Friday, March 30, 2018

2018/03/30 - Good Friday - Couldn't Jesus have died without Nails?

Ever wonder why Jesus had to die – and not only THAT he had to die – but why he had to die THAT way?  I mean- couldn’t he have been drugged or drowned or decapitated?  No – He had to endure the most gruesome, painful, humiliating, excruciating death possible… WHY?

And wasn’t being hung on a cross enough?   Couldn’t they have skipped the crown of thorns at least – geesh – I can’t imagine having all of those needles piercing my scalp and forehead and into my eyeball sockets.  And couldn’t they have just tied him to that cross instead of nailing him to it! 

Seems like overkill. 

I remember watching the Passion movie several years ago – and one of the scenes that just hit home with me and stuck in my heart was after they had nailed Jesus to the cross, they flipped over the cross and bent the nail.  My heart jumped – why would they do that!!!  I mean - when I bend a nail like that, I expect never to be taking it out again.  It seemed so permanent.  I know – it’s kinda silly to focus in on such a small detail when Jesus was put through so much – but that scene more than any other still my heart cries, ‘WHY’!?

There was a hurricane that hit North Carolina several years back, and whole neighborhoods were wiped out by the winds.  This one neighborhood was hit particularly hard – all mansions and ½ million dollar houses – every one of them was leveled.  Yet – just one street over were a bunch of less expensive houses built years before, and they were all still standing.  As the crews came in to start the clean-up, they were puzzled – and went to the folks who had built the houses that were still standing.  What did you do that made your houses stand while ours were destroyed?  Simple – where you used staples – we used nails.

Seems if you want to build something to last through the storms, you gotta use nails. 

In a way, that answers our question about why Jesus died the way he did.  See – part of His purpose coming here was to establish His Church on earth – he came so that 2000 years later, you and I would be here today.  We are the mystical body of Christ – we are the representatives to the world that this is not some fairy tale.  No – Jesus was real – He IS real.  We know what happened on Good Friday really DID happen and fortunately, we also know how the story ends.  We are here to take that message to the whole world both now and into the future.  Jesus needed to build a church that would last.  In order to do that, he had to show beyond a shadow of a doubt how deep his love is for us.  He had said himself that there was no greater love than to lay down one’s life – so he HAD to die because that was his purpose:  to show us how much He loved us.  He also had to have those nails bent – overkill we might think – but if that’s what it takes to get MY (your) attention, that’s what He had to do.  He knew his church would face storm after storm, heresy, scandal, relativism, and perhaps worst of all – apathy.  Any one of these storms could tear apart a church.  But that’s why Jesus died like He did.

Because if you want to build something to last through the storms, you gotta use nails.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

2018/03/25 - Palm Sunday: Choose Your Jesus

Before Mass:
When you pray to Jesus, how do you picture him?  Is he a teacher?  Healer?  Is he bloodied on a cross or standing piously pointing to heaven?  Does he demand anything of us, or does he just say, I’m OK, you’re OK?  Jesus has many faces – which do you choose?

We start today’s Mass with the crowds going wild welcoming their king… a parade ushering into Jerusalem the son of David come to restore greatness to Israel.  We end with a parade of people led by that same son of David carrying a cross on his back as he leaves Jerusalem.  A lot changed in one week.  Jesus had two paths – a choice of which kind of king He would be… and the people had a choice of which kind of King they wanted.  He had to be tempted by the Palm Sunday parade… we all want to be loved – we all want the path to power and fame.  But Jesus knew that what awaited him was the path of humiliation, pain, and feeling abandoned even by God the Father.  Put yourself into the crowd as we listen to these highlights from the last week of Jesus’ life on earth and ask yourself – which Jesus do I prefer?


Homily

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us… these phrases describe the state of the world in Charles Dickens’ classic book “A Tale of Two Cities” – but it could just as well describe what we hear today in our scripture readings.  Jesus has two paths before him… the path to the throne of Earthly Kingship …and the path to the throne of the cross.  Jesus had to choose:  which Jesus he would be.

There’s a scene from the movie Talladega Nights, where they get into a fight over their meal prayer because Ricky, the guy leading grace, keeps praying to the “Dear Lord Baby Jesus”.  Others argue that Jesus grew up and had a beard, so it’s weird to be praying to the infant Jesus.

Ricky responds:  “Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m sayin’ grace.  When you say grace, you can say it to the Grownup Jesus or Teenage Jesus or Bearded Jesus or whoever you want.”

What follows is a bit of a theological free-for-all.  Everybody in the family votes for a favorite Jesus.  “I like to think of Jesus like a Ninja, fightin’ off evil samurai,” says one of the boys. 
Ricky’s race partner adds:  “I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-shirt.  ‘Cause it says like, I wanna be formal but I’m here to party, too.  I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party.”

