Easter Homily - April 5, 2015

 

            When I was in college, I spent a summer doing mission work in Nebraska. I was with a group of other college students who would go around to different churches, doing summer camps for kids and evangelizing the youth. In one church, I was assigned to the first and second graders…which for me was quite a challenge. How could I occupy twenty little kids for a whole week? By the third day I had run out of ideas…and they were bouncing off the walls!

            So, finally, I decided that we would all write letters to Jesus, so we all took out our construction paper and crayons and wrote these letters to Jesus telling Him why we loved Him. Then we all went into the church and placed the letters in front of the tabernacle. I told the kids that if Jesus really liked your letter, He would hang it on His refrigerator in Heaven. So the kids prayed quietly for about 15 seconds, before they got antsy and we had to leave.

            That night all of those who were running the camp visited the church – and I realized I had forgotten to take those letters off of the altar! So I took them off the altar and we all looked at them – because they were pretty cute.

            The next day, all of my kids had completely forgotten about the letters to Jesus – all except one boy named Austin. From the moment he got to the church for the camp, he asked if he could check and see if Jesus had read his letter. I said, no, he couldn’t wander off into the church all by himself. Maybe later. But for the rest of the morning, he kept begging me every ten minutes – “Can I go now and check the church? Can I? Can I? Pleeeeease???”

            Finally, when all of the other kids were at recess, he asked me yet again, so I said, “Fine, Austin, go ahead, you can run down to the church and check and see if Jesus read your letter.” So he went…and all the while, I was praying that he wasn’t destroying hymnals or anything (he was a 7-year-old-boy, after all!). Finally, after about 10 minutes, I saw him running back to me, his face lit up, a bright smile, shouting, “Jesus took my letter!! He’s alive! Jesus is alive!”

            Now one day, Austin is going to realize what I did…but it is my hope that he also realizes the depth of what he was saying.

            This is a game-changer. He’s alive. If the tomb isn’t empty, then our sins were not forgiven, then death has not been conquered, then our life is utterly meaningless. But if the grave is empty, then Jesus is Who He says He is – the Son of God, Who can take away our sins.

            History rises and falls on this one event. Our very eternal destinies, the meaning of our lives, hinge upon whether or not the tomb is empty.

            You see, if Jesus was just a good man who taught us about love and then died a horrific death, then He would be remembered as a hero, but ultimately a failed hero who didn’t really change that much by His life. Yes, He inspired many people to do good deeds. But in the end, when we all die, all of our good deeds will be meaningless, and they will lie in the grave with us.

            But if He really rose, in the flesh, from the dead…what then? Then there’s hope that we too will live after our death. Then there’s a meaning for the life that we lead. Then there’s a purpose to this grand thing called the universe – that all of the messiness of daily life can and will be redeemed in Christ, making our crazy world a place where we can love God and someday come to live with Him for eternity.

            So what does this mean for us? If He is alive, this means that we can have a real relationship with Him. Even now He is calling, knocking at the door of your heart. Do you want to have a friendship with Christ? It is indeed possible, if you would simply, in your own words, offer your life to Christ in prayer.

            Of course, if He is alive, then He has every claim over our lives. Our lives do not belong to ourselves – we are His people, redeemed by His Blood, covered in His mercy. For this reason, we can no longer indulge in our former sins. We can no longer waste time pursuing those useless things like money or power or a comfortable life. Instead, all of our efforts and energies must be used to glorify Him. If He is alive, then He is our King, and the King of our lives. We need to seek to please Him in how we spend our time, what and who we love, how we react to the circumstances of our lives. For example, because Jesus rose from the dead, we must spend time in prayer and Mass, seeking His will in our lives. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we must break those addictions in our lives through the Sacrament of Confession. Because we are living for Christ, we must be faithful to our wedding vows and sacrificially love our families. Because we are living for Christ, our time, money, talents, relationships, our entire lives belong to Him.

            But we only live for Christ because Christ lives. He lives, not just in our hearts and memories, but really and actually – the tomb is empty. He has risen. And that changes everything.

Good Friday Homily - April 3, 2015

Good Friday Homily

Friday, April 3, 2015

The Heart of the Matter

 

            You can break someone’s heart, or have a heart-to-heart talk. You can be a bleeding-heart or have a hard heart. You can wear your heart on your sleeve, or you can eat your heart out. There are literally hundreds of expressions of the heart – all referring to the core of the person, their innermost sanctuary, that place where we are most ourselves.

