Homily for Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for Ordinary Time 22

September 1, 2019

On Humility

            The great American activist and Servant of God, Dorothy Day, was quite famous for her work with the poor. She was a twentieth-century American version of Mother Teresa, in that she took care of the poorest and most forgotten in New York and Chicago. Like Mother Teresa, this work for the poor often drew curious reporters and publicity. One day Dorothy Day was sitting with a poor homeless woman at one of the soup kitchens in the city. A reporter walked up and stood respectfully to the side, waiting for the conversation to finish. When Dorothy noticed the reporter, she turned to him and said, “Are you waiting to speak to one of us?”

            Speak to one of us? Of course she had to know that the reporter was not interested in speaking with the homeless woman. But Dorothy did not see herself as greater than the poor whom she served – and this is true humility.

            Our readings speak about humility. Of all the virtues, humility is the one that is most pleasing to God, because it makes us most like God, Who humbled Himself by His death on the Cross. Humility is NOT the same as being humiliated or embarrassed, and humility is NOT about thinking of ourselves as worthless. Instead, humility means that we know who we are before God – nothing more, and nothing less.

            Aquinas said that “virtue is in the middle” – the midpoint between two extremes. And humility is very much in the middle, between pride and false humility. Sinful pride says, “Look at me! I am the best ever!” Remember that catchphrase of the boxer Muhammed Ali? “I’m the greatest of all time!” This is sinful pride – not recognizing that all that we are is a gift from God. But the other extreme must be avoided as well: false humility, when we think poorly of ourselves. How often have we given a complement to someone, and they respond, “Oh, no, I’m not really very good at that.” That isn’t humility – it’s false humility.

            So what does humility look like? Here are some characteristics:

            First, the humble person does not talk too much about themselves. You may have heard the old joke: a man is at a dinner party and is monopolizing the conversation by going on and on about his accomplishments, his accolades, his bank account. Finally, he wraps it up and says, “Well, that’s enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think of me?” A humble person does not talk all about themselves, but focuses on others.

            Second, a humble person treats everyone the same, whether they are rich or poor, talented or not, good-looking or not. This is what Jesus urges us to do – give a banquet for the poor, that God Himself may repay you. Do we treat our boss the same way we treat our secretary? Do we treat our wealthy brother the same way we treat our brother who is down on his luck? One time I was speaking with a priest who told me that he did not want to have dinner at parishioners’ houses, so that he wouldn’t be accused of favoritism. I was very impressed by that, but the very next day that same priest told me he had to visit a couple parishioners’ houses to ask for money for a building campaign! A humble person sees everyone – from the CEO of the company to the man who cleans the toilets – as equal in dignity.

            Third, a humble person recognizes that everything they have comes from God. We often talk about “a self-made man” as a term of admiration – “oh, look at what they have accomplished by themselves and their own hard work!” But humility says there are NO self-made men or women, because humility recognizes that God is the source of all of our gifts and abilities.

            Related to that, a humble person prays. They recognize that they need God – not as a crutch for the weak, but as desperately as we need air and water. Remember that famous scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Indiana Jones is right on the cusp of finding the Holy Grail, but first he has to pass through three tests. The first test is a booby trap where his only instructions on getting through are “Only the penitent man will pass”. He says aloud, as he is waiting for the trap to spring, “A penitent man is humble…kneels before God!” And he knelt down right before the saw blade shot out, which would have cut off his head if he was not kneeling! This is a perfect analogy of life – there are many, many dangers for those who stand on their own two feet, but those who kneel in humility before God, they are shielded from many trials and temptations.

            There are many more characteristics of a humble person: for example, a humble person is grateful, able to be taught, not easily frustrated at their own imperfections or the imperfections of others, and rejoices in others’ good fortune. Humility is the root virtue for all of these other good characteristics.

            So how do we cultivate it, then? As we cultivate every virtue: practice, and prayer. We pray for it, and we practice it through making humble choices: going to the back of the line, saying hello to the maintenance man, thanking people for small favors, being patient when we are contradicted or offended.

            My friends, humility is a virtue that makes us so delightful to God. As St. Augustine said, “It was pride that turned angels into demons; it is humility that makes men into angels.”

