Homily for Ordinary Time 17 - July 25, 2021

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 17

July 25, 2021

Fed by the Lord

 

            Those of you who are parents know the great disaster you must endure when your children are three or four years old…and they try to pour their milk for the first time. You can see it coming from across the kitchen – the toddler reaches for the gallon jug, and in slow-motion you cry out, “Nooooo!” but it’s too late – the milk goes crashing all over the table, on the floor, all over their clothes.

            But you can’t blame the child – because it’s only natural for kids to want to feed themselves. That’s what adults do – they are able to make their own food and provide for themselves.

            But the Lord wants us to become like little children, and He wants to be the one to feed us. In today’s Gospel He feeds the five thousand with physical food, but in the next couple weeks we are going to hear about how this miracle sets the stage for the deeper, better kind of food: the Eucharist.

            The Lord feeds us spiritually in many ways, but the most profound way is through the Mass. In fact, the Catechism calls the Mass “the Lord’s Supper” and the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb”. It is Jesus Who feeds us directly at every Mass, because He is the real celebrant of every Mass. It is not “Fr. Joseph’s Mass” but Christ’s Mass, through Fr. Joseph as His vessel.

            One of the reasons the priest wears vestments is so that the priest disappears, and only Christ appears. Also, consider: when the priest says, “The Lord be with you”, your response is NOT “and also with you,” as if you were talking to the priest. Rather, you say, “and with your Spirit” – meaning, “with the Spirit of Christ that dwells in you”. When a priest celebrates Mass, he becomes an “altar Christus” – another Christ – because it is really Christ Who feeds us in the Sacraments, not the priest.

            So how do we get fed by Christ in every Mass? Two ways. First, through the Scriptures. I have a friend from college, who is now a nun in Tennessee, and we have been pen-pals for many years – we actually send each other handwritten letters a few times each year. I have kept all of her letters from 10+ years ago, and like to re-read them, because they remind me of our friendship. How much more should we treasure the Scriptures, which are letters from our Father?

            At least one saint became a saint because of the readings at Mass. In the late 300s, a young man from Egypt named Anthony was on his way to Mass. He had just inherited hundreds of acres of fertile farmland from his parents, and was rather wealthy. He arrived at church late, just in time to hear the priest reading from Matthew’s Gospel: “And Jesus said, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven.’” Anthony immediately realized that Christ was talking to him, so he went and sold his property and gave the money to the poor. The following week, he was again late to Mass, and as he walked in, the priest was reading a different part of Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus said, “Do not have any anxiety about tomorrow.” Anthony realized he was not being completely generous with God, and he went back and gave away the remainder of his wealth and moved into a cave in the desert where he spent the rest of his life in prayer and penance. He is now known as St. Anthony the Abbot, who was transformed because of the Scriptures he heard proclaimed at Mass.

            In addition to the Scriptures, we are fed through the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our Catholic Faith – it is the source of every grace and blessing, and it is the summit because the Eucharist is literally union with God Himself, which is the goal of the Christian life. It grieves my heart to read studies that say that 60% of Catholics do not believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. My friends, I believe with all my heart that He is truly present – and I am willing to sacrifice my life for that belief. After all, if this were just a symbol, why would I become a priest to serve people bread on Sunday mornings? I could do that at IHOP and make a lot more money. No, this is not merely bread – it is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. He Himself said so; the Church has always taught it; and over the centuries, many Eucharistic miracles have strengthened our faith in His Real Presence, such as the recent Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where in 1996 a Eucharistic host started to miraculously bleed.

            So, if Christ feeds us with His Word and His Body at every Mass, what’s our takeaway? Two things in response. First, we must never pass up an opportunity to attend Mass. At our deathbed, our greatest comfort and consolation will be how many Masses we have attended with devotion. As Catholics we are obligated to attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, but even more than a requirement, it is a gift! If the Pope invited you to lunch, you would drop everything and go. How much more so when Christ invites you to a banquet in which He is the host and He is the Food. Even on vacation or traveling, we can always attend Mass wherever we go.

