Homilies

As was the custom then, out of courtesy to a visiting rabbi, Jesus was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to announce a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll, he sat down, a sign that he was about to teach something insightful. He then gave a short profound homily, “Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What caught his listeners by surprise was the word, “today,” for they had been trained to look for the future.  Yes, a messiah is coming someday, but without warning, Jesus tells them, “Your messiah is now here.” Jesus tells those listening that the kingdom of God is now in their midst.  Jesus often spoke in the present tense, not the future: here and now, God has broken into your life. God’s grace abounds. Today, God is revealed behind every episode in your life. Not on another day, not tomorrow, but today.

Had Jesus spoken in Latin, he might have said, “Carpe diem!” In other words, “Seize the day!” This gospel passage challenges us to be open to the message and life of Jesus Christ here and now. Not tomorrow, not next Easter, not next year, but today. And how might we do that?

The passage Jesus read was familiar to the Jews. It was an Old Testament prophecy concerning the release of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. But Jesus did something unusual. Instead of speaking literally, he changed the meaning of the poor, the captives and the blind. The “poor” were those who had no grace and lacked a relationship with God. The “blind” were those who had yet to see the light, and the ”captives” were those imprisoned by sin.

Jesus was anointed to bring glad tidings to the poor; that is, the Gospel by which he conveys God’s mercy to draw us into a relationship with God. He was sent to proclaim liberty to captives. Not inmates in the local jail but those imprisoned by sin and destructive habits, a mindset that fails to see the beauty of his message of forgiveness. He was sent to bring recovery of sight to the blind, providing us with spiritual insight to see the presence of God in our daily lives. He was sent to set the oppressed free, liberating those possessed by unclean spirits and sin to experience forgiveness.

Jesus knew his listeners were expecting a political king who would liberate them from Roman oppression. But instead he came to liberate them from a different kind of oppression by redeeming them from sin not a military dictatorship. Only then could his listeners expect the prophecy of Isaiah to be fulfilled. Instead of sending the Messiah they were expecting, God sent his son as their Messiah with an unanticipated mission to bring about the Kingdom of God here and now.

Many organizations have mission statements. Luke begins his Gospel with his own mission statement to provide Theophilus with an accurate account of Jesus’ ministry. Then we heard what I would define as Jesus’ mission statement. Our parish has one to help keep us focused on our purpose as a faith community; “As Roman Catholics centered on the Eucharist, our mission is to live Christ’s Gospel message: to love, teach, pray and serve.”  

Jesus’ mission is our mission by virtue of our baptism, which made us members of his mystical body. In his letter, Paul speaks of the body having many parts yet remains one body. Just as every part of our bodies work together to make us who we are, we work together to enable the mission of Jesus to be carried out and when we do, we enable the kingdom of God to be experienced here and now. Jesus guides us in how we should act so we can be responsive members of his body. Living in us and through us, Christ, our Messiah, continues his mission of salvation long after he first shared his vision.

As Christians, each of us is called to participate in Jesus’ mission through our lives, talents, time and treasure. We share the responsibility of being Christ’s hands and feet in bringing about the kingdom by what we say and do. Jesus is counting on us wherever there is any need to do his mission. He uses our eyes to see the homeless, the hungry, and the poor seeking to find dignity in their lives. He uses our feet to visit the lonely, the sick and the elderly. He uses our hands to help the disabled, the weak and the helpless. He uses our ears to listen to the cry of the poor, the despairing, and the troubled. He uses our voices to protect the unborn, the terminally ill, and the imprisoned.

Knowing that we can make a difference, Martin Luther King, Jr. once shared another one of his dreams, “One day, youngsters will learn words they will not understand. Children from India will ask: What is hunger? Children from Alabama will ask: What is segregation? Children from Hiroshima will ask: What is the atomic bomb? Children at school will ask: What is war? You will answer them. Those words are not used any more like stagecoaches, galleys or slavery. They are no longer meaningful. That is why they have been removed from dictionaries.”

