, representing Christ to the Church in the See or Chair of Peter. Of course, Peter had not always been in Rome. Even though he founded his see there, it was the place of his death. Earlier he founded the See of Antioch which was then the capital of the East. Saint Gregory the Great claimed that Peter was Bishop of Antioch for seven years. It is because of this that this feast today was formerly commemorated on January 18 in honor of the Roman Pontificate and on February 22 in honor of his governance in Antioch.

Peter in our first reading admonishes his friends to be examples to the flock in their generosity and humility. It is no wonder that the successors of Peter, despite all their worldly titles should still cling to the most humble title imaginable in being called "the Servant of the Servants of God". Peter learned well his lesson when he at first had refused to allow the Master to wash his feet. The Lord told him that unless he allowed it, he could have no part of him. After the Paschal Mystery, it is Peter who would emerge as the one to most humble himself and to shepherd the People of God. Unlike Judas who betrayed the Lord and despaired; Peter recovered from his denial of Christ, and became the visible and humble bedrock of Christ's Church. His are they keys of Christ which invite even the most grievous sinner to seek and receive forgiveness. This same Peter would follow Christ all the way to his own crucifixion on an inverted cross. Peter died, but his chair did not. Our Holy Father today wields the same keys to the kingdom which were used by Peter, keys which seek to open our hearts to God's truth and mercy. The Church shows us the light of Christ in a world still stumbling in darkness. The Church is the compassion of God in a cold world. May we always see in the Chair of Peter the source of our historical and spiritual unity to the living legacy of Christ.

1 Sun Lent - Reform & Believe

Title: Reform & Believe

Date: February 21, 1988 - First Sunday of Lent

Readings: Genesis 9:8-15 / Psalm 25:4-5,6-7,8-9 / 1 Peter 3:18-22 / Mark 1:12-15

"The Reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!" The cry for men and women to reform their lives had long been one echoed in the history of God dealing with his people. With the coming of Christ, we for the first time, can fully respond to this admonition.

In the days of Noah the people were also called to faithfulness and yet they remained in their debauchery. I recall a reproduction of a painting my parents used to have of the deluge. A young beautiful woman with long hair clung to a jagged rock while surrounded by heavy winds and thrashing tides. I recall staring at the picture and feeling deeply sorry for her. She was so beautiful. How could God be so cruel? As I have gotten older and hopefully wiser, still sometimes the actions of God in the Old Testament seem like such over-reactions to me. I suppose what we forget is that the more primitive the people, the less sophisticated have to be the ways to keep them in line and to guide them. The story of the flood is not one simply about destruction and disobedience; in Noah and his companions we see an image of God's steadfast fidelity and love for mankind, despite our disobedience. God sets up a covenant with Noah and promises never to flood the world again; he even sets the rainbow in the sky as a sign of his promise. The words of Genesis convey here the deep love of God. Because of our sins, we deserved death. However, not only are a remnant rescued but later God would send us his messiah to save us from our sins and eternal death.

I would probably be negligent if I failed to say a few words about the kind of literature which this text in Genesis represents. It is linked with the story of creation and even though it is the first book of our bibles, actually Genesis was among the last of the Old Testament to be composed. The Jewish people were in Babylonian exile surrounded by a people who followed false Gods. The story of the flood reaffirmed to them how much God loved them, and that no matter how desperate their situation became, God would not abandon them.

The story of creation and the flood also made up a kind of satire against the Babylonian gods. Much of the linguistic allusion is lost in English. The particular story which parallels ours is called the Gilgamish epic. In it, the hero is not Noah but Ut-napishtim. When the gods, notice the horrendous plural, decree the deluge, the pagan god Ea reveals their designs to Ut-napishtim by speaking secretly through a reed wall. You see, Ea did not want to let the other gods, who wanted to get rid of mankind, know. He is urged to build a cubical boat of ten cubits. This is not like the rectangular boat of Genesis, just a box. He is warned to take ample provisions, as well as a sampling of the beasts of the field and the wild creatures. This is like Genesis. However, he is also told to take craftsmen lest their skills be lost. For six days and nights the storm persists. Finally, the ark comes to rest on Mount Nisir. Like Noah, he sends forth a dove, a swallow, and a raven, leaving the boat when the raven fails to come back. Ut-napishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods who cluster around him like flies. Instead of a covenant as we see in our story today, there follows an angry dispute among the gods. Enlil, angry about the remnant which has escaped, inquires as to who leaked the secret of the flood. Ea confesses but questions the prudence of Enlil in sending the storm. Upon the sinner, he says, should be imposed his sin, and on the transgressor, his disobedience. Instead of a universal disaster, Enlil, he complains, should have simply sent a wolf or a lion or a famine or a pestilence which would not have wiped out the entire race. Because Ut-napishtim and his wife escaped destruction, they must now be given immortality and transplanted so that they would not mingle with mortals. This and similar stories question the wisdom and goodness of the providence of the gods. The Jewish people believed in one God who was all knowing and all good. The destruction is then not seen as the act of a whimsical god but rather was something which a disobedient people brought upon themselves. God's response is to save a remnant from further depravity and have them start brand new. You can see from these two stories the resemblance. Father John McKenzie, a Scripture scholar, tells us that "The differences between the Mesopotamian and the biblical stories show how the Hebrews took a piece of ancient tradition and retold it in order to make it a vehicle of their own distinctive religious beliefs, in particular their conception of divine justice and providence." Although this flood may not have actually wiped clean our planet, it could well be that both stories emerge from some common memory of a disastrous flood of prehistoric times -- a recollection which has grown out of all proportions.

Having said this, theologically, the wisdom and faith of righteous man was praised for having followed God who saved man from his folly. Noah listened and obeyed God. This is the key. In our second reading, the deluge is an example of God's patience and is compared to the waters of baptism. Water for us thus becomes a symbol of both life and death. In the history of salvation, it meant death to the peoples around Noah -- it meant death to the Egyptians who chased the Jews across the Red Sea -- and it even meant death for Jesus who once baptized by John would engage in a ministry which would demand the highest cost. It also meant life -- it meant life and a second chance for Noah -- it meant life and freedom for those fleeing Egyptian slavery -- it meant life in the natural processes of the world where plants and animals perish without water. In baptism, by submerging and dying with Christ in those waters of baptism, we are promised to rise with him. Like a seed which has flowered, we are born again and made brand new. Our sins are forgiven and we are made members of a new People of God.

Recall your baptismal promises often and allow Christ to live in you. Have Noah's kind of faith. He trusted God even in the absurd task of building an ark. Living out our Christianity will sometimes seem absurd to others, but do not allow the storm of sin and death to drown you. Christ has given us a fine ship called the Church and if we remain faithful, it will take this Pilgrim People to the Promised Shore.

