Third Sunday of Lent - February 28, 2016

Homily for Third Sunday of Lent

February 28, 2016

Name and Identity

 

            In 1842 a Lakota Indian was born, and the boy was given the name Curly. He was a shy boy, aloof from everyone and overly serious. But when he became a man and demonstrated his strength, his father renamed him Crazy Horse. Filled with a new confidence, he led his people into battle against the American government and ended up winning an unexpected victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn. His name was changed, and thus was his identity changed. Curly reminds me of The Three Stooges – but a man named Crazy Horse? That’s a man I would follow into battle.

            The first thing you do when you meet someone is to learn their name. Someone comes up to you to greet you, and they first say, “Hi, I’m John Smith.” Names establish a relationship, and the more intimate the name, the more intimate the relationship. I could never go up to Pope Francis and say, “Hey, what’s up, Frankie?” We use formal names when we have formal relationships. When someone invites you to use their first name, that is an invitation into an intimate relationship.

            So when God reveals His Name to Moses, it is an invitation into a new intimacy. Now He is not just “God” – “God” is a generic name since all of the other Egyptian gods like Ra and Osiris were also called “gods”. No, the One True God has just allowed Moses to call Him by name, “Yahweh” – showing that He wants a true intimacy with His people. No longer is He some unknown deity; now He is personal, a friend of the human race.

            But His name, “Yahweh” – which means “I Am Who Am” – is also His identity. It has huge significance. “I Am” means that Yahweh is the source of all being in the universe – everything that exists owes its existence to God, Who is Being Itself. He is I Am – not I Was or I Will Be – because He is outside of time. He is God of all time, unchanging and immovable.

            So God is inviting Moses – and all of Israel – into a new period of intimacy with Him. No longer do they worship a God they do not understand. Rather, God revealed to them His Name and Who He was. He wanted to be much more than a golden deity on some lofty throne – He wanted to be an intimate friend, an ally, a Father to His people. And to you and I as well.

            So, can you call God your Father? Is He that intimate friend, the one you share your inmost thoughts with? Or is He, for you, the “big man upstairs” who we know exists but is distant and cold? That’s why He reached out in friendship – first to Moses, then through Jesus Christ. When we look at Christ on the Cross, how can we think that God is anything less than desperate for an intimate friendship with us?

            You know, just like God’s Name reveals who He is, so does our names. That is why God often changes people’s name when He leads them on a new path. Abram becomes Abraham, which means “Father of Great Many.” Jacob (meaning “The Usurper”) becomes Israel (“He who wrestles with God”). Simon becomes Peter, the Rock, because it is upon the rock of his faith that his church will be built. Saul – a Hebrew name - becomes Paul, a Latin name meaning “humble”, which signifies Paul’s mission to be a humble preacher to the non-Jews. We adopt a new name at Confirmation to show that we are becoming a new creation in Christ, with a new mission.

            And so, what name do you wish to be known as? I’ve been called many things in my lifetime – some weird nicknames like Gillsbury Joe Boy and J-Perro – and people now call me Father or Padre. But truth be told, the only name I want is to be called a Catholic Christian, to be called a true son of the Heavenly Father.

Homily for Second Sunday of Lent - February 20, 2016

Homily for Lent 2

February 21, 2016

Eyes of Faith

 

            In a small town in Spain during the middle ages, the priest was having doubts about whether or not Christ was truly present in the Eucharist. He thought, maybe it was all a symbol? Maybe it just reminded him of Jesus, but wasn’t truly the Flesh and Blood of Jesus. He was torn up about it inside, and as he was saying Mass, he asked God for a sign.

            All of a sudden, as he held up the Eucharist at Mass, a five-year-old boy in the church cried out, “Oh Mommy, Oh Mommy look! Jesus looks so beautiful, just like all the pictures!”

            Rather surprised by this outburst, the priest found the boy’s mother after Mass and asked what that was about. The mother said that the boy had seen the face of Jesus in the small white Host – but the priest was skeptical. Perhaps his mother had told him to say that?