            Jesus’ Heart was pierced by a lance, open for the world to see. Why is that? For several reasons. First, to show that He suffered from the very depths of His being. He allowed sorrow and anguish to go right to His heart. When His heart was pierced, it poured forth the last drops of blood and water that He had yet to shed – He gave all, every last ounce of His strength, every last drop of His life.

            But also, the blood and water are hugely significant – they symbolize the two Sacraments that are the fundamental pillars of the Church – Baptism and the Eucharist. So Jesus died to give birth to the Church. The Church was created from Jesus’ heart. It’s the love of His heart in the world today.

            When Christ’s heart was opened, the source of grace and mercy was opened to us, grace and mercy that we can access through Baptism and the Eucharist. We can now draw near to the Heart of God. His Heart was pierced by man’s cruelty, but all that flowed forth is love and mercy, grace and new life.

            So do not be afraid to draw near to His Heart. The Heart of Jesus is a refuge for sinners, strength for the weak, the source of transformation. Let the blood and water that flowed from Heart of Jesus to enter your heart – your inner life, the core of who you are, can be changed and healed by this grace and mercy that flowed from His Heart.

Holy Thursday Homily - April 2, 2015

            Mother Theresa was once asked the source of her strength – how she could, daily, go into the poorest of the poor places on earth and pick up the dying, the sick, the forgotten, lepers, orphans. She responded that it was because of the Body of Christ. She said, “When we go to Mass, we receive the Body of Christ. When we touch the sick and needy, we touch the Body of Christ in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

            It’s significant, I think, that we do not hear about the institution of the Eucharist on this most sacred of nights, when Jesus gave us the gift of all gifts in His Body and Blood. Instead, we hear about the humble washing of feet. To me, this shows that Sacraments are useless without service. Those who have been filled with the Body of Christ at this altar must now go forth to serve the Body of Christ – our brothers and sisters.

            This service is not working for a government charity, it’s not even volunteering at a nonprofit. When we say service, most peoples’ minds immediately jump to Haiti or Africa, or at least to the homeless people in New York City or Danbury. But service is so much more basic of a duty for Christians, one that begins where we live – in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our workplaces.

            For example, a smile is an act of kindness that can change the world. When you smile at your coworker, or offer a kind word to your classmate, who knows how long that kindness will have to last them until the next time they experience such love. It may be days until they see another person who exudes joy. How long does your smile have to last? And how important is such a little act of kindness?

            For another example, this kind of charity begins in our families. I think we can define family as those people who we would do anything for – anything except empty the dishwasher. And yet, as much as we say we love them, this love only becomes real and proven when the dishwasher is emptied, when the trash is taken out, when the toothpaste cap is put back on. It may not look like much, but that is incarnated love.

            You may have heard the saying that “Your life may be the only Gospel some people only read.” In the same way, your life may be the only Eucharist some people ever receive. The world is hungry for Jesus, they want to know that there is something that makes sense in this world that is often filled with senseless materialism, violence, and selfishness. And the only way they can discover the only true solution – the healing love of God – is through your love, proven in deeds.

            Sacraments without service are worthless. We need to live out the Eucharist – in sacrificial service, following the example of Jesus Christ, Who laid down His life on a Cross so that we could find life.

Palm Sunday Homily - March 29, 2015

Homily for Palm Sunday

March 29, 2015

The Scandal and the Hope of the Cross

 

            We wear it around our necks, we hang it on the wall of our homes. The most gruesome torture device ever invented by the evil of man – the Cross.

            I have an aunt and uncle who are Jewish, and when my cousins were eleven or twelve, they brought them into a Catholic church for the first time for some family function. The girls were horrified – they asked their dad, “Why is that dead man hanging on those pieces of wood?” They had never seen a crucifix before, and they were shocked that such a disgusting image was the centerpiece of this church.

            We see it so often, it loses its shock value. But anyone living in the first-century Roman empire would have been sickened to look upon a cross. It was only a symbol of death, of failure, of misery.

            And it is precisely in this that God shows His power – He has used this symbol of death to defeat death. He took upon Himself the ugliness of sin to defeat sin. He embraced the one thing all men fear – suffering – to tell us, “do not fear”.

            So when you want to see what love looks like – look at the Cross. When you want to see whether there is any hope for your life – look at the Cross. If you fear suffering and death – look at the Cross. If you want to be healed of your wounds – look at the Cross and Jesus’ wounds. If you want to see what our sins look like – look at the Cross. And if you want to see if you are forgiven – look at the Cross. If you ever doubt that you are profoundly, personally loved by God – look at the Cross. Jesus Christ would rather die than spend eternity without you.