That will happen because people are quietly living out Jesus’ mission here and now. By doing that, “today” will become a “year acceptable to the Lord.” Indeed, we have good reason to acclaim, “Your words, Lord, are spirit and life!”

What a debut to his public ministry! In biblical times since many guests had to travel far, wedding receptions lasted for days, not hours. No wonder the wine steward was desperate when his supply was running low. Mary saw his plight and told Jesus, “They have no wine.” She then told the servers to do whatever he told them. Jesus instructed them to fill the empty cisterns with water. Upon tasting it, the headwaiter commended the bridegroom; “You have kept the good wine until now.”

While the setting for this miracle, which John calls a sign, is a wedding reception in Cana, the lesson here isn’t about weddings or marriage, it is about change. Transforming water into wine prompted his disciples to believe in him.

Not the change you have in your pocket or drop into the collection basket or the tip jar, but the notion that just as Jesus could change water into wine, he can change us. He came to change the world, to teach us how to transform our lives by loving God and one another. He changed people wherever he ventured; people who were sick, he made well. He changed sinners by forgiving them and urging them to live better lives. He changed people who were possessed by demons and set them free. Two thousand years later, he comes to change us as well.

He continually calls us to change. When he began to preach, he urged people to change their lives, to get their priorities straight, and to put God first. He worked miracles of change in special meals such as when he transformed a few loaves of bread and some fish sufficiently enough to feed more than 5000 people. At the last meal he shared with his disciples on the night he was arrested, Jesus changed bread and wine into his body and blood, which he continues to do at every Mass.

Whenever Jesus called people to change their lives, that did not always happen. Many walked away rejecting some of his lessons. We have a free will to accept or reject what God has spoken to us. For any number of reasons, some people choose to walk away instead of pondering the value of changing their minds and seeing the wisdom of what Jesus is saying for living a better life and making this a better world.

Other times when Jesus told someone to change, change did happened, whether he was changing a blind person into one who could see, a lame person who could then dance, a paralytic who was then able to pick up his mat and go home, a deaf person to hear, or a leper to be cleansed.

Why then do many people not believe in the Eucharist? At the Last Supper, as he fed the apostles, he said, “This is my body…this is my blood.” He didn’t say they symbolize him. He changed the bread and wine into his body and blood.  On the day he rose from the dead, he did that again when two disciples recognized him in the breaking of bread at their home in Emmaus. He has done that at every Mass.

We can choose to believe what happens when we hear the words of the consecration that the substance of bread and wine are changed and that Jesus does this so that we can be changed. What we see obviously is not a human body but when you consider all that God has done, that out of nothing all that exists has been created, who are we to limit what God can do?

The changed bread and wine, now Jesus’ body and blood, is what we receive in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is God’s tool for changing us to become more like his son and draw closer to him. Our faith is dynamic because Jesus is at work in us, endeavoring to change us to grow in holiness. Later on John records Jesus telling his listeners, “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

“Do what he tells you,” Mary told the servers. She instructs us to do the same if we want to have life to the full. As we begin a new year, ask yourself if you are content with the status quo; if not, what change might you make to make your life more abundant, more joyous, more fulfilling?

Change doesn’t come easy. When we are set in a routine way of life, we resist the notion to disrupt the status quo yet consider the reality. Our world changed because restless minds didn’t settle for how things stood. They endeavored to improve their surroundings through innovation and creativity.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one who changed our world. He is best remembered for sharing his dream, “a dream deeply rooted in the American dream,” calling for a long over due change in how African Americans were treated. “Human progress never rolls on the wheels of inevitability,” he noted, “It comes through the tireless efforts of people willing to be co-workers with God.”

For us to bring about a better world, for any change to happen, we can’t wait for the right time for that time will never come. Rather the hour has come for us to believe that we can make a better world, beginning with ourselves, empowered by Christ to do so. Changing our attitudes that conflict with the corporal works of mercy is a starting point.

If we believe in the miracle of the Eucharist, and if we let him, Jesus will keep changing us until we come to the fullness of life, namely eternal life in God’s kingdom.

