2014/05/18 "Trajectory"

Do you think Jesus would recognize his Church?  I mean, if he came back today, would he just shake his head in disgust and say.... No no no... You got it all wrong!?

At times, we might be tempted to believe that.  Folks outside the church are quick to point out all of our faults... Yeah, we admit, we have faults.  Any organization with humans in it will fall victim to human ‘wills’ and human pride and human greed….in the end, we are gonna mess up...  You might say, it's our destiny.  So get over it.  Jesus KNEW that when he started the Church with a group of fallible human apostles.  He Knew from the beginning where we would be today… and where we are all headed.  He knew that because of ‘trajectory’.  You know what this is don’t you?...

 

Say I take this nerf gun and aim it like this…(yes…I had an actual nerf gun in church J). Where is the bullet going to land?  Will it land over there?  Will it hit the ceiling?  We know instinctively that if we point it this way and it fires correctly, it’s going to land right over there.  If we were NASA engineers, we could calculate the initial velocity, acceleration, vertical rate of ascent, the gravitational pull, the increase in speed as it descends…  lots of variables go into calculating a trajectory… but if we know all the variables, we can know where it’s gonna land – AND – every point in between here and there.

 

Now – could we do the same for God’s Church?  See, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they put humanity on a trajectory toward hell.  They call that the “fall” of Adam, because up to that point, God had humanity pointed UPWARD, to be with Him.  But the fall made the angle of the nerf gun drop… straight down.  We all sin, so we all deserve to die.  Without some outside force to CHANGE our trajectory, that’s our destiny.…it’s a foregone conclusion.  Fortunately, Jesus came and set in motion a series of events which started the building of His church… and in doing so, He changed our trajectory back to where it was supposed to be.  (raise nerf gun)

 

God laid the cornerstone of his Church:  Jesus – the stone which the builders rejected.  In other words, the Israelites – the people who were SUPPOSED to be in CHARGE of building God’s Church,... They REJECTED Jesus… and HE was the chosen cornerstone of the Church.  He then laid a different foundation – upon the Apostles.  He PURPOSELY started the Church with the intention of having humans run it.  It’s very fitting that Wednesday was the feast of St. Matthias… you may not know much about him, but we read in Acts that the Apostles decided that Judas needed to be replaced, so they chose Matthias – and they laid hands on him, which still today is the sacramental sign that the power granted to them directly from Jesus is being handed on.  We see the same thing today in the first reading – and I’m particularly partial to this reading… anybody notice why?  Remember the story… the apostles said they needed help – so they chose seven men – the first one being Stephen…and they laid hands on them.  In other words, they handed on their apostolic authority.  Who or what were these men?  Deacons.  Arguably, the first Deacons of the Church.  Did Jesus intend for HIS church to have Deacons?  I would say yes!  Like I said before, he knows all the variables in the calculation, so he could predict the trajectory his Church would take.  The Holy Spirit led the Apostles to choose Matthias – just like today the Spirit led them to choose these 7 deacons.  We are all part of the expected trajectory.  We’re all stones in the walls... part of the Church built on the foundation of the apostles.

 

Did you notice that last line in the Gospel –

“whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these”

I wonder... Is that true?  How many of you have raised someone from the dead?  Cured a blind man?  Anybody walked on water in the last week?  Well – it looks like Jesus was lying!     Actually – the word for ‘greater’ in this context actually means closer to ‘More’.  In that context, we HAVE fulfilled his prophecy:  our church HAS been able to do the same works as Jesus and even greater!  He fed the 5000, which was a miracle, no doubt... But today, thru his church, he feeds more people, clothes more people, houses more people, Educates more people, and cares for more people than any organization on the planet.... EVER.

 

Is THAT the church that Jesus had in mind?  I say... Sure... Why not!?  The church today is the result of the trajectory it was placed on when He picked the first stones to start building.  

 

It actually reminds me of when I was ordained a Deacon.  Have you ever been to an ordination?  At one point, and this happens at a Priesthood ordination as well, the candidate lies down in the middle of the aisle face-down.  Kinda like a stone... Lying on the ground waiting to be chosen to be placed into the wall.  

It’s a sign of surrender.  It’s a sign of humiliation.  It’s a sign that this man’s life is about to take a whole new trajectory.  And as I read the second reading, I could imagine praying this prayer while lying on the floor…. And I suppose every one of us could pray this prayer:

Jesus – make ME a living stone.