            The Cross is a scandal because God chose to die. But the cross is more than an instrument of torture and a symbol of death – it is also our only hope, because on the Cross we see a love that is more powerful than death and sin – a love that forgives us, heals us, and invites us into eternity with Him.

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent - March 22, 2015

Lent 5

March 22, 2015

Desire Is Fulfilled by Desire

 

            A boy and his family was one time at his elderly aunt’s house for dinner. The old woman asked the boy if he liked Brussel sprouts. The boy said, “Yes, I do like Brussel sprouts,” so the aunt gave him a heaping spoonful of them. At the end of the meal, the aunt noticed that the boy hadn’t touched the vegetable on his plate. “I thought you liked Brussel sprouts!” the aunt exclaimed. “Oh, I do like them,” the boy replied. “I don’t like to eat them, but they sure are nice to look at!”

            That’s how many people approach Jesus. “He’s nice to look at, He’s great to have around when you need Him, but I don’t want to get overly involved with Him.” What a far cry from the Greeks in the Gospel – they ask the Apostle Phillip the same request that has echoed down throughout history – “We want to see Jesus!” Their desire for the Lord motivated them to travel a long distance from Greece to worship God and seek a personal encounter with Christ.

             When I was a senior in high school I started to go to community college for a philosophy course. Now, for the previous six years I had been homeschooled, so I pretty much lived a sheltered life. And boy, were my eyes opened at the community college! Not only was the professor an atheist who would often challenge my Catholic beliefs, but my fellow students were completely absorbed in the world – their lives revolved around money, parties, the music and movies of the age (this was the time when Eminem was popular – anyone remember him now?), or the next time they could hook up with their girlfriend. Any physical or emotional desire they had, they could satisfy.

            But I noticed that they weren’t happy! I realized that there are deeper desires of the human heart, deeper than our desire for food or money or pleasure. This was a conversion experience for me: they kept striving for more, more, more and yet were still empty. It made me think that perhaps all human beings have desires that can’t be fulfilled with pizza or beer or girlfriends or money.

I think all of us desire to love and be loved, to find meaning and purpose, to seek truth. These desires are “written on the human heart”, as our first reading says. And all of these desires are fulfilled in Jesus! We find in Him infinite love. When we look to Him, we realize that the meaning and purpose of our lives is to be supremely happy with Him in Heaven. And we desire to have a truth to build our lives on – so we can build our lives on the One Who calls Himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

In the fourth century, a young woman wrote a letter to St. Jerome, one of the Doctors of the Church, and asked him for advice about what she should do with her life. Jerome wrote back, “The human soul must love something; our mind is necessarily drawn to a desire. But earthly desires are only overcome by spiritual desires.” Every desire we have is supposed to lead us to God; as GK Chesterton once said, “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.” Our hearts are restless until they rest in Jesus, St. Augustine famously said.

So how do we fulfill these desires? Through a deep and loving relationship with Jesus. Having a deep relationship with Jesus is simple; it requires only three steps. First, we repent of our sins. We get rid of those addictions, vices, and sins in our daily lives that prevent us from being loving Christians. Second, we decide that Jesus is worth everything. We make a choice that He will be the most important one in our lives. Finally, we follow Him by living holy lives and by praying to Him daily and coming to Mass weekly.

“Sir, we want to see Jesus.” It’s not just the request of the Greeks; it’s the desire of every human heart. Today, make the decision – that Jesus will be the center of your life.

Homily for Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 15, 2015

Lent 4

March 15, 2015

The Journey from Repentance to Union

 

            St. Mary of Egypt is a somewhat-obscure but fascinating saint. She lived in the fifth century and, when she was 12 years old, ran away from home to the bustling metropolis of Alexandria, making her living as a prostitute. After many years of prostitution, an opportunity arose. Through the grapevine, she heard that some of the people in her town were making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Mary joined them – not out of any devotion, but simply as an excuse to travel and see the world a bit. Upon reaching Jerusalem, she tried to visit the beautiful churches with the rest of the pilgrims, just to admire the artwork. But as she tried to enter the church of the Holy Sepulcher – built upon the tomb where Jesus was laid – she was prevented by an unseen force from taking another step. She immediately realized that she was unable to enter the holy church because of her sinful lifestyle, so she repented on the spot. She cried out to God for mercy, and He heard her pleas, allowing her to enter the church and view the relics of the True Cross. Once there, she went to confession and communion, and spent the rest of her life as a hermit in the wilderness, living a life of penance to atone for her sins.