            So he took the boy off to the sacristy to do a test. He prepared three Hosts – two of which were consecrated (blessed at Mass), which he took from the tabernacle, and one of which was not consecrated. When the boy looked at the Hosts, he exclaimed, “There He is! He is so beautiful!” The priest asked him to point out which one was consecrated, but the boy said, “Oh, but there are two!” and he pointed out which two had been taken from the tabernacle. The priest’s doubts left him immediately! Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, despite what our senses tell us!

            Is this world all there is? Or is there something more? I think our hearts cry out for something more – there must be more to life than just the material world.

            Many aspects of our Faith cannot be measured by science – they are hidden from our worldly eyes. I can’t see Jesus in the Eucharist – but I am willing to give up my life because I believe that He is there. I have never been to Heaven, but I trust that it is truly my home. I never saw with my own eyes the Resurrection of Jesus, but I stake my life on it.

            Abraham never saw his descendants become numerous as the stars – but he believed it would happen. Actually he never even saw the stars – the first reading is very clear that God took Abraham out to the field in the middle of the day and told him to look up at the stars and count them, if he could. Of course he couldn’t count them – he could only see the sun, which obscured all of the other stars. But he knew that just as the stars were present even though they weren’t visible, so God would be faithful to His promise, even if Abraham himself didn’t see it fulfilled.

            The second reading tells us that we are citizens of heaven – we belong to a land that we have never seen. Paul tells us that we need to act like citizens of heaven, not like people who think that this world is all there is. Because if this world is all there is, then death is the end, life is meaningless, Christ died for no reason, and we should just eat and drink and have as much pleasure as possible. This is what St. Paul is condemning, and he tells us instead to fix our eyes on the world to come – the world that we cannot see.

            In the Gospel, the veil is pulled back briefly, and Peter, James, and John are able to see the true glory of Christ. He is not merely a man, but truly divine, and He revealed His glory to them. It was so great that they were struck with terror.

            And that is why the mysteries of our Faith must remain hidden from our senses. It’s like when you walk outside on a sunny day right after fresh snow has fallen. We are blinded, not because there is no light, but because the light is so brilliant. God knows that if He were to show us Heaven, or if we could physically see the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or be present at the Resurrection, we would be overwhelmed, blinded, terrified. So He hides these glories from our mortal eyes, so that we are unafraid to approach Him!

            But simply because we can’t see them or measure them does not make them less real. Yes, it’s true, science cannot prove that Jesus rose from the dead, or that Heaven exists. Science deals with this material world. But science does not – and cannot – say that this material world is all there is. So, science cannot contradict faith, because science and faith deal with different topics. Science, observation, measurement can tell us facts about the material world. But faith tells us why this material world exists at all, what the meaning of life is. Faith tells us about the immaterial world, and about life after death.

            So we cannot look at our life only through our five senses, because there is more to life than the material world. Rather, when we look at our life through the eyes of faith, things start to make sense. Through eyes of faith, we realize that we are not meaningless products of random chance – instead we are made in the image and likeness of a God who is madly in love with us. When we see through the eyes of faith, we realize that we are not made for this world – we are destined for eternity. Through the eyes of faith, we see that life isn’t about pleasure and power and money – but that life is about following Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Through the eyes of faith, we live out that love for Christ through His Mystical Body, the Church – which is not merely a human institution. Our love for Christ is strengthened through receiving His true Body and Blood in the Eucharist, which to our five senses looks merely like ordinary bread.

            Don’t look at this life with purely materialistic eyes, because the world doesn’t make sense that way. Look at the world with the eyes of faith, faith in things we cannot see – and all of a sudden, everything will come into focus.

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent - February 14, 2016

Lent 1

February 14, 2016

The Devil

 

            When we talk about the devil, what sort of image comes to mind? A red guy with a pointy tail and horns? Or maybe some scenes from the movie, “The Exorcist”? All of these are just Hollywood – the truth about the devil is much more real and usually less dramatic than what we see in movies or popular imagination. So what does the Church teach about the devil?   

            First of all, we must understand that the devil really does exist. He’s not just some impersonal “spirit of evil;” he is a real creature. If I had any doubts about that, just this past year I participated in an exorcism. I can testify firsthand that the devil is real.