Do Only 1/3 of Catholics Believe In the Real Presence?

Bulletin Article for September 1, 2019

            Sometimes, headlines can be misleading.

            Recently, Pew Research released a study on Catholics and their belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The official statistic cited was dismal – only 31% of Catholics believed that Jesus Christ was truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

            Headlines in Catholic and secular journals alike sounded the alarm: “Most U.S. Catholics Reject the Idea That Eucharist is the Literal Body of Christ”; “Poll: 7 in 10 US Catholics Don't Believe in Real Presence”; “Majority of Catholics believe the wine and bread are simply symbolic.” Yikes! Are things really that bad?

            Actually, no, not quite as bad as they seem. A couple caveats shine a bit more light on this gloomy statistic:

            First, this is not the first time that a study found that the majority of Catholics did not believe in the Real Presence. In 1994, a survey by the New York Times concluded that only 1 in 3 Catholics believe that Jesus is truly there. So, while the statistic itself may be bleak, it does not indicate any sort of radical shift in attitudes from 25 years ago.

            But if we dig deeper into the numbers, they look quite different. Of Catholics who attend Mass weekly, 63% believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist (which is remarkable considering that only 58% said they actually know what the Church teaches on the Eucharist). Of Catholics who attend Mass monthly, only 25% believe in the Real Presence, and if it is more than a month between Masses, the belief drops to 13%. So, the majority of doubters attend Mass with less regularity (monthly or seldom).

            Which leads to the question – does lack of belief lead to lack of practice, or does lack of practice lead to lack of belief? There is a principle in the Church called lex orandi, lex credendi – the law of prayer is the law of belief. In other words, if we do not pray properly, we will not believe properly. If we do not make Mass a priority, we will likely seek to convince ourselves that there really isn’t anything important going on here, that it is just a symbol that doesn’t have any real value. Vice versa is also true – if we do not believe that the Eucharist is Christ’s true Body and Blood, then we will not make it a priority to attend Mass.

            At the same time, I believe that more Catholics believe in the Real Presence but they have a hard time articulating it. I once asked my Confirmation class, “Is the Eucharist really the Body and Blood of Jesus, or is it a symbol of Jesus?” Every single kid raised their hand for “symbol”. I told them they were all incorrect, but a few kids objected, “But we know that He’s really there! Just in a symbolic way!” So they believed the Jesus WAS truly present in the Eucharist but His presence was symbolic.

            Actually that’s not too far off from what the Church teaches. Jesus is NOT physically present in the Eucharist. He is sacramentally present in the Eucharist. What’s the difference? If He was physically present, then His presence would have to obey the laws of physics. For example, when I break a Eucharistic host in half, both parts are 100% Jesus. But that goes against the laws of nature – if I break any other material thing in half, then each half does not become a whole (cutting an apple in half means that I have two halves, not two whole apples!). Or, for example, Jesus is truly present in multiple places at once – He is just as present in St. Mary’s Church as He is in St. John’s Basilica. This never happens in the physical realm – I cannot be both in St. Mary’s and in St. John’s at the same time (unless I bilocate, which is another philosophical quandary altogether!). So, the Church officially defines in the Catechism that Jesus is sacramentally present – a true presence, with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, but in a way that is mystical and altogether unique in the universe. (See CCC 1373-1381, Aquinas’ Summa Theologica Part III, Q. 76),

            And this is hard for most Catholics to articulate! So, they may say “it is a symbol” while still meaning “He is truly present” because they don’t have the words to articulate what kind of presence is authentically there.

            So, do not be overworried about the headlines! Yes, the Church can always seek to preach and proclaim this beautiful truth of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in a clearer and bolder fashion. And we, as Catholics, must continue to hunger for the “source and summit” of our Faith in the Eucharist. Make no mistake – He IS present in the Eucharist. We pray that all of our Catholic brethren begin to be filled with a “Eucharistic amazement” (in the words of Pope John Paul II) for this awesome gift of His presence.

Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time - August 25, 2019

Homily for August 25, 2019

Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time

Salvation and How to Obtain It

            As a priest, we celebrate quite a few funerals. One thing that has always amazed me about funerals is how many people assume that the deceased is in Heaven. At one memorable funeral, the nephew of the deceased got up to give the eulogy, and he began to say, “My aunt loved this church more than anything. She was here every single week, without fail.” Meanwhile I am looking at the booklet the funeral home had prepared, which had her picture – I definitely did not recognize this woman! The nephew went on, “Oh yes, my aunt had her special seat where she sat every week. She truly had a very special place in her heart for this church.” I’m still looking at the picture, wondering how I had never seen this parishioner. Finally, he says, “Oh, my aunt was here every week…at Bingo!” She had never set foot in the Church itself but would attend Bingo in the hall every week! But the man went on to say, “And we know she is in a better place now…” Oh, brother!

            Jesus addresses a particularly thorny concern – will only a few people be saved? His response seems discouraging – it is a narrow gate, and many will not be able to enter it. What do we believe about salvation? Here are a few myths about salvation – and what the Scriptures and the Church actually teach about it.

            MYTH 1: We earn our salvation by a holy life.

            TRUTH: Salvation is a free gift, which we receive by faith. In the Bible, who is the first person to enter Heaven? The good thief! He didn’t have any good works to get into Heaven, and it’s pretty clear he didn’t live a holy life…but he trusted in God’s mercy and put his faith in Jesus, and for that, he was saved! So, we do not earn Heaven as if it was a reward for anything we have accomplished – it is, rather, a free gift from God.

            MYTH 2: This life is a test to see if we are worthy to be saved and go to Heaven.

            TRUTH: This life is an invitation for whether we will accept God’s love – or whether we will reject it. As a teacher, you have to remain neutral. If a kid gets a 60 on a test, then you have to give them that grade. When I would teach at Trinity or Cardinal Kung, I couldn’t give kids extra points just because they were nice kids – I had to remain totally neutral. But life isn’t a test, and God isn’t a test-giver – instead, God has sent you and me and everyone on this earth an invitation to spend eternity with Him. How we live our life is our RSVP to that invitation. What’s the difference between a test and an invitation? When we receive an invitation to a party, we know it comes from someone who loves us and who enjoys our company, and who definitely desires to spend time with us!

            MYTH 3: Unless you’re an ax murderer or a Hitler-type dictator, you are almost guaranteed to go to Heaven.

            TRUTH: Many people prefer loving themselves or the things of this world to the free gift of Heaven, because to accept the gift of Heaven means accepting the gift of the Cross. Once I was going on a Boy Scout camping trip and, as it was Saturday night, I had to leave the trip to go to Mass, which meant that I missed a brutal 4-mile hike to the campsite (my dad drove me directly to the campsite instead). When I got to the campsite, a fellow scout asked me where I’d been. I told him I missed the hike because I was at Mass. He scoffed and said, “I’d rather hike forty miles than go to Mass.” And, sadly, this was the son of my Confirmation teacher! Many people would rather possess the things of this world than the free gift of salvation that God offers us, because to possess salvation means giving up certain pleasures in this world, embracing the Cross, and following Jesus. It’s not just ax murderers who refuse God’s invitation to Heaven – it is anyone who chooses their own will over God’s.

            MYTH 4: God is so loving that He will not send anyone to Hell.

            TRUTH: Those who end up in Hell do so because they have freely chosen it. Hell is a beautiful gift of God’s mercy. Why do I say this? Two reasons. First, God respects our free will so much that He would never force us to love Him. If we love ourselves more, He will let us be in the presence of ourselves for eternity (aka, alone!). Second, it would be more painful for someone who doesn’t love God to be in Heaven than in Hell. Think about it – I hope that you are here this morning because it is a delight to worship God. But if we forced an atheist to go to Mass, they might say, “This is boring! I hate this! Why did you force me to come with you?” Likewise, if God forced someone to go to Heaven who didn’t really love Him, they would suffer for eternity, saying, “I hate this! I don’t want to be in the presence of God! This is boring; this is torture!” So it is part of God’s love to provide Hell for those who do not wish to be in His presence for eternity.

            MYTH 5: Only good Catholics go to Heaven.

