2023/03/19 Are you Blind?!

Do you ever put yourself into the story of the Gospel?  Ever wonder what it would have looked like to BE THERE the day that these miracles happened? 

It’s no secret that The Chosen is probably my favorite TV show ever.  For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a series where they develop some fictional but very believable background stories for the people in the Gospel.  For example, y’all remember that Mary Magdalene was a follower of Jesus – we know that from the Bible - and the scriptures tell us that she had had 7 demons cast out from her.   From those two facts, they built a beautiful back-story to show what that might have looked like – going back to her childhood, the weaved a story filled with pain and loss and fear and darkness – and the cinematography is brilliant at times – like one time you can kind of tell that the demons are kind of taking over, and as that happens, a door closes blocking the light and she was left in darkness.  Hopefully you can see the connection to today’s readings which deal so much with light and darkness.  That first episode ends with Jesus liberating her simply by calling her name… you might say, he restored her true identity.  Well – I’m skipping a bunch of details – but she met a guy who was astounded that she had been released from her demons and he asked how it happened – and here’s where Mary said possibly the best line of the whole series.  

“All I know is I was one way and now I am completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Him. ” 

She had been in darkness and had given up all hope of escaping the demons – in fact, she had been ready to end her life – until Jesus showed up and called her by name… bringing her back from darkness to the light.  Think that changed her life?!?!  Once she saw the light, she became a follower of Jesus to continue walking toward the light – and to help others come to know him.

Hopefully you can already see the connection with today’s Gospel, because Jesus heals a man born blind…. Literally restoring him from darkness to the light!  And the guy says, “One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”

Is that YOUR story?  Have you ever had that kind of experience?  Can you point to the moment in your life that changed everything?  The moment when the Glory of God changed your life?

That might not seem like a Catholic question to ask.  You know – you talk to other Christians and they can often name the date and time they were ‘saved’… which means it’s the moment they felt like they made the decision to accept Christ as their savior.  One and done.  Now – there’s something beautiful about that – something to be celebrated for sure – but we need to be clear about one thing:  You see – salvation is an act of GOD – not OUR action.  Yes, we must accept it, but God moves first.  In a way, it’s like lovers… both must act – but one is an act of surrender.                        

I remember a buddy of mine who grew up Catholic and he was going to church with his wife – I think to a Baptist congregation – and he said they kept pressuring him that if he didn’t have that big AHA moment that he could point to when Jesus became his savior, then he’s not saved!  He said – I’ve not had that big moment – Jesus has just always been with me.

Isn’t that true for most of us – we’ve been raised in the Faith and receive the Sacraments and go to religious Education – and many never have that big AHA moment.  Unfortunately, that means for many people, we’re only going through the motions.  Unfortunately, that also means many people walk away… in fact, MOST people walk away.  If we never have that personal encounter with Jesus, then religion usually remains nothing more than checking boxes.  I submit to you that we Catholics really DO need that AHA moment… or a least a moment when we surrender to the Love of God… where we make a willful choice to allow God to open our eyes and touch our hearts.  

You see – we were all born blind!  Every one of us needs that moment when we open our eyes and realize that we’ve been changed… when we wake up and realize that one moment ago, we were in darkness, but now we are in the Light.  We need that moment when we can sing – “I was blind, but now I see”… and MEAN it!  But even that is dangerous… we might make a decision to follow Christ today, but a year from now we’re blind again – why?  Because when we THINK we were already in the light, we don’t need feel the need to do any more to change.  Here’s the kicker – while I think we need that BIG event when Jesus breaks through the darkness, it must be followed by a DAILY event…a daily surrender.  

I would say my eyes were opened back in 1995 after I made my Cursillo.  That was my AHA moment….but it wasn’t just going to Cursillo weekend – that was like the SEED.  But immediately afterward I joined a small group of men who meet weekly to encourage each other in our walk with Jesus… to share nuggets that we learn in our study and prayer.  THAT was what really transformed me.  If I’d gone to Cursillo and didn’t change my life to Seek Jesus, I’d still be where I was in 1995 – in darkness.  But I continue to seek Jesus.   My eyes continue to be opened almost every day to a truth or an insight that I hadn’t considered… to surrender to God’s love a little more each day.  That’s a benefit to having a wife and friends who like to study and pray and share their insights with me.  We grow together.  If I thought I knew everything already because “I’m the Deacon!”, then I wouldn’t be listening – and I would remain in darkness.

Jesus is reaching out to you today – and every day.  In the Sacraments, in the scriptures, in the people around you, in nature… He is reaching out to touch your eyes.  He might even spit and make you muddy to get your attention.  The only thing standing between us and the light that Jesus wants to reveal is our stubbornness.  If I don’t realize I’m blind, I won’t accept the healing.  If I think I already know everything about God – I’ll miss what he’s doing right now!!  …Like the pharisees in the story who didn’t even seem to notice that Jesus had overturned the laws of nature by healing a man born blind!  All they cared about was that it was the wrong day of the week.  They were willfully blind and totally MISSED the Glory of God.

