Homilies

1st Sunday of Lent

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This is a short gospel passage, but it’s long enough to get us thinking. Jesus remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. That brings to mind a Native American adolescent who prepared himself for manhood by venturing into the desert himself. There he fasted and prayed. On the third day, as he gazed at the mountains, he noticed one rugged peak, capped with snow and decided to climb it.

He put on his buckskin shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulder and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top, he could see forever and his heart swelled with pride at what he had accomplished. He then heard a noise, coming from the leaves near his feet. Looking down, he saw a slithering snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke.
“I’m about to die,” whispered the snake. “I’m freezing up here. There is no food and I’m starving. Put me under your shirt where I will be warm and take me down to the desert.”
“No,” said the youth. “I’ve been warned about you. You are a rattlesnake and if I pick you up, you’ll bite me, and your bite will kill me.”
“Not so,” the snake protested. “I will treat you differently. If you do this, you will be special for me, and I will not harm you.” The youth resisted for awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful diamond markings. Finally, the youth tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down the mountain to the desert. Once he was there, he placed the snake on the ground.  Without warning, the snake coiled, rattled and struck, biting the young man on the leg.
“Ouch,” the young man cried, “You promised not to bite me.”
“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” the snake replied as it slithered away. 
 
However we visualize the evil one, be it as a serpent, as Satan, or the devil, its mission is to lure us into thinking there is nothing dangerous about temptations. When we are tempted, we may rationalize, “What is wrong with a little sin?” On the surface, perhaps nothing, but as the ad for a certain potato chip used to go, “You can’t eat just one.”
 
Temptation is everywhere, supposedly offering us a better life with promises to take away our hurts and loneliness. Don’t kid yourself. We all experience temptations. They come in all shapes and sizes from white lies to lurid websites on the internet to multi-million dollar schemes offered under the counter and many shades of gray in between.
 
To be tempted is to be tested. This is what happened to Jesus shortly after his baptism. For forty days in the desert, Satan tempted him to no avail. With any temptation, Satan’s goal is to separate us from the love of God and others.
 
Obviously Satan is successful with us for there would be no need for the season of Lent if all Christians were in a close and intimate relationship with God.  As Christians, we share the common experience with Jesus of baptism and through this sacrament; we entered into a covenant with God that promises us everlasting life.  As was the case with Jesus, our journey following baptism has been and will always be filled with temptations, too numerous to count, but unlike Jesus, our temptations have and will lead us astray at times. Baptism does not make us devil-proof.
 
If anything, we become devil bait, just as Jesus did. Some of us are even tempted to assume a “what me worry?” attitude so far as our relationship with God goes. So what if I miss Sunday Mass? So what if I won’t forgive my brother? So what if I tell a lie? So what if support abortion? So what if I cheat on my taxes? So what if I don’t bother to pray? So what if I don’t share what I have with others?  So what if I gossip? So what if I disobey my mom? Those aren’t mortal sins, so they won’t send me to hell.  Maybe not, but no sin brings us any closer to God either. Temptation can seduce us into ignoring the danger that any sin has the potential to derail our relationship with God and others.
 
Fr. Killian McDonnell, one of my seminary professors, had this to say, “Many people do not recognize Christ, because they do not recognize themselves as sinners. If I am not a sinner, then I have no need of Christ. No man will celebrate the mystery of Christ in joy if he does not first recognize in sorrow that he is a sinner.”
Jesus knew first hand from experience how difficult the journey following baptism could be for us. He proclaimed to anyone who would listen, “This is the time of fulfillment! The kingdom of God is at hand! Repent and believe in the gospel.” His sound advice offers us the antidote for finding what truly matters in life, unlike Satan who will never take the blame for the consequences of our actions. Nor should he.  George Eliot, an English novelist, wrote, “The devil tempts us not. It is we who tempt him, beckoning his skill with opportunity.”
 
Lent is a time for confronting our sinfulness and coming to grips with whatever separates us from God and one another. Those who were here on Ash Wednesday were told as the cross was traced on their forehead, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” We could not be given better advice for living, not just these 40 days of Lent, but every day of our lives.
 
