2012/12/16 - Mistaken for Jesus

I’m sure this happens to Fr. Eugene all the time, but it’s only happened to me once or twice.  I went over to a parishioner’s house one Sunday – I think it was right after  First Communion and somebody promised me some homemade ice cream, so I HAD to go  :)  One of the younger kids in the house was all excited because “Jesus is coming to our house”.  He thought I was Jesus…Obviously that kid didn’t know me very well.  :)

On the other hand, it was kind of flattering.  And I got to thinking… isn’t that what we all want to be mistaken for?  Jesus?  Really – if you and I are living the life of a true Christian, then when people see us, they really SHOULD see Jesus. 

Do you think that would be possible?

I want to propose to you that we are like a statue… a sculptor starts with a plain block of wood or marble…, but by the time they lay down their tools, an image has appeared.  That image was there all along – it just had to be revealed. 

After creating the famous statue of David, someone asked Michangelo how he did it… “It’s easy”, he said, “I just chip away anything that doesn’t look like David”. 

Same goes for you and me – we start out as a block of wood or marble – but our goal is to look like Jesus.  His image is already IN us – after all, God MADE us in His image… we just have to reveal it.  So we gotta chip away anything in our self that doesn’t look like Jesus.  How do we do that?  Let’s look at the Gospel. 

Whenever we hear of John the Baptist, we hear about ‘a voice of one crying out in the desert’… but what was he saying?  Just before our reading today, John just delivered a real fire and brimstone sermon...YOU BROOD OF VIPERS!  THE TREE THAT DOESN’T BARE GOOD FRUIT WILL BE CUT DOWN AND THROWN INTO THE FIRE!  He’s not politically correct, but He got people’s attention, and they were scared...”what do we do?”  “I don’t want to be thrown into the fire…. What do I do?” 

What SHOULD we do?  What if someone asked YOU what they had to do to please God?  How would you answer? 

Sell everything and give the money to the poor?  Go serve in the slums of Calcutta or Haiti?  Give your life as a martyr? 

Notice that’s not what John says… instead John gives them the mundane, almost boring answer:... Basically, do what you already know is the right thing.  Soldiers don’t falsely accuse anyone.  Tax collectors, stop collecting more than the correct amount.  If anyone has two coats and sees someone in need, give one to them!  This is not rocket science or anything hard to do… just “do what you already know is right!” 

That may sound simple – but is it?  Let me give an example of what John might say to us today.  Drivers – just drive the speed limit and no more.  What?!  OK, John – you’ve gone too far now.  You can’t be serious!  Everybody knows the speed limit is more like a ‘suggestion’ and as long as you stay within 5 miles per hour or so, there’s no problem… everybody does it… you can’t expect ME to be the exception!  Besides, if I drive the speed limit there will always be somebody riding my tail upset with me.  I can’t do that. Everybody is doing it – and you can’t expect ME to be the exception.  Isn’t that what the tax collector would have said?  What?!  I HAVE to collect more than the prescribed amount in order to feed my family.  Besides, everybody is doing it – and everybody expects me to do it… you can’t expect ME to be the exception.   If I stop collecting extra, then the other tax collectors will be upset with me because it will make it more obvious that THEY are cheating. 

So – you can see –John’s demand wasn’t such a painless command after all. Eventually, if we want to be like Jesus, we just might have to go to Calcutta or give our life as a martyr… but we start by whittling away at our little sinful behaviors that we’ve grown so accustomed to.  In everything we do – we should do the right thing – not doing what everybody else is doing .  Yeah – we’ll stand out in the crowd.   

Kinda like John- he was a FREAK – wearing furs, eating bugs, living in the wilderness… But did you notice that people were mistaking John for Jesus… they thought maybe John was the messiah.   

That’s our goal… to be mistaken for Jesus.  Every one of us CAN be…. We just gotta keep chipping away anything about ourselves that doesn’t look like Jesus.

 

 

2012 November 25: Christ the King - What is 'truth'?

Why did Jesus come into the world?  Take a guess  - we all know this – it’s pretty obvious – but can any of us answer that question off the cuff?  Why did he come?  To set the captives free?  To give sight to the blind?  To save us from our sins?  All of that is true – but what did JESUS say was the reason he came?  We just heard it in the Gospel two minutes ago.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.

Its not the answer we might have expected.  I would imagine most of us would have asked the same question Pilate did, “Truth?! What is truth?”

Wouldn’t you love to hear Jesus answer that question?  It’s always bugged me that he went silent at that moment.  Here he is on center stage – in front of the authorities – this is his chance to get his word out to the world and EXPLAIN what his life's mission is about… but after that statement, he fell silent… leaving Pilate AND US to guess at his meaning.

Does it really matter?  Do we really care that Jesus testifies to the truth?  Does it change anything in OUR lives that Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life”?