Each of us can pray this Lent about what areas of our lives we’re blind to and ask Jesus to reveal the Glory of God to us.  This is not a matter of putting ourselves down – that’s not at all what I’m talking about.  This is not about Catholic guilt – but about taking an honest look inside at where we are blocking Jesus from touching us.  The first step in being ‘saved’ is to realize that we need a savior.  The first step to seeing Jesus is to admit that we’re blind.

Been there; Done that; Got the T-shirt

I love Colorado.  I remember my first trip when I couldn’t take my eyes off the mountains.  They filled me with wonder and awe.  Camping, cooking out, hiking, friendships… all of these things are indelibly printed on my mind.  THIS experience changed my life… Colorado became part of ‘who I am’.  Several times, I’ve bought T-shirts to commemorate the trip to my beloved mountains – announcing to the world my New Identity:  I’m a Colorado-freak.

Don’t we all do that?  We go somewhere or have a powerful experience which feels so awesome that it impacts our very identity, so impactful that we buy a T-shirt to tell the world about it.  Like maybe a concert – where the music and special effects are awe-inspiring, and we get caught up in the crowd’s frenzy.  We think, ‘Life should ALWAYS be like this!’… and we buy a T-shirt to tell the world that this band/concert/whatever is now part of ‘who we are’;  part of our identity:  I’m a (fill in the blank)-freak.

But not every T-shirt really tells our identity. 

My brother went to London.  I stayed home and worked.  He enjoyed the culture, the food, the beverages… I stayed home and worked.  He brought me a really nice T-Shirt from London…one that many people would be jealous to have.  Thing is… I’ve never been to London.  That shirt, as awesome as it is, is nothing more than a sentimental reminder that my brother loves me.  Yeah, I appreciate it, but I’ve never experienced London.  London is part of the United Kingdom… but it’s not MY kingdom.  My only connection to that kingdom is a now-faded T-shirt. 

Unfortunately, for many of us, that happens to our Faith life.  Our parents or grandparents had faith.  They enjoyed the Catholic culture, the Eucharist, and the cup of salvation.  For them, this was more than a T-shirt; it was their very life.  They passed it on to us, but unless we personally experience a relationship with Jesus, our Faith is nothing more than a sentimental reminder that our parents/grandparents love us.  They are members of the Kingdom of God… but it’s not MY kingdom.  My only connection to that kingdom is like my now-faded T-shirt.

Some of us may LOOK like we’re in the kingdom.  You know, we go to church once in a while – maybe even regularly.  We throw something in the collection basket to appease our need to feel charitable.   We might even go so far as to wear a Christian T-shirt, announcing to the world that Jesus is King!  But if we don’t know Jesus, he’s not really OUR king… and we’re not really in the kingdom.

How can we turn this around?  I propose that we all need an experience which fills us with awe and wonder;  an experience that immerses us into the culture, the joy, and the lifestyle of Catholicism.  We need to surround ourselves with others whose enthusiasm is infectious.  We need an experience which makes us realize ‘this is how life should be!’; an experience so intense, we want to buy a T-shirt to commemorate the event and tell the world that this is now part of who we are.

The best way I’ve seen is a Retreat or a Conference centered on an experience of the Holy Spirit – showing us that this Faith our parents gave us really IS the source of joy: like Cursillo, Welcome, Steubenville conferences, Renew Ministries, Encounter Ministries, Seek.  These events and many others give us a taste of the culture of Catholicism which we don’t always see in our daily lives nor, unfortunately, in our home parishes.  Caught up in the emotion, we might even buy a T-shirt, telling the world we’re now a Jesus-freak.

Even so, a one-time event doesn’t change our identity.  To keep that new-found Joy, something’s gotta change.  To build and maintain a relationship with Jesus, we need to develop a lifestyle of prayer and study – putting it on our daily schedules.  If we don’t know the King, If we don’t immerse ourselves in the lifestyle of Catholicism, then our connection to the Faith is nothing more than a faded, hand-me-down T-shirt.

 

 

2023/02/19 - Order into Chaos

When I was on the Fire Dept, we’d be called when things… were not going well.  Arriving on the scene of a working structure fire, emotions were high, people wer crying or even screaming, they might even be frantic trying to get your attention to save their loved ones.  In a word:  It was ‘chaos’.

But we were trained to bring order into the chaos.  Immediately we’d talk to bystanders to find out if anyone is inside – then we’d search the perimeter, looking for safety issues like overhead power lines or gas meters or other structures that might be in jeopardy.  Taking command of the scene, one person would be the Commander and would quickly layout a plan in his mind and call in additional resources if needed.

As units arrived, each would receive their orders – catch the hydrant and lay in a 5” line – deploy an attack line to the rear entrance – ladder the south side of the structure and prepare to ventilate.  As commander of the scene, he would give orders – knowing that each person would fulfill the role they’d been given.  Each of us had trained for this moment.  The adrenaline was rushing – because … THIS is what we were made for, and we gladly fulfilled the role we’d been assigned.

As a firefighter, we were called to bring order to the chaos…. By following orders.

