Homily for Lent 2 - March 1, 2015

Lent 2

March 1, 2015

Seven Characteristics of Disciples

 

            The core of our faith is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are blessed as Catholics to have a very rich faith, history, tradition…we have the saints, and 2,000 years of church history, the Popes, beautiful churches and works of art, music, sacramentals…and all of this is beautiful, but it’s not the core of our faith. The heart of it is that personal friendship, that daily walk with Christ. You see, having a relationship with Jesus means that we intentionally try to love Him and serve Him every day with all of our lives. So let’s look today at the seven characteristics of someone who has a relationship with Christ.

            First, someone with a real relationship with Jesus knows that they’re a sinner. It drives me crazy when someone will tell me, “Oh, I don’t need to go to confession, I haven’t done anything that bad.” Do you only go to the doctor when you’re dying? No, hopefully you go for an annual physical when you’re healthy too, because the doctor can help you to live a healthier life and identify any problems that are brewing. People with a real relationship with Jesus go to confession regularly, because they recognize that even little venial sins can lead to mortal sins if we don’t correct those faults as soon as we notice them. Being in a relationship with Jesus means that we want to be holy, not just good people, because Jesus was holy and we want to be like Him.

            Second, a person in a relationship with Jesus lives a life of worship. What is worship? The first reading is a good example of worship, but a lot of people misunderstand it. God knows all along that He is going to prevent Abraham from murdering his son – our God is not bloodthirsty or cruel. But He wanted to see if Abraham was willing to give his most precious gift back to God. Abraham passes the test – he is willing to give his son, who is more precious than his own life, back to God…and God blesses that offering by giving him back his son, and then adding many blessings to Abraham.

            Worship means that our entire lives are directed to Him and His glory; we don’t hold anything back. Part of that means being engaged at Mass – I look out on any given Sunday in any church in America and I see large portions of Catholics who are massively disengaged with the Mass. They don’t listen to the readings, they never say the responses, they don’t sing, they leave right after Communion…this is not a life of worship! Worship is giving of ourselves to God – it involves giving Him our attention at Mass, giving Him our time in daily prayer, giving Him our plans when we’re deciding what we should do, giving Him our recreation when we are deciding what to watch on TV or who to hang out with. Someone with a real relationship with Jesus lives a life of worship.

            This ties right into the third characteristic of someone who lives out a relationship with Jesus – they are never satisfied with the minimum! A lot of people live their faith like, “What’s the least I can do and still make it to Heaven?” That’s like a husband saying, “What’s the least I can do and not make my wife leave me?” That would be a sorry relationship, wouldn’t it? Certainly it wouldn’t be one of love. Love wants to do the maximum, and this should be especially true if we are in love with God!

            The fourth is that someone who has a real loving relationship with Jesus wants to grow in their faith. I was assigned with a priest one time and as we sat down to dinner for the first time I asked if he would lead the blessing. He responded, tongue-in-cheek, “I blessed all the food I was ever going to eat back in 1983. I don’t need to repeat that blessing.” We had a good laugh over that, but that’s how some people view their faith! “I learned everything I needed to know when I was younger, that’s it.” That’s like a husband saying to his wife on their honeymoon, “Well, now that we’re finally married and we’re done dating, I know everything about you.” Oh, good sir, you have just begun to know your wife – and as we become adults, I hope we realize that we have just begun to get to know the Lord! A real disciple has a hunger to learn!

            Because their hearts have been set ablaze with love for God because of their life of worship and their hunger to learn about Jesus, those who are true disciples also want to go out and tell others about Jesus! We do that all the time with things we love – when I first got to Stamford, everyone was excited to tell me about their favorite Stamford restaurant – Peliccis or Colony Pizza…or my favorite, Dinosaur Barbecue. They wanted to share what they loved. Same with Jesus – if we love Him, we want to share Him!

