Homily for Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - April 3, 2016

Homily for April 3, 2016

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

Peace I Give You

 

            Recently I saw the movie “Risen” which was out in theaters this past Lent. It’s about a Roman soldier who is given the task of finding the risen Body of Jesus. At the beginning of the movie, the soldier is relaxing with Pontius Pilate after a long day of battles and crucifixions. Pilate asks the young soldier what he wants out of life. “I want to go to Rome. Rise up in the world,” he responds. “And then what?” Pilate asks. “Then become wealthy. Have a house in the country. A wife, a son.” he responds. But Pilate presses further, “And that brings what?” The soldier sighs, weary from battle and from all the blood he has spilled. “It will bring peace.”

            Do YOU want peace? Are you tired of the troubles and struggles, of constantly feeling overwhelmed or unsettled? Desiring peace is a pretty fundamental human desire. But how do we obtain inner peace?

            We search for peace in all kinds of ways. Some people take a vacation, hoping that will bring them peace. Some look for it in the little pleasures of life, which take our mind off our troubles. Some turn to Buddhist meditation or yoga to try to find some inner tranquility.

            But peace is precisely the gift that Jesus gives His Apostles. Think about their inner turmoil – they had just seen their Lord crucified, while they had all run and hid. They must have felt such a complicated stew of emotions: confusion about the future, shame for their cowardice, horror at the bloody death of Jesus. And then, on Easter Sunday night, Jesus appears in their midst and says, “Peace – Peace be with you.”

            Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the presence of Jesus.

            The Apostles’ problems were still there, but they were put into perspective because they were overcome with joy at seeing the Lord Jesus. They had Jesus in the midst of them, what more did they need to fear?

            So, if you are looking for peace, have you tried looking to the Lord? A couple weeks ago in my confirmation class we were discussing different ways to pray, such as the Rosary and Adoration, and I asked the kids if they thought they could be silent for 10 minutes per day – no phone, no iPod, just silence. One girl was horrified – losing her iPhone was more traumatic than the thought of losing a limb! I asked her why she didn’t think she could do it, and her response struck me. She said, “I could never be silent for 10 minutes…I’d be afraid of what I’d hear.” All of her worries, cares, fears, guilt would come to mind if she was silent, so she constantly felt like she had to distract herself with technology and noise so she didn’t hear her problems. But I told her – invite Jesus Christ into that turmoil. Invite Him in and allow Him to set your heart at peace.

            But we cannot have peace if we are not at peace with God, which is why right after Jesus gives His Apostles the gift of peace, He then gives them the gift to forgive sins. When we are not at peace with God – in other words, if we are living lives of unrepentant and unconfessed sin – then we will not have inner peace.

            Once reconciled to God, we will find peace. Just read the Acts of the Apostles to see how the Apostles kept their peace throughout immense struggles – Paul, for example, was shipwrecked, stoned, beaten, starved, imprisoned multiple times, betrayed by his friends, and finally beheaded, but was still able to write to the Philippians, “Let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds.” He had Christ’s peace within him, and nothing could shake that peace.

            So, do you want to have peace? First, get right with God – rid yourself of unrepentant sin through God’s great gift of Confession. Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, the day on which we focus on God’s mercy – so if you have been wrestling with inner turmoil because of sin, today is a good day to lay down that burden. Second, entrust your life to Christ in faith. When you turn your problems over to Him, trusting that He will take care of them – then you will have greater peace. At the bottom of the Divine Mercy image is the beautiful phrase, “Jesus, I trust in You.” Pray that prayer often, especially in times of difficulty!

            Peace is indeed a great gift, which Jesus gave to His Apostles. And it’s a gift that God wants to give to you. Get right with God, and begin to trust Him – and you will find peace.

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent - March 13, 2016

Homily for March 13, 2016

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Rubbish

 

            Consider two people. The first is a poor, simple laborer, an elderly woman who spent her life living hand-to-mouth, but who is full of humble faith and profound trust in God. The second is a rich and powerful executive, who drives a Mazerati and has a corner office, and who trusts only in himself, his talents, and his efforts. Between those two, who is richer? Who does the world consider to be the successful one? Who possesses true wealth?