A Church for Sinners

Title: A Church for Sinners

Date: February 20, 1988 - Saturday After Ash Wednesday

Readings: Genesis 9:8-15 / Psalm 25:4-5,6-7,8-9 / 1 Peter 3:18-22

Over a year ago I was offering some counseling to a man who had stopped going to church. He said that he did not have to go to services to pray and that the churches were filled with hypocrites anyway. I admitted that there was some truth to his accusation, but I then asked him to honestly tell me whether or not he was really praying alone either. He paused. Hesitantly, he said no. I then quite pointedly inquired about who he thought should go to church? He wondered what I meant. I responded that Christ came for sinners and that we have since tried to fill our churches with them, this priest included. The poor man began to see his own hypocrisy. The only difference between him and us was that we admitted that we were sinners and therefore sought God's forgiveness. Jesus in our Gospel spoke directly to this when he said, "The healthy do not need a doctor; sick people do. I have not come to invite the self-righteous to a change of heart, but sinners." There is no shame in admitting that we are not perfect, only in trying hide our frailties behind the lies of pride and deceit. I wish I could tell you that this revelation changed the life of this man. But, I have no inkling. He has not come into this worship space in over a year. You see the blinders immediately came back down and he rationalized away everything I said. I pray for him, just as we all should. And yet, there is some sadness in knowing that when our family in faith comes together, he and so many others are not present. No one, no where can ever take their place here and so we are the poorer. We desperately need the witness and solidarity of one another. With this in mind I would sincerely encourage you all to constantly support one another, not with the badgering of a people who think they are better than others but with the example of a faith lived out both here in this church and in the world outside. You see the Pharisees and the scribes to whom Jesus spoke did not realize that they most of all needed Christ's forgiveness and healing. Let it be a lesson of which we shall always be mindful.

Fast & Abstinence

Title: Fast & Abstinence

Date: February 19, 1988 - Friday After Ash Wednesday

Readings: Isaiah 58:1-9 / Psalm 51:3-4,5-6,18-19 / Matthew 9:14-15

It might seem from all three of our texts today that God is not all that concerned about fasting as we usually imagine it. However, we probably need to look deeper into our readings. In our Gospel, the disciples of Jesus are challenged for their lack of fasting; in response, the Lord tells their critics that when he, the groom, is taken from their midst, then they will fast. This season of Lent is the occasion when we recall his departure from us, brought about by our betrayal and sins. Easter, is when we replace fasting with feasting, celebrating that the one who was put to death is risen and among us again. We live out this mystery in our liturgical year.

The reading from Isaiah and our psalm give us a deeper appreciation as to what real fasting is all about. Simply dieting is not really meritorious. What God really wants is for us to empty ourselves of selfishness so that he might live more fully in us. When Isaiah calls real fasting the "setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked...and not turning your back on your own," he is not merely talking about an external program in social justice. Rather, he is talking about allowing God to so live in us that doing these things become second nature. The internal condition of having "a heart contrite and humbled" as our psalm offers, makes possible the external actions of piety and charity. Consequently, we freely fast and follow the Church's guidance in abstaining from meat today, so that our prayer and work in God's service might be more intense and complete.

The Witness of Ashes

Title: The Witness of Ashes

Date: February 17 1988 - Ash Wednesday

Readings: Joel 2:12-18 / Psalm 51:3-4,5-6,12-13,14,17 / 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 / Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

I will keep my words this morning brief since I know that many of you are on tight schedules and that it will take additional time to distribute ashes. However, it would be remiss of me if I failed altogether to offer you a few words about today and the season of Lent. We so often think of this as a time of giving up things; it is much more than that. Indeed, it is a special period in which we wean a few things out of our life so that we might have more space to reflect upon God and what he has done for us. The ashes stand forth as a symbol of our mortality and of the vain pursuits for earthly treasure. We are called to turn away from sin and to receive the Good News that the Jesus who is Lord has come to rescue us from our folly. Our recognition of our indebtedness to God and our utter dependence upon him is a key theme to the Lenten season.

We so often seek recognition and praise, even for the charitable and loving things we do. However, the only eyes that matter are God's. He sees everything. It is a bit ironic that although we might want others to see our generosity, the ashes we wear on our foreheads often embarrass us. I know a number of people who quickly rub them off as they leave. I would urge you to keep those crosses of ash upon your foreheads today; not as something to make us pompous, but rather as a witness to our faith.

Facing Our Mortality & Immortality

Title: Facing Our Mortality & Immortality

Date: April 1, 1988 - Good Friday

Readings: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 / Psalm 31:2,6,12-13,15-16,17,25 / Hebrews 4:14-16;5:7-9 / John 18:1-19:42

An outsider to our faith, might look upon our ritual this evening with awe towards its complexity and yet confusion as to its meaning. This is because we celebrate a theme tonight which much of our culture seeks to ignore or postpone. We commemorate death. Assuredly, it may not be death as many people understand it, but nevertheless it remains something mysterious and even feared. Our society, with its newfound confidence in science, ironically hides the tragic death of the unborn behind the guise of linguistics while many in the medical field go to elaborate techniques to keep certain other people alive, no matter what the cost. One of the tasks of the Christian is to visit the sick; and yet, how often have we hesitated from that duty? And we know why -- because to meet an elderly or handicapped or sick person is to face the specter of our own mortality, death. We dye our hair, or wear something over our heads that lost recently at horse races; we cake our faces in makeup to cover the blemishes and wrinkles of age; we diet to wear clothes that we could not fit into as teenagers; we take an assortment of drugs to maintain our vitality; we do all this and more to escape the prospect of age and the ghost of death which lingers in the periphery of our lives.

Even tonight, many of us may view the death we recall as simply a commemoration of an historical event. But, it is much more than that. Just yesterday, on Holy Thursday, the Lord washed the feet of his disciples as a sign to them that we are called to humble service. Tonight also, he calls us to imitate him. From our Christian initiation onward, we are baptized into the saving death of Christ. It would set the whole pattern of our lives in which we would experience many dyings and risings. It may sound fatalistic, but it is still true that we are on a pilgrimage from the womb to the tomb. To live means we must suffer. To live we must die. The uniquely Christian message is that although we may not escape death, Christ will give us a share in his story of the empty tomb.

To some extent, all the sacraments are a living out of what we celebrate in this season leading to Easter. The Mass is a special case in point whereby the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is not only commemorated but is recalled by a living memory. Christ died once and for all for us, but in the Eucharist, that death breaks through the bonds of time and we are there. Celebrated in an unbloody fashion, what was missing on Calvary is now provided, ourselves and our faithfulness. If it was by our sins that Christ was crucified; then now in the various Masses of the year we are able to get to the other side of that Cross, to offer ourselves with Christ, as an acceptable offering to the Father. Tonight too we offer ourselves in our prayers to God, asking him to hear us and to transform us to the likeness of his Son.

As Christians we view death as the consequence of our primordial disobedience, sin. In the ministry of Jesus this perspective is retained. When he healed the sick, he often added an admonition, to sin no more. He also showed that he was the master of both life and death. When the little girl Tabitha and his friend Lazarus had died, he restored them to health. However, he did not use this very same power to avoid his mission in the world. Why? Certainly, he had not sinned. He did not deserve to die, especially not a criminal's death. Why then did he accept his Cross?

