Ordinary Time 4 - January 28, 2018

Ordinary Time 4

January 28, 2018

Gift of Celibacy

            Many years ago, a young nun was assigned to teach first grade at a Catholic school. She found it difficult, though, because she was questioning her own vocation. She felt like she was wasting her life because she wasn’t married and wasn’t doing anything the world typically considers “successful”.

            One day, one of the six-year-olds, who the nun knew came from a broken home, said to her, “Sister, are you married?”

            The nun once again felt the sorrow and loneliness of her vocation. “No,” she replied sadly.

            “Do you have any kids?” the young girl asked.

            “No,” she replied.

            The little girl then smiled, relieved, and said, “Oh good, ‘cause now you belong to all of us.”

            And this is precisely the gift of celibacy – that is, the gift of remaining unmarried for the sake of Christ. Priests, nuns, and many laypeople are called to celibacy (remaining unmarried), but this is one of the most misunderstood parts of Church life today.

            St. Paul knew it would be controversial too. In the second reading today, he speaks about how celibacy is a great gift because it allows someone to focus themselves entirely on the Lord. This was one of the aspects of Christianity that Jews and Greeks both had a hard time with – it was very foreign in Greek or Jewish culture to remain celibate by choice. But Paul really exalts celibacy – it is a great gift, so that a person can focus completely on the Lord.

            Priests and nuns are not the only ones called to celibacy – I know a number of laypeople who have sensed a call to give up marriage for the sake of the Kingdom. My friend Paul, for example, who works for a church in Maryland. He is not a priest but has felt called to dedicate his life completely to Christ and for the salvation of souls, and he has done that so powerfully by renouncing marriage.

            So, why celibacy? Why, in today’s world, would someone willingly and freely give up marriage? I think there are three reasons why celibacy is a great gift:

            First, celibacy allows a person to belong completely to Jesus and completely to others. Mother Teresa said, “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” A lot of times celibacy is seen as a denial of something – giving up marriage. But primarily it is an embracing of Someone – of Jesus Christ, and through Him, to embrace His people. As a celibate priest, I am so blessed to belong to Christ totally, and through Him, to belong to my parishioners. This past Christmas I was able to go over parishioners’ houses to celebrate Christmas day – that’s something I could never do if I had a wife or kids!

            Second, just as marriage results in physical fruitfulness, celibacy lived well results in spiritual fruitfulness. Everything that an earthly father does for his children, a priest does for his children. A father gives life to his children; a priest gives spiritual life to his children through baptism. A father teaches his kids how to walk and talk; a priest teaches them how to walk with the Lord and talk to Him in prayer. A father provides food for his family; a priest provides the Eucharist, our spiritual food. A father cleans up after his kids’ messes; a priest cleans his parishioners’ souls through Confession.

            In my former parish there was a kid named David who went from being a totally apathetic teenager to being someone who walked himself to Mass every Sunday. I asked him why he suddenly started caring about his faith, and he told me, “I believe in Jesus because you’re not married.” I was surprised and asked him what he meant. He told me, “I figured the Catholic Faith couldn’t be a lie if you were willing to give up a wife for it. No one would sacrifice so much for a lie.” Wow!

            People often talk about the sacrifice of celibacy. A wise preacher one said, “Is celibacy crazy? Yes, about as crazy as a soldier jumping on a live grenade to save his buddies.” In other words, yes, it’s a sacrifice, but where there is love, sacrifice is easy. Ask any parent – there are thousands upon thousands of sacrifices parents must make, but they do it (usually) gladly out of love.

            Finally, celibacy is an eschatological sign. That’s a theologically technical way of saying that celibacy is a reminder of Heaven. In Heaven we won’t have marriage in the same way we do here – yes, we will still love our spouses, but we will love Christ with an all-consuming love…much like someone who has renounced marriage for the sake of the Lord.

            People are surprised to find that my Facebook status says I am married – because I am married – to the Church! That final union between Christ and His Church is foreshadowed in those who have given themselves totally to uniting their lives to Him.

            And this is precisely why the world hates, questions, and reviles celibacy – because it is a reminder that Heaven is real and that it’s worth it to live radically for Jesus Christ. In a world that says we can’t find happiness unless we indulge every desire and every pleasure, celibacy stands as a witness that sacrifice and love and the Lord are the only ways to true happiness.

            I would like to encourage the young people here this morning to consider – is God calling you to a life of celibacy, as a priest, a nun, or a consecrated layperson in the world? Many young men and women are called to give up marriage for the sake of Christ – do not be afraid! It is a joyful life of radical self-gift. For the rest of us, especially those who are married, let us pray that many more people may embrace that call to celibacy. St. Paul recognizes it is a great gift to belong totally to the Lord; I pray we may recognize that gift as well.