            He was, at one time, an Archangel named Lucifer, which means “light-bearer”. He was one of the most beautiful angels God had ever created. But upon the creation of the angels, according to tradition, the angels were given a test. They were told that God would take on flesh in Jesus Christ, and that the angels would have to bow down and worship Jesus, true God and true man. Lucifer refused – how could he, an angel, bow down and worship a man?

            Angels are much higher than us – they have vastly greater intelligence, and they have no bodies so they are not subject to the same sufferings we must struggle with. Our flesh really does burden us sometimes – how many times have I tried to pray, but only to be distracted because of a headache or because of hunger! So, angels, with their superior intelligence and greater gifts, and because they have no bodies, are far, far greater creatures than we are. So for an angel to worship a man – even a man like Jesus who was also truly God – would take great humility.

            But Lucifer, in his pride, refused to worship God, so he was cast out of Heaven. He is now furious at you and I, because you and I can do what he cannot – we can enjoy God’s very divine life through grace, we can love, we can enjoy Heaven someday. So the devil hates us, hates the fact that God became one of us.

            So Lucifer, now called Satan, has waged war on us from the beginning. He wages war in one of four major ways – the first one, which all of us have experienced, is temptation. Not all temptations come from the devil, but many of them do. He makes sin seem attractive, puts thoughts of sin into our mind, and manipulates our feelings and emotions to draw us towards sin. The second way is called oppression – which is where the Evil One will, at times, throw obstacles in your way to prevent something good from happening. For example, if you try to pray and you discover you have a headache. Could that be a physical issue? Perhaps. Or it could be a way in which the Evil One is trying to prevent you from growing in your friendship with God. I have heard of priests getting inexplicable flat tires on the way to give important talks, or their computer suddenly crashes when they are writing a particularly powerful homily. The devil can’t stand it when we make progress in our spiritual lives or work at bringing other souls to Christ!

            A third way is called obsession, where Satan influences our thoughts and puts lies in our mind that cause us to lose our peace. For example, let’s say you have a small disagreement with your spouse over what TV show to watch – and then, in anger, a thought pops into your head: “Just divorce her. She’ll never change.” Woah! Seems like an overreaction, right? Of course, and by human standards it makes no sense. It’s a lie told by the Evil One, who is taking advantage of a small argument and trying to make it into so much more.

            Finally, the fourth main way the devil affects us is through possession, which is quite rare. You have no need to fear possession if you stay close to the Eucharist and Confession, and if you avoid all workings of the occult. Stay far from Ouija boards, tarot cards, palm reading, or any kind of fortune-telling or mediums. That stuff invites Satan into your life – I have known people who have been affected by it. It’s no joke – avoid it like you would avoid poison.

            So how do we defeat the power of the devil? Look at what Jesus did in today’s Gospel – He knew the Word of God, and used that as a weapon against the evil one. He did not let temptation even get a tiny foothold in His life. He walked with humility. For us to defeat the devil, we ought to do the same things: study and live the Scriptures, do not allow temptation to gain any foothold, be humble and rely on God and not your own efforts, and do not dabble in the occult.

            It’s important to remember that we do not need to fear Satan as long as we are living a life of grace. The two most powerful weapons against him are Confession and the Eucharist – they keep us intimately united to Christ, and with His presence dwelling in our souls, we have nothing to fear. “He who is within us is more powerful” than the devil. Ultimately, God has already won the victory over the Evil One – that is what Easter celebrates!

            So, be aware that the devil exists – but trust that God is stronger, and do not fear! Rather, with the power of God’s grace within us, we can stand on God’s authority and reject the devil and his influence in our lives.

Homily for Ash Wednesday - February 10, 2016

Homily for Ash Wednesday

February 10, 2016

The Three Enemies, and the Three Strategies

 

            If we want to follow Christ, we will have to fight for it. Living a vibrant life in Christ, transformed by the Spirit, seeking holiness, is something that goes against the values of this world, and we have to fight if we want to be true Christians. But what are we fighting?

            Anyone who loves Christ will have to fight against three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil.