There is a movie which came out about a year or so ago entitled, Saving Grace; in it the Pope while gardening gets locked out of the Vatican and begins to roam the street with the ordinary people. He eventually ends up in a small town where apathy has crushed the people's spirits. They live off charity and refuse to try to improve their lot. Not surprising, the village church is in ruins, after all, what need had a dead people of a church. The Pope, who looks like any other poor man, becomes determined to help stir these people back to life. He starts work upon a primitive irrigation system with the help of children. The adults think he is mad. Lazy thugs in charge of the town try to prevent his work from coming to completion. Just when the project is about finished, the gang leader of the town throws a stick of dynamite destroying part of the works. The townspeople look on. Among the debris is a child, a small boy. All seems lost. All seems for nothing. A boy dies, and what does the successor of Peter have to show for it? And yet, the women and later the men of the village start coming to the wreckage and begin to build. What a price this boy paid. He must not die in vain. How evil an act it was, a deed their sluggishness and despair of life had allowed. They rebuild. Water comes pouring into the town. These simply people begin to rejoice and some even dance in the water. They were dead, and are now alive again. I tell you this story because it speaks to us in a small way about the Cross of Christ. Sometimes to redeem a people, takes a life.

We don't have to dig any deeper than that for the reason why Christ allowed himself to be betrayed, tortured, and murdered. He did it for us. The words from Caiaphas in John's Gospel took on a meaning even deeper than he would have ascribed, that there was an "advantage of having one man die for the people." Jesus was betrayed by his very own friends, the ones who should have protected and loved him. His own people disowned him. Peter denied him. Judas turned him in with, of all things, a kiss! Imagine someone whom you love more than life, betraying your love and doing so with a sign of false affection. I know for some of you this would not be hard to envision. Think about the deep agony it causes. It is at the core of what the Cross is about. I cannot tell you how many men and women have come to this rectory door, crying uncontrollably, because a spouse or a loved one abandoned them. It is the Passion of Christ all over again, a story of a love rejected. And yet, if this were all that the Cross was about, we would be the most pitiful of people. The story of Good Friday is also about a love fulfilled and accepted -- a love so great that Jesus was willing to stretch out his hands and feet upon the Cross to show us just how much. Taken in connection with what we shall celebrate tomorrow evening, it is the message that love is ultimately stronger than pain, betrayal, or death.

Despite how we try, I doubt if any of us can completely cast the thought of death out of our minds. We here in the Archdiocese have been reminded once more of it by the recent passing of Bishop Lyons. And, I am sure that among many of you, this year has held the pain of loved ones lost. I don't have to remind you of the agony and regrets this arouses. We can take comfort in the Christian message that death is not the end but is rather a new beginning. It is a doorway from this life to another. Because that door closes so quickly, we might easily despair as to what is on the other side. However, we do not need to fear. God has promised his own that we would never be abandoned. Just as he vindicated his Son after the world's intolerance had done all it could to him, so shall we be rescued. Jesus himself said that he has prepared a place for us and that in his house there are many rooms. Let us remember this night that we are mortal, that we are not totally in control of our lives, that we do suffer, that we are sinful, and that death is apart of who and what we are. But, let us also recall that we are so much more and that there is a part of us that death shall never reach. Where we are weak, God is strong. Where we are sinful, God can forgive. Where God forgives, there is redemption. Where there is redemption, there is eternal life.

Mary Without Sin

Title: Mary Without Sin

Date: December 8, 1988 - Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Readings: Genesis 3:9-15, 20 / Psalm 98:1,2-3,3-4 / Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 / Luke 1:26-38

Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a teaching of the Church which has had a long and sometimes controversial history. There are even some contemporary critics of this dogma of faith who would argue that it overly separates Mary from the rest of us. Certainly, it is true that being sinners is a reality ever present in our lives. We seem to find it so difficult to be good. It is ironic that a few of the feminist theologians who criticize this teaching on one hand would then try on the other to argue that Mary has been used as a device of oppression on the part of a male dominated hierarchy. It seems to me that quite the opposite may be true. The witness of Mary as the queen of the saints would emphasize that the greatest person to ever walk the earth next to the Lord, is this woman Mary. Our first reading recalls the first Eve who with her husband turns away from God in disobedience. Our second reading reminds us that if Eve is the mother of all the living, Mary in her faithfulness is the mother of all who are reborn in her Son. She stands as a model of holiness for men and women alike. Her preservation from sin does not create an impassible chasm between her and us. Sin by definition adds nothing to us or to her. If anything, it is a lack of something which should be there -- the grace and presence of Christ. Just as she carried the Lord, now we must avoid sin so as to be filled with his presence and life. Sin is that which divides and alienates. To wish this upon Mary would mean wanting separation from her and the Lord.

Like us, she is totally a creature. The saving grace which washes over us in baptism reaches from the Cross backward to the moment Mary is conceived in the womb. The Messiah whom himself is sinless would enter our world through the sinless portal of Mary. Our feast today also celebrates the beauty and holiness of marital love. Although Mary would conceive Christ through the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit; today's theme elevates the significance of marital and sexual love as offered between Joachim and Ann. Couples raising families in this age would do well to recall that their children in baptism become as Mary, and if they struggle to remain holy, may even become saints. As Mary is, we may become. That is the most powerful message we commemorate today.

Hold Fast to God

Title: Hold Fast to God

Date: February 18, 1988 - Thursday After Ash Wednesday

Readings: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 / Psalm 1:1-2,3,4,6 / Luke 9:22-25

"Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him." These words when offered to the People of God by Moses were an encouragement to follow the commandments, and thus to seek God's blessing and not his curse. So often this translated into the naive understanding that if one were good, only good things would enter one's life. However, in the book of Job and then in the life of Jesus himself, we become well aware that sometimes suffering and even death can inflict the very best of people. The Christian appreciation of this text is very deep. Like a child trusting utterly in his or her parent, we are to rely upon and to be faithful to God -- no matter what. Jesus lived out this passage, because as ironic as it might seem, by allowing himself to be betrayed, mocked, tortured, and murdered -- he was choosing life for us. Now, in response to his sacrifice, we too have to open ourselves to a share in this life -- a life which will ultimately be beyond the reach of pain and death. Notice what the Scripture said, we are to love God, heed his voice, and cling fast to him. We are to hold on so tight that no storm of sin and weakness can drive us away from him. This will require that our love for him always be fused with obedience, just as Christ was obedient unto the cross. The secret is not to give up on God even when the times become difficult. What is more, we need desperately to find the peace and joy which comes with perfect discipleship in this life, despite the cost, loving God entirely for his own sake.

In our tradition we often recall the Cyrenian who reluctantly was forced to help Jesus carry his cross up to Calvary. Do we hesitate? Do we despair and give up? Do we run away from our responsibilities? Jesus did not. May we be so full of the love of God, and therefore in the denial of our very selves, that we may pick up our crosses willingly in traveling in the footsteps of Christ.