Use me as a stumbling block to make other people stumble so you can catch their attention.  Let people see You when they see me.  Use me as a stone to build your church.  Set me back on course now… set MY trajectory… set OUR trajectory… so that we can all live in the Joy you offer us in this life, ...and be with you in Heaven one day… our destiny.

2014/04/27 - Here's the Recipe

I LOVE this time of the year – right after Easter, we get to hear from the Book of Acts – which is the book of the Bible that tells us how the earliest Christians lived.  Did you recognize what they were doing in that first reading? 
– listen to this: 

They devoted themselves
to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of bread and to the prayers…..

Recognize that?  That’s MASS!  Reading the teachings of the apostles… that the scriptures… and breaking the bread.. .that’s the Eucharist.  That’s pretty cool… but that’s not all.

I’m going to start sounding like a broken record, but did anybody read the "Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic"(1)?  Remember what the four signs are?  Prayer, Study, Generosity, and Evangelization.  Take a look at that reading – it’s all there…

Prayer:  that one’s pretty obvious… they devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.

Study: …. That’s the teaching of the apostles  it mentioned.

Generosity:  It says “they would sell their property and possessions
and divide them among all according to each one’s need”….that’s GENEROSITY

Evangelization might be a little harder to see in THIS reading… but it’s obviously there.  What do you think they were doing in the Temple every day???  Obviously evangelizing, because it says,
                “And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

See!  It’s all there.  I’ve not just been pushing this book because it’s a good read – but it actually gives each of us personally a way we can start living like the earliest Christians did… by living the four signs:  Prayer, Study, Generosity and Evangalization. 

Here’s an important perspective though…. Look at what God did BECAUSE of how they lived…. “every day the Lord added to their number”.  Now let that sink in a second… WHY did God add to their number every day?  Because -of how -they -lived.  In short, that means we have in this reading the RECIPE for growing our church…and the recipe is to LIVE the four signs joyfully.  That’s my MAIN point… God builds up the churches who LIVE like this.

Surely you see where I’m going with this…

Is the Lord adding to OUR number every day?  Um – well, we had three people come into the church last week at Easter, does that count?!  Yes…but if you look at our number of parishioners total, is it going up every day?  Over the last 10 years, is our Church bigger or smaller?  Why?  We’re still in the same Catholic Church that the early Christians were in… but are we living as they did?  Let’s take inventory of how we’re living the 4 signs:

We have Prayer:  We have weekend Mass and daily Mass.  A few people pray in the adoration chapel each Friday night.  And we have a few prayer groups that meet at various times every week.   And I know that many people have their personal prayer life we all do at home.

We have study:   We just had our book study during Lent.  Our Religious Ed classes just ended for the year.  We have a weekly Bible study on Monday nights.  So – we do SOME learning -  but probably less than 7% of our people come to those events.  Of course, I SURE everyone else is reading books and listening to CD’s to increase their own knowledge of the Faith.

Now Generosity….THAT is something we really do well.  Anytime there is a need or a benefit of some sort, our people are generous.  One visible example is our Grace Co-Op which has helped a lot of people in our community.  Did you know that this month is the one-year anniversary of ‘grace grub’?  You may not remember the term ‘grace grub’, but One year ago, we started taking meals to different folks in our parish each Sunday – and if you add up the number of meals… it is amazing.  We surpassed 500 official meals… but each meal is like 4-6 meals.  We just had our shantytown where we distributed 22 loads of firewood.  We’ve helped folks in the area who’ve had fires and wrecks –Denise helps people get assistance from TriCap for electricity and heating.  Our community is always reaching out to those in need.  I’d have to say as a parish, we do pretty good with generosity.

The last of the four signs is Evangelization.  Do we do that?  Hmmm… some.  We give away books and CD’s.  We invite people to come to our parish Mission.  But how much do we really try to SHARE our faith with others?  That’s what evangelization is… us sharing our faith with others.  Inviting THEM to experience the Joy that comes from our faith.

Pope Francis wrote a document about it – called the Joy of the Gospel.  One of the main points he makes is that Evangelization is the lifeblood of the Church.  Not only is it our responsibility as baptized Christians, but it is through bringing people to Christ that we find OUR greatest Joy.  That Joy then makes us even more attractive to people, so that they WANT to join our community.  Who wants to join a church where everybody is bored?

Pope Francis says – the church grows, not by proselytizing, but by attraction.  In other words, we don’t convert people to Christianity by standing on a street corner yelling at people about doctrine or telling them that Jesus is risen… we convert people by showing the JOY we have – That attracts people to join us.

