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Holy Spirt Catholic Community Toledo, Ohio - MAP weekly Mass schedule Beverly Bingle ordained to the Catholic priesthood February 2013 |
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Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Fourth Sunday of Easter (B), April 22, 2018
First reading: Acts 4:8-12
Responsorial: Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
Second reading: 1 John 3:1-2
Gospel: John 10:11-18
Sheep and shepherds are a common image in the scriptures.
Even if we’ve never been around a sheep,
we understand the image
because we’ve been around other animals.
My neighbor Phyllis has a beautiful calico cat.
When I visit, the cat checks me out
but doesn’t stick around.
When she hears Phyllis’ voice, though,
she goes right up to her and stays there, purring.
My friend Marty has two Cocker Spaniels,
who come running to him when they hear him whistle.
When I whistle the exact same way, they ignore me.
They know who takes care of them.
My chickies are the same way.
They look up when they hear the back door open
and come running when they see me there.
If they’re out in the back 40 (that’s the back 40 feet, not acres),
they come running when I call out, “Chick, chick!”
They know who gives them apple cores
and bread crumbs and corn.
Horses and cows and pigs--
all those animals, and human animals, too--
know who cares for them.
____________________________________________
In today’s Gospel John has Jesus describe himself
as the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
It’s unlikely that Jesus would have described himself that way.
On the other hand,
it is John’s way of telling his audience
what Jesus was like in terms that they understood.
You who are parents and grandparents know how that works:
you give your life for your children and grandchildren.
You who have worked as teachers and nurses and cooks
and doctors and technicians and truck drivers--
whatever job you worked at--
you put your very life in it,
and on those days when the task you were charged with
didn’t seem like it was worth your life,
you kept on doing it
because you are a good shepherd,
not a hired hand.
You are a good steward of all that is entrusted to you--
spouse, children, family, job, house, friends, neighbors--
everything and everyone.
You are responsible.
____________________________________________
You may have read last week
about the Goldman-Sachs report
for biotech companies pioneering in gene therapy treatment.
They put their advice in a report titled “The Genome Revolution.”
Analyst Salveen Richter wrote that,
while a cure carries tremendous value for patients and society,
it could represent a challenge
for medicine developers
who want sustained cash flow.
Cures are a real problem.
Richter gives an example:
the success of Gilead Science’s new treatments for hepatitis C, with
cure rates of more than 90 percent,
means less profit for the company,
dropping from $12.5 billion in 2015
to less than $4 billion this year.
Curing hepatitis C, he wrote,
“has gradually exhausted
the available pool of treatable patients."
Curing the patients means
that there are fewer people around
to give the virus to new patients,
so there’s less and less profit to be made.
Bottom line: cures are bad for business.
It’s good for business if people stay sick
because the real money
is in long-term treatment of chronic illness.
It’s just not profitable to find cures;
there’s no money to be made if people get healthy.
____________________________________________
That report is just one example of the lack of morality
that comes from being a hired hand--
interested in grabbing and keeping--
instead of a good shepherd--
committed to sharing and helping.
We can see it wherever we look:
in the way workers are underpaid and overworked
to make more profit,
the way land and water and forests and animals
are mistreated and degraded for profit
regardless of who suffers as a result.
____________________________________________
At the end of his gospel
John uses the shepherd image again.
“Do you love me?” Jesus asks Peter.
And when Peter says yes,
Jesus tells him, “Feed my sheep.”
Today, when we say we are followers of Jesus,
we are the ones who have to feed the sheep.
We’re the ones who have to share and help.
It’s a moral imperative.
____________________________________________
I know that you tend your family and friends
and neighbors and co-workers.
You stand for inclusivity and equality and justice and peace.
You stand against racism and classism and sexism.
You send $100 to Padua Center every month
for programs to support at-risk elementary school kids.
Last week you sent $500 to Clean Water for the World
for a solar water filtration system
for a small village in El Salvador.
Today [Yesterday] you delivered an orchard of fruit trees
to the Blum Street project in the Junction neighborhood,
along with a street full of canopy trees.
Today may be Earth Day,
but I see you spending your lives,
every day, all the time,
tending all of God’s creatures and all of God’s creation--
plants and animals and water and air and plant life
and the people God has gifted you with.
You are good shepherds!
Thanks be to God!
First reading: Acts 4:8-12
Responsorial: Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
Second reading: 1 John 3:1-2
Gospel: John 10:11-18
Sheep and shepherds are a common image in the scriptures.
Even if we’ve never been around a sheep,
we understand the image
because we’ve been around other animals.
My neighbor Phyllis has a beautiful calico cat.
When I visit, the cat checks me out
but doesn’t stick around.
When she hears Phyllis’ voice, though,
she goes right up to her and stays there, purring.
My friend Marty has two Cocker Spaniels,
who come running to him when they hear him whistle.
When I whistle the exact same way, they ignore me.
They know who takes care of them.
My chickies are the same way.
They look up when they hear the back door open
and come running when they see me there.
If they’re out in the back 40 (that’s the back 40 feet, not acres),
they come running when I call out, “Chick, chick!”
They know who gives them apple cores
and bread crumbs and corn.
Horses and cows and pigs--
all those animals, and human animals, too--
know who cares for them.
____________________________________________
In today’s Gospel John has Jesus describe himself
as the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
It’s unlikely that Jesus would have described himself that way.
On the other hand,
it is John’s way of telling his audience
what Jesus was like in terms that they understood.
You who are parents and grandparents know how that works:
you give your life for your children and grandchildren.
You who have worked as teachers and nurses and cooks
and doctors and technicians and truck drivers--
whatever job you worked at--
you put your very life in it,
and on those days when the task you were charged with
didn’t seem like it was worth your life,
you kept on doing it
because you are a good shepherd,
not a hired hand.
You are a good steward of all that is entrusted to you--
spouse, children, family, job, house, friends, neighbors--
everything and everyone.
You are responsible.
____________________________________________
You may have read last week
about the Goldman-Sachs report
for biotech companies pioneering in gene therapy treatment.
They put their advice in a report titled “The Genome Revolution.”
Analyst Salveen Richter wrote that,
while a cure carries tremendous value for patients and society,
it could represent a challenge
for medicine developers
who want sustained cash flow.
Cures are a real problem.
Richter gives an example:
the success of Gilead Science’s new treatments for hepatitis C, with
cure rates of more than 90 percent,
means less profit for the company,
dropping from $12.5 billion in 2015
to less than $4 billion this year.
Curing hepatitis C, he wrote,
“has gradually exhausted
the available pool of treatable patients."
Curing the patients means
that there are fewer people around
to give the virus to new patients,
so there’s less and less profit to be made.
Bottom line: cures are bad for business.
It’s good for business if people stay sick
because the real money
is in long-term treatment of chronic illness.
It’s just not profitable to find cures;
there’s no money to be made if people get healthy.
____________________________________________
That report is just one example of the lack of morality
that comes from being a hired hand--
interested in grabbing and keeping--
instead of a good shepherd--
committed to sharing and helping.
We can see it wherever we look:
in the way workers are underpaid and overworked
to make more profit,
the way land and water and forests and animals
are mistreated and degraded for profit
regardless of who suffers as a result.
____________________________________________
At the end of his gospel
John uses the shepherd image again.
“Do you love me?” Jesus asks Peter.
And when Peter says yes,
Jesus tells him, “Feed my sheep.”
Today, when we say we are followers of Jesus,
we are the ones who have to feed the sheep.
We’re the ones who have to share and help.
It’s a moral imperative.
____________________________________________
I know that you tend your family and friends
and neighbors and co-workers.
You stand for inclusivity and equality and justice and peace.
You stand against racism and classism and sexism.
You send $100 to Padua Center every month
for programs to support at-risk elementary school kids.
Last week you sent $500 to Clean Water for the World
for a solar water filtration system
for a small village in El Salvador.
Today [Yesterday] you delivered an orchard of fruit trees
to the Blum Street project in the Junction neighborhood,
along with a street full of canopy trees.
Today may be Earth Day,
but I see you spending your lives,
every day, all the time,
tending all of God’s creatures and all of God’s creation--
plants and animals and water and air and plant life
and the people God has gifted you with.
You are good shepherds!
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Third Sunday of Easter (B), April 15, 2018
First reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 4: 2, 4, 7-9
Second reading: 1 John 2:1-5
Gospel: Luke 24:35-481
Again this week our gospel gives us
a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus,
this time from Luke.
As with last week’s story from the gospel of John,
scholars say that this appearance is not literal, historical fact
but a scene crafted by Luke
to try to talk about an experience of Jesus
in a way that his first-century community would understand.
_______________________________________
We don’t know exactly what happened 2,000 years ago,
but we can be confident
that the disciples had life-changing experiences
that they tried to communicate to others.
Some of the details in Luke’s story of this appearance
come from literature, philosophy, and ideas
that his Greek audience would have known.
They would have known that Plato said to Socrates:
“If anyone has been a sturdy rogue,
and bore traces of his stripes in scars on his body...
then after death too his body has these marks visible on it.”
So Luke’s story of Jesus showing the marks of crucifixion
was not an unfamiliar idea to them.
The details about Jesus eating a piece of fish
also had a meaning for Luke’s audience,
who believed that ghosts could not eat food.
The idea of Jesus appearing and disappearing
also would have been familiar to them
through the Greek legend
about Orpheus and his wife Euridyce.
She has died and gone to the underworld,
and the gods respond
to Orpheus’ begging them to let her come back to earth,
with one restriction:
he can bring her back but can’t look at her
until they reach the surface.
As they travel towards earth,
Euridyce lags behind because of the snake bite on her ankle.
When Orpheus turns around to make sure she is still following,
she vaporizes and drifts back into the underworld.
_______________________________________
Those first-century folks also accepted as normal
those altered states of consciousness that we still have.
We don’t think about them like those first-century Greeks did,
but we have words for them,
like paranormal, psychic, metaphysical, otherworldly.
We call them dreams.
Or daydreams.
Mystical experiences.
Déjà vu.
We try to talk about them, to put them in a story.
We’re thinking about someone, and the phone rings,
and they’re on the line.
We’re filled with a sense of foreboding
and find out that someone we love
was in trouble at that very time.
We feel like a loved one who has died
is here with us.
_______________________________________
We might think that alternate reality is totally foreign and passé,
but it’s alive and well.
I was privileged last weekend to attend
the premier of Douglas Tappin’s opera I Dream.
Tappin tells the story
of Dr. Martin Luther King’s work for peace and justice
in the framework of a recurring dream.
In that dream MLK sees a balcony
that fills him with a sense of both foreboding and destiny.
The image of that balcony shows a moment
that he knows he is not yet ready to face
but that he cannot explain or see beyond.
A disclaimer in the program said that
parts of the opera are not necessarily historic.
That dream framework for the opera
shows an altered state of consciousness.
_______________________________________
Another example comes from the famous story
where Thomas Merton describes a revelation he had one day
while standing on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville.
Among complete strangers
in the middle of a shopping district on a very ordinary day,
Merton felt his senses suddenly attached to a bigger soul.
He writes:
“I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization
that I loved all of those people, that they were mine,
and I, theirs, that we could not be alien to one another
even though we were total strangers.
It was like waking from a dream of separateness.…
Then it was as if I suddenly saw
the secret beauty of their hearts,
the depths of their hearts,
where neither sin, nor desire, nor self-knowledge,
can reach the core of their reality,
the person that each one is in God’s eyes.
If only we could all see each other that way all the time!
There would be no more war, no more hatred,
no more cruelty, no more greed.”
And then Merton adds a bit of humor:
“I suppose that the big problem would be
that we would all fall down and worship each other.”
_______________________________________
Jesus’ disciples experienced his presence with them
after he died.
Through those experiences they learned
to understand even more deeply
what he had been trying to teach them
and how they were called
to keep on following the way he had taught them.
They were to love God and love one another...
and everyone else, including their enemies.
They were to spread the good news
of his message that the reign of God is at hand.
_______________________________________
Patrick Carolan, director of the Franciscan Action Network,
asks how the reign of God could possibly be at hand
if we are not welcoming the stranger,
if racism is alive and flourishing,
if we are destroying God’s wondrous creation?
We know that the reign of God is indeed at hand
because we are welcoming the stranger,
working to end racism,
and planting trees.
We are marching for our lives, writing letters to the editor,
speaking out for immigrants and refugees.
We are loving one another!
Glory be to God!
First reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 4: 2, 4, 7-9
Second reading: 1 John 2:1-5
Gospel: Luke 24:35-481
Again this week our gospel gives us
a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus,
this time from Luke.
As with last week’s story from the gospel of John,
scholars say that this appearance is not literal, historical fact
but a scene crafted by Luke
to try to talk about an experience of Jesus
in a way that his first-century community would understand.
_______________________________________
We don’t know exactly what happened 2,000 years ago,
but we can be confident
that the disciples had life-changing experiences
that they tried to communicate to others.
Some of the details in Luke’s story of this appearance
come from literature, philosophy, and ideas
that his Greek audience would have known.
They would have known that Plato said to Socrates:
“If anyone has been a sturdy rogue,
and bore traces of his stripes in scars on his body...
then after death too his body has these marks visible on it.”
So Luke’s story of Jesus showing the marks of crucifixion
was not an unfamiliar idea to them.
The details about Jesus eating a piece of fish
also had a meaning for Luke’s audience,
who believed that ghosts could not eat food.
The idea of Jesus appearing and disappearing
also would have been familiar to them
through the Greek legend
about Orpheus and his wife Euridyce.
She has died and gone to the underworld,
and the gods respond
to Orpheus’ begging them to let her come back to earth,
with one restriction:
he can bring her back but can’t look at her
until they reach the surface.
As they travel towards earth,
Euridyce lags behind because of the snake bite on her ankle.
When Orpheus turns around to make sure she is still following,
she vaporizes and drifts back into the underworld.
_______________________________________
Those first-century folks also accepted as normal
those altered states of consciousness that we still have.
We don’t think about them like those first-century Greeks did,
but we have words for them,
like paranormal, psychic, metaphysical, otherworldly.
We call them dreams.
Or daydreams.
Mystical experiences.
Déjà vu.
We try to talk about them, to put them in a story.
We’re thinking about someone, and the phone rings,
and they’re on the line.
We’re filled with a sense of foreboding
and find out that someone we love
was in trouble at that very time.
We feel like a loved one who has died
is here with us.
_______________________________________
We might think that alternate reality is totally foreign and passé,
but it’s alive and well.
I was privileged last weekend to attend
the premier of Douglas Tappin’s opera I Dream.
Tappin tells the story
of Dr. Martin Luther King’s work for peace and justice
in the framework of a recurring dream.
In that dream MLK sees a balcony
that fills him with a sense of both foreboding and destiny.
The image of that balcony shows a moment
that he knows he is not yet ready to face
but that he cannot explain or see beyond.
A disclaimer in the program said that
parts of the opera are not necessarily historic.
That dream framework for the opera
shows an altered state of consciousness.
_______________________________________
Another example comes from the famous story
where Thomas Merton describes a revelation he had one day
while standing on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville.
Among complete strangers
in the middle of a shopping district on a very ordinary day,
Merton felt his senses suddenly attached to a bigger soul.
He writes:
“I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization
that I loved all of those people, that they were mine,
and I, theirs, that we could not be alien to one another
even though we were total strangers.
It was like waking from a dream of separateness.…
Then it was as if I suddenly saw
the secret beauty of their hearts,
the depths of their hearts,
where neither sin, nor desire, nor self-knowledge,
can reach the core of their reality,
the person that each one is in God’s eyes.
If only we could all see each other that way all the time!
There would be no more war, no more hatred,
no more cruelty, no more greed.”
And then Merton adds a bit of humor:
“I suppose that the big problem would be
that we would all fall down and worship each other.”
_______________________________________
Jesus’ disciples experienced his presence with them
after he died.
Through those experiences they learned
to understand even more deeply
what he had been trying to teach them
and how they were called
to keep on following the way he had taught them.
They were to love God and love one another...
and everyone else, including their enemies.
They were to spread the good news
of his message that the reign of God is at hand.
_______________________________________
Patrick Carolan, director of the Franciscan Action Network,
asks how the reign of God could possibly be at hand
if we are not welcoming the stranger,
if racism is alive and flourishing,
if we are destroying God’s wondrous creation?
We know that the reign of God is indeed at hand
because we are welcoming the stranger,
working to end racism,
and planting trees.
We are marching for our lives, writing letters to the editor,
speaking out for immigrants and refugees.
We are loving one another!
Glory be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Second Sunday of Easter (B), April 8, 2018
First reading: Acts 4:32-35
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:2-4,13-15, 22-24
Second reading: 1 John 5:1-6
Gospel: John 20:19-31
In today’s gospel John tells us
about two well-known appearances
of the risen Christ to the disciples,
both behind locked doors,
the first without Thomas
and the second with him.
To understand what this passage,
written 75 or 80 years after the fact, means,
our church tells us to look at
the stages of development in our tradition.
On the first layer, rock bottom,
are the events in the life of Jesus
and the disciples
and all the people who knew them.
The second layer comes
in what the apostles preached
about the things they remembered about Jesus.
On the third layer
are the evangelists, writing 40 to 80 years after Jesus died.
All of those layers happened in a culture
where altered states of consciousness
were normal as a way of experiencing reality.
When they didn’t know what to do,
they found enlightenment in that alternate reality.
It helped them process events,
get through tough times.
According to Biblical scholar Dr. John Pilch,
the people of the Middle East in the first century
knew how to go in and out of this alternate reality
as easily as we today know how to drive a car.
At both the second and third levels
the preachers and evangelists
sometimes reported what they had heard
and at other times created a story
to reflect their common Mediterranean cultural experience.
_____________________________________
Today’s passage carries a meaning that we might miss
if we only look at the seemingly magical appearance
of the risen Jesus behind locked doors.
That meaning centers on Thomas,
who refuses to believe what he’s been told,
yet is not thrown out of the community.
He speaks his mind,
and he's still with them.
_____________________________________
In today’s institutional church,
we find a different response.
We’ve known wars and persecutions
in the name of dogma.
We’ve known excommunications and interdicts
in the name of right practice.
We find automatic exclusion of people
who reject any part of our doctrine and practice.
_____________________________________
The example of the early Christian community
speaks the opposite.
Thomas was not excluded.
He wasn’t kicked out.
He wasn’t forced to an either/or choice about the resurrection.
He was still welcome among the disciples.
He was not bound to believe what the others had experienced.
_____________________________________
And Thomas didn’t close himself off
just because he didn’t go along with the others.
He thinks differently from the way the others think,
but he stays with them,
and he is open to listening.
He is honest about what he believes.
The disciples still don’t kick him out.
_____________________________________
And then Thomas experiences
what the others had experienced the week before.
He believes,
and he doesn’t hold back,
doesn’t try to protect his ego.
He jumps right in.
_____________________________________
And Jesus keeps on including everybody.
Keeps on loving them all and wishing them peace.
That’s his way.
That’s the way we try to follow.
Amen!
First reading: Acts 4:32-35
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:2-4,13-15, 22-24
Second reading: 1 John 5:1-6
Gospel: John 20:19-31
In today’s gospel John tells us
about two well-known appearances
of the risen Christ to the disciples,
both behind locked doors,
the first without Thomas
and the second with him.
To understand what this passage,
written 75 or 80 years after the fact, means,
our church tells us to look at
the stages of development in our tradition.
On the first layer, rock bottom,
are the events in the life of Jesus
and the disciples
and all the people who knew them.
The second layer comes
in what the apostles preached
about the things they remembered about Jesus.
On the third layer
are the evangelists, writing 40 to 80 years after Jesus died.
All of those layers happened in a culture
where altered states of consciousness
were normal as a way of experiencing reality.
When they didn’t know what to do,
they found enlightenment in that alternate reality.
It helped them process events,
get through tough times.
According to Biblical scholar Dr. John Pilch,
the people of the Middle East in the first century
knew how to go in and out of this alternate reality
as easily as we today know how to drive a car.
At both the second and third levels
the preachers and evangelists
sometimes reported what they had heard
and at other times created a story
to reflect their common Mediterranean cultural experience.
_____________________________________
Today’s passage carries a meaning that we might miss
if we only look at the seemingly magical appearance
of the risen Jesus behind locked doors.
That meaning centers on Thomas,
who refuses to believe what he’s been told,
yet is not thrown out of the community.
He speaks his mind,
and he's still with them.
_____________________________________
In today’s institutional church,
we find a different response.
We’ve known wars and persecutions
in the name of dogma.
We’ve known excommunications and interdicts
in the name of right practice.
We find automatic exclusion of people
who reject any part of our doctrine and practice.
_____________________________________
The example of the early Christian community
speaks the opposite.
Thomas was not excluded.
He wasn’t kicked out.
He wasn’t forced to an either/or choice about the resurrection.
He was still welcome among the disciples.
He was not bound to believe what the others had experienced.
_____________________________________
And Thomas didn’t close himself off
just because he didn’t go along with the others.
He thinks differently from the way the others think,
but he stays with them,
and he is open to listening.
He is honest about what he believes.
The disciples still don’t kick him out.
_____________________________________
And then Thomas experiences
what the others had experienced the week before.
He believes,
and he doesn’t hold back,
doesn’t try to protect his ego.
He jumps right in.
_____________________________________
And Jesus keeps on including everybody.
Keeps on loving them all and wishing them peace.
That’s his way.
That’s the way we try to follow.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Resurrection of the Lord (B), April 1, 2018
Tonight we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
As Paul said to the Corinthians,
if Christ has not been raised,
then our faith is in vain.
Belief in the resurrection
is one of the basic doctrines
that our Catholic Church says
we have to hold as true.
And we do.
We state it each time we profess our faith at Mass.
Not all of us, though, mean the same thing
when we say we believe it...
and that’s okay.
Over the centuries many different meanings
have been attached to this doctrine,
not only by ordinary believers
but also by popes and bishops and theologians.
Some folks take parts of the written canonical gospels literally.
Others take seriously
their own personal experience of the risen Christ.
Still others look to the background and the history
and the culture and the language and the symbolism.
And all of them are right.
____________________________________________
Our understanding of the resurrection
is like that old story of the blind men
who heard that a new animal—an elephant--
was in town and went out to touch it
to see what it was like.
The first one grabbed its trunk and said,
“The elephant is like a snake... a thick snake.”
The next one reached up to its ear
and decided that the elephant is like a fan.
“No, no,” the third one said, touching the elephant’s leg.
“It’s like a tree trunk.”
Then one put his hand on the elephant’s side and said,
“The elephant is like a wall.”
The next one grabbed the tail
and stated that it was like a rope.
And the last one touched its tusk and said,
“You’re all wrong.
The elephant is hard and smooth and like a spear.”
We are all blind like that
when it comes to God and Jesus and church doctrines.
But we are also all right about it.
None of us sees the whole thing.
____________________________________________
Biblical scholars these days
have come up with some statements
about what the resurrection is not
that can help us to understand.
They say that the resurrection of Jesus
was not the resuscitation of a corpse.
They say that, to the apostles and the first followers of Jesus,
belief in his resurrection did not depend
on what happened to his body,
and that the body of Jesus
decayed as other corpses do.
They say that resurrection was not an event
that happened on the first Easter Sunday.
You couldn’t have recorded it on your cell phone.
____________________________________________
The earliest records do not have any stories
about Jesus appearing after the crucifixion.
The passage we just heard is the ending of Mark’s gospel.
They were bewildered and afraid.
That’s it.
It just stops there.
Writing about 40 years after Jesus died,
Mark did not include any stories of appearances by Jesus.
Later copyists added different endings,
with various appearances and commentaries
that they crafted to fit their communities’ needs.
One conclusion, held by a great many scholars,
is that none of the later narratives
about Jesus’ appearances
are literally true.
____________________________________________
The question remains:
what do WE mean when we say
that we believe Jesus rose from the dead?
Sister Sandra Schneiders gives us an insight
when she talks about the resurrection as ongoing,
an encounter that happens
whenever we experience Jesus
living and acting in our midst.
Those first followers of Jesus experienced
the bread they tasted in Eucharist;
the Gospel they heard in scripture;
the friend, or spouse or suffering neighbor
they saw and touched in community and ministry;
the baby born and growing and surrounded with loving care--
all the sacramental experiences of their life--
experienced them as real contact with the living Jesus.
We experience the risen Christ in those same ways.
____________________________________________
This past weekend we saw the risen Christ
in all those marchers,
here and all around the world.
We see the risen Christ
in undocumented immigrants and their families;
in victims, survivors, and heroes
of hurricanes and fires and tornadoes and floods;
in the volunteers and in the guests at Claver House.
____________________________________________
Tonight we gather to remember and give thanks and celebrate
all the ways the risen Christ appears to us.
When we receive communion,
we say to one another, “Body of Christ”--
you are, each one of us is,
the body of Christ alive in the world,
commissioned, as Luke wrote
in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
commissioned to preach the good news
that the reign of God is at hand.
____________________________________________
When we doubt, we’re in good company,
from “Doubting Thomas” to Mother Teresa.
That “dark night of the soul”
is part of the path to real faith.
When it comes to us,
we just keep looking, keep reading,
keep praying, keep hoping.
Through it all, we begin to see.
So, let us rejoice and be glad!
Happy Easter!
Tonight we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
As Paul said to the Corinthians,
if Christ has not been raised,
then our faith is in vain.
Belief in the resurrection
is one of the basic doctrines
that our Catholic Church says
we have to hold as true.
And we do.
We state it each time we profess our faith at Mass.
Not all of us, though, mean the same thing
when we say we believe it...
and that’s okay.
Over the centuries many different meanings
have been attached to this doctrine,
not only by ordinary believers
but also by popes and bishops and theologians.
Some folks take parts of the written canonical gospels literally.
Others take seriously
their own personal experience of the risen Christ.
Still others look to the background and the history
and the culture and the language and the symbolism.
And all of them are right.
____________________________________________
Our understanding of the resurrection
is like that old story of the blind men
who heard that a new animal—an elephant--
was in town and went out to touch it
to see what it was like.
The first one grabbed its trunk and said,
“The elephant is like a snake... a thick snake.”
The next one reached up to its ear
and decided that the elephant is like a fan.
“No, no,” the third one said, touching the elephant’s leg.
“It’s like a tree trunk.”
Then one put his hand on the elephant’s side and said,
“The elephant is like a wall.”
The next one grabbed the tail
and stated that it was like a rope.
And the last one touched its tusk and said,
“You’re all wrong.
The elephant is hard and smooth and like a spear.”
We are all blind like that
when it comes to God and Jesus and church doctrines.
But we are also all right about it.
None of us sees the whole thing.
____________________________________________
Biblical scholars these days
have come up with some statements
about what the resurrection is not
that can help us to understand.
They say that the resurrection of Jesus
was not the resuscitation of a corpse.
They say that, to the apostles and the first followers of Jesus,
belief in his resurrection did not depend
on what happened to his body,
and that the body of Jesus
decayed as other corpses do.
They say that resurrection was not an event
that happened on the first Easter Sunday.
You couldn’t have recorded it on your cell phone.
____________________________________________
The earliest records do not have any stories
about Jesus appearing after the crucifixion.
The passage we just heard is the ending of Mark’s gospel.
They were bewildered and afraid.
That’s it.
It just stops there.
Writing about 40 years after Jesus died,
Mark did not include any stories of appearances by Jesus.
Later copyists added different endings,
with various appearances and commentaries
that they crafted to fit their communities’ needs.
One conclusion, held by a great many scholars,
is that none of the later narratives
about Jesus’ appearances
are literally true.
____________________________________________
The question remains:
what do WE mean when we say
that we believe Jesus rose from the dead?
Sister Sandra Schneiders gives us an insight
when she talks about the resurrection as ongoing,
an encounter that happens
whenever we experience Jesus
living and acting in our midst.
Those first followers of Jesus experienced
the bread they tasted in Eucharist;
the Gospel they heard in scripture;
the friend, or spouse or suffering neighbor
they saw and touched in community and ministry;
the baby born and growing and surrounded with loving care--
all the sacramental experiences of their life--
experienced them as real contact with the living Jesus.
We experience the risen Christ in those same ways.
____________________________________________
This past weekend we saw the risen Christ
in all those marchers,
here and all around the world.
We see the risen Christ
in undocumented immigrants and their families;
in victims, survivors, and heroes
of hurricanes and fires and tornadoes and floods;
in the volunteers and in the guests at Claver House.
____________________________________________
Tonight we gather to remember and give thanks and celebrate
all the ways the risen Christ appears to us.
When we receive communion,
we say to one another, “Body of Christ”--
you are, each one of us is,
the body of Christ alive in the world,
commissioned, as Luke wrote
in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
commissioned to preach the good news
that the reign of God is at hand.
____________________________________________
When we doubt, we’re in good company,
from “Doubting Thomas” to Mother Teresa.
That “dark night of the soul”
is part of the path to real faith.
When it comes to us,
we just keep looking, keep reading,
keep praying, keep hoping.
Through it all, we begin to see.
So, let us rejoice and be glad!
Happy Easter!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper (B), March 29, 2018
In the tradition of our Jewish forebears,
wine symbolizes freedom.
It’s a long tradition:
they began celebrating the exodus
about 3,500 years ago, with the Seder meal.
In that meal, each person drank four cups of wine
in celebration of various events
having to do with their freedom.
That Seder meal included—and still includes--
a shank bone, an egg, bitter herbs, a vegetable,
a sweet paste called haroset, and, of course, matzah.
As a pious Jew, there’s no doubt
that Jesus would have grown up
with the Passover Seder
as a regular part of his religious practice.
He would have, even as a child,
gone to Jerusalem for the celebration.
________________________________________
Jesus’ Jewish traditions
would also have included Shabbat, the Sabbath rest,
starting just before sundown on Friday,
continuing with a visit to the synagogue
and two meals on Saturday,
and ending with the appearance of three stars
in the Saturday night sky.
The Sabbath celebration began
with candle lighting and blessings,
first a blessing and drinking of wine,
then a blessing and eating of bread.
Jesus would have practiced that tradition
every week of his life.
After his death, his disciples—all Jews at that point--
continued to practice their Jewish faith.
And they also began to gather each week after the Sabbath,
on Sunday evenings.
________________________________________
They kept their memories of Jesus alive
in that primarily oral culture
by sharing their remembrance
and tying it into their scriptures and traditions.
Among other things,
they remembered the meals Jesus had shared with them.
They prayed, they shared bread and wine,
and they talked about their memories of Jesus.
As their stories were passed on,
they began to take shape and be held together
by details that carried meaning for them,
just like our family stories do
(or did before the days of internet and Facebook).
We remember gathering for Grandma’s birthday before she died,
or for the last Christmas we spent with great-uncle Clem.
I remember clearly my father’s last Christmas,
and I’m reminded of it often.
Each time I tell the story, the details are a bit different,
a piece of it emphasized or omitted
depending on its relevance
to whatever circumstance prompted me
to remember something about him.
________________________________________
In fact, there was a Last Supper,
one last time that Jesus shared a meal with his followers.
It’s unlikely, though,
that it happened the way it’s written down in the gospels.
For one thing, a good bit of the gospel writing
frames Jesus in terms of Jewish history,
with the evangelists writing in words chosen
to make Jesus’ story reflect the great stories of their tradition.
It was important to them, for example, to show him
as a prophet like Elijah,
or as the one chosen and anointed by God,
or as the successor to King David.
Depending on how they saw him
and how their memory of him
spoke to their situation in their community,
they chose details that their audience would recognize
as having that character,
and they expressed them in terms and images
that their community would find helpful.
Another clue that it didn’t happen the way it’s presented
is that our four gospels differ on many of the details,
like whether that last meal was a Seder--
the night before Passover—or not.
And the scriptures differ on what went on at that last meal.
________________________________________
When we look at how we celebrate Eucharist 2,000 years later,
we see pieces of those early Christian practices.
We light candles and pray together.
We read and ponder the scriptures.
We bless and share bread and wine.
________________________________________
Out of that same tradition,
we could be washing hands each week.
Instead of the bread of affliction and the bread of freedom,
we could be sharing haroset,
that salad of apples,nuts, wine, cinnamon and brown sugar
that symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews
when they were slaves in Egypt.
We could be sharing bread and fish,
like in the feeding of the multitudes.
We could be sharing hard-boiled eggs dipped in salt water,
remembering the tears and sweat of enslavement
and, paradoxically, symbolizing purity, springtime,
and the sea, the mother of all life.
Or we could be sharing bitter herbs, like horseradish,
to symbolize the bitterness and harshness of slavery.
Our Christian rituals,
with their basis in Jewish tradition and Christian experience,
developed into what we do tonight.
We share unleavened bread and wine,
reminding us of our oneness as followers of Jesus,
that we are the body of Christ,
that Christ becomes present with us
through this bread and wine.
We wash each other’s hands.
In our culture it reminds us
that Jesus called us to love and serve one another,
to help each other stay “clean” before God.
We call it Eucharist—thanksgiving.
John’s gospel says
that Jesus washed his disciples feet
to show how perfect his love was.
May this Eucharist—and our lives--
show that same perfect love.
Amen!
In the tradition of our Jewish forebears,
wine symbolizes freedom.
It’s a long tradition:
they began celebrating the exodus
about 3,500 years ago, with the Seder meal.
In that meal, each person drank four cups of wine
in celebration of various events
having to do with their freedom.
That Seder meal included—and still includes--
a shank bone, an egg, bitter herbs, a vegetable,
a sweet paste called haroset, and, of course, matzah.
As a pious Jew, there’s no doubt
that Jesus would have grown up
with the Passover Seder
as a regular part of his religious practice.
He would have, even as a child,
gone to Jerusalem for the celebration.
________________________________________
Jesus’ Jewish traditions
would also have included Shabbat, the Sabbath rest,
starting just before sundown on Friday,
continuing with a visit to the synagogue
and two meals on Saturday,
and ending with the appearance of three stars
in the Saturday night sky.
The Sabbath celebration began
with candle lighting and blessings,
first a blessing and drinking of wine,
then a blessing and eating of bread.
Jesus would have practiced that tradition
every week of his life.
After his death, his disciples—all Jews at that point--
continued to practice their Jewish faith.
And they also began to gather each week after the Sabbath,
on Sunday evenings.
________________________________________
They kept their memories of Jesus alive
in that primarily oral culture
by sharing their remembrance
and tying it into their scriptures and traditions.
Among other things,
they remembered the meals Jesus had shared with them.
They prayed, they shared bread and wine,
and they talked about their memories of Jesus.
As their stories were passed on,
they began to take shape and be held together
by details that carried meaning for them,
just like our family stories do
(or did before the days of internet and Facebook).
We remember gathering for Grandma’s birthday before she died,
or for the last Christmas we spent with great-uncle Clem.
I remember clearly my father’s last Christmas,
and I’m reminded of it often.
Each time I tell the story, the details are a bit different,
a piece of it emphasized or omitted
depending on its relevance
to whatever circumstance prompted me
to remember something about him.
________________________________________
In fact, there was a Last Supper,
one last time that Jesus shared a meal with his followers.
It’s unlikely, though,
that it happened the way it’s written down in the gospels.
For one thing, a good bit of the gospel writing
frames Jesus in terms of Jewish history,
with the evangelists writing in words chosen
to make Jesus’ story reflect the great stories of their tradition.
It was important to them, for example, to show him
as a prophet like Elijah,
or as the one chosen and anointed by God,
or as the successor to King David.
Depending on how they saw him
and how their memory of him
spoke to their situation in their community,
they chose details that their audience would recognize
as having that character,
and they expressed them in terms and images
that their community would find helpful.
Another clue that it didn’t happen the way it’s presented
is that our four gospels differ on many of the details,
like whether that last meal was a Seder--
the night before Passover—or not.
And the scriptures differ on what went on at that last meal.
________________________________________
When we look at how we celebrate Eucharist 2,000 years later,
we see pieces of those early Christian practices.
We light candles and pray together.
We read and ponder the scriptures.
We bless and share bread and wine.
________________________________________
Out of that same tradition,
we could be washing hands each week.
Instead of the bread of affliction and the bread of freedom,
we could be sharing haroset,
that salad of apples,nuts, wine, cinnamon and brown sugar
that symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews
when they were slaves in Egypt.
We could be sharing bread and fish,
like in the feeding of the multitudes.
We could be sharing hard-boiled eggs dipped in salt water,
remembering the tears and sweat of enslavement
and, paradoxically, symbolizing purity, springtime,
and the sea, the mother of all life.
Or we could be sharing bitter herbs, like horseradish,
to symbolize the bitterness and harshness of slavery.
Our Christian rituals,
with their basis in Jewish tradition and Christian experience,
developed into what we do tonight.
We share unleavened bread and wine,
reminding us of our oneness as followers of Jesus,
that we are the body of Christ,
that Christ becomes present with us
through this bread and wine.
We wash each other’s hands.
In our culture it reminds us
that Jesus called us to love and serve one another,
to help each other stay “clean” before God.
We call it Eucharist—thanksgiving.
John’s gospel says
that Jesus washed his disciples feet
to show how perfect his love was.
May this Eucharist—and our lives--
show that same perfect love.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion (B), March 25, 2018
Gospel at the Procession of Palms: Mark 11:1-10
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Second Reding: Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel: Mark 14:1-15:47
Homily after the Blessing of Palms
About a hundred years
after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon
and rebuilt the Temple, it became clear
that it would be a long time
before Judah once more had a Davidic king.
But the prophet Zechariah, hoping for the future, prophesied:
Look, your king comes to you,
triumphant and victorious,
humble, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
Today we remember and celebrate Jesus of Nazareth
daring to enact Zechariah’s prophecy,
making himself out to be king!
______________________________________
Mark creates this dramatic scene, first of all,
to show Jesus with the divine authority
that comes from fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy,
and second, to show the actions
that the Roman occupiers would judge to be treason
and so lead to Jesus’ crucifixion.
______________________________________
Mark’s Gospel also shows the power of the nobodies:
a Galilean peasant and a mob of poor people;
not on a horse, like the rich and powerful,
but on a borrowed donkey;
not a royal carpet laid out for him
but tree branches and tattered coats.
______________________________________
Our tradition tells us that Christ is in everybody,
that God’s Divine Presence is in everybody,
but it’s not always easy to act like we believe it.
God’s Presence abides
in those nobodies on the road to Jerusalem.
Humbly, with the very shirts off their backs,
they rejoice at Jesus’ call
to live the way of dignity and freedom.
______________________________________
They see Jesus for the liberator that he is.
They recognize God’s abiding Presence in him
because he treats them with love
and calls them to do the same to one another.
He really is their king.
______________________________________
So let us continue on our way,
humbly, opening our eyes wide
to see God’s Divine Presence
in everyone we meet.
______________________________________
______________________________________
Homily after the Passion
In these days of chaos,
as we watch our politics, our government,
and our media disintegrate,
we who follow the way of Jesus
can find some guidance in today’s scriptures.
____________________________________
Jesus was a Jew.
Ironically, Mark frames the story of his death
in a way that blames it on Jews.
As one example, Biblical scholars tell us
that the idea that there even was a trial
lacks historical foundation.
The whole scene of that trial
is the product of Mark’s imagination.
____________________________________
If this happened today, we’d call it “fake news.”
There’s no doubt that Jesus was crucified.
There’s no doubt that he was crucified by the Romans.
But Mark tells the story about two generations later.
By then, his framework includes the facts
that Jesus’ followers had split away from their Jewish roots
and that the occupying Romans continued to be a threat.
So he makes the Jews, egged on by their chief priests,
into the bad guys.
And that fake news from the last part of the first century
became the seed that sprouted
unspeakable horrors of torment and genocide
inflicted by Christians on Jews.
____________________________________
Jesus was a Jew.
His beliefs and actions as a faithful Jew
brought him to the cross.
He was tortured and killed
because he spoke the truth,
and free speech was not protected under Roman law.
____________________________________
These days we’re challenged
to listen carefully to the news we hear,
to look for any framework that may be distorting the facts.
We see things like travel bans against Muslims,
immigration edicts against Latinos,
policing against blacks,
budget laws against the poor,
de-regulation that profits the rich and destroys the planet.
Our beliefs and actions as faithful Christians
will bring us to the cross.
This Holy Week gives us time to reflect on our cross,
on how we might follow Jesus’s example more closely.
It gives us time to step back and look at power and authority,
at the corrupt kind and the authentic kind,
and to re-dedicate ourselves
to walk the Way that Jesus showed us.
We take a risk in speaking the truth about what we see.
Like Jesus, we have to speak it anyway.
Amen!
Gospel at the Procession of Palms: Mark 11:1-10
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Second Reding: Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel: Mark 14:1-15:47
Homily after the Blessing of Palms
About a hundred years
after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon
and rebuilt the Temple, it became clear
that it would be a long time
before Judah once more had a Davidic king.
But the prophet Zechariah, hoping for the future, prophesied:
Look, your king comes to you,
triumphant and victorious,
humble, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
Today we remember and celebrate Jesus of Nazareth
daring to enact Zechariah’s prophecy,
making himself out to be king!
______________________________________
Mark creates this dramatic scene, first of all,
to show Jesus with the divine authority
that comes from fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy,
and second, to show the actions
that the Roman occupiers would judge to be treason
and so lead to Jesus’ crucifixion.
______________________________________
Mark’s Gospel also shows the power of the nobodies:
a Galilean peasant and a mob of poor people;
not on a horse, like the rich and powerful,
but on a borrowed donkey;
not a royal carpet laid out for him
but tree branches and tattered coats.
______________________________________
Our tradition tells us that Christ is in everybody,
that God’s Divine Presence is in everybody,
but it’s not always easy to act like we believe it.
God’s Presence abides
in those nobodies on the road to Jerusalem.
Humbly, with the very shirts off their backs,
they rejoice at Jesus’ call
to live the way of dignity and freedom.
______________________________________
They see Jesus for the liberator that he is.
They recognize God’s abiding Presence in him
because he treats them with love
and calls them to do the same to one another.
He really is their king.
______________________________________
So let us continue on our way,
humbly, opening our eyes wide
to see God’s Divine Presence
in everyone we meet.
______________________________________
______________________________________
Homily after the Passion
In these days of chaos,
as we watch our politics, our government,
and our media disintegrate,
we who follow the way of Jesus
can find some guidance in today’s scriptures.
____________________________________
Jesus was a Jew.
Ironically, Mark frames the story of his death
in a way that blames it on Jews.
As one example, Biblical scholars tell us
that the idea that there even was a trial
lacks historical foundation.
The whole scene of that trial
is the product of Mark’s imagination.
____________________________________
If this happened today, we’d call it “fake news.”
There’s no doubt that Jesus was crucified.
There’s no doubt that he was crucified by the Romans.
But Mark tells the story about two generations later.
By then, his framework includes the facts
that Jesus’ followers had split away from their Jewish roots
and that the occupying Romans continued to be a threat.
So he makes the Jews, egged on by their chief priests,
into the bad guys.
And that fake news from the last part of the first century
became the seed that sprouted
unspeakable horrors of torment and genocide
inflicted by Christians on Jews.
____________________________________
Jesus was a Jew.
His beliefs and actions as a faithful Jew
brought him to the cross.
He was tortured and killed
because he spoke the truth,
and free speech was not protected under Roman law.
____________________________________
These days we’re challenged
to listen carefully to the news we hear,
to look for any framework that may be distorting the facts.
We see things like travel bans against Muslims,
immigration edicts against Latinos,
policing against blacks,
budget laws against the poor,
de-regulation that profits the rich and destroys the planet.
Our beliefs and actions as faithful Christians
will bring us to the cross.
This Holy Week gives us time to reflect on our cross,
on how we might follow Jesus’s example more closely.
It gives us time to step back and look at power and authority,
at the corrupt kind and the authentic kind,
and to re-dedicate ourselves
to walk the Way that Jesus showed us.
We take a risk in speaking the truth about what we see.
Like Jesus, we have to speak it anyway.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Fifth Sunday of Lent (B), March 18, 2018
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 12-15
Second Reding: Hebrews 5:7-9
Gospel: John 12:20-33
The Old Testament writers assumed
that those who read or heard the scriptures
were committed to following Yahweh.
The New Testament writers assumed
those who would read or hear it
would be committed to following Jesus.
But nowhere in the scriptures,
according to Fr. Roger Karban,
not in the Old Testament
and not in the New Testament,
is there a direct command,
either from Yahweh or from Jesus,
that we should belong to an organized religion.
It’s just not required.
____________________________________
In today’s first reading, Jeremiah tells us
that God makes a new covenant,
not written in stone
but written on our hearts.
Fr. Edward Hays said
that we could do everything
that the risen Jesus expects of us
without a church...
but most of us can’t pull it off by ourselves.
We want to do what Jesus expects of us:
we want to love God and neighbor.
As one of our favorite hymns puts it,
we want to act with justice,
love tenderly, serve one another,
and walk humbly with our God.
Being a member of a church--
belonging to an organized religious institution--
is supposed to help us do that.
It’s supposed to help us see God, to help us,
as those Greeks said to Philip in today’s Gospel,
to see Jesus.
We hope that getting together
with people who share similar beliefs
and make a similar commitment to God
will help us to experience God in our lives
and support us in acting boldly on our beliefs.
That’s what we are looking for when we come to church.
That’s why we practice a religion.
____________________________________
Some parishes do a good job at that.
Sometimes, though, we find the exact opposite
in our institutional church.
Maybe it’s a rule, like the one
that says you’re a mortal sinner
if you divorce and don’t get an annulment
before you get married again.
Or the one that says you’re intrinsically disordered
if you’re anything but heterosexual.
Or maybe it’s the way you’re ignored
when you walk in the door,
or that you are judged wanting
because you’re different in some way.
____________________________________
John writes today’s gospel passage,
like so much of our scriptures, after the fact.
He tells the story to help his community see Jesus,
and part of it is seeing Jesus doubt,
seeing him troubled, afraid.
Jesus is perfectly human, just like us.
Too often we’re encouraged to think of his divine nature
as if it doesn’t have any connection to our life.
This “fake” Jesus never stubs his toe;
always knows exactly what to do;
even foretells the future.
____________________________________
But John shows us the real Jesus here.
He is perfect—he’s the perfect Jesus of Nazareth,
being and doing in his time
all that God created him to be and do,
even at the cost of his life.
That perfection—the perfection of real people,
the perfection of heroes—is our goal, too.
So sometimes we’re weak, we doubt,
we hesitate, we’re afraid…
and, in spite of our fear,
we decide to live and act the way Jesus did…
the way heroes act…
the way God created us to be.
We hear about heroes like Martin Luther King,
Dorothy Day, Bishop Oscar Romero.
Even more, we see heroes every day, right here among us:
grandparents, parents, and children;
teachers and students;
doctors, nurses, and patients;
architects and engineers and factory workers;
librarians and book readers;
administrators, police officers, firefighters.
They’re everywhere.
____________________________________
None of them know at the time—none of us know--
the impact of our doubt and fear
and our choices and actions.
At the end of the day,
that grain of wheat will fall to the ground and die--
and sprout and bear fruit.
It’s only when we look back
that we can see where we’ve been
and who we have become along the way.
____________________________________
It’s not a mindless, sterile adherence to rules that bears fruit.
It’s the ongoing struggle.
It’s not whether or not we practice religion.
It’s the choices we make to grow,
to keep on keeping on,
to act with justice, love tenderly,
serve one another, and walk humbly.
So we give up our lives
by loving and serving God and neighbor.
Amen!
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 12-15
Second Reding: Hebrews 5:7-9
Gospel: John 12:20-33
The Old Testament writers assumed
that those who read or heard the scriptures
were committed to following Yahweh.
The New Testament writers assumed
those who would read or hear it
would be committed to following Jesus.
But nowhere in the scriptures,
according to Fr. Roger Karban,
not in the Old Testament
and not in the New Testament,
is there a direct command,
either from Yahweh or from Jesus,
that we should belong to an organized religion.
It’s just not required.
____________________________________
In today’s first reading, Jeremiah tells us
that God makes a new covenant,
not written in stone
but written on our hearts.
Fr. Edward Hays said
that we could do everything
that the risen Jesus expects of us
without a church...
but most of us can’t pull it off by ourselves.
We want to do what Jesus expects of us:
we want to love God and neighbor.
As one of our favorite hymns puts it,
we want to act with justice,
love tenderly, serve one another,
and walk humbly with our God.
Being a member of a church--
belonging to an organized religious institution--
is supposed to help us do that.
It’s supposed to help us see God, to help us,
as those Greeks said to Philip in today’s Gospel,
to see Jesus.
We hope that getting together
with people who share similar beliefs
and make a similar commitment to God
will help us to experience God in our lives
and support us in acting boldly on our beliefs.
That’s what we are looking for when we come to church.
That’s why we practice a religion.
____________________________________
Some parishes do a good job at that.
Sometimes, though, we find the exact opposite
in our institutional church.
Maybe it’s a rule, like the one
that says you’re a mortal sinner
if you divorce and don’t get an annulment
before you get married again.
Or the one that says you’re intrinsically disordered
if you’re anything but heterosexual.
Or maybe it’s the way you’re ignored
when you walk in the door,
or that you are judged wanting
because you’re different in some way.
____________________________________
John writes today’s gospel passage,
like so much of our scriptures, after the fact.
He tells the story to help his community see Jesus,
and part of it is seeing Jesus doubt,
seeing him troubled, afraid.
Jesus is perfectly human, just like us.
Too often we’re encouraged to think of his divine nature
as if it doesn’t have any connection to our life.
This “fake” Jesus never stubs his toe;
always knows exactly what to do;
even foretells the future.
____________________________________
But John shows us the real Jesus here.
He is perfect—he’s the perfect Jesus of Nazareth,
being and doing in his time
all that God created him to be and do,
even at the cost of his life.
That perfection—the perfection of real people,
the perfection of heroes—is our goal, too.
So sometimes we’re weak, we doubt,
we hesitate, we’re afraid…
and, in spite of our fear,
we decide to live and act the way Jesus did…
the way heroes act…
the way God created us to be.
We hear about heroes like Martin Luther King,
Dorothy Day, Bishop Oscar Romero.
Even more, we see heroes every day, right here among us:
grandparents, parents, and children;
teachers and students;
doctors, nurses, and patients;
architects and engineers and factory workers;
librarians and book readers;
administrators, police officers, firefighters.
They’re everywhere.
____________________________________
None of them know at the time—none of us know--
the impact of our doubt and fear
and our choices and actions.
At the end of the day,
that grain of wheat will fall to the ground and die--
and sprout and bear fruit.
It’s only when we look back
that we can see where we’ve been
and who we have become along the way.
____________________________________
It’s not a mindless, sterile adherence to rules that bears fruit.
It’s the ongoing struggle.
It’s not whether or not we practice religion.
It’s the choices we make to grow,
to keep on keeping on,
to act with justice, love tenderly,
serve one another, and walk humbly.
So we give up our lives
by loving and serving God and neighbor.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Fourth Sunday of Lent (B), March 11, 2018
First Reading: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 137:1-6
Second Reding: Ephesians 2:4-10
Gospel: John 3:14-21
Zedekiah, in that first reading, was Israel’s last king.
Not a good one, as we heard.
The leading priests and the people weren’t good, either.
The prophet Jeremiah warned them,
but they didn’t pay attention.
They lost their temple and their homeland.
Everything was destroyed.
They were exiled to Babylon,
enslaved and oppressed.
It took 70 years of hardship and captivity--
two or three generations--
before they were able to go back home.
The psalm tells of their despair:
they sat and wept.
They knew no joy.
_________________________________________
The ordinary people of Jesus’ time
faced the same kind of thing.
They were oppressed in their own land,
ruled by foreigners from Rome.
Their religious leaders collaborated with the occupiers,
unfaithful to the word of justice and right relationship
that God gave them.
The prophets spoke up,
calling them to change their ways.
_________________________________________
In too many ways, we’re in that same boat.
Our homeland—our Mother Earth--
is being destroyed before our very eyes.
Every day, scientists tell us,
150 to 200 species go extinct.
The sixth mass extinction has already started,
and this time it’s caused by humans—by us.
If we don’t cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050,
the warming of our planet will be dangerous to all life,
including ours.
Prophets are warning us, but we’re not listening.
Some of the prophetic voices are in our church--
Sister Miriam MacGillis and her “Genesis Farm;”
the eco-theologian Fr. Thomas Berry;
Sallie McFague with her ecological liberation theology;
Pope Francis.
We’ve heard some local prophets speaking out, too:
Bob Clark-Phelps, down at John XXIII;
the Sylvania Franciscan Sisters with S.A.V.E.--
Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment;
Mike Ferner and the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie;
Sue Rosa with her Lent group on Christian Simplicity…
and, of course, all of you Tree Toledo folks!
Then there are the millennials--
28% of our adult population--
who are, according to a report this week
by the Pew Research Center,
overwhelmingly convinced
that climate change is real
and that it is caused by us.
_________________________________________
They give us hope!
All of those folks give us hope,
calling for metanoia,
to repent our carelessness and greed,
to turn away from our wasteful habits.
So, on this Laetare Sunday we can rejoice
because we see some light
in the increasing effort to protect this planet
that God gives us.
Rejoice… even though we know
that our own government
is taking us in the wrong direction.
We can rejoice in what some other governments are doing,
both around the world
and here in some of our states, counties, and cities.
_________________________________________
We are created for good works,
as St. Paul said to the Ephesians,
but we have done evil,
choosing our own comfort and convenience
over respect for God’s creation.
Selfishness and greed are not a new problem.
Atrocities like war, slavery, genocide, and trafficking
come from greed, the desire to have everything
no matter who gets hurt.
Structural racism, sexism, and classism
poison our country.
Throughout history the hungry, the sick,
the homeless, refugees, and the poor
stand witness to the sins of the powerful.
_________________________________________
We who follow in the footsteps of Jesus
are committed to live in a way
that restores and maintains the health of our planet
and all who live on it.
It’s one planet, and the resources on it will run out
if we keep on using them the way we are now.
We can’t imagine we’ll make everything okay
if we make sure everyone has what we have.
We’d need four or five planets to give us enough for that.
If we’re guilty of overuse or waste--
and most of us are--
then we have to admit
that our choices are killing people
who don’t have a fair share
of the goods of the earth that they need to survive.
The answer is changing our habits
so everyone has enough to live.
_________________________________________
God keeps sending light into our world.
Our tradition remembers the light of creation,
the big bang—the cosmic hatch--
that started all the universes we know.
We know about the billions of years
of order rising out of chaos,
the increasing growth of complexity and cooperation
in atoms and cells
to create life as we know it.
It’s all gift, to be treasured and protected.
And we have faith in God’s word,
Jesus of Nazareth, the light of the world,
who calls us to do good.
Whether it takes 70 years
to reverse the climate damage we have caused,
or a thousand,
the light prevails.
And so we rejoice!
We set out,
in solidarity with all those others
who have come to the light,
to live in right relationship with one another
and with all of God’s creation.
Amen!
First Reading: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 137:1-6
Second Reding: Ephesians 2:4-10
Gospel: John 3:14-21
Zedekiah, in that first reading, was Israel’s last king.
Not a good one, as we heard.
The leading priests and the people weren’t good, either.
The prophet Jeremiah warned them,
but they didn’t pay attention.
They lost their temple and their homeland.
Everything was destroyed.
They were exiled to Babylon,
enslaved and oppressed.
It took 70 years of hardship and captivity--
two or three generations--
before they were able to go back home.
The psalm tells of their despair:
they sat and wept.
They knew no joy.
_________________________________________
The ordinary people of Jesus’ time
faced the same kind of thing.
They were oppressed in their own land,
ruled by foreigners from Rome.
Their religious leaders collaborated with the occupiers,
unfaithful to the word of justice and right relationship
that God gave them.
The prophets spoke up,
calling them to change their ways.
_________________________________________
In too many ways, we’re in that same boat.
Our homeland—our Mother Earth--
is being destroyed before our very eyes.
Every day, scientists tell us,
150 to 200 species go extinct.
The sixth mass extinction has already started,
and this time it’s caused by humans—by us.
If we don’t cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050,
the warming of our planet will be dangerous to all life,
including ours.
Prophets are warning us, but we’re not listening.
Some of the prophetic voices are in our church--
Sister Miriam MacGillis and her “Genesis Farm;”
the eco-theologian Fr. Thomas Berry;
Sallie McFague with her ecological liberation theology;
Pope Francis.
We’ve heard some local prophets speaking out, too:
Bob Clark-Phelps, down at John XXIII;
the Sylvania Franciscan Sisters with S.A.V.E.--
Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment;
Mike Ferner and the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie;
Sue Rosa with her Lent group on Christian Simplicity…
and, of course, all of you Tree Toledo folks!
Then there are the millennials--
28% of our adult population--
who are, according to a report this week
by the Pew Research Center,
overwhelmingly convinced
that climate change is real
and that it is caused by us.
_________________________________________
They give us hope!
All of those folks give us hope,
calling for metanoia,
to repent our carelessness and greed,
to turn away from our wasteful habits.
So, on this Laetare Sunday we can rejoice
because we see some light
in the increasing effort to protect this planet
that God gives us.
Rejoice… even though we know
that our own government
is taking us in the wrong direction.
We can rejoice in what some other governments are doing,
both around the world
and here in some of our states, counties, and cities.
_________________________________________
We are created for good works,
as St. Paul said to the Ephesians,
but we have done evil,
choosing our own comfort and convenience
over respect for God’s creation.
Selfishness and greed are not a new problem.
Atrocities like war, slavery, genocide, and trafficking
come from greed, the desire to have everything
no matter who gets hurt.
Structural racism, sexism, and classism
poison our country.
Throughout history the hungry, the sick,
the homeless, refugees, and the poor
stand witness to the sins of the powerful.
_________________________________________
We who follow in the footsteps of Jesus
are committed to live in a way
that restores and maintains the health of our planet
and all who live on it.
It’s one planet, and the resources on it will run out
if we keep on using them the way we are now.
We can’t imagine we’ll make everything okay
if we make sure everyone has what we have.
We’d need four or five planets to give us enough for that.
If we’re guilty of overuse or waste--
and most of us are--
then we have to admit
that our choices are killing people
who don’t have a fair share
of the goods of the earth that they need to survive.
The answer is changing our habits
so everyone has enough to live.
_________________________________________
God keeps sending light into our world.
Our tradition remembers the light of creation,
the big bang—the cosmic hatch--
that started all the universes we know.
We know about the billions of years
of order rising out of chaos,
the increasing growth of complexity and cooperation
in atoms and cells
to create life as we know it.
It’s all gift, to be treasured and protected.
And we have faith in God’s word,
Jesus of Nazareth, the light of the world,
who calls us to do good.
Whether it takes 70 years
to reverse the climate damage we have caused,
or a thousand,
the light prevails.
And so we rejoice!
We set out,
in solidarity with all those others
who have come to the light,
to live in right relationship with one another
and with all of God’s creation.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Third Sunday of Lent (B), March 4, 2018
First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8-11
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel: John 2:13-25
Here at Holy Spirit we do some things just a tad different
from the way many other Catholic Churches do,
things that were acceptable at some time in the past,
like general absolution and gluten-free communion bread.
Those are changeable practices, not doctrine.
Among the truly orthodox Catholic things
that we do here at Holy Spirit these days
is our stand for justice.
In that, we are indeed faithful
to the teachings of Jesus and of our Church.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church put it:
“The citizen is obliged in conscience
not to follow the directives of civil authorities
when they are contrary
to the demands of the moral order,
to fundamental rights or the teachings of the Gospels.”
___________________________________________
Today’s gospel shows us where that teaching comes from.
Secular and pagan coins,
with images of the emperor or false gods,
could not be used to pay the annual temple tax.
And Jews had to buy animals
to make their offering in the temple.
Those transactions were supposed to take place
outside the temple itself.
But when Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover
and heads for the temple
to do his duty as a faithful Jew,
he finds the tables for coin exchange
and the animals for sacrifice
inside the temple area,
not outside where they should have been.
Things are not as they should be.
The animal sellers and the money changers
had taken over the temple,
turning it into a marketplace.
___________________________________________
Theology professor Fr. Murray Watson,
of Huron University College in London, Ontario,
gives some details of the situation as Jesus found it.
Temple authorities got a commission from the coin exchanges,
over 16%, an exorbitant amount,
especially for the poor.
The temple’s inspectors were bribed
to say that healthy animals brought by the poor
were sick and unacceptable.
So the people had to buy animals,
and they were charged 18 to 20 times the fair price.
___________________________________________
Price-gouging and corruption,
fleecing the poor to benefit the powerful:
Jesus sees the injustice and condemns it.
Mark’s and Luke’s gospels report Jesus saying
that the temple authorities
had turned God’s house into a den of thieves.
By chasing those money-changers
and merchants from the temple,
Jesus attacks the whole unjust system
for its failure to be in right relationship to God.
___________________________________________
So our brother Jesus,
our mild-mannered, peace-loving, forgiving teacher,
is angry.
He’s furious.
He turns the tables on those crooks
and chases them out of the temple.
Like the prophets before him, and the prophets since,
Jesus obeys that first commandment God gave in Exodus:
I am God. Nobody and nothing else is God.
Not the temple priests, not money, not greed, not human power…
not any of those strange gods.
God alone is God.
___________________________________________
We profess to follow the same commandments today.
And, sadly, we still have grafters and crooks
and price-gougers and thieves in high places…
in our churches, in our government,
in our corporations and businesses.
And we are called, like Jesus, to speak truth to power,
to expose them, to call them to righteousness,
to chase them out.
___________________________________________
Like Jesus, our usual action is nonviolent, passive resistance.
We pray.
We stay informed,
and we send letters and postcards and emails
asking for change.
We make phone calls and sign petitions.
We engage in public protests and demonstrations.
And sometimes, like Jesus, we get angry.
We’ve all seen it:
good friends, good Christians, peaceful people,
getting angry, shouting, breaking the rules,
crying out for correction of the injustice in our world.
Like Barbara Blaine and Claudia Vercellotti and the SNAP folks,
speaking out
and trying to clean the pedophilia excusers out of our church.
Like Sister Simone Campbell and the NETWORK nuns on the bus,
speaking out and trying to get elected officials
to put the common good ahead of money in politics.
Like the Black Lives Matter movement,
calling attention to the racism that infects our culture
and excuses police shooting of unarmed blacks.
Like the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
breaking the rules and risking arrest
when they hold up protest signs in Toledo City Council.
Like the high school students
in Parkland, Florida, and across the country,
walking out of class
to protest the lack of action on gun control.
___________________________________________
It’s a challenge.
We live in a culture
that worships violence and money and movie stars.
We see church officials who seek their own advancement
instead of the common good.
We suffer from corporations bent on profit over honesty.
We’re led by a president who worships himself… a false god.
___________________________________________
Like Jesus, we are called to speak truth to power.
We are called to shape our anger into protest,
to object, to point to the injustice,
and to call the perpetrators to task.
Yes, we here are faithful.
We are answering the call.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8-11
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel: John 2:13-25
Here at Holy Spirit we do some things just a tad different
from the way many other Catholic Churches do,
things that were acceptable at some time in the past,
like general absolution and gluten-free communion bread.
Those are changeable practices, not doctrine.
Among the truly orthodox Catholic things
that we do here at Holy Spirit these days
is our stand for justice.
In that, we are indeed faithful
to the teachings of Jesus and of our Church.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church put it:
“The citizen is obliged in conscience
not to follow the directives of civil authorities
when they are contrary
to the demands of the moral order,
to fundamental rights or the teachings of the Gospels.”
___________________________________________
Today’s gospel shows us where that teaching comes from.
Secular and pagan coins,
with images of the emperor or false gods,
could not be used to pay the annual temple tax.
And Jews had to buy animals
to make their offering in the temple.
Those transactions were supposed to take place
outside the temple itself.
But when Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover
and heads for the temple
to do his duty as a faithful Jew,
he finds the tables for coin exchange
and the animals for sacrifice
inside the temple area,
not outside where they should have been.
Things are not as they should be.
The animal sellers and the money changers
had taken over the temple,
turning it into a marketplace.
___________________________________________
Theology professor Fr. Murray Watson,
of Huron University College in London, Ontario,
gives some details of the situation as Jesus found it.
Temple authorities got a commission from the coin exchanges,
over 16%, an exorbitant amount,
especially for the poor.
The temple’s inspectors were bribed
to say that healthy animals brought by the poor
were sick and unacceptable.
So the people had to buy animals,
and they were charged 18 to 20 times the fair price.
___________________________________________
Price-gouging and corruption,
fleecing the poor to benefit the powerful:
Jesus sees the injustice and condemns it.
Mark’s and Luke’s gospels report Jesus saying
that the temple authorities
had turned God’s house into a den of thieves.
By chasing those money-changers
and merchants from the temple,
Jesus attacks the whole unjust system
for its failure to be in right relationship to God.
___________________________________________
So our brother Jesus,
our mild-mannered, peace-loving, forgiving teacher,
is angry.
He’s furious.
He turns the tables on those crooks
and chases them out of the temple.
Like the prophets before him, and the prophets since,
Jesus obeys that first commandment God gave in Exodus:
I am God. Nobody and nothing else is God.
Not the temple priests, not money, not greed, not human power…
not any of those strange gods.
God alone is God.
___________________________________________
We profess to follow the same commandments today.
And, sadly, we still have grafters and crooks
and price-gougers and thieves in high places…
in our churches, in our government,
in our corporations and businesses.
And we are called, like Jesus, to speak truth to power,
to expose them, to call them to righteousness,
to chase them out.
___________________________________________
Like Jesus, our usual action is nonviolent, passive resistance.
We pray.
We stay informed,
and we send letters and postcards and emails
asking for change.
We make phone calls and sign petitions.
We engage in public protests and demonstrations.
And sometimes, like Jesus, we get angry.
We’ve all seen it:
good friends, good Christians, peaceful people,
getting angry, shouting, breaking the rules,
crying out for correction of the injustice in our world.
Like Barbara Blaine and Claudia Vercellotti and the SNAP folks,
speaking out
and trying to clean the pedophilia excusers out of our church.
Like Sister Simone Campbell and the NETWORK nuns on the bus,
speaking out and trying to get elected officials
to put the common good ahead of money in politics.
Like the Black Lives Matter movement,
calling attention to the racism that infects our culture
and excuses police shooting of unarmed blacks.
Like the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
breaking the rules and risking arrest
when they hold up protest signs in Toledo City Council.
Like the high school students
in Parkland, Florida, and across the country,
walking out of class
to protest the lack of action on gun control.
___________________________________________
It’s a challenge.
We live in a culture
that worships violence and money and movie stars.
We see church officials who seek their own advancement
instead of the common good.
We suffer from corporations bent on profit over honesty.
We’re led by a president who worships himself… a false god.
___________________________________________
Like Jesus, we are called to speak truth to power.
We are called to shape our anger into protest,
to object, to point to the injustice,
and to call the perpetrators to task.
Yes, we here are faithful.
We are answering the call.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Second Sunday of Lent (B), February 25, 2018
First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2, 9-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 116:10, 15-19
Second Reding: Romans 8:31-34
Gospel: Mark 9:2-10
When we hear Mark’s description
of the transfiguration of Jesus,
it’s hard to fit it into our own world.
It doesn’t seem real to us.
But anthropologists have studied
488 societies all over the world,
and they found that 90% of them
commonly experience events like this--
experiences of an alternate reality,
an altered state of consciousness.
_____________________________________________
You have probably had some of those experiences.
I have:
when I was a teenager
and saw a kaleidoscope of butterflies;
when I came off a Cursillo weekend;
when I was praying alone at sunset in church.
Something happens,
and we step into an aha! moment,
an insight that stays with us the rest of our lives.
In our culture, though,
we don’t talk much about them
because we don’t want people to think we’re crazy.
Or at least not any crazier than they already think we are!
_____________________________________________
In today’s gospel Mark creates a scene
about Peter, James, and John’s experiencing
an alternate reality that gives them insight
into who Jesus really is.
The transfiguration tells them
that Jesus is the Messiah,
the long-awaited one, the new Moses.
The transfiguration is the turning point in Mark’s story.
Mark looks back and ahead.
He reports those words from the cloud,
that Jesus is God’s beloved son,
words that look back to his baptism in the Jordan.
Then Mark creates the “messianic secret”--
Jesus telling them to keep quiet
about their new insight--
to look forward to, to foreshadow,
the resurrection.
The passage is crafted
with layers of references to the scriptural tradition,
like the high mountain,
the dazzling white clothes,
the voice in the cloud.
_____________________________________________
James and John couldn’t understand the transfiguration.
They weren’t sure what it meant.
We know how that feels.
Something happens,
and we question what’s going on in our lives,
ask ourselves what the experience means.
Who are we?
What is life about?
What is right and what is not right?
How do we make sense of what’s happening around us...
and to us?
_____________________________________________
That’s where our faith comes in.
We are gifted with a long tradition
that shows us how people over millennia
have thought about those questions.
We are blessed with the bible,
like a big how-to book.
And we have new scientific insights
into the nature of the universe
and into our own human nature.
And technology is giving us
connections to cultures around the globe,
peoples who have their own millenniums worth
of pondering the realities we live in.
_____________________________________________
We try to bring all that wisdom and knowledge and experience
to bear on our own lives, to shape the answers for us today.
And we sure have lots of questions
about the nature of God
and the nature of humankind.
These days, even more pressing for us
than those questions of theology and anthropology,
we have questions about the evil we see in our world,
about racism and sexism,
about the human actions
that are destroying the planet that supports all life.
Is there anything WE can do about it?
_____________________________________________
The answer is yes.
There is something we can do.
And Lent lets us take time to gain the insights
that will bring us the courage to go ahead,
no matter how hard it gets.
It lets us take time to focus on our call,
as followers of the way of Jesus,
to work for justice and peace.
In the end, we are the ones who are transfigured,
the light of Christ shining through us
everywhere we go.
Amen!
First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2, 9-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 116:10, 15-19
Second Reding: Romans 8:31-34
Gospel: Mark 9:2-10
When we hear Mark’s description
of the transfiguration of Jesus,
it’s hard to fit it into our own world.
It doesn’t seem real to us.
But anthropologists have studied
488 societies all over the world,
and they found that 90% of them
commonly experience events like this--
experiences of an alternate reality,
an altered state of consciousness.
_____________________________________________
You have probably had some of those experiences.
I have:
when I was a teenager
and saw a kaleidoscope of butterflies;
when I came off a Cursillo weekend;
when I was praying alone at sunset in church.
Something happens,
and we step into an aha! moment,
an insight that stays with us the rest of our lives.
In our culture, though,
we don’t talk much about them
because we don’t want people to think we’re crazy.
Or at least not any crazier than they already think we are!
_____________________________________________
In today’s gospel Mark creates a scene
about Peter, James, and John’s experiencing
an alternate reality that gives them insight
into who Jesus really is.
The transfiguration tells them
that Jesus is the Messiah,
the long-awaited one, the new Moses.
The transfiguration is the turning point in Mark’s story.
Mark looks back and ahead.
He reports those words from the cloud,
that Jesus is God’s beloved son,
words that look back to his baptism in the Jordan.
Then Mark creates the “messianic secret”--
Jesus telling them to keep quiet
about their new insight--
to look forward to, to foreshadow,
the resurrection.
The passage is crafted
with layers of references to the scriptural tradition,
like the high mountain,
the dazzling white clothes,
the voice in the cloud.
_____________________________________________
James and John couldn’t understand the transfiguration.
They weren’t sure what it meant.
We know how that feels.
Something happens,
and we question what’s going on in our lives,
ask ourselves what the experience means.
Who are we?
What is life about?
What is right and what is not right?
How do we make sense of what’s happening around us...
and to us?
_____________________________________________
That’s where our faith comes in.
We are gifted with a long tradition
that shows us how people over millennia
have thought about those questions.
We are blessed with the bible,
like a big how-to book.
And we have new scientific insights
into the nature of the universe
and into our own human nature.
And technology is giving us
connections to cultures around the globe,
peoples who have their own millenniums worth
of pondering the realities we live in.
_____________________________________________
We try to bring all that wisdom and knowledge and experience
to bear on our own lives, to shape the answers for us today.
And we sure have lots of questions
about the nature of God
and the nature of humankind.
These days, even more pressing for us
than those questions of theology and anthropology,
we have questions about the evil we see in our world,
about racism and sexism,
about the human actions
that are destroying the planet that supports all life.
Is there anything WE can do about it?
_____________________________________________
The answer is yes.
There is something we can do.
And Lent lets us take time to gain the insights
that will bring us the courage to go ahead,
no matter how hard it gets.
It lets us take time to focus on our call,
as followers of the way of Jesus,
to work for justice and peace.
In the end, we are the ones who are transfigured,
the light of Christ shining through us
everywhere we go.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, First Sunday of Lent (B), February 18, 2018
First Reading: Genesis 9:8-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25:4-9
Second Reding: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15
Forty years, forty hours, forty days--
the number 40 is symbolic.
Our ancestors in faith used it to mean
a relatively long but indefinite period of time.
The story of the flood in Genesis
weaves together two stories
with different statements about how long it lasted.
Was it a year?
Or 150 days?
In Chapter 7, verse 17, it’s 40 days.
_________________________________________
Mark’s gospel tells us
that Jesus was in the desert for 40 days.
He had been baptized by John in the Jordan River,
coming out of the water with the understanding
that he is a beloved child of God.
He goes on a 40-day retreat
and comes out of that experience
proclaiming the good news:
the reign of God is here and now!
_________________________________________
It took over 300 years
for Christianity to develop Lent as a retreat practice,
and even longer to start it with Ash Wednesday.
And it’s really 44 days, not 40,
because we started on Ash Wednesday
and will stop when Mass begins at 4:30 on Holy Thursday.
To count Lent as 40 days,
you have to start today [tomorrow],
on the First Sunday of Lent,
which leads some folks to see those first four days
as standing on the “porch” of Lent,
getting ready to start.
So we have 40 days of retreat ahead of us,
a definite period of time, but relatively long:
a little over 10% of our year.
_________________________________________
We have lots of ways that we can retreat,
all of them good.
Like Jesus,
we can carve out some extra time and space
to focus on being with God.
Because each of us
is a unique expression of God in the world,
each of us will find a unique way to practice Lent.
Pope Francis talked about it in a homily three years ago.
He said that Lent wakes us up and invites us to change:
“[S]omething is not right in us,
not right in society,
[not right] in the Church,
and we need to change,
to give it a new direction.”
_________________________________________
Lent is a time to face the wild beasts in our world,
and there are plenty of them.
Those beasts can be on the job,
a boss who threatens us
or a co-worker who competes instead of cooperates.
Or in the family,
a relative prone to violence or belittling
or taking advantage of others.
Or in our culture,
bullying and discrimination, racism and sexism,
violence and injustice,
government for the rich and against the people.
Jesus came out of the desert with the answer to those beasts:
the good news
that the reign of God is at hand,
_________________________________________
Scholars are convinced that the “reign of God”
that Jesus wants us to experience
revolves around God’s being present
and working effectively in our everyday lives.
Our Lenten retreat
has to be more than making ourselves more moral.
Over 50 years ago Vatican II,
in the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
said that the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled
only if each one of us contributes to the common good,
according to our own abilities and the needs of others.
As Sister Mary McGlone puts it,
God’s reign is “a spiritual reality that exists in time and space.
It is the truly human way of living,
being willingly loved
and loving inspirited creatures.”
_________________________________________
Some of us will spend time alone, praying and thinking.
Some will tweak our habits
to spend more time with family
or more time volunteering.
Some will start watching the evening news…
and some will stop watching it.
_________________________________________
Thank God for Lent!
It gives us time to take stock and re-set our goals.
We can ask ourselves, to paraphrase poet Mary Oliver,
what is it I plan to do with my one wild and precious life?
Each of us will hear a different answer,
but all of us will hear that we are beloved children of God,
and we will find new ways
to proclaim that God’s reign is indeed at hand.
That’s what Lent is all about.
Amen!
First Reading: Genesis 9:8-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25:4-9
Second Reding: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15
Forty years, forty hours, forty days--
the number 40 is symbolic.
Our ancestors in faith used it to mean
a relatively long but indefinite period of time.
The story of the flood in Genesis
weaves together two stories
with different statements about how long it lasted.
Was it a year?
Or 150 days?
In Chapter 7, verse 17, it’s 40 days.
_________________________________________
Mark’s gospel tells us
that Jesus was in the desert for 40 days.
He had been baptized by John in the Jordan River,
coming out of the water with the understanding
that he is a beloved child of God.
He goes on a 40-day retreat
and comes out of that experience
proclaiming the good news:
the reign of God is here and now!
_________________________________________
It took over 300 years
for Christianity to develop Lent as a retreat practice,
and even longer to start it with Ash Wednesday.
And it’s really 44 days, not 40,
because we started on Ash Wednesday
and will stop when Mass begins at 4:30 on Holy Thursday.
To count Lent as 40 days,
you have to start today [tomorrow],
on the First Sunday of Lent,
which leads some folks to see those first four days
as standing on the “porch” of Lent,
getting ready to start.
So we have 40 days of retreat ahead of us,
a definite period of time, but relatively long:
a little over 10% of our year.
_________________________________________
We have lots of ways that we can retreat,
all of them good.
Like Jesus,
we can carve out some extra time and space
to focus on being with God.
Because each of us
is a unique expression of God in the world,
each of us will find a unique way to practice Lent.
Pope Francis talked about it in a homily three years ago.
He said that Lent wakes us up and invites us to change:
“[S]omething is not right in us,
not right in society,
[not right] in the Church,
and we need to change,
to give it a new direction.”
_________________________________________
Lent is a time to face the wild beasts in our world,
and there are plenty of them.
Those beasts can be on the job,
a boss who threatens us
or a co-worker who competes instead of cooperates.
Or in the family,
a relative prone to violence or belittling
or taking advantage of others.
Or in our culture,
bullying and discrimination, racism and sexism,
violence and injustice,
government for the rich and against the people.
Jesus came out of the desert with the answer to those beasts:
the good news
that the reign of God is at hand,
_________________________________________
Scholars are convinced that the “reign of God”
that Jesus wants us to experience
revolves around God’s being present
and working effectively in our everyday lives.
Our Lenten retreat
has to be more than making ourselves more moral.
Over 50 years ago Vatican II,
in the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
said that the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled
only if each one of us contributes to the common good,
according to our own abilities and the needs of others.
As Sister Mary McGlone puts it,
God’s reign is “a spiritual reality that exists in time and space.
It is the truly human way of living,
being willingly loved
and loving inspirited creatures.”
_________________________________________
Some of us will spend time alone, praying and thinking.
Some will tweak our habits
to spend more time with family
or more time volunteering.
Some will start watching the evening news…
and some will stop watching it.
_________________________________________
Thank God for Lent!
It gives us time to take stock and re-set our goals.
We can ask ourselves, to paraphrase poet Mary Oliver,
what is it I plan to do with my one wild and precious life?
Each of us will hear a different answer,
but all of us will hear that we are beloved children of God,
and we will find new ways
to proclaim that God’s reign is indeed at hand.
That’s what Lent is all about.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), February 11, 2018
First Reading: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Gospel: Mark 1:40-45
Among other things
that Biblical scholars have found in today’s gospel
is a change in wording that makes a big difference.
We heard that Jesus was “moved with pity”
when the leper came to him
and asked to be made clean.
The earliest texts of Mark’s gospel
don’t say he was moved with pity.
They say he was moved with anger!
And his anger was not aimed at the leper.
Jesus’ anger was aimed at the kind of culture
that closed the leper out.
The scriptures report other times when Jesus was angry,
or moved with pity,
and all of them involve the injustice
of some people in society
who shut other people out.
________________________________________
Last week we heard
how Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law
and restored her to the family circle.
Today it’s the leper.
In other places it’s the corruption of the temple officials.
Or it’s the hypocrisy of the leaders
wiping the outside of the cup
while ignoring the pollution inside.
Again, Jesus’ message is
that the reign of God is here,
and everyone belongs.
It’s a matter of justice for him…
putting things in right relationship.
That’s his way.
________________________________________
It’s supposed to be our way, too.
Jesus reaches out and touches the leper,
restores him to wholeness in the community,
cleansed and able to be in the circle again.
We’re followers of Jesus.
Is that what we are supposed to be doing?
Curing lepers?
Well, we don’t have to cure lepers.
There’s an antibiotic that cures them.
We call leprosy Hansen’s disease now.
Leprosy, it turns out, is not very contagious,
and not very common,
but 2,000 years ago people thought
that anything flaky or peeling was leprous.
So it wasn’t only human beings who were unclean--
things like walls or tools or fabrics
with scales or flakes were leprous, too.
By that definition, my basement is leprous,
but I can cure it with a good scraping
and a fresh coat of Thoroseal.
[Maybe next summer.]
________________________________________
There is a cure for leprosy,
but injustice is still rampant among us.
It’s viral.
And it’s that injustice that we’re expected to cure.
We’re called to put people in right relationship,
to make them whole again.
The early Christians did it.
They shared their extras.
They welcomed strangers.
And people noticed.
“See how they love one another,” they said.
You follow Jesus, and you do the same thing he did.
You welcome new people when they walk in here for Mass.
You give to people in need—your time, your energy, your cash.
I’ve personally benefited from your good-hearted generosity:
two weeks ago I mentioned
that my coffeemaker had fizzled out,
and last week, among all the other good things
that you brought for Claver House
and Rahab’s Heart and UStogether,
a coffeemaker appeared in my car...
with a sticky note that had my name on it!
________________________________________
I see reflections of your welcoming inclusion
when I drop in to Claver House
or one of the other soup kitchens in town.
It’s uplifting to see people reach out,
no matter what story comes in the door with a person.
He might have been in prison.
Or maybe he’s recovering from an addiction.
Maybe she’s been trafficked.
Maybe that one lost a job... or a house… or a spouse.
Or all of those at once.
Or this one’s just getting old and lonely
with no family around.
________________________________________
Lots of people get treated like lepers in our society:
Blacks, Browns, immigrants, refugees,
people with AIDS, people with disabilities,
LGBT folks, the sick, the poor.
It’s a long list.
God has called us to reach out and touch
every one of the exiles, the throwaways,
the banished, the ignored,
so they can return to the circle of life,
so they can belong.
No one person can do it all,
but I see each of you
with your unique gifts and unique personalities,
lifting people to life in the reign of God,
here and now.
It’s obvious that you love one another.
And that you are reaching out
and touching the untouchables,
healing them and setting them free.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Gospel: Mark 1:40-45
Among other things
that Biblical scholars have found in today’s gospel
is a change in wording that makes a big difference.
We heard that Jesus was “moved with pity”
when the leper came to him
and asked to be made clean.
The earliest texts of Mark’s gospel
don’t say he was moved with pity.
They say he was moved with anger!
And his anger was not aimed at the leper.
Jesus’ anger was aimed at the kind of culture
that closed the leper out.
The scriptures report other times when Jesus was angry,
or moved with pity,
and all of them involve the injustice
of some people in society
who shut other people out.
________________________________________
Last week we heard
how Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law
and restored her to the family circle.
Today it’s the leper.
In other places it’s the corruption of the temple officials.
Or it’s the hypocrisy of the leaders
wiping the outside of the cup
while ignoring the pollution inside.
Again, Jesus’ message is
that the reign of God is here,
and everyone belongs.
It’s a matter of justice for him…
putting things in right relationship.
That’s his way.
________________________________________
It’s supposed to be our way, too.
Jesus reaches out and touches the leper,
restores him to wholeness in the community,
cleansed and able to be in the circle again.
We’re followers of Jesus.
Is that what we are supposed to be doing?
Curing lepers?
Well, we don’t have to cure lepers.
There’s an antibiotic that cures them.
We call leprosy Hansen’s disease now.
Leprosy, it turns out, is not very contagious,
and not very common,
but 2,000 years ago people thought
that anything flaky or peeling was leprous.
So it wasn’t only human beings who were unclean--
things like walls or tools or fabrics
with scales or flakes were leprous, too.
By that definition, my basement is leprous,
but I can cure it with a good scraping
and a fresh coat of Thoroseal.
[Maybe next summer.]
________________________________________
There is a cure for leprosy,
but injustice is still rampant among us.
It’s viral.
And it’s that injustice that we’re expected to cure.
We’re called to put people in right relationship,
to make them whole again.
The early Christians did it.
They shared their extras.
They welcomed strangers.
And people noticed.
“See how they love one another,” they said.
You follow Jesus, and you do the same thing he did.
You welcome new people when they walk in here for Mass.
You give to people in need—your time, your energy, your cash.
I’ve personally benefited from your good-hearted generosity:
two weeks ago I mentioned
that my coffeemaker had fizzled out,
and last week, among all the other good things
that you brought for Claver House
and Rahab’s Heart and UStogether,
a coffeemaker appeared in my car...
with a sticky note that had my name on it!
________________________________________
I see reflections of your welcoming inclusion
when I drop in to Claver House
or one of the other soup kitchens in town.
It’s uplifting to see people reach out,
no matter what story comes in the door with a person.
He might have been in prison.
Or maybe he’s recovering from an addiction.
Maybe she’s been trafficked.
Maybe that one lost a job... or a house… or a spouse.
Or all of those at once.
Or this one’s just getting old and lonely
with no family around.
________________________________________
Lots of people get treated like lepers in our society:
Blacks, Browns, immigrants, refugees,
people with AIDS, people with disabilities,
LGBT folks, the sick, the poor.
It’s a long list.
God has called us to reach out and touch
every one of the exiles, the throwaways,
the banished, the ignored,
so they can return to the circle of life,
so they can belong.
No one person can do it all,
but I see each of you
with your unique gifts and unique personalities,
lifting people to life in the reign of God,
here and now.
It’s obvious that you love one another.
And that you are reaching out
and touching the untouchables,
healing them and setting them free.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), February 4, 2018
First Reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:1-6
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel: Mark 1:29-39
We’ve all heard jokes about mothers-in-law,
and the reason, according to
Cambridge University psychologist Dr. Terri Apter,
is the ongoing family battles
that come from those relationships.
Dr. Apter says that 2/3 of daughters-in-law complain
that their husband’s mother
is jealous, demanding, critical, or intrusive.
And the same proportion of mothers-in-law
complain that their son’s wife
excludes or isolates her,
belittles her relationship with her son,
or sulks over the time she spends with him.
That domestic conflict
causes long-term unhappiness and stress.
____________________________________________
That’s what’s happening these days, in our time.
Imagine what it would have been like in the first century,
when the cultural customs were different.
According to Biblical historian Dr. John Pilch,
Simon Peter and his wife lived with his parents.
According to the customs of the time,
Peter’s mother-in-law should have been
living in her husband’s house.
But she wasn’t, and that means she’s a widow.
But widows went to live with their sons.
So she either didn’t have any sons or they had died.
Then she should have returned to live with her family,
but she’s didn’t.
She’s living with her son-in-law’s family.
That means she must have had no family members alive,
and in her world that’s a fate worse than death.
Peter’s mother-in-law might well echo Job’s lament:
My days come to an end without hope.
My life is like the wind.
I shall not see happiness again.
She’s ill, in bed with a fever.
Listless.
No energy to get up and be part of the household.
Maybe depressed.
In despair.
____________________________________________
First-century Middle East folks believed
that there’s a difference
between disease and illness.
Disease was something you caught,
like leprosy, and it required a cure.
On the other hand, illness was,
according to Dr. Pilch,
“a disvalued human condition
in which social networks are ruptured
and life’s meaning is lost.”
Illness required healing,
not a cure like a disease did.
Jesus, as a healer,
goes over to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law,
takes her by the hand, and helps her up.
She is restored to her standing in the family,
returned to the relationship
where she finds value and meaning.
She is healed,
and she rejoins the family circle.
To put it in theological language,
she experiences salvation.
The Latin root for the word “salvation”
means healing.
Jesus has given her a healing balm,
salve for her soul.
____________________________________________
Jesus healed people from illness, cured them from disease,
but in today’s gospel he says that was not his purpose.
His mission was to go throughout the region
and preach the good news
that God’s reign is at hand, here and now.
And he did that by speaking out,
by praying,
by reaching out to the poor and marginalized,
by healing the sick souls of people he met.
____________________________________________
We see lots of this kind of illness in our world,
people in broken relationships,
people who have lost hope,
people who feel their life has no meaning.
As followers of Jesus,
we are the ones who are called to heal them.
You might not think you’re able to do that,
but you are.
As St. Francis of Assisi is supposed to have put it,
our task as followers of Jesus
is to preach the good news...
in how we live, in our actions…
and use words if you have to.
So you go about, like Jesus did,
preaching the good news
in the way you take care of your families.
I see your healing in the prayers you lift up
for people who struggle
against discrimination and poverty
and famine and war,
in your prayers for family and friends and neighbors
who are in distress or struck by a disease.
Your healing hand reaches out
when you plant a seedling to heal the earth,
or show up at Council meetings
to advocate for a healthy lake,
or write letters supporting health care for all
or citizenship for the DREAMers.
And when you get worn down by it all,
you go off to pray
and come back refreshed to keep on keeping on.
As Jesus’ followers, that’s what you’re called to do…
and you do it very well.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:1-6
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel: Mark 1:29-39
We’ve all heard jokes about mothers-in-law,
and the reason, according to
Cambridge University psychologist Dr. Terri Apter,
is the ongoing family battles
that come from those relationships.
Dr. Apter says that 2/3 of daughters-in-law complain
that their husband’s mother
is jealous, demanding, critical, or intrusive.
And the same proportion of mothers-in-law
complain that their son’s wife
excludes or isolates her,
belittles her relationship with her son,
or sulks over the time she spends with him.
That domestic conflict
causes long-term unhappiness and stress.
____________________________________________
That’s what’s happening these days, in our time.
Imagine what it would have been like in the first century,
when the cultural customs were different.
According to Biblical historian Dr. John Pilch,
Simon Peter and his wife lived with his parents.
According to the customs of the time,
Peter’s mother-in-law should have been
living in her husband’s house.
But she wasn’t, and that means she’s a widow.
But widows went to live with their sons.
So she either didn’t have any sons or they had died.
Then she should have returned to live with her family,
but she’s didn’t.
She’s living with her son-in-law’s family.
That means she must have had no family members alive,
and in her world that’s a fate worse than death.
Peter’s mother-in-law might well echo Job’s lament:
My days come to an end without hope.
My life is like the wind.
I shall not see happiness again.
She’s ill, in bed with a fever.
Listless.
No energy to get up and be part of the household.
Maybe depressed.
In despair.
____________________________________________
First-century Middle East folks believed
that there’s a difference
between disease and illness.
Disease was something you caught,
like leprosy, and it required a cure.
On the other hand, illness was,
according to Dr. Pilch,
“a disvalued human condition
in which social networks are ruptured
and life’s meaning is lost.”
Illness required healing,
not a cure like a disease did.
Jesus, as a healer,
goes over to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law,
takes her by the hand, and helps her up.
She is restored to her standing in the family,
returned to the relationship
where she finds value and meaning.
She is healed,
and she rejoins the family circle.
To put it in theological language,
she experiences salvation.
The Latin root for the word “salvation”
means healing.
Jesus has given her a healing balm,
salve for her soul.
____________________________________________
Jesus healed people from illness, cured them from disease,
but in today’s gospel he says that was not his purpose.
His mission was to go throughout the region
and preach the good news
that God’s reign is at hand, here and now.
And he did that by speaking out,
by praying,
by reaching out to the poor and marginalized,
by healing the sick souls of people he met.
____________________________________________
We see lots of this kind of illness in our world,
people in broken relationships,
people who have lost hope,
people who feel their life has no meaning.
As followers of Jesus,
we are the ones who are called to heal them.
You might not think you’re able to do that,
but you are.
As St. Francis of Assisi is supposed to have put it,
our task as followers of Jesus
is to preach the good news...
in how we live, in our actions…
and use words if you have to.
So you go about, like Jesus did,
preaching the good news
in the way you take care of your families.
I see your healing in the prayers you lift up
for people who struggle
against discrimination and poverty
and famine and war,
in your prayers for family and friends and neighbors
who are in distress or struck by a disease.
Your healing hand reaches out
when you plant a seedling to heal the earth,
or show up at Council meetings
to advocate for a healthy lake,
or write letters supporting health care for all
or citizenship for the DREAMers.
And when you get worn down by it all,
you go off to pray
and come back refreshed to keep on keeping on.
As Jesus’ followers, that’s what you’re called to do…
and you do it very well.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), January 28, 2018
First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:15-20
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28
Scholars tell us that today’s gospel
reflects the four elements of a typical exorcism
as they’re usually described in ancient writings.
First, the demon recognizes the exorcist and struggles;
then the exorcist orders the demon to leave;
then the demon leaves but makes a scene as it goes;
and finally the bystanders react to the feat.
So this evil spirit sent the man in Capernaum into convulsions--
like people who get louder and louder
as they argue their view is right and yours is not.
We know a lot of colloquial phrases to describe them:
they get a burr under their saddle,
they’re frothing at the mouth.
__________________________________________
We hear those voices in our world today,
and some of them are really demonic.
We wonder what possesses a person to twist the truth,
then start ranting and raving
when facts are brought up.
Some of the voices in our world are false prophets.
Forty years ago 918 people were murdered or committed suicide
because of the madness
of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple.
We see televangelists
interested only in putting more money in their own pockets
while claiming to work for worthy causes.
We hear street corner preachers
screaming of the end times
and the fiery wrath of an angry God.
We’ve seen demons in many different forms:
the holocaust, ISIS, Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
ethnic cleansing, Larry Nassar.
__________________________________________
Some things have changed since Jesus’ time.
Unlike many first-century folks
and Jim Jones in our time,
most of us don’t live in anxious fear
that the end of the world is imminent.
Well, maybe the Hawaiians do, after last week.
But Paul’s lesson still applies:
when we focus on the things of God,
everything else falls into the right place.
For the most part, we don’t call it a demonic possession
when we see someone ranting and raving.
Depending on what the person is ranting and raving about,
we may see it as mental illness.
Or sometimes these days, we call it politics.
__________________________________________
It’s not quite the same as when Jesus walked the earth--
the people of his time had a different frame of reference.
They didn’t have the kind of power over their lives that we do.
For one thing, they didn’t hold the healing power that we do.
In spite of our power, sometimes we act
like the people in today’s Deuteronomy reading,
afraid we will get hurt or killed if we speak up and reach out,
so we call on the Moses types to tell us what to do.
We call the fire department when we see a burning building.
We call the police if we see people waving guns at each other.
__________________________________________
Sometimes you can do more than call the police or the ambulance.
You have healing power over demons every day of your life.
You know the Heimlich Maneuver.
You know CPR.
And you know how to use prophetic power
the same way as the major prophets of our lifetime,
like Martin Luther King, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
Gustavo Gutierrez, Pope John XXIII.
You reach out with a healing touch, like Mother Teresa.
You protest war through nonviolence, like Mahatma Gandhi.
You speak out to protect the environment, like Rachel Carson.
You help the poor and marginalized, like Dorothy Day.
__________________________________________
Sometimes it’s as simple as just being there.
As Fr. Tony Gallagher is wont to say,
the 8th sacrament is showing up.
Going to the funeral.
Showing up at the birthday party.
Holding a sign at a street corner demonstration.
Sending a postcard from your vacation spot.
Volunteering at a soup kitchen.
Visiting your aunt in the nursing home.
Planting a tree.
Phoning a friend to see how they’re doing with the flu.
__________________________________________
You do it automatically.
It’s part of your life, part of who you are.
Reaching out with a helping hand,
thinking of others,
saying things to comfort,
speaking truth to power.
You heal people every day.
You give prophetic witness.
__________________________________________
And you teach.
You don’t hesitate to show a grandchild how to tie shoes,
or to offer advice to a friend out of your own experience.
You share your knowledge and insights.
You read books and go to lectures.
You talk about politics and religion,
about the common good,
about climate disruption.
You look at the impact of today's actions on tomorrow's children.
You share your hopes and your moral values.
__________________________________________
You should be the breaking news on CNN.
You are a prophet, the healer, the teacher in our world today.
Where do you get the authority to do that?
Where does your confidence come from?
Our tradition names the source:
it’s the Spirit of God in you.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:15-20
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Second Reding: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28
Scholars tell us that today’s gospel
reflects the four elements of a typical exorcism
as they’re usually described in ancient writings.
First, the demon recognizes the exorcist and struggles;
then the exorcist orders the demon to leave;
then the demon leaves but makes a scene as it goes;
and finally the bystanders react to the feat.
So this evil spirit sent the man in Capernaum into convulsions--
like people who get louder and louder
as they argue their view is right and yours is not.
We know a lot of colloquial phrases to describe them:
they get a burr under their saddle,
they’re frothing at the mouth.
__________________________________________
We hear those voices in our world today,
and some of them are really demonic.
We wonder what possesses a person to twist the truth,
then start ranting and raving
when facts are brought up.
Some of the voices in our world are false prophets.
Forty years ago 918 people were murdered or committed suicide
because of the madness
of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple.
We see televangelists
interested only in putting more money in their own pockets
while claiming to work for worthy causes.
We hear street corner preachers
screaming of the end times
and the fiery wrath of an angry God.
We’ve seen demons in many different forms:
the holocaust, ISIS, Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
ethnic cleansing, Larry Nassar.
__________________________________________
Some things have changed since Jesus’ time.
Unlike many first-century folks
and Jim Jones in our time,
most of us don’t live in anxious fear
that the end of the world is imminent.
Well, maybe the Hawaiians do, after last week.
But Paul’s lesson still applies:
when we focus on the things of God,
everything else falls into the right place.
For the most part, we don’t call it a demonic possession
when we see someone ranting and raving.
Depending on what the person is ranting and raving about,
we may see it as mental illness.
Or sometimes these days, we call it politics.
__________________________________________
It’s not quite the same as when Jesus walked the earth--
the people of his time had a different frame of reference.
They didn’t have the kind of power over their lives that we do.
For one thing, they didn’t hold the healing power that we do.
In spite of our power, sometimes we act
like the people in today’s Deuteronomy reading,
afraid we will get hurt or killed if we speak up and reach out,
so we call on the Moses types to tell us what to do.
We call the fire department when we see a burning building.
We call the police if we see people waving guns at each other.
__________________________________________
Sometimes you can do more than call the police or the ambulance.
You have healing power over demons every day of your life.
You know the Heimlich Maneuver.
You know CPR.
And you know how to use prophetic power
the same way as the major prophets of our lifetime,
like Martin Luther King, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
Gustavo Gutierrez, Pope John XXIII.
You reach out with a healing touch, like Mother Teresa.
You protest war through nonviolence, like Mahatma Gandhi.
You speak out to protect the environment, like Rachel Carson.
You help the poor and marginalized, like Dorothy Day.
__________________________________________
Sometimes it’s as simple as just being there.
As Fr. Tony Gallagher is wont to say,
the 8th sacrament is showing up.
Going to the funeral.
Showing up at the birthday party.
Holding a sign at a street corner demonstration.
Sending a postcard from your vacation spot.
Volunteering at a soup kitchen.
Visiting your aunt in the nursing home.
Planting a tree.
Phoning a friend to see how they’re doing with the flu.
__________________________________________
You do it automatically.
It’s part of your life, part of who you are.
Reaching out with a helping hand,
thinking of others,
saying things to comfort,
speaking truth to power.
You heal people every day.
You give prophetic witness.
__________________________________________
And you teach.
You don’t hesitate to show a grandchild how to tie shoes,
or to offer advice to a friend out of your own experience.
You share your knowledge and insights.
You read books and go to lectures.
You talk about politics and religion,
about the common good,
about climate disruption.
You look at the impact of today's actions on tomorrow's children.
You share your hopes and your moral values.
__________________________________________
You should be the breaking news on CNN.
You are a prophet, the healer, the teacher in our world today.
Where do you get the authority to do that?
Where does your confidence come from?
Our tradition names the source:
it’s the Spirit of God in you.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), January 21, 2018
God called Jonah to warn the Ninevites.
Jonah was free to choose to answer the call.
Or not.
He was so bound up in his hate and prejudice
that he ran the other way.
Zebedee and the hired men
were bound to their work responsibilities,
not free to follow when Jesus called.
But those Galilean youngsters--
Simon, Andrew, James, and John--
were free to choose to answer the call.
_________________________________________
While I was studying English at Ohio State in the early 60s,
I spent a lot of time at the Newman Center.
It was there that I had the blessing
to listen to homilies by a Paulist priest, Fr. Art LeBlanc,
who was studying for his doctorate in psychology.
Fr. Art was wont to preach existentialist ideas,
basically the notion that we have
both the freedom to choose
as well as the need to choose.
He often talked about what he called “choice points,”
those times in our lives when we have to choose a way--
this way, or that way, or another way, or no way at all.
One of his favorite aphorisms was “Not to decide is to decide,”
and I put it on the wall beside my desk.
That was over 50 years ago,
and the memory comes back to me fresh and clear
in today’s readings.
It was right around the time
that Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,
calling people to end racism.
Last week President Obama reflected
about all of us who answered that call,
each in our own way.
He talked about the young people who responded to Dr. King,
people like us.
He said, “They had their flaws.
“They had their problems.
“They had their doubts.
“But despite all those imperfections,
they pressed forward anyway--
often far from the limelight--
with determination and with faith in the future,
because they believed that their efforts would matter….”
_________________________________________
Doesn’t that sound like those fishermen in the Gospel today?
They hear the call.
They get a glimpse of what it might be
to live life for something greater than themselves.
It’s a “choice point” for them,
and they choose to make a 180-degree turn
to follow Jesus.
Jesus’ message is that the reign of God is here and now…
You can experience it, he tells them.
You can live it.
You can be the ones who spread the good news to others.
Those young men walked away
from their controlled, ordinary lives
and answered Jesus’ call.
_________________________________________
It’s not only young people who are called.
Last Sunday I saw a group of people,
some as old as 50 and some as young as 80,
answer the call to stand in that frigid weather
at the windy corner of Sylvania and Talmadge
holding signs
calling for the closing of the Guantanamo prison.
Over at Claver House Thursday
one of the guests answered the call
when she reached out to comfort another guest
whose daughter had died.
Today (yesterday) I was privileged
to join a large group of Toledoans
from every kind of faith
to pray for our city and its elected officials--
an interfaith prayer service,
a holy gathering of folks who choose
to answer the call to peace and justice.
_________________________________________
The reign of God is at hand,
but not everyone is living in it.
Richard Rohr says that the litmus test
for living with our center in God
is that we are always free to obey
but we might have to disobey
the expectations of church and state
in order to obey God.
He gives examples: St. Paul, Joan of Arc, Thomas Merton,
and Dorothy Day, who once said,
“The greatest challenge of the day
is how to bring about a revolution of the heart,
a revolution which has to start with each one of us.”
_________________________________________
Sometimes we turn away from the call, like Jonah did,
instead of turning our lives around and answering it.
When we hesitate or stumble,
it’s good to remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians:
time is running out.
The world as we know it is passing away.
We see the chaos in our government.
We watch our environment disintegrating.
We hear people asking for help.
God is calling us to do something about it.
We can pray.
We can sing.
We can reach out to others.
We can take action.
Or we can do nothing.
We are free to make a choice.
Amen!
God called Jonah to warn the Ninevites.
Jonah was free to choose to answer the call.
Or not.
He was so bound up in his hate and prejudice
that he ran the other way.
Zebedee and the hired men
were bound to their work responsibilities,
not free to follow when Jesus called.
But those Galilean youngsters--
Simon, Andrew, James, and John--
were free to choose to answer the call.
_________________________________________
While I was studying English at Ohio State in the early 60s,
I spent a lot of time at the Newman Center.
It was there that I had the blessing
to listen to homilies by a Paulist priest, Fr. Art LeBlanc,
who was studying for his doctorate in psychology.
Fr. Art was wont to preach existentialist ideas,
basically the notion that we have
both the freedom to choose
as well as the need to choose.
He often talked about what he called “choice points,”
those times in our lives when we have to choose a way--
this way, or that way, or another way, or no way at all.
One of his favorite aphorisms was “Not to decide is to decide,”
and I put it on the wall beside my desk.
That was over 50 years ago,
and the memory comes back to me fresh and clear
in today’s readings.
It was right around the time
that Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,
calling people to end racism.
Last week President Obama reflected
about all of us who answered that call,
each in our own way.
He talked about the young people who responded to Dr. King,
people like us.
He said, “They had their flaws.
“They had their problems.
“They had their doubts.
“But despite all those imperfections,
they pressed forward anyway--
often far from the limelight--
with determination and with faith in the future,
because they believed that their efforts would matter….”
_________________________________________
Doesn’t that sound like those fishermen in the Gospel today?
They hear the call.
They get a glimpse of what it might be
to live life for something greater than themselves.
It’s a “choice point” for them,
and they choose to make a 180-degree turn
to follow Jesus.
Jesus’ message is that the reign of God is here and now…
You can experience it, he tells them.
You can live it.
You can be the ones who spread the good news to others.
Those young men walked away
from their controlled, ordinary lives
and answered Jesus’ call.
_________________________________________
It’s not only young people who are called.
Last Sunday I saw a group of people,
some as old as 50 and some as young as 80,
answer the call to stand in that frigid weather
at the windy corner of Sylvania and Talmadge
holding signs
calling for the closing of the Guantanamo prison.
Over at Claver House Thursday
one of the guests answered the call
when she reached out to comfort another guest
whose daughter had died.
Today (yesterday) I was privileged
to join a large group of Toledoans
from every kind of faith
to pray for our city and its elected officials--
an interfaith prayer service,
a holy gathering of folks who choose
to answer the call to peace and justice.
_________________________________________
The reign of God is at hand,
but not everyone is living in it.
Richard Rohr says that the litmus test
for living with our center in God
is that we are always free to obey
but we might have to disobey
the expectations of church and state
in order to obey God.
He gives examples: St. Paul, Joan of Arc, Thomas Merton,
and Dorothy Day, who once said,
“The greatest challenge of the day
is how to bring about a revolution of the heart,
a revolution which has to start with each one of us.”
_________________________________________
Sometimes we turn away from the call, like Jonah did,
instead of turning our lives around and answering it.
When we hesitate or stumble,
it’s good to remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians:
time is running out.
The world as we know it is passing away.
We see the chaos in our government.
We watch our environment disintegrating.
We hear people asking for help.
God is calling us to do something about it.
We can pray.
We can sing.
We can reach out to others.
We can take action.
Or we can do nothing.
We are free to make a choice.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), January 14, 2018
First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20
Gospel: John 1:35-42
They were listening to the Baptizer
and heard him talking about Jesus as he walked by.
Jesus noticed them walking behind him.
He asked them “What are you looking for?”
They called him Rabbi—teacher--
and asked him, “Where are you staying?”
They wanted to get to know him,
what he was all about.
Jesus invited them:
“Come and see,” he said.
Andrew went to get his brother Peter,
and together they talked with Jesus
for the rest of the day.
They ended up following him.
_____________________________________
What did they see, what did they hear,
that made them follow Jesus along the way?
It’s the same thing that makes us decide to follow him.
They were living in a land of violence and corruption and injustice.
They listened to Jesus and understood his way as godly,
a promise of hope and new life.
It was a promise that led them to drop everything
and live the way he taught.
_____________________________________
In the midst of poverty and hunger, Jesus taught justice.
In a land of violence, Jesus preached nonviolence.
In the face of greed, Jesus called for sharing,
for simple lifestyles to allow everyone to have enough.
In the midst of power-hungry rulers,
Jesus modeled servant leadership.
That’s the same way we hear his teaching today.
We celebrate Martin Luther King this weekend.
Do we hear our U.S. bishops calling us to end racism?
Sojourners’ editor Jim Wallis calls it “America’s original sin,”
and it really is.
We’re surrounded by racism... and sexism.
Jesus preaches treating all others as equals.
We live in a world of people of different religions
from different countries and different cultures.
Jesus would have us practice welcoming acceptance…
open doors, open borders, open minds.
Too many businesses exploit their workers.
Jesus wants fair treatment and a living wage.
We see families in bankruptcy and homelessness
because they can’t afford treatment for their illness.
Jesus calls for healing,
for health care for everyone.
People who worship money and power
are destroying our planet.
Jesus teaches reverence for all of creation.
And so we follow his way of love.
_____________________________________
But the path is not always easy.
Like Samuel in that first reading,
we may hear God’s call but not recognize it.
We may need someone like Eli or John the Baptist
to cause us to stop and listen.
Or we may need an experience
to open our eyes and ears to what’s going on,
like seeing a picture of a children in a refugee camp
or hearing a neighbor’s conversation
about not being able to pay for her child’s operation.
_____________________________________
Our tradition tells us
that we are all made in the image and likeness of God.
It tells us that we are all temples of the Holy Spirit,
as Paul reminds the Corinthians.
God lives in us.
Our bodies, and the bodies of every other person,
are God’s dwelling place.
God can speak to us anywhere, in any form.
It doesn’t have to be a lightning bolt or a ghostly apparition.
It’s our own willingness to listen
and think
and follow the right path.
Seeing evening news coverage
of people suffering around the world
can bring us new life.
When that moment speaks to us,
whatever form it may take,
we begin to see the moral imperative
to respect the rights and dignity of all human persons.
That’s when we know
that the only choice
is to live a different way, a new life.
_____________________________________
Jesus still speaks to us today,
asking us to “come and see.”
When we listen,
we find life-giving powerful love
in the actions of ordinary people
doing good for each other.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20
Gospel: John 1:35-42
They were listening to the Baptizer
and heard him talking about Jesus as he walked by.
Jesus noticed them walking behind him.
He asked them “What are you looking for?”
They called him Rabbi—teacher--
and asked him, “Where are you staying?”
They wanted to get to know him,
what he was all about.
Jesus invited them:
“Come and see,” he said.
Andrew went to get his brother Peter,
and together they talked with Jesus
for the rest of the day.
They ended up following him.
_____________________________________
What did they see, what did they hear,
that made them follow Jesus along the way?
It’s the same thing that makes us decide to follow him.
They were living in a land of violence and corruption and injustice.
They listened to Jesus and understood his way as godly,
a promise of hope and new life.
It was a promise that led them to drop everything
and live the way he taught.
_____________________________________
In the midst of poverty and hunger, Jesus taught justice.
In a land of violence, Jesus preached nonviolence.
In the face of greed, Jesus called for sharing,
for simple lifestyles to allow everyone to have enough.
In the midst of power-hungry rulers,
Jesus modeled servant leadership.
That’s the same way we hear his teaching today.
We celebrate Martin Luther King this weekend.
Do we hear our U.S. bishops calling us to end racism?
Sojourners’ editor Jim Wallis calls it “America’s original sin,”
and it really is.
We’re surrounded by racism... and sexism.
Jesus preaches treating all others as equals.
We live in a world of people of different religions
from different countries and different cultures.
Jesus would have us practice welcoming acceptance…
open doors, open borders, open minds.
Too many businesses exploit their workers.
Jesus wants fair treatment and a living wage.
We see families in bankruptcy and homelessness
because they can’t afford treatment for their illness.
Jesus calls for healing,
for health care for everyone.
People who worship money and power
are destroying our planet.
Jesus teaches reverence for all of creation.
And so we follow his way of love.
_____________________________________
But the path is not always easy.
Like Samuel in that first reading,
we may hear God’s call but not recognize it.
We may need someone like Eli or John the Baptist
to cause us to stop and listen.
Or we may need an experience
to open our eyes and ears to what’s going on,
like seeing a picture of a children in a refugee camp
or hearing a neighbor’s conversation
about not being able to pay for her child’s operation.
_____________________________________
Our tradition tells us
that we are all made in the image and likeness of God.
It tells us that we are all temples of the Holy Spirit,
as Paul reminds the Corinthians.
God lives in us.
Our bodies, and the bodies of every other person,
are God’s dwelling place.
God can speak to us anywhere, in any form.
It doesn’t have to be a lightning bolt or a ghostly apparition.
It’s our own willingness to listen
and think
and follow the right path.
Seeing evening news coverage
of people suffering around the world
can bring us new life.
When that moment speaks to us,
whatever form it may take,
we begin to see the moral imperative
to respect the rights and dignity of all human persons.
That’s when we know
that the only choice
is to live a different way, a new life.
_____________________________________
Jesus still speaks to us today,
asking us to “come and see.”
When we listen,
we find life-giving powerful love
in the actions of ordinary people
doing good for each other.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Epiphany of the Lord, January 7, 2018
First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-13
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:2-6
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-1
That’s the story.
It’s one of those parts of the Bible that,
as scripture scholar Marcus Borg put it,
didn’t actually happen... but it is true.
It’s symbolic, revealing some basic truths
about the meaning of this brother of ours, Jesus,
whose way we follow.
Those truths speak straight to us in today’s chaotic world.
______________________________________
One comes in those visitors to the Bethlehem stable.
In the original Greek, they’re magoi,
a word that means sorcerers or magicians.
They are not kings.
The translation of the original Greek
into the Latin magi, meaning kings,
is an error that covers up
an important meaning to this story.
Exodus 22:17 says that sorcerers are to be killed on sight.
Among their other serious sins,
magoi look to stars to find God’s will in their lives.
They are outcasts, the dregs of Hebrew society,
untouchables, disposables.
But Matthew’s sorcerers followed a star
and recognized Jesus for who he is,
just like Luke’s stinking, marginalized shepherds
had recognized Jesus.
Folks who have nothing,
who are despised by people with something,
are the ones who recognize the action of God in the world.
I see those faith-filled folks at Claver House,
jobless people, homeless people, people with disabilities,
people who stop to thank God
for every little bit of good that comes their way.
______________________________________
A second truth in today’s Gospel comes
in the picture of Herod as a ruler
who used power in any way that suited his purpose.
He lied and cheated and abused and murdered at will.
In contrast, this tiny baby will grow up to be a king,
a good shepherd,
one who stands up for victims of tyrants
and speaks out against false-hearted religious leaders--
against those bad shepherds
who take advantage of the poor for their own gain.
The picture of Herod echoes for us today
in elected officials who use their position
to take more than their share,
business owners who cheat their customers,
officeholders who lie to serve their own ends
rather than the common good.
______________________________________
Another truth shows up in the actions of the magoi.
When they saw the star, they were filled with joy,
but Herod and his court were troubled by it.
They’re worried about the competition.
The magoi had asked them,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?”
Herod wouldn’t allow any competition.
So he lies to the magoi
hoping to get information from them
that will let him find the baby and kill him.
If being sorcerers hadn’t gotten them killed,
the magoi then took an action
that guaranteed their execution if they were caught:
they disobeyed a direct order from the king.
What they do is to simply go home
without reporting back to him,
an act of civil disobedience, of non-violent resistance.
The courage of these magoi
is obvious today all over the world.
The poor, the disenfranchised, and the outcasts
are walking away from the murderous plans and practices
of the powerful.
We see it in individuals imprisoned or exiled
for speaking out.
We see it in families murdered
for protesting against oppressive leaders.
We see it here in ordinary people
marching for the common good
against the greed of the powerful--
people willing to give up whatever it takes--
their time, their homes, their country, even their lives--
rather than submit to immoral and abusive leaders.
______________________________________
There are still more truths in this gospel
that sound like today’s news.
There’s the migration experience,
with Mary and Joseph taking their baby
and running for their lives to escape Herod,
living as refugees in Egypt.
There’s the murder of the infants
whose parents did not run from Herod.
We hear their cries in the Rohingya murdered in Myanmar.
We see them in the 650,000 fleeing to Bangladesh
to try to survive in the midst of famine and disease.
______________________________________
In his novel Finnigan’s Wake,
James Joyce described Catholics
as “Here comes everybody!”
But Catholics are not everybody.
Everybody includes people who are not Catholic,
people who are not like us.
Pope Francis understands that.
At daily Mass the other day
he was talking about who gets into heaven.
He said, "Even atheists are in heaven
because God loves all.
Jesus came to bring all the people
of all times and all nations
into the one human family
into which Jesus himself has come."
Yep! Even the shepherds, the sorcerers, the atheists…
even the immigrants, the refugees,
the homeless, the jobless…
even us!
______________________________________
This week is National Migration Week,
the yearly time when our church reminds us
that we have a moral obligation
to stand up for the fundamental dignity
of every human being
by welcoming refugees and immigrants and migrants
into our midst
and protecting them from oppression.
There’s a lot to work on in this new year.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-13
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:2-6
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-1
That’s the story.
It’s one of those parts of the Bible that,
as scripture scholar Marcus Borg put it,
didn’t actually happen... but it is true.
It’s symbolic, revealing some basic truths
about the meaning of this brother of ours, Jesus,
whose way we follow.
Those truths speak straight to us in today’s chaotic world.
______________________________________
One comes in those visitors to the Bethlehem stable.
In the original Greek, they’re magoi,
a word that means sorcerers or magicians.
They are not kings.
The translation of the original Greek
into the Latin magi, meaning kings,
is an error that covers up
an important meaning to this story.
Exodus 22:17 says that sorcerers are to be killed on sight.
Among their other serious sins,
magoi look to stars to find God’s will in their lives.
They are outcasts, the dregs of Hebrew society,
untouchables, disposables.
But Matthew’s sorcerers followed a star
and recognized Jesus for who he is,
just like Luke’s stinking, marginalized shepherds
had recognized Jesus.
Folks who have nothing,
who are despised by people with something,
are the ones who recognize the action of God in the world.