It does matter, Because truth is the basis of morality.  We can only decide what is right and wrong based on truth.  C.S. Lewis said, “If no set of moral ideas were truer, or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilized morality to savage morality.”  In other words, who is to say that our Christian moral code is any better than that of the head-hunters of the South Pacific.  You can only say that one is better than the other if you have a moral standard to compare it to.

Let me give you an example – let’s say you go down here to the gas station and fill up your tank with gas.  You notice that if you fill up at this gas station it only takes like 10 gallons to fill up your tank.  But – if you fill up while in Evansville, it takes almost 12 gallons.  Now – don’t get excited – this is just a made-up example.  The question is – how DO we know when we buy a gallon of gas that it is in-fact exactly a gallon?  This used to be a real problem – but now every county has an inspector who goes around to every gas station and ‘certifies’ each pump – in effect, guaranteeing to you and me that a gallon is a gallon.  But – how does that inspector know it’s a gallon?   Well – he has to rely on his own instruments which are themselves calibrated and certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology – in fact they have a department devoted to maintaining standards for Weights and measures.

Obviously, if we DIDN’T have such a department maintaining standards, we would have chaos.  Imagine– back in the old days, if you went to the store to buy some rope – you’d buy like ‘three arms length’.  Easy to see how THAT would be chaos – since everybody’s arms are different.  That’s when some king got the idea to set the standard that a ‘foot’ would be the length from his elbow to his wrist (from here to here) – then a yard was 3 feet.  Measuring sticks were provided to all merchants so that Now you could go to the store and get three yards of rope…. And pretty much know what you were getting.  If somebody wanted to prove their stick was the perfect length, they would have to take it and measure against that standard...which was the kings arm.  The king stretched out his arm to set the standard...remember that.

I use those examples just to highlight the fact that there ARE absolute measurements out there.  If you want to the absolutely, positively sure that you’re measuring correctly, you take your measurement device to the authorities who have the True measurement.

So – does that apply to morality as well?  Is there an absolute authority I can check myself against to determine right from wrong?  This has been a problem ever since Adam and Eve... They wanted to be like Gods – to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong… but our church year ends with this feast which declares that CHRIST is the King – HE is the one who sets the standard for what is right and wrong…. Not us.  In order to live in His kingdom, we have to follow His rules.  While that may sound harsh or unfair – it really is a comfort to us.

Because we live in a kingdom that follows the law ‘Thou shall not kill’, we can live in reasonable peace of mind knowing that WE won’t be the ones being killed.  Of course, that changes if we go into a different culture – one which doesn’t follow the law of truth and love in the kingdom of God.

Some things in this life ARE absolute truths.  Jesus sets the standard because HE IS the truth.
But – most people – including probably everybody in here – think that truth is NOT absolute… that it is relative.  It’s called ‘relativism’ – and I want you to hear and remember that word and what it means, because the Pope has called it possibly the greatest threat to Christianity....even to society.

Relativism says there  IS no absolute truth – there is no right or wrong in any situation – that the truth varies depending on the situation or the person.  You’ll hear people say things like, “well, to me, the truth is this…”  or “My belief is that...”.  Relativism judges no one and prefers no one.  Relativism can justify any action, no matter how evil.

Granted – there ARE situations that are grey area.  For example, should I study to become a doctor or a professor.  I can’t say there is an absolute right/wrong answer for this.  However, I submit to you and any MORAL issue before us can and MUST be weighed against our perfect moral standard – and that is the standard set by Jesus.

We live in a kingdom that believes "thou shall not steal"... But if we allowed relativism to make the rules, then we might say....well, if my kids are hungry... Or as long as I don't know the person I'm stealing from... No harm no foul.  Reminds me of a line from a recent reality show, "ain't doin' nothin' illegal unless you git caught".  Really?!  This guy's standard of right and wrong is relative...relative to what he gets caught doing.

Also reminds me of the story Fr. Tom used to tell about the lady working the bingo at his old parish and they caught her stealing money.... They even caught her on videotape.  When they asked if she had taken anything, she still denied it...and when they showed her the tape, her defense was...well it wasn't that much!  Her morality was relative... In her moral code it was ok to steal as long as it wasn't "much". 

If we allow relativism to set our moral standards, then we can all do whatever we want – and eventually, we will fall into anarchy and chaos.  Thank God we have our own King, Christ – who overthrew the dictator of lies years ago.  Just like the first yard sticks, if we want to know if we’re measuring our moral character correctly, we have to take it to the king... Christ the King....he not only Set the standard, He IS the standard of truth. Just like the first yard stick, OUR king stretched out his arms to set the standard for us.  The standard of Love is from here to here (arms outstretched).