Look what happened to Thomas – the other apostles TOLD him that Jesus had risen, but he wouldn’t believe it.  You and I would be just like him, you know.  In order for anybody to REALLY believe in Jesus, we have to meet him – most of us don’t get to stick our fingers in his nail holes… but we experience his presence through the JOY of community.  Ask yourself – what event caused ME to believe in Jesus?  Every one of us needs a conversion experience.  If you’re not ON FIRE for Jesus, you’ve probably not met him.  That’s not necessarily your fault, you see… the community around you is supposed to LEAD to you that encounter with Jesus. 

Personally, I think the best way to meet Jesus is through a retreat like Teens Encounter Christ or Cursillo or Christ Renews His Parish.  People who go through these retreats are changed forever. 

So the bottom line is this:  our parish isn’t growing – because WE aren’t fully living the four signs of a dynamic Catholic. aren’t fully living the way the earliest Christians did.

The GREAT news is – half the effort in solving a problem is identifying the problem.  Now, we KNOW what we really need to work.  And when we do, then, “the Lord will add to OUR number those who are being saved.”

If you want to help with this – if you want to see our church GROW – let’s work together.  Let’s provide opportunities for every parishioner of every age to Pray… to Study… to be Generous… and to Evangelize.  I’d like to start a team to focus on this effort.  If you feel like the Holy Spirit is prodding you to get involved, let’s talk.

I wish everyone could feel the fire of the Holy Spirit that comes from leading others to Christ. 

This is the source... the Recipe... for True Joy.

(1) "The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic" - by Matthew Kelly

2014/04/06 - Jesus, where WERE you?!

If I was Martha and Mary, I’d have reacted totally differently when Jesus showed up – in fact, If I was Lazarus – I’d have come out of the tomb with both fists swinging at Jesus.  Where WERE you!?  We Waited!  We HAD FAITH!  We BELIEVED in you… just what you’ve been telling everybody to do.  We trusted you… we spent a huge amount to send that messenger to find you… WHERE WERE YOU?! 

I thought we were friends.  I thought I had done everything you asked for… but I just kept getting sicker – and you never showed up.  How could you do that to me?!  Where were you!?

Haven’t we all felt the same way at some point of our life?  It seems some people get more than their fair share of suffering in this life.  We pray – we ask others to pray.  We send messengers to find Jesus – please – come to our aid!  Make Haste to help me!  But it seems sometimes that he’s not answering.  Like he’s delayed or maybe he’s just not out there at all!  Maybe we put our faith in the wrong guy!  Jesus – where WERE you?!

Fortunately, the Church gives us this reading today – the story of the raising of Lazarus.  This is the ultimate story of hope – for more than one reason.  There’s so much packed in here, we need to take a few minutes for a little “scripture study” to unpack it.

Not long ago, Jesus barely escaped being arrested or killed in Jerusalem, and he fled across the Jordan into Gentile territory.  Then today he gets word that one of his best buddies, Lazarus is sick.  He KNOWS that if he goes back there – only two miles from Jerusalem – that this is the end.  There is no turning back.  Could that be why he waited around 2 more days before heading back?  Was he just procrastinating?  No – he said something which is our first source of hope:  “this illness is not to end in death, but is for the Glory of God”.  Remember that line – it’s going to be important.

So finally he decides to go back – and even the apostles recognize that he is going to his death.  Jesus says something else which sounds an awful lot like a riddle – or maybe it’s just nonsense?  “He who walks in the light does not stumble”.  What’s that got to do with going to your death, Jesus?  One way to interpret that is Jesus saying – I know the path I’m on is the will of God – and as long as I’m on that path, then I cannot stumble.  God is lighting my way for me.

There’s a lot more to the story – but the other part I want to focus on is when Jesus wept.  It’s the shortest verse in the Bible, but it’s loaded with meaning.  Now most people interpret that he was crying because he was sad that Lazarus had died… we have proof of that right here in the reading… but he knew that Lazarus was about to be raised, so I’m not sure that explains it.  See – I think he wept because  - well – it wasn’t supposed to be like this.  Death and suffering and weeping were not supposed to be part of the human plan… but evil had entered in and messed up everything.  I think at that moment, Jesus’ humanity did feel the pain of losing his buddy Lazarus – but that sparked a deeper feeling in him of utter sadness that Evil had caused so much pain.  He also might have been thinking about the fact that as soon as he raises Lazarus from the dead, he is sort-of signing his death-certificate.  The Pharisees are already worried about him and really worried that people are believing in him because of all the miracles he was working.  Once he raises Lazarus, people start flocking to believe in Jesus.  People from all around travel to Bethany to see this miracle man Lazarus who was dead, but is alive again.   And for that reason, the Pharisees actually looked for a way to kill LAZARUS – because he was LIVING PROOF of Jesus’ power.