What does baptism mean to you? We celebrate birthdays lavishly but never the day on which we were baptized yet on that day we were born as a child of God and the spirit rested on us. Think of baptism as a door through which we began a life long journey to be with God forever. Baptism is to the Christian life that a wedding is to a marriage.

My earliest recollection of baptism was as a teenager nearly sixty years ago in a rather empty, somewhat cold church on a Sunday afternoon. Less than ten people were present: the baby, her parents, my family and the priest. That wasn’t much of a congregation yet that scenario was rather common in Catholic churches until the bishops at Vatican II asked themselves, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Until then, baptism’s purpose was seen as washing away original sin. While that remains true, that isn’t the whole point of this significant sacrament. Until St. Augustine arrived on the scene in the fifth century, the notion of original sin wasn’t even an issue in the early church. Jesus certainly had no need to be freed from original sin, so what did baptism mean back then?

In doing their homework, the council fathers recovered three truths about baptism that had been forgotten or downplayed over time: baptism is an initiation into the Christian community, a call to discipleship, that is, a new way of life, and a commissioning.

Through this ritual, the newly baptized is now numbered among the people of God, the Church. Once baptized, we assume a new identity, mission and destiny as a child of God, joining others who are baptized on common journey of faith.

The council fathers at Vatican II decided since baptism is an initiation rite into the faith community, the sacrament should be celebrated openly. In older churches where fonts were once situated outside the nave, they were then placed either in the entryway, like Saint James Cathedral and ours or near the sanctuary.

In his pastoral letter on baptism, Archbishop Hunthausen noted that the primary symbol of baptism is community, not water, and for this reason, he directed that the sacrament to be celebrated in the presence of the faith community, preferably during Mass.

Secondly, baptism is a call to discipleship. In the early Church, baptism took years of preparation. During that time, candidates had to prove their sincerity to live as Jesus did by prayer, good living, and works of charity. Baptism was seen as a turning point in a person’s life and signaled an adult choice to commit one’s life to God, figuratively and sometimes literally, for being a Christian in ancient Rome could mean martyrdom.

Once Emperor Constantine was baptized, the Church was allowed to exist in the open. In fact, you were expected to be baptized.  As more and more people were baptized, the age of baptism began to move from adults to infants and the standards dropped. As time passed, the focus shifted from being a disciple to being freed from original sin. Instead of being seen as a call to discipleship, baptism became for many a cultural event.

Consequently, they never realized that baptism was more than a christening; it is also a commissioning. We were empowered by baptism to do the work of Jesus Christ and as Titus said, “to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly and devoutly in this age…so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.”

According to the church calendar, the Christmas season officially closes today but by no means are we finished with the works of Christmas. There is much to be done in the days ahead. The good news that the angels proclaimed of peace continues to unfold. Still, the most wondrous part of this story has yet to be revealed. The same spirit that anointed Jesus on the banks of the Jordan calls on us to complete the mission of Christmas: to seek out the lost, to heal the sick and the broken-hearted, to feed the hungry, to liberate the imprisoned, to rebuild families and nations, to bring peace to peoples everywhere by treating them with dignity. To complete the Christmas story is the commission given to us at our baptism.

I once thought that this feast was an odd way to end the Christmas season; after all, Jesus is now an adult. If the message we heard at Christmas, peace on earth and good will towards all, is to be made real in the coming year, it can only happen when we choose to live the message of Christmas. And that won’t be done unless we do what we can, individually and collectively, as a faith community to heed God’s call to justice by carrying out the works of Christmas.

In the waters of the Jordan, Jesus was initiated, called and commissioned to build the kingdom of God. The same holds true for us. Baptism profoundly changes our purpose for living. Just as the Spirit empowered Jesus that day, the Spirit also empowers us to carry out our baptismal promises. When you bless yourself with holy water as you leave here, remember what being a disciple is all about. Carry out your mission whenever the opportunity arises. Live the Catholic way of life to make a difference in the world around you so that without reservation, God can proudly say to you, “You are my beloved child; with whom I am well pleased!”