My friends, as we begin these forty days of Lent, we are encouraged to become more aware of God’s love for us, evidenced by his son’s willingness to die for our sins.  Imagining now, his outstretched arms we apologize for the times we have not resisted the temptations we encounter in life.

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3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Being the fourth shortest book in the Hebrew Testament, the Book of Jonah can be read in minutes. What we just heard is its only appearance in the Sunday lectionary. You would think that this little book would be as obscure as the other lesser known books of the Bible yet Jonah’s story captures our imagination.

God calls out to Jonah, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness comes before me.” But Jonah chooses not to, fleeing in the opposite direction. He boards a ship, finds himself in a storm. The crew blames him for their plight and at his suggestion throws him overboard. The sea calms down. In the book’s most famous scene, Jonah spends three days in the belly of a big fish. In response to his prayer, he is spewed upon the shore. This time, as we just heard, he goes to Nineveh and relays God’s message to its residents. Much to his displeasure, (after all, they were pagans) the citizens of Nineveh change their ways and are spared.
 
The narrative is hardly believable and Jonah isn’t much of a hero but he delivered a timeless message. He awakened countless listeners to the fact that morality is the one quality God seeks in us humans. God doesn’t care about our status in life, or where we live, or the color of our skin, or what we have done in the past. What God desires is that we conduct ourselves in a moral way in the present moment.
 
Repentance is the one thread that runs through these readings. Even Paul is cautioning his readers of the need to repent, telling them that life is passing away. Now, you may think that I am out of season. After all, repentance is the message we hear throughout Lent, but repentance isn’t just a Lenten activity. As I said earlier, God desires that we live the moral life, not in some distant future, but today.
 
One could see Jonah’s ultimatum as a threat. “Do this or else, God will punish you!” That was a message we heard often while growing up, and it was a message we shared as parents with our children as well. We are still told to do certain things or face the consequences if we don’t. Ignore the speed limit around here, for example, and you are apt to get a speeding ticket that could put a hefty dent in your wallet. Simply put, the math is simple. If we act immorally, the pleasure is likely to be fleeting but the consequences could be long lasting. No wonder Jonah’s message is well known: change direction or else!
 
Jesus, on the other hand, isn’t marching on the scene as a prophet of gloom and doom. He is telling us, “Something great is happening! Change direction or lose out!” In other words, there is more to life than simply avoiding sin. With the good news of the gospel, Jesus is offering us the fullness of life, not just light years away in heaven, but even in this lifetime. The Kingdom of God, which we pray for often, can be realized when we strive to live our lives today according to his teachings.
We Christians can be the happiest people on earth if we accepted Jesus’ invitation like the apostles did. They put aside everything and gave Jesus their undivided attention to learn his message. This message impressed them so much that, unlike Jonah, they went forth with great enthusiasm to share God’s simple message with anyone who would listen. Sadly, a fair number of us aren’t so willing to really listen to what Jesus has to say about living the moral life and yet we wonder why the world we live in is such a mess.
 
Jesus’ call to repentance is not intended to be a guilt trip; it is an invitation to change our outlook on life and see life as God does, your path to heaven, a path that may be shorter than we expect it to be.
 
A first century rabbi would tell his followers, “Repent one day before your death.”“But how,” they would ask, “does anyone know when that would be? One might die any day; it could be tomorrow, next week, or next year.”“Then repent,” he would say again, “One day before your death.”
 
So, what should we do? For starters, keep in mind that repentance isn’t an emotion. It isn’t feeling sorry for one’s sins. It is a deciding that what God wants from you and what you want from God aren’t going to be achieved by doing the same old things or thinking the same old thoughts. Jesus is urging us to abandon our nets of self-centeredness, fear and despair and walk with him to become “fishers” of the life and love of God. A few weeks ago, I urged you to take on the New Year’s resolution of spending more time in prayer each day then you did last year. Have you been doing that? If so, you have exercised an act of repentance. Prayer, as I pointed out last week, is God’s prescription for dealing with sin in our lives, the root of whatever self-centeredness, fear and despair we are experiencing.
 