Homily for Ordinary Time 3 - January 21, 2018

Homily for January 21, 2018

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sin & Repentance

            Some people tell me that the Church talks way too much about sin. But it seems to me that sin is the greatest cause of unhappiness in the world. And the church wants people to be happy with that deep joy that comes from God alone!

            Saying the Church talks too much about sin is like saying, “I don’t go to my doctor anymore because he just kept talking about my high cholesterol. That’s all he ever talked about – cholesterol this, heart attack that. I wish he would talk about the good things instead of such negativity!” Well, why would someone’s doctor constantly be talking about cholesterol? Maybe because he knows you need to focus on fixing it in order to be in good health!

            Likewise, our relationship with God isn’t healthy if we persist in unrepentant sin. And that’s precisely what sin is – it’s wounding a relationship, not breaking a rule. All relationships have unwritten rules about them. For example, if you’re married, it’s an unwritten rule that you have to remember your anniversary. Imagine if a man (sorry guys, it’s usually the husband) forgot his anniversary, and his wife got mad about it. The man might try to say, “What’s the big deal? You know I love you. It’s a silly rule that I have to remember our anniversary anyway.” To which the woman might respond, “It’s not a silly rule! It shows that you love me and you value our marriage!” And then he has to sleep on the couch for the night.

            That’s why Jesus’ first words are “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Repent – turn away from your sins, those selfish and harmful actions and thoughts which destroy our peace and our relationships. The Kingdom of God is at hand – we turn our thoughts, words, and actions over to Christ’s dominion, finding freedom in obedience to His commands and seeking to live for His glory.

            Jesus Christ came specifically to conquer sin. It was because of our sin that He died; it is to conquer sin that He rose. It’s no surprise that on Easter Sunday night, the very first time He appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection, the first gift He gave them was the ability to forgive sins! He knew that sin was an obstacle blocking His grace from flowing into the souls of men and women, so for His victory to take root in their lives they needed to confess and repent of their sin!

            We sin because we think sin will make us happier. St. Augustine tells a great story in his autobiography Confessions. When Augustine was a young man, he was walking with some companions by a pear orchard. He saw a tree that was loaded with pears, and a sinful desire began to take root in his heart. He thought about the pears and how delicious it would be to steal one. He jumped the fence and quickly stole a pear from the tree. But when he bit into it, he found it to be terribly hard and underripe! Later reflecting on the experience, he realized that he savored the thought of the pear, but when he actually did it, it ended up being very empty.

            And isn’t that how it is with us? We sin when we pursue counterfeit goods, instead of the true Good – God Himself. One time when I was a young seminarian, I accompanied our eighth-graders on a trip to New York (we were all from Baltimore, so New York was quite a treat). One of the kids, a boy named Alex, went shopping in Battery Park from one of those hucksters who sells cheap knock-off stuff illegally. Afterward, on the bus ride home, he was showing me his fake Rolex watch. He was so happy that he got it for only ten dollars! I kept telling him, “That’s not a real Rolex! Don’t you know it’s a fake?” But he kept insisting that it was a real one, after all, “The guy who sold it to me said it was real!” Yeah, right. About ten minutes later, he came back to me and showed me the watch. “It’s not ticking anymore. It doesn’t seem to be working!” he lamented. Of course not, Alex. He sold you fake goods.

            Same way with sin. Sin tempts us with pleasure – don’t you want to say that unkind word? Won’t it be fun to tell that dirty joke? Just this once, it’s no big deal if you cheat on the test. But when push comes to shove, that happiness is as fake as a Rolex from Battery Park. It lasts just a moment, and leaves us with emptiness.

            So what is the remedy? Exactly what Jesus tells us to do – repent, and put our lives under His Kingship. I am amazed, in the Gospel, at how quickly Peter, Andrew, James, and John leave everything behind to follow Jesus. Perhaps they tried out a life of sin and found it miserable. Perhaps they were looking for a deeper happiness, and they only found it in Christ. I do know that we should be equally as quick to leave behind our sin, get to Confession, and follow Jesus Christ by putting our entire lives under His Kingship.

            I leave you with two questions: what do you need to repent of? And what part of your life is God inviting you to submit to His Kingship?

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - January 14, 2018

Homily for January 14, 2018

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Purchased At A Price

            St. Josephine Bakhita went from being a slave of man to being a slave of Christ. She grew up in Sudan in the 1800s in a happy childhood that was sadly cut short when her village was raided by Muslim slave traders who captured her and sold her into slavery. At eight years old, she was forced to walk 600 miles to a slave market, where she was purchased by a wealthy Muslim. The trauma of the capture, march, and purchase was so much that she actually forgot her name, so her new owner named her “Bakhita” – meaning lucky or fortunate. This is ironic considering her life…at first, her owner treated her kindly, but pretty soon he began to beat her cruelly. She was bought and sold to different owners twelve times – sometimes being so tortured that her flesh was permanently scarred.