6 Sun - Fulfillment of the Law

Title: Fulfillment of the Law

Date: February 15, 1987 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Sirach 15:15-20 / Psalm 119:1-2,4-5,17-18,33-34 / 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 / Matthew 5/17-37

Today I would like to begin by telling you a story-- a story about two little boys. They were like most young children. They loved playing ball. They liked cartoons, especially those filled with lots of super-heroes and villains. Ice-cream was their favorite food, for both main course and dessert. They both had that most peculiar attraction all boys seem to have towards mud and dirt. And, both wanted a dog. The first boy, Arnold, came from an house which the second boy, Ruppert, could only experience in his wildest dreams. Arnold was given everything. And, he got away with all kinds of poor behavior. His room looked like a bomb hit it. He ate only what he wanted and when he wanted. He had toys piled up in the garage and outside-- toys with which he easily tired. He wanted a dog and his parents bought him several pure breeds, but he mistreated one of them and it had to be put to sleep. He would stay out late, hit all the parties, and even got messed up with a pretty tough crowd. His parents thought, well he's just a boy having fun. To say he was spoiled would have been an understatement. He was a brat. He would cry and yell if he did not get what he wanted, and he would get it. It is a little sad really. When he grew up into a man, things did not get much better. He stayed a child. Unfortunately, his parents could not live forever, and when they died, he found himself alone, unable to cope or to be happy in the world. He could not satisfy his desires, and they were unbridled-- lawless. He was unhappy.

The second boy, Ruppert, wanted a lot of things too, but from day one his parents set down the law. If he spoke out of turn or showed any kind of disobedience or disrespect, he was punished, maybe even spanked. His mother was a stickler on cleanliness and so he had to always make his bed and keep his room clean. He had a curfew time and could only play or watch TV after his homework. He did not have everything he wanted, and his father made sure he knew that some of the things he wanted, he would have to earn. Not being merely preoccupied by things, he had time to read and create worlds inside of himself. He even liked to pray, although sometimes his prayers were more in line with petition than anything else, especially in reference to a dog. Goodness! How much he wanted one! But his mother was allergic, so he never did, that is until he was a man. He resented some of the things his parents had made him do, but he was not quite so empty as Arnold. Indeed, some of the rules he experienced as a child help make him into a more responsible adult. He would delay gratification, seek the truth of things, and organize his life. When his parents were dying, he helped them cope, you see he did not have to lean on them any longer, he could stand on his own two feet and even help others to do the same. I won't say his parents were perfect, sometimes they might have been too harsh.

The story of these two boys represents two extremes-- one of law and one of lawlessness. Now, it is sometimes difficult to keep these poles in tension, however, we need to try. We need both freedom and law. Indeed, law itself can promote freedom. It prevents one from abusing the rights of another, reminding us of our responsibilities to one another and God.

Ruppert, like Israel of old was given a code of conduct, the law. This made him responsible. However, the law sometimes seemed too harsh. This also happened in the life of Israel, the little laws attached to the commandments multiplied so incredibly that only a Pharisee it seemed could keep the whole of it. People felt condemned before they even tried to be faithful. Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it. He came to rid from his people the oppressive weight which had grown up around the law of God. The parents of Ruppert might have done well to hear this too. Ruppert knew that his parents set down rules because they loved him-- that is what made it possible for him to follow them. But, sometimes there might have been too many expectations. We all have to be careful that the rules we expect ourselves and others to live by are neither too cumbersome nor to weak. Israel would not have held together as a nation had it not been for the law. And neither do a lot of families today without rules and reasonable expectations. Even the Church, in the laws it sets to govern its members must always be just and fair. The same for governments.

Our first reading says, "If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will." God does not ask of us the impossible. Sin is not inevitable in our lives, filled with the Spirit which makes us New Christs, we can indeed follow the Father in his will for us. He will give us the strength to follow his commands. It may be that we will not be perfectly open at first, and thus will stumble from time to time, but we need not fear if we love Jesus-- in Christ is our victory.

In our Gospel, Jesus tears away the outer trappings of the law of God to reach its heart. He recalls the commandments and extends them. Thou shall not kill. But anyone angry with his brother or sister may be judged as a murderer. Thou shall worship the Lord thy God. But anyone who is unreconciled to another is told to stay away from the altar. Why? Because such a person is unreconciled with God, too. Thou shall not commit adultery. But, as if this might not be hard enough for some, he reminds us of adultery in the heart, hidden to all but ourselves and God. Matthew attaches an assortment of other sayings. None of them are easy. He prohibits divorce and remarriage. He reminds them to be a people of truth in keeping their oaths and not a people of lies. He tells them to be clear and decisive in their discipleship.

All these things were not hammered down upon us because God likes to see us suffer. It is just that there is no other way. The commands of God, both in revelation and in our nature, are to wean us away from weakness, sin, selfishness, and the evil one. God, like a good parent, offers us guidance as to how we can be truly happy and fulfilled. That does not mean that it will always be easy. It won't always be hard either. And for some, let us face it, it will be more difficult than for others. We have to believe in God's wisdom and that of his Church even when we in ourselves are struggling or uncertain.

Jesus came not so much to destroy the law as to fulfill it. When St. Paul speaks of the eradication of the law, he speaks as one already conscious of being redeemed by Christ-- of being a recipient of the law fulfilled. As for St. John, the experience of love is the sole motivation for fulfilling any law or commandment-- divine or ecclesial. We know the divine laws, hopefully, we also know the precepts of the Church-- such things as Sunday attendance at Mass, marriage inside the Church, going to confession, supporting the Church, etc. But the motivation for all these things should not be so much the law, which is given out of love to guide us, but on account of our own love for God and one another.

That kind of belief and trust in God today is being challenged from many quarters. And I am not so sure that is an entirely bad thing. If we can be faithful servants even while in the midst of the storm, how easy we should find it when the weather calms?

I have done a fair amount of talking this morning. Before I close I would like to return to those two boys, Arnold and Ruppert. Who are we most like, Arnold who needed more discipline in his life, or Ruppert, who maybe, even though he was happy, needed a little more freedom? I think Christ offers the way here. But, to do so we need to see law in a positive light, as a sign of love, as a means to true freedom. If Christ could be obedient to the Father, even unto embracing the Cross-- how could obedience fail to be anything but a blessing and joy for us.

Like the Psalmist, we can also share in his cry of joy: "Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart."

Elevation of Mary

Title: Elevation of Mary

Date: October 10, 1987 - Saturday of the Twenty-Seventh Week (I)

Readings: Joel 4,12-21 / Psalm 97,1-2.5-6.11-12 / Luke 11,27-28

The Gospel today has had a long and sometimes mangled tradition among those who call themselves Christians. I recall reading some years ago a believer of another Christian community using this very passage to deride Mary, the Mother of God. He criticized stringently the Catholic stress upon her cooperative role with Christ in our redemption. We, he implored, because of our faith in Christ, are much more superior to her, he would add. Of course, if the text were taken simply in how it first impresses us, his argument might have had a leg to stand upon. However, we who are called to see things with two-thousand year old eyes, view the text for what it truly is -- an elevation of Mary's dignity and a reaffirmation of Christ's call for us to be like her.

Although we could never fathom the wonder of this woman who was privileged to carry our Savior in her womb and who would indeed nurse him from her breasts; Mary first became his mother, not physically but spiritually. Christ says, "Blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it." From the very beginning, that is what Mary did. The angel came to her and announced to her God's favor. She responded with her whole being as the handmaid of the Lord. She responded to God by allowing the Word to be conceived in her very person. And she kept it. The significance of this phrase cannot be underestimated during this age when so many mothers choose not to keep the little ones alive inside of them. Mary's yes extended throughout her whole life, making her Christ's first disciple. When so many had fled into hiding, where was she? --Where she always was, beside her Son, even as he hung upon a Cross.