“I count everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus.” Everything is rubbish, trash, meaningless when compared with Jesus Christ.

            Think about the things we strive for every day: we worry about making enough money, we work out and eat right to lose five pounds, we worry if we have enough friends, we strive to get promotions and straight A’s and win awards. All of this stuff is good – but when we die, is any of it going to matter? In the afterlife, no one is going to ask me what my GPA is, or how much money was in my bank account. The only thing that will matter is how well I have loved God and loved my neighbor.

            Immediately before this second reading from Philippians, St. Paul gives his short biography, highlighting the things he’s proud of: his Jewish heritage, the fact that he studied under the best teachers, all of his honors and recognitions. But he then says, “All that? It doesn’t make a difference. It’s as meaningless as trash compared to Jesus Christ.”

            What are you proud of? Your nine hundred Twitter followers? Your advanced degrees? Your bank account? Your new shoes or diamond necklace? Your spot on the Stamford Premier League soccer team? Can any of that save you? Will any of that matter as you are on your deathbed, preparing to meet Jesus Christ? Again, I don’t mean that thinks like money or degrees or talents are bad – they aren’t bad at all, they are gifts from the Lord – but everything we own and everything we do pales in comparison to the fact that you are redeemed by the Blood of Almighty God, that God has poured His divine life into your soul through grace, and that He is inviting you into an eternity with Him, an eternity that begins now. That is what is most important. That is the only thing we should focus our lives around!

            So what does St. Paul do? He says that he is not perfect, but that he forgets what lies behind – his sinful self, his worldly pride – and strives to possess Jesus Christ more fully. What does that look like for us? Let’s look at a couple examples.

            Let’s say you work for a living. Keep working hard, but work hard to glorify God, not just to get ahead. Don’t let your work distract you from your relationship with Christ – find quiet minutes during the day to step back from your work and pray. Be willing to live at work as a public Christian. Don’t make your life revolve around money. Basically, we should be more interested in pleasing God than we are trying to please our boss or ourselves.

            Let’s say you go to school. Keep studying, but do your best because you want to love God through your schoolwork. Try not to worry about things, but trust God with your grades and your future. Don’t get caught up in the drama, the gossip, and the worldliness of your classmates, and always remember that we are not made for this world but for eternity. Recently one of our youth group kids was telling me he was bringing a Bible to school to read during the quiet moments, and he was bullied a bit for that. There’s a kid who realizes that Jesus Christ is worth everything – and that everything else is rubbish.

             It’s pointless to live for this world only, when this world will all turn to dust someday. To have the true riches, become a saint and possess the only thing that matters: Jesus Christ.

Holy Thursday 2016

Homily for Holy Thursday

March 24, 2016

A Night Set Apart

 

            Every year, our Jewish brothers and sisters sit down to celebrate the Passover meal. Part of that sacred ritual involves the youngest member of the family asking the others, “Why is this night different than every other night?”

            The father then explains to all present, “This night is different because our fathers were slaves in Egypt, but the Lord has brought us out of slavery, into the Promised Land of Israel, into freedom.”

            What we do here tonight began four thousand years ago in Egypt, when the Chosen People – the Jews – had been enslaved for hundreds of years. Their cries to God were not forgotten, and God raised up the prophet Moses to set them free. Moses urged the Pharaoh to release the Jewish people, but the Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he refused to do so.

            So to ransom His people, God struck down the first-born of all of the Egyptians on the feast of Passover. We heard the Lord’s instructions in the first reading: take a year-old lamb, without blemish, and slaughter it in the evening twilight. Take its blood and cover the doorposts with it. Eat the lamb with unleavened bread. And the destroying angel will pass over the houses of the Jews when he sees the blood covering the door, but will strike down the Egyptians, and set the Israelites free.

            But slavery in Egypt was only one, temporary problem. There is a deeper slavery that we ourselves share, a slavery not confined to any one country or any historical time. From the first moment of our existence, we were slaves to sin. Ever since our first parents turned their backs on God, the source of life and freedom, we have found ourselves enslaved to sin, corruption, and death. We find ourselves in addictions, with destructive habits, wracked with guilt and shame. Who can save us from this wretched slavery!!