I see those faith-filled folks at Claver House,
jobless people, homeless people, people with disabilities,
people who stop to thank God
for every little bit of good that comes their way.
______________________________________
A second truth in today’s Gospel comes
in the picture of Herod as a ruler
who used power in any way that suited his purpose.
He lied and cheated and abused and murdered at will.
In contrast, this tiny baby will grow up to be a king,
a good shepherd,
one who stands up for victims of tyrants
and speaks out against false-hearted religious leaders--
against those bad shepherds
who take advantage of the poor for their own gain.
The picture of Herod echoes for us today
in elected officials who use their position
to take more than their share,
business owners who cheat their customers,
officeholders who lie to serve their own ends
rather than the common good.
______________________________________
Another truth shows up in the actions of the magoi.
When they saw the star, they were filled with joy,
but Herod and his court were troubled by it.
They’re worried about the competition.
The magoi had asked them,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?”
Herod wouldn’t allow any competition.
So he lies to the magoi
hoping to get information from them
that will let him find the baby and kill him.
If being sorcerers hadn’t gotten them killed,
the magoi then took an action
that guaranteed their execution if they were caught:
they disobeyed a direct order from the king.
What they do is to simply go home
without reporting back to him,
an act of civil disobedience, of non-violent resistance.
The courage of these magoi
is obvious today all over the world.
The poor, the disenfranchised, and the outcasts
are walking away from the murderous plans and practices
of the powerful.
We see it in individuals imprisoned or exiled
for speaking out.
We see it in families murdered
for protesting against oppressive leaders.
We see it here in ordinary people
marching for the common good
against the greed of the powerful--
people willing to give up whatever it takes--
their time, their homes, their country, even their lives--
rather than submit to immoral and abusive leaders.
______________________________________
There are still more truths in this gospel
that sound like today’s news.
There’s the migration experience,
with Mary and Joseph taking their baby
and running for their lives to escape Herod,
living as refugees in Egypt.
There’s the murder of the infants
whose parents did not run from Herod.
We hear their cries in the Rohingya murdered in Myanmar.
We see them in the 650,000 fleeing to Bangladesh
to try to survive in the midst of famine and disease.
______________________________________
In his novel Finnigan’s Wake,
James Joyce described Catholics
as “Here comes everybody!”
But Catholics are not everybody.
Everybody includes people who are not Catholic,
people who are not like us.
Pope Francis understands that.
At daily Mass the other day
he was talking about who gets into heaven.
He said, "Even atheists are in heaven
because God loves all.
Jesus came to bring all the people
of all times and all nations
into the one human family
into which Jesus himself has come."
Yep! Even the shepherds, the sorcerers, the atheists…
even the immigrants, the refugees,
the homeless, the jobless…
even us!
______________________________________
This week is National Migration Week,
the yearly time when our church reminds us
that we have a moral obligation
to stand up for the fundamental dignity
of every human being
by welcoming refugees and immigrants and migrants
into our midst
and protecting them from oppression.
There’s a lot to work on in this new year.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Holy Family B, December 31, 2017
First Reading: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-5
Second Reading: Colossians 3:12-17
Gospel: Luke 2:22, 39-40
Tonight we celebrate the Feast
of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Those of us who grew up in the 1950s
were led to believe that the “nuclear” family--
a mother and a father and their child
living together in one house--
is the norm, the ideal.
We now know that’s not the case,
and today’s feast shows that it never has been.
Of course, there are married couples with children.
There are also married couples with grandchildren.
Unmarried partners with a child, or no children,
or children from previous marriages,
or children from previous relationships outside marriage.
Single-parent families.
A grandparent or an aunt or an uncle
raising a grandchild or a niece or a nephew.
Blended families.
Adoptive families.
_____________________________________________
For the people of Jesus’ time,
the family was more than the “nuclear” family.
Depending on the situation,
the word “family” could have meant
an extended family—all the relatives included.
Or they may have thought of family
as everyone who lived under one roof--
all the members of the household,
whether related by blood or marriage
or working there as servants.
Or the clan—all the people with a common ancestry.
Or the people united by their belief in the same religion.
Or the descendants of a particular person--
like the shoot of Jesse or the offspring of David.
_____________________________________________
Because of Jesus’ teaching,
we are called to expand our notion of family exponentially.
Bigger than the nuclear family,
bigger than the household,
bigger than the clan, or the nation, or the religion.
We’re called to see the family
as including all of God’s people.
The human family.
God’s family.
_____________________________________________
It’s easy to see that we don’t always
act like we’re part of God’s family,
but lately I’ve been blessed
to see people who understand it and act like it
from the depths of their being.
I saw it In early December
when we gathered for our annual Christmas dinner
at Sue and Dick’s house.
With food and fellowship and music
we celebrated our church family
as part of God’s one family.
_____________________________________________
And I saw God’s universal family
here on Christmas Eve, last Sunday.
Celebrating Mass was a beautiful experience,
but the experience of God’s family afterwards
was stunning.
Colleen, as usual, had arranged for a paratransit service
to bring her to Mass and take her home.
It brought her here, but it didn’t show up to take her home.
Three of us waited with her
for more than an hour after the time
that the van was supposed to come for her.
No one came.
A phone call to the paratransit service
gave us a recording
saying that they were closed for the holiday.
A call to 211 yielded lots of questions
and ended with a suggestion that we might call the police.
A call to 911 yielded more questions,
the statement that the police don’t handle things like that,
and a suggestion that we call the paratransit service.
The snow was getting deeper,
and we were going around in circles.
Then we thought to call the Ursulines over on Indian Road.
There was no questioning, no hesitation.
It wasn’t long before Sister Sandy and Sister Margaret
pulled up in the community’s van
with its wheelchair lift
to take Colleen home.
They treated us like family.
_____________________________________________
I saw God’s family in action again
the next morning at Claver House.
The soup kitchen always closes on holidays,
but this year the Monday crew decided
that they would serve Christmas breakfast anyway.
They showed up with a feast--
cheese omelets and French toast
and fresh fruit and coffee cake,
Christmas candy and hats and gloves.
_____________________________________________
Treating everyone like family—that’s the basis for sainthood.
Wherever you are,
it’s treating the people you’re with
like family.
It’s traveling to visit the kids
in Ohio or Michigan or Washington or California.
It’s standing by when someone’s lonely or sick,
reaching out when there’s a need.
It’s really meaning it when we say
we are all God’s children,
all brothers and sisters to Jesus.
Sure, the big things are noticed,
like the giant checks for charity
that you see given by corporations on the evening news.
But the day-to-day sainthood happens where we live.
_____________________________________________
The scriptures tell us that
“the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
God’s Word comes to us in human form,
in Jesus of Nazareth…
and in each other.
That’s what Christmas is all about.
God comes to live in the ordinary times
of the ordinary lives
of ordinary people like us.
So it’s fitting that we celebrate the holiness of the family.
Whenever we reach out to another person,
we become living proof
that the Word became flesh and dwells among us.
We are God’s holy family.
Amen!
First Reading: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-5
Second Reading: Colossians 3:12-17
Gospel: Luke 2:22, 39-40
Tonight we celebrate the Feast
of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Those of us who grew up in the 1950s
were led to believe that the “nuclear” family--
a mother and a father and their child
living together in one house--
is the norm, the ideal.
We now know that’s not the case,
and today’s feast shows that it never has been.
Of course, there are married couples with children.
There are also married couples with grandchildren.
Unmarried partners with a child, or no children,
or children from previous marriages,
or children from previous relationships outside marriage.
Single-parent families.
A grandparent or an aunt or an uncle
raising a grandchild or a niece or a nephew.
Blended families.
Adoptive families.
_____________________________________________
For the people of Jesus’ time,
the family was more than the “nuclear” family.
Depending on the situation,
the word “family” could have meant
an extended family—all the relatives included.
Or they may have thought of family
as everyone who lived under one roof--
all the members of the household,
whether related by blood or marriage
or working there as servants.
Or the clan—all the people with a common ancestry.
Or the people united by their belief in the same religion.
Or the descendants of a particular person--
like the shoot of Jesse or the offspring of David.
_____________________________________________
Because of Jesus’ teaching,
we are called to expand our notion of family exponentially.
Bigger than the nuclear family,
bigger than the household,
bigger than the clan, or the nation, or the religion.
We’re called to see the family
as including all of God’s people.
The human family.
God’s family.
_____________________________________________
It’s easy to see that we don’t always
act like we’re part of God’s family,
but lately I’ve been blessed
to see people who understand it and act like it
from the depths of their being.
I saw it In early December
when we gathered for our annual Christmas dinner
at Sue and Dick’s house.
With food and fellowship and music
we celebrated our church family
as part of God’s one family.
_____________________________________________
And I saw God’s universal family
here on Christmas Eve, last Sunday.
Celebrating Mass was a beautiful experience,
but the experience of God’s family afterwards
was stunning.
Colleen, as usual, had arranged for a paratransit service
to bring her to Mass and take her home.
It brought her here, but it didn’t show up to take her home.
Three of us waited with her
for more than an hour after the time
that the van was supposed to come for her.
No one came.
A phone call to the paratransit service
gave us a recording
saying that they were closed for the holiday.
A call to 211 yielded lots of questions
and ended with a suggestion that we might call the police.
A call to 911 yielded more questions,
the statement that the police don’t handle things like that,
and a suggestion that we call the paratransit service.
The snow was getting deeper,
and we were going around in circles.
Then we thought to call the Ursulines over on Indian Road.
There was no questioning, no hesitation.
It wasn’t long before Sister Sandy and Sister Margaret
pulled up in the community’s van
with its wheelchair lift
to take Colleen home.
They treated us like family.
_____________________________________________
I saw God’s family in action again
the next morning at Claver House.
The soup kitchen always closes on holidays,
but this year the Monday crew decided
that they would serve Christmas breakfast anyway.
They showed up with a feast--
cheese omelets and French toast
and fresh fruit and coffee cake,
Christmas candy and hats and gloves.
_____________________________________________
Treating everyone like family—that’s the basis for sainthood.
Wherever you are,
it’s treating the people you’re with
like family.
It’s traveling to visit the kids
in Ohio or Michigan or Washington or California.
It’s standing by when someone’s lonely or sick,
reaching out when there’s a need.
It’s really meaning it when we say
we are all God’s children,
all brothers and sisters to Jesus.
Sure, the big things are noticed,
like the giant checks for charity
that you see given by corporations on the evening news.
But the day-to-day sainthood happens where we live.
_____________________________________________
The scriptures tell us that
“the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
God’s Word comes to us in human form,
in Jesus of Nazareth…
and in each other.
That’s what Christmas is all about.
God comes to live in the ordinary times
of the ordinary lives
of ordinary people like us.
So it’s fitting that we celebrate the holiness of the family.
Whenever we reach out to another person,
we become living proof
that the Word became flesh and dwells among us.
We are God’s holy family.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 4th Sunday of Advent (B) and Nativity of the Lord, December 23-24, 2017
First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Second Reading: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
As Isaiah says in that first reading,
we have been walking in the darkness.
We’ve been walking in the darkness of the waning year,
with its early sunsets and cold mornings;
in the darkness of our world,
with its wars and famines and refugees;
in the darkness of our country,
with its leaders turning their backs on the poor
to gain more for themselves;
and, for some among us, we’ve been walking
in the darkness of our personal lives,
suffering loss of work, illness,
or death of friends and family members.
We all have, for sure, walked in darkness.
_____________________________________________
In spite of that, or maybe because of it,
tonight we gather to celebrate the great light that shines on us.
It’s the light that God sends us,
the light that has not been overcome,
that cannot be overcome,
by any of this darkness around us.
It’s the light that comes
from the Word spoken by God in the beginning,
as John tells us in the gospel,
the Word of creation, the word of life.
So we celebrate today the long-awaited light,
the birth of Jesus in Nazareth,
the one who grew in age and wisdom and grace,
who lived in the light of the Spirit of God
and called his townsfolk
to live the Way of love and peace and justice.
_____________________________________________
Over the centuries we’ve prayed and celebrated
in different languages and cultures,
developed similes and metaphors
to try to talk about the Way that Jesus taught.
Sadly, we’ve also fought and killed over the differences among us.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser catalogs what he calls
“a checkered origin and a checkered sequence” to our religion:
Jacob stole his brother’s birthright;
Judah slept with his daughter-in-law;
David committed adultery and then murdered to cover it up;
our church set up the Inquisition
and killed more of our own than were martyred by others;
we’ve had popes who sold favors and were sexually immoral;
we’ve had priests who abused children,
and bishops who covered it up.
Lots of darkness over the centuries, some of it in each of us.
Through it all, though, the light of Jesus shines through.
God’s Word was born in him.
God’s Word dwells among us.
_____________________________________________
John Henry Cardinal Newman believed
that history is absolutely necessary
for a correct understanding of doctrine,
and he wrote that
he never would have converted to Catholicism
if he had not received
the doctrine of the development of dogmas.
Dogmas develop.
The birth of the baby in Nazareth
was not the beginning of God’s story,
nor was it the end.
Dogmas develop.
Most modern Christians follow the theology
that John puts forth in today’s gospel.
Jesus is God from all eternity.
The Word exists “from the beginning.”
Over the years theologians have argued
about when that divine person
became “flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Fr. Ray Brown points out
that a belief in Jesus’ pre-existence as God
only develops toward the end of the first century.
Before that Paul, in the letter to the Romans,
said that Jesus became God at the resurrection.
Other authors had—and still today have--
other opinions about when Jesus became God
and even more opinions about what that means.
_____________________________________________
These days, with our expanding understanding of the universe,
we are forming new images for God
and new ways of thinking about God.
We see ourselves, like Paul says to Titus,
living in the light
because we are heirs,
children who come forth from God.
We see ourselves
coming from that word of creation spoken billions of years ago.
That word spoken by God in the beginning,
that word of creation and life,
includes us...
each and every one of us.
We are brothers and sisters to each other and to Jesus,
the teacher of justice and peace
who shows us the path of life.
We are called to walk that very same path he followed.
When we celebrate his birth,
we celebrate his life, our lives, all life.
We celebrate the light that shines in the darkness.
And the darkness does not overcome it.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Second Reading: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
As Isaiah says in that first reading,
we have been walking in the darkness.
We’ve been walking in the darkness of the waning year,
with its early sunsets and cold mornings;
in the darkness of our world,
with its wars and famines and refugees;
in the darkness of our country,
with its leaders turning their backs on the poor
to gain more for themselves;
and, for some among us, we’ve been walking
in the darkness of our personal lives,
suffering loss of work, illness,
or death of friends and family members.
We all have, for sure, walked in darkness.
_____________________________________________
In spite of that, or maybe because of it,
tonight we gather to celebrate the great light that shines on us.
It’s the light that God sends us,
the light that has not been overcome,
that cannot be overcome,
by any of this darkness around us.
It’s the light that comes
from the Word spoken by God in the beginning,
as John tells us in the gospel,
the Word of creation, the word of life.
So we celebrate today the long-awaited light,
the birth of Jesus in Nazareth,
the one who grew in age and wisdom and grace,
who lived in the light of the Spirit of God
and called his townsfolk
to live the Way of love and peace and justice.
_____________________________________________
Over the centuries we’ve prayed and celebrated
in different languages and cultures,
developed similes and metaphors
to try to talk about the Way that Jesus taught.
Sadly, we’ve also fought and killed over the differences among us.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser catalogs what he calls
“a checkered origin and a checkered sequence” to our religion:
Jacob stole his brother’s birthright;
Judah slept with his daughter-in-law;
David committed adultery and then murdered to cover it up;
our church set up the Inquisition
and killed more of our own than were martyred by others;
we’ve had popes who sold favors and were sexually immoral;
we’ve had priests who abused children,
and bishops who covered it up.
Lots of darkness over the centuries, some of it in each of us.
Through it all, though, the light of Jesus shines through.
God’s Word was born in him.
God’s Word dwells among us.
_____________________________________________
John Henry Cardinal Newman believed
that history is absolutely necessary
for a correct understanding of doctrine,
and he wrote that
he never would have converted to Catholicism
if he had not received
the doctrine of the development of dogmas.
Dogmas develop.
The birth of the baby in Nazareth
was not the beginning of God’s story,
nor was it the end.
Dogmas develop.
Most modern Christians follow the theology
that John puts forth in today’s gospel.
Jesus is God from all eternity.
The Word exists “from the beginning.”
Over the years theologians have argued
about when that divine person
became “flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Fr. Ray Brown points out
that a belief in Jesus’ pre-existence as God
only develops toward the end of the first century.
Before that Paul, in the letter to the Romans,
said that Jesus became God at the resurrection.
Other authors had—and still today have--
other opinions about when Jesus became God
and even more opinions about what that means.
_____________________________________________
These days, with our expanding understanding of the universe,
we are forming new images for God
and new ways of thinking about God.
We see ourselves, like Paul says to Titus,
living in the light
because we are heirs,
children who come forth from God.
We see ourselves
coming from that word of creation spoken billions of years ago.
That word spoken by God in the beginning,
that word of creation and life,
includes us...
each and every one of us.
We are brothers and sisters to each other and to Jesus,
the teacher of justice and peace
who shows us the path of life.
We are called to walk that very same path he followed.
When we celebrate his birth,
we celebrate his life, our lives, all life.
We celebrate the light that shines in the darkness.
And the darkness does not overcome it.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 3rd Sunday of Advent (B), December 17, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
Responsorial Psalm: Luke 1:46-54
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Rejoice?
There’s so much wrong in the world...
breaking news every minute.
How can we rejoice?
Where is the light?
On every issue of justice, on every issue of peace,
the bad news just keeps coming.
Bad news on the climate--
floods, famine, and fire.
Bad news from our government--
tax bills that cater to billionaires
and slash programs for kids and the poor,
and deadly ideas disguised as health care.
Bad news across the world--
war and genocide
and 65 million refugees running from violence.
And here in our own country, just this year so far,
over 58,000 gun violence incidents
have killed over 14,000 people...
not counting the suicides.
Five years ago this past Thursday,
we lost 20 children and 6 teachers at Sandy Hook.
Since then, 150,000 people
have died from guns in our country.
Thirteen hundred of them are children.
Not even two weeks ago, in Aztec, New Mexico--
two high school students and the 21-year-old shooter died.
The teachers, the parents, the friends,
the families, the broken hearts…
the groaning souls.
Sometimes it’s really hard to rejoice.
________________________________________
Where is the Advent hope for us?
In today’s first reading,
we heard Isaiah say
that God makes justice spring up
for the poor and the marginalized.
We heard that the Spirit of God is on us:
that we are called to be in right relationship with all people.
that breaking that relationship is wrong.
that we cannot be in right relationship
if we do not work
to bring peace and justice to everyone.
Then we heard Paul telling us to rejoice.
And we heard John the Baptist
saying that light was coming into the world.
It’s easy to see that we aren’t there yet.
Like Isaiah’s listeners, like the baptizer’s crowds,
like Jesus’ original followers,
we are still waiting.
________________________________________
But we are on the Way.
There is joy, even here in Toledo.
Last Sunday in that 27-degree weather
with a 14 mph wind
and the wind chill down to 15,
scores of people stood at the corner of Secor and Central
demonstrating for peace and justice for Palestine.
The city chief of police and county sheriff
and Hispanic Toledoans have signed
an agreement to a Code of Conduct
for peaceful understanding on both sides.
Toledo’s Jewish community planted a peace pole
at Temple Shomer Emunim this week,
along with members of the MultiFaith Council of NW Ohio
and area citizens who speak Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Hebrew, Hindu, Russian, and Spanish.
The Lucas County Homelessness Board
called together citizens, business leaders,
shelter operators, educators,
religious communities, and government officials
to improve life for homeless people.
With Christmas and Hanukkah coming,
the evening news has started
to uncover the generosity of ordinary people
responding to the needs of their neighbors.
Here and all across the country,
thousands of people are gathering with us
in this vigil to end gun violence.
________________________________________
We still recognize, though,
that all is certainly not well in our world.
Our work is not finished.
People of every faith follow a path to God,
and we who are Christians
embrace the Way of Jesus as our path.
Our tradition calls us, in the words of Pope Francis,
to work on behalf of the poor;
to eliminate structural causes of poverty;
to work for access to education,
healthcare, and full employment
and against the idolatry of money;
to uphold the dignity of every human being,
privately and in the public square.
When we answer that call,
we’re not just obeying the rules
of the institutional church.
We’re finding peace.
And joy.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
Responsorial Psalm: Luke 1:46-54
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Rejoice?
There’s so much wrong in the world...
breaking news every minute.
How can we rejoice?
Where is the light?
On every issue of justice, on every issue of peace,
the bad news just keeps coming.
Bad news on the climate--
floods, famine, and fire.
Bad news from our government--
tax bills that cater to billionaires
and slash programs for kids and the poor,
and deadly ideas disguised as health care.
Bad news across the world--
war and genocide
and 65 million refugees running from violence.
And here in our own country, just this year so far,
over 58,000 gun violence incidents
have killed over 14,000 people...
not counting the suicides.
Five years ago this past Thursday,
we lost 20 children and 6 teachers at Sandy Hook.
Since then, 150,000 people
have died from guns in our country.
Thirteen hundred of them are children.
Not even two weeks ago, in Aztec, New Mexico--
two high school students and the 21-year-old shooter died.
The teachers, the parents, the friends,
the families, the broken hearts…
the groaning souls.
Sometimes it’s really hard to rejoice.
________________________________________
Where is the Advent hope for us?
In today’s first reading,
we heard Isaiah say
that God makes justice spring up
for the poor and the marginalized.
We heard that the Spirit of God is on us:
that we are called to be in right relationship with all people.
that breaking that relationship is wrong.
that we cannot be in right relationship
if we do not work
to bring peace and justice to everyone.
Then we heard Paul telling us to rejoice.
And we heard John the Baptist
saying that light was coming into the world.
It’s easy to see that we aren’t there yet.
Like Isaiah’s listeners, like the baptizer’s crowds,
like Jesus’ original followers,
we are still waiting.
________________________________________
But we are on the Way.
There is joy, even here in Toledo.
Last Sunday in that 27-degree weather
with a 14 mph wind
and the wind chill down to 15,
scores of people stood at the corner of Secor and Central
demonstrating for peace and justice for Palestine.
The city chief of police and county sheriff
and Hispanic Toledoans have signed
an agreement to a Code of Conduct
for peaceful understanding on both sides.
Toledo’s Jewish community planted a peace pole
at Temple Shomer Emunim this week,
along with members of the MultiFaith Council of NW Ohio
and area citizens who speak Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Hebrew, Hindu, Russian, and Spanish.
The Lucas County Homelessness Board
called together citizens, business leaders,
shelter operators, educators,
religious communities, and government officials
to improve life for homeless people.
With Christmas and Hanukkah coming,
the evening news has started
to uncover the generosity of ordinary people
responding to the needs of their neighbors.
Here and all across the country,
thousands of people are gathering with us
in this vigil to end gun violence.
________________________________________
We still recognize, though,
that all is certainly not well in our world.
Our work is not finished.
People of every faith follow a path to God,
and we who are Christians
embrace the Way of Jesus as our path.
Our tradition calls us, in the words of Pope Francis,
to work on behalf of the poor;
to eliminate structural causes of poverty;
to work for access to education,
healthcare, and full employment
and against the idolatry of money;
to uphold the dignity of every human being,
privately and in the public square.
When we answer that call,
we’re not just obeying the rules
of the institutional church.
We’re finding peace.
And joy.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 2nd Sunday of Advent (B), December 10, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:8-13
Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
In its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,
Vatican II says that figuring out
what the scripture writers meant
is an exercise that we need to go through
if we are to understand the truth of the Bible.
Linguistic, cultural, and anthropological studies
can make clear the truths that we have lost
over centuries of translation and societal change.
Today’s gospel gives us some examples.
One thing is that the first verse of today’s gospel
does not start with
“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet.”
The first verse is really,
according to our New American Bible,
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.”
And even that translation doesn’t make the meaning clear.
There’s a lot of theology packed into those words--
gospel, Christ, Son of God--
words that we as Americans understand
in a way that is deaf
to the way they would have been understood
2,000 years ago.
While the prologues of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels
show Jesus’ status and authority
by detailing his family tree,
that one sentence at the start of Mark’s Gospel
shows that Jesus was important
and deserves our attention,
but it’s in words
that go right over our heads today.
________________________________________________________________________
Those first century folks
would have understood them to say this:
“the beginning of the proclamation
of Jesus the Messiah.”
Messiah, not the Greek word Christ, as if it were his last name.
Messiah: the anointed one, the expected one,
the one hoped for.
Proclamation, not gospel.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t gospel—good news—in the scriptures.
There definitely is.
But our ancestors in faith,
hearing that word “proclamation,”
would ask themselves
who the important person is
who is making this proclamation about the Messiah.
___________________________________________
Who is this John
out in the desert
making the proclamation?
He’s a Jew, born in the priestly line.
He’s a preacher, weaving the ancient promises
of Genesis, Exodus, Malachi, and Isaiah
into a message of hope to an oppressed people.
He’s a prophet calling for repentance--
a change of heart, a change of habits,
a transformation that will prepare the way
for God’s reign.
The word John uses for repentance is metanoia,
literally going beyond the mind,
a radical open-mindedness--
a repentance that has nothing to do
with making a laundry list of peccadilloes
to confess in private.
John’s words inspire folks to jump in the Jordan
in what Sister Mary McGlone calls
“a communal and enthusiastic public demonstration
in which groups of people got excited
about the idea that life could be
much better than it was.
‘Their confession was,
`‘We have settled for less,
but no more!’”
_______________________________________
Many of us respond
with that radical open-mindedness
to the signs of our own times.
Life can be better, we say,
and we’re not going to settle for less.
Remember the hope we felt
when we marched across the Martin Luther King Bridge
on the afternoon of Inauguration Day last January?
We prayed and sang and marched, hundreds of us.
We wanted that new heaven and new earth
that we heard about in Peter’s letter today,
and we saw that the times ahead
could threaten our hopes and dreams.
As we saw the gathering clouds of deportation,
travel bans, walls, tax breaks for the wealthy,
and de-funding of programs for the poor,
we experienced that same metanoia,
that change of heart.
We were inspired to say “no more!”
We knew, like those folks in Mark’s first-century community,
that life can be better than this.
Like them, we decided
that we weren’t going to settle any more...
and we were filled with hope.
_______________________________________
We still live, like John the Baptizer, in the desert,
surrounded by broken lives and marginalized people.
Yet we still hope.
This coming January 21
we’ll march across the MLK Bridge again,
singing and chanting once more.
The challenge for us
is the same as John’s challenge in the wilderness:
to turn our lives around
so that we can keep on working
to make all people free,
every one of us living in a new earth
where peace and justice reign.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:8-13
Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
In its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,
Vatican II says that figuring out
what the scripture writers meant
is an exercise that we need to go through
if we are to understand the truth of the Bible.
Linguistic, cultural, and anthropological studies
can make clear the truths that we have lost
over centuries of translation and societal change.
Today’s gospel gives us some examples.
One thing is that the first verse of today’s gospel
does not start with
“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet.”
The first verse is really,
according to our New American Bible,
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.”
And even that translation doesn’t make the meaning clear.
There’s a lot of theology packed into those words--
gospel, Christ, Son of God--
words that we as Americans understand
in a way that is deaf
to the way they would have been understood
2,000 years ago.
While the prologues of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels
show Jesus’ status and authority
by detailing his family tree,
that one sentence at the start of Mark’s Gospel
shows that Jesus was important
and deserves our attention,
but it’s in words
that go right over our heads today.
________________________________________________________________________
Those first century folks
would have understood them to say this:
“the beginning of the proclamation
of Jesus the Messiah.”
Messiah, not the Greek word Christ, as if it were his last name.
Messiah: the anointed one, the expected one,
the one hoped for.
Proclamation, not gospel.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t gospel—good news—in the scriptures.
There definitely is.
But our ancestors in faith,
hearing that word “proclamation,”
would ask themselves
who the important person is
who is making this proclamation about the Messiah.
___________________________________________
Who is this John
out in the desert
making the proclamation?
He’s a Jew, born in the priestly line.
He’s a preacher, weaving the ancient promises
of Genesis, Exodus, Malachi, and Isaiah
into a message of hope to an oppressed people.
He’s a prophet calling for repentance--
a change of heart, a change of habits,
a transformation that will prepare the way
for God’s reign.
The word John uses for repentance is metanoia,
literally going beyond the mind,
a radical open-mindedness--
a repentance that has nothing to do
with making a laundry list of peccadilloes
to confess in private.
John’s words inspire folks to jump in the Jordan
in what Sister Mary McGlone calls
“a communal and enthusiastic public demonstration
in which groups of people got excited
about the idea that life could be
much better than it was.
‘Their confession was,
`‘We have settled for less,
but no more!’”
_______________________________________
Many of us respond
with that radical open-mindedness
to the signs of our own times.
Life can be better, we say,
and we’re not going to settle for less.
Remember the hope we felt
when we marched across the Martin Luther King Bridge
on the afternoon of Inauguration Day last January?
We prayed and sang and marched, hundreds of us.
We wanted that new heaven and new earth
that we heard about in Peter’s letter today,
and we saw that the times ahead
could threaten our hopes and dreams.
As we saw the gathering clouds of deportation,
travel bans, walls, tax breaks for the wealthy,
and de-funding of programs for the poor,
we experienced that same metanoia,
that change of heart.
We were inspired to say “no more!”
We knew, like those folks in Mark’s first-century community,
that life can be better than this.
Like them, we decided
that we weren’t going to settle any more...
and we were filled with hope.
_______________________________________
We still live, like John the Baptizer, in the desert,
surrounded by broken lives and marginalized people.
Yet we still hope.
This coming January 21
we’ll march across the MLK Bridge again,
singing and chanting once more.
The challenge for us
is the same as John’s challenge in the wilderness:
to turn our lives around
so that we can keep on working
to make all people free,
every one of us living in a new earth
where peace and justice reign.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 1st Sunday of Advent (B), December 3, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:1-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:1-3, 14-19
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Gospel: Mark 13:33-37
The writers of today’s readings
seem to be teetering on the edge of bipolar disorder,
what we used to call manic depression.
Isaiah is the depression side of it:
we’re doomed, he says,
and it’s God’s fault.
God made us, like a potter makes dishes out of clay,
and God did everything wrong.
God is the one who lets us stray,
God hardens our hearts,
God hides from us,
God delivers us into sin.
The psalmist is gasping,
begging God to force us to turn around.
In contrast to Isaiah and the psalmist,
Paul seems to be on the manic side:
we’re not lacking any spiritual gift,
we’re called into communion,
God is faithful, \
God will sustain us forever.
Mark is frenetic:
watch yourself, he says.
Don’t fall asleep on the job;
you don’t know when the boss is coming.
________________________________________
When I come across scriptures like this,
I like to remember what theologian Marcus Borg said:
“The Bible is true, and some of it actually happened.”
For today’s readings,
one of the things that means
is that we have to take a close look at these passages
so we can discern the truth that they tell us.
The mindset of the authors
and their situation in time
are significant.
Isaiah’s lament is the cry of the Israelites
who return from Babylon in 539 BC.
Everything was a mess.
It didn’t look anything like the new creation they were promised
while they were in exile.
It’s like coming back home to Houston after Hurricane Harvey
and seeing your neighborhood in shambles
and your house destroyed.
It looks hopeless.
Depression sets in.
________________________________________
Paul’s mindset is much different.
A few years after founding the community in Corinth,
Paul wrote from Ephesus about disputes
that he had heard of.
Today’s excerpt from that letter
is a typical beginning in Hellenistic writing.
The Greeks would begin their letters
with thanksgiving for health, a safe journey,
deliverance from danger, good fortune.
Paul expresses his thanks
for the goodness of the Christian community in Corinth,
and he uses extravagantly positive words to do it.
________________________________________
Mark, writing 25 years or more after Jesus’ resurrection,
shared the apocalyptic expectation
held by both Christians and Jews
that the end of history was near.
All of Mark’s Chapter 13 is known as the “Little Apocalypse,”
for the most part Mark’s creation
and not typical of Jesus.
Mark sandwiches his apocalyptic message
between stories of two women
who show what discipleship should be.
Right before this “Little Apocalypse,”
at the end of Chapter 12,
the poor widow gives away the two coins she needs
in comparison to the rich
who give away only what they don’t need.
At the beginning of the next chapter,
right after the “Little Apocalypse,”
a woman anoints Jesus’ head with oil,
showing her as the one
who recognizes Jesus as Messiah
while none of the powerful men do.
Given that setting,
Mark’s theological lesson in today’s gospel passage
would have us look to poor and marginalized people
to show us how to follow Jesus.
That’s part of the gospel truth.
________________________________________
Another part of the gospel truth
lies in Mark’s creation of today’s parable
for his post-Easter church
waiting for the delayed Second Coming.
In terms of the historicity of today’s passage,
scholars say the image of the returning landlord
could come from Jesus,
but that’s about it.
Everything else is created by Mark for his community.
The gospel truth comes
in that we can fall asleep to God
and sometimes need a spiritual alarm clock
to wake us up.
Sometimes we need to wake up
to what we are doing
and to what we should be doing.
These days, it can be really hard
to see the way forward.
We look at the evening news
and see little hope in making life better,
less violent,
and more just.
________________________________________
But Advent is a season of hope.
Like our ancestors in faith,
we look at the world,
and we know it can be better,
and we have faith that we can be part of making it better.
Our Advent hope prompts us
to judge as evil
our culture’s emphasis on wealth, power, and prestige,
on greed, violence, and vengeance.
Our Advent hope reminds us
that war, racism, and classism
are dehumanizing.
Our Advent hope inspires us
to value love and life,
truth, peace, justice,
forgiveness.
________________________________________
I see each of you living in that Advent hope.
From your tiniest word of prayer
to your actions for peace and justice
to your living a life of love for others,
your hope is clear.
It’s real, here and now.
It’s inspiring.
Our church sets aside this Advent season
so we can prepare for the coming of Jesus,
but he’s already born in us.
Because of him we know
that God is already here with us,
and in us,
and among us.
We’re on a journey,
the way laid out for us
by our brother and teacher Jesus,
to make hope possible
in seemingly hopeless situations
and to live wisely, lovingly, justly, and peacefully
in the present moment.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:1-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:1-3, 14-19
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Gospel: Mark 13:33-37
The writers of today’s readings
seem to be teetering on the edge of bipolar disorder,
what we used to call manic depression.
Isaiah is the depression side of it:
we’re doomed, he says,
and it’s God’s fault.
God made us, like a potter makes dishes out of clay,
and God did everything wrong.
God is the one who lets us stray,
God hardens our hearts,
God hides from us,
God delivers us into sin.
The psalmist is gasping,
begging God to force us to turn around.
In contrast to Isaiah and the psalmist,
Paul seems to be on the manic side:
we’re not lacking any spiritual gift,
we’re called into communion,
God is faithful, \
God will sustain us forever.
Mark is frenetic:
watch yourself, he says.
Don’t fall asleep on the job;
you don’t know when the boss is coming.
________________________________________
When I come across scriptures like this,
I like to remember what theologian Marcus Borg said:
“The Bible is true, and some of it actually happened.”
For today’s readings,
one of the things that means
is that we have to take a close look at these passages
so we can discern the truth that they tell us.
The mindset of the authors
and their situation in time
are significant.
Isaiah’s lament is the cry of the Israelites
who return from Babylon in 539 BC.
Everything was a mess.
It didn’t look anything like the new creation they were promised
while they were in exile.
It’s like coming back home to Houston after Hurricane Harvey
and seeing your neighborhood in shambles
and your house destroyed.
It looks hopeless.
Depression sets in.
________________________________________
Paul’s mindset is much different.
A few years after founding the community in Corinth,
Paul wrote from Ephesus about disputes
that he had heard of.
Today’s excerpt from that letter
is a typical beginning in Hellenistic writing.
The Greeks would begin their letters
with thanksgiving for health, a safe journey,
deliverance from danger, good fortune.
Paul expresses his thanks
for the goodness of the Christian community in Corinth,
and he uses extravagantly positive words to do it.
________________________________________
Mark, writing 25 years or more after Jesus’ resurrection,
shared the apocalyptic expectation
held by both Christians and Jews
that the end of history was near.
All of Mark’s Chapter 13 is known as the “Little Apocalypse,”
for the most part Mark’s creation
and not typical of Jesus.
Mark sandwiches his apocalyptic message
between stories of two women
who show what discipleship should be.
Right before this “Little Apocalypse,”
at the end of Chapter 12,
the poor widow gives away the two coins she needs
in comparison to the rich
who give away only what they don’t need.
At the beginning of the next chapter,
right after the “Little Apocalypse,”
a woman anoints Jesus’ head with oil,
showing her as the one
who recognizes Jesus as Messiah
while none of the powerful men do.
Given that setting,
Mark’s theological lesson in today’s gospel passage
would have us look to poor and marginalized people
to show us how to follow Jesus.
That’s part of the gospel truth.
________________________________________
Another part of the gospel truth
lies in Mark’s creation of today’s parable
for his post-Easter church
waiting for the delayed Second Coming.
In terms of the historicity of today’s passage,
scholars say the image of the returning landlord
could come from Jesus,
but that’s about it.
Everything else is created by Mark for his community.
The gospel truth comes
in that we can fall asleep to God
and sometimes need a spiritual alarm clock
to wake us up.
Sometimes we need to wake up
to what we are doing
and to what we should be doing.
These days, it can be really hard
to see the way forward.
We look at the evening news
and see little hope in making life better,
less violent,
and more just.
________________________________________
But Advent is a season of hope.
Like our ancestors in faith,
we look at the world,
and we know it can be better,
and we have faith that we can be part of making it better.
Our Advent hope prompts us
to judge as evil
our culture’s emphasis on wealth, power, and prestige,
on greed, violence, and vengeance.
Our Advent hope reminds us
that war, racism, and classism
are dehumanizing.
Our Advent hope inspires us
to value love and life,
truth, peace, justice,
forgiveness.
________________________________________
I see each of you living in that Advent hope.
From your tiniest word of prayer
to your actions for peace and justice
to your living a life of love for others,
your hope is clear.
It’s real, here and now.
It’s inspiring.
Our church sets aside this Advent season
so we can prepare for the coming of Jesus,
but he’s already born in us.
Because of him we know
that God is already here with us,
and in us,
and among us.
We’re on a journey,
the way laid out for us
by our brother and teacher Jesus,
to make hope possible
in seemingly hopeless situations
and to live wisely, lovingly, justly, and peacefully
in the present moment.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), Solemnity of Christ the King, November 26, 2017
First Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
Here we are, on the last weekend of the year of Matthew,
the end of our liturgical year.
We hear once again that familiar gospel
about the sheep and the goats.
Biblical scholar Reginald Fuller makes the point
that today’s Gospel is not a parable.
It’s an apocalyptic vision.
Looking at the culture and history of the time,
Fuller says that Matthew takes
the simile of the sheep and goats
and the sayings about how Jesus’ disciples
were received by the people they went out to
and sandwiches them
between an apocalyptic introduction and conclusion.
If we look at it in that framework,
we see that this Gospel was, for Matthew’s community,
about what will happen when the world comes to an end.
_________________________________________
So the sayings in the middle of this reading
tell about how the apostles were received
when they went out to preach the reign of God.
The people called “accursed” didn’t help them at all.
They treated them like outsiders.
They didn’t give them food or drink,
didn’t welcome them,
didn’t cover them in their nakedness,
didn’t care for them when they were sick.
The people called “righteous” did.
_________________________________________
As scripture scholar Fr. Raymond Brown says,
this passage shows that
there is one norm for determining how we end up,
and it’s based on how we treat the “other” in our midst.
In first century Mediterranean culture
the “other” meant
anyone who was not in the family or the tribe.
Everybody is an “other” to someone else.
For those who were young and healthy
and had a house and income,
the “other” could include the poor and the sick
and the old and the children and the widowed.
For the Christian community gathered around Matthew,
the “other” included people who were not Christians.
_________________________________________
Given that background, what are we to take from this reading?
We no longer hold to the same end-times images
that first-century folks did.
But we do have,
especially with the impact of climate change
looming ahead of us,
images of end-times.
We are beginning to see them
in the floods and fires and hurricanes and tornadoes
that rip up the land and the tear down homes and businesses.
And, worst of all, maim and kill.
So we who are safe have the “other” with us here
in Texas and Florida and Louisiana and California.
And we see the “other” in people all over the world,
refugees and immigrants, the starving and the dying.
We see the “other” here in Toledo,
in the homeless, the hungry, the ill.
We see them in the way black people are imprisoned,
the way fat people are ridiculed,
the way LGBT folks are ostracized.
We even see the “other” in the way
that our institutional church treats couples
in what is termed an “irregular” marriage,
or scholars who write books that call for church reform,
or people who use contraceptives.
End times or not,
we who follow the way of Christ
get a clear message about what we are called to do.
Like Francis of Assisi, like Mother Teresa, like Jesus,
we have to reach out
and embrace the “other” among us,
whoever that may be.
When we do that, we’ll find, as Fr. Ron Rolheiser says,
that we serve justice and charity
and that we also serve our own self-interest
because, in reaching out to the “other” in our midst,
we find that the reign of God is at hand.
We’re living it.
Amen
First Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
Here we are, on the last weekend of the year of Matthew,
the end of our liturgical year.
We hear once again that familiar gospel
about the sheep and the goats.
Biblical scholar Reginald Fuller makes the point
that today’s Gospel is not a parable.
It’s an apocalyptic vision.
Looking at the culture and history of the time,
Fuller says that Matthew takes
the simile of the sheep and goats
and the sayings about how Jesus’ disciples
were received by the people they went out to
and sandwiches them
between an apocalyptic introduction and conclusion.
If we look at it in that framework,
we see that this Gospel was, for Matthew’s community,
about what will happen when the world comes to an end.
_________________________________________
So the sayings in the middle of this reading
tell about how the apostles were received
when they went out to preach the reign of God.
The people called “accursed” didn’t help them at all.
They treated them like outsiders.
They didn’t give them food or drink,
didn’t welcome them,
didn’t cover them in their nakedness,
didn’t care for them when they were sick.
The people called “righteous” did.
_________________________________________
As scripture scholar Fr. Raymond Brown says,
this passage shows that
there is one norm for determining how we end up,
and it’s based on how we treat the “other” in our midst.
In first century Mediterranean culture
the “other” meant
anyone who was not in the family or the tribe.
Everybody is an “other” to someone else.
For those who were young and healthy
and had a house and income,
the “other” could include the poor and the sick
and the old and the children and the widowed.
For the Christian community gathered around Matthew,
the “other” included people who were not Christians.
_________________________________________
Given that background, what are we to take from this reading?
We no longer hold to the same end-times images
that first-century folks did.
But we do have,
especially with the impact of climate change
looming ahead of us,
images of end-times.
We are beginning to see them
in the floods and fires and hurricanes and tornadoes
that rip up the land and the tear down homes and businesses.
And, worst of all, maim and kill.
So we who are safe have the “other” with us here
in Texas and Florida and Louisiana and California.
And we see the “other” in people all over the world,
refugees and immigrants, the starving and the dying.
We see the “other” here in Toledo,
in the homeless, the hungry, the ill.
We see them in the way black people are imprisoned,
the way fat people are ridiculed,
the way LGBT folks are ostracized.
We even see the “other” in the way
that our institutional church treats couples
in what is termed an “irregular” marriage,
or scholars who write books that call for church reform,
or people who use contraceptives.
End times or not,
we who follow the way of Christ
get a clear message about what we are called to do.
Like Francis of Assisi, like Mother Teresa, like Jesus,
we have to reach out
and embrace the “other” among us,
whoever that may be.
When we do that, we’ll find, as Fr. Ron Rolheiser says,
that we serve justice and charity
and that we also serve our own self-interest
because, in reaching out to the “other” in our midst,
we find that the reign of God is at hand.
We’re living it.
Amen
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), November 19, 2017
First Reading: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-5
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30
Across 2,000 years, across the seas,
across cultures and languages,
the meaning of the word talent has changed.
When we here in today’s USA hear the word talent,
we hear skills, abilities, gifts, and human resources.
That’s the meaning used for today’s gospel
by most scriptural commentators.
The parable can be seen to yield a good message that way,
and that’s the way we’ve all heard it preached over the years:
Don’t bury your talents.
A growing number of scholars, though--
among them Rita Houlihan, Roger Pilch,
Barbara Reid, and John Kavanaugh--
look back to the culture and language
of the Mediterranean world of the first century
and give us a different message.
They tell us that Jesus,
when he used the word talent,
was not talking about skills and abilities.
He was talking about money.
__________________________________________
How much was a talent worth?
It was roughly equal to 20 years of wages.
In our country and our time,
if I made $50,000 a year,
one talent would be a million dollars.
__________________________________________
And Jesus is not talking about God.
He doesn’t start this parable
saying that the reign of God is like this rich man.
On top of that, the description of the rich man
is nothing like God.
He is a demanding person.
He harvests where he didn’t plant
and gathers where he didn’t scatter.
In short, he takes the fruit of other people’s labor.
Definitely not God-like.
Definitely not God.
__________________________________________
Biblical scholar Dr. John Pilch points out
that the peasants listening to this parable
would not find it to be good news.
They would know firsthand
about the rich landlord taking away their crops--
like the landowners took from sharecroppers in the south
after the Civil War.
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
__________________________________________
The rich man’s statement about interest
gives us another clue to the meaning this parable.
Today we see interest as a good thing.
If we could get 100% interest on our money,
we’d think we were very wise.
Very clever.
And we’d be very rich.
Our Middle Eastern ancestors in the faith, though,
didn’t see it that way.
When the rich man says
that the third servant
should have put the money in the bank at interest,
he was telling him to commit a serious sin--
the sin of usury.
The servant didn’t do that.
In burying the money,
he did what rabbis would later judge
to be the most honorable thing to do.
The third servant refused to participate in the oppressive system.
Those first two servants were not only serving their boss,
they were imitating him.
They became part of the oppressive system.
__________________________________________
Eusebius of Caesarea,
who wrote Biblical commentaries in the early 300s,
had another version of this parable
from a manuscript that has not survived.
In the Gospel of the Nazoreans, according to Eusebius,
the master puts the first servant into prison,
scolds the second one,
and welcomes the third one with joy.
The one who buried the talent
is the one who does justice.
He refuses, as Barbara Reid puts it,
to participate in a system
that glorifies making money
over all else.
__________________________________________
We’re bombarded these days
with messages that tell us that
wealth is the goal of life
and that figuring out how to get more
makes us virtuous.
Today’s parable tells us
that we have to look carefully
at what we do with money.
We can’t look at this parable
as presenting strategies for fund-raising
or for developing personal abilities.
Instead, we have to take the view
of those peasants that Jesus was talking to.
So we ask ourselves:
how much is enough?
We look at our everyday habits
and make sure we’re contributing to productive capitalism
that creates life-giving products and services.
We refuse to buy clothes made by children in sweat shops.
We find ways to cut our use of fossil fuels
that feed the climate change
that’s making refugees
out of millions of people around the world.
We do not imitate the rich man.
We don’t become oppressors of the poor.
We imitate the third servant,
in spite of the risks.
We become servant leaders.
Amen!
First Reading: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-5
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30
Across 2,000 years, across the seas,
across cultures and languages,
the meaning of the word talent has changed.
When we here in today’s USA hear the word talent,
we hear skills, abilities, gifts, and human resources.
That’s the meaning used for today’s gospel
by most scriptural commentators.
The parable can be seen to yield a good message that way,
and that’s the way we’ve all heard it preached over the years:
Don’t bury your talents.
A growing number of scholars, though--
among them Rita Houlihan, Roger Pilch,
Barbara Reid, and John Kavanaugh--
look back to the culture and language
of the Mediterranean world of the first century
and give us a different message.
They tell us that Jesus,
when he used the word talent,
was not talking about skills and abilities.
He was talking about money.
__________________________________________
How much was a talent worth?
It was roughly equal to 20 years of wages.
In our country and our time,
if I made $50,000 a year,
one talent would be a million dollars.
__________________________________________
And Jesus is not talking about God.
He doesn’t start this parable
saying that the reign of God is like this rich man.
On top of that, the description of the rich man
is nothing like God.
He is a demanding person.
He harvests where he didn’t plant
and gathers where he didn’t scatter.
In short, he takes the fruit of other people’s labor.
Definitely not God-like.
Definitely not God.
__________________________________________
Biblical scholar Dr. John Pilch points out
that the peasants listening to this parable
would not find it to be good news.
They would know firsthand
about the rich landlord taking away their crops--
like the landowners took from sharecroppers in the south
after the Civil War.
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
__________________________________________
The rich man’s statement about interest
gives us another clue to the meaning this parable.
Today we see interest as a good thing.
If we could get 100% interest on our money,
we’d think we were very wise.
Very clever.
And we’d be very rich.
Our Middle Eastern ancestors in the faith, though,
didn’t see it that way.
When the rich man says
that the third servant
should have put the money in the bank at interest,
he was telling him to commit a serious sin--
the sin of usury.
The servant didn’t do that.
In burying the money,
he did what rabbis would later judge
to be the most honorable thing to do.
The third servant refused to participate in the oppressive system.
Those first two servants were not only serving their boss,
they were imitating him.
They became part of the oppressive system.
__________________________________________
Eusebius of Caesarea,
who wrote Biblical commentaries in the early 300s,
had another version of this parable
from a manuscript that has not survived.
In the Gospel of the Nazoreans, according to Eusebius,
the master puts the first servant into prison,
scolds the second one,
and welcomes the third one with joy.
The one who buried the talent
is the one who does justice.
He refuses, as Barbara Reid puts it,
to participate in a system
that glorifies making money
over all else.
__________________________________________
We’re bombarded these days
with messages that tell us that
wealth is the goal of life
and that figuring out how to get more
makes us virtuous.
Today’s parable tells us
that we have to look carefully
at what we do with money.
We can’t look at this parable
as presenting strategies for fund-raising
or for developing personal abilities.
Instead, we have to take the view
of those peasants that Jesus was talking to.
So we ask ourselves:
how much is enough?
We look at our everyday habits
and make sure we’re contributing to productive capitalism
that creates life-giving products and services.
We refuse to buy clothes made by children in sweat shops.
We find ways to cut our use of fossil fuels
that feed the climate change
that’s making refugees
out of millions of people around the world.
We do not imitate the rich man.
We don’t become oppressors of the poor.
We imitate the third servant,
in spite of the risks.
We become servant leaders.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Wisdom 6:12-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:1-7
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
We usually hear today’s gospel parable talked about
in terms of what we have to do
to get into heaven when we die,
ignoring the fact that it’s a parable about the reign of God
that, as Jesus told us, is “at hand,” here and now.
Fr. Roger Karban—a classmate of Fr. Marty Donnelly,
whom most of you know—puts it this way:
“Today’s parable zeroes in
on always being prepared
for God breaking into our lives.”
Matthew, writing 50 to as many as 80 years after Jesus,
changed Jesus’ parable to make a point for his community--
the same point he makes with the parable of the talents
and the parable of the sheep and the goats--
the point that those who follow the rules carefully
will make it to heaven,
and those who don’t will get locked out.
_________________________________________
But that’s not the message Jesus preached.
He preached the reign of God--
that’s how today’s parable starts out.
The reign of God is like these ten young female relatives
waiting to welcome the groom
when he brings his bride to his home for the wedding.
They’re waiting for the celebration to start.
That’s their job in this Mediterranean culture.
Five of them are wise.
There’s oil in their lamps.
They’re ready when the groom arrives.
That’s what happens when we’re wise:
when we prepare for the future…
when we practice virtue until it becomes part of us,
an automatic response, just the way we are.
We know what to do, and we do it,
so we don’t miss out on the reign of God.
_________________________________________
Like the people of Jesus’ time,
we have to pay attention
so that we don’t absorb the fake wisdom of our culture.
We have to work hard to hear God’s wisdom.
We have to listen to the promptings of the Spirit within us
so we don’t lose heart and give up.
_________________________________________
We know what was going on back then
because we know what’s going on right now.
Author and climate activist Naomi Klein
says that our culture tells us
what she calls “dangerous stories.”
She lists those stories:
That greed is good.
That money is what matters in life.
That white men are better than everybody else.
That nature is there for us to plunder and pillage.
That the vulnerable deserve their fate
and the 1% deserve their golden towers.
That anything public or commonly held is evil.
And that there is no alternative to any of this.
Klein says that we have to “fiercely protect some space
to dream and plan for a better world.”
_________________________________________
Our first reading tells us
how to get that space to dream and plan.
Seek wisdom, it says.
Look for the spirit of God in you,
and you’ll get something that won’t fade away.
Even when times and cultures change, wisdom lasts...
and it’s available to anyone and everyone.
Wisdom tells us to stay awake.
Wisdom tells us to pay attention to what’s going on right now.
_________________________________________
There’s a flood of advice out there these days
telling us how to live in the present moment.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser says that,
while much of this literature is good,
little of it is very effective.
He says we just can’t do what it asks:
we can’t live each day of our lives
as if it were our last day.
We can’t sustain that heightened awareness all the time.
We’re human.
The distractions and pressures of everyday life
make us fall asleep
to what’s deeper and more important.
So we have to get in the habit of putting oil in our lamps
by praying, sharing Eucharist,
doing justice, loving our kids,
reaching out to strangers.
_________________________________________
Practice makes perfect.
We learn to stay awake to God’s action in our lives.
We practice being aware of God’s presence
in the people who cross our paths:
this moment of gratitude,
this gift of another breath,
this one person in need,
this chance to hope,
this hour to take action.
That’s how the five wise virgins entered the reign of God--
and that’s how we do it, too.
The reign of God is at hand,
right here and right now.
Just look around!
First Reading: Wisdom 6:12-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:1-7
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
We usually hear today’s gospel parable talked about
in terms of what we have to do
to get into heaven when we die,
ignoring the fact that it’s a parable about the reign of God
that, as Jesus told us, is “at hand,” here and now.
Fr. Roger Karban—a classmate of Fr. Marty Donnelly,
whom most of you know—puts it this way:
“Today’s parable zeroes in
on always being prepared
for God breaking into our lives.”
Matthew, writing 50 to as many as 80 years after Jesus,
changed Jesus’ parable to make a point for his community--
the same point he makes with the parable of the talents
and the parable of the sheep and the goats--
the point that those who follow the rules carefully
will make it to heaven,
and those who don’t will get locked out.
_________________________________________
But that’s not the message Jesus preached.
He preached the reign of God--
that’s how today’s parable starts out.
The reign of God is like these ten young female relatives
waiting to welcome the groom
when he brings his bride to his home for the wedding.
They’re waiting for the celebration to start.
That’s their job in this Mediterranean culture.
Five of them are wise.
There’s oil in their lamps.
They’re ready when the groom arrives.
That’s what happens when we’re wise:
when we prepare for the future…
when we practice virtue until it becomes part of us,
an automatic response, just the way we are.
We know what to do, and we do it,
so we don’t miss out on the reign of God.
_________________________________________
Like the people of Jesus’ time,
we have to pay attention
so that we don’t absorb the fake wisdom of our culture.
We have to work hard to hear God’s wisdom.
We have to listen to the promptings of the Spirit within us
so we don’t lose heart and give up.
_________________________________________
We know what was going on back then
because we know what’s going on right now.
Author and climate activist Naomi Klein
says that our culture tells us
what she calls “dangerous stories.”
She lists those stories:
That greed is good.
That money is what matters in life.
That white men are better than everybody else.
That nature is there for us to plunder and pillage.
That the vulnerable deserve their fate
and the 1% deserve their golden towers.
That anything public or commonly held is evil.
And that there is no alternative to any of this.
Klein says that we have to “fiercely protect some space
to dream and plan for a better world.”
_________________________________________
Our first reading tells us
how to get that space to dream and plan.
Seek wisdom, it says.
Look for the spirit of God in you,
and you’ll get something that won’t fade away.
Even when times and cultures change, wisdom lasts...
and it’s available to anyone and everyone.
Wisdom tells us to stay awake.
Wisdom tells us to pay attention to what’s going on right now.
_________________________________________
There’s a flood of advice out there these days
telling us how to live in the present moment.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser says that,
while much of this literature is good,
little of it is very effective.
He says we just can’t do what it asks:
we can’t live each day of our lives
as if it were our last day.
We can’t sustain that heightened awareness all the time.
We’re human.
The distractions and pressures of everyday life
make us fall asleep
to what’s deeper and more important.
So we have to get in the habit of putting oil in our lamps
by praying, sharing Eucharist,
doing justice, loving our kids,
reaching out to strangers.
_________________________________________
Practice makes perfect.
We learn to stay awake to God’s action in our lives.
We practice being aware of God’s presence
in the people who cross our paths:
this moment of gratitude,
this gift of another breath,
this one person in need,
this chance to hope,
this hour to take action.
That’s how the five wise virgins entered the reign of God--
and that’s how we do it, too.
The reign of God is at hand,
right here and right now.
Just look around!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), November 5, 2017
First Reading: Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 131:1-3
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13
Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12
It’s November.
Feast of All Saints, feast of All Souls.
Voting for local officials and basic issues.
Thanksgiving.
As they usually do, our American bishops
will gather in Baltimore in the middle of the month.
Their agenda, as NCR’s Michael Sean Winters sees it,
fails to reflect the needs of our times.
He says that, in recent years,
our bishops have distorted our church’s teachings.
Very few of our U.S. bishops are speaking out
about the tax plan before Congress,
the inhumane response to Puerto Rico,
the anti-immigrant bigotry,
backing out of the Paris Climate Agreement,
statements from the President
that denounce or distort or demean or dismiss
the fundamental values of justice.
Given what we teach as a Church,
given what Jesus showed us with his life,
Winters asks our bishops, “Where is the outrage?”
___________________________________________
Today’s gospel gives us a first-century snapshot
of the same kind of situation.
Our bishops would serve us well
by following the advice that Jesus gave
to the people of his time.
Jesus’ description of the Scribes and Pharisees
sounds very much like too many members of our Congress,
too many of our elected officials,
and sadly, too many of our clerical hierarchy.
They hold the seats of power—in the government, in the church--
and they don’t practice what they preach,
don’t do anything to lift the heavy burdens they put on people.
They love the honor, the job titles, the public respect.
They forget that they are called to serve,
not to make a profit,
not to gain honor and privilege for themselves.
What Matthew does is apply Jesus’ teaching
to the leaders of his own time
in order to challenge them to more authentic leadership.
Servant leadership.
He is speaking truth to power like the prophets before him--
like Malachi in today’s first reading,
telling the priests that they have not kept God’s ways
but harmed the people for their own benefit.
___________________________________________
The history of not practicing what we preach
didn’t end with Malachi’s warning,
or Jesus’ warning,
or Matthew’s warning.
Friday we celebrated the feast of Saint Martin de Porres,
another example of how we fail to do
what we say we believe.
The social justice issue here is racism.
Martin was barred from taking vows as a Dominican
because he was of mixed race,
so he spent nine years living in a monastery,
performing menial labor for the brothers,
who ridiculed him
even as his reputation for curing the sick grew.
He set up an orphanage and a children’s hospital.
Eventually he was allowed to join the Dominicans,
where he continued to work among the sick and the poor.
Three hundred years later we declared him a saint,
but racism remains.
We still have white flight to the suburbs
and implicit bias in our culture.
Sunday at 11 o’clock is still, as Martin Luther King put it,
the most segregated hour of the week.
___________________________________________
Our church has done, and continues to do,
many good things—great things--
works of mercy and charity, all around the world.
But today’s gospel reminds us
that the problem of leaders who are not good shepherds
is not new,
and we know that the problem is still with us.
One symptom is the number of people
leaving the Catholic Church here in America,
and one big reason for that
is that our leaders have not practiced what they preach.
They failed to protect our children from abuse
and then they covered up their failure.
___________________________________________
Here in Toledo we know about it firsthand.
This morning [yesterday morning]
people gathered to celebrate the life of Barbara Blaine.
People remembered her for her missionary work in Jamaica,
for her work with the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi;
with the Catholic Worker.
They remembered her opening a homeless facility
in Chicago’s south side.
They also remembered her as a survivor of clergy sex abuse
and the founder and president of SNAP,
the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests,
as the healer of hearts and minds and souls broken by abuse.
And they remembered her as a faithful practicing Catholic.
She once reflected on that, saying:
"My faith is in God—not the men leading the church."
Her words are prophetic in light of today’s readings,
putting her in the choir of holy people
who have worked for justice
and been persecuted for it,
suffered for it.
___________________________________________
She was vilified by the hierarchy for speaking the truth.
So she said, "I pray for the Catholic Church
to live up to its own Gospel teachings.
I pray for the day
when I'll be treated like a faithful daughter of the church
instead of an enemy."
Like Joan of Arc, like Martin de Porres,
like way too many others
who live the gospel in spite of hardship and opposition,
300 years from now our church will be naming her a saint.
___________________________________________
As followers of Jesus,
we are called to imitate his way,
no matter what the reaction is from the people around us.
Wherever life puts us,
whatever life brings us,
our task is to respond with truth and justice and love.
So, we, too, hope to become saints--
maybe Saint Grandma and Grandpa,
Saint Neighbor, Saint Friend,
Saint Thoughtful, Saint Prayerful,
Saint Nurse, Saint Teacher,
Saint Demonstrator-for-Peace.
No matter what it is that we do,
when we live up to the Gospel teachings,
we do it as saintly people.
Amen!
First Reading: Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 131:1-3
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13
Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12
It’s November.
Feast of All Saints, feast of All Souls.
Voting for local officials and basic issues.
Thanksgiving.
As they usually do, our American bishops
will gather in Baltimore in the middle of the month.
Their agenda, as NCR’s Michael Sean Winters sees it,
fails to reflect the needs of our times.
He says that, in recent years,
our bishops have distorted our church’s teachings.
Very few of our U.S. bishops are speaking out
about the tax plan before Congress,
the inhumane response to Puerto Rico,
the anti-immigrant bigotry,
backing out of the Paris Climate Agreement,
statements from the President
that denounce or distort or demean or dismiss
the fundamental values of justice.
Given what we teach as a Church,
given what Jesus showed us with his life,
Winters asks our bishops, “Where is the outrage?”
___________________________________________
Today’s gospel gives us a first-century snapshot
of the same kind of situation.
Our bishops would serve us well
by following the advice that Jesus gave
to the people of his time.
Jesus’ description of the Scribes and Pharisees
sounds very much like too many members of our Congress,
too many of our elected officials,
and sadly, too many of our clerical hierarchy.
They hold the seats of power—in the government, in the church--
and they don’t practice what they preach,
don’t do anything to lift the heavy burdens they put on people.
They love the honor, the job titles, the public respect.
They forget that they are called to serve,
not to make a profit,
not to gain honor and privilege for themselves.
What Matthew does is apply Jesus’ teaching
to the leaders of his own time
in order to challenge them to more authentic leadership.
Servant leadership.
He is speaking truth to power like the prophets before him--
like Malachi in today’s first reading,
telling the priests that they have not kept God’s ways
but harmed the people for their own benefit.
___________________________________________
The history of not practicing what we preach
didn’t end with Malachi’s warning,
or Jesus’ warning,
or Matthew’s warning.
Friday we celebrated the feast of Saint Martin de Porres,
another example of how we fail to do
what we say we believe.
The social justice issue here is racism.
Martin was barred from taking vows as a Dominican
because he was of mixed race,
so he spent nine years living in a monastery,
performing menial labor for the brothers,
who ridiculed him
even as his reputation for curing the sick grew.
He set up an orphanage and a children’s hospital.
Eventually he was allowed to join the Dominicans,
where he continued to work among the sick and the poor.
Three hundred years later we declared him a saint,
but racism remains.
We still have white flight to the suburbs
and implicit bias in our culture.
Sunday at 11 o’clock is still, as Martin Luther King put it,
the most segregated hour of the week.
___________________________________________
Our church has done, and continues to do,
many good things—great things--
works of mercy and charity, all around the world.
But today’s gospel reminds us
that the problem of leaders who are not good shepherds
is not new,
and we know that the problem is still with us.
One symptom is the number of people
leaving the Catholic Church here in America,
and one big reason for that
is that our leaders have not practiced what they preach.
They failed to protect our children from abuse
and then they covered up their failure.
___________________________________________
Here in Toledo we know about it firsthand.
This morning [yesterday morning]
people gathered to celebrate the life of Barbara Blaine.
People remembered her for her missionary work in Jamaica,
for her work with the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi;
with the Catholic Worker.
They remembered her opening a homeless facility
in Chicago’s south side.
They also remembered her as a survivor of clergy sex abuse
and the founder and president of SNAP,
the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests,
as the healer of hearts and minds and souls broken by abuse.
And they remembered her as a faithful practicing Catholic.
She once reflected on that, saying:
"My faith is in God—not the men leading the church."
Her words are prophetic in light of today’s readings,
putting her in the choir of holy people
who have worked for justice
and been persecuted for it,
suffered for it.
___________________________________________
She was vilified by the hierarchy for speaking the truth.
So she said, "I pray for the Catholic Church
to live up to its own Gospel teachings.
I pray for the day
when I'll be treated like a faithful daughter of the church
instead of an enemy."
Like Joan of Arc, like Martin de Porres,
like way too many others
who live the gospel in spite of hardship and opposition,
300 years from now our church will be naming her a saint.
___________________________________________
As followers of Jesus,
we are called to imitate his way,
no matter what the reaction is from the people around us.
Wherever life puts us,
whatever life brings us,
our task is to respond with truth and justice and love.
So, we, too, hope to become saints--
maybe Saint Grandma and Grandpa,
Saint Neighbor, Saint Friend,
Saint Thoughtful, Saint Prayerful,
Saint Nurse, Saint Teacher,
Saint Demonstrator-for-Peace.
No matter what it is that we do,
when we live up to the Gospel teachings,
we do it as saintly people.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 29, 2017
First Reading: Exodus 22:21-27
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18:2-3, 46, 50
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
Three years ago we heard these same readings.
Things weren’t perfect back then,
but here at Holy Spirit we were doing what we could
to help the poor and powerless
walk with us in the reign of God.
We were giving bus tokens to the needy,
helping with the Family Promise homeless shelter,
volunteering at Claver House.
We were meeting to discern what our ministry focus would be,
the process that hatched our Tree Toledo project.
We hadn’t gone through the polarizing vitriol of the 2016 election.
The evening news was, for the most part, still real news.
______________________________________________
In retrospect it seems that we were complacent.
Maybe naive.
The world is different now, and we’re different.
Given the state of our nation and our planet,
today’s Word gives us guidance and direction for our times:
God is God.
Only God is God.
Love God, and only God.
No strange gods like money and power and prestige.
Don’t oppress the stranger, the widow, the orphan.
Don’t extort from the poor.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
______________________________________________
Yes, our world looks different now,
the opposite of Exodus’ call
for protecting the poor and marginalized,
the opposite of the Thessalonians’ faithful witness
to the living and true God,
the opposite of Jesus’ call to love God and neighbor.
Instead we have travel bans and border walls.
Poorer health care for the poorest folks.
Russians meddling in our elections.
Mistrust of the police,
mistrust of the media,
mistrust of each other.
Violence on the streets.
Threats of nuclear war.
Wildfires and hurricanes and floods.
Rude and crude language spoken openly in public.
Dysfunction and disintegration in the federal government.
Every day I run into someone who tells me
they’re on the edge of despair
over what’s going wrong in our country.
______________________________________________
This week, two U.S. Senators announced
that they will not seek re-election next year.
Both are Republicans, and both are Christians--
Tennessee’s Bob Corker a Presbyterian
and Arizona’s Jeff Flake a Mormon--
and both talk about the serious lack of values and principles
in politics and government.
Senator Flake, for example, said,
"We must never regard as 'normal'
the regular and casual undermining
of our democratic norms and ideals.
We must never meekly accept
the daily sundering of our country--
the personal attacks,
the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions;
the flagrant disregard for truth or decency;
the reckless provocations,
most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons,
reasons having nothing whatsoever to do
with the fortunes of the people
that we have all been elected to serve.
None of these appalling features of our current politics
should ever be regarded as normal.”
______________________________________________
These two, as U.S. Senators,
refuse to take part in what they see as unprincipled.
We, as Christians, are also called to stand up and speak out.
We have been baptized into Christ as priest, prophet, and leader.
But what can we do?
We aren’t Senators.
There’s not going to be a breaking news alert if we speak out.
______________________________________________
Still, it’s up to us.
We need to remember that we are God’s people.
We have only to be who we are as followers of Jesus
wherever we happen to be.
The prophet Micah put it this way:
we are called to act with justice,
to love tenderly, to serve one another,
to walk humbly with our God.
______________________________________________
What we can do
is what we’ve always been called to do:
we are called to pray and act where we are--
in our families, our neighborhoods,
on the job, with our friends.
So we pray.
We enter into dialogue.
We volunteer.
We speak truth to power.
We support the powerless.
We vote.
Because of who we are and what we do,
God’s love is revealed through us.
This dark time will pass.
As Julian of Norwich wrote
back in the time of the Hundred Years’ War,
“All will be well
and all will be well
and every kind of thing shall be well.”
God is still the same God,
still in charge.
Amen!
First Reading: Exodus 22:21-27
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18:2-3, 46, 50
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
Three years ago we heard these same readings.
Things weren’t perfect back then,
but here at Holy Spirit we were doing what we could
to help the poor and powerless
walk with us in the reign of God.
We were giving bus tokens to the needy,
helping with the Family Promise homeless shelter,
volunteering at Claver House.
We were meeting to discern what our ministry focus would be,
the process that hatched our Tree Toledo project.
We hadn’t gone through the polarizing vitriol of the 2016 election.
The evening news was, for the most part, still real news.
______________________________________________
In retrospect it seems that we were complacent.
Maybe naive.
The world is different now, and we’re different.
Given the state of our nation and our planet,
today’s Word gives us guidance and direction for our times:
God is God.
Only God is God.
Love God, and only God.
No strange gods like money and power and prestige.
Don’t oppress the stranger, the widow, the orphan.
Don’t extort from the poor.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
______________________________________________
Yes, our world looks different now,
the opposite of Exodus’ call
for protecting the poor and marginalized,
the opposite of the Thessalonians’ faithful witness
to the living and true God,
the opposite of Jesus’ call to love God and neighbor.
Instead we have travel bans and border walls.
Poorer health care for the poorest folks.
Russians meddling in our elections.
Mistrust of the police,
mistrust of the media,
mistrust of each other.
Violence on the streets.
Threats of nuclear war.
Wildfires and hurricanes and floods.
Rude and crude language spoken openly in public.
Dysfunction and disintegration in the federal government.
Every day I run into someone who tells me
they’re on the edge of despair
over what’s going wrong in our country.
______________________________________________
This week, two U.S. Senators announced
that they will not seek re-election next year.
Both are Republicans, and both are Christians--
Tennessee’s Bob Corker a Presbyterian
and Arizona’s Jeff Flake a Mormon--
and both talk about the serious lack of values and principles
in politics and government.
Senator Flake, for example, said,
"We must never regard as 'normal'
the regular and casual undermining
of our democratic norms and ideals.
We must never meekly accept
the daily sundering of our country--
the personal attacks,
the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions;
the flagrant disregard for truth or decency;
the reckless provocations,
most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons,
reasons having nothing whatsoever to do
with the fortunes of the people
that we have all been elected to serve.
None of these appalling features of our current politics
should ever be regarded as normal.”
______________________________________________
These two, as U.S. Senators,
refuse to take part in what they see as unprincipled.
We, as Christians, are also called to stand up and speak out.
We have been baptized into Christ as priest, prophet, and leader.
But what can we do?
We aren’t Senators.
There’s not going to be a breaking news alert if we speak out.
______________________________________________
Still, it’s up to us.
We need to remember that we are God’s people.
We have only to be who we are as followers of Jesus
wherever we happen to be.
The prophet Micah put it this way:
we are called to act with justice,
to love tenderly, to serve one another,
to walk humbly with our God.
______________________________________________
What we can do
is what we’ve always been called to do:
we are called to pray and act where we are--
in our families, our neighborhoods,
on the job, with our friends.
So we pray.
We enter into dialogue.
We volunteer.
We speak truth to power.
We support the powerless.
We vote.
Because of who we are and what we do,
God’s love is revealed through us.
This dark time will pass.
As Julian of Norwich wrote
back in the time of the Hundred Years’ War,
“All will be well
and all will be well
and every kind of thing shall be well.”
God is still the same God,
still in charge.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 22, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1-10
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21
Today’s second reading
is the earliest document included in the New Testament,
written in the year 50.
Paul greets the Thessalonians
as people “who belong to God,”
and he says it’s obvious that they belong to God
by the goodness of their actions,
their labors of love,
and their hope.
The word of God is their way of life,
not just a code of conduct.
_________________________________________
Isaiah puts it another way in today’s first reading.
God anoints and sends King Cyrus of Persia--
not a Hebrew, not a follower of Yahweh,
a man who does not know God--
to shepherd the people saying,
“I am your God, there is no other.”
Even the pagans belong to God.
_________________________________________
And in our gospel we hear Jesus telling us to
“give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,
but give to God what belongs to God.”
Scholars tell us that phrase
almost certainly originated with Jesus.
Mark, Matthew, Luke, and Thomas all include it,
though they each put it in a different context.
Scholars also tell us that Jesus
probably had a conversation
about the picture on the Roman coin,
but Matthew wrote the story about a plot to trap Jesus
so he could speak to the situation of the church in his day,
arguing with the Jewish leaders
about what was true orthodoxy
and who were the true people of God.
_________________________________________
Lately we’ve heard Jesus’ words used
to tell the church to stay out of politics,
specifically to tell Pope Francis
not to talk about public issues here in the USA.
Those things belong to Caesar, we’re told.
We’ve heard it about preachers in some of our parishes.
They shouldn’t mention climate change
because it might offend people who think it’s fake.
Or they shouldn’t mention immigration
because some people
like the idea of travel bans and border walls.
We can easily come up with a long list of topics
that would bring a negative reaction
from someone in the pews.
All we would have to do is read off
the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
to get the objections bubbling up and over.
_________________________________________
At the heart, though, Jesus’ words
are the exact opposite
of telling his followers to keep out of politics.
We know it because it’s foundational to our faith
that everything and everyone belongs to God,
each of us and all of us,
even King Cyrus and Caesar,
even Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
We know it from the book of Genesis,
where chapter 1 says it clearly:
Humanity is formed in the image of God:
we are created in God’s image, male and female.
Each of us has the image of God stamped in our soul.
Because everything really belongs to God,
then no issue can be beyond our concern.
As people of God,
we have to address issues like climate change,
immigration, budget cuts, taxation,
living wage, racism, and the death penalty.
_________________________________________
Yet we live in a culture that ignores the fact
that everything belongs to God.
It divides the world into three parts--
the number one part
is to get as much as I can for myself;
the second part
is to give as little as possible in taxes,
whether it’s for Caesar or the IRS;
and the third part--
if there’s any time or energy left for it--
is for God’s work.
_________________________________________
Jesus’ words remind us that our culture has it backwards.
We’re called to put things in the right perspective,
God first,
and everything else in right order after God.
What’s erroneously called “separation of church and state”
is really a law that says
the state cannot establish a religion--
it’s freedom of religion for everyone.
Our pledge of allegiance says it:
“one nation under God.”
Our money says it:
“in God we trust.”
And our Catholic faith says it:
everyone belongs to God.
We’re called in the very core of our being
to honor God by honoring the God in others.
_________________________________________
As theologian Katherine Greiner puts it,
“We belong to God.
When we understand the truth of that reality,
we see life as gift, precious and wild,
meant to be squandered on that which matters:
gratitude, service, beauty, truth, mercy, love.”
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1-10
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21
Today’s second reading
is the earliest document included in the New Testament,
written in the year 50.
Paul greets the Thessalonians
as people “who belong to God,”
and he says it’s obvious that they belong to God
by the goodness of their actions,
their labors of love,
and their hope.
The word of God is their way of life,
not just a code of conduct.
_________________________________________
Isaiah puts it another way in today’s first reading.
God anoints and sends King Cyrus of Persia--
not a Hebrew, not a follower of Yahweh,
a man who does not know God--
to shepherd the people saying,
“I am your God, there is no other.”
Even the pagans belong to God.
_________________________________________
And in our gospel we hear Jesus telling us to
“give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,
but give to God what belongs to God.”
Scholars tell us that phrase
almost certainly originated with Jesus.
Mark, Matthew, Luke, and Thomas all include it,
though they each put it in a different context.
Scholars also tell us that Jesus
probably had a conversation
about the picture on the Roman coin,
but Matthew wrote the story about a plot to trap Jesus
so he could speak to the situation of the church in his day,
arguing with the Jewish leaders
about what was true orthodoxy
and who were the true people of God.
_________________________________________
Lately we’ve heard Jesus’ words used
to tell the church to stay out of politics,
specifically to tell Pope Francis
not to talk about public issues here in the USA.
Those things belong to Caesar, we’re told.
We’ve heard it about preachers in some of our parishes.
They shouldn’t mention climate change
because it might offend people who think it’s fake.
Or they shouldn’t mention immigration
because some people
like the idea of travel bans and border walls.
We can easily come up with a long list of topics
that would bring a negative reaction
from someone in the pews.
All we would have to do is read off
the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
to get the objections bubbling up and over.
_________________________________________
At the heart, though, Jesus’ words
are the exact opposite
of telling his followers to keep out of politics.
We know it because it’s foundational to our faith
that everything and everyone belongs to God,
each of us and all of us,
even King Cyrus and Caesar,
even Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
We know it from the book of Genesis,
where chapter 1 says it clearly:
Humanity is formed in the image of God:
we are created in God’s image, male and female.
Each of us has the image of God stamped in our soul.
Because everything really belongs to God,
then no issue can be beyond our concern.
As people of God,
we have to address issues like climate change,
immigration, budget cuts, taxation,
living wage, racism, and the death penalty.
_________________________________________
Yet we live in a culture that ignores the fact
that everything belongs to God.
It divides the world into three parts--
the number one part
is to get as much as I can for myself;
the second part
is to give as little as possible in taxes,
whether it’s for Caesar or the IRS;
and the third part--
if there’s any time or energy left for it--
is for God’s work.
_________________________________________
Jesus’ words remind us that our culture has it backwards.
We’re called to put things in the right perspective,
God first,
and everything else in right order after God.
What’s erroneously called “separation of church and state”
is really a law that says
the state cannot establish a religion--
it’s freedom of religion for everyone.
Our pledge of allegiance says it:
“one nation under God.”
Our money says it:
“in God we trust.”
And our Catholic faith says it:
everyone belongs to God.
We’re called in the very core of our being
to honor God by honoring the God in others.
_________________________________________
As theologian Katherine Greiner puts it,
“We belong to God.
When we understand the truth of that reality,
we see life as gift, precious and wild,
meant to be squandered on that which matters:
gratitude, service, beauty, truth, mercy, love.”
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 15, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10A
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
Today’s readings speak loud and clear to me personally
at this particular time of my life.
I can shout with joy the words of today’s psalm:
God renews my spirit, refreshes my soul.
I do not fear.
God gives me courage.
I am so grateful to be alive and healing.
I shall live in God’s house all my days!
And I can say to each of you Paul’s words to the Philippians:
It was kind of you to share in my distress.
How caring and loving you have been to me!
And I can celebrate with Isaiah,
because I am one of all the peoples
that God prepares a banquet for,
and I can celebrate with Jesus’ other followers
gathered from the highways and byways,
all of us invited and welcomed to the feast.
I am so blessed!
I thank God.
And I thank God for you!
__________________________________________
More about today’s gospel.
The parable that goes back to Jesus
is told in three different variations:
it’s in the gospels of Thomas and Luke
in addition the version we hear today from Matthew.
The part that comes from Jesus
is the parable comparing the reign of God
to a wedding feast where the invited guests
make excuses and won’t come,
so the host sends out to the highways and byways
to invite everyone, bad and good alike,
to the banquet, and the hall is filled with guests.
Unlike the other versions,
Matthew makes the host into a king
and adds troops killing people and burning their town. Then he tacks
on the guest without the wedding garment
and has him thrown out into the darkness.
Matthew turns the parable into a mini-history of Israel,
an allegory that speaks to problems in his community
by picturing God’s judgment
being aimed at backsliding members.
__________________________________________
Jesus’ parable, though,
tells of the reign of God, already at hand.
God is already here, but many people--
especially those in positions of power and wealth,
ignore the divine presence with them and among them.
They don’t see the advantage
of the way that Jesus is pointing out.
For poor and oppressed folks,
though, it’s not hard to understand.
As Pope Francis put it,
“The Sermon on the Mount
and the sermon in Matthew 25, the last judgment.
There's your program.
Heal the brokenhearted.
Set the downtrodden free.
Reach out to the poor.
Work for peace.
Hunger and thirst for justice.
Visit those in prison.
Give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty."
Each and every one of us—all of us—are invited,
and we respond
by finding ways to change our lives
and put on the mind of Jesus.
__________________________________________
We sure have a lot to work on,
more than enough bad news every day
to tempt us to pessimism and despair.
What are we to make of people
who profit from hurting others,
who make money
by destroying the very planet we live on?
The problems aren’t new.
The recorded history of our Judeo-Christian faith
is full of violence and bloodshed, hate and revenge...
but it’s also full of optimism and care and love.
Isaiah tells us that God gives us a rich banquet.
We are called to joy, not to grimness.
Paul tells us that God supplies all our needs.
We can do all things,
whether we are in humble circumstances
or living with abundance.
Jesus tells us that we choose the way.
__________________________________________
Jorge Bergoglio pointed to the way of Jesus
when he gave a short speech
to the 2013 Papal Conclave,
causing the Cardinals to think seriously
about electing him Pope.
He said, “The Church is called to come out of herself
and to go to the peripheries,
not only in the geographical sense
but also to go to the existential peripheries:
those of the mysteries of sin, of pain, of injustice,
of ignorance and of religious indifference,
of thought, of all misery.”
As Pope Francis, he now tells us
to be a field hospital for the suffering of the world.
__________________________________________
That’s us, a field hospital.
In the midst of government oppression
and environmental chaos,
we are called to do exactly
what Jesus was doing in the first century.
He spoke truth about oppression.
He reached out to people on the margins.
That’s what we are called to do.
No one of us can fix everything,
but we can do something.
Those letters to the editor,
emails and postcards to Congress,
speaking up at meetings,
donations to charities,
support for honest news,
signs in the yard,
demonstrations at council,
talking with friends and strangers…
and going off alone to pray:
we can do that.
And we are!
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10A
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
Today’s readings speak loud and clear to me personally
at this particular time of my life.
I can shout with joy the words of today’s psalm:
God renews my spirit, refreshes my soul.
I do not fear.
God gives me courage.
I am so grateful to be alive and healing.
I shall live in God’s house all my days!
And I can say to each of you Paul’s words to the Philippians:
It was kind of you to share in my distress.
How caring and loving you have been to me!
And I can celebrate with Isaiah,
because I am one of all the peoples
that God prepares a banquet for,
and I can celebrate with Jesus’ other followers
gathered from the highways and byways,
all of us invited and welcomed to the feast.
I am so blessed!
I thank God.
And I thank God for you!
__________________________________________
More about today’s gospel.
The parable that goes back to Jesus
is told in three different variations:
it’s in the gospels of Thomas and Luke
in addition the version we hear today from Matthew.
The part that comes from Jesus
is the parable comparing the reign of God
to a wedding feast where the invited guests
make excuses and won’t come,
so the host sends out to the highways and byways
to invite everyone, bad and good alike,
to the banquet, and the hall is filled with guests.
Unlike the other versions,
Matthew makes the host into a king
and adds troops killing people and burning their town. Then he tacks
on the guest without the wedding garment
and has him thrown out into the darkness.
Matthew turns the parable into a mini-history of Israel,
an allegory that speaks to problems in his community
by picturing God’s judgment
being aimed at backsliding members.
__________________________________________
Jesus’ parable, though,
tells of the reign of God, already at hand.
God is already here, but many people--
especially those in positions of power and wealth,
ignore the divine presence with them and among them.
They don’t see the advantage
of the way that Jesus is pointing out.
For poor and oppressed folks,
though, it’s not hard to understand.
As Pope Francis put it,
“The Sermon on the Mount
and the sermon in Matthew 25, the last judgment.
There's your program.
Heal the brokenhearted.
Set the downtrodden free.
Reach out to the poor.
Work for peace.
Hunger and thirst for justice.
Visit those in prison.
Give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty."
Each and every one of us—all of us—are invited,
and we respond
by finding ways to change our lives
and put on the mind of Jesus.
__________________________________________
We sure have a lot to work on,
more than enough bad news every day
to tempt us to pessimism and despair.
What are we to make of people
who profit from hurting others,
who make money
by destroying the very planet we live on?
The problems aren’t new.
The recorded history of our Judeo-Christian faith
is full of violence and bloodshed, hate and revenge...
but it’s also full of optimism and care and love.
Isaiah tells us that God gives us a rich banquet.
We are called to joy, not to grimness.
Paul tells us that God supplies all our needs.
We can do all things,
whether we are in humble circumstances
or living with abundance.
Jesus tells us that we choose the way.
__________________________________________
Jorge Bergoglio pointed to the way of Jesus
when he gave a short speech
to the 2013 Papal Conclave,
causing the Cardinals to think seriously
about electing him Pope.
He said, “The Church is called to come out of herself
and to go to the peripheries,
not only in the geographical sense
but also to go to the existential peripheries:
those of the mysteries of sin, of pain, of injustice,
of ignorance and of religious indifference,
of thought, of all misery.”
As Pope Francis, he now tells us
to be a field hospital for the suffering of the world.
__________________________________________
That’s us, a field hospital.
In the midst of government oppression
and environmental chaos,
we are called to do exactly
what Jesus was doing in the first century.
He spoke truth about oppression.
He reached out to people on the margins.
That’s what we are called to do.
No one of us can fix everything,
but we can do something.
Those letters to the editor,
emails and postcards to Congress,
speaking up at meetings,
donations to charities,
support for honest news,
signs in the yard,
demonstrations at council,
talking with friends and strangers…
and going off alone to pray:
we can do that.
And we are!
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 8, 2017
Ann Klonowski guest preaching
First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:9, 2-20
Second Reading: Philippians 4:6-9
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43
There have been so many natural disasters over the last several weeks. But in some way, they pale in comparison to the UN-natural disaster of this past week. Everything I’ve read these last few days has spoken of the massacre in Las Vegas. And not just Las Vegas, but all the senseless violence we are faced with. This weekend’s readings also point an accusing finger. From Isaiah: “Our God looked for justice, but found bloodshed, for integrity, but only a cry of distress.” Ripped from the headlines, indeed! The psalmist laments and blames God for destroying the vineyard and begs God to restore it. Hundreds of years later, Jesus relates the same allegory, but from a different point of view. God provided the vineyard and the workers destroyed it with their greed and violence. Wow. This is all pretty grim.
What are we to do with this? Surely no one here is guilty of this kind of violence. We may argue with spouses or neighbors; we may yell at our kids. But this?!
The tenant farmers in Matthew really take the cake. They have jobs and will receive a portion of the harvest for their work. Yet the laborers met this with violence not once, not twice, but three times. What is up with these guys? Do they think they can get away with this? Like an episode of CSI or Law and Order, these characters were willing to risk big trouble in the service of their greed. Just a little arrogant, don’t you think?
What separates these murders in the vineyard from any other murders? Not much. The first recorded crime in the Bible is Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel. Just as is true with murderers down the centuries, Cain tried to deny it, perhaps even believing he was justified. He was motivated by jealousy. Murder has been justified by passion, self-righteousness, anger, fear, vengeance, and greed. And that’s only a partial list. The one thing these all have in common is their arrogance: the self-centeredness that blinds the perpetrators to the stupidity of their actions. All these are violations of the Great Commandment to love God and to love one another.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared October “Right to Life month.” Most folks see this as a time to focus on the sacredness of the unborn with perhaps a glance to those at the end of life. This is a very narrow outlook. We need to look at all life as valuable. There are marches at abortion clinics. Where are the marches at gun shows? The marchers at abortion clinics frequently carry grisly photos of aborted fetuses. Where are the gruesome photos of people shot down in the streets? People write letters and make phone calls against Planned Parenthood, but where are the letters and calls for reasonable regulation of weapons of mass destruction?
If you are truly convinced that a gun in your home will protect you and your property, I won’t argue with you. I don’t think it’s safe, but I won’t argue your right. If you hunt and feed people from the kill, I won’t argue with you. I couldn’t do it, but I won’t argue with you. But if you believe you have a right to own a weapon which only purpose is to kill as many human beings as possible in the shortest amount of time, we have an issue. You could say that the first two positions do not go against the Great Commandment of love. But for the last, there is absolutely no justification. Period.
Some folks may say that I shouldn’t preach politics. This is church, not a town hall meeting. But I’m not preaching politics. I am preaching the gospel. The gospel is all about protecting the vulnerable, caring for the least ones, reaching out in love. This community does that every day. You feed the hungry. You plant trees. You protect our drinking water. You live the gospel.
But I am suggesting that you might take this one step further. The rebuttal to all this violence is found in the letter to the Philippians. While we may wallow in sadness and anger, Paul reminds us, “Dismiss all anxiety . . . God’s own peace will stand guard over your hearts.”
We don’t have to participate in this culture of death. We aren’t reduced to merely turning our backs. We don’t have to throw up our hands in frustration. The time of empty offerings of “Our thoughts and prayers are with you,” flags at half-staff, moments of silence—these are long past.
Paul gives us a path: “Your thoughts should be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous or worthy of praise. Live according to what you have learned and accepted. . . . Then will the God of peace be with you.”
You simply have to do what you always do, which is to live courageously. This portion from the Talmud sums it up beautifully: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work. But neither are you free to abandon it.”
Ann Klonowski guest preaching
First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:9, 2-20
Second Reading: Philippians 4:6-9
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43
There have been so many natural disasters over the last several weeks. But in some way, they pale in comparison to the UN-natural disaster of this past week. Everything I’ve read these last few days has spoken of the massacre in Las Vegas. And not just Las Vegas, but all the senseless violence we are faced with. This weekend’s readings also point an accusing finger. From Isaiah: “Our God looked for justice, but found bloodshed, for integrity, but only a cry of distress.” Ripped from the headlines, indeed! The psalmist laments and blames God for destroying the vineyard and begs God to restore it. Hundreds of years later, Jesus relates the same allegory, but from a different point of view. God provided the vineyard and the workers destroyed it with their greed and violence. Wow. This is all pretty grim.
What are we to do with this? Surely no one here is guilty of this kind of violence. We may argue with spouses or neighbors; we may yell at our kids. But this?!
The tenant farmers in Matthew really take the cake. They have jobs and will receive a portion of the harvest for their work. Yet the laborers met this with violence not once, not twice, but three times. What is up with these guys? Do they think they can get away with this? Like an episode of CSI or Law and Order, these characters were willing to risk big trouble in the service of their greed. Just a little arrogant, don’t you think?
What separates these murders in the vineyard from any other murders? Not much. The first recorded crime in the Bible is Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel. Just as is true with murderers down the centuries, Cain tried to deny it, perhaps even believing he was justified. He was motivated by jealousy. Murder has been justified by passion, self-righteousness, anger, fear, vengeance, and greed. And that’s only a partial list. The one thing these all have in common is their arrogance: the self-centeredness that blinds the perpetrators to the stupidity of their actions. All these are violations of the Great Commandment to love God and to love one another.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared October “Right to Life month.” Most folks see this as a time to focus on the sacredness of the unborn with perhaps a glance to those at the end of life. This is a very narrow outlook. We need to look at all life as valuable. There are marches at abortion clinics. Where are the marches at gun shows? The marchers at abortion clinics frequently carry grisly photos of aborted fetuses. Where are the gruesome photos of people shot down in the streets? People write letters and make phone calls against Planned Parenthood, but where are the letters and calls for reasonable regulation of weapons of mass destruction?
If you are truly convinced that a gun in your home will protect you and your property, I won’t argue with you. I don’t think it’s safe, but I won’t argue your right. If you hunt and feed people from the kill, I won’t argue with you. I couldn’t do it, but I won’t argue with you. But if you believe you have a right to own a weapon which only purpose is to kill as many human beings as possible in the shortest amount of time, we have an issue. You could say that the first two positions do not go against the Great Commandment of love. But for the last, there is absolutely no justification. Period.
Some folks may say that I shouldn’t preach politics. This is church, not a town hall meeting. But I’m not preaching politics. I am preaching the gospel. The gospel is all about protecting the vulnerable, caring for the least ones, reaching out in love. This community does that every day. You feed the hungry. You plant trees. You protect our drinking water. You live the gospel.
But I am suggesting that you might take this one step further. The rebuttal to all this violence is found in the letter to the Philippians. While we may wallow in sadness and anger, Paul reminds us, “Dismiss all anxiety . . . God’s own peace will stand guard over your hearts.”
We don’t have to participate in this culture of death. We aren’t reduced to merely turning our backs. We don’t have to throw up our hands in frustration. The time of empty offerings of “Our thoughts and prayers are with you,” flags at half-staff, moments of silence—these are long past.
Paul gives us a path: “Your thoughts should be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous or worthy of praise. Live according to what you have learned and accepted. . . . Then will the God of peace be with you.”
You simply have to do what you always do, which is to live courageously. This portion from the Talmud sums it up beautifully: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work. But neither are you free to abandon it.”
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 1, 2017
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:25-28
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32
Scholars say that the comparison of the two sons
at the beginning of today’s gospel
is the kind of thing Jesus would have said,
very close to the ideas he used in his teaching.
The application at the end, though,
doesn’t connect with the story that Jesus tells,
showing that the framework
that Matthew uses to set the scene here
is Matthew’s own narrative, not literal history.
So let’s concentrate on the story of the two sons.
In its cultural context
it is more complex than it appears at first glance.
Culturally, the first son was rude,
a rebel against accepted values.
In a society where saving face was highly valued,
the son who said NO
wounded his family’s dignity and reputation.
He effectively put himself outside the family circle.
In contrast, the second son said YES,
honoring the father,
even to the point of addressing him as “sir” or “lord.”
In the culture of that society,
the second son would have been seen
as exceeding the ideal of filial respect.
_________________________________________
Neither of these two sons is perfect.
The second son’s hypocritical respect for his father
is only on the surface.
He says the right thing... but doesn’t do it.
The first son doesn’t say the right thing,
but he changes his mind and does the right thing.
_________________________________________
It’s easy to find examples of the second son
in our own culture.
TV ads are notorious for saying things they don’t mean.
Too often they convince us
to buy something that isn’t good,
or isn’t needed,
or just isn’t what the ad says it is—it’s not real.
At work, when the boss asks a question,
employees might frame an answer
in words they think the boss wants to hear.
Maybe it’s words that will get a step up toward a promotion.
Or words that will shift blame away from them.
Or words that will get them out of the office and home early.
_________________________________________
What about us?
Do we say what we mean?
Do we hide what we really have in mind
so that people will like us?
So we don’t offend them?
So we can get ahead?
_________________________________________
Do we mean what we say?
Or do we say what we think people want to hear
with no intention of keeping our word?
Or when we think it over later
and realize that we were wrong,
do we have the courage to change our minds
and move in a different direction?
In short, are we real?
Are we truthful?
_________________________________________
Jesus’ question is
which of the two did what his father wanted.
In that Middle Eastern culture,
the second son would have been judged
as giving an honorable answer.
He lied, not intending to do what he said,
but people there believed that,
because he spoke respectfully,
he obeyed Deuteronomy’s commandment
to honor his father, and that, to them,
was more important than telling the truth.
_________________________________________
The first son told the truth.
He did not intend to go to the vineyard.
Because he refused to do what his father asked,
he brought shame to himself,
his father, and the whole family.
When he later changed his mind
and went to work in the vineyard,
he did what had been asked--
he got the work done--
but the shame stayed with him and his family.
_________________________________________
In our culture today we have a high regard for truth.
We want a third son,
one who says he will go to the vineyard,
and means it,
and then actually goes.
We have lots of experience these days
with people who knowingly mislead us,
who don’t do what they say they will do,
who speak without thinking of the consequences.
We were raised in the culture of Superman...
truth, justice, and the American Way.
We see truth and justice working together.
We want to know what’s right and fair.
We don’t like the “fake news” or cover-ups,
the growing gap between our ideals
and the world we live in.
_________________________________________
This gospel passage must have puzzled
the gospel writers and the copyists and the translators,
causing them to put it in at least three different forms
and adding other material to try to make applications.
But what Jesus wanted was for them to think about it.
He wanted them to think about the morality of their own lives.
_________________________________________
Our first and second readings today give us snapshots
of what it looks like to be moral,
serving as backdrops for Jesus’ story.
Ezekiel tells us that we are responsible for our actions.
We are accountable individually and personally
AND as part of the community.
We are free to turn from good to evil,
and we are free to turn from evil to good.
Jesus is asking his disciples to examine their values
and decide for themselves what is good.
His teaching was real in his culture,
and it’s still real today.
_________________________________________
Paul tells the people of Philippi that they must be like Jesus,
who is the real image of God on earth.
They are to be united in their convictions and their love,
with a common purpose and a common mind,
without conceit, humble,
thinking of others’ interests before their own.
_________________________________________
One of the times that that kind of unity shows itself here
is every Tuesday
when the Toledo Indivisible folks gather
at Senator Portman’s office
to urge him to take action
on issues of justice and peace.
They deliver letters and carry signs
and talk with passers-by from noon to 1.
And they chant.
The drummer sings out,
Tell me what democracy looks like!
And the response comes back:
THIS is what democracy looks like!
Today’s readings prompt us to chant:
Tell me what divinity looks like!
Paul tells us: Look at Jesus!
Loving, forgiving, reaching out, serving…
THIS is what divinity looks like!
We are called to go and do likewise.
Amen!
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:25-28
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32
Scholars say that the comparison of the two sons
at the beginning of today’s gospel
is the kind of thing Jesus would have said,
very close to the ideas he used in his teaching.
The application at the end, though,
doesn’t connect with the story that Jesus tells,
showing that the framework
that Matthew uses to set the scene here
is Matthew’s own narrative, not literal history.
So let’s concentrate on the story of the two sons.
In its cultural context
it is more complex than it appears at first glance.
Culturally, the first son was rude,
a rebel against accepted values.
In a society where saving face was highly valued,
the son who said NO
wounded his family’s dignity and reputation.
He effectively put himself outside the family circle.
In contrast, the second son said YES,
honoring the father,
even to the point of addressing him as “sir” or “lord.”
In the culture of that society,
the second son would have been seen
as exceeding the ideal of filial respect.
_________________________________________
Neither of these two sons is perfect.
The second son’s hypocritical respect for his father
is only on the surface.
He says the right thing... but doesn’t do it.
The first son doesn’t say the right thing,
but he changes his mind and does the right thing.
_________________________________________
It’s easy to find examples of the second son
in our own culture.
TV ads are notorious for saying things they don’t mean.
Too often they convince us
to buy something that isn’t good,
or isn’t needed,
or just isn’t what the ad says it is—it’s not real.
At work, when the boss asks a question,
employees might frame an answer
in words they think the boss wants to hear.
Maybe it’s words that will get a step up toward a promotion.
Or words that will shift blame away from them.
Or words that will get them out of the office and home early.
_________________________________________
What about us?
Do we say what we mean?
Do we hide what we really have in mind
so that people will like us?
So we don’t offend them?
So we can get ahead?
_________________________________________
Do we mean what we say?
Or do we say what we think people want to hear
with no intention of keeping our word?
Or when we think it over later
and realize that we were wrong,
do we have the courage to change our minds
and move in a different direction?
In short, are we real?
Are we truthful?
_________________________________________
Jesus’ question is
which of the two did what his father wanted.
In that Middle Eastern culture,
the second son would have been judged
as giving an honorable answer.
He lied, not intending to do what he said,
but people there believed that,
because he spoke respectfully,
he obeyed Deuteronomy’s commandment
to honor his father, and that, to them,
was more important than telling the truth.
_________________________________________
The first son told the truth.
He did not intend to go to the vineyard.
Because he refused to do what his father asked,
he brought shame to himself,
his father, and the whole family.
When he later changed his mind
and went to work in the vineyard,
he did what had been asked--
he got the work done--
but the shame stayed with him and his family.
_________________________________________
In our culture today we have a high regard for truth.
We want a third son,
one who says he will go to the vineyard,
and means it,
and then actually goes.
We have lots of experience these days
with people who knowingly mislead us,
who don’t do what they say they will do,
who speak without thinking of the consequences.
We were raised in the culture of Superman...
truth, justice, and the American Way.
We see truth and justice working together.
We want to know what’s right and fair.
We don’t like the “fake news” or cover-ups,
the growing gap between our ideals
and the world we live in.
_________________________________________
This gospel passage must have puzzled
the gospel writers and the copyists and the translators,
causing them to put it in at least three different forms
and adding other material to try to make applications.
But what Jesus wanted was for them to think about it.
He wanted them to think about the morality of their own lives.
_________________________________________
Our first and second readings today give us snapshots
of what it looks like to be moral,
serving as backdrops for Jesus’ story.
Ezekiel tells us that we are responsible for our actions.
We are accountable individually and personally
AND as part of the community.
We are free to turn from good to evil,
and we are free to turn from evil to good.
Jesus is asking his disciples to examine their values
and decide for themselves what is good.
His teaching was real in his culture,
and it’s still real today.
_________________________________________
Paul tells the people of Philippi that they must be like Jesus,
who is the real image of God on earth.
They are to be united in their convictions and their love,
with a common purpose and a common mind,
without conceit, humble,
thinking of others’ interests before their own.
_________________________________________
One of the times that that kind of unity shows itself here
is every Tuesday
when the Toledo Indivisible folks gather
at Senator Portman’s office
to urge him to take action
on issues of justice and peace.
They deliver letters and carry signs
and talk with passers-by from noon to 1.
And they chant.
The drummer sings out,
Tell me what democracy looks like!
And the response comes back:
THIS is what democracy looks like!
Today’s readings prompt us to chant:
Tell me what divinity looks like!
Paul tells us: Look at Jesus!
Loving, forgiving, reaching out, serving…
THIS is what divinity looks like!
We are called to go and do likewise.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), September 24, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Second Reading: Philippians 1:20-24, 27
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
We all have had the experience
of feeling that we got cheated out of what we deserve.
It started early in life.
My brother got a bigger slice of the cake.
My other brother got more Christmas presents.
As Tommy Smothers used to say,
“It’s not fair!
Mom always liked you best!”
Most of us outgrow those childhood jealousies.
We end up laughing about it years later
when the family gathers.
_____________________________________
Today’s parable reminds us of those hurts,
and of the slights we suffered--
and continued to suffer--
during our adult years,
but the point is not fairness or justice
as the world thinks of it.
The point is the great goodness of our God.
The last line of the parable tells the whole story.
The landowner asks the complainers:
Are you envious because I’m generous?
Scholars—who have no doubt
that today’s parable came from Jesus--
say that a more accurate translation of that line is
“Is your eye evil because I am good?”
In the Mediterranean world,
one of the things that makes for an “evil eye”
is to look at somebody else's good with jealousy--
to envy another person’s success.
It’s like the story where Martha is complaining
because she’s doing all the work
while Mary sits and listens to Jesus.
It’s like the prodigal son’s older brother,
complaining because his wastrel brother
is welcomed back into the family with a party
while he stayed home doing all the work.
They fail to understand
that God’s goodness is based on love,
not on merit.
_____________________________________
The situation in which Jesus originally told this story
must have been people complaining
that he was paying more attention
to the outcasts and the marginalized
than to people like them--
the respectable and upstanding members of the society.
_____________________________________
Like so much of what Jesus preached,
this parable is about the reign of God.
The reign of God is like this outrageously generous landowner
who sees justice in terms of human dignity,
in terms of the right of all people to a decent life.
Jesus lives in that reign of God.
It’s how he goes about his ministry.
He welcomes everybody.
He gives tax collectors and prostitutes
equal treatment with everyone else.
_____________________________________
It seems to be human nature
to think the way those complainers did.
Seeing “those” people—the unworthy ones--
accepted the same as we are--
we who have walked the straight and narrow,
followed all the rules--
we think it’s not fair.
We who are white
can fall into the sin of white privilege.
We who are free
can look down on those in prison.
We who are rich
can look down on the poor.
_____________________________________
But that’s not the way God is, thank God!
As Isaiah puts it, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts,
nor are God’s ways the way of us humans.
We’ve been faithful, toeing the line.
We think that makes us deserve more.
But more what?
More happiness?
More love?
More presence of God?
Just before Jesus tells this parable,
Peter responded
to Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man
by asking Jesus what he and the other disciples
will get out of leaving everything behind
to follow him.
So Jesus tells this parable,
letting the disciples know
that everyone will get all they need.
All who follow the way--
all those other people... and even us--
will live in the presence of God.
To paraphrase Tommy Smothers:
God likes everybody best!
The reign of God is indeed at hand.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Second Reading: Philippians 1:20-24, 27
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
We all have had the experience
of feeling that we got cheated out of what we deserve.
It started early in life.
My brother got a bigger slice of the cake.
My other brother got more Christmas presents.
As Tommy Smothers used to say,
“It’s not fair!
Mom always liked you best!”
Most of us outgrow those childhood jealousies.
We end up laughing about it years later
when the family gathers.
_____________________________________
Today’s parable reminds us of those hurts,
and of the slights we suffered--
and continued to suffer--
during our adult years,
but the point is not fairness or justice
as the world thinks of it.
The point is the great goodness of our God.
The last line of the parable tells the whole story.
The landowner asks the complainers:
Are you envious because I’m generous?
Scholars—who have no doubt
that today’s parable came from Jesus--
say that a more accurate translation of that line is
“Is your eye evil because I am good?”
In the Mediterranean world,
one of the things that makes for an “evil eye”
is to look at somebody else's good with jealousy--
to envy another person’s success.
It’s like the story where Martha is complaining
because she’s doing all the work
while Mary sits and listens to Jesus.
It’s like the prodigal son’s older brother,
complaining because his wastrel brother
is welcomed back into the family with a party
while he stayed home doing all the work.
They fail to understand
that God’s goodness is based on love,
not on merit.
_____________________________________
The situation in which Jesus originally told this story
must have been people complaining
that he was paying more attention
to the outcasts and the marginalized
than to people like them--
the respectable and upstanding members of the society.
_____________________________________
Like so much of what Jesus preached,
this parable is about the reign of God.
The reign of God is like this outrageously generous landowner
who sees justice in terms of human dignity,
in terms of the right of all people to a decent life.
Jesus lives in that reign of God.
It’s how he goes about his ministry.
He welcomes everybody.
He gives tax collectors and prostitutes
equal treatment with everyone else.
_____________________________________
It seems to be human nature
to think the way those complainers did.
Seeing “those” people—the unworthy ones--
accepted the same as we are--
we who have walked the straight and narrow,
followed all the rules--
we think it’s not fair.
We who are white
can fall into the sin of white privilege.
We who are free
can look down on those in prison.
We who are rich
can look down on the poor.
_____________________________________
But that’s not the way God is, thank God!
As Isaiah puts it, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts,
nor are God’s ways the way of us humans.
We’ve been faithful, toeing the line.
We think that makes us deserve more.
But more what?
More happiness?
More love?
More presence of God?
Just before Jesus tells this parable,
Peter responded
to Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man
by asking Jesus what he and the other disciples
will get out of leaving everything behind
to follow him.
So Jesus tells this parable,
letting the disciples know
that everyone will get all they need.
All who follow the way--
all those other people... and even us--
will live in the presence of God.
To paraphrase Tommy Smothers:
God likes everybody best!
The reign of God is indeed at hand.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), September 17, 2017
First Reading: Sirach 27:30--28:7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9
Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
What kind of world do we really want to live in?
In our first reading, Sirach tells us
that anger and wrath are abominable.
He says that we are not to be angry
but are to overlook the faults of others.
He is not saying
that we should condone the wrong done to us
but that we have a choice about how we handle it.
Yes, we were hurt,
but if we hold on to our anger about it,
we let the hurt define our life.
What we can and must do
is choose what do about the hurt.
Maybe somebody broke confidence with us.
Maybe a co-worker took credit for our work
and got the raise that should have come to us.
We find a way to move on.
And we forgive,
because that shapes the world we live in
into a forgiving world.
_______________________________________
Sirach’s message of forgiveness
fits with Paul’s message to the Romans.
All of us are brothers and sisters to one another,
Paul says, so we are accountable
to love one another,
to help each other become better people,
and to forgive the hurts.
_______________________________________
In today’s gospel,
Peter wanted to know
how much he had to put up with
when somebody did him wrong.
Jesus answers with a parable that asks
what kind of world he wants to have.
The parable shows us that we choose,
by our actions,
the kind of world we want to live in.
First there’s the king
who is outrageously compassionate
to one of his subjects
who owes him a huge debt.
That’s what the reign of God is like.
When the king forgives the debt,
the debtor’s world changes.
Being forgiven makes him free of debt
and also puts him in a world of great compassion.
But the debtor refuses to pass on
even the tiniest bit of compassion
to someone who owes a small amount to him.
He is offered an alternative,
but he won’t give up even that relatively little debt
to keep living in a world of mercy.
His refusal to forgive
is a choice for a very different kind of world,
a world of pain and deprivation.
So he ends up in the world he has created.
_______________________________________
When we imitate the compassion of God,
we choose to live in a compassionate world.
As you know, there’s another week left
in this year’s Compassion Games.
We’ve been keeping track of our acts of compassion
for about a week,
and we’ll keep track for another week.
Toledo is a compassionate city.
We work at it,
even when the global games aren’t going on.
We work at turning our culture’s values upside down.
We put the needs of others,
not our own needs,
at the center of our lives.
How we can help someone else
becomes the focus of our actions,
every day of the year.
That’s what Jesus was talking about
when he said the reign of God is at hand.
It’s not a name for the place where God rules
but the realm of human persons
responding to God
by being accountable to our neighbor’s good--
the common good.
_______________________________________
Today’s parable answers Peter’s question to Jesus
about how many times
they should forgive someone
who hurts them.
The answer is not seven,
or seventy times seven,
not even 49,
but times without limit,
and the point is not counting them up
and keeping score.
The point is what kind of world
disciples want to create
and what it’s worth to them.
_______________________________________
It’s also important for us to remember
that there are times and circumstances
where we can’t just stick around
and hope for a change in another person’s actions.
Sometimes relationships have to be ended,
like when the harm comes from a boss who bullies
or domestic violence or sex abuse.
We have to love ourselves enough to get out of harm’s way
and move on from the hurt.
_______________________________________
No matter what, if we do not forgive,
we will live in a world that hates,
that holds on to hurts,
that explodes in anger,
that suffers.
If we forgive,
if we reach out in compassion,
if we let go of hurts,
if we love one another,
we define our life our life differently.
We shape a new world...
and the reign of God is indeed at hand!
Amen!
First Reading: Sirach 27:30--28:7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9
Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
What kind of world do we really want to live in?
In our first reading, Sirach tells us
that anger and wrath are abominable.
He says that we are not to be angry
but are to overlook the faults of others.
He is not saying
that we should condone the wrong done to us
but that we have a choice about how we handle it.
Yes, we were hurt,
but if we hold on to our anger about it,
we let the hurt define our life.
What we can and must do
is choose what do about the hurt.
Maybe somebody broke confidence with us.
Maybe a co-worker took credit for our work
and got the raise that should have come to us.
We find a way to move on.
And we forgive,
because that shapes the world we live in
into a forgiving world.
_______________________________________
Sirach’s message of forgiveness
fits with Paul’s message to the Romans.
All of us are brothers and sisters to one another,
Paul says, so we are accountable
to love one another,
to help each other become better people,
and to forgive the hurts.
_______________________________________
In today’s gospel,
Peter wanted to know
how much he had to put up with
when somebody did him wrong.
Jesus answers with a parable that asks
what kind of world he wants to have.
The parable shows us that we choose,
by our actions,
the kind of world we want to live in.
First there’s the king
who is outrageously compassionate
to one of his subjects
who owes him a huge debt.
That’s what the reign of God is like.
When the king forgives the debt,
the debtor’s world changes.
Being forgiven makes him free of debt
and also puts him in a world of great compassion.
But the debtor refuses to pass on
even the tiniest bit of compassion
to someone who owes a small amount to him.
He is offered an alternative,
but he won’t give up even that relatively little debt
to keep living in a world of mercy.
His refusal to forgive
is a choice for a very different kind of world,
a world of pain and deprivation.
So he ends up in the world he has created.
_______________________________________
When we imitate the compassion of God,
we choose to live in a compassionate world.
As you know, there’s another week left
in this year’s Compassion Games.
We’ve been keeping track of our acts of compassion
for about a week,
and we’ll keep track for another week.
Toledo is a compassionate city.
We work at it,
even when the global games aren’t going on.
We work at turning our culture’s values upside down.
We put the needs of others,
not our own needs,
at the center of our lives.
How we can help someone else
becomes the focus of our actions,
every day of the year.
That’s what Jesus was talking about
when he said the reign of God is at hand.
It’s not a name for the place where God rules
but the realm of human persons
responding to God
by being accountable to our neighbor’s good--
the common good.
_______________________________________
Today’s parable answers Peter’s question to Jesus
about how many times
they should forgive someone
who hurts them.
The answer is not seven,
or seventy times seven,
not even 49,
but times without limit,
and the point is not counting them up
and keeping score.
The point is what kind of world
disciples want to create
and what it’s worth to them.
_______________________________________
It’s also important for us to remember
that there are times and circumstances
where we can’t just stick around
and hope for a change in another person’s actions.
Sometimes relationships have to be ended,
like when the harm comes from a boss who bullies
or domestic violence or sex abuse.
We have to love ourselves enough to get out of harm’s way
and move on from the hurt.
_______________________________________
No matter what, if we do not forgive,
we will live in a world that hates,
that holds on to hurts,
that explodes in anger,
that suffers.
If we forgive,
if we reach out in compassion,
if we let go of hurts,
if we love one another,
we define our life our life differently.
We shape a new world...
and the reign of God is indeed at hand!
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), September 10, 2017
First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Romans 13:8-10
Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20
Love God and love your neighbor.
If there’s anything that scholars agree about,
it’s that Jesus taught his disciples
to love God and neighbor
and that he showed them what that looked like
by his preaching and example,
and he did it no matter what the powerful said about it.
But today’s gospel shows Matthew’s community
beginning to turn away
from Jesus’ clear and firm teaching.
Matthew sets up a three-step process
when somebody is judged to be in error:
talk with them about it, and if that doesn’t work,
get some witnesses to talk with them about,
and if that doesn’t work,
take it to the whole community, and if that doesn’t work,
“then treat that sister or brother as you would
a Gentile or a tax collector.”
In that first-century culture, Gentiles and tax collectors
were hated and shunned, called names,
barred from the community.
That doesn’t fit what we know about Jesus.
We know that he spent a lot of time
with tax collectors and sinners.
Matthew himself is a tax collector.
In Chapter 9, Matthew tells how Jesus
ate with tax collectors and sinners.
In chapter 11, Matthew calls Jesus
“a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
In Chapter 21, Matthew reports that Jesus said that
“tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the kin-dom of God before you.”
That’s what Jesus did.
He didn’t exclude or shun Gentiles
or tax collectors or sinners.
He talked with them, listened to them, healed them,
praised their humility and their perseverance
and their wisdom and their faith,
ate supper with them.
Half a century passes, and Matthew’s community--
made up of Jewish Christians--
want to understand themselves
as a new and legitimate interpretation
of the law of Moses.
To that end,
Matthew cites traditional Jewish law and practice,
turning his community in a hierarchical direction.
Then he brings in that binding and loosing,
a phrase that referred to the authority of a chief rabbi.
Two chapters before this,
Matthew had Jesus give that authority to Peter, the rock.
_____________________________________
Examples of holy defiance to authority started early.
Back in Exodus, the midwives Shiphrah and Puah
defied the Pharaoh and refused
to murder the newborn males of the Israelites.
The prophet Jeremiah faced a death sentence
because he kept on preaching God’s word.
Early on, Christianity took on the cultural practices of power
in matters of prophetic defiance.
We began to excommunicate people
who held theologies and practices
different from the people in power.
Over the centuries we excommunicated
popes and theologians and teachers and preachers
and kings and queens and politicians,
along with countless ordinary people.
Punishments could include execution, torture,
corporal punishment, incarceration, exile, silencing,
or anything else a Church official might come up with.
_____________________________________
All of this excommunication happened
because people followed their consciences
instead of the rules set down by the powerful.
They disobeyed.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that,
of all the 613 laws in the Torah,
not one uses the word obey.
What God says is Shema…
Listen to me, God says.
Take me seriously.
Pay attention.
But God does not say obey.
In our own day
we can cite a long list of martyrs, prophets, and saints
who listen to God
and defy the rules of the authorities in power:
the woman martyrs of El Salvador, Thomas Merton,
Dorothy Day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Luther King,
Ludmila Javorová, the Danube Seven.
Those are some of the famous ones.
We know some who aren’t so famous.