So – that’s the scripture study…. Now – why is this such a reading of hope for us?

First – “this illness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God”.  Jesus makes it clear that he recognizes that suffering is taking place – and in fact, Jesus allows the suffering to go on for even longer – for one good reason… to give glory to God.  See, if he had just cured Lazarus, people could write that off  - like – well, he was going to get better anyway… Jesus is nothing special.  Or – if he had raised him from the dead one day earlier, they also would have said, ‘well, he wasn’t completely dead yet’…  But – in the Jewish belief, the soul doesn’t leave the body until the fourth day after the person dies.  So, by waiting, Jesus was able to prevent that argument.  There was simply no way to deny the magnitude of THIS miracle. 

This gives US hope, because we can always have faith that our sufferings are prolonged for some good reason.  When it seems that God is delayed or just not answering, We have to believe that Somehow, God is going to use our sufferings for his glory.  Don’t believe it?  Think about some of the most inspirational stories you’ve heard:  stories of people dealing with unbelievable suffering, but maintaining a positive view of God through it all.  Somehow it is IN our suffering that we actually come closer to KNOWing God.  We see that in our own parish here – people who have suffered more than any human should have to suffer – but they grow closer to God in that process. 

The second reason this reading gives hope is that short phrase:  Jesus Wept.  It gives us a unique insight into the mind of God.  Jesus, our brother, suffered just like we do.  The emotional trauma he endured far surpassed anything we endure, since he sees the bigger picture – and knows what was lost when mankind fell to the lies of the serpent in the garden. 

Jesus Wept.  In a way – that answers the question from the beginning of my homily.  JESUS – WHERE WERE YOU?!  Jesus’ answer is simple…. I’m right here… I’ve been here all along… suffering WITH you.

 

2014/03/09 - First Sunday of Lent - "Different"

So – how’s your Lent going?  Have you figured out what you’re going to do to make this 40 days different than any other 40 days of the year?  

 

You know, it seems that a lot of people might not remember – or maybe were never told – why we fast and stuff during Lent… so let’s make sure all of us are on the same page.

Why do we do it?  Well – we’re Christians – and by definition, that means we are disciples of Jesus Christ.  To be a disciple of somebody means to take on the discipline of that person- in other words – our goal is to be like Jesus.  Think about that – if you were a disciple of Peyton Manning, you would look at everything he does… you’d want to do what he does…do the exercises he does... eat what he eats.  So, if we’re gonna be like Jesus – what exercise did he do?  He went on a forty day retreat in the desert.  What did HE eat?  Well, in today’s Gospel, he ate – well – NOTHING!  So if we really wanna be like him, we try to do the same!

 

Fortunately, the Church doesn’t ask us to give up food for 40 days – although some people really DO do it.  For the rest of us, the Church wants us to make this 40 days a time of fasting, but they don’t ask us to put our health at risk.  So what do we do?  Well, if you want the LEAST we can do, the Bishops outlined that for us.  We’re supposed to Fast and Give up meat on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent.  That’s the minimum… the least we can do.  But most people go beyond that – and we SHOULD go beyond that unless our health could be jeopardized.  Most people give up something like sweets, cokes, alcohol… I remember one person who said they gave up Cake for Lent… so all they ate was pie.  Doesn’t quite seem to have understood what we’re trying to do.  See – all these little things that we give up are supposed to make every day of Lent different than the other days of the year.  For example, one of the things I’m trying this year is to reduce the amount of sugar I put in my tea and coffee.  It’s silly, I know – but every time I scoop sugar now, I remember – this is Lent – I’m offering this small sacrifice up to God so He can change me.

What good does it do?  Well – look what happened to Jesus in the desert.  He was tempted – but more importantly, he RESISTED temptation… did you notice how he did it?  With scripture.  Every word he spoke was from the Bible.  How do you think he learned that?  He had been forming himself his whole life.  He wasn't born KNOWING all of scripture... The bible tells us that he grew in wisdom... Which means he had to learn things. I can picture him and Mary sitting by the fireplace reading from the Torah – the Jewish Bible – and her drilling him on memorizing scriptures.  It was that persistent formation over time that gave Jesus the knowledge and the words to beat the Devil at his own game of words. 

So it is for us – we have to form ourselves.  We have to practice little ways of self-sacrifice so that when the real sacrifice comes, it just comes naturally to us to be selfless.  So – are you forming yourself?