            To ransom His people, God would provide another Passover. A Lamb – the Lamb of God – without blemish or sin or stain was to be slaughtered for the people. Its blood covers the wooden beams of the Cross – and covers our souls through baptism and the Eucharist. We consume this Lamb in the form of unleavened bread. Here at this altar, the one Sacrifice that frees us is offered, the Sinless One in place of the guilty, the Innocent One paying the debt that we owed but could not pay, the thrice-Holy God Whom angels bow to worship, laying down His life freely upon the altar of the Cross to rescue wretched slaves and make them sons and daughters!

            And so we gather to make present again the one Passover that saves us. This New Passover does not free our forefathers from slavery in Egypt; no, this New Passover frees you and I from our much more miserable slavery to sin. Receive now the price of our ransom – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

            Why is this night different than every other night?

            Because once we were slaves, and now we are free.

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 6, 2016

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 6, 2016

New Creation

 

            A reporter once asked Mother Teresa, “What do you think should change in the Church?” She responded without hesitation, “You and I.”

            Yes, what needs to change is us.

            Look behind you at that beautiful portrait hanging on the wall. Rembrandt’s “Prodigal Son,” bringing to life today’s parable. In some ways, this parable is as much about the Father and His mercy as it is about the son who walked away. The Father’s mercy is endless – but we have one prerequisite before we can receive it.

            We must repent.

            We must be willing to walk away, to give up the sin. Imagine if the Prodigal Son had returned home, drunk and with a woman on each arm, calling out to his father, “Hey dad, I need more money!” I guarantee that the parable would have ended quite differently! In order to receive the Father’s mercy, the son had to walk away from his sin. The Father did not – and could not – give him mercy until he first turned away from his evil ways.

            With all of this talk of the “Year of Mercy”, there might be some misunderstanding of God’s mercy. Mercy is not a license to sin. Mercy does not mean that your sin doesn’t matter. It DOES matter – it wounds us deeply, it disfigures the image of God within us, it hurts others. So, mercy can never condone sin. Rather, mercy wipes it away – when we have repented.

            After all, St. Paul says that “whoever is in Christ is a new creation.” The old has passed away – we’ve gotten rid of it, we’ve turned from our sin. We cannot be in Christ if we are still living in our old ways! So the man who comes to confession who is living with his girlfriend outside of marriage – you must give that up if you are to receive forgiveness! The woman who wants to repent of being worldly but still keeps all 85 pairs of shoes – you must give that up if you want to be a new creation in Christ! The woman who says she is sorry for sleeping in and missing Mass, but purposely does not set her alarm on Sunday mornings – you must give that up! The teen who says he wants to be pure, but doesn’t take steps to avoid bad websites – you must give that up! We cannot walk the path of sin and the path of Christ at the same time!

            Now, this is not to say that we have to be perfect to receive mercy. God understands that we are weak, and that we will likely fall again. But all we need is a purpose of amendment – a desire to do better, and taking practical steps towards turning away from the sin.

            Pope Francis told a great story about how God’s mercy can invade as long as we open the door just a crack. In the olden days, there was a priest assigned to accompany a certain condemned criminal as the criminal was being brought to the place where he would be executed. The priest asked the criminal if he wished to go to confession, but the criminal declined. Stunned, the young priest asked why he didn’t want to go, considering he would be dead in a matter of hours.

            The criminal replied, “Because I’m not sorry for what I did. If I had to do it again, I’d still be a drunkard and an adulterer and a murderer. I’m not sorry for it.”

            The priest, greatly saddened, continued to travel in silence, until he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to ask, “Well, are you at least sorry that you’re not sorry?”

            The criminal sighed and said, “Yes, I wish I could be sorry.”

            The priest saw that as the slightest opening of grace, and he heard the criminal’s confession before death - and mercy triumphed!

            We do not have to be holy to receive God’s mercy, but we have to want to be holy. And this involves taking practical steps to give up our sin, avoid temptations, and truly desire holiness.

            After all, the Prodigal Son had to leave the land of sin to encounter the Father’s forgiveness. And what joy there was when the son came home! What joy is there when YOU return back to your Father’s embrace and become a new creation in Christ!