Here in Toledo there are folks in picket lines,
demonstrators on the streets,
citizens speaking at Council and School Board meetings,
proponents of Toledo as a sanctuary city.
Ordinary people standing up in holy defiance,
choosing what’s right and moral
over what’s wrong and immoral.
_____________________________________
Like Matthew’s community,
we still grapple with issues of inclusion and exclusion,
questions of hierarchy and authority.
Too often we do what Matthew says--
excommunication and shunning--
rather than what Jesus said—inclusion and love.
Sometimes we have to ask ourselves
whether we’re following Jesus
or following the ways of the powerful.
Do we treat people with respect, even when we disagree?
Do we listen to their ideas, talk with them?
Or do we follow the culture and exclude them?
Shun them?
As Sister Joan Chittister says,
“Just because human beings
so often dress themselves in the trappings of power
does not give them power over either our consciences
or our souls.”
That power belongs to God.
_____________________________________
It’s simple, really.
We are called to love God and neighbor.
Simple, but not always easy.
Amen!
First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Romans 13:8-10
Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20
Love God and love your neighbor.
If there’s anything that scholars agree about,
it’s that Jesus taught his disciples
to love God and neighbor
and that he showed them what that looked like
by his preaching and example,
and he did it no matter what the powerful said about it.
But today’s gospel shows Matthew’s community
beginning to turn away
from Jesus’ clear and firm teaching.
Matthew sets up a three-step process
when somebody is judged to be in error:
talk with them about it, and if that doesn’t work,
get some witnesses to talk with them about,
and if that doesn’t work,
take it to the whole community, and if that doesn’t work,
“then treat that sister or brother as you would
a Gentile or a tax collector.”
In that first-century culture, Gentiles and tax collectors
were hated and shunned, called names,
barred from the community.
That doesn’t fit what we know about Jesus.
We know that he spent a lot of time
with tax collectors and sinners.
Matthew himself is a tax collector.
In Chapter 9, Matthew tells how Jesus
ate with tax collectors and sinners.
In chapter 11, Matthew calls Jesus
“a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
In Chapter 21, Matthew reports that Jesus said that
“tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the kin-dom of God before you.”
That’s what Jesus did.
He didn’t exclude or shun Gentiles
or tax collectors or sinners.
He talked with them, listened to them, healed them,
praised their humility and their perseverance
and their wisdom and their faith,
ate supper with them.
Half a century passes, and Matthew’s community--
made up of Jewish Christians--
want to understand themselves
as a new and legitimate interpretation
of the law of Moses.
To that end,
Matthew cites traditional Jewish law and practice,
turning his community in a hierarchical direction.
Then he brings in that binding and loosing,
a phrase that referred to the authority of a chief rabbi.
Two chapters before this,
Matthew had Jesus give that authority to Peter, the rock.
_____________________________________
Examples of holy defiance to authority started early.
Back in Exodus, the midwives Shiphrah and Puah
defied the Pharaoh and refused
to murder the newborn males of the Israelites.
The prophet Jeremiah faced a death sentence
because he kept on preaching God’s word.
Early on, Christianity took on the cultural practices of power
in matters of prophetic defiance.
We began to excommunicate people
who held theologies and practices
different from the people in power.
Over the centuries we excommunicated
popes and theologians and teachers and preachers
and kings and queens and politicians,
along with countless ordinary people.
Punishments could include execution, torture,
corporal punishment, incarceration, exile, silencing,
or anything else a Church official might come up with.
_____________________________________
All of this excommunication happened
because people followed their consciences
instead of the rules set down by the powerful.
They disobeyed.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that,
of all the 613 laws in the Torah,
not one uses the word obey.
What God says is Shema…
Listen to me, God says.
Take me seriously.
Pay attention.
But God does not say obey.
In our own day
we can cite a long list of martyrs, prophets, and saints
who listen to God
and defy the rules of the authorities in power:
the woman martyrs of El Salvador, Thomas Merton,
Dorothy Day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Luther King,
Ludmila Javorová, the Danube Seven.
Those are some of the famous ones.
We know some who aren’t so famous.
Here in Toledo there are folks in picket lines,
demonstrators on the streets,
citizens speaking at Council and School Board meetings,
proponents of Toledo as a sanctuary city.
Ordinary people standing up in holy defiance,
choosing what’s right and moral
over what’s wrong and immoral.
_____________________________________
Like Matthew’s community,
we still grapple with issues of inclusion and exclusion,
questions of hierarchy and authority.
Too often we do what Matthew says--
excommunication and shunning--
rather than what Jesus said—inclusion and love.
Sometimes we have to ask ourselves
whether we’re following Jesus
or following the ways of the powerful.
Do we treat people with respect, even when we disagree?
Do we listen to their ideas, talk with them?
Or do we follow the culture and exclude them?
Shun them?
As Sister Joan Chittister says,
“Just because human beings
so often dress themselves in the trappings of power
does not give them power over either our consciences
or our souls.”
That power belongs to God.
_____________________________________
It’s simple, really.
We are called to love God and neighbor.
Simple, but not always easy.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), September 3, 2017
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8
Second Reading: Romans 12:1-2
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27
We all know what it means
when somebody shakes their head
and says, “I can see the handwriting on the wall.”
It’s part of our everyday language.
The phrase comes from a story in the Book of Daniel,
six centuries before Jesus.
We have that same prophetic power
to read the handwriting on the wall.
Maybe we know someone
who makes a habit of driving home
after he’s had way too much to drink.
We can predict that, if he keeps on doing that,
sooner or later the police will catch him
or he’ll get in an accident.
Or maybe we have a co-worker
who shows up late, goofs around on the job,
and misses deadlines on his projects.
We know that, for him, the handwriting is on the wall.
We know about Martin Luther King,
who gave what’s known as his Mountaintop Speech
on April 3 of 1968.
He had heard the death threats.
He knew the bigotry and hate and violence
behind those threats.
He knew the odds of suffering
from that hate and violence
if he kept on speaking out.
Even then, knowing it, he didn’t stop.
Looking back, we might think
that he predicted his own death
the very next night,
but he didn’t.
He was simply reading the handwriting on the wall.
_________________________________________
That’s what’s going on in today’s gospel.
Jesus can’t foretell the future,
but he can see the future implications
of present actions.
Jesus is not psychic.
He’s the conscience of the people.
He can look at the signs of the times
and “see the handwriting on the wall.”
He knows that people in power want him dead
for what he teaches.
If he keeps on, they could kill him.
_________________________________________
There’s a long history of Jewish prophets suffering
because they speak truth to power,
and Jesus knows those stories.
Like Jeremiah,
the word of God brings Jesus derision and reproach
from people in power,
but Jesus can’t turn away from his prophetic teaching.
It’s a fire in his heart.
He can’t hold it in.
To stop preaching would kill his very soul.
_________________________________________
But Peter refuses to listen.
He tries to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem,
talk him out of speaking the truth.
Peter becomes an obstacle, a stumbling block,
to answering God’s call.
_________________________________________
Self-interest can become a stumbling block.
In our country,
where it’s becoming more and more acceptable
to forget gospel values,
we’re tempted to keep quiet
when it comes to things like wealth and poverty,
war and peace, sexism, racism, and climate change.
We want to get ahead, so we don’t speak up.
Somebody might not like it.
We might have to give something up.
We might suffer.
_________________________________________
Take our addiction to wealth.
Money talks.
We know that many people will judge our self-worth
by how much money we make
and how much stuff we have.
Do we stumble over that,
letting our fear of the opinions of others
become an obstacle to following the way of Jesus?
_________________________________________
If we look around, if we listen,
we can see the handwriting on the wall.
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we are called to stand up and speak out,
no matter the cost.
And even though we know there will be a cost,
we cannot keep silent.
As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said,
“We must take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor.
Silence encourages the tormenter.”
So we can’t ignore God’s word.
We can’t ignore our consciences.
We have to keep on speaking out,
whether it’s against a terrorist in Orlando
or white supremacists in Charlottesville.
And we have to do more than just talk about it.
We have to take action--
letters and emails and phone calls
and demonstrations and marches... and votes.
_________________________________________
And so we see the Indivisible Toledo folks
gathering every Tuesday at Senator Portman’s office.
We saw the crowd last week at UT—lots of young people--
marching against white supremacy.
All around the country
people are donating cash and goods and time
to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
Still others are pointing
to the human causes of climate change
and calling for action.
Here in Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson
has joined nearly 400 other mayors and governors
in pledging to keep the Paris Climate Accord.
Toledoans—some of you here--
are lining up again this year
for the Global Compassion Games,
set for September 9-24.
Last year, out of 91 global teams,
our Toledo/northwest Ohio team
was 1st in number of volunteers,
2nd in number of volunteer hours,
11th in number of people served,
and 7th in money raised.
Again this year you’ll report
the acts of kindness and service and loving care
that you do routinely
so others can be more fulfilled in their own lives.
_________________________________________
Toledo is full of people
who dare to follow their consciences,
who are unafraid to go against the current;
people putting their own interests aside
to work with immigrants, refugees,
the elderly, the trafficked;
people demonstrating
for peace
and a clean Lake Erie
and healthcare for all;
people calling for an end to the death penalty.
It’s you... YOU are offering a living sacrifice,
your gifts of time and talent and treasure
in service, hospitality, prayer, and love.
There’s a fire in your heart,
and you can’t hold it in.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8
Second Reading: Romans 12:1-2
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27
We all know what it means
when somebody shakes their head
and says, “I can see the handwriting on the wall.”
It’s part of our everyday language.
The phrase comes from a story in the Book of Daniel,
six centuries before Jesus.
We have that same prophetic power
to read the handwriting on the wall.
Maybe we know someone
who makes a habit of driving home
after he’s had way too much to drink.
We can predict that, if he keeps on doing that,
sooner or later the police will catch him
or he’ll get in an accident.
Or maybe we have a co-worker
who shows up late, goofs around on the job,
and misses deadlines on his projects.
We know that, for him, the handwriting is on the wall.
We know about Martin Luther King,
who gave what’s known as his Mountaintop Speech
on April 3 of 1968.
He had heard the death threats.
He knew the bigotry and hate and violence
behind those threats.
He knew the odds of suffering
from that hate and violence
if he kept on speaking out.
Even then, knowing it, he didn’t stop.
Looking back, we might think
that he predicted his own death
the very next night,
but he didn’t.
He was simply reading the handwriting on the wall.
_________________________________________
That’s what’s going on in today’s gospel.
Jesus can’t foretell the future,
but he can see the future implications
of present actions.
Jesus is not psychic.
He’s the conscience of the people.
He can look at the signs of the times
and “see the handwriting on the wall.”
He knows that people in power want him dead
for what he teaches.
If he keeps on, they could kill him.
_________________________________________
There’s a long history of Jewish prophets suffering
because they speak truth to power,
and Jesus knows those stories.
Like Jeremiah,
the word of God brings Jesus derision and reproach
from people in power,
but Jesus can’t turn away from his prophetic teaching.
It’s a fire in his heart.
He can’t hold it in.
To stop preaching would kill his very soul.
_________________________________________
But Peter refuses to listen.
He tries to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem,
talk him out of speaking the truth.
Peter becomes an obstacle, a stumbling block,
to answering God’s call.
_________________________________________
Self-interest can become a stumbling block.
In our country,
where it’s becoming more and more acceptable
to forget gospel values,
we’re tempted to keep quiet
when it comes to things like wealth and poverty,
war and peace, sexism, racism, and climate change.
We want to get ahead, so we don’t speak up.
Somebody might not like it.
We might have to give something up.
We might suffer.
_________________________________________
Take our addiction to wealth.
Money talks.
We know that many people will judge our self-worth
by how much money we make
and how much stuff we have.
Do we stumble over that,
letting our fear of the opinions of others
become an obstacle to following the way of Jesus?
_________________________________________
If we look around, if we listen,
we can see the handwriting on the wall.
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we are called to stand up and speak out,
no matter the cost.
And even though we know there will be a cost,
we cannot keep silent.
As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said,
“We must take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor.
Silence encourages the tormenter.”
So we can’t ignore God’s word.
We can’t ignore our consciences.
We have to keep on speaking out,
whether it’s against a terrorist in Orlando
or white supremacists in Charlottesville.
And we have to do more than just talk about it.
We have to take action--
letters and emails and phone calls
and demonstrations and marches... and votes.
_________________________________________
And so we see the Indivisible Toledo folks
gathering every Tuesday at Senator Portman’s office.
We saw the crowd last week at UT—lots of young people--
marching against white supremacy.
All around the country
people are donating cash and goods and time
to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
Still others are pointing
to the human causes of climate change
and calling for action.
Here in Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson
has joined nearly 400 other mayors and governors
in pledging to keep the Paris Climate Accord.
Toledoans—some of you here--
are lining up again this year
for the Global Compassion Games,
set for September 9-24.
Last year, out of 91 global teams,
our Toledo/northwest Ohio team
was 1st in number of volunteers,
2nd in number of volunteer hours,
11th in number of people served,
and 7th in money raised.
Again this year you’ll report
the acts of kindness and service and loving care
that you do routinely
so others can be more fulfilled in their own lives.
_________________________________________
Toledo is full of people
who dare to follow their consciences,
who are unafraid to go against the current;
people putting their own interests aside
to work with immigrants, refugees,
the elderly, the trafficked;
people demonstrating
for peace
and a clean Lake Erie
and healthcare for all;
people calling for an end to the death penalty.
It’s you... YOU are offering a living sacrifice,
your gifts of time and talent and treasure
in service, hospitality, prayer, and love.
There’s a fire in your heart,
and you can’t hold it in.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), August 27, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 22:19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8
Second Reading: Romans 11:33-36
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
Today’s gospel is often put forth
as proof that Jesus intended to found a church
and intended to put Peter in charge of it.
We Roman Catholics read it
as if Jesus made Peter the first Pope.
To do that, we have to ignore other statements in the Bible
that tell us something else.
Scholars point out that this passage
was created by Matthew because his community
was struggling with questions of authority
and, in Matthew’s community, Peter is in charge.
Mark’s community,
at an earlier stage in the development of Christianity,
doesn’t have the scene
where Peter receives the keys of authority.
Other parts of the New Testament writings
give the authority of leadership to James...
or Phillip, or John, or Mary of Magdala, or Paul.
_______________________________________
Those early Christians were at a point
where they were trying to find a way
to deal with people who sinned.
So Matthew has Jesus speak of “binding and loosing”
to describe Peter's authority.
That binding and loosing,
in a community like Matthew’s
that consisted of Jewish Christians,
refers to the authority of the chief rabbi of a community.
Sometimes authority meant
applying the Torah to a particular case,
and sometimes it including or excluding
a member of the community.
So Matthew has Jesus talk about Peter
as the chief rabbi of his community.
_______________________________________
But it’s not cut and dried,
even in in that one small gathering.
Just three verses later, in verse 23,
Matthew has Jesus say to Peter, “
Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does,
but as human beings do.”
And later, in Chapter 18,
Matthew says that same authority of binding and loosing
is given to the whole church community
as it deals with offending or dissenting members...
and whenever two or three of them agree
to ask for something in prayer.
_______________________________________
Our Christian forebears
struggled with their conflicting views
about identity and mission; authority and autonomy;
and, in the absence of Jesus,
they struggled over their relationship
with the "non-believing" Jewish community
as well as other Christian believers.
We know from history
that such struggles were not limited to Christians.
Today’s reading from Isaiah tells us about Shebna,
holding a position of authority but misusing his power.
And we also know from history
that those struggles did not go away.
Constantine thought the arguments would be over
after the Council of Nicea came up with the Creed.
Even that didn’t end it.
Through the Crusades and the Inquisition and the Reformation, through
the Council of Trent and the Vatican Councils,
over the years, we struggled, and we still struggle,
over authority and power and forgiveness.
_______________________________________
These questions have been at the heart
of much confusion and hurt in our Catholic church.
And they still are.
Who do we say Jesus is?
Friend, brother, role model?
Taskmaster, judge?
How do we handle this “binding and loosing?”
Who is included in this assembly?
Who’s not?
And who decides?
Do we limit authority to the hierarchy of Pope, bishops, and priests?
Or do we recognize the baptismal authority of all Christians?
And do we honor the authority of every human being’s conscience?
_______________________________________
The conflicts span the centuries.
Long lists of people were burned at the stake for heresy
during the Inquisition.
And there’s Joan of Arc,
burned at the stake and then canonized.
Authors were silenced for their writing,
like Galileo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
And in our times, U.S. Bishops have banned
Elizabeth Johnson’s book Quest for the Living God
from Catholic colleges;
refused communion to political candidates;
and vilified and tormented the victims of clergy sex abuse
for speaking the truth.
_______________________________________
Yet there is hope.
If history is any measure, eventually we will see
remarried-without-an-annulment couples
welcomed to communion.
We’ll see canonizations of LGBT couples
for persevering in the faith
in spite of what’s going on today.
We’ll see Fr. Roy Bourgeois honored
for his support of ordaining women to the priesthood.
_______________________________________
In the meantime, our task
is to use our baptismal authority
as priests, prophets, and servant leaders
to carry forward the message of Jesus:
the reign of God is at hand.
So we stay faithful.
We have nothing to fear,
not the past, or the present, or things to come.
As our psalm today tells us, God’s love is eternal.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Isaiah 22:19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8
Second Reading: Romans 11:33-36
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
Today’s gospel is often put forth
as proof that Jesus intended to found a church
and intended to put Peter in charge of it.
We Roman Catholics read it
as if Jesus made Peter the first Pope.
To do that, we have to ignore other statements in the Bible
that tell us something else.
Scholars point out that this passage
was created by Matthew because his community
was struggling with questions of authority
and, in Matthew’s community, Peter is in charge.
Mark’s community,
at an earlier stage in the development of Christianity,
doesn’t have the scene
where Peter receives the keys of authority.
Other parts of the New Testament writings
give the authority of leadership to James...
or Phillip, or John, or Mary of Magdala, or Paul.
_______________________________________
Those early Christians were at a point
where they were trying to find a way
to deal with people who sinned.
So Matthew has Jesus speak of “binding and loosing”
to describe Peter's authority.
That binding and loosing,
in a community like Matthew’s
that consisted of Jewish Christians,
refers to the authority of the chief rabbi of a community.
Sometimes authority meant
applying the Torah to a particular case,
and sometimes it including or excluding
a member of the community.
So Matthew has Jesus talk about Peter
as the chief rabbi of his community.
_______________________________________
But it’s not cut and dried,
even in in that one small gathering.
Just three verses later, in verse 23,
Matthew has Jesus say to Peter, “
Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does,
but as human beings do.”
And later, in Chapter 18,
Matthew says that same authority of binding and loosing
is given to the whole church community
as it deals with offending or dissenting members...
and whenever two or three of them agree
to ask for something in prayer.
_______________________________________
Our Christian forebears
struggled with their conflicting views
about identity and mission; authority and autonomy;
and, in the absence of Jesus,
they struggled over their relationship
with the "non-believing" Jewish community
as well as other Christian believers.
We know from history
that such struggles were not limited to Christians.
Today’s reading from Isaiah tells us about Shebna,
holding a position of authority but misusing his power.
And we also know from history
that those struggles did not go away.
Constantine thought the arguments would be over
after the Council of Nicea came up with the Creed.
Even that didn’t end it.
Through the Crusades and the Inquisition and the Reformation, through
the Council of Trent and the Vatican Councils,
over the years, we struggled, and we still struggle,
over authority and power and forgiveness.
_______________________________________
These questions have been at the heart
of much confusion and hurt in our Catholic church.
And they still are.
Who do we say Jesus is?
Friend, brother, role model?
Taskmaster, judge?
How do we handle this “binding and loosing?”
Who is included in this assembly?
Who’s not?
And who decides?
Do we limit authority to the hierarchy of Pope, bishops, and priests?
Or do we recognize the baptismal authority of all Christians?
And do we honor the authority of every human being’s conscience?
_______________________________________
The conflicts span the centuries.
Long lists of people were burned at the stake for heresy
during the Inquisition.
And there’s Joan of Arc,
burned at the stake and then canonized.
Authors were silenced for their writing,
like Galileo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
And in our times, U.S. Bishops have banned
Elizabeth Johnson’s book Quest for the Living God
from Catholic colleges;
refused communion to political candidates;
and vilified and tormented the victims of clergy sex abuse
for speaking the truth.
_______________________________________
Yet there is hope.
If history is any measure, eventually we will see
remarried-without-an-annulment couples
welcomed to communion.
We’ll see canonizations of LGBT couples
for persevering in the faith
in spite of what’s going on today.
We’ll see Fr. Roy Bourgeois honored
for his support of ordaining women to the priesthood.
_______________________________________
In the meantime, our task
is to use our baptismal authority
as priests, prophets, and servant leaders
to carry forward the message of Jesus:
the reign of God is at hand.
So we stay faithful.
We have nothing to fear,
not the past, or the present, or things to come.
As our psalm today tells us, God’s love is eternal.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), August 20, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 67
Second Reading: Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28
Back in 1968, in a book called War and Peace in the Global Village,
Marshall McLuhan wrote that
“One thing about which fish
know exactly nothing
is water,
since they have no anti-environment
which would enable them to perceive
the element they live in.”
Where we live
and who we live with
cause us to grow up knowing exactly nothing
about some parts of our environment
because we have nothing to contrast it with.
Like a fish out of water, though,
we learn about ourselves when something changes.
It’s like breathing the air and not paying any attention to it
until it gets smoky or dusty or full of pollen,
or we get bronchitis and have trouble breathing it in.
_________________________________________
In May of 2016 Pope Francis said that
“Many times in the Gospels
we encounter the spontaneous cry to Jesus
of the sick, the possessed, the poor, and the afflicted.”
Then he added, “Jesus responds to them all
with a gaze of mercy and the comfort of His presence.”
But Jesus didn’t always do that, as today’s Gospel tells us.
Jesus was fully human.
He was born into, and trained in, the ways of his culture,
and that culture, contrary to God’s direction,
despised people who were not like them.
So at the beginning of today’s Gospel passage
we see Jesus being pulled out of his comfort zone
like a fish out of water.
His humanity shows through in his first response to the woman.
He’s Jewish, and he’s learned that the Syro-Phoenicians,
the Canaanites—anyone who’s not a Jew—“those people”
are not chosen by God.
So Jesus follows the tradition of his community
and doesn’t even talk with the woman.
But she keeps on,
and her persistence and her faith change him.
Jesus’ encounter with her faith prompts him
to examine his culture’s understanding of “outsiders”
and expand his ministry to include them.
That’s the first lesson in today’s Gospel:
be like Jesus.
Be ready to listen.
Be ready to measure our beliefs and our actions by God’s love.
Be ready to hear God say to us those words that Isaiah heard:
“Do what is right, work for justice.”
Be ready to change when we see
that we’re not doing right or being just.
It’s not always easy
to turn away from the ways of the culture and the world
to answer God’s call, but God’s gift and call remain,
even if we make the choice to refuse them.
As Paul tells the Romans,
God’s gift and God’s call are irrevocable.
_________________________________________
The second lesson for us in today’s Gospel is this:
be like the Canaanite woman.
Have faith.
Be peaceful.
Be respectful...
but... be persistent.
Like that woman who needs healing for her daughter,
we need healing for that which is dear to us…
the soul of our country.
The signs of our time became very clear
in Charlottesville last Saturday.
It’s been called America’s original sin.
We need healing for the racism in our country.
We need an end to the bigoted idea of white supremacy.
_________________________________________
And there is hope.
This week millions of people
pointed to the water that surrounds us fish.
They pointed to Charlottesville
and the racism that surrounds us.
They pointed to our President
and the water that surrounds him--
murky, bloody, full of hate.
Then the news outlets focused on people
noticing the toxic environment of racism and bigotry,
and speaking out—some of them for the first time--
denouncing it, calling for action.
Many of us saw where we were,
what was around us,
and we changed.
On Monday, scores of people
joined the March against White Supremacy in Maumee,
the home of the man who drove his car
into the counter-protesters in Charlottesville.
On Tuesday Indivisible Toledo
stood once again at Senator Portman’s office
calling for action against racism.
On Wednesday Toledo and Lucas County officeholders,
office-seekers, ministers, and citizens
gathered at the “Toledo Loves Love” mural—the “Love Wall”--
to show unity in the face of hatred and violence.
As the week went on,
the internet blossomed with petitions to sign on to,
draft letters to send to the White House and the Congress,
phone messages to call to Washington and Columbus,
forums and teach-ins to take part in.
_________________________________________
We have changed.
Lines of neo-Nazis and white supremacists
marching with burning torches showed us an environment
that has surrounded us all the time.
But we did not see it… like fish don’t see the water.
Now our eyes are open to a dangerous part of our world
that is full of hate,
and we know what we have to do.
_________________________________________
Sure, we get weary of it all.
It takes a lot of time and energy,
and we can get drained just listening to the morning news.
But we have to keep on praying.
We have to keep on emailing and phoning our Senators.
Keep on writing letters to the editor.
Keep on talking about justice and peace.
Keep on reaching out to the “others” in our midst.
That’s what we have to do.
The gift and call of God are irrevocable!
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 67
Second Reading: Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28
Back in 1968, in a book called War and Peace in the Global Village,
Marshall McLuhan wrote that
“One thing about which fish
know exactly nothing
is water,
since they have no anti-environment
which would enable them to perceive
the element they live in.”
Where we live
and who we live with
cause us to grow up knowing exactly nothing
about some parts of our environment
because we have nothing to contrast it with.
Like a fish out of water, though,
we learn about ourselves when something changes.
It’s like breathing the air and not paying any attention to it
until it gets smoky or dusty or full of pollen,
or we get bronchitis and have trouble breathing it in.
_________________________________________
In May of 2016 Pope Francis said that
“Many times in the Gospels
we encounter the spontaneous cry to Jesus
of the sick, the possessed, the poor, and the afflicted.”
Then he added, “Jesus responds to them all
with a gaze of mercy and the comfort of His presence.”
But Jesus didn’t always do that, as today’s Gospel tells us.
Jesus was fully human.
He was born into, and trained in, the ways of his culture,
and that culture, contrary to God’s direction,
despised people who were not like them.
So at the beginning of today’s Gospel passage
we see Jesus being pulled out of his comfort zone
like a fish out of water.
His humanity shows through in his first response to the woman.
He’s Jewish, and he’s learned that the Syro-Phoenicians,
the Canaanites—anyone who’s not a Jew—“those people”
are not chosen by God.
So Jesus follows the tradition of his community
and doesn’t even talk with the woman.
But she keeps on,
and her persistence and her faith change him.
Jesus’ encounter with her faith prompts him
to examine his culture’s understanding of “outsiders”
and expand his ministry to include them.
That’s the first lesson in today’s Gospel:
be like Jesus.
Be ready to listen.
Be ready to measure our beliefs and our actions by God’s love.
Be ready to hear God say to us those words that Isaiah heard:
“Do what is right, work for justice.”
Be ready to change when we see
that we’re not doing right or being just.
It’s not always easy
to turn away from the ways of the culture and the world
to answer God’s call, but God’s gift and call remain,
even if we make the choice to refuse them.
As Paul tells the Romans,
God’s gift and God’s call are irrevocable.
_________________________________________
The second lesson for us in today’s Gospel is this:
be like the Canaanite woman.
Have faith.
Be peaceful.
Be respectful...
but... be persistent.
Like that woman who needs healing for her daughter,
we need healing for that which is dear to us…
the soul of our country.
The signs of our time became very clear
in Charlottesville last Saturday.
It’s been called America’s original sin.
We need healing for the racism in our country.
We need an end to the bigoted idea of white supremacy.
_________________________________________
And there is hope.
This week millions of people
pointed to the water that surrounds us fish.
They pointed to Charlottesville
and the racism that surrounds us.
They pointed to our President
and the water that surrounds him--
murky, bloody, full of hate.
Then the news outlets focused on people
noticing the toxic environment of racism and bigotry,
and speaking out—some of them for the first time--
denouncing it, calling for action.
Many of us saw where we were,
what was around us,
and we changed.
On Monday, scores of people
joined the March against White Supremacy in Maumee,
the home of the man who drove his car
into the counter-protesters in Charlottesville.
On Tuesday Indivisible Toledo
stood once again at Senator Portman’s office
calling for action against racism.
On Wednesday Toledo and Lucas County officeholders,
office-seekers, ministers, and citizens
gathered at the “Toledo Loves Love” mural—the “Love Wall”--
to show unity in the face of hatred and violence.
As the week went on,
the internet blossomed with petitions to sign on to,
draft letters to send to the White House and the Congress,
phone messages to call to Washington and Columbus,
forums and teach-ins to take part in.
_________________________________________
We have changed.
Lines of neo-Nazis and white supremacists
marching with burning torches showed us an environment
that has surrounded us all the time.
But we did not see it… like fish don’t see the water.
Now our eyes are open to a dangerous part of our world
that is full of hate,
and we know what we have to do.
_________________________________________
Sure, we get weary of it all.
It takes a lot of time and energy,
and we can get drained just listening to the morning news.
But we have to keep on praying.
We have to keep on emailing and phoning our Senators.
Keep on writing letters to the editor.
Keep on talking about justice and peace.
Keep on reaching out to the “others” in our midst.
That’s what we have to do.
The gift and call of God are irrevocable!
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), August 13, 2017
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:9-13
Second Reading: Romans 9:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
Elijah hears God ask him, “Why are you here?”
Elijah had been afraid because Jezebel was after him
for killing 400 of her prophets, so he ran away.
He was lying under a tree asking God to let him die,
but God told him to get up and get going,
so he took a 40-day hike through the wilderness
and hid in a cave.
Once there, he isn’t moved by the storm,
or the earthquake, or the fire.
He doesn’t peak out of the cave
until God speaks to him in a gentle whisper.
When he hears that light silent sound,
Elijah gets the courage
to go out and continue his work as a prophet.
_____________________________________
In a different way, Jesus is running away, too.
John the Baptist was beheaded,
and it hits Jesus hard.
He tries to get away
to pray about it in a deserted place,
but people keep coming to him for help.
Because he has compassion for them,
he keeps on preaching and healing.
He feeds the 5,000.
He’s exhausted.
He needs some time to himself,
so he sends the disciples out on the lake
and goes off alone.
Then, in the middle of the night,
a storm comes up,
so he heads for the lake
to assure his followers that he’s with them.
The wind dies down,
and they experience his presence as divine,
the presence of God with them.
_____________________________________
Sometimes we feel like we want to tune out the news.
The storm and stress of current politics
wears us down
to the point of exhaustion and despair.
We want to retreat to a quiet desert place
and just pray about it.
We want to hide in a cave until it passes by.
_____________________________________
Or maybe we’re weary and worn out
with the daily hammering of violence and injustice
here and around the world.
We want to turn it off, ignore it,
limit our experiences to peaceful places,
hang around with people who agree with us,
protect ourselves from the incessant chatter
and vitriolic arguments.
Or we’re afraid
when we see government policies
chipping away at our democracy.
Or hear the saber-rattling language
between our President and the North Koreans.
Or hear about 107-degree temperatures in Salem, Oregon,
in the middle of a week of 90-degree lows in July.
Or maybe it’s closer to home--
family problems, job problems, health problems.
We’d just like it to end.
_____________________________________
At some point we all want to run away.
We’re afraid, like Elijah.
It seems like there’s no way out.
We find ourselves in a storm, like the disciples.
We start to sink, like Peter.
Our love of justice can inspire us to go forward,
leaning on God.
Or our fear can tempt us to run away and hide.
Then we hear that gentle whisper: “Why are you here?
What are you doing here?”
When we hear that,
it’s like a hand reaching out
to calm us and pull us up
and set us back on solid ground.
_____________________________________
No matter how good the work we do,
no matter how much time and energy
we dedicate to the works of justice and charity,
we have to stay centered in God.
Some folks do it with quiet prayer or meditation
or yoga or music.
Some take walks in the Metroparks
or head off on vacation.
We all need those times away from the hurly-burly,
off the treadmill and the merry-go-round.
Yes, as we sing so often,
we are “called to act with justice, love tenderly,
and walk humbly with God.”
Yes, we’re chosen and sent.
But we’re not robots.
Especially in these days,
we need times of prayerful retreat and recollection
so we can get back in touch with who we are
and who God is.
That’s how we get the confidence and strength
to keep on going,
to walk the shifting sands of the deserts in our lives,
to weather the raging storms.
Amen!
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:9-13
Second Reading: Romans 9:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
Elijah hears God ask him, “Why are you here?”
Elijah had been afraid because Jezebel was after him
for killing 400 of her prophets, so he ran away.
He was lying under a tree asking God to let him die,
but God told him to get up and get going,
so he took a 40-day hike through the wilderness
and hid in a cave.
Once there, he isn’t moved by the storm,
or the earthquake, or the fire.
He doesn’t peak out of the cave
until God speaks to him in a gentle whisper.
When he hears that light silent sound,
Elijah gets the courage
to go out and continue his work as a prophet.
_____________________________________
In a different way, Jesus is running away, too.
John the Baptist was beheaded,
and it hits Jesus hard.
He tries to get away
to pray about it in a deserted place,
but people keep coming to him for help.
Because he has compassion for them,
he keeps on preaching and healing.
He feeds the 5,000.
He’s exhausted.
He needs some time to himself,
so he sends the disciples out on the lake
and goes off alone.
Then, in the middle of the night,
a storm comes up,
so he heads for the lake
to assure his followers that he’s with them.
The wind dies down,
and they experience his presence as divine,
the presence of God with them.
_____________________________________
Sometimes we feel like we want to tune out the news.
The storm and stress of current politics
wears us down
to the point of exhaustion and despair.
We want to retreat to a quiet desert place
and just pray about it.
We want to hide in a cave until it passes by.
_____________________________________
Or maybe we’re weary and worn out
with the daily hammering of violence and injustice
here and around the world.
We want to turn it off, ignore it,
limit our experiences to peaceful places,
hang around with people who agree with us,
protect ourselves from the incessant chatter
and vitriolic arguments.
Or we’re afraid
when we see government policies
chipping away at our democracy.
Or hear the saber-rattling language
between our President and the North Koreans.
Or hear about 107-degree temperatures in Salem, Oregon,
in the middle of a week of 90-degree lows in July.
Or maybe it’s closer to home--
family problems, job problems, health problems.
We’d just like it to end.
_____________________________________
At some point we all want to run away.
We’re afraid, like Elijah.
It seems like there’s no way out.
We find ourselves in a storm, like the disciples.
We start to sink, like Peter.
Our love of justice can inspire us to go forward,
leaning on God.
Or our fear can tempt us to run away and hide.
Then we hear that gentle whisper: “Why are you here?
What are you doing here?”
When we hear that,
it’s like a hand reaching out
to calm us and pull us up
and set us back on solid ground.
_____________________________________
No matter how good the work we do,
no matter how much time and energy
we dedicate to the works of justice and charity,
we have to stay centered in God.
Some folks do it with quiet prayer or meditation
or yoga or music.
Some take walks in the Metroparks
or head off on vacation.
We all need those times away from the hurly-burly,
off the treadmill and the merry-go-round.
Yes, as we sing so often,
we are “called to act with justice, love tenderly,
and walk humbly with God.”
Yes, we’re chosen and sent.
But we’re not robots.
Especially in these days,
we need times of prayerful retreat and recollection
so we can get back in touch with who we are
and who God is.
That’s how we get the confidence and strength
to keep on going,
to walk the shifting sands of the deserts in our lives,
to weather the raging storms.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Transfiguration of the Lord, August 6, 2017
First Reading: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9
Second Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-19
Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9
It was the evening of April 3, 1968,
when Martin Luther King preached
what we now know as his Mountaintop Speech.
He was in Memphis
to support the sanitation workers’ boycott,
and he had heard talk about threats against him.
He talked about it this way:
“Well, I don't know what will happen now.
We've got some difficult days ahead.
But it really doesn't matter with me now,
because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.
Longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will.
And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain.
And I've looked over.
And I've seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight,
that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land!”
He was assassinated the next evening.
_______________________________________
Today’s gospel tells us
about Jesus going to the mountaintop
and walking down from that transfiguring experience
resolved to keep on preaching the reign of God.
Scholars tell us that this transfiguration passage is mythical,
portraying a truth that is true
but that can only be expressed in symbolic language.
Its purpose is to give insight
into who Jesus is
for his disciples.
He has become the light of their lives.
Not only does he fulfill their dreams
of Yahweh’s presence in their lives,
but he also embodies
everything the Law and the prophets--
Moses and Elijah--
convey in the tradition.
Jesus is seen
as chosen by God
to keep on working for justice in the world,
no matter what might happen to him.
_______________________________________
Things haven’t changed.
I first met Sara Jobin
in front of a graffiti-covered garage door in Sylvania
where scores of ordinary people gathered
to cover the hate symbols with messages of love and support. Then I
started seeing her
at the Tuesday gatherings at Senator Rob Portman’s office,
speaking out for justice
on the issues that plague our country.
Sara, a Grammy nominee, is also famous
as Resident Conductor of the Toledo Symphony,
but I didn’t know that then.
I came to know her as one of Toledo’s crusaders for justice,
a woman who fearlessly speaks truth to power
with civil dialogue and peaceful non-violence.
_______________________________________
Sara’s not the only one.
We see profiles in courage every day.
There are famous ones in the news this week,
like Susan Murkowski, Lisa Collins, and John McCain.
And there are lots of unknown ones.
Husbands and wives
who tend their sick, sometimes dying, spouses.
Grandparents who take over raising their grandchildren
when disaster hits the family.
Strangers who give sanctuary
to people running from war and terror.
_______________________________________
Fr. Tony Gallagher—many of you know him--
is wont to say that the 8th sacrament is showing up.
The folks on the street corners,
the ones who stand vigil against the death penalty,
in demonstrations for peace,
at rallies for legislation that promotes the common good--
they show up,
and it is indeed a sacrament,
a holy thing, a sign of God’s presence.
Folks who sit at home praying,
who write letters to elected officials--
they’re signs of God’s presence in our world, too.
Just like Jesus, they are transfigured.
_______________________________________
The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote that
“There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.”
In the rough and tumble, smudge and smell of daily life, he said,
“the world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
When we pay attention to it, we are transfigured--
we see who we are
and who God is.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser says that
“underneath, before and below everything else,
there flows a sacred force, both physical and spiritual.”
That energy is the presence of God in us, he says.
It gives us the freedom to live fully,
to face tough times,
to be happy
and to be thankful.
_______________________________________
Jesus grew to see himself as a beloved child of God,
charged with the responsibility
of spreading the good news of God’s presence--
God’s reign--
then and there.
His vision guided his life,
and his followers saw the change in him--
he was transfigured.
So Peter, James, and John wanted to put up a tent
and settle down on the mountain,
just like we want the honeymoon to last forever,
like we want to stay high
with our experience of a retreat that transformed us.
We don’t want to go back to the humdrum daily existence,
mowing the lawn, getting the groceries in,
gassing up the car, paying the bills,
cleaning, cooking, doing the laundry.
But, like Jesus, we know God has called us
to keep walking along the way.
We have been transformed.
We are beloved children of God,
called to spread peace and justice everywhere,
to be signs of God’s presence in our day-to-day world.
So we keep on keeping on... no matter what.
Amen!
First Reading: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9
Second Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-19
Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9
It was the evening of April 3, 1968,
when Martin Luther King preached
what we now know as his Mountaintop Speech.
He was in Memphis
to support the sanitation workers’ boycott,
and he had heard talk about threats against him.
He talked about it this way:
“Well, I don't know what will happen now.
We've got some difficult days ahead.
But it really doesn't matter with me now,
because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.
Longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will.
And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain.
And I've looked over.
And I've seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight,
that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land!”
He was assassinated the next evening.
_______________________________________
Today’s gospel tells us
about Jesus going to the mountaintop
and walking down from that transfiguring experience
resolved to keep on preaching the reign of God.
Scholars tell us that this transfiguration passage is mythical,
portraying a truth that is true
but that can only be expressed in symbolic language.
Its purpose is to give insight
into who Jesus is
for his disciples.
He has become the light of their lives.
Not only does he fulfill their dreams
of Yahweh’s presence in their lives,
but he also embodies
everything the Law and the prophets--
Moses and Elijah--
convey in the tradition.
Jesus is seen
as chosen by God
to keep on working for justice in the world,
no matter what might happen to him.
_______________________________________
Things haven’t changed.
I first met Sara Jobin
in front of a graffiti-covered garage door in Sylvania
where scores of ordinary people gathered
to cover the hate symbols with messages of love and support. Then I
started seeing her
at the Tuesday gatherings at Senator Rob Portman’s office,
speaking out for justice
on the issues that plague our country.
Sara, a Grammy nominee, is also famous
as Resident Conductor of the Toledo Symphony,
but I didn’t know that then.
I came to know her as one of Toledo’s crusaders for justice,
a woman who fearlessly speaks truth to power
with civil dialogue and peaceful non-violence.
_______________________________________
Sara’s not the only one.
We see profiles in courage every day.
There are famous ones in the news this week,
like Susan Murkowski, Lisa Collins, and John McCain.
And there are lots of unknown ones.
Husbands and wives
who tend their sick, sometimes dying, spouses.
Grandparents who take over raising their grandchildren
when disaster hits the family.
Strangers who give sanctuary
to people running from war and terror.
_______________________________________
Fr. Tony Gallagher—many of you know him--
is wont to say that the 8th sacrament is showing up.
The folks on the street corners,
the ones who stand vigil against the death penalty,
in demonstrations for peace,
at rallies for legislation that promotes the common good--
they show up,
and it is indeed a sacrament,
a holy thing, a sign of God’s presence.
Folks who sit at home praying,
who write letters to elected officials--
they’re signs of God’s presence in our world, too.
Just like Jesus, they are transfigured.
_______________________________________
The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote that
“There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.”
In the rough and tumble, smudge and smell of daily life, he said,
“the world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
When we pay attention to it, we are transfigured--
we see who we are
and who God is.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser says that
“underneath, before and below everything else,
there flows a sacred force, both physical and spiritual.”
That energy is the presence of God in us, he says.
It gives us the freedom to live fully,
to face tough times,
to be happy
and to be thankful.
_______________________________________
Jesus grew to see himself as a beloved child of God,
charged with the responsibility
of spreading the good news of God’s presence--
God’s reign--
then and there.
His vision guided his life,
and his followers saw the change in him--
he was transfigured.
So Peter, James, and John wanted to put up a tent
and settle down on the mountain,
just like we want the honeymoon to last forever,
like we want to stay high
with our experience of a retreat that transformed us.
We don’t want to go back to the humdrum daily existence,
mowing the lawn, getting the groceries in,
gassing up the car, paying the bills,
cleaning, cooking, doing the laundry.
But, like Jesus, we know God has called us
to keep walking along the way.
We have been transformed.
We are beloved children of God,
called to spread peace and justice everywhere,
to be signs of God’s presence in our day-to-day world.
So we keep on keeping on... no matter what.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), July 30, 2017
First Reading: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130
Second Reading: Romans 8:28-30
Gospel: Matthew 13:44-52
Anne Lamott says her basic prayers
are Help, Thanks, and Wow!
When we talk with God, what do we say?
What do we want help with?
What are we thankful for?
Do we pray for something that helps other people,
like the understanding heart
that Solomon asked for in our first reading?
Suppose God appeared in a dream and said,
"Ask something of me and I will give it to you."
What would we ask for?
Good health?
A long life?
Help with the bills?
To use the simile of that first parable in today’s Gospel,
what do we treasure most of all?
Do we put most of our time in
trying to get more and better stuff,
to build up the retirement account,
to gain power over other people,
to have more fun,
to get more comfortable?
What would the world be like if,
instead of these,
our one real treasure
was world peace based on justice for all?
Or the development of a classless society
based on respect for all
and the priority of need over want?
Or the worship of God
through service and a preferential option for the poor?
__________________________________
Theologian John Shea says
that Jesus’ ministry revolved around three questions:
What do you want out of life?
Where do you get it?
How much does it cost?
Jesus had those same questions
and went off alone to pray for 40 days in the desert.
He’s tempted by the same things we are--
power, money, and pleasure.
He comes away from that experience a changed man.
He’s not a carpenter any more.
He’s a preacher of good news.
He sets out into the countryside
announcing that “The reign of God is at hand.”
__________________________________
We’re used to hearing it translated as the “kingdom of God,”
but that phrase carries with it
a misleading idea
that it’s a physical place that we have to get to.
It’s not.
Jesus says it’s “at hand,” here and now.
He uses the parables of the buried treasure
and the pearl of great price
to tell us what the reign of God is like.
It’s like a treasure that’s right under our feet,
like that treasure buried in the field.
It is so valuable
that it’s worth taking drastic action to gain it,
worth giving away anything and everything else.
__________________________________
Scholars tell us that the reign of God
is about God working in our everyday lives.
So Jesus’ basic message centers on one truth:
God is present right here and now
in everything we do,
in every person we encounter,
in every situation we face.
We don’t have to go to church,
say another rosary, attend another bible study,
or even think holy, pious thoughts.
There’s nothing we can do to make God present.
God is already here.
God is already in charge.
That’s a “wow” for sure!
__________________________________
We have all given up something for the reign of God.
Maybe we changed our plans one day to help somebody.
Or did without a meal
and donated the cost of that meal to feed the needy.
Maybe we stopped by to visit a homebound friend.
Or demonstrated for peace, or a clean Lake Erie, or healthcare.
When we do those things,
when we start making the choice to love and serve,
we’re living in the reign of God,
jumping in with both feet.
It’s life-changing.
And it’s worth everything!
Amen!
First Reading: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130
Second Reading: Romans 8:28-30
Gospel: Matthew 13:44-52
Anne Lamott says her basic prayers
are Help, Thanks, and Wow!
When we talk with God, what do we say?
What do we want help with?
What are we thankful for?
Do we pray for something that helps other people,
like the understanding heart
that Solomon asked for in our first reading?
Suppose God appeared in a dream and said,
"Ask something of me and I will give it to you."
What would we ask for?
Good health?
A long life?
Help with the bills?
To use the simile of that first parable in today’s Gospel,
what do we treasure most of all?
Do we put most of our time in
trying to get more and better stuff,
to build up the retirement account,
to gain power over other people,
to have more fun,
to get more comfortable?
What would the world be like if,
instead of these,
our one real treasure
was world peace based on justice for all?
Or the development of a classless society
based on respect for all
and the priority of need over want?
Or the worship of God
through service and a preferential option for the poor?
__________________________________
Theologian John Shea says
that Jesus’ ministry revolved around three questions:
What do you want out of life?
Where do you get it?
How much does it cost?
Jesus had those same questions
and went off alone to pray for 40 days in the desert.
He’s tempted by the same things we are--
power, money, and pleasure.
He comes away from that experience a changed man.
He’s not a carpenter any more.
He’s a preacher of good news.
He sets out into the countryside
announcing that “The reign of God is at hand.”
__________________________________
We’re used to hearing it translated as the “kingdom of God,”
but that phrase carries with it
a misleading idea
that it’s a physical place that we have to get to.
It’s not.
Jesus says it’s “at hand,” here and now.
He uses the parables of the buried treasure
and the pearl of great price
to tell us what the reign of God is like.
It’s like a treasure that’s right under our feet,
like that treasure buried in the field.
It is so valuable
that it’s worth taking drastic action to gain it,
worth giving away anything and everything else.
__________________________________
Scholars tell us that the reign of God
is about God working in our everyday lives.
So Jesus’ basic message centers on one truth:
God is present right here and now
in everything we do,
in every person we encounter,
in every situation we face.
We don’t have to go to church,
say another rosary, attend another bible study,
or even think holy, pious thoughts.
There’s nothing we can do to make God present.
God is already here.
God is already in charge.
That’s a “wow” for sure!
__________________________________
We have all given up something for the reign of God.
Maybe we changed our plans one day to help somebody.
Or did without a meal
and donated the cost of that meal to feed the needy.
Maybe we stopped by to visit a homebound friend.
Or demonstrated for peace, or a clean Lake Erie, or healthcare.
When we do those things,
when we start making the choice to love and serve,
we’re living in the reign of God,
jumping in with both feet.
It’s life-changing.
And it’s worth everything!
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), July 23, 2017
The dictionary says that a weed
is “a plant that is not valued where it is growing.”
It’s out of place, like a dandelion in the lawn… a weed,
until you want to make some wine.
Or chicory,
that light blue flower that’s popping up everywhere right now…
a weed, until you want coffee without caffeine.
Or like that purslane in the rose garden… a weed,
until you want lots of Omega-3s and Vitamin A in your salad.
_________________________________________
Jesus tells this parable
comparing the reign of God to weeds in the wheat
to make the point
that we need to have the patience of the Master Gardener,
not be quick to judge who’s weed and who’s wheat.
God is patient, and so must we be.
We need to value every person,
even the ones who seem to be out of place,
out of step with everyone else…
or surely out of step with where we think they should be.
_________________________________________
How can we tell who’s a weed and who’s not?
We live in a world where many people judge harshly,
are quick to get angry,
ready to pounce and pull up what they see as weeds.
That’s not what the reign of God is like,
and it’s not the good news we are called to spread.
Each person is unique--
each of us with a different handle on God,
a different holiness,
a different life commitment to serve.
According to the Vatican II
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
we have to inspire our world
by showing mutual esteem, reverence, and harmony.
It’s our mission as Church
to show the goodness of the gospel message…
to be one with people of every nation, race, creed, and culture.
_________________________________________
So we can’t treat people, no matter who they are,
like weeds in our wheat field.
Jesus didn’t label people as hopeless weeds,
and we’re not supposed to do that, either.
We are not called to separate and exclude people,
but, like our God, to welcome and embrace.
We are not to label people because they’re in a different group,
whether it’s an ethnic group,
or a religious group,
or a racial group, or whatever.
We’ve sure heard it:
You’re Islamic, so you’re a terrorist.
You’re Irish, so you’re a drunk.
You’re Polish, so you can’t be all that smart.
You’re liberal… you’re a nut.
You’re conservative… you’re crazy.
You live in Monclova, and I live in north Toledo?
Then don’t cross over!
We know who you are,
and that’s the way you’ll always be!!
Those labels hurt, don’t they?
_________________________________________
We are all a work in progress--
like weeds growing until they’re found to have special vitamins
or the ability to give comfort or healing
or be useful or beautiful...
or just be able to hold the soil in place
in a drought or a windstorm.
Or like poke weed with its poison berries
that are now being spread on solar cells
to capture more sunlight to convert into power.
The wheat has its purpose, but so do the weeds.
Our task is to find the unique purpose that’s ours.
_________________________________________
That doesn’t mean we have to do big things,
like run for public office so we can help people,
or run a Fortune 500 company
so we can give big donations to good causes,
or become sports heroes so we can inspire little kids.
Maybe we spend time with the grandkids.
Scramble eggs at Claver House.
Say hi to the new person in the neighborhood.
Those random acts of kindness
weave themselves into a lifetime of accepting others
and loving them for who they are.
Weeds or wheat?
It doesn’t matter.
Whether we’re growing in a place where we’re appreciated
or stuck in a place where people think we don’t belong,
we are valuable
for becoming all that we were created to be.
Amen!
The dictionary says that a weed
is “a plant that is not valued where it is growing.”
It’s out of place, like a dandelion in the lawn… a weed,
until you want to make some wine.
Or chicory,
that light blue flower that’s popping up everywhere right now…
a weed, until you want coffee without caffeine.
Or like that purslane in the rose garden… a weed,
until you want lots of Omega-3s and Vitamin A in your salad.
_________________________________________
Jesus tells this parable
comparing the reign of God to weeds in the wheat
to make the point
that we need to have the patience of the Master Gardener,
not be quick to judge who’s weed and who’s wheat.
God is patient, and so must we be.
We need to value every person,
even the ones who seem to be out of place,
out of step with everyone else…
or surely out of step with where we think they should be.
_________________________________________
How can we tell who’s a weed and who’s not?
We live in a world where many people judge harshly,
are quick to get angry,
ready to pounce and pull up what they see as weeds.
That’s not what the reign of God is like,
and it’s not the good news we are called to spread.
Each person is unique--
each of us with a different handle on God,
a different holiness,
a different life commitment to serve.
According to the Vatican II
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
we have to inspire our world
by showing mutual esteem, reverence, and harmony.
It’s our mission as Church
to show the goodness of the gospel message…
to be one with people of every nation, race, creed, and culture.
_________________________________________
So we can’t treat people, no matter who they are,
like weeds in our wheat field.
Jesus didn’t label people as hopeless weeds,
and we’re not supposed to do that, either.
We are not called to separate and exclude people,
but, like our God, to welcome and embrace.
We are not to label people because they’re in a different group,
whether it’s an ethnic group,
or a religious group,
or a racial group, or whatever.
We’ve sure heard it:
You’re Islamic, so you’re a terrorist.
You’re Irish, so you’re a drunk.
You’re Polish, so you can’t be all that smart.
You’re liberal… you’re a nut.
You’re conservative… you’re crazy.
You live in Monclova, and I live in north Toledo?
Then don’t cross over!
We know who you are,
and that’s the way you’ll always be!!
Those labels hurt, don’t they?
_________________________________________
We are all a work in progress--
like weeds growing until they’re found to have special vitamins
or the ability to give comfort or healing
or be useful or beautiful...
or just be able to hold the soil in place
in a drought or a windstorm.
Or like poke weed with its poison berries
that are now being spread on solar cells
to capture more sunlight to convert into power.
The wheat has its purpose, but so do the weeds.
Our task is to find the unique purpose that’s ours.
_________________________________________
That doesn’t mean we have to do big things,
like run for public office so we can help people,
or run a Fortune 500 company
so we can give big donations to good causes,
or become sports heroes so we can inspire little kids.
Maybe we spend time with the grandkids.
Scramble eggs at Claver House.
Say hi to the new person in the neighborhood.
Those random acts of kindness
weave themselves into a lifetime of accepting others
and loving them for who they are.
Weeds or wheat?
It doesn’t matter.
Whether we’re growing in a place where we’re appreciated
or stuck in a place where people think we don’t belong,
we are valuable
for becoming all that we were created to be.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), July 16, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 65:10-14
Second Reading: Romans 8:18-23
Gospel: Matthew 13:1-23
The parable of the sower and the seed
was common lore in Jesus’ culture and time,
sort of like how we say something like
“a stitch in time saves nine”
or “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Scholars think that Jesus uses that parable to answer his critics
when they say he’s wasting his time
by preaching the reign of God.
They tell him that almost nobody
would ever follow through on what he’s teaching,
but Jesus won’t stop teaching.
He believes that the few who do follow him
will produce abundant fruit.
_____________________________________
Half a century later, Matthew’s community has needs
that the historical Jesus didn’t have.
By that time they’re being called Christians,
and they have a problem
with some of their people leaving the faith,
going off the path,
producing no fruit.
So Matthew applies Jesus’ parable
in a way that meets the needs of his community.
_____________________________________
Our task as today’s followers of the way of Jesus
hasn’t changed from the task of those first apostles.
We are to listen to God’s word
and figure out how that word speaks to us
for the needs of our time.
Today we hear Isaiah telling us
that God speaks through all of creation.
God says:
Yes, as rain and snow come down from the heavens,
it shall not return to me void,
but it shall do my will,
achieving the end—its purpose—for which I sent it.
Each of us is a word that comes forth from the mouth of God,
destined to achieve the purpose for which God sent us.
God made each of us like everything else in creation.
God said: Let there be light.
And there was light.
God said: Let there be Colleen, and there was Colleen.
Let there be Tom, and there was Tom.
And… [mention names of others present].
God calls us by name
and plants us here to make a difference.
_____________________________________
What is the rain that makes us grow?
When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe,
author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
he said, “So you are the little lady who inspired this big war.”
Who was Albert Einstein’s grammar school science teacher?
Who told Aretha Franklin she should sing?
We remember people who have encouraged us,
taught us,
showed us the way.
They helped us grow.
We in turn encourage, teach, and show the way
to our children, our friends, our co-workers.
_____________________________________
Back in the 80s
a reporter interviewed Russian Premier Boris Yeltsin
and asked him what gave him the courage
to stand firm against communism.
Yeltsin said it was a Polish electrician named Lech Walesa.
When Walesa was interviewed and asked what inspired him,
he said it was the civil rights movement in the United States
led by Martin Luther King.
When Martin Luther King was interviewed
and asked what inspired him,
he said it was the courage of one woman, Rosa Parks,
who refused to move to the back seat of the bus.
So it is with each one of us.
God sows good seed,
creates us with a personality and a character
that’s unique and special,
and surrounds us with people who help us grow and develop.
_____________________________________
Like the sower who sows seed in the earth,
God pronounces our names
and sends us forth to be great fathers, great mothers;
good sisters to our sisters,
good brothers to our brothers,
good friends and co-workers,
good citizens of our country and world.
We will not return empty;
we will do what we have been called and sent to do,
and we will produce abundant fruit.
_____________________________________
Each day of our lives we ask ourselves
how we are bringing about God’s reign right now.
We know, just like Paul said,
that we are all groaning inwardly
as we struggle with the needs of our world.
This week we’ve all groaned at the disclosures
of more Russian involvement
in our American political process.
We groan at the health care proposals in Congress
that threaten the well-being of our friends and neighbors
who are poor and sick.
We groan at the failure of our government to take serious action
to protect our planet.
Yes, we groan,
but because we know that we are a people called and sent,
we don’t just groan.
We take action.
We pray.
We take care of our family and friends.
We write letters and send emails and phone public officeholders.
We show up at demonstrations and lectures.
We talk about the issues with the people in our lives.
We sign petitions.
We vote.
We carry God’s word of justice and peace and love with us.
We speak God’s word with our very lives,
everywhere we go.
_____________________________________
So Jesus was right.
He was not wasting his time
preaching and teaching about the reign of God.
Like that seed on good ground,
we—his followers today--
are producing an abundant harvest.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 65:10-14
Second Reading: Romans 8:18-23
Gospel: Matthew 13:1-23
The parable of the sower and the seed
was common lore in Jesus’ culture and time,
sort of like how we say something like
“a stitch in time saves nine”
or “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Scholars think that Jesus uses that parable to answer his critics
when they say he’s wasting his time
by preaching the reign of God.
They tell him that almost nobody
would ever follow through on what he’s teaching,
but Jesus won’t stop teaching.
He believes that the few who do follow him
will produce abundant fruit.
_____________________________________
Half a century later, Matthew’s community has needs
that the historical Jesus didn’t have.
By that time they’re being called Christians,
and they have a problem
with some of their people leaving the faith,
going off the path,
producing no fruit.
So Matthew applies Jesus’ parable
in a way that meets the needs of his community.
_____________________________________
Our task as today’s followers of the way of Jesus
hasn’t changed from the task of those first apostles.
We are to listen to God’s word
and figure out how that word speaks to us
for the needs of our time.
Today we hear Isaiah telling us
that God speaks through all of creation.
God says:
Yes, as rain and snow come down from the heavens,
it shall not return to me void,
but it shall do my will,
achieving the end—its purpose—for which I sent it.
Each of us is a word that comes forth from the mouth of God,
destined to achieve the purpose for which God sent us.
God made each of us like everything else in creation.
God said: Let there be light.
And there was light.
God said: Let there be Colleen, and there was Colleen.
Let there be Tom, and there was Tom.
And… [mention names of others present].
God calls us by name
and plants us here to make a difference.
_____________________________________
What is the rain that makes us grow?
When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe,
author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
he said, “So you are the little lady who inspired this big war.”
Who was Albert Einstein’s grammar school science teacher?
Who told Aretha Franklin she should sing?
We remember people who have encouraged us,
taught us,
showed us the way.
They helped us grow.
We in turn encourage, teach, and show the way
to our children, our friends, our co-workers.
_____________________________________
Back in the 80s
a reporter interviewed Russian Premier Boris Yeltsin
and asked him what gave him the courage
to stand firm against communism.
Yeltsin said it was a Polish electrician named Lech Walesa.
When Walesa was interviewed and asked what inspired him,
he said it was the civil rights movement in the United States
led by Martin Luther King.
When Martin Luther King was interviewed
and asked what inspired him,
he said it was the courage of one woman, Rosa Parks,
who refused to move to the back seat of the bus.
So it is with each one of us.
God sows good seed,
creates us with a personality and a character
that’s unique and special,
and surrounds us with people who help us grow and develop.
_____________________________________
Like the sower who sows seed in the earth,
God pronounces our names
and sends us forth to be great fathers, great mothers;
good sisters to our sisters,
good brothers to our brothers,
good friends and co-workers,
good citizens of our country and world.
We will not return empty;
we will do what we have been called and sent to do,
and we will produce abundant fruit.
_____________________________________
Each day of our lives we ask ourselves
how we are bringing about God’s reign right now.
We know, just like Paul said,
that we are all groaning inwardly
as we struggle with the needs of our world.
This week we’ve all groaned at the disclosures
of more Russian involvement
in our American political process.
We groan at the health care proposals in Congress
that threaten the well-being of our friends and neighbors
who are poor and sick.
We groan at the failure of our government to take serious action
to protect our planet.
Yes, we groan,
but because we know that we are a people called and sent,
we don’t just groan.
We take action.
We pray.
We take care of our family and friends.
We write letters and send emails and phone public officeholders.
We show up at demonstrations and lectures.
We talk about the issues with the people in our lives.
We sign petitions.
We vote.
We carry God’s word of justice and peace and love with us.
We speak God’s word with our very lives,
everywhere we go.
_____________________________________
So Jesus was right.
He was not wasting his time
preaching and teaching about the reign of God.
Like that seed on good ground,
we—his followers today--
are producing an abundant harvest.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), July 9, 2017
First Reading: Zechariah 9:9-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Second Reading: Romans 8:9, 11-13
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
For a long time I’ve thought that,
like a cat, I have at least nine lives:
when I was two,
pitching headfirst off Grandma’s front porch onto the sidewalk;
when I was 17, crushed under my horse
when he flipped over in a parade;
when I was 28, hit broadside and ending up with a broken back.
That makes three of them, already before I was 30.
And then there are a lot more than nine lives
that I’ve lived in the different jobs,
one after another, sometimes two at a time--
in teaching, politics, government, business administration,
my own technical writing business, and now the church.
Serial careers, they call them,
typical of my generation of American women.
At each step along the way--
it’s the same way with your life as it is with mine--
we go through changes,
and we have some bad things happen along with the good.
Some folks rant and rave when bad things happen to them,
get into a rage about things they can’t change.
Been there, done that.
And other folks follow a path of stillness,
a calm and centered approach.
I keep working on that one.
___________________________________
Today’s Gospel gives us insight into Jesus’ advice to his followers
to help us through the tough times.
We are to aim for that quiet grounding
in meekness and gentleness and humility of heart
that will help us get through.
We are to be humble, not proud.
Not above it all.
We’re to stand in the middle of things,
accepting what comes
and doing our best to stay centered in God,
remembering our mission as disciples sent to the world.
___________________________________
Scripture scholars tell us
that the third part of today’s gospel passage,
that part about the yoke,
echoes a passage in the Book of Sirach--
the prophet Ben Sira--
written about two centuries before Jesus.
The prophet gives this advice:
“Put your neck under the yoke,
and let your souls receive instruction;
it is to be found close by.
See with your eyes that I have labored little
and found for myself much rest.”
Matthew’s community remembers Jesus putting it this way:
“Come to me, all you who labor and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me,
for I am humble and gentle of heart.
Here you will find rest for your souls,
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It’s not true that Jesus described himself as humble and gentle.
Matthew puts these words in Jesus’ mouth
because it’s the way Jesus’ followers
describe the way they experienced his presence with them,
the way they remember him—as meek and humble of heart.
___________________________________
That “yoke” metaphor that Sirach and Jesus use
isn’t a familiar one in our country today.
Most of us don’t have any experience
hitching animals together to do work for us.
We don’t have any first-hand experience
of being tied up in a prison chain gang.
We have heard about people in abusive relationships,
tied to a spouse who mistreats them.
We’ve known folks in jobs
that require long hours at low pay
under harsh working conditions,
tied to keeping the job
because their family can’t survive without it.
Even though we haven’t had those negative experiences,
we do know what’s it’s like to be tied to people.
Married folks are said to be yoked in marriage.
All of us enjoy relationships that connect us—tie us together--
yoke us—to family and friends and co-workers.
___________________________________
When we hear that first reading
with Zechariah’s promise of freedom, peace,
and deliverance from war and discord
under a meek, just ruler--
we can’t help but contrast it
with the leader we have in our country today.
Our President seems to be committed
to giving us a daily lesson in what it looks like
when a person is not humble and gentle of heart.
With every day’s speech and every night’s tweets
he shows the pride and arrogance of a tortured soul.
He seems unable to bear the burdens of office,
and the burdens of life, with grace.
Like some other folks in the news these days,
he doesn’t yoke himself to the Spirit of God that dwells in him.
Like the Pennsylvania man who went into road rage
and killed 18-year-old Bianca Roberson
as she tried to merge onto the highway.
Or the New York doctor who killed another doctor
and wounded six others
because he lost his job.
___________________________________
On the other hand, we do personally know lots of folks
who are humble and gentle of heart,
who do yoke themselves to the Spirit of God.
Last week I heard of a 101-year-old woman in a nursing home
who accepts the increasing limitations of age with grace
and cheers up her visitors and the workers who help her.
And those members of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
who demonstrate for peace every Sunday at noon,
rain or shine—peacefully.
And those Indivisible Toledo folks who gather
at the door of Senator Portman’s office every Tuesday
with their signs
urging him to stand with the poor and the vulnerable.
And you tell me stories of the people in your lives,
how you celebrate with family and friends in the good times,
how you walk with them
as they suffer through physical problems
and work problems and relationship problems,
yoking yourself with them
through the Spirit of God in you and in them.
You are living proof
that there is reason to hope for the peace
that God promised through Zechariah.
You are witnesses to the peace that comes with following Jesus,
taking his yoke on your shoulders.
It’s your grace-filled struggle with the pains of your life,
your gentle presence walking with the people in your life,
that shows me Jesus today.
You are inspiring!
I thank God for you!
First Reading: Zechariah 9:9-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Second Reading: Romans 8:9, 11-13
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
For a long time I’ve thought that,
like a cat, I have at least nine lives:
when I was two,
pitching headfirst off Grandma’s front porch onto the sidewalk;
when I was 17, crushed under my horse
when he flipped over in a parade;
when I was 28, hit broadside and ending up with a broken back.
That makes three of them, already before I was 30.
And then there are a lot more than nine lives
that I’ve lived in the different jobs,
one after another, sometimes two at a time--
in teaching, politics, government, business administration,
my own technical writing business, and now the church.
Serial careers, they call them,
typical of my generation of American women.
At each step along the way--
it’s the same way with your life as it is with mine--
we go through changes,
and we have some bad things happen along with the good.
Some folks rant and rave when bad things happen to them,
get into a rage about things they can’t change.
Been there, done that.
And other folks follow a path of stillness,
a calm and centered approach.
I keep working on that one.
___________________________________
Today’s Gospel gives us insight into Jesus’ advice to his followers
to help us through the tough times.
We are to aim for that quiet grounding
in meekness and gentleness and humility of heart
that will help us get through.
We are to be humble, not proud.
Not above it all.
We’re to stand in the middle of things,
accepting what comes
and doing our best to stay centered in God,
remembering our mission as disciples sent to the world.
___________________________________
Scripture scholars tell us
that the third part of today’s gospel passage,
that part about the yoke,
echoes a passage in the Book of Sirach--
the prophet Ben Sira--
written about two centuries before Jesus.
The prophet gives this advice:
“Put your neck under the yoke,
and let your souls receive instruction;
it is to be found close by.
See with your eyes that I have labored little
and found for myself much rest.”
Matthew’s community remembers Jesus putting it this way:
“Come to me, all you who labor and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me,
for I am humble and gentle of heart.
Here you will find rest for your souls,
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It’s not true that Jesus described himself as humble and gentle.
Matthew puts these words in Jesus’ mouth
because it’s the way Jesus’ followers
describe the way they experienced his presence with them,
the way they remember him—as meek and humble of heart.
___________________________________
That “yoke” metaphor that Sirach and Jesus use
isn’t a familiar one in our country today.
Most of us don’t have any experience
hitching animals together to do work for us.
We don’t have any first-hand experience
of being tied up in a prison chain gang.
We have heard about people in abusive relationships,
tied to a spouse who mistreats them.
We’ve known folks in jobs
that require long hours at low pay
under harsh working conditions,
tied to keeping the job
because their family can’t survive without it.
Even though we haven’t had those negative experiences,
we do know what’s it’s like to be tied to people.
Married folks are said to be yoked in marriage.
All of us enjoy relationships that connect us—tie us together--
yoke us—to family and friends and co-workers.
___________________________________
When we hear that first reading
with Zechariah’s promise of freedom, peace,
and deliverance from war and discord
under a meek, just ruler--
we can’t help but contrast it
with the leader we have in our country today.
Our President seems to be committed
to giving us a daily lesson in what it looks like
when a person is not humble and gentle of heart.
With every day’s speech and every night’s tweets
he shows the pride and arrogance of a tortured soul.
He seems unable to bear the burdens of office,
and the burdens of life, with grace.
Like some other folks in the news these days,
he doesn’t yoke himself to the Spirit of God that dwells in him.
Like the Pennsylvania man who went into road rage
and killed 18-year-old Bianca Roberson
as she tried to merge onto the highway.
Or the New York doctor who killed another doctor
and wounded six others
because he lost his job.
___________________________________
On the other hand, we do personally know lots of folks
who are humble and gentle of heart,
who do yoke themselves to the Spirit of God.
Last week I heard of a 101-year-old woman in a nursing home
who accepts the increasing limitations of age with grace
and cheers up her visitors and the workers who help her.
And those members of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
who demonstrate for peace every Sunday at noon,
rain or shine—peacefully.
And those Indivisible Toledo folks who gather
at the door of Senator Portman’s office every Tuesday
with their signs
urging him to stand with the poor and the vulnerable.
And you tell me stories of the people in your lives,
how you celebrate with family and friends in the good times,
how you walk with them
as they suffer through physical problems
and work problems and relationship problems,
yoking yourself with them
through the Spirit of God in you and in them.
You are living proof
that there is reason to hope for the peace
that God promised through Zechariah.
You are witnesses to the peace that comes with following Jesus,
taking his yoke on your shoulders.
It’s your grace-filled struggle with the pains of your life,
your gentle presence walking with the people in your life,
that shows me Jesus today.
You are inspiring!
I thank God for you!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), July 2, 2017
First Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:2-3, 16-19
Second Reading: Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Gospel: Matthew 10:37-42
We find lots of good lessons in this short gospel reading today
as Matthew’ ends his “Mission Discourse”--
Jesus’ instructions to his followers
as they go out to teach as he has done.
Matthew gives us a group of sayings
that focus on priorities and hospitality.
The passage starts with the saying
that we who follow him
can’t hold back even if our family is not with us.
It’s a serious life-and-death commitment to follow his way.
____________________________________________
Then comes the first statement about hospitality:
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me.”
It’s Namaste!
The divine in me bows to the divine in you.
We say that we believe God is everywhere,
and that includes God in every human being,
in all of creation.
____________________________________________
We have to ask ourselves how successful we are
at putting that belief into practice.
I experience it here, and I hope you do, too.
When we gather, I feel your welcome surround me.
It’s the same open-hearted welcome I feel
when I join my Toledo relatives for Thanksgiving Dinner.
It’s the open-hearted welcome I felt
when the Muslims at Masjid Saad
hosted a five-week discussion
on Jesus and loving our neighbor.
It’s the same open-hearted welcome we,
as followers of the Way of Jesus,
are required to extend to immigrants and refugees,
to the homeless and the downtrodden,
to folks who are like us,
and to folks who are different.
As the poet William Butler Yeats put it,
“There are no strangers here;
only friends you haven't yet met.”
____________________________________________
Matthew’s group of hospitality sayings continues with
“Those who welcome prophets…
will receive the reward reserved for the prophets themselves;
those who welcome holy people…
will receive the reward of the holy ones.”
The prophets and the holy ones
are the people who speak truth to power,
the ones who stand up for moral law and moral actions.
In our country this weekend,
as we prepare to celebrate our independence
as a free people in a free nation,
we hear some people of faith
speaking out against unjust government actions
and labeling some government actions as immoral.
Some folks say they’re being unpatriotic.
They think that the church should always support the country,
regardless of its actions or policies--
my country, right or wrong--
but that makes the church’s prophetic mission
a mission impossible.
No country is perfect,
and there is much in our country right now
that is clearly contrary to Christian teaching and Gospel values.
To challenge unjust policies and situations is deeply patriotic.
Because we love our country,
we want it to be the best it can be.
So it’s our love of country and our love of God
that put us on the streets
protesting the lifting of EPA regulations,
and the establishment of Muslim bans,
and health care that doesn’t include everyone,
and taxes that benefit only the rich…
a long list, isn’t it?
____________________________________________
Matthew goes on to end his Mission Discourse
with the saying about giving just a cup of cold water
to the lowly ones.
Water is life.
According to Scientific American,
a child left in a hot car
or an athlete exercising hard in hot weather
can dehydrate, overheat, and die in a period of a few hours.
An adult in comfortable surroundings, though,
can sometimes survive for a week or more without water.
The United Nations says
that 700 million people in 43 countries
don’t have enough water.
Eight years from now,
that number will be up to 1.8 billion people
without enough water.
Five years after that, almost half the world's population
will be living in areas of high water stress,
and lack of enough water
will displace between 24 and 700 million people.”
Even right now, 6 to 8 million people die every year
from water scarcity, water disasters,
and water-related diseases.
Here in northwest Ohio
we know the threat from lack of safe drinking water
because of our experience with toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie.
And we know that it is the poor and the central city dwellers
who suffer first and most from the problem.
We remember the TV news coverage
showing long lines in the hot sun
for the bottled water distributions in the inner city
and the suburban folks able to drive their SUVs
to buy as much water as they wanted
from the chain stores in their neighborhoods.
We still hear about the unresolved problems just north of us
because of the lead in Flint’s drinking water supply.
We who are called by our baptism to be prophets--
to speak truth to power--
have a moral obligation to speak out.
As Pope Francis put it in his encyclical letter, Laudato Si,
“Access to safe drinkable water
is a basic and universal human right…
essential to human survival
and… a condition for the exercise of other human rights.
Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor
who lack access to drinking water,
because they are denied the right
to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity.”
____________________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit, we have been speaking out.
We donated to Clean Water for the World,
funding a solar-powered water purification system
for villagers in a developing country.
Several of our members have become
active as Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
showing up and speaking out about the toxic algae problem.
I have two friends who travel from Liberty Center
to our southwest border every year
to spend their “vacation” with a group called “No More Deaths,”
dropping caches of water in the desert
to help people trying to escape death squads
in their home countries.
____________________________________________
As we hear in today’s Gospel,
God’s favor rests on the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
on Clean Water for the World,
on the prophets of the Flint Water crisis,
on the water-bearers of the “No More Deaths” effort.
God’s favor rests on each one of us
because we welcome the stranger,
stand up for justice,
walk with the down-hearted,
and speak truth to power.
We have no need to fear the Last Judgment
that Matthew describes in his 25th chapter.
“Just as you did it to one of the least of these,
you did it for me.”
We don’t have to do big things.
We have only to open our hearts to the people we live with,
and we will have the reward of knowing that,
by following Jesus’ way,
we have opened our hearts to them
and to God.
Amen!
First Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:2-3, 16-19
Second Reading: Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Gospel: Matthew 10:37-42
We find lots of good lessons in this short gospel reading today
as Matthew’ ends his “Mission Discourse”--
Jesus’ instructions to his followers
as they go out to teach as he has done.
Matthew gives us a group of sayings
that focus on priorities and hospitality.
The passage starts with the saying
that we who follow him
can’t hold back even if our family is not with us.
It’s a serious life-and-death commitment to follow his way.
____________________________________________
Then comes the first statement about hospitality:
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me.”
It’s Namaste!
The divine in me bows to the divine in you.
We say that we believe God is everywhere,
and that includes God in every human being,
in all of creation.
____________________________________________
We have to ask ourselves how successful we are
at putting that belief into practice.
I experience it here, and I hope you do, too.
When we gather, I feel your welcome surround me.
It’s the same open-hearted welcome I feel
when I join my Toledo relatives for Thanksgiving Dinner.
It’s the open-hearted welcome I felt
when the Muslims at Masjid Saad
hosted a five-week discussion
on Jesus and loving our neighbor.
It’s the same open-hearted welcome we,
as followers of the Way of Jesus,
are required to extend to immigrants and refugees,
to the homeless and the downtrodden,
to folks who are like us,
and to folks who are different.
As the poet William Butler Yeats put it,
“There are no strangers here;
only friends you haven't yet met.”
____________________________________________
Matthew’s group of hospitality sayings continues with
“Those who welcome prophets…
will receive the reward reserved for the prophets themselves;
those who welcome holy people…
will receive the reward of the holy ones.”
The prophets and the holy ones
are the people who speak truth to power,
the ones who stand up for moral law and moral actions.
In our country this weekend,
as we prepare to celebrate our independence
as a free people in a free nation,
we hear some people of faith
speaking out against unjust government actions
and labeling some government actions as immoral.
Some folks say they’re being unpatriotic.
They think that the church should always support the country,
regardless of its actions or policies--
my country, right or wrong--
but that makes the church’s prophetic mission
a mission impossible.
No country is perfect,
and there is much in our country right now
that is clearly contrary to Christian teaching and Gospel values.
To challenge unjust policies and situations is deeply patriotic.
Because we love our country,
we want it to be the best it can be.
So it’s our love of country and our love of God
that put us on the streets
protesting the lifting of EPA regulations,
and the establishment of Muslim bans,
and health care that doesn’t include everyone,
and taxes that benefit only the rich…
a long list, isn’t it?
____________________________________________
Matthew goes on to end his Mission Discourse
with the saying about giving just a cup of cold water
to the lowly ones.
Water is life.
According to Scientific American,
a child left in a hot car
or an athlete exercising hard in hot weather
can dehydrate, overheat, and die in a period of a few hours.
An adult in comfortable surroundings, though,
can sometimes survive for a week or more without water.
The United Nations says
that 700 million people in 43 countries
don’t have enough water.
Eight years from now,
that number will be up to 1.8 billion people
without enough water.
Five years after that, almost half the world's population
will be living in areas of high water stress,
and lack of enough water
will displace between 24 and 700 million people.”
Even right now, 6 to 8 million people die every year
from water scarcity, water disasters,
and water-related diseases.
Here in northwest Ohio
we know the threat from lack of safe drinking water
because of our experience with toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie.
And we know that it is the poor and the central city dwellers
who suffer first and most from the problem.
We remember the TV news coverage
showing long lines in the hot sun
for the bottled water distributions in the inner city
and the suburban folks able to drive their SUVs
to buy as much water as they wanted
from the chain stores in their neighborhoods.
We still hear about the unresolved problems just north of us
because of the lead in Flint’s drinking water supply.
We who are called by our baptism to be prophets--
to speak truth to power--
have a moral obligation to speak out.
As Pope Francis put it in his encyclical letter, Laudato Si,
“Access to safe drinkable water
is a basic and universal human right…
essential to human survival
and… a condition for the exercise of other human rights.
Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor
who lack access to drinking water,
because they are denied the right
to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity.”
____________________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit, we have been speaking out.
We donated to Clean Water for the World,
funding a solar-powered water purification system
for villagers in a developing country.
Several of our members have become
active as Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
showing up and speaking out about the toxic algae problem.
I have two friends who travel from Liberty Center
to our southwest border every year
to spend their “vacation” with a group called “No More Deaths,”
dropping caches of water in the desert
to help people trying to escape death squads
in their home countries.
____________________________________________
As we hear in today’s Gospel,
God’s favor rests on the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
on Clean Water for the World,
on the prophets of the Flint Water crisis,
on the water-bearers of the “No More Deaths” effort.
God’s favor rests on each one of us
because we welcome the stranger,
stand up for justice,
walk with the down-hearted,
and speak truth to power.
We have no need to fear the Last Judgment
that Matthew describes in his 25th chapter.
“Just as you did it to one of the least of these,
you did it for me.”
We don’t have to do big things.
We have only to open our hearts to the people we live with,
and we will have the reward of knowing that,
by following Jesus’ way,
we have opened our hearts to them
and to God.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), June 25, 2017
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-15
Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33
This part of Matthew’s gospel is called “the Mission Discourse”
because Matthew has crafted a scene
where Jesus gives instructions to the Twelve
on how to act as faithful followers of his message
as he sends them out to teach as he has done.
Biblical scholars conclude that Jesus did not send 12 apostles.
He sent many more than that.
And they observe that the instructions
given in the 10th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel
reflect the direction of the young Christian community
as it tried to imitate what Jesus had told them
in light of the events that were taking place half a century later.
Those scholars think that Jesus probably said
that there is nothing hidden that won’t be made known,
and he probably used common analogies
like the price of sparrows
and the number of hairs on our heads
to talk about God’s care for us when we are afraid.
And they don’t have much doubt
that Jesus invited his followers to imitate him
in his role as itinerant sage,
as speaker of truth to power,
as faithful servant of the God of love.
Jesus was true to the tradition of his Jewish faith,
the same tradition that has developed
into what we today refer to
as the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
____________________________________
As today’s scriptures tell us,
when we profess our faith in God
and commit ourselves to follow the Way of Jesus,
we risk people’s anger and resentment.
It’s never been easy to speak the word of God.
We are called to speak the truth out loud,
proclaim it in public,
announce the way of Jesus…
and not only in words
but in the way we live.
We open ourselves up for arguments and opposition,
even attacks and hate.
People get mad at us
because they take it as a challenge to the way they live--
and so it is.
Today’s civic atmosphere requires us
to challenge injustice,
to proclaim to the housetops, without fear or intimidation,
the truth that the Spirit of God gives us.
We are not allowed to wait for a Marcy Kaptur
to speak out against the Lake Erie pollution problem,
or wait for a Romulus Durant to fix our schools.
We ordinary folks are the ones who have to speak truth to power,
to say it like it is, and keep saying it.
So we see the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
that grassroots group of ordinary citizens
who work tirelessly to get public officeholders
to take our toxic algae problem seriously.
And we know about the work
of Toledoans United for Social Action—TUSA--
who have been badgering City Council for years
about the lead paint in Toledo’s central city rental housing.
And the work of the FLOC HOMIES and Toledo Indivisible.
And the Toledo Community Coalition with its anti-racism efforts.
And the volunteers who staff the 145 food pantries
and 40 clothing programs
and 28 homeless shelters in Toledo,
and the folks who read to kids and tutor them
or spend hours rocking the premies at the hospital.
Groups of ordinary citizens who step up and live the Word,
who demand truth and justice
for the poor and the weak and the vulnerable,
and who show what that means with their very lives.
____________________________________
Prophets like them--
prophets like Jesus, and like Jeremiah in that first reading--
prophets like us even, are not the powerful,
not the heads of government,
not the ones in charge of companies and institutions,
not the church authorities.
We are people who seem to have no power,
but God speaks through us.
So today’s readings are aimed at each and every one of us.
We are all called to be prophets.
We have been baptized into Jesus
as priest, prophet, and servant leader.
All of us.
Sure, we have different roles in the church.
But we all have the same role in life.
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we are called to proclaim
the way that rejects hate and violence,
the way of justice,
the way of peace.
We are called to witness to God’s love in the world.
Amen!
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-15
Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33
This part of Matthew’s gospel is called “the Mission Discourse”
because Matthew has crafted a scene
where Jesus gives instructions to the Twelve
on how to act as faithful followers of his message
as he sends them out to teach as he has done.
Biblical scholars conclude that Jesus did not send 12 apostles.
He sent many more than that.
And they observe that the instructions
given in the 10th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel
reflect the direction of the young Christian community
as it tried to imitate what Jesus had told them
in light of the events that were taking place half a century later.
Those scholars think that Jesus probably said
that there is nothing hidden that won’t be made known,
and he probably used common analogies
like the price of sparrows
and the number of hairs on our heads
to talk about God’s care for us when we are afraid.
And they don’t have much doubt
that Jesus invited his followers to imitate him
in his role as itinerant sage,
as speaker of truth to power,
as faithful servant of the God of love.
Jesus was true to the tradition of his Jewish faith,
the same tradition that has developed
into what we today refer to
as the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
____________________________________
As today’s scriptures tell us,
when we profess our faith in God
and commit ourselves to follow the Way of Jesus,
we risk people’s anger and resentment.
It’s never been easy to speak the word of God.
We are called to speak the truth out loud,
proclaim it in public,
announce the way of Jesus…
and not only in words
but in the way we live.
We open ourselves up for arguments and opposition,
even attacks and hate.
People get mad at us
because they take it as a challenge to the way they live--
and so it is.
Today’s civic atmosphere requires us
to challenge injustice,
to proclaim to the housetops, without fear or intimidation,
the truth that the Spirit of God gives us.
We are not allowed to wait for a Marcy Kaptur
to speak out against the Lake Erie pollution problem,
or wait for a Romulus Durant to fix our schools.
We ordinary folks are the ones who have to speak truth to power,
to say it like it is, and keep saying it.
So we see the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
that grassroots group of ordinary citizens
who work tirelessly to get public officeholders
to take our toxic algae problem seriously.
And we know about the work
of Toledoans United for Social Action—TUSA--
who have been badgering City Council for years
about the lead paint in Toledo’s central city rental housing.
And the work of the FLOC HOMIES and Toledo Indivisible.
And the Toledo Community Coalition with its anti-racism efforts.
And the volunteers who staff the 145 food pantries
and 40 clothing programs
and 28 homeless shelters in Toledo,
and the folks who read to kids and tutor them
or spend hours rocking the premies at the hospital.
Groups of ordinary citizens who step up and live the Word,
who demand truth and justice
for the poor and the weak and the vulnerable,
and who show what that means with their very lives.
____________________________________
Prophets like them--
prophets like Jesus, and like Jeremiah in that first reading--
prophets like us even, are not the powerful,
not the heads of government,
not the ones in charge of companies and institutions,
not the church authorities.
We are people who seem to have no power,
but God speaks through us.
So today’s readings are aimed at each and every one of us.
We are all called to be prophets.
We have been baptized into Jesus
as priest, prophet, and servant leader.
All of us.
Sure, we have different roles in the church.
But we all have the same role in life.
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we are called to proclaim
the way that rejects hate and violence,
the way of justice,
the way of peace.
We are called to witness to God’s love in the world.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Body & Blood of Christ, 6-18-2017
First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14B-16A
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Gospel: John 6:51-58
We are what we eat.
We know that if we eat too many carrots,
or any of the long list of foods with high levels of carotenoids,
we’ll turn yellowish in just a month or two.
And we know that if we don’t eat anything with vitamin C,
we’ll get scurvy.
Our church has known for a long time that what we eat--
the word and the bread that we take in,
literally and figuratively—changes us.
_____________________________________
It was about 3,300 years ago when Moses,
leading our Jewish ancestors out of Egypt,
reminded them that they are “fed not by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
Word and bread--
still the same today, underlined for us
in Vatican II’s document Sacrosanctum Concilium,
the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
Word and bread--
the Liturgy of the Word
and the Liturgy of the Eucharist:
this Mass we celebrate.
It was about 25 years after Christ
when Paul wrote to the Corinthians urging them
to act in keeping with their belief
that they are one in Christ,
exhorting them to remember
that they all drink from the one cup
and eat from the same loaf.
One bread, one cup of wine, shared by all--
still the same vision of unity today...
and, unfortunately, the quarrels still divide us.
John, unlike the other evangelists,
doesn’t write about eating the Last Supper meal.
Instead he gives us that whole Chapter 6--
called the “Bread of Life discourse”--
to talk about the meaning of Jesus’ table fellowship:
Jesus is in God,
and God in him,
and we are in them
and they in us.
We are one.
The tradition goes on.
In 1549 an Anglican Mass prayer asked
that “we,
and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion,
may… be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction,
and made one body with him,
that he may dwell in us, and we in him.”
_____________________________________
So here we are, week after week,
coming together and reciting our Berakah prayer,
built on the same blessing that Jesus prayed.
We say, “Blessed are you, God of creation”--
Berakah Adonai--
“Blessed are you, for through your goodness
we have this bread to offer…
through your goodness
we have this wine to offer….”
We gather as the body of Christ,
one people in covenant relationship,
giving thanks, sharing food and drink--
the bread of life, the blessing cup--
practicing the inclusive table fellowship that Jesus taught,
the same prodigally generous hospitality
that he learned from his Jewish roots.
_____________________________________
Bread and wine,
fitting signs of our oneness in Christ and with one another.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser reminds us
that bread is not made from one grain of wheat
but from individual kernels
that that had to be crushed to become flour,
which then had to endure fire
to be baked into the substance
that gives us the bread of life.
And the wine is not one grape but many,
crushed to become the substance
out of which ferments this cup of salvation.
We are that bread and wine, united as one.
_____________________________________
We are one body, united in Christ, gathered in fellowship--
in communion--
with one another and all that is.
Here at Holy Spirit, we say we’re inclusive
and we do welcome and include everyone who comes.
We go out into the highways and byways with Tree Toledo,
witnessing to what we’re about.
Ecumenical outreach happens here in Toledo, too,
like the Lutherans inviting me to sub
when their pastor is out of town
and First Church of God spearheading the anti-racism efforts
of the Toledo Community Coalition.
_____________________________________
It goes even farther with interfaith cooperation.
Sue put together and facilitated our Jesus Fatwah series,
and the Masjid Saad folks provided
both the venue and great food for us at the mosque.
Jenny invited our new Muslim friends to Mass at the Cathedral,
and we joined them again at the mosque this past Thursday
to break the Ramadan fast.
The MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio
gathers Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs,
and any and every other faith tradition
for worship and fellowship and action for justice and peace.
Good things are happening here.
_____________________________________
But the vast majority of Christians live gated lives,
even if they don’t live in gated communities
They don’t reach out to the “other,”
even to other Christians,
even the ones who live next door
or work in the next office down the hall.
Rev. Martin Luther King’s observation
that the most segregated time in America
is 11 o’clock on Sunday morning
is still true.
The movie Hidden Figures gives us a vivid picture
of how separation by race hurts everyone.
As Tennyson put it in his poem Ulysses,
we are a part of all that we have met.
If we avoid people because they are different from us,
whether it’s religion or race or class
or disability or education or gender orientation
or whatever,
we miss the chance
to become all that God created us to be.
There’s still work to do
before all of us are one body
in the one God of us all.
_____________________________________
Yes, we are what we eat.
When we step forward to eat the bread and drink the wine,
we take in the sign and sacrament
of our unity with each other,
with all of God’s people,
with all creation,
and with God.
We are in communion.
We are one.
Amen!
First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14B-16A
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Gospel: John 6:51-58
We are what we eat.
We know that if we eat too many carrots,
or any of the long list of foods with high levels of carotenoids,
we’ll turn yellowish in just a month or two.
And we know that if we don’t eat anything with vitamin C,
we’ll get scurvy.
Our church has known for a long time that what we eat--
the word and the bread that we take in,
literally and figuratively—changes us.
_____________________________________
It was about 3,300 years ago when Moses,
leading our Jewish ancestors out of Egypt,
reminded them that they are “fed not by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
Word and bread--
still the same today, underlined for us
in Vatican II’s document Sacrosanctum Concilium,
the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
Word and bread--
the Liturgy of the Word
and the Liturgy of the Eucharist:
this Mass we celebrate.
It was about 25 years after Christ
when Paul wrote to the Corinthians urging them
to act in keeping with their belief
that they are one in Christ,
exhorting them to remember
that they all drink from the one cup
and eat from the same loaf.
One bread, one cup of wine, shared by all--
still the same vision of unity today...
and, unfortunately, the quarrels still divide us.
John, unlike the other evangelists,
doesn’t write about eating the Last Supper meal.
Instead he gives us that whole Chapter 6--
called the “Bread of Life discourse”--
to talk about the meaning of Jesus’ table fellowship:
Jesus is in God,
and God in him,
and we are in them
and they in us.
We are one.
The tradition goes on.
In 1549 an Anglican Mass prayer asked
that “we,
and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion,
may… be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction,
and made one body with him,
that he may dwell in us, and we in him.”
_____________________________________
So here we are, week after week,
coming together and reciting our Berakah prayer,
built on the same blessing that Jesus prayed.
We say, “Blessed are you, God of creation”--
Berakah Adonai--
“Blessed are you, for through your goodness
we have this bread to offer…
through your goodness
we have this wine to offer….”
We gather as the body of Christ,
one people in covenant relationship,
giving thanks, sharing food and drink--
the bread of life, the blessing cup--
practicing the inclusive table fellowship that Jesus taught,
the same prodigally generous hospitality
that he learned from his Jewish roots.
_____________________________________
Bread and wine,
fitting signs of our oneness in Christ and with one another.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser reminds us
that bread is not made from one grain of wheat
but from individual kernels
that that had to be crushed to become flour,
which then had to endure fire
to be baked into the substance
that gives us the bread of life.
And the wine is not one grape but many,
crushed to become the substance
out of which ferments this cup of salvation.
We are that bread and wine, united as one.
_____________________________________
We are one body, united in Christ, gathered in fellowship--
in communion--
with one another and all that is.
Here at Holy Spirit, we say we’re inclusive
and we do welcome and include everyone who comes.
We go out into the highways and byways with Tree Toledo,
witnessing to what we’re about.
Ecumenical outreach happens here in Toledo, too,
like the Lutherans inviting me to sub
when their pastor is out of town
and First Church of God spearheading the anti-racism efforts
of the Toledo Community Coalition.
_____________________________________
It goes even farther with interfaith cooperation.
Sue put together and facilitated our Jesus Fatwah series,
and the Masjid Saad folks provided
both the venue and great food for us at the mosque.
Jenny invited our new Muslim friends to Mass at the Cathedral,
and we joined them again at the mosque this past Thursday
to break the Ramadan fast.
The MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio
gathers Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs,
and any and every other faith tradition
for worship and fellowship and action for justice and peace.
Good things are happening here.
_____________________________________
But the vast majority of Christians live gated lives,
even if they don’t live in gated communities
They don’t reach out to the “other,”
even to other Christians,
even the ones who live next door
or work in the next office down the hall.
Rev. Martin Luther King’s observation
that the most segregated time in America
is 11 o’clock on Sunday morning
is still true.
The movie Hidden Figures gives us a vivid picture
of how separation by race hurts everyone.
As Tennyson put it in his poem Ulysses,
we are a part of all that we have met.
If we avoid people because they are different from us,
whether it’s religion or race or class
or disability or education or gender orientation
or whatever,
we miss the chance
to become all that God created us to be.
There’s still work to do
before all of us are one body
in the one God of us all.
_____________________________________
Yes, we are what we eat.
When we step forward to eat the bread and drink the wine,
we take in the sign and sacrament
of our unity with each other,
with all of God’s people,
with all creation,
and with God.
We are in communion.
We are one.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Trinity Sunday, June 11, 2017
First Reading: Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9
Responsorial Psalm: Daniel 3:52-56
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Gospel: John 3:16-18
Many years ago, my brother Bill told this story
about how his feet would get cold,
so when he went to bed
he got in the habit of warming them up
on his wife Cheryl’s back.
One especially cold winter night
when he hopped into bed
and tried to warm up his toes,
Cheryl jumped up and yelled at him,
“God, your feet are cold!”
Bill smiled at her and said,
“Cheryl, we’ve been married for 25 years.
You can call me Bill.”
___________________________________
My brother sure isn’t God, and Cheryl--
as every wife finds out much sooner than 25 years--
she sure knew it.
But she was right in one way--
God is in my brother, just as God is in her,
and in everyone,
and in everything else in the universe.
That’s one of the things we believe about God--
that God is everywhere.
___________________________________
Today we celebrate the Trinity,
another one of our beliefs about the nature of God,
and today’s readings give us some of the historical passages
that eventually led to the belief we hold today.
We know that the word “trinity”
doesn’t appear anywhere in scripture.
The dogma of the Trinity as “three persons in one God”
was not articulated until the 4th century in the Council of Nicea.
Fr. Roger Karban suggests that,
if the question of defining God had come up in the 1st century,
the biblical writers
would have challenged the questioner’s faith.
They were much more concerned with talking about
what they had experienced God doing in their lives
than with defining who God is.
___________________________________
Some of us who grew up memorizing the Baltimore Catechism
learned to answer question 27, “What is the Blessed Trinity?”
this way: “The Blessed Trinity is one God
in three Divine Persons.”
We now know that “person”
is a mistranslation of the Latin persona,
from the Greek prosōpon
meaning character, or mask, or personality.
Even though we hear some of our church leaders insist
that the church is unchanging,
this dogma took a long time to develop,
and it’s still developing today.
Even The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that
“In order to articulate the dogma of the Trinity,
the Church had to develop her own terminology.
In doing this, it says, the Church gave these terms
“a new and unprecedented meaning.”
Over time, the Church has used lots of terms
to talk about the Trinity,
including substance, essence, nature, person, hypostasis,
manifestation, epiphany, and relation.
___________________________________
And not just words.
There have been lots of images, too.
Franciscan Sr. Marie Lucey points to The Shack
as “only the most recent expression
of what seems to be a human need
to visualize the mystery of The Most Holy Trinity,”
noting that we’ve used a triangle,
a picture of two men and a bird,
and a shamrock to try to define and explain the dogma,
so why not a movie?
___________________________________
We spend our lives trying to understand God,
and we’re living in a time that seems especially challenging,
what with the reach of science
and the chaos in our society
and the medieval rigidity
of some members of our Church’s hierarchy.
The bottom line is that we can learn everything
that’s ever been thought about God by somebody else,
and we will not really know anything
until we experience God ourselves.
Paradoxically, once we experience God,
we will also find that our words and images
aren’t any better
than the ones other people have come up with.
As Fr. Jim Bacik says, God is “gracious mystery.”
___________________________________
For many folks these days,
the scriptures and the tradition and the signs of the times
lead us to understand God as love
and the Trinity as that love expressed in relationship.
So God loves.
It makes sense to me
because that has been my experience of God.
And I find affirmation for belief in the God of love in the scriptures.
Our Jewish ancestors in faith experienced God
as a cloud surrounding the mountain and covering the tent,
as a pillar of fire, a burning bush, a tiny whispering sound.
Moses experienced a personal God
who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
rich in kindness and fidelity.”
The commandments and the law tell us
about right relationship with God, with family,
with self, with others.
Regardless of how the infancy narratives are interpreted,
perhaps some part of Jesus’ experience of God was
as the father he didn’t have on earth,
a relationship that was nurturing and abiding,
comforting and faithful.
His experience of God gives us the great commandment--
love God with all our being;
and the commandment that is like it--
love our neighbors as ourselves.
Paul’s experience of God prompts him to insist
that we "encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace….
Greet one another with a holy kiss,
and the God of love and peace will be with you."
___________________________________
How do we know God today?
We can’t count the ways.
We know God as giver of life, land, and food;
as liberator and protector, as shepherd;
as peace and love.
We know God as the suffering God,
the God of the poor and the vulnerable.
We know about the God made flesh like us,
the God for us, the God with us, the God among us.
Those are just some of the ways we know God.
___________________________________
It’s a different question to ask how we experience God today,
in this world of individualism and self-gratification,
this America-first political arena,
this me-first society.
Experiencing God requires
that we live in right relationship with others, with nature,
with all the pieces of the universe around us.
In those right relationships
we will see God.
___________________________________
Today’s celebration calls us to be on the watch for God’s presence,
no matter what form it takes.
It’s not an accident that we experience God’s presence
when we’re with family and friends,
or when we’re walking along the lake,
or when we smile and say hi to a stranger on the street.
God is already God,
already here.
When we’re in right relationship,
loving God and loving neighbor,
we live with justice.
And justice is what love sounds like
when it speaks in public.
Amen!
First Reading: Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9
Responsorial Psalm: Daniel 3:52-56
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Gospel: John 3:16-18
Many years ago, my brother Bill told this story
about how his feet would get cold,
so when he went to bed
he got in the habit of warming them up
on his wife Cheryl’s back.
One especially cold winter night
when he hopped into bed
and tried to warm up his toes,
Cheryl jumped up and yelled at him,
“God, your feet are cold!”
Bill smiled at her and said,
“Cheryl, we’ve been married for 25 years.
You can call me Bill.”
___________________________________
My brother sure isn’t God, and Cheryl--
as every wife finds out much sooner than 25 years--
she sure knew it.
But she was right in one way--
God is in my brother, just as God is in her,
and in everyone,
and in everything else in the universe.
That’s one of the things we believe about God--
that God is everywhere.
___________________________________
Today we celebrate the Trinity,
another one of our beliefs about the nature of God,
and today’s readings give us some of the historical passages
that eventually led to the belief we hold today.
We know that the word “trinity”
doesn’t appear anywhere in scripture.
The dogma of the Trinity as “three persons in one God”
was not articulated until the 4th century in the Council of Nicea.
Fr. Roger Karban suggests that,
if the question of defining God had come up in the 1st century,
the biblical writers
would have challenged the questioner’s faith.
They were much more concerned with talking about
what they had experienced God doing in their lives
than with defining who God is.
___________________________________
Some of us who grew up memorizing the Baltimore Catechism
learned to answer question 27, “What is the Blessed Trinity?”
this way: “The Blessed Trinity is one God
in three Divine Persons.”
We now know that “person”
is a mistranslation of the Latin persona,
from the Greek prosōpon
meaning character, or mask, or personality.
Even though we hear some of our church leaders insist
that the church is unchanging,
this dogma took a long time to develop,
and it’s still developing today.
Even The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that
“In order to articulate the dogma of the Trinity,
the Church had to develop her own terminology.
In doing this, it says, the Church gave these terms
“a new and unprecedented meaning.”
Over time, the Church has used lots of terms
to talk about the Trinity,
including substance, essence, nature, person, hypostasis,
manifestation, epiphany, and relation.
___________________________________
And not just words.
There have been lots of images, too.
Franciscan Sr. Marie Lucey points to The Shack
as “only the most recent expression
of what seems to be a human need
to visualize the mystery of The Most Holy Trinity,”
noting that we’ve used a triangle,
a picture of two men and a bird,
and a shamrock to try to define and explain the dogma,
so why not a movie?
___________________________________
We spend our lives trying to understand God,
and we’re living in a time that seems especially challenging,
what with the reach of science
and the chaos in our society
and the medieval rigidity
of some members of our Church’s hierarchy.
The bottom line is that we can learn everything
that’s ever been thought about God by somebody else,
and we will not really know anything
until we experience God ourselves.
Paradoxically, once we experience God,
we will also find that our words and images
aren’t any better
than the ones other people have come up with.
As Fr. Jim Bacik says, God is “gracious mystery.”
___________________________________
For many folks these days,
the scriptures and the tradition and the signs of the times
lead us to understand God as love
and the Trinity as that love expressed in relationship.
So God loves.
It makes sense to me
because that has been my experience of God.
And I find affirmation for belief in the God of love in the scriptures.
Our Jewish ancestors in faith experienced God
as a cloud surrounding the mountain and covering the tent,
as a pillar of fire, a burning bush, a tiny whispering sound.
Moses experienced a personal God
who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
rich in kindness and fidelity.”
The commandments and the law tell us
about right relationship with God, with family,
with self, with others.
Regardless of how the infancy narratives are interpreted,
perhaps some part of Jesus’ experience of God was
as the father he didn’t have on earth,
a relationship that was nurturing and abiding,
comforting and faithful.
His experience of God gives us the great commandment--
love God with all our being;
and the commandment that is like it--
love our neighbors as ourselves.
Paul’s experience of God prompts him to insist
that we "encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace….
Greet one another with a holy kiss,
and the God of love and peace will be with you."
___________________________________
How do we know God today?
We can’t count the ways.
We know God as giver of life, land, and food;
as liberator and protector, as shepherd;
as peace and love.
We know God as the suffering God,
the God of the poor and the vulnerable.
We know about the God made flesh like us,
the God for us, the God with us, the God among us.
Those are just some of the ways we know God.
___________________________________
It’s a different question to ask how we experience God today,
in this world of individualism and self-gratification,
this America-first political arena,
this me-first society.
Experiencing God requires
that we live in right relationship with others, with nature,
with all the pieces of the universe around us.
In those right relationships
we will see God.
___________________________________
Today’s celebration calls us to be on the watch for God’s presence,
no matter what form it takes.
It’s not an accident that we experience God’s presence
when we’re with family and friends,
or when we’re walking along the lake,
or when we smile and say hi to a stranger on the street.
God is already God,
already here.
When we’re in right relationship,
loving God and loving neighbor,
we live with justice.
And justice is what love sounds like
when it speaks in public.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Pentecost, June 4, 2017
First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3B-7, 12-13
Gospel: John 20:19-23
Pentecost is not just another Sunday.
It’s a feast equal to Christmas and Easter.
Pentecost celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit into all people.
In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
the Spirit opens the hearts of people from all over the world
to understand God’s message,
even though it is spoken in foreign languages.
In our second reading
the people of Corinth embrace Paul’s message
of many gifts and many outcomes in one body and one Spirit.
In the Gospel the disciples understand Jesus’ message
as he breathes the Spirit’s power
of peace and forgiveness into them.
It’s an empowering breath, the breath of life, that Holy Spirit.
The Spirit sends us out
to serve the common good and change the world.
_________________________________________
Those messages from our scripture and tradition make sense.
Today we hear lots of messages that make no sense.
We hear the language of HUD Secretary Ben Carson say
“poverty is a state of mind,”
that people with the “right mind”
can pull themselves up without help from others.
But we don’t understand that language.
It makes no sense.
Doesn’t fit the facts.
We hear Representative Paul Ryan say
that the proposed budget is “right on the target.”
We wonder what his target is,
since the budget cuts programs
for people who need the most help,
like education, Social Security, food stamps, and Medicaid.
Same with Donald Trump.
We hear him continuing to talk about “radical Islamic terrorism.”
He calls Muslims “sick people”
and tries to ban them from coming here.
This week he continued his attack on our environmental protections
by pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.
We hear the words, but they make no sense.
They don’t fit the facts.
Where is the Spirit of truth?
_________________________________________
We hear other messages.
We know about the impact of climate change,
those 173,000 other people around the world
who died last week…
173,000 people who starved to death
because their land has turned to desert rubble.
Last week 140 people died at the hands of terrorists
in Iraq, England, the Philippines,
Yemen, Egypt, and Afghanistan.
Another 90 died in Kabul this week.
Where is the Spirit of peace?
_________________________________________
Or to get closer to home, in that same week here in the U.S.,
386 people died of drug overdose;
769 people died in car accidents;
and 2,163 people died from gun violence,
49 of them children
People around the world and right here at home
are suffering and dying.
Where is the Spirit, the Giver of Life?
_________________________________________
Pope Francis encourages us to ask
whether we are open to the Holy Spirit,
or closed and fearful.
“Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths
which God’s newness sets before us,” he asks,
“or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures
which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?”
_________________________________________
We have to keep asking that same question,
everywhere in our lives…
of our institutional church, of our government,
of the organizations we belong to...
and of ourselves.
_________________________________________
We have dreams of a better world.
We dream of living in a society where all people are equal.
We dream of a just world
where all people have their basic needs met
and no one lives in poverty, hunger, or homelessness.
We dream of a nonviolent world--
no war, no terrorism, no murder,
no death penalty, no domestic violence, no bullying.
We dream of a world of love, forgiveness, and service.
Yes, we dream of renewal in the Spirit.
_________________________________________
This past Tuesday, over a cup of tea with my friend Eileen,
I heard the story of her cousin Bruce.
He had a learning disability and didn’t do well in school.
He went to Guatemala as a construction worker.
Eileen told me that the family didn’t know many details of his life
until they gathered for his funeral where they learned that,
though plagued with that learning disability
and injuries he had suffered doing construction,
Bruce had gone on to teach English language
for years before he died.
Friends and former students showed up
to tell how much Bruce had meant to them,
how encouraging he was,
how he had spurred them to become all they could be.
The family received notes from people all over the world
remembering Bruce’s kindness, his sense of humor,
and his helping hand reaching out in time of need.
Thursday I heard Helen’s story,
a woman who had to have her arms and legs amputated
but still manages to cheer up the other nursing home residents
and give wise counsel to the aides who care for her.
_________________________________________
That’s where the Spirit of truth and peace and forgiveness is,
with ordinary people like Bruce and Helen and you and me.
We don’t need to look for somebody to let the Spirit loose,
or wait for elected government officials
to tell the truth and to make peace.
Today’s celebration of Pentecost reminds us
that we are all baptized in the Spirit,
sent into the world to do what Bruce did,
to do what Helen does--
to use the gifts we have
to make the world better
whoever and wherever we are.
The Spirit moves in the world,
and in each of us.
We are the ones sent
to renew the face of the earth.
Amen!
First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3B-7, 12-13
Gospel: John 20:19-23
Pentecost is not just another Sunday.
It’s a feast equal to Christmas and Easter.
Pentecost celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit into all people.
In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
the Spirit opens the hearts of people from all over the world
to understand God’s message,
even though it is spoken in foreign languages.
In our second reading
the people of Corinth embrace Paul’s message
of many gifts and many outcomes in one body and one Spirit.
In the Gospel the disciples understand Jesus’ message
as he breathes the Spirit’s power
of peace and forgiveness into them.
It’s an empowering breath, the breath of life, that Holy Spirit.
The Spirit sends us out
to serve the common good and change the world.
_________________________________________
Those messages from our scripture and tradition make sense.
Today we hear lots of messages that make no sense.
We hear the language of HUD Secretary Ben Carson say
“poverty is a state of mind,”
that people with the “right mind”
can pull themselves up without help from others.
But we don’t understand that language.
It makes no sense.
Doesn’t fit the facts.
We hear Representative Paul Ryan say
that the proposed budget is “right on the target.”
We wonder what his target is,
since the budget cuts programs
for people who need the most help,
like education, Social Security, food stamps, and Medicaid.
Same with Donald Trump.
We hear him continuing to talk about “radical Islamic terrorism.”
He calls Muslims “sick people”
and tries to ban them from coming here.
This week he continued his attack on our environmental protections
by pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.
We hear the words, but they make no sense.
They don’t fit the facts.
Where is the Spirit of truth?
_________________________________________
We hear other messages.
We know about the impact of climate change,
those 173,000 other people around the world
who died last week…
173,000 people who starved to death
because their land has turned to desert rubble.
Last week 140 people died at the hands of terrorists
in Iraq, England, the Philippines,
Yemen, Egypt, and Afghanistan.
Another 90 died in Kabul this week.
Where is the Spirit of peace?
_________________________________________
Or to get closer to home, in that same week here in the U.S.,
386 people died of drug overdose;
769 people died in car accidents;
and 2,163 people died from gun violence,
49 of them children
People around the world and right here at home
are suffering and dying.
Where is the Spirit, the Giver of Life?
_________________________________________
Pope Francis encourages us to ask
whether we are open to the Holy Spirit,
or closed and fearful.
“Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths
which God’s newness sets before us,” he asks,
“or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures
which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?”
_________________________________________
We have to keep asking that same question,
everywhere in our lives…
of our institutional church, of our government,
of the organizations we belong to...
and of ourselves.
_________________________________________
We have dreams of a better world.
We dream of living in a society where all people are equal.
We dream of a just world
where all people have their basic needs met
and no one lives in poverty, hunger, or homelessness.
We dream of a nonviolent world--
no war, no terrorism, no murder,
no death penalty, no domestic violence, no bullying.
We dream of a world of love, forgiveness, and service.
Yes, we dream of renewal in the Spirit.
_________________________________________
This past Tuesday, over a cup of tea with my friend Eileen,
I heard the story of her cousin Bruce.
He had a learning disability and didn’t do well in school.
He went to Guatemala as a construction worker.
Eileen told me that the family didn’t know many details of his life
until they gathered for his funeral where they learned that,
though plagued with that learning disability
and injuries he had suffered doing construction,
Bruce had gone on to teach English language
for years before he died.
Friends and former students showed up
to tell how much Bruce had meant to them,
how encouraging he was,
how he had spurred them to become all they could be.
The family received notes from people all over the world
remembering Bruce’s kindness, his sense of humor,
and his helping hand reaching out in time of need.
Thursday I heard Helen’s story,
a woman who had to have her arms and legs amputated
but still manages to cheer up the other nursing home residents
and give wise counsel to the aides who care for her.
_________________________________________
That’s where the Spirit of truth and peace and forgiveness is,
with ordinary people like Bruce and Helen and you and me.
We don’t need to look for somebody to let the Spirit loose,
or wait for elected government officials
to tell the truth and to make peace.
Today’s celebration of Pentecost reminds us
that we are all baptized in the Spirit,
sent into the world to do what Bruce did,
to do what Helen does--
to use the gifts we have
to make the world better
whoever and wherever we are.
The Spirit moves in the world,
and in each of us.
We are the ones sent
to renew the face of the earth.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Ascension of the Lord, May 28, 2017
First Reading: Acts 1:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
As with Jesus’ other Easter appearances,
the Ascension stories don’t fit together in time,
or place,
or even in the descriptions of what happened.
Fr. Lawrence Mick says that
“the Ascension is more of a theological reality
than a historical date.”
He points out that Luke,
in writing his Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles,
puts the Ascension event weeks after Easter.
John’s Gospel, though, has the Spirit bestowed on the apostles
on Easter Sunday evening,
so Jesus would already have to have ascended to God.
Matthew—our Gospel today--
doesn’t even say Jesus was taken up into heaven.
Instead, what he says is that Jesus is with the apostles
and promises to be with us always.
That, according to Fr. Mick,
is the key to understanding the Ascension:
that the risen Christ is now truly present in a different way,
always with us,
a presence we can depend on and draw on.
________________________________________
As we grew up,
so many of the metaphors and images
that were used to teach us about Jesus
spoke that mystic truth
in terms that seemed like magic.
Walking through closed doors.
Appearing and disappearing.
Floating up into the clouds.
Tears cried by statues.
Hosts that bleed.
All of those images point to the divine presence with us,
but we took them literally.
Eventually, we grew in wisdom and age and grace
and began to understand that,
although they were true,
they were not real.
________________________________________
Today’s celebration of the Ascension,
with Jesus flying up to join God
on a throne above the clouds,
fits a worldview we no longer accept.
We see some folks throwing the baby out with the bathwater,
no longer believing in anything at all.
I thank God for botanists and quantum physicists
and biblical historians and astronomers…
well, the list goes on.
I’m grateful for the generations of folks
who have explored the universe,
from the tiniest spaces between matter
to the multiple universes
stretching out beyond what we can imagine.
They explore the ability of plants to “hear” water
even when they can’t sense the moisture.
They find that wild animals
can understand if a human’s thought
is dangerous or friendly to them.
They find possibilities and connections throughout all of creation.
They give us a way
to think about the continuing presence of Christ
across time and space
that doesn’t require the magic of our childhood understanding.
________________________________________
What Jesus’ Ascension means for us in the 21st century
has to be expressed in terms
of our understanding of God and creation and ourselves,
and for me that means
that he remains alive
and will always be with us.
The Divine Presence,
uniquely within each of us,
connects us with all being, all matter, all energy--
with God and each other,
in unrelenting communion.
________________________________________
So the real presence remains.
When we celebrate Eucharist,
we do not believe that Christ magically
zaps himself into the bread and wine
at the words of consecration.
We understand that he is with us in the bread and wine,
just as he has already been present in the assembly,
in the presider,
in the word proclaimed,
and wherever we are, every minute
of every day of our lives.
________________________________________
Fr. Richard Rohr talks about the “sacred space”
that we find after major events,
a kind of communal consciousness--
a heightened awareness,
a deepened compassion,
a renewed conviction.
It happens when we fall in love, or get ordained.
It happens when someone we love dies.
And it’s happening every day
when we read about events in the latest national news
striking a blow at the health of our planet,
marginalizing Muslims and blacks,
demonizing immigrants and refugees,
denigrating the poor and the vulnerable.
We step into a sacred space
where our understanding
of the connection of all that is
requires us to take a stand
against hate and persecution and violence.
________________________________________
And so we do.
We sing and pray and shout and demonstrate for justice.
We stand up and speak out for truth.
And we’re not alone.
We have each other,
and we have the spirit of Jesus.
_____________________________________________
So today we celebrate the Ascension—the growth--
of Jesus of Nazareth
from that holy Galilean preacher
into the friend who remains in communion with us always.
We remember what he stood for, and how he lived,
and the way he taught us to follow his example.
We build on the foundation he gave us--
we celebrate our communion
with him
and each other
and all the world,
as he showed us at the Last Supper.
And we wash each other’s feet,
as he did at the Last Supper,
whenever we dedicate everything we have and are
to serving the least among us.
Amen!
First Reading: Acts 1:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
As with Jesus’ other Easter appearances,
the Ascension stories don’t fit together in time,
or place,
or even in the descriptions of what happened.
Fr. Lawrence Mick says that
“the Ascension is more of a theological reality
than a historical date.”
He points out that Luke,
in writing his Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles,
puts the Ascension event weeks after Easter.
John’s Gospel, though, has the Spirit bestowed on the apostles
on Easter Sunday evening,
so Jesus would already have to have ascended to God.
Matthew—our Gospel today--
doesn’t even say Jesus was taken up into heaven.