Now, we are called to follow in the footsteps of this first disciple. The word of God needs to take root in our hearts and we need to keep it. Like her, if we nurture this special presence given us, we can give birth to Christ in our world today. And God knows, we do so need him beside us today.

The Kiss of Death

Title: The Kiss of Death

Date: Unlisted 1987

Readings: Unlisted

The title for these few words might make one imagine a romantic setting where some daring spy has an affair with a deadly enemy agent. Such is how our minds and imaginations work these days. The biologist might fantasize in some poor anthropomorphic way about the love of two black widow spiders. He loved her so much, knowing that her embrace guaranteed both new life and the risk of his own. Snap! She bit off his head -- oblivion, the end of love -- now he is merely fodder for a horde of cannibalistic brood. Oh how sweet the kiss of death can be. Perhaps the damsel being drained of her blood would think so as she was enraptured by the vampires which emerge from late night movies. Well enough, these might make interesting asides; what I want to speak about is a far more realistic kiss, a kiss which has touched the lives of each and every one of us.

It is the story about a lonely figure in a garden. His friends are asleep. He had hoped they could spend awake what little time he had remaining with them, but alas, the flesh was too weak. All are asleep, except for one other. He had called this man friend. He had trusted him with their traveling purse. He had called him to follow him by name. And if Christ most loves the sinner, then this was the one man besides his beloved John whom he held closest to his heart. His name was Judas Iscariot. He came quietly in the night. Drawing near, he greeted his Master with a kiss. It had begun. All the sin that had ever erupted into the world, or which ever would, was a part of that kiss. A thousand, a million, no a billion and more lips touched his check in a gesture which should have meant love. Instead, it was an act of the most dire betrayal. Voices in history would echo the cry, "It would have been better if this man had never been born!" Maybe. Does he now reside beside Satan? I don't know. What tears he must have cried in knowing that he could not force Christ to be something he was not. No, he would not liberate with arms or with trumpet blasts. He would submit. He would die.

The seeming irony of our faith is that the kiss of death on our part, the hypocrisy of its false love is turned around by real love, a love which gives life and not death. Maybe like the sinner woman who dared to enter into the Pharisee's home to wash Christ's feet with her tears and later to dry them with her hair, we too need to see that the strangeness of God's ways are not always ours. He comes not for the righteous but for the sinner; not for the rich but for the poor; not for the satisfied but for those still hungry. He comes not waving a sword but pierced by one.

Jesus Drives Evil Away

Title: Jesus Drives Evil Away

Date: October 9, 1987 - Friday of the Twenty-Seventh Week (I)

Readings: Joel 1,13-15;2,1-2 / Psalm 9,2-3.6.16.8-9 / Luke 11,15-26

Our Gospel today might strike one as wholly appropriate as we enter into the Halloween season. The stores are filled with Jack-o-Lanterns, paper skeletons, and monster masks. Many of the local television stations are running horror movie marathons. Admittedly, I watch these things too, although I am more a fan of Japanese rubber monsters that walk over cities than in the kind that "go bump in the night". We seem to almost celebrate the dark side. It is as if we are fascinated by evil. We have all felt it. I grew up with the old serial "Dark Shadows," in which many of us actually cheered for the vampire Barnabas Collins. I suppose there is nothing wrong in a little fun and especially in a good story of good versus evil. After all, our Gospel relates to us how the good of Jesus could drive evil away. However, what does alarm me is the growing fascination with evil which seems more than a harmless or amusing aside. There are rock entertainers who wear inverted crosses and for some time the strange slogan "Satan Lives!" has been associated with the Heavy Metal music and the drug culture. A few years ago, in the first "Oh God!" movie, George Burns remarked about how strange it was that people could go to a movie like "The Exorcist" believing in the devil, but still not have any room in their lives for God.

We, like the possessed person in the Gospel, need to fill ourselves with God so that evil may have no place to reside in us. We are baptized as living temples of the Holy Spirit. As such our bodies are sacred and we should seek to care for them. There is nothing ugly about us being in flesh, after all, Christ took upon himself our human nature, too. We are holy creatures, creatures who belong to the light and not the dark, who were made for God, and not for a small ban of renegade angels to debase. The victory in Christ is already won, there is no one and nothing to compare with God -- our hearts belong to him.

God's Fatherly Concern

Title: God's Fatherly Concern

Date: October 8, 1987 - Thursday of the Twenty-Seventh Week (I)

Readings: Malachi 3:13-20 / Psalm 1:1-2,3,4,6 / Luke 11:5-13

Our Gospel today is one which flows easily from the theme of yesterday's when we recalled Christ's teaching us to pray "Our Father, ...." Today also, he reminds us of this natural relationship which is self-reflective of the Heavenly Father's love. The Gospel begins by speaking of the Christian's obligation to be charitable, even when it is inconvenient and difficult to do so. However, it then switches gears somewhat and refers to the kindness of earthly fathers to their children. This passage ends with the sentence, "If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." Throughout the long history of the Church, it may be sometimes we take the analogy too far, or maybe really not far enough, in imaging God above as a stern, vengeful, and punishing Father. It is true that while he is a just Father, he is also merciful. I mentioned earlier on that there is something self-reflective about this most special Fatherhood. In his love we see something of who we are to be as fathers and mothers to one another. Conversely, in our love as Christians we need to find something of God's fatherly concern for us. It is interesting to note that Christ uses the most familiar of relationships to reveal something of the God we follow. In the order of grace, Christ makes us adopted sons to the Father and shows us that he cares about us. In Christ's relationship to us, we are reminded of the analogy of Christ as the groom and the Church as his bride. Between the pages of these two relationships, the whole story of salvation is written.

God is Not Elected

Title: God is Not Elected

Date: Special - Unlisted 1987

Readings: Unlisted

Some of you may be familiar with the play which was later made into a movie, entitled "Mass Appeal". In it there were two main characters: one was the elderly well-liked pastor who told jokes but never really took stands or challenged his people; the other was a young deacon who took stands so fiercely that his preaching stung the people and they became angry. I suppose the ideal must be somewhere in the middle, for leaders and members of the Church to speak with tact and to live lives beyond hypocrisy or scandal. I mention this as I begin to speak to you today, because I am unsure what cords my words might touch in you. I am not always even sure what many of you think about me or about priests in general. Good things I hope.