            TRUTH: God desires all men to be saved and will do whatever is necessary to invite them to salvation. St. Catherine of Siena was the youngest of 22 children (her mother should be a saint!). One of her brothers tragically took his own life by jumping off a bridge. Catherine was filled with anguish at thinking her brother was in Hell for committing the sin of suicide. One day in prayer, though, Jesus appeared to her and said, “Between the bridge and the water, I was with your brother.” In other words, we do not know the eternal destiny of anyone (except for saints – the Church infallibly declares that they are in Heaven). Other than officially canonized saints, we pray for the souls of the dead. So, whether the deceased was a daily Communicant or an atheist or anywhere in between, we commit their souls to the mercy of God Who will do anything to save their souls.

            In conclusion, I want to emphasize that we do not need to worry about our salvation. Love Jesus, and let Him take care of your salvation. HE wants you to be saved even more than YOU want to be saved. So love Him, and let Him bring you through the narrow gate.

How Does God Reveal Himself? (Part 4/4)

Bulletin Column – August 25, 2019

            A couple months ago, a close friend told me that he had asked his pastor to begin the process for conversion to Catholicism. He had grown up without any religion, never baptized. His first encounter with Catholicism was through his wife, whom he accompanied to Church every Sunday, along with their two boys.

            I asked him – why now? He had been attending church with his family for the past twenty years, and they had been constantly praying for – and at times urging – his conversion! Why did it take twenty years, and why is he only now turning to the Lord? He told me that as he looked at the disorder that was spreading in the world, how the culture seems to be in chaos and how our country seems to have lost its moral bearing, he realized that God was the only One who could bring order back into the world. He realized that a world that tried to govern itself without Divine Laws was surely to fracture into factions and division. Thus, he realized that God must be a priority in his own life if He were going to start making inroads into society at large.

            He is someone who is drawn to God as unity.

            Over the last three weeks we have been looking at the ways in which God continues to reach out to the human person, according to Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s book “Spiritual Passages”. Having considered the first three transcendentals of truth, beauty, and goodness, we now turn to the fourth and final way in which God brings us closer to Him: unity. In other words, God is the unifying factor in a life (and a world) otherwise broken by chaos. He brings order into our lives and our world, and some people are drawn to God as the Divine Architect.

            On a few occasions, I have had the privilege of attending Alcoholics Anonymous & Narcotics Anonymous meetings (as an observer only, just to be clear!). One thing that has always impressed me about these 12-step programs is the second step: “We believe that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.” These heroic men and women in recovery are seeking God as the unifying factor in a life that is shattered by addiction and brokenness.

            Every human being has one of the four ways that resonates most deeply within them (truth, beauty, goodness, and unity). But at the same time, every human being can appreciate all of the ways simultaneously. So, even if someone is drawn to God primarily through beauty, they can also recognize that He is true, see His goodness reflected in creation, and that He provides the standard of unity for the world and for our life. Just as God is Himself a unity, so when He brings His truth to our minds, He is equally bringing His beauty, goodness, and unity.

            As we have reached the end of this four-week series about the ways God reaches out to our soul, I would ask you to consider: how has God reached out to you in the past? Where have you seen Him? Which of the four ways resonates with you? God is constantly seeking YOU more than you are seeking Him. Perhaps clearly, perhaps obscurely, but His Self-revelation continues on a daily basis to all of His sons and daughters.

How Does God Reveal Himself? (Part 3/4)

Bulletin Column – August 18, 2019

            British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was an unlikely candidate for the assignment. The internationally-known reporter had spent copious amounts of time in Asia, sure – reporting on life in Stalin’s Russia, the famines in Ukraine, and teaching in India. But he was also a skeptic, a cynic, a man who had only derisive things to say about religion and the charlatans who practiced it.

            So when, in 1968, he conducted an interview and a video about an obscure Albanian nun who was doing some work in Calcutta, it seemed like an unlikely partnership. But this friendship between St. Teresa of Calcutta and Malcolm Muggeridge began to grow and blossom, until it led to St. Teresa’s international renown – and Malcolm’s conversion.

            Both didn’t occur overnight. Slowly but surely Mother Teresa was becoming more and more know, and slowly but surely Malcolm was being influenced by the future saint. Having been steeped in the vapidity of the ‘60s, Malcolm – by his own admission – had a lot to unlearn in the presence of one of the greatest saints of the twentieth century.