2012/11/04 ...with your WHOLE heart

I don’t know if you know this, but all Clergy are required to pray from this book every day.  Us Deacons just have to do morning and evening prayer, but Fr. Eugene has to pray a couple more times per day.  It’s what’s called the Liturgy of the Hours – it a book of psalms and readings  and prayers.  Why would we willingly do this every day?  Why would the church insist that we do this?  Why is it that a lot of lay people and religious pray it even though they don’t ‘have’ to?  This book was designed for us to life up every part of our day to God.  In this way, somewhere in the world at every minute of every day… SOMEbody is praying.  In fact, I’ve got this neat App on my ipad which has all these prayers on it – and you can pull up a globe and show everywhere in the world that somebody else is praying at that very moment using that app.  I checked it this morning and there were 502 people across the globe at 11 am.  And MOST people who pray this use the book and not the app, so that number must be 100 or 1000 times that amount at any given moment.

I bring that up because Twice in today’s readings we hear part of the Sh’ma – the prayer that was the foundation of the Jewish religion… “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God.  The Lord is One”.  This prayer was the centerpiece of their morning and evening prayers – kind of like the Our Father is the centerpiece of our Christian prayer.

The very essence of this prayer is the subject of both the first reading and the Gospel:  “You shall Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”    Jesus himself told us today that THIS is the most important commandment of ALL! 

So – do we do it?  Do we love God with our whole heart, soul, and strength?  If it’s the most important thing, surely we think about it all the time, don’t we?  I admit, I don’t .. but I am trying to better. 

God should be the first thing we think about in the morning and the last thing at night.  He should be the first one we thank when we receive a blessing and the first one we turn to when we are afraid or in trouble.  He is the one we should look to whenever we have a decision to make… which answer will serve God the best?  It’s all a matter of priorities… is God the priority in our lives?

Here’s a test for you to discover your own priorities:  where do I spend most of my time… work, school… but where do I spend most of my FREE time?  TV, Hunting, eating ice cream?  Another question:  Where do I spend most of my money… house, insurance, gas…  again, these might be necessities – so where do I spend most of my EXTRA money?   Toys, vacation, hobbies, ice cream?

Wherever your time and money are – that’s where your treasure lies.  Do you see the truth in that?  Whatever I consider important enough to invest my time and money into – THAT must be a priority to me.  If I spend all my time hunting deer – then that must be a priority to me.  Maybe that’s a good thing, because my family needs the meat.  But maybe it’s a selfish thing if I take too much time away from my family.  Same goes for us work-a-holics.  We convince ourselves that we’re putting in all those extra hours of work for the sake of our family – but in reality, we’re often doing it for our own egos.  We want to move up – we want to look good in the company – or we want to plant just one more field – or we get a sense of well-being from knowing that we’ve worked extra hard.  All of these things are good in themselves, but when they become the priority over family or God, then we have not made the best choice to Love God and our Neighbor. 

Every choice we make should be preceded with prayer.  Before I choose a career, before I choose a spouse, before I choose anything… I should take it to God… God – show me the way that will love you the best.

We all have an important decision to make this Tuesday.  Before you enter the booth, ask God – “what is the most loving choice”.  Think about the candidate you’re voting for and why you think THEY deserve your vote… what specific policy or policies do you think is the most important?  Now - what does that tell you about your OWN priorities? Then ask God – “is that really YOUR top priority?”   The first line of the first reading is very appropriate – Fear the Lord.  In other words, respect the fact that He knows best  and has authority over our lives.  When we stop fearing the Lord, we think we can make all the decisions without considering His perspective.

Beside every voting booth should be a kneeler.  Since there isn’t, you are welcome to stop here at church on your way to the voting booth.

Hear o Israel – hear o America – hear o church – hear o dubois county… Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.   In this year of Faith, let’s all strive to put God into every moment of every day, and into every decision we make.

Someone once said, “I Spend an hour every day in prayer… except when I’m really busy… then I spend two hours.”  I’m sure almost everyone here thinks that’s just plain unrealistic… but even if we can’t spend 1 hour a day in prayer – consciously find SOME way to integrate God into your day.  Otherwise, we’re ignoring the commandment that Jesus said was our top priority.

 

2012/10/07 - Year of Faith

Billy was four or five years old, and he was sitting in church and heard the Priest talking about Faith.  He was sure he'd heard that word before, but for some reason, today, he was old enough to realize that he didn't really know what faith was.  So, on the way home from church, sitting in the back seat of the car, he asked the smartest person he knew... Mom.  The answer she gave him stuck with him… it just seemed to make sense to him.  Mom told him that faith was like a seed that God planted inside of our hearts when he created us.  That seed is like a homing signal – reminding us that God is our Father and our best friend…we can trust him.  Billy got kind of quiet thinking about it... and he looked at his own Dad and thought it was kind of odd that Dad is father AND God is father.  Billy didn't question that answer.  It was good enough for him.  That little seed was for him his personal connection to God.  He talked to him every so often... Like when he saw a pretty red and orange tree in the fall, he'd say, thank you God.  When his dad was in the hospital, he talked to God asking him to help his Dad...and then he thanked God when his Dad came home from the hospital.  That seed inside of Billy was strong. 