Perhaps by now you have taken down the decorations, removed the tree, and tidied up your home so that there is hardly a sign of Christmas left. Walk through any shopping mall and you aren’t likely to find any reminder of Christmas other than merchandise marked down 75 percent.  Here most of the signs of the season are still in place. One small detail separates today from our celebration on Christmas.

Gone are the shepherds from the nativity scene. In their place, we find the magi. Tradition tells us they were three wise men, named Caspar, Balthazaar, and Melchior who followed a star across a barren desert, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the newborn king of the Jews.

Aside from their gifts, we really don’t know much else about them. Matthew doesn’t tell us their names, their occupation, how many there were or even where they came from. Because he mentions three gifts, many assume there were only three visitors. Names were given to these men years later.  However, the details of this story do not really matter. What does is that God revealed his son to these travelers from the east and how they responded.

On Christmas, Jesus was revealed to the Jews. He was born to be their Messiah, their redeemer. God could have ended the story then and there but as John tells us in the opening chapter of his Gospel, “his own people did not accept him.” Fortunately for us, God intended the gift of his son to be shared with more than the children of Abraham, otherwise we would not be here. The secret of salvation had to be let out and with this encounter between the magi and Jesus, God revealed the gift of his son to all peoples.

The wise men presented gifts that seem rather odd to give a toddler but each one has meaning behind them.

Being so precious and considered a symbol of royalty, one would offer a gift of gold when visiting a king. By giving a gift of gold, these dignitaries recognize Jesus, not Herod, as the rightful king of the Jews.

But they also saw him as king of kings. Knowing that he was more than just a mere king, they gave him frankincense, used often in worship, then and now, as a sign of divinity. With this gift, they acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God.

The last gift would probably have horrified any mother, for myrrh was used in ancient times to prepare a body for burial. By honoring his humanity, the magi were also foreshadowing his suffering and death.

I first learned while living in Paraguay 60 years ago that epiphany was the day traditionally set aside for giving gifts, not Christmas; they followed the example of the Magi. In light of this custom, as well as it being the theme of the readings, a fitting question for us to ask ourselves should be, “What gifts would we give to Jesus had we been on this pilgrimage with the magi?”

The fact shows that you came here to pray in spite of the cold wet weather shows God has gifted you with another day of life and good health. You made your way here, blest with the gift of freedom to do so. And when you leave here, you will have a shelter and a meal waiting you somewhere. So, in response to how generous God has been to you, what gifts would you bring to his son?

We think of gifts as something that has to be purchased and wrapped. Not necessarily. Our gratitude for what God has done for us is best shown in being generous to others, just as God has been generous to us. Sometimes the best gifts are in a sense free. President Jimmy Carter recalls a gift he gave his wife that enhanced their marriage.

Being punctual was an obsession for the President. While Rosalynn was usually on time, that wouldn’t be good enough for Jimmy. If she was even five minutes late, the delay would prompt a bitter exchange of words between them.

For her birthday one year, the president asked himself, “What could I do that would be special for her?” He wrote out this note, “Happy Birthday! As proof of my love, I will never make an unpleasant comment about tardiness.”  Managing to keep that promise since then, he realized that it turned out to be one of the nicest birthday presents he had ever given.

In his book, 42 Gifts I’d Like to Give You, Douglas Richards mentions practical ideas as well, such as the gift of good advice, the gift of being optimistic, the gift of being patient, the gift of hanging in there and holding on, the gift of spreading smiles around. We could expand the list to include other gifts such as a kind word, the gift of our time, the gift of our presence, the assurance of our prayers, the gift of listening with undivided attention, the gift of forgiveness, the gift of civility and respect when differences arise to name just a few. Any of them, when given to someone out of love is an example of a fitting gift we give to Jesus.