            But finally, by 1982, Malcolm – the self-proclaimed skeptic, the intellectual, the agnostic – was completely won over by the holiness of his devout and diminutive friend. That year, he converted to Catholicism, which he continued to practice until his death in 1990.

            Thus we come to the third transcendental way in which God reaches out to souls – the way of goodness. It was through the goodness and holiness of Mother Teresa that this hardened soul was softened so that grace could penetrate.

            One who is attracted to God’s goodness often has an intense desire for holiness, and a delight in holy people. The saints will be especially important as reflections of God’s goodness in the world (I once heard a quote that always stuck with me – “The difference between the Gospel and the lives of the Saints is like the difference between music written and music sung.” The saints are a living reflection of Jesus and His Gospel!).

            Goodness can be so refreshing and bring so many souls to Christ, because it is rare to find true holiness in the world. Yes, all of us are capable of small acts of kindness, which are beautiful and important and help bring civility and love to the world. But to meet someone who is not just nice but supernaturally good – loving as Christ loved – is rare. And in a real way, in the modern world where so many people are duplicitous and treat others as mere objects for use, living examples of goodness – or even the idea that holiness is possible – can be a powerful way in which God reaches out to souls to draw them to Him.

            The world itself is radiant with the goodness of God (after all, when He created it, didn’t He call it “good”?). Consider the way in which rain falls on crops, causing delicious food to spring out of the ground for our delight. Or watching the tenderness of a mother with her child. All of this goodness is a reflection of His goodness to us.

            So, the third path to God, according to Fr. Benedict Groeschel, is the path of goodness. Some people are more naturally drawn to the Lord through the way of goodness: considering the goodness of the saints, the call to holiness, the desire for justice, the goodness of His creation. What a beautiful way in which God continues to win over our souls!

How Does God Reveal Himself? (Part 2/4)

Bulletin Column – August 11, 2019

            Last week, we spoke about how, according to Fr. Benedict Groeschel, God reaches out to us through truth, beauty, goodness, and unity. Today we tackle the transcendental of beauty – how does God reach out to some people through beauty, and what are the possible pitfalls to watch out for?

            This is my personal favorite transcendental (if you can have such a thing – guess I’m just a big Catholic nerd!). God has always reached out to me through beauty. I remember at fourteen years old being absolutely arrested at the sight of Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. That one painting made more of an impact on my teenage heart than a thousand sermons on the same topic. I remember realizing that this Catholic Faith had to be true, eternity had to be real, and my life and my salvation matters – all because of that one painting. Oh yes, I knew all the rational arguments for why all of it was true – but that painting bypassed the intellect and went straight to the heart, convicting me and calling me to repentance and discipleship.

            For me, too, nature has always been a source of beauty that revealed the Face of God. I remember backpacking with a buddy up Mount Washington in New Hampshire. We got about a quarter up the mountain before we stopped for the night in a shelter. The next morning, I arose early to get some quiet prayer time in, and as I stepped out into a crisp late-summer morning, I saw the mountain towering above me, and a goofy-looking moose cow about twenty feet away munching on some breakfast. It was a breathtaking scene, with a crystal-blue sky and a smattering of puffy clouds, the grandeur of the tallest mountain on the East Coast and the closeness of the wildlife. As I sat on the picnic bench, praying and taking it in, God spoke to my heart and said, “Do you like it? I made it all for you.”

            Many modern men and women find that beauty is an accessible path to God. Beauty tends to bypass the intellect, so if people have intellectual arguments against the Faith, they often find it hard to argue with beauty. The beauty of St. John’s Basilica is itself a sermon without words – it shows visitors that the One Who dwells here, in the Tabernacle, is Himself beautiful, and that it is worth going to great lengths to honor Him with the best we can bring. People feel awe in the presence of tremendous beauty, and awe humbles us enough to allow God into our souls.

            One caution, though, if beauty is the way God reaches your soul – the temptation is often to focus on the earthly beauty itself and not to transcend it to love the Heavenly Beauty. As beautiful as a sunset is, it cannot match the Beauty of its maker; as nice as it is to hear music played well, it is not the music but the Holy Spirit that is moving our hearts. Beauty must lead us to God, not distract us from Him.