            First, if we seek holiness, we will be tempted by the world. What do I mean by “the world”? I mean two things – first, we are often tempted by peer pressure, which usually isn’t healthy or holy. When’s the last time you ever had someone say, “Hey, let’s go pray the Rosary – all the cool kids are doing it!” Many times, we feel pressured, even by our friends, to sin, to stray from the way of the Lord. The other temptation in the world is the lure of riches and possessions. Nobody boasts of their dirty, beat-up car or their old shoes. No, the world boasts in having the best, the brightest, the newest, the richest. So the first source of temptation we must fight is the world.

            But temptation isn’t only “out there” in the world – it is also within us. The second enemy we must fight is the flesh. Now, I don’t mean that our bodies are bad – but they do often betray us. Our flesh desires more food, more sleep, more pleasure, more sex, an easier life. Again, none of these things are bad – but our flesh wants them when we shouldn’t have them. How many times have we eaten dessert and regretted it later? How many times have we been lazy and hit the snooze button when we should have been up? Our flesh is a traitor – it does not serve our souls, but often rebels against our souls – so we must fight against our inner tendency to follow the desires of the flesh and not the teachings of Christ.

            The third source of temptation is the devil. The devil makes sin seem attractive; he puts lies into our thoughts so that we begin to rationalize sin away.

            So these are the three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. These three are unceasing in their desire to drag us down to Hell, to prevent us from living the life of grace that Christ has won for us.

            So what is the antidote to these three enemies? The answer is in the Gospel. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

            If the world tempts us with riches, we overcome the world through generosity and simplicity of life. We give alms – which means we give to the poor or to the Church – so that we do not become attached to money and possessions. If you give away money to the poor and you don’t have enough money to buy those new Nike Jordans, then you are less likely to allow your heart to be drowned by riches.

            If our flesh tempts us with pleasure, we overcome the flesh through fasting and sacrifice. We often give things up in Lent like chocolate cake or Facebook, not because those things are bad, but so that we can gain mastery over our flesh which is often tempted to illicit pleasures. If we can give up a legitimate pleasure, then it becomes easier to give up an illegitimate pleasure.

            If the devil tempts us to pride, then we overcome the devil through prayer. Prayer recognizes that God is the King of our life, our good Father Who wants what’s best for us. Ultimately all of the above – generosity, simplicity, fasting, sacrifice – doesn’t mean anything unless it is covered by prayer, because the whole point of the spiritual battle is to become closer to the Lord.

            My friends, this Lent, recognize these three battle points – the world, the flesh, and the devil. All three promise you a life of misery and chaos, masquerading as riches, and pleasure. Fight them with the threefold weapon of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Because if Easter comes around and you are no closer to the Lord than you are at this moment, then you’ve wasted the whole point of Lent. The point of Lent is to become a saint. And that starts today – with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Homily for Ordinary Time 5 - February 7, 2016

Homily for Ordinary Time 5

February 7, 2016

Today Is the Day

 

            I was assigned in Bethel with a priest named Fr. Jeff Couture who died. And then came back to life.

            He had a rather remarkable conversion story. Although raised in a good Catholic family, during his teen years he chose the rock & roll lifestyle of drugs and women over his faith. He moved from Connecticut to Florida where he was basically a beach bum and partygoer, only working if he needed money for drugs or alcohol.

            One day he was out of money, so he saw an ad for a place that would pay you $20 if you donated your blood. He went there – a sketchy little place – and the worker quickly pricked his arm to draw out a pint of blood. But apparently the worker wasn’t very professional, and he quickly bled to death right there on the table.

            When he had died, he saw Jesus and his guardian angel. He realized that because of his sinful life, he deserved Hell, and he was completely at peace about it, since he had chosen it freely by his choices in this life. But he then saw the Blessed Mother step in front of her Son, asking if Jesus would give him a second chance. Jesus smiled, and the next thing Fr. Jeff knew, he was in the hospital emergency room. Needless to say, this near-death experience changed him completely – he gave up the drugs and the drinking, and became a priest. He now serves as the chaplain at WestConn University in Danbury.