Instead, what he says is that Jesus is with the apostles
and promises to be with us always.
That, according to Fr. Mick,
is the key to understanding the Ascension:
that the risen Christ is now truly present in a different way,
always with us,
a presence we can depend on and draw on.
________________________________________
As we grew up,
so many of the metaphors and images
that were used to teach us about Jesus
spoke that mystic truth
in terms that seemed like magic.
Walking through closed doors.
Appearing and disappearing.
Floating up into the clouds.
Tears cried by statues.
Hosts that bleed.
All of those images point to the divine presence with us,
but we took them literally.
Eventually, we grew in wisdom and age and grace
and began to understand that,
although they were true,
they were not real.
________________________________________
Today’s celebration of the Ascension,
with Jesus flying up to join God
on a throne above the clouds,
fits a worldview we no longer accept.
We see some folks throwing the baby out with the bathwater,
no longer believing in anything at all.
I thank God for botanists and quantum physicists
and biblical historians and astronomers…
well, the list goes on.
I’m grateful for the generations of folks
who have explored the universe,
from the tiniest spaces between matter
to the multiple universes
stretching out beyond what we can imagine.
They explore the ability of plants to “hear” water
even when they can’t sense the moisture.
They find that wild animals
can understand if a human’s thought
is dangerous or friendly to them.
They find possibilities and connections throughout all of creation.
They give us a way
to think about the continuing presence of Christ
across time and space
that doesn’t require the magic of our childhood understanding.
________________________________________
What Jesus’ Ascension means for us in the 21st century
has to be expressed in terms
of our understanding of God and creation and ourselves,
and for me that means
that he remains alive
and will always be with us.
The Divine Presence,
uniquely within each of us,
connects us with all being, all matter, all energy--
with God and each other,
in unrelenting communion.
________________________________________
So the real presence remains.
When we celebrate Eucharist,
we do not believe that Christ magically
zaps himself into the bread and wine
at the words of consecration.
We understand that he is with us in the bread and wine,
just as he has already been present in the assembly,
in the presider,
in the word proclaimed,
and wherever we are, every minute
of every day of our lives.
________________________________________
Fr. Richard Rohr talks about the “sacred space”
that we find after major events,
a kind of communal consciousness--
a heightened awareness,
a deepened compassion,
a renewed conviction.
It happens when we fall in love, or get ordained.
It happens when someone we love dies.
And it’s happening every day
when we read about events in the latest national news
striking a blow at the health of our planet,
marginalizing Muslims and blacks,
demonizing immigrants and refugees,
denigrating the poor and the vulnerable.
We step into a sacred space
where our understanding
of the connection of all that is
requires us to take a stand
against hate and persecution and violence.
________________________________________
And so we do.
We sing and pray and shout and demonstrate for justice.
We stand up and speak out for truth.
And we’re not alone.
We have each other,
and we have the spirit of Jesus.
_____________________________________________
So today we celebrate the Ascension—the growth--
of Jesus of Nazareth
from that holy Galilean preacher
into the friend who remains in communion with us always.
We remember what he stood for, and how he lived,
and the way he taught us to follow his example.
We build on the foundation he gave us--
we celebrate our communion
with him
and each other
and all the world,
as he showed us at the Last Supper.
And we wash each other’s feet,
as he did at the Last Supper,
whenever we dedicate everything we have and are
to serving the least among us.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 6th Sunday of Easter, May 21, 2017
First Reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18
Gospel: John 14:15-21
In today’s Gospel we hear
another piece of Jesus’ farewell address at the Last Supper.
He says that he will send a Paraclete--
that’s the Greek word for helper.
He will send the spirit of truth.
Georgetown theology professor Dr. John Pilch says that,
in Jesus’ time, it was always hard to know the truth
because secrecy, lying, and deception
were key strategies in the culture for protecting one’s honor.
Pilch says that In the culture of that time
one way to affirm the truth
was to call on God as a witness,
and the fact that we have the 8th commandment against lying
suggests that it was a common practice for people
to name God as witness to their lies.
Jesus’ contemporaries would have been frustrated
trying to discover the truth,
so Jesus’ promise of the Spirit of truth as Paraclete
was very good news to them.
____________________________________
We look around our world today, around our country, our city,
and we have to ask, where is this spirit of truth?
Where is this advocate for us?
Where is our comforter, our helper in this time of need?
We aren’t exempt from the frustration of trying to figure out
what’s true and what’s not.
Some folks I know have stopped listening to the news
because it’s so full of breaking news
with charges and counter-charges
and drama and fake news.
Where is the Spirit of Truth
as we try to sort through this daily onslaught of lies?
Where is this comforter for the people in Yemen
struck with a cholera epidemic?
Where is this helper
for the millions of South Sudanese and Nigerians
driven from their homes by war,
for the 1.4 million children
who face starvation in the famine there?
Where is the advocate
for the more than 10,000 undocumented people in NW Ohio
as they cower in fear of deportation?
Where is this Paraclete
when Mother Earth cries out
because our extravagant lifestyles
pollute the air and the water and the land?
If there is good news, where is it?
Where is the spirit of truth, the Paraclete, the comforter?
____________________________________
I know where the Paraclete is.
The spirit of God is in us.
That’s what it says in Paul’s first letter to the 1 Corinthians.
We are temples of the Holy Spirit,
and if we look around, we can see that Spirit.
In the midst of political turmoil,
both houses of Congress are investigating charges
of Russian interference in our elections,
and Wednesday a special counsel was named.
The spirit is active in that search for truth.
We all have relatives and friends
who have fallen for some piece of fake news
about poor people or Muslims or blacks or immigrants,
so we continue to talk with them and try to get them
to turn toward compassion for the vulnerable.
The spirit of truth is alive in those conversations.
The United Nations has called for aid
to the millions of people facing starvation,
and here in Toledo a group of Vatican II priests
joined their voices in a letter urging relief for Yemen.
The spirit is reaching out in comfort to people in need.
Unwilling to wait for federal action on climate change,
this past week the Governor of Virginia said “Forget Trump!”
as he ordered a strong limit
on carbon pollution from power plants,
and Tree Toledoans distributed
another 200 seedlings this week.
The spirit is giving life to the earth.
And, all over the country
people are phoning and emailing
and sending letters to their elected representatives
asking for laws to protect people and the planet.
They’re marching and demonstrating
and showing up at Congressional offices
to speak out for justice and peace.
As the hymn goes, “The Spirit is a-movin’ all over this land.”
____________________________________
We believe that God is in us and with us, so we have hope.
Our second reading tells us that we need to be ready to answer
when we’re asked why we continue to hope: it says to
“be ever ready to reply, but speak gently and respectfully.
We know that people are suffering.
We know the planet is suffering.
We know it’s not enough.
At the same time, we know that, as followers of the Way of Jesus,
we are sent to help,
sent to advocate for the poor and the vulnerable,
sent to bring peace.
So we keep on, doing what we can wherever we happen to be.
We are God’s love made visible.
We are, indeed, temples of the Holy Spirit.
Amen!
First Reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18
Gospel: John 14:15-21
In today’s Gospel we hear
another piece of Jesus’ farewell address at the Last Supper.
He says that he will send a Paraclete--
that’s the Greek word for helper.
He will send the spirit of truth.
Georgetown theology professor Dr. John Pilch says that,
in Jesus’ time, it was always hard to know the truth
because secrecy, lying, and deception
were key strategies in the culture for protecting one’s honor.
Pilch says that In the culture of that time
one way to affirm the truth
was to call on God as a witness,
and the fact that we have the 8th commandment against lying
suggests that it was a common practice for people
to name God as witness to their lies.
Jesus’ contemporaries would have been frustrated
trying to discover the truth,
so Jesus’ promise of the Spirit of truth as Paraclete
was very good news to them.
____________________________________
We look around our world today, around our country, our city,
and we have to ask, where is this spirit of truth?
Where is this advocate for us?
Where is our comforter, our helper in this time of need?
We aren’t exempt from the frustration of trying to figure out
what’s true and what’s not.
Some folks I know have stopped listening to the news
because it’s so full of breaking news
with charges and counter-charges
and drama and fake news.
Where is the Spirit of Truth
as we try to sort through this daily onslaught of lies?
Where is this comforter for the people in Yemen
struck with a cholera epidemic?
Where is this helper
for the millions of South Sudanese and Nigerians
driven from their homes by war,
for the 1.4 million children
who face starvation in the famine there?
Where is the advocate
for the more than 10,000 undocumented people in NW Ohio
as they cower in fear of deportation?
Where is this Paraclete
when Mother Earth cries out
because our extravagant lifestyles
pollute the air and the water and the land?
If there is good news, where is it?
Where is the spirit of truth, the Paraclete, the comforter?
____________________________________
I know where the Paraclete is.
The spirit of God is in us.
That’s what it says in Paul’s first letter to the 1 Corinthians.
We are temples of the Holy Spirit,
and if we look around, we can see that Spirit.
In the midst of political turmoil,
both houses of Congress are investigating charges
of Russian interference in our elections,
and Wednesday a special counsel was named.
The spirit is active in that search for truth.
We all have relatives and friends
who have fallen for some piece of fake news
about poor people or Muslims or blacks or immigrants,
so we continue to talk with them and try to get them
to turn toward compassion for the vulnerable.
The spirit of truth is alive in those conversations.
The United Nations has called for aid
to the millions of people facing starvation,
and here in Toledo a group of Vatican II priests
joined their voices in a letter urging relief for Yemen.
The spirit is reaching out in comfort to people in need.
Unwilling to wait for federal action on climate change,
this past week the Governor of Virginia said “Forget Trump!”
as he ordered a strong limit
on carbon pollution from power plants,
and Tree Toledoans distributed
another 200 seedlings this week.
The spirit is giving life to the earth.
And, all over the country
people are phoning and emailing
and sending letters to their elected representatives
asking for laws to protect people and the planet.
They’re marching and demonstrating
and showing up at Congressional offices
to speak out for justice and peace.
As the hymn goes, “The Spirit is a-movin’ all over this land.”
____________________________________
We believe that God is in us and with us, so we have hope.
Our second reading tells us that we need to be ready to answer
when we’re asked why we continue to hope: it says to
“be ever ready to reply, but speak gently and respectfully.
We know that people are suffering.
We know the planet is suffering.
We know it’s not enough.
At the same time, we know that, as followers of the Way of Jesus,
we are sent to help,
sent to advocate for the poor and the vulnerable,
sent to bring peace.
So we keep on, doing what we can wherever we happen to be.
We are God’s love made visible.
We are, indeed, temples of the Holy Spirit.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 5th Sunday of Easter, May 14, 2017
First Reading: Acts 6:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9
Gospel: John 14:1-12
Discrimination against people who are different is not new.
In that first reading from the Acts of the Apostles
we heard about mistreatment of widows
on the basis of which language they spoke.
In the second reading
we heard a letter to five communities in Asia Minor
that was written as a speech by Peter
to encourage people
who were being threatened because of their faith.
And in the Gospel
the evangelist creates a scene at the Last Supper
to help the early Christian communities
grapple with the issues of their day.
John puts memories of Jesus’ teaching
into what’s been labeled a “farewell speech.”
Scholars tell us it’s not historical fact but a faith story,
written to give the early church
a moral framework for their lives.
It’s a moral framework that still works for us,
calling us to oppose racial, ethnic, and religious bias
in our lives.
_____________________________________
John lays the cornerstone of that moral framework
in the passage just before today’s gospel,
in Chapter 13 where Jesus reminds his followers
of the commandment in the Book of Leviticus--
they are to love one another.
Then Jesus continues with a metaphor
that shows the moral basis for all life…
that we are all connected.
He talks about many dwelling places in God’s house.
It’s one house,
and to phrase it for our world today,
God’s house has room
for Spanish speakers and English speakers;
for Catholics and Lutherans and every other kind of Christian;
for Jews and Muslims and Sikhs and Buddhists
and every other kind of faith.
God’s house even has room for agnostics and atheists.
It has room for Republicans and Democrats and Independents,
and for Libertarians, conservatives and progressives.
It has room for blacks and whites
and browns and yellows and reds,
for rich and poor and in-betweens,
for city slickers and country cousins.
We are all one in God.
_____________________________________
Jesus tells us that he is in God and God is in him.
In our democratic society
with our current scientific understanding of the universe
and our cultural values of freedom, equality, and inclusiveness,
we hear those words
and understand that God is everywhere,
and that we are, like Jesus,
in God and God is in us.
Just as Jesus is a “living stone,” so are we.
_____________________________________
Cardinal Walter Kasper
describes our understanding of the connectedness of all being
as “communio.”
We are in communion—in relationship--
with everyone and everything.
We are one creation.
_____________________________________
Because we are followers of the Way,
living stones in the city of God,
we have to grapple with the issues of our day.
We have to love one another.
We have to welcome the stranger;
befriend people who are different from us;
protect the vulnerable;
tend our fragile planet.
That’s why we do what we do here at Holy Spirit--
our Tree Toledo ministry
with its digs and distributions and documentaries--
and pot parties, too, of course.
That’s why we contribute to 1Matters and Claver House
and Rahab’s Heart and UStogether
and Water for the World.
That’s why we volunteer at food pantries and community gardens,
why we reach out to help families in need.
That’s why we gather to pray and read the scriptures
and break bread.
We live in communion with God, with the world, with all that is.
Amen!
First Reading: Acts 6:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9
Gospel: John 14:1-12
Discrimination against people who are different is not new.
In that first reading from the Acts of the Apostles
we heard about mistreatment of widows
on the basis of which language they spoke.
In the second reading
we heard a letter to five communities in Asia Minor
that was written as a speech by Peter
to encourage people
who were being threatened because of their faith.
And in the Gospel
the evangelist creates a scene at the Last Supper
to help the early Christian communities
grapple with the issues of their day.
John puts memories of Jesus’ teaching
into what’s been labeled a “farewell speech.”
Scholars tell us it’s not historical fact but a faith story,
written to give the early church
a moral framework for their lives.
It’s a moral framework that still works for us,
calling us to oppose racial, ethnic, and religious bias
in our lives.
_____________________________________
John lays the cornerstone of that moral framework
in the passage just before today’s gospel,
in Chapter 13 where Jesus reminds his followers
of the commandment in the Book of Leviticus--
they are to love one another.
Then Jesus continues with a metaphor
that shows the moral basis for all life…
that we are all connected.
He talks about many dwelling places in God’s house.
It’s one house,
and to phrase it for our world today,
God’s house has room
for Spanish speakers and English speakers;
for Catholics and Lutherans and every other kind of Christian;
for Jews and Muslims and Sikhs and Buddhists
and every other kind of faith.
God’s house even has room for agnostics and atheists.
It has room for Republicans and Democrats and Independents,
and for Libertarians, conservatives and progressives.
It has room for blacks and whites
and browns and yellows and reds,
for rich and poor and in-betweens,
for city slickers and country cousins.
We are all one in God.
_____________________________________
Jesus tells us that he is in God and God is in him.
In our democratic society
with our current scientific understanding of the universe
and our cultural values of freedom, equality, and inclusiveness,
we hear those words
and understand that God is everywhere,
and that we are, like Jesus,
in God and God is in us.
Just as Jesus is a “living stone,” so are we.
_____________________________________
Cardinal Walter Kasper
describes our understanding of the connectedness of all being
as “communio.”
We are in communion—in relationship--
with everyone and everything.
We are one creation.
_____________________________________
Because we are followers of the Way,
living stones in the city of God,
we have to grapple with the issues of our day.
We have to love one another.
We have to welcome the stranger;
befriend people who are different from us;
protect the vulnerable;
tend our fragile planet.
That’s why we do what we do here at Holy Spirit--
our Tree Toledo ministry
with its digs and distributions and documentaries--
and pot parties, too, of course.
That’s why we contribute to 1Matters and Claver House
and Rahab’s Heart and UStogether
and Water for the World.
That’s why we volunteer at food pantries and community gardens,
why we reach out to help families in need.
That’s why we gather to pray and read the scriptures
and break bread.
We live in communion with God, with the world, with all that is.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 4th Sunday of Easter, May 7, 2017
First Reading: Acts 2:14, 36-41
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:20-25
Gospel: John 10:1-1
On July 4, 1969,
we had torrential rain in Sandusky County
like we experienced here this past week.
The Lake rose, and the marshes overflowed,
and the drainage ditches
that criss-cross the Great Black Swamp
jumped their banks.
My family spent the night in a car,
marooned on a piece of higher land
on our way home from celebrating
Grandpa’s 74th birthday
at my brother’s house in Sandusky.
It was afternoon on the 5th by the time
we had navigated our way west on Route 6
to see the devastation to my Grandparents’ home
flooded to the second floor,
the barn under water to the rafters,
and their little flock of sheep dead.
______________________________________
Sheep are docile animals,
submissive, weak, and needy.
In a crisis situation, as one writer puts it,
they’re dumb, directionless, and defenseless.
Sheep can swim,
and they could have made it to higher ground,
but they needed the shepherd to show them the way.
That shows one of the ways
that the sheep metaphor in today’s gospel
doesn’t work for us.
We are not like sheep in so many ways.
Like them, we can swim.
But we are not dumb.
Like them, we are animals.
But we’re more like goats--
rebellious, inquisitive, ready to try out something new.
Or like bulls—ready to attack.
We human beings do not tend
to be docile or submissive or defenseless.
______________________________________
Nope, we’re not sheep…
but the way we’re like sheep in need of a shepherd
is the point of today’s gospel reading.
Jesus tells us that,
just like sheep have to learn
to recognize the voice of the shepherd,
we have to learn to recognize the word of God.
We have to learn
to reject the voices of those thieves and robbers,
the ones who come to steal and slaughter and destroy.
______________________________________
These days politics offers us lots of lessons
that can teach us whose voice
is caring and dependable
and whose is not.
We can find the latest news on radio, TV, and internet.
We get knowledge about history and context
from books and magazines…
and radio, TV, and internet.
We have no excuse to be dumb sheep.
People in positions of power
talk and write about the issues every minute of the day.
No, we’re not dumb sheep.
______________________________________
And we’re not directionless sheep, either.
We’re smart human beings,
with a sense of what’s right and what’s wrong,
and we have the ability to think
and to sort through what we hear and read and see
to choose the right way.
As Christians, we recognize God’s voice and follow it.
We hear the message about loving our enemies,
caring for the poor,
and seeking justice.
______________________________________
Other voices may be telling us
to put ourselves ahead of everybody else,
to do whatever we have to do to be famous,
to get rich.
They speak as if the golden rule is “me first,”
not “love your neighbor as yourself.”
When we hear those other voices, we don’t follow.
Here at Holy Spirit,
we listen for the word that calls us to peace and justice
and try to follow it.
We pray… here at Mass,
and as we go about our daily routines.
Our prayer surrounds people in need everywhere,
and it helps us become more aware
of God’s voice in our hearts.
Yesterday we were downtown at the annual Plant Exchange
handing out tree seedlings
in our ongoing effort to mitigate climate change.
We’ll be doing it again and again
over the spring planting season,
not for ourselves
but for coming generations of Americans
who are not related to us
and who we will probably never meet.
Some of you are on Medicare,
but you write and call your Congress reps
to encourage them to do a better job
on health care for other people.
As a community
we entered into extended dialogue
with the Muslim community at Masjid Saad Foundation
so that we are no longer strangers
but brothers and sisters to one another.
______________________________________
One of the voices we hear is Pope Francis,
who tells us that we are
“sent out into the world as prophets of the Word
and witnesses of God’s love.”
That’s our mission as sheep—to be attentive and faithful:
attentive to the Word of God
and faithful to the practice of love and mercy in the world.
Amen!
First Reading: Acts 2:14, 36-41
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:20-25
Gospel: John 10:1-1
On July 4, 1969,
we had torrential rain in Sandusky County
like we experienced here this past week.
The Lake rose, and the marshes overflowed,
and the drainage ditches
that criss-cross the Great Black Swamp
jumped their banks.
My family spent the night in a car,
marooned on a piece of higher land
on our way home from celebrating
Grandpa’s 74th birthday
at my brother’s house in Sandusky.
It was afternoon on the 5th by the time
we had navigated our way west on Route 6
to see the devastation to my Grandparents’ home
flooded to the second floor,
the barn under water to the rafters,
and their little flock of sheep dead.
______________________________________
Sheep are docile animals,
submissive, weak, and needy.
In a crisis situation, as one writer puts it,
they’re dumb, directionless, and defenseless.
Sheep can swim,
and they could have made it to higher ground,
but they needed the shepherd to show them the way.
That shows one of the ways
that the sheep metaphor in today’s gospel
doesn’t work for us.
We are not like sheep in so many ways.
Like them, we can swim.
But we are not dumb.
Like them, we are animals.
But we’re more like goats--
rebellious, inquisitive, ready to try out something new.
Or like bulls—ready to attack.
We human beings do not tend
to be docile or submissive or defenseless.
______________________________________
Nope, we’re not sheep…
but the way we’re like sheep in need of a shepherd
is the point of today’s gospel reading.
Jesus tells us that,
just like sheep have to learn
to recognize the voice of the shepherd,
we have to learn to recognize the word of God.
We have to learn
to reject the voices of those thieves and robbers,
the ones who come to steal and slaughter and destroy.
______________________________________
These days politics offers us lots of lessons
that can teach us whose voice
is caring and dependable
and whose is not.
We can find the latest news on radio, TV, and internet.
We get knowledge about history and context
from books and magazines…
and radio, TV, and internet.
We have no excuse to be dumb sheep.
People in positions of power
talk and write about the issues every minute of the day.
No, we’re not dumb sheep.
______________________________________
And we’re not directionless sheep, either.
We’re smart human beings,
with a sense of what’s right and what’s wrong,
and we have the ability to think
and to sort through what we hear and read and see
to choose the right way.
As Christians, we recognize God’s voice and follow it.
We hear the message about loving our enemies,
caring for the poor,
and seeking justice.
______________________________________
Other voices may be telling us
to put ourselves ahead of everybody else,
to do whatever we have to do to be famous,
to get rich.
They speak as if the golden rule is “me first,”
not “love your neighbor as yourself.”
When we hear those other voices, we don’t follow.
Here at Holy Spirit,
we listen for the word that calls us to peace and justice
and try to follow it.
We pray… here at Mass,
and as we go about our daily routines.
Our prayer surrounds people in need everywhere,
and it helps us become more aware
of God’s voice in our hearts.
Yesterday we were downtown at the annual Plant Exchange
handing out tree seedlings
in our ongoing effort to mitigate climate change.
We’ll be doing it again and again
over the spring planting season,
not for ourselves
but for coming generations of Americans
who are not related to us
and who we will probably never meet.
Some of you are on Medicare,
but you write and call your Congress reps
to encourage them to do a better job
on health care for other people.
As a community
we entered into extended dialogue
with the Muslim community at Masjid Saad Foundation
so that we are no longer strangers
but brothers and sisters to one another.
______________________________________
One of the voices we hear is Pope Francis,
who tells us that we are
“sent out into the world as prophets of the Word
and witnesses of God’s love.”
That’s our mission as sheep—to be attentive and faithful:
attentive to the Word of God
and faithful to the practice of love and mercy in the world.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Third Sunday of Easter, April 30, 2017
First Reading: Acts 2:14, 22-33
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-21
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
There they go, Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas.
Going in the wrong direction.
Away from Jerusalem… disappointed, confused, afraid.
Then they meet up with a stranger.
They walk along together, talking about the scriptures.
They share a meal.
And they come to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
__________________________________________
Scholars say that this story of the travelers on the road to Emmaus
shows Luke’s storytelling ability at its best.
It started as a simple story that grew through the years
until Luke made it into a narrative
and enhanced it with scriptural echoes
of the long Jewish tradition of hospitality
where people encounter the divine
in sharing a meal with a stranger.
In its present form,
the story reflects the pattern of early Christian worship--
hearing the Scriptures proclaimed and sharing the meal.
And that’s still the pattern of our worship today.
That pattern has not changed.
__________________________________________
The gospels tell us story after story of Jesus breaking bread--
on the plain, on the mountainside,
at the homes of friends, at the homes of sinners.
No one is turned away, not even Judas at the Last Supper.
Everybody is welcome.
Everybody is included.
That’s what we’re supposed to do at every Mass.
But that pattern has changed.
__________________________________________
We have to wonder how our institutional church
got to the point of making all those rules
to exclude people from the table.
Sure, there have been some times throughout history
when it made sense to be careful,
those times when Christianity was being persecuted
and you could be jailed or killed for celebrating Mass.
But here in the United States, now, with us today?
Instead of walking along the way with people,
instead of inviting them to stop a while with us,
instead of sharing a meal and breaking bread with them,
we still have rules on the books
that say they’re not welcome at the table.
__________________________________________
Some of them are rules about church practices.
Skip Mass last Sunday?
Not welcome.
Didn’t go to communion during the Easter season?
Well, you can’t go now.
Haven’t been to confession in a year?
Sorry.
Take communion in a non-Catholic church?
Then you’re not allowed at the Catholic table.
And then there are the pelvic issues.
Divorced and remarried without an annulment?
Practicing contraception?
Think that homosexuality is not an “intrinsic disorder?”
That abortion is okay to save the life of the mother?
Any one of those, according to the rules,
bars you from communion.
And there are bunches of other rules.
__________________________________________
Thank God for Pope Francis,
who calls us to walk with people where they really are,
not where we think they should be.
Francis looks at these two travelers heading off to Emmaus
and says that
“We need a Church unafraid of going forth into their night.
We need a church capable of meeting them on their way.
We need a Church capable of entering into their conversation.
We need a Church able to dialogue with those disciples who,
having left Jerusalem behind,
are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment,
disillusioned by a Christianity
now considered barren, fruitless soil,
incapable of generating meaning.”
The Pope encourages us live our faith in the real world.
He tells us to reach out in service without judging people.
Just like Jesus did, Pope Francis wants us to welcome everyone.
He reminds us that we are one human people the world over,
living in a common home.
__________________________________________
The rules that keep people away from communion
don’t make sense any more,
so we don’t follow them here at Holy Spirit.
We live, as Fr. Ed Hays puts it,
“in unrelenting communion,
even if we are unaware of it,
with God and the Spirit of God.
Life is constant holy communion
because the world was created to be cosmic communion
between God and every creature and entity in the world.
This communion flows from life
as a seamless unity
of every person, creature, plant, animal, and star.”
__________________________________________
The rule that Jesus shows us
is bigger than any church rule.
He did not throw anybody off the mountain.
He did not bar anyone from eating at the table with him.
We who walk the way with him,
we who have been created
in constant, unrelenting communion
with God and with all being
are always welcome at the table…
and so is everyone else.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Acts 2:14, 22-33
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-21
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
There they go, Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas.
Going in the wrong direction.
Away from Jerusalem… disappointed, confused, afraid.
Then they meet up with a stranger.
They walk along together, talking about the scriptures.
They share a meal.
And they come to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
__________________________________________
Scholars say that this story of the travelers on the road to Emmaus
shows Luke’s storytelling ability at its best.
It started as a simple story that grew through the years
until Luke made it into a narrative
and enhanced it with scriptural echoes
of the long Jewish tradition of hospitality
where people encounter the divine
in sharing a meal with a stranger.
In its present form,
the story reflects the pattern of early Christian worship--
hearing the Scriptures proclaimed and sharing the meal.
And that’s still the pattern of our worship today.
That pattern has not changed.
__________________________________________
The gospels tell us story after story of Jesus breaking bread--
on the plain, on the mountainside,
at the homes of friends, at the homes of sinners.
No one is turned away, not even Judas at the Last Supper.
Everybody is welcome.
Everybody is included.
That’s what we’re supposed to do at every Mass.
But that pattern has changed.
__________________________________________
We have to wonder how our institutional church
got to the point of making all those rules
to exclude people from the table.
Sure, there have been some times throughout history
when it made sense to be careful,
those times when Christianity was being persecuted
and you could be jailed or killed for celebrating Mass.
But here in the United States, now, with us today?
Instead of walking along the way with people,
instead of inviting them to stop a while with us,
instead of sharing a meal and breaking bread with them,
we still have rules on the books
that say they’re not welcome at the table.
__________________________________________
Some of them are rules about church practices.
Skip Mass last Sunday?
Not welcome.
Didn’t go to communion during the Easter season?
Well, you can’t go now.
Haven’t been to confession in a year?
Sorry.
Take communion in a non-Catholic church?
Then you’re not allowed at the Catholic table.
And then there are the pelvic issues.
Divorced and remarried without an annulment?
Practicing contraception?
Think that homosexuality is not an “intrinsic disorder?”
That abortion is okay to save the life of the mother?
Any one of those, according to the rules,
bars you from communion.
And there are bunches of other rules.
__________________________________________
Thank God for Pope Francis,
who calls us to walk with people where they really are,
not where we think they should be.
Francis looks at these two travelers heading off to Emmaus
and says that
“We need a Church unafraid of going forth into their night.
We need a church capable of meeting them on their way.
We need a Church capable of entering into their conversation.
We need a Church able to dialogue with those disciples who,
having left Jerusalem behind,
are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment,
disillusioned by a Christianity
now considered barren, fruitless soil,
incapable of generating meaning.”
The Pope encourages us live our faith in the real world.
He tells us to reach out in service without judging people.
Just like Jesus did, Pope Francis wants us to welcome everyone.
He reminds us that we are one human people the world over,
living in a common home.
__________________________________________
The rules that keep people away from communion
don’t make sense any more,
so we don’t follow them here at Holy Spirit.
We live, as Fr. Ed Hays puts it,
“in unrelenting communion,
even if we are unaware of it,
with God and the Spirit of God.
Life is constant holy communion
because the world was created to be cosmic communion
between God and every creature and entity in the world.
This communion flows from life
as a seamless unity
of every person, creature, plant, animal, and star.”
__________________________________________
The rule that Jesus shows us
is bigger than any church rule.
He did not throw anybody off the mountain.
He did not bar anyone from eating at the table with him.
We who walk the way with him,
we who have been created
in constant, unrelenting communion
with God and with all being
are always welcome at the table…
and so is everyone else.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Second Sunday of Easter A, April 23, 2017
The message of Easter, according to Fr. James Martin,
is that life is stronger than death,
love is stronger than hatred,
and hope is stronger than despair.
These days we hear that lots of folks
are walking away from the church--
pollsters call them “nones”--
N O N E S, not N U N S.
The thing I find interesting about these “nones”
is that most of them
practice some kind of spirituality,
but it’s not organized religion.
Something else we hear a lot about
is the “militant atheism”
of writers like Richard Dawkins.
The thing I find interesting about Dawkins
is that he equates religion
with a literal reading of the texts
and then uses that misunderstanding
as a basis for throwing everything out.
Dawkins is totally certain that he’s right.
He’s not like those “nones,”
who keep on seeking God
when religion stops making sense to them.
He’s not a “Doubting Thomas,” not at all.
_______________________________________
Thomas questioned and doubted,
but he stayed open
to experience of the divine.
When Thomas hears that his friends were hiding
and Jesus came to them
with a message of peace,
he doesn’t believe them.
Then, the following week,
when Thomas himself experiences
the same presence of Jesus
that the other disciples had,
his doubt turns to faith.
He never did put his finger in Jesus’ wounds.
_______________________________________
Even though scholars conclude that today’s gospel
does not report a historical event,
it’s true that the evangelist
is telling a real story of how faith works.
Just like the apostles can’t get away from Jesus,
we can’t get away from him, either.
_______________________________________
For many years I struggled with the faith.
That’s an experience
that many of us went through before Vatican II.
At one point of that journey
I found James Fowler’s descriptions
of the six levels of faith development helpful.
One of its pieces of wisdom is its description
of the reflective Stage 4 of young adulthood,
when people begin to examine their beliefs critically
and become disillusioned with their former faith.
This is the stage when people
who cling to the earlier stages of development
label the Stage 4 people
as backsliders and atheists
when, in fact,
the Stage 4 folks have started to move forward.
I remember well my spiritual director, Fr. Earl Loeffler,
and his patience with me through those years.
He walked with me
while I came to grips
with the loss of my childhood belief
and grappled with all those questions.
It took years.
I still smile when I remember the day he told me,
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”
Eventually I really did move on,
and somewhere in mid-life
began to return to the sacred stories
without getting stuck in a theological box.
_______________________________________
Richard Dawkins seems to be stuck in those boxes of literal faith,
unable to embrace an adult faith of any kind
and making money from heaping scorn on people
who manage to go beyond the understanding
of their childhood and teen years.
_______________________________________
The basic issue in this gospel story
is coming to believe
that Jesus is risen and alive among us,
and that’s always the work of the Spirit.
We don’t come to belief through proofs;
we come to belief through living,
questioning,
and seeking.
It’s a journey--
a path through life that has stops and starts,
racing and resting,
uphill and down.
_______________________________________
Anne LaMott said that the opposite of faith is not doubt.
It’s certainty.
Growing to a more mature faith
leads to accepting mystery
and living with questions and doubts.
So we have four gospels
with four different stories about Jesus’ resurrection,
and we still don’t know the historical facts
of what really happened.
We may wonder about it, speculate even,
but we don’t have to know.
We believe that resurrection is real.
We see new life again and again.
We experience hope after times of despair.
When we rise, we want to help others rise.
And that leads us, eventually,
into what Fowler calls the “universalizing faith,”
the final level of faith development
where we live our lives to the full
in service of others
without any real worries or doubts.
_______________________________________
In Evangelii Gaudium—The Joy of the Gospel--
Pope Francis describes it like this:
“Where all seems to be dead,
signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up.
Each day in our world beauty is born anew,
it rises transformed through the storms of history.
Values always tend to reappear under new guises,
and human beings have arisen time after time
from situations that seemed doomed.
Such is the power of the resurrection.”
Amen!
The message of Easter, according to Fr. James Martin,
is that life is stronger than death,
love is stronger than hatred,
and hope is stronger than despair.
These days we hear that lots of folks
are walking away from the church--
pollsters call them “nones”--
N O N E S, not N U N S.
The thing I find interesting about these “nones”
is that most of them
practice some kind of spirituality,
but it’s not organized religion.
Something else we hear a lot about
is the “militant atheism”
of writers like Richard Dawkins.
The thing I find interesting about Dawkins
is that he equates religion
with a literal reading of the texts
and then uses that misunderstanding
as a basis for throwing everything out.
Dawkins is totally certain that he’s right.
He’s not like those “nones,”
who keep on seeking God
when religion stops making sense to them.
He’s not a “Doubting Thomas,” not at all.
_______________________________________
Thomas questioned and doubted,
but he stayed open
to experience of the divine.
When Thomas hears that his friends were hiding
and Jesus came to them
with a message of peace,
he doesn’t believe them.
Then, the following week,
when Thomas himself experiences
the same presence of Jesus
that the other disciples had,
his doubt turns to faith.
He never did put his finger in Jesus’ wounds.
_______________________________________
Even though scholars conclude that today’s gospel
does not report a historical event,
it’s true that the evangelist
is telling a real story of how faith works.
Just like the apostles can’t get away from Jesus,
we can’t get away from him, either.
_______________________________________
For many years I struggled with the faith.
That’s an experience
that many of us went through before Vatican II.
At one point of that journey
I found James Fowler’s descriptions
of the six levels of faith development helpful.
One of its pieces of wisdom is its description
of the reflective Stage 4 of young adulthood,
when people begin to examine their beliefs critically
and become disillusioned with their former faith.
This is the stage when people
who cling to the earlier stages of development
label the Stage 4 people
as backsliders and atheists
when, in fact,
the Stage 4 folks have started to move forward.
I remember well my spiritual director, Fr. Earl Loeffler,
and his patience with me through those years.
He walked with me
while I came to grips
with the loss of my childhood belief
and grappled with all those questions.
It took years.
I still smile when I remember the day he told me,
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”
Eventually I really did move on,
and somewhere in mid-life
began to return to the sacred stories
without getting stuck in a theological box.
_______________________________________
Richard Dawkins seems to be stuck in those boxes of literal faith,
unable to embrace an adult faith of any kind
and making money from heaping scorn on people
who manage to go beyond the understanding
of their childhood and teen years.
_______________________________________
The basic issue in this gospel story
is coming to believe
that Jesus is risen and alive among us,
and that’s always the work of the Spirit.
We don’t come to belief through proofs;
we come to belief through living,
questioning,
and seeking.
It’s a journey--
a path through life that has stops and starts,
racing and resting,
uphill and down.
_______________________________________
Anne LaMott said that the opposite of faith is not doubt.
It’s certainty.
Growing to a more mature faith
leads to accepting mystery
and living with questions and doubts.
So we have four gospels
with four different stories about Jesus’ resurrection,
and we still don’t know the historical facts
of what really happened.
We may wonder about it, speculate even,
but we don’t have to know.
We believe that resurrection is real.
We see new life again and again.
We experience hope after times of despair.
When we rise, we want to help others rise.
And that leads us, eventually,
into what Fowler calls the “universalizing faith,”
the final level of faith development
where we live our lives to the full
in service of others
without any real worries or doubts.
_______________________________________
In Evangelii Gaudium—The Joy of the Gospel--
Pope Francis describes it like this:
“Where all seems to be dead,
signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up.
Each day in our world beauty is born anew,
it rises transformed through the storms of history.
Values always tend to reappear under new guises,
and human beings have arisen time after time
from situations that seemed doomed.
Such is the power of the resurrection.”
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Resurrection of the Lord, April 16, 2017
Advances in scientific understanding
say that some experiences
that were once labeled “pathological”
are “normal,
among them religious ecstatic trance experiences.
Because of the work of cognitive neuroscientists
we now know
that our brains have many different levels of consciousness.
So far they’ve detected 35 of them.
Dr. Felicitas Goodman ‘s research shows that four elements
of ecstatic trance experiences exist in all cultures,
especially cultures where death is understood
as a process over time
rather than a point in time.
All four elements appear in our New Testament accounts
of people who saw Jesus alive after the crucifixion,
and it’s easy to recognize the parallels
between the resurrection gospels
and Dr. Goodman’s description.
First, she says, the visionary is usually frightened by the vision…
as it’s told in the resurrection appearances
in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke.
Second, the visionary doesn’t recognize who it is who’s appearing
or what it is that’s being seen…
as in the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John.
Third, the vision communicates calm assurance
followed by self-identification...
like the angel in Matthew’s gospel
telling Mary Magdalene not to be afraid.
Finally, the visionary receives some useful information,
like an answer, an insight, or a commission…
like Mary being told that Jesus has been raised
and given the commission to go tell the disciples about it.
________________________________________
These ecstatic trance experiences can happen when we pray.
They are are common to grieving people,
especially when they visit burial sites.
Other cross-cultural psychiatric research shows that,
when death is seen as a process, a journey, or a transition,
survivors keep relating to the departed for many years,
most commonly within the first ten years after the loss.
This science can help us understand today’s Gospel
and the other resurrection reports.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
report what fits the scientific description
of an ecstatic trance experience.
The other Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles,
and the letters of Paul relate the same kind of experiences.
________________________________________
What about us?
In our culture we tend to think of death as a point in time,
not as a process,
so we’re less likely to be open
to the reality of post-death experiences.
At the same time,
we’ve all heard a bereaved widow
saying she felt her husband’s presence at certain times.
“It’s like he’s still with me,” she’ll say.
Maybe it’s a dream,
where the deceased person gives you a message.
I had one of those.
Maybe you’re praying, and you zone out,
and when you come back to your everyday consciousness,
you feel assured that it’s going to be okay.
I’ve had those, too.
Science now tells us that these are normal human experiences.
Our evolving brains
have developed multiple levels of consciousness.
As Professor John Pilch puts it,
good science can help us to understand and appreciate
the marvelous gifts to human beings from our Creator God.
________________________________________
There’s not much reason to doubt
that Jesus’ disciples experienced his presence with them
after the crucifixion.
By the time the scriptures were written down,
the lived reality of Jesus’ resurrection
had found expressions in multiple levels of consciousness
of those witnesses and their communities.
As we know from trying to tell someone else
about our own spiritual insights and experiences,
the words don’t come easily.
The experience often defies description.
But our understanding grows
as we live with that experience
and embrace its meaning.
We believe, and we begin to act on our belief.
We carry Christ into the world, wherever we go.
Our families bask in the bright light
of our care and concern for them.
Our friends call on us for help
because they know how we are.
The poor find us with them,
providing for their urgent needs
and working to change the systems
that keep them from thriving.
________________________________________
In John’s Gospel Mary of Magdala looks at the empty tomb
and laments, “We don’t know where they’ve put him.”
She will soon find out.
I know exactly where to find him,
where that unique expression of the Divine Presence lives:
in you!
In your heart, in your values, in your prayers,
in your reaching out, in all you do and all you are.
Yes, Christ has died.
But Christ is risen!
And Christ comes again!
Alleluia!
Advances in scientific understanding
say that some experiences
that were once labeled “pathological”
are “normal,
among them religious ecstatic trance experiences.
Because of the work of cognitive neuroscientists
we now know
that our brains have many different levels of consciousness.
So far they’ve detected 35 of them.
Dr. Felicitas Goodman ‘s research shows that four elements
of ecstatic trance experiences exist in all cultures,
especially cultures where death is understood
as a process over time
rather than a point in time.
All four elements appear in our New Testament accounts
of people who saw Jesus alive after the crucifixion,
and it’s easy to recognize the parallels
between the resurrection gospels
and Dr. Goodman’s description.
First, she says, the visionary is usually frightened by the vision…
as it’s told in the resurrection appearances
in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke.
Second, the visionary doesn’t recognize who it is who’s appearing
or what it is that’s being seen…
as in the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John.
Third, the vision communicates calm assurance
followed by self-identification...
like the angel in Matthew’s gospel
telling Mary Magdalene not to be afraid.
Finally, the visionary receives some useful information,
like an answer, an insight, or a commission…
like Mary being told that Jesus has been raised
and given the commission to go tell the disciples about it.
________________________________________
These ecstatic trance experiences can happen when we pray.
They are are common to grieving people,
especially when they visit burial sites.
Other cross-cultural psychiatric research shows that,
when death is seen as a process, a journey, or a transition,
survivors keep relating to the departed for many years,
most commonly within the first ten years after the loss.
This science can help us understand today’s Gospel
and the other resurrection reports.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
report what fits the scientific description
of an ecstatic trance experience.
The other Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles,
and the letters of Paul relate the same kind of experiences.
________________________________________
What about us?
In our culture we tend to think of death as a point in time,
not as a process,
so we’re less likely to be open
to the reality of post-death experiences.
At the same time,
we’ve all heard a bereaved widow
saying she felt her husband’s presence at certain times.
“It’s like he’s still with me,” she’ll say.
Maybe it’s a dream,
where the deceased person gives you a message.
I had one of those.
Maybe you’re praying, and you zone out,
and when you come back to your everyday consciousness,
you feel assured that it’s going to be okay.
I’ve had those, too.
Science now tells us that these are normal human experiences.
Our evolving brains
have developed multiple levels of consciousness.
As Professor John Pilch puts it,
good science can help us to understand and appreciate
the marvelous gifts to human beings from our Creator God.
________________________________________
There’s not much reason to doubt
that Jesus’ disciples experienced his presence with them
after the crucifixion.
By the time the scriptures were written down,
the lived reality of Jesus’ resurrection
had found expressions in multiple levels of consciousness
of those witnesses and their communities.
As we know from trying to tell someone else
about our own spiritual insights and experiences,
the words don’t come easily.
The experience often defies description.
But our understanding grows
as we live with that experience
and embrace its meaning.
We believe, and we begin to act on our belief.
We carry Christ into the world, wherever we go.
Our families bask in the bright light
of our care and concern for them.
Our friends call on us for help
because they know how we are.
The poor find us with them,
providing for their urgent needs
and working to change the systems
that keep them from thriving.
________________________________________
In John’s Gospel Mary of Magdala looks at the empty tomb
and laments, “We don’t know where they’ve put him.”
She will soon find out.
I know exactly where to find him,
where that unique expression of the Divine Presence lives:
in you!
In your heart, in your values, in your prayers,
in your reaching out, in all you do and all you are.
Yes, Christ has died.
But Christ is risen!
And Christ comes again!
Alleluia!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Holy Thursday A, April 13, 2017
Lent is over, and the Triduum begins.
Over the next three days,
you and I will give witness to Jesus’ commitment
to live in love and truth,
faithful to God’s will,
even at the cost of his life.
The commitment transforms him,
as it transforms us
when we ground ourselves
in God’s unconditional love
and Jesus' prophetic example.
_________________________________
Tonight we begin the Triduum
by following Jesus’ example
with a ritual washing of each other’s hands.
Jesus’ simple action, as told in John’s gospel,
lends itself to several interpretations.
It’s very often interpreted
as signifying that Jesus will suffer a humiliating death
on behalf of all humanity.
A related interpretation
reads the washing of dirty, smelly feet
as the act of a slave,
showing Jesus’ humble nature.
Another interpretation
looks at the meaning of Jesus’ actions
in their cultural context.
In biblical times
people looked at hands and feet
as a zone of the human body
that symbolized human activity.
To wash the feet or hands
was to wash away
all the offensive deeds done by those hands and feet,
so the washing was equal to forgiveness.
When Jesus tells his disciples to repeat his action for each other,
he is not telling them to go around washing everybody’s feet
but to forgive each other as he forgives them.
_________________________________
Another significant message in this Holy Thursday gospel
comes from the meal
that Jesus has called his disciples to share.
In the Middle East
unrelated people rarely, if ever, eat together,
but people saw Jesus regularly eating with others--
people who were not his relatives,
people who opposed him,
people who were strangers and aliens in the land.
Sharing a meal with someone who was not a blood relative
transformed that person into a family member,
one who became connected like family,
one committed to the giving of oneself
for the others at the table.
_________________________________
So we gather here in this holy space.
Some of us are relatives--
spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters.
As a group, though,
we are just like those first followers of Jesus--
not relatives in the usual sense of the word
but children of the one God
invited by our brother Jesus
to forgive one another
by washing each other’s hands,
welcomed into the family
through our sharing of the meal.
_________________________________
Forgiven and fed,
we will go forth
ready to practice God’s love
in our world
for our time.
Amen!
Lent is over, and the Triduum begins.
Over the next three days,
you and I will give witness to Jesus’ commitment
to live in love and truth,
faithful to God’s will,
even at the cost of his life.
The commitment transforms him,
as it transforms us
when we ground ourselves
in God’s unconditional love
and Jesus' prophetic example.
_________________________________
Tonight we begin the Triduum
by following Jesus’ example
with a ritual washing of each other’s hands.
Jesus’ simple action, as told in John’s gospel,
lends itself to several interpretations.
It’s very often interpreted
as signifying that Jesus will suffer a humiliating death
on behalf of all humanity.
A related interpretation
reads the washing of dirty, smelly feet
as the act of a slave,
showing Jesus’ humble nature.
Another interpretation
looks at the meaning of Jesus’ actions
in their cultural context.
In biblical times
people looked at hands and feet
as a zone of the human body
that symbolized human activity.
To wash the feet or hands
was to wash away
all the offensive deeds done by those hands and feet,
so the washing was equal to forgiveness.
When Jesus tells his disciples to repeat his action for each other,
he is not telling them to go around washing everybody’s feet
but to forgive each other as he forgives them.
_________________________________
Another significant message in this Holy Thursday gospel
comes from the meal
that Jesus has called his disciples to share.
In the Middle East
unrelated people rarely, if ever, eat together,
but people saw Jesus regularly eating with others--
people who were not his relatives,
people who opposed him,
people who were strangers and aliens in the land.
Sharing a meal with someone who was not a blood relative
transformed that person into a family member,
one who became connected like family,
one committed to the giving of oneself
for the others at the table.
_________________________________
So we gather here in this holy space.
Some of us are relatives--
spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters.
As a group, though,
we are just like those first followers of Jesus--
not relatives in the usual sense of the word
but children of the one God
invited by our brother Jesus
to forgive one another
by washing each other’s hands,
welcomed into the family
through our sharing of the meal.
_________________________________
Forgiven and fed,
we will go forth
ready to practice God’s love
in our world
for our time.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion (A), April 9, 2017
Blessings of the Palms: Matthew 21:1-11
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:1, 7-8, 16-19, 2-23
Second Reading: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel: Matthew 26:14--27:66
Homily for the Procession:
When Jesus entered Jerusalem,
“the whole city was shaken.”
They saw the sign, and they asked,
“Who is this?”
It helps to know a bit about the scriptures and the culture
so we can understand
that what shook them up
was Jesus heading into Jerusalem like a king.
________________________________________
First, there’s the donkey.
Jesus’ riding in on a the donkey
not only fulfills Zechariah’s prophecy
for the coming of the king,
but it also shows that he had the deep humility
that a true king would have.
________________________________________
Then there’s the people
crying out their hosanna to the Son of David
and “blessed is the one who comes.”
Matthew’s phrasing clearly points to Jesus
as the Messiah who is to deliver Israel.
________________________________________
Who is this?
For our ancestors in faith,
this Jesus from Nazareth
was both king and messiah,
the one who would transform their lives
and set them free.
They saw the signs.
Those who were oppressed believed…
and they followed him.
Those who were oppressors believed…
and they crucified him.
________________________________________
Who is this Jesus for us today, now?
More and more of us,
around the world and even here in the United States,
live under oppression of one sort or another,
and all of us live under threats
from environmental degradation.
________________________________________
Will we choose the path of wealth and power,
serving only ourselves and our own interests,
no matter who we hurt?
Or will we choose the path of Jesus,
serving the common good,
no matter what happens to us?
Today, let’s choose
once more
to follow the Way of Jesus.
___________________________________________
Homily for the Mass
Jesus spent his life doing what real leaders do.
He poured his life
into working for the poor and despised and vulnerable.
He spoke truth to power.
He went about doing good.
Because he did not hide
from the consequences of doing good,
he was tortured and killed.
In both life and death, Jesus reflects
what God’s power and God’s love really are:
giving oneself to others.
________________________________________
In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures
we heard about Isaiah’s Suffering Servant
and the true leadership that requires
speaking the word that will rouse the weary,
trusting in God,
and going forward regardless of the consequences.
________________________________________
And we heard from Paul
how the divine presence in Jesus
moved him to humility and obedience
throughout life and unto death,
ready and willing to pour himself out for others.
________________________________________
The Gospel accounts of the events
leading up to and including the death of Jesus
are full of references to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Like the infancy narratives,
these passion narratives
either quote directly or echo
the Hebrew Scriptures in almost every verse.
The message is simple,
shared by Christians and Jews and Muslims
and people of good will the world over:
we are one people with one God,
called to love God and love one another,
no matter what happens to us.
________________________________________
But we know that the way of Jesus
has been rejected and condemned throughout history,
even by those who claim to follow him.
Just think of our crusades, our inquisition, our slaves, our wars.
And it still goes on.
All over our country, from Ferguson to Chicago,
from California to North Carolina,
from coal country to central Toledo,
people are afraid that if they really follow Jesus,
they will lose their white privilege
or political power
or tax loopholes.
They would have to share resources
and act out of concern for other people’s rights
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
________________________________________
Holy Week asks us pointed questions:
Do we act with justice?
Love our neighbors?
Go about doing good?
No matter what it costs us?
If we can say yes, we try,
then we’re on the right path.
Thanks be to God!
Blessings of the Palms: Matthew 21:1-11
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:1, 7-8, 16-19, 2-23
Second Reading: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel: Matthew 26:14--27:66
Homily for the Procession:
When Jesus entered Jerusalem,
“the whole city was shaken.”
They saw the sign, and they asked,
“Who is this?”
It helps to know a bit about the scriptures and the culture
so we can understand
that what shook them up
was Jesus heading into Jerusalem like a king.
________________________________________
First, there’s the donkey.
Jesus’ riding in on a the donkey
not only fulfills Zechariah’s prophecy
for the coming of the king,
but it also shows that he had the deep humility
that a true king would have.
________________________________________
Then there’s the people
crying out their hosanna to the Son of David
and “blessed is the one who comes.”
Matthew’s phrasing clearly points to Jesus
as the Messiah who is to deliver Israel.
________________________________________
Who is this?
For our ancestors in faith,
this Jesus from Nazareth
was both king and messiah,
the one who would transform their lives
and set them free.
They saw the signs.
Those who were oppressed believed…
and they followed him.
Those who were oppressors believed…
and they crucified him.
________________________________________
Who is this Jesus for us today, now?
More and more of us,
around the world and even here in the United States,
live under oppression of one sort or another,
and all of us live under threats
from environmental degradation.
________________________________________
Will we choose the path of wealth and power,
serving only ourselves and our own interests,
no matter who we hurt?
Or will we choose the path of Jesus,
serving the common good,
no matter what happens to us?
Today, let’s choose
once more
to follow the Way of Jesus.
___________________________________________
Homily for the Mass
Jesus spent his life doing what real leaders do.
He poured his life
into working for the poor and despised and vulnerable.
He spoke truth to power.
He went about doing good.
Because he did not hide
from the consequences of doing good,
he was tortured and killed.
In both life and death, Jesus reflects
what God’s power and God’s love really are:
giving oneself to others.
________________________________________
In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures
we heard about Isaiah’s Suffering Servant
and the true leadership that requires
speaking the word that will rouse the weary,
trusting in God,
and going forward regardless of the consequences.
________________________________________
And we heard from Paul
how the divine presence in Jesus
moved him to humility and obedience
throughout life and unto death,
ready and willing to pour himself out for others.
________________________________________
The Gospel accounts of the events
leading up to and including the death of Jesus
are full of references to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Like the infancy narratives,
these passion narratives
either quote directly or echo
the Hebrew Scriptures in almost every verse.
The message is simple,
shared by Christians and Jews and Muslims
and people of good will the world over:
we are one people with one God,
called to love God and love one another,
no matter what happens to us.
________________________________________
But we know that the way of Jesus
has been rejected and condemned throughout history,
even by those who claim to follow him.
Just think of our crusades, our inquisition, our slaves, our wars.
And it still goes on.
All over our country, from Ferguson to Chicago,
from California to North Carolina,
from coal country to central Toledo,
people are afraid that if they really follow Jesus,
they will lose their white privilege
or political power
or tax loopholes.
They would have to share resources
and act out of concern for other people’s rights
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
________________________________________
Holy Week asks us pointed questions:
Do we act with justice?
Love our neighbors?
Go about doing good?
No matter what it costs us?
If we can say yes, we try,
then we’re on the right path.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Lent A 5, April 2, 2017
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130: 1-8
Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11
Gospel: John 11:1-45
Lots of ink has been spilled over the question
of whether Lazarus was in a deep coma or really dead or--
as Jesus’ critics would have said--
faking it to make Jesus look like a miracle worker.
But that doesn’t matter because it’s not the point.
The story is not factual history
but a statement of faith in the transformation
that following the Way of Jesus brings to us.
__________________________________________
The Israelites had a history
of being tied down by conquering armies,
notably under slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon,
and the Roman occupation.
Our Jewish ancestors in faith thought and talked and prayed
in images of resurrection that hoped
for a renewal of their covenant relationship with God.
They looked forward to a revived fullness of life--
to freedom in peace
and with justice.
__________________________________________
When Moses went to Pharaoh,
he was calling for political and religious freedom.
He called out, Let my people go!
The priest and prophet Ezekiel
puts the promise of freedom in God’s mouth
with the metaphor of rising from the grave:
I will open your graves and have you rise from them,
put my spirit in you that you may live,
settle you on your land.
It’s a vision of freedom from the Babylonian captivity.
John’s gospel speaks
to a people suffering under the oppression of Roman rule.
As with Ezekiel, it’s the metaphor of rising from the grave.
As with Moses, it’s the call to freedom that Jesus speaks to Lazarus:
Untie him and set him free!
__________________________________________
Biblical scholar John Pilch points out
that resurrection means a transformation of life,
not the restoration of life to a corpse.
Following Jesus does not abolish death; it transcends it.
__________________________________________
We live in a world that seems to be caught up in death.
We kill each other in acts of murder, execution, war,
terrorism, drunk driving, domestic violence.
We kill our planet
with extravagant lifestyles and waste and pollution.
We watch people die from poverty, hunger, homelessness,
disease, abuse, war, discrimination, unsafe working conditions.
__________________________________________
Even in this country of freedom and plenty,
we kill ourselves through suicide, drug and alcohol abuse,
smoking, overwork, stress, bad eating habits,
and physical neglect.
As Karl Rahner said,
“There are so many little deaths along the way
that it doesn’t matter which is the last one.”
__________________________________________
When we look at our lives, we can see
that we all have died those “little deaths” along the way.
We can also see that we have transcended them
and been raised to new life.
It happens every day,
in one way or another, to person after person.
A few months ago Tom & Mary Jean helped a Toledo family
that was dying one of those little deaths.
They had moved to Toledo
and needed help until the first check came in.
Mary Jean and Tom found resources
for food and clothes for this couple and their children,
and you generous folks of Holy Spirit voted
to pay their rent for that month.
The family transcended that “little death.”
They were raised to new life.
Transformed.
__________________________________________
On the first of every month Julie shows up
with boxes of household goods for UStogether--
and those refugees settling here in Toledo
are raised to new life.
Sallie’s son Zak found a job, after nearly a year off work.
He’s raised out of a deep funk to new life.
__________________________________________
I remember back in 1972, when a car accident
put me in the hospital with five breaks in my vertebrae.
While I lay there flat on my back without moving for five weeks,
not knowing if I’d ever walk again,
I felt like life was over.
But the experimental treatment worked—a miracle for me--
and I was changed--
never the same again, a new path, raised to new life.
__________________________________________
If we look around, it’s easy to see
those “little deaths” happening to people.
And it’s easy to see when the transformation happens.
There’s the joy in the hope for change
that comes to people marching and demonstrating.
There’s the love that glows
when a homebound person gets a visit from a friend.
There’s the energy that comes to a retiree
who escapes from being buried in a job,
from heading into the garden after a cold and blustery winter,
from working through the breakup of a relationship.
__________________________________________
Whenever and wherever we see someone
in the midst of one of these little deaths,
whether they’re buried by oppression or hopelessness
or pain or loss,
we are the ones called
to be the hands and heart of God reaching out to them,
the voice calling out,
“Untie my people. Let them go. Set them free!”
Amen!
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130: 1-8
Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11
Gospel: John 11:1-45
Lots of ink has been spilled over the question
of whether Lazarus was in a deep coma or really dead or--
as Jesus’ critics would have said--
faking it to make Jesus look like a miracle worker.
But that doesn’t matter because it’s not the point.
The story is not factual history
but a statement of faith in the transformation
that following the Way of Jesus brings to us.
__________________________________________
The Israelites had a history
of being tied down by conquering armies,
notably under slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon,
and the Roman occupation.
Our Jewish ancestors in faith thought and talked and prayed
in images of resurrection that hoped
for a renewal of their covenant relationship with God.
They looked forward to a revived fullness of life--
to freedom in peace
and with justice.
__________________________________________
When Moses went to Pharaoh,
he was calling for political and religious freedom.
He called out, Let my people go!
The priest and prophet Ezekiel
puts the promise of freedom in God’s mouth
with the metaphor of rising from the grave:
I will open your graves and have you rise from them,
put my spirit in you that you may live,
settle you on your land.
It’s a vision of freedom from the Babylonian captivity.
John’s gospel speaks
to a people suffering under the oppression of Roman rule.
As with Ezekiel, it’s the metaphor of rising from the grave.
As with Moses, it’s the call to freedom that Jesus speaks to Lazarus:
Untie him and set him free!
__________________________________________
Biblical scholar John Pilch points out
that resurrection means a transformation of life,
not the restoration of life to a corpse.
Following Jesus does not abolish death; it transcends it.
__________________________________________
We live in a world that seems to be caught up in death.
We kill each other in acts of murder, execution, war,
terrorism, drunk driving, domestic violence.
We kill our planet
with extravagant lifestyles and waste and pollution.
We watch people die from poverty, hunger, homelessness,
disease, abuse, war, discrimination, unsafe working conditions.
__________________________________________
Even in this country of freedom and plenty,
we kill ourselves through suicide, drug and alcohol abuse,
smoking, overwork, stress, bad eating habits,
and physical neglect.
As Karl Rahner said,
“There are so many little deaths along the way
that it doesn’t matter which is the last one.”
__________________________________________
When we look at our lives, we can see
that we all have died those “little deaths” along the way.
We can also see that we have transcended them
and been raised to new life.
It happens every day,
in one way or another, to person after person.
A few months ago Tom & Mary Jean helped a Toledo family
that was dying one of those little deaths.
They had moved to Toledo
and needed help until the first check came in.
Mary Jean and Tom found resources
for food and clothes for this couple and their children,
and you generous folks of Holy Spirit voted
to pay their rent for that month.
The family transcended that “little death.”
They were raised to new life.
Transformed.
__________________________________________
On the first of every month Julie shows up
with boxes of household goods for UStogether--
and those refugees settling here in Toledo
are raised to new life.
Sallie’s son Zak found a job, after nearly a year off work.
He’s raised out of a deep funk to new life.
__________________________________________
I remember back in 1972, when a car accident
put me in the hospital with five breaks in my vertebrae.
While I lay there flat on my back without moving for five weeks,
not knowing if I’d ever walk again,
I felt like life was over.
But the experimental treatment worked—a miracle for me--
and I was changed--
never the same again, a new path, raised to new life.
__________________________________________
If we look around, it’s easy to see
those “little deaths” happening to people.
And it’s easy to see when the transformation happens.
There’s the joy in the hope for change
that comes to people marching and demonstrating.
There’s the love that glows
when a homebound person gets a visit from a friend.
There’s the energy that comes to a retiree
who escapes from being buried in a job,
from heading into the garden after a cold and blustery winter,
from working through the breakup of a relationship.
__________________________________________
Whenever and wherever we see someone
in the midst of one of these little deaths,
whether they’re buried by oppression or hopelessness
or pain or loss,
we are the ones called
to be the hands and heart of God reaching out to them,
the voice calling out,
“Untie my people. Let them go. Set them free!”
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Fourth Sunday of Lent (A), March 26, 2017
First Reading: 1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel: John 9:1-41
Still another transfiguration this week,
the third of four in this Lenten season.
Two weeks ago the disciples gained insight
into Jesus’ closeness to God
through the law and the prophets.
Last week Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well
both gained insight through their theological discussion.
This week the man-born-blind gains both eyesight and insight.
___________________________________
The Greek word for this man is “anthropos,”
the generic word for a human being
without telling gender, ethnicity, or historical context.
The man-born-blind—the one-who-saw—is everyone.
It’s us.
So when we hear this Gospel,
we are challenged to figure out the part we have been playing
AND
the part we want to play.
We may be bound by our unshakeable convictions.
We may be the ones who wonder what God is up to.
We may choose to let authorities give us the answers.
No matter what our role has been,
we are invited to be anthropos,
people who realize we have been blind
BUT who are now ready to see.
___________________________________
Last month Pope Francis said
that Christians don’t live outside the world;
we live in the world.
Francis said that Christians have to know
how to recognize the signs of evil, selfishness, and sin
in their own life
and in what surrounds them.
Part of the transformation for the man-born-blind
is recognizing the politics of the Pharisees
who blind themselves to the truth
so they can keep their power and wealth and control
over the people.
___________________________________
We don’t have to look far to see
how this story speaks to the signs of our times.
The big picture for us is that America is being transformed.
Programs that support the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
are threatened by that budget sent to Congress this month.
It ignores the rights and dignity of the human person.
It is blind to the preferential option for the poor.
It is blind to the command to feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
shelter the homeless, and welcome the stranger.
It is deaf to the call for peace and justice.
It would cut 62 agencies and programs
to fund expansion of our military,
already 1,000 times more lethal
than all the other militaries in the world together.
___________________________________
Here in Toledo we would see drastic cuts
to programs to shelter the homeless, like Family House;
Meals on Wheels for seniors and people with disabilities;
weatherization assistance;
low-income home energy assistance;
UStogether and its support for refugee families;
school breakfasts and lunches;
PBS and NPR.
___________________________________
And there’s more than the budget
to threaten our Christian values.
Already we see Muslims vilified
and immigrants and refugees turned away.
Environmental protections are being wiped out,
allowing unrestrained dumping of pollutants.
The proposed health insurance proposal
would make health care unaffordable or unavailable
to millions of people.
Truth and civility and respect have been replaced
with unfounded accusations, insults, and crude language.
In short, our country is abandoning its commitment
to the common good.
___________________________________
One good thing is
that it’s not only our country that’s being transformed.
We—each of us individually, and all of us together—are changing.
How blind we have been!
We were stumbling along in the dark.
Like the man-born-blind,
we didn’t see the damage that could be done.
We thought it couldn’t happen here.
Now, thanks to Donald Trump, our eyes are opened.
We are being transformed.
___________________________________
The transfiguration is everywhere we look.
Across the country
ordinary citizens are showing up at their senators’ offices.
We’re asking for town hall meetings.
We’re making phone calls and sending emails
about the issues we care about.
We’re writing postcards to Congress and letters to the editor.
We are following the political news
on TV and radio and in the paper.
We’re talking about it, and we’re taking action.
___________________________________
This is the “faithful citizenship” that the U.S. Bishops called us to
10 years ago when they said
that responsible citizenship is a virtue;
when they said participation in political life
is a moral obligation
rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus;
when they said that all of us
must actively participate in promoting the common good.
So we continue to work for the change
that will transform each and every one of us
to be able to read the signs of our times
and put our faith into action.
___________________________________
We’re halfway through Lent, symbolized in the pink around us.
Light is dawning.
With the man-born-blind,
with all who follow Jesus,
we are called to live as children of the light.
Fourth Sunday of Lent (A), March 26, 2017
First Reading: 1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel: John 9:1-41
Still another transfiguration this week,
the third of four in this Lenten season.
Two weeks ago the disciples gained insight
into Jesus’ closeness to God
through the law and the prophets.
Last week Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well
both gained insight through their theological discussion.
This week the man-born-blind gains both eyesight and insight.
___________________________________
The Greek word for this man is “anthropos,”
the generic word for a human being
without telling gender, ethnicity, or historical context.
The man-born-blind—the one-who-saw—is everyone.
It’s us.
So when we hear this Gospel,
we are challenged to figure out the part we have been playing
AND
the part we want to play.
We may be bound by our unshakeable convictions.
We may be the ones who wonder what God is up to.
We may choose to let authorities give us the answers.
No matter what our role has been,
we are invited to be anthropos,
people who realize we have been blind
BUT who are now ready to see.
___________________________________
Last month Pope Francis said
that Christians don’t live outside the world;
we live in the world.
Francis said that Christians have to know
how to recognize the signs of evil, selfishness, and sin
in their own life
and in what surrounds them.
Part of the transformation for the man-born-blind
is recognizing the politics of the Pharisees
who blind themselves to the truth
so they can keep their power and wealth and control
over the people.
___________________________________
We don’t have to look far to see
how this story speaks to the signs of our times.
The big picture for us is that America is being transformed.
Programs that support the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
are threatened by that budget sent to Congress this month.
It ignores the rights and dignity of the human person.
It is blind to the preferential option for the poor.
It is blind to the command to feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
shelter the homeless, and welcome the stranger.
It is deaf to the call for peace and justice.
It would cut 62 agencies and programs
to fund expansion of our military,
already 1,000 times more lethal
than all the other militaries in the world together.
___________________________________
Here in Toledo we would see drastic cuts
to programs to shelter the homeless, like Family House;
Meals on Wheels for seniors and people with disabilities;
weatherization assistance;
low-income home energy assistance;
UStogether and its support for refugee families;
school breakfasts and lunches;
PBS and NPR.
___________________________________
And there’s more than the budget
to threaten our Christian values.
Already we see Muslims vilified
and immigrants and refugees turned away.
Environmental protections are being wiped out,
allowing unrestrained dumping of pollutants.
The proposed health insurance proposal
would make health care unaffordable or unavailable
to millions of people.
Truth and civility and respect have been replaced
with unfounded accusations, insults, and crude language.
In short, our country is abandoning its commitment
to the common good.
___________________________________
One good thing is
that it’s not only our country that’s being transformed.
We—each of us individually, and all of us together—are changing.
How blind we have been!
We were stumbling along in the dark.
Like the man-born-blind,
we didn’t see the damage that could be done.
We thought it couldn’t happen here.
Now, thanks to Donald Trump, our eyes are opened.
We are being transformed.
___________________________________
The transfiguration is everywhere we look.
Across the country
ordinary citizens are showing up at their senators’ offices.
We’re asking for town hall meetings.
We’re making phone calls and sending emails
about the issues we care about.
We’re writing postcards to Congress and letters to the editor.
We are following the political news
on TV and radio and in the paper.
We’re talking about it, and we’re taking action.
___________________________________
This is the “faithful citizenship” that the U.S. Bishops called us to
10 years ago when they said
that responsible citizenship is a virtue;
when they said participation in political life
is a moral obligation
rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus;
when they said that all of us
must actively participate in promoting the common good.
So we continue to work for the change
that will transform each and every one of us
to be able to read the signs of our times
and put our faith into action.
___________________________________
We’re halfway through Lent, symbolized in the pink around us.
Light is dawning.
With the man-born-blind,
with all who follow Jesus,
we are called to live as children of the light.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Lent A 3, March 19, 2017
First Reading: Exodus 17:3-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
Gospel: John 4:5-42
Another transfiguration this week.
Last week the disciples saw the change in Jesus
and his closeness to God
through their law and their prophets.
This week the transfiguration comes through dialogue.
The meeting at the well shows both the woman and Jesus
transformed from their exclusive native religions
to allow both to embrace one faith in one inclusive God.
The woman learns to give up
worshiping the multiple gods in her Samaritan tradition.
Jesus learns how to give up
his Jewish attachment
to Jerusalem as the only proper place to worship God.
She stays a Samaritan, and he stays a Jew,
but they are both transformed.
_____________________________________________
Did this really story happen?
Fr. Raymond Brown doesn’t go very far towards a yes on that.
He writes that “It is not at all impossible
that even in the conversation
we have echoes of a historical tradition
of an incident in Jesus’ ministry.”
Most scholars doubt that this gospel story ever took place.
They think the point is to explain
how the hated Samaritans came to be included
in the Jesus movement.
_____________________________________________
There was a long history of dissension among the tribes of Israel,
nearly a thousand years of it between Samaritans and Jews.
When the city of Samaria fell to the Assyrians,
many of them were led off into captivity,
but some were left behind.
Both Israel and Samaria failed to keep to the way of Yahweh.
When the Jews came out of Babylon nearly 400 years later,
the Samaritans tried to welcome them back,
but the returning exiles despised the Samaritans
because they had intermarried with the Assyrians.
By the time Jesus came around,
there had been over 500 more years of hate
between the Jews and the Samaritans.
Scripture scholar John Pilch says
that some knowledge of Mediterranean culture
helps to focus on the shocking pieces in the dialogue.
For one thing, the well was a space open to both men and women
but not at the same time.
Women came only in morning or evening...
but this woman is there at noon.
Also, it was very questionable for a man
to speak to an unchaperoned woman in a public place.
And it was scandalous for a woman to talk with a man in public,
but this woman talks with Jesus
and then heads off to the marketplace,
a place reserved for men, where she talks to the men there.
_____________________________________________
The improper details of the story let us know
that something extraordinary is going on,
and other details give us clues about their meaning.
It’s significant that Jesus and the woman meet at Jacob’s well,
a place whose tradition is shared by Samaritans and Jews.
Those five husbands and the one she’s living with now
refer to the many gods that Samaria had historically worshiped
along with the God of Israel.
They discuss the question of whether worshiping God
is proper to Jerusalem or to Shechem…
and Jesus’ insight is no.
Not exclusively in those places
but anywhere and everywhere,
in Spirit and truth.
They’re talking theology.
Through their mutual acceptance of the other,
the walls, boundaries, hostilities, and hatreds
which had long separated Samaritans and Jews
melt away and disappear.
_____________________________________________
And what about us?
Think about the 400 years of hate
between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland,
or the 1,400 years of hate
between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East.
Think about the 482 years we Christians spent hating each other
from Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses in 1517
to the 1999 Lutheran-Catholic Declaration
reconciling our differences on that “justification by faith”
that Paul talks about in today’s second reading.
How often do we just talk at one another!
Genuine conversation is hard work,
but it opens up encounter with the other
and brings life-giving transformation.
_____________________________________________
This past Tuesday our Muslim neighbors
at Masjid Saad Foundation up on Alexis Road
opened their doors in gracious hospitality
to help us Christians begin to understand Islam.
We talked about having very different perspectives,
different contexts, different rituals, different readings--
and all converging on faith in one God
that has to lead to action in the world.
We agreed that God—by whatever name—is everywhere.
And we agreed that our traditions converge
on the need to put our love for God and neighbor into action.
We’ll be meeting again on the next four Tuesdays
to continue the conversation.
_____________________________________________
We have much in common.
We share a thirst for meaning,
sometimes feeling abandoned by God
in the desert of our lives.
We share a thirst for freedom--
the need to leap out of the slavery of our Egypts
into the promised land.
We share a thirst for truth--
looking to get away from the polluted water
of outmoded parts of our traditions
to drink from fresh, clean springs.
We share a thirst for justice--
to stand in right relationship with one another
and with all of creation.
Above all, we share a thirst for love--
the burning desire
for a world that follows the Great Commandment--
love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
_____________________________________________
Psalm 95 tells us, “Harden not your hearts.”
We must not live our life against any person,
against any religion,
against God.
We must live together in peace with all.
Amen!
First Reading: Exodus 17:3-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
Gospel: John 4:5-42
Another transfiguration this week.
Last week the disciples saw the change in Jesus
and his closeness to God
through their law and their prophets.
This week the transfiguration comes through dialogue.
The meeting at the well shows both the woman and Jesus
transformed from their exclusive native religions
to allow both to embrace one faith in one inclusive God.
The woman learns to give up
worshiping the multiple gods in her Samaritan tradition.
Jesus learns how to give up
his Jewish attachment
to Jerusalem as the only proper place to worship God.
She stays a Samaritan, and he stays a Jew,
but they are both transformed.
_____________________________________________
Did this really story happen?
Fr. Raymond Brown doesn’t go very far towards a yes on that.
He writes that “It is not at all impossible
that even in the conversation
we have echoes of a historical tradition
of an incident in Jesus’ ministry.”
Most scholars doubt that this gospel story ever took place.
They think the point is to explain
how the hated Samaritans came to be included
in the Jesus movement.
_____________________________________________
There was a long history of dissension among the tribes of Israel,
nearly a thousand years of it between Samaritans and Jews.
When the city of Samaria fell to the Assyrians,
many of them were led off into captivity,
but some were left behind.
Both Israel and Samaria failed to keep to the way of Yahweh.
When the Jews came out of Babylon nearly 400 years later,
the Samaritans tried to welcome them back,
but the returning exiles despised the Samaritans
because they had intermarried with the Assyrians.
By the time Jesus came around,
there had been over 500 more years of hate
between the Jews and the Samaritans.
Scripture scholar John Pilch says
that some knowledge of Mediterranean culture
helps to focus on the shocking pieces in the dialogue.
For one thing, the well was a space open to both men and women
but not at the same time.
Women came only in morning or evening...
but this woman is there at noon.
Also, it was very questionable for a man
to speak to an unchaperoned woman in a public place.
And it was scandalous for a woman to talk with a man in public,
but this woman talks with Jesus
and then heads off to the marketplace,
a place reserved for men, where she talks to the men there.
_____________________________________________
The improper details of the story let us know
that something extraordinary is going on,
and other details give us clues about their meaning.
It’s significant that Jesus and the woman meet at Jacob’s well,
a place whose tradition is shared by Samaritans and Jews.
Those five husbands and the one she’s living with now
refer to the many gods that Samaria had historically worshiped
along with the God of Israel.
They discuss the question of whether worshiping God
is proper to Jerusalem or to Shechem…
and Jesus’ insight is no.
Not exclusively in those places
but anywhere and everywhere,
in Spirit and truth.
They’re talking theology.
Through their mutual acceptance of the other,
the walls, boundaries, hostilities, and hatreds
which had long separated Samaritans and Jews
melt away and disappear.
_____________________________________________
And what about us?
Think about the 400 years of hate
between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland,
or the 1,400 years of hate
between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East.
Think about the 482 years we Christians spent hating each other
from Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses in 1517
to the 1999 Lutheran-Catholic Declaration
reconciling our differences on that “justification by faith”
that Paul talks about in today’s second reading.
How often do we just talk at one another!
Genuine conversation is hard work,
but it opens up encounter with the other
and brings life-giving transformation.
_____________________________________________
This past Tuesday our Muslim neighbors
at Masjid Saad Foundation up on Alexis Road
opened their doors in gracious hospitality
to help us Christians begin to understand Islam.
We talked about having very different perspectives,
different contexts, different rituals, different readings--
and all converging on faith in one God
that has to lead to action in the world.
We agreed that God—by whatever name—is everywhere.
And we agreed that our traditions converge
on the need to put our love for God and neighbor into action.
We’ll be meeting again on the next four Tuesdays
to continue the conversation.
_____________________________________________
We have much in common.
We share a thirst for meaning,
sometimes feeling abandoned by God
in the desert of our lives.
We share a thirst for freedom--
the need to leap out of the slavery of our Egypts
into the promised land.
We share a thirst for truth--
looking to get away from the polluted water
of outmoded parts of our traditions
to drink from fresh, clean springs.
We share a thirst for justice--
to stand in right relationship with one another
and with all of creation.
Above all, we share a thirst for love--
the burning desire
for a world that follows the Great Commandment--
love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
_____________________________________________
Psalm 95 tells us, “Harden not your hearts.”
We must not live our life against any person,
against any religion,
against God.
We must live together in peace with all.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Lent A 2, March 12, 2017
First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8-10
Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration.
Biblical anthropologist John Pilch says that
describing the disciples’ experience of Jesus’ transfiguration as a “vision”
is an important piece of information.
Modem psychological anthropology tells us
that the majority of the world’s cultures
do not consider alternative states of consciousness
like visions
to be odd or irrational.
They see them as normal human experiences.
Cultures like ours are the ones that need to take another look.
___________________________________________
In the USA we’re more likely to talk about hallucinations or illusions
instead of visions or transfigurations.
But we do know about change.
We know that people can change, dramatically.
Old dogs can learn new tricks.
People jailed for serious crimes turn their lives around
and become productive citizens,
even role models for youngsters.
The footloose and fancy-free
have been known to shape their idealism
into responsibility and commitment.
These days we see scores of folks
turning out for demonstrations and marches
because they have a better idea—a vision--
of what our country should be.
They have a vision.
___________________________________________
Then there’s the difference that faith makes--
the change in people who live what they believe.
It’s plainly visible.
John’s gospel tells us
that everyone will know that we are Jesus’ disciples
if we love one another.
If we believe that,
and if we begin to act out of that love,
then we will change our lives.
And people will notice.
We will be transfigured.
___________________________________________
The early followers of Jesus saw transfigurations all around them.
Acts 10:38 says that Jesus went about doing good,
and people saw it
and followed him.
Chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians
tells us what that love looks like.
You know the passage: Love is patient, love is kind….
If we are not changing,
not acting out of love,
not becoming transformed,
then we cannot call ourselves disciples.
We cannot call ourselves Christians
unless people can see a difference in us.
___________________________________________
The turning point--
that point where the change becomes noticeable--
is transfiguration.
Today’s first reading calls Abram to change.
He goes from being Abram of one tribe
to Abraham for all the tribes,
for all the nations.
Today’s second reading encourages Timothy to change.
Paul tells him to lead a holy life,
to fan to flame the gifts he has,
not with a spirit of fear
but with a spirit of love.
And today’s gospel shows the transfigured Jesus
inspiring Peter, James, and John to follow him.
___________________________________________
We’ll hear about another transfiguration next Sunday
in the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.
The Sunday after that
we’ll hear the story of the transfiguration of the man born blind.
And the Sunday after that
we’ll hear the story of Lazarus untied and set free,
brought to life,
transfigured.
___________________________________________
Something clicked for Peter, James, and John on that mountaintop with Jesus.
They finally understood that he was the real thing;
a leader, like a new Moses;
a prophet, like a new Elijah.
Those three disciples finally learned
that Jesus’ very being
was an expression of the God’s presence,
They had to listen to him.
They were compelled to follow him.
___________________________________________
What changed them?
What made the difference for the woman at the well,
for the blind man, for Lazarus?
It was Jesus’ compassionate love,
his honesty, his truth,
and his hunger to share all his life--
the length of it and the memory of it,
the quantity and the quality of it--
to share life and love with the likes of them.
The Spirit of God—the divine Spirit—filled Jesus’ soul,
and it changed him
to the point that it became visible.
Jesus taught with his very life,
with what he did with it
and all the ways he lived it
by giving it to God.
The power of his goodness
moves us to be like him,
to imitate him.
We become, like Peter, James, and John, disciples.
We learn how to be good.
Then our goodness becomes contagious.
Others are inspired by us--
by our compassionate love;
the power of our truth;
our freedom to be wholly ourselves,
the selves we are made to be.
We are changed.
Transformed.
Transfigured.
We become more like Jesus.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8-10
Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration.
Biblical anthropologist John Pilch says that
describing the disciples’ experience of Jesus’ transfiguration as a “vision”
is an important piece of information.
Modem psychological anthropology tells us
that the majority of the world’s cultures
do not consider alternative states of consciousness
like visions
to be odd or irrational.
They see them as normal human experiences.
Cultures like ours are the ones that need to take another look.
___________________________________________
In the USA we’re more likely to talk about hallucinations or illusions
instead of visions or transfigurations.
But we do know about change.
We know that people can change, dramatically.
Old dogs can learn new tricks.
People jailed for serious crimes turn their lives around
and become productive citizens,
even role models for youngsters.
The footloose and fancy-free
have been known to shape their idealism
into responsibility and commitment.
These days we see scores of folks
turning out for demonstrations and marches
because they have a better idea—a vision--
of what our country should be.
They have a vision.
___________________________________________
Then there’s the difference that faith makes--
the change in people who live what they believe.
It’s plainly visible.
John’s gospel tells us
that everyone will know that we are Jesus’ disciples
if we love one another.
If we believe that,
and if we begin to act out of that love,
then we will change our lives.
And people will notice.
We will be transfigured.
___________________________________________
The early followers of Jesus saw transfigurations all around them.
Acts 10:38 says that Jesus went about doing good,
and people saw it
and followed him.
Chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians
tells us what that love looks like.
You know the passage: Love is patient, love is kind….
If we are not changing,
not acting out of love,
not becoming transformed,
then we cannot call ourselves disciples.
We cannot call ourselves Christians
unless people can see a difference in us.
___________________________________________
The turning point--
that point where the change becomes noticeable--
is transfiguration.
Today’s first reading calls Abram to change.
He goes from being Abram of one tribe
to Abraham for all the tribes,
for all the nations.
Today’s second reading encourages Timothy to change.
Paul tells him to lead a holy life,
to fan to flame the gifts he has,
not with a spirit of fear
but with a spirit of love.
And today’s gospel shows the transfigured Jesus
inspiring Peter, James, and John to follow him.
___________________________________________
We’ll hear about another transfiguration next Sunday
in the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.
The Sunday after that
we’ll hear the story of the transfiguration of the man born blind.
And the Sunday after that
we’ll hear the story of Lazarus untied and set free,
brought to life,
transfigured.
___________________________________________
Something clicked for Peter, James, and John on that mountaintop with Jesus.
They finally understood that he was the real thing;
a leader, like a new Moses;
a prophet, like a new Elijah.
Those three disciples finally learned
that Jesus’ very being
was an expression of the God’s presence,
They had to listen to him.
They were compelled to follow him.
___________________________________________
What changed them?
What made the difference for the woman at the well,
for the blind man, for Lazarus?
It was Jesus’ compassionate love,
his honesty, his truth,
and his hunger to share all his life--
the length of it and the memory of it,
the quantity and the quality of it--
to share life and love with the likes of them.
The Spirit of God—the divine Spirit—filled Jesus’ soul,
and it changed him
to the point that it became visible.
Jesus taught with his very life,
with what he did with it
and all the ways he lived it
by giving it to God.
The power of his goodness
moves us to be like him,
to imitate him.
We become, like Peter, James, and John, disciples.
We learn how to be good.
Then our goodness becomes contagious.
Others are inspired by us--
by our compassionate love;
the power of our truth;
our freedom to be wholly ourselves,
the selves we are made to be.
We are changed.
Transformed.
Transfigured.
We become more like Jesus.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, First Sunday of Lent, March 5, 2017
First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-6, 12-13, 17
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
Today’s scriptures pose the same question we heard last Sunday:
will we serve God
or will we serve money?
This time it’s phrased in terms of obedience.
We hear lots of commentary about this Genesis creation story
that focuses on the subservience of women to men,
or the dogma of original sin,
or the idea that humans
are the be-all and end-all of God’s creation.
It’s important to remember
that these beginning chapters of Genesis are not history.
They are story, myth in the true sense of the word.
Sister Mary McGlone reminds us
that the Genesis myths have been preserved
not to record historical or scientific events
but to communicate timeless truths.
Among other things, McGlone says,
the creation myth tells us
about human rebellion against God’s reign,
our susceptibility to selfishness
that leads to lies and hate and killing,
and the rupture in right relationship
of humans to God and creation.
Scripture scholar Reginald Fuller
sees the theological insight in this Genesis myth
as pointing to human responsibility for evil in the world.
____________________________________
The teaching of this Genesis passage
is repeated in other stories in the Hebrew Scriptures.
One of the well-known passages
is where Joshua challenges the Israelites
to choose whether or not they will follow God.
Joshua tells them to choose who they will serve
and makes his own pledge, saying,
“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
The book of Joshua was compiled
about 500 to 600 years before Christ,
the same period that produced the compilation of Genesis.
The question of who we serve, of who we follow,
is the basic question of faith.
Every one of us has to answer that question for ourselves.
____________________________________
Paul’s letter to the Romans,
even though it takes a literal approach to the Genesis myth,
also centers on obedience to God as crucial to faith.
____________________________________
The Gospel story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert
continues the idea of obedience to God.
Scripture scholars call Matthew’s temptation passage a legend,
a story based on what Jesus’ followers imagined he did
when he was alone in the desert.
Matthew and Luke both adapt this story from earlier writings,
a dramatization of the internal struggles
that come from grappling with the basic question of faith:
who will you serve?
Scholars find it plausible, but not certain,
that Jesus actually went on a vision quest in the desert
or that he fasted for an extended period
and went hungry as a result.
We can be certain, though, that he would have spent time
in thought and prayer about the meaning of life and God,
and that his teaching is the fruit of his pondering,
wherever and however he did it.
____________________________________
Just as in the Genesis story,
the truth of the temptation story does not lie in its historicity.
The truth is in Jesus’ example of saying no to the idolatry of power,
no to the spiritual laziness that asks for miracles
and refuses to take responsibility,
no to a life dedicated to serving only himself.
The truth lies in the choice between the good and evil.
In Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis describes it as the choice
between the reign of God and the places
where everything comes under the laws of competition,
where the powerful feed on the powerless.
____________________________________
Today, on this first Sunday of Lent,
we begin the traditional process
of checking up on our spiritual selves.
We look for the things that tempt us to serve that which is not God,
and biggest one for us in the first world in the 21st century
is the temptation to put our time and energy
into money, power, and stuff.
____________________________________
Who do we serve?
We can find out by keeping watch
on what we are really doing
as we go about our daily life.
We can learn more about ourselves and our motivations
and how we can turn them into actions
that bring about the reign of God,
here and now.
That is the challenge of our journey through Lent.
Let’s get going.
Amen!
First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-6, 12-13, 17
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
Today’s scriptures pose the same question we heard last Sunday:
will we serve God
or will we serve money?
This time it’s phrased in terms of obedience.
We hear lots of commentary about this Genesis creation story
that focuses on the subservience of women to men,
or the dogma of original sin,
or the idea that humans
are the be-all and end-all of God’s creation.
It’s important to remember
that these beginning chapters of Genesis are not history.
They are story, myth in the true sense of the word.
Sister Mary McGlone reminds us
that the Genesis myths have been preserved
not to record historical or scientific events
but to communicate timeless truths.
Among other things, McGlone says,
the creation myth tells us
about human rebellion against God’s reign,
our susceptibility to selfishness
that leads to lies and hate and killing,
and the rupture in right relationship
of humans to God and creation.
Scripture scholar Reginald Fuller
sees the theological insight in this Genesis myth
as pointing to human responsibility for evil in the world.
____________________________________
The teaching of this Genesis passage
is repeated in other stories in the Hebrew Scriptures.
One of the well-known passages
is where Joshua challenges the Israelites
to choose whether or not they will follow God.
Joshua tells them to choose who they will serve
and makes his own pledge, saying,
“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
The book of Joshua was compiled
about 500 to 600 years before Christ,
the same period that produced the compilation of Genesis.
The question of who we serve, of who we follow,
is the basic question of faith.
Every one of us has to answer that question for ourselves.
____________________________________
Paul’s letter to the Romans,
even though it takes a literal approach to the Genesis myth,
also centers on obedience to God as crucial to faith.
____________________________________
The Gospel story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert
continues the idea of obedience to God.
Scripture scholars call Matthew’s temptation passage a legend,
a story based on what Jesus’ followers imagined he did
when he was alone in the desert.
Matthew and Luke both adapt this story from earlier writings,
a dramatization of the internal struggles
that come from grappling with the basic question of faith:
who will you serve?
Scholars find it plausible, but not certain,
that Jesus actually went on a vision quest in the desert
or that he fasted for an extended period
and went hungry as a result.
We can be certain, though, that he would have spent time
in thought and prayer about the meaning of life and God,
and that his teaching is the fruit of his pondering,
wherever and however he did it.
____________________________________
Just as in the Genesis story,
the truth of the temptation story does not lie in its historicity.
The truth is in Jesus’ example of saying no to the idolatry of power,
no to the spiritual laziness that asks for miracles
and refuses to take responsibility,
no to a life dedicated to serving only himself.
The truth lies in the choice between the good and evil.
In Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis describes it as the choice
between the reign of God and the places
where everything comes under the laws of competition,
where the powerful feed on the powerless.
____________________________________
Today, on this first Sunday of Lent,
we begin the traditional process
of checking up on our spiritual selves.
We look for the things that tempt us to serve that which is not God,
and biggest one for us in the first world in the 21st century
is the temptation to put our time and energy
into money, power, and stuff.
____________________________________
Who do we serve?
We can find out by keeping watch
on what we are really doing
as we go about our daily life.
We can learn more about ourselves and our motivations
and how we can turn them into actions
that bring about the reign of God,
here and now.
That is the challenge of our journey through Lent.
Let’s get going.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017
In our tradition Lent is the time
to remember Jesus' life and passion and death.
It’s a time of self-examination and penance.
It’s a time when we concentrate on re-shaping our lives
to learn what we can do without
so others can have something to do with.
Let’s start by remembering our unity with all creation,
each of us a part of God’s immense universe.
Let’s remember that we, like all of creation, are important.
Let’s remember that sometimes, though, we think we’re in charge,
that all too often we act like we’re the center of the universe--
as if everything is here for us,
for us to use, even to use up.
Lent calls us to remember that we live in, and through,
connections with all that was and is and shall be,
and that we are responsible for taking care--
care of ourselves,
care of our family and friends and neighbors
and enemies and all humankind,
care of animals and plants,
care of water and sky,
care of the whole planet, our common home.
_______________________________
So we are called this Lent to ask God
to show us where we live in the illusion
that we are separate and apart from the rest of creation.
We are called to ask God
to show us the old, ingrained habits we need to get rid of;
to show us the ways we need to change;
to show us the new practices
that we need to get into the habit of doing.
This is the real work of Lent.
_______________________________
It’s not about guilt or shame.
It’s not meant to make us crawl
or beat us down
or make us suffer.
The real work of Lent
is to renew our sense of connection,
restore our dignity,
and call us to a place where we choose life
and shoulder our responsibility to act co-creatively with God.
So let us answer the call
and take the first step on our Lenten journey.
_______________________________
Call to the Lenten Journey
Priest: Lent calls us to journey along the edge.
All: Lent calls us to the cutting edge,
where the wheat falls to the ground and new life comes forth.
Priest: Lent not only calls us to give up something
but also invites us to participate
in the mystery of God-with-us.
All: God of all creation,
by your grace, call us from grief into gladness, from despair into hope,
from estrangement into right relations with you and with each other
and with the earth.
Blessing and Imposition of Ashes
So we begin.
We declare the fast, call the assembly,
listen to God’s voice, and act on it.
We’ll find the one thing that we can do
to change our lives this Lent--
and doing that, no matter if we stumble at it,
we will change the world.
_______________________________
We will now bless these ashes,
and all will be invited to come forward
to receive the sign of the cross on our foreheads
as our communal act of penance--
the sign of dying to something negative in our lives
and preparing to rise in new and positive ways.
Let us embrace this opportunity to change our lives,
to embody our values,
and to walk humbly with our God.
In our tradition Lent is the time
to remember Jesus' life and passion and death.
It’s a time of self-examination and penance.
It’s a time when we concentrate on re-shaping our lives
to learn what we can do without
so others can have something to do with.
Let’s start by remembering our unity with all creation,
each of us a part of God’s immense universe.
Let’s remember that we, like all of creation, are important.
Let’s remember that sometimes, though, we think we’re in charge,
that all too often we act like we’re the center of the universe--
as if everything is here for us,
for us to use, even to use up.
Lent calls us to remember that we live in, and through,
connections with all that was and is and shall be,
and that we are responsible for taking care--
care of ourselves,
care of our family and friends and neighbors
and enemies and all humankind,
care of animals and plants,
care of water and sky,
care of the whole planet, our common home.
_______________________________
So we are called this Lent to ask God
to show us where we live in the illusion
that we are separate and apart from the rest of creation.
We are called to ask God
to show us the old, ingrained habits we need to get rid of;
to show us the ways we need to change;
to show us the new practices
that we need to get into the habit of doing.
This is the real work of Lent.
_______________________________
It’s not about guilt or shame.
It’s not meant to make us crawl
or beat us down
or make us suffer.
The real work of Lent
is to renew our sense of connection,
restore our dignity,
and call us to a place where we choose life
and shoulder our responsibility to act co-creatively with God.
So let us answer the call
and take the first step on our Lenten journey.
_______________________________
Call to the Lenten Journey
Priest: Lent calls us to journey along the edge.
All: Lent calls us to the cutting edge,
where the wheat falls to the ground and new life comes forth.
Priest: Lent not only calls us to give up something
but also invites us to participate
in the mystery of God-with-us.
All: God of all creation,
by your grace, call us from grief into gladness, from despair into hope,
from estrangement into right relations with you and with each other
and with the earth.
Blessing and Imposition of Ashes
So we begin.
We declare the fast, call the assembly,
listen to God’s voice, and act on it.
We’ll find the one thing that we can do
to change our lives this Lent--
and doing that, no matter if we stumble at it,
we will change the world.
_______________________________
We will now bless these ashes,
and all will be invited to come forward
to receive the sign of the cross on our foreheads
as our communal act of penance--
the sign of dying to something negative in our lives
and preparing to rise in new and positive ways.
Let us embrace this opportunity to change our lives,
to embody our values,
and to walk humbly with our God.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 8, February 26, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 49:14-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 62:2-3, 6-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
Today’s readings
are the perfect antidote to the troubles of our time.
They tell us we don’t have to worry...
but we do need to get our priorities in order.
First, Isaiah reminds us that, in times of trouble,
God is the one who will not forget us.
Then the psalmist calls us to remember
that our hope and our strength comes from God.
And Paul tells the Corinthians
not to pay attention to any person or any human court,
but to Christ, who is the ultimate judge,
Finally, Jesus tells us that we can’t divide our loyalties.
_______________________________
Just like with last week’s gospel, scholars conclude that Jesus
probably said something like the first part of today’s gospel,
the part that is printed as the first paragraph in the bulletin.
They think the last part, the part printed as a second paragraph,
was added to address specific concerns
of the Christian community.
_______________________________
So Jesus really said
that we can’t split our loyalty to God
with someone else or something else.
We can’t serve both God and money.
_______________________________
As we get ready to step into Lent this Wednesday,
we can prepare ourselves by asking what really matters to us.
Do we have our priorities in order?
One of the ways to figure that out
is to look at how we spend our days,
which turns out to be, as author Annie Dillard said,
how we spend our lives.
It’s not a question of what we do for a living,
or where we live,
or even where we volunteer in our spare time.
It’s HOW we spend our lives wherever we are,
in the middle of whatever task we’re doing.
_______________________________
I was walking into the Y last week
when a teenager ahead of me slowed down
and held the door open for me.
When I stop at the Lagrange branch library,
I see one of the librarians smiling and listening
and patiently explaining things to patron after patron.
Grandparents travel, sometimes very long distances,
to spend time with their children and grandchildren.
I notice a friend who always gives generous tips,
sometimes twice the cost of the meal.
I heard that Elsie sat at the hospital all day
with a member of her church
waiting for doctors to tell her test results.
_______________________________
These folks have their priorities in order.
God is Number ONE for them,
so wherever they are and whatever they’re doing,
it’s the way they are—their very being--
that shows their choice between God and not-God.
_______________________________
The opposite of that is also true.
We can see when priorities get out of order,
or, as Jesus puts it,
when someone tries to give himself to both God and money.
The Golden Rule gets broken.
It becomes “Do to others before they do it to you.”
We can see examples of that these days,
especially in the major shifts to public policy.
Immigration enforcement that breaks up families.
Refugee policy that targets Muslims.
Health care policy that makes the poor pay more than the wealthy,
and, if they can’t afford to pay,
takes away their insurance.
Tax breaks for the wealthiest people
but not for the working poor.
Public policy that’s prompted by half-truths and outright lies.
We hear diatribes against people
because of what country they come from
or what religion they believe in.
These days we hear too many elected officeholders judge people--
as Martin Luther King put it--
by the color of their skin
rather than the content of their character.
_______________________________
The principles of Catholic Social Teaching--
those basic rights and dignity of all human persons
that are honored not only by Catholics
but also by other Christians and by Jews
and by Muslims and by every other religion--
those principles are being violated every day
in the public arena.
_______________________________
The first thing we are called to do in the face of injustice
is to keep our priorities in order.
God is God: our Number One.
All of us earthlings, as children of God,
are required to stand in holy relationship to one another.
_______________________________
So we will take peace with us as we go about our daily business,
whatever that may be.
We will choose to act with justice
toward all our sisters and brothers.
We will think about how we want people to treat us,
and we will go out of our way to treat everybody like that. -
With our priorities in order, we can leave worry behind.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 49:14-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 62:2-3, 6-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
Today’s readings
are the perfect antidote to the troubles of our time.
They tell us we don’t have to worry...
but we do need to get our priorities in order.
First, Isaiah reminds us that, in times of trouble,
God is the one who will not forget us.
Then the psalmist calls us to remember
that our hope and our strength comes from God.
And Paul tells the Corinthians
not to pay attention to any person or any human court,
but to Christ, who is the ultimate judge,
Finally, Jesus tells us that we can’t divide our loyalties.
_______________________________
Just like with last week’s gospel, scholars conclude that Jesus
probably said something like the first part of today’s gospel,
the part that is printed as the first paragraph in the bulletin.
They think the last part, the part printed as a second paragraph,
was added to address specific concerns
of the Christian community.
_______________________________
So Jesus really said
that we can’t split our loyalty to God
with someone else or something else.
We can’t serve both God and money.
_______________________________
As we get ready to step into Lent this Wednesday,
we can prepare ourselves by asking what really matters to us.
Do we have our priorities in order?
One of the ways to figure that out
is to look at how we spend our days,
which turns out to be, as author Annie Dillard said,
how we spend our lives.
It’s not a question of what we do for a living,
or where we live,
or even where we volunteer in our spare time.
It’s HOW we spend our lives wherever we are,
in the middle of whatever task we’re doing.
_______________________________
I was walking into the Y last week
when a teenager ahead of me slowed down
and held the door open for me.
When I stop at the Lagrange branch library,
I see one of the librarians smiling and listening
and patiently explaining things to patron after patron.
Grandparents travel, sometimes very long distances,
to spend time with their children and grandchildren.
I notice a friend who always gives generous tips,
sometimes twice the cost of the meal.
I heard that Elsie sat at the hospital all day
with a member of her church
waiting for doctors to tell her test results.
_______________________________
These folks have their priorities in order.
God is Number ONE for them,
so wherever they are and whatever they’re doing,
it’s the way they are—their very being--
that shows their choice between God and not-God.
_______________________________
The opposite of that is also true.
We can see when priorities get out of order,
or, as Jesus puts it,
when someone tries to give himself to both God and money.
The Golden Rule gets broken.
It becomes “Do to others before they do it to you.”
We can see examples of that these days,
especially in the major shifts to public policy.
Immigration enforcement that breaks up families.
Refugee policy that targets Muslims.
Health care policy that makes the poor pay more than the wealthy,
and, if they can’t afford to pay,
takes away their insurance.
Tax breaks for the wealthiest people
but not for the working poor.
Public policy that’s prompted by half-truths and outright lies.
We hear diatribes against people
because of what country they come from
or what religion they believe in.
These days we hear too many elected officeholders judge people--
as Martin Luther King put it--
by the color of their skin
rather than the content of their character.
_______________________________
The principles of Catholic Social Teaching--
those basic rights and dignity of all human persons
that are honored not only by Catholics
but also by other Christians and by Jews
and by Muslims and by every other religion--
those principles are being violated every day
in the public arena.
_______________________________
The first thing we are called to do in the face of injustice
is to keep our priorities in order.
God is God: our Number One.
All of us earthlings, as children of God,
are required to stand in holy relationship to one another.
_______________________________
So we will take peace with us as we go about our daily business,
whatever that may be.
We will choose to act with justice
toward all our sisters and brothers.
We will think about how we want people to treat us,
and we will go out of our way to treat everybody like that. -
With our priorities in order, we can leave worry behind.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 7, February 19, 2017
First Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103, 1-4, 8, 10, 12-13
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48
The book of Leviticus tells us to “be holy as God is holy”
and gives us some specific ideas of what that looks like.
Don’t hang on to hate.
Don’t store up bad feelings.
Don’t try to get revenge.
Don’t hold a grudge.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
_______________________________________
Today’s psalm describes the holiness of God that we are to be like.
God pardons all our iniquities, comforts our sorrows,
redeems our life from destruction, crowns us with kindness.
God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.
_______________________________________
Then Jesus tells us
that we have to go beyond what the law requires.
Scripture scholars tell us that this part of the Sermon on the Mount
is among the things Jesus almost certainly said.
He really said not to react violently against people who do evil.
To turn the other cheek.
If you’re sued for your shirt, to give them your coat, too.
If you’re forced to go a mile, to go along for two.
Give to everyone who begs or wants to borrow from you.
He really did say those things.
_______________________________________
Is Jesus telling us to be doormats?”
Not at all.
It helps to have a cultural context for this passage.
Most people are right-handed,
so if someone slaps me across the right cheek,
it would have to be back-handed,
the way a powerful person
slaps someone they consider below them,
meant to be demeaning and to dishonor the person.
The expectation is that I will slap back the same way,
and, in first century Palestine, I would get my honor back.
But if I turn the other cheek,
that person will have to hit me as an equal.
Turning the other cheek speaks loud and clear:
I will not be dishonored,
and I will not be violent.
_______________________________________
Then there’s the shirt and coat part of today’s reading.
Jesus’ listeners would have known
that Exodus says you have to return the coat before sunset
because it’s the only covering the poor people have.
Handing over both the shirt and the coat would leave you naked.
You would make it obvious that your oppressor is an evil person.
_______________________________________
There’s also a cultural context to help us understand the extra mile.
Roman law allowed the occupying army
to force people to carry their backpack for one mile
but no farther.
Instead of growling or grumbling about it,
Jesus suggests, go two miles.
His audience knew
that the soldier would get in trouble for violating Roman law.
_______________________________________
Jesus reminds me a lot of Saul Alinsky,
a community organizer who put together actions
aimed at bringing about racial equality.
In his last book in 1971, Rules for Radicals,
Alinsky wrote that the threat of an action
was sometimes enough to produce results.
My favorite was his plan
to have large numbers of well-dressed African Americans
occupy the urinals and toilets at O'Hare Airport
for as long as it took to bring the City of Chicago
to the bargaining table.
Like Alinsky, Jesus tells people
to act in ways that the opponent does not expect
and to act in ways that will make the oppressor’s evil visible.
_______________________________________
Jesus was teaching an oppressed people
the principles of creative nonviolence.
His teachings inspired Mahatma Gandhi
to his famous salt march
that exposed oppressive British taxation.
His teachings led Martin Luther King, Jr.,
to his creative nonviolent practices
of bus boycotts and restaurant sit-ins.
We are called to follow his teachings.
_______________________________________
We’re called to love, but there are some people I don’t like.
At all.
There’s injustice, people doing wrong to others,
sometimes even to us.
It’s hard not to hate them when they hate us.
Hard to keep being gracious and forgiving them
when they misunderstand us, lie to us,
oppose us, mistreat us, threaten us.
_______________________________________
Trying to love them is exhausting,
but we are clearly called to love.
It’s easier if we do it Jesus’ way.
We know that an executive order banning Muslims is evil.
We know that the poor live in neighborhoods
where the rental houses poison the kids with lead paint
and the stores don’t carry healthy food at fair prices.
We know that obscenity and a swastika on a garage door is evil.
We know that the poor and the middle class
carry a heavier tax burden than the rich.
We know that polluting the Maumee River and Lake Erie is evil.
_______________________________________
And we know that we,
and our friends and neighbors, and our enemies,
are temples of God.
The Spirit dwells in all of us.
_______________________________________
So we set out to love as God loves.
We try to love everyone.
And we set out to show our love for all people the way Jesus did.
We try to show them better ways.
We pray for them.
We help them when they’re in need.
We speak up when they’re doing wrong.
We protest and make phone calls and write letters.
When they’re oppressing people,
taking actions that bring evil to others,
we try to treat them as we would want to be treated.
We enter into dialogue.
We call them to right actions.
We pray for them,
No matter how much we hate their ideas or their actions,
we love them
and treat them with respect.
We are their neighbors.
Amen!
First Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103, 1-4, 8, 10, 12-13
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48
The book of Leviticus tells us to “be holy as God is holy”
and gives us some specific ideas of what that looks like.
Don’t hang on to hate.
Don’t store up bad feelings.
Don’t try to get revenge.
Don’t hold a grudge.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
_______________________________________
Today’s psalm describes the holiness of God that we are to be like.
God pardons all our iniquities, comforts our sorrows,
redeems our life from destruction, crowns us with kindness.
God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.
_______________________________________
Then Jesus tells us
that we have to go beyond what the law requires.
Scripture scholars tell us that this part of the Sermon on the Mount
is among the things Jesus almost certainly said.
He really said not to react violently against people who do evil.
To turn the other cheek.
If you’re sued for your shirt, to give them your coat, too.
If you’re forced to go a mile, to go along for two.
Give to everyone who begs or wants to borrow from you.
He really did say those things.
_______________________________________
Is Jesus telling us to be doormats?”
Not at all.
It helps to have a cultural context for this passage.
Most people are right-handed,
so if someone slaps me across the right cheek,
it would have to be back-handed,
the way a powerful person
slaps someone they consider below them,
meant to be demeaning and to dishonor the person.
The expectation is that I will slap back the same way,
and, in first century Palestine, I would get my honor back.
But if I turn the other cheek,
that person will have to hit me as an equal.
Turning the other cheek speaks loud and clear:
I will not be dishonored,
and I will not be violent.
_______________________________________
Then there’s the shirt and coat part of today’s reading.
Jesus’ listeners would have known
that Exodus says you have to return the coat before sunset
because it’s the only covering the poor people have.
Handing over both the shirt and the coat would leave you naked.
You would make it obvious that your oppressor is an evil person.
_______________________________________
There’s also a cultural context to help us understand the extra mile.
Roman law allowed the occupying army
to force people to carry their backpack for one mile
but no farther.
Instead of growling or grumbling about it,
Jesus suggests, go two miles.
His audience knew
that the soldier would get in trouble for violating Roman law.
_______________________________________
Jesus reminds me a lot of Saul Alinsky,
a community organizer who put together actions
aimed at bringing about racial equality.
In his last book in 1971, Rules for Radicals,
Alinsky wrote that the threat of an action
was sometimes enough to produce results.
My favorite was his plan
to have large numbers of well-dressed African Americans
occupy the urinals and toilets at O'Hare Airport
for as long as it took to bring the City of Chicago
to the bargaining table.
Like Alinsky, Jesus tells people
to act in ways that the opponent does not expect
and to act in ways that will make the oppressor’s evil visible.
_______________________________________
Jesus was teaching an oppressed people
the principles of creative nonviolence.
His teachings inspired Mahatma Gandhi
to his famous salt march
that exposed oppressive British taxation.
His teachings led Martin Luther King, Jr.,
to his creative nonviolent practices
of bus boycotts and restaurant sit-ins.
We are called to follow his teachings.
_______________________________________
We’re called to love, but there are some people I don’t like.
At all.
There’s injustice, people doing wrong to others,
sometimes even to us.
It’s hard not to hate them when they hate us.
Hard to keep being gracious and forgiving them
when they misunderstand us, lie to us,
oppose us, mistreat us, threaten us.
_______________________________________
Trying to love them is exhausting,
but we are clearly called to love.
It’s easier if we do it Jesus’ way.
We know that an executive order banning Muslims is evil.
We know that the poor live in neighborhoods
where the rental houses poison the kids with lead paint
and the stores don’t carry healthy food at fair prices.
We know that obscenity and a swastika on a garage door is evil.
We know that the poor and the middle class
carry a heavier tax burden than the rich.
We know that polluting the Maumee River and Lake Erie is evil.
_______________________________________
And we know that we,
and our friends and neighbors, and our enemies,
are temples of God.
The Spirit dwells in all of us.
_______________________________________
So we set out to love as God loves.
We try to love everyone.
And we set out to show our love for all people the way Jesus did.
We try to show them better ways.
We pray for them.
We help them when they’re in need.
We speak up when they’re doing wrong.
We protest and make phone calls and write letters.
When they’re oppressing people,
taking actions that bring evil to others,
we try to treat them as we would want to be treated.
We enter into dialogue.
We call them to right actions.
We pray for them,
No matter how much we hate their ideas or their actions,
we love them
and treat them with respect.
We are their neighbors.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 6, February 12, 2017
First Reading: Sirach 15:15-20
Respon. Psalm: Psalm 119: 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Gospel: Matthew 5:17-37
Today’s readings ask us to read the signs of our times
just as our ancestors in faith had to do in their times.
When we think about at what’s going on these days in our country,
we have to ask, with Pontius Pilate, “What is truth?”
What’s the evidence for that statement?
Is that an “alternative fact?”
Is that true or false?
Is that a lie?
_______________________________________
Sometime around 200 B.C. in Egypt
Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira
wrote the book we call Sirach.
The passage we heard today tells us
that we have the power to be faithful.
We are free to choose what is good.
No one, Sirach says, has permission to sin.
No one is given strength in order to tell lies.
_______________________________________
About 250 years later Paul writes to the Corinthians
about the wisdom of those who are spiritually mature.
He tells them that such maturity is not the wisdom of their time,
and points to the rulers “who are headed for destruction.”
_______________________________________
Then Matthew, in the year 85 in Syria,
has Jesus telling his disciples
that their sense of justice
has to go beyond the justice of the scholars
and the religious leaders.
Jesus tells them to be honest and forthright,
to say “Yes” when they mean “Yes”
and “No” when you mean “No.”
_______________________________________
The passage that follows today’s gospel
has Jesus telling his disciples to love their enemies,
which scholars agree was definitely spoken by Jesus.
They also agree that the pattern of today’s gospel passage
reflects Jesus’ message
in that he consistently called the disciples
to a higher standard than simply following the letter of the law.
He told them that they were to work at living the spirit of the law.
And the spirit of the law is love.
_______________________________________
We hear these scriptures today and ask:
what’s the message here for our world?
Pope Francis, a week ago Friday, named it plainly.
He said, “It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian
and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help,
someone who is hungry or thirsty,
toss out someone who is in need of help.
“If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite.”
The Pope said that all nations must focus
on “service to the poorest, the sick,
and those who have abandoned their homelands
in search of a better future for themselves and their families.”
_______________________________________
Our U.S. bishops apply Jesus’ teaching
when they write about the need for embracing truth
in Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
The bishops tell us
that we have to be guided by our moral convictions,
not attachment to a political party or interest group.
They tell us that “We are called
to bring together our principles and our political choices,
our values and our votes,
to help build a civilization of truth and love.”
_______________________________________
When we look at our world today,
it’s obvious that we’re a long way
from a civilization of truth and love.
In too many ways, we’re a long way from civilization.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center,
in the days since the presidential election,
states across the country have seen increased incidents
of racist or anti-Semitic vandalism and violence,
many of which have drawn directly
on the rhetoric and proposals of Donald Trump.
We’ve seen the executive order
banning Muslims from traveling to our country.
We’ve seen hate crimes against Jews,
the killing of unarmed black people.
After the November election
New York saw more than double the hate crimes
against Muslim Americans
and a 67% increase in hate crimes against Jews,
African Americans, and LGBT individuals.
_______________________________________
We’ve seen it right here at home.
We saw the obscenity and the Swastika
painted on the home of American citizens of Arab descent.
There was the bomb threat at the Jewish Community Center.
Then Adrian Williams, an African American,
was subjected to racial insults
and then seriously injured by two whites
right in front of his own house over on Lagrange Street.
High school kids who are LGBT
suffer rape, physical violence, and bullying.
_______________________________________
The signs of our times are clear.
They call us here at Holy Spirit to continue
to welcome everyone to the table, no exceptions.
We are called to embrace everyone we meet wherever we go--
whether it’s the homeless at the soup kitchen
or the Gothic teen
or the close-minded racist.
We are called to befriend the remarried divorced couple,
the worker who lost his job,
and the student who doesn’t make it into college.
We are called to be generous
in our love for every one of God’s people.
_______________________________________
So we march for unity with the gays and the straights,
with the blacks and browns and tans
and yellows and reds and whites,
with the poor and the middle class and the wealthy.
We pray with the Muslims and the Jews
and the Sikhs and the Buddhists and the Quakers
and the atheists and agnostics.
We even march with other Christians.
To each and every one of them, our “yes” means “yes.”
_______________________________________
We reach out to the poor and the oppressed,
no matter their color or ancestry
or citizenship status or religion.
Our “yes” to them means “yes.”
We stand in solidarity with people targeted by hate.
Our “yes” to them means “yes.”
_______________________________________
And when we are told lies,
when we are told to hate,
whether it comes from a friend or a stranger
or the President of the United States, we say “no.”
Our “no” to them means “no.”
Amen!
First Reading: Sirach 15:15-20
Respon. Psalm: Psalm 119: 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Gospel: Matthew 5:17-37
Today’s readings ask us to read the signs of our times
just as our ancestors in faith had to do in their times.
When we think about at what’s going on these days in our country,
we have to ask, with Pontius Pilate, “What is truth?”
What’s the evidence for that statement?
Is that an “alternative fact?”
Is that true or false?
Is that a lie?
_______________________________________
Sometime around 200 B.C. in Egypt
Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira
wrote the book we call Sirach.
The passage we heard today tells us
that we have the power to be faithful.
We are free to choose what is good.
No one, Sirach says, has permission to sin.
No one is given strength in order to tell lies.
_______________________________________
About 250 years later Paul writes to the Corinthians
about the wisdom of those who are spiritually mature.
He tells them that such maturity is not the wisdom of their time,
and points to the rulers “who are headed for destruction.”
_______________________________________
Then Matthew, in the year 85 in Syria,
has Jesus telling his disciples
that their sense of justice
has to go beyond the justice of the scholars
and the religious leaders.
Jesus tells them to be honest and forthright,
to say “Yes” when they mean “Yes”
and “No” when you mean “No.”
_______________________________________
The passage that follows today’s gospel
has Jesus telling his disciples to love their enemies,
which scholars agree was definitely spoken by Jesus.
They also agree that the pattern of today’s gospel passage
reflects Jesus’ message
in that he consistently called the disciples
to a higher standard than simply following the letter of the law.
He told them that they were to work at living the spirit of the law.
And the spirit of the law is love.
_______________________________________
We hear these scriptures today and ask:
what’s the message here for our world?
Pope Francis, a week ago Friday, named it plainly.
He said, “It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian
and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help,
someone who is hungry or thirsty,
toss out someone who is in need of help.
“If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite.”
The Pope said that all nations must focus
on “service to the poorest, the sick,
and those who have abandoned their homelands
in search of a better future for themselves and their families.”
_______________________________________
Our U.S. bishops apply Jesus’ teaching
when they write about the need for embracing truth
in Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
The bishops tell us
that we have to be guided by our moral convictions,
not attachment to a political party or interest group.
They tell us that “We are called
to bring together our principles and our political choices,
our values and our votes,
to help build a civilization of truth and love.”
_______________________________________
When we look at our world today,
it’s obvious that we’re a long way
from a civilization of truth and love.