Notice that word ‘order’ – used two different ways:  we were called into the chaos to restore order, by following orders.  To do that, each individual played their part.  We didn’t question orders.  We WANTED to fulfill the role we’d been given.  It’s what we were made for.

Today’s readings give us some orders:  be Holy, be Perfect, Love your neighbor, don’t take revenge, turn the other cheek, pray for your enemies, go the extra mile… it may come across as a bunch of rules to follow.  A lot of people think that’s all that religion is about – a bunch of rules … but there’s a different way to look at this.

God himself saw the world was in chaos, so he stepped in PERSONALLY to bring order to it.  We can take comfort in the fact that HE HAS A PLAN.  He’s like the commander at a fire scene – He has the plan, and each of us has a part to play.  Each of us has been given our orders… not as rules to follow – not moral checkboxes we have to check to get into heaven  - but as our part in helping God to bring order to the chaos of the world!  

Think about that – what would happened if you and I, as Christians would take those orders seriously?  Loving everyone – including our enemies – we would seriously change the world.  Let me give you a brief example:  

Immaculée Ilibagiza was a survivor of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 – yes – just 29 years ago fell into chaos.  One tribe took over power and tried to annihilate the other tribe.  Immaculee survived by hiding in a 3x4 foot bathroom – that’s smaller than the bathrooms here.  She hid in there for 91 days – with 7 other women.  They had to take turns sitting down it was so crowed.  Outside, they could hear the chaos as the other tribe went house to house systematically killing everyone from her tribe.  Her father and brother were shot – her mother and sister were hacked to death with machetes.

Finally, after 91 days, it was over…she was free.  What should she do?  She had EVERY right to demand revenge on those who killed her family and a million other people from her tribe… yes a MILLION!  But she was a Catholic – with a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother – and somehow she found it in herself to forgive those who did this heinous act… even forgiving the man who killed her family to his face.  She now is an international speaker sharing the message of Divine Mercy.  Her example is an inspiration to each of us to turn the other cheek.  Because of her efforts, Rwanda is much further down the path of healing that it otherwise would be.

How is that possible?  Immaculee took seriously the orders she’d been given by Jesus – to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  See – she didn’t see those as rules to follow or as an infringement on her freedoms… no – she saw this basic instruction as THE way that God wanted to restore Order to the chaos.  

God put all of us Christians on this earth so that WE could share HIS love with the world.  It’s what we were made for.  Can you imagine if every Christian in the world LIVED this way?  We’d be in heaven… which is the point.  YOU AND I have the ability to establish the Kingdom of God right here – right now – every time we choose to love instead of hate – to forgive instead of seeking revenge.

How do you and I put that into practice?  I think it starts at home.  The first reading tells us not to bear hatred or harbor a grudge against our brother or sister.  We all, by nature, tend to take our family members for granted and we get into little fights which can escalate into hate – constantly seeking revenge against our own brothers and sisters or even our spouse.  How many of us sitting here today have a brother or sister or spouse we no longer talk to?  Imagine how we can change the world just by loving them instead of seeking revenge.  That may sound radical – but that’s exactly what it means to be Holy; to be set-apart – different – not like the rest of the culture.  To the rest of the world, when we love our enemies, they’ll think we’re out of our minds…. But The second reading reminds us that the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world.  

Love our neighbor as our self.  We’re told in the 2nd reading that we – you and I – are the temple of God – which means you and I are holy.  But that also means that everyone around us is holy too!  Co-workers, classmates, the lady at the checkout… We must treat them like they’re holy too… because they are. 

When somebody does something stupid in traffic, instead of flipping the bird – flip a few beads of the rosary to pray for them.

When someone does something unforgiveable, be the first to forgive.  Unforgiveness is one of the greatest weapons that Satan uses against us… to divide us… but when we forgive rather than holding a grudge, we disarm Satan!!  Don’t you think THAT changes the world?!

Last thing: Jesus said be Perfect as your heavenly father is Perfect.  I’ve always thought ‘perfect’ meant to do everything exactly right – like – follow all the rules perfectly.  But that’s what the Pharisees tried to do and Jesus didn’t have very nice things to say about them!  So, what’s He meaning?

Remember – Jesus wasn’t speaking English… he was speaking in Aramaic – and the Gospel was written in Greek, so right away we may lose some of the meaning that Jesus intended.  The word used by the Gospel writer was ‘telios’ in Greek.  It’s translated into English by most bibles as ‘perfect’. Now – who am I to question the folks who know their Greek… but consider this:

‘Telios’ comes from the root word ‘Telos’, which has to do with the purpose or end for which something was made.  For example, if I have a chair – it’s telos is for sitting.  Make sense?  A chair is made for sitting on.  While You could use it for other purposes, like standing on it to change a lightbulb, it’s purpose – its telos – is for sitting.  

So a chair reaches it’s telios, when someone sits on it – you could say a chair fulfills the purpose for which it was made when someone sits in it… it is now complete – which was translated to be ‘perfect’.  