            Having a relationship with Jesus takes three steps. First, we must repent – we must turn away from our sins. Sin prevents our souls from receiving the divine life that God wants to give us. In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of light and darkness. The two are completely opposed – we can’t have a room that is both full of light and pitch-black at the same time. Likewise, we cannot abide in God’s grace if we are sinful. So, like St. Mary of Egypt, we turn from our sins and beg God for His mercy, which is never-ending.

            Second, we must decide. We must decide to give our lives to Jesus Christ. The Gospel puts it this way, in perhaps the most famous verse of all of the Scriptures: “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, so that those who believe in Him will not die but will have eternal life.” We must believe in Him – not just in the sense of “yes, Jesus existed” but in the sense of “yes, Jesus died for my sins and therefore my whole life must be lived for His glory.”

            It’s kind of like this: there are many things that I believe but that don’t impact my life all that much. I believe that the Great Wall of China exists, but does that change my everyday life? Not really. But there are many other things I believe that change my life drastically. For example, I believe that the secret to good health is to have a well-balanced diet and frequent exercise. Because I believe that, it changes my choices, my habits, my whole way of thinking.

            When Jesus says that those who “believe in Him will never die”, that’s the kind of belief He means. Many people say, “Yes, I believe in Jesus” but that belief doesn’t change their lives. Our belief must be the focal point of our entire lives, every choice, every habit.

            So, after we repent and decide, the third step is to follow. To follow means two things: first, we must obey Him and His moral commands, even the ones we find difficult. Second, it means we must seek after intimacy with Him through a life of prayer. Not just praying to get stuff from God, but praying to know God as a friend and to know His heart.

            These are the three basic steps to having a personal relationship with Christ. We must repent of our sins, turn away from our past transgressions. We must decide – make the choice to give our entire lives to Him. And we must follow – orienting our entire lives towards Him, for He is the creator of our life and in Him does our life find meaning and fulfillment.

Homily for Lent 3 - March 8, 2015

Homily for Lent 3

March 8, 2015

Passion for Christ

 

            A couple of weeks ago – you may have read it in the headlines or seen the gruesome video – ISIS beheaded twenty-one people, twenty of whom were Coptic (Egyptian) Christians. All of them were given the chance to recant their faith in Christ, and all of them refused. There was one other man with that group, however, who had been arrested with the Christians. This man was not a Christian, but was merely a friend of the others. However, seeing their faithfulness to Christ, he asked to be killed along with the group, saying, “Their God is my God.” Twenty-one martyrs for Christ – and all this didn’t happen centuries ago – it happened last month.

            Those who have a personal relationship with Jesus live with passion. They know what their life is all about – God alone – and they pursue the goal of Heaven with every ounce of their strength, with every last drop of their blood.

            I love today’s Gospel because it shows the passionate side of Jesus. Here He is, coming into the Temple to pray, but He is so distracted and disturbed by the materialistic, dishonest salespeople in the Temple that He drives them out fiercely. His followers apply a verse from the Psalms to Jesus: “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”

            Could that be said about you? Would someone look at your life and say, “He is consumed with zeal for holiness,” or “She is so passionate about the Lord”? A person who has a living relationship with Jesus is on-fire with a desire for holiness.

            The word “Passion” has two meanings. In one sense, it means enthusiasm, fire, purpose, or strong feelings towards something or someone. But we also talk about the “Passion” of Christ – passion can mean suffering for that which we love.

            Let’s say we were all born in some slum in a poor country. Our food is whatever we can scavenge from the trash heap. We live in poverty; our houses are cardboard shacks, our clothing is rags. All of a sudden, someone comes to you and says, “I know a way in which you can live a better life. You will be rich beyond your wildest dreams, you will be the son of a king and live in a palace, and you will experience a joy and a love that is so deep I can’t even express it.”

            We would likely say, “That sounds wonderful! What do I need to do to have all that?” The other person responds, “It will not be easy. You will have to take a long journey, learn many new things, fight battles. You will have to leave this land and go to a foreign land. It will take some real suffering.”

            All of a sudden we reconsider. Hmm, although it sounds promising, is it worth it? Or is it easier just to stay in the mud and the filth, and avoid the radical changes and struggles that it would require to live as the son of the King?