In too many ways, we’re a long way from civilization.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center,
in the days since the presidential election,
states across the country have seen increased incidents
of racist or anti-Semitic vandalism and violence,
many of which have drawn directly
on the rhetoric and proposals of Donald Trump.
We’ve seen the executive order
banning Muslims from traveling to our country.
We’ve seen hate crimes against Jews,
the killing of unarmed black people.
After the November election
New York saw more than double the hate crimes
against Muslim Americans
and a 67% increase in hate crimes against Jews,
African Americans, and LGBT individuals.
_______________________________________
We’ve seen it right here at home.
We saw the obscenity and the Swastika
painted on the home of American citizens of Arab descent.
There was the bomb threat at the Jewish Community Center.
Then Adrian Williams, an African American,
was subjected to racial insults
and then seriously injured by two whites
right in front of his own house over on Lagrange Street.
High school kids who are LGBT
suffer rape, physical violence, and bullying.
_______________________________________
The signs of our times are clear.
They call us here at Holy Spirit to continue
to welcome everyone to the table, no exceptions.
We are called to embrace everyone we meet wherever we go--
whether it’s the homeless at the soup kitchen
or the Gothic teen
or the close-minded racist.
We are called to befriend the remarried divorced couple,
the worker who lost his job,
and the student who doesn’t make it into college.
We are called to be generous
in our love for every one of God’s people.
_______________________________________
So we march for unity with the gays and the straights,
with the blacks and browns and tans
and yellows and reds and whites,
with the poor and the middle class and the wealthy.
We pray with the Muslims and the Jews
and the Sikhs and the Buddhists and the Quakers
and the atheists and agnostics.
We even march with other Christians.
To each and every one of them, our “yes” means “yes.”
_______________________________________
We reach out to the poor and the oppressed,
no matter their color or ancestry
or citizenship status or religion.
Our “yes” to them means “yes.”
We stand in solidarity with people targeted by hate.
Our “yes” to them means “yes.”
_______________________________________
And when we are told lies,
when we are told to hate,
whether it comes from a friend or a stranger
or the President of the United States, we say “no.”
Our “no” to them means “no.”
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 5, February 5, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 58:7-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 112:4-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples, “YOU are the salt of the earth.”
How is that?
Our bodies need less than a quarter of a teaspoon a day,
very little compared to our size.
If you weigh 125 pounds,
only half a pound of you is salt.
But if you don’t get enough salt,
you get hyponatremia—low blood sodium--
and that can make you weak and tired,
can give you headaches and nausea and cramps,
can get you confused and irritable,
can make you vomit.
_________________________________
On the other hand, too much salt
can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
It can damage your kidneys,
and it may be bad for your bones, too.
_________________________________
The good thing about salt
is that it makes our food taste good.
Just a little bit makes a big difference.
_________________________________
Religion is like salt.
We need the right amount to keep our faith healthy.
Not too little,
or our faith gets weak.
Not too much,
or our faith gets seriously damaged.
_________________________________
It’s like that great scholar noted for his piety.
Every day he sat alone for hours
studying the scriptures and praying and meditating.
One day the scholar heard that a holy man was in town,
so he went looking for him.
He looked in the church but didn’t find him there.
He went to the local shrine, but he wasn’t there, either.
He looked in all the likely places but couldn’t find him,
so he gave up and headed toward home.
That’s when he found him... in the marketplace.
So the scholar went up to the holy man
and told him who he was
and how he spent hours alone every day
in the study of the scriptures and in prayer and meditation.
Then he said, “I have come to seek your advice
on how I might grow in the service of God.”
The holy man gave him a simple and direct answer:
“It’s easy to be a saint in your room.
“Go out in the world and try to be a saint there.”
_________________________________
Salt of the earth.
When Jesus says that his followers are the salt of the earth,
he’s saying that we have a serious responsibility
BOTH to practice our religion
AND to give witness in the world with our good deeds.
Just like with salt, balance is important.
_________________________________
That phrase “salt of the earth”
comes into colloquial American English
meaning a worthy, dependable, unpretentious person,
a person who is thoroughly decent.
_________________________________
But being the salt of the earth isn’t the whole thing.
Jesus also tells his disciples,
“You are the light of the world.”
Yes, go to the synagogue and say the prayers,
but if that’s all we do,
the salt loses its flavor,
the light is hidden.
And no, don’t skip the meditation and rituals,
because our faith will grow weak,
like a body without salt,
like a light under a bushel basket.
_________________________________
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we don’t have to leave our jobs,
rush out,
and get involved in a whirlwind of good works.
To be salt of the earth and light of the world,
we are called to practice our faith
in whatever situation we happen to be in.
_________________________________
Isaiah gives us some pointers
that look a lot like those “corporal works of mercy”
we had to memorize in grade school.
Food, clothes, shelter.
Don’t oppress people.
It’s pretty simple, but it’s not always easy.
_________________________________
At last week’s Community meeting,
you voted to donate for anti-racism efforts,
for legal help for vulnerable and oppressed folks,
for food for UT students,
for help for single parents and their children.
Every week you fill my car with really good stuff
for Claver House and Rahab’s Heart and UStogether.
In the middle of that big crunch of people
walking across the MLK bridge on inauguration day
I caught sight of several of you
with your signs about love and inclusion…
and some clever ones,
like Sue with her bright pink “We will be watching” sign.
I finally got myself on Facebook,
so I see your comments
on the justice and injustice going on in our world.
I hear about your kindnesses to both friend and stranger.
You followers of the Way of Jesus,
you ARE salt of the earth and light of the world.
And I thank God for you!
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 58:7-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 112:4-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples, “YOU are the salt of the earth.”
How is that?
Our bodies need less than a quarter of a teaspoon a day,
very little compared to our size.
If you weigh 125 pounds,
only half a pound of you is salt.
But if you don’t get enough salt,
you get hyponatremia—low blood sodium--
and that can make you weak and tired,
can give you headaches and nausea and cramps,
can get you confused and irritable,
can make you vomit.
_________________________________
On the other hand, too much salt
can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
It can damage your kidneys,
and it may be bad for your bones, too.
_________________________________
The good thing about salt
is that it makes our food taste good.
Just a little bit makes a big difference.
_________________________________
Religion is like salt.
We need the right amount to keep our faith healthy.
Not too little,
or our faith gets weak.
Not too much,
or our faith gets seriously damaged.
_________________________________
It’s like that great scholar noted for his piety.
Every day he sat alone for hours
studying the scriptures and praying and meditating.
One day the scholar heard that a holy man was in town,
so he went looking for him.
He looked in the church but didn’t find him there.
He went to the local shrine, but he wasn’t there, either.
He looked in all the likely places but couldn’t find him,
so he gave up and headed toward home.
That’s when he found him... in the marketplace.
So the scholar went up to the holy man
and told him who he was
and how he spent hours alone every day
in the study of the scriptures and in prayer and meditation.
Then he said, “I have come to seek your advice
on how I might grow in the service of God.”
The holy man gave him a simple and direct answer:
“It’s easy to be a saint in your room.
“Go out in the world and try to be a saint there.”
_________________________________
Salt of the earth.
When Jesus says that his followers are the salt of the earth,
he’s saying that we have a serious responsibility
BOTH to practice our religion
AND to give witness in the world with our good deeds.
Just like with salt, balance is important.
_________________________________
That phrase “salt of the earth”
comes into colloquial American English
meaning a worthy, dependable, unpretentious person,
a person who is thoroughly decent.
_________________________________
But being the salt of the earth isn’t the whole thing.
Jesus also tells his disciples,
“You are the light of the world.”
Yes, go to the synagogue and say the prayers,
but if that’s all we do,
the salt loses its flavor,
the light is hidden.
And no, don’t skip the meditation and rituals,
because our faith will grow weak,
like a body without salt,
like a light under a bushel basket.
_________________________________
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we don’t have to leave our jobs,
rush out,
and get involved in a whirlwind of good works.
To be salt of the earth and light of the world,
we are called to practice our faith
in whatever situation we happen to be in.
_________________________________
Isaiah gives us some pointers
that look a lot like those “corporal works of mercy”
we had to memorize in grade school.
Food, clothes, shelter.
Don’t oppress people.
It’s pretty simple, but it’s not always easy.
_________________________________
At last week’s Community meeting,
you voted to donate for anti-racism efforts,
for legal help for vulnerable and oppressed folks,
for food for UT students,
for help for single parents and their children.
Every week you fill my car with really good stuff
for Claver House and Rahab’s Heart and UStogether.
In the middle of that big crunch of people
walking across the MLK bridge on inauguration day
I caught sight of several of you
with your signs about love and inclusion…
and some clever ones,
like Sue with her bright pink “We will be watching” sign.
I finally got myself on Facebook,
so I see your comments
on the justice and injustice going on in our world.
I hear about your kindnesses to both friend and stranger.
You followers of the Way of Jesus,
you ARE salt of the earth and light of the world.
And I thank God for you!
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 4, January 29, 2017
First Reading: Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:6-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12A
These days I can’t seem to read the scriptures
without hearing the Word of God
speaking directly to what’s going on
in our country and our world,
and I find myself looking for some much-needed comfort there.
Take that first reading,
where Zephaniah writes about God’s concern for the anawim,
the “poor.”
The part we heard skips from the 3rd verse of chapter 2
to the 12th verse of chapter 3.
More than a chapter is left out,
a long and vivid description
of what happens to people who oppress the poor.
The verses we do hear today
tell about the goodness of the survivors
and the peace that will come to them.
We are reminded
that God is in charge.
It gives us hope,
lifts us up in the face of today’s news.
But how long before this peace comes?
How much more do we have to endure?
_________________________________
Then we listen to Psalm 146,
with its message of hope and assurance of promise.
God will give us justice, food, and freedom.
God will protect the vulnerable.
And then there’s the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount,
pieces of which will be our gospel reading
for five more Sundays after today.
The sermon begins today with the Beatitudes.
Scholars say that three of these beatitudes
were almost certainly formulated by Jesus--
the ones addressed to the poor, the hungry, and the mourners.
They also say that the original meaning of the beatitudes
is closer to the way Luke phrased them,
referring to the distress people suffered
from social and economic conditions in the first century.
_________________________________
The beatitudes speak to us
of the serious problems in today’s topsy-turvy world.
Blessed are the poor, they say.
But where is this blessing?
Earlier this month Oxfam issued its annual report on poverty,
pointing to eight men whose wealth
is equal to the total wealth of 3.6 billion people--
the poorest half of the earth’s population.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said:
“It is obscene for so much wealth
to be held in the hands of so few
when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day.
Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty;
it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.”
The Oxfam report details how big business and the super-rich
are fueling the inequality crisis
by dodging taxes,
driving down wages,
and using their power to influence politics.
_________________________________
The Beatitudes go on: Blessed are the hungry.
How can that be?
The United Nations estimates
that about 795 million of the 7.3 billion people in the world--
that’s 1 in 9--
suffer from chronic undernourishment.
About 21,000 people die every day
of hunger or hunger-related causes.
That’s one person every four seconds, most often children.
In the 20 minutes since Mass started this afternoon,
300 people have starved to death.
And hunger is not just a problem in other countries.
Here in America, 49 million people
struggle to put food on the table
because of poverty.
How will they be satisfied?
_________________________________
Blessed are they who mourn.
That’s all of us who care.
We mourn for ourselves and our neighbors,
for the oppressed and vulnerable among us.
We mourn for our planet
and for the species that are becoming extinct.
We mourn for our children and grandchildren
who will suffer from the impact of climate change.
We mourn over the denial of truth from our government leaders.
We mourn over the loss of regulations and programs
that have sought to protect the most vulnerable among us.
With all that, the gospel tells us that we will be comforted.
_________________________________
Who’s going to lift all these people out of poverty?
Who’s going to feed them?
Who’s going to comfort them?
When’s it going to happen?
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians gives us the answer.
It’s in his advice on how to end
the falsehood and greed and injustice in our world.
We hear that God calls us to stand up for justice,
and that our efforts, however small they are,
will bring shame
to those who follow the ways of the world
and worship its power.
_________________________________
So, yes, there is comfort in the face of all of this.
People caught in hopeless situations
manage to hold on in spite of it all.
The world has seen devastation and disaster before.
The specter of nuclear catastrophe and planetary destruction
makes the stakes higher,
but the reign of God is at hand.
We will prevail because, as Paul says,
we will do no wrong
and speak no lies.
We will go forward doing what we are called to do--
speaking truth and doing justice.
It’s not easy these days, given the times we’re in,
but God is with us on the way.
Amen!
First Reading: Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:6-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12A
These days I can’t seem to read the scriptures
without hearing the Word of God
speaking directly to what’s going on
in our country and our world,
and I find myself looking for some much-needed comfort there.
Take that first reading,
where Zephaniah writes about God’s concern for the anawim,
the “poor.”
The part we heard skips from the 3rd verse of chapter 2
to the 12th verse of chapter 3.
More than a chapter is left out,
a long and vivid description
of what happens to people who oppress the poor.
The verses we do hear today
tell about the goodness of the survivors
and the peace that will come to them.
We are reminded
that God is in charge.
It gives us hope,
lifts us up in the face of today’s news.
But how long before this peace comes?
How much more do we have to endure?
_________________________________
Then we listen to Psalm 146,
with its message of hope and assurance of promise.
God will give us justice, food, and freedom.
God will protect the vulnerable.
And then there’s the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount,
pieces of which will be our gospel reading
for five more Sundays after today.
The sermon begins today with the Beatitudes.
Scholars say that three of these beatitudes
were almost certainly formulated by Jesus--
the ones addressed to the poor, the hungry, and the mourners.
They also say that the original meaning of the beatitudes
is closer to the way Luke phrased them,
referring to the distress people suffered
from social and economic conditions in the first century.
_________________________________
The beatitudes speak to us
of the serious problems in today’s topsy-turvy world.
Blessed are the poor, they say.
But where is this blessing?
Earlier this month Oxfam issued its annual report on poverty,
pointing to eight men whose wealth
is equal to the total wealth of 3.6 billion people--
the poorest half of the earth’s population.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said:
“It is obscene for so much wealth
to be held in the hands of so few
when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day.
Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty;
it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.”
The Oxfam report details how big business and the super-rich
are fueling the inequality crisis
by dodging taxes,
driving down wages,
and using their power to influence politics.
_________________________________
The Beatitudes go on: Blessed are the hungry.
How can that be?
The United Nations estimates
that about 795 million of the 7.3 billion people in the world--
that’s 1 in 9--
suffer from chronic undernourishment.
About 21,000 people die every day
of hunger or hunger-related causes.
That’s one person every four seconds, most often children.
In the 20 minutes since Mass started this afternoon,
300 people have starved to death.
And hunger is not just a problem in other countries.
Here in America, 49 million people
struggle to put food on the table
because of poverty.
How will they be satisfied?
_________________________________
Blessed are they who mourn.
That’s all of us who care.
We mourn for ourselves and our neighbors,
for the oppressed and vulnerable among us.
We mourn for our planet
and for the species that are becoming extinct.
We mourn for our children and grandchildren
who will suffer from the impact of climate change.
We mourn over the denial of truth from our government leaders.
We mourn over the loss of regulations and programs
that have sought to protect the most vulnerable among us.
With all that, the gospel tells us that we will be comforted.
_________________________________
Who’s going to lift all these people out of poverty?
Who’s going to feed them?
Who’s going to comfort them?
When’s it going to happen?
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians gives us the answer.
It’s in his advice on how to end
the falsehood and greed and injustice in our world.
We hear that God calls us to stand up for justice,
and that our efforts, however small they are,
will bring shame
to those who follow the ways of the world
and worship its power.
_________________________________
So, yes, there is comfort in the face of all of this.
People caught in hopeless situations
manage to hold on in spite of it all.
The world has seen devastation and disaster before.
The specter of nuclear catastrophe and planetary destruction
makes the stakes higher,
but the reign of God is at hand.
We will prevail because, as Paul says,
we will do no wrong
and speak no lies.
We will go forward doing what we are called to do--
speaking truth and doing justice.
It’s not easy these days, given the times we’re in,
but God is with us on the way.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 3, January 22, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23
It’s hard to keep in mind these days
that the reign of God is at hand, among us, here and now.
It seems that all we hear these days
is quarreling and hostility and division.
We heard it all through that long, long election campaign:
I’m for Hillary. I’m for Trump. Well, I’m not voting.
Welcome to refugees. No, America first.
This past week we heard even more contention:
I’m going to the Inauguration.
No, I’m boycotting it.
_________________________________
The same kind of discord, the polarization,
is evident inside our church:
I’m for restoration; let’s go back to the way it was.
No, I’m for reform; let’s go forward.
In the Presidential election, the pollsters tell us,
52% of Catholics voted for Trump
and 48% for someone else.
We’re split apart, like those Corinthians Paul writes to,
quarreling with each other
because we’ve committed ourselves
to someone or something other than Jesus.
We have to ask ourselves, when we begin to break into factions,
whether we’re motivated by our own wants
or by the common good.
_________________________________
Even here in Toledo, this Compassionate Community,
this big blue zone on the red map of Ohio,
we hear loud, angry arguments.
We see signs of hate.
But we also see signs of hope.
_________________________________
The State of Ohio had set January 12
as the date to kill Ronald Phillips
in the name of the people of Ohio, kill a man in our name.
The execution has been delayed until February 15,
and a hundred people showed up at the Unitarian Church--
some of you were there--
in an effort to stop Ohio’s death penalty for good,
because, as our Catholic Social Teaching tells us,
every person has the right to life.
_________________________________
A week ago Tuesday
the front page of the Blade showed the garage door
at the home of an Arab-American family in suburban Sylvania,
a door that vandals spray-painted with obscene graffiti, including a
swastika.
But well over a hundred people gathered around--
some of you were there, too--
to cover the hate up with love.
_________________________________
Then Friday evening a pretty big crowd
showed up on the Martin Luther King Bridge
to march for unity with the vulnerable.
They sang, they prayed, they smiled.
They carried signs of love for everyone.
Again, some of you were there.
_________________________________
For many people, a light is dawning… the light of justice.
They’re NOT doing it to call attention to themselves--
it’s not a selfie--
but they’re lifting a light
so others can find a way through the darkness.
It’s NOT giant actions, not big events,
but individual people, each doing the right thing,
planting a seed of hope.
When we show up and speak out, it’s what we’re called to do.
_________________________________
In the late 1930s
when the Nazis began purging the opposition, group by group,
German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller
wrote several versions of a now-famous statement.
You’ll recognize it:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak for me.
We all can easily fill in the groups that are being singled out today:
Muslims, immigrants, people with disabilities,
refugees, migrants, Syrians, LGBTs, the media…
the list goes on and on.
_________________________________
Rabbi Abraham Skorka tells it like it is.
He say’s it’s evil “when a demagogue or a despot threatens
or speaks in terms of destruction,
in terms of denying or demonizing another."
The Rabbi says we have to “strive for a different world,
in spite of everything that happens.”
That’s where we are now in this country.
In spite of what happens, because of what’s happening,
we have to work to make the world different.
We have to speak up.
It’s our prayer, our striving, our work,
that builds the city of God right here.
Because of what we do,
the reign of God is at hand.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23
It’s hard to keep in mind these days
that the reign of God is at hand, among us, here and now.
It seems that all we hear these days
is quarreling and hostility and division.
We heard it all through that long, long election campaign:
I’m for Hillary. I’m for Trump. Well, I’m not voting.
Welcome to refugees. No, America first.
This past week we heard even more contention:
I’m going to the Inauguration.
No, I’m boycotting it.
_________________________________
The same kind of discord, the polarization,
is evident inside our church:
I’m for restoration; let’s go back to the way it was.
No, I’m for reform; let’s go forward.
In the Presidential election, the pollsters tell us,
52% of Catholics voted for Trump
and 48% for someone else.
We’re split apart, like those Corinthians Paul writes to,
quarreling with each other
because we’ve committed ourselves
to someone or something other than Jesus.
We have to ask ourselves, when we begin to break into factions,
whether we’re motivated by our own wants
or by the common good.
_________________________________
Even here in Toledo, this Compassionate Community,
this big blue zone on the red map of Ohio,
we hear loud, angry arguments.
We see signs of hate.
But we also see signs of hope.
_________________________________
The State of Ohio had set January 12
as the date to kill Ronald Phillips
in the name of the people of Ohio, kill a man in our name.
The execution has been delayed until February 15,
and a hundred people showed up at the Unitarian Church--
some of you were there--
in an effort to stop Ohio’s death penalty for good,
because, as our Catholic Social Teaching tells us,
every person has the right to life.
_________________________________
A week ago Tuesday
the front page of the Blade showed the garage door
at the home of an Arab-American family in suburban Sylvania,
a door that vandals spray-painted with obscene graffiti, including a
swastika.
But well over a hundred people gathered around--
some of you were there, too--
to cover the hate up with love.
_________________________________
Then Friday evening a pretty big crowd
showed up on the Martin Luther King Bridge
to march for unity with the vulnerable.
They sang, they prayed, they smiled.
They carried signs of love for everyone.
Again, some of you were there.
_________________________________
For many people, a light is dawning… the light of justice.
They’re NOT doing it to call attention to themselves--
it’s not a selfie--
but they’re lifting a light
so others can find a way through the darkness.
It’s NOT giant actions, not big events,
but individual people, each doing the right thing,
planting a seed of hope.
When we show up and speak out, it’s what we’re called to do.
_________________________________
In the late 1930s
when the Nazis began purging the opposition, group by group,
German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller
wrote several versions of a now-famous statement.
You’ll recognize it:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak for me.
We all can easily fill in the groups that are being singled out today:
Muslims, immigrants, people with disabilities,
refugees, migrants, Syrians, LGBTs, the media…
the list goes on and on.
_________________________________
Rabbi Abraham Skorka tells it like it is.
He say’s it’s evil “when a demagogue or a despot threatens
or speaks in terms of destruction,
in terms of denying or demonizing another."
The Rabbi says we have to “strive for a different world,
in spite of everything that happens.”
That’s where we are now in this country.
In spite of what happens, because of what’s happening,
we have to work to make the world different.
We have to speak up.
It’s our prayer, our striving, our work,
that builds the city of God right here.
Because of what we do,
the reign of God is at hand.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, OTA 2, January 14-15, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Gospel: John 1:29-34
Our nation faces challenges that demand strong moral courage.
We are a country divided by race and ethnicity and class;
a nation of immigrants struggling with immigration;
a nation involved in wars, with all their human cost.
We are an affluent society
where too many live in poverty.
We are part of a global community
confronting terrorism
and facing urgent threats to our planet.
As Catholics and as Christians,
we are called to participate
in shaping the moral character of our society.
It is the mission given to us,
as it was to our brother Jesus,
by the Spirit of God.
_______________________________________
Our Catholic Church has been very clearly calling us
to put our faith values into action
since its 1976 document Faithful Citizenship.
The values of Catholicism do not conflict
with the values of our democracy.
Catholics—both as citizens of the city of God
AND
as citizens of the United States of America--
believe that life, liberty, and equality are God-given rights.
Our faith requires us
to stand in solidarity
with the most vulnerable people
and with our vulnerable planet.
_______________________________________
This past Tuesday evening
we heard President Obama
echo the values of our faith
when he delivered his farewell address
to the American people.
He said that “change only happens
when ordinary people get involved,
and they get engaged,
and they come together to demand it.”
He called those actions that lead to change
“the beating heart of our American idea”
and quoted the Declaration of Independence,
that we are all created equal,
endowed by our Creator
with rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Life, liberty, equality--
rights that come from God for all people,
every single one.
_______________________________________
Tomorrow [today]
we remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
who, as a man of God,
preached those scriptures we just heard.
Half a century ago, he said,
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
He said,
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
I can never be what I ought to be
until you are what you ought to be.
He said,
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,
‘What are you doing for others?’
And he said,
Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent
about things that matter.
_______________________________________
It’s fitting that today’s readings
are full of political and theological meanings
not only for the time they were written,
not only for the time before that,
but for our time as well.
The message for us,
as it was for Isaiah and Paul and John,
is two-fold:
servant discipleship and inclusiveness.
Isaiah talks about the anointed leader being formed from the womb
to be God’s servant
and a light to peoples of all the nations.
Paul tells the Corinthians that they are the body of Christ,
flesh and blood alive
and continuing to incarnate God in history.
John the Evangelist tells us
that the meaning of baptism
is in its revelation of Jesus
as the servant of God.
Behold the Lamb of God, John says.
Theologian Joachim Jeremias observed
that the word for “lamb” in Aramaic was “talyã’,”
which meant lamb,
but it also meant slave or servant.
_______________________________________
When we read these passages, we see ourselves in them.
We claim for ourselves
the calling to be servants of God
and light to the nations.
_______________________________________
It’s not only Christians who are called to bring light to the nations.
People of all religions follow that same call,
each in our own culture and tradition.
And it’s not just people of faith who are called
to bring light to the nations.
Many folks
labeled atheists or agnostics or “nones” by the media today
are people of virtue
with values and priorities
that call them to lead lives of service
and do the good works that bring light to others.
With us Catholics and Christians
and people of every faith everywhere,
they can claim citizenship in this country
and on our planet
and in the reign of God.
_______________________________________
On Tuesday, President Obama urged us to be good citizens,
to speak up for justice,
to care for the common good.
It’s the same message we heard from Dr. King in the Sixties.
It’s the same message we heard from Isaiah 2,800 years ago,
and Paul and John 1,950 years ago.
It’s the message of God’s Spirit to Jesus and to us:
I love you.
I call you to serve one another.
I have chosen you to be light for the world.
For those of us who have dedicated our lives to the Way of Jesus,
this coming Friday’s inauguration
marks the need for even greater commitment to inclusivity
and even greater efforts at serving the most vulnerable.
We are called.
So let’s get to work.
First Reading: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Gospel: John 1:29-34
Our nation faces challenges that demand strong moral courage.
We are a country divided by race and ethnicity and class;
a nation of immigrants struggling with immigration;
a nation involved in wars, with all their human cost.
We are an affluent society
where too many live in poverty.
We are part of a global community
confronting terrorism
and facing urgent threats to our planet.
As Catholics and as Christians,
we are called to participate
in shaping the moral character of our society.
It is the mission given to us,
as it was to our brother Jesus,
by the Spirit of God.
_______________________________________
Our Catholic Church has been very clearly calling us
to put our faith values into action
since its 1976 document Faithful Citizenship.
The values of Catholicism do not conflict
with the values of our democracy.
Catholics—both as citizens of the city of God
AND
as citizens of the United States of America--
believe that life, liberty, and equality are God-given rights.
Our faith requires us
to stand in solidarity
with the most vulnerable people
and with our vulnerable planet.
_______________________________________
This past Tuesday evening
we heard President Obama
echo the values of our faith
when he delivered his farewell address
to the American people.
He said that “change only happens
when ordinary people get involved,
and they get engaged,
and they come together to demand it.”
He called those actions that lead to change
“the beating heart of our American idea”
and quoted the Declaration of Independence,
that we are all created equal,
endowed by our Creator
with rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Life, liberty, equality--
rights that come from God for all people,
every single one.
_______________________________________
Tomorrow [today]
we remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
who, as a man of God,
preached those scriptures we just heard.
Half a century ago, he said,
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
He said,
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
I can never be what I ought to be
until you are what you ought to be.
He said,
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,
‘What are you doing for others?’
And he said,
Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent
about things that matter.
_______________________________________
It’s fitting that today’s readings
are full of political and theological meanings
not only for the time they were written,
not only for the time before that,
but for our time as well.
The message for us,
as it was for Isaiah and Paul and John,
is two-fold:
servant discipleship and inclusiveness.
Isaiah talks about the anointed leader being formed from the womb
to be God’s servant
and a light to peoples of all the nations.
Paul tells the Corinthians that they are the body of Christ,
flesh and blood alive
and continuing to incarnate God in history.
John the Evangelist tells us
that the meaning of baptism
is in its revelation of Jesus
as the servant of God.
Behold the Lamb of God, John says.
Theologian Joachim Jeremias observed
that the word for “lamb” in Aramaic was “talyã’,”
which meant lamb,
but it also meant slave or servant.
_______________________________________
When we read these passages, we see ourselves in them.
We claim for ourselves
the calling to be servants of God
and light to the nations.
_______________________________________
It’s not only Christians who are called to bring light to the nations.
People of all religions follow that same call,
each in our own culture and tradition.
And it’s not just people of faith who are called
to bring light to the nations.
Many folks
labeled atheists or agnostics or “nones” by the media today
are people of virtue
with values and priorities
that call them to lead lives of service
and do the good works that bring light to others.
With us Catholics and Christians
and people of every faith everywhere,
they can claim citizenship in this country
and on our planet
and in the reign of God.
_______________________________________
On Tuesday, President Obama urged us to be good citizens,
to speak up for justice,
to care for the common good.
It’s the same message we heard from Dr. King in the Sixties.
It’s the same message we heard from Isaiah 2,800 years ago,
and Paul and John 1,950 years ago.
It’s the message of God’s Spirit to Jesus and to us:
I love you.
I call you to serve one another.
I have chosen you to be light for the world.
For those of us who have dedicated our lives to the Way of Jesus,
this coming Friday’s inauguration
marks the need for even greater commitment to inclusivity
and even greater efforts at serving the most vulnerable.
We are called.
So let’s get to work.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Epiphany A, January 8, 2017
First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:2-6
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12
The Catholic Bible—the New American Bible--
has extensive footnotes
to the first two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel,
making it clear that Matthew constructed the infancy narrative
to show “the coming of Jesus as the climax of Israel’s history,
and the events of his conception, birth, and early childhood
as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.”
As Marcus Borg put it,
“The Bible is true, and some of it actually happened.”
Today’s feast of the Epiphany
is a clear example of the Bible giving us truth
by means of a story of things that didn’t actually happen.
Matthew creates this birth story
to prefigure and interpret what happened with Jesus later.
__________________________________________
Epiphany is a good word for this.
It’s from the Greek,
meaning appearance or manifestation or revelation.
Lots of things are revealed
in this second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel,
and two of the most decisive are
that Jesus is hated by the powerful oppressor
and that he is adored by wise outsiders.
To show who Jesus really is,
Matthew pictures him as a helpless baby,
born away from his parents’ home,
taken to another country to escape slaughter,
then being settled in a different place
because of fear of oppression.
Jesus is poor, a refugee, a displaced person, an immigrant.
__________________________________________
Tomorrow [today] through next Saturday
is National Migration Week.
Our Church reflects on the circumstances
faced by migrants, including immigrants, refugees, children,
and victims and survivors of trafficking.
Pope Francis asks us to create a “culture of encounter” with them.
He wants us to look past what we want
to pay attention to what the people around us need.
__________________________________________
It’s hard for me to imagine the fear and the chaos
of the experience of being a refugee.
The closest I’ve been was the time I woke up
to find a strange man standing by my bed.
I jumped up and chased him out of the house,
swinging a rocking chair at him like it was a piece of spaghetti.
Adrenalin is pretty amazing!
But I didn’t feel safe in my home any more.
I couldn’t stay there,
but I didn’t have to leave town or leave the country.
I slept on a friend’s sofa for three nights
while I searched for an apartment.
That’s a pretty tame experience
compared to some I’ve heard about.
Last year a teacher told me about a second grade student
who was living with his grandmother in a van.
A few years ago I visited Family House Shelter
and cringed at the rooms for the homeless,
a 10x9 space for the whole family.
You’ve seen it, right here in our own wealthy country:
rows and rows of cots at the Cherry Street Mission,
New Orleans after Katrina,
people curled up to sleep under a bridge or on a park bench.
And we’ve all seen our broken world on TV,
most recently the bloodied women with babies and children
racing away from the rubble of their homes in Aleppo.
As Christians, we see the Holy Family in these refugee families.
We see living, breathing, feeling people,
children of God just like us,
people who, as Isaiah says, show the glory of God rising.
__________________________________________
When I think about the suffering of the immigrant and the migrant
and the refugee and the trafficked and the homeless,
I’m inspired by YOU.
Our community has donated to ABLE, Rahab’s Heart,
Claver House, 1Matters, UStogether, and Beach House.
More than money, though,
each one of you gives stuff, or time and energy, or prayer.
You create that “culture of encounter” that Pope Francis talks about
every time you work in a pantry, pray for peace,
or give socks and gloves for the homeless.
You signed welcome cards
to the Syrian refugee families now settling here in Toledo.
Every week you fill my car with really good stuff
to take to Claver House for the hungry and homeless;
and to take to Rahab’s Heart
for their work with trafficked women;
and to UStogether for the new refugees.
__________________________________________
The principles of social justice you put into practice
weren’t created by our Catholic church.
They are rooted in the whole Judeo-Christian tradition
of hospitality to the stranger.
Referring to Abraham and Sarah,
St. Paul told the Hebrews not to neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
And he wrote to the Ephesians that we are all heirs,
all part of the one body.
To paraphrase Pogo, we have met the stranger and he is us.
__________________________________________
We expect the coming years to be challenging.
We find hope in responding to the needs of the displaced.
Even more, we will keep on speaking up
whenever the policies of our leaders--
local and state and national--
threaten the peace and prosperity
of the least of our brothers and sisters.
Maybe it will be a one-line email
sent to our representative and senators in Congress:
don’t mess with Obamacare;
keep public lands for the public;
subsidize renewable energy, not fossil fuels;
no more fracking;
tax breaks for the poorest, not the richest.
Or a phone call to the mayor
or a council member or a county commissioner.
__________________________________________
However we are able, we will reach out,
building that “culture of encounter” that Francis talks about,
one person at a time.
We’ll be entertaining angels,
and we will be aware of it.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:2-6
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12
The Catholic Bible—the New American Bible--
has extensive footnotes
to the first two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel,
making it clear that Matthew constructed the infancy narrative
to show “the coming of Jesus as the climax of Israel’s history,
and the events of his conception, birth, and early childhood
as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.”
As Marcus Borg put it,
“The Bible is true, and some of it actually happened.”
Today’s feast of the Epiphany
is a clear example of the Bible giving us truth
by means of a story of things that didn’t actually happen.
Matthew creates this birth story
to prefigure and interpret what happened with Jesus later.
__________________________________________
Epiphany is a good word for this.
It’s from the Greek,
meaning appearance or manifestation or revelation.
Lots of things are revealed
in this second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel,
and two of the most decisive are
that Jesus is hated by the powerful oppressor
and that he is adored by wise outsiders.
To show who Jesus really is,
Matthew pictures him as a helpless baby,
born away from his parents’ home,
taken to another country to escape slaughter,
then being settled in a different place
because of fear of oppression.
Jesus is poor, a refugee, a displaced person, an immigrant.
__________________________________________
Tomorrow [today] through next Saturday
is National Migration Week.
Our Church reflects on the circumstances
faced by migrants, including immigrants, refugees, children,
and victims and survivors of trafficking.
Pope Francis asks us to create a “culture of encounter” with them.
He wants us to look past what we want
to pay attention to what the people around us need.
__________________________________________
It’s hard for me to imagine the fear and the chaos
of the experience of being a refugee.
The closest I’ve been was the time I woke up
to find a strange man standing by my bed.
I jumped up and chased him out of the house,
swinging a rocking chair at him like it was a piece of spaghetti.
Adrenalin is pretty amazing!
But I didn’t feel safe in my home any more.
I couldn’t stay there,
but I didn’t have to leave town or leave the country.
I slept on a friend’s sofa for three nights
while I searched for an apartment.
That’s a pretty tame experience
compared to some I’ve heard about.
Last year a teacher told me about a second grade student
who was living with his grandmother in a van.
A few years ago I visited Family House Shelter
and cringed at the rooms for the homeless,
a 10x9 space for the whole family.
You’ve seen it, right here in our own wealthy country:
rows and rows of cots at the Cherry Street Mission,
New Orleans after Katrina,
people curled up to sleep under a bridge or on a park bench.
And we’ve all seen our broken world on TV,
most recently the bloodied women with babies and children
racing away from the rubble of their homes in Aleppo.
As Christians, we see the Holy Family in these refugee families.
We see living, breathing, feeling people,
children of God just like us,
people who, as Isaiah says, show the glory of God rising.
__________________________________________
When I think about the suffering of the immigrant and the migrant
and the refugee and the trafficked and the homeless,
I’m inspired by YOU.
Our community has donated to ABLE, Rahab’s Heart,
Claver House, 1Matters, UStogether, and Beach House.
More than money, though,
each one of you gives stuff, or time and energy, or prayer.
You create that “culture of encounter” that Pope Francis talks about
every time you work in a pantry, pray for peace,
or give socks and gloves for the homeless.
You signed welcome cards
to the Syrian refugee families now settling here in Toledo.
Every week you fill my car with really good stuff
to take to Claver House for the hungry and homeless;
and to take to Rahab’s Heart
for their work with trafficked women;
and to UStogether for the new refugees.
__________________________________________
The principles of social justice you put into practice
weren’t created by our Catholic church.
They are rooted in the whole Judeo-Christian tradition
of hospitality to the stranger.
Referring to Abraham and Sarah,
St. Paul told the Hebrews not to neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
And he wrote to the Ephesians that we are all heirs,
all part of the one body.
To paraphrase Pogo, we have met the stranger and he is us.
__________________________________________
We expect the coming years to be challenging.
We find hope in responding to the needs of the displaced.
Even more, we will keep on speaking up
whenever the policies of our leaders--
local and state and national--
threaten the peace and prosperity
of the least of our brothers and sisters.
Maybe it will be a one-line email
sent to our representative and senators in Congress:
don’t mess with Obamacare;
keep public lands for the public;
subsidize renewable energy, not fossil fuels;
no more fracking;
tax breaks for the poorest, not the richest.
Or a phone call to the mayor
or a council member or a county commissioner.
__________________________________________
However we are able, we will reach out,
building that “culture of encounter” that Francis talks about,
one person at a time.
We’ll be entertaining angels,
and we will be aware of it.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, World Day of Peace, January 1, 2017
Isaiah 32:15-19
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 5:1-10
1967.
50 years ago.
That’s when Pope Paul VI dedicated this day to universal peace.
On the first day of every year since then,
every pope has issued a declaration on social justice,
including statements on the United Nations, human rights,
women's rights, labor unions, economic development,
the sacredness of life, international diplomacy,
peace in the Holy Land, globalization, and terrorism.
Now it’s Francis’ turn, with his message
for the 50th World Day of Peace tomorrow [today].
Peace is a big deal for Catholics.
___________________________________________
But when we look around our world, it’s not hard to find wars.
Conflicts, crises, insurgencies, unrest, rebellion, clashes…
whatever term we use to describe it,
it’s nowhere close to peace.
The big ones—the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria--
have taken over three million lives.
Closer to home,
the Mexican Drug War has killed more than 165,000.
___________________________________________
Here in our US of A some of us live in peace--
a secure home in a quiet neighborhood,
respectful interchanges with co-workers
and strangers at the grocery store or in the library,
freedom from harassment
as we go around town or travel for the holidays.
But some of us don’t have that safe home or quiet neighborhood.
Some of us head out the door
wary of strangers who might not respect our shared humanity
because of the color of our skin or the disability we have,
because of our gender or our income,
because of some difference about us.
___________________________________________
A significant number of people in our country
are afraid about what will happen in the next four years.
We face a real challenge if the next President
is able to do even a small part of what he has talked about.
People of color are concerned that racial hatred
will increase even more,
that more black churches will be burned, more children killed.
LGBT people wonder if the harassment will get worse,
if another unhinged person will open fire on them.
Latino citizens worry about getting arrested and deported
if they don’t carry their ID with them all the time.
Muslims are uneasy about threats of a registry.
Senior citizens are anxious that attempts to cut Social Security
will make them lose their homes.
And many of us are stressed about the dismantling of protections
that keep our air, water, and food safe.
We’re nervous about the easing of regulations
that make our cars and furnaces and medicines safe.
Pope Francis, while not naming names,
has been consistent in insisting
that the values articulated by the candidate
are not Christian values.
These days
there’s a whole lot of disruption in our general peacefulness.
___________________________________________
In the middle of all of this, we have to remember
that we are called to follow the Way of Jesus.
He calls us to be peacemakers.
But how do WE bring peace?
How do WE make peace?
Like Jesus, we have to stand in relationship, in solidarity,
with the marginalized.
We have to learn about people who are different from us.
We have to put ourselves in a position to have friends
who are different from us.
We have to get out of our silos and walk the way
with people who are victimized in our society.
We have to let our voice be heard
on the issues of justice that lead to conflict--
the racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, islamophobia,
homophobia, the climate change denying, economic inequality,
gun violence, drugs, nuclear proliferation… the list goes on.
___________________________________________
The first step, though, is prayer,
that basic conversation with God,
that deep encounter that nourishes peace in our hearts.
We will bring peace when, as Paul tells the Philippians,
we direct our thoughts to what is true, respectable, honest,
decent, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
___________________________________________
Now, more than ever before, we must pray for peace,
stand with those who are in the way of threats to their peace:
stand with the blacks, browns, and tans;
the LGBTs, Muslims, immigrants, refugees, migrants,
people living on social security, prisoners,
minimum wage workers, victims of gun violence…
and stand with the earth, our common home.
___________________________________________
Last Sunday we celebrated the birthday of the Prince of Peace.
The need today is just as great as—even greater than--
it was 2,000 years ago.
We know we stand in need of peace in our homes, our families,
our neighborhoods, our cities, our country, and way beyond.
We even stand in need of peace within ourselves.
___________________________________________
It seems overwhelming.
Yet we have hope as we step into this new year.
As Isaiah tells us, the Spirit will be poured out on us,
and our work for justice will bring about peace,
and calm, and security.
And the blessing has already been given to us.
It’s the blessing God told Moses to give to Aaron to use,
recorded in the book of Numbers.
It’s the blessing we’ll ask for at the end of today’s Mass:
May our God bless and keep you!
May our God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you!
May our God look kindly upon you and give you peace!
Amen!
Isaiah 32:15-19
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 5:1-10
1967.
50 years ago.
That’s when Pope Paul VI dedicated this day to universal peace.
On the first day of every year since then,
every pope has issued a declaration on social justice,
including statements on the United Nations, human rights,
women's rights, labor unions, economic development,
the sacredness of life, international diplomacy,
peace in the Holy Land, globalization, and terrorism.
Now it’s Francis’ turn, with his message
for the 50th World Day of Peace tomorrow [today].
Peace is a big deal for Catholics.
___________________________________________
But when we look around our world, it’s not hard to find wars.
Conflicts, crises, insurgencies, unrest, rebellion, clashes…
whatever term we use to describe it,
it’s nowhere close to peace.
The big ones—the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria--
have taken over three million lives.
Closer to home,
the Mexican Drug War has killed more than 165,000.
___________________________________________
Here in our US of A some of us live in peace--
a secure home in a quiet neighborhood,
respectful interchanges with co-workers
and strangers at the grocery store or in the library,
freedom from harassment
as we go around town or travel for the holidays.
But some of us don’t have that safe home or quiet neighborhood.
Some of us head out the door
wary of strangers who might not respect our shared humanity
because of the color of our skin or the disability we have,
because of our gender or our income,
because of some difference about us.
___________________________________________
A significant number of people in our country
are afraid about what will happen in the next four years.
We face a real challenge if the next President
is able to do even a small part of what he has talked about.
People of color are concerned that racial hatred
will increase even more,
that more black churches will be burned, more children killed.
LGBT people wonder if the harassment will get worse,
if another unhinged person will open fire on them.
Latino citizens worry about getting arrested and deported
if they don’t carry their ID with them all the time.
Muslims are uneasy about threats of a registry.
Senior citizens are anxious that attempts to cut Social Security
will make them lose their homes.
And many of us are stressed about the dismantling of protections
that keep our air, water, and food safe.
We’re nervous about the easing of regulations
that make our cars and furnaces and medicines safe.
Pope Francis, while not naming names,
has been consistent in insisting
that the values articulated by the candidate
are not Christian values.
These days
there’s a whole lot of disruption in our general peacefulness.
___________________________________________
In the middle of all of this, we have to remember
that we are called to follow the Way of Jesus.
He calls us to be peacemakers.
But how do WE bring peace?
How do WE make peace?
Like Jesus, we have to stand in relationship, in solidarity,
with the marginalized.
We have to learn about people who are different from us.
We have to put ourselves in a position to have friends
who are different from us.
We have to get out of our silos and walk the way
with people who are victimized in our society.
We have to let our voice be heard
on the issues of justice that lead to conflict--
the racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, islamophobia,
homophobia, the climate change denying, economic inequality,
gun violence, drugs, nuclear proliferation… the list goes on.
___________________________________________
The first step, though, is prayer,
that basic conversation with God,
that deep encounter that nourishes peace in our hearts.
We will bring peace when, as Paul tells the Philippians,
we direct our thoughts to what is true, respectable, honest,
decent, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
___________________________________________
Now, more than ever before, we must pray for peace,
stand with those who are in the way of threats to their peace:
stand with the blacks, browns, and tans;
the LGBTs, Muslims, immigrants, refugees, migrants,
people living on social security, prisoners,
minimum wage workers, victims of gun violence…
and stand with the earth, our common home.
___________________________________________
Last Sunday we celebrated the birthday of the Prince of Peace.
The need today is just as great as—even greater than--
it was 2,000 years ago.
We know we stand in need of peace in our homes, our families,
our neighborhoods, our cities, our country, and way beyond.
We even stand in need of peace within ourselves.
___________________________________________
It seems overwhelming.
Yet we have hope as we step into this new year.
As Isaiah tells us, the Spirit will be poured out on us,
and our work for justice will bring about peace,
and calm, and security.
And the blessing has already been given to us.
It’s the blessing God told Moses to give to Aaron to use,
recorded in the book of Numbers.
It’s the blessing we’ll ask for at the end of today’s Mass:
May our God bless and keep you!
May our God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you!
May our God look kindly upon you and give you peace!
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Nativity of the Lord, December 25, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 9:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Second Reading: Titus 2:11-14
Gospel: Luke 2:1-14
Each of us is an expression of God in human form.
All the stardust floating out of that cosmic hatch--
out of that “big bang” 13.8 billion years ago--
all of it is in God and God in it.
And God is even more than that.
All that is expresses God-ness—including us.
____________________________________
A woman bears a child—wondrous miracle, gracious mystery--
and God is born in our world once more.
Tonight [today] we celebrate one of those special births,
the birth of our brother Jesus.
Luke shapes the story of Jesus’ birth--
we call it an “infancy narrative”--
to try to capture the essence of
the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth.
He pictures this young couple traveling miles from home,
so poor they aren’t able to find an inn to stay in,
birthing their child in a stable.
And the shepherds—the poor and marginalized—rejoice.
The birth of a child gives them hope for justice, hope for peace.
____________________________________
Luke has set the stage for what is to come:
that God is with us in the poor, the outcast, the downtrodden.
Just as God walked with Abraham and the people out of Ur,
just as God walked with Moses and the people of Israel
across the desert out of Egypt,
so God continues to walk with us,
keeps on revealing divinity in all creation.
Luke will go on
to tell the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection,
the story of God’s loving care for all,
the story of God’s special concern for the poor and oppressed.
____________________________________
The story is not over.
Each time we reach out to help someone;
each time we gather with family and friends,
each time we tend the poor and downtrodden among us,
we write another chapter of the story of God-with-us.
____________________________________
Our world is beset by violence these days,
just as it was 2,000 years ago.
We mourn the bombings in Aleppo,
innocent people killed because they’re in the way of war.
We are wary of the signs of hate and violence
in so many statements of the incoming administration
that will take over our government on January 20.
We’re saddened to know that the “guns everywhere” bill
passed the Ohio General Assembly
and was signed by the Governor.
We’re shocked to hear about a semi truck killing a dozen people
as it crashed through a Christmas Market in Berlin.
____________________________________
But in the midst of the chaos and darkness, we have hope.
We are the ones who are sent to bring light to the darkness.
We are the ones responsible for speaking truth to power.
We are the ones, anointed by our Baptism,
called to spend our lives
bringing justice to the poor and peace to the world.
____________________________________
So we gather with family and friends and neighbors,
those folks who love us,
those folks whose love for us
reflects God’s love for all of creation.
They love us, in spite of our foibles and idiosyncrasies,
no matter what.
And we love them, no matter what.
Just like God loves us, no matter what.
So let us celebrate with great joy
that perfectly wonderful expression of Emmanuel,
of God-with-us--
the one who reveals God to us;
let us celebrate our brother Jesus.
He has been indeed born again in us.
Let us rejoice and be glad!
First Reading: Isaiah 9:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Second Reading: Titus 2:11-14
Gospel: Luke 2:1-14
Each of us is an expression of God in human form.
All the stardust floating out of that cosmic hatch--
out of that “big bang” 13.8 billion years ago--
all of it is in God and God in it.
And God is even more than that.
All that is expresses God-ness—including us.
____________________________________
A woman bears a child—wondrous miracle, gracious mystery--
and God is born in our world once more.
Tonight [today] we celebrate one of those special births,
the birth of our brother Jesus.
Luke shapes the story of Jesus’ birth--
we call it an “infancy narrative”--
to try to capture the essence of
the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth.
He pictures this young couple traveling miles from home,
so poor they aren’t able to find an inn to stay in,
birthing their child in a stable.
And the shepherds—the poor and marginalized—rejoice.
The birth of a child gives them hope for justice, hope for peace.
____________________________________
Luke has set the stage for what is to come:
that God is with us in the poor, the outcast, the downtrodden.
Just as God walked with Abraham and the people out of Ur,
just as God walked with Moses and the people of Israel
across the desert out of Egypt,
so God continues to walk with us,
keeps on revealing divinity in all creation.
Luke will go on
to tell the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection,
the story of God’s loving care for all,
the story of God’s special concern for the poor and oppressed.
____________________________________
The story is not over.
Each time we reach out to help someone;
each time we gather with family and friends,
each time we tend the poor and downtrodden among us,
we write another chapter of the story of God-with-us.
____________________________________
Our world is beset by violence these days,
just as it was 2,000 years ago.
We mourn the bombings in Aleppo,
innocent people killed because they’re in the way of war.
We are wary of the signs of hate and violence
in so many statements of the incoming administration
that will take over our government on January 20.
We’re saddened to know that the “guns everywhere” bill
passed the Ohio General Assembly
and was signed by the Governor.
We’re shocked to hear about a semi truck killing a dozen people
as it crashed through a Christmas Market in Berlin.
____________________________________
But in the midst of the chaos and darkness, we have hope.
We are the ones who are sent to bring light to the darkness.
We are the ones responsible for speaking truth to power.
We are the ones, anointed by our Baptism,
called to spend our lives
bringing justice to the poor and peace to the world.
____________________________________
So we gather with family and friends and neighbors,
those folks who love us,
those folks whose love for us
reflects God’s love for all of creation.
They love us, in spite of our foibles and idiosyncrasies,
no matter what.
And we love them, no matter what.
Just like God loves us, no matter what.
So let us celebrate with great joy
that perfectly wonderful expression of Emmanuel,
of God-with-us--
the one who reveals God to us;
let us celebrate our brother Jesus.
He has been indeed born again in us.
Let us rejoice and be glad!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Advent A4, December 18, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1-6
Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-2
Here's the context for our first reading:
Ahaz is king of Judah, the southern kingdom,
with Jerusalem as its capital.
An alliance between Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel
has laid siege to Jerusalem.
Ahaz has decided to ask for help from Assyria--
a ruthless nation bordering the northern kingdom--
instead of relying on God.
Seeing the danger of that alliance with Assyria,
Isaiah challenges Ahaz to ask God for a sign
that everything will eventually turn out well for Judah
without the Assyrians,
but Ahaz has already made up his mind
and refuses Isaiah’s advice.
But Isaiah tells Ahaz about the sign anyway.
He says that “the young woman is with child and shall bear a son,
and shall name him Immanuel,” “God-with-us.”
King Ahaz knows the danger, ignores Isaiah, and goes ahead,
abandoning faithfulness to God for trust in military might.
The signs of Ahaz's time were clear,
and he understood them,
but he refused to pay attention to them.
______________________________________
Ahaz wasn't the first, and won't be the last,
to ignore the signs of the times.
We all show who we are
when we show the kind of power we put our faith in.
We expose our true selves
by the signs we choose to pay attention to.
______________________________________
In his letter to the Romans,
Paul looks back to the Hebrew Scriptures
for signs to show that Jesus is the Messiah.
Matthew does the same thing in his infancy narrative,
shaping the story to make Isaiah's prophecy
look like a 700-year-old prediction of Jesus' birth.
______________________________________
Looking for signs isn't something new,
and it didn't stop with Ahaz or Matthew.
Our country is looking for signs these days.
We're going to have a new President,
and the media is buzzing with stories
about what it's going to be like, basing their predictions
on whichever of the signs they pick to believe in.
Maybe the sign is in the rise and fall of the stock market,
or Donald Trump’s tweets and twitters,
the biographies of appointees for cabinet posts,
or stories of Russian hacking
and billionaire deals with foreign countries.
______________________________________
We all look for signs.
This week we've been keeping a close watch on weather reports,
with their comparisons to the past
and projections for the future,
looking for signs to help us decide
whether we'll even be going out of the house and, if we do,
how many layers of coats and hats and gloves we'll wear.
There are signs to read all over the place.
A friend of mine who had cancer
is always on the watch for signs of a recurrence.
Parents watch their children for signs
of drug use, or porn addiction, or victimization by bullies.
Shoppers look for signs that Christmas gift prices will be cut back.
And people are looking at us Christians for a sign.
They want to see if we're real... or not.
Are we just calling ourselves Christians?
Or are we really doing what Jesus said and did,
really following him?
______________________________________
It seems that I can't go anywhere these days
without someone coming up to me
and giving me an answer to that.
Last week when I stopped in at St. Anne Hospital to visit a patient,
a woman came up and asked if I'm me, and then she said,
“I heard that your church gave a big donation to Beach House.
I've been thinking of coming to Mass with you,” she told me.
At the grocery store, a nurse came up to me and said,
“One of your Holy Spirit people came in to donate blood.”
Someone else told me that one of you
regularly drives your neighbor around
since he can't see to drive any more.
And then I heard that a couple of you
have been up and down the block
shoveling snow for your older neighbors.
People will walk up to me and name one of you
and say they saw you volunteering in all kinds of ways…
at the Peace Coalition demonstrations, at Helping Hands,
with UStogether, with Feed Your Neighbor,
at Pax Christi, with the League of Women Voters.
Because of you, our Holy Spirit Community
is gaining a reputation all over town,
and it's a great reputation.
______________________________________
Some of the signs of our time are truly ominous,
but some of them are hopeful.
Each of you is a reason to celebrate.
By your actions, every day,
day in and day out,
you are living witness to what it means
to be followers of Jesus.
______________________________________
We have one more week to get ready for Christmas…
one more week to plan the food
and clean the house and wrap the gifts,
or if you're gathering somewhere with family or friends,
one more week get the car ready for the trip
and pack it with food and gifts.
No matter—you're ready in the most important way:
it's obvious from your actions,
obvious in the way you live your life.
You are the signs of the times that people are hoping for,
signs of Immanuel--
signs that, indeed, “God is with us.”
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1-6
Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-2
Here's the context for our first reading:
Ahaz is king of Judah, the southern kingdom,
with Jerusalem as its capital.
An alliance between Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel
has laid siege to Jerusalem.
Ahaz has decided to ask for help from Assyria--
a ruthless nation bordering the northern kingdom--
instead of relying on God.
Seeing the danger of that alliance with Assyria,
Isaiah challenges Ahaz to ask God for a sign
that everything will eventually turn out well for Judah
without the Assyrians,
but Ahaz has already made up his mind
and refuses Isaiah’s advice.
But Isaiah tells Ahaz about the sign anyway.
He says that “the young woman is with child and shall bear a son,
and shall name him Immanuel,” “God-with-us.”
King Ahaz knows the danger, ignores Isaiah, and goes ahead,
abandoning faithfulness to God for trust in military might.
The signs of Ahaz's time were clear,
and he understood them,
but he refused to pay attention to them.
______________________________________
Ahaz wasn't the first, and won't be the last,
to ignore the signs of the times.
We all show who we are
when we show the kind of power we put our faith in.
We expose our true selves
by the signs we choose to pay attention to.
______________________________________
In his letter to the Romans,
Paul looks back to the Hebrew Scriptures
for signs to show that Jesus is the Messiah.
Matthew does the same thing in his infancy narrative,
shaping the story to make Isaiah's prophecy
look like a 700-year-old prediction of Jesus' birth.
______________________________________
Looking for signs isn't something new,
and it didn't stop with Ahaz or Matthew.
Our country is looking for signs these days.
We're going to have a new President,
and the media is buzzing with stories
about what it's going to be like, basing their predictions
on whichever of the signs they pick to believe in.
Maybe the sign is in the rise and fall of the stock market,
or Donald Trump’s tweets and twitters,
the biographies of appointees for cabinet posts,
or stories of Russian hacking
and billionaire deals with foreign countries.
______________________________________
We all look for signs.
This week we've been keeping a close watch on weather reports,
with their comparisons to the past
and projections for the future,
looking for signs to help us decide
whether we'll even be going out of the house and, if we do,
how many layers of coats and hats and gloves we'll wear.
There are signs to read all over the place.
A friend of mine who had cancer
is always on the watch for signs of a recurrence.
Parents watch their children for signs
of drug use, or porn addiction, or victimization by bullies.
Shoppers look for signs that Christmas gift prices will be cut back.
And people are looking at us Christians for a sign.
They want to see if we're real... or not.
Are we just calling ourselves Christians?
Or are we really doing what Jesus said and did,
really following him?
______________________________________
It seems that I can't go anywhere these days
without someone coming up to me
and giving me an answer to that.
Last week when I stopped in at St. Anne Hospital to visit a patient,
a woman came up and asked if I'm me, and then she said,
“I heard that your church gave a big donation to Beach House.
I've been thinking of coming to Mass with you,” she told me.
At the grocery store, a nurse came up to me and said,
“One of your Holy Spirit people came in to donate blood.”
Someone else told me that one of you
regularly drives your neighbor around
since he can't see to drive any more.
And then I heard that a couple of you
have been up and down the block
shoveling snow for your older neighbors.
People will walk up to me and name one of you
and say they saw you volunteering in all kinds of ways…
at the Peace Coalition demonstrations, at Helping Hands,
with UStogether, with Feed Your Neighbor,
at Pax Christi, with the League of Women Voters.
Because of you, our Holy Spirit Community
is gaining a reputation all over town,
and it's a great reputation.
______________________________________
Some of the signs of our time are truly ominous,
but some of them are hopeful.
Each of you is a reason to celebrate.
By your actions, every day,
day in and day out,
you are living witness to what it means
to be followers of Jesus.
______________________________________
We have one more week to get ready for Christmas…
one more week to plan the food
and clean the house and wrap the gifts,
or if you're gathering somewhere with family or friends,
one more week get the car ready for the trip
and pack it with food and gifts.
No matter—you're ready in the most important way:
it's obvious from your actions,
obvious in the way you live your life.
You are the signs of the times that people are hoping for,
signs of Immanuel--
signs that, indeed, “God is with us.”
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Advent A3, December 11, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:6-10
Second Reading: James 5:7-10
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
Today's reading from Isaiah
tells us to have courage
because we will be vindicated.
Justice will prevail.
God will uphold us,
sustain us,
make all things right and just for us.
And when that happens, Isaiah says,
the poorest will be healed.
The eyes of the blind will be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed,
those who can't walk will leap like deer,
and the tongues of those who cannot speak
will sing for joy.
________________________________________
In the Gospel we heard Matthew tell how John the Baptist,
when he sends his followers to ask Jesus if he is sent by God,
gets the answer
in terms of a fulfillment of that passage in Isaiah:
go back and report what you hear and see:
‘Those who are blind recover their sight;
those who cannot walk are able to walk,
those with leprosy are cured;
those who are deaf hear;
the dead are raised to life;
and the anawim—the “have-nots”--
have the Good News preached to them.’
________________________________________
The practice of looking to the tradition
for keys to the present situation
is as long as recorded history.
It's the habit of calling on the wisdom of the past
for guidance in our time.
James' letter gives the same kind of advice:
Be patient, don't grumble about one another, persevere--
take the prophets as your models.
________________________________________
What about us, now, in our time?
We say we are followers and imitators of the way of Jesus.
That means, according to the Word we just heard,
that we are to be teachers and healers,
reaching out in love to the poor and marginalized.
We are to work miracles, just like Jesus did.
________________________________________
It sounds like a tall order,
but we see those miracles all around us.
Pax Christi, the national Catholic peace movement,
has a local branch that meets over at Corpus Christi Parish.
Just one of the projects that makes Pax Christi a healer
is the “Manna bag,”
a gallon-size plastic bag full of non-perishable food and drink
that they put together and sell
so they can give them away
to those folks standing on street corners asking for help.
Then there are miracle workers like our own Liz Facey, who,
like so many other teachers,
works tirelessly to open the eyes and ears
of her special needs students.
We've been seeing stories on the news lately
about doctors who are pioneering stem cell therapy
that rebuilds body parts,
giving new life to people struck with disability and disease.
We all know families and friends of stroke victims
who tend them through the difficult times of loss and rehab,
loving them through every possible step of improvement.
We all face hard times, accident, illness, or surgery,
the difficulties of aging,
and it's there that we see the loving care
that Jesus told John's followers to tell him about.
_______________________________________
Miracles are happening here at Holy Spirit, too.
We're focused on the environment
and the impact of climate change
on the poorest and most vulnerable people,
and we're doing something about it
with our Tree Toledo efforts.
And you are generous in direct help to the anawim of our time,
donating to organizations
that serve the poor and the marginalized
with housing, food, health needs, clothes, education…
it's a very long list!
You write letters to officeholders
supporting programs that help the poor…
or criticizing programs that harm the poor.
And you pray,
preparing your heart and your soul
to be ready to love when it's the hardest.
________________________________________
Christmas is just two weeks away.
It's heart-warming for me to hear the plans you're making
to gather with family and friends,
to share a feast and enjoy each other's company.
And among the things I hear is
that you're going to welcome Maude and Claude--
Aunt Maude with her acid tongue,
Uncle Claude with his overindulgence.
And you're going to embrace Pam and Sam--
cousin Pam, who is sure to let you know
that she's better than everybody else,
and nephew Sam with his crude language,
sneaking off to smoke marijuana behind the barn.
Even though you don't approve of what they do,
you love them.
You're planning to open the door and welcome them at the table.
And that's a miracle.
________________________________________
As Richard Rohr said:
“The Second Coming of Christ is us.”
When we help the poor and the oppressed,
the downtrodden and the marginalized,
no matter if they're families
racing away from their bombed-out homes in Aleppo
or family at the Christmas feast,
it's our love that brings Christ to life again.
We are miracle workers.
________________________________________
People don't recognize us as Christians
because we go out and buy lots of presents every December.
They know us by our presence, our p-r-e-s-e-n-c-e.
People see that we are followers of Jesus
because of how we treat people every day, all year long--
family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, enemies.
We meet them and reach out to them and walk with them
along the way.
We spend time with them, get to know them,
see the face of Christ in them.
That's how they know we are Christians…
they see our love bringing light to the world.
It's the true miracle of Christmas.
We have two weeks left to get ready
for our celebration of the fact
that we are the ones
who make that miracle happen all year long.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:6-10
Second Reading: James 5:7-10
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
Today's reading from Isaiah
tells us to have courage
because we will be vindicated.
Justice will prevail.
God will uphold us,
sustain us,
make all things right and just for us.
And when that happens, Isaiah says,
the poorest will be healed.
The eyes of the blind will be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed,
those who can't walk will leap like deer,
and the tongues of those who cannot speak
will sing for joy.
________________________________________
In the Gospel we heard Matthew tell how John the Baptist,
when he sends his followers to ask Jesus if he is sent by God,
gets the answer
in terms of a fulfillment of that passage in Isaiah:
go back and report what you hear and see:
‘Those who are blind recover their sight;
those who cannot walk are able to walk,
those with leprosy are cured;
those who are deaf hear;
the dead are raised to life;
and the anawim—the “have-nots”--
have the Good News preached to them.’
________________________________________
The practice of looking to the tradition
for keys to the present situation
is as long as recorded history.
It's the habit of calling on the wisdom of the past
for guidance in our time.
James' letter gives the same kind of advice:
Be patient, don't grumble about one another, persevere--
take the prophets as your models.
________________________________________
What about us, now, in our time?
We say we are followers and imitators of the way of Jesus.
That means, according to the Word we just heard,
that we are to be teachers and healers,
reaching out in love to the poor and marginalized.
We are to work miracles, just like Jesus did.
________________________________________
It sounds like a tall order,
but we see those miracles all around us.
Pax Christi, the national Catholic peace movement,
has a local branch that meets over at Corpus Christi Parish.
Just one of the projects that makes Pax Christi a healer
is the “Manna bag,”
a gallon-size plastic bag full of non-perishable food and drink
that they put together and sell
so they can give them away
to those folks standing on street corners asking for help.
Then there are miracle workers like our own Liz Facey, who,
like so many other teachers,
works tirelessly to open the eyes and ears
of her special needs students.
We've been seeing stories on the news lately
about doctors who are pioneering stem cell therapy
that rebuilds body parts,
giving new life to people struck with disability and disease.
We all know families and friends of stroke victims
who tend them through the difficult times of loss and rehab,
loving them through every possible step of improvement.
We all face hard times, accident, illness, or surgery,
the difficulties of aging,
and it's there that we see the loving care
that Jesus told John's followers to tell him about.
_______________________________________
Miracles are happening here at Holy Spirit, too.
We're focused on the environment
and the impact of climate change
on the poorest and most vulnerable people,
and we're doing something about it
with our Tree Toledo efforts.
And you are generous in direct help to the anawim of our time,
donating to organizations
that serve the poor and the marginalized
with housing, food, health needs, clothes, education…
it's a very long list!
You write letters to officeholders
supporting programs that help the poor…
or criticizing programs that harm the poor.
And you pray,
preparing your heart and your soul
to be ready to love when it's the hardest.
________________________________________
Christmas is just two weeks away.
It's heart-warming for me to hear the plans you're making
to gather with family and friends,
to share a feast and enjoy each other's company.
And among the things I hear is
that you're going to welcome Maude and Claude--
Aunt Maude with her acid tongue,
Uncle Claude with his overindulgence.
And you're going to embrace Pam and Sam--
cousin Pam, who is sure to let you know
that she's better than everybody else,
and nephew Sam with his crude language,
sneaking off to smoke marijuana behind the barn.
Even though you don't approve of what they do,
you love them.
You're planning to open the door and welcome them at the table.
And that's a miracle.
________________________________________
As Richard Rohr said:
“The Second Coming of Christ is us.”
When we help the poor and the oppressed,
the downtrodden and the marginalized,
no matter if they're families
racing away from their bombed-out homes in Aleppo
or family at the Christmas feast,
it's our love that brings Christ to life again.
We are miracle workers.
________________________________________
People don't recognize us as Christians
because we go out and buy lots of presents every December.
They know us by our presence, our p-r-e-s-e-n-c-e.
People see that we are followers of Jesus
because of how we treat people every day, all year long--
family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, enemies.
We meet them and reach out to them and walk with them
along the way.
We spend time with them, get to know them,
see the face of Christ in them.
That's how they know we are Christians…
they see our love bringing light to the world.
It's the true miracle of Christmas.
We have two weeks left to get ready
for our celebration of the fact
that we are the ones
who make that miracle happen all year long.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Advent A2, December 4, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Second Reading: Romans 15:4-9
Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
Paul's letter to the Romans has a hopeful lesson for us.
And we sure do need hope these days!
We look ahead to unsettling times…
days, and months, and years, of chaos and uncertainty.
Already we are disturbed,
both by the promises and by the protests.
We are unsettled,
both by suspicions of vote fraud
and by the possibility of recounts.
We are disturbed by news of government appointees
whose views threaten to overturn
the work for a clean environment and health care for the poor,
to rebuild barriers that take away the rights
of immigrants and minorities and women.
We need hope.
Paul says that the scriptures are written to encourage us,
so that “we might derive hope” from them.
___________________________________________
And the scriptures do give us hope.
Isaiah's prophecy in our first reading seems like déjà vu.
King David's successors are not good leaders,
and the Israelites are weary and fearful.
Isaiah tries to calm their fears
and give them hope that a new king will—eventually--
come to bring justice.
The people will eventually come together in a peaceful world--
“no harm, no destruction anywhere.”
It's the echo of that song we love to sing:
“God will reign,
and we'll walk with each other as sisters and brothers,
united in love.”
With that hopeful promise in mind,
we hear Matthew's strident warnings
in the voice of John the Baptizer
and the baptismal anointing of Jesus of Nazareth
as the one who will “fulfill God's justice.”
___________________________________________
Most scholars believe this gospel was written
between 80 and 90 A.D., possibly as late 110,
not by the apostle Matthew
but by an anonymous Jewish man
standing on the edge
between traditional and non-traditional Judaism.
The community was divided about Jesus' nature,
so this gospel quotes a lot of scriptures
to show Jesus fulfilling Old Testament messianic prophecies.
Matthew has John the Baptizer
challenge the Scribes and Pharisees
who come out to see what's going on--
what's with all the people gathering around,
confessing their sins,
being baptized?
John thinks that they show up out of curiosity,
so he challenges those synagogue leaders,
calling them a “brood of vipers,” a “pack of snakes.”
He doesn't believe they're serious about changing their ways.
But he believes that the ordinary people are serious,
so he encourages them to act with justice.
They must change their lives and act with love
so they will be able to recognize the promised Messiah.
___________________________________________
Then Jesus comes to be baptized.
Matthew creates this dialogue to teach the community about Jesus:
that he has God's approval,
that he is anointed by God,
that he is related to God as God's beloved son.
We believe those lessons from Matthew,
even though our understanding of their meaning
is in terms of our 21st century worldview
rather than Matthew's 1st century one.
We give our assent
every time we profess our faith in the Creed of our tradition.
We give our assent
every time we make a decision for justice and peace.
___________________________________________
Thus we step forward in this Advent season of hope.
We get ready for the coming of Christ in our world,
the anointed one.
We are confident that we will find him in each other,
and in everyone we meet,
if we are faithful in following the way of Jesus…
if we live in love.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Second Reading: Romans 15:4-9
Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
Paul's letter to the Romans has a hopeful lesson for us.
And we sure do need hope these days!
We look ahead to unsettling times…
days, and months, and years, of chaos and uncertainty.
Already we are disturbed,
both by the promises and by the protests.
We are unsettled,
both by suspicions of vote fraud
and by the possibility of recounts.
We are disturbed by news of government appointees
whose views threaten to overturn
the work for a clean environment and health care for the poor,
to rebuild barriers that take away the rights
of immigrants and minorities and women.
We need hope.
Paul says that the scriptures are written to encourage us,
so that “we might derive hope” from them.
___________________________________________
And the scriptures do give us hope.
Isaiah's prophecy in our first reading seems like déjà vu.
King David's successors are not good leaders,
and the Israelites are weary and fearful.
Isaiah tries to calm their fears
and give them hope that a new king will—eventually--
come to bring justice.
The people will eventually come together in a peaceful world--
“no harm, no destruction anywhere.”
It's the echo of that song we love to sing:
“God will reign,
and we'll walk with each other as sisters and brothers,
united in love.”
With that hopeful promise in mind,
we hear Matthew's strident warnings
in the voice of John the Baptizer
and the baptismal anointing of Jesus of Nazareth
as the one who will “fulfill God's justice.”
___________________________________________
Most scholars believe this gospel was written
between 80 and 90 A.D., possibly as late 110,
not by the apostle Matthew
but by an anonymous Jewish man
standing on the edge
between traditional and non-traditional Judaism.
The community was divided about Jesus' nature,
so this gospel quotes a lot of scriptures
to show Jesus fulfilling Old Testament messianic prophecies.
Matthew has John the Baptizer
challenge the Scribes and Pharisees
who come out to see what's going on--
what's with all the people gathering around,
confessing their sins,
being baptized?
John thinks that they show up out of curiosity,
so he challenges those synagogue leaders,
calling them a “brood of vipers,” a “pack of snakes.”
He doesn't believe they're serious about changing their ways.
But he believes that the ordinary people are serious,
so he encourages them to act with justice.
They must change their lives and act with love
so they will be able to recognize the promised Messiah.
___________________________________________
Then Jesus comes to be baptized.
Matthew creates this dialogue to teach the community about Jesus:
that he has God's approval,
that he is anointed by God,
that he is related to God as God's beloved son.
We believe those lessons from Matthew,
even though our understanding of their meaning
is in terms of our 21st century worldview
rather than Matthew's 1st century one.
We give our assent
every time we profess our faith in the Creed of our tradition.
We give our assent
every time we make a decision for justice and peace.
___________________________________________
Thus we step forward in this Advent season of hope.
We get ready for the coming of Christ in our world,
the anointed one.
We are confident that we will find him in each other,
and in everyone we meet,
if we are faithful in following the way of Jesus…
if we live in love.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Advent A1, November 27, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 122:1-9
Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14
Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44
Our penitential rite at the beginning of today's Mass
took the traditional form of sacramental reconciliation--
confession, contrition, absolution.
Why?
Fr. Ron Rolheiser tells us
that confession is the sacrament of the mature.
As mature people we have to face ourselves
and admit that we have not done what we should have,
or that we have done what we shouldn't have…
and we apologize.
By that process we become even more mature.
__________________________________________
It is fitting that we practice reconciliation communally.
When we sin, we sin against the whole world.
We are not the person we are called to be.
We fail to become the person we could have become.
So we apologize… to God, to one another.
That's the meaning of that “act of contrition”--
I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters….”
As a Christian community,
we are the sign—the sacrament—of reconciliation.
We pray for one another,
and we forgive one another,
and God forgives all of us.
Through that process, we grow in faith and virtue.
__________________________________________
I know from my own experience
that I have learned the greatest lessons
from my greatest mistakes.
When I get out of the habit of taking stock of my day--
that practice we learned as the “examination of conscience”
when we were youngsters--
it's then that I get stuck in routine and don't grow.
It's as if I'm sleepwalking through life.
I might fail to pay attention to my responsibility
as a citizen, as a friend, as a family member,
as a worker, as a retiree with free time.
In whatever failure, in whatever of those ways I stumble,
I fail to act as a follower of Jesus.
__________________________________________
Scripture scholars tell us that today's readings
are not about the end of the world.
They're about events in the everyday world of the time
that make it feel like it's all over.
Matthew's community experienced the destruction of the Temple,
the center of their religious and cultural life.
It was the end of the world as they knew it.
Lots of folks are having that experience in our country
in these post-election days.
People feel as if it's the end of the world as they knew it.
Some fear the loss of traditional jobs,
or the cultural norms they grew up with,
or a change in their social status and identity.
Some fear persecution for their color or their religion
or their gender or their nationality.
__________________________________________
One of the ways we know that today's gospel
is not about the end of the world is that,
as people are going about their daily lives,
some are taken and some are left behind.
It's a metaphor for what happens
when we fail to stay alert to the signs of the times,
when we sleep-walk through life.
If we're not paying attention, we get left behind.
We are miserable.
We are unfulfilled.
On the other hand, if we are keeping watch, we move on.
We adapt and change.
We respond.
We grow, and we live in peace.
__________________________________________
It's never too late.
We're not too old to change.
We're not too old to make a difference.
From time to time I visit a woman in an assisted living facility.
When I stop in, Mary is rarely in her room.
She's pushing 90…
and she's also pushing her walker around the halls,
visiting people who can't get out of bed.
She doesn't have anything to give them
except the gift of her presence.
Mary makes a difference.
__________________________________________
Then there's Nolan, one of my neighbors,
retired from a government job.
I see him every day, walking up and down the street,
smiling at the teenagers on their way to school,
picking up trash, waving to folks as they drive by.
He stops by my garden and chats over the fence,
then moves on.
Nolan is tending to the part of the world that he can change,
and doing a great job of it.
Nolan makes a difference.
And then there's Tina, in her 50s,
limping into Claver House
before heading off to her work cleaning rooms in a local hotel.
Always a smile and a cheerful hello,
greeting everyone by name and asking how they are.
Tina makes a difference.
__________________________________________
Good folks they are, and many more like them, old and young.
They keep going,
watching what's happening in the world around them,
and making the ordinary times of their ordinary lives
into gifts of friendliness and caring… and love...
to everyone they meet.
When I look around this chapel, I see you--
people who are alert to the signs of the times,
living your lives in relationship to God
and neighbor
and the world around you.
I see you... making a difference.
__________________________________________
The day of the Lord comes again and again, over and over.
Advent is our wake-up call.
So we open our eyes once more
to see that God is with us, among us, and in us.
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 122:1-9
Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14
Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44
Our penitential rite at the beginning of today's Mass
took the traditional form of sacramental reconciliation--
confession, contrition, absolution.
Why?
Fr. Ron Rolheiser tells us
that confession is the sacrament of the mature.
As mature people we have to face ourselves
and admit that we have not done what we should have,
or that we have done what we shouldn't have…
and we apologize.
By that process we become even more mature.
__________________________________________
It is fitting that we practice reconciliation communally.
When we sin, we sin against the whole world.
We are not the person we are called to be.
We fail to become the person we could have become.
So we apologize… to God, to one another.
That's the meaning of that “act of contrition”--
I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters….”
As a Christian community,
we are the sign—the sacrament—of reconciliation.
We pray for one another,
and we forgive one another,
and God forgives all of us.
Through that process, we grow in faith and virtue.
__________________________________________
I know from my own experience
that I have learned the greatest lessons
from my greatest mistakes.
When I get out of the habit of taking stock of my day--
that practice we learned as the “examination of conscience”
when we were youngsters--
it's then that I get stuck in routine and don't grow.
It's as if I'm sleepwalking through life.
I might fail to pay attention to my responsibility
as a citizen, as a friend, as a family member,
as a worker, as a retiree with free time.
In whatever failure, in whatever of those ways I stumble,
I fail to act as a follower of Jesus.
__________________________________________
Scripture scholars tell us that today's readings
are not about the end of the world.
They're about events in the everyday world of the time
that make it feel like it's all over.
Matthew's community experienced the destruction of the Temple,
the center of their religious and cultural life.
It was the end of the world as they knew it.
Lots of folks are having that experience in our country
in these post-election days.
People feel as if it's the end of the world as they knew it.
Some fear the loss of traditional jobs,
or the cultural norms they grew up with,
or a change in their social status and identity.
Some fear persecution for their color or their religion
or their gender or their nationality.
__________________________________________
One of the ways we know that today's gospel
is not about the end of the world is that,
as people are going about their daily lives,
some are taken and some are left behind.
It's a metaphor for what happens
when we fail to stay alert to the signs of the times,
when we sleep-walk through life.
If we're not paying attention, we get left behind.
We are miserable.
We are unfulfilled.
On the other hand, if we are keeping watch, we move on.
We adapt and change.
We respond.
We grow, and we live in peace.
__________________________________________
It's never too late.
We're not too old to change.
We're not too old to make a difference.
From time to time I visit a woman in an assisted living facility.
When I stop in, Mary is rarely in her room.
She's pushing 90…
and she's also pushing her walker around the halls,
visiting people who can't get out of bed.
She doesn't have anything to give them
except the gift of her presence.
Mary makes a difference.
__________________________________________
Then there's Nolan, one of my neighbors,
retired from a government job.
I see him every day, walking up and down the street,
smiling at the teenagers on their way to school,
picking up trash, waving to folks as they drive by.
He stops by my garden and chats over the fence,
then moves on.
Nolan is tending to the part of the world that he can change,
and doing a great job of it.
Nolan makes a difference.
And then there's Tina, in her 50s,
limping into Claver House
before heading off to her work cleaning rooms in a local hotel.
Always a smile and a cheerful hello,
greeting everyone by name and asking how they are.
Tina makes a difference.
__________________________________________
Good folks they are, and many more like them, old and young.
They keep going,
watching what's happening in the world around them,
and making the ordinary times of their ordinary lives
into gifts of friendliness and caring… and love...
to everyone they meet.
When I look around this chapel, I see you--
people who are alert to the signs of the times,
living your lives in relationship to God
and neighbor
and the world around you.
I see you... making a difference.
__________________________________________
The day of the Lord comes again and again, over and over.
Advent is our wake-up call.
So we open our eyes once more
to see that God is with us, among us, and in us.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 34 OTC, November 20, 2016
First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 122:1-5
Second Reading: Colossians 1:12-20
Gospel: Luke 23:35-43
The feast we celebrate today,
the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe,
is relatively new--
not even a century old in the 2,000-year history of our Church.
Some sources say that, when Pope Pius XI started it
as the “Feast of Christ the King” in 1925,
he was trying to stem the spread of secular rulers
taking over lands previously ruled by the Vatican,
disputes that were not resolved
until the Lateran Treaty in 1929.
Other sources say the Pope started the feast
to counter the increasing threat to the power of the church
from dictators like Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin.
__________________________________________
Our church still engages in political disputes and power struggles.
The irony in this, whether back in the 1920s or now,
is that Jesus' teaching is clear.
Jesus doesn't call for the religious powers to govern a country,
as the Papacy had tried to do.
He doesn't call for the government
to make everybody follow the rules of one religion,
as the U.S. Bishops have sometimes tried to do.
In fact, Jesus' teaching is clearly not about worldly power,
no matter whether it's the power of the state
or the power of the church.
The scriptures, especially John's gospel,
show us Jesus teaching about the reign of God,
not the reign of church or state.
__________________________________________
The idea of a king is foreign to us.
But we do have people in positions of power,
and their decisions are not always ones
that our own well-formed consciences can agree with.
Because we are followers of Jesus,
we try to act in accordance with his teaching,
even when it goes against the government or the church.
Jesus showed us, in his teaching and with his life,
that there is another way, a better way, a more effective way--
the way of service, the way of peace, the way of love.
He said that he came not to be served but to serve.
That's what he did,
and that's what we're called to do.
_________________________________________
We don't have to think hard to figure out what that means.
Following Jesus means that we act out of love for all people.
So we oppose capital punishment.
We support gun control.
We welcome refugees and immigrants.
Our Holy Spirit Catholic Community stands vigil in prayer
when the State of Ohio executes a prisoner in our name.
We contribute to Compassion on Death Row.
We co-sponsor “Guns to Gardens”
with the Ohio Coalition against Gun Violence.
Following Jesus means
that we care for the poor and the oppressed.
Our Community members volunteer in countless efforts
to help the homeless and the hungry and the downtrodden.
That's on top of very generous donations
to shelters and soup kitchens
and tutoring programs and disaster relief;
and your letters to elected officials and to the media
on behalf of programs to make life better for everyone,
here and around the world.
__________________________________________
We look at our government
and see challenges to the Way of Jesus.
Our next President has spoken against almost every principle
of Catholic Social Teaching.
He proposes that we set forth on a path of hate
for the most vulnerable, poorest,
and most oppressed among us.
His climate-denying lays out a path of death and destruction
for peoples here and around the world,
for us and for generations to come.
__________________________________________
But we have hope in the one
who is higher than the President of the United States,
higher than any power on earth,
greater than any power in the universe.
It's the hope that Dorothy Day wrote about in the '40s.
She said, “Often we comfort ourselves only with words,
but if we pray enough,
the conviction will come too that Christ is our King,
not Stalin, Bevins, or Truman.”
We can be confident because God is in charge.
__________________________________________
What we are celebrating today
is not a style of government with its earthly kings
but the victory of love over hate,
the triumph of life over death.
We're celebrating that the reign of God is at hand--
the goodness, mercy, forgiveness, justice, and peace
that Jesus revealed to us.
__________________________________________
Our first reading today tells us that God chose David,
of the flesh and blood of the people,
to shepherd Israel as king.
Our second reading tells us that God chose Jesus,
our own flesh and blood, our brother,
to reflect God's own self.
Our Gospel shows us Jesus,
true unto death to God's way of love.
And now God has chosen us, just ordinary folks,
to bring about God's reign in our time.
__________________________________________
Donald Trump is going about the task of selecting people
to help him do the things he promised during the campaign.
But we have hope
because God has chosen us to imitate the ministry of Jesus.
We have been chosen to do the work
that shows that the reign of God,
as the U.S. Bishops put it back in 1987,
“is more powerful than evil, sickness,
and the hardness of the human heart.”
Like Jesus, we are to take up “the cause
of those who suffer discrimination.”
We are the ones God has chosen now,
for the challenges of this time,
to bring light to the world.
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday,
as we prepare to celebrate Eucharist today,
we have reason to give thanks.
We give thanks for our brother Jesus
who teaches us how to live and how to love.
We give thanks that we are called to follow him on the way,
servant disciples of our servant leader.
Amen
First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 122:1-5
Second Reading: Colossians 1:12-20
Gospel: Luke 23:35-43
The feast we celebrate today,
the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe,
is relatively new--
not even a century old in the 2,000-year history of our Church.
Some sources say that, when Pope Pius XI started it
as the “Feast of Christ the King” in 1925,
he was trying to stem the spread of secular rulers
taking over lands previously ruled by the Vatican,
disputes that were not resolved
until the Lateran Treaty in 1929.
Other sources say the Pope started the feast
to counter the increasing threat to the power of the church
from dictators like Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin.
__________________________________________
Our church still engages in political disputes and power struggles.
The irony in this, whether back in the 1920s or now,
is that Jesus' teaching is clear.
Jesus doesn't call for the religious powers to govern a country,
as the Papacy had tried to do.
He doesn't call for the government
to make everybody follow the rules of one religion,
as the U.S. Bishops have sometimes tried to do.
In fact, Jesus' teaching is clearly not about worldly power,
no matter whether it's the power of the state
or the power of the church.
The scriptures, especially John's gospel,
show us Jesus teaching about the reign of God,
not the reign of church or state.
__________________________________________
The idea of a king is foreign to us.
But we do have people in positions of power,
and their decisions are not always ones
that our own well-formed consciences can agree with.
Because we are followers of Jesus,
we try to act in accordance with his teaching,
even when it goes against the government or the church.
Jesus showed us, in his teaching and with his life,
that there is another way, a better way, a more effective way--
the way of service, the way of peace, the way of love.
He said that he came not to be served but to serve.
That's what he did,
and that's what we're called to do.
_________________________________________
We don't have to think hard to figure out what that means.
Following Jesus means that we act out of love for all people.
So we oppose capital punishment.
We support gun control.
We welcome refugees and immigrants.
Our Holy Spirit Catholic Community stands vigil in prayer
when the State of Ohio executes a prisoner in our name.
We contribute to Compassion on Death Row.
We co-sponsor “Guns to Gardens”
with the Ohio Coalition against Gun Violence.
Following Jesus means
that we care for the poor and the oppressed.
Our Community members volunteer in countless efforts
to help the homeless and the hungry and the downtrodden.
That's on top of very generous donations
to shelters and soup kitchens
and tutoring programs and disaster relief;
and your letters to elected officials and to the media
on behalf of programs to make life better for everyone,
here and around the world.
__________________________________________
We look at our government
and see challenges to the Way of Jesus.
Our next President has spoken against almost every principle
of Catholic Social Teaching.
He proposes that we set forth on a path of hate
for the most vulnerable, poorest,
and most oppressed among us.
His climate-denying lays out a path of death and destruction
for peoples here and around the world,
for us and for generations to come.
__________________________________________
But we have hope in the one
who is higher than the President of the United States,
higher than any power on earth,
greater than any power in the universe.
It's the hope that Dorothy Day wrote about in the '40s.
She said, “Often we comfort ourselves only with words,
but if we pray enough,
the conviction will come too that Christ is our King,
not Stalin, Bevins, or Truman.”
We can be confident because God is in charge.
__________________________________________
What we are celebrating today
is not a style of government with its earthly kings
but the victory of love over hate,
the triumph of life over death.
We're celebrating that the reign of God is at hand--
the goodness, mercy, forgiveness, justice, and peace
that Jesus revealed to us.
__________________________________________
Our first reading today tells us that God chose David,
of the flesh and blood of the people,
to shepherd Israel as king.
Our second reading tells us that God chose Jesus,
our own flesh and blood, our brother,
to reflect God's own self.
Our Gospel shows us Jesus,
true unto death to God's way of love.
And now God has chosen us, just ordinary folks,
to bring about God's reign in our time.
__________________________________________
Donald Trump is going about the task of selecting people
to help him do the things he promised during the campaign.
But we have hope
because God has chosen us to imitate the ministry of Jesus.
We have been chosen to do the work
that shows that the reign of God,
as the U.S. Bishops put it back in 1987,
“is more powerful than evil, sickness,
and the hardness of the human heart.”
Like Jesus, we are to take up “the cause
of those who suffer discrimination.”
We are the ones God has chosen now,
for the challenges of this time,
to bring light to the world.
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday,
as we prepare to celebrate Eucharist today,
we have reason to give thanks.
We give thanks for our brother Jesus
who teaches us how to live and how to love.
We give thanks that we are called to follow him on the way,
servant disciples of our servant leader.
Amen
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 33 OTC, November 13, 2016
First Reading: Malachi 4:1-2
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:5-9
Second Reading: 2Thessalonians 3:7-12
Gospel: Luke 21:5-19
Wednesday afternoon one of our community members phoned me.
She was grieving about the Presidential election results.
She was mourning
because the outcome rejected
the values she holds most dear--
the moral and social teaching of Jesus
that we try to follow here.
She is afraid of what will happen to immigrants, Muslims,
Hispanics, the disabled, LGBT folks, the poor,
those 22 million who will lose their Obamacare insurance,
African Americans, our planet.
“What can we do?” she asked.
My answer was swift and to the point: “I don't know.”
So we talked a bit.
She said that the election results
make her feel compelled to speak up
where before she stayed quiet,
whenever she encounters racist or sexist remarks.
But she doesn't want to be crude or nasty.
She wants to be loving about it.
Maybe something like a support group, she said.
A place to figure out how to respond
kindly and effectively
to inappropriate remarks and hurtful ideas.
A way to work through this period of mourning.
A means of figuring out ways
to put Catholic Social Teaching into practice
in spite of the election results.
__________________________________________
We had such great hopes!
Too many of those hopes were dashed in Tuesday's voting.
So today we seek comfort and renewed hope
from the ancient scriptures.
We find Malachi's prophecy
that the arrogant and the evildoers
will be left without root or branch,
while the people who worship the most high God
will see justice rise like the sun.
We find Paul's encouragement to the Thessalonians
to practice self-discipline
and imitate the best in their actions.
And we find Luke having Jesus describe for his disciples
a litany of terrible events that will come
and assuring them
that not a hair on their heads will be harmed.
Their patient endurance will save them.
__________________________________________
Because scriptures scholars say that Luke
is writing this gospel 50 or more years after Jesus died,
we know that the events have already taken place.
The disciples have already suffered the difficulties Luke describes.
Jerusalem and the temple have already been destroyed.
Luke writes this passage to show Jesus
as a “prophet mighty in word and deed”
who leads people—whose lives have lost moral direction--
back to the purpose and meaning of life.
__________________________________________
We face an unknown future in our country.
Many people are afraid.
They are wondering what will happen to our country
now that we have elected a man who said
that Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals,
that Muslims should be banned from entering the country,
that he would lock up his opponent after he was elected,
that he would sue the women
who accused him of sexual assault.
He ridiculed people with disabilities.
He denied climate change.
He used crude language, and he lied, over and over and over.
We heard Fr. Jim Bacik describe the candidate
as engaging in “apocalyptic messianism”--
predicting a disaster if he were not elected
and claiming that he is the only one who can save us.
We heard Pope Francis say that
“A person who thinks only about building walls,
wherever they may be, and not building bridges,
is not Christian. This is not the gospel."
In her pastoral letter this week--
the entire text of it is in today's bulletin--
Bishop Joan gave us hope
by comparing this election result
to the 2005 selection of the pope.
She wrote, “When I heard the announcement
that the new pope was Joseph Ratzinger,
I was equally as distraught as I am today.
We went through some very hard times
with the new Pope Benedict XVI.
How could we have known that Benedict would retire
and we would have a pope full of compassion for the poor? How can we today
know what tomorrow is going to bring to U.S. society?”
Bishop Joan encourages us to pray.
And she urges us to double down
on our efforts for justice and peace.
__________________________________________
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we cannot run away and hide from the challenges of the future.
We cannot cringe in expectation of doom.
We cannot resort to violence.
We are called to keep on living in joy and hope,
and we have reason to do so.
No matter what happens, God is in charge.
__________________________________________
It's fitting, as we near the end of our church year,
that we find scriptures talking about the “end times”
and looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ.
It's helpful to remember what Richard Rohr said:
“The Second Coming of Christ is us.”
We are the ones who bring Christ to life again
in this world, in this time.
We are the ones called
to live in hope,
to serve one another,
to love God and neighbor.
So, while we will mourn the loss of what might have been,
we will continue to work for the poor,
to stand in solidarity with the oppressed,
and to keep on working for justice and peace.
Amen!
First Reading: Malachi 4:1-2
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:5-9
Second Reading: 2Thessalonians 3:7-12
Gospel: Luke 21:5-19
Wednesday afternoon one of our community members phoned me.
She was grieving about the Presidential election results.
She was mourning
because the outcome rejected
the values she holds most dear--
the moral and social teaching of Jesus
that we try to follow here.
She is afraid of what will happen to immigrants, Muslims,
Hispanics, the disabled, LGBT folks, the poor,
those 22 million who will lose their Obamacare insurance,
African Americans, our planet.
“What can we do?” she asked.
My answer was swift and to the point: “I don't know.”
So we talked a bit.
She said that the election results
make her feel compelled to speak up
where before she stayed quiet,
whenever she encounters racist or sexist remarks.
But she doesn't want to be crude or nasty.
She wants to be loving about it.
Maybe something like a support group, she said.
A place to figure out how to respond
kindly and effectively
to inappropriate remarks and hurtful ideas.
A way to work through this period of mourning.
A means of figuring out ways
to put Catholic Social Teaching into practice
in spite of the election results.
__________________________________________
We had such great hopes!
Too many of those hopes were dashed in Tuesday's voting.
So today we seek comfort and renewed hope
from the ancient scriptures.
We find Malachi's prophecy
that the arrogant and the evildoers
will be left without root or branch,
while the people who worship the most high God
will see justice rise like the sun.
We find Paul's encouragement to the Thessalonians
to practice self-discipline
and imitate the best in their actions.
And we find Luke having Jesus describe for his disciples
a litany of terrible events that will come
and assuring them
that not a hair on their heads will be harmed.
Their patient endurance will save them.
__________________________________________
Because scriptures scholars say that Luke
is writing this gospel 50 or more years after Jesus died,
we know that the events have already taken place.
The disciples have already suffered the difficulties Luke describes.
Jerusalem and the temple have already been destroyed.
Luke writes this passage to show Jesus
as a “prophet mighty in word and deed”
who leads people—whose lives have lost moral direction--
back to the purpose and meaning of life.
__________________________________________
We face an unknown future in our country.
Many people are afraid.
They are wondering what will happen to our country
now that we have elected a man who said
that Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals,
that Muslims should be banned from entering the country,
that he would lock up his opponent after he was elected,
that he would sue the women
who accused him of sexual assault.
He ridiculed people with disabilities.
He denied climate change.
He used crude language, and he lied, over and over and over.
We heard Fr. Jim Bacik describe the candidate
as engaging in “apocalyptic messianism”--
predicting a disaster if he were not elected
and claiming that he is the only one who can save us.
We heard Pope Francis say that
“A person who thinks only about building walls,
wherever they may be, and not building bridges,
is not Christian. This is not the gospel."
In her pastoral letter this week--
the entire text of it is in today's bulletin--
Bishop Joan gave us hope
by comparing this election result
to the 2005 selection of the pope.
She wrote, “When I heard the announcement
that the new pope was Joseph Ratzinger,
I was equally as distraught as I am today.
We went through some very hard times
with the new Pope Benedict XVI.
How could we have known that Benedict would retire
and we would have a pope full of compassion for the poor? How can we today
know what tomorrow is going to bring to U.S. society?”
Bishop Joan encourages us to pray.
And she urges us to double down
on our efforts for justice and peace.
__________________________________________
As followers of the Way of Jesus,
we cannot run away and hide from the challenges of the future.
We cannot cringe in expectation of doom.
We cannot resort to violence.
We are called to keep on living in joy and hope,
and we have reason to do so.
No matter what happens, God is in charge.
__________________________________________
It's fitting, as we near the end of our church year,
that we find scriptures talking about the “end times”
and looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ.
It's helpful to remember what Richard Rohr said:
“The Second Coming of Christ is us.”
We are the ones who bring Christ to life again
in this world, in this time.
We are the ones called
to live in hope,
to serve one another,
to love God and neighbor.
So, while we will mourn the loss of what might have been,
we will continue to work for the poor,
to stand in solidarity with the oppressed,
and to keep on working for justice and peace.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 32 OTC, November 6, 2016
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
Today's reading from the book of Maccabees
details a horrific incident of religious intolerance:
the arrest, torture, and murder of seven children
as their mother was forced to look on
before she too was murdered.
Their crime: they were Jews.
Their religion forbade eating pork,
and they refused to go against the teaching of their religion.
______________________________________
Our U.S. Bishops have written extensively
in defense of religious liberty for all.
Four years ago they issued a document titled
Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.
It asserted that:
“If religious liberty is not respected, all people suffer.”
And Dignitatis Humanae,
the Vatican II document on religious liberty,
is absolutely clear:
we have a right to religious freedom,
to be immune from coercion,
never to be forced to act in a manner contrary to our beliefs.
______________________________________
And we are obliged to defend the right to religious liberty
not only for ourselves but also for others.
We know that we have not always done that.
The U.S. Bishops admit that
“our history has shadows in terms of religious liberty,
when we did not extend to others
the proper respect for this first freedom.”
Religious freedom does not mean
that people of other faiths have to follow our rules.
That's totalitarianism.
That's terrorism.
We have a lot of work to do.
______________________________________
Religious persecution--
the systematic mistreatment
of an individual or group of individuals
as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations
or persecution because they have no religious belief--
is rampant in countries all over our planet.
It's easy to point to places like North Korea, China,
Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh.
But it's here, too.
In some cases it's a combination
of racial or ethnic intolerance
with religious intolerance.
Again and again we hear the TV reports
of bombing incidents in Black churches in the south.
Islamophobia is more widespread than the common cold,
even here in holy Toledo.
Three years ago the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo was torched.
The arsonist said he wanted to “get some payback” for 9/11.
______________________________________
The 9/11 terrorists, like the Maccabees,
were willing to die for what they believed.
But terrorists,
like people who bomb churches and set fire to mosques--
and unlike the Maccabees--
do not respect the religious freedom of others.
The Maccabees did not launch terrorist attacks
on those they saw as perverse and wicked.
They used peaceful means of persuasion,
resisting with the words of truth
and the endurance of their hearts.
They were ready to die
rather than go against their religious beliefs.
______________________________________
With so many shouts of vengeance in our world today,
we need to reflect on the message here.
Luke's gospel shows us the way of Jesus:
he engages in dialogue.
He resists with words of truth.
Today's passage is part of a series of attempts
by the local religious leadership
to force Jesus to take sides on the political issues of his time.
The Sadducees—who, unlike the Pharisees,
do not believe in resurrection--
ask Jesus that loaded question
about the status of levirate marriage in the afterlife.
Jesus takes the side of the Pharisees but avoids the trap.
Just before that question, they had asked him
whether it's lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,
and Jesus avoided that trap with that well-known line,
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.
______________________________________
When the questions end,
Jesus tells his disciples to be wary of leaders
who parade around for attention
but ignore the plight of widows and orphans.
______________________________________
So these scriptures remind us once again that,
because we are followers of the Way of Jesus,
we include in our preparation for voting
the questions
of whether or not the candidates
respect the religious freedom of all peoples
and whether the issues tend to the needs of the poor.
We're back to that basic rule of our faith,
the one that guides everything we do,
the one that identifies us as Christians:
love one another!
Amen!
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
Today's reading from the book of Maccabees
details a horrific incident of religious intolerance:
the arrest, torture, and murder of seven children
as their mother was forced to look on
before she too was murdered.
Their crime: they were Jews.
Their religion forbade eating pork,
and they refused to go against the teaching of their religion.
______________________________________
Our U.S. Bishops have written extensively
in defense of religious liberty for all.
Four years ago they issued a document titled
Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.
It asserted that:
“If religious liberty is not respected, all people suffer.”
And Dignitatis Humanae,
the Vatican II document on religious liberty,
is absolutely clear:
we have a right to religious freedom,
to be immune from coercion,
never to be forced to act in a manner contrary to our beliefs.
______________________________________
And we are obliged to defend the right to religious liberty
not only for ourselves but also for others.
We know that we have not always done that.
The U.S. Bishops admit that
“our history has shadows in terms of religious liberty,
when we did not extend to others
the proper respect for this first freedom.”
Religious freedom does not mean
that people of other faiths have to follow our rules.
That's totalitarianism.
That's terrorism.
We have a lot of work to do.
______________________________________
Religious persecution--
the systematic mistreatment
of an individual or group of individuals
as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations
or persecution because they have no religious belief--
is rampant in countries all over our planet.
It's easy to point to places like North Korea, China,
Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh.
But it's here, too.
In some cases it's a combination
of racial or ethnic intolerance
with religious intolerance.
Again and again we hear the TV reports
of bombing incidents in Black churches in the south.
Islamophobia is more widespread than the common cold,
even here in holy Toledo.
Three years ago the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo was torched.
The arsonist said he wanted to “get some payback” for 9/11.
______________________________________
The 9/11 terrorists, like the Maccabees,
were willing to die for what they believed.
But terrorists,
like people who bomb churches and set fire to mosques--
and unlike the Maccabees--
do not respect the religious freedom of others.
The Maccabees did not launch terrorist attacks
on those they saw as perverse and wicked.
They used peaceful means of persuasion,
resisting with the words of truth
and the endurance of their hearts.
They were ready to die
rather than go against their religious beliefs.
______________________________________
With so many shouts of vengeance in our world today,
we need to reflect on the message here.
Luke's gospel shows us the way of Jesus:
he engages in dialogue.
He resists with words of truth.
Today's passage is part of a series of attempts
by the local religious leadership
to force Jesus to take sides on the political issues of his time.
The Sadducees—who, unlike the Pharisees,
do not believe in resurrection--
ask Jesus that loaded question
about the status of levirate marriage in the afterlife.
Jesus takes the side of the Pharisees but avoids the trap.
Just before that question, they had asked him
whether it's lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,
and Jesus avoided that trap with that well-known line,
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.
______________________________________
When the questions end,
Jesus tells his disciples to be wary of leaders
who parade around for attention
but ignore the plight of widows and orphans.
______________________________________
So these scriptures remind us once again that,
because we are followers of the Way of Jesus,
we include in our preparation for voting
the questions
of whether or not the candidates
respect the religious freedom of all peoples
and whether the issues tend to the needs of the poor.
We're back to that basic rule of our faith,
the one that guides everything we do,
the one that identifies us as Christians:
love one another!
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 31 OTC, October 30, 2016
First Reading: Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13, 14
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-22
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10
Luke's story about Zaccheus has some lessons for us today.
One lesson is what not to do--
not to cheat people,
not to take more than my fair share,
not to grow wealthy at the expense of the poor.
Another lesson is what to do--
admit that I've been wrong,
change my ways,
and make up for the bad things I've done.
And then there's the lesson that undergirds all the rest:
love my neighbor.
_______________________________________
Zacchaeus is neighbor to each of us.
And we look down on him.
He's a tax collector--
the IRS, ready to pounce on us
if we leave anything off our tax return,
hitting us with dunning letters and fines.
He's wealthy--
a government job, making money for himself
by taking it away from people like us.
Even more, he's shorter than we are.
Really short.
The average Semite man at the time of Jesus,
archaeologists tell us,
was 5'1” and weighed about 110 pounds.
So if Jesus was of average height,
the top of his head would come to about where my nose is.
And Zacchaeus was really short.
He had to climb a tree to be able to see Jesus walking by.
But Jesus looks up to him, up in that sycamore tree.
Jesus lives the truth of that first reading.
He knows that God loves all that lives,
that God's “imperishable breath fills every one of them”...
including Zacchaeus.
So he ignores the derision of the crowd
and shows Zacchaeus great respect
by accepting his hospitality.
_______________________________________
We pick up those lessons of inclusion and exclusion early in life.
There's family, and there's not family.
There's friend and there's acquaintance.
There's neighbor, and there's stranger.
There's us... and there's them.
As we grow, we learn reasons for including some people
and excluding others.
_______________________________________
Back in the '50s, when I was in grade school,
I learned the kid version of exclusion.
If you were good-looking,
you made fun of the kids who looked ordinary.
If you had nice clothes from Joseph's,
you didn't make friends with the kids
who wore out-of-date styles from the thrift shop.
If you were athletic, you'd never choose the kids who weren't
to be on your side for recess games.
If you had money to buy lunch in the cafeteria,
you'd never sit with the kids who had to pack their lunch.
But I also learned lessons of inclusion.
I remember the Hungarian Revolution of 1956,
when a dozen new students came to St. Ann's School,
displaced from their home country,
couldn't speak English, and wore odd clothes.
Some kids just stared at them.
But some of the kids smiled at them
and helped them learn the strange Fremont ways,
just as they had chosen friends
from both rich and poor, black and white,
no matter how they dressed
or where they lived
or what they ate for lunch.
_______________________________________
By the time high school rolled around,
we had for the most part learned to gather with our own kind.
Without consciously thinking about it,
we began to separate ourselves
by neighborhood, religion, race, class, and gender.
We learned that befriending a classmate
who was different in any way
would put us out on the fringes along with them.
If we wanted to be part of the in-group,
we went along with the crowd.
_______________________________________
The patterns are set early,
and all of us have a bias of some sort,
an unexamined assumption about others
that needs to be challenged.
Over the years we all have had to work hard
to overcome the prejudices of our society.
Our Catholic Social Teaching tradition,
as our Bishops describe it,
is clear that our faith calls us
to welcome the stranger among us,
to find unity in diversity.
They tell us that we are to “welcome the newcomers
in our neighborhoods and schools,
in our places of work and worship,
with heartfelt hospitality, openness, and eagerness
both to help and to learn from
our brothers and sisters
of whatever religion, ethnicity, or background.”
_______________________________________
The need for welcoming the stranger
is overwhelming in today's world.
Every minute of every day last year, 24 people were displaced.
At the end of 2015 the total of forcibly displaced people worldwide
reached 65.3 million—one out of every 113 people on Earth
[according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees],
more than any time since record-keeping began.
_______________________________________
If those displaced millions were spread evenly around the world,
there would be 2,498 Toledoans forced to leave their homes.
Thank God we don't suffer war or persecution here.
We don't suffer daily bombings of our cities and hospitals.
We are are privileged with the freedom to speak our opinions,
practice our religion, and vote as we choose.
_______________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit we welcome the stranger.
Everyone who walks in the door is welcome…
welcome to come in,
welcome to celebrate with us,
welcome at the table.
As a community we work
on racial justice with the Toledo Community Coalition
and Dialogue-to-Change,
on refugee resettlement with UStogether,
on religious tolerance with the MultiFaith Council,
on homelessness with Beach House
and Tent City and 1Matters.
Today's scriptures encourage us to keep on keeping on…
to keep on loving
every one of our neighbors
on this planet.
Amen!
First Reading: Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13, 14
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-22
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10
Luke's story about Zaccheus has some lessons for us today.
One lesson is what not to do--
not to cheat people,
not to take more than my fair share,
not to grow wealthy at the expense of the poor.
Another lesson is what to do--
admit that I've been wrong,
change my ways,
and make up for the bad things I've done.
And then there's the lesson that undergirds all the rest:
love my neighbor.
_______________________________________
Zacchaeus is neighbor to each of us.
And we look down on him.
He's a tax collector--
the IRS, ready to pounce on us
if we leave anything off our tax return,
hitting us with dunning letters and fines.
He's wealthy--
a government job, making money for himself
by taking it away from people like us.
Even more, he's shorter than we are.
Really short.
The average Semite man at the time of Jesus,
archaeologists tell us,
was 5'1” and weighed about 110 pounds.
So if Jesus was of average height,
the top of his head would come to about where my nose is.
And Zacchaeus was really short.
He had to climb a tree to be able to see Jesus walking by.
But Jesus looks up to him, up in that sycamore tree.
Jesus lives the truth of that first reading.
He knows that God loves all that lives,
that God's “imperishable breath fills every one of them”...
including Zacchaeus.
So he ignores the derision of the crowd
and shows Zacchaeus great respect
by accepting his hospitality.
_______________________________________
We pick up those lessons of inclusion and exclusion early in life.
There's family, and there's not family.
There's friend and there's acquaintance.
There's neighbor, and there's stranger.
There's us... and there's them.
As we grow, we learn reasons for including some people
and excluding others.
_______________________________________
Back in the '50s, when I was in grade school,
I learned the kid version of exclusion.
If you were good-looking,
you made fun of the kids who looked ordinary.
If you had nice clothes from Joseph's,
you didn't make friends with the kids
who wore out-of-date styles from the thrift shop.
If you were athletic, you'd never choose the kids who weren't
to be on your side for recess games.
If you had money to buy lunch in the cafeteria,
you'd never sit with the kids who had to pack their lunch.
But I also learned lessons of inclusion.
I remember the Hungarian Revolution of 1956,
when a dozen new students came to St. Ann's School,
displaced from their home country,
couldn't speak English, and wore odd clothes.
Some kids just stared at them.
But some of the kids smiled at them
and helped them learn the strange Fremont ways,
just as they had chosen friends
from both rich and poor, black and white,
no matter how they dressed
or where they lived
or what they ate for lunch.
_______________________________________
By the time high school rolled around,
we had for the most part learned to gather with our own kind.
Without consciously thinking about it,
we began to separate ourselves
by neighborhood, religion, race, class, and gender.
We learned that befriending a classmate
who was different in any way
would put us out on the fringes along with them.
If we wanted to be part of the in-group,
we went along with the crowd.
_______________________________________
The patterns are set early,
and all of us have a bias of some sort,
an unexamined assumption about others
that needs to be challenged.
Over the years we all have had to work hard
to overcome the prejudices of our society.
Our Catholic Social Teaching tradition,
as our Bishops describe it,
is clear that our faith calls us
to welcome the stranger among us,
to find unity in diversity.
They tell us that we are to “welcome the newcomers
in our neighborhoods and schools,
in our places of work and worship,
with heartfelt hospitality, openness, and eagerness
both to help and to learn from
our brothers and sisters
of whatever religion, ethnicity, or background.”
_______________________________________
The need for welcoming the stranger
is overwhelming in today's world.
Every minute of every day last year, 24 people were displaced.
At the end of 2015 the total of forcibly displaced people worldwide
reached 65.3 million—one out of every 113 people on Earth
[according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees],
more than any time since record-keeping began.
_______________________________________
If those displaced millions were spread evenly around the world,
there would be 2,498 Toledoans forced to leave their homes.
Thank God we don't suffer war or persecution here.
We don't suffer daily bombings of our cities and hospitals.
We are are privileged with the freedom to speak our opinions,
practice our religion, and vote as we choose.
_______________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit we welcome the stranger.
Everyone who walks in the door is welcome…
welcome to come in,
welcome to celebrate with us,
welcome at the table.
As a community we work
on racial justice with the Toledo Community Coalition
and Dialogue-to-Change,
on refugee resettlement with UStogether,
on religious tolerance with the MultiFaith Council,
on homelessness with Beach House
and Tent City and 1Matters.
Today's scriptures encourage us to keep on keeping on…
to keep on loving
every one of our neighbors
on this planet.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 30 OTC, October 23, 2016
First Reading: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3, 17-19, 23
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
The parable in this week's gospel shows us two men at prayer,
one a Pharisee, assumed to be righteous
according to the traditional religious practices of the day,
and the other a tax collector,
assumed to be unjust, dishonest in his dealings,
disloyal to his country, and unfaithful to his religion.
That's the way Jesus' audience would have thought of them.
The people who first heard this parable
were victims of what we now call “implicit bias,”
the unconscious attitudes
that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions.
We often make judgments about people automatically,
without thinking.
_____________________________________
It's called implicit bias
and it has been part of our national conversation about racism
ever since Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald
conducted experiments for their book Blindspot 20 years ago.
Last Monday on NPR
Banaji called attention to mentions of implicit bias
in both the presidential and the vice-presidential debates.
One of the candidates said
that implicit bias is a problem for everyone,
and that, “unfortunately, too many of us in our great country
jump to conclusions about each other.”
Banaji gave a simple example that shows
how we come to have a bias without consciously realizing it.
First, our brains pick up information from what we see.
If we repeatedly see
doctors who are male and nurses who are female,
our brains pick it up and recognize it as a pattern.
Second, Banaji says, we begin to act
in ways that support the pattern,
and we think that's the way it really is.
So men become surgeons and women become nurses.
_____________________________________
Today's parable turns the tables
on the implicit biases of Jesus' audience.
The tax collector is justified, not the Pharisee.
What that has to do with us is that,
just like the bias of ancient Israelites against tax collectors,
we all, regardless of the color of our skin
or the size of our bank account,
act unconsciously on faulty assumptions.
We have all learned to be biased.
When we find out that we're biased,
it doesn't mean that we have to stay that way.
_____________________________________
Today's first reading, psalm, and gospel tell us one thing:
unlearn our biases.
We are God's people,
called to be holy, called to reflect God's goodness.
Sirach describes God
as a “God of justice, who knows no favorites.”
The Psalm tells us that God hears the cry of the poor.
Just as God has no favorites,
so are we to treat all people equally.
Just as God responds to the cry of the poor,
so are we, the People of God,
called to listen to their cries and work for justice.
_____________________________________
The meaning of these scriptures for our times
is rooted deeply in our Catholic Social Teaching tradition.
We are called to work for the “common good”
so that all people have food, clothes, shelter,
medical care, education...
so that all people live in right relationship with others
and with the earth
and with all of creation.
_____________________________________
With just two weeks and two days until election,
these scriptures call us to look at our biases
and learn to be just.
They call us to look for the candidates
whose policies work for the good of all,
not just for the rich and the powerful.
They call us to examine the issues
and weigh their impact on the poor.
This is our faith.
As our U.S. Bishops said in their document
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,
“A basic moral test for our society
is how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst.”
Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si',
called the preferential option for the poor
“an ethical imperative
essential for effectively attaining the common good.”
He said that wasting food, for example,
takes it out of the mouths of the poor.
An ethical imperative:
if we seek to imitate the life of Christ,
we must work for justice
until the basic needs of all people are met.
It's not ethics as a general idea.
It's a specific ethical imperative for each one of us.
_____________________________________
Our own way of life must reflect our values.
We know what that means.
As Gandhi, and so many others, have put it,
we must “Live simply so that others may simply live.”
It starts with an examination of conscience,
ferreting out those implicit biases we hold
and unlearning them.
And it continues with serious prayer that we might--
as our favorite hymn says--
act with justice, love tenderly, serve one another,
and walk humbly with our God.
Amen!
First Reading: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3, 17-19, 23
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
The parable in this week's gospel shows us two men at prayer,
one a Pharisee, assumed to be righteous
according to the traditional religious practices of the day,
and the other a tax collector,
assumed to be unjust, dishonest in his dealings,
disloyal to his country, and unfaithful to his religion.
That's the way Jesus' audience would have thought of them.
The people who first heard this parable
were victims of what we now call “implicit bias,”
the unconscious attitudes
that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions.
We often make judgments about people automatically,
without thinking.
_____________________________________
It's called implicit bias
and it has been part of our national conversation about racism
ever since Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald
conducted experiments for their book Blindspot 20 years ago.
Last Monday on NPR
Banaji called attention to mentions of implicit bias
in both the presidential and the vice-presidential debates.
One of the candidates said
that implicit bias is a problem for everyone,
and that, “unfortunately, too many of us in our great country
jump to conclusions about each other.”
Banaji gave a simple example that shows
how we come to have a bias without consciously realizing it.
First, our brains pick up information from what we see.
If we repeatedly see
doctors who are male and nurses who are female,
our brains pick it up and recognize it as a pattern.
Second, Banaji says, we begin to act
in ways that support the pattern,
and we think that's the way it really is.
So men become surgeons and women become nurses.
_____________________________________
Today's parable turns the tables
on the implicit biases of Jesus' audience.
The tax collector is justified, not the Pharisee.
What that has to do with us is that,
just like the bias of ancient Israelites against tax collectors,
we all, regardless of the color of our skin
or the size of our bank account,
act unconsciously on faulty assumptions.
We have all learned to be biased.
When we find out that we're biased,
it doesn't mean that we have to stay that way.
_____________________________________
Today's first reading, psalm, and gospel tell us one thing:
unlearn our biases.
We are God's people,
called to be holy, called to reflect God's goodness.
Sirach describes God
as a “God of justice, who knows no favorites.”
The Psalm tells us that God hears the cry of the poor.
Just as God has no favorites,
so are we to treat all people equally.
Just as God responds to the cry of the poor,
so are we, the People of God,
called to listen to their cries and work for justice.
_____________________________________
The meaning of these scriptures for our times
is rooted deeply in our Catholic Social Teaching tradition.
We are called to work for the “common good”
so that all people have food, clothes, shelter,
medical care, education...
so that all people live in right relationship with others
and with the earth
and with all of creation.