            The second response is to be prepared when we do attend Mass. We wouldn’t attend lunch with the Pope with dirty hands or shorts and flip-flops. Likewise, at the Banquet of Christ, we should make sure that our soul is clean with Confession, our attire is presentable to come into the presence of Almighty God, we arrive early, and we are attentive to His Words and hungry for Him.

            St. John Vianney once said, “Put all the good works in the history of the world next to one Mass, and it will be like a grain of sand next to a mountain.” All of our good works are just that – the works of men and women – but the Mass is the work of God. It is He Who feeds us through His Word and His Body – let us always hunger for the food that we can only receive at Mass!

Homily for Ordinary Time 15 - July 11, 2021

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 15

July 11, 2021

Sons and Daughters of the Heavenly Father

 

            Growing up, my life revolved around baseball – I played it in high school and college, and passionately followed the sport. In contrast, my dad’s hobby was woodworking – he built our deck, sheds, and renovated our house. He would often ask me for help building things, trying to spark interest in me – but all I wanted to do was play sports.

            Our divergent hobbies clashed when I was about fifteen. For my birthday, my dad gave me a box, and I was excited for what I thought was a large box of baseball cards. Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a toolbox with a hammer and tape measure!

            Most parents want their children to follow in their footsteps. If a dad is a football addict, he will try to instill that same love in his kids. If a mom plays piano, she might encourage her kids to take up piano as well. In the same way, if we are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, then He wants us to be like Him as well – which means, He desires that we share in His holiness.

            Being adopted as sons and daughters of God – not only is that a key to understanding the second reading from Paul’s letter to Ephesians, it’s the key to understanding the whole of the Christian life. Christianity is more than just being forgiven or being a good person – it is living life with the dignity of the sons and daughters of God!

            Think about the advantages to being adopted by a great family. If you were a member of the Rockefeller family, or if your last name was Kennedy, it would probably open a lot of doors. You could get into the finest college or a swanky country club with those kinds of connections. But as Catholics, we have something better – we are related to the Creator of the entire universe. The Victor over sin and death, the Giver of all good gifts, is our Father. We become heirs to His Kingdom; we become co-rulers with Him over Heaven and earth.

            To be adopted, however, comes at a cost. It costs quite a bit to adopt a child here in the US – could be up to $40,000. But it cost God a great deal more to adopt us – it cost Him the Blood of His Son Jesus. Thus, let us not spurn so great a gift. Tragically, just as some kids want nothing to do with their parents and run away from them, some Christians want nothing to do with their Heavenly Father Who purchased their sonship at such an immense price. Let us not be like them!

            Rather, to make our Father proud, let us become like Him in holiness. I think it’s so important to interpret life through this lens – God is using every circumstance in our life to make us holy, like Him. Some people think that God’s job is to make their life easier – “God, take away this problem. God, give me an A on this test. God, let me get this new job.” Rather, our spiritual life begins when we stop asking God to make our life easier, and rather ask, “God, what are You trying to teach me through this? How are You trying to form me to become a saint? What virtues are You trying to help me develop? Lord, make me holy, like You!”

            Through baptism, we have already become the sons and daughters of our Almighty Father. Now, like any good parent, our Father is trying to make us like Himself. He Who is holy wants us to become holy, too, and is arranging every circumstance in our lives for our holiness, both the blessings and the challenges. Our job is to be docile to His leading, cooperating with His grace, so we can become fully mature in holiness, and our lives might resemble our Heavenly Father!

Homily for Ordinary Time 14 - July 4, 2021

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 14

July 4, 2021

Faith Is Not Blind

 

            Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. Would He be amazed at our lack of faith in today’s world? Part of the reason why faith is a hard-sell in today’s world is a misunderstanding of what faith is.