So – instead of Jesus commanding us to be ‘perfect’ - perhaps a better translation might be:  fulfill the purpose for which we were made!  What were we made for?  What’s our telos?  To be Holy – set apart.  To be different.  To Love our enemies.  We’re sorta like firefighters – made to bring Order into Chaos.  But the best summary actually comes from the Holy Moments book which we gave out at Christmas:  “You are made in the image of God – act accordingly”.

2023/01/08 Epiphany - How do we find Jesus?

Before Mass:

I want to give you the punchline, so to speak.  It might be easy to get caught up in the nice little story about the Three Wise men.  But if you pay attention to all of the readings – especially THAT story of the wise men, you’ll see a common theme.  God wants everyone in the world to know and adore Him.  Everyone.

He reveals himself to us in Creation.  He gives us Reason that we can come to knowledge of Him.  And He reveals himself so us in Scripture.  He’s given us everything we need to find Him. 

But pay attention to who actually finds Jesus – and who doesn’t.  It should surprise us.

Is 60:1-6
Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.
Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6
Mt 2:1-12

Homily

What we don’t hear about in today’s Gospel is the fact that all three of the wise men were married.  What we don’t hear about is the fact the three wise men had wandered around in the desert for two years trying to find Jesus….and all the while, Belthazar’s wife Sheila kept insisting – ‘Why don’t you just stop at the next Oasis and ask directions’.

Ok – I made that up 😊  But I want you to imagine, that YOU are at that Oasis when this caravan pulls in and asks YOU this question: “How do we find Jesus?”  They’re asking YOU!  Would you have an answer?  Honestly, I’m not sure I could give an answer very quickly.  But SHOULDN’T we know the answer?  Most of us have been Christian all our life – we’ve got the Bible – and the Church – WE should know Jesus better than anybody else.  So – how DO we find Jesus?

Let’s start with an easier question:  say I wanted to drive to Tuscaloosa…does anybody here know how to get there?  How could I find out?  I can google it, pull up MapQuest, Or put it into my GPS navigational doohickey…three different ways to find Tuscaloosa.  That’s not too hard, - but - what if I need directions on how to find Jesus?  – how could I find out?  If I google Jesus, I’ll find thousands – literally tens of thousands of churches who claim that THEY have the one and ONLY way to get to Jesus.

How can that be?  How is it that one guy named Jesus was here – a book called the Bible was written about him – and now 10’s of thousands of different churches have different directions to find him? 

We believe that Jesus started ONE Church …and within it he gave authority to teach, baptize, and forgive sins.  He endowed it with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  He graced it with the seven Sacraments so that he could continue to reach out and touch his people through the hand of His ministers.  He inspired its leaders to write the Bible.  Why would Jesus start a Church, anyway?  To help people find him.  The Church IS the GPS navigational doohickey for finding Jesus.

We might think with all of that going for us, we must be God’s favorite – like OUR CHURCH has a corner on the market for getting to Jesus – but we’d be wrong!   In fact, that’s the point of today’s readings.  The people who SHOULD have found Jesus DIDN’T find him. 

You see, there were two important groups of people who DID come to see Jesus when he was born:  the shepherds and the magi.  Today’s Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the fact that these pagan wise men came to know Jesus.  That should shake us up!  These guys weren’t Catholic, they weren’t Christian, heck, they weren’t even Jewish.  They tried to find God by reading the signs in the stars.  According to most of our standards today, we might call them kooks – yet, they came to know Jesus through this method….so is it all bad?  The shepherds, on the other hand, found out about Jesus through direct revelation – when an angel appeared to them.  We don’t seem to have a problem with that, do we?  If I stood here and told you that an angel appeared to me last night, you’d think I was a little off my rocker.  Yet, we accept it as perfectly normal for these guys 2000 years ago to receive a vision from an angel. 

But there was actually a third group who came to know that Jesus was born.

The shepherds came to know through a vision of angels. The magi knew through through creation: by reading the stars. And King Herod’s scribes came to know through searching the scriptures. Visions, stars, scriptures – three different ways of arriving at the same truth. Of course, this doesn’t mean that ANY path to Jesus is just as good as the other. Notice how Matthew indicates that when the guiding star got to Jerusalem its light failed and the magi HAD to consult the scriptures to direct them to Bethlehem. That’s an important point:  The Magi needed more than the natural light of the star… they still needed the SUPERNATURAL light of scripture to finally find Jesus.

Anybody listening to the Catechism in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz?  This week we HEARD this very lesson – the catechism tells us (somewhere around paragraph 35-40) that it’s possible for mankind to find God through reason and witnessing Creation – it’s possible – but very hard.  Instead, we need to rely on divine revelation – which is exactly what we saw with the story of the wise men.  Their wisdom – their reason and watching natural signs in creation only took them so far.  In the end, they had to go to Jerusalem to get directions from the Torah – the Jewish scriptures – God’s divine revelation.