We Christians should be the happiest people on earth. We know why we are here, we know where we are going and we know how to get there. Along the way, there will be trials and tribulations to disrupt our journey. There are weaknesses in our human nature that often lead us astray, but then God knows we cannot make this trip alone. That is why Jesus is on the scene. It comes down to you and me, today, hearing his call and responding as though our lives depended on it.

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2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Have you ever received a recall notice for a defective product? Well, recently I received this one from a friend.

Regardless of make or year, all units known as “human beings” are being recalled by the Manufacturer. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units, code named “Adam” and “Eve” resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect is technically termed, “Serious Internal Non-morality,” but more commonly known as “SIN.”
 
Some of the symptoms of the SIN defect include loss of direction, lack of peace and joy, depression, foul vocal emissions, selfishness, ingratitude, fearfulness, rebellion, and jealousy.
The Manufacturer is providing factory authorized repair service free of charge to correct the SIN defect. The Repair Technician, Jesus Christ, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs.
To repeat, there is no fee required. The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R-S.
 
Once connected please upload the burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus Christ, into the heart component of the human unit.
No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Christ will replace it with: Love, Joy, Peace, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Patience, and Self-control.
Please see the operating manual, known as HOLY BIBLE, for further details on the use of these fixes.
 
WARNING: Continuing to operate a human being unit without corrections voids the Manufacturer’s warranty, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will ultimately result in the human unit being incinerated.
Thank you for your immediate attention. Please assist by notifying others of this important recall notice!
 
Recall notices as we know them didn’t exist in biblical times but the need was there. That was why Jesus appeared on the scene, catching the attention of Andrew and his companion. “What are you looking for?” Jesus asked them.
John doesn’t tell us what Andrew said to that question. Instead, we find Andrew asking, “Where are you staying?” and Jesus replies, “Come and you will see.” And so he did, beginning the biggest chain reaction in human history. Andrew then invites his brother, Peter, to come and see for himself who this Jesus of Nazareth is.
 
Jesus extends the same invitation to us, “Come and you will see.” The first challenge of being a disciple is to discern how God is calling us and then respond with prayer so that our lives can be changed. As the recall notice suggest, so that sin and its symptoms can be replaced by those qualities that every heart is ultimately looking for, including love, joy, peace, kindness, and patience.
 
None of us would be here today if someone had not shared the good news of Jesus with us at some point in our lives. Whoever that person was, be it our parents, our spouse, a friend, a teacher or some evangelist, the point was that person hit a chord in our heart by sharing with us their discovery of Jesus. Like Samuel in the first reading, they were willing to listen to the Lord, then like Andrew, who< shared his discovery with Peter, they couldn’t keep their discovery of Jesus a secret, so they shared their awareness of Jesus with you. You could say that by hitting the right notes, they left a lasting impression on you.
 
Speaking of notes, one movie I enjoyed last spring was Ray. Actor Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award last year for his portrayal of Ray Charles in this film. Before filming began, Foxx met with the legendary musician, hoping to receive the blessing of the man whose character he would portray.
 
Charles invited the actor to sit down and play some blues with him. Foxx sang and played on one piano while Ray Charles led the jam session on another piano. Without warning, Charles strayed into the works of Thelonious Monk. 
Foxx didn’t expect such a challenge. Trying to keep up, he hit the wrong note. Charles abruptly stopped playing to ask, “Why did you do that?”
 
Foxx didn’t know what to say. “Look,” Charles said. “The notes are right underneath your fingers. All you have to do is take the time to hit the right notes.”
 
Foxx came away from his jamming with Ray Charles understanding what made him the great musician that he was. Likewise, Andrew and Peter came away from their time with Jesus understanding what made him the great teacher that he was. When we take time to hit the right notes in life, which happens whenever we heed this recall notice, imagine how many others will come to understand what a great teacher Jesus Christ truly is.