_____________________________________
With just two weeks and two days until election,
these scriptures call us to look at our biases
and learn to be just.
They call us to look for the candidates
whose policies work for the good of all,
not just for the rich and the powerful.
They call us to examine the issues
and weigh their impact on the poor.
This is our faith.
As our U.S. Bishops said in their document
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,
“A basic moral test for our society
is how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst.”
Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si',
called the preferential option for the poor
“an ethical imperative
essential for effectively attaining the common good.”
He said that wasting food, for example,
takes it out of the mouths of the poor.
An ethical imperative:
if we seek to imitate the life of Christ,
we must work for justice
until the basic needs of all people are met.
It's not ethics as a general idea.
It's a specific ethical imperative for each one of us.
_____________________________________
Our own way of life must reflect our values.
We know what that means.
As Gandhi, and so many others, have put it,
we must “Live simply so that others may simply live.”
It starts with an examination of conscience,
ferreting out those implicit biases we hold
and unlearning them.
And it continues with serious prayer that we might--
as our favorite hymn says--
act with justice, love tenderly, serve one another,
and walk humbly with our God.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 29 OTC, October 16, 2016
First Reading: Exodus 17: 8-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 121:1-8
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Gospel: Luke 18:1-8
As they come down to us,
today's readings are about persistence.
The Exodus reading and the passage from Luke's gospel
give us messages about persistence in prayer,
and the letter to Timothy
gives us advice about persistence in preaching.
Those were good messages for the people they were written for,
and they still contain good messages for us.
________________________________________
But now take a look at the part of the gospel
that's printed in bold type in your bulletin.
Scripture scholars point out that that part goes back to Jesus,
and the rest of today's passage--
the narrative framework and the lessons about prayer--
those are Luke's application for his community.
________________________________________
What was Jesus' message when he told that parable?
Let's take a look at the three actors
and what their roles are.
There's the widow,
and the person she's suing in court,
and the judge.
Given the culture of the time,
what do we know about the law
that would give a widow grounds for complaint in court?
If she has no children and her deceased husband had a brother,
the law required him to marry her
and raise up descendants in his brother's name.
Or if she did have a son,
the law required the first-born to care for her
until he was 30 years old.
________________________________________
That brings us to the defendant.
It could be her husband's brother, who won't marry her,
or her own son, who won't care for her.
Either way, without a judgment in her favor,
she has no means of support.
She's oppressed by laws and systems,
perceived as useless in society and culture,
unprofitable, forgettable, and lost.
Without family, she is dead to the world, a beggar on the streets.
So she goes to court.
________________________________________
The judge is corrupt, maybe taking bribes
from the husband's brother or the widow's son.
Jesus describes him as fearing no one... not people, not God.
He's totally self-centered.
He considers giving the widow justice—her right--
only because she keeps coming back
and he's afraid of getting worn out--
in the Greek, literally getting a black eye.
He's afraid his reputation will suffer
because people will hear her complaints
and judge him for not following the law,
for his corruption.
________________________________________
Jesus' listeners would have put themselves in the story, but where?
They would want to be law-abiding,
so they wouldn't see themselves as the defendant in the case.
They would want to be honest and faithful,
so they wouldn't see themselves as the corrupt judge.
They lived in oppression and too often found themselves
caught up in systems and practices
that reduced them to poverty and powerlessness.
They would want justice.
They would see themselves
as the one who insists on righteousness—as the widow.
The widow is the one who is on the right side of the law.
She is the poor one whose cry God hears,
the lowly one who God raises up.
________________________________________
We, as believers in God--
however we manage to think about that Gracious Mystery--
and as followers of the Way of Jesus,
are called stand with the widows of our world,
and there are many.
As American citizens, we're called to listen to the poor
crying for food and clothing and shelter,
clean water, adequate health care, a living wage,
fair taxes, just laws, peaceful neighborhoods.
We can't ignore them.
As our second reading tells us,
we must act whether it is convenient or inconvenient.
We must convince, reprimand, and encourage.
That is our vocation as people baptized and sent
to carry out the mission of Christ in the world.
________________________________________
I'm inspired when I look around our little community
and see the justice you work for,
here and around the world.
Sunday afternoon I saw some of you
standing on the corner of Bancroft and Secor
waving peace signs.
Monday I took another carload of your contributions
to help refugees settle in Toledo.
Then over to Claver House,
with all those much-needed bags and containers,
along with enough butternut squash to feed an army!
Whenever we gather for our monthly community meeting,
you eagerly vote to give generous contributions
to charities doing good works,
like Beach House and 1Matters and Padua Center.
I see you at gatherings for justice and peace and the environment,
read your letters in the Blade,
watch you register voters.
I hear you struggling your way
through the rip tide of this year's political campaigns,
sifting through the candidates and issues
looking for the best choice for the common good.
And through it all, grounding and sustaining your lives,
I see your everyday ministering
to family and friends and neighbors,
reaching out, helping out,
spreading joy, standing by in sorrow,
praying.
You persist--
and you will keep on going, and going, and going …
until justice reigns in our world.
Your goodness, your works of justice,
give me faith that, as Julian of Norwich wrote,
all shall be well… all manner of thing shall be well.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Exodus 17: 8-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 121:1-8
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Gospel: Luke 18:1-8
As they come down to us,
today's readings are about persistence.
The Exodus reading and the passage from Luke's gospel
give us messages about persistence in prayer,
and the letter to Timothy
gives us advice about persistence in preaching.
Those were good messages for the people they were written for,
and they still contain good messages for us.
________________________________________
But now take a look at the part of the gospel
that's printed in bold type in your bulletin.
Scripture scholars point out that that part goes back to Jesus,
and the rest of today's passage--
the narrative framework and the lessons about prayer--
those are Luke's application for his community.
________________________________________
What was Jesus' message when he told that parable?
Let's take a look at the three actors
and what their roles are.
There's the widow,
and the person she's suing in court,
and the judge.
Given the culture of the time,
what do we know about the law
that would give a widow grounds for complaint in court?
If she has no children and her deceased husband had a brother,
the law required him to marry her
and raise up descendants in his brother's name.
Or if she did have a son,
the law required the first-born to care for her
until he was 30 years old.
________________________________________
That brings us to the defendant.
It could be her husband's brother, who won't marry her,
or her own son, who won't care for her.
Either way, without a judgment in her favor,
she has no means of support.
She's oppressed by laws and systems,
perceived as useless in society and culture,
unprofitable, forgettable, and lost.
Without family, she is dead to the world, a beggar on the streets.
So she goes to court.
________________________________________
The judge is corrupt, maybe taking bribes
from the husband's brother or the widow's son.
Jesus describes him as fearing no one... not people, not God.
He's totally self-centered.
He considers giving the widow justice—her right--
only because she keeps coming back
and he's afraid of getting worn out--
in the Greek, literally getting a black eye.
He's afraid his reputation will suffer
because people will hear her complaints
and judge him for not following the law,
for his corruption.
________________________________________
Jesus' listeners would have put themselves in the story, but where?
They would want to be law-abiding,
so they wouldn't see themselves as the defendant in the case.
They would want to be honest and faithful,
so they wouldn't see themselves as the corrupt judge.
They lived in oppression and too often found themselves
caught up in systems and practices
that reduced them to poverty and powerlessness.
They would want justice.
They would see themselves
as the one who insists on righteousness—as the widow.
The widow is the one who is on the right side of the law.
She is the poor one whose cry God hears,
the lowly one who God raises up.
________________________________________
We, as believers in God--
however we manage to think about that Gracious Mystery--
and as followers of the Way of Jesus,
are called stand with the widows of our world,
and there are many.
As American citizens, we're called to listen to the poor
crying for food and clothing and shelter,
clean water, adequate health care, a living wage,
fair taxes, just laws, peaceful neighborhoods.
We can't ignore them.
As our second reading tells us,
we must act whether it is convenient or inconvenient.
We must convince, reprimand, and encourage.
That is our vocation as people baptized and sent
to carry out the mission of Christ in the world.
________________________________________
I'm inspired when I look around our little community
and see the justice you work for,
here and around the world.
Sunday afternoon I saw some of you
standing on the corner of Bancroft and Secor
waving peace signs.
Monday I took another carload of your contributions
to help refugees settle in Toledo.
Then over to Claver House,
with all those much-needed bags and containers,
along with enough butternut squash to feed an army!
Whenever we gather for our monthly community meeting,
you eagerly vote to give generous contributions
to charities doing good works,
like Beach House and 1Matters and Padua Center.
I see you at gatherings for justice and peace and the environment,
read your letters in the Blade,
watch you register voters.
I hear you struggling your way
through the rip tide of this year's political campaigns,
sifting through the candidates and issues
looking for the best choice for the common good.
And through it all, grounding and sustaining your lives,
I see your everyday ministering
to family and friends and neighbors,
reaching out, helping out,
spreading joy, standing by in sorrow,
praying.
You persist--
and you will keep on going, and going, and going …
until justice reigns in our world.
Your goodness, your works of justice,
give me faith that, as Julian of Norwich wrote,
all shall be well… all manner of thing shall be well.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 28 OTC, October 9, 2016
First Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:1-4
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-13
Gospel: Luke 17:11-19
After this past week, we all know where Aleppo is.
Even Gary Johnson knows.
Aleppo is in northern Syria.
It's one of the oldest cities in the world,
dating back to at least 5,000 years before Christ.
In modern times, it has been the largest city in Syria…
until recently.
The people of Aleppo are under siege.
They live in the middle of war.
They suffer from the shortage of water, food, and medical care.
Civilians are dying.
Even their hospitals are being bombed.
Their doctors and nurses and aid workers are being killed.
_______________________________________
The story in today's reading from the second book of Kings
starts in Aleppo.
The Bible calls the city Aram,
the place where Naaman is an army commander.
Naaman has leprosy,
and there's no healing for him in Aram.
No healing for anyone there today, either.
Naaman takes the advice of a little slave girl,
captured from Israel and serving his wife,
and goes to Israel for healing.
He takes a letter from the King of Aram to the King of Israel,
along with ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces,
and ten festal garments
so he can pay for the healing he's hoping for.
Israel's king knows
that he doesn't have the power to cure leprosy,
so he suspects the Arameans
of looking for a reason to attack Israel.
He rends his garments,
expressing grief and anger
because he believes Israel is facing destruction and death.
Then Elisha hears about it
and suggests that Naaman come to him.
So Naaman the Syrian
goes to to Elisha, the Israelite prophet,
hoping to be healed.
_______________________________________
Not only are Syrians not part of God’s people;
they are in fact among the enemies of Israel.
They worship an alien God.
But Elisha reaches out to Naaman anyway,
telling him to go wash seven times in the Jordan River.
Naaman turns away in anger,
thinking it's too trivial an action to be of help to him,
but some of those powerless slaves,
Naaman's own servants this time,
give him some advice.
Naaman listens to them, washes in the Jordan,
and is made clean of his leprosy.
That's where today's reading starts.
Nathan is healed,
and he is grateful.
_______________________________________
Luke's gospel tells us
about the gratitude of another foreigner with leprosy.
This time it's a Samaritan.
Today we know Samaria as the West Bank,
land designated to be an Arab State
by the United Nations in 1948.
But it's not.
In today's geography
we recognize that 10th leper as a Palestinian.
Realizing that Jesus has healed him of his leprosy,
he goes back to give thanks.
_______________________________________
Healing like that is going on right now here in Toledo.
Refugees who can't survive in their homeland come here,
whether it's from Aleppo in Syria
or Hebron in the West Bank,
or Somalia or Afghanistan, Turkey or Pakistan,
Lebanon or Iran or Colombia or some other place
where they are under siege
and attacked because of who they are
or what they believe.
They come here with hope for healing and a new life.
_______________________________________
Some Toledoans look at them
like that Israeli king looked at Naaman,
suspecting them of plotting evil, terrorism, war.
They are filled with fear and loathing
and don't want them here.
_______________________________________
Many other Toledoans look at them with love and acceptance,
the way Elisha and Jesus did,
seeing in each of them
another child of the one God of us all.
They welcome the refugees
and set about helping to make a safe place for them.
Like Naaman the Syrian,
like the Samaritan leper,
the refugees are grateful.
They come here in faith,
hoping that their lives can be healed,
and their faith makes them whole again.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:1-4
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-13
Gospel: Luke 17:11-19
After this past week, we all know where Aleppo is.
Even Gary Johnson knows.
Aleppo is in northern Syria.
It's one of the oldest cities in the world,
dating back to at least 5,000 years before Christ.
In modern times, it has been the largest city in Syria…
until recently.
The people of Aleppo are under siege.
They live in the middle of war.
They suffer from the shortage of water, food, and medical care.
Civilians are dying.
Even their hospitals are being bombed.
Their doctors and nurses and aid workers are being killed.
_______________________________________
The story in today's reading from the second book of Kings
starts in Aleppo.
The Bible calls the city Aram,
the place where Naaman is an army commander.
Naaman has leprosy,
and there's no healing for him in Aram.
No healing for anyone there today, either.
Naaman takes the advice of a little slave girl,
captured from Israel and serving his wife,
and goes to Israel for healing.
He takes a letter from the King of Aram to the King of Israel,
along with ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces,
and ten festal garments
so he can pay for the healing he's hoping for.
Israel's king knows
that he doesn't have the power to cure leprosy,
so he suspects the Arameans
of looking for a reason to attack Israel.
He rends his garments,
expressing grief and anger
because he believes Israel is facing destruction and death.
Then Elisha hears about it
and suggests that Naaman come to him.
So Naaman the Syrian
goes to to Elisha, the Israelite prophet,
hoping to be healed.
_______________________________________
Not only are Syrians not part of God’s people;
they are in fact among the enemies of Israel.
They worship an alien God.
But Elisha reaches out to Naaman anyway,
telling him to go wash seven times in the Jordan River.
Naaman turns away in anger,
thinking it's too trivial an action to be of help to him,
but some of those powerless slaves,
Naaman's own servants this time,
give him some advice.
Naaman listens to them, washes in the Jordan,
and is made clean of his leprosy.
That's where today's reading starts.
Nathan is healed,
and he is grateful.
_______________________________________
Luke's gospel tells us
about the gratitude of another foreigner with leprosy.
This time it's a Samaritan.
Today we know Samaria as the West Bank,
land designated to be an Arab State
by the United Nations in 1948.
But it's not.
In today's geography
we recognize that 10th leper as a Palestinian.
Realizing that Jesus has healed him of his leprosy,
he goes back to give thanks.
_______________________________________
Healing like that is going on right now here in Toledo.
Refugees who can't survive in their homeland come here,
whether it's from Aleppo in Syria
or Hebron in the West Bank,
or Somalia or Afghanistan, Turkey or Pakistan,
Lebanon or Iran or Colombia or some other place
where they are under siege
and attacked because of who they are
or what they believe.
They come here with hope for healing and a new life.
_______________________________________
Some Toledoans look at them
like that Israeli king looked at Naaman,
suspecting them of plotting evil, terrorism, war.
They are filled with fear and loathing
and don't want them here.
_______________________________________
Many other Toledoans look at them with love and acceptance,
the way Elisha and Jesus did,
seeing in each of them
another child of the one God of us all.
They welcome the refugees
and set about helping to make a safe place for them.
Like Naaman the Syrian,
like the Samaritan leper,
the refugees are grateful.
They come here in faith,
hoping that their lives can be healed,
and their faith makes them whole again.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 27 OTC, October 2, 2016
First Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10
Some translations of two words in today's gospel
obscure the point of this passage.
First, there's “douloi, the Greek word for slave.
Our Catholic New American Bible translates it as servants.
Other translations call them “hired workers” or “employees.”
But it really does mean slaves.
Jesuit Fr. Dennis Hamm observes that,
in first century Israel slavery was simply a fact of life,
with two-thirds of the population either slaves or former slaves.
Fr. Hamm says that both Jesus and the early Christian writers
used slavery as a positive metaphor
to describe human relationships with God.
___________________________________________
Then there's that adjective that's translated as “miserable.”
Other versions translate it as
worthless, unprofitable, useless, or unworthy.
Presbyterian scripture scholar Ken Bailey renders it
as those “to whom nothing is owed,”
meaning that our relationship with God is parallel to a slave.
God doesn't owe us anything
for doing what we are supposed to do.
So this gospel teaches us humility.
We are God's people,
and we're expected to do good.
We're expected to do our best.
And once we've done that,
God doesn't owe us for it.
There's nothing we can do to put God in debt to us.
___________________________________________
In today's first reading we heard the prophet Habakkuk
complaining to God about injustice.
But God doesn't owe us justice.
God is justice, that right relationship that brings peace.
God gives us life
and gives us the ability to love
and to serve in the ways of right relationship that create justice.
___________________________________________
Still, we get discouraged.
Like Habakkuk we look around and see oppression and violence.
We see war and famine and destruction.
We cringe at the devastation of poverty.
We are aghast at the deep disrespect for people and planet.
Seeing all that, knowing injustice is rampant,
what gets us up out of bed in the morning?
What moves us?
Some days it might be family, the kids, friends.
Other days it might be to keep a promise.
Others it might be that we just don't want
to suffer the consequences if we don't get up and go to work.
Whatever gets us moving, it reveals a relationship--
with people, with the world,
with that gracious mystery we call God.
Whatever gets us moving, we can call it faith.
It's what we are loyal to, have a vision about, what we care for.
It's what we believe in.
Yes, faith.
It can be strong... and still falter.
It can be weak... and still hold up.
___________________________________________
The gospel gives us another lesson in humility
when Jesus tells us we don't need a big bunch of faith,
that we can move mountains with trust
that's the size of a tiny mustard seed.
He had to be using that rhetorical device called hyperbole
to make a point,
because I haven't seen anybody but coal miners
moving any mountains lately.
___________________________________________
But I have seen people who are changing the world.
Last week I went to a presentation
by the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
a group of ordinary citizens who are trying
to put pressure on local and state officials
to start here the same process
that cleaned up Chesapeake Bay.
And there's a group of local priests
who are part of a national effort to end racism
in our Catholic Church.
And then there was Tuesday,
when members of the League of Women Voters
stood at every library to get people to register to vote.
And Wednesday Tree Toledo helped two clients of Lott Industries
plant a Blue Spruce in memory of a staff member who,
they said, had been really nice to them.
It's like anthropologist Margaret Mead said,
that we should “Never doubt that a small group
of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed,” she said, “it's the only thing that ever has.”
These folks are changing the world.
___________________________________________
Then there's a family, members of this assembly,
who bought a newer car this week.
Instead of trading in the old one,
they had a mechanic check it over to make sure it was still safe
and then gave it to a local refugee family through USTogether.
It's like Pope Francis said, commenting on today's gospel,
that the mustard seed is small,
but faith that size is enough
“to do things that are humanly impossible, unthinkable.”
The faith of these people, and many others in our town,
is making a difference.
___________________________________________
Think about holy people we've heard about.
They didn't set about to do big things.
They had a vision.
For Mother Teresa it was the conviction that every human
has the right to dignity, even in poverty and facing death.
She wrote about the years when she felt abandoned by God,
long years when she kept on helping one person at a time.
Through all that,
her conviction sparked enough faith to keep her going.
For Malala Yousafzai
it was the belief that every girl has a right to education.
She lived that belief and was shot for it,
and kept it through her recovery, and she still keeps going.
She calls us to remember that “One book, one pen, one child,
and one teacher can change the world.”
___________________________________________
Some people who do little deeds of justice end up being famous.
But most of us end up unknown to the world,
even to close neighbors, and friends, even to family.
You probably don't think you've moved any mountains.
You doubt if you've even shifted a pebble in the road.
But I see you doing it anyway.
You keep up on issues and talk about them with your friends.
You write letters to the Blade and letters to officeholders.
You help people.
You take part in organizations that work for peace and justice.
You pray.
You vote.
You keep on trying, with that little mustard-seed faith,
to stir into flame
the Spirit that makes you strong, and loving, and wise.
I thank God for your witness to the Gospel!
First Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10
Some translations of two words in today's gospel
obscure the point of this passage.
First, there's “douloi, the Greek word for slave.
Our Catholic New American Bible translates it as servants.
Other translations call them “hired workers” or “employees.”
But it really does mean slaves.
Jesuit Fr. Dennis Hamm observes that,
in first century Israel slavery was simply a fact of life,
with two-thirds of the population either slaves or former slaves.
Fr. Hamm says that both Jesus and the early Christian writers
used slavery as a positive metaphor
to describe human relationships with God.
___________________________________________
Then there's that adjective that's translated as “miserable.”
Other versions translate it as
worthless, unprofitable, useless, or unworthy.
Presbyterian scripture scholar Ken Bailey renders it
as those “to whom nothing is owed,”
meaning that our relationship with God is parallel to a slave.
God doesn't owe us anything
for doing what we are supposed to do.
So this gospel teaches us humility.
We are God's people,
and we're expected to do good.
We're expected to do our best.
And once we've done that,
God doesn't owe us for it.
There's nothing we can do to put God in debt to us.
___________________________________________
In today's first reading we heard the prophet Habakkuk
complaining to God about injustice.
But God doesn't owe us justice.
God is justice, that right relationship that brings peace.
God gives us life
and gives us the ability to love
and to serve in the ways of right relationship that create justice.
___________________________________________
Still, we get discouraged.
Like Habakkuk we look around and see oppression and violence.
We see war and famine and destruction.
We cringe at the devastation of poverty.
We are aghast at the deep disrespect for people and planet.
Seeing all that, knowing injustice is rampant,
what gets us up out of bed in the morning?
What moves us?
Some days it might be family, the kids, friends.
Other days it might be to keep a promise.
Others it might be that we just don't want
to suffer the consequences if we don't get up and go to work.
Whatever gets us moving, it reveals a relationship--
with people, with the world,
with that gracious mystery we call God.
Whatever gets us moving, we can call it faith.
It's what we are loyal to, have a vision about, what we care for.
It's what we believe in.
Yes, faith.
It can be strong... and still falter.
It can be weak... and still hold up.
___________________________________________
The gospel gives us another lesson in humility
when Jesus tells us we don't need a big bunch of faith,
that we can move mountains with trust
that's the size of a tiny mustard seed.
He had to be using that rhetorical device called hyperbole
to make a point,
because I haven't seen anybody but coal miners
moving any mountains lately.
___________________________________________
But I have seen people who are changing the world.
Last week I went to a presentation
by the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie,
a group of ordinary citizens who are trying
to put pressure on local and state officials
to start here the same process
that cleaned up Chesapeake Bay.
And there's a group of local priests
who are part of a national effort to end racism
in our Catholic Church.
And then there was Tuesday,
when members of the League of Women Voters
stood at every library to get people to register to vote.
And Wednesday Tree Toledo helped two clients of Lott Industries
plant a Blue Spruce in memory of a staff member who,
they said, had been really nice to them.
It's like anthropologist Margaret Mead said,
that we should “Never doubt that a small group
of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed,” she said, “it's the only thing that ever has.”
These folks are changing the world.
___________________________________________
Then there's a family, members of this assembly,
who bought a newer car this week.
Instead of trading in the old one,
they had a mechanic check it over to make sure it was still safe
and then gave it to a local refugee family through USTogether.
It's like Pope Francis said, commenting on today's gospel,
that the mustard seed is small,
but faith that size is enough
“to do things that are humanly impossible, unthinkable.”
The faith of these people, and many others in our town,
is making a difference.
___________________________________________
Think about holy people we've heard about.
They didn't set about to do big things.
They had a vision.
For Mother Teresa it was the conviction that every human
has the right to dignity, even in poverty and facing death.
She wrote about the years when she felt abandoned by God,
long years when she kept on helping one person at a time.
Through all that,
her conviction sparked enough faith to keep her going.
For Malala Yousafzai
it was the belief that every girl has a right to education.
She lived that belief and was shot for it,
and kept it through her recovery, and she still keeps going.
She calls us to remember that “One book, one pen, one child,
and one teacher can change the world.”
___________________________________________
Some people who do little deeds of justice end up being famous.
But most of us end up unknown to the world,
even to close neighbors, and friends, even to family.
You probably don't think you've moved any mountains.
You doubt if you've even shifted a pebble in the road.
But I see you doing it anyway.
You keep up on issues and talk about them with your friends.
You write letters to the Blade and letters to officeholders.
You help people.
You take part in organizations that work for peace and justice.
You pray.
You vote.
You keep on trying, with that little mustard-seed faith,
to stir into flame
the Spirit that makes you strong, and loving, and wise.
I thank God for your witness to the Gospel!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 26 OTC, September 25, 2016
First Reading: Amos 6:1, 4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:7-10
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
“Giving Pledge” is an organization that asks billionaires
to commit the majority of their net worth to philanthropy,
either now or in their will.
Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet started it in 2010.
This year the Gates' net worth is just over 77 billion dollars.
Buffet's is nearly 68 billion.
In the six years since those three started the effort,
$365 billion has been pledged by 139 people.
In today's gospel we heard about a rich man who is not on that list.
Luke doesn't give him a name,
but sometimes he's referred to as Dives [DIE-veez],
the Latin word for “rich man.”
_______________________________________
There's nothing wrong with having enough...
enough food to eat, clean water, clothes to wear,
a secure home to live in.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Those are basic human rights.
When people don't have the basics,
something is radically wrong.
It's sinful when poverty or war or prejudice
stunt a person's potential
and suffocate hope.
_______________________________________
Dives had the ability to help Lazarus.
It wasn't that he kicked him, or yelled at him, or belittled him.
He just didn't see him.
In and out, every day, walking past,
and not so much as a penny or a table scrap.
That was Dives' sin--
indifference to the suffering in the world around him.
_______________________________________
Today we're tripping over a world full of Lazaruses.
People are homeless and without hope,
here in Toledo and around the world.
They're displaced by war and famine and greed.
They're refugees, immigrants, and migrants.
They're the addicted, the formerly incarcerated, the bankrupt,
the penniless, the mentally ill.
They're the sex slaves and the work slaves and the wage slaves.
_______________________________________
How much money is enough?
How much stuff is enough?
How much do we need
before we think we can afford to give something away?
We build up bank accounts, make investments,
buy health plans and life insurance,
sock it away in retirement plans…
always thinking we need more,
always feeling insecure.
And it's never enough,
so we hold on to everything
and lose the precious chance to help others.
_______________________________________
Those billionaires who follow through with their Giving Pledge
will have billions left after they give half of it away.
They're generous, and that's good,
but it's not quite the widow's mite,
the woman who gave
not what was extra
but what she needed to thrive.
That's the kind of generosity I see in Toledo.
_______________________________________
Joseph is one of the regular guests at Claver House.
He's young, in his 30s.
He's homeless, living at the Cherry Street Mission.
When he arrives for breakfast, he's a ray of sunshine,
even on a bleak rainy day.
When the volunteers put a basket of fruit
or a carton of chips or yogurt out,
Joseph is the one who makes sure that everybody gets some,
even if there's nothing left for him.
And when he leaves, he calls out,
“I am blessed! You have a blessed day, too!”
Joseph is doing
what the Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt advised
when he said we can't turn our backs on the poor.
All that Joseph has is his cheerfulness,
and he spreads it around everywhere he goes.
_______________________________________
Pope Francis says that many of the wealthy have a heart problem
—a growing inattention to anything but their own desires.
They are spiritually destitute.
We've all heard the excuses they make.
“Those people” are illegal, it's too inconvenient, too far away.
They'd just buy alcohol with it, they're too far gone to be helped.
“Those people” need to get a job and buckle down
and pull themselves up by their bootstraps, they say...
“like I did.”
_______________________________________
Paul's letter to Timothy give us the prescription
to cure that heart problem--
love one another.
We do that here at Holy Spirit.
Each one of you spends time
and lends expertise
and donates to justice and peace causes.
Some of you ran—well, walked or trotted--
in the Race for the Cure this weekend,
or volunteered or donated to help make it happen.
All of you participated in the annual Global Compassion event
that ended Wednesday.
And every month we sit around the potluck
at our community meeting
and very deliberately spend
a portion of the generous offerings of our members.
Among other things,
we have helped the homeless through 1Matters,
Syrian refugees through UStogether,
people in need through Claver House,
women trapped in prostitution through Rahab's Heart,
central city children through Padua Center,
people caught in disasters through Catholic Charities,
our own parishioners through our Special Needs Fund,
and our struggling planet through Tree Toledo.
We'll meet again tomorrow night [tonight] after Mass
and put our heads together
to come up with another dose
of that medicine that makes our hearts healthy.
Together we try to keep our eyes open
to notice the poor among us,
whether they beg at our door
or huddle in refugee camps on the other side of the world.
And we reach out.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Amos 6:1, 4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:7-10
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
“Giving Pledge” is an organization that asks billionaires
to commit the majority of their net worth to philanthropy,
either now or in their will.
Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet started it in 2010.
This year the Gates' net worth is just over 77 billion dollars.
Buffet's is nearly 68 billion.
In the six years since those three started the effort,
$365 billion has been pledged by 139 people.
In today's gospel we heard about a rich man who is not on that list.
Luke doesn't give him a name,
but sometimes he's referred to as Dives [DIE-veez],
the Latin word for “rich man.”
_______________________________________
There's nothing wrong with having enough...
enough food to eat, clean water, clothes to wear,
a secure home to live in.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Those are basic human rights.
When people don't have the basics,
something is radically wrong.
It's sinful when poverty or war or prejudice
stunt a person's potential
and suffocate hope.
_______________________________________
Dives had the ability to help Lazarus.
It wasn't that he kicked him, or yelled at him, or belittled him.
He just didn't see him.
In and out, every day, walking past,
and not so much as a penny or a table scrap.
That was Dives' sin--
indifference to the suffering in the world around him.
_______________________________________
Today we're tripping over a world full of Lazaruses.
People are homeless and without hope,
here in Toledo and around the world.
They're displaced by war and famine and greed.
They're refugees, immigrants, and migrants.
They're the addicted, the formerly incarcerated, the bankrupt,
the penniless, the mentally ill.
They're the sex slaves and the work slaves and the wage slaves.
_______________________________________
How much money is enough?
How much stuff is enough?
How much do we need
before we think we can afford to give something away?
We build up bank accounts, make investments,
buy health plans and life insurance,
sock it away in retirement plans…
always thinking we need more,
always feeling insecure.
And it's never enough,
so we hold on to everything
and lose the precious chance to help others.
_______________________________________
Those billionaires who follow through with their Giving Pledge
will have billions left after they give half of it away.
They're generous, and that's good,
but it's not quite the widow's mite,
the woman who gave
not what was extra
but what she needed to thrive.
That's the kind of generosity I see in Toledo.
_______________________________________
Joseph is one of the regular guests at Claver House.
He's young, in his 30s.
He's homeless, living at the Cherry Street Mission.
When he arrives for breakfast, he's a ray of sunshine,
even on a bleak rainy day.
When the volunteers put a basket of fruit
or a carton of chips or yogurt out,
Joseph is the one who makes sure that everybody gets some,
even if there's nothing left for him.
And when he leaves, he calls out,
“I am blessed! You have a blessed day, too!”
Joseph is doing
what the Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt advised
when he said we can't turn our backs on the poor.
All that Joseph has is his cheerfulness,
and he spreads it around everywhere he goes.
_______________________________________
Pope Francis says that many of the wealthy have a heart problem
—a growing inattention to anything but their own desires.
They are spiritually destitute.
We've all heard the excuses they make.
“Those people” are illegal, it's too inconvenient, too far away.
They'd just buy alcohol with it, they're too far gone to be helped.
“Those people” need to get a job and buckle down
and pull themselves up by their bootstraps, they say...
“like I did.”
_______________________________________
Paul's letter to Timothy give us the prescription
to cure that heart problem--
love one another.
We do that here at Holy Spirit.
Each one of you spends time
and lends expertise
and donates to justice and peace causes.
Some of you ran—well, walked or trotted--
in the Race for the Cure this weekend,
or volunteered or donated to help make it happen.
All of you participated in the annual Global Compassion event
that ended Wednesday.
And every month we sit around the potluck
at our community meeting
and very deliberately spend
a portion of the generous offerings of our members.
Among other things,
we have helped the homeless through 1Matters,
Syrian refugees through UStogether,
people in need through Claver House,
women trapped in prostitution through Rahab's Heart,
central city children through Padua Center,
people caught in disasters through Catholic Charities,
our own parishioners through our Special Needs Fund,
and our struggling planet through Tree Toledo.
We'll meet again tomorrow night [tonight] after Mass
and put our heads together
to come up with another dose
of that medicine that makes our hearts healthy.
Together we try to keep our eyes open
to notice the poor among us,
whether they beg at our door
or huddle in refugee camps on the other side of the world.
And we reach out.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 25 OTC, September 18, 2016
First Reading: Amos 8:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Take a look at the bold type in the Gospel in your bulletin.
Scholars tell us that today's story of the dishonest steward
and the verses about split loyalties
definitely go back to Jesus.
He spoke words very close to what is written here.
______________________________________
2,000 years ago Jesus looked at the signs of his times
and observed that “You cannot serve God and mammon.”
He urged his disciples to be creative at being good
by telling them the parable of the cheating steward
who gets caught red-handed.
He knows he's going to be fired.
He worries.
He asks himself, “What shall I do?”
He could grab the chance to turn his life around.
But he doesn't--
he looks after his own security and cheats even more,
just to feather his own nest.
______________________________________
He's shrewd, that's for sure.
But he's not shrewd enough to practice virtue,
not wise enough to change course
and leave his self-serving ways behind.
Granted, it's not easy to do.
Whether it's a good habit or a bad habit,
the longer we've had the habit
the harder it is to change.
______________________________________
In the routine of everyday life, that daily grind,
it's rare that we take time to think about the long term.
So we end up making shortsighted choices.
Like the high school secretary who forgot her purse
and used the petty cash box to pay for her lunch.
Or the factory worker joining in the laughter at a racist or sexist joke.
Or the student postponing an assignment
until the night before it's due.
We suffer the consequences of our shortsightedness,
but it's what we do afterward that forms our character.
We can choose to keep doing the same thing,
or we can resolve to change the habit.
______________________________________
Being a follower of the Way of Jesus,
we are called to live so that our daily choices
form patterns of virtue
that end up in our living a holier life.
Karl Rahner calls it a “fundamental option.”
When we choose evil, and choose it over and over,
we form habits that frame our “fundamental option”
away from God.
When we choose good, and choose it over and over,
we form habits that frame our “fundamental option”
towards God.
______________________________________
So what happens next with that school secretary?
She has a choice:
she can rationalize that she's underpaid
and deserves a free lunch and keep on taking from petty cash
—an option away from God;
or she can repay the petty cash the next day
and just go without lunch if she forgets her purse again
—an option toward God.
Same goes for that factory worker,
who can tell his friends an even more hateful joke
or let them know he doesn't think it's funny.
And that student, who can plagiarize the assignment
or choose to practice the self-discipline
needed to finish future assignments on time.
______________________________________
The untrustworthy steward in today's reading
found himself so trapped in his vice
that he couldn't come up with another kind of option.
He applied his wit and energy to a fundamental option toward evil,
serving himself.
______________________________________
So here we are, two millennia after Jesus,
living in a society that worships money
and routinely spews a rhetoric of hatred.
Pope Francis puts it in strong words:
the “unfettered pursuit of money”
leaves behind the service of the common good
and brings “pain, death, and destruction,”
“the stench of the dung of the devil.”
We are called to rise above the stench.
The path requires that we keep ourselves
turned toward the One God of all,
not the money god of our culture,
not the god of war and hate.
When we find ourselves wandering off the path of virtue,
we remind ourselves that new habits
are formed the same way the old ones were,
one choice at a time.
That's how we end up following the commandment that matters:
love God, love our neighbor.
Amen.
First Reading: Amos 8:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Take a look at the bold type in the Gospel in your bulletin.
Scholars tell us that today's story of the dishonest steward
and the verses about split loyalties
definitely go back to Jesus.
He spoke words very close to what is written here.
______________________________________
2,000 years ago Jesus looked at the signs of his times
and observed that “You cannot serve God and mammon.”
He urged his disciples to be creative at being good
by telling them the parable of the cheating steward
who gets caught red-handed.
He knows he's going to be fired.
He worries.
He asks himself, “What shall I do?”
He could grab the chance to turn his life around.
But he doesn't--
he looks after his own security and cheats even more,
just to feather his own nest.
______________________________________
He's shrewd, that's for sure.
But he's not shrewd enough to practice virtue,
not wise enough to change course
and leave his self-serving ways behind.
Granted, it's not easy to do.
Whether it's a good habit or a bad habit,
the longer we've had the habit
the harder it is to change.
______________________________________
In the routine of everyday life, that daily grind,
it's rare that we take time to think about the long term.
So we end up making shortsighted choices.
Like the high school secretary who forgot her purse
and used the petty cash box to pay for her lunch.
Or the factory worker joining in the laughter at a racist or sexist joke.
Or the student postponing an assignment
until the night before it's due.
We suffer the consequences of our shortsightedness,
but it's what we do afterward that forms our character.
We can choose to keep doing the same thing,
or we can resolve to change the habit.
______________________________________
Being a follower of the Way of Jesus,
we are called to live so that our daily choices
form patterns of virtue
that end up in our living a holier life.
Karl Rahner calls it a “fundamental option.”
When we choose evil, and choose it over and over,
we form habits that frame our “fundamental option”
away from God.
When we choose good, and choose it over and over,
we form habits that frame our “fundamental option”
towards God.
______________________________________
So what happens next with that school secretary?
She has a choice:
she can rationalize that she's underpaid
and deserves a free lunch and keep on taking from petty cash
—an option away from God;
or she can repay the petty cash the next day
and just go without lunch if she forgets her purse again
—an option toward God.
Same goes for that factory worker,
who can tell his friends an even more hateful joke
or let them know he doesn't think it's funny.
And that student, who can plagiarize the assignment
or choose to practice the self-discipline
needed to finish future assignments on time.
______________________________________
The untrustworthy steward in today's reading
found himself so trapped in his vice
that he couldn't come up with another kind of option.
He applied his wit and energy to a fundamental option toward evil,
serving himself.
______________________________________
So here we are, two millennia after Jesus,
living in a society that worships money
and routinely spews a rhetoric of hatred.
Pope Francis puts it in strong words:
the “unfettered pursuit of money”
leaves behind the service of the common good
and brings “pain, death, and destruction,”
“the stench of the dung of the devil.”
We are called to rise above the stench.
The path requires that we keep ourselves
turned toward the One God of all,
not the money god of our culture,
not the god of war and hate.
When we find ourselves wandering off the path of virtue,
we remind ourselves that new habits
are formed the same way the old ones were,
one choice at a time.
That's how we end up following the commandment that matters:
love God, love our neighbor.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 24 OTC, September 11, 2016
First Reading: Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
Second Reading: 1Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
Every single individual is important to God!
Even me, says Paul in the first letter to Timothy,
even the stiff-necked people of Exodus…
even us.
Everybody and everything, Jesus tells us in those three parables.
The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sons.
They are lost because they are doing what is in their nature to do.
The sheep strays.
Among other things, that's what sheep do.
The coin drops, maybe out of a hole in the householder's pocket.
That's what coins do.
The younger son asserts his independence.
The older son is self-centered.
That's what young people do.
And they end up lost.
That's something that can happen to anyone.
______________________________________
We've all been lost.
Jesus doesn't tell these parables to tell us we're lost.
He tells them because of what God does when we get lost.
God is tireless in the search
and joyful in the finding,
like the shepherd going after the sheep.
God is persistent,
like the woman looking for the coin.
God is loving,
like the parent waiting to welcome the son back.
These are not parables about sinners and their sin.
They are parables that tell us that God greets everyone with joy,
no matter where they've been
or what they've done.
God is a God of endless generosity, endless love.
______________________________________
As children of God, we are made in God's image,
born to reflect God's radical actions,
and total commitment,
and complete service.
God is with us.
And so we must be with the one who is lost.
The one in need right now
is the one we must tend.
The one who needs forgiveness right now
is the one we must forgive.
The one who is lost right now
is the one we must find.
______________________________________
Sometimes it seems that we wait around
for "big" things to do for God.
We want to imitate
the Mother Teresas and the Martin de Porreses of the world.
We want to minister in meaningful, significant ways.
We want to spend our life-times
in great deeds of service to humanity.
It's easy to ignore the little things
that make up the fabric of our lives,
the little obediences and services that add up to a holy life.
Jesus reminds us that it is in the single moments of decision
that we show who we are.
It is in our willingness
to seek out the one of a hundred who is straying.
It is in our effort
in searching for the one in ten who is lost.
It is in our open-armed welcoming
of the one who has wronged us and seeks reconciliation.
______________________________________
Looking at the signs of our times,
we have to ask ourselves
what we have done in the 15 years since the 9/11 attacks.
Have we done anything to stop the hate and dysfunction--
and the hurt--
at the root of that tragedy?
Have we looked for the lost among us
and ministered to them?
______________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit, we don't just do “random” acts of kindness.
We don't wait for a natural or human-made disaster to take action.
We make a habit of practicing deliberate acts of compassion,
every day.
Some of us have family situations that call us to seek the lost--
relatives with health problems,
children making a wrong turn,
bereaved neighbors,
friends in despair.
We pray for them, of course.
But we also reach out to help.
______________________________________
As our City of Toledo continues
to welcome more Syrian refugees than any other Ohio city,
members of Holy Spirit have worked with UStogether
to help them settle in,
spending time and donating food and household goods.
At our last Community meeting,
we decided to send welcoming cards to the new Toledoans,
and Carol Falquette has them ready
for you to sign after Mass today.
______________________________________
As a community we've contributed in lots of ways
to reach out to the lost among us--
the Compassion newsletter
written by Ohio's death row prisoners,
the 1Matters efforts for the homeless,
the Padua Center's projects for at-risk kids,
the Claver House food ministry to the central city,
and—of course—our Tree Toledo project
to get people to plant trees and shrubs
to help repair our damaged home planet.
And there's more to come!
Starting today through September 21,
the UN's International Day of Peace,
Holy Spirit will be taking part
in the annual Global Unity Games “coopetition”
with teams around the world.
It's called “survival of the kindest.”
Come January 12, when the State of Ohio
will execute Ronald Phillips in our name,
we'll be standing on the corner at the Courthouse
with Ohioans to Stop Executions.
The list goes on and on.
______________________________________
We don't all do everything,
but each of us makes a habit
of reflecting God's embrace to the world.
We are the People of God.
That's what we do.
Amen.
First Reading: Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
Second Reading: 1Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
Every single individual is important to God!
Even me, says Paul in the first letter to Timothy,
even the stiff-necked people of Exodus…
even us.
Everybody and everything, Jesus tells us in those three parables.
The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sons.
They are lost because they are doing what is in their nature to do.
The sheep strays.
Among other things, that's what sheep do.
The coin drops, maybe out of a hole in the householder's pocket.
That's what coins do.
The younger son asserts his independence.
The older son is self-centered.
That's what young people do.
And they end up lost.
That's something that can happen to anyone.
______________________________________
We've all been lost.
Jesus doesn't tell these parables to tell us we're lost.
He tells them because of what God does when we get lost.
God is tireless in the search
and joyful in the finding,
like the shepherd going after the sheep.
God is persistent,
like the woman looking for the coin.
God is loving,
like the parent waiting to welcome the son back.
These are not parables about sinners and their sin.
They are parables that tell us that God greets everyone with joy,
no matter where they've been
or what they've done.
God is a God of endless generosity, endless love.
______________________________________
As children of God, we are made in God's image,
born to reflect God's radical actions,
and total commitment,
and complete service.
God is with us.
And so we must be with the one who is lost.
The one in need right now
is the one we must tend.
The one who needs forgiveness right now
is the one we must forgive.
The one who is lost right now
is the one we must find.
______________________________________
Sometimes it seems that we wait around
for "big" things to do for God.
We want to imitate
the Mother Teresas and the Martin de Porreses of the world.
We want to minister in meaningful, significant ways.
We want to spend our life-times
in great deeds of service to humanity.
It's easy to ignore the little things
that make up the fabric of our lives,
the little obediences and services that add up to a holy life.
Jesus reminds us that it is in the single moments of decision
that we show who we are.
It is in our willingness
to seek out the one of a hundred who is straying.
It is in our effort
in searching for the one in ten who is lost.
It is in our open-armed welcoming
of the one who has wronged us and seeks reconciliation.
______________________________________
Looking at the signs of our times,
we have to ask ourselves
what we have done in the 15 years since the 9/11 attacks.
Have we done anything to stop the hate and dysfunction--
and the hurt--
at the root of that tragedy?
Have we looked for the lost among us
and ministered to them?
______________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit, we don't just do “random” acts of kindness.
We don't wait for a natural or human-made disaster to take action.
We make a habit of practicing deliberate acts of compassion,
every day.
Some of us have family situations that call us to seek the lost--
relatives with health problems,
children making a wrong turn,
bereaved neighbors,
friends in despair.
We pray for them, of course.
But we also reach out to help.
______________________________________
As our City of Toledo continues
to welcome more Syrian refugees than any other Ohio city,
members of Holy Spirit have worked with UStogether
to help them settle in,
spending time and donating food and household goods.
At our last Community meeting,
we decided to send welcoming cards to the new Toledoans,
and Carol Falquette has them ready
for you to sign after Mass today.
______________________________________
As a community we've contributed in lots of ways
to reach out to the lost among us--
the Compassion newsletter
written by Ohio's death row prisoners,
the 1Matters efforts for the homeless,
the Padua Center's projects for at-risk kids,
the Claver House food ministry to the central city,
and—of course—our Tree Toledo project
to get people to plant trees and shrubs
to help repair our damaged home planet.
And there's more to come!
Starting today through September 21,
the UN's International Day of Peace,
Holy Spirit will be taking part
in the annual Global Unity Games “coopetition”
with teams around the world.
It's called “survival of the kindest.”
Come January 12, when the State of Ohio
will execute Ronald Phillips in our name,
we'll be standing on the corner at the Courthouse
with Ohioans to Stop Executions.
The list goes on and on.
______________________________________
We don't all do everything,
but each of us makes a habit
of reflecting God's embrace to the world.
We are the People of God.
That's what we do.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 23 OTC, September 4, 2016
First Reading: Wisdom 9:13-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-6, 12-17
Second Reading: Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
Today's gospel is clear:
if we want to be Jesus' disciples,
we have to get rid of whatever stands in the way.
We have to step on the path with our eyes wide open.
__________________________________________
This coming Monday we celebrate Labor Day.
Over and over again,
in the 125 years since Leo XIII
issued his encyclical Rerum Novarum on capital and labor,
Catholic teaching has stood firmly for the rights of workers.
This year we see those rights still threatened,
not only in developing countries but right here in the U.S.
We abolished slavery,
but people today are kidnapped and trafficked into slavery.
African-Americans, Latinos, refugees, immigrants--
all those others who are not “like us”--
suffer the burden of discrimination and prejudice.
We have a minimum wage, but it's not a living wage.
We have workplace standards,
but workers can get fired
when they report that the standards aren't being met.
__________________________________________
Our second reading reminds us that these issues are not new.
It's the year 62 AD.
Prisoners of war are enslaved.
Their children are born into slavery.
They do hard labor for the wealthy of the Roman Empire.
Paul, in prison in Rome, writes to his good friend Philemon,
head of the church in Colossae.
Paul is sending Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus back to him.
A slave running away was a capital crime,
just as it was in our country
before the Emancipation Proclamation.
But Paul pleads with Philemon for a different understanding
because Onesimus is now a follower of Christ,
and in Christ there is no slave.
As Fr. Daniel Harrington writes,
Paul's request to take Onesimus back as a brother in Christ
and therefore as equal to Philemon
“would have been very difficult
and even offensive
to a slave owner.”
Paul, in practicing his Christianity,
is risking his friendship with Philemon.
Onesimus, in practicing his Christianity,
is risking his life.
__________________________________________
We have plenty to think about this Labor Day,
first and foremost the fact
that our own country was built on the backs of slaves,
and that we who are white still reap the benefits
of the ongoing racism in our country and in the church.
__________________________________________
Even though Labor Day
is the traditional beginning of the political campaign season,
campaign 2016 has been going on for well over a year,
and it's brought a flood of vicious, hateful speech
not only from candidates
but also from officeholders, the media, and ordinary people.
Because we try to follow the Way of Jesus,
the campaign shows us the kind of choice
that Jesus talks about in today's gospel.
When we bake cookies to welcome
the new African American family into the neighborhood
and invite them to the next block party,
we risk flak from the family,
disapproval and arguments and ultimatums.
Will we speak up when our best friend tells us a racist joke?
If we tell the boss that
we find those racist remarks about our co-worker offensive,
we risk losing a promotion, or being demoted, or getting fired.
Will we join a march calling for an end to racist policies in our town?
We risk arrest, even violence.
__________________________________________
Last week you may have seen the news
about an incident in a Florida Middle School.
Along with the Florida State football team
visiting the school Tuesday
was junior wide receiver Travis Rudolph,
a 20-year-old African American,
graduate of Cardinal Newman High School.
When he walked into the cafeteria with his teammates,
he saw a boy alone,
all the other students sitting far away from him,
and Travis thought about what it was like
to be bullied and alone.
Travis didn't know that Bo Peske has autism
and usually eats alone in the crowded cafeteria.
Travis walked over and asked if he could sit with him.
They ate lunch and talked.
Someone took a picture and sent it to Bo's mom,
who posted thanks to Travis on Facebook.
As the saying goes, it “went viral”
and ended up on the national news.
The next day the other students
were scrambling to sit with Bo at lunch.
Later, when Travis saw the news reports
about Bo's autism and how much his eating lunch with him
had meant to Bo and his mother,
he sent Bo his cell number so he can call him any time.
What prompted this young black man
to notice this red-headed white kid sitting alone
and eat lunch with him?
What sensitivity to the pain of others?
What love for others?
Is Travis Rudolph a Christian?
Don't know.
Whatever his religion,
he sure knows the Golden Rule... and acts on it.
__________________________________________
When Jesus says that we have to give up everything to follow him,
he is telling us that we are called--
as our favorite hymn puts it--
to act with justice, to love tenderly,
to walk humbly with our God.
__________________________________________
It is possible for someone
to be a camp-follower of Christ without being a disciple,
to be a hanger-on in Christianity,
a talker rather than a doer.
We can follow at a safe distance
and never actually do what Jesus called us to do.
But I don't see that here at Holy Spirit.
I see doers.
I see people who live the gospel in every part of their lives.
You do your best to live in peace.
You work for justice.
You welcome the stranger.
You embrace the outcast.
You love one another.
__________________________________________
Our Christian discipleship is a serious calling,
with serious risks.
Yet we are confident that the Holy Spirit will,
as the book of Wisdom tells us,
set us on the right path
and support us on the Way.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Wisdom 9:13-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-6, 12-17
Second Reading: Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
Today's gospel is clear:
if we want to be Jesus' disciples,
we have to get rid of whatever stands in the way.
We have to step on the path with our eyes wide open.
__________________________________________
This coming Monday we celebrate Labor Day.
Over and over again,
in the 125 years since Leo XIII
issued his encyclical Rerum Novarum on capital and labor,
Catholic teaching has stood firmly for the rights of workers.
This year we see those rights still threatened,
not only in developing countries but right here in the U.S.
We abolished slavery,
but people today are kidnapped and trafficked into slavery.
African-Americans, Latinos, refugees, immigrants--
all those others who are not “like us”--
suffer the burden of discrimination and prejudice.
We have a minimum wage, but it's not a living wage.
We have workplace standards,
but workers can get fired
when they report that the standards aren't being met.
__________________________________________
Our second reading reminds us that these issues are not new.
It's the year 62 AD.
Prisoners of war are enslaved.
Their children are born into slavery.
They do hard labor for the wealthy of the Roman Empire.
Paul, in prison in Rome, writes to his good friend Philemon,
head of the church in Colossae.
Paul is sending Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus back to him.
A slave running away was a capital crime,
just as it was in our country
before the Emancipation Proclamation.
But Paul pleads with Philemon for a different understanding
because Onesimus is now a follower of Christ,
and in Christ there is no slave.
As Fr. Daniel Harrington writes,
Paul's request to take Onesimus back as a brother in Christ
and therefore as equal to Philemon
“would have been very difficult
and even offensive
to a slave owner.”
Paul, in practicing his Christianity,
is risking his friendship with Philemon.
Onesimus, in practicing his Christianity,
is risking his life.
__________________________________________
We have plenty to think about this Labor Day,
first and foremost the fact
that our own country was built on the backs of slaves,
and that we who are white still reap the benefits
of the ongoing racism in our country and in the church.
__________________________________________
Even though Labor Day
is the traditional beginning of the political campaign season,
campaign 2016 has been going on for well over a year,
and it's brought a flood of vicious, hateful speech
not only from candidates
but also from officeholders, the media, and ordinary people.
Because we try to follow the Way of Jesus,
the campaign shows us the kind of choice
that Jesus talks about in today's gospel.
When we bake cookies to welcome
the new African American family into the neighborhood
and invite them to the next block party,
we risk flak from the family,
disapproval and arguments and ultimatums.
Will we speak up when our best friend tells us a racist joke?
If we tell the boss that
we find those racist remarks about our co-worker offensive,
we risk losing a promotion, or being demoted, or getting fired.
Will we join a march calling for an end to racist policies in our town?
We risk arrest, even violence.
__________________________________________
Last week you may have seen the news
about an incident in a Florida Middle School.
Along with the Florida State football team
visiting the school Tuesday
was junior wide receiver Travis Rudolph,
a 20-year-old African American,
graduate of Cardinal Newman High School.
When he walked into the cafeteria with his teammates,
he saw a boy alone,
all the other students sitting far away from him,
and Travis thought about what it was like
to be bullied and alone.
Travis didn't know that Bo Peske has autism
and usually eats alone in the crowded cafeteria.
Travis walked over and asked if he could sit with him.
They ate lunch and talked.
Someone took a picture and sent it to Bo's mom,
who posted thanks to Travis on Facebook.
As the saying goes, it “went viral”
and ended up on the national news.
The next day the other students
were scrambling to sit with Bo at lunch.
Later, when Travis saw the news reports
about Bo's autism and how much his eating lunch with him
had meant to Bo and his mother,
he sent Bo his cell number so he can call him any time.
What prompted this young black man
to notice this red-headed white kid sitting alone
and eat lunch with him?
What sensitivity to the pain of others?
What love for others?
Is Travis Rudolph a Christian?
Don't know.
Whatever his religion,
he sure knows the Golden Rule... and acts on it.
__________________________________________
When Jesus says that we have to give up everything to follow him,
he is telling us that we are called--
as our favorite hymn puts it--
to act with justice, to love tenderly,
to walk humbly with our God.
__________________________________________
It is possible for someone
to be a camp-follower of Christ without being a disciple,
to be a hanger-on in Christianity,
a talker rather than a doer.
We can follow at a safe distance
and never actually do what Jesus called us to do.
But I don't see that here at Holy Spirit.
I see doers.
I see people who live the gospel in every part of their lives.
You do your best to live in peace.
You work for justice.
You welcome the stranger.
You embrace the outcast.
You love one another.
__________________________________________
Our Christian discipleship is a serious calling,
with serious risks.
Yet we are confident that the Holy Spirit will,
as the book of Wisdom tells us,
set us on the right path
and support us on the Way.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 22 OTC, August 28, 2016
First Reading: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24A
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Back in the '70s when I was just getting into politics,
the Governor was having a news conference,
and the press secretary, Bob Tenenbaum,
looked around and said “TMBS,”
and several of the department employees left the room.
Later I asked Bob what was going on.
“TMBS. Too many blue shirts,” he told me.
Too many people who showed up in blue shirts
so they'd look good on camera standing around the Governor.
_______________________________________________
Some things haven't changed in the millennia
since Jesus saw those party-goers scrambling around,
jockeying for the best places at the table.
They didn't come to the dinner
out of respect and friendship for their host.
No.
They came to be seen,
to be acknowledged as more important than the others.
So Jesus cites a common proverb to them,
“...all who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
_______________________________________________
St. Augustine defines pride as “the love of one's own excellence.”
It's thinking that I am so much better than everyone else
that I'm entitled to the best seat in the house,
to be served first,
to be listened to and obeyed.
The sin of pride is loving myself
more than I love anyone else.
_______________________________________________
We know there's a different kind of pride that is a virtue,
not a sin.
That's the kind of pride that comes from doing a good job
or doing a good deed.
Or from cherishing family history
or ethnic background
or home town.
_______________________________________________
Like pride, humility can be both virtue and vice.
The word itself comes from the word for earth, humus.
Humble people are grounded.
They understand who and what they are
in relationship to God, and people, and all of creation.
They're real.
They don't pretend to be anything else.
But sometimes we see humility show up as a vice--
like when a person's intrinsic self-worth
gets trampled in the dust.
So pride is a vice when I don't love others,
and humility is a vice when I don't love myself.
_______________________________________________
This past week I've been in three different groups
that had lengthy conversations
about the evil kind of pride known as white privilege.
We who are considered white in this country
are born into privileges that other people don't experience.
We grow up with it and don't even notice.
I can go shopping alone
and be assured I won't be followed or harassed.
I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the person in charge,
I will be facing a person of my own race.
I can go to a job interview
and expect to be evaluated on my abilities and experience.
I can go to check out an apartment in a suburb
and be sure the realtor, after meeting me in person,
will still have a place to show me.
_______________________________________________
Fr. Bryan Massingale points out that our U.S. Bishops
revealed the subtle way white privilege
shapes our thought patterns in this country
when they titled their 1979 document on racism
Brothers and Sisters to Us.
Who is this “us,” Massingale asks.
It's the privileged white hierarchy looking at black people.
Why not Brothers and Sisters to Each Other?
White privilege is an evil kind of pride,
one of the sad signs of our times in this country.
_______________________________________________
Fortunately, we also can find signs of the holy kind of humility.
When, in the '90s, I started working in a parish,
I was blessed to land with a Vatican II pastor
who worked hard at being a servant leader.
He's retired now, but I still see him every Wednesday
down at Claver House—he's the toast guy.
Sometimes a guest will scowl at him.
Say crude things.
Complain about the toast being too light or too dark
or the wrong kind of bread
or not enough butter or too much butter.
He just smiles and apologizes and makes another batch.
Then he takes it across the room and holds it out
and asks if this batch looks okay.
And when breakfast is over, I see him--
this Catholic priest in a T-shirt,
the one who studied in Rome and whose brother was bishop--
I see him pull the sweeper out of the closet
and vacuum the floor.
He was a servant leader when he was a pastor, and he still is.
He's a humble man.
_______________________________________________
A while back in a discussion about servant leadership in the parish,
someone asked,
“How can you tell if you have the attitude of a servant?”
The answer: “'By the way you react when you're treated like one."
_______________________________________________
That's real humility--
understanding that God is in every person
and treating them with respect and reverence.
Or, as Jesus put it, love God with your whole being,
and love your neighbor as yourself.
Amen.
First Reading: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24A
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Back in the '70s when I was just getting into politics,
the Governor was having a news conference,
and the press secretary, Bob Tenenbaum,
looked around and said “TMBS,”
and several of the department employees left the room.
Later I asked Bob what was going on.
“TMBS. Too many blue shirts,” he told me.
Too many people who showed up in blue shirts
so they'd look good on camera standing around the Governor.
_______________________________________________
Some things haven't changed in the millennia
since Jesus saw those party-goers scrambling around,
jockeying for the best places at the table.
They didn't come to the dinner
out of respect and friendship for their host.
No.
They came to be seen,
to be acknowledged as more important than the others.
So Jesus cites a common proverb to them,
“...all who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
_______________________________________________
St. Augustine defines pride as “the love of one's own excellence.”
It's thinking that I am so much better than everyone else
that I'm entitled to the best seat in the house,
to be served first,
to be listened to and obeyed.
The sin of pride is loving myself
more than I love anyone else.
_______________________________________________
We know there's a different kind of pride that is a virtue,
not a sin.
That's the kind of pride that comes from doing a good job
or doing a good deed.
Or from cherishing family history
or ethnic background
or home town.
_______________________________________________
Like pride, humility can be both virtue and vice.
The word itself comes from the word for earth, humus.
Humble people are grounded.
They understand who and what they are
in relationship to God, and people, and all of creation.
They're real.
They don't pretend to be anything else.
But sometimes we see humility show up as a vice--
like when a person's intrinsic self-worth
gets trampled in the dust.
So pride is a vice when I don't love others,
and humility is a vice when I don't love myself.
_______________________________________________
This past week I've been in three different groups
that had lengthy conversations
about the evil kind of pride known as white privilege.
We who are considered white in this country
are born into privileges that other people don't experience.
We grow up with it and don't even notice.
I can go shopping alone
and be assured I won't be followed or harassed.
I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the person in charge,
I will be facing a person of my own race.
I can go to a job interview
and expect to be evaluated on my abilities and experience.
I can go to check out an apartment in a suburb
and be sure the realtor, after meeting me in person,
will still have a place to show me.
_______________________________________________
Fr. Bryan Massingale points out that our U.S. Bishops
revealed the subtle way white privilege
shapes our thought patterns in this country
when they titled their 1979 document on racism
Brothers and Sisters to Us.
Who is this “us,” Massingale asks.
It's the privileged white hierarchy looking at black people.
Why not Brothers and Sisters to Each Other?
White privilege is an evil kind of pride,
one of the sad signs of our times in this country.
_______________________________________________
Fortunately, we also can find signs of the holy kind of humility.
When, in the '90s, I started working in a parish,
I was blessed to land with a Vatican II pastor
who worked hard at being a servant leader.
He's retired now, but I still see him every Wednesday
down at Claver House—he's the toast guy.
Sometimes a guest will scowl at him.
Say crude things.
Complain about the toast being too light or too dark
or the wrong kind of bread
or not enough butter or too much butter.
He just smiles and apologizes and makes another batch.
Then he takes it across the room and holds it out
and asks if this batch looks okay.
And when breakfast is over, I see him--
this Catholic priest in a T-shirt,
the one who studied in Rome and whose brother was bishop--
I see him pull the sweeper out of the closet
and vacuum the floor.
He was a servant leader when he was a pastor, and he still is.
He's a humble man.
_______________________________________________
A while back in a discussion about servant leadership in the parish,
someone asked,
“How can you tell if you have the attitude of a servant?”
The answer: “'By the way you react when you're treated like one."
_______________________________________________
That's real humility--
understanding that God is in every person
and treating them with respect and reverence.
Or, as Jesus put it, love God with your whole being,
and love your neighbor as yourself.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 21 OTC, August 21, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 66:18-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117:1-2
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13
Gospel: Luke 13:22-30
Four weeks ago we heard about God as our friend--
Luke's parable about the neighbor
pounding on the door to borrow a loaf a bread,
and the door being opened,
even though it was the middle of the night.
Today we hear a different story,
one where it's not so easy to get in
and take a place at the feast in the kin-dom of God.
This time there's a gate, and it's a narrow one.
Lots of people will try to get in, but they'll be turned away.
But other people will get in.
They'll come from the four corners of the earth,
like in that first reading from Isaiah,
nations of every language.
They will be the very people
thought to be the last ones to make it--
not the rich and the famous
but the powerless and marginalized.
Those “others” are the ones who will get in.
_________________________________________
Jesus' explanation is simple.
Sure, people listened to him, but that's all they did.
They didn't take his teaching to heart.
They didn't change their lives.
So, even though they ate and drank with him
and hung around to hear the message,
they didn't do anything else.
They didn't put Jesus' message into practice.
_________________________________________
When I was growing up back in the 50s,
it was common to hear
that “outside the church there is no salvation.”
I remember my 5th grade classmate Judy.
Sister told us that we couldn't talk with Judy except at school.
We couldn't go to Judy's house after school.
When I asked my mom about it,
she told me that Judy's mom was divorced and remarried
and that put her “outside the church.”
So, except in class, we couldn't have anything to do with Judy.
So we didn't.
Then, when I was in 7th grade, my maternal grandparents,
pushing 60 and pretty much unchurched,
decided to be baptized at Grace Lutheran.
My mom wanted us to go.
The priest said no.
We stayed home.
_________________________________________
Too often we Catholics were like those people
that Jesus called “evildoers” in today's Gospel.
We knew the rules, and we followed them.
We jumped through the hoops.
We thought our baptism would get us through that narrow gate.
We said prayers with plenary indulgences attached,
just so we could get a free pass into heaven.
It was all about saving ourselves.
People who didn't follow the rules would just have to go to hell,
and it would be their fault.
_________________________________________
Three years ago, when we had the same readings we heard today,
Pope Francis told us that
to get through that narrow door
we have to aim our whole life at following the Way of Jesus.
That means living and witnessing
in prayer, in works of charity, in promoting justice,
in doing good for others, especially the poor and the outsider.
It's a lot more than just jumping through those hoops.
_________________________________________
It's not enough to get baptized and be labeled a Christian.
It's not enough to share a meal with Jesus.
It's not enough to just listen to what he says.
It is necessary to get to know God by following Jesus' Way.
As Elizabeth Johnson put it,
we have to become a friend of God and prophets,
and do it now.
The banquet is ready.
_________________________________________
Every day is full of chances to walk through that narrow gate
to feast in the reign of God.
We do it in company with the Syrian refugees
we help to settle here.
We do it walking side by side with our African American friends.
We do it standing on street corners with our peace signs,
handing out those tiny tree seedlings,
voting our conscience for the common good.
We do it in the love we show our family and friends and neighbors...
and enemies.
We pass through that narrow gate
by the way we live our lives.
Amen.
First Reading: Isaiah 66:18-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117:1-2
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13
Gospel: Luke 13:22-30
Four weeks ago we heard about God as our friend--
Luke's parable about the neighbor
pounding on the door to borrow a loaf a bread,
and the door being opened,
even though it was the middle of the night.
Today we hear a different story,
one where it's not so easy to get in
and take a place at the feast in the kin-dom of God.
This time there's a gate, and it's a narrow one.
Lots of people will try to get in, but they'll be turned away.
But other people will get in.
They'll come from the four corners of the earth,
like in that first reading from Isaiah,
nations of every language.
They will be the very people
thought to be the last ones to make it--
not the rich and the famous
but the powerless and marginalized.
Those “others” are the ones who will get in.
_________________________________________
Jesus' explanation is simple.
Sure, people listened to him, but that's all they did.
They didn't take his teaching to heart.
They didn't change their lives.
So, even though they ate and drank with him
and hung around to hear the message,
they didn't do anything else.
They didn't put Jesus' message into practice.
_________________________________________
When I was growing up back in the 50s,
it was common to hear
that “outside the church there is no salvation.”
I remember my 5th grade classmate Judy.
Sister told us that we couldn't talk with Judy except at school.
We couldn't go to Judy's house after school.
When I asked my mom about it,
she told me that Judy's mom was divorced and remarried
and that put her “outside the church.”
So, except in class, we couldn't have anything to do with Judy.
So we didn't.
Then, when I was in 7th grade, my maternal grandparents,
pushing 60 and pretty much unchurched,
decided to be baptized at Grace Lutheran.
My mom wanted us to go.
The priest said no.
We stayed home.
_________________________________________
Too often we Catholics were like those people
that Jesus called “evildoers” in today's Gospel.
We knew the rules, and we followed them.
We jumped through the hoops.
We thought our baptism would get us through that narrow gate.
We said prayers with plenary indulgences attached,
just so we could get a free pass into heaven.
It was all about saving ourselves.
People who didn't follow the rules would just have to go to hell,
and it would be their fault.
_________________________________________
Three years ago, when we had the same readings we heard today,
Pope Francis told us that
to get through that narrow door
we have to aim our whole life at following the Way of Jesus.
That means living and witnessing
in prayer, in works of charity, in promoting justice,
in doing good for others, especially the poor and the outsider.
It's a lot more than just jumping through those hoops.
_________________________________________
It's not enough to get baptized and be labeled a Christian.
It's not enough to share a meal with Jesus.
It's not enough to just listen to what he says.
It is necessary to get to know God by following Jesus' Way.
As Elizabeth Johnson put it,
we have to become a friend of God and prophets,
and do it now.
The banquet is ready.
_________________________________________
Every day is full of chances to walk through that narrow gate
to feast in the reign of God.
We do it in company with the Syrian refugees
we help to settle here.
We do it walking side by side with our African American friends.
We do it standing on street corners with our peace signs,
handing out those tiny tree seedlings,
voting our conscience for the common good.
We do it in the love we show our family and friends and neighbors...
and enemies.
We pass through that narrow gate
by the way we live our lives.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 20 OTC, August 14, 2016
First Reading: Jeremiah 38:4-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2-4, 18
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:1-4
Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Don't make waves.
Mark's gospel—the earliest canonical gospel--
reports that Jesus' relatives set out to seize him,
believing him to be out of his mind.
He had been walking around Galilee,
teaching and healing,
calling people to live under God's rule and love one another.
Don't be a troublemaker, they tell him.
_____________________________________________
But he keeps on,
preaching truth and justice with fiery passion.
Scholars tell us that today's gospel reading
preserves “an echo of Jesus' voice,”
a glimpse into his soul.
They say that Jesus really talked about setting the earth on fire--
setting it on fire with the passion of justice.
They believe he really said that conflict is inevitable
whenever people act on their passion for justice.
_____________________________________________
Don't get carried away, his family tells him.
Don't go off the deep end.
But Jesus is on fire for justice.
He preaches the reign of God,
the reign of justice that brings peace.
He chastises the folks who want him to be quiet.
In the passage that immediately follows what we heard today,
Jesus calls them “hypocrites,” telling them
that they know how to tell what kind of weather is coming
but do not know how to interpret the signs of the present time.
_____________________________________________
Thanks to television, we know what's going on in our world.
Sometimes we see it live, just as it happens.
The signs of our times are clear.
The question for us is whether we know how to interpret them.
How, for example, do we interpret
the ongoing signs of racism in our country?
On the evening news we see demonstrators
carrying signs that say “Black Lives Matter,”
and then the white folks missing the point of what's happening,
holding up their signs that say “All Lives Matter.”
Of course all lives matter,
but the point is that some lives—the black ones--
routinely suffer demeaning and degrading situations
and live under the daily threat of violent consequences
that are not faced by the white lives.
_____________________________________________
Where is God in all this conflict?
God stands with the one who is excluded.
God lives in the one being ridiculed.
God dies in the unarmed teen shot to death by police.
If we don't stand with the victims of racism in our country,
we're not standing with God.
As Christians we have to recognize Jesus of Nazareth
in the death of every innocent
who is surrounded by a halo of hate.
_____________________________________________
Another sign of our times, the Olympics!
Before the games started, Pope Francis sent a letter
to the members of a team that represents 60 million people--
the Olympic Refugee Team,
made up of people
who have escaped the violence of their war-torn homelands.
The Pope wished them success
and hoped that their courage and strength
would “serve as a cry for peace and solidarity."
These refugees are a sad sign of our times,
so many people living in camps
without clean water, without enough food,
without health care, without a home to go to,
without a way out.
_____________________________________________
Seventy percent of the Syrian refugees coming to Ohio
have settled in Toledo.
We stand out as a welcoming community
during a time when refugees have become
a contentious political issue.
Nationally we hear talk of building walls,
deporting people without documents,
banning Muslims.
But here in Toledo, we welcome them.
We at Holy Spirit Catholic Community,
thanks to Laurie Snyder and UStogether,
have been privileged
to be part of extending a welcoming hand,
and we intend to keep on helping.
_____________________________________________
Sure, we've met with some criticism.
We've been told it's okay to pray for refugees,
but don't bring “those people” here to live next door.
We believe, as Catholic Christians,
that we are responsible
for watching and listening and taking action for justice.
We know what happens when good people fail to do good things.
Concentration camps.
Slavery.
Jim Crow.
We look to Jesus, unafraid to speak out,
no matter the consequences.
_____________________________________________
We don't set out to make waves.
We set out to make our world right and just.
If our way of living the Gospel
would never spark a fire or risk a division,
never cause a ripple of conflict, or debate, or argument,
then wouldn't we be practicing an inoffensive Christianity?
Cheap grace, not costly.
Gospel lite, not the Gospel of Light.
_____________________________________________
So we make that phone call
when we see child abuse or domestic violence next door.
We blow the whistle at work,
even if it means we'll lose our job.
We speak out when we hear racist jokes,
even though some of our own family will call us names.
We act with justice,
and that can bring conflict and division.
More than that, it brings us the peace of Christ.
First Reading: Jeremiah 38:4-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2-4, 18
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:1-4
Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Don't make waves.
Mark's gospel—the earliest canonical gospel--
reports that Jesus' relatives set out to seize him,
believing him to be out of his mind.
He had been walking around Galilee,
teaching and healing,
calling people to live under God's rule and love one another.
Don't be a troublemaker, they tell him.
_____________________________________________
But he keeps on,
preaching truth and justice with fiery passion.
Scholars tell us that today's gospel reading
preserves “an echo of Jesus' voice,”
a glimpse into his soul.
They say that Jesus really talked about setting the earth on fire--
setting it on fire with the passion of justice.
They believe he really said that conflict is inevitable
whenever people act on their passion for justice.
_____________________________________________
Don't get carried away, his family tells him.
Don't go off the deep end.
But Jesus is on fire for justice.
He preaches the reign of God,
the reign of justice that brings peace.
He chastises the folks who want him to be quiet.
In the passage that immediately follows what we heard today,
Jesus calls them “hypocrites,” telling them
that they know how to tell what kind of weather is coming
but do not know how to interpret the signs of the present time.
_____________________________________________
Thanks to television, we know what's going on in our world.
Sometimes we see it live, just as it happens.
The signs of our times are clear.
The question for us is whether we know how to interpret them.
How, for example, do we interpret
the ongoing signs of racism in our country?
On the evening news we see demonstrators
carrying signs that say “Black Lives Matter,”
and then the white folks missing the point of what's happening,
holding up their signs that say “All Lives Matter.”
Of course all lives matter,
but the point is that some lives—the black ones--
routinely suffer demeaning and degrading situations
and live under the daily threat of violent consequences
that are not faced by the white lives.
_____________________________________________
Where is God in all this conflict?
God stands with the one who is excluded.
God lives in the one being ridiculed.
God dies in the unarmed teen shot to death by police.
If we don't stand with the victims of racism in our country,
we're not standing with God.
As Christians we have to recognize Jesus of Nazareth
in the death of every innocent
who is surrounded by a halo of hate.
_____________________________________________
Another sign of our times, the Olympics!
Before the games started, Pope Francis sent a letter
to the members of a team that represents 60 million people--
the Olympic Refugee Team,
made up of people
who have escaped the violence of their war-torn homelands.
The Pope wished them success
and hoped that their courage and strength
would “serve as a cry for peace and solidarity."
These refugees are a sad sign of our times,
so many people living in camps
without clean water, without enough food,
without health care, without a home to go to,
without a way out.
_____________________________________________
Seventy percent of the Syrian refugees coming to Ohio
have settled in Toledo.
We stand out as a welcoming community
during a time when refugees have become
a contentious political issue.
Nationally we hear talk of building walls,
deporting people without documents,
banning Muslims.
But here in Toledo, we welcome them.
We at Holy Spirit Catholic Community,
thanks to Laurie Snyder and UStogether,
have been privileged
to be part of extending a welcoming hand,
and we intend to keep on helping.
_____________________________________________
Sure, we've met with some criticism.
We've been told it's okay to pray for refugees,
but don't bring “those people” here to live next door.
We believe, as Catholic Christians,
that we are responsible
for watching and listening and taking action for justice.
We know what happens when good people fail to do good things.
Concentration camps.
Slavery.
Jim Crow.
We look to Jesus, unafraid to speak out,
no matter the consequences.
_____________________________________________
We don't set out to make waves.
We set out to make our world right and just.
If our way of living the Gospel
would never spark a fire or risk a division,
never cause a ripple of conflict, or debate, or argument,
then wouldn't we be practicing an inoffensive Christianity?
Cheap grace, not costly.
Gospel lite, not the Gospel of Light.
_____________________________________________
So we make that phone call
when we see child abuse or domestic violence next door.
We blow the whistle at work,
even if it means we'll lose our job.
We speak out when we hear racist jokes,
even though some of our own family will call us names.
We act with justice,
and that can bring conflict and division.
More than that, it brings us the peace of Christ.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 19 OTC, August 7, 2016
First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1, 12,18-22
Second Reading: Hebrews: 11:1-2, 8-19
Gospel: Luke 12:32-48
I went down to John XXIII for Bible Study this past week,
and the thing that became clear to me
from the participants' comments on today's readings
is that they make a distinction between faith and religion.
For them, faith comes from the experience of God's presence,
and religion
is the way we remember, express, and celebrate
our experience of God.
______________________________________________
That first reading from Wisdom tells about
the Jewish people's experience
of God's presence as death passed over them
and they were freed from slavery in Egypt.
They had experienced God's presence before.
They had seen God's promises fulfilled before.
So they trusted, and they headed out into the desert.
And they still, today, celebrate the Passover,
remembering the experience of God-with-them on the way.
______________________________________________
Then there's the letter to the Hebrews--
not written by Paul, by the way--
that letter remembers
Abraham and Sarah's experience of God's presence.
They didn't know where they were going to end up.
They didn't know they would have offspring.
But they trusted
because they heard the voice of God
promising good to them.
______________________________________________
And in Luke's Gospel
Jesus calls his disciples
to trust that God's reign is open to them.
He tells them to sell their belongings and give to the poor,
that where there treasure is, their heart will be.
He tells them to be alert for God's presence with them,
like servants waiting for a master's return.
And he tells them to trust that God is with them.
______________________________________________
Jesus' disciples were Jewish,
so they are tuned in
to the memories of God being with their ancestors.
But those disciples were young adults
in a culture where people lived--
not to the age of 30 or 35,
which was the average life expectancy
because of the high rate of infant mortality--
but as Psalm 90 tells us,
many lived to the age of 70 if they survived childhood,
to 80 if they were strong.
They questioned the rituals of their religion
just as today's young adults do…
just as those young supporters of Bernie Sanders
question our political system…
just as our generation
found a gap between God and our church
as we grew into our late teens and early 20s.
______________________________________________
Those disciples of Jesus
experienced the presence of God
in Jesus' word and example.
They understood his honest assessment
of hypocrisy in governmental and religious leaders.
Raised up in a tradition that told them
about Abraham and Sarah hearing God's voice
in the three travelers to whom they extended hospitality,
they were open to hearing God's voice
in Jesus of Nazareth.
______________________________________________
Like Abraham and Sarah,
we can't foretell our life path.
We literally don't know where we're going.
______________________________________________
At that John XXIII Bible Study
person after person
talked about the turning points in their lives,
the people through whom, and the events through which,
God spoke to them,
compelling them to make life choices
for love and justice and compassion.
They talked about being raised up in our tradition,
with all its rules and regulations,
then coming to an experience that brought them
to embrace once again the rituals by which
we remember and celebrate our own experience of God
and connect it to the generations of faithful
who have gone before.
______________________________________________
The documents of the second Vatican Council
helped many of our generation
to mend the fraying connection with our faith history.
For today's young people, sadly,
that connection is too often broken,
buried by clerical hypocrisy.
More and more, people are describing themselves
as “spiritual but not religious.”
The Luke who told the story of Jesus
in words that his community understood
has few counterparts in today's hierarchy,
though they do exist in theologians
like Elizabeth Johnson and Ilia Delio
and scripture scholars
like Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Raymond Brown.
Many of us here in Toledo
have experienced the pastoral theology of Fr. Jim Bacik,
telling us the story of Jesus in everyday language
and suggesting ways
that we can listen to the voice of God in our lives.
Over the years he has revived the faith of countless people
by bringing cutting-edge Vatican II theologians to speak here.
Because of him and people like him,
we grew to become spiritual
at the same time that we learned to practice our religion
as an expression of, and celebration of,
our own experience of God in our lives.
______________________________________________
In some ways, it's a sad time in the history of our church,
with its ongoing sex abuse cover-up,
pre-Copernican language in the liturgy,
and misogynistic rules,
but it's also a glorious time, too.
God continues to speak to us,
and we answer.
We hear God's voice telling us
to spend our lives changing the systems that oppress the poor.
We hear God's voice calling us to reduce-reuse-recycle
and to plant those seedlings.
We hear God's voice telling us to work for justice and peace.
We hear God's voice calling us along the way,
and we keep going
because we trust that God is with us.
The reign of God is indeed at hand.
Glory be to God!
First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1, 12,18-22
Second Reading: Hebrews: 11:1-2, 8-19
Gospel: Luke 12:32-48
I went down to John XXIII for Bible Study this past week,
and the thing that became clear to me
from the participants' comments on today's readings
is that they make a distinction between faith and religion.
For them, faith comes from the experience of God's presence,
and religion
is the way we remember, express, and celebrate
our experience of God.
______________________________________________
That first reading from Wisdom tells about
the Jewish people's experience
of God's presence as death passed over them
and they were freed from slavery in Egypt.
They had experienced God's presence before.
They had seen God's promises fulfilled before.
So they trusted, and they headed out into the desert.
And they still, today, celebrate the Passover,
remembering the experience of God-with-them on the way.
______________________________________________
Then there's the letter to the Hebrews--
not written by Paul, by the way--
that letter remembers
Abraham and Sarah's experience of God's presence.
They didn't know where they were going to end up.
They didn't know they would have offspring.
But they trusted
because they heard the voice of God
promising good to them.
______________________________________________
And in Luke's Gospel
Jesus calls his disciples
to trust that God's reign is open to them.
He tells them to sell their belongings and give to the poor,
that where there treasure is, their heart will be.
He tells them to be alert for God's presence with them,
like servants waiting for a master's return.
And he tells them to trust that God is with them.
______________________________________________
Jesus' disciples were Jewish,
so they are tuned in
to the memories of God being with their ancestors.
But those disciples were young adults
in a culture where people lived--
not to the age of 30 or 35,
which was the average life expectancy
because of the high rate of infant mortality--
but as Psalm 90 tells us,
many lived to the age of 70 if they survived childhood,
to 80 if they were strong.
They questioned the rituals of their religion
just as today's young adults do…
just as those young supporters of Bernie Sanders
question our political system…
just as our generation
found a gap between God and our church
as we grew into our late teens and early 20s.
______________________________________________
Those disciples of Jesus
experienced the presence of God
in Jesus' word and example.
They understood his honest assessment
of hypocrisy in governmental and religious leaders.
Raised up in a tradition that told them
about Abraham and Sarah hearing God's voice
in the three travelers to whom they extended hospitality,
they were open to hearing God's voice
in Jesus of Nazareth.
______________________________________________
Like Abraham and Sarah,
we can't foretell our life path.
We literally don't know where we're going.
______________________________________________
At that John XXIII Bible Study
person after person
talked about the turning points in their lives,
the people through whom, and the events through which,
God spoke to them,
compelling them to make life choices
for love and justice and compassion.
They talked about being raised up in our tradition,
with all its rules and regulations,
then coming to an experience that brought them
to embrace once again the rituals by which
we remember and celebrate our own experience of God
and connect it to the generations of faithful
who have gone before.
______________________________________________
The documents of the second Vatican Council
helped many of our generation
to mend the fraying connection with our faith history.
For today's young people, sadly,
that connection is too often broken,
buried by clerical hypocrisy.
More and more, people are describing themselves
as “spiritual but not religious.”
The Luke who told the story of Jesus
in words that his community understood
has few counterparts in today's hierarchy,
though they do exist in theologians
like Elizabeth Johnson and Ilia Delio
and scripture scholars
like Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Raymond Brown.
Many of us here in Toledo
have experienced the pastoral theology of Fr. Jim Bacik,
telling us the story of Jesus in everyday language
and suggesting ways
that we can listen to the voice of God in our lives.
Over the years he has revived the faith of countless people
by bringing cutting-edge Vatican II theologians to speak here.
Because of him and people like him,
we grew to become spiritual
at the same time that we learned to practice our religion
as an expression of, and celebration of,
our own experience of God in our lives.
______________________________________________
In some ways, it's a sad time in the history of our church,
with its ongoing sex abuse cover-up,
pre-Copernican language in the liturgy,
and misogynistic rules,
but it's also a glorious time, too.
God continues to speak to us,
and we answer.
We hear God's voice telling us
to spend our lives changing the systems that oppress the poor.
We hear God's voice calling us to reduce-reuse-recycle
and to plant those seedlings.
We hear God's voice telling us to work for justice and peace.
We hear God's voice calling us along the way,
and we keep going
because we trust that God is with us.
The reign of God is indeed at hand.
Glory be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 18 OTC, July 31, 2016
First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
Yep, it's hot. We feel it. We see it.
Talking about climate change last December, Pope Francis said,
“It is now or never….
Every year the problems are more serious.…
We are on the edge of suicide.”
The earth is heating up, and people around the world are suffering.
Not only was last month the 40th consecutive June
with temperatures above the 20th century average,
it was the hottest June on record, ever.
The media regularly report of people dying from the heat
but have not yet begun to look at the potential for death
due to floods caused by deforestation,
reduction in crop yields from increased heat and drought,
wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes,
collapses of the oceanic food chain from ocean acidification,
or the wars they lead to.
Laudato Si', Pope Francis' encyclical last year,
focused on the environment, “our common home,”
but his message pointed to the root cause
of all this environmental degradation: greed.
______________________________________________
Today's scriptures hold that same message.
Ecclesiastes asks us what profit there is
in all this stuff we gather and hoard,
stuff that brings us grief
to the point that we don't rest from chasing it all day long
and then can't even rest at night.
Our greed is literally killing us.
As Thomas Berry explains it,
we are the first radically anthropocentric society.
We have broken the primary law of the universe...
the law that every member of the universe
should be integral with every other member of the universe.
______________________________________________
Paul's letter to the Colossians rightly labels this greed as idolatry.
Today, it's all about the American Idol.
We bow down to money.
We worship movie stars and athletes.
We stampede to honor the rich and famous,
running roughshod over the poor and hungry.
We fight to get everything we can for ourselves.
Paul's advice is as good for us as it was for the Colossians:
pay attention to the things that are not just more “stuff.”
Remember, he says, that we are all equal,
regardless of our status in this world.
______________________________________________
And Jesus gives us that same message
in the parable of the rich farmer.
All that grasping after money and power,
all that greed
that steals the livelihood of our neighbors around the world,
leads to absolutely nothing of value.
We are never satisfied.
We can never have enough.
It does us no good in the end.
______________________________________________
Jesus also tells us that it doesn't have to be like that.
We can, he says, be rich in what really matters.
I think of Catherine,
the neighbor just north of the home I grew up in.
She and her husband Bill had a small family farm
and a large, close family—literally large and close:
nine children raised in that two-bedroom house.
Bill died in 1967, and Catherine stayed there,
farming with the help of her adult children and neighbors
until she died in 1979.
Her will gave an acre to each of the children
to live on or sell, as they chose.
The remaining land was to be sold and the profits split equally.
But the children feared arguments
over the contents of the house and barn,
which had been left equally to them.
They stewed and they prayed.
Then they started
by having each one write down on a piece of paper
the one thing they wanted most
and put it in a bowl.
Tears of joy and love flowed when they opened the papers
and found that each of them had chosen something
that had a special memory and meaning for them--
all nine of them different.
The family was rich in what mattered—they loved one another.
______________________________________________
Two weeks ago the Nuns on the Bus came through Toledo
on their way to Cleveland and Philadelphia
for the Republican and Democratic Conventions.
They talked the talk of Catholic Social Teaching
and urged everyone they met to walk the walk with them,
to measure every candidate for public office, top to bottom,
by the core principles of our faith.
They compared statements
of the candidates for President and U.S. Senator
on the issues.
They called people to vote their conscience
and put their energy into making their own communities better.
They asked people to look at the candidates
to see if their statements reflect
the vanity of greed
or the love of God.
The Conventions are over now,
and the Nuns are off the bus for a while.
But their questions stay with us.
Do we give up, looking at the depressing conclusion
that can come out of Ecclesiastes,
the conclusion that,
if all is vanity,
then nothing matters.
So who cares?
Why bother?
Eat, drink, and be merry.
______________________________________________
Professor Eleonore Stump of St. Louis University
says that the transitory nature of earthly goods
should be comforting to us,
not distressing.
Those bigger barns—our possessions—may be good,
but, in the long run, getting them—or losing them--
is not of overwhelming importance.
We can do our work without fanfare,
and we can endure our trials with a sense of equanimity,
because none of these things last.
______________________________________________
We know what lasts.
What lasts is love.
We do not love money, the root of all evil.
We love people.
We love God, the God in whose image and likeness we are made.
God loves us.
And we live our lives in that love.
There are billions of us--
suffering, struggling people
who know the love
that sets us free and gives us new life.
Glory be to God!
First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
Yep, it's hot. We feel it. We see it.
Talking about climate change last December, Pope Francis said,
“It is now or never….
Every year the problems are more serious.…
We are on the edge of suicide.”
The earth is heating up, and people around the world are suffering.
Not only was last month the 40th consecutive June
with temperatures above the 20th century average,
it was the hottest June on record, ever.
The media regularly report of people dying from the heat
but have not yet begun to look at the potential for death
due to floods caused by deforestation,
reduction in crop yields from increased heat and drought,
wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes,
collapses of the oceanic food chain from ocean acidification,
or the wars they lead to.
Laudato Si', Pope Francis' encyclical last year,
focused on the environment, “our common home,”
but his message pointed to the root cause
of all this environmental degradation: greed.
______________________________________________
Today's scriptures hold that same message.
Ecclesiastes asks us what profit there is
in all this stuff we gather and hoard,
stuff that brings us grief
to the point that we don't rest from chasing it all day long
and then can't even rest at night.
Our greed is literally killing us.
As Thomas Berry explains it,
we are the first radically anthropocentric society.
We have broken the primary law of the universe...
the law that every member of the universe
should be integral with every other member of the universe.
______________________________________________
Paul's letter to the Colossians rightly labels this greed as idolatry.
Today, it's all about the American Idol.
We bow down to money.
We worship movie stars and athletes.
We stampede to honor the rich and famous,
running roughshod over the poor and hungry.
We fight to get everything we can for ourselves.
Paul's advice is as good for us as it was for the Colossians:
pay attention to the things that are not just more “stuff.”
Remember, he says, that we are all equal,
regardless of our status in this world.
______________________________________________
And Jesus gives us that same message
in the parable of the rich farmer.
All that grasping after money and power,
all that greed
that steals the livelihood of our neighbors around the world,
leads to absolutely nothing of value.
We are never satisfied.
We can never have enough.
It does us no good in the end.
______________________________________________
Jesus also tells us that it doesn't have to be like that.
We can, he says, be rich in what really matters.
I think of Catherine,
the neighbor just north of the home I grew up in.
She and her husband Bill had a small family farm
and a large, close family—literally large and close:
nine children raised in that two-bedroom house.
Bill died in 1967, and Catherine stayed there,
farming with the help of her adult children and neighbors
until she died in 1979.
Her will gave an acre to each of the children
to live on or sell, as they chose.
The remaining land was to be sold and the profits split equally.
But the children feared arguments
over the contents of the house and barn,
which had been left equally to them.
They stewed and they prayed.
Then they started
by having each one write down on a piece of paper
the one thing they wanted most
and put it in a bowl.
Tears of joy and love flowed when they opened the papers
and found that each of them had chosen something
that had a special memory and meaning for them--
all nine of them different.
The family was rich in what mattered—they loved one another.
______________________________________________
Two weeks ago the Nuns on the Bus came through Toledo
on their way to Cleveland and Philadelphia
for the Republican and Democratic Conventions.
They talked the talk of Catholic Social Teaching
and urged everyone they met to walk the walk with them,
to measure every candidate for public office, top to bottom,
by the core principles of our faith.
They compared statements
of the candidates for President and U.S. Senator
on the issues.
They called people to vote their conscience
and put their energy into making their own communities better.
They asked people to look at the candidates
to see if their statements reflect
the vanity of greed
or the love of God.
The Conventions are over now,
and the Nuns are off the bus for a while.
But their questions stay with us.
Do we give up, looking at the depressing conclusion
that can come out of Ecclesiastes,
the conclusion that,
if all is vanity,
then nothing matters.
So who cares?
Why bother?
Eat, drink, and be merry.
______________________________________________
Professor Eleonore Stump of St. Louis University
says that the transitory nature of earthly goods
should be comforting to us,
not distressing.
Those bigger barns—our possessions—may be good,
but, in the long run, getting them—or losing them--
is not of overwhelming importance.
We can do our work without fanfare,
and we can endure our trials with a sense of equanimity,
because none of these things last.
______________________________________________
We know what lasts.
What lasts is love.
We do not love money, the root of all evil.
We love people.
We love God, the God in whose image and likeness we are made.
God loves us.
And we live our lives in that love.
There are billions of us--
suffering, struggling people
who know the love
that sets us free and gives us new life.
Glory be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 17 OTC, July 24, 2016
First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-3, 6-8
Second Reading: Colossians 2:12-14
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
Scholars agree that a good part of today's Gospel
is original with Jesus,
with Luke and Matthew each creating a different context
for telling about Jesus' teaching.
The passage has three parts--
the prayer,
the anecdote about the neighbor knocking at midnight,
and the blank checks from God
making promises about asking, and seeking, and knocking.
________________________________________
First, the prayer.
Luke creates a scene
in which the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray,
and Jesus answers them
with the petitions we know today as “The Lord's Prayer.”
Each petition in the prayer has a parallel
in the customary prayers of the Jews of the time.
Scholars doubt that Jesus taught it as one prayer,
thinking rather that each of these petitions
were ones that Jesus' disciples had hear him pray often.
The whole prayer, as Luke puts the sayings together,
summarizes Jesus' teaching:
—We are children of God, in a relationship as close as family.
—God is good and holy.
—The reign of God is at hand… God is in charge!
—God will take care of our needs every day.
—God forgives every debt we owe
in the same way that we forgive the debts
owed to us by our neighbors.
—God will be with us in all the struggles of life.
________________________________________
Then comes the second part of today's Gospel.
After the Lord's Prayer,
Luke has Jesus tell the anecdote about a person
who asks his neighbor to “loan” him bread
to serve an unexpected midnight guest.
The lesson is tied up with the ancient code of hospitality
and the shame that would come upon them
and their neighborhood
if the guest were not served.
The one making the request is persistent,
as our translation suggests,
but as the original Greek (anaideia) says,
he is “shameless” in waking his neighbor and expecting help.
In the same way,
the sleepy neighbor knows that his failure to respond
would bring shame on his own household
and the whole village,
who all share responsibility for hospitality to the guest.
As Grand Rapids Dominican Sister Barbara Reid puts it,
“It is completely unthinkable
that a friend would act shamefully by denying a friend in need.
A friend would most certainly give what is asked, and more.”
________________________________________
And God is our friend!
According to Pat Marrin of Celebration Magazine,
Martin Luther King preached on today's Gospel
as a challenge to churches for “sleeping behind locked doors
when the world came begging for the bread of justice.”
Like Dr. King, we can be confident
that the God of Justice would be ashamed
not to answer the cries for justice in today's world.
________________________________________
Finally, Luke gives us the third part of this passage,
a series of Jesus' sayings that promises us
that God provides all our needs.
Ask and you will receive.
Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Jesus gives total assurance—that “blessed assurance”--
that our loving God—friend, neighbor, parent--
will not leave us out in the dark begging...
but will give us our daily bread.
________________________________________
We as church—the people of God--
believe that we are one people with all peoples,
that we are called to work for the common good,
to live in the right relationship we call justice,
to bring about the reign of God
that we call peace and freedom from oppression.
That doesn't mean we can just sit back and pray
and wait for God to make the world better.
We have to do it ourselves.
Our prayer doesn't change God, it changes us,
as the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard said.
So if we ask for a peaceful world, we'll get it,
because, through our prayer,
God will help us become more peaceful.
If we seek a just world, we'll find it,
because, through our prayer,
God will help us become more just.
If we knock on the door of freedom and equality, it will open,
because our prayer will lead us and guide us
to work for freedom and equality for all.
________________________________________
We could ask, with Abraham in that Genesis reading,
what if there were only fifty people working for justice?
What if there were only thirty people working for peace?
What if only ten were working for equality?
What if you were the only one?
Like Malala Yousafzai.
Mother Teresa.
Or Mahatma Gandhi.
Dorothy Day.
Simone Campbell.
Or Jesus of Nazareth.
Through his life and preaching
Jesus assured us that God
will be with even one just or peaceful or all-loving person,
and that one will live in a just, peaceful, and loving world--
will live in the reign of God.
And those who follow Jesus on the Way
will find the door to that world
wide open.
Amen!
First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-3, 6-8
Second Reading: Colossians 2:12-14
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
Scholars agree that a good part of today's Gospel
is original with Jesus,
with Luke and Matthew each creating a different context
for telling about Jesus' teaching.
The passage has three parts--
the prayer,
the anecdote about the neighbor knocking at midnight,
and the blank checks from God
making promises about asking, and seeking, and knocking.
________________________________________
First, the prayer.
Luke creates a scene
in which the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray,
and Jesus answers them
with the petitions we know today as “The Lord's Prayer.”
Each petition in the prayer has a parallel
in the customary prayers of the Jews of the time.
Scholars doubt that Jesus taught it as one prayer,
thinking rather that each of these petitions
were ones that Jesus' disciples had hear him pray often.
The whole prayer, as Luke puts the sayings together,
summarizes Jesus' teaching:
—We are children of God, in a relationship as close as family.
—God is good and holy.
—The reign of God is at hand… God is in charge!
—God will take care of our needs every day.
—God forgives every debt we owe
in the same way that we forgive the debts
owed to us by our neighbors.
—God will be with us in all the struggles of life.
________________________________________
Then comes the second part of today's Gospel.
After the Lord's Prayer,
Luke has Jesus tell the anecdote about a person
who asks his neighbor to “loan” him bread
to serve an unexpected midnight guest.
The lesson is tied up with the ancient code of hospitality
and the shame that would come upon them
and their neighborhood
if the guest were not served.
The one making the request is persistent,
as our translation suggests,
but as the original Greek (anaideia) says,
he is “shameless” in waking his neighbor and expecting help.
In the same way,
the sleepy neighbor knows that his failure to respond
would bring shame on his own household
and the whole village,
who all share responsibility for hospitality to the guest.
As Grand Rapids Dominican Sister Barbara Reid puts it,
“It is completely unthinkable
that a friend would act shamefully by denying a friend in need.
A friend would most certainly give what is asked, and more.”
________________________________________
And God is our friend!
According to Pat Marrin of Celebration Magazine,
Martin Luther King preached on today's Gospel
as a challenge to churches for “sleeping behind locked doors
when the world came begging for the bread of justice.”
Like Dr. King, we can be confident
that the God of Justice would be ashamed
not to answer the cries for justice in today's world.
________________________________________
Finally, Luke gives us the third part of this passage,
a series of Jesus' sayings that promises us
that God provides all our needs.
Ask and you will receive.
Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Jesus gives total assurance—that “blessed assurance”--
that our loving God—friend, neighbor, parent--
will not leave us out in the dark begging...
but will give us our daily bread.
________________________________________
We as church—the people of God--
believe that we are one people with all peoples,
that we are called to work for the common good,
to live in the right relationship we call justice,
to bring about the reign of God
that we call peace and freedom from oppression.
That doesn't mean we can just sit back and pray
and wait for God to make the world better.
We have to do it ourselves.
Our prayer doesn't change God, it changes us,
as the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard said.
So if we ask for a peaceful world, we'll get it,
because, through our prayer,
God will help us become more peaceful.
If we seek a just world, we'll find it,
because, through our prayer,
God will help us become more just.
If we knock on the door of freedom and equality, it will open,
because our prayer will lead us and guide us
to work for freedom and equality for all.
________________________________________
We could ask, with Abraham in that Genesis reading,
what if there were only fifty people working for justice?
What if there were only thirty people working for peace?
What if only ten were working for equality?
What if you were the only one?
Like Malala Yousafzai.
Mother Teresa.
Or Mahatma Gandhi.
Dorothy Day.
Simone Campbell.
Or Jesus of Nazareth.
Through his life and preaching
Jesus assured us that God
will be with even one just or peaceful or all-loving person,
and that one will live in a just, peaceful, and loving world--
will live in the reign of God.
And those who follow Jesus on the Way
will find the door to that world
wide open.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 16 OTC, July 17, 2016
First Reading: Genesis 18:1-10A
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 15:2-5
Second Reading: Colossians 1:24-28
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
That movie was released forty years ago, in late 1967,
just months before the assassinations
of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
Joanna was bringing her new fiancé John
to dinner with her parents
in a groundbreaking film that
presented interracial marriage in a positive light.
It turned America's cultural biases upside down.
Same thing happened 4,000 years ago,
when it was God coming to dinner
in the form of the visitors to the tent of Abraham and Sarah.
And again, 2,000 years ago,
when God again came to dinner
in the presence of Jesus in Luke's Gospel.
___________________________________________
And guess who's fixing the dinner?
Just take a look at Abraham, the father of our faith.
He is indeed the patriarch.
He gives orders, and everyone jumps.
His wife heads for the kitchen to bake bread.
His slave runs off to slaughter the steer.
Abraham is consumed with providing the hospitality
that customs requires.
Sarah, on the other hand, is in the background,
baking the bread
and listening to their conversation from the tent.
She laughs—to herself—when the visitor says she will have a son.
But God knows what's in her heart
and asks Abraham why she laughed.
Then Sarah speaks up,
and God speaks directly to her.
A woman talks, and God answers!
That turned the cultural norms upside down!
___________________________________________
Luke's story of Mary and Martha is usually presented
as the difference between contemplation and action,
but it's more than that.
Before this, in chapters 5 and 7,
Luke put Jesus at two other contentious dinner parties,
one where he ate with tax collectors and sinners
and the other where he praised the woman
who washed his feet
and criticized the male host who did not treat him hospitably.
There's no question that he made a habit of turning the tables
on the social and religious norms of his time.
___________________________________________
Now, in chapter 10, Luke shows Martha
toiling away in the kitchen at what she,
and the society she lives in,
consider to be women's work,
but Mary is sitting with and listening to Jesus in the living room,
where the men gather while the meal is being prepared.
Martha complains, asking Jesus
to tell her sister to get back in the kitchen…
to get back to the acceptable role for women.
But Jesus says that Mary has “chosen the better part.”
It's one more dinner party scene
that contradicts the culture of the time.
___________________________________________
What is that “better part?”
It's not to be contemplative instead of active.
And not that contemplation is better than action.
It's both at the same time.
When we love God and listen to God's word,
we learn to love our neighbors
and help them when they're in need.
As Pope Francis puts it,
contemplation and service to others
“are not two opposing attitudes….
For a Christian the works of service and charity
are never detached from the main source of all our actions:
listening to the Word of the Lord,
being—like Mary—at the feet of Jesus
in the attitude of the disciple.”
___________________________________________
It's not an accident that Luke tells this dinner story
right after last week's Good Samaritan parable
that showed us the second commandment--
love our neighbors as ourselves.
This dinner story shows us the first commandment--
love God with our whole being.
___________________________________________
Living that first commandment
isn't just for when we're at church or reading the scriptures…
...or attentively listening to my homilies.
No matter what we're doing or how busy we are,
we are called to live in reverence and gratitude to God.
It will show in everything we do.
It will show especially in the way we treat the least among us--
the ones our culture tells us are not as good as we are.
Here in the United States these days,
that may be blacks or women
or immigrants or Muslims or LGBT folks.
It may be older people or younger people, single parents,
uneducated or poor or homeless or jobless people.
Some of our biases come from who we are,
and some from what we've experienced,
but the most insidious ones are hidden
in the systems and practices
that are so much a part of culture that we are blind to them.
It's hard to remember that God is not only with us but among us,
always present in the people we have learned not to see.
___________________________________________
Down at Claver House this week my friend John--
he's the one who fixed my lawnmower
and didn't charge me anything for it,
and does that same kind of thing for a lot of other people;
John, a Vietnam vet with a pacemaker
and a weekly visit to the clinic
to get the fluid drained from his lungs;
a lifelong truck driver,
living alone on a fixed income;
John, big black John,
who usually takes part
in the animated conversation that goes on at Claver,
seemed preoccupied,
so I asked him what was up.
He told me that two young men
were shot behind his house last night,
and one of them died.
Then he lifted up his coffee cup and said,
“So I was just being thankful for the coffee.”
Then he added, “And breakfast.
“And a safe place to be.
“And nice people to be with.”
He leaned forward a bit, looked me straight in the eye, and said,
“And I was hoping
that everybody else in the world
could have as much as I do.”
___________________________________________
It was like a eucharistic prayer:
thanksgiving for life and food and drink and community.
All I could do was say “Amen!”
First Reading: Genesis 18:1-10A
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 15:2-5
Second Reading: Colossians 1:24-28
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
That movie was released forty years ago, in late 1967,
just months before the assassinations
of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
Joanna was bringing her new fiancé John
to dinner with her parents
in a groundbreaking film that
presented interracial marriage in a positive light.
It turned America's cultural biases upside down.
Same thing happened 4,000 years ago,
when it was God coming to dinner
in the form of the visitors to the tent of Abraham and Sarah.
And again, 2,000 years ago,
when God again came to dinner
in the presence of Jesus in Luke's Gospel.
___________________________________________
And guess who's fixing the dinner?
Just take a look at Abraham, the father of our faith.
He is indeed the patriarch.
He gives orders, and everyone jumps.
His wife heads for the kitchen to bake bread.
His slave runs off to slaughter the steer.
Abraham is consumed with providing the hospitality
that customs requires.
Sarah, on the other hand, is in the background,
baking the bread
and listening to their conversation from the tent.
She laughs—to herself—when the visitor says she will have a son.
But God knows what's in her heart
and asks Abraham why she laughed.
Then Sarah speaks up,
and God speaks directly to her.
A woman talks, and God answers!
That turned the cultural norms upside down!
___________________________________________
Luke's story of Mary and Martha is usually presented
as the difference between contemplation and action,
but it's more than that.
Before this, in chapters 5 and 7,
Luke put Jesus at two other contentious dinner parties,
one where he ate with tax collectors and sinners
and the other where he praised the woman
who washed his feet
and criticized the male host who did not treat him hospitably.
There's no question that he made a habit of turning the tables
on the social and religious norms of his time.
___________________________________________
Now, in chapter 10, Luke shows Martha
toiling away in the kitchen at what she,
and the society she lives in,
consider to be women's work,
but Mary is sitting with and listening to Jesus in the living room,
where the men gather while the meal is being prepared.
Martha complains, asking Jesus
to tell her sister to get back in the kitchen…
to get back to the acceptable role for women.
But Jesus says that Mary has “chosen the better part.”
It's one more dinner party scene
that contradicts the culture of the time.
___________________________________________
What is that “better part?”
It's not to be contemplative instead of active.
And not that contemplation is better than action.
It's both at the same time.
When we love God and listen to God's word,
we learn to love our neighbors
and help them when they're in need.
As Pope Francis puts it,
contemplation and service to others
“are not two opposing attitudes….
For a Christian the works of service and charity
are never detached from the main source of all our actions:
listening to the Word of the Lord,
being—like Mary—at the feet of Jesus
in the attitude of the disciple.”
___________________________________________
It's not an accident that Luke tells this dinner story
right after last week's Good Samaritan parable
that showed us the second commandment--
love our neighbors as ourselves.
This dinner story shows us the first commandment--
love God with our whole being.
___________________________________________
Living that first commandment
isn't just for when we're at church or reading the scriptures…
...or attentively listening to my homilies.
No matter what we're doing or how busy we are,
we are called to live in reverence and gratitude to God.
It will show in everything we do.
It will show especially in the way we treat the least among us--
the ones our culture tells us are not as good as we are.
Here in the United States these days,
that may be blacks or women
or immigrants or Muslims or LGBT folks.
It may be older people or younger people, single parents,
uneducated or poor or homeless or jobless people.
Some of our biases come from who we are,
and some from what we've experienced,
but the most insidious ones are hidden
in the systems and practices
that are so much a part of culture that we are blind to them.
It's hard to remember that God is not only with us but among us,
always present in the people we have learned not to see.
___________________________________________
Down at Claver House this week my friend John--
he's the one who fixed my lawnmower
and didn't charge me anything for it,
and does that same kind of thing for a lot of other people;
John, a Vietnam vet with a pacemaker
and a weekly visit to the clinic
to get the fluid drained from his lungs;
a lifelong truck driver,
living alone on a fixed income;
John, big black John,
who usually takes part
in the animated conversation that goes on at Claver,
seemed preoccupied,
so I asked him what was up.
He told me that two young men
were shot behind his house last night,
and one of them died.
Then he lifted up his coffee cup and said,
“So I was just being thankful for the coffee.”
Then he added, “And breakfast.
“And a safe place to be.
“And nice people to be with.”
He leaned forward a bit, looked me straight in the eye, and said,
“And I was hoping
that everybody else in the world
could have as much as I do.”
___________________________________________
It was like a eucharistic prayer:
thanksgiving for life and food and drink and community.
All I could do was say “Amen!”
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 15 OTC, July 10, 2016
First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37
Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Scripture scholars agree that Jesus
actually spoke today's parable of the Good Samaritan,
or something very much like it.
They call the parable itself “a classic example
of the provocative public speech of Jesus the preacher.”
But they also say that Luke
created the dialogue around the parable,
reasoning that the dialogue asks two questions
that are different from the teaching of the parable itself.
Those two questions
are what I'm used to hearing about this passage:
“Who is my neighbor?” and “Which one acted like a neighbor?”
But the parable itself leads us to ask this question:
“From what quarter can I expect help
when I have been robbed, beaten, and left for dead?”
If I'm the one in need of help,
who do I think will step up and be a neighbor to me?
_________________________________________
Phyllis is one.
Whenever I have to go out of town overnight,
she tends my chickens and keeps watch on the house.
Then there's Carrie and her family, across the street from me.
They've learned how to herd chickens
from those times the mail carrier or meter reader
has left the gate open.
Down at Claver House George and John and Tina and Shirley
get worried and phone me if I don't show up for breakfast.
And you, the members of our Holy Spirit Catholic Community,
tend me every time you see me struggling--
like when I was hobbling around on crutches last spring.
I am surrounded by Good Samaritans,
people who help me instinctively
because they have formed themselves
into compassionate human beings.
So there are people around me who I expect will help me.
But who would I not expect help from?
_________________________________________
Jesus' audience for this parable would have thought
that the beat-up and bleeding man in the ditch was a Jew.
They would have expected the priest and the Levite to help him.
But they didn't.
They would not have expected the hated Samaritan to help him.
But he did.
And he went way beyond that,
reaching out with boundless compassion and resources
to bring help and healing.
_________________________________________
Would I expect a Muslim to help me? Or not?
A Mexican immigrant?
A politician?
A homeless person?
A bishop?
My answer will show what I think of other people.
It will lay bare my acceptance of some and my rejection of others.
_________________________________________
We all want to become the kind of person
who will be expected to be a neighbor to anyone in need.
The only way to do that
is to practice compassion in ordinary, everyday life.
When we decide to follow Jesus, it's a process.
We decide to reflect and pray and study and act
in ways that will form us into a person of virtue.
If we think people who are different from us--
in race or ethnicity or religion
or gender or political persuasion--
would not be expected to help us in a crisis,
that's a sign that we need to change.
_________________________________________
Toledo janitor Karen Loudermill, taking a break from work,
saw a young girl walking alone on the street
in the middle of the night.
Karen didn't hesitate to get involved.
She didn't worry about getting back to work on time.
She didn't wonder if the girl was on drugs, or mentally ill,
or dangerous in some way.
She didn't think about what could happen to her.
Karen walked over and started the conversation
that uncovered serious mistreatment
in the home where the girl had been kept a prisoner.
_________________________________________
D.C. government worker Larry Skutnik,
caught in a traffic jam on a bridge over the Potomac
as he headed home,
got out of his car
and saw that a plane had crashed into the river.
Larry watched as a helicopter rescued two of the three people
hanging on to the tail of the plane.
When he saw the third starting to go under,
he took off his shoes and jacket, dived into the freezing water,
and brought the woman to the shore.
Larry's comment: “I reacted instinctively, that's all.”
What made Karen and Larry take those heroic actions?
What made them risk danger to help a stranger?
What gave them that instinct for compassion?
_________________________________________
That kind of virtue comes from how they had learned to be
in the ordinary times,
not from extraordinary circumstances.
They are ordinary people
who learned compassion
to the point that they didn't even think about themselves
when they saw another human being in need.
The crisis didn't create their character.
It revealed it.
_________________________________________
Social psychologists who study bystander apathy
identify three things a person uses
to decide whether to do something in an emergency:
whether or not they feel the person is deserving of help;
whether they have competence to help;
and what relationship they have with the victim.
As Christians—and as Americans--
we say we believe that all people are equal
and therefore equally deserving of help.
We believe that everyone is a child of God, a brother or sister to us.
That means that we have the same relationship
with any and every victim.
And that means that we have a responsibility
to develop habits of compassion
that will cause us to act instinctively
to help whenever we can.
We can't hesitate because the person isn't like us,
or because we don't know who they are,
or because we aren't EMTs.
When Jesus says
that the law is summed up as love God and love neighbor,
it sounds easy…
but it's the journey of a lifetime.
Amen!
First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37
Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Scripture scholars agree that Jesus
actually spoke today's parable of the Good Samaritan,
or something very much like it.
They call the parable itself “a classic example
of the provocative public speech of Jesus the preacher.”
But they also say that Luke
created the dialogue around the parable,
reasoning that the dialogue asks two questions
that are different from the teaching of the parable itself.
Those two questions
are what I'm used to hearing about this passage:
“Who is my neighbor?” and “Which one acted like a neighbor?”
But the parable itself leads us to ask this question:
“From what quarter can I expect help
when I have been robbed, beaten, and left for dead?”
If I'm the one in need of help,
who do I think will step up and be a neighbor to me?
_________________________________________
Phyllis is one.
Whenever I have to go out of town overnight,
she tends my chickens and keeps watch on the house.
Then there's Carrie and her family, across the street from me.
They've learned how to herd chickens
from those times the mail carrier or meter reader
has left the gate open.
Down at Claver House George and John and Tina and Shirley
get worried and phone me if I don't show up for breakfast.
And you, the members of our Holy Spirit Catholic Community,
tend me every time you see me struggling--
like when I was hobbling around on crutches last spring.
I am surrounded by Good Samaritans,
people who help me instinctively
because they have formed themselves
into compassionate human beings.
So there are people around me who I expect will help me.
But who would I not expect help from?
_________________________________________
Jesus' audience for this parable would have thought
that the beat-up and bleeding man in the ditch was a Jew.
They would have expected the priest and the Levite to help him.
But they didn't.
They would not have expected the hated Samaritan to help him.
But he did.
And he went way beyond that,
reaching out with boundless compassion and resources
to bring help and healing.
_________________________________________
Would I expect a Muslim to help me? Or not?
A Mexican immigrant?
A politician?
A homeless person?
A bishop?
My answer will show what I think of other people.
It will lay bare my acceptance of some and my rejection of others.
_________________________________________
We all want to become the kind of person
who will be expected to be a neighbor to anyone in need.
The only way to do that
is to practice compassion in ordinary, everyday life.
When we decide to follow Jesus, it's a process.
We decide to reflect and pray and study and act
in ways that will form us into a person of virtue.
If we think people who are different from us--
in race or ethnicity or religion
or gender or political persuasion--
would not be expected to help us in a crisis,
that's a sign that we need to change.
_________________________________________
Toledo janitor Karen Loudermill, taking a break from work,
saw a young girl walking alone on the street
in the middle of the night.
Karen didn't hesitate to get involved.
She didn't worry about getting back to work on time.
She didn't wonder if the girl was on drugs, or mentally ill,
or dangerous in some way.
She didn't think about what could happen to her.
Karen walked over and started the conversation
that uncovered serious mistreatment
in the home where the girl had been kept a prisoner.
_________________________________________
D.C. government worker Larry Skutnik,
caught in a traffic jam on a bridge over the Potomac
as he headed home,
got out of his car
and saw that a plane had crashed into the river.
Larry watched as a helicopter rescued two of the three people
hanging on to the tail of the plane.
When he saw the third starting to go under,
he took off his shoes and jacket, dived into the freezing water,
and brought the woman to the shore.
Larry's comment: “I reacted instinctively, that's all.”
What made Karen and Larry take those heroic actions?
What made them risk danger to help a stranger?
What gave them that instinct for compassion?
_________________________________________
That kind of virtue comes from how they had learned to be
in the ordinary times,
not from extraordinary circumstances.
They are ordinary people
who learned compassion
to the point that they didn't even think about themselves
when they saw another human being in need.
The crisis didn't create their character.
It revealed it.
_________________________________________
Social psychologists who study bystander apathy
identify three things a person uses
to decide whether to do something in an emergency:
whether or not they feel the person is deserving of help;
whether they have competence to help;
and what relationship they have with the victim.
As Christians—and as Americans--
we say we believe that all people are equal
and therefore equally deserving of help.
We believe that everyone is a child of God, a brother or sister to us.
That means that we have the same relationship
with any and every victim.
And that means that we have a responsibility
to develop habits of compassion
that will cause us to act instinctively
to help whenever we can.