On Tuesday night, NBC ran a special anchored by Maria Shriver entitled, "God Is Not Elected". It centered upon dissent in the Church of America, an issue made topical by recent events, racy headlines, and the Pope's up-in-coming trip to the United States. One priest-friend of mine said he liked the special and that he thought it realistically represented the majority situation among Catholics in our country today. That may be the case. But, I always ask crazy questions, "Ought it to be the case?" I will be honest with you. I did not like it. It is hard to tell you why. Some of my reasons may not be all that persuasive. The plight it presented in the Church might be partially our fault. If we had been better teachers, maybe people would not be so stupid, I don't know? Maybe, many of us only know or believe what we want, no matter how persuasive the argument? It is not clear to me, what, if any place exists for dissent in the Church. Certainly, it would not be the kind highlighted on television. So often all those issues of controversy are grouped together. Further, the secular mind is sometimes housed in Christian bodies. We become so much a product of our times that we begin to loose our grasp upon Christ's Kingdom which is timeless. Homosexuality -- Abortion -- Contraception -- Test-Tube Babies -- Married Priests -- Women Priests -- Extra-Marital Intercourse -- Divorce and Remarriage -- and the list, I guess, goes on, although I would bet you most of the issues would have sex or sexuality in there somewhere. I would further bet you that most of the people in that show who disagreed on one or more of these issues have never even read what the Scriptures have to say about these matters, not to mention the documents from Rome to which they love to refer.

One of my former teachers, Father Curran, with whom I have many differences, is at least learned upon the issues and knows first-hand what the Church Magisterium and his critics have to say. My fear is that most of us might be content to allow Catholics, no better informed or less so than ourselves, like Mrs. Shriver, to do our thinking for us. Worst yet, we Catholic Christians might allow non-Catholics or even a non-Christian dominated media to spoon feed us their false presuppositions or biases. It is easy for us to be gullible when we forget the homilies before we get out of the Church door. It is easy to be misinformed when we fail to read any Catholic publications. It is easy when we allow the old ethic of independent individualism to dominate our thinking. Of course the Pope is wrong! Why, because they answer, "I" disagree with him, or better yet, because "I" agree with Dan Rather or with Phil Donahue! Poor reasons. People do their faith a disservice when they make their most crucial life and faith decisions simply from television news or magazines which seek by their nature the controversial. Even in this city, one of the nation's greatest newspapers has an editorialist in religion who mocks our leadership and therefore our faith. And they don't play fair. I don't think it is really vice, probably just a terrible blind spot for many of them. You notice that when you have a science report, you have a science expert; when you have sports, you have a person with sports expertise; goodness, even when you have the weather, you have a meteorologist -- but, who do we get for religion. Who do you occasionally get on television, Andrew Greeley? The man professes himself that he is no theologian but a sociologist -- ah, but that might be more in keeping with mass consumption. Nothing against the poor lady from the other night, but anyone who knows the littlest bit about our faith would know that her sad remarks never touched the depth where real faith and therefore, where real dissent might occasionally be found. I have trouble about dissent and or putting our dirty laundry in public to begin with, but so often it cannot even be done intelligently or honestly. The media assumes that you can put anybody in charge of religion! You know how many religions there are in the world? The Catholic Church alone encompasses more than the 55-65 million in America that the show the other night wanted to make the boss for the rest of the world -- there are now over 800 million Catholics on this planet. The Church has a history which goes all the way back to Christ, some 2000 years. Put Joe Smoe in charge of religion -- sure, anybody can do it. The news reporting on religion is sometimes like a janitor speaking about the newest Shuttle prototype. See what I mean. And, what happens when these so-called experts don't know things -- I fear they make it up. They go by their feelings. Examples? We have heard it so much, many of us may even now believe it. Dr. Ruth coins one in her philosophy: "Anything goes as long as no one gets hurt." Or, if you like feelings, take these cases: (1) It is okay for gays to do their thing because conversion is impossible and life-long chastity is too much to ask of them; (2) It is okay for girls to have abortions because they are too young or because it would hurt their careers or because it would ruin their lifestyle -- poor girl; (3) It is alright for a couple to use the seed of another man to get a woman pregnant in artificial insemination even though it requires masturbation on the man's part and adultery between the donor and the wife; (4) It is too sad that a couple cannot have a child, so therefore they opt for conception in a test-tube where the marital act is by-passed, a third party (the doctor) intervenes, and possibly other embryos if unused would be frozen or disposed of (analogous to abortion); (5) Women see priesthood as a just fruit of the social movement which would open up the structures of true power to them which is long overdue -- avoiding the touchy issue of vocation or call as simply and totally a gift from God; (6) It is cruel to ask people not to remarry after divorce even if the previous bond was indeed real and lawful.

The show the other night exhibited that all too familiar mentality that classified all these teachings on the same level as the discipline of the Western Church to oblige her priests to celibacy. That is a policy or discipline -- the rest are not. Not even the Pope can change those things. He is not God. Neither are we. If a Pope tomorrow came out and said abortion was okay, he would fall into heresy. And, according to the ancient understanding of the Church, a Pope which falls into heresy, stops being Pope! The Holy Spirit has protected the Church on that score. Homosexual activity is condemned even in the Scriptures. So is Masturbation. Christ did not ordain women, we would have to be absolutely certain that he would allow it before we could do it -- otherwise, the sacraments and the orders founded by Christ himself would be jeopardized. As for divorce, the new covenant does not recommend it, and without an annulment, which simply means there was no previous bond to begin with, remarriage is impossible -- even if you were to go through the rite. The bond is self-reflective of Christ's bond with his bride the Church, he will never violate his covenant of love with us nor will he destroy the bond of matrimony as a sacrament -- for any cause. These are not all new issues. Henry XIII with his marital woes could tell you that. Christians in Alexandria who were forbidden in the first couple of centuries from using crocodile tongue as a contraceptive could tell you that. The Church's condemnation of homosexuality among the Roman soldiers could tell you that. The steadfast insistence among our missionaries in the early Hawaiian settlements against crushing the skulls of unwanted female infants or against potions inducing abortion in the Far East could tell you that. And the ancient Gnostic cults, which denied that Christ became a man -- they had women priests. Now they are gone. History has devoured them while the Church is still with us. What does that say to us? Read about it. Learn about it. Pray about it. And then if you dissent, be humble, if there is anything right in what you think, its day will come, and if not, and the Magisterium (the Pope and Bishops) is right, and our teaching does say that the Holy Spirit looks especially after them, then we have brought neither ourselves nor others to error. I don't know about you, but I am unwilling to risk my salvation, and especially that of others, on my own preferences and narrow scope of things. I look to the Church which pulls along with itself a treasury of faith and witness which would take eternity to penetrate.

18 Sun A - Our True Treasure

Title: Our True Treasure

Date: August 2, 1987 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Isaiah 55,1-3 / Psalm 145,8-9.15-16.17-18 / Romans 8,35.37-39 / Matthew 14,13-21

A few years ago, I recall watching a re-run episode of the old series, The Twilight Zone, which I think might help us to appreciate God's Word today. In it, three robbers made an incredible heist of gold bars. It was worth a fortune. However, the gold was too hot to handle. So, one of the men, being a scientist, devised a way for them to go into suspended animation or sleep, to wake up healthy and rich a hundred years hence. They bet their lives on this proposition for wealth. A hundred years later, they awaken from their slumber. Sometime during their oblivion, a rock had fallen and had broken a glass cylinder containing one of their friends. He was dead. There were only two left. So much the better. They would be richer for it -- they thought. The remaining two men exited their cave in the desert with their loot. The sun was hot. Civilization was no longer where it used to be. The truck they had counted upon broke down. They fought with each other. Greed set in. The water became scarce. A tussle breaks out and suddenly, there is only one man left. He laughs. He is rich beyond his dreams. He carries the heavy bars in the hot desert sun. Just when he thinks he is finished, he meets a couple of people in some kind of futuristic hot-rod. He falls to the ground. "Water, water," he begs, "Give me some water and I'll make you rich beyond your dreams!" He holds out the gold. One of the people whom he meets pities the dying man but finds him very curious. For everyone knew that in the latter twenty-first century, gold was easily accessible and virtually worthless.