I say 'was' strong, because that's was years ago.  Somewhere along the line, Billy got interested in other stuff... Toys... sports... girls...cars…education... job….Until Billy had completely forgotten about that little seed of faith inside of him.   

Many of us are like Billy...when we were younger, we accepted our faith… it was just a normal part of life.  We didn't NEED to understand it...  (I was watching today as the little kids came into church:  they would follow Mom and do what she did.  Dip their fingers in the water, make a sign of the cross, genuflect when going into the pew.  They don’t understand it – they just accept it.)  As we got older, that childish faith just didn’t make sense anymore, so we didn’t pay much attention to id.  Yeah, we still come to church, but we never really thought of Jesus as our personal friend.  Our faith grew weaker, rather than stronger, because we let the weeds of busyness choke out that seed in our hearts. 

Can anybody relate to that?  If so, I have some good news...  The Pope has declared the next year to be the “Year of Faith”.  It starts this Thursday, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the second Vatican council, and it’s also the 20th anniversary of the publishing of the catechism.  Why do we care? 

Here’s what the Pope said…

He calls us to a renewed conversion to Jesus, and a rediscovery of our faith so that "the members of our church will be credible and joy-filled witnesses to the risen lord in the world of today -capable of leading those many people who are seeking it to the 'door of faith'"

I know... Too often the words of the Pope are a bit hard to interpret.  What he's really doing is inviting every one of us to re-discover our faith, to learn about it, to practice it, and to live it in our daily lives.  To use the analogy of Billy, we are invited to water, fertilize, and nurture that seed of faith that is inside each one of us to make it grow into something beautiful.  Why?  The Pope offers a couple reasons... Mainly so that we can be witnesses to the rest of the world who hasn't yet realized they have that seed inside them.  There are people out there in the world who are badly in need of our witness of joy that comes from our faith and our personal relationship with Jesus.  Can you and I honestly say that we are ready to share the ‘joy’ of our Faith?  We can’t share the fruits of a tree that has not borne fruit.  If the seed of faith is still just a seed inside us, then we don't have that credible, joy-filled experience to share with others.  Faith requires action ... action to keep it alive... And action to help it grow. 

How can we do that?  Our adult formation team will be offering a variety of ways over the next 12 months specifically to help us all nurture the seed of faith inside us. 

The first thing is a Small group study starting Nov 4th.  We have a little book put together specifically for the YOF.  It’s a good start to help us to learn about our faith with a strong emphasis on learning what the bible tells us about it.  Nov 4 is only a month away, so we need to start signing up immediately...there are sheets at door.  We need to know by Oct 21 so we can order the books.  They're $9 each, but if the cost is an issue, just see me. 

Other things are listed in the bulletin:  CD of month, Food for Your Faith (you may remember this is where we have a potluck meal followed by a speaker); during Lent, we'll have the Catholicism series led by Fr. Eugene;  we'll have family movie nights here at the parish.   We’ll offer retreats and pilgrimages, plus encouraging participation in the sacraments and eucharistic adoration.  We will also learn about our faith by putting it into action.  We will work with the Grace Co-op... Serving meals, cleaning gutters, doing yard work, taking meals to the homebound, plus more.  We will be going to Haiti in June.  We continue to serve the community meals every other month... (And by the way, we need people to sign up to be called if we are short-handed…. Contact Leah Beckman).   These are all ways we can not only put our faith into action, but through our actions, we provide that 'credible witness' to the world that the Pope talked about. 

Being a member of God’s family is more than just being Catholic.  Our faith requires action:  Action to learn, action to experience, action to bring others to find joy like we can in our faith.  Our theme for this next year is FAITH REQUIRES ACTION.  We will have a banner up here pretty soon to remind us of that. 

I mentioned in my story earlier that Billy’s dad had been in the hospital.... Now let me tell you the rest of the story.  Billy's dad was burned when their house burned down.  He had tried a couple of times to get up the stairs to Billy's room to save him from the fire, but the heat and flames kept pushing him back and received some pretty severe burns.  Finally, he yelled to Billy to go to the bedroom window.  Racing to the back of the house, his dad looked up as Billy struggled to open the window and push the screen out.  His dad yelled ‘JUMP’... and without a moment’s hesitation, Billy jumped...safely into the arms of his father.  Faith requires action.  We gotta jump.