We can't hesitate because the person isn't like us,
or because we don't know who they are,
or because we aren't EMTs.
When Jesus says
that the law is summed up as love God and love neighbor,
it sounds easy…
but it's the journey of a lifetime.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 14 OTC, July 3, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 66:10-14
Responsorial Psalm 66:1-7, 16. 20
Second Reading: Galatians 6:14-18
Gospel: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
In the chapter before today's Gospel,
Luke tells the story of the sending of the twelve apostles,
symbolic of the twelve tribes
and therefore representing the church's mission to Israel.
Matthew and Mark also tell of the sending of the twelve.
Luke, though, is the only one
who adds the sending of the seventy-two
that we heard in today's Gospel.
Like the twelve, the seventy-two is symbolic.
A little background here:
the Greek manuscripts of Luke's gospel
differ about the number--
it's seventy in some, seventy-two in others.
In Genesis Moses chose seventy elders to help him,
and Jacob had seventy descendents.
Both seventy and seventy-two
may also symbolize the number of nations in the world--
the Hebrew text of Genesis says seventy nations,
the Greek text seventy-two.
Whichever number is used,
it stands for the mission of the church to the whole world
and shows the understanding of the early church
that they were sent to proclaim Jesus' message
to all people everywhere.
_________________________________________
And that message begins with peace.
They are to be bearers of peace everywhere they go,
telling people that God is in charge,
not the violent or the greedy or the hate-filled.
As Luke writes it, “The reign of God is at hand for you.”
_________________________________________
Comparing the ways the gospel writers
described the sending of the disciples
makes it clear that the early church communities
freely adapted Jesus' words to their own circumstances.
The word of God is not abstract.
It doesn't exist in a vacuum.
God's word is alive,
and like our ancestors in faith,
we must interpret God's word
to learn how we are called and sent to preach the good news.
We are the ones who are sent now,
apostles of peace in our time.
_________________________________________
But how can we possibly bring peace to this world?
Or maybe the question is how we can BE peace In the world.
_________________________________________
Down at Claver House this week I noticed Katy being peace.
She and her husband Rob are regular guests.
Katy greets folks by name when they come in.
Whenever a bag of donated clothes arrives,
she unpacks it and folds things on the table,
calling out to folks, “Shirley, this would look great on you!”
or “Matt, wouldn't your granddaughter like this?”
When Katy notices someone near her with an empty coffee cup,
she'll get up and get them a refill.
And she does all this with cheerful respect.
And Rob… whenever one of the guests starts to get loud,
or, two of the guests let an argument get out of hand,
Rob calmly and firmly asks them to quiet down.
I've seen him defuse some situations that could have turned nasty.
Katy and Rob are peace in the world.
_________________________________________
Then there's Barbara Coleman.
From her experience
with the anti-racism “Dialogue-to-Change” group,
she realized that her life did not include people of color.
Sure, she worked with black people,
and she went to church with them.
But she went home to a white suburb.
So she decided to integrate her social life.
She began to invite participants in her group
to supper at her house,
eventually resulting in new friendships
among a half dozen or so people
of different races and backgrounds.
_________________________________________
I remember my Aunt Anne being peace in the world.
She preached with her actions,
mothering her five boys,
welcoming their neighborhood buddies into the house
with smiles and snacks
and always an invitation to stay for the next meal.
Whenever a new family moved into the neighborhood,
she was on the step with a cake to welcome them.
She volunteered at the Church.
She made sure people had what they needed,
whether it was a ride to the doctor's office or a listening ear.
She was a good listener,
asking the right questions and never criticizing.
Kind and generous, she preached peace in her own house,
peace in the neighborhood, peace in her parish--
just by being who she was, all without saying a word.
Aunt Anne had the marks of Jesus in her heart--
marks made by a life of gentleness and a loving spirit.
_________________________________________
In our second reading St. Paul says he's been troubled so much--
stoning, chains, beatings--
that he considers his scars
to be like the marks of Jesus on his body.
Paul had turned away from his deadly persecution of Christians
to preach peace and practice nonviolence.
We may not have the marks of Jesus on our bodies,
but we can bear the marks of Jesus in our hearts.
Those marks are visible, especially in the world we live in.
They're the ones that John's Gospel says
will make all people know that we are Jesus' disciples--
that we love one another.
_________________________________________
No one of us can bring peace to the Middle East.
No one of us can stop the killings on our city's streets.
What we can do is be peace right where we are.
Like Tom McDonald and Sharon Havelak
and the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition,
we can stand on a street corner and hold up a sign.
Like Katy and Rob at Claver House,
we can urge peace in the middle of turmoil.
Like Barbara Coleman,
we can build friendships with people who are different from us.
Like my Aunt Anne, we can reach out with hospitality and concern
to family and friends and neighbors.
_________________________________________
Our hearts will grow in peace
when we walk the way that Jesus taught,
and we too will become peace in the world.
We will be apostles of peace,
living signs of love that can soothe tempers,
bridge divisions,
and heal wounds.
Glory be to God!
First Reading: Isaiah 66:10-14
Responsorial Psalm 66:1-7, 16. 20
Second Reading: Galatians 6:14-18
Gospel: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
In the chapter before today's Gospel,
Luke tells the story of the sending of the twelve apostles,
symbolic of the twelve tribes
and therefore representing the church's mission to Israel.
Matthew and Mark also tell of the sending of the twelve.
Luke, though, is the only one
who adds the sending of the seventy-two
that we heard in today's Gospel.
Like the twelve, the seventy-two is symbolic.
A little background here:
the Greek manuscripts of Luke's gospel
differ about the number--
it's seventy in some, seventy-two in others.
In Genesis Moses chose seventy elders to help him,
and Jacob had seventy descendents.
Both seventy and seventy-two
may also symbolize the number of nations in the world--
the Hebrew text of Genesis says seventy nations,
the Greek text seventy-two.
Whichever number is used,
it stands for the mission of the church to the whole world
and shows the understanding of the early church
that they were sent to proclaim Jesus' message
to all people everywhere.
_________________________________________
And that message begins with peace.
They are to be bearers of peace everywhere they go,
telling people that God is in charge,
not the violent or the greedy or the hate-filled.
As Luke writes it, “The reign of God is at hand for you.”
_________________________________________
Comparing the ways the gospel writers
described the sending of the disciples
makes it clear that the early church communities
freely adapted Jesus' words to their own circumstances.
The word of God is not abstract.
It doesn't exist in a vacuum.
God's word is alive,
and like our ancestors in faith,
we must interpret God's word
to learn how we are called and sent to preach the good news.
We are the ones who are sent now,
apostles of peace in our time.
_________________________________________
But how can we possibly bring peace to this world?
Or maybe the question is how we can BE peace In the world.
_________________________________________
Down at Claver House this week I noticed Katy being peace.
She and her husband Rob are regular guests.
Katy greets folks by name when they come in.
Whenever a bag of donated clothes arrives,
she unpacks it and folds things on the table,
calling out to folks, “Shirley, this would look great on you!”
or “Matt, wouldn't your granddaughter like this?”
When Katy notices someone near her with an empty coffee cup,
she'll get up and get them a refill.
And she does all this with cheerful respect.
And Rob… whenever one of the guests starts to get loud,
or, two of the guests let an argument get out of hand,
Rob calmly and firmly asks them to quiet down.
I've seen him defuse some situations that could have turned nasty.
Katy and Rob are peace in the world.
_________________________________________
Then there's Barbara Coleman.
From her experience
with the anti-racism “Dialogue-to-Change” group,
she realized that her life did not include people of color.
Sure, she worked with black people,
and she went to church with them.
But she went home to a white suburb.
So she decided to integrate her social life.
She began to invite participants in her group
to supper at her house,
eventually resulting in new friendships
among a half dozen or so people
of different races and backgrounds.
_________________________________________
I remember my Aunt Anne being peace in the world.
She preached with her actions,
mothering her five boys,
welcoming their neighborhood buddies into the house
with smiles and snacks
and always an invitation to stay for the next meal.
Whenever a new family moved into the neighborhood,
she was on the step with a cake to welcome them.
She volunteered at the Church.
She made sure people had what they needed,
whether it was a ride to the doctor's office or a listening ear.
She was a good listener,
asking the right questions and never criticizing.
Kind and generous, she preached peace in her own house,
peace in the neighborhood, peace in her parish--
just by being who she was, all without saying a word.
Aunt Anne had the marks of Jesus in her heart--
marks made by a life of gentleness and a loving spirit.
_________________________________________
In our second reading St. Paul says he's been troubled so much--
stoning, chains, beatings--
that he considers his scars
to be like the marks of Jesus on his body.
Paul had turned away from his deadly persecution of Christians
to preach peace and practice nonviolence.
We may not have the marks of Jesus on our bodies,
but we can bear the marks of Jesus in our hearts.
Those marks are visible, especially in the world we live in.
They're the ones that John's Gospel says
will make all people know that we are Jesus' disciples--
that we love one another.
_________________________________________
No one of us can bring peace to the Middle East.
No one of us can stop the killings on our city's streets.
What we can do is be peace right where we are.
Like Tom McDonald and Sharon Havelak
and the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition,
we can stand on a street corner and hold up a sign.
Like Katy and Rob at Claver House,
we can urge peace in the middle of turmoil.
Like Barbara Coleman,
we can build friendships with people who are different from us.
Like my Aunt Anne, we can reach out with hospitality and concern
to family and friends and neighbors.
_________________________________________
Our hearts will grow in peace
when we walk the way that Jesus taught,
and we too will become peace in the world.
We will be apostles of peace,
living signs of love that can soothe tempers,
bridge divisions,
and heal wounds.
Glory be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 13 OTC, June 26, 2016
First Reading: 1Kings 19:16b, 19-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Second Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-18
Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
Today begins the most important section of Luke's Gospel,
referred to by scripture scholars as the “journey narrative.”
Fr. Raymond Brown calls Luke's story
of the long journey to Jerusalem
“an artificial framework.”
It's a literary device created by Luke
so he can tell about Jesus in an organized way.
________________________________________
Jesus actually did travel from Galilee to Jerusalem.
For later followers, his journey takes on symbolic meaning:
it's the way by which Jesus went from death to new life,
and the way that we, as his disciples,
are called to do the same.
________________________________________
Luke's story of the beginning of Jesus' long journey
begins with a lesson that we still need today.
At the very beginning of the trip,
Jesus' disciples are not welcome in a Samaritan village,
but Jesus will not let them call down fire from heaven
to destroy the villagers.
________________________________________
In the 18th century, Jonathan Swift, Irish Anglican priest,
criticized Christians for having
just enough religion to hate
but not enough to love.
History continues to give us examples of people who,
like the first disciples,
want to do violence to people who don't agree with them.
We don't have to look any farther
than the front pages of our newspapers to see it.
People killing other people when they disagree.
People killing other people because they are different.
And people doing murder in the name of God.
It happened in the Crusades.
In Nazi Germany.
In the Middle East.
In Orlando.
It's still happening.
________________________________________
What motivates people to hate so viciously in the name of God?
Maybe their religion is just a veneer on the surface of their lives.
Maybe they just can't grasp the message of love
that's at the heart of all real religions.
Maybe they never really learned what their own religion is about.
Or maybe it's the failure of religious leaders
to keep their own hatred out of their beliefs.
Whatever it is, Fr. Joseph Pollard rightly calls it blasphemy.
________________________________________
But for us Christians, we should know the way.
Jesus' response to his disciples call for vengeance
is to go on to another village.
He teaches us that our way to new life
is not through violence and retribution
but through peaceful avoidance of conflict.
________________________________________
So Jesus and his disciples continue on the journey,
and Luke has Jesus give us more advice.
Three people come up to him, one by one,
and each one hears radical requirements for discipleship.
The first person, wanting to follow Jesus wherever he goes,
hears that there will be no place to rest
for the one who joins Jesus on the Way.
We have to ask ourselves if we are ready to follow,
even if we have to walk away
from the comfort and security of our homes and friends.
Are we ready to speak up for what is right and just,
even if we know our family members and best friends
will disagree with us?
________________________________________
The second person, invited by Jesus to join the group,
wants to go bury his father,
and Jesus responds with “let the dead bury their dead.”
If the man goes home to wait for his father's death
so he can fulfill the law of honoring his parents,
he himself will become dead
to the new life that comes with the journey to Jerusalem.
We have to ask ourselves what we're waiting for
that keeps us from following Jesus along the Way.
Maybe it's job security--
I won't object to my boss' racist remarks
until I have another job lined up.
________________________________________
And the third person
wants to say goodbye to family before he follows,
but Jesus warns that anyone
who expects to live in the reign of God
can't live in the past.
As followers along the way, we look ahead.
We don't regret the past and we're not obsessed with it,
either by focusing on its mistakes
or by imagining it as a golden age.
________________________________________
We know from other scriptures
that Jesus does not mean these sayings to be absolutes.
What Jesus is doing is making clear
the mindsets that undermine living in the reign of God.
He is reminding us of the greater goal,
and that everything else falls by the wayside
in our choice to follow him.
________________________________________
Rarely are we called to burn all our bridges,
like Elisha in the first reading.
These sayings remind us that, at rare, particular moments,
we are called to be heroic.
But most of the time
we are called to reflect, adapt, and take action.
As Paul puts it in that second reading,
we have to live by the Spirit, not by the law.
We are required to serve one another through love.
________________________________________
I recall times in my own life
when I lacked the courage to follow Jesus' way,
and a few times when I had the courage to burn bridges,
to walk away from security for the sake of a vision.
Out of Africa author Karen Blixen once said that
“There is probably always one moment in life
when there is still the possibility of two courses,
and another when only one is possible.
At the latter point I have burnt my boats,
and afterwards there can be no retreat.”
Elisha reached that point.
Paul reached that point.
Jesus reached that point.
________________________________________
We reach that point, too,
faced with the question of what it means
for us
to follow Christ today.
It means to act with love where we are,
in our chosen career,
on our chosen life path,
true to the commitments we have made.
It's not only what we do that's important.
It's how we do it.
There's more than one way to follow Jesus,
but each path has this in common:
we are called to follow with our whole heart,
and our heart must be full of love,
no matter what.
Amen!
First Reading: 1Kings 19:16b, 19-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Second Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-18
Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
Today begins the most important section of Luke's Gospel,
referred to by scripture scholars as the “journey narrative.”
Fr. Raymond Brown calls Luke's story
of the long journey to Jerusalem
“an artificial framework.”
It's a literary device created by Luke
so he can tell about Jesus in an organized way.
________________________________________
Jesus actually did travel from Galilee to Jerusalem.
For later followers, his journey takes on symbolic meaning:
it's the way by which Jesus went from death to new life,
and the way that we, as his disciples,
are called to do the same.
________________________________________
Luke's story of the beginning of Jesus' long journey
begins with a lesson that we still need today.
At the very beginning of the trip,
Jesus' disciples are not welcome in a Samaritan village,
but Jesus will not let them call down fire from heaven
to destroy the villagers.
________________________________________
In the 18th century, Jonathan Swift, Irish Anglican priest,
criticized Christians for having
just enough religion to hate
but not enough to love.
History continues to give us examples of people who,
like the first disciples,
want to do violence to people who don't agree with them.
We don't have to look any farther
than the front pages of our newspapers to see it.
People killing other people when they disagree.
People killing other people because they are different.
And people doing murder in the name of God.
It happened in the Crusades.
In Nazi Germany.
In the Middle East.
In Orlando.
It's still happening.
________________________________________
What motivates people to hate so viciously in the name of God?
Maybe their religion is just a veneer on the surface of their lives.
Maybe they just can't grasp the message of love
that's at the heart of all real religions.
Maybe they never really learned what their own religion is about.
Or maybe it's the failure of religious leaders
to keep their own hatred out of their beliefs.
Whatever it is, Fr. Joseph Pollard rightly calls it blasphemy.
________________________________________
But for us Christians, we should know the way.
Jesus' response to his disciples call for vengeance
is to go on to another village.
He teaches us that our way to new life
is not through violence and retribution
but through peaceful avoidance of conflict.
________________________________________
So Jesus and his disciples continue on the journey,
and Luke has Jesus give us more advice.
Three people come up to him, one by one,
and each one hears radical requirements for discipleship.
The first person, wanting to follow Jesus wherever he goes,
hears that there will be no place to rest
for the one who joins Jesus on the Way.
We have to ask ourselves if we are ready to follow,
even if we have to walk away
from the comfort and security of our homes and friends.
Are we ready to speak up for what is right and just,
even if we know our family members and best friends
will disagree with us?
________________________________________
The second person, invited by Jesus to join the group,
wants to go bury his father,
and Jesus responds with “let the dead bury their dead.”
If the man goes home to wait for his father's death
so he can fulfill the law of honoring his parents,
he himself will become dead
to the new life that comes with the journey to Jerusalem.
We have to ask ourselves what we're waiting for
that keeps us from following Jesus along the Way.
Maybe it's job security--
I won't object to my boss' racist remarks
until I have another job lined up.
________________________________________
And the third person
wants to say goodbye to family before he follows,
but Jesus warns that anyone
who expects to live in the reign of God
can't live in the past.
As followers along the way, we look ahead.
We don't regret the past and we're not obsessed with it,
either by focusing on its mistakes
or by imagining it as a golden age.
________________________________________
We know from other scriptures
that Jesus does not mean these sayings to be absolutes.
What Jesus is doing is making clear
the mindsets that undermine living in the reign of God.
He is reminding us of the greater goal,
and that everything else falls by the wayside
in our choice to follow him.
________________________________________
Rarely are we called to burn all our bridges,
like Elisha in the first reading.
These sayings remind us that, at rare, particular moments,
we are called to be heroic.
But most of the time
we are called to reflect, adapt, and take action.
As Paul puts it in that second reading,
we have to live by the Spirit, not by the law.
We are required to serve one another through love.
________________________________________
I recall times in my own life
when I lacked the courage to follow Jesus' way,
and a few times when I had the courage to burn bridges,
to walk away from security for the sake of a vision.
Out of Africa author Karen Blixen once said that
“There is probably always one moment in life
when there is still the possibility of two courses,
and another when only one is possible.
At the latter point I have burnt my boats,
and afterwards there can be no retreat.”
Elisha reached that point.
Paul reached that point.
Jesus reached that point.
________________________________________
We reach that point, too,
faced with the question of what it means
for us
to follow Christ today.
It means to act with love where we are,
in our chosen career,
on our chosen life path,
true to the commitments we have made.
It's not only what we do that's important.
It's how we do it.
There's more than one way to follow Jesus,
but each path has this in common:
we are called to follow with our whole heart,
and our heart must be full of love,
no matter what.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 12 OTC, June 19, 2016
First Reading: ZEC 12:10-11; 13:1
Responsorial Psalm: PS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Second Reading: GAL 3:26-29
Gospel: LK 9:18-24
Jesus has been teaching and healing
back and forth across Galilee,
and he takes a break.
He prays alone,
trying to understand what's going on,
trying to understand himself,
seeking to discern what God wants of him.
Then he asks his followers,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?”
___________________________________________
After Jesus hears what they report,
he asks them another question:
“But YOU—who do YOU say that I am?”
Peter answers, “You are God's Anointed One.”
He answers out of his understanding of himself at this point in time.
Having seen the healings and heard the teaching,
Peter is confident about Jesus and his Way,
though later events will shake his confidence.
___________________________________________
Today the question comes to each of us:
who do I say that Jesus is?
The answer will depend on who we think we are, our own identity.
Most of us go through an identity crisis, often more than once--
as teens, as young adults, in marriage,
in mid-life, at retirement,
at the death of a parent or a child or a spouse.
We get to a place where aren't sure who we are any more.
We know we are changing.
We try to figure out who we are now.
We feel fragile and vulnerable.
___________________________________________
Especially when we're going through a transition in life,
you and I, as believers,
can be grateful to God for the gift of faith
that shapes so much of our understanding
of ourselves and the world.
Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi was not a believer;
he was agnostic.
He wrote about what he saw in the concentration camp:
“In the grind of everyday life the believers lived better.
Catholic or Reformed priests, rabbis of the various orthodoxies,
militant Zionists, naive or sophisticated Marxists,
and Jehovah's Witnesses--
all held in common the saving force of their faith.
Their world was vaster than the world of us unbelievers,
more comprehensible.
They had a key and a point of leverage,
a place in heaven or on earth
where justice and compassion had won,
or would win in a perhaps remote but certain future.”
For us, being Christian is at the core of our identity.
___________________________________________
But identity—who we are—changes over the span of a lifetime.
Like Peter, we may have the right answer at one time
and run away from it later,
only to grow in understanding and commitment
as time goes by and life happens.
___________________________________________
Jesus wants to know what we think of him today.
It's not just dogma or doctrine.
He wants to know if we will follow his Way.
Will we take up our crosses, the daily grind of ups and downs?
Will we deny our own selfishness
and put others and their concerns at the center of our life?
___________________________________________
When Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?”
he shows us who we are.
We begin to see our relationship to the world
and our purpose in life.
We have an awesome capacity to take hold of our own lives
and give them away.
No one can ever take our place--
we are the only ones who can be us.
And all of us humans are equal in this freedom
to live our lives,
give ourselves,
speak the unique word that is in us.
The self-gift of a poor, broken-down janitor
is as valuable to God
as the self-gift of a president or a CEO… or a bishop.
___________________________________________
Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?”
Being Jew or Greek, black or white, slave or free,
old or young, male or female is not significant.
What is significant is our freedom,
that gift that reflects that we are made in the image of God.
We can deceive ourselves
with thinking that our foremost task in life
is somehow to make a difference,
to have done something
that no one else could possibly have done,
to be irreplaceable.
But the only difference we really make in this world,
the only thing that we can do that no one else can do,
is take ownership of our lives
and give them away.
This we do in our commitments, our promises.
Getting married.
Taking a job.
Raising children.
Caretaking for a parent.
Registering to vote.
Volunteering at a soup kitchen.
Protecting the environment.
Donating to disaster relief.
Each free commitment we make is out of love,
an emptying out,
a giving away of our very self.
Through those gifts to others
we discover who and what we are.
We learn to love, to believe, to hope.
We do not cling to our life;
we give it away,
and in giving away our time,
and our energy,
and our resources,
we save our lives.
And we find ourselves following Jesus on the Way.
Amen.
First Reading: ZEC 12:10-11; 13:1
Responsorial Psalm: PS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Second Reading: GAL 3:26-29
Gospel: LK 9:18-24
Jesus has been teaching and healing
back and forth across Galilee,
and he takes a break.
He prays alone,
trying to understand what's going on,
trying to understand himself,
seeking to discern what God wants of him.
Then he asks his followers,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?”
___________________________________________
After Jesus hears what they report,
he asks them another question:
“But YOU—who do YOU say that I am?”
Peter answers, “You are God's Anointed One.”
He answers out of his understanding of himself at this point in time.
Having seen the healings and heard the teaching,
Peter is confident about Jesus and his Way,
though later events will shake his confidence.
___________________________________________
Today the question comes to each of us:
who do I say that Jesus is?
The answer will depend on who we think we are, our own identity.
Most of us go through an identity crisis, often more than once--
as teens, as young adults, in marriage,
in mid-life, at retirement,
at the death of a parent or a child or a spouse.
We get to a place where aren't sure who we are any more.
We know we are changing.
We try to figure out who we are now.
We feel fragile and vulnerable.
___________________________________________
Especially when we're going through a transition in life,
you and I, as believers,
can be grateful to God for the gift of faith
that shapes so much of our understanding
of ourselves and the world.
Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi was not a believer;
he was agnostic.
He wrote about what he saw in the concentration camp:
“In the grind of everyday life the believers lived better.
Catholic or Reformed priests, rabbis of the various orthodoxies,
militant Zionists, naive or sophisticated Marxists,
and Jehovah's Witnesses--
all held in common the saving force of their faith.
Their world was vaster than the world of us unbelievers,
more comprehensible.
They had a key and a point of leverage,
a place in heaven or on earth
where justice and compassion had won,
or would win in a perhaps remote but certain future.”
For us, being Christian is at the core of our identity.
___________________________________________
But identity—who we are—changes over the span of a lifetime.
Like Peter, we may have the right answer at one time
and run away from it later,
only to grow in understanding and commitment
as time goes by and life happens.
___________________________________________
Jesus wants to know what we think of him today.
It's not just dogma or doctrine.
He wants to know if we will follow his Way.
Will we take up our crosses, the daily grind of ups and downs?
Will we deny our own selfishness
and put others and their concerns at the center of our life?
___________________________________________
When Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?”
he shows us who we are.
We begin to see our relationship to the world
and our purpose in life.
We have an awesome capacity to take hold of our own lives
and give them away.
No one can ever take our place--
we are the only ones who can be us.
And all of us humans are equal in this freedom
to live our lives,
give ourselves,
speak the unique word that is in us.
The self-gift of a poor, broken-down janitor
is as valuable to God
as the self-gift of a president or a CEO… or a bishop.
___________________________________________
Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?”
Being Jew or Greek, black or white, slave or free,
old or young, male or female is not significant.
What is significant is our freedom,
that gift that reflects that we are made in the image of God.
We can deceive ourselves
with thinking that our foremost task in life
is somehow to make a difference,
to have done something
that no one else could possibly have done,
to be irreplaceable.
But the only difference we really make in this world,
the only thing that we can do that no one else can do,
is take ownership of our lives
and give them away.
This we do in our commitments, our promises.
Getting married.
Taking a job.
Raising children.
Caretaking for a parent.
Registering to vote.
Volunteering at a soup kitchen.
Protecting the environment.
Donating to disaster relief.
Each free commitment we make is out of love,
an emptying out,
a giving away of our very self.
Through those gifts to others
we discover who and what we are.
We learn to love, to believe, to hope.
We do not cling to our life;
we give it away,
and in giving away our time,
and our energy,
and our resources,
we save our lives.
And we find ourselves following Jesus on the Way.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 11 OTC, June 12, 2016
First Reading: 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11
Second Reading: Galatians 2:16, 19-21
Gospel: Luke 7:36-8:311-17
Two Saturdays ago
six-year-old Robbie Richardson of Quincy, Massachusetts,
called 911 when his father drove through a red light.
Robbie knows the law.
“Daddy went past a red light,” he told the dispatcher.
“It was in the brand new car, my mummy’s car.”
The 911 dispatcher asked Robbie to put his father on the line.
Robbie's father explained about his right turn on red
and apologized to the dispatcher.
It's a cute story—a six-year-old calling the police on his dad.
It's understandable.
Six-year-olds are very literal.
___________________________________________
It's different for an adult…
like Simon the Pharisee in today's Gospel.
Robbie saw his father go through the red light.
He thought he was seeing his father break the law.
Simon the Pharisee saw a woman with her head uncovered,
touching Jesus.
What did Simon think he was seeing?
Historians say there is clear evidence
that first-century Jewish women covered their heads
not only for prayer
but whenever they were outside of their own home.
For the women it was a matter of morals and a religious duty.
That's the way it was.
And for Pharisees the law was sacred--
the only way for them to please God.
So Simon is seeing the woman's hair,
and for him it's a clear sign of her immorality.
She is a sinner.
And she is touching Jesus.
That breaks another law,
the one that makes a person unclean for touching a sinner.
So it's unquestionably clear to Simon that Jesus is a sinner, too.
That's the law.
And for Simon, the law is the most important thing.
___________________________________________
Those three little verses at the end of today's gospel
help explain what's really going on at that dinner.
Women followed Jesus.
They provided for him.
Other women, as well as men,
experienced healing from Jesus' teaching.
The woman at the well experienced acceptance
when Jesus entered into theological dialogue with her.
She became a disciple.
All around Galilee women and men
experienced freedom and new life
when Jesus accepted them as equals.
He talked with them.
He ate with them.
He showed God's love to them.
___________________________________________
Perhaps the woman in today's Gospel had heard Jesus teaching.
Followed him on the way.
Saw him taking sides with the marginalized.
Listened to him, turned her life around
and, freed from guilt, changed her ways.
That fits the dynamic that Paul describes in the second reading,
that it's not following the law that makes us right with God.
It's our openness to God's gracious presence in our lives.
Once we see, we change--
and the fruit of our faith in God is love.
So Jesus doesn't tell the woman, “I forgive you.”
He tells her, “Your faith has saved you.”
That is, you admitted your wrongs,
you let yourself be open to God's loving forgiveness,
and you are now right with God.
You are justified.
___________________________________________
The same lesson
is at the heart of Jesus' story to Simon about the two debtors:
the response to forgiveness is love.
The woman's extravagant act of devotion is a sign
that her many sins—whatever they may have been--
have already been forgiven.
Free of her past sins, she is full of love,
and she pours it out
on the man who taught her about God's forgiveness.
___________________________________________
Simon's friends, in that same legalistic and judgmental mindset,
still don't understand.
They think Jesus—the prophet who came out of the desert
calling people to “repent and believe the good news”--
is claiming that he is the one forgiving her sins.
But Jesus clearly says that he doesn't forgive sin.
God does.
___________________________________________
These scriptures have deep levels of meaning for us today.
Among other things, they teach us about forgiveness,
that God is the forgiver of sin,
that gratitude for forgiveness spurs us to good works.
They show us that Jesus stood with
the poor, the hungry, sinners, and the marginalized
over the religious and political leaders.
___________________________________________
We know that God has forgiven us.
We celebrated that forgiveness
in our penitential rite and general absolution
at the beginning of today's Mass.
Out of gratitude, we—like that sinful woman--
are filled with love and called to good works.
We are called to follow Jesus' Way,
along with that formerly sinful woman,
along with every sincerely remorseful sinner who ever lived.
As Dr. Elizabeth Vasko puts it,
“To be a Christian
is to take sides with those who are marginalized,
dehumanized, and subject to violence.”
___________________________________________
How do we take sides?
In the next few weeks we will see
two major party Presidential nominating conventions.
We are already seeing the ads—especially the attack ads--
for and against the candidates for President and Congress.
We've been seeing ads
that glorify fracking and promote the use of fossil fuels
for quite a while.
One of the ways we take sides is by exercising faithful citizenship.
We look for the candidates who stand with the poor, the hungry,
the repentant sinners, and the marginalized.
We vote for policies and issues
that reflect the values and principles
of Catholic Social teaching,
all based on the right and dignity of the human person--
every person.
We take into account the preferential option for the poor.
___________________________________________
It's not always an easy choice.
Maybe we wanted a different candidate,
but someone else got nominated.
Maybe we don't think any of the candidates
are as good as we'd like.
But whether we like it or not—neutrality is not an option.
We have to do our homework
and put our X for the candidates and issues
that most closely reflect our deepest values.
We have to be on the side of
the poor, the hungry, and the marginalized.
We have to stand up for them… just like Jesus did.
Amen.
First Reading: 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11
Second Reading: Galatians 2:16, 19-21
Gospel: Luke 7:36-8:311-17
Two Saturdays ago
six-year-old Robbie Richardson of Quincy, Massachusetts,
called 911 when his father drove through a red light.
Robbie knows the law.
“Daddy went past a red light,” he told the dispatcher.
“It was in the brand new car, my mummy’s car.”
The 911 dispatcher asked Robbie to put his father on the line.
Robbie's father explained about his right turn on red
and apologized to the dispatcher.
It's a cute story—a six-year-old calling the police on his dad.
It's understandable.
Six-year-olds are very literal.
___________________________________________
It's different for an adult…
like Simon the Pharisee in today's Gospel.
Robbie saw his father go through the red light.
He thought he was seeing his father break the law.
Simon the Pharisee saw a woman with her head uncovered,
touching Jesus.
What did Simon think he was seeing?
Historians say there is clear evidence
that first-century Jewish women covered their heads
not only for prayer
but whenever they were outside of their own home.
For the women it was a matter of morals and a religious duty.
That's the way it was.
And for Pharisees the law was sacred--
the only way for them to please God.
So Simon is seeing the woman's hair,
and for him it's a clear sign of her immorality.
She is a sinner.
And she is touching Jesus.
That breaks another law,
the one that makes a person unclean for touching a sinner.
So it's unquestionably clear to Simon that Jesus is a sinner, too.
That's the law.
And for Simon, the law is the most important thing.
___________________________________________
Those three little verses at the end of today's gospel
help explain what's really going on at that dinner.
Women followed Jesus.
They provided for him.
Other women, as well as men,
experienced healing from Jesus' teaching.
The woman at the well experienced acceptance
when Jesus entered into theological dialogue with her.
She became a disciple.
All around Galilee women and men
experienced freedom and new life
when Jesus accepted them as equals.
He talked with them.
He ate with them.
He showed God's love to them.
___________________________________________
Perhaps the woman in today's Gospel had heard Jesus teaching.
Followed him on the way.
Saw him taking sides with the marginalized.
Listened to him, turned her life around
and, freed from guilt, changed her ways.
That fits the dynamic that Paul describes in the second reading,
that it's not following the law that makes us right with God.
It's our openness to God's gracious presence in our lives.
Once we see, we change--
and the fruit of our faith in God is love.
So Jesus doesn't tell the woman, “I forgive you.”
He tells her, “Your faith has saved you.”
That is, you admitted your wrongs,
you let yourself be open to God's loving forgiveness,
and you are now right with God.
You are justified.
___________________________________________
The same lesson
is at the heart of Jesus' story to Simon about the two debtors:
the response to forgiveness is love.
The woman's extravagant act of devotion is a sign
that her many sins—whatever they may have been--
have already been forgiven.
Free of her past sins, she is full of love,
and she pours it out
on the man who taught her about God's forgiveness.
___________________________________________
Simon's friends, in that same legalistic and judgmental mindset,
still don't understand.
They think Jesus—the prophet who came out of the desert
calling people to “repent and believe the good news”--
is claiming that he is the one forgiving her sins.
But Jesus clearly says that he doesn't forgive sin.
God does.
___________________________________________
These scriptures have deep levels of meaning for us today.
Among other things, they teach us about forgiveness,
that God is the forgiver of sin,
that gratitude for forgiveness spurs us to good works.
They show us that Jesus stood with
the poor, the hungry, sinners, and the marginalized
over the religious and political leaders.
___________________________________________
We know that God has forgiven us.
We celebrated that forgiveness
in our penitential rite and general absolution
at the beginning of today's Mass.
Out of gratitude, we—like that sinful woman--
are filled with love and called to good works.
We are called to follow Jesus' Way,
along with that formerly sinful woman,
along with every sincerely remorseful sinner who ever lived.
As Dr. Elizabeth Vasko puts it,
“To be a Christian
is to take sides with those who are marginalized,
dehumanized, and subject to violence.”
___________________________________________
How do we take sides?
In the next few weeks we will see
two major party Presidential nominating conventions.
We are already seeing the ads—especially the attack ads--
for and against the candidates for President and Congress.
We've been seeing ads
that glorify fracking and promote the use of fossil fuels
for quite a while.
One of the ways we take sides is by exercising faithful citizenship.
We look for the candidates who stand with the poor, the hungry,
the repentant sinners, and the marginalized.
We vote for policies and issues
that reflect the values and principles
of Catholic Social teaching,
all based on the right and dignity of the human person--
every person.
We take into account the preferential option for the poor.
___________________________________________
It's not always an easy choice.
Maybe we wanted a different candidate,
but someone else got nominated.
Maybe we don't think any of the candidates
are as good as we'd like.
But whether we like it or not—neutrality is not an option.
We have to do our homework
and put our X for the candidates and issues
that most closely reflect our deepest values.
We have to be on the side of
the poor, the hungry, and the marginalized.
We have to stand up for them… just like Jesus did.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 10 OTC, June 5, 2016
First Reading: 1 Kings 17:17-24
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13
Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-19
Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
Scripture scholars agree that Luke created
the story about the widow of Nain in today's Gospel.
Fr. Reginald Fuller, for example, calls it
a “story that has little historical basis.”
What Luke was doing was shaping
the story of the widow of Zarephath
to show Jesus as surpassing Elijah in his role as prophet
and in his compassion for the vulnerable and oppressed.
Luke makes it clear in the response of the crowd:
"A great prophet has arisen in our midst," he has them say.
"God has visited this people," he has them say.
__________________________________________
This story is really not about resuscitation.
The miracle is not raising someone from the dead
but bringing life to those who are dead to the life they have.
All three of today's readings point to rebirth and new life.
They tell us clearly
that our God is the God of life, the God of the living.
The widow in Zarephath was trapped
in the idea that her own sin
was the reason her son was sick unto death.
Paul was trapped
in a legalistic following of his ancestral traditions.
The widow in Nain was trapped
in the social structures
that made her as good as dead without a man to belong to.
__________________________________________
So these stories are about metanoia, a turning around,
a change in perspective and belief.
The widow of Nain, without a husband, without a son,
is weak and defenseless
in the culture of that first century patriarchal society.
Jesus' compassion turns her situation around,
and the crowd sees his action clearly.
They see his compassion for her,
and they understand the oppressive system
that would render her destitute.
They had taken for granted
the oppression of their culture and its systems
to the point that it was invisible to them,
but Jesus' action makes it visible.
Once they see the systems that diminish their lives,
they also see the possibility of change and choice.
__________________________________________
Like so many of the scriptures,
this story gives us a vivid metaphor
for life-changing, life-defining experiences.
The widow's son is dead,
and he is brought back to life.
The widow faces the death of poverty and exclusion,
and she is brought back to life.
The crowd recognizes
that they have been victimized by a brutal government
that ruled with the cooperation of the rich and powerful
of their own religion.
They been like the walking dead.
__________________________________________
We've all been there.
It can start with an assumption that turns out to be false.
Like how much money we need.
So we stay in a job that stifles our imagination
or puts terrible burdens on us.
Then one day we see,
and we rise up from that dead-end job and move on.
Or we make a false assumption about God,
like that widow in Zarephath
thinking that some guilt from her past
is causing God to take her son's life.
Then we grow to understand
that God is not judgmental but compassionate,
and we rise up to live in joy.
Or like Paul in that second reading,
we make assumptions about what's right and what's wrong
and set out to punish the wrong ones.
Then something happens—an “ah-hah” moment--
and we turn our lives around.
We've all experienced them--
life-defining moments,
the time before and the time after distinctly different.
__________________________________________
Not all of those life-changing experiences are big ones.
The little daily ones are just as important,
like deciding to go to a lecture,
or registering to vote,
or cleaning the closet and donating the clothes,
or planting a tree,
or smiling and waving at a stranger on the street.
Those little experiences are possible
because we understand the systems that try to control us
and we are free to act to change them.
We are free to act, according to Fr. John Shea,
because Jesus gives us the possibility.
Shea calls Jesus a “peddler of choices”
because he “revealed the mercy of God
and the oppression of people,” allowing us
not only to see what keeps us among the walking dead
but also to rise up and live.
__________________________________________
In our freedom of the reign of God,
we are called to take action.
Our model is Jesus as he reaches out in compassion.
Sometimes the action is reaching out to refugees in our midst.
Sometimes the action is phoning City Council about Lake Erie.
Sometimes the action is talking with a neighbor.
____________________________________________
Whatever action we take, we have a choice.
The Gospel calls us to choose compassion.
And that raises us up, out of our deadness, into new life.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: 1 Kings 17:17-24
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13
Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-19
Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
Scripture scholars agree that Luke created
the story about the widow of Nain in today's Gospel.
Fr. Reginald Fuller, for example, calls it
a “story that has little historical basis.”
What Luke was doing was shaping
the story of the widow of Zarephath
to show Jesus as surpassing Elijah in his role as prophet
and in his compassion for the vulnerable and oppressed.
Luke makes it clear in the response of the crowd:
"A great prophet has arisen in our midst," he has them say.
"God has visited this people," he has them say.
__________________________________________
This story is really not about resuscitation.
The miracle is not raising someone from the dead
but bringing life to those who are dead to the life they have.
All three of today's readings point to rebirth and new life.
They tell us clearly
that our God is the God of life, the God of the living.
The widow in Zarephath was trapped
in the idea that her own sin
was the reason her son was sick unto death.
Paul was trapped
in a legalistic following of his ancestral traditions.
The widow in Nain was trapped
in the social structures
that made her as good as dead without a man to belong to.
__________________________________________
So these stories are about metanoia, a turning around,
a change in perspective and belief.
The widow of Nain, without a husband, without a son,
is weak and defenseless
in the culture of that first century patriarchal society.
Jesus' compassion turns her situation around,
and the crowd sees his action clearly.
They see his compassion for her,
and they understand the oppressive system
that would render her destitute.
They had taken for granted
the oppression of their culture and its systems
to the point that it was invisible to them,
but Jesus' action makes it visible.
Once they see the systems that diminish their lives,
they also see the possibility of change and choice.
__________________________________________
Like so many of the scriptures,
this story gives us a vivid metaphor
for life-changing, life-defining experiences.
The widow's son is dead,
and he is brought back to life.
The widow faces the death of poverty and exclusion,
and she is brought back to life.
The crowd recognizes
that they have been victimized by a brutal government
that ruled with the cooperation of the rich and powerful
of their own religion.
They been like the walking dead.
__________________________________________
We've all been there.
It can start with an assumption that turns out to be false.
Like how much money we need.
So we stay in a job that stifles our imagination
or puts terrible burdens on us.
Then one day we see,
and we rise up from that dead-end job and move on.
Or we make a false assumption about God,
like that widow in Zarephath
thinking that some guilt from her past
is causing God to take her son's life.
Then we grow to understand
that God is not judgmental but compassionate,
and we rise up to live in joy.
Or like Paul in that second reading,
we make assumptions about what's right and what's wrong
and set out to punish the wrong ones.
Then something happens—an “ah-hah” moment--
and we turn our lives around.
We've all experienced them--
life-defining moments,
the time before and the time after distinctly different.
__________________________________________
Not all of those life-changing experiences are big ones.
The little daily ones are just as important,
like deciding to go to a lecture,
or registering to vote,
or cleaning the closet and donating the clothes,
or planting a tree,
or smiling and waving at a stranger on the street.
Those little experiences are possible
because we understand the systems that try to control us
and we are free to act to change them.
We are free to act, according to Fr. John Shea,
because Jesus gives us the possibility.
Shea calls Jesus a “peddler of choices”
because he “revealed the mercy of God
and the oppression of people,” allowing us
not only to see what keeps us among the walking dead
but also to rise up and live.
__________________________________________
In our freedom of the reign of God,
we are called to take action.
Our model is Jesus as he reaches out in compassion.
Sometimes the action is reaching out to refugees in our midst.
Sometimes the action is phoning City Council about Lake Erie.
Sometimes the action is talking with a neighbor.
____________________________________________
Whatever action we take, we have a choice.
The Gospel calls us to choose compassion.
And that raises us up, out of our deadness, into new life.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Body & Blood of Christ, May 29, 2016
First Reading: Genesis 14:18-20
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 110:1-4
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: Luke 9:11B-17
Today's gospel
looks like a giant picnic potluck
for the Knights of Columbus.
Luke tells us that there were 5,000 men
sitting on the grass
eating fish sandwiches.
Who planned it?
Who cooked the fish, baked the bread, and packed the baskets?
Matthew's gospel gives us a hint.
When Matthew tells this story
of the multiplication of the loaves and fish,
he adds a detail: “not counting women and children.”
Theologian Megan McKenna suggests that the ratio at that time
would have been 5 or 6 women and children
for every adult man,
so the crowd would have been 25,000 or 30,000
if everyone had been counted.
That many people in a crowd,
whether it's 5,000 or 30,000, cannot be factual.
Jesus was outside the fishing village of Bethsaida,
total population of no more than 6,000,
so maybe 1,200 men from there... if they all came.
The other 3,800 couldn't have come from the surrounding towns.
The biggest village outside Bethsaida
had no more than 400 people,
which would be 80 adult men
and 320 women and children from there
and even fewer from each of the smaller villages.
Knowing how outings like picnics work in our time,
we can figure out where the food came from.
It's those Daughters of Isabella, the “ladies' auxiliary” of the KofC.
They fixed it and brought it,
and the miracle that Jesus performed
was getting people to share it—to give it to others.
________________________________________
Besides this feeding of the 5,000 in Luke,
the gospels report lots of other meals that Jesus had a part in,
among them the feeding of the 4,000,
the Cana wedding feast;
meals at the house of Matthew, Peter, Levi, Simon,
Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, Zacchaeus;
dinners at the houses of two different Pharisees;
the Last Supper;
and after the resurrection at table in Emmaus;
in his appearance to the ten disciples;
and at breakfast on the beach.
These stories are not history.
They are metaphors put together by the evangelists
to tell important lessons about Jesus' life and teaching.
________________________________________
The first century society that Jesus lived in
typically saw four different meanings in meals:
to support kinship,
to enforce boundaries,
to perpetuate social values,
and to gain honor.
And Jesus turned every one of them upside down.
He used meals to disrupt social values
and overturn cultural standards.
For example, Jesus used meals
to redefine who he considered his family.
When his mother and brothers called for him to come out to them,
Jesus said that his family
are the people who hear the word of God and keep it.
And Jesus used meals
to challenge exclusivism in his society and in his religion.
He put the needs of people
ahead of traditions about washing or fasting
or keeping Sabbath rules.
He ate with sinners.
He didn't hesitate to call attention to a sinner
as serving God more faithfully
than a host with great social rank.
In short, when Jesus' followers talked about him,
they remembered his subversive message of love
embodied in table fellowship.
________________________________________
Catholic theologian Joseph Martos
says that the question he asks,
and which most scholars do not ask,
is what experience is the evangelist trying to talk about
when language is being used metaphorically?
What experience of Jesus
is Luke trying to talk about in the feeding of the 5,000?
What experience of Jesus
were the gospel writers trying to talk about
with at least 18 different stories
of meals and eating and drinking—all that table fellowship?
When we look at Jesus' teaching as a whole,
it makes perfect sense.
In his latest book
[Deconstructing Sacramental Theology and Reconstructing Catholic Ritual]
Dr. Martos says that the people of the time
who heard Jesus say
“This is my body” and “This is my blood”--
at least the ones who had followed him along the way--
they would have taken those sentences as metaphors.
My flesh is real food!
My blood is real drink!
I am real!
Chew on what I have said and done.
Drink in what I have taught.
________________________________________
The pattern in that letter of Paul we just heard
uses language that we still use at Mass--
took, blessed, broke, gave.
That pattern shows up in the multiplication of the loaves and fish.
It shows up in the Last Supper narratives.
It's what Jesus did,
and what he tells us to do:
Take—you have life, so grab on and live it.
Bless—thank God for all that is, life and breath, wine and bread.
Break—put all you have into loving others, even if it breaks you...
until it does break you.
Give—give all out of love. Give your self away.
________________________________________
So we follow the way of Jesus.
We chew on his example,
drink in his teaching.
We forgive.
We include everyone.
We love one another.
We have potlucks.
And we break bread together.
First Reading: Genesis 14:18-20
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 110:1-4
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: Luke 9:11B-17
Today's gospel
looks like a giant picnic potluck
for the Knights of Columbus.
Luke tells us that there were 5,000 men
sitting on the grass
eating fish sandwiches.
Who planned it?
Who cooked the fish, baked the bread, and packed the baskets?
Matthew's gospel gives us a hint.
When Matthew tells this story
of the multiplication of the loaves and fish,
he adds a detail: “not counting women and children.”
Theologian Megan McKenna suggests that the ratio at that time
would have been 5 or 6 women and children
for every adult man,
so the crowd would have been 25,000 or 30,000
if everyone had been counted.
That many people in a crowd,
whether it's 5,000 or 30,000, cannot be factual.
Jesus was outside the fishing village of Bethsaida,
total population of no more than 6,000,
so maybe 1,200 men from there... if they all came.
The other 3,800 couldn't have come from the surrounding towns.
The biggest village outside Bethsaida
had no more than 400 people,
which would be 80 adult men
and 320 women and children from there
and even fewer from each of the smaller villages.
Knowing how outings like picnics work in our time,
we can figure out where the food came from.
It's those Daughters of Isabella, the “ladies' auxiliary” of the KofC.
They fixed it and brought it,
and the miracle that Jesus performed
was getting people to share it—to give it to others.
________________________________________
Besides this feeding of the 5,000 in Luke,
the gospels report lots of other meals that Jesus had a part in,
among them the feeding of the 4,000,
the Cana wedding feast;
meals at the house of Matthew, Peter, Levi, Simon,
Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, Zacchaeus;
dinners at the houses of two different Pharisees;
the Last Supper;
and after the resurrection at table in Emmaus;
in his appearance to the ten disciples;
and at breakfast on the beach.
These stories are not history.
They are metaphors put together by the evangelists
to tell important lessons about Jesus' life and teaching.
________________________________________
The first century society that Jesus lived in
typically saw four different meanings in meals:
to support kinship,
to enforce boundaries,
to perpetuate social values,
and to gain honor.
And Jesus turned every one of them upside down.
He used meals to disrupt social values
and overturn cultural standards.
For example, Jesus used meals
to redefine who he considered his family.
When his mother and brothers called for him to come out to them,
Jesus said that his family
are the people who hear the word of God and keep it.
And Jesus used meals
to challenge exclusivism in his society and in his religion.
He put the needs of people
ahead of traditions about washing or fasting
or keeping Sabbath rules.
He ate with sinners.
He didn't hesitate to call attention to a sinner
as serving God more faithfully
than a host with great social rank.
In short, when Jesus' followers talked about him,
they remembered his subversive message of love
embodied in table fellowship.
________________________________________
Catholic theologian Joseph Martos
says that the question he asks,
and which most scholars do not ask,
is what experience is the evangelist trying to talk about
when language is being used metaphorically?
What experience of Jesus
is Luke trying to talk about in the feeding of the 5,000?
What experience of Jesus
were the gospel writers trying to talk about
with at least 18 different stories
of meals and eating and drinking—all that table fellowship?
When we look at Jesus' teaching as a whole,
it makes perfect sense.
In his latest book
[Deconstructing Sacramental Theology and Reconstructing Catholic Ritual]
Dr. Martos says that the people of the time
who heard Jesus say
“This is my body” and “This is my blood”--
at least the ones who had followed him along the way--
they would have taken those sentences as metaphors.
My flesh is real food!
My blood is real drink!
I am real!
Chew on what I have said and done.
Drink in what I have taught.
________________________________________
The pattern in that letter of Paul we just heard
uses language that we still use at Mass--
took, blessed, broke, gave.
That pattern shows up in the multiplication of the loaves and fish.
It shows up in the Last Supper narratives.
It's what Jesus did,
and what he tells us to do:
Take—you have life, so grab on and live it.
Bless—thank God for all that is, life and breath, wine and bread.
Break—put all you have into loving others, even if it breaks you...
until it does break you.
Give—give all out of love. Give your self away.
________________________________________
So we follow the way of Jesus.
We chew on his example,
drink in his teaching.
We forgive.
We include everyone.
We love one another.
We have potlucks.
And we break bread together.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Trinity C, May 22, 2016
First Reading: PROVERBS 8:22-31
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 8:4-9
Second Reading: ROMANS 5:1-5
Gospel: JOHN 16:12-15
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
Last week I went down to John XXIII parish for a daily Mass
and heard Fr. Herb Weber comment
that Trinity Sunday inevitably brings
the worst homily of the year, every year.
I think I know why.
The doctrine of the Trinity puts God in a box.
We've heard the explanations.
Three persons in one God.
Like a triangle with three sides, still one triangle.
Like a chicken egg, with a shell, a yolk, and a white, still one egg.
Like an apple, with skin, flesh, and seeds, still one apple.
Like water as ice, as liquid, and steam, still H2O.
And, of course, like the three-lobed leaf of a shamrock…
thank you, St. Patrick!
__________________________________________
Doctrines like the Trinity develop from an experience of the divine,
an original encounter with God that a person tries to talk about.
We memorize the doctrine,
but we can't let the understanding
of one person or one time period
become the litmus test of our faith.
Our faith will falter
if we try to rely on somebody else's description
of their experience of God's presence.
It's not enough.
It's not ours.
__________________________________________
As our understanding of the world grows,
as our time in history changes,
as our life situation develops,
so must our understanding of God
grow and change and develop.
What really matters is
not how they described their experience of God
but how we experience the presence of God.
That's not to say that we can't learn from our ancestors in faith.
We do.
Hearing how they have experienced the divine
can help us recognize God in our own experience.
Take the Sign of the Cross, our declaration of trinitarian faith:
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
That's foundational.
But we experience God's presence
in more ways than that trinitarian formula.
One of my favorites is Luke 13:34,
where Jesus laments over Jerusalem, saying
“...how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings….”
So we may experience God as a Father… and a Mother,
as the source of all being, gracious mystery, creator,
the almighty one, sustainer, nurturer,
divine presence, perfect love.
We may experience Jesus as the Son of God… and as the Christ,
our brother, teacher, friend, healer,
judge of the living and the dead, Messiah,
companion on the way, love.
We may experience the Holy Spirit as the giver of life…
and as Paraclete, helper, advocate, consoler, inspirer,
enlivener, breath of God, indwelling love.
__________________________________________
I find it telling that, in all of the Hebrew scriptures,
the word “father” for God is barely a whisper,
used just ten times.
And the word “trinity” is not found anywhere in the Bible.
The first recorded use of "trinity"
was by Theophilus of Antioch in the late 2nd century.
He defined the Trinity
as God, God's Word, and God's Wisdom Sophia
in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation.
Half a century after that
came Tertullian's defense of the Trinity
against the Praxean heresy
that said Jesus was the Father incarnate.
But Tertullian's argument against Praxeus suggested
that the Son was subordinate to the Father,
which was later judged to be a heresy of its own.
The struggle over the Trinity went on.
By the 12th century, people were commonly describing God
as both father and mother,
notably the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century
and the abbess Julian of Norwich in the 15th.
Some of Julian's views were not typical.
She wrote of the Trinity as a family,
with God as the father
and Jesus as both brother and mother—there's that hen again!
Discussion went on and on over the centuries,
eventually giving us what we have now,
the requirement of Roman Catholicism
that we believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.
__________________________________________
It's pretty obvious from that bit of history that doctrine develops.
How that fits
with the teaching that revelation is over
is instructive.
St. Thomas Aquinas taught—back in the 1200s--
that revelation ended with the death of the last apostle,
about the year 100 AD.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church unequivocally states that,
after that time, “There will be no further Revelation.”
What we don't usually hear about is that the Catechism,
in the very next sentence, goes on to state that
“even if revelation is already complete,
it has not been made completely explicit;
it remains for Christian faith
gradually to grasp its full significance
over the course of the centuries.”
__________________________________________
So we continue that age-old quest for the living God.
Revelation is not over.
God is not dead.
Each time we read and ponder the scriptures,
each time we pray,
each time we reach out in love to another person,
we see God revealed anew,
among and within us,
here and now.
Glory be to God!
First Reading: PROVERBS 8:22-31
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 8:4-9
Second Reading: ROMANS 5:1-5
Gospel: JOHN 16:12-15
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
Last week I went down to John XXIII parish for a daily Mass
and heard Fr. Herb Weber comment
that Trinity Sunday inevitably brings
the worst homily of the year, every year.
I think I know why.
The doctrine of the Trinity puts God in a box.
We've heard the explanations.
Three persons in one God.
Like a triangle with three sides, still one triangle.
Like a chicken egg, with a shell, a yolk, and a white, still one egg.
Like an apple, with skin, flesh, and seeds, still one apple.
Like water as ice, as liquid, and steam, still H2O.
And, of course, like the three-lobed leaf of a shamrock…
thank you, St. Patrick!
__________________________________________
Doctrines like the Trinity develop from an experience of the divine,
an original encounter with God that a person tries to talk about.
We memorize the doctrine,
but we can't let the understanding
of one person or one time period
become the litmus test of our faith.
Our faith will falter
if we try to rely on somebody else's description
of their experience of God's presence.
It's not enough.
It's not ours.
__________________________________________
As our understanding of the world grows,
as our time in history changes,
as our life situation develops,
so must our understanding of God
grow and change and develop.
What really matters is
not how they described their experience of God
but how we experience the presence of God.
That's not to say that we can't learn from our ancestors in faith.
We do.
Hearing how they have experienced the divine
can help us recognize God in our own experience.
Take the Sign of the Cross, our declaration of trinitarian faith:
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
That's foundational.
But we experience God's presence
in more ways than that trinitarian formula.
One of my favorites is Luke 13:34,
where Jesus laments over Jerusalem, saying
“...how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings….”
So we may experience God as a Father… and a Mother,
as the source of all being, gracious mystery, creator,
the almighty one, sustainer, nurturer,
divine presence, perfect love.
We may experience Jesus as the Son of God… and as the Christ,
our brother, teacher, friend, healer,
judge of the living and the dead, Messiah,
companion on the way, love.
We may experience the Holy Spirit as the giver of life…
and as Paraclete, helper, advocate, consoler, inspirer,
enlivener, breath of God, indwelling love.
__________________________________________
I find it telling that, in all of the Hebrew scriptures,
the word “father” for God is barely a whisper,
used just ten times.
And the word “trinity” is not found anywhere in the Bible.
The first recorded use of "trinity"
was by Theophilus of Antioch in the late 2nd century.
He defined the Trinity
as God, God's Word, and God's Wisdom Sophia
in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation.
Half a century after that
came Tertullian's defense of the Trinity
against the Praxean heresy
that said Jesus was the Father incarnate.
But Tertullian's argument against Praxeus suggested
that the Son was subordinate to the Father,
which was later judged to be a heresy of its own.
The struggle over the Trinity went on.
By the 12th century, people were commonly describing God
as both father and mother,
notably the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century
and the abbess Julian of Norwich in the 15th.
Some of Julian's views were not typical.
She wrote of the Trinity as a family,
with God as the father
and Jesus as both brother and mother—there's that hen again!
Discussion went on and on over the centuries,
eventually giving us what we have now,
the requirement of Roman Catholicism
that we believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.
__________________________________________
It's pretty obvious from that bit of history that doctrine develops.
How that fits
with the teaching that revelation is over
is instructive.
St. Thomas Aquinas taught—back in the 1200s--
that revelation ended with the death of the last apostle,
about the year 100 AD.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church unequivocally states that,
after that time, “There will be no further Revelation.”
What we don't usually hear about is that the Catechism,
in the very next sentence, goes on to state that
“even if revelation is already complete,
it has not been made completely explicit;
it remains for Christian faith
gradually to grasp its full significance
over the course of the centuries.”
__________________________________________
So we continue that age-old quest for the living God.
Revelation is not over.
God is not dead.
Each time we read and ponder the scriptures,
each time we pray,
each time we reach out in love to another person,
we see God revealed anew,
among and within us,
here and now.
Glory be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Pentecost C, May 15, 2016
First Reading: ACTS 2:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:3B-7, 12-13
Gospel: JOHN 20:19-23
Three years ago—May 6, 2013--
an African-American dishwasher in Cleveland
was one of the heroes who helped rescue three women
who had been held captive in his neighborhood
for over 10 years.
When reporters asked him about it, he said,
"I knew something was wrong
when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms."
Charles Ramsey's experience of racism in America
made Amanda Berry's running to him
a “dead giveaway” that something was seriously wrong.
When CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked him
how he felt about being a hero, Charles Ramsey said,
“I’m a Christian, an American. I am just like you.
We bleed the same blood.”
Twenty-five years ago—May 10, 1991—Terry Anderson,
freed after nearly seven years as a hostage in Lebanon,
said he bore no hatred toward his captors.
"I don't hate anybody," he told reporters.
"I'm a Christian and a Catholic,
and it's really required of me that I forgive,
no matter how hard that may be,
and I intend to do that."
__________________________________________
When I'm a hundred years old, the majority of Americans
will not be what we Americans think of as white.
Right now, the majority of the world is not white.
In fact, whites make up just 16% of the global population.
And the majority of the world is not Christian.
Christians are in first place at 31%,
and Muslims are second at 22%.
That makes some people in this country so afraid
that they are lashing out in anger.
When something doesn't go their way,
they try to blame people who are different from them.
__________________________________________
Just look at our world--
sometimes it seems as if the Spirit has gone out of it.
The very environment that supports our life
is being shattered by our greed.
War continues to devastate people—especially the poor--
around the world.
Here in our country, too many people of color
hunker down in fear when they see a police car coming.
And, in this election year, we're seeing our country torn apart
by the hateful and vicious bigotry in our political campaigns.
We hear candidates call for immigration policies
that would deport 11 million people,
separating parents from their children,
or for building a wall across our southern border
to keep out the Mexicans--
people whom one candidate called “rapists.”
And there's a proposal to end terrorism
by banning anyone who appears Muslim
from coming into the country.
Is the Spirit still with us?
Sometimes it doesn't seem so.
__________________________________________
Most of the 31% of people in this world who are Christians
will be hearing today's Pentecost readings.
Will they accept the message there for us?
The followers of Jesus were all in one place together.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
God was present and active,
not some distant abstract being
that we might encounter someday after we die.
Those early disciples tried to live
in the presence and power of the Spirit of God
every moment of every day.
__________________________________________
In the Gospel, John talks about how the followers
were huddled in a locked room.
Afraid and alone, wondering what might become of them,
they remembered Jesus words:
Peace be with you.
Receive the Spirit.
Forgive one another.
Just imagine for a minute if,
instead of inciting fear and violence, separation and hatred,
our politicians would live those words.
What if they followed the Spirit?
What if they listened to Pope Francis?
In February he said, "A person who thinks only about building walls,
wherever they may be, and not about building bridges,
is not a true Christian.
This is not in the Gospel."
What if our politicians celebrated Pentecost
by remembering how the Holy Spirit has knit together
people of all nations and languages
to share Jesus' good news?
What if they listened to Dorothy Day?
She wrote:
“As we come to know the seriousness of the situation,
the war, the racism, the poverty in our world,
we come to realize that things will not be changed
simply by words or demonstrations.
Rather, it's a question of living one's life
in a drastically different way.”
__________________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit,
we try to celebrate Pentecost in every part of our lives,
all year long,
year in and year out.
Our Tree Toledo project—our one ministry as a community--
was born out of months of discernment
about how best to use our limited numbers and resources
to serve our neighbors.
On top of that work to mitigate climate change,
we have donated to many organizations
that carry out the works of mercy,
like CRS' disaster relief, Compassion on Death Row,
UStogether, 1Matters, Tent City, Seagate Food Bank,
the International Institute for Peace Education,
the Dialogue-to-Change anti-racism effort, Rahab's Heart,
Second Chance, Claver House, Padua Center,
and the 1for3 water project.
And I see each of you,
in addition to what we do as a community,
passionately involved
in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy,
living lives of dedication to serving others.
Our oxytocin level is sky-high!
[In case you missed the homily May 1, when we're generous, kind, and
caring, our bodies release oxytocin, a hormone that brings feelings of
warmth, generosity, euphoria, and connection to others.]
The Spirit is indeed alive here!
And the Spirit will be with us
as we go through the turmoil of this election season.
With the same discernment that we live the rest of our lives,
we will go to vote this November
with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
uppermost in our minds--
the right and dignity of the human person
and all that goes with it.
We'll look at all the candidates
from President through Senator and Congress
to state Supreme Court Justice down to County Commissioner.
We'll look at the issues.
And we'll vote our Pentecost understanding
that we are all one body in Christ
and that faithful discipleship and faithful citizenship
both require that we love one another…
to the ends of the earth.
Amen!
First Reading: ACTS 2:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:3B-7, 12-13
Gospel: JOHN 20:19-23
Three years ago—May 6, 2013--
an African-American dishwasher in Cleveland
was one of the heroes who helped rescue three women
who had been held captive in his neighborhood
for over 10 years.
When reporters asked him about it, he said,
"I knew something was wrong
when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms."
Charles Ramsey's experience of racism in America
made Amanda Berry's running to him
a “dead giveaway” that something was seriously wrong.
When CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked him
how he felt about being a hero, Charles Ramsey said,
“I’m a Christian, an American. I am just like you.
We bleed the same blood.”
Twenty-five years ago—May 10, 1991—Terry Anderson,
freed after nearly seven years as a hostage in Lebanon,
said he bore no hatred toward his captors.
"I don't hate anybody," he told reporters.
"I'm a Christian and a Catholic,
and it's really required of me that I forgive,
no matter how hard that may be,
and I intend to do that."
__________________________________________
When I'm a hundred years old, the majority of Americans
will not be what we Americans think of as white.
Right now, the majority of the world is not white.
In fact, whites make up just 16% of the global population.
And the majority of the world is not Christian.
Christians are in first place at 31%,
and Muslims are second at 22%.
That makes some people in this country so afraid
that they are lashing out in anger.
When something doesn't go their way,
they try to blame people who are different from them.
__________________________________________
Just look at our world--
sometimes it seems as if the Spirit has gone out of it.
The very environment that supports our life
is being shattered by our greed.
War continues to devastate people—especially the poor--
around the world.
Here in our country, too many people of color
hunker down in fear when they see a police car coming.
And, in this election year, we're seeing our country torn apart
by the hateful and vicious bigotry in our political campaigns.
We hear candidates call for immigration policies
that would deport 11 million people,
separating parents from their children,
or for building a wall across our southern border
to keep out the Mexicans--
people whom one candidate called “rapists.”
And there's a proposal to end terrorism
by banning anyone who appears Muslim
from coming into the country.
Is the Spirit still with us?
Sometimes it doesn't seem so.
__________________________________________
Most of the 31% of people in this world who are Christians
will be hearing today's Pentecost readings.
Will they accept the message there for us?
The followers of Jesus were all in one place together.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
God was present and active,
not some distant abstract being
that we might encounter someday after we die.
Those early disciples tried to live
in the presence and power of the Spirit of God
every moment of every day.
__________________________________________
In the Gospel, John talks about how the followers
were huddled in a locked room.
Afraid and alone, wondering what might become of them,
they remembered Jesus words:
Peace be with you.
Receive the Spirit.
Forgive one another.
Just imagine for a minute if,
instead of inciting fear and violence, separation and hatred,
our politicians would live those words.
What if they followed the Spirit?
What if they listened to Pope Francis?
In February he said, "A person who thinks only about building walls,
wherever they may be, and not about building bridges,
is not a true Christian.
This is not in the Gospel."
What if our politicians celebrated Pentecost
by remembering how the Holy Spirit has knit together
people of all nations and languages
to share Jesus' good news?
What if they listened to Dorothy Day?
She wrote:
“As we come to know the seriousness of the situation,
the war, the racism, the poverty in our world,
we come to realize that things will not be changed
simply by words or demonstrations.
Rather, it's a question of living one's life
in a drastically different way.”
__________________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit,
we try to celebrate Pentecost in every part of our lives,
all year long,
year in and year out.
Our Tree Toledo project—our one ministry as a community--
was born out of months of discernment
about how best to use our limited numbers and resources
to serve our neighbors.
On top of that work to mitigate climate change,
we have donated to many organizations
that carry out the works of mercy,
like CRS' disaster relief, Compassion on Death Row,
UStogether, 1Matters, Tent City, Seagate Food Bank,
the International Institute for Peace Education,
the Dialogue-to-Change anti-racism effort, Rahab's Heart,
Second Chance, Claver House, Padua Center,
and the 1for3 water project.
And I see each of you,
in addition to what we do as a community,
passionately involved
in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy,
living lives of dedication to serving others.
Our oxytocin level is sky-high!
[In case you missed the homily May 1, when we're generous, kind, and
caring, our bodies release oxytocin, a hormone that brings feelings of
warmth, generosity, euphoria, and connection to others.]
The Spirit is indeed alive here!
And the Spirit will be with us
as we go through the turmoil of this election season.
With the same discernment that we live the rest of our lives,
we will go to vote this November
with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
uppermost in our minds--
the right and dignity of the human person
and all that goes with it.
We'll look at all the candidates
from President through Senator and Congress
to state Supreme Court Justice down to County Commissioner.
We'll look at the issues.
And we'll vote our Pentecost understanding
that we are all one body in Christ
and that faithful discipleship and faithful citizenship
both require that we love one another…
to the ends of the earth.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Ascension C, May 8, 2016
First Reading: ACTS 1:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 47: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: EPHESIANS 1:17-23
Gospel: LUKE 24:46-53
Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord,
we hear scriptures about Jesus ascending into heaven
that are obviously not literal.
We know that it's another one of those stories that is true
but didn't actually happen,
an experience of Divine Presence
that the followers of Jesus tried to express
in language and story that fit the world view of their time.
_______________________________________
There are some obvious clues
that lead us to see these
as expressions of faith experience
instead of historical fact.
Among other scripture scholars,
Fr. Raymond Brown points to
the developed theology of Paul's letter to the Ephesians,
written between 60 and 63 AD,
about 30 years after
the disciples experienced the resurrection and ascension.
Paul uses metaphors of his time and place--
metaphors familiar to the Greco-Roman socio-political culture
—to express the truth that Jesus has been lifted up
and lives in God for ever.
He describes Jesus as above all earthly powers,
head of the church,
Lord of creation.
Those are images that fit his time.
_______________________________________
Twenty to forty years after Ephesians,
an unknown author wrote the two pieces of scripture
that we know as Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.
Our New American Bible
has a footnote showing that they can't be historical
because the ascension happens
on Easter Sunday night in the Gospel,
then forty days later in the Acts of the Apostles.
So, while the Bible is true,
these stories are not factual recordings of historical events.
Another way we know that the ascension stories
are attempts to tell about Jesus' meaning
rather than relate history
comes in that there are three forms of the final commission
that Jesus is shown as giving to his disciples.
One is found in Matthew (28:18-20),
one in John (20:22-23),
and one in Luke (24:44-48) and Acts (1:8).
Scholars make other observations
that point to the evolution of thinking about Jesus
as the Christian community grew.
For example, Luke has Jesus say,
“These are my words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you,
that everything written about me
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms
must be fulfilled.”
Scholars say that Luke wrote those words
as a basic summary of the early Christian idea
that the Torah and the prophets foretold
Jesus' life, teaching, death, and resurrection.
They were trying to reconcile
what they thought about Jesus
while he was alive and preaching
with what had happened to him
and
with their continuing experience of his presence with them.
Another example is that the commissioning in Luke,
telling the disciples to preach the good news to all the nations,
expresses the goals of the early Christian community
as they ponder the significance of Jesus for them.
Those disciples, as the scriptures tell us,
mistakenly thought Jesus was a Messiah
who would take charge of the state,
set up a government,
reign as king... like David.
But then he was crucified,
and they began to understand
that his kingdom was not a worldly one.
They met and broke bread and remembered,
re-telling their memories
and continuing to experience his ongoing presence with them.
_______________________________________
Imagine them getting together and talking.
What did Jesus do?
What did he say we should do?
What does that mean for us now?
And they recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
_______________________________________
That's what we do, still, today.
We listen to the scriptures.
We ask ourselves what they mean.
We ponder our own experiences of the Spirit among us
in light of the experiences recorded by our ancestors in faith.
We express our own experiences of the Spirit of God
in ways that make sense to us,
given our understanding of science and humanity.
_______________________________________
One of the messages we hear
in today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles
is that Jesus lives in God.
Another message that we hear is that,
as followers of the way of Jesus,
we are commissioned to spread the good news
throughout the world.
That good news is
that all of creation--
including Jesus, including us--
lives with God and in God, eternally.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: ACTS 1:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 47: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: EPHESIANS 1:17-23
Gospel: LUKE 24:46-53
Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord,
we hear scriptures about Jesus ascending into heaven
that are obviously not literal.
We know that it's another one of those stories that is true
but didn't actually happen,
an experience of Divine Presence
that the followers of Jesus tried to express
in language and story that fit the world view of their time.
_______________________________________
There are some obvious clues
that lead us to see these
as expressions of faith experience
instead of historical fact.
Among other scripture scholars,
Fr. Raymond Brown points to
the developed theology of Paul's letter to the Ephesians,
written between 60 and 63 AD,
about 30 years after
the disciples experienced the resurrection and ascension.
Paul uses metaphors of his time and place--
metaphors familiar to the Greco-Roman socio-political culture
—to express the truth that Jesus has been lifted up
and lives in God for ever.
He describes Jesus as above all earthly powers,
head of the church,
Lord of creation.
Those are images that fit his time.
_______________________________________
Twenty to forty years after Ephesians,
an unknown author wrote the two pieces of scripture
that we know as Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.
Our New American Bible
has a footnote showing that they can't be historical
because the ascension happens
on Easter Sunday night in the Gospel,
then forty days later in the Acts of the Apostles.
So, while the Bible is true,
these stories are not factual recordings of historical events.
Another way we know that the ascension stories
are attempts to tell about Jesus' meaning
rather than relate history
comes in that there are three forms of the final commission
that Jesus is shown as giving to his disciples.
One is found in Matthew (28:18-20),
one in John (20:22-23),
and one in Luke (24:44-48) and Acts (1:8).
Scholars make other observations
that point to the evolution of thinking about Jesus
as the Christian community grew.
For example, Luke has Jesus say,
“These are my words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you,
that everything written about me
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms
must be fulfilled.”
Scholars say that Luke wrote those words
as a basic summary of the early Christian idea
that the Torah and the prophets foretold
Jesus' life, teaching, death, and resurrection.
They were trying to reconcile
what they thought about Jesus
while he was alive and preaching
with what had happened to him
and
with their continuing experience of his presence with them.
Another example is that the commissioning in Luke,
telling the disciples to preach the good news to all the nations,
expresses the goals of the early Christian community
as they ponder the significance of Jesus for them.
Those disciples, as the scriptures tell us,
mistakenly thought Jesus was a Messiah
who would take charge of the state,
set up a government,
reign as king... like David.
But then he was crucified,
and they began to understand
that his kingdom was not a worldly one.
They met and broke bread and remembered,
re-telling their memories
and continuing to experience his ongoing presence with them.
_______________________________________
Imagine them getting together and talking.
What did Jesus do?
What did he say we should do?
What does that mean for us now?
And they recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
_______________________________________
That's what we do, still, today.
We listen to the scriptures.
We ask ourselves what they mean.
We ponder our own experiences of the Spirit among us
in light of the experiences recorded by our ancestors in faith.
We express our own experiences of the Spirit of God
in ways that make sense to us,
given our understanding of science and humanity.
_______________________________________
One of the messages we hear
in today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles
is that Jesus lives in God.
Another message that we hear is that,
as followers of the way of Jesus,
we are commissioned to spread the good news
throughout the world.
That good news is
that all of creation--
including Jesus, including us--
lives with God and in God, eternally.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Easter 6 C, May 1, 2016
First Reading: ACTS 15:1-2, 22-29
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 67:1-8
Second Reading: REVELATION 21:10-14, 22-23
Gospel: JOHN 14:23-29
That story about the debate over circumcision
that we hear in the Acts of the Apostles
was written sometime in the mid-90s,
and it's a different from the story
from what Paul wrote to the Galatians about 40 years earlier.
Fr. Raymond Brown says that decision
to allow non-Jews to become Christians without circumcision
guaranteed that Christianity
would eventually become separate from Judaism.
So, from the very beginning we were ecclesia semper reformanda
—a church always re-forming, always changing,
always searching for ways to tell the story of faith
to the next generation.
In the early 400s St. Augustine of Hippo wrote about it.
In the 1960s Fr. Hans Küng wrote about it.
Now, because of technology,
we get almost immediate reporting of the ongoing debate
about what we need to do to be Christian.
How do we think about the wisdom and the glory of God?
How do we spread the good news that Jesus taught,
that good news that the reign of God is at hand?
How do we express the inexpressible?
Just like they did, we use symbols and metaphors
and create meaningful narratives.
Just like they did,
we try to live what we believe.
___________________________________________
It's like today's passage from Revelation, for example,
with all those visionary twelves:
twelve angels at twelve gates
with twelve names inscribed on them,
and twelve courses of stone in the foundation,
with twelve names of apostles inscribed on them.
Those twelves meant more than twelve to the early Christians.
Twelve to them meant complete:
all the people of God, everyone,
all included in God's house,
all that is.
And Revelation tells us that the city doesn't have a temple
because all the people live in God.
They don't need sun and moon
because the presence of God—God's “glory”--
is in them and lights up the world.
___________________________________________
Another effort of early Christians to tell the good news in narratives
shows up in today's gospel,
a continuation from last week
of Jesus' “last will and testament,”
created by the evangelist.
The story is true, but it's not, as Marcus Borg would put it,
something that really happened.
And the message is not written for the disciples.
They're not around any more.
It's for future generations,
communicating in story
Jesus' important messages:
first, that the Spirit will be with them to help them remember
that Jesus lives not only with God but also with them;
and second, that love, and the peace that love brings,
are central to Jesus' legacy.
___________________________________________
How do we see the joy and the dedication,
the care and the compassion,
the love for one another,
that Jesus learned from his Jewish tradition,
and called on his followers to practice,
in the midst of foreign occupation, oppression, and hardship?
His own experience had to have taught it to him,
had to have brought him the peace
that comes from helping others.
___________________________________________
Brain scientists looking at mob mentality found
that people who can think about their own moral standards
are more likely to be able to resist
getting caught up in a vicious cycle of violence.
They also tell us that generosity, kindness, and caring
release oxytocin, the hormone that brings feelings of warmth,
euphoria, and connection to others
and causes them to give more generously
and to feel more empathy.
It's the exact opposite of the vicious cycle of violence:
people on an “oxytocin high” can jump-start a virtuous circle,
where one person’s generous behavior triggers another’s.
So one person does a good deed for another,
and it inspires people who see it
to behave with compassion later, toward different people.
Maybe you've seen those TV ads for Liberty Mutual,
where one person's small action helps someone
and is seen by a third,
who goes on to do a good deed for someone else.
That really happens.
Brain scientists have shown how altruism spreads
from person to person to person to person,
how one person's goodness
can influence dozens or even hundreds of people,
some of whom he or she does not know and has not met.
___________________________________________
It's been 2000 years since Jesus called us to love one another,
2000 years since he said God's reign is at hand,
that he said we would have peace.
Where is this peace in our world?
In Michigan, 16-year-old Hunter Gandee
found peace in the world last week
when he carried his disabled nine-year-old brother 110½ miles
to inspire people to embrace people with disabilities.
In Tennessee, Jacob Weiss and Joy Teal found peace--
and spread it, too--
when they asked the people they invited to their wedding
to skip the presents and donate instead
to a fund that gives micro-grants to local nonprofits.
In last Wednesday's talk on Luke's gospel,
Fr. Jim Bacik shared a story about UT students
coming back from their service project in Haiti
to tell about the happiness they had seen
among people who lived in garbage dumps--
people whose faith taught them to live
with love for one another.
In Toledo, Julie is a coupon queen,
but she doesn't keep her bargains for herself and her family.
On the first of every month she delivers peace to the world
in the form of hundreds of dollars worth
of food and household goods
to local efforts to help the needy among us.
Down at Claver House, a local firefighter
finds peace in the world every Tuesday
when he brings a package of cookies
to thank George for his service in the Navy.
___________________________________________
There was great joy in the early Christian community.
It brought them peace, and it was noticed, and it spread.
They went about doing good, like Jesus had shown them,
and they were remarkable for the way they loved one another.
Their world was at peace.
___________________________________________
We experience that same joy, that same peace,
in this community dedicated to the Holy Spirit,
in each of the ways we reach out as individuals
and as a community together in our social concerns ministry.
As theologian Elizabeth Johnson says,
it's the Holy Spirit,
nothing less than God's own loving self,
present and active in the world,
bringing new life to all peoples
and the whole of creation.
It's truly the Holy Spirit in us.
First Reading: ACTS 15:1-2, 22-29
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 67:1-8
Second Reading: REVELATION 21:10-14, 22-23
Gospel: JOHN 14:23-29
That story about the debate over circumcision
that we hear in the Acts of the Apostles
was written sometime in the mid-90s,
and it's a different from the story
from what Paul wrote to the Galatians about 40 years earlier.
Fr. Raymond Brown says that decision
to allow non-Jews to become Christians without circumcision
guaranteed that Christianity
would eventually become separate from Judaism.
So, from the very beginning we were ecclesia semper reformanda
—a church always re-forming, always changing,
always searching for ways to tell the story of faith
to the next generation.
In the early 400s St. Augustine of Hippo wrote about it.
In the 1960s Fr. Hans Küng wrote about it.
Now, because of technology,
we get almost immediate reporting of the ongoing debate
about what we need to do to be Christian.
How do we think about the wisdom and the glory of God?
How do we spread the good news that Jesus taught,
that good news that the reign of God is at hand?
How do we express the inexpressible?
Just like they did, we use symbols and metaphors
and create meaningful narratives.
Just like they did,
we try to live what we believe.
___________________________________________
It's like today's passage from Revelation, for example,
with all those visionary twelves:
twelve angels at twelve gates
with twelve names inscribed on them,
and twelve courses of stone in the foundation,
with twelve names of apostles inscribed on them.
Those twelves meant more than twelve to the early Christians.
Twelve to them meant complete:
all the people of God, everyone,
all included in God's house,
all that is.
And Revelation tells us that the city doesn't have a temple
because all the people live in God.
They don't need sun and moon
because the presence of God—God's “glory”--
is in them and lights up the world.
___________________________________________
Another effort of early Christians to tell the good news in narratives
shows up in today's gospel,
a continuation from last week
of Jesus' “last will and testament,”
created by the evangelist.
The story is true, but it's not, as Marcus Borg would put it,
something that really happened.
And the message is not written for the disciples.
They're not around any more.
It's for future generations,
communicating in story
Jesus' important messages:
first, that the Spirit will be with them to help them remember
that Jesus lives not only with God but also with them;
and second, that love, and the peace that love brings,
are central to Jesus' legacy.
___________________________________________
How do we see the joy and the dedication,
the care and the compassion,
the love for one another,
that Jesus learned from his Jewish tradition,
and called on his followers to practice,
in the midst of foreign occupation, oppression, and hardship?
His own experience had to have taught it to him,
had to have brought him the peace
that comes from helping others.
___________________________________________
Brain scientists looking at mob mentality found
that people who can think about their own moral standards
are more likely to be able to resist
getting caught up in a vicious cycle of violence.
They also tell us that generosity, kindness, and caring
release oxytocin, the hormone that brings feelings of warmth,
euphoria, and connection to others
and causes them to give more generously
and to feel more empathy.
It's the exact opposite of the vicious cycle of violence:
people on an “oxytocin high” can jump-start a virtuous circle,
where one person’s generous behavior triggers another’s.
So one person does a good deed for another,
and it inspires people who see it
to behave with compassion later, toward different people.
Maybe you've seen those TV ads for Liberty Mutual,
where one person's small action helps someone
and is seen by a third,
who goes on to do a good deed for someone else.
That really happens.
Brain scientists have shown how altruism spreads
from person to person to person to person,
how one person's goodness
can influence dozens or even hundreds of people,
some of whom he or she does not know and has not met.
___________________________________________
It's been 2000 years since Jesus called us to love one another,
2000 years since he said God's reign is at hand,
that he said we would have peace.
Where is this peace in our world?
In Michigan, 16-year-old Hunter Gandee
found peace in the world last week
when he carried his disabled nine-year-old brother 110½ miles
to inspire people to embrace people with disabilities.
In Tennessee, Jacob Weiss and Joy Teal found peace--
and spread it, too--
when they asked the people they invited to their wedding
to skip the presents and donate instead
to a fund that gives micro-grants to local nonprofits.
In last Wednesday's talk on Luke's gospel,
Fr. Jim Bacik shared a story about UT students
coming back from their service project in Haiti
to tell about the happiness they had seen
among people who lived in garbage dumps--
people whose faith taught them to live
with love for one another.
In Toledo, Julie is a coupon queen,
but she doesn't keep her bargains for herself and her family.
On the first of every month she delivers peace to the world
in the form of hundreds of dollars worth
of food and household goods
to local efforts to help the needy among us.
Down at Claver House, a local firefighter
finds peace in the world every Tuesday
when he brings a package of cookies
to thank George for his service in the Navy.
___________________________________________
There was great joy in the early Christian community.
It brought them peace, and it was noticed, and it spread.
They went about doing good, like Jesus had shown them,
and they were remarkable for the way they loved one another.
Their world was at peace.
___________________________________________
We experience that same joy, that same peace,
in this community dedicated to the Holy Spirit,
in each of the ways we reach out as individuals
and as a community together in our social concerns ministry.
As theologian Elizabeth Johnson says,
it's the Holy Spirit,
nothing less than God's own loving self,
present and active in the world,
bringing new life to all peoples
and the whole of creation.
It's truly the Holy Spirit in us.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Easter 5 C, April 24, 2016
First Reading: ACTS 14:21-27
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 145:8-13
Second Reading: REVELATION 21:1-5A
Gospel: JOHN 13:31-35
Today's gospel passage from John
is the beginning of what scholars call
Jesus' “farewell discourses,”
created to reflect the point of view
of the Johannine community.
They follow a first century pattern of a last will and testament
where a dying patriarch or religious leader
gave deathbed instructions to his heirs.
Assembled over a period of time,
these Johannine discourses
bear only a marginal likeness to Jesus' message.
But they do contain some remains of his intent.
_____________________________________
After I read that “glorify” part at the beginning of this passage
at least a dozen times without making much sense of it,
I had to look it up.
I found that John uses the word “glory”
to refer to power or splendor,
which didn't help a whole lot.
It did help when I found that the word “glory”
was used to mean the manifestation of God's presence.
Then I could see it as a post-resurrection affirmation
that God's presence had been
and continued to be
manifested in Jesus.
_____________________________________
Today's passage ends
with what is most assuredly the bedrock of Jesus' message.
It's love, the heart and soul of his teaching.
As a Jew faithful to the spirit of his tradition,
Jesus preached the great commandment,
the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:
God is one,
and you shall love God with all your being.
And he preached the commandment that he said is like it,
from Leviticus 19:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
_____________________________________
We know from the earliest writings in our Jewish tradition--
from the Torah--
and from earlier writings in our Christian tradition--
the synoptic gospels--
that Jesus called for a radical following of God's call to love.
_____________________________________
And that leads me to a serious examination of my own conscience:
Do I love like that?
Do I love God with my whole heart, with all my being?
Do I love my neighbor as myself?
Well, no.
Sometimes I manage it, but not always, not consistently.
I have a temper.
And it's not that I erupt in righteous anger at injustice.
That would be good.
No, it's that I fume
because I want something to be other than what is.
I'm mad because it's not my way.
And, as you probably have noticed,
I have a few opinions,
and sometimes I express them
without listening to what anyone else is saying.
I make judgments, too,
judgments about who I will give to and who I won't,
and it's not always love or mercy or wisdom that motivates me.
In short, I'm not really pouring myself out for others.
I'm not perfect, and I need to work at it.
_____________________________________
Apart from my own failures at loving God and neighbor,
I don't have to look far
for other negative examples to learn from.
I grew up hearing the story of my grandmother and her three sisters
who didn't talk with each other for 58 years
because they argued over
who got the bushel basket full of canned fruit--
spoiled fruit, no less--
from their mother's pantry when she died.
_____________________________________
On the brighter side, positive examples are all over the place.
Look at married couples
and the love it takes
to commit oneself permanently and intimately
to another person.
Look at Suzy, down with a flu-like cold last week,
phoning every tree nursery within a hundred miles
to find a semi-dwarf sweet cherry
for Tree Toledo's Earth Day planting at the Zepf Center.
Look at Mary Jo—she'll be 90 this summer,
and a liberal progressive feminist if there ever was one--
going to last Sunday's MultiFaith banquet
and covering her head with a scarf
because the event was at the mosque
and she wanted to show respect for their traditions.
Look at Liz, a TPS special-ed teacher
who keeps at it until the student blooms.
Look at Pope Francis
opening the Vatican to twelve Muslim refugees
and arranging to take care of them as they re-settle.
_____________________________________
Down at Claver House last Monday
one of the guests, a homeless addict,
was acting really funny.
A few of the folks ignored him.
Some of them yelled at him and called him names.
But Tom noticed it
and responded with compassion and wisdom and care,
tending him until the rescue squad arrived
and got him to the hospital in time.
_____________________________________
Sometimes it's easier to love a puppy—or even a chicken--
than a human being,
especially some of our relatives,
or the people we don't like,
the people we disagree with,
the people who do us wrong.
We aren't perfect, but we have to aim for it--
aim for that perfect love for all creation.
And that's when we pass the test--
that's when they know we are Christians
by our love.
First Reading: ACTS 14:21-27
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 145:8-13
Second Reading: REVELATION 21:1-5A
Gospel: JOHN 13:31-35
Today's gospel passage from John
is the beginning of what scholars call
Jesus' “farewell discourses,”
created to reflect the point of view
of the Johannine community.
They follow a first century pattern of a last will and testament
where a dying patriarch or religious leader
gave deathbed instructions to his heirs.
Assembled over a period of time,
these Johannine discourses
bear only a marginal likeness to Jesus' message.
But they do contain some remains of his intent.
_____________________________________
After I read that “glorify” part at the beginning of this passage
at least a dozen times without making much sense of it,
I had to look it up.
I found that John uses the word “glory”
to refer to power or splendor,
which didn't help a whole lot.
It did help when I found that the word “glory”
was used to mean the manifestation of God's presence.
Then I could see it as a post-resurrection affirmation
that God's presence had been
and continued to be
manifested in Jesus.
_____________________________________
Today's passage ends
with what is most assuredly the bedrock of Jesus' message.
It's love, the heart and soul of his teaching.
As a Jew faithful to the spirit of his tradition,
Jesus preached the great commandment,
the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:
God is one,
and you shall love God with all your being.
And he preached the commandment that he said is like it,
from Leviticus 19:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
_____________________________________
We know from the earliest writings in our Jewish tradition--
from the Torah--
and from earlier writings in our Christian tradition--
the synoptic gospels--
that Jesus called for a radical following of God's call to love.
_____________________________________
And that leads me to a serious examination of my own conscience:
Do I love like that?
Do I love God with my whole heart, with all my being?
Do I love my neighbor as myself?
Well, no.
Sometimes I manage it, but not always, not consistently.
I have a temper.
And it's not that I erupt in righteous anger at injustice.
That would be good.
No, it's that I fume
because I want something to be other than what is.
I'm mad because it's not my way.
And, as you probably have noticed,
I have a few opinions,
and sometimes I express them
without listening to what anyone else is saying.
I make judgments, too,
judgments about who I will give to and who I won't,
and it's not always love or mercy or wisdom that motivates me.
In short, I'm not really pouring myself out for others.
I'm not perfect, and I need to work at it.
_____________________________________
Apart from my own failures at loving God and neighbor,
I don't have to look far
for other negative examples to learn from.
I grew up hearing the story of my grandmother and her three sisters
who didn't talk with each other for 58 years
because they argued over
who got the bushel basket full of canned fruit--
spoiled fruit, no less--
from their mother's pantry when she died.
_____________________________________
On the brighter side, positive examples are all over the place.
Look at married couples
and the love it takes
to commit oneself permanently and intimately
to another person.
Look at Suzy, down with a flu-like cold last week,
phoning every tree nursery within a hundred miles
to find a semi-dwarf sweet cherry
for Tree Toledo's Earth Day planting at the Zepf Center.
Look at Mary Jo—she'll be 90 this summer,
and a liberal progressive feminist if there ever was one--
going to last Sunday's MultiFaith banquet
and covering her head with a scarf
because the event was at the mosque
and she wanted to show respect for their traditions.
Look at Liz, a TPS special-ed teacher
who keeps at it until the student blooms.
Look at Pope Francis
opening the Vatican to twelve Muslim refugees
and arranging to take care of them as they re-settle.
_____________________________________
Down at Claver House last Monday
one of the guests, a homeless addict,
was acting really funny.
A few of the folks ignored him.
Some of them yelled at him and called him names.
But Tom noticed it
and responded with compassion and wisdom and care,
tending him until the rescue squad arrived
and got him to the hospital in time.
_____________________________________
Sometimes it's easier to love a puppy—or even a chicken--
than a human being,
especially some of our relatives,
or the people we don't like,
the people we disagree with,
the people who do us wrong.
We aren't perfect, but we have to aim for it--
aim for that perfect love for all creation.
And that's when we pass the test--
that's when they know we are Christians
by our love.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Easter 4 C, April 17, 2016
First Reading: ACTS 13:14, 43-52
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 100:1-2, 3, 5
Second Reading: REVELATION 7:9, 14B-17
Gospel: JOHN 10: 27-30
lease join in prayer for the Earth, our common home, wherever you
happen to be, on Earth Day, this coming Friday, April 22, at noon.
______________________________________________________________________
John's gospel went through two or three editions by several authors
before it reached its current form
70 to 80 years after Jesus.
The community that developed it,
known as the “Johannine Community,”
searched for its identity as a community
in relation to the Hebrew scriptures.
And it was concerned
to present a narrative framework
that would support Jesus' status as the Messiah.
As a result,
today's passage has Jesus use
the traditional scriptural image of the shepherd and sheep
to answer a question about messiahship.
In our first reading
we see Paul and Barnabas doing that same kind of thing, too,
quoting scriptures to support their message.
And Pope Francis uses scripture
to convey his message in Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love,
the apostolic exhortation he issued last week.
Just as Paul and Barnabas
apply scripture to the situation in Antioch,
and just as Pope Francis
applies scripture to his exhortation on family,
so do we.
Whether we're reading John's gospel
or Luke's Acts of the Apostles
or Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia,
we look at the time and the context
and listen to what it means for us in our time.
So the gospel verses about Jesus as the Messiah can speak to us;
Jesus talking about his unity with God can speak to us;
the metaphor of the sheep and the shepherd can speak to us.
___________________________________________
One of the messages that stands out in all three of today's readings
is that life is not perfect
for people who live a life of faith in God,
and the way is not always clear.
Paul and Barnabas meet opposition
and get thrown out of town.
They shake the dust from their feet in protest
and go on to preach in another place.
Jesus is challenged by some of his countrymen
and tries to help them see what he's about
and what God's about.
He meets opposition, too.
In the verses after today's passage,
some of the crowd pick up rocks to stone him,
so he continues trying to teach, citing scripture.
Then they try to arrest him,
but he leaves Jerusalem and heads across the Jordan.
___________________________________________
Francis' apostolic exhortation is meeting opposition, too.
It's not enough for the progressives,
and it's too much for the traditionalists.
It's easy to be critical.
Pope Francis certainly has an obvious blind spot
when it comes to women,
typical of the culture he was formed in.
And he uses exclusive patriarchal language.
___________________________________________
Still, he sees the working of the Spirit in the women’s movement,
saying that to blame feminism for today's problems
is invalid, false, untrue, a form of male chauvinism.
He seems to be trying to revive the spirit of Vatican II
and lead the church in a better direction,
and that gives me much hope for the future.
He sees us as a church on the way,
not a church with the right answers.
The Pope tells priests to help people use their own consciences
when they make decision,
saying they're “capable of carrying out their own discernment
in complex situations.”
He calls for dialogue as essential to Christian life.
He practices subsidiarity, calling on the bishops
to take local customs and practices into account
in a pastoral way
and not to lay down a one-size-fits-all dogmatic rule.
He celebrates diversity and encourages unity...
but not uniformity.
Most of all, he returns to the way of Jesus
in calling all the faithful to discern their own situation
and exercise their own conscience.
___________________________________________
Our tradition gives us models of faithfulness:
Jesus teaching and healing in spite of the consequences,
Paul and Barnabas preaching in spite of opposition,
Francis exhorting us to prayer and discernment
as we follow our vocation…
and the members of our own community
questioning and studying and discerning the way.
___________________________________________
Francis ends his exhortation with a prayer that fits every one of us.
He says,
“May we never lose heart because of our limitations,
or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion
which God holds out before us.”
Amen.
First Reading: ACTS 13:14, 43-52
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 100:1-2, 3, 5
Second Reading: REVELATION 7:9, 14B-17
Gospel: JOHN 10: 27-30
lease join in prayer for the Earth, our common home, wherever you
happen to be, on Earth Day, this coming Friday, April 22, at noon.
______________________________________________________________________
John's gospel went through two or three editions by several authors
before it reached its current form
70 to 80 years after Jesus.
The community that developed it,
known as the “Johannine Community,”
searched for its identity as a community
in relation to the Hebrew scriptures.
And it was concerned
to present a narrative framework
that would support Jesus' status as the Messiah.
As a result,
today's passage has Jesus use
the traditional scriptural image of the shepherd and sheep
to answer a question about messiahship.
In our first reading
we see Paul and Barnabas doing that same kind of thing, too,
quoting scriptures to support their message.
And Pope Francis uses scripture
to convey his message in Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love,
the apostolic exhortation he issued last week.
Just as Paul and Barnabas
apply scripture to the situation in Antioch,
and just as Pope Francis
applies scripture to his exhortation on family,
so do we.
Whether we're reading John's gospel
or Luke's Acts of the Apostles
or Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia,
we look at the time and the context
and listen to what it means for us in our time.
So the gospel verses about Jesus as the Messiah can speak to us;
Jesus talking about his unity with God can speak to us;
the metaphor of the sheep and the shepherd can speak to us.
___________________________________________
One of the messages that stands out in all three of today's readings
is that life is not perfect
for people who live a life of faith in God,
and the way is not always clear.
Paul and Barnabas meet opposition
and get thrown out of town.
They shake the dust from their feet in protest
and go on to preach in another place.
Jesus is challenged by some of his countrymen
and tries to help them see what he's about
and what God's about.
He meets opposition, too.
In the verses after today's passage,
some of the crowd pick up rocks to stone him,
so he continues trying to teach, citing scripture.
Then they try to arrest him,
but he leaves Jerusalem and heads across the Jordan.
___________________________________________
Francis' apostolic exhortation is meeting opposition, too.
It's not enough for the progressives,
and it's too much for the traditionalists.
It's easy to be critical.
Pope Francis certainly has an obvious blind spot
when it comes to women,
typical of the culture he was formed in.
And he uses exclusive patriarchal language.
___________________________________________
Still, he sees the working of the Spirit in the women’s movement,
saying that to blame feminism for today's problems
is invalid, false, untrue, a form of male chauvinism.
He seems to be trying to revive the spirit of Vatican II
and lead the church in a better direction,
and that gives me much hope for the future.
He sees us as a church on the way,
not a church with the right answers.
The Pope tells priests to help people use their own consciences
when they make decision,
saying they're “capable of carrying out their own discernment
in complex situations.”
He calls for dialogue as essential to Christian life.
He practices subsidiarity, calling on the bishops
to take local customs and practices into account
in a pastoral way
and not to lay down a one-size-fits-all dogmatic rule.
He celebrates diversity and encourages unity...
but not uniformity.
Most of all, he returns to the way of Jesus
in calling all the faithful to discern their own situation
and exercise their own conscience.
___________________________________________
Our tradition gives us models of faithfulness:
Jesus teaching and healing in spite of the consequences,
Paul and Barnabas preaching in spite of opposition,
Francis exhorting us to prayer and discernment
as we follow our vocation…
and the members of our own community
questioning and studying and discerning the way.
___________________________________________
Francis ends his exhortation with a prayer that fits every one of us.
He says,
“May we never lose heart because of our limitations,
or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion
which God holds out before us.”
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Easter 3 C, April 10, 2016
First Reading: ACTS 5:27-32, 40B-41
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
Second Reading: REVELATION 5:11-14
Gospel: JOHN 21:1-19
When I read that passage from the Acts of the Apostles,
my first thought is
that things haven't changed a whole lot in 2,000 years.
Too many religious authorities are still telling people--
telling laypeople and theologians and clergy
and especially women--
to obey them instead of obeying God.
Fortunately, as with those first disciples,
some folks these days stay faithful to God
by keeping on:
proclaiming the word,
getting excommunicated,
and staying in the church speaking out.
Others stay faithful to God by walking away.
__________________________________________
Then I read that passage from Revelation
and hear that those voices crying out in praise are
“every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and in the sea,
everything in the universe.”
But our Catholic hierarchy
continues to excommunicate the divorced who remarry
and LGBT folks who live in committed relationships.
They continue to require Mass prayers in antiquated language
unrelated to the spiritual experience of 21st century Christians.
And there's a long list of people they have silenced
for applying Vatican II teachings
to theology and ecclesiology and spirituality.
__________________________________________
And then there's that passage we hear from John's Gospel.
Scripture scholars agree that this chapter, Chapter 21,
was written later and added on to John's Gospel,
which really ended at Chapter 20.
They agree that just about every detail in this appearance story
creates difficult problems
and leads to speculative adjustments.
For example, scholars notice that this passage says
it's Jesus' third appearance,
but it's really the fourth one in John's gospel.
Some of them think the author left out
Jesus' first appearance to Mary of Magdala
because she was a leader in the early Christian movement
and the Johannine community
was arguing for Peter as the leader.
Others think they didn't count Mary of Magdala
because, in that culture, the witness of women didn't count.
__________________________________________
Many scholars think that this fish story at the end of John's gospel
comes from the same experience
as the story of the miraculous catch
at the beginning of Luke's gospel.
In that light, it's significant that both gospel writers
use the incident to teach about Jesus' call to follow his way--
the call to discipleship.
__________________________________________
And scholars agree
that the meanings in this passage are deeply symbolic.
Peter decides to go fishing, and his friends go along.
They catch nothing and they're calling it quits.
Someone on the shore calls out to them: “Catch anything?”
That's a commonplace experience
for anyone who's ever gone fishing.
Back home in Fremont
in the hunting-fishing-trapping family I grew up in,
we were regularly out on the water or on the ice
catching supper.
When we arrived at a spot,
we'd call out to the fishers already there, “Catch anything?”
Or we'd get there first,
and the newcomers would call out to us, “Catch anything?”
We were talking about catching fish,
but Jesus is talking about catching people,
being “fishers of men,” as the synoptic gospels put it.
And the disciples, without Jesus, catch nothing on their own.
When he tells them to throw the net on the RIGHT side of the boat,
they take in a huge catch.
Those 153 fish are symbolic, too.
Historians say that 1st century folks
believed there to be 153 species of fish.
Jesus' way catches everybody.
__________________________________________
What follows the breakfast on the beach
is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter,
crafted to be parallel to Peter's three denials in Chapter 18.
Peter professes his love for Jesus three times,
just as he had denied him three times.
Jesus' response is to call Peter to discipleship:
Keep on feeding and tending my flock,
keep on following my way.
__________________________________________
The call of the disciples, like all calls—all vocations--
is a call to love.
It's a call to keep on.
Never stop.
Keep on learning and teaching and loving and serving.
It's like people in love--
people with a vocation to companionship and commitment.
They never stop thinking about and talking about
and caring for their beloved.
It's like the spouse of a victim of Alzheimer's,
willing to suffer whatever is required
for the sake of the other.
It's like Pope Francis
and the growing mass of people
who see earth as our common home
and will not be silent about our responsibility
to change our selfish and wasteful habits.
It's like the prophetic voices within our Catholic Church:
following the way of Jesus;
following their consciences
in holy disobedience to unjust rules;
obeying God, not humans.
It's like us, here, a gathering of Vatican II Catholics
serious about discipleship
and living lives of commitment to peace and justice,
the way Jesus taught.
_______________________________
We're not alone.
Everywhere we go Jesus is with us.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: ACTS 5:27-32, 40B-41
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
Second Reading: REVELATION 5:11-14
Gospel: JOHN 21:1-19
When I read that passage from the Acts of the Apostles,
my first thought is
that things haven't changed a whole lot in 2,000 years.
Too many religious authorities are still telling people--
telling laypeople and theologians and clergy
and especially women--
to obey them instead of obeying God.
Fortunately, as with those first disciples,
some folks these days stay faithful to God
by keeping on:
proclaiming the word,
getting excommunicated,
and staying in the church speaking out.
Others stay faithful to God by walking away.
__________________________________________
Then I read that passage from Revelation
and hear that those voices crying out in praise are
“every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and in the sea,
everything in the universe.”
But our Catholic hierarchy
continues to excommunicate the divorced who remarry
and LGBT folks who live in committed relationships.
They continue to require Mass prayers in antiquated language
unrelated to the spiritual experience of 21st century Christians.
And there's a long list of people they have silenced
for applying Vatican II teachings
to theology and ecclesiology and spirituality.
__________________________________________
And then there's that passage we hear from John's Gospel.
Scripture scholars agree that this chapter, Chapter 21,
was written later and added on to John's Gospel,
which really ended at Chapter 20.
They agree that just about every detail in this appearance story
creates difficult problems
and leads to speculative adjustments.
For example, scholars notice that this passage says
it's Jesus' third appearance,
but it's really the fourth one in John's gospel.
Some of them think the author left out
Jesus' first appearance to Mary of Magdala
because she was a leader in the early Christian movement
and the Johannine community
was arguing for Peter as the leader.
Others think they didn't count Mary of Magdala
because, in that culture, the witness of women didn't count.
__________________________________________
Many scholars think that this fish story at the end of John's gospel
comes from the same experience
as the story of the miraculous catch
at the beginning of Luke's gospel.
In that light, it's significant that both gospel writers
use the incident to teach about Jesus' call to follow his way--
the call to discipleship.
__________________________________________
And scholars agree
that the meanings in this passage are deeply symbolic.
Peter decides to go fishing, and his friends go along.
They catch nothing and they're calling it quits.
Someone on the shore calls out to them: “Catch anything?”
That's a commonplace experience
for anyone who's ever gone fishing.
Back home in Fremont
in the hunting-fishing-trapping family I grew up in,
we were regularly out on the water or on the ice
catching supper.
When we arrived at a spot,
we'd call out to the fishers already there, “Catch anything?”
Or we'd get there first,
and the newcomers would call out to us, “Catch anything?”
We were talking about catching fish,
but Jesus is talking about catching people,
being “fishers of men,” as the synoptic gospels put it.
And the disciples, without Jesus, catch nothing on their own.
When he tells them to throw the net on the RIGHT side of the boat,
they take in a huge catch.
Those 153 fish are symbolic, too.
Historians say that 1st century folks
believed there to be 153 species of fish.
Jesus' way catches everybody.
__________________________________________
What follows the breakfast on the beach
is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter,
crafted to be parallel to Peter's three denials in Chapter 18.
Peter professes his love for Jesus three times,
just as he had denied him three times.
Jesus' response is to call Peter to discipleship:
Keep on feeding and tending my flock,
keep on following my way.
__________________________________________
The call of the disciples, like all calls—all vocations--
is a call to love.
It's a call to keep on.
Never stop.
Keep on learning and teaching and loving and serving.
It's like people in love--
people with a vocation to companionship and commitment.
They never stop thinking about and talking about
and caring for their beloved.
It's like the spouse of a victim of Alzheimer's,
willing to suffer whatever is required
for the sake of the other.
It's like Pope Francis
and the growing mass of people
who see earth as our common home
and will not be silent about our responsibility
to change our selfish and wasteful habits.
It's like the prophetic voices within our Catholic Church:
following the way of Jesus;
following their consciences
in holy disobedience to unjust rules;
obeying God, not humans.
It's like us, here, a gathering of Vatican II Catholics
serious about discipleship
and living lives of commitment to peace and justice,
the way Jesus taught.
_______________________________
We're not alone.
Everywhere we go Jesus is with us.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Easter 2 C, April 3, 2016
First Reading: Acts 5:12-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Second Reading: Revelation 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19
Gospel: John 20:19-31
There's old Doubting Thomas, bless his heart!
His friends experienced the presence of Jesus after he died,
but he hasn't.
Thomas won't go along with them,
won't take their word for it.
He wants proof.
We know that feeling.
We've been there.
And then Thomas himself experiences Jesus' presence.
There's no need to touch the wounds.
Now he believes, too.
We know that feeling, too, because we've been there.
______________________________________
Like Thomas, like those first disciples,
we struggle to put our spiritual experiences into words.
Maybe a good friend dies, and we grieve,
and we wish we had talked one more time.
Then we wake up in the middle of the night
and experience her presence,
and we feel her comforting us.
We might say it was like she was there with us.
Or we're in a tough spot
and wish our dad was there
to give us some of his good advice.
We go to the cemetery and sit by his grave,
and we find that a deep peace comes over us,
a peace that helps us see the way to go.
We might say it was like he was pointing the way.
Or we're sipping a cup of tea and regretting
that we haven't seen or talked to a classmate in twenty years,
when the phone rings and it's her.
We say, I was just thinking about you.
And we've read stories of people
who follow an impulse to contact a person
only to find that they're in trouble and need help.
______________________________________
The earliest post-resurrection tradition
pictured Jesus' appearances as spiritual presence,
a feeling that he was with them.
He doesn't come through the door like he did before.
He's “in their midst” even though the doors are locked.
They experience once again the peace of his presence.
Only gradually do they begin to understand
that Jesus is still with them
and is with God at the same time.
They feel his presence when they gather...
when they ponder the scriptures…
when they break bread together.
______________________________________
Thinking of those appearances
as a physical reality developed much later.
It was the third century
before apologists began to talk about faith as a set of beliefs
instead of a way of living what Jesus had taught.
The words used to describe Jesus' post-resurrection appearances
were becoming disconnected from the disciples' experience.
Then, in the fourth century
Constantine tried to settle disagreements among Christians
by calling the First Council of Nicea.
They came up with the Nicene Creed,
and our church turned to defining faith
in abstract statements
that said nothing about living the Way Jesus had taught.
______________________________________
Today's Gospel reminds us that we, like Thomas, have doubts.
What cures us of our doubts
is the same thing that cured those first disciples
as they cowered in the locked room.
It's our experience.
We can be told about God, and the Way of Jesus, and the Spirit,
but it's only someone else's words
and someone else's experience.
Many of our doubts come from the disconnect
between what our institutional church teaches us about God--
those abstract dogmas--
and our life experience
of the good and holy mystery that is God.
______________________________________
When we experience the connection,
we know the presence of Jesus with us,
just like those first disciples.
When we experience those fleeting moments of deep peace,
when we notice those holy times of our lives,
we know that we are resting in God.
Those moments
can nudge their way into our consciousness any time:
when we're praying, or doing works of justice;
when we're gathering for Eucharist,
or talking with our children or parents or spouses or friends;
when we're planting trees, or singing in the shower…
whatever piece of life we're living in.
Our world is alive with signs that speak God's word to us.
And sometimes we notice.
First Reading: Acts 5:12-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Second Reading: Revelation 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19
Gospel: John 20:19-31
There's old Doubting Thomas, bless his heart!
His friends experienced the presence of Jesus after he died,
but he hasn't.
Thomas won't go along with them,
won't take their word for it.
He wants proof.
We know that feeling.
We've been there.
And then Thomas himself experiences Jesus' presence.
There's no need to touch the wounds.
Now he believes, too.
We know that feeling, too, because we've been there.
______________________________________
Like Thomas, like those first disciples,
we struggle to put our spiritual experiences into words.
Maybe a good friend dies, and we grieve,
and we wish we had talked one more time.
Then we wake up in the middle of the night
and experience her presence,
and we feel her comforting us.
We might say it was like she was there with us.
Or we're in a tough spot
and wish our dad was there
to give us some of his good advice.
We go to the cemetery and sit by his grave,
and we find that a deep peace comes over us,
a peace that helps us see the way to go.
We might say it was like he was pointing the way.
Or we're sipping a cup of tea and regretting
that we haven't seen or talked to a classmate in twenty years,
when the phone rings and it's her.
We say, I was just thinking about you.
And we've read stories of people
who follow an impulse to contact a person
only to find that they're in trouble and need help.
______________________________________
The earliest post-resurrection tradition
pictured Jesus' appearances as spiritual presence,
a feeling that he was with them.
He doesn't come through the door like he did before.
He's “in their midst” even though the doors are locked.
They experience once again the peace of his presence.
Only gradually do they begin to understand
that Jesus is still with them
and is with God at the same time.
They feel his presence when they gather...
when they ponder the scriptures…
when they break bread together.
______________________________________
Thinking of those appearances
as a physical reality developed much later.
It was the third century
before apologists began to talk about faith as a set of beliefs
instead of a way of living what Jesus had taught.
The words used to describe Jesus' post-resurrection appearances
were becoming disconnected from the disciples' experience.
Then, in the fourth century
Constantine tried to settle disagreements among Christians
by calling the First Council of Nicea.
They came up with the Nicene Creed,
and our church turned to defining faith
in abstract statements
that said nothing about living the Way Jesus had taught.
______________________________________
Today's Gospel reminds us that we, like Thomas, have doubts.
What cures us of our doubts
is the same thing that cured those first disciples
as they cowered in the locked room.
It's our experience.
We can be told about God, and the Way of Jesus, and the Spirit,
but it's only someone else's words
and someone else's experience.
Many of our doubts come from the disconnect
between what our institutional church teaches us about God--
those abstract dogmas--
and our life experience
of the good and holy mystery that is God.
______________________________________
When we experience the connection,
we know the presence of Jesus with us,
just like those first disciples.
When we experience those fleeting moments of deep peace,
when we notice those holy times of our lives,
we know that we are resting in God.
Those moments
can nudge their way into our consciousness any time:
when we're praying, or doing works of justice;
when we're gathering for Eucharist,
or talking with our children or parents or spouses or friends;
when we're planting trees, or singing in the shower…
whatever piece of life we're living in.
Our world is alive with signs that speak God's word to us.
And sometimes we notice.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Resurrection of the Lord, March 27, 2016
Until I got ordained, people rarely asked me theological questions.
Now it's different.
Almost every day
somebody wants to get into some God-talk with me.
And I love it!
Does God exist?
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
Is there really life after this life?
______________________________________
I don't KNOW the answers.
But I have faith.
And my faith, like the faith of those disciples heading to Emmaus,
comes from a lifetime of asking myself those very questions
and coming up with answers
that led to more and more questions.
It's been a lifetime of seeing and thinking
and praying and feeling
and loving and doing,
with points of serious awe and wonder at the Holy Mystery
we call God.
______________________________________
I have faith that God is.
Along the way I have learned some things that God is NOT,
and that every idea or description or concept of God
that I am able to form
is way too small.
And I have faith that Jesus rose from the dead.
I have learned some things that does NOT mean,
but, again, any words I use
fall short of the experience
of his continuous and unending presence among us.
And I have faith that there's life after life.
I have learned some things that does NOT mean,
and I have found my idea of what it does mean
grows more and more expansive
with every discovery of science
and every experience of the impact of people I have known,
even after they died.
______________________________________
One useful thing I've learned
is that it's important to explore
the definitions that give rise to these God-talk questions.
We're bombarded by assertions of atheists like Richard Dawkins
who say there's no God…
and of course there isn't, not a God like Dawkins has in mind,
that white-bearded ancient male
sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the clouds.
It's easy for Dawkins—or for that matter, any eighth grader--
to debunk literal interpretations
of descriptions of spiritual experiences of people
who lived thousands of years ago in another culture.
It's not so easy to jump into the process
of understanding the meaning of those experiences
for us today.
______________________________________
Those disciples on the road to Emmaus,
those followers in the Upper Room,
and each of us make a leap of faith,
just like those other leaps we make
every time we jump into the unknown.
We leap (or stumble) out of bed in the morning
with faith that our feet will land on a floor that will hold us up.
We reach out for that morning cup of coffee
with faith that our eyes are telling us the truth
about it being right there on the table.
We take a leap of faith when we confide in a friend,
choose a vocation,
get married.
______________________________________
And sometimes we find ourselves
hanging out there on a shaky limb,
flapping in the breeze,
finding our secrets laid bare to the world
on our friend's Facebook,
hating the job we thought would be good for us,
finding our spouse in an affair or abandoning us and the kids.
Whether it's a personal catastrophe or a crisis of faith,
we usually reel around for a while
before we are able to grab onto the hope
that leads us to action and change.
We eventually find that we still believe
that true friendship is a good thing
and that it exists.
We still believe that we can find a job
that will really fit our skills and preferences.
We still believe that good relationships exist
and that we will get through this
to enjoy the company of many people
whom we can love and who will love us.
______________________________________
The longer we live,
the more we see that, over and over again,
we need to re-define ourselves and our world,
our experiences and our hopes,
especially when it comes to the most important things,
like love and God.
Sixteen hundred years ago
Augustine of Hippo talked about
how human beings grow in God-consciousness.
He said, “What wonder is it that you do not understand?
If you do understand, then it is not God.”
So even though we don't have the answers, it's okay.
We rest in confidence that the Holy Mystery is always beyond,
always more than anything we could have imagined.
______________________________________________
We have all been on that road to Emmaus many times in our lives,
heading in the wrong direction out of fear and disappointment.
Then the Spirit breaks in and we get turned around.
We find Jesus alive,
with us on the way,
making God's word clear to us once more.
And we give thanks
and celebrate that we once again
come to recognize him
in the breaking of the bread.
Until I got ordained, people rarely asked me theological questions.
Now it's different.
Almost every day
somebody wants to get into some God-talk with me.
And I love it!
Does God exist?
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
Is there really life after this life?
______________________________________
I don't KNOW the answers.
But I have faith.
And my faith, like the faith of those disciples heading to Emmaus,
comes from a lifetime of asking myself those very questions
and coming up with answers
that led to more and more questions.
It's been a lifetime of seeing and thinking
and praying and feeling
and loving and doing,
with points of serious awe and wonder at the Holy Mystery
we call God.
______________________________________
I have faith that God is.
Along the way I have learned some things that God is NOT,
and that every idea or description or concept of God
that I am able to form
is way too small.
And I have faith that Jesus rose from the dead.
I have learned some things that does NOT mean,
but, again, any words I use
fall short of the experience
of his continuous and unending presence among us.
And I have faith that there's life after life.