            Of course, this personal relationship is not a private relationship, so the sixth characteristic is that someone with a personal relationship with Jesus also loves the Church. They want to be active in their Church, worshipping Christ at Mass and being involved in their parish. You see, if we love Jesus, we also need to love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loved the Church enough to die for her! A personal relationship with Jesus doesn’t mean that I can just go out to the woods or stay in my room and talk to Jesus – no, it means that I approach Jesus in and through the Church. When a person says, “I love God, but I don’t go to Church,” I say, “What God do you love, then? I love the God Who set up His Church as the best way to approach Him!” So a personal relationship with Jesus should lead us to love the Church and be active in our local parish.

            Finally, a person who loves Jesus wants to give back in service. Look at what Peter says in the Gospel – he is so overwhelmed by the glory of God that he can think of nothing else to say except, “Lord, let me set up three tents for you!” Now, it is my prayer that you are so moved by God’s powerful and passionate love for you that you can’t help but say, “Father, let me help with the St. Mary’s Family Fair!” But really, those who love Jesus, see Jesus in their brothers and sisters. Disciples want to demonstrate their love for God in concrete acts of service to the church, to the poor, and to their families and neighbors.

             My friends, I realize that if you take these words seriously, they are challenging, because they challenge us to recommit ourselves to living a personal relationship with Jesus. It’s not enough to come to church; it’s not enough to get your sacraments and you’re all set, because church attendance and getting Sacraments doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a living relationship with Christ. In a moment I will sit down and I just ask us to reflect on this – looking at the six characteristics of someone who has a real love for Jesus Christ, do WE really have that kind of deep relationship with Jesus?

First Sunday of Lent - Feb 22, 2015

Lent 1, 2015

February 22, 2015

Covenental Relationship with Christ

 

            During Lent, my homilies are all going to be about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus, because really, that’s the heart of our faith. Some of us already have that personal relationship – but others, even people who have received baptism and confirmation, may not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Simply because we’ve received the Sacraments doesn’t mean we have a living relationship with God through Jesus! But what does a living relationship with Jesus look like? Let’s turn to our readings to get an idea.

In the Old Testament, God broke into human history to bring men and women in relationship with Him. He swears an oath today with Noah, but a special type of oath called a “covenant” – this is an oath that establishes a relationship. God adopted Noah into His family. But that covenant was imperfect – it was limited only to Noah and his family.

            The good Lord wanted to increase His family and offer His sonship and daughterhood to everyone of every nation. So He continued to offer covenants throughout history – to Abraham, Moses, and David – each time increasing the number of people who live by faith in Him. Finally, He sent His Son Jesus to invite the whole world into the covenant.

            This is why Jesus speaks those words in the Gospel – “This is the time of fulfillment” – in other words, this is the time that God will offer the grace of a relationship with Him to the entire world. Jesus then goes on to say, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” What is this Kingdom? It is a kingdom over our hearts and lives when we live out our relationship with God. He then says, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” What are the two requirements of anyone living in a relationship with Jesus Christ? Repentance – we have to give up our sins – and faith.

            You see, a covenant is a very different relationship than a contract. A contract is an exchange of goods and services. I give you something, you give me something. I give you a dollar, you give me a double-quarter-pounder-with-cheese. That is a type of relationship to be sure, but it’s one where we use the other person to get what we want. A covenant, on the other hand, isn’t “I give you something, you give me something” but “I give you myself, you give me yourself.” It’s a type of relationship where we give of ourselves so the other person can benefit.

            A lot of people’s relationship with God resembles a contract. “I’ll go to Mass and say my night prayers, God, if You give me x” – fill in the blanks: a good job, success in school, more friends, money, health, whatever. That’s not what a real relationship with God is all about. We should instead say, “God, I give myself to You – I give You my thoughts, my words, my actions, my relationships, my money, my talent. Help me to glorify and love You above all else. In return, all I want is to know and love You and spend eternity with You.” What a huge difference!