            Finally, she was purchased by a kind Italian general who was working in Africa. When the Italian general returned home, he brought Bakhita with him, and she served him in peace for a while. When the Italian general was forced to make another journey, he left all of his female slaves – including Bakhita – in the care of some nuns.

            There, in the convent, for the first time Bakhita learned about God. Immediately she accepted the Catholic Faith and loved to spend time in Mass and with the joyful sisters who treated her with so much respect and love. When her master returned and tried to take her back, she refused to go, and the superior of the convent actually sued the general to allow Bakhita to remain with the nuns. The judge ruled in Bakhita’s favor, so she was allowed to remain and become a nun. She was baptized, taking the name Josephine, and for the next forty years lived a humble, simple life of a nun. She had traded her slavery to man for the freedom that Christ had won for her! She was so free of spirit, in fact, that she said if she ever met the people who captured her, she would kiss their hands, because it was only through them that she met Jesus. This woman was freed from hatred and revenge, with the freedom that had been purchased at a great price!

            St. Josephine Bakhita knew that she had been purchased, and that she did not belong to herself. At first, she was purchased by evil and cruel slave traders, being forced into slavery, but then she realized she had been purchased by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, which made her desire to serve Him with her entire life.

            St. Paul makes it clear in our second reading that we do not belong to ourselves, and our bodies do not belong to us. We do not have the right to do whatever we want with our bodies. We have been purchased at a tremendous price – the price of Christ’s death – so we owe it to Him to glorify Him in our bodies.

            There is an error that I hear all the time in modern society. Many people believe that they can do whatever they want with their bodies as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else. When I was in college, one of the employees at the college had a bumper sticker that read, “My body isn’t a temple; it’s an amusement park!” That would be a very anti-Christian attitude! Your body is sacred, because it was your body that was covered in water in Baptism; it is your body that receives Christ’s body in the Eucharist; it is your body that will someday rise again at Jesus’ Second Coming. Thus, we must treat our bodies as servants of Christ.

            The second reading that we heard today is a hugely sanitized translation. It said, “Flee immorality” and speaks of “immorality” as if it were a vague sinfulness. But the Greek word that Paul used is “pornea” which is where we get the word “pornography” – pornea specifically means sexual sins. One of the ways in which we must respect our bodies is for us to live a pure life and respect God’s design for human sexuality. Frequent confession, having a solid prayer life, and practicing custody of the eyes can be huge helps if someone struggles with purity. We live in a very over-sexualized culture – we need to take practical steps to guard our purity if we hope to obtain mastery over our bodies. This is so critical – Our Lady said at Fatima that “more souls go to Hell through sins of the flesh (sexual sins) than for any other reason” so striving for purity is critical for holiness. Even if we have to confess our sins weekly and give up technology entirely, purity is worth even that sacrifice!

            Respecting our bodies also involves treating it with respect. We shouldn’t consider our physical health more important than our spiritual health (for example, when people work out for three hours a day but can’t find time to pray). But at the same time, we ought to respect our bodies through healthy living. Not overeating, never abusing alcohol or drugs, making sure we get enough rest and exercise are important to both our physical and spiritual health. We only have one body and one life – we have to use it well in service to the Lord.

            My friends, our bodies do not belong to us – they belong to Christ, because they have been purchased at the cost of His Precious Blood on the Cross. Because of this, we need to keep our bodies pure and holy, realizing that someday our flesh will participate in either the joys of Heaven or the sufferings of Hell. I pray that we may use our bodies well – for the glory of God – so they may participate in His eternal reward.

Homily for Epiphany - January 7, 2018

Homily for Epiphany

January 7, 2018

Feast of Evangelization

            “Lord, every nation on earth will adore You.” We sang/said those words in today’s Psalm. But is it true? Does every nation on earth adore the Lord? Does every person in this nation adore the Lord? Do they even know Him? If not – why not?

            In some sense this could be called the Feast of Evangelization instead of Epiphany. For the first time, Gentiles (non-Jews) encounter the Lord. His glory and majesty is becoming known to other nations – and I guarantee these wise men spoke about Who they encountered when they got back home! Could you imagine if they returned from their months-long journey and get back home to Persia or India and their wives asked them, “So, how was it? What did you see?” Would they be embarrassed and mumble, “Oh, you know, not much. Just some baby.” Or would they proclaim with joy, “We saw the Savior of the World!” I’d bet they told everyone they knew about their remarkable journey to worship the King of the Universe.

            So, let’s go back to that Psalm – Lord, every nation on earth will adore You. Does everyone know the Lord? If not, it falls to us to be the ones to proclaim Him! If we discover a new movie that we really like, or try a new restaurant that really impresses us, we tell everyone about it: “Oh, you’ve got to go see that new Avengers movie! It was really amazing – such great graphics, such good acting!” We’re not ashamed to proclaim our love for a movie or a restaurant – we should not be afraid to proclaim our love for Jesus Christ!