            In sum, beauty can be a powerful way in which God reaches out to our hearts, drawing us to Him, the source of all beauty. Next week: how God reaches us through goodness!

How Does God Reveal Himself? (Part 1/4)

Bulletin Column – August 4, 2019

            Fr. Benedict Groeschel, in his fascinating book Spiritual Passages (highly recommended!), said that God reaches out to each person individually in one of four ways: truth, beauty, goodness, or unity (often known as the transcendentals). Each person resonates with a different aspect. For some, they come to God by studying about Him – reading His Word, learning about the Catholic Faith. For others, it’s more about the experience of beauty – seeing their child’s first breath, watching a tremendous sunset, or listening to Beethoven. Still others are attracted to God by the witness of saints – both saints in Heaven and those still here on earth. Finally, some have God as the unifying factor in their life. Over the next few weeks I’d like to take a look at each way God reaches us.

            A few years ago I was in a Catholic conference about faith formation. They were discussing why so many young people leave the Faith after Confirmation, and were critical of the typical “classroom” model for passing on the Faith. The presenters brought up this idea about the ways God reaches us, and they said, “In modern times, we have to move away from the classroom setting because we live in a post-truth society. Young people are not interested in the truth – instead we need to show them beauty and goodness.” I thought that was false and was the furthest thing from the truth (pun intended!).

            Many people are still drawn to God through truth. I recall a particular young man in my Confirmation class eight years ago, who at 13 was asking all sorts of particularly deep questions. It was clear he was really wrestling with the Faith even though his family did not attend Mass or pray together. By the end of the year-long class, he was so convinced of the truth of the Faith that he started forcing his parents to drive him to Mass every week. When he was old enough, he drove himself to Mass and now he is discerning the priesthood! God used Truth to draw him to Himself.

            There is an elegance about our Catholic Faith that resonates deeply within the human person, because we all want a truth to build our lives on. In a way, the truths of the Catholic Faith are interwoven as a web, with each truth touching on other truths. For example, because the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ, we must confess our serious sins before receiving It. And because we confess our sins, then we must live the moral life. But the goal of the moral life is union with God, and the most perfect form of union with God on this earth is to receive the Eucharist. And we’re back at the beginning!

            We are blessed, in the 21^st Century, to have a theological library at our fingertips that the Church Fathers would have loved to read. For free on the Internet, I can find the entire Bible, the complete works of St. Thomas Aquinas, every document that the Vatican has ever produced, the complete works of the Church Fathers, Mass times for every city in the world, talks and presentations by the best speakers in the world. There’s no excuse for not discovering the Truth of our Catholic Faith! (Some great websites include: www.newadvent.com; www.vatican.va; www.biblegateway.com; and www.masstimes.org).

            All people have the ability to appreciate and understand the Truth; for some people, though, the Truth is how God draws them to Himself. These are those who sit back while pondering or discovering a new aspect of our Faith, and are just in awe. I remember a professor in college who, when speaking of the Gospel of John, would actually break into tears, being so moved by the encounter with God in Truth.

            If God moves you through Truth, that is wonderful! Continue to study the Faith to encounter Him. He will reveal Himself through His Word and the teachings of the Magisterium. If you have never had a deep encounter with God through Truth, do not despair…there are three other ways in which God reaches out to us…stay tuned for next week!

Homily for Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - August 18, 2019

Homily for August 18, 2019

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

All In

            There is a town in Pennsylvania that is completely on fire…literally. The small town of Centralia, PA sits on a giant deposit of coal, and in 1969 a fire broke out in the coal mine. Despite efforts to put it out, the fire kept burning…and burning…and burning. It is still burning today and geologists say that there is enough coal for the fire to burn for another 250 years!

            I don’t think this is what Jesus meant when He said, “I have come to set the earth on fire!” But there are some similarities between fire and the Gospel of Christ.

            Fire consumes completely. Centralia is now a ghost town; the toxic fumes and dangerous sinkholes made it impossible to live there. The whole town is consumed by this fire. Likewise, Jesus wants our entire lives to be consumed with the Gospel, until there is nothing left but Him.