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Feb 15, 2015

Homily for February 15, 2015
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Gift of Faith

 In the deep South in the 1950s, there was a young girl who lived near a convent of nuns who ran a home for the elderly. Very often, the girl would go over to help the nuns with the home – she would clean the house for them, or take care of the patients, or join them for prayers. The nuns were wonderful women of God, but their ministry was constantly short of money. One evening, they were going to prepare breakfast for the next day, when they realized that they had no food left in the house, and no money to buy any. The only thing left in the house was half of a plain donut.
 The girl was very worried about what would happen to the residents, who would have nothing to eat the next day. But the mother superior wasn’t one to worry. She put the half-donut on a plate, and taking the girl with her, they both went into the chapel where the mother superior laid the donut down before the altar. Kneeling down, she prayed out-loud, “Jesus, You know that we need food. And we trust that You will provide it.”
 That was all she prayed. She got up and encouraged the girl to go about setting the table for the next day’s breakfast.
 About an hour later the doorbell rang. The girl and the mother superior answered it – it was the local baker who explained, “Dear Sister, my assistant was baking donuts for tomorrow but he made all of the wrong type, so I can’t sell these like I want to. Would you be willing to take them?”
 The baker opened the box to reveal dozens upon dozens of plain donuts – all cut exactly in half. The nun turned to the little girl and said something she never forgot: “Honey, Jesus is real.”
 This is a true story – it was told to me by a friend who knows the girl, who is currently a nun herself.
 Before Jesus ever does a miracle in the Scriptures, there is something required: faith. He never heals someone without faith. Now it may be easy to think, “Well, why doesn’t Jesus heal them and then they’ll have faith?” But the physical healing is less important than their faith in Him – they have to believe that He is the Son of God before He heals them.
 Today’s Gospel is another example of this. The leper expresses his faith – he says, “If you will it, you can heal me!” He acknowledges that Jesus does have this type of power! If you think about it, it was really a leap into the unknown – the leper would have looked like a fool if he put his trust in Jesus but then Jesus couldn’t really heal him. So the leper trusted that Jesus was who He said He was (even though Jesus probably looked like an ordinary man), and this gift of faith proved to be his healing.
 I love the definition of faith from the book of Hebrews: “Faith is the evidence of things unseen.” Faith means knowing the truth about reality without having seen it. We look with our eyes and see what looks like bread – but our faith tells us it is the Body of Jesus. We don’t see Heaven – yet our lives should be directed towards it. We don’t physically see the Holy Spirit living in our immortal souls – but we trust that He is there.
 Faith is both a gift and a choice. It is a gift that God gives – so ask Him to increase your faith! But at the same time, faith is a choice – we must decide to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, we must decide to live for a Heaven that we cannot see.
 Even though faith is a gift from God and somewhat of a mystery, our faith is not blind. There are very good reasons to believe in God, in the Resurrection, in Heaven. I don’t have time right now to give you proofs for these articles of faith, but they are there, I assure you, and I’d be happy to tell you after Mass any of the proofs for our faith. So our faith is not irrational at all – it’s not like we have to throw out science and reason in order to have faith.
 But faith is superrational – it goes beyond science and reason. Science is based upon the material world – its proper role is to discover what we can see and touch and measure. But the world that we cannot see or measure is even more real than the material world – angels, souls, eternity. It’s simply outside of the realm of science. Science can’t disprove faith – it simply must recognize that faith goes beyond what science can measure.
 So how do we grow in faith? Pray for it, since it is a gift. But we also must feed it – we should study our faith, because our faith makes sense! Read a good spiritual book (we have some in the back of church), come to our Lenten Catholicism series. And right here, right now, make a decision to turn your life over to Jesus as Lord. He has the power to do in you what He did for the leper – to completely heal you and change your life, giving you the hope of eternal life.

Homily for Ordinary Time 5 - February 8, 2015

Homily for Ordinary Time 5

February 8, 2015

On Christian Suffering

 

            In November of last year, 29-year-old brain cancer victim Brittany Maynard ended her own life, choosing to die on her terms rather than suffer any longer. Many people applauded her decision and hope that assisted suicide becomes legal in every state.