Epiphany is a time for us to celebrate the gift of God made real to us and there is no better way for us to do that then to recall another line from Matthew’s gospel, “Whatever you did for the least of my brethren, you did for me.”  This way, God can become real for them as well.

An agricultural corporation in the Midwest was looking for a new advertising agency. Several high-powered agencies made very impressive presentations in order to win the account but none got the bid. A little advertising “shop” in Kansas made the best presentation.

At the beginning of their presentation, the head of the Kansas firm placed a pair of muddy boots on the conference room table. “These boots,” he said, “are our agency’s business philosophy. If you hire us, we’ll get our boots muddy. We will walk your fields with you. We will get as deeply involved in your business as you are. And we will thoroughly understand your problems before we try to create advertising solutions for you.”

The gospel passage you just heard is rather unusual. With this story, Luke tells us that God got his boots muddy by experiencing family life up front. Jesus became one with us. He experienced family life up front. Little else is said in the gospels about Jesus between his infancy and his baptism. This passage provides a glimpse of him and his family. He stayed behind in Jerusalem at the temple while Mary and Joseph traveled home for a day before realizing that he wasn’t in the caravan. Imagine how distraught they were after spending three days looking for him; they finally found him not far from where they last saw him. The end of the gospel says that Jesus returned home where he was obedient and grew in wisdom and favor.

Our focus today is on the family; not just the holy family but ours as well. The importance of family cannot be overstated. The family is where we discover, just as Jesus did, what it means to be human, what our strengths and weaknesses are, where we first experience love and forgiveness, where we learn about relationships, sacrifice, loving and accepting others, the values and attitudes that shape our outlook on life, where we learn to trust, where we learn to handle stress and how to be responsible.

Ultimately, family is where we learn to get along with one another. All these important tasks and habits are hopefully learned in a family that is relatively healthy. No family is perfect but hopefully yours, like mine, was not dysfunctional.

A family that is seriously dysfunctional teaches a lot of things that are not so helpful for creating lasting and thriving relationships.

What is the big difference between a healthy family and one that is dysfunctional? Sirach provides us with the clues. Whoever honors his parents not out of fear but out of love is blessed with a healthy family. On the other hand, whoever obeys one’s parents out of fear is in a dysfunctional setting. No parent should create a relationship where the child feels unloved or is afraid. The parent who loves creates the setting that prompts their children to honor and obey them with respect rather than fear.

The child who grows up loved is prompted when the time comes to take care of the elderly parent and is prompted to be considerate, for that parent’s kindness has not been forgotten.

Years ago, I read the classic, The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck. I never forgot the point he made that we parent our children in the manner we were parented. That makes sense. We study many subjects in school, but rarely do we take a class in parenting; instead, we recall how our parents treated us. Ideally, we were treated with much love and respect, which prompts us to treat our children likewise.

The holy family was holy because God’s will was first in their lives.  Luke wants us to know that. In his gospel, he pointed out many instances where Joseph and Mary did what God asked of them, whether through the message of an angel or by their fidelity to Jewish customs. You could say they went the extra mile in doing so. That was no easy trip for them from Nazareth to Jerusalem yet they did this every year. What we could do in a matter of hours would take them days on foot. They didn’t hesitate to do what God asked of them.

How willing are we to follow their example? Our willingness to do what God wants inspires us to follow Paul’s advice: put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another and over all these virtues, put on love. Do this, Paul tells us, and the peace of Christ will control your hearts.

Speaking of families, don’t forget your parish family. We not only belong to our families, we also belong to God’s family. As John tells us we are all children of God. Just as the holy family journeyed to Jerusalem every year, we journey together toward a closer union with Christ through the celebration of the Mass and living out of our faith by carrying on the works of Christmas.

Jesus came in the flesh to firsthand live our moments of joy, grief, despair, anger and fear. He knew what we would need when he foresaw the role of Church and worship in our lives, namely an opportune setting for us to cultivate relationships that foster our spiritual growth. In the coming year I look forward to seeing many families come to be fed at the Lord’s table so that they too will grow in wisdom and age and favor before God and the world around them.