 

Put it this way:  how is your faith life compared to a year ago?  5 years ago?  10 years?  I’d bet that more than one of us sitting here today might think – you know, I honestly don’t think my faith has grown a lick since I was confirmed.  

Why do you think that would be?  Because we stopped forming ourselves.  The moment we stop learning is when our faith starts dying.

 

So – let me make a suggestion – use this time in Lent to do something POSITIVE – you can still give  up your sweets – but in addition, do something to increase your understanding of your Faith.

Anybody here remember me talking about this book?  Anybody remember me saying how I’ve read it three times now and each time I am more PUMPED UP!?  I honestly believe that this book could be the game-changer for our parishes.  Matthew Kelly gives some very great insights and makes great suggestions on how every one of us – yes – EVERY one of us, can make just a small tweak in our lives to start making great strides towards Holiness.   If we could get everyone to read it – and especially if we could get everyone to start implementing the suggestions… we would change the world… REALLY!  I’m dead serious – if we all lived what this book suggests – we will have to build a bigger church.  No – I’m not kidding –and I’m not exaggerating.

 

I won’t ask for a show of hands – but I wonder how many people HAVE actually read the book?  If not, what is your excuse today?  Money?  I’ve got free copies for you at the door.  Time?  Yes – that’s a challenge for everybody… but…We all need to do SOMETHING during Lent – which means we might have to give up something.  How about giving up 30 minutes of TV or a half-hour of Facebook or your Xbox… THEN we can give God that time to change us through this book.  I really am sold on this book – and I BEG you to read it.  We also have book study groups meeting 4 times per week – see the information on the paper at the church entrance.

 

Finally – I want to talk to all of the youth – everybody age 5 through High School…show me your hands…  How many of you would like for me to give you $5?  

For the last four years, the first graders at Resurrection school in Evansville were given $5 by their teacher.  Their instructions were to “go make a difference”.  You may have seen the news over the last month just what a difference they made this year… it was incredible and inspiring.  Each child picked their own needy person or project and the results were AWESOME!

 

SO – our Grace Co-Op decided to do the same thing here!  YES – I am seriously offering to give $5 to anybody age 5 through high school.  Your job will be to find a worthy cause for the money before Easter.  At Resurrection school, the kids got their whole family involved did AMAZING things… in fact, they ended up raising like $4000 this year.  Now – it’s NOT about seeing how much money we can get.  The main purpose is to learn what God can teach us when we help someone else.

At the door, we have a table with pictures and news articles about the four years that Resurrection has done this – so you can get some ideas.  If you want to get in on this and get $5, Each youth should sign a contract.  The contract is simple – it says that you promise not to keep the money – and you promise to fill out a survey to tell your story about what you did with the money.  When you have filled out the contract, bring it to me, and I’ll give you the $5.

Then – on May 10th, after the Saturday night Mass, we will have a potluck meal and we’ll ask a few of the youth to share their stories.  I’m thinking that is going to be an awesome and inspiring evening.

 

So – sum it up.  We all need to do something special to make this Lenten time different than the rest of the year.  Yes – we still should give up something – but I also encourage you to do something positive each day.  Read a book, help someone, pray… you figure it out.  As we do what we promise to do – God will change us – he will make us different… then WE can go out into the world and make a difference.

2014/02/23 - Jaw-Dropping Forgiveness

Ask yourself this question… Do I listen to anybody? Do I let ANYbody tell ME what to do?

Fr. Eugene and I can stand up here and talk for 10 minutes about what we as Christians SHOULD be doing… but I often wonder how many people actually DO what we say? WE are human, so I guess it’s OK to ignore us… but I gotta wonder…Do any of us actually DO what Jesus tells us?

See – these words that Jesus used in today’s Gospel were not just nice suggestions… these were outlining the very fabric of the moral law in the Kingdom of God. “Take no revenge”…” cherish no grudge against any of your people.” “Love your enemy.” “Love your enemy”?! “Offer no resistance to one who is Evil?” Do we really HEAR Jesus?? Does ANYBODY actually LIVE like that?

I used to like to watch Walker, Texas Ranger. It was a show starring Chuck Norris – a martial arts expert. You could count on a plot that went something like this… some bad guy did something really evil, then Walker and his detectives tracked him down, and in the finale, he would always use his Martial Arts to do a turn-around-jumping-kick-in-the-face. I found myself anticipating that moment – feeling the surge of adrenaline…, pumping my fist in the air at the moment the BAD GUY GOT JUST WHAT HE DESERVED!!! And he DID deserve it, you know… these bad guys were the evilest, vilest demons to walk the face of the earth….KICK HIM AGAIN!!! BREAK HIS JAW!