            When he was telling me this story, I have to admit, I was kind of jealous. Man, I wish I could see Jesus! What a great grace that would be! But then I realized, I have received many great graces – God preserved me from the misery of living a drug-addicted life, He gave me two parents who are still together and who taught me the Faith, and He has shown me His love in thousands of different ways. It was better not to need to be knocked off my horse – what a grace that God preserved me from all that!

            However, it does seem like many people wait until a crisis hits before they finally turn to God!

            It happened to Peter in the Gospel. He was just going about his daily business, fishing, making a living, providing for his family (we know that Peter was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law). He was living a pretty regular life. I’m sure news of this new prophet, Jesus, had been spreading around town. After all, by this time, He had done some miracles, started calling some disciples, and began preaching the Word of God. But Peter wasn’t really interested. He wasn’t yet a disciple – it hadn’t gotten personal yet.

            But here comes Jesus, walking along the shoreline, asking to borrow a boat to preach. He does this because sound carries much better over water than land, so it’s easier to preach when He’s out on a lake.

            The Lord didn’t just pick a random boat – He purposely selected Simon’s, because He knew He had big plans for the man. So, after He was done preaching, He encouraged Simon to put out for a catch.

            Fishermen knew that the time to catch fish was at night. So it would be highly unlikely that they would catch anything at midday, as the Lord had commanded. But hey, Simon figured, we’ve heard good things about this Jesus, so let’s see if He really is as remarkable as the rumors. Besides, what do we have to lose?

            What a shock he got, to see the catch of a lifetime! Such a miracle moved Simon to fall to his knees and confess his sin. Then, encouraged by the Lord’s words, he left everything and followed Him.

            But it took a remarkable occurrence for Peter to finally open his heart to the Lord. Same with Isaiah in the first reading – he had to have a vision which must have been terrifying and awesome at the same time. Then, and only then, did he confess his sin, and promise to follow the Lord’s call to be a prophet.

            God often does use remarkable events to get our attention. Sometimes it’s good events – many parents have told me that they felt closest to God at the birth of their child, for example. Others might be similarly moved by an experience of beauty in music, art, or nature.

            Sometimes, God needs to get our attention and He allows an unfortunate thing to befall us. Perhaps an illness, or a loss of a job, or the death of someone close to us. These events often shake us out of complacency and spur us onto our knees.

            But we don’t have to wait for these extraordinary things to happen, because God’s grace is offered at every moment of every day. Don’t postpone following the Lord! If you keep saying to yourself, “Oh, I’ll get to Confession tomorrow”…you are not guaranteed tomorrow! If you say to yourself, “Well, once I finish school, once my kids are out of the house, once I retire, then I’ll develop a real prayer life,” then we will never do it – we will always find yet one more excuse.

            We forget that most of Jesus’ Apostles didn’t have such a remarkable calling as Peter. He just simply pointed to Matthew, who left everything and followed Him. His other disciples, like Bartholomew or Philip, simply listened to Jesus’ words and became His disciples – their decision to follow the Lord didn’t take a miracle or a crisis! In their hearts, they took seriously His words of truth, and turned their lives over to Him.

            When I see people finally turning to God in times of suffering and crisis, it’s very hard for them because they have not learned how to have a relationship with Him beforehand. If you were learning how to sail, you would probably pick a nice, calm day to learn the art of putting up a sail, tying knots, manning the rudder, all of that knowledge. It wouldn’t be a good idea to learn to sail in the middle of a hurricane. When people turn to God only in times of crisis, it is much harder for them because they haven’t developed the habits of having a relationship with God. But when people develop a real life of prayer and relationship with Christ in everyday life, then when the spiritual hurricane comes, they know how to trust Christ.

            So, what are you waiting for? If you’ve been putting of some aspect of your relationship with God, now is the time! Maybe that means returning to Confession. Maybe that means really starting a daily prayer routine. Maybe it means finally reading the Bible like you’ve been meaning to do for all these years. Maybe it means reconciling with that family member who you’ve held a grudge against for decades, or finally volunteering like you’ve always meant to do.

            Don’t be like Peter, who needed a real kick in the pants to finally follow Christ. Do it now, and don’t wait until your life is turned upside-down. What are you waiting for?