The story may be science fiction, but the plight is one which has always faced us. It is the need for the proper priorities in our lives -- and in the case of the Scriptures, the rightful place of God. The first reading asks us, "Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?" We can be like Midas and have everything we touch turn to gold, but if that is our only treasure, we'll starve and die. We as Christians also believe that unless the body and blood of Christ nurtures us as our spiritual food, our souls will weaken and possibly die. Isaiah uses the image of our natural need for food and drink to make more clear how we need the life-giving nourishment of God. Without him, we are nothing. Without him, our other treasures are valueless. Without him, we cannot be totally the people we are called to be. Without him, we are ants going nowhere, fools without a purpose. Without him, no amount of food or water will keep us alive, for death comes for us all.

In our second reading, the theme is continued, Paul shows in his questions how absurd it should be that anything might separate us from Christ. Christ, unlike gold or wealth -- Christ, unlike power or prestige -- Christ, unlike fads and fashion -- Christ does not loose his value for us. Paul says that neither death nor life, neither human nor angelic power, neither present nor future, neither persecution nor hunger -- shall separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus.

We are called to him, to drink and eat of the presence of his love. But, do we always accept the invitation? We might ask ourselves a lot of questions to find out. When we travel, do we attempt to locate churches where we might fulfill our obligation for Sunday Mass? Do we faithfully fulfill it at home? If we have children, have they received the sacraments, learned their prayers, and studied their catechism? When we go to Mass are we in a state of grace to receive communion or might we still need Confession? Do we needlessly avoid communion when we might be permitted to receive it? Do we pray at home? Do we share our faith with friends? In the day-to-day living, do we live lives of charity to help clothe and feed others -- not only materially, but spiritually with Christ? All these things and more are among the questions we might ask. I think a sign of Christ's priority in our lives is revealed in how readily we want to share him with others. Some people might be more willing to offer a cigarette or a piece of gum than Christ. That shows sometimes just how low on the list we place him. The irony is, that each and every one of us is on the top of Christ's list. He underwent all the pains of our treachery for each and every one of us personally. By name he calls us. By name he dies for us. By name, he now calls us forward and even offers his own flesh as our food and his blood as our drink.

We might notice in the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, that it says that everyone ate their fill. No one was forgotten. So it is at our table. Some time back I suggested that we might try to bring someone to Mass who may have been away for awhile or who is searching for meaning and might find it here in our midst.

In the weeks following, there were few new faces. The Lord gives us his Eucharist, not simply for us to hide it away and consume it in secret. We need to feed others as well. We need to invite them to our worship and pray for their conversion, so that we might celebrate this banquet together.

Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha

Title: Homily for the Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha

Date: July 14 1987

Readings: Exodus 2,1-15 / Psalm 69,3.14.30-31.33-34 / Matthew 11,20-24

Those of you who follow the calender of the saints like myself may have been surprised today to discover that the Church in the United States has substituted the memorial Mass of St. Camillus de Lellis for that of our own Blessed Kateri Tekawitha. Those of you who might not know who Saint Camillus was, there was a beautiful portrayal of his life contained on the bulletin this past Sunday. It told of an incredibly strong and worldly man who chose the life of a soldier. However, his loses at gambling and treatment for an illness that had particularly infested his legs, pressed him into service for the sick. Experiencing a conversion of heart, he devoted his life to the sick and dying. So great was his fervor that he became a priest and even founded an order to carry on this most lowly but admirable work. As for Kateri Tekawitha, she stands forth as a sign that saints are also in our midst. She was a young Indian girl who showed her love for Christ by loving with a virgin's heart and surrendering her life in the cause of this love.

May we all be like these two followers of Christ, by devoting our love and lives to Christ. Who knows, a few years hence, one of you in this very congregation, may be held up also as an example of holiness for all others to imitate; you might even bump one of the older saints off the list yourself. There is nothing in the way of our being saints except our own stubbornness and weakness. If you want another example of greatness emerging from those who are weak, look at our first reading. Moses was a child condemned. He was abandoned to the waters, probably doomed to die. But, he was rescued, raised as a prince, and became God's chosen liberator for his people. We too are lowered to die in water, the waters of baptism. What we need to remember, is that just as God did not abandon Moses, or St. Camillus, or Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, so too does he not forget us. Out of the waters of baptism, we rise with Christ to new life -- out of these waters, we too are well on our way to holiness and being saints, if only we will continue to cooperate with God's grace.

15 Sun - Bringing in the Harvest

Title: Bringing in the Harvest

Date: July 12, 1987 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Isaiah 55,10-11 / Psalm 65,10.11.12-13.14 / Romans 8,18-23 / Matthew 13,1-23 or 13,1-9

Our readings and psalm this morning are marvelously interwoven. They speak of creation, growth, and re-creation. In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah uses the image of rain making the earth fertile to illustrate how his words are also to bear fruit in the faithfulness of the chosen people. Our psalm paints the picture of a teeming agricultural paradise where God's blessing causes the seed which falls on good ground to produce a rich harvest. Our third reading offers the testimony of Paul who views all of creation groaning and in agony as it experiences its growth pains from the old to the new order. And our Gospel, it has Jesus using the tensive language of parable to speak about the seed of faith.

Throughout most ages there has been a preoccupation with the seed. It has only been since the days of the Industrial Revolution and the modern distribution of labor, that many of us have lost sight of some of the natural necessities like seed and its symbolic significance. We buy bread at the store, we don't have to grow wheat. We purchase most if not all of our vegetables from others; I wonder how much thought have we ever given to its planting and harvesting? It can become easy for us to forget the importance of the seed. Without it, plants would cease to be. Without it, the life-cycle would be so disrupted that even animal life on this planet would eventual exhaust itself. And yet, even in the depths of who we are, we all began as no more than a seed, a tiny little treasure-house, bursting with life.

In the days long past, there was a reverence for the seed which approached worship and awe. To the superstitious, it was a magical thing; to the religious, it was among the most miraculous of God's gifts. The people of Jesus' time lived close to the earth, they had to in order to survive. The seed and water and good soil meant the difference between life and death. The prophets, including Jesus, were well aware of this. The Gospel today is an example of this understanding; but, there are many others too -- like in the story of the smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, becoming a great bush or tree. We need to recover something of their sense for the natural if we are really going to appreciate our readings today. Just imagine, locked away in the most meager seed, hidden behind its shell, is a life organized in such a way that a fully mature plant can come from it. The colossal redwood forests, some of which go back before the incarnation of Christ into our world, they all began as seeds. The grass in our lawns, all began as seed. Much of the food we eat, began as seed. Could you create a tree or even a blade of grass from scratch? No. None of us could. And yet, this insignificant thing, maybe the size of a piece of dust, can be filled with information and life to do all these things; indeed, in doing so, it makes possible a whole new generation of seeds. I recall in school, some years past, we got into a fairly academic and maybe nonsensical argument related to this very point. The question was, did the plant live for the seed, or the seed for the plant? We never really answered it. Only eggheads could get into a debate like that. A good farmer would simply take that seed, plant it, take pride in being a steward in God's creation, and harvest it for the many who would otherwise be hungry.