But the crucial question in the story remains: Who actually FOUND Jesus? Notice that Herod and his scribes had the scriptures, but they failed to find Jesus.  But the magi, who followed the natural light of the stars WERE able to find him. Why? Because the Jewish scribes, even though they possessed the shining truth of revealed scriptures,…they didn’t follow it. They did not walk in the light of the scriptures. The magi, on the other hand, who enjoyed only star light DID follow its guidance. See – It’s not the possession of the truth that matters, it is whether we’ll follow where the light of that truth leads us. It is better to have the dim light of the stars and follow it than to have the bright light of the holy scriptures and neglect it.  Ouch – I’m preaching to myself here – In other words, we can’t just relax knowing that we possess the fullness of truth – we have to actually act on it in order to find Jesus.

So, let’s ask another question about Tuscaloosa…  If I googled directions and printed them out for you, would you follow them?  Or – as you’re driving down the road would you see a side-road that looks pretty and say – “I’ll bet I can still get there from here….I’ll just go up a ways and see where it takes me.”  Since you don’t even know where Tuscaloosa is, that would be pretty silly to try to find your own path to get there.

We have been given the most direct route to Jesus – in the Church that He established.  But what does that benefit us if we don’t follow the directions?  Nature worshipers and even non-believers who try to find God through the dim light of natural reason might actually be finding Jesus before some of us Christians who have been given all the revealed truths about God …if we fail to look at the map.  That’s the point of today’s readings.

Last point really quick:  all of our readings indicate that All the nations on earth will adore the Lord.  Somehow, God plans to shine his light to all the corners of the world so that ALL people will be drawn toward him.  It’s like God planned to put a star in the sky to guide all of the pagans to find Jesus.  What is that star?  It’s the Church.  It’s you and me.  WE are the stars guiding everyone around us to find Jesus.  So the question each of us has to ask ourselves:  Am I walking in the Light?  Does my life reflect the love of God to those around me?  If someone follows ME, will I be leading them TOWARD Jesus, or AWAY? 

Be a star. Shine so brightly that when people look at you, all they see is Jesus.

2022/11/26 - First Sunday of Advent - see the Gorilla

Before Mass

On my way to church Saturday my attention was caught by a car parked in an odd spot - probably a hunter - but it made me realize there was a lake right there.  I've driven that route for 20 years and never noticed that lake!  Anybody else ever had that happen?  

For example, did you ever notice on that stained glass window over there that Jesus is holding some sort of orb with a cross on it... I think I've seen it before, but never really paid any attention to it.

We don’t always notice stuff – because it’s not on our radar – it’s not important.  We actually get into the habit of ignoring stuff.  It’s normal for us humans to build habits –Think of a baby – walking for the first time, every ounce of concentration is directed at moving those feet and maintaining balance.  Yet – as they get the hang of it – it becomes a habit and before you know it, they’re running out the door and don’t even THINK about walking.  

As true as that is humanly, it’s particularly true in our spiritual lives.  We come to Church and out of habit, we kinda get into a zone… I know I do.  It’s like part of our brains turn off as soon as we sit in the pew.

But Jesus tells us to ‘Stay Awake’!  He’s inviting us to wake up so we don’t miss out on what God is doing in this present moment.

Wake up right now – pay attention to what’s going on – to the words of the prayers, songs, readings – pay attention to who is around you.  See if this changes your experience at Mass today.  In fact, if this changes your experience at Mass, I’d love to hear about it.

Homily

How well do you pay attention?

There’s a famous experiment about attention which goes something like this:  Someone is set down in front of a TV screen and a video is played showing people passing a ball around in a circle.  The person is told to count the number of times the white team passes the ball – so they press start and begin counting.  At the end of the video, the researcher comes back in and they announce that they counted 14 times – and by golly they’re right!  But then the researcher asks – did you see the gorilla?   Gorilla?  What gorilla?  They play back the video and sure enough, half-way through, this guy in a gorilla suit comes right into the middle of the screen, beats his chest, and runs off the other side.  More than half of the people counting DIDN’T see the gorilla.  You and I might think we’d see it – but maybe not.

Gorilla Video

There’s a phenomenon in us humans called selective attention – where we focus on one thing and can ignore everything else around us.  We do that with our eyes, but also with our thinking.  That’s actually a useful thing, because 99% of what our eyes see are irrelevant to us.  We only really see what we focus our attention on.  Unless something grabs our attention, or it’s pointed out to us – we don’t even notice.  Kinda like the fact that there are 4 blades on the fans over your head.  Chances are – you never noticed that useless detail...because it's a USELESS DETAIL.  Selective attention helps us a lot!

However, this selective attention also can work against us.  We can be so focused on what we think is important, that we miss the really important stuff.  Many times we’re distracted by stuff going on – you know we’re all really busy – but many times we intentionally distract ourselves to KEEP from paying attention.  In fact, we build habits of distracting ourselves… reading the bulletin during the homily, checking our phone constantly, allowing a computer or TV or video game to eat up hours of our time.  It’s like we’re asleep.

The second reading tells us now is the hour to wake from our sleep.  Jesus invites us in the Gospel to Stay Awake.  What’s he mean?

Father Anthony DeMello, a Jesuit priest explains - Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep, so to speak. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they raise children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. Meaning - They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.