But one day – who knows, maybe it was todays’ first reading… for the first time I actually HEARD what the Bible teaches: “Take no revenge”…” cherish no grudge against any of your people.” “Love your enemy.” “Offer no resistance to one who is Evil?” .”

I realized that this simple TV show – just one of the thousands that fill the airwaves every day – was teaching me that REVENGE is the answer. I loved that taste of revenge. I could see where it could almost be addictive… so I vowed to stop watching that show.

It’s a small thing, perhaps – but I wonder – how many people actually let JESUS tell us which shows to watch or not watch? How many of us take seriously the command to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”? These are not sentimental thoughts meant to make us feel holy… they are part of the prescription for Holiness. Anytime we harbor anger and unforgiveness, we are putting ourselves at risk. “Acid corrodes the container that holds it. That’s what happens when we hold onto bitterness.”

Jesus tells us the way to avoid that problem – and we pray it every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer… “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Do ANY of us really LIVE those words?

Lancaster County, PA – October 2006 – the world was shocked when a gunman entered the small Amish schoolhouse and shot ten young girls before taking his own life. By the end of the day, 5 girls were dead and 5 were struggling for their lives.

Imagine if these girls were our daughters and sisters and parishioners and classmates… How would we react? How would the WORLD tell us to react to this kind of evil?

Well, as shocking as the shooting was… what captured the attention of the world was how the Amish community reacted. Within hours after the shooting, some of the Amish community were speaking to the widow of the gunman and offering words of forgiveness and genuine concern for HER well-being. They visited the parents of the gunman to make it clear that they held no grudge. A large portion of the Amish community attended the funeral of the gunman, just one day after burying their own daughters. Could any of us do that? In the aftermath of the shooting, the world responded by donating millions of dollars to help them deal with the tragedy – and the Amish included the widow of the gunman and their children in the distribution to make sure they were cared for now that their father was gone.(1)

This is jaw-dropping forgiveness. I don’t know about you, but This is SO counter-cultural that it screams out to me that I’m not even CLOSE to forgiving the way Jesus tells us to…in fact, I’m so far from it that I might not even be able to consider myself to be Christian. You might think, “Yeah, Mike – but you’re a Deacon, obviously you’re Christian…” But when I compare myself to this kind of forgiveness, I fall way short of the target.

Jaw-dropping – that’s the impact this Christianity is SUPPOSED to have on the world. Christianity is SUPPOSED TO GET PEOPLE’S ATTENTION! When you or I are taken to court, Jesus tells us to give more than what was asked for. When we are forced to walk one mile, walk two – in doing so, we are pouring coals on the head of the person doing the injustice to us.

I remember as a kid going to school, the other kids would make up silly names to call me and my brother and sisters. I remember how it bothered me and I shared that with the wisest person I knew… my Mom. Her advice to me was to “Just ignore them. They’re only doing it to get a rise out of you – so the more you try to fight it, the more you’re going to encourage them.” To my surprise… it worked! Next time one of the bullies called me a name, it still stung, but I just stood there and stared blank-faced at them. After a few minutes of seeing that they weren’t going to get a reaction out of me, they got bored with that game and moved on.

You see – this command of Jesus is so simple: repaying evil with evil just escalates the war. As Christians, we’re taught to absorb the blows – to let it roll off as we turn our cheek. This teaching impacts every relationship in our lives – every day. An Amish father who lost a daughter in the schoolhouse offered his perspective: “For me, forgiveness means giving up my right to revenge.”(1) …Give up my right to revenge?! I can’t do that! I have every RIGHT to retaliate… to teach them a lesson… it’s payback time!!! I’m going to get a lawyer and milk them for all they’re worth!!

Let Jesus tell us what to do: “Take no revenge”…” cherish no grudge against any of your people.” “Love your enemy.” “Love your enemy”?! “Offer no resistance to one who is Evil?”

THIS is jaw-dropping Christianity. If more of us actually LIVED this way, we would CHANGE THE WORLD!!! St. Catherine of Sienna summed it up nicely: “If you are what you should be, you will set the world ablaze.”

Footnotes:
1.  (Dr. Donald Kraybill, http://www.amishnews.com/amishforgiveness.html)
P.S.
Forgiveness does not mean that the Amish were saying that it’s OK to shoot innocent little girls. Forgiveness is different from pardon, which erases any punishment. Governors and presidents have the authority to erase punishment. The Amish were quick to say that, if Charles Carl Roberts IV had lived, they would have wanted him incarcerated, not out of revenge, but to protect other innocent children. Perpetrators can be forgiven by a victim but still held accountable for their actions. In other words, forgiveness and justice are two different things and should not be confused. (1)

2014/02/03 Why are we in the temple?