            At the same time that this young woman, in the prime of her life, was fighting her personal battle with cancer, last September a 13-year-old boy named Ethan Hallmark quietly passed away from his own terminal cancer, but with a completely different outlook. Ethan said in a video interview two months before his own death: “Of course I want to live a long life – who doesn’t? But even though this cancer has had a lot of bad stuff, it has had a lot of good stuff too. I met friends I wouldn’t have met [without it]. I’ve grown closer to God, my family has. I wouldn’t trade my relationship with Jesus for anything. Even if I pass away from cancer, I’m going to be focused on the goal, and I hope to hear Him say, Well done, good and faithful servant.”

            That is two very different views of suffering. One view sees suffering as a punishment, or at least meaningless and to be avoided at all costs. The other view sees suffering as a mystery within God’s plan, a mystery for our sanctification.

            We were made for one purpose only: to become saints. To be holy. And so everything God does or allows is directed to this goal. This includes our suffering!

The Christian view of suffering is much like a father who takes his young son to get a vaccine. The boy cries out in fear and pain as he is pricked by the needle, and he tells his father to make that bad doctor stop. But the father sits by – not because he doesn’t love the son, but because he loves him so much that he wants him to grow strong and healthy.

I have met many, many people who have lost their faith in God because they have suffered. Where is God in all this suffering?, they wonder. Why doesn’t He take it away? Is He punishing me?

The answer is, no. He is not punishing you. He is forming you to become the best-version-of-yourself, a saint. He doesn’t take it away immediately because He wants to use it to help you develop virtues and strengths that wouldn’t be developed otherwise. And where is He in this suffering? Look at the cross – He is suffering right there with you.

Let’s take the example of someone who is suffering from the grief of having lost a loved one. They may cry out, “Why, Lord? Why did you take this person from me?” But looking at it from a truly spiritual perspective, grief can teach us much about the shortness of our life. It may help us to better cherish our relationships. It can lead us to understand the Communion of Saints in a deeper way, as we pray for our deceased loved one and ask them to pray for us. We can be formed to become saints if we know that this comes from the hand of our Loving God.

Now, please understand – it is perfectly all right to seek legitimate ways to avoid suffering. If we have a headache, we can take Tylenol. If we’re working in a job we hate, it’s okay to find a new job. If we find ourselves in an abusive relationship, we should get out of that. God is not sadistic; He does not want you to suffer when there is a morally legitimate way to escape it.

But much of life’s suffering is unavoidable. Family tension. Physical illness. Misfortunes. Look at all of this through the lens of eternity, and all of a sudden they take on a different light. Just a couple days ago, one of the kids in our religious education class asked me, “Why did God make snakes with venom?” That made me reflect – why did God make things that are harmful to us like cancer or tarantulas or hurricanes? I think it’s so that we would remember that this world is not our home. He made this world imperfect so that we would be consumed with desire for the perfect home of Heaven.

And in the meanwhile, He continues to prepare our hearts for such a gift, sometimes through suffering. One of my favorite movies is “The Robe,” about the Roman Soldier who crucifies Jesus and ends up obtaining the Lord’s robe as a result. The soldier, racked with guilt about crucifying Jesus, searches all over for a way to be at peace again. He ends up meeting this Christian woman who is paralyzed from the waist down. She had met Jesus and spoken with him, and she begins to share the Good News with the soldier. But the soldier challenges her and says, “If you really met Jesus, why didn’t He heal you?”

She replies, “But He did heal me.”

“What do you mean?” the angry soldier demands. “You’re still unable to walk.”

“This is true,” she responded kindly, “But before I met Jesus, my heart was full of bitterness and anger at my situation. He healed me of that, which was far more important than my physical healing.”

 I can only speak for myself, but the greatest lessons I have ever learned in my life were through suffering. Of course, this is easy to say but hard to live out, especially when we’re in the midst of some suffering. But I truly and passionately believe that God wants us to be supremely happy with Him in eternity – so don’t waste any suffering that you go through. Instead, offer it up to the Lord, ask Him to use the suffering to heal your soul, and allow Him to form you into a saint through the fire of trials.