            My friends, this is not the age for lukewarm Catholicism! We have to live like saints on-fire with love for Christ! Two weeks ago a Pew Research study was released which showed that only 31 percent of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. My friends, the world has too many mediocre Catholics, who don’t really believe and who don’t really live out their faith. As St. Therese of Lisieux said, “You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.”

            Because if all this is true – if God is real, and Jesus is really God, and Jesus really died for our sins and rose on the third day, and if He really established His Church and His Sacraments as His enduring presence on this earth – if all this is true, then it demands a response of being on-fire with love for God! It would be crazy to say about the Catholic faith, “Oh, that’s interesting. I guess it’s true, but I’m just not really into it.” That’s like saying, “Yeah, that fire looks kinda warm.” Warm? No, it’s burning hot, consuming its fuel. Our Catholic Faith? If we really believe that it is true, then it’s not just an unimportant, tangential part of our life, but must be the very heart.

            Perhaps we’ve heard it so much that it’s lost its impact. But consider - we believe that God died for us! We believe that we get to eat God every Sunday! We believe that the Creator of this vast universe has invited us into an intimate and eternal friendship. How can we be lukewarm, mediocre, blasé when the Sacred Heart is a raging inferno, burning with love for us!

             Notice that Jesus immediately connects that fire of love with suffering and rejection. Because to love Jesus completely, to live our Catholic Faith, costs us. It is difficult, it is suffering – it is the Cross.

            There are two ways we suffer when we go “all in” for Christ. First is the sufferings caused by overcoming our vices and growing in virtue. Sin is pleasurable for the moment, but later on it causes misery (much like eating too much Taco Bell!). So as we seek to live a passionate life for Christ, we have to suffer the difficulty of giving up the momentary pleasure of sin – holding back that juicy gossip, denying ourselves our lustful desires, not indulging that temptation to get revenge. In the long run a virtuous life is happiest – but it does take self-denial.

            The second suffering that Jesus mentions is the suffering of being rejected. A little over a week ago we celebrated the feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was born Edith Stein to a devout Jewish family in Germany in the 1890s, but became an atheist as a teenager. She loved the academic life and began to study philosophy under a Christian convert from Judaism, a philosopher named Husserl. She became curious about Christianity due to virtuous friends, and was given the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila to read. After she had read it, she closed the book and declared, “This…is…truth!” She entered the Church and was baptized, much to the horror of her mother.

            She and her mother continued to be on good terms…until she said she wished to become a nun. It used to be that every time Edith would go back to the university, as the train would pass her mother’s house, her mother would wait by the window to wave at her. But on the day her daughter entered the cloistered convent of the Carmelites, Edith looked back at her house one final time – and her mother was not in the window. She had disowned her own daughter completely, because of her faithfulness to Christ. Edith Stein, now known as St. Theresa Benedicta, died as a martyr in the Holocaust because of her Jewish background.

            Some people want to pretend that Jesus was just a “mild-mannered self-help guru” who just went about spreading peace and love. But He also warned of the Cross – to follow Him means we must deny ourselves and face rejection from others.

            Yet, despite the Cross, it is worth it to go “all in” because the reward is far surpassing! Imagine that you were playing poker and you are dealt a royal flush (for you non-poker players out there, royal flush is the best hand you can be dealt). Would you just bet a little bit, saying, “Oh, well, maybe I’d better hold back, just in case.” Or would you bet everything, with the certainty that you are going to win? I’d throw all the chips on the table, knowing that victory is guaranteed.

            In the same way, we know that victory is already won by Christ, Heaven is assured, and God’s love is promised to us…if we go all in. I challenge all of us to ask ourselves, what are we holding back? What parts of our life have not been consumed by the fire of God’s love?

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - August 11, 2019

Homily for August 11, 2019

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Waiting Upon the Lord

            I remember reading a strange story in the life of St. John Vianney. When John Vianney was a young boy, his parents took him to a local shrine to Our Lady. While he was at the shrine with a number of other pilgrims, there was a great commotion as a woman came through the crowd, crying and carrying her ten-year-old son in her arms. Her son was deformed, crippled, and with severe mental disabilities. He had never walked or spoken in his life. The woman, frustrated with years and years of praying for a miracle, went up to the altar and said aloud, “God, I have prayed for my son for years and You have done nothing! Here he is; You take him!” And with that, she literally threw her deformed son at the foot of the altar.