You see - being alert, awake, and vigilant in the biblical sense is not a matter of living in fear that the world’s about to end – or that we’re about to die. Rather it is a matter of paying attention to God working in every moment of our lives.  What’s that look like?  We pay attention to our relationships – to the person right in front of you.  We recognize Love at work in those relationships.  We pray about how WE can be more loving and forgiving.  We recognize the blessings in our lives and we’re thankful for them… and not just on Thanksgiving!  When we wake up and recognize God at work, we can’t help being grateful, thanking, appreciating, affirming, forgiving, apologizing, and being more mindful of the joys of life.

What’s all this have to do with Advent?  First - Advent means ‘arrival’ or ‘coming’.  It’s a season where we’re REMINDED to be mindful – to pay attention – to wake up – because Jesus is actually arriving every moment of every day… we just don’t always see it.  Can we take this command of Jesus to wake up seriously?  Perhaps we can do a nightly examen where we mentally walk through everything that happened that day – good or bad – and thank God for it and look for where He was working in that event.

Secondly – to make this Advent meaningful – you and I can actively MAKE advent happen – in other words, through our actions, the Holy Spirit can arrive.  Anytime we sow Love, Peace, Joy – we are inviting the Spirit into that moment.

To Wake up is to look for The kingdom of God, which is all around you and me.   Seriously – it’s right here – right NOW!  Do you see it?  <softly>  Do you hear it?  If we want to encounter God, we don’t encounter Him in the past – we don’t encounter Him in the future.  We can only encounter God is the present moment.  Wake up and seek Him and we WILL find Him already at work.

I attended a workshop last week where we were talking about listening to the HS.  Just like I’ve been talking about here, The Spirit is constantly trying to <softly> speak to us and through us… but we’re usually not paying attention.  We did this little exercise where several of us stood in the front of the room facing the wall – then people would stand behind us where we couldn’t even see them and we were supposed to ask the HS for a word about them.  I was facing a crucifix – it had been there all along – but suddenly my eyes were drawn to the left shoulder – there was a visible crack where the arm attached to the body.  I almost ignored it – it seemed like an insignificant detail - but I felt like THAT was what the Holy Spirit was pointing out to me – so I mentioned to the guy behind me that there was something significant about that shoulder being disconnected from the body.

Immediately, he said – well, I’m having surgery this Friday and they’re going to disconnect my shoulder so they can reconstruct the joint!  My jaw hit the floor.  I almost didn’t even mention the crack in the shoulder because I didn’t see what it could possibly mean… but because I was intentionally paying attention to the HS, I took a risk and told him about it.  What do you think, was that coincidence?

Another time I was driving to Jasper and had the thought that I should call someone – so I did – and just left a short voicemail explaining that the Spirit told me to call her and deliver a short message of encouragement.  She was so appreciative – and the next day we sat down for two hours to talk, because she had some heavy stuff she really needed to get off her chest.  

I’m convinced that the Spirit wants to do that every day – for every one of us – maybe every minute – but until we Wake Up, and stop distracting ourselves and intentionally start paying attention, ...

...we’ll miss the gorilla in the room.

2022/10/23 - Burn the Boxes

Before Mass

In the Gospel today, we’ll hear about two guys who go to church… seemingly for different reasons.  And it raises the question:  Why do we come to Church?  Why do we pray?  Is it to make ourselves feel good?  Is it to support other people in the pews?  Do we even HAVE a reason for coming to church?  In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a strong clue about the reason for prayer.  He implies that the purpose of prayer is to be ‘justified’.  That’s not a word we use often, so we might miss the meaning of the Gospel.

One place we might use that word is when we’re typing something – and we tell the computer to Left-justify everything.  It means to line everything up in a straight line.  If you’re a carpenter, you’re familiar with a plumb-bob – that string with a weight on it which shows you where the plumb line is – which is exactly straight up and down. 

So in a spiritual perspective, to be Justified means to be lined-up with God – to be in right relationship.  THAT is the goal of prayer.  

Homily 

Let’s pretend for a minute that God is in this box.  I know – God cannot be contained – but play along for a minute.  God is in this box.  Now – the goal of the Christian life is what?  To be with God – to become part of the divine.  In short – our goal of our religion… the goal of our LIFE in general, is to get into this box with God.

How do we get into the box?  Well, we actually have a pretty good idea of the path to get to God, because He has TOLD us:  Through scriptures, prophets, and revelation to saints, God has revealed paths for us to get to him – things like following the commandments, praying, celebrating the Mass, praying our rosary and chaplets – all of these are ways that have been given to us to get into the box.  So let me ask – if I do all those things we’ve been told will I automatically be in the box with God?  

I mean surely, if God revealed that praying a rosary is the fastest way to heaven – then SURELY if I pray it daily I’ll be in the box with God.

Surely if I go to Mass and receive Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity weekly – or even EVERY DAY – SURELY, I’ll be in the box!

Surely if I give my 10 percent to charity, THAT would put me in the box.

And surely - SURELY – if I do ALL of those things, then I’m good, RIGHT?