            Most people would define faith as “believing in something they can’t see.” But people believe myths and legends all the time. In the ancient world, people believed in Zeus and Jupiter – I used to believe that thunder was caused by God bowling - so we need a better definition of faith than just believing something invisible.

            A better definition of faith is “believing in something we have not experienced based on the testimony of someone else.” When you think about it, we practice this kind of faith every day. I have not been to the Great Wall of China; I have never met Julius Caesar. But I believe in them because my teacher taught me about them, and I trusted my teacher’s testimony.

            If I were to tell you that I saw a bear yesterday in Monroe, what evidence would you have for believing that statement? (I didn’t really see a bear, just using it as an example!). Well, perhaps you would believe me because you know that I am trustworthy and honest, and have no ulterior motives for telling you that (I’m not trying to sell you bear spray, for example…yes, bear spray is a real thing!). Perhaps you would believe that statement because it is corroborated by others – maybe several people saw the bear. Perhaps you would believe that I saw a bear because you could see evidence like bear prints in the mud. So you wouldn’t just take my statement on face-value, you would want to know that I am trustworthy, my experience is corroborated, and there is physical evidence for it.

            Let’s apply this to Jesus! We learn about Him mainly because the Apostles wrote about Him and passed down oral tradition. Are they trustworthy? Well, they had nothing to gain by proclaiming to the world that Jesus is Lord. On the contrary, all of the twelve Apostles were martyred for that belief – Bartholomew was skinned alive, Peter was crucified upside-down, Paul was beheaded, Thomas was pierced with a lance. So why would they manufacture a story if it would lead to their death?

            Furthermore, these were hard-headed, uneducated, salt-of-the-earth laborers. Fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors. They were not hippies or dreamers; they wouldn’t have the education or time to invent some mythology.

            So, if the Apostles were trustworthy, is their testimony corroborated by others? Yes! Jesus did His miracles in public, seen by thousands. St. Paul even writes that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at once after His Resurrection. Of course, the Old Testament is also evidence pointing to Jesus – for example, Isaiah 7 speaks about “a virgin shall be with child and shall name Him Emmanuel” – a prophesy of Jesus from 700BC! Even non-Christian writers from the first century acknowledged that Jesus really existed – historians such as Tacitus and Josephus wrote that Jesus really existed and did extraordinary works.

            Finally, do we have any physical evidence of Jesus? We have plenty of evidence. For example, we have the Cross that Jesus was crucified on. It was found by Saint Helen, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine. As soon as her son Constantine made Christianity legal in 313, Helen traveled to Jerusalem to find artifacts from Jesus’ life. She and her team excavated a pit in which they found dozens of crosses – the Romans crucified thousands every day – but she didn’t know which one belonged to the Lord. She found in Jerusalem a man suffering from leprosy, so she asked him to touch each of the crosses, and when he finally touched one specific cross, he was miraculously healed of his disease. Thus, she knew that it was the Cross of Christ – which can still be seen today.

We have the burial cloth of Jesus, too – it is called the Shroud of Turin, and it is kept in Turin, Italy. Back in 1898, it was photographed for the first time, and much to the photographer’s surprise, when he looked at the negative image of the Shroud, a face was staring back at him – Jesus’ face and body had been miraculously imprinted upon the burial cloth, but only clearly visible when viewed as a photographic negative. Scientists have done tests on the image and concluded that there was no paint or pigment of any kind, and that the image could only have come from a gigantic burst of radiation that occurred in the tomb – such as would happen when a man rises from the dead!

            So to believe in Jesus is not to believe in a myth or a legend. Rather, it is to believe in something that we have not seen because of the testimony of the men and women who lived with Him, walked with Him, saw Him perform miracles. Our faith is not just a blind belief – rather, it is, as the medieval scholars used to say, “Fides Quaerens Intellectum” – Faith Seeking Understanding. We believe, and we find good evidence for our belief in the Lord Jesus.

            St. Augustine summed it up best when he said, “Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”