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us a story about the mysterious seed, something all his listeners could relate to, so that they might catch a glimmer of what the gift of faith means. It is an awkward tale he tells. A farmer went sowing. He was definitely clumsy. He dropped some seed on the footpath and birds ate it up. He dropped some of it on rocky ground and it immediately sprouted with anemic roots and shriveled away. Again, he was a poor farmer. However, another interesting detail is here that we might miss. Jesus says the seed grew at once. A farming friend of mind told me a few years ago that Jesus would have gotten along well in his parts, because saying that seed immediately sprouts is a tall tale. And it is true, Jesus is stretching his image here to fit what he wants to say about faith. The farmer goes on to drop seed among thorns where it was choked to death. Either this was one accident-prone farmer or he was very dumb. But finally, maybe despite himself, some seed is dropped upon good ground. But, what luck this stupid farmer had! What a tall-tale my farmer friend from Iowa would yell -- this grain yielded a hundred- or sixty- or thirty-fold! You can almost hear Jesus' audience respond with a shuttered hush.

Jesus later goes on to explain his parable to his disciples. The seed eaten by birds on the path represents the man who hears the Good News, but he fails to really understand what Christ and his kingdom is about. He is easily misled, and the evil one may steal what little he has. Sometimes we may find these kind of people in our own midst, who say they believe, but who all too readily follow the fads of the day, even to the point of forsaking the message of Jesus and his Church. The seed that shriveled on rock was like a man filled with the satisfaction which comes with conversion, but when the excitement has passed, he quickly falls away. His roots only reached to the pleasures and gratification which comes with faith, his roots did not pierce to a love of God, simply for his being God. This is important, because we can confuse God for the gifts he gives us and when those gifts and satisfactions, even from prayer, are not what we want them to be, we might fall away instead of finding them as occasions for further growing in the dark night of the soul that we must first go through to reach the bright new day offered by the kingdom. I guess what I mean to say is that the seed lost on rocky ground was more in love with itself than God. It is no wonder, that added to this, any kind of persecution or bigotry, whether it be explicit or hidden, may cause these rootless seeds to fall by the wayside all the sooner. The seed among thorns is choked, just as fears and greed may choke the life of God in us. Who is our God? Is it Wealth? Is it Power? Is it Prestige? And most terribly, is it Fear? That must be the most terrible of all the contenders against God! Fear -- anxiety -- it can choke God's grace in us; we need to make Christ the Master of our lives -- not Fear -- never Fear. As hard as it might be, we need to trust him no matter what. If not, then we were never totally become the disciple we were called to be.

Like the seed in good soil, we need to allow the seed of faith -- of God's grace -- to take root and grow in us. In the waters of our baptism it was planted in our dying in Christ; in those same waters it is to rise and bloom. Our faith cannot be stagnant, if so, it dies. A hundred-fold it has to reach out and embrace others. In the way we live our lives and in what we say, we witness and throw off further seed to be planted and to grow.

Before I close I would ask you all to think about two questions. First, ask yourself, what have I done to help allow God to grant me an ever greater share of faith and holiness? Make a list. Second, ask yourself, how many people during my lifetime have I helped to receive the gift of faith and to become a Catholic Christian? How many? Make a list. And if you should be a little disappointed, then start anew in allowing God's love and life to touch you and through you, others. Please do this. The harvest is ready, we need to bring it in.

14 Sun - Invitation to the Little Ones

Title: Invitation to the Little Ones of the World

Date: July 5, 1987 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Zechariah 9:9-19 / Psalm 145:1-2,8-9,10-11,13-14 / Romans 8:9,11-13 / Matthew 11:25-30

"Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have revealed to the merest children. Father, it is true. You have graciously willed it so."

We may remember, that long ago, when the Messiah at last came into the world, that he was not all that well accepted. The stories of his rejection are numerous, indeed, they fill the entire Gospel. When he came into the world, he chose to be born like all the rest of us, as a child. In the quiet of a cold night he came, with only a small star shining above to herald this newborn king. But, if he was a king, the only mantle he wore were his swaddling clothes, and his throne, a meager manger among a court of animals. His mother and foster father were simple people, and yet a people made rich in their holiness and love for him. The first to see him were not the elite among his own people, but mere shepherds still covered in the dust and sweat of a hard day's labor.

Perhaps they saw something of the lamb in him, in a city filled with wolves? And when the wise men or kings finally did come, they saw something akin to them in this child, for they were all strangers in an alien land. So much did they realize it that they fled instead of informing the Jewish king, Herod, of the Messiah's presence. They did well, for Herod would be the forerunner of all those to come who would reject this child of promise. As a man, Jesus would even speak of himself as the prophet rejected in his own land. The zealots looked for a military general who would come with great blood-letting might and power. The pharisees looked for one who would come hopefully in the distant future, one who would be like themselves and who would reaffirm their own legalism and security. It was no wonder that they were all terribly disappointed in this Jesus.

He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He associated with the poor and with the unclean. How could he really be important if he found it so easy to relate to these kinds of people. Perhaps, they thought, he was no better than the rest of the trash? He forgave sins -- by what authority? He healed the sick -- could it be by the power of demons? The so-called learned of Israel would charge him with this!

Messiah? How could he be? He traveled around, surrounded not by other learned scribes but by stupid men of the earth -- dumb fishermen and traitoress tax collectors. The only one among them that showed some promise in his foresight and knowledge was the last to join him, that one they called Judas Iscariot. Jesus had virtually nothing more than the clothes on his back and lived essentially from the charity of others. Even the room in which he and his friends celebrated his last supper was simply on loan to them. He himself said one time that the son of man has no where to rest his head.

Jesus is the most shining example that just because a person may have nothing, it does not mean they are nothing. His life and message has touched us like no other has.

We too need the same kind of humility. The Lord showed just how much when he reprimanded his disciples for keeping curious children away from him. Jesus told them that it was for such as these that the his kingdom belonged. Not childish, but child-like in our lives and faith we need to become. It is in this kind of witness that God most brilliantly shines forth. Sometimes things like wealth, social position, and even faith when it becomes self-righteous and knowledge, when it becomes snobbish, can get in the way of this kind of humility. Like a small child trusting his parents no matter what -- that is the trust we need in regards to our Heavenly Father. When we live like that ourselves, think how much more open we can become to others who are small, weak, broken, and hurting. The irony of our faith, which shines in figures like St. Francis of long ago and Mother Teresa of today, and indeed, in many saints whom we may never know -- is that in Christ, weakness can become strength and adversity a time of miraculous witness.