Maybe you think that’s not enough… What if we added confession - or novenas - or bible study or working the soup kitchen – THEN we’d be in the box, right?  Add all you want – I still say – it won’t automatically put us in the box with God.

See – that’s the perspective of the Pharisee in the Gospel today.  The Pharisee was not a BAD person.  In fact, he was the goodest of the good people… In the days of Jesus, the Pharisee was the ‘religious guy’ who did everything right… by definition – that’s what Pharisees do – they follow every law to the letter, and they THINK that guarantees that they are in the box with God.  And since they’re so tight with God, THEY’ve got the moral high ground, - so they look down on everyone else.  That’s what we hear from the first guy in the Gospel – looking down his nose at ‘those sinners’ and patting himself on the back for being so good.

Now – the rest of us would look at the Pharisee and based on everything we know, would have to agree – he IS the goodest of the good people.  He’s SO good, in fact, that there’s no way we can measure up.  I mean, If following the law of Moses is THE path to God, then the path is so steep that 99 percent of us ain’t got no chance of ever climbing into that box…. So we’d just give up.  God is out of reach.  Instead of helping us to reach God, the law becomes an impediment keeping us from God.

That’s one perspective – but Jesus brings in the Publican… which is tax collector.  He is the baddest of the bad people.  Worse than a sinner, He’s a traitor against Israel – he’s a extortionist – a cheater – a thief.  To put that in perspective, think to yourself of the worst, most un-holy person you know.  The person you are SURE has no chance of getting the heaven.  DON’T say their names out loud!  Maybe it’s your Deacon 😉  or maybe a family member, co-worker, politician, maybe somebody involved in human trafficking, Hitler maybe… we all have someone who we think is a bad person.  Surely God hates them.

Jesus says – that person – that baddest of the bad persons – knows how to get in the box with God – and the Holy guy does not.  What?

See how this just doesn’t make sense?  The Jews would think - Jesus – we’ve only been given ONE path to God and it’s called the Law of Moses.  THIS guy follows that path better than anyone we know … and now you’re saying even THAT ain’t good enough?  

Jesus is pointing out what is missing in the prayer of the Pharisee.  Access to God is not about all the external things of religion… it’s about the internal state of our hearts.

Notice, because the Pharisee has the moral high ground, he easily becomes inflated with Pride – and y’all know Pride is considered the root of all the deadly sins.  Because of that, instead of humbling himself before God, he thinks he’s ALREADY justified – he thinks he’s already IN THE BOX with God…. He doesn’t need God’s help, thank you – he’s got it all under control.

But the baddest of the bad guys successfully gets into the box with God… not by doing all the externals of religion… in fact, he likely does NONE of those things… instead his path into the box is to approach God in humility… to open up his heart and admit he is a sinner and ask for mercy.  He recognizes that he cannot approach God without God’s mercy.  That is the key to the box.

We see this another time in the Gospels when Jesus is hanging on the cross and the thief says – ‘we are getting what we deserved’ – and then he asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom.  Notice – he admitted his sin – then asked for mercy.  He’s considered to be the thief who stole heaven… by one act of humility at the end of his life, he got into the box with Jesus.

So – how do we apply this to our lives?

It’s a normal human tendency to put God in a box…. And only those who follow the secret path of OUR religion can get to God… and if it gets too easy, we add on more rules to make the path even harder.  Why?  Because we kinda like being on the moral high ground.  We like feeling that we’ve done everything WE can to EARN God’s attention.  This naturally leads to pride.  We put ourselves in a box of moral certitude and feel like we are justified because of our actions.  WE followed all the rules! – at least better than that guy over there so we DESERVE to be with God.

Religion can also lead us to putting other people into boxes.  ‘Those people’ don’t do things exactly as I do, so they obviously aren’t going to be loved by God.  Those people over there are the wrong political party – those people over there are not pro-life – those people over there do whatever – notice the common thread: ‘those people over there’.  Anytime we put people into a box, we think they are excluded them from God – but in reality, we’re excluding ourselves from God.  Because our pride – our lack of humility – keeps us from opening our hearts to other people – and therefore keeps us from opening our hearts to God.

The thing is – THERE IS NO BOX.  God cannot be contained in a box this size – nor the size of this church – nor the size of the world or even the size of the universe.  God is all in all – and the path to get to God is not some list of a thousand things to do – but the path to God is to simply, humbly admit that we are sinners in need of a savior and to ask God for mercy.  THAT is the Good News of the Gospel.  The purpose of prayer is to admit that we’re NOT justified – that we’re NOT living as we should – and ask God for mercy so we can improve our relationship with Him.

Now – let me be clear – doing all the things our religion suggests ARE good things.  They are TOOLS given to us by the Church and by saints throughout the ages to ASSIST us on the path to get to God.  But if we think the rules or the tool is THE way to God, we’ve missed the point of today’s Gospel.  For example, I may say a rosary every day, but if it doesn’t change my heart – it’s not opening my mind and heart to God.  A relationship where we don’t share our hearts is not a real relationship.  Think about that from a human perspective – you may be physically close to your spouse or you may be texting your friends often to stay connected– but if you don’t reach the point of sharing your deepest thoughts and dreams and feelings – sharing your heart with them – then the relationship remains only on the surface.  Same applies to our spiritual life – only through sharing our deepest thoughts in all honesty and humility will we deepen our relationship with God.