            When we love someone or something, we are willing to pursue it passionately – in both senses of the word. We are hungry for it, and we are willing to suffer to obtain it. So, anyone who lives a love for Jesus Christ needs to live it passionately – we must desire Him above all of the passing trinkets of this world, and we must be willing to suffer for Him. Do you have this holy passion for Christ?

Homily for Notre Dame High School Retreat - March 6, 2015

Homily for Notre Dame High School Retreat

March 6, 2015

The Fruits of Holiness

 

            One of my favorite saints is St. Joseph of Cupertino, who was perhaps the most unlikely saint ever. He was very unintelligent – he failed all of his lessons in school. He was apparently pretty ugly, and he was socially awkward. Everyone made fun of him in school, he was sick all the time, and even his parents treated him cruelly. Because of his lack of intelligence, he dropped out of school and tried to work for a shoemaker but he couldn’t even master simple tasks. Finally, in desperation, his mother told him to go become a Franciscan friar – a poor follower of St. Francis who would earn his living by begging. But even though he tried, he even failed in this, because the other brothers found him to be so dumb and annoying that they kicked him out of the monastery. He was forced to return home in shame, but his mother kicked him out of the house and made him reapply to the monastery.

            He finally did so, and they allowed him to stay there and be a slave, mucking out the horse stables. But little by little, Joseph’s humility and natural joy started to shine forth. The other brothers began to spend more time with him, and they discovered that beneath the ugly, stupid exterior, Joseph possessed an uncommon love for God. Everyone around him saw his joy, and he loved everyone – great and poor alike – with supernatural love.

            Finally, his Franciscan superiors offered to allow him to study to become a priest. But try as he might, he was still too unintelligent to master anything, except for one short Scripture verse which he memorized. Finally, the day of the test came, and his examiner asked him only one question – he opened the Bible at random and asked him to explain a certain passage. It was the Scripture verse Joseph had memorized! So he passed the exam and was ordained a priest.

            God gave this young man incredible spiritual gifts. He had the gift of healing, and most notably, he could levitate. People recognized his holiness and began to come to his Masses from all around. He is now a saint; the patron saint of those who struggle in school. All this from a man whom the rest of the world considered useless, a burden, annoying. God took him, and made him into a saint.

            Today’s Gospel talks about fruit. Jesus tells a story about these men who worked in a vineyard but wouldn’t give the fruit to the owner. It’s an important parable, because it describes our relationship to God. What is the fruit that we owe God? We owe it to Him to become a saint, to live a holy life. Think about it – God has done everything He could do for you to produce this fruit – He gave you the gift of faith, He gave you (hopefully) a good family and good friends, the gift of life in this great country, and He gave you the gift of going to a Catholic school. Every day, He offers you His Body and Blood for food; and He is willing to forgive any sin you ever commit through the Sacrament of Confession. He even gave His only Son for you. All He asks in return is for you to give Him the fruit – the fruit of a holy life.

            If you are not living a life of radical holiness, why not? What is preventing you? Are you too attached to the pleasures of this world – the money, the popularity, the cool shoes, the latest technology, the sex/drugs/rock & roll? Are you too afraid of what others would say if you started to strive to become a saint? Do you think that if you are holy, you won’t be happy?

            Being holy is simple. It involves only two things. One, it means putting God first, above everything else in your life. I know of a young man – currently in eighth grade – who is seeking to live a holy life. Over the summer, this teen’s parents wouldn’t take him to Mass one Sunday – they were “too busy”. So on Monday morning, this fourteen-year-old boy got up early and walked two miles, by himself, along Route 58 to Mass. That is putting God above all else.

            The second thing is a radical love of neighbor. Many years ago, a friend of mine named Daniel started hanging out with this other kid who was kind of an outcast. He had a lot of psychological and family problems, and Daniel starting spending a lot of time with him. I asked Daniel what was up, why he was spending so much time with this other kid, and he said, “Yeah, it costs me a lot to spend time with this kid, but I know that’s what Christ would want me to do.” I was amazed – that was heroic love of neighbor: treating the outcast like a friend, obeying your parents when it’s tough, patience with your siblings.

            Don’t say that you can’t become a saint. Neither could Joseph of Cupertino – and yet he is one. God demands the fruit of a holy life from each one of us – if we’re not striving to be a saint, we’re wasting our life. Why live for the passing pleasures of this world when we were made for eternity?