Lord, may the words of this Gospel be on my mind, on my lips, and in my heart.
We don't normally say that out loud, but i think it's important to remind ourselves why we do what we do.  We say those words silently as a reminder that …. We are about to read the words of Jesus himself, and we ask God to help us to remember the words in our mind – to keep them on our lips so we will speak those words to the people around us – and most of all – to allow the word to sink into our hearts – to change us.
We can always learn a bunch of stuff from the readings, but in order to learn, we have to be Seeking. If we just let the words of Jesus just float past us, we’re not likely to catch the meaning – nor are we likely to let those words change us… We need to let the words challenge us… to make us ask questions – and seek the answers.

Like – why did Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple that day?  Because they were following the Jewish law – the law which was written in the book of Leviticus.  (The law stated that after a woman gave birth, she was unclean – meaning – not allowed to enter the temple or touch sacred objects – for 40 days.). That tells us something about Joseph and Mary:  they took the law of God seriously.  They allowed the law of God to guide their actions- and this day, the Holy Spirit led them to take Jesus to the temple.

You might have noticed the connection between this day and the prophecy in the first reading:  Malachi tells us that ‘suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek’.  He predicted that God would come to the Temple… and it happened today!  God, in the person of Jesus, was returning to the temple on Mt. Zion – the place where God had chosen to dwell among the Israelites for centuries.  It really WAS a momentous occasion, but nobody really noticed…. Except an old man and an old woman.

Why was it that Simeon and Anna were in the temple that day?  Well, the story tells us – Simeon “came in the Spirit to the temple”.  In other words – the Holy Spirit prompted him to go that day because he had been told he would see the Messiah before he died.  He was there because he was seeking to see Jesus.  He allowed himself to be guided by the Spirit.
Anna was there because, it says, she never left the temple.  Sounds like she was there EVERY day.  Can you imagine going to church every day?...all day?  We don’t know much about her, other than the fact that she had been a widow for a long time – maybe for longer than 60 years.  It doesn’t TELL us why she was there, but anybody who spends all day, every day in the temple must have a close relationship with God.  She must have been seeking to be as close to God as possible.  And where better to be close to God than in his Holy Temple on his Holy Mountain.

That leads to the ultimate question…  why do WE come to the temple?  Why are we here today?  Perhaps many of us are here for the same reason as Mary and Joseph – to obey the law.  Somewhere along the line, it was instilled in us by our parents or grandparents that following the guidelines of the church is important – so we come to Mass every week.  We know deep down that obedience to God is what will bring us ultimate joy.

Or maybe some of us are here for the same reason as Simeon – we are seeking to see Jesus.  Perhaps WE were led by the Holy Spirit to come here today?  Hmmm… I’d go so far as to say that indeed every ONE of us was led by the Spirit to come here today.  You might think your wife twisted your arm or your Mom didn’t give you a choice… but in reality, the Spirit won’t hesitate to use other people to guide us where He wants us to be.  So – we let the Spirit guide us to come here today.

Or maybe we’re like Anna – we’re here because we have a relationship with God and we want nothing more than to be close to Him.

Why are WE here today?  We came to see Jesus.

Something else that makes me scratch my head… why is it that Simeon and Anna recognized Jesus for who he is that day, but nobody else in the temple did?
In fact, how is it that they knew who he was that day, but it wasn’t for another 30 years before the rest of the world came to know who he is?
There’s a simple answer, I think… they recognized him because… they were seeking Jesus.  They came to church that day because they knew they were going to see Jesus.

Here’s the point:  Jesus can’t be found by a group of people – that may sound like i am contradicting myself, but it's true. The general population looks right past him without even noticing.  No - Jesus reveals himself to one person at a time.  In other words, when we come to church, each of us individually must be seeking Jesus.  We're all responsible for our own relationship with Jesus, so when we come into church, we kneel down and say, "God, I've got all this stuff on my mind...my worries...my sins...Please help me to set all of that aside for the next hour and reveal yourself to me.  He IS here – will we see Him?