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Mary Mother of God

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On the desk in my study, I have a small beautiful clock that Archbishop Brunett gave me for Christmas five years ago. While he offered no explanation for giving his priests such a gift, I thought that receiving a clock was very fitting to the occasion. After all, the mechanical clock was one of the most significant inventions of the past millennium, if not, pardon my pun, of all time. Granted, hourglasses and sundials have been around for centuries, but with the mechanical clock, we were no longer controlled by the sun.
 
Clocks have come a long way since they were first invented. Lacking minute hands, they pealed only on the hour. Originally, they were designed to enable monks to fulfill the
duty of praying at appointed times of the day; the third, the sixth, the ninth hour, and so on. Now we have atomic clocks that measure time in millionths of a second. It seems to me that we value every minute of the day.
 
In the past quarter century, the number of Americans holding two or more jobs has grown significantly. So too have the number of households where both spouses are working full time in order to keep up with the Jones, as the saying goes. Some do this out of dire need; but many do so because they find themselves consuming more. Statistics show that Americans work more hours than ever before, spend nearly four times as many hours shopping as do Western Europeans and vacationing on the average of two weeks a
year less than their European counterparts.
 
The end result is stress, which, literally and figuratively, is killing many of us. Did you know that the three best selling prescription drugs are prescribed for relaxation, high blood
pressure, and ulcers? Doctors have also seen an increase in depression and surmise that its epidemic growth is due to a decline in the belief of God and the afterlife.
 
Other reasons they give include broken families and our fast pace of life, which leaves no time for us to mend ourselves.
 
Since its invention, the clock has taken on a different duty. As I said, the mechanical clock started out intoning the hours for monks to gather in prayer. You could say it has evolved into a giant press determined to squeeze every moment of time out of us. We are trying to cram more into our days then ever before. Can you get through the day without glancing at a clock, a pda, or a watch? Do you feel naked without a watch?
 
Because we are busier than ever before, that leaves me concerned for both our spiritual and physical well-being. Several years ago, first lady Barbara Bush gave an insightful commencement address to some college students. She told the graduates, “As important as your obligation as a doctor, a lawyer, or a business leader may be, your human
connections with your spouse, your children and your friends are the most important investment you will ever make. At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal, but you will regret time not spent with your spouse, your children or your friends.” To her last line, may I add God?
 
As we enter into this New Year, keep in mind that time on this side of death’s door is not infinite. It won’t always be there. The coming year began with 365 days, or 8760 hours, for us to do what? To rush, to acquire, and to ignore loved ones in the pursuit of what we call the better life? Or to be called to prayer, contemplation, and the deepening our relationships with others and God?
 
Much ado was made when we entered the new millennium. Actually, that was an arbitrary point in time, for we don’t know for certain when Jesus was born. Still, it marked a point in time, as does the start of any new year, to remind us that time doesn’t stand still, nor do our lives.
 
Traditionally, many of us make New Year’s resolutions for the sake of breaking bad habits, taking better care of ourselves, or getting certain things done. There is a line in
the gospel that prompts me to suggest one for all of us to make. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” That her life centered on contemplation shouldn’t
surprise us one bit. Mary was a woman of prayer. What might surprise a fair number of us is the notion that contemplation is really the vocation of every Christian.
 
At the top of your resolutions for the New Year, considering all the time that God has given you, may I suggest that you set aside more time for prayer than you did in the past year?
 
Take time, not just a hurried minute, each day to reflect as Mary did on all that God has done for you. That can be done in any number of ways, including daily Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praying the rosary, reading scripture, sitting quietly in contemplation, journaling, meditation, or doing the liturgy of the hours. May your resolutions, whatever they are, contribute to a holy and grace-filled year for you. All the time we have is God’s gift to us. How we use that time is our gift to God. With the grace of God, may we make the best use of this gift of time in the New Year, cultivating what really matters in our lives. May this time be filled with love. Just as Mary had much to reflect upon in her heart, so do we, but first we must give ourselves the time to do so.