I’m NOT recommending this movie to teach us theology of how to pray.  But Ricky’s family is at least  willing to do openly what most of us do without even really thinking about it: We choose our own Jesus.

We might like our Jesus all cleaned-up and proper – little or no blood.  We take away anything that might make us uncomfortable – for example – that loin cloth was not part of the Roman execution.  The victim was stripped completely naked – as part of their public humiliation.  But we choose a Jesus who we can look at without shame and without horror.

We might like Jesus the healer, preferring the stories of how he healed the blind, the lame, the raising of Lazarus – now THAT’S the kind of Jesus we want around – our own personal genie in a bottle just waiting to grant our wishes.

We might like Jesus the teacher, as we picture ourselves sitting on the hillside above the Sea of Galilee listening to Jesus teach about ‘Blessed are the poor’…  His words seem to contain a deep, eternal truth in them.  I mean, we wouldn’t actually want to “be” poor, but Jesus the teacher sure makes it sound virtuous.  We like thinking about virtue.

We might prefer Jesus the table-turner – as we point our fingers at everything and everyone around us who has strayed from the path of Truth.  And most of us doing the pointing think that we’ve got THE truth on our side; we can even point to documents and dogmas and doctrines to support our claim to be right…so we join Jesus turning over tables.

Nobody in their right mind would choose Jesus the weak, humiliated, poor, bloody, hated revolutionary from nowheresville, Nazareth.
But every one of has to do it:  We choose our Jesus.

Which takes us to the Gospel reading… At a glance, the choice seemed straightforward.  Pilate presented two prisoners: a convicted felon named Barabbas and a teacher from Galilee named Jesus.  He declared his intention to set one free.  Which one would the crowd prefer?

Barabbas was what you might call a celebrity terrorist - a brave patriot or nationalist revolutionary who had had the guts to do what a lot of other people had only dreamed of doing: he had stood up to the despised Romans.  Luke tells us that he had committed murder, presumably of someone sympathetic to the empire.

But there’s one detail left out of most manuscripts which in a way, adds a whole ‘nother dimension to the story.  In some of the oldest manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew, we discover that Barabbas has a first name.  His first name is…. Jesus.  Yeah – kinda weird ain’t it?  I guess that’s why the translators left that part out – out of respect for Jesus Christ.  So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, 'Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"
It is a dramatic moment:  Which Jesus do you want?  This Jesus or that Jesus?

The two prisoners stood before the crowd.
It may have seemed as if they were on trial.  But in truth, it was now the crowd that was on trial.  Which of these two figures held the greater promise for the nation of Israel?  Was it Jesus Barabbas, who would hit the Romans hard, make something important happen, and inspire the masses to revolution?  Or was it Jesus of Nazareth, whose primary weapons were trusting God, refusing to worry, and loving one's enemies?

Every day, like those in the crowd that day, we must decide which Jesus we want. 
Perhaps I want the Infant Baby Jesus who doesn’t challenge me about my bad habits.  Maybe I want a Jesus who approves of my political views.  Or the Jesus who, amazingly, can't stand the very same people I can't stand.  Or the Jesus who understands me and doesn’t insist that I change my way of life.

It comes down to this: Am I only wanting a Jesus who promises to REMOVE the thorns and suffering from my life here?  Or do I want a Jesus who takes the thorns into his flesh to show me the path to true joy WHILE He suffers with me? 

Choose your Jesus.
** (I need to give credit to Glenn MacDonald – a Presbyterian Minister from Indianapolis.  He has a knack for opening up the scriptures with new insights and inspiration, and I want to credit him with inspiration for my homily today.(but if you don’t like it, I’ll take the blame))

Saturday, March 3, 2018

2018/03/04 - A Vision for the Church

Before Mass:
(note:  we are using the Cycle A readings which are just a couple pages later in your missalette)

Have you ever thought about what you think our parish should be like 10 or 20 years from now?  Probably not – see we just kinda think the way church is now is how it’s always been and how it always will be – that’s normal to think that, but it’s not true.  The church – including our parish – is changing fast.  Whereas 20     years ago, most of our neighbors belonged to this parish, today, that’s not the case.  Now –I’m not worried about it necessarily, because I know God is still in control – however, I do think we need to plan ahead.  Ask ourselves, what would we LIKE our parish to look like in 20 years?  More importantly, What would GOD want his church to look like in 20 years?  Once we answer that question, then we need to put plans in place to work with the Holy Spirit to make that vision a reality.

The most important line in the Gospel might actually be the line right BEFORE the Gospel! 

"Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee. (and) He "had to" pass through Samaria. "


See – Jesus had been up near Jerusalem at the Jordan river when He heard that the Pharisees were getting uncomfortable with how He was growing in popularity.  Since it wasn’t yet his time to die, he high-tailed it north back to Galilee, where he would spend most of his ministry.  To get there, he either had to go around Samaria or go through it.  Any pious Jew would have gone around, because Jews HATED Samaritans – they were half-breeds, impure, outcasts, lower than dogs!  But it says Jesus “had to” go through it.  Nothing Jesus did was incidental… He purposely crossed the border and went through Samaria to give us a vision of what His kingdom would be like. We get to eaves drop on his conversation with the woman at the well in today’s Gospel.  Pay attention to what this encounter tells us about the Kingdom of God.  And in case you're wondering, put yourself into the shoes of the woman at the well.
 
Homily
That was a long reading, so let’s cut right to the core of the message.  Jesus “had to” go through Samaria to meet this woman.  He went against all of the common sense of the day:  nobody travels THROUGH samaria, no man talks to a woman, no Jew talks to a Samaritan, no Jew would consider drinking from something a Samaritan TOUCHED!
Jesus had to go through Samaria to give us a vision for his Kingdom; that it would reach out to all of the outcasts.  EVERYBODY was to be included – even a Samaritan woman who’d had 5 men.  Everybody…even a Catholic sinner from Dubois County 2000 years later…yeah… even you and me.
Jesus invited this woman to a relationship.  Notice that!  ‘Who’ she was, ‘where’ she was from, and ‘what’ she had done were afterthoughts in this reading – the conversation started with an invitation.  Jesus went to where SHE was just to meet her and offer her fellowship in the Kingdom…  Before talking about her sin, without even mentioning her religious upbringing or whether she followed all the rules in their religion.  That didn’t matter.  Jesus crossed all of those borders to find her.
That’s a vision we can apply to our own parish.  We should be crossing borders… going out to the outcasts to invite them into the Kingdom.  We shouldn’t care about their religious affiliation, gender, race, political party, marital status… that’s all incidental.  We start with the invitation.  We go where they are – meet them in their mess – to offer them the same living water we’ve found in Jesus.
That’s nice to talk about – but what would that really look like?  Here are some concrete ideas I have – a vision for our parish.  We should be reaching out to the outcasts of our community.  First, I’d like to see us be even more welcoming.  See - We are such a close community that it’s easy to talk to our friends and family before and after Mass, but outsiders coming in find it hard to feel at home with us sometimes because they’re not included.  Nobody is to blame here – we just may never have noticed the problem.   I have some ideas how we can reach out to them.  Even people who have been here for a while never know how to get connected – how to get involved.  My vision is that everyone would be involved in ways they enjoy and build-up the kingdom.  Second – there are a lot of folks from our community who no longer join us – maybe because they didn’t feel welcomed?  Maybe they felt judged?  Maybe they never got invited to personally get involved?  We can reach out to them and personally invite them back – and re-build those personal relationships.  Third – there are a lot of non-Catholics in our area – which is different that it was 25 years ago.  We need to review our Mission as a church – we need to be like Jesus and go out of our way to meet them where they are and invite them to be part of our family.  Fourth – there is a community that springs up at the lake every Summer which is another vineyard waiting to be harvested.  What creative ways can we use to invite them to be part of our family even on a temporary basis. 
We have to cross borders:  It might mean we have to come out of our pews, come out of our comfort zones, come out of our houses, even drive a bit out of town – but like Jesus ‘had to’ go through Samaria, we ‘have to’ go out to where the people are.  We have to believe that they WANT to be invited… they’re just waiting at the well for us to offer them the Living Water.
Would you like to help make this vision a reality?  I propose to finally start an Evangelization team.  April 18th will be our first meeting – so watch the bulletin for details – and, if this really interests you, talk to me.  I’d love to start kicking around ideas.  We’ll have some great opportunities this summer as we help celebrate the 175th.
Maybe the Evangelization team isn’t for you – but everybody has a need to feel like part of the parish.  We do that best by getting involved. 
After the 10 am Mass, we’re having a brunch for EVERYONE – yes – everyone is encouraged to come.  We’ve got a couple dozen of our outreach ministries queued up to talk for just a couple minutes about what their ministry does.  For example, I’ve had a couple of young ladies approach me in the last year saying they want to get involved in the parish but don’t know how – so I spent a little time finding out what interests they have – and got them connected with a ministry.  Now, not only are they active, invaluable members of those groups, but they now have a personal ownership in our parish.  We have so many ministries that you may not even know what they are:  Grace Co-Op, Hospitality Committee, SVDP, Helping Hands, Parish Nursing, St. Anne’s Sodality, KofC…and bunches more – for men and women of all ages.  Whether you enjoy making food or cutting firewood, talking to people or praying or driving…you name it, we need your gifts.  I’d say everyone here WANTS to feel a part of the parish –  This brunch is a simple way to get some ideas where you’d best fit.  There won’t be any pressure to sign up for anything – this is informational. 
Jesus has crossed the border and is sitting at the well waiting for you – inviting you to come closer.  Will you give Him a drink?