Yes – do all of our religious practices – but – burn the boxes and turn to God with humility.

2022/10/02 - Be the Bolt

Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14
Lk 17:5-10

Note:  homily based on this quote:

Don’t be a fool! It’s true that at most you play the part of a little bolt in that great undertaking of Christ's.  But do you know what happens when a bolt is not tight enough or when it works itself out of place? Bigger parts also work loose or the gear-wheels get damaged and broken.  The work is slowed up. Perhaps the whole machine will be rendered useless.
What a big thing it is to be a little bolt!
St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

Before Mass

Ever think about what’s holding our roof up over our head?  The ceiling is held up by those beams up there are called trusses – it’s what allows long spans without posts.  But we learned in the fire department a long time ago that if one piece of the truss fails, the whole thing collapses.  But as long as each bolt and piece of metal does its job, the church stands.

You ever notice that bolt right there on the end…  I never did either – but for the homily today I want to tell you the story about that bolt… it’s name is Bobbie.  Bobbie the Bolt.

In the Gospel today, the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith – then he goes off into the weeds, it seems, talking about servants serving at the table.  What’s that got to do with increasing our Faith, Jesus?  I admit, at first I saw no connection.

Hopefully the story of Bobbie the Bolt will help us understand.

Homily

When Bobbie was just born, he was nothing more than an unformed piece of metal.  He could have been anything when he grew up!  He dreamed of being the nose on the front of a jet… He thought about being a bullet that a soldier would use to defend his country… He even thought it would be cool to be the metal canister in a hand-cranked ice cream freezer.

But he was just a blob of metal.

As he got older, his life experiences started squeezing him and forming him into something more recognizable – but Bobbie didn’t like what he saw when he looked in the mirror.  Bobbie was forming into a bolt.  That’s not what he wanted to be!  Bolts are boring!  I want to be a jet – not a bolt!

Yet, every job he took – every experience of his life seemed to form him more and more… leaving grooves in him for some unknown purpose.  He went through some really hard times which almost melted him – but he came through even stronger than before – he became hardened steel.

Finally, when he reached maturity, some workers picked him up and stuck him through a piece of metal truss beam and tightened a nut on the other end of him.  Bobbie was bummed out… he would prefer to be the truss beam, not just a boring bolt!  The truss was lifted into the air and the roof was put on, and Bobbie has been in that place in the ceiling ever since…. Holding up the roof of our church here.

So, what do you think – did Bobbie have a good life?  Did he fulfill the purpose God gave him?

You and I are like Bobbie.  We may have dreams about what we want to be – but everything we do in life forms us into the tool that God needs us to be.  See – it’s by doing the job that is in front of us that we become who we are.  It’s by Fulfilling the responsibilities we’ve been given that the path to holiness opens up for us.  

That’s an important lesson – in fact, it’s one of the central themes of Opus Dei – the organization founded by St. Josemaria Escriva.  Literally, Opus Dei means ‘the work of God’.  Josemaria’s point was that in doing all of the mundane work of everyday life, THAT is how each person is sanctified – that’s how we become holy – THAT is how we increase our faith.

Each job we do forms us into the tool – or the bolt – that God needs us to be.  As each of us does what we’re called to do, we form the Church – literally – it takes every one of us doing our part to hold this church together.  Yeah we need Priests – and maybe we need Deacons – but we also need church cleaners, musicians, altar servers, grass cutters, office staff, people to wash dishes after the parish social… I could go on and on… it takes hundreds of people doing their seemingly mundane job to keep this church standing.

Just like that bolt right up there.  If we don’t do our job, the whole structure would be compromised.  

Now – let’s connect this to the parable in the Gospel.  Does Bobbie the Bolt deserve thanks for doing his job?  Would we ever THINK of praising that bolt for doing what it was made to do?  No – Bobbie is simply fulfilling the purpose that God gave him.  He is doing his own Opus Dei…the work of God.

You and I are like that bolt.  Without even being noticed, we simply fulfill the mundane responsibilities in front of us every day – as mothers and father, husbands and wives, co-workers and bosses, friends and brothers and sisters, students… our work IS our path to holiness.  

- When we humble ourselves to change a diaper, take out the trash, sweep the floor – it teaches us humility.  

- When we faithfully get up each morning to earn our pay and provide for our family, it teaches us self-less-ness.  

- As we reach out to others in need or offer a kind word to a friend who’s feeling depressed, we learn what it’s like to Be the love of God for each other.  

In these simple, mundane tasks appointed to us, we are doing our own Opus Dei – the work of God.  Each task leaves a groove in us for some unknown purpose which we may not understand …but we can trust that God will harden us like steel if we need to be.

When we ask ‘Lord increase our faith’ – the answer is:  do what you’ve been given to do… and when you look back, you’ll see that you’ve become a hardened piece of steel – made by God for a specific purpose… to hold the Church together.