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Christmas

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In recent years there has been a lively controversy about the secularization of Christmas.  For the sake of being politically correct, many people speak of winter holidays instead of Christmas. In some circles, saying, “Merry Christmas” has become forbidden speech. Whether one regards this debate as being silly or serious, it does raise an important question: what do we celebrate on December 25th?

We tend to romanticize the story of Christmas, focusing on a baby born in a stable 2000 years ago, greeted by shepherds and angels. Consequently, we could overlook what God had in mind that night. I believe the real message of Christmas is summed up in what happened not in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth, when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary the first time. To paraphrase his message, he told her, “You shall bear a son and name him Jesus and he shall be nicknamed Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us.’”

In other words, the message of Christmas is that God deeply desires to be with us. To appreciate God’s passion for us, I would like to share a true story I read years ago of what happened one Christmas Day to a family as they traveled from San Francisco back home to Los Angeles. Along the way, they stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was nearly deserted. They were the only family in the place, definitely, the only family with any children.

While they sat, waiting for their meal to be served, the one-year-old son, Erik, squealed with glee, “Hi there,” pounding his fat baby hands on the high metal chair. His face was alive with excitement. His grin showed his bare gums.  As he giggled, his mother noticed the source of his merriment.

Across the restaurant, near the check out counter, there sat an old man in a tattered, dirty, greasy rag of a coat, with baggy pants, a worn shirt and threadbare shoes, and a face like none other with gums as bare as Erik’s. “Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster.” He said.  Erik’s parents looked at each other, wondering, “What shall we do now?”

Erik continued to laugh and answer “Hi there,” to every line the old man said to him. The guy was obviously drunk and disturbing. Erik’s parents were embarrassed. Even their six-year old son asked, “Why is that old man talking so loud?”

As they were leaving the restaurant after paying the bill, the mother prayed, “Lord, just let me get out of here before that bum speaks to me or Erik.”  Apparently the Lord and Erik had other plans. As she drew close to the old man, the mother tried to sidestep him. As she did so, Erik leaned over, reaching out with both arms in a baby’s pick me up position.  As she tried to balance Erik, the mother came eye to eye with the old man.

His eyes sent the message, “Would you let me hold your baby?” Before she could say anything, Erik propelled himself from her arms to the old man. Suddenly a very old man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship.

Erik laid his tiny head on the old man’s ragged shoulder. Meantime, the old man closed his eyes. As she watched, the mother could see the old man’s tears. His aged hands, full of grime, gently cradled the baby and stroked his back. After cradling Erik in his arms for a moment, he then pried the child from his chest, unwillingly and longingly as though he was in pain. Handing Erik back to his mother, he said, “God bless you, Ma’am. You’ve given me my Christmas gift.”

Leaving the restaurant, the mother found herself crying and holding tightly onto Erik. And saying to herself as she walked toward the car, “My God, forgive me. Forgive me.”

Simply put, in this story, the bum represents us and Erik is God yearning for us ragged bums with our tattered lives, our tattered hurts, our tattered relationships, and our tattered sins.  Like Erik, God is determined to hug the least likely among us. Through thick and thin, as the expression goes, God wants to be with us. Are we yearning for God as much as the bum did for Erik?

If God is not with us and if God has not embraced our tattered lives, then we are lost. There is no hope and there is no light, only darkness and despair. If we won’t allow God to hug us, then we are here out of fruitless hope, pressured routine or empty sentimentality.  But if we are here because of love, God’s unconditional love, then we have caught the meaning of Christmas. Emmanuel, God with us.

What we celebrate on December 25 is the reality that God is with us, not just today, but every day of our lives. For us to realize that, we must do what we can to bring the light of Christ to others in our midst doing our share to dispel the darkness of sin with love, compassion, mercy and a willingness to forgive. God’s presence and love will be experienced when we endeavor to follow Paul’s advice to Titus: reject godless ways and worldly desires, striving instead to live justly, temperately, and devoutly.

What we celebrate, my friends, is the opportunity to know God personally and intimately. May you have a beautiful Christmas, blessed with joy and love beyond your expectations as you celebrate God’s present to you of his presence in your life.

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