You may remember - We’re taught that Christ is present in the Mass four ways:  obviously, in the Eucharist, where he becomes present body, blood, soul, and divinity right there on our altar.  You might also remember that He is present in His words… as we read the Gospel.  But he’s also present in the priest – Fr. Eugene acts ‘in Persona Christi’ – which means, he asks in the person of Christ…in place of Christ.  Like I’ve said before, when the priest performs a Sacrament like the Eucharist – it is not the priest saying the words of consecration – but it is Jesus himself saying the words through the mouth of the Priest.  “This is My Body”.  Where is the fourth place that Jesus is present in the Mass?  In you.  He is present in the Body of Christ on earth – which is the Church.  The Church is you and me.  When we are baptized, we become temples of the Holy Spirit – and that spirit guides us to come together every Sunday to bring the body of Christ back together.  Look around…Jesus is present today in the temple… have you recognized him yet?

What are we supposed to do once we’ve come here and seen Jesus?  Look at what Simeon and Anna did.  Simeon gave witness to the greatness of God.  Anna – look at what it says – “she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. “

We should do likewise.  Just like Simeon, we hold him in our hands when we come forward and say ‘amen’.  We have SEEN the salvation that God has prepared for his people.  We should let that CHANGE us.  We should be like Anna and tell everybody we know about it: We have seen Jesus!

2014/01/12 Who Do You Think You are?

Pretend for a minute that you are not Christian – that you know nothing about Jesus – in fact – that you don’t know a thing about God.  You’ve never heard the scriptures.  You’ve never gone to church.  You’ve never experienced the Grace from prayer.

Now that you’re a blank slate, let me ask you – who are you?  Without your identity as a Christian….Who do you think you are?

For starters, if we had no belief in God – what would be the meaning of our existence?  Without God, all of creation would seem to us to be no more than a collection of chances.  You and I would be no more than a member of the animal kingdom – and like the other animals – the only meaning of our existence would be to find food, to procreate, and to look out only for ourselves.  The idea of Love would be nothing more than our own self-serving feelings of keeping ourselves happy.  Human beings would be nothing more than a glob of goo or a collection of cells than came to life randomly in some primordial soup. 

Life would be meaningless.
Is that what we believe?  Is that who we THINK we are?

This is the problem that God had after he created Mankind.  He had just created people who knew nothing about him.  He knew that a person living without knowledge of where they came from would easily fall into living only for the moment... only to fulfill my OWN desires… because life would have no other meaning.  God knew this would happen, So, from the beginning, he had this great ‘Divine Plan’ to reveal himself to the world.

If you were God, how would you go about doing that?  Imagine: You’ve got a bunch of people sitting in darkness…in fact, they’ve never seen light… in fact, they don’t know what light is!!  Would it be a good idea to simply walk in and turn on the light?  No way – some would die from fear – all would cover their eyes or go blind  – most would run away.  No – God could not simply reveal himself to the world…. So like I said, he had this ‘Divine Plan’ of how to introduce himself to us.

And that’s what we’ve experienced over the last few weeks:  Three epiphanies (and epiphany is a revelation) :  the angels revealed to the shepherds who the baby was, the star and the scriptures revealed to the wise men who the newborn King was, and today, God himself opens the heavens and tells us who Jesus is.  Three epiphanies….meant to introduce us to the light a little bit at a time.

Why should we care?  Well – if we think that you are no more than a glob of goo, then maybe we DON’T care.  But, IF God DID create us, then there is so much more that follows from that truth…. It means He really DID make us in His image.  It means He really DID open the heavens so that we could live with Him in eternity.  It means He really DID come in human form to reveal himself to the world….so mankind could KNOW Him. 

But there’re more… he also reveals himself to each of us personally.  Maybe it hasn’t happened for you yet…. Like John in the Gospel, he had in his mind what would happen when the Messiah appeared… He would baptize everybody with Fire!!  So – he was confused when Jesus asked to be baptized by him.  John thought, “That’s not the way it’s supposed to happen!”  But Jesus uttered one phrase, which is kinda hard to understand…. “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  In other words… John… this is your part in helping to reveal God to the world.  Just do the task you’ve been given to do, and watch what happens.  And you know what happened… the heavens were opened and God revealed himself to John.

So it is with you and me.  We all play a part in helping to reveal God to the world.  Every day is filled with little epiphanies.  WE are part of God’s ‘Divine Plan’!!!  He planted his Church on the earth to continue to reveal himself to the world – and you and I are an integral part of that plan.  When we were baptized, he really DID send His Holy Spirit upon US and declared that “you are MY beloved! “

So does that change our answer…?  Who do you think you are?  If , after all of the epiphanies, we STILL believe we are just a glob of goo, then we may never really understand and believe that we ARE God’s beloved…. How do we know???

Just do the task you’ve been given to do, and watch what happens.