            Some say, “Well, yes, but it’s uncomfortable and awkward to talk about Jesus with others. They might get offended, or we might lose a friendship.” Perhaps – but there is something truly important at stake here – the eternal salvation of souls. That is worth a bit of embarrassment or controversy to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ in love!

            Let’s say that a man has a friend who is struggling with alcoholism. He knows that his friend drinks too much, that it’s harming his family and his job and his health, and will lead to disaster and unemployment and an early death if he doesn’t stop. What would be more loving: for the man to stand by silently as his friend destroys his life with alcohol, or for this man to kindly and patiently urge his friend to get to AA meetings or to give up drinking? Clearly, to do nothing as your friend destroys his life is not being a true friend!

            Likewise, all of us have been infected with the disease of sin. Sin makes us miserable – it destroys our inner peace, causes division in families and society, makes us self-centered, and ultimately leads to the eternal death of Hell. We need a Savior – and some of us have found that Savior: His Name is Jesus Christ! But then how can we stand by as we watch the rest of our family and friends and society slowly die from the poison of sin without telling them of the only true Healer there is – Jesus Christ!

            How can we evangelize like these Wise Men, who told the world of their encounter with the Lord? I propose three ways that all of us can evangelize in our everyday life.

            First, invite. Invite your friends or family to come to Mass, or youth group, or Walking With Purpose or Men’s Group or some other encounter with the Lord. Some people are only waiting for the invitation!

            In my old youth group at St. Mary’s in Stamford, there was this kid named Joel who was absolutely on-fire with love for Jesus Christ, and he was the best evangelist I have ever met. He once said to his best friend, “Hey, are you going to JC’s party tonight?” She replied, “Who’s JC?” Joel said, “Oh come on, you know JC. You guys are tight.” She was still confused – “I don’t know anyone named JC.” Joel kept going: “Yes you do! He’s known you since you were young. Come on, let’s go to his party tonight.” She said, “My parents won’t let me go to a party at a stranger’s house. I don’t know this JC you keep talking about.” Joel responded, “OK, do I need to show you a picture?” He whipped out his iPhone and showed her a picture of…the Eucharist, Jesus Christ (or JC!). She laughed and ended up going to Adoration with him that night. Sometimes people are willing to pray and encounter Christ – if they are just invited!

            Second, know your faith and be able to explain it. I grew up down south in Maryland, where there are surprisingly few Catholics (considering it was the first Catholic colony!). Among my friends in Boy Scouts, I was pretty much the only Catholic they knew, so when we would always get into discussions about Faith, they would turn to me for the Catholic perspective. We would be sitting around a bonfire at a campout and the conversation would turn deep. I remember one time having a big debate about abortion with my buddies – all fourteen-year-old philosophers – and I was being forced to defend our Catholic understanding of the sanctity of life. It really made me realize that I needed to know my faith deeply so I could explain it accurately! Surely in your life, you will be in conversations where people will question the Church’s teaching – “Why don’t you support gay marriage?” “How can you believe in the Bible?” “With all the suffering in the world, how do you know God is real?” “Why do you go to Mass?” We need to know our Faith well enough to be able to explain it!

            Third, wear your faith on your sleeve…literally! I know a kid who, on the first day of high school as a freshman in a public school, wore a shirt that said, “John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Woah! My dad used to hang up a crucifix in his office at work, where his coworkers could come in and see it – and they would often ask him questions about faith or ask for prayers. I wear a scapular (a sacramental that we wear around our neck to show our devotion to Our Lady) and once when I was going swimming with some buddies as a teen, one of my friends (a Methodist!) saw it and asked what it was. I explained to him that it showed my devotion to Mary and asked for her protection. He seemed unimpressed at the time, but later that day before we went home, he asked if he could have one! So I got him one and he wore it! Not being ashamed of symbols of our faith – wearing a crucifix, carrying a Rosary, putting up holy pictures in your home and your office and your locker at school – is a great way to evangelize.

            I will close with a true story. In the USSR in the 1970s, atheism was the “official” religion of the state. Kids were brought up in school learning that there is no God, and many churches had to go underground for fear of persecution. There was a young professor at a university who was an atheist until an older professor quietly and discretely explained to him about Christianity – at great risk to himself. This younger professor converted and was baptized secretly. He wrote a letter to his wife after his conversion saying, “Oh! The Sacraments bring me such joy! Why did no one ever tell me of the treasures of the Church?”

            In our modern neo-pagan and atheistic society, there are millions of souls crying out the same thing: “Why has no one told us of the treasures of Christ?”

            Go and tell them.