            All of the eyes of everyone in the shrine were fixed on the woman, who was crying hysterically and storming out of the church. But as she reached the door of the church, she stopped when she heard a little voice cry out, “Mommy?” She turned around and beheld, in amazement, her son standing at the altar, fully healed. This incident made a deep impact on St. John Vianney.

            This mother had prayed and prayed for ten years, and then when all hope seemed lost, God came through. It is this faith that Abraham showed in our second reading – he didn’t know how, he didn’t know when, but he was confident that God would give him back his son Isaac even as he prepared to offer him to God as a sacrifice.

            There is, in the Scriptures, the idea of “waiting on the Lord”. It means waiting in expectation and hope that God is going to move, that He will come through. A lot of times we say, “God, You are taking too long…I don’t really believe that you’re going to move…so I’m going to figure this out on my own.” But those who wait on the Lord say, “God, You’ve got this – and in Your own time, in Your own way, You will provide an answer.”

            Today’s Gospel speaks about waiting on the Lord. So many people give up their faith in God because it seems like God is silent, or taking too long to answer, or not giving them the answer they want. But it is those who wait – watchful, alert, in hope – who will experience His love in this life and His Kingdom in the next.

            I want to mention three practical areas where we must wait on the Lord.

            First, in our own sanctification. Many people struggle with a stubborn sin – whether a sin of impurity, or impatience, or a bad temper, or habitual lying, or taking the Lord’s name in vain, or whatever it is. And if we are seriously trying to overcome the sin, we can get discouraged when we have to confess it week after week, year after year. We might get frustrated and say, “God, when will You take away this sin?” Some of us might even give up the fight and say, “It’s too hard…it’s not worth it…I’ll just give in.”

            But to wait on the Lord is to trust that God IS working in you and that He WILL grant you the holiness for which you seek. A lot of times we think our job is to save our own souls – but we forget that Jesus is the Savior, not us! It’s up to God to make us holy and bring us to Heaven – our job is to trust Him, and to wait in faith that He will come through.

            A second area where we must wait on the Lord is in suffering. It is the human condition to wrestle with suffering – why do innocent babies die? Why do some people live with chronic pain? Why does a faithful spouse have her husband walk out on her? Facing these questions causes a lot of people to leave religion, to leave faith.

            But at the end of the day, we’ve just got to trust in faith that God can and will bring good out of all things, even our suffering. Our job is to wait for Him to move – whether He removes the suffering, or gives us the grace to endure it well.

            Finally, we must wait on the Lord in knowing His will. For people serious about following the Lord, they want to know what His will is. Should I marry this person? Am I called to become a priest or nun? Where does God want me to go to college; which job should I choose; how should I volunteer my time? A lot of times we go to God in prayer and say, “God, show me Your will!” And all we hear is crickets! But we must wait – alert, watching, hopeful – for Him to speak to us, according to His time.

            Now all this talk of waiting on the Lord sounds very passive. It’s not meant to be! We must cooperate with these things – if we struggle with stubborn sin, along with waiting for the Lord’s grace, we must also take steps to avoid temptation. If we are suffering, we should definitely take medicine…along with waiting for the Lord’s healing. If we want to know His will, we need to take steps to discover what it is. So I am not saying that we are just passive – but to wait on the Lord is to not get discouraged when it seems like God is silent or distant. He is the Savior; He is the Healer; He is the one who will redeem us. The whole core of Christianity is that God Himself has done a daring rescue of His people by Christ’s death!

Jesus talks about watching even to the “second and third watch” of the night – each of the four watches of the night were three hours, so the second and third watch was anywhere between 9pm to 3am – a long time to wait! But these guests wait as long as they need to because they know that the Bridegroom is coming. They don’t despair; they don’t say to themselves, “Oh, he’ll never come. Let’s give up and go home.”

Likewise, when we are suffering, when we are seeking to know God’s will, when we are trying to overcome sin, we must have that same confidence – God will come; He will rescue His people.