I have learned some things that does NOT mean,
and I have found my idea of what it does mean
grows more and more expansive
with every discovery of science
and every experience of the impact of people I have known,
even after they died.
______________________________________
One useful thing I've learned
is that it's important to explore
the definitions that give rise to these God-talk questions.
We're bombarded by assertions of atheists like Richard Dawkins
who say there's no God…
and of course there isn't, not a God like Dawkins has in mind,
that white-bearded ancient male
sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the clouds.
It's easy for Dawkins—or for that matter, any eighth grader--
to debunk literal interpretations
of descriptions of spiritual experiences of people
who lived thousands of years ago in another culture.
It's not so easy to jump into the process
of understanding the meaning of those experiences
for us today.
______________________________________
Those disciples on the road to Emmaus,
those followers in the Upper Room,
and each of us make a leap of faith,
just like those other leaps we make
every time we jump into the unknown.
We leap (or stumble) out of bed in the morning
with faith that our feet will land on a floor that will hold us up.
We reach out for that morning cup of coffee
with faith that our eyes are telling us the truth
about it being right there on the table.
We take a leap of faith when we confide in a friend,
choose a vocation,
get married.
______________________________________
And sometimes we find ourselves
hanging out there on a shaky limb,
flapping in the breeze,
finding our secrets laid bare to the world
on our friend's Facebook,
hating the job we thought would be good for us,
finding our spouse in an affair or abandoning us and the kids.
Whether it's a personal catastrophe or a crisis of faith,
we usually reel around for a while
before we are able to grab onto the hope
that leads us to action and change.
We eventually find that we still believe
that true friendship is a good thing
and that it exists.
We still believe that we can find a job
that will really fit our skills and preferences.
We still believe that good relationships exist
and that we will get through this
to enjoy the company of many people
whom we can love and who will love us.
______________________________________
The longer we live,
the more we see that, over and over again,
we need to re-define ourselves and our world,
our experiences and our hopes,
especially when it comes to the most important things,
like love and God.
Sixteen hundred years ago
Augustine of Hippo talked about
how human beings grow in God-consciousness.
He said, “What wonder is it that you do not understand?
If you do understand, then it is not God.”
So even though we don't have the answers, it's okay.
We rest in confidence that the Holy Mystery is always beyond,
always more than anything we could have imagined.
______________________________________________
We have all been on that road to Emmaus many times in our lives,
heading in the wrong direction out of fear and disappointment.
Then the Spirit breaks in and we get turned around.
We find Jesus alive,
with us on the way,
making God's word clear to us once more.
And we give thanks
and celebrate that we once again
come to recognize him
in the breaking of the bread.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Mass of the Lord's Supper, March 24, 2016
So much in our life revolves around meals.
This past Tuesday I went to Claver House for my morning coffee.
We talked about the awful terrorism in Belgium.
John was back, after a bout in the hospital,
and we were all glad to see him again.
We did a bit of prognosticating on the NCAA brackets.
We prayed the Lord's Prayer
and broke bread together;
everyone was welcome.
Then I drove down to the Cathedral for the annual Chrism Mass,
where I stood in the back of the nave
in the shadow of a pillar
and renewed my priestly promises
along with my brother priests.
I left early, though, because the message in that ritual was clear:
it was all about who was greater than who,
who was more important.
I was not welcome at the table there.
_________________________________________
One of the most enduring memories
kept alive by Jesus' first followers
was his practice of open table fellowship:
eating and drinking with everyone,
sharing meals without regard for social class
or the rules that divide people and set one over another.
Our scriptures give us snapshots of those memories--
Jesus at the Cana wedding feast;
with the crowds on the mountain and on the plain;
with Mary and Martha and Lazarus in their home;
at the house of Levi the tax collector and of Simon the leper;
with his disciples walking through the standing grain.
The Gospel writers
framed those important memories of Jesus' teaching
and passed them along
by means of the story of the supper
he shared with them on the night before he died,
the meal we now know as the “Last Supper.”
_________________________________________
The synoptic Gospels
have Jesus using the bread and wine of the Shabbat meal
to show that they must use up their lives
by letting others consume them.
In John's Gospel,
Jesus washes the disciples' feet
and tells them to do the same for each other.
The message of the foot-washing
is the same message
as the sharing of bread and wine.
Both actions tell the same truth:
that the purpose of life,
the thing that gives greatest glory to God,
is to serve others.
_________________________________________
What was it
that made Jesus' first followers keep on following
after he was crucified?
In their world of poverty and oppression,
his message of love and sharing and service
made sense.
Bit by bit they found that his teaching was true.
It showed them a God they could trust,
a God who cared for them.
It gave them life.
________________________________________
Why do we--
those of us who keep following Jesus,
even after 20 centuries--
why do we keep our faith?
The ways of our world--
the greed, the violence, the selfishness--
do not make sense.
The ways of our institutional church--
the scandals and the cover-ups,
the medieval mindset,
the exclusionary practices--
do not make sense.
But we keep the faith
because the message of Jesus
makes sense.
It works for us
to be grateful for the Holy Mystery
in which we live and move and have our being.
It works for us to give our lives to others,
starting with our parents and spouses and children
and reaching out to friends and co-workers and strangers
and even enemies.
So we keep the faith.
________________________________________
On this holy night once again we remember.
Just like Jesus did,
we celebrate our gratitude for God's goodness.
Just like Jesus did,
we give our lives in service to others.
And like Jesus,
we understand that we are in unrelenting communion,
a constant, perpetual Holy Communion,
a cosmic communion with all that is--
with every person, creature, plant, animal,
and star in the universe--
and with God.
________________________________________
Here we are tonight,
gathered in community
in a place where all are welcome at the table.
We are in communion.
Let us celebrate once again
by washing each other's hands
and by sharing the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
So much in our life revolves around meals.
This past Tuesday I went to Claver House for my morning coffee.
We talked about the awful terrorism in Belgium.
John was back, after a bout in the hospital,
and we were all glad to see him again.
We did a bit of prognosticating on the NCAA brackets.
We prayed the Lord's Prayer
and broke bread together;
everyone was welcome.
Then I drove down to the Cathedral for the annual Chrism Mass,
where I stood in the back of the nave
in the shadow of a pillar
and renewed my priestly promises
along with my brother priests.
I left early, though, because the message in that ritual was clear:
it was all about who was greater than who,
who was more important.
I was not welcome at the table there.
_________________________________________
One of the most enduring memories
kept alive by Jesus' first followers
was his practice of open table fellowship:
eating and drinking with everyone,
sharing meals without regard for social class
or the rules that divide people and set one over another.
Our scriptures give us snapshots of those memories--
Jesus at the Cana wedding feast;
with the crowds on the mountain and on the plain;
with Mary and Martha and Lazarus in their home;
at the house of Levi the tax collector and of Simon the leper;
with his disciples walking through the standing grain.
The Gospel writers
framed those important memories of Jesus' teaching
and passed them along
by means of the story of the supper
he shared with them on the night before he died,
the meal we now know as the “Last Supper.”
_________________________________________
The synoptic Gospels
have Jesus using the bread and wine of the Shabbat meal
to show that they must use up their lives
by letting others consume them.
In John's Gospel,
Jesus washes the disciples' feet
and tells them to do the same for each other.
The message of the foot-washing
is the same message
as the sharing of bread and wine.
Both actions tell the same truth:
that the purpose of life,
the thing that gives greatest glory to God,
is to serve others.
_________________________________________
What was it
that made Jesus' first followers keep on following
after he was crucified?
In their world of poverty and oppression,
his message of love and sharing and service
made sense.
Bit by bit they found that his teaching was true.
It showed them a God they could trust,
a God who cared for them.
It gave them life.
________________________________________
Why do we--
those of us who keep following Jesus,
even after 20 centuries--
why do we keep our faith?
The ways of our world--
the greed, the violence, the selfishness--
do not make sense.
The ways of our institutional church--
the scandals and the cover-ups,
the medieval mindset,
the exclusionary practices--
do not make sense.
But we keep the faith
because the message of Jesus
makes sense.
It works for us
to be grateful for the Holy Mystery
in which we live and move and have our being.
It works for us to give our lives to others,
starting with our parents and spouses and children
and reaching out to friends and co-workers and strangers
and even enemies.
So we keep the faith.
________________________________________
On this holy night once again we remember.
Just like Jesus did,
we celebrate our gratitude for God's goodness.
Just like Jesus did,
we give our lives in service to others.
And like Jesus,
we understand that we are in unrelenting communion,
a constant, perpetual Holy Communion,
a cosmic communion with all that is--
with every person, creature, plant, animal,
and star in the universe--
and with God.
________________________________________
Here we are tonight,
gathered in community
in a place where all are welcome at the table.
We are in communion.
Let us celebrate once again
by washing each other's hands
and by sharing the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, March 20, 2016
The Procession with Palms: Luke 19:28-40
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel: Luke 22:14-23:56 The Passion of Jesus
HOMILY for the PROCESSION with PALMS
We started this Lenten journey
reminding ourselves that we are made of stardust
and will return to stardust.
We set about fine-tuning our habits
to bring our lives more closely in step
with the Way that Jesus teaches.
Now, as we begin the ritual celebrations
of this holiest week of the year,
we hear that, if we, as followers of Jesus,
do not proclaim the word,
the very stones will cry out.
We must proclaim our experience of God.
We must give witness to our life in God.
So here we are this afternoon--
living stones singing out in praise and petition,
ready once again to be radically transformed
through the power of God’s spirit
alive among us and with us and in us.
HOMILY for the MASS
Starting April 7, Fr. Jim Bacik
will present a series of lectures over at the Franciscan Center
on the pictures of Jesus that we get from each of the Gospels.
His titles give us an important clue about our scriptural tradition:
--in Mark's Gospel, Managing Our Demons.
--in Matthew's Gospel, Reforming the Church.
--in Luke's Gospel, Working for Justice.
--in John's Gospel, Improving our Personal Relationships.
Fr. Jim's titles point out that our scriptures,
written down 40 to 70 years after Jesus died,
document very different ways
that Jesus' followers understood him
and interpreted his teachings
according to the needs of their communities.
___________________________________________
What we know for sure about our Palm Sunday Gospel reading
is that Jesus went to Jerusalem,
came to the attention of authorities there,
was arrested, and was put to death.
After that, Jesus' disciples experienced his spirit still with them,
and they tried to tell others about their experience.
In today's way of speaking,
we'd say they tried to process what had happened,
to make sense of it.
And in order to do that,
they followed the pattern of their own ancestors in faith,
finding patterns in their holy writings
that made sense of Jesus' life and teachings and death,
and their experience of his presence among them afterward.
___________________________________________
The lesson for us is not, as some have erroneously put it,
that God sent Jesus to die to ransom us from our sins.
The lesson is that we are called to live the way that Jesus taught.
That is, we are to pray and discern.
We are to live in the conviction that God is in charge.
We are to take action for justice.
We are to speak the truth about oppression,
no matter what the powerful say about it.
We are to keep at it,
no matter what.
___________________________________________
As followers of the Way,
we are ready to stick with Jesus,
all the way from here to Calvary.
So we're resolved to lay down our lives for one another
by living the way Jesus lived
as best we can.
___________________________________________
Living in Ohio, or Michigan, these days,
it's not very likely that we'll be killed
for stepping up or speaking out,
for honoring our beliefs and persevering
in spite of any personal cost.
We know from the evening news
that some people here in the U.S.
are more likely than others to be attacked, even killed--
black people gathering for Sunday service,
or transgender people walking down the street,
or Latinos working in the fields.
And in some other countries,
people who stand up and speak out
are routinely gunned down or blown up or just “disappear.”
___________________________________________
Here, most of us don't face that kind of risk.
We aren't likely to be martyred for doing what's right.
Along the way, we might lose a friend.
Or a promotion at work.
More likely we'll give up some money
that we could have spent on ourselves
or saved for our kids to inherit.
Or we'll give up some time
that we could have spent having fun
instead of helping others.
We'll do
whatever we can
where we are.
We'll give up our lives following the Way of Jesus,
spending ourselves in works of peace and justice,
And when, eventually, we return to stardust,
we will shine for ever.
The Procession with Palms: Luke 19:28-40
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel: Luke 22:14-23:56 The Passion of Jesus
HOMILY for the PROCESSION with PALMS
We started this Lenten journey
reminding ourselves that we are made of stardust
and will return to stardust.
We set about fine-tuning our habits
to bring our lives more closely in step
with the Way that Jesus teaches.
Now, as we begin the ritual celebrations
of this holiest week of the year,
we hear that, if we, as followers of Jesus,
do not proclaim the word,
the very stones will cry out.
We must proclaim our experience of God.
We must give witness to our life in God.
So here we are this afternoon--
living stones singing out in praise and petition,
ready once again to be radically transformed
through the power of God’s spirit
alive among us and with us and in us.
HOMILY for the MASS
Starting April 7, Fr. Jim Bacik
will present a series of lectures over at the Franciscan Center
on the pictures of Jesus that we get from each of the Gospels.
His titles give us an important clue about our scriptural tradition:
--in Mark's Gospel, Managing Our Demons.
--in Matthew's Gospel, Reforming the Church.
--in Luke's Gospel, Working for Justice.
--in John's Gospel, Improving our Personal Relationships.
Fr. Jim's titles point out that our scriptures,
written down 40 to 70 years after Jesus died,
document very different ways
that Jesus' followers understood him
and interpreted his teachings
according to the needs of their communities.
___________________________________________
What we know for sure about our Palm Sunday Gospel reading
is that Jesus went to Jerusalem,
came to the attention of authorities there,
was arrested, and was put to death.
After that, Jesus' disciples experienced his spirit still with them,
and they tried to tell others about their experience.
In today's way of speaking,
we'd say they tried to process what had happened,
to make sense of it.
And in order to do that,
they followed the pattern of their own ancestors in faith,
finding patterns in their holy writings
that made sense of Jesus' life and teachings and death,
and their experience of his presence among them afterward.
___________________________________________
The lesson for us is not, as some have erroneously put it,
that God sent Jesus to die to ransom us from our sins.
The lesson is that we are called to live the way that Jesus taught.
That is, we are to pray and discern.
We are to live in the conviction that God is in charge.
We are to take action for justice.
We are to speak the truth about oppression,
no matter what the powerful say about it.
We are to keep at it,
no matter what.
___________________________________________
As followers of the Way,
we are ready to stick with Jesus,
all the way from here to Calvary.
So we're resolved to lay down our lives for one another
by living the way Jesus lived
as best we can.
___________________________________________
Living in Ohio, or Michigan, these days,
it's not very likely that we'll be killed
for stepping up or speaking out,
for honoring our beliefs and persevering
in spite of any personal cost.
We know from the evening news
that some people here in the U.S.
are more likely than others to be attacked, even killed--
black people gathering for Sunday service,
or transgender people walking down the street,
or Latinos working in the fields.
And in some other countries,
people who stand up and speak out
are routinely gunned down or blown up or just “disappear.”
___________________________________________
Here, most of us don't face that kind of risk.
We aren't likely to be martyred for doing what's right.
Along the way, we might lose a friend.
Or a promotion at work.
More likely we'll give up some money
that we could have spent on ourselves
or saved for our kids to inherit.
Or we'll give up some time
that we could have spent having fun
instead of helping others.
We'll do
whatever we can
where we are.
We'll give up our lives following the Way of Jesus,
spending ourselves in works of peace and justice,
And when, eventually, we return to stardust,
we will shine for ever.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 5 Lent C, March 13, 2016
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 126:1-6
Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel: John 8:1-11
Today's Gospel is not about adultery.
It's about how to judge.
Jesus' message is not that we should not judge
but that we must make considered moral decisions
when we do judge.
We must form opinions through wise and careful discernment,
with reason and common sense
and most of all, with heart.
It's about good judgment and bad judgment,
about judging others and judging ourselves.
It's about merciful forgiveness.
________________________________________
The scribes and Pharisees are all riled up…
at the woman… and at Jesus.
And he puts the brakes on their anger
and their self-righteousness at her
and their wily attempts to use her to trap him.
He stops and considers.
Then he gives them a response
that reminds them of a passage in Deuteronomy
about casting the first stone.
They think about it
and change their minds about stoning the woman
and they leave off their attempt to trap him.
________________________________________
Tuesday is primary election day here in Ohio,
and we all have some judging to do.
How will we decide
about whether to vote for or against a tax increase?
How will we decide
about who to nominate to run in November
for County Commissioner or District Court or U.S. Senator…
or President?
Jesus has a lot to say about how to judge.
In this Gospel passage, Jesus says,
"Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone.”
In Matthew's Sermon on the Mount
he teaches to “stop judging.”
Earlier in John's Gospel, in Chapter 5,
he teaches that what makes a judgment just
is first to listen to the facts and opinions and witnesses
and then to follow God's will, not our own.
That doesn't mean we are to imitate the terrorists in the Middle East
who murder people who don't agree with them
and claim to be Muslims doing God's will.
Nor does it mean we are to imitate
the demagogues in our own country
who denigrate people who disagree with them
and claim to be Christians doing God's will.
________________________________________
The Presidential race has been headline news for months,
accusations from all sides
tweeted around like sparrows on steroids.
But we have to judge.
It's our responsibility as human beings and as citizens…
and it's our responsibility as Christians.
We are called to exercise faithful citizenship,
to enter into a process of conscientious discernment
for justice and the common good.
In our discernment process
we are blessed with the long tradition
of the principles we call Catholic Social Teaching,
yardsticks to help us judge rightly,
all based on the right and dignity of the human person.
________________________________________
So we listen to how each candidate talks
about the economics and law and policy
that affect human rights and human dignity.
We listen for the impact that candidates' ideas have
on the common good and the well-being of all,
whether they will help or harm the poor and vulnerable.
We listen to what they say
to find out if their policies will protect human rights.
We pay attention to whether a candidate's platform on the economy
will serve people,
and not the other way around.
We want to see that they respect basic rights to productive work,
to decent and fair wages, to unionize, to a safe workplace.
And we look at candidate positions
to see if they reflect the fact
that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers,
one human family regardless of national, racial, ethnic,
economic, religious, gender, or ideological differences.
We check out each candidate's policies
on caring for our common home.
________________________________________
And then, this coming Tuesday, and again in November,
we will judge.
We'll make serious choices,
keeping in mind that every person is precious,
that people are more important than things,
and that the measure of our society
and of our own soul
is whether we choose to threaten or to enhance
the life and dignity of every human person
and the earth we call home.
Glory be to God, this is a holy business we're about!
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 126:1-6
Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel: John 8:1-11
Today's Gospel is not about adultery.
It's about how to judge.
Jesus' message is not that we should not judge
but that we must make considered moral decisions
when we do judge.
We must form opinions through wise and careful discernment,
with reason and common sense
and most of all, with heart.
It's about good judgment and bad judgment,
about judging others and judging ourselves.
It's about merciful forgiveness.
________________________________________
The scribes and Pharisees are all riled up…
at the woman… and at Jesus.
And he puts the brakes on their anger
and their self-righteousness at her
and their wily attempts to use her to trap him.
He stops and considers.
Then he gives them a response
that reminds them of a passage in Deuteronomy
about casting the first stone.
They think about it
and change their minds about stoning the woman
and they leave off their attempt to trap him.
________________________________________
Tuesday is primary election day here in Ohio,
and we all have some judging to do.
How will we decide
about whether to vote for or against a tax increase?
How will we decide
about who to nominate to run in November
for County Commissioner or District Court or U.S. Senator…
or President?
Jesus has a lot to say about how to judge.
In this Gospel passage, Jesus says,
"Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone.”
In Matthew's Sermon on the Mount
he teaches to “stop judging.”
Earlier in John's Gospel, in Chapter 5,
he teaches that what makes a judgment just
is first to listen to the facts and opinions and witnesses
and then to follow God's will, not our own.
That doesn't mean we are to imitate the terrorists in the Middle East
who murder people who don't agree with them
and claim to be Muslims doing God's will.
Nor does it mean we are to imitate
the demagogues in our own country
who denigrate people who disagree with them
and claim to be Christians doing God's will.
________________________________________
The Presidential race has been headline news for months,
accusations from all sides
tweeted around like sparrows on steroids.
But we have to judge.
It's our responsibility as human beings and as citizens…
and it's our responsibility as Christians.
We are called to exercise faithful citizenship,
to enter into a process of conscientious discernment
for justice and the common good.
In our discernment process
we are blessed with the long tradition
of the principles we call Catholic Social Teaching,
yardsticks to help us judge rightly,
all based on the right and dignity of the human person.
________________________________________
So we listen to how each candidate talks
about the economics and law and policy
that affect human rights and human dignity.
We listen for the impact that candidates' ideas have
on the common good and the well-being of all,
whether they will help or harm the poor and vulnerable.
We listen to what they say
to find out if their policies will protect human rights.
We pay attention to whether a candidate's platform on the economy
will serve people,
and not the other way around.
We want to see that they respect basic rights to productive work,
to decent and fair wages, to unionize, to a safe workplace.
And we look at candidate positions
to see if they reflect the fact
that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers,
one human family regardless of national, racial, ethnic,
economic, religious, gender, or ideological differences.
We check out each candidate's policies
on caring for our common home.
________________________________________
And then, this coming Tuesday, and again in November,
we will judge.
We'll make serious choices,
keeping in mind that every person is precious,
that people are more important than things,
and that the measure of our society
and of our own soul
is whether we choose to threaten or to enhance
the life and dignity of every human person
and the earth we call home.
Glory be to God, this is a holy business we're about!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 4 Lent C, March 6, 2016
First Reading: Joshua 5:9A, 10-12
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-7
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
You may have noticed that today's Gospel reading
starts with three verses at the beginning of Chapter 15
and then skips a ways
to pick up at verse 11 with the parable of the prodigal son.
Luke frames the whole chapter
as Jesus' response to the Pharisees and scribes
who are complaining because he eats with sinners,
and today's passage
is one of three very familiar parables there.
In addition to the prodigal son story,
Luke has Jesus tell the story of the shepherd
leaving the flock of 99
and going in search of that one wandering sheep,
and then the story of the woman searching all over the house
until she finds that one coin of the ten that she had lost.
In each of these three stories what was lost is restored,
what was out of place is back where it belongs,
whether it's through a shepherd's care,
a woman's perseverance,
or a parent's love.
Even though Luke puts these parables together
in order to further his narrative,
scholars are fairly certain that all three go back to Jesus,
just as they have little doubt
that Jesus was criticized
for sharing meals with outcasts and the poor.
__________________________________________
When people get to be as old as I am,
we can look back over our lives and find ourselves
in every character in today's Gospel parable.
Been there, done that.
I've been the one who pointed a finger
at the kind of people someone chose as friends,
like those Pharisees and scribes did.
I've been the ungrateful child,
like the younger son.
I've been the despairing worker,
scrabbling to make a pittance at a job I hated,
wishing I could go back home again.
And I've been the one
who was hurt and angry
about the favorable treatment
of those who didn't work as hard as I did,
like the older son.
__________________________________________
On the other hand,
from time to time I've tried to be the one who forgives,
no matter what,
like the loving father in that parable.
But not very often.
And I've even tried to be the one who points out injustice,
like Jesus did.
But again, not very often, and not often enough.
__________________________________________
St. Paul reminds us, in that second reading,
that we who are in Christ
are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation.
I find the etymology of that word ambassador noteworthy.
It comes to us from Middle English through Old French,
based on two Latin usages meaning mission and servant.
Literally, we who are ambassadors of Christ
are servants sent on a mission
with a message of love and mercy.
We are called to welcome the wayward
just as the prodigal son is welcomed.
__________________________________________
Sometimes we are able to do that.
But, we know, sometimes it's just not possible,
as in trying to reconcile a relationship with an abusive partner
who will not admit the problem or seek help.
When we are able to reach out in mercy and love,
we become, as Paul puts it,
messengers of God's own righteousness,
of God's own justice.
That's when we carry the very holiness of God to the world.
__________________________________________
It's a big job,
but we aren't alone.
Just as the ancient Israelites
walked through the desert nourished by manna from God,
so do we walk through each week
surrounded by, uplifted by,
God's presence in our world.
Sometimes we travel through a desert,
subsisting on the promise that God is with us
even though we feel alone and abandoned.
Sometimes we find ourselves resting in that promise,
surrounded by all the gracious gifts of God.
And on the weekends
we gather to celebrate the very holiness of our lives.
Through it all--
whether we've been stumbling through in a desert
or renewing ourselves in an oasis--
we walk in communion with God and with each other.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: Joshua 5:9A, 10-12
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-7
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
You may have noticed that today's Gospel reading
starts with three verses at the beginning of Chapter 15
and then skips a ways
to pick up at verse 11 with the parable of the prodigal son.
Luke frames the whole chapter
as Jesus' response to the Pharisees and scribes
who are complaining because he eats with sinners,
and today's passage
is one of three very familiar parables there.
In addition to the prodigal son story,
Luke has Jesus tell the story of the shepherd
leaving the flock of 99
and going in search of that one wandering sheep,
and then the story of the woman searching all over the house
until she finds that one coin of the ten that she had lost.
In each of these three stories what was lost is restored,
what was out of place is back where it belongs,
whether it's through a shepherd's care,
a woman's perseverance,
or a parent's love.
Even though Luke puts these parables together
in order to further his narrative,
scholars are fairly certain that all three go back to Jesus,
just as they have little doubt
that Jesus was criticized
for sharing meals with outcasts and the poor.
__________________________________________
When people get to be as old as I am,
we can look back over our lives and find ourselves
in every character in today's Gospel parable.
Been there, done that.
I've been the one who pointed a finger
at the kind of people someone chose as friends,
like those Pharisees and scribes did.
I've been the ungrateful child,
like the younger son.
I've been the despairing worker,
scrabbling to make a pittance at a job I hated,
wishing I could go back home again.
And I've been the one
who was hurt and angry
about the favorable treatment
of those who didn't work as hard as I did,
like the older son.
__________________________________________
On the other hand,
from time to time I've tried to be the one who forgives,
no matter what,
like the loving father in that parable.
But not very often.
And I've even tried to be the one who points out injustice,
like Jesus did.
But again, not very often, and not often enough.
__________________________________________
St. Paul reminds us, in that second reading,
that we who are in Christ
are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation.
I find the etymology of that word ambassador noteworthy.
It comes to us from Middle English through Old French,
based on two Latin usages meaning mission and servant.
Literally, we who are ambassadors of Christ
are servants sent on a mission
with a message of love and mercy.
We are called to welcome the wayward
just as the prodigal son is welcomed.
__________________________________________
Sometimes we are able to do that.
But, we know, sometimes it's just not possible,
as in trying to reconcile a relationship with an abusive partner
who will not admit the problem or seek help.
When we are able to reach out in mercy and love,
we become, as Paul puts it,
messengers of God's own righteousness,
of God's own justice.
That's when we carry the very holiness of God to the world.
__________________________________________
It's a big job,
but we aren't alone.
Just as the ancient Israelites
walked through the desert nourished by manna from God,
so do we walk through each week
surrounded by, uplifted by,
God's presence in our world.
Sometimes we travel through a desert,
subsisting on the promise that God is with us
even though we feel alone and abandoned.
Sometimes we find ourselves resting in that promise,
surrounded by all the gracious gifts of God.
And on the weekends
we gather to celebrate the very holiness of our lives.
Through it all--
whether we've been stumbling through in a desert
or renewing ourselves in an oasis--
we walk in communion with God and with each other.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 3 Lent C, February 28, 2016
First Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Responsorial Psalm: PS 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Gospel: LUKE 13:1-9
In today's reading from the book of Exodus,
Moses spots a flame in a bush,
and when he checks it out,
he finds that it's a messenger from God.
And then, when he gets nearer, he hears God's name--
I AM WHO AM.
God IS.
Moses learns the nature of God, and of all that is:
the ground he stands on is holy;
the people of God are holy;
all creation is on fire with God's love.
The bush is burning.
From the stardust of creation
to this very day,
every bush is burning.
God's name is written in all that is,
and it is to be remembered forever.
_______________________________________
Nearly 1500 years later, Jesus looks around
and sees that people are not remembering the name of God.
They are not remembering that the ground is holy.
They do not see that all creation is on fire with the love of God.
So he tells people about it.
_______________________________________
In the passage just before today's Gospel,
he tells the crowds that they know
how to interpret signs of the earth and the sky
but not the signs of the time.
He asks them why they don't judge for themselves what is right.
Then he tells them that, if they don't change their ways,
they will all perish,
and he follows that
with the parable of the fig that isn't bearing fruit.
The owner wants to cut it down,
but the gardener pleads for time
to try some routine horticultural practices
for just one more year to bring it into fruit.
_______________________________________
Now, it takes three to five years for a fig tree to fruit,
and the planter of the tree expects fruit in the fourth year.
The gardener knows that it should mature and bear fruit
by the next year, its fifth year.
If there's no change, it will be destroyed.
The crowd recognizes the fig tree
as a typical metaphor for the Israelite people.
They understand that Jesus is saying
that the center of their culture--
the Temple in Jerusalem and its cult of Roman collaborators--
is unfruitful.
And the crowd clearly understands his message:
unless they change, unless the Temple changes,
all will perish.
_______________________________________
Now, 2000 years after Jesus, and 3500 years after Moses,
we hear the same message,
this time aimed at us.
In Pope Francis' encyclical Laudatio Si'
we hear that the center of our culture is unproductive;
unless we change, we will perish.
We hear Francis calling us to heed the signs of our times.
There's lead in Flint's water, microcystin in ours.
Record heat and record cold.
Record earthquakes and cyclones and tornadoes.
Violence in Kalamazoo and on our streets in Toledo
and around the world.
Zika virus.
Air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, extinction of species.
They're all around us, the signs of our times,
calling us to change our ways,
or we will perish.
_______________________________________
It's inspiring to see so many Toledoans,
especially our Holy Spirit Community,
changing their personal lifestyle habits
to become more and more responsive
to Francis' call to care for creation.
Some folks carpool, or bike to work, even in winter.
Some turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater.
More are buying local food at local businesses.
Some are researching candidates' environmental positions
so they can vote their consciences in the March 15 primary.
And all of us are trying to get a few trees planted.
Big things and little things,
each of them part of the effort to take better care of our planet.
_______________________________________
Inspiring as all these good works are,
we know we have to do more.
God's name is written in all that is,
and human selfishness and greed are destroying it.
That's why we're spending time this Lent fine-tuning our lives,
eager to follow ever more closely the lesson Jesus teaches.
We must read the signs of the times.
We must judge what is right and act on it.
We must care for creation
as an act of love for God and neighbor
and a work of justice for all.
Amen.
First Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Responsorial Psalm: PS 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Gospel: LUKE 13:1-9
In today's reading from the book of Exodus,
Moses spots a flame in a bush,
and when he checks it out,
he finds that it's a messenger from God.
And then, when he gets nearer, he hears God's name--
I AM WHO AM.
God IS.
Moses learns the nature of God, and of all that is:
the ground he stands on is holy;
the people of God are holy;
all creation is on fire with God's love.
The bush is burning.
From the stardust of creation
to this very day,
every bush is burning.
God's name is written in all that is,
and it is to be remembered forever.
_______________________________________
Nearly 1500 years later, Jesus looks around
and sees that people are not remembering the name of God.
They are not remembering that the ground is holy.
They do not see that all creation is on fire with the love of God.
So he tells people about it.
_______________________________________
In the passage just before today's Gospel,
he tells the crowds that they know
how to interpret signs of the earth and the sky
but not the signs of the time.
He asks them why they don't judge for themselves what is right.
Then he tells them that, if they don't change their ways,
they will all perish,
and he follows that
with the parable of the fig that isn't bearing fruit.
The owner wants to cut it down,
but the gardener pleads for time
to try some routine horticultural practices
for just one more year to bring it into fruit.
_______________________________________
Now, it takes three to five years for a fig tree to fruit,
and the planter of the tree expects fruit in the fourth year.
The gardener knows that it should mature and bear fruit
by the next year, its fifth year.
If there's no change, it will be destroyed.
The crowd recognizes the fig tree
as a typical metaphor for the Israelite people.
They understand that Jesus is saying
that the center of their culture--
the Temple in Jerusalem and its cult of Roman collaborators--
is unfruitful.
And the crowd clearly understands his message:
unless they change, unless the Temple changes,
all will perish.
_______________________________________
Now, 2000 years after Jesus, and 3500 years after Moses,
we hear the same message,
this time aimed at us.
In Pope Francis' encyclical Laudatio Si'
we hear that the center of our culture is unproductive;
unless we change, we will perish.
We hear Francis calling us to heed the signs of our times.
There's lead in Flint's water, microcystin in ours.
Record heat and record cold.
Record earthquakes and cyclones and tornadoes.
Violence in Kalamazoo and on our streets in Toledo
and around the world.
Zika virus.
Air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, extinction of species.
They're all around us, the signs of our times,
calling us to change our ways,
or we will perish.
_______________________________________
It's inspiring to see so many Toledoans,
especially our Holy Spirit Community,
changing their personal lifestyle habits
to become more and more responsive
to Francis' call to care for creation.
Some folks carpool, or bike to work, even in winter.
Some turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater.
More are buying local food at local businesses.
Some are researching candidates' environmental positions
so they can vote their consciences in the March 15 primary.
And all of us are trying to get a few trees planted.
Big things and little things,
each of them part of the effort to take better care of our planet.
_______________________________________
Inspiring as all these good works are,
we know we have to do more.
God's name is written in all that is,
and human selfishness and greed are destroying it.
That's why we're spending time this Lent fine-tuning our lives,
eager to follow ever more closely the lesson Jesus teaches.
We must read the signs of the times.
We must judge what is right and act on it.
We must care for creation
as an act of love for God and neighbor
and a work of justice for all.
Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 2 Lent C, February 21, 2016
First Reading: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
Second Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Gospel: Luke 9:28B-36
This story of Jesus' transfiguration
shows up in four of the canonical scriptures--
the three synoptic Gospels
and the 2nd century letter of Peter--
and all of the writers re-shape the story
to fit their own narrative.
Most agree that Mark's version is the first of these four.
Luke shapes his version—today's Gospel--
so it is parallel to his later scene
of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Some scholars think
that both the transfiguration and the ascension
come from the one and the same experience of Jesus
by his followers.
_______________________________________
What really happened, and what does it mean for us?
We can be fairly certain
that Jesus often went off alone to pray,
just as he regularly went to the synagogue.
That he was a man of prayer comes across loud and clear.
_______________________________________
We know, from own experience and observation,
that periods of meditation and prayer
can have visible results.
Sometimes we see that a change has taken place in a person,
like after a retreat.
Sometimes we see people
acting on decisions or commitments or re-commitments
that they made while at prayer.
_______________________________________
So what's going on here?
Jesus goes apart to pray and has a profound experience,
hearing God deep in his being, affirming him:
“You are my chosen one,” he hears;
“In you I am well pleased.”
Jesus has been working hard to bring extraordinary change
to the way people live,
the way they act toward one another,
the way they share the goods of the earth with all
instead of accumulating them for themselves.
Jesus finds the strength to continue on that path.
He feels God’s affirmation and is transformed by it,
so enlivened that Peter, James, and John
see the change in him--
he's literally glowing.
_______________________________________
We know the truth of this story
because it has happened to each of us at some point.
We've had that uplifting experience,
that moment of clear vision
and firm commitment
and affirmation.
Maybe it was at graduation,
confident and ready to head into a career
that was before only a dream and a hope.
Or when we stood at the altar and said “I do,”
committing our life and love in marriage.
Or when a child was born.
We don't have words to really communicate
what we feel at times like that.
Like walking on air.
Like being in a cloud.
It's surreal.
We are changed, and so are the people around us.
_______________________________________
Jesus feels God’s affirmation and is transformed by it,
so enlivened that the disciples see him literally glowing
—transfigured.
Peter wants to stay in the moment--
put up some tents to keep everything where it is,
capture that time
and live there forever.
But he has to leave the moment behind,
leave the mountain,
go forward,
continue on the way.
_______________________________________
We have to go forward, too.
Graduation day passes into job hunting.
The wedding turns into marriage.
The baby needs a diaper change,
gets an ear infection.
The affirmation we experienced in prayer
becomes an imperative to action.
We know what we have to do,
and now it's time to go on and do it.
_______________________________________
For Jesus, life with God means going to Jerusalem,
continuing in God’s way of peace and justice.
For us, life with God means the very same thing.
Lent can be one of our times on the mountain,
a time to pray and reflect,
to get ready for those next steps along the way.
And on that path, on the way with Jesus,
we, also, will be changed.
We will be transfigured.
First Reading: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
Second Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Gospel: Luke 9:28B-36
This story of Jesus' transfiguration
shows up in four of the canonical scriptures--
the three synoptic Gospels
and the 2nd century letter of Peter--
and all of the writers re-shape the story
to fit their own narrative.
Most agree that Mark's version is the first of these four.
Luke shapes his version—today's Gospel--
so it is parallel to his later scene
of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Some scholars think
that both the transfiguration and the ascension
come from the one and the same experience of Jesus
by his followers.
_______________________________________
What really happened, and what does it mean for us?
We can be fairly certain
that Jesus often went off alone to pray,
just as he regularly went to the synagogue.
That he was a man of prayer comes across loud and clear.
_______________________________________
We know, from own experience and observation,
that periods of meditation and prayer
can have visible results.
Sometimes we see that a change has taken place in a person,
like after a retreat.
Sometimes we see people
acting on decisions or commitments or re-commitments
that they made while at prayer.
_______________________________________
So what's going on here?
Jesus goes apart to pray and has a profound experience,
hearing God deep in his being, affirming him:
“You are my chosen one,” he hears;
“In you I am well pleased.”
Jesus has been working hard to bring extraordinary change
to the way people live,
the way they act toward one another,
the way they share the goods of the earth with all
instead of accumulating them for themselves.
Jesus finds the strength to continue on that path.
He feels God’s affirmation and is transformed by it,
so enlivened that Peter, James, and John
see the change in him--
he's literally glowing.
_______________________________________
We know the truth of this story
because it has happened to each of us at some point.
We've had that uplifting experience,
that moment of clear vision
and firm commitment
and affirmation.
Maybe it was at graduation,
confident and ready to head into a career
that was before only a dream and a hope.
Or when we stood at the altar and said “I do,”
committing our life and love in marriage.
Or when a child was born.
We don't have words to really communicate
what we feel at times like that.
Like walking on air.
Like being in a cloud.
It's surreal.
We are changed, and so are the people around us.
_______________________________________
Jesus feels God’s affirmation and is transformed by it,
so enlivened that the disciples see him literally glowing
—transfigured.
Peter wants to stay in the moment--
put up some tents to keep everything where it is,
capture that time
and live there forever.
But he has to leave the moment behind,
leave the mountain,
go forward,
continue on the way.
_______________________________________
We have to go forward, too.
Graduation day passes into job hunting.
The wedding turns into marriage.
The baby needs a diaper change,
gets an ear infection.
The affirmation we experienced in prayer
becomes an imperative to action.
We know what we have to do,
and now it's time to go on and do it.
_______________________________________
For Jesus, life with God means going to Jerusalem,
continuing in God’s way of peace and justice.
For us, life with God means the very same thing.
Lent can be one of our times on the mountain,
a time to pray and reflect,
to get ready for those next steps along the way.
And on that path, on the way with Jesus,
we, also, will be changed.
We will be transfigured.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 1 Lent C, February 14, 2016
First Reading: DEUTERONOMY 26:4-10
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 91:1-2, 10-15
Second Reading: ROMANS 10:8-13
Gospel: LUKE 4:1-13
The book of Deuteronomy tells us that,
like our ancestors in faith,
we must recognize that the power of God
has brought us to this land flowing with milk and honey.
We are to say, “My father was a wandering Aramean”
who traveled from place to place,
out of oppression into freedom and security,
living in peace.
____________________________________
Between the years of 1835 and 1837,
violent acts were perpetrated
against the Jews of Marköbel, Germany.
George and Minnie, married there in 1833,
left Marköbel in the midst of that violence.
With two-year-old Henry, their only child,
they traveled the 4,200 miles to America,
hoping for peace and security
in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Henry married Anna Elizabeth, daughter of British immigrants,
and they raised three sons in northwest Ohio.
Henry's son Conrad married Sarah,
also a child of immigrants, hers from County Mayo in Ireland.
They traveled 25 miles west
and settled in Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio,
where they joined St. Mary's Catholic Church in Millersville,
east down the Greensburg Pike
about a mile-and-a-half from their Home in Tinney.
They raised seven of their nine children to adulthood,
sweating and scrabbling to make the boulder-strewn fields
flow with milk and honey.
Their youngest surviving son Cletus married Marie,
whose ancestors were Dutch and Danish and German,
Shawnee and British and French.
They found a small piece of land about halfway
between his native Tinney and her native Vickery,
rich and productive soil that became
for them and their three children
a land flowing with milk and honey.
____________________________________
Yes, my parents--
and their parents and their parents' parents,
as far back as I can trace--
were “wandering Arameans.”
I am blessed to live a long and fruitful life
and settle into a place flowing with milk and honey--
well, with eggs and lettuce and tomatoes and beans--
and the loving embrace of friends and family on the journey.
It's the history of the human race,
whether they're our ancestors by blood or by faith,
ordinary people looking for security,
self-esteem,
and the power to make a living
for themselves and their children.
____________________________________
Those Arameans that Moses talked about
were an ancient people in Aram and Babylonia--
the land we now call Syria—about 3,000 years ago.
Too many of today's Arameans are wandering the world right now,
hoping for a land
flowing with milk and honey
instead of bombs and bullets.
Over 7 million have left Syria in the last four years,
and another 2 million have fled their homes inside the country.
Nine million men, women, and children
running from violence and oppression--
that's equal to the whole population of the state of Michigan.
Over 200,000 have died from the violence.
That's like murdering seven out of every 10 Toledoans.
Or the entire population of Akron.
____________________________________
Toledo, a city built by immigrants, has offered safe haven
to 54 of the 80 Syrian refugees received in the State of Ohio
in the last four years.
Some of you volunteer with our local organizations
to help refugees settle here:
UsTogether, Welcome TLC, and Water for Ishmael.
Some of you volunteer in the many activities
of our Northwest Ohio MultiFaith Council,
building peace among Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists,
and every other religious group in our community.
And we write letters and sign petitions
in support not only of Syrian refugees
but South American refugees
and refugees and immigrants from every country.
____________________________________
It's not just refugees.
Too many people here in Toledo live in despair
of ever finding anything but affliction, toil, and oppression.
We rank #1 in the nation
in the increased concentration of poor people.
One out of seven in our town live below the poverty level.
And poverty is much worse in other places around the globe
than it is here in Toledo.
Our homeless shelters are full again this winter,
but we have shelters
and we have generous donors like you.
You work for and with people in need here in Toledo.
You show your belief in Paul's observation
that there is no difference between Jew and Greek,
that all are one in Christ.
Just this month you sent financial support to 1Matters
to help the homeless,
St. Martin de Porres' Black History Month concert,
and the Seagate Food Bank.
That's on top of the load of in-kind donations
you pack into my car every weekend
for Monday delivery to Claver House and Rahab's Heart.
____________________________________
And then there's the environment.
Twenty percent of the world's population
uses up resources at a rate
that robs poor nations and future generations
of what they need to survive.
That kind of excess and waste and abuse of the environment
break the fifth commandment:
Thou shalt not kill!
But all of you, by putting your time, talent, and/or treasure
into our Tree Toledo project,
are keeping that fifth commandment.
____________________________________
So we say, on this First Sunday of Lent,
“My mother and my father were wandering Arameans.”
It's time to give thanks, like Moses says,
for the great gifts of God that we enjoy.
It's time to help others get to this same place
because, as Paul tells us,
we are all one, all equal, all without distinction before God.
It's time, as Luke's Gospel tells us, to look to our brother Jesus,
another wandering Aramean,
as he heads into the desert on a spiritual search.
It's time for us to walk with him into these quiet Lenten days,
searching and praying
to become even better
at following him on the Way.
First Reading: DEUTERONOMY 26:4-10
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 91:1-2, 10-15
Second Reading: ROMANS 10:8-13
Gospel: LUKE 4:1-13
The book of Deuteronomy tells us that,
like our ancestors in faith,
we must recognize that the power of God
has brought us to this land flowing with milk and honey.
We are to say, “My father was a wandering Aramean”
who traveled from place to place,
out of oppression into freedom and security,
living in peace.
____________________________________
Between the years of 1835 and 1837,
violent acts were perpetrated
against the Jews of Marköbel, Germany.
George and Minnie, married there in 1833,
left Marköbel in the midst of that violence.
With two-year-old Henry, their only child,
they traveled the 4,200 miles to America,
hoping for peace and security
in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Henry married Anna Elizabeth, daughter of British immigrants,
and they raised three sons in northwest Ohio.
Henry's son Conrad married Sarah,
also a child of immigrants, hers from County Mayo in Ireland.
They traveled 25 miles west
and settled in Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio,
where they joined St. Mary's Catholic Church in Millersville,
east down the Greensburg Pike
about a mile-and-a-half from their Home in Tinney.
They raised seven of their nine children to adulthood,
sweating and scrabbling to make the boulder-strewn fields
flow with milk and honey.
Their youngest surviving son Cletus married Marie,
whose ancestors were Dutch and Danish and German,
Shawnee and British and French.
They found a small piece of land about halfway
between his native Tinney and her native Vickery,
rich and productive soil that became
for them and their three children
a land flowing with milk and honey.
____________________________________
Yes, my parents--
and their parents and their parents' parents,
as far back as I can trace--
were “wandering Arameans.”
I am blessed to live a long and fruitful life
and settle into a place flowing with milk and honey--
well, with eggs and lettuce and tomatoes and beans--
and the loving embrace of friends and family on the journey.
It's the history of the human race,
whether they're our ancestors by blood or by faith,
ordinary people looking for security,
self-esteem,
and the power to make a living
for themselves and their children.
____________________________________
Those Arameans that Moses talked about
were an ancient people in Aram and Babylonia--
the land we now call Syria—about 3,000 years ago.
Too many of today's Arameans are wandering the world right now,
hoping for a land
flowing with milk and honey
instead of bombs and bullets.
Over 7 million have left Syria in the last four years,
and another 2 million have fled their homes inside the country.
Nine million men, women, and children
running from violence and oppression--
that's equal to the whole population of the state of Michigan.
Over 200,000 have died from the violence.
That's like murdering seven out of every 10 Toledoans.
Or the entire population of Akron.
____________________________________
Toledo, a city built by immigrants, has offered safe haven
to 54 of the 80 Syrian refugees received in the State of Ohio
in the last four years.
Some of you volunteer with our local organizations
to help refugees settle here:
UsTogether, Welcome TLC, and Water for Ishmael.
Some of you volunteer in the many activities
of our Northwest Ohio MultiFaith Council,
building peace among Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists,
and every other religious group in our community.
And we write letters and sign petitions
in support not only of Syrian refugees
but South American refugees
and refugees and immigrants from every country.
____________________________________
It's not just refugees.
Too many people here in Toledo live in despair
of ever finding anything but affliction, toil, and oppression.
We rank #1 in the nation
in the increased concentration of poor people.
One out of seven in our town live below the poverty level.
And poverty is much worse in other places around the globe
than it is here in Toledo.
Our homeless shelters are full again this winter,
but we have shelters
and we have generous donors like you.
You work for and with people in need here in Toledo.
You show your belief in Paul's observation
that there is no difference between Jew and Greek,
that all are one in Christ.
Just this month you sent financial support to 1Matters
to help the homeless,
St. Martin de Porres' Black History Month concert,
and the Seagate Food Bank.
That's on top of the load of in-kind donations
you pack into my car every weekend
for Monday delivery to Claver House and Rahab's Heart.
____________________________________
And then there's the environment.
Twenty percent of the world's population
uses up resources at a rate
that robs poor nations and future generations
of what they need to survive.
That kind of excess and waste and abuse of the environment
break the fifth commandment:
Thou shalt not kill!
But all of you, by putting your time, talent, and/or treasure
into our Tree Toledo project,
are keeping that fifth commandment.
____________________________________
So we say, on this First Sunday of Lent,
“My mother and my father were wandering Arameans.”
It's time to give thanks, like Moses says,
for the great gifts of God that we enjoy.
It's time to help others get to this same place
because, as Paul tells us,
we are all one, all equal, all without distinction before God.
It's time, as Luke's Gospel tells us, to look to our brother Jesus,
another wandering Aramean,
as he heads into the desert on a spiritual search.
It's time for us to walk with him into these quiet Lenten days,
searching and praying
to become even better
at following him on the Way.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Ash Wednesday C, February 10, 2016
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving.
The traditional Lenten practices.
After so many Lents,
it seems that we must have this down pat by now.
What's left to do?
We already pray,
all of us together at Mass
and each of us throughout the week
with our own particular prayer practices;
from silent meditation to singing in the shower;
from watching the grass grow
to astonished gratitude that the old bones still creak along;
from morning prayer to grace before meals to night prayer.
And I know you already fast,
taking care of your own essential needs
and giving a good bunch of the extra to people in need;
baking that perfect cake
and giving it away to welcome a new neighbor;
buying double to send the same thing to Claver House
that you put in your own cupboard.
And I know you give alms, generously,
as witnessed by our Holy Spirit Community's bank balance
that never seems to go down
even though you vote to send donations
to peace and justice groups all over northwest Ohio.
Even more than the money,
I see you giving yourselves—your time and your skills--
everywhere you go.
_______________________________
Pope Francis has asked us to focus on mercy this year--
a jubilee of mercy.
I'm sure you remember those “works of mercy”
from the Baltimore Catechism:
The spiritual works,
like giving counsel;
teaching;
speaking out about right and wrong;
comforting people who grieve or suffer
or are going through a hard time;
forgiving, and letting go of grudges;
developing a compassionate spirit;
praying for people.
And then the corporal works of mercy,
like providing food and water to people in need;
helping the homeless;
visiting people who are homebound or in the hospital
or in nursing homes or Hospice or in jail;
going to funerals or sending a note to the bereaved family;
and donating time or money to help the poor.
_______________________________
That's a pretty hefty list,
but I also know
that it's one that you can already check off.
So the question for Lent becomes one
of fine-tuning what you're already doing.
Maybe there's a need
to return to a prayer practice that has fallen by the wayside,
or to change one that has grown stale and uninspiring.
Maybe it's time to try out a different volunteer spot.
These days from Ash Wednesday
until the First Sunday of Lent
are called the “porch” of Lent”--
a chance to take stock
and choose at least one thing that to practice
so that, come Easter Sunday,
an old habit will have been jettisoned
or a new one learned
to help us follow the Way of Jesus more closely.
_______________________________
I've already given it some serious thought
to my own need for fine-tuning,
and I signed up for an ap on my cell phone
that will send me the daily Mass readings.
That's a bit of prayer practice that I have found to be good for me,
but I've let it slide lately,
so I'm going to use the discipline of Lent
to get myself back in the habit.
And I deleted my computer's bookmarks for Sudoku and Solitaire
and plan to quit cold turkey.
That's some fasting that, if I manage to do it,
will give me more time for the fast that God wants.
_______________________________
Today marks the third anniversary of our parish community,
and in that time I have come to know you as holy people,
truly the people of God.
Hearing your stories and seeing your good works
inspire me to become a better person.
I thank God for you!
_______________________________
We will now bless these ashes,
and all are invited to come forward
to take part in our communal act of penance.
Let us embrace this opportunity to follow every more humbly,
ever more closely,
the way that Jesus taught.
Blessing and Imposition of Ashes—Instrumental Ashes, #883
Priest: Let us pray.
Good people of God,
let us bless these ashes
which we will use as a reminder
to turn our hearts and our lives even more
toward our loving God.
God beyond all names,
bless these ashes +
by which we remind ourselves
that you have formed us out of stardust
and that we are destined to live eternally
in your divine presence.
Keep us faithful to the discipline of Lent,
for you want us to grow and thrive
as we follow the Way of Jesus, our brother and teacher,
who remains one with you and the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever. All: Amen.
Sprinkle ashes with holy water in silence. Then impose ashes, saying:
Remember you are stardust and unto stardust you shall return.
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving.
The traditional Lenten practices.
After so many Lents,
it seems that we must have this down pat by now.
What's left to do?
We already pray,
all of us together at Mass
and each of us throughout the week
with our own particular prayer practices;
from silent meditation to singing in the shower;
from watching the grass grow
to astonished gratitude that the old bones still creak along;
from morning prayer to grace before meals to night prayer.
And I know you already fast,
taking care of your own essential needs
and giving a good bunch of the extra to people in need;
baking that perfect cake
and giving it away to welcome a new neighbor;
buying double to send the same thing to Claver House
that you put in your own cupboard.
And I know you give alms, generously,
as witnessed by our Holy Spirit Community's bank balance
that never seems to go down
even though you vote to send donations
to peace and justice groups all over northwest Ohio.
Even more than the money,
I see you giving yourselves—your time and your skills--
everywhere you go.
_______________________________
Pope Francis has asked us to focus on mercy this year--
a jubilee of mercy.
I'm sure you remember those “works of mercy”
from the Baltimore Catechism:
The spiritual works,
like giving counsel;
teaching;
speaking out about right and wrong;
comforting people who grieve or suffer
or are going through a hard time;
forgiving, and letting go of grudges;
developing a compassionate spirit;
praying for people.
And then the corporal works of mercy,
like providing food and water to people in need;
helping the homeless;
visiting people who are homebound or in the hospital
or in nursing homes or Hospice or in jail;
going to funerals or sending a note to the bereaved family;
and donating time or money to help the poor.
_______________________________
That's a pretty hefty list,
but I also know
that it's one that you can already check off.
So the question for Lent becomes one
of fine-tuning what you're already doing.
Maybe there's a need
to return to a prayer practice that has fallen by the wayside,
or to change one that has grown stale and uninspiring.
Maybe it's time to try out a different volunteer spot.
These days from Ash Wednesday
until the First Sunday of Lent
are called the “porch” of Lent”--
a chance to take stock
and choose at least one thing that to practice
so that, come Easter Sunday,
an old habit will have been jettisoned
or a new one learned
to help us follow the Way of Jesus more closely.
_______________________________
I've already given it some serious thought
to my own need for fine-tuning,
and I signed up for an ap on my cell phone
that will send me the daily Mass readings.
That's a bit of prayer practice that I have found to be good for me,
but I've let it slide lately,
so I'm going to use the discipline of Lent
to get myself back in the habit.
And I deleted my computer's bookmarks for Sudoku and Solitaire
and plan to quit cold turkey.
That's some fasting that, if I manage to do it,
will give me more time for the fast that God wants.
_______________________________
Today marks the third anniversary of our parish community,
and in that time I have come to know you as holy people,
truly the people of God.
Hearing your stories and seeing your good works
inspire me to become a better person.
I thank God for you!
_______________________________
We will now bless these ashes,
and all are invited to come forward
to take part in our communal act of penance.
Let us embrace this opportunity to follow every more humbly,
ever more closely,
the way that Jesus taught.
Blessing and Imposition of Ashes—Instrumental Ashes, #883
Priest: Let us pray.
Good people of God,
let us bless these ashes
which we will use as a reminder
to turn our hearts and our lives even more
toward our loving God.
God beyond all names,
bless these ashes +
by which we remind ourselves
that you have formed us out of stardust
and that we are destined to live eternally
in your divine presence.
Keep us faithful to the discipline of Lent,
for you want us to grow and thrive
as we follow the Way of Jesus, our brother and teacher,
who remains one with you and the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever. All: Amen.
Sprinkle ashes with holy water in silence. Then impose ashes, saying:
Remember you are stardust and unto stardust you shall return.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 5 OTC, February 7, 2016
First Reading: ISAIAH 6:1-2A, 3-8
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11
Gospel: LUKE 5:1-11
Last week's passage from Luke's Gospel
saw Jesus rejected by the people of his home town,
with its population of 400,
and heading down to Capernaum,
with its population of 1,500.
Capernaum is about 20 miles away from Nazareth--
an easy day's walk.
In passages read on weekdays,
Luke has Jesus exorcising a demon in the synagogue,
curing Simon's mother-in-law of a fever,
and healing people sick with various diseases.
Then Jesus goes off to a deserted place,
but people follow him
and try to convince him to stay in Capernaum.
Instead he heads off to spread the good news
to the other towns of Judea,
and that's where today's Gospel passage picks up.
Luke says Jesus is standing by Lake Gennesaret,
the freshwater lake
that's called the Sea of Galilee by the other evangelists,
not quite four miles from Capernaum,
a little more than an hour's walk away.
__________________________________________
A crowd has gathered by the lake to hear Jesus.
So he hops into Simon's boat and sits down--
the posture of the teacher in the Jewish tradition.
The miraculous catch of fish follows his teaching,
Luke's version of an event
that most scholars think
in some form or another
actually happened.
Mark and Matthew give the bare information
that Jesus told the disciples
they would be catching people instead of fish.
Luke expands the story
into the big catch and the call of the disciples.
John puts the catch after the resurrection, on the beach,
as a story of call to discipleship and sending on mission.
__________________________________________
All four of the Gospels give evidence
that Jesus talked about fish a lot,
and he ate a lot of them,
and he passed them out to lots of people.
Many of the towns he walked to--
Capernaum, Bethsaida, Caesarea Philipi, Chorazin,
Scythopolis and Hippos in the Decapolis,
Jericho, Tyre, Sidon--
were on rivers, lakes, or the Mediterranean Sea.
__________________________________________
By the time of this event,
Simon Peter would already have experienced Jesus
as an extraordinary person
through his experience of the teaching in the synagogue
and the exorcism
and the healing miracles.
The giant catch of fish puts Peter over the edge--
he leaves everything and follows Jesus.
People would have remembered
Peter talking about that important moment over the years.
People also remembered that Peter was not perfect.
He was an ordinary human being.
He worked hard as a business partner with James and John.
He was not part of the ruling class but one of the ruled
and would have, along with other Galilean Jews of the time,
chafed under Roman oppression.
He was impetuous,
sometimes mistaken,
prone to misunderstanding what Jesus was saying.
But more than anything,
people remembered that Peter's encounter with Jesus
dramatically changed his life.
__________________________________________
In that same way,
our life experiences change us.
At some point we are compelled to change,
perhaps to follow the dream, like Isaiah;
or to see more clearly, like Paul;
or to leave a job, like Peter.
We remember a point
when we made an important choice.
And it happens to us
not just once
but over and over.
We are called.
__________________________________________
Most of the calls we get are little ones,
choices we make almost automatically,
like smiling at a stranger
or helping a grandchild with homework.
They're like the call Peter got
to let his friend Jesus hop in his boat
and put out a short distance from the shore.
He could have said no
and kept on washing the nets.
And some of the calls are big ones,
like Peter's leaving everything behind and following Jesus.
We might answer a call to learn
that sends us off to college,
or a call to marriage and family,
a call to leave a well-paying job for a more meaningful one,
a call to volunteer for justice and peace.
Sometimes we misunderstand,
stumbling along the way like Peter did,
and take the wrong way for a while.
Then, like Peter, we turn ourselves around.
__________________________________________
By the way we live,
by the choices we make in each circumstance,
our actions teach the Way of Jesus.
We are called to be disciples.
We become followers of the Way.
We become fishers of people.
First Reading: ISAIAH 6:1-2A, 3-8
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11
Gospel: LUKE 5:1-11
Last week's passage from Luke's Gospel
saw Jesus rejected by the people of his home town,
with its population of 400,
and heading down to Capernaum,
with its population of 1,500.
Capernaum is about 20 miles away from Nazareth--
an easy day's walk.
In passages read on weekdays,
Luke has Jesus exorcising a demon in the synagogue,
curing Simon's mother-in-law of a fever,
and healing people sick with various diseases.
Then Jesus goes off to a deserted place,
but people follow him
and try to convince him to stay in Capernaum.
Instead he heads off to spread the good news
to the other towns of Judea,
and that's where today's Gospel passage picks up.
Luke says Jesus is standing by Lake Gennesaret,
the freshwater lake
that's called the Sea of Galilee by the other evangelists,
not quite four miles from Capernaum,
a little more than an hour's walk away.
__________________________________________
A crowd has gathered by the lake to hear Jesus.
So he hops into Simon's boat and sits down--
the posture of the teacher in the Jewish tradition.
The miraculous catch of fish follows his teaching,
Luke's version of an event
that most scholars think
in some form or another
actually happened.
Mark and Matthew give the bare information
that Jesus told the disciples
they would be catching people instead of fish.
Luke expands the story
into the big catch and the call of the disciples.
John puts the catch after the resurrection, on the beach,
as a story of call to discipleship and sending on mission.
__________________________________________
All four of the Gospels give evidence
that Jesus talked about fish a lot,
and he ate a lot of them,
and he passed them out to lots of people.
Many of the towns he walked to--
Capernaum, Bethsaida, Caesarea Philipi, Chorazin,
Scythopolis and Hippos in the Decapolis,
Jericho, Tyre, Sidon--
were on rivers, lakes, or the Mediterranean Sea.
__________________________________________
By the time of this event,
Simon Peter would already have experienced Jesus
as an extraordinary person
through his experience of the teaching in the synagogue
and the exorcism
and the healing miracles.
The giant catch of fish puts Peter over the edge--
he leaves everything and follows Jesus.
People would have remembered
Peter talking about that important moment over the years.
People also remembered that Peter was not perfect.
He was an ordinary human being.
He worked hard as a business partner with James and John.
He was not part of the ruling class but one of the ruled
and would have, along with other Galilean Jews of the time,
chafed under Roman oppression.
He was impetuous,
sometimes mistaken,
prone to misunderstanding what Jesus was saying.
But more than anything,
people remembered that Peter's encounter with Jesus
dramatically changed his life.
__________________________________________
In that same way,
our life experiences change us.
At some point we are compelled to change,
perhaps to follow the dream, like Isaiah;
or to see more clearly, like Paul;
or to leave a job, like Peter.
We remember a point
when we made an important choice.
And it happens to us
not just once
but over and over.
We are called.
__________________________________________
Most of the calls we get are little ones,
choices we make almost automatically,
like smiling at a stranger
or helping a grandchild with homework.
They're like the call Peter got
to let his friend Jesus hop in his boat
and put out a short distance from the shore.
He could have said no
and kept on washing the nets.
And some of the calls are big ones,
like Peter's leaving everything behind and following Jesus.
We might answer a call to learn
that sends us off to college,
or a call to marriage and family,
a call to leave a well-paying job for a more meaningful one,
a call to volunteer for justice and peace.
Sometimes we misunderstand,
stumbling along the way like Peter did,
and take the wrong way for a while.
Then, like Peter, we turn ourselves around.
__________________________________________
By the way we live,
by the choices we make in each circumstance,
our actions teach the Way of Jesus.
We are called to be disciples.
We become followers of the Way.
We become fishers of people.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 4 OT C, January 31, 2016
First Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:31—13:13
Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
What is it that makes Jesus' neighbors so mad at him
that they want to throw him over the hill?
Some are truly amazed at the truth of his insights into the scripture,
but others complain
that he isn't working those miracles for them
like he did in Capernaum.
He responds by telling them that miracles require faith,
and he gives them two examples, neither of them Jews.
His friends and neighbors recognize the truth of what Jesus says,
knowing that those despised foreigners,
the Canaanites and the Syrians,
have the deep faith they themselves lack.
They reject his message.
But he knew his mission,
so he stood up, told the truth,
and went on his way doing what he was called to do.
_____________________________________________
Religion can bring out the worst in people.
They think their dogma and their ritual makes them better.
They exclude people
and begin to think that God wants them
to hate the “other”
and kill the “foreigner.”
_____________________________________________
It still happens.
Just as the citizens of Nazareth forgot the commands of the Torah
to “love the alien as yourself;
for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt,”
people today can forget the Great Commandment of love.
Religion can get distorted into fanaticism and bigotry.
_____________________________________________
On the other hand,
we know that religion can also bring out the best in people,
helping them to become more tolerant and loving.
We each have to ask ourselves what religion brings out in us.
Our first reading, that stirring passage from Jeremiah,
tells us that God has a mission for each one of us
that is only ours to do.
Jeremiah also tells us that It won't be easy
but that we will bear fruit.
_____________________________________________
We are fortunate here in Northwest Ohio
to be able to see the good that religion can bring out in others.
We are blessed with many prophets among us.
Some of you know Paul and Kathleen from Liberty Center,
who have left the snowy north for the winter,
but not to vacation.
They are trekking through the southwestern desert
to leave caches of water and food
for desperate refugees from South American terrorism
who cross into the United States at the risk of their lives.
And some of you know Sandy and Lin in West Toledo,
adopting and fostering so many special needs kids
that I've lost count.
And there's Sister Ginny
putting together an alternative to suspension for school kids
at the Padua Center.
And Marcia and Rose and hundreds of others
lobbying to get the lead poisoning
out of the homes of the poorest kids among us.
And Karen Shepler bringing our community together
in an ongoing dialogue to combat racism.
And Woody and Judy creating a way for followers of every faith
to work together as a community of justice and peace.
And, there's our own Tree Toledo,
scores of people planting trees
so future generations will have breathable air.
And then there's you,
prophets anointed by God
to bear the good news everywhere you go.
You're out there in the food pantries and the soup kitchens,
visiting people in the hospitals and nursing homes
and at home and at Hospice.
You're at the funeral home
comforting your friends when they lose a loved one,
tutoring and coaching and cheering for your grandkids,
donating to Rahab's Heart and disaster relief,
racing for the cure,
and praying in the quiet of the morning
and the still of the night.
_____________________________________________
Like Jeremiah, like Jesus, you
have been anointed by God to prophesy to the nations.
You look at the world and speak out,
sometimes with words but more often with action,
and with that patient, kind love that Paul preached about.
Sometimes you suffer rejection for standing up and speaking out.
The rejection can take different forms;
it can be personal or situational or social or cultural.
You could be passed over for promotion or fired,
you could be bullied or beat up,
betrayed by the people you trust the most,
or just plain ignored
when you try to do what's right
or speak up about something that's wrong.
But you do it anyway.
_____________________________________________
God has given each of us,
as the poet Mary Oliver describes it,
this “one wild and precious life”
and charged each of us with a unique mission.
It's unique because we each have different gifts to bring to it;
but it's the same for all of us:
we are all sent to love:
love God,
love neighbor,
love one another.
Amen!
First Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:31—13:13
Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
What is it that makes Jesus' neighbors so mad at him
that they want to throw him over the hill?
Some are truly amazed at the truth of his insights into the scripture,
but others complain
that he isn't working those miracles for them
like he did in Capernaum.
He responds by telling them that miracles require faith,
and he gives them two examples, neither of them Jews.
His friends and neighbors recognize the truth of what Jesus says,
knowing that those despised foreigners,
the Canaanites and the Syrians,
have the deep faith they themselves lack.
They reject his message.
But he knew his mission,
so he stood up, told the truth,
and went on his way doing what he was called to do.
_____________________________________________
Religion can bring out the worst in people.
They think their dogma and their ritual makes them better.
They exclude people
and begin to think that God wants them
to hate the “other”
and kill the “foreigner.”
_____________________________________________
It still happens.
Just as the citizens of Nazareth forgot the commands of the Torah
to “love the alien as yourself;
for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt,”
people today can forget the Great Commandment of love.
Religion can get distorted into fanaticism and bigotry.
_____________________________________________
On the other hand,
we know that religion can also bring out the best in people,
helping them to become more tolerant and loving.
We each have to ask ourselves what religion brings out in us.
Our first reading, that stirring passage from Jeremiah,
tells us that God has a mission for each one of us
that is only ours to do.
Jeremiah also tells us that It won't be easy
but that we will bear fruit.
_____________________________________________
We are fortunate here in Northwest Ohio
to be able to see the good that religion can bring out in others.
We are blessed with many prophets among us.
Some of you know Paul and Kathleen from Liberty Center,
who have left the snowy north for the winter,
but not to vacation.
They are trekking through the southwestern desert
to leave caches of water and food
for desperate refugees from South American terrorism
who cross into the United States at the risk of their lives.
And some of you know Sandy and Lin in West Toledo,
adopting and fostering so many special needs kids
that I've lost count.
And there's Sister Ginny
putting together an alternative to suspension for school kids
at the Padua Center.
And Marcia and Rose and hundreds of others
lobbying to get the lead poisoning
out of the homes of the poorest kids among us.
And Karen Shepler bringing our community together
in an ongoing dialogue to combat racism.
And Woody and Judy creating a way for followers of every faith
to work together as a community of justice and peace.
And, there's our own Tree Toledo,
scores of people planting trees
so future generations will have breathable air.
And then there's you,
prophets anointed by God
to bear the good news everywhere you go.
You're out there in the food pantries and the soup kitchens,
visiting people in the hospitals and nursing homes
and at home and at Hospice.
You're at the funeral home
comforting your friends when they lose a loved one,
tutoring and coaching and cheering for your grandkids,
donating to Rahab's Heart and disaster relief,
racing for the cure,
and praying in the quiet of the morning
and the still of the night.
_____________________________________________
Like Jeremiah, like Jesus, you
have been anointed by God to prophesy to the nations.
You look at the world and speak out,
sometimes with words but more often with action,
and with that patient, kind love that Paul preached about.
Sometimes you suffer rejection for standing up and speaking out.
The rejection can take different forms;
it can be personal or situational or social or cultural.
You could be passed over for promotion or fired,
you could be bullied or beat up,
betrayed by the people you trust the most,
or just plain ignored
when you try to do what's right
or speak up about something that's wrong.
But you do it anyway.
_____________________________________________
God has given each of us,
as the poet Mary Oliver describes it,
this “one wild and precious life”
and charged each of us with a unique mission.
It's unique because we each have different gifts to bring to it;
but it's the same for all of us:
we are all sent to love:
love God,
love neighbor,
love one another.
Amen!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 3 OT C, January 24, 2016
First Reading: NEHEMIAH 8:2-4A, 5-6, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 19:8, 9, 10, 15
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-30
Gospel: LUKE 1:1-4; 4:14-21
In today's first reading we heard
how the people of God stood for six hours
while the book of the Law of Moses, the whole of the Torah--
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy--
was read and interpreted for them.
What were those words that moved them to tears?
I suspect it was Deuteronomy, the last book of the Torah,
where Moses gives them God's law.
It specifically commands only two prayers,
the most important of which
is the definitive statement of Jewish identity, the Shema.
We know it as the response Jesus gave
when he was asked about the greatest commandment:
Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
Hear, Israel, God is our God, God is One.
And you shall love your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might.
Even through 70 years of exile and bondage
this prayer remained familiar
to the captive Israelites.
Hearing it read and interpreted
would have resonated in their hearts.
_________________________________________
Then we have today's Gospel
telling us that Jesus went to the synagogue
in his hometown of Nazareth
and taught there.
Is that factual?
Yes, according to the scores of scholars
taking part in the Jesus Seminar.
Jesus really did teach in synagogues throughout Galilee.
Did he know about Isaiah's writings?
That is also probably a fact.
The book of the prophet Isaiah was popular in Jesus' time,
as shown by the great many surviving manuscripts.
As an observant Jew, Jesus would have heard it often.
Could Jesus read?
Probably not.
Fr. Raymond Brown points out that this passage in Luke
is the only indication in all of scripture
that Jesus knew how to read,
and most scholars think that he did not read
because his was an oral society,
particularly for the peasants...
and he was a peasant.
But Luke's story is TRUE.
Jesus did preach the fulfillment of jubilee justice.
It's the message Jesus taught,
and it's the message of the prophets that Isaiah taught,
and it's the message of the law that Ezra taught.
All through our scriptures the jubilee message is clear:
God calls us to the works of justice.
The anawim—the sick, the poor, the slaves,
the oppressed, the powerless--
are God's highest priority.
_________________________________________
And no one is exempt from doing justice.
Paul, in our second reading, tells the Corinthians
that fulfilling the word of God
needs each one of them and all of them--
readers, interpreters, listeners, workers, and pray-ers.
No one does everything,
and each one does something.
_________________________________________
This afternoon we gather, just as our forebears gathered,
to hear about Ezra reading the Torah to the returning exiles,
about Paul preaching the word to the Corinthians,
and about Jesus preaching to the people of his hometown.
And in each of those scriptures we hear
God calling US to take action for justice--
to bring good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
to let the oppressed go free.
God is calling each one of US
to bring a jubilee of justice to our world.
We can, with Pope Francis, call it mercy.
Or compassion.
Or love.
We can answer the call in many ways,
each of us with our own gifts and, as Paul says,
each of us an essential member of the one body of Christ.
We can work to end human trafficking,
or to reform the criminal justice system,
or to welcome refugees,
or to house the homeless,
or to educate children,
or to care for creation,
or to make peace.
_________________________________________
However and whenever we do the work of justice,
we take our place in the long line of the people of God
who hear the word of God and find a way in our daily lives
to embody the “golden rule”
that is common to every major religious tradition.
As Jesus puts it,
“Do to others
whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law AND the prophets.”
_________________________________________
So we continue the ancient tradition.
Thanks be to God!
First Reading: NEHEMIAH 8:2-4A, 5-6, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 19:8, 9, 10, 15
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-30
Gospel: LUKE 1:1-4; 4:14-21
In today's first reading we heard
how the people of God stood for six hours
while the book of the Law of Moses, the whole of the Torah--
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy--
was read and interpreted for them.
What were those words that moved them to tears?
I suspect it was Deuteronomy, the last book of the Torah,
where Moses gives them God's law.
It specifically commands only two prayers,
the most important of which
is the definitive statement of Jewish identity, the Shema.
We know it as the response Jesus gave
when he was asked about the greatest commandment:
Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
Hear, Israel, God is our God, God is One.
And you shall love your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might.
Even through 70 years of exile and bondage
this prayer remained familiar
to the captive Israelites.
Hearing it read and interpreted
would have resonated in their hearts.
_________________________________________
Then we have today's Gospel
telling us that Jesus went to the synagogue
in his hometown of Nazareth
and taught there.
Is that factual?
Yes, according to the scores of scholars
taking part in the Jesus Seminar.
Jesus really did teach in synagogues throughout Galilee.
Did he know about Isaiah's writings?
That is also probably a fact.
The book of the prophet Isaiah was popular in Jesus' time,
as shown by the great many surviving manuscripts.
As an observant Jew, Jesus would have heard it often.
Could Jesus read?
Probably not.
Fr. Raymond Brown points out that this passage in Luke
is the only indication in all of scripture
that Jesus knew how to read,
and most scholars think that he did not read
because his was an oral society,
particularly for the peasants...
and he was a peasant.
But Luke's story is TRUE.
Jesus did preach the fulfillment of jubilee justice.
It's the message Jesus taught,
and it's the message of the prophets that Isaiah taught,
and it's the message of the law that Ezra taught.
All through our scriptures the jubilee message is clear:
God calls us to the works of justice.
The anawim—the sick, the poor, the slaves,
the oppressed, the powerless--
are God's highest priority.
_________________________________________
And no one is exempt from doing justice.
Paul, in our second reading, tells the Corinthians
that fulfilling the word of God
needs each one of them and all of them--
readers, interpreters, listeners, workers, and pray-ers.
No one does everything,
and each one does something.
_________________________________________
This afternoon we gather, just as our forebears gathered,
to hear about Ezra reading the Torah to the returning exiles,
about Paul preaching the word to the Corinthians,
and about Jesus preaching to the people of his hometown.
And in each of those scriptures we hear
God calling US to take action for justice--
to bring good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
to let the oppressed go free.
God is calling each one of US
to bring a jubilee of justice to our world.
We can, with Pope Francis, call it mercy.
Or compassion.
Or love.
We can answer the call in many ways,
each of us with our own gifts and, as Paul says,
each of us an essential member of the one body of Christ.
We can work to end human trafficking,
or to reform the criminal justice system,
or to welcome refugees,
or to house the homeless,
or to educate children,
or to care for creation,
or to make peace.
_________________________________________
However and whenever we do the work of justice,
we take our place in the long line of the people of God
who hear the word of God and find a way in our daily lives
to embody the “golden rule”
that is common to every major religious tradition.
As Jesus puts it,
“Do to others
whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law AND the prophets.”
_________________________________________
So we continue the ancient tradition.
Thanks be to God!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 2 OT C, January 17, 2016
First Reading: ISAIAH 62:1-5
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-11
Gospel: JOHN 2:1-11
Today's scriptures bring us a clear message:
The times, they are a-changin'!
Some of us who were around 52 years ago
heard that message in our society and in our church.
It was January 13, 1964,
when Bob Dylan's prophetic song was released.
It spoke to the mood of the times,
reflecting protests across America.
And in our church the Second Vatican Council was half over,
calling for a change to
the way our Church had been doing things.
We heard ourselves called the “people of God.”
We heard about Catholicism's long tradition of social justice
based on the right and dignity of all people.
We were called into dialogue with other Christians,
a call that continues
as we begin the Week of Christian Unity tomorrow.
________________________________________
Today we hear Isaiah prophesy,
after the Jewish people returned from exile:
God is in charge, he reminds the people,
and justice will shine forth!
And we hear, in John's Gospel,
with its highly developed Christology,
about the Cana wedding.
Two weeks ago we heard about the epiphany--
the manifestation of God among us--
in the star over the stable.
Last week we heard about the epiphany I
n the voice over the waters at Jesus' baptism--
another manifestation of God among us.
Now we have a third epiphany
as the water of ritual purification
turns into the good wine of celebration,
sign and symbol of the hope
that what has gone wrong with the tradition
can and will be renewed to become even greater.
________________________________________
Each of these manifestations of God, these epiphanies,
reveals a foundational truth.
As the International Theological Commission put it last year,
“the faithful have an instinct for the truth,
which enables them to recognize and endorse
authentic Christian doctrine and practice,
and to reject what is false.”
So the magi follow the star.
Jesus listens to that inner voice telling him he is a child of God.
The disciples see the meaning of the wine out of water and begin to
follow him.
Throughout the scriptures,
throughout all the religions of the world,
the observation holds:
God can and does speak to each and every person.
________________________________________
First century Judaism
sprouted a good number of variant communities
because people could see the contradiction
between what they knew to be holy
and what they saw and experienced
in some of their Temple leaders and civic rulers.
What happened to Jesus' disciples to give them strength to go on--
in spite of the crucifixion and the persecution--
was their experience of God's presence in their lives.
Jesus' way made sense to them.
Why?
It was their instinct for the truth,
their sensus fidelium—the sense of the faithful.
________________________________________
These days people are walking away
from the Roman Catholic Church and other mainline religions.
Why?
It's their sensus fidelium.
People living in this 21st century world,
with 21st century science and 21st century society,
find themselves in a 15th century religion.
The world is real.
Their religion becomes more and more unreal.
People experience God in their lives—like Jesus did--
and God in other people,
sometimes Catholics but also in other Christians
and in people of other faith traditions
and in people of no organized faith at all.
And in their patriarchal, hierarchical Catholic Church
people sometimes find too little celebration of,
or even recognition of,
the validity of their own experience of God
and too many rules
aimed at celebrating someone else's experience of God.
________________________________________
Even so, many of us stay.
We believe, as our tradition teaches--
from Augustine to Hans Küng to Pope Francis--
ecclesia semper reformanda--
the Church is always reforming.
We have hope.
And we try to live the change we hope for.
________________________________________
People who are seeking authentic religion
are listening to the prophets of real faith,
theologians like Ilia Delio and Elizabeth Johnson;
ecclesiologists like Rick Gaillardetz;
pastoral folks like Jim Bacik and Joan Chittister;
and here in our Holy Spirit Community,
spirit-filled and spirit-driven people--
each one of you,
with your unique gifts and charisms
and open minds and open hearts.
________________________________________
God is good.
And we are the people of God.
First Reading: ISAIAH 62:1-5
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
Second Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-11
Gospel: JOHN 2:1-11
Today's scriptures bring us a clear message:
The times, they are a-changin'!
Some of us who were around 52 years ago
heard that message in our society and in our church.
It was January 13, 1964,
when Bob Dylan's prophetic song was released.
It spoke to the mood of the times,
reflecting protests across America.
And in our church the Second Vatican Council was half over,
calling for a change to
the way our Church had been doing things.
We heard ourselves called the “people of God.”
We heard about Catholicism's long tradition of social justice
based on the right and dignity of all people.
We were called into dialogue with other Christians,
a call that continues
as we begin the Week of Christian Unity tomorrow.
________________________________________
Today we hear Isaiah prophesy,
after the Jewish people returned from exile:
God is in charge, he reminds the people,
and justice will shine forth!
And we hear, in John's Gospel,
with its highly developed Christology,
about the Cana wedding.
Two weeks ago we heard about the epiphany--
the manifestation of God among us--
in the star over the stable.
Last week we heard about the epiphany I
n the voice over the waters at Jesus' baptism--
another manifestation of God among us.
Now we have a third epiphany
as the water of ritual purification
turns into the good wine of celebration,
sign and symbol of the hope
that what has gone wrong with the tradition
can and will be renewed to become even greater.
________________________________________
Each of these manifestations of God, these epiphanies,
reveals a foundational truth.
As the International Theological Commission put it last year,
“the faithful have an instinct for the truth,
which enables them to recognize and endorse
authentic Christian doctrine and practice,
and to reject what is false.”
So the magi follow the star.
Jesus listens to that inner voice telling him he is a child of God.
The disciples see the meaning of the wine out of water and begin to
follow him.
Throughout the scriptures,
throughout all the religions of the world,
the observation holds:
God can and does speak to each and every person.
________________________________________
First century Judaism
sprouted a good number of variant communities
because people could see the contradiction
between what they knew to be holy
and what they saw and experienced
in some of their Temple leaders and civic rulers.
What happened to Jesus' disciples to give them strength to go on--
in spite of the crucifixion and the persecution--
was their experience of God's presence in their lives.
Jesus' way made sense to them.
Why?
It was their instinct for the truth,
their sensus fidelium—the sense of the faithful.
________________________________________
These days people are walking away
from the Roman Catholic Church and other mainline religions.
Why?
It's their sensus fidelium.
People living in this 21st century world,
with 21st century science and 21st century society,
find themselves in a 15th century religion.
The world is real.
Their religion becomes more and more unreal.
People experience God in their lives—like Jesus did--
and God in other people,
sometimes Catholics but also in other Christians
and in people of other faith traditions
and in people of no organized faith at all.
And in their patriarchal, hierarchical Catholic Church
people sometimes find too little celebration of,
or even recognition of,
the validity of their own experience of God
and too many rules
aimed at celebrating someone else's experience of God.
________________________________________
Even so, many of us stay.
We believe, as our tradition teaches--
from Augustine to Hans Küng to Pope Francis--
ecclesia semper reformanda--
the Church is always reforming.
We have hope.
And we try to live the change we hope for.
________________________________________
People who are seeking authentic religion
are listening to the prophets of real faith,
theologians like Ilia Delio and Elizabeth Johnson;
ecclesiologists like Rick Gaillardetz;
pastoral folks like Jim Bacik and Joan Chittister;
and here in our Holy Spirit Community,
spirit-filled and spirit-driven people--
each one of you,
with your unique gifts and charisms
and open minds and open hearts.
________________________________________
God is good.
And we are the people of God.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Baptism of the Lord C, January 10, 2016
First Reading: ISAIAH 42:1-4, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
Second Reading: ACTS 10:34-38
Gospel: LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22
Jesus was a Jew.
His Jewishness was integral to his entire being,
and his first followers had no problem with it.
Starting with Constantine, though,
Christians began to hide that fact.
The change begins to show up in art
as Jesus' family get blond hair and blue eyes.
The crucifixion images begin to show Jesus
wearing a loincloth to hide the uncomfortable fact
that he had been circumcised,
as all Jewish boys were—and still are—on the eighth day.
The apostles morph into handsome western Europeans,
except for Judas who takes on caricatured Jewish features
and the yellow clothes that Jews were made to wear.
_____________________________________
The current issue of Smithsonian
describes the discovery of an ancient synagogue in Magdala,
the fishing village that was probably
the home of Mary of Magdala.
The many discoveries brought to light
by the excavation of this synagogue and the surrounding area,
“solidified the portrait of Jesus
as a Jew preaching to other Jews.”
Excavations in the nearby villages of Nazareth and Bethsaida,
along with the history of the area,
give us new insights about the times Jesus lived in
and the cultures that surrounded him.
_____________________________________
Who was this person, this Jesus from Nazareth?
He was, first of all, a faithful Jew.
He was a Jew living in the midst of turmoil and oppression.
He grew in wisdom, age, and grace
to be a good man,
a prayerful mystic who took God seriously.
And, following the teachings of his Jewish faith,
he grew to have the courage to say out loud
what was obvious to the ordinary people in the countryside: God is
not like the Roman emperor,
who declares himself a god over us.
God is not like the Temple officials,
who set down burdensome rules for us.
God is love.
_____________________________________
Today we celebrate Jesus' baptism,
and we find that it's an epiphany story--
another example of the manifestation of God among us--
and it reveals a truth about all of us,
the truth that spirituality has to be lived to make it real.
Jesus didn't suddenly become a different person
on the day he was baptized.
He answered the call that had been growing in him.
He committed himself unconditionally
to living his life in keeping with what Judaism taught:
he saw himself as made in the image and likeness of God,
literally a son of God, beloved by God and called to live in love.
_____________________________________
Jesus was compelled by his experience of oneness with God
to speak the truth he had come to understand.
The people who heard him were inspired
by his teaching that everyone, here and now, is beloved;
each of us is a child of God.
Each of us is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Each of us is commissioned to show God
in our selves and our world.
_____________________________________
When Jesus committed himself to serve God above all else,
it was not a commitment to suffer and die.
It was a commitment
to follow God's command to love unconditionally,
and that meant doing justice.
Jesus' commitment threatened people with power and authority
in both the religion and the government.
_____________________________________
The choice to live in love and do justice
continues to threaten people who hold power and authority.
Pope Francis' push for the care of creation is opposed
by those who have misused their power and authority
to use people and abuse the environment.
This week President Obama's executive orders
aimed at reducing gun deaths
brought vicious statements
from the National Rifle Association members
who profit from guns
and from members of Congress
who depend on NRA contributions for their political campaigns.
There's a very long list of people
who gave their lives trying to do justice,
some of them well-known like Oscar Romero, Maura Clarke,
Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan,
others known only to their families
who grieve their “disappearance.”
Still, the way of Jesus of Nazareth prevails.
It lives on in every whistleblower
who puts the common good before personal gain.
It lives on in every person, Christian or not,
who does justice in the world.
As Luke writes in today's passage from the Acts of the Apostles,
“any person of any nationality
who fears God and does what is right
is acceptable to God.”
Any person!
Jews and Muslims,
Sikhs and Buddhists and Baha’i,
agnostics and atheists.
Any person!
Even Christians!
You and me!
_____________________________________
Here we are at the beginning of the new year,
and our path is clear.
Isaiah gives us the outline
of what Jesus understood and acted on.
Endowed with the Spirit,
like him we are called to bring justice to the nations,
to serve the cause of right;
to open the eyes of the blind;
to free captives from prison;
to bring light to the world.
_____________________________________
It's a tall order.
Some of you will fill it by tending to the sick and the dying.
Some will plant trees.
Or tend children and grandchildren,
your own or your neighbors
or those of people you have never met.
Or give to soup kitchens and food pantries
and efforts to settle Syrian refugees
or get trafficked women and children off the streets
and into a safe place.
Some of you will donate blood, or tutor, or register voters.
Whatever piece of justice each of you decides to do this year
may bring opposition from those who profit by oppression.
But, thanks be to you and to God, you'll do it anyway.
First Reading: ISAIAH 42:1-4, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
Second Reading: ACTS 10:34-38
Gospel: LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22
Jesus was a Jew.
His Jewishness was integral to his entire being,
and his first followers had no problem with it.
Starting with Constantine, though,
Christians began to hide that fact.
The change begins to show up in art
as Jesus' family get blond hair and blue eyes.
The crucifixion images begin to show Jesus
wearing a loincloth to hide the uncomfortable fact
that he had been circumcised,
as all Jewish boys were—and still are—on the eighth day.
The apostles morph into handsome western Europeans,
except for Judas who takes on caricatured Jewish features
and the yellow clothes that Jews were made to wear.
_____________________________________
The current issue of Smithsonian
describes the discovery of an ancient synagogue in Magdala,
the fishing village that was probably
the home of Mary of Magdala.
The many discoveries brought to light
by the excavation of this synagogue and the surrounding area,
“solidified the portrait of Jesus
as a Jew preaching to other Jews.”
Excavations in the nearby villages of Nazareth and Bethsaida,
along with the history of the area,
give us new insights about the times Jesus lived in
and the cultures that surrounded him.
_____________________________________
Who was this person, this Jesus from Nazareth?
He was, first of all, a faithful Jew.
He was a Jew living in the midst of turmoil and oppression.
He grew in wisdom, age, and grace
to be a good man,
a prayerful mystic who took God seriously.
And, following the teachings of his Jewish faith,
he grew to have the courage to say out loud
what was obvious to the ordinary people in the countryside: God is
not like the Roman emperor,
who declares himself a god over us.
God is not like the Temple officials,
who set down burdensome rules for us.
God is love.
_____________________________________
Today we celebrate Jesus' baptism,
and we find that it's an epiphany story--
another example of the manifestation of God among us--
and it reveals a truth about all of us,
the truth that spirituality has to be lived to make it real.
Jesus didn't suddenly become a different person
on the day he was baptized.
He answered the call that had been growing in him.
He committed himself unconditionally
to living his life in keeping with what Judaism taught:
he saw himself as made in the image and likeness of God,
literally a son of God, beloved by God and called to live in love.
_____________________________________
Jesus was compelled by his experience of oneness with God
to speak the truth he had come to understand.
The people who heard him were inspired
by his teaching that everyone, here and now, is beloved;
each of us is a child of God.
Each of us is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Each of us is commissioned to show God
in our selves and our world.
_____________________________________
When Jesus committed himself to serve God above all else,
it was not a commitment to suffer and die.
It was a commitment
to follow God's command to love unconditionally,
and that meant doing justice.
Jesus' commitment threatened people with power and authority
in both the religion and the government.
_____________________________________
The choice to live in love and do justice
continues to threaten people who hold power and authority.
Pope Francis' push for the care of creation is opposed
by those who have misused their power and authority
to use people and abuse the environment.
This week President Obama's executive orders
aimed at reducing gun deaths
brought vicious statements
from the National Rifle Association members
who profit from guns
and from members of Congress
who depend on NRA contributions for their political campaigns.
There's a very long list of people
who gave their lives trying to do justice,
some of them well-known like Oscar Romero, Maura Clarke,
Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan,
others known only to their families
who grieve their “disappearance.”
Still, the way of Jesus of Nazareth prevails.
It lives on in every whistleblower
who puts the common good before personal gain.
It lives on in every person, Christian or not,
who does justice in the world.
As Luke writes in today's passage from the Acts of the Apostles,
“any person of any nationality
who fears God and does what is right
is acceptable to God.”
Any person!
Jews and Muslims,
Sikhs and Buddhists and Baha’i,
agnostics and atheists.
Any person!
Even Christians!
You and me!
_____________________________________
Here we are at the beginning of the new year,
and our path is clear.
Isaiah gives us the outline
of what Jesus understood and acted on.
Endowed with the Spirit,
like him we are called to bring justice to the nations,
to serve the cause of right;
to open the eyes of the blind;
to free captives from prison;
to bring light to the world.
_____________________________________
It's a tall order.
Some of you will fill it by tending to the sick and the dying.
Some will plant trees.
Or tend children and grandchildren,
your own or your neighbors
or those of people you have never met.
Or give to soup kitchens and food pantries
and efforts to settle Syrian refugees
or get trafficked women and children off the streets
and into a safe place.
Some of you will donate blood, or tutor, or register voters.
Whatever piece of justice each of you decides to do this year
may bring opposition from those who profit by oppression.
But, thanks be to you and to God, you'll do it anyway.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Epiphany, January 3, 2016
First Reading: ISAIAH 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Second Reading: EPHESIANS 3:2-3A, 5-6
Gospel: MATTHEW 2:1-12
Jesus of Nazareth is indeed our epiphany,
opening our eyes and hearts
to what is deepest in the life of all things,
the sacredness of everything that is.
He reveals the hidden ground of our being.
It's an epiphany!
The manifestation of God in human form!
While our celebration today focuses on Jesus,
it points to an even larger and deeper truth:
God is manifest not only in Jesus
but also in every human being
and every piece of matter in the universe as well.
We are all one--
one world, one universe,
all created of the same stardust,
all of us
and all of it held in relationship,
a cosmic dance.
__________________________________________
Matthew's gospel gives us snapshots
of two kinds of relationships in our human world:
there is the wrong relationship,
revealed in Herod's fear and malicious intent,
and there is the right relationship,
revealed in the open searching of the magi,
their honest questioning,
their recognition of the graciousness of God
in the newborn child,
and the unquestioning welcome
extended to these strangers from the East
by the family in the stable.
__________________________________________
The news these days is pretty much awful--
pain and suffering,
violence and mayhem,
tragedy and catastrophe.
If I thought that was all there was,
I could conclude that the world is nothing but evil.
And I would be wrong.
The fact is that the TV and radio and newspaper stories
are news
because they are the exception.
The rule is love, peace, and harmony.
People get along.
Goodness is the norm.
Love and peace are unexceptional--
the way things are, and that's not news.
__________________________________________
Violet had been in a pretty tough situation
when she walked into Claver House five months ago,
unkempt and hungry and wary and sad…
and pregnant.
One of the volunteers sat down
and talked with her as she was eating
and asked the right questions:
any doctor for pre-natal care?
any resources to get baby stuff?
family and friends to help along the way?
And she was given phone numbers and contact names
for Heartbeat, and a shelter, and the hours at the food pantry.
The change was gradual over the next few months--
clean clothes, clean hair, the beginnings of trust.
She came in regularly, began to smile and talk with folks.
On Christmas Eve morning, Vi showed up
with her tiny baby daughter, three weeks old.
I watched as this rough-and-tumble, down-and-out gathering
of women and men surrounded mother and child,
fussing over them, gentle and kind.
I saw the good news come alive once again,
another manifestation of God-with-us and in us and among us.
It is good news, and it's everywhere,
but it doesn't make headlines because it's normal.
__________________________________________
Depravity is not what we find in the very depth of our being.
We're not sinful in our basic nature.
We come forth on this earth as part of the gracious mystery of God,
sparking forth from all eternity.
We are created in relationship.
When we separate ourselves from other people or from nature,
we separate ourselves from God.
When we act in right relationship,
we show what we are made of.
We manifest God in the world.
We—you, me, each of us—is an epiphany,
a revelation of God to one another and to the world.
First Reading: ISAIAH 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Second Reading: EPHESIANS 3:2-3A, 5-6
Gospel: MATTHEW 2:1-12
Jesus of Nazareth is indeed our epiphany,
opening our eyes and hearts
to what is deepest in the life of all things,
the sacredness of everything that is.
He reveals the hidden ground of our being.
It's an epiphany!
The manifestation of God in human form!
While our celebration today focuses on Jesus,
it points to an even larger and deeper truth:
God is manifest not only in Jesus
but also in every human being
and every piece of matter in the universe as well.
We are all one--
one world, one universe,
all created of the same stardust,
all of us
and all of it held in relationship,
a cosmic dance.
__________________________________________
Matthew's gospel gives us snapshots
of two kinds of relationships in our human world:
there is the wrong relationship,
revealed in Herod's fear and malicious intent,
and there is the right relationship,
revealed in the open searching of the magi,
their honest questioning,
their recognition of the graciousness of God
in the newborn child,
and the unquestioning welcome
extended to these strangers from the East
by the family in the stable.
__________________________________________
The news these days is pretty much awful--
pain and suffering,
violence and mayhem,
tragedy and catastrophe.
If I thought that was all there was,
I could conclude that the world is nothing but evil.
And I would be wrong.
The fact is that the TV and radio and newspaper stories
are news
because they are the exception.
The rule is love, peace, and harmony.
People get along.
Goodness is the norm.
Love and peace are unexceptional--
the way things are, and that's not news.
__________________________________________
Violet had been in a pretty tough situation
when she walked into Claver House five months ago,
unkempt and hungry and wary and sad…
and pregnant.
One of the volunteers sat down
and talked with her as she was eating
and asked the right questions:
any doctor for pre-natal care?
any resources to get baby stuff?
family and friends to help along the way?
And she was given phone numbers and contact names
for Heartbeat, and a shelter, and the hours at the food pantry.
The change was gradual over the next few months--
clean clothes, clean hair, the beginnings of trust.
She came in regularly, began to smile and talk with folks.
On Christmas Eve morning, Vi showed up
with her tiny baby daughter, three weeks old.
I watched as this rough-and-tumble, down-and-out gathering
of women and men surrounded mother and child,
fussing over them, gentle and kind.
I saw the good news come alive once again,
another manifestation of God-with-us and in us and among us.
It is good news, and it's everywhere,
but it doesn't make headlines because it's normal.
__________________________________________
Depravity is not what we find in the very depth of our being.
We're not sinful in our basic nature.
We come forth on this earth as part of the gracious mystery of God,
sparking forth from all eternity.
We are created in relationship.
When we separate ourselves from other people or from nature,
we separate ourselves from God.
When we act in right relationship,
we show what we are made of.
We manifest God in the world.
We—you, me, each of us—is an epiphany,
a revelation of God to one another and to the world.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, January 1, 2016, Mary Mother of God/World Day of Peace
What was the message those angels sang
that sent the shepherds hurrying through the night?
Peace!
Peace on earth!
It's a message that still inspires us to go looking,
especially now in the midst of this world's deep troubles.
No need to make a list of the wars and conflicts
around the globe and in our back yards--
we know them all too well.
A week ago we gathered
in celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Just a week.
Already we notice some folks
who have forgotten the message of the angels
that the world stopped to remember and celebrate:
peace on earth!
Today is the “World Day of Peace,”
started by Paul VI,
the pope who gave us that great bumper sticker of the '60s,
“If you want peace, work for justice!”
In this year's message,
Pope Francis insists that peace is possible
where the rights of every human being
are recognized and respected, heard and known,
according to freedom and justice.
He calls us to “overcome indifference and win peace.”
_________________________________________
One of the deep beliefs that come to us
as we ponder the meaning of Christmas
is that Jesus reveals truth to us.
We call him Emmanuel—the revelation of God-with-us.
That word revelation comes from the Latin revelare,
which means “to lift the veil.”
Jesus lifts the veil
not to show us an exclusive truth
but to show us the most inclusive of truths,
that we, and all of creation, are made of God.
_________________________________________
His followers rightly recognized his divinity,
the sacredness of his commitment to God-ness
and his teaching and his life,
of his very being,
the same sacredness that is the hidden ground of all being.
We have been taught about the divinity in Jesus,
truly God and truly human.
What we have missed for centuries
is the truth that we really are his sisters and brothers,
sharing that same Godliness in the ground of our being.
We have been asleep to who we truly are,
people made of the One God,
in relationship with one another and with all that exists.
_________________________________________
You all know Anne Abowd, gentle quiet little Anne,
with her big smile and welcoming heart
and that curly hair that Tom loves to tell
was the thing that made him say at first sight
that she was the one for him.
Anne, a woman of peace.
Last week she was telling me about when she got arrested
and how she gained strength and courage
from the story about Thoreau being in the same position.
He had been jailed for refusing to pay a tax
that he believed went to paying for an unjust war.
His friend Emerson went to visit him, and asked,
"What are you doing in there?"
Thoreau responded with "Waldo, the question is,
'What are you doing out there?'”
_________________________________________
That's what we all have asked ourselves:
what are we doing? how are we being?
Because we try to be Christians,
to follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace,
we have answered the question
by the choices we make for peace in our lives.
We are each of us different--
introverts and extroverts,
younger and older,
demonstrators and pray-ers--
but all of us with the same divine nature.
_________________________________________
Today we start a new year on the calendar, a new beginning.
Our daily experiences of work, home, job, and relationships
have taught us that we need more than a “peace day”
in our world.
We need a peace life.
We got up this morning, as with every morning,
resolved to be true to our beliefs--
however we express those beliefs--
in equality, inclusiveness, sharing for the common good,
justice, peace.
So we step out in faith.
We might not have a list of New Year's resolutions,
but we have a direction and a commitment
to go forward with courage
because we understand
that God isn't just out there somewhere
but in here, in us, in everywhere.
With all of creation, with our brother Jesus,
we are unique expressions of the divine,
and we greet 2016 with the confidence
to live in the truth
that is the source and ground of our very being.
What was the message those angels sang
that sent the shepherds hurrying through the night?
Peace!
Peace on earth!
It's a message that still inspires us to go looking,
especially now in the midst of this world's deep troubles.
No need to make a list of the wars and conflicts
around the globe and in our back yards--
we know them all too well.
A week ago we gathered
in celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Just a week.
Already we notice some folks
who have forgotten the message of the angels
that the world stopped to remember and celebrate:
peace on earth!
Today is the “World Day of Peace,”
started by Paul VI,
the pope who gave us that great bumper sticker of the '60s,
“If you want peace, work for justice!”
In this year's message,
Pope Francis insists that peace is possible
where the rights of every human being
are recognized and respected, heard and known,
according to freedom and justice.
He calls us to “overcome indifference and win peace.”
_________________________________________
One of the deep beliefs that come to us
as we ponder the meaning of Christmas
is that Jesus reveals truth to us.
We call him Emmanuel—the revelation of God-with-us.
That word revelation comes from the Latin revelare,
which means “to lift the veil.”
Jesus lifts the veil
not to show us an exclusive truth
but to show us the most inclusive of truths,
that we, and all of creation, are made of God.
_________________________________________
His followers rightly recognized his divinity,
the sacredness of his commitment to God-ness
and his teaching and his life,
of his very being,
the same sacredness that is the hidden ground of all being.
We have been taught about the divinity in Jesus,
truly God and truly human.
What we have missed for centuries
is the truth that we really are his sisters and brothers,
sharing that same Godliness in the ground of our being.
We have been asleep to who we truly are,
people made of the One God,
in relationship with one another and with all that exists.
_________________________________________
You all know Anne Abowd, gentle quiet little Anne,
with her big smile and welcoming heart
and that curly hair that Tom loves to tell
was the thing that made him say at first sight
that she was the one for him.
Anne, a woman of peace.
Last week she was telling me about when she got arrested
and how she gained strength and courage
from the story about Thoreau being in the same position.
He had been jailed for refusing to pay a tax
that he believed went to paying for an unjust war.
His friend Emerson went to visit him, and asked,
"What are you doing in there?"
Thoreau responded with "Waldo, the question is,
'What are you doing out there?'”
_________________________________________
That's what we all have asked ourselves:
what are we doing? how are we being?
Because we try to be Christians,
to follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace,
we have answered the question
by the choices we make for peace in our lives.
We are each of us different--
introverts and extroverts,
younger and older,
demonstrators and pray-ers--
but all of us with the same divine nature.
_________________________________________
Today we start a new year on the calendar, a new beginning.
Our daily experiences of work, home, job, and relationships
have taught us that we need more than a “peace day”
in our world.
We need a peace life.
We got up this morning, as with every morning,
resolved to be true to our beliefs--
however we express those beliefs--
in equality, inclusiveness, sharing for the common good,
justice, peace.
So we step out in faith.
We might not have a list of New Year's resolutions,
but we have a direction and a commitment
to go forward with courage
because we understand
that God isn't just out there somewhere
but in here, in us, in everywhere.
With all of creation, with our brother Jesus,
we are unique expressions of the divine,
and we greet 2016 with the confidence
to live in the truth
that is the source and ground of our very being.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Holy Family, December 27, 2015
First Reading: SIRACH 3:2-6, 12-14
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Second Reading: COLOSSIANS 3:12-21
Gospel: LUKE 2:41-52
Today's story of Jesus in the Temple
uses a literary device common to Greek hero biographies.
It presents a story from the hero's youth
to show what the hero will achieve as an adult.
Fr. Raymond Brown cites just a few of the parallel legends
that show a clear pattern of boyhood stories
of famous figures at about age 12:
the Buddha in India, Osiris in Egypt,
Cyrus the Great in Persia, Alexander the Great in Greece,
Augustus in Rome, and in Israel, Josephus,
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Moses, and Samuel.
Fr. Brown says that the underlying principle
is that the child must already have been
what the man would become known to be,
that is, a child of God speaking and acting with divine power.
The episode is, scholars tell us,
without foundation in historical memory.
As Marcus Borg would put it,
it's one of those stories that is true
but never actually happened.
Still, it sets forth a series of insights about God and humanity
as understood by the post-resurrection Christian community.
___________________________________________
The message for us today lies in those insights,
and it boils down to the truth
that we are all children of God.
When we understand and act on that insight,
we grow, like Jesus, in wisdom and age and grace.
People see it in us
because they see how we love one another.
The first letter of John, written around the same time
as these infancy narratives were added to Luke's gospel,
says it clearly: we are all God’s own children!
We will grow to be like God,
and remain in God, and God in us,
because we follow God's law:
that we love one another.
____________________________________________
I don't live in a nuclear family--
my parents have passed,
my brothers married and moved out of state.
As a result, people worry about me around the holidays.
Do I have somewhere to go, they ask.
And I do.
I have wonderful cousins here in Toledo
who surround me with the love of their family circle.
And even more, I am surrounded
by countless brothers and sisters
who reveal Christ to me.
On Christmas Eve morning
I breakfasted with many of them at Claver House,
a roomful of people who accept me as I am
and whose friendship I cherish.
After breakfast one of them invited me to his home,
where I met his son
and enjoyed the beautiful decorations
that he and his wife had put up
for their 61st Christmas together.
And I was sent home with a bottle of his favorite 40-proof eggnog.
Then there was the Vigil Mass with you, more children of God,
celebrating the birthday of our brother Jesus
in communion with one another.
And a supper gathering with family in town for the holidays.
On Christmas Day I breakfasted at Claver again,
then the morning Mass with you,
and visits between NBA games in the afternoon,
topping it off with supper with friends and neighbors.
It never has to be lonely being single!
I'm surrounded with a huge family
who I call friends and neighbors and cousins,
librarians and grocers,
seed-swappers and chicken-keepers,
tree-planters and teachers…
brothers and sisters in every nook and cranny of my life!
Each of them—each of you—is a gift from God,
all of us part of one family.
And what a holy family we are!
I thank God for you!
First Reading: SIRACH 3:2-6, 12-14
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Second Reading: COLOSSIANS 3:12-21
Gospel: LUKE 2:41-52
Today's story of Jesus in the Temple
uses a literary device common to Greek hero biographies.
It presents a story from the hero's youth
to show what the hero will achieve as an adult.
Fr. Raymond Brown cites just a few of the parallel legends
that show a clear pattern of boyhood stories
of famous figures at about age 12:
the Buddha in India, Osiris in Egypt,
Cyrus the Great in Persia, Alexander the Great in Greece,
Augustus in Rome, and in Israel, Josephus,
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Moses, and Samuel.
Fr. Brown says that the underlying principle
is that the child must already have been
what the man would become known to be,
that is, a child of God speaking and acting with divine power.
The episode is, scholars tell us,
without foundation in historical memory.
As Marcus Borg would put it,
it's one of those stories that is true
but never actually happened.
Still, it sets forth a series of insights about God and humanity
as understood by the post-resurrection Christian community.
___________________________________________
The message for us today lies in those insights,
and it boils down to the truth
that we are all children of God.
When we understand and act on that insight,
we grow, like Jesus, in wisdom and age and grace.
People see it in us
because they see how we love one another.
The first letter of John, written around the same time
as these infancy narratives were added to Luke's gospel,
says it clearly: we are all God’s own children!
We will grow to be like God,
and remain in God, and God in us,
because we follow God's law:
that we love one another.
____________________________________________
I don't live in a nuclear family--
my parents have passed,
my brothers married and moved out of state.
As a result, people worry about me around the holidays.
Do I have somewhere to go, they ask.
And I do.
I have wonderful cousins here in Toledo
who surround me with the love of their family circle.
And even more, I am surrounded
by countless brothers and sisters
who reveal Christ to me.
On Christmas Eve morning
I breakfasted with many of them at Claver House,
a roomful of people who accept me as I am
and whose friendship I cherish.
After breakfast one of them invited me to his home,
where I met his son
and enjoyed the beautiful decorations
that he and his wife had put up
for their 61st Christmas together.
And I was sent home with a bottle of his favorite 40-proof eggnog.
Then there was the Vigil Mass with you, more children of God,
celebrating the birthday of our brother Jesus
in communion with one another.
And a supper gathering with family in town for the holidays.
On Christmas Day I breakfasted at Claver again,
then the morning Mass with you,
and visits between NBA games in the afternoon,
topping it off with supper with friends and neighbors.
It never has to be lonely being single!
I'm surrounded with a huge family
who I call friends and neighbors and cousins,
librarians and grocers,
seed-swappers and chicken-keepers,
tree-planters and teachers…
brothers and sisters in every nook and cranny of my life!
Each of them—each of you—is a gift from God,
all of us part of one family.
And what a holy family we are!
I thank God for you!
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Nativity of the Lord, December 25, 2015
First Reading: ISAIAH 52:7-10
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
Second Reading: HEBREWS 1:1-6
Gospel: JOHN 1:1-18
The whole world, our Christmas Proclamation says, is at peace.
It's the time of Pax Romana—the Roman Peace--
the 200 or so years
between the emperor Augustus in 27 BC
and the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD.
That peace, however, is limited.
The Roman Empire has law and order.
It is without major invasion, or piracy, or social disorder
on any grand scale.
But in the territories, like the Roman Province of Judea,
Pax Romana means something else entirely.
There the Roman legions
control a conquered and oppressed people.
_____________________________________________
To birth a child
is always a courageous act of faith, and hope, and love.
For Jews in the reign of Herod the Great
to birth a child required every bit of
faith in God,
hope for real peace,
and love of life that the people could muster.
To give birth to a child today in America--
in our slums and homeless shelters--
is an act of faith, hope, and love.
It requires believing that God is in charge, not the economy;
hoping for a job that pays enough to buy food and pay rent;
and loving life
to the point of wanting to pass it on to another generation.
To give birth today in the Middle East--
in its terrorized countryside, its bombed cities,
and its cramped refugee camps--
takes great courage.
To give birth today--
in Beijing, with its unbreathable air;
or in Fiji or Cape Verde, with rising sea waters
poised to submerge the entire island;
anywhere in the world,
with forest fires, drought, and desertification
threatening to make the earth uninhabitable--
takes an act of faith, hope, and love.
_____________________________________________
Tonight (today), as we celebrate
the birth of our brother Jesus so long ago,
it's fitting to keep in mind
that our celebration is a celebration of God's love,
our hope for the future,
and our faith that goodness will prevail.
That's the good news Jesus preached.
It's why we dedicate ourselves to be his followers
and spread the same good news
in our world of Pax Americana.
With all the joy of the season
we are filled with hope that real peace--
Pax Christi, the peace of Christ--
will settle in, now and forever.
We pray once more
that he will be born in us,
be born in our world.
First Reading: ISAIAH 52:7-10
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
Second Reading: HEBREWS 1:1-6
Gospel: JOHN 1:1-18
The whole world, our Christmas Proclamation says, is at peace.
It's the time of Pax Romana—the Roman Peace--
the 200 or so years
between the emperor Augustus in 27 BC
and the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD.
That peace, however, is limited.
The Roman Empire has law and order.
It is without major invasion, or piracy, or social disorder
on any grand scale.
But in the territories, like the Roman Province of Judea,
Pax Romana means something else entirely.
There the Roman legions
control a conquered and oppressed people.
_____________________________________________
To birth a child
is always a courageous act of faith, and hope, and love.
For Jews in the reign of Herod the Great
to birth a child required every bit of
faith in God,
hope for real peace,
and love of life that the people could muster.
To give birth to a child today in America--
in our slums and homeless shelters--
is an act of faith, hope, and love.
It requires believing that God is in charge, not the economy;
hoping for a job that pays enough to buy food and pay rent;
and loving life
to the point of wanting to pass it on to another generation.
To give birth today in the Middle East--
in its terrorized countryside, its bombed cities,
and its cramped refugee camps--
takes great courage.
To give birth today--
in Beijing, with its unbreathable air;
or in Fiji or Cape Verde, with rising sea waters
poised to submerge the entire island;
anywhere in the world,
with forest fires, drought, and desertification
threatening to make the earth uninhabitable--
takes an act of faith, hope, and love.
_____________________________________________
Tonight (today), as we celebrate
the birth of our brother Jesus so long ago,
it's fitting to keep in mind
that our celebration is a celebration of God's love,
our hope for the future,
and our faith that goodness will prevail.
That's the good news Jesus preached.
It's why we dedicate ourselves to be his followers
and spread the same good news
in our world of Pax Americana.
With all the joy of the season
we are filled with hope that real peace--
Pax Christi, the peace of Christ--
will settle in, now and forever.
We pray once more
that he will be born in us,
be born in our world.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 4 Advent C, December 20, 2015
First Reading: MICAH 5:1-4A
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
Second Reading: HEBREWS 10:5-10
Gospel: LUKE 1:39-45
When we listen to these birth and infancy narratives
in the Advent and Christmas gospels,
it's helpful to remember what Marcus Borg said:
the Bible is all true,
and some of it really happened.
Scholars tell us
that the birth and infancy narrative in Luke's Gospel
contains four facts:
Jesus was born during reign of Herod the Great,
Nazareth was his home town,
Mary was his mother's name,
and his name was Jesus.
Luke's Gospel, written about 70 AD,
originally began with what is now Chapter 3.
The narratives in Chapters 1 and 2 were added
very late in the first or early in the second century.
Fr. Raymond Brown calls today's story of the Visitation
“a second-stage development.”
It's been called an “elaborate fiction”
used to make a connection between
the annunciation stories of John the Baptist and Jesus.
__________________________________________
So if this didn't really happen, what's true about it?
Fr. Brown sees the Visitation
as pointing to a truth about discipleship
because it pictures Mary traveling cross-country
to share the good news with Elizabeth.
Sharing the good news, Brown says,
is the first duty of a disciple.
More truth comes in the actions of Mary:
she doesn't hesitate to share the good news;
she greets her cousin in a way that brings joy;
she, in the words of Elizabeth, is blessed
because she believes and then acts on what she believes.
Written to second- and third-generation Christians,
this passage gives a straightforward lesson
in what they are to do as disciples:
to believe in God,
to share the good news,
and to act on their belief.
__________________________________________
Mary's actions show all of us disciples
how to live our belief and, doing that,
we make the incarnation of Jesus possible.
We become Christ-bearers by accepting the word of God
and living it out in our lives.
As Meister Eckart wrote in the 1300s,
“What good is it to me
if Mary gave birth to the Son of God 1400 years ago
and I do not give birth to the Son of God
in my own person and time and culture?
We are all meant to be mothers of God.”
__________________________________________
How are we carrying Christ?
Whenever you speak peace in the face of conflict,
whether it's with our family members or co-workers
or neighbors or strangers at the grocery store,
you carry Christ to our world.
Whenever you welcome the stranger
or respect the dignity of the poor,
you carry Christ to our world.
Whenever you reach out to help or to comfort
or just to smile in greeting,
whenever you lift a prayer for someone in pain,
you carry Christ to our world.
Whenever you stand up for the oppressed
or speak out against injustice,
write a letter to the editor,
make a phone call to your senator, or sign a petition,
you carry Christ to our world.
__________________________________________
I look around and see each of you here as a Christ-bearer,
in all the things you do,
preparing to once again give birth to Christ
through your own actions,
in this time,
in this culture so very much in need of his presence.
Thanks be to God for you!
Because of you,
there will be Christmas again this week,
and all year long.
First Reading: MICAH 5:1-4A
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
Second Reading: HEBREWS 10:5-10
Gospel: LUKE 1:39-45
When we listen to these birth and infancy narratives
in the Advent and Christmas gospels,
it's helpful to remember what Marcus Borg said:
the Bible is all true,
and some of it really happened.
Scholars tell us
that the birth and infancy narrative in Luke's Gospel
contains four facts:
Jesus was born during reign of Herod the Great,
Nazareth was his home town,
Mary was his mother's name,
and his name was Jesus.
Luke's Gospel, written about 70 AD,
originally began with what is now Chapter 3.
The narratives in Chapters 1 and 2 were added
very late in the first or early in the second century.
Fr. Raymond Brown calls today's story of the Visitation
“a second-stage development.”
It's been called an “elaborate fiction”
used to make a connection between
the annunciation stories of John the Baptist and Jesus.
__________________________________________
So if this didn't really happen, what's true about it?
Fr. Brown sees the Visitation
as pointing to a truth about discipleship
because it pictures Mary traveling cross-country
to share the good news with Elizabeth.
Sharing the good news, Brown says,
is the first duty of a disciple.
More truth comes in the actions of Mary:
she doesn't hesitate to share the good news;
she greets her cousin in a way that brings joy;
she, in the words of Elizabeth, is blessed
because she believes and then acts on what she believes.
Written to second- and third-generation Christians,
this passage gives a straightforward lesson
in what they are to do as disciples:
to believe in God,
to share the good news,
and to act on their belief.
__________________________________________
Mary's actions show all of us disciples
how to live our belief and, doing that,
we make the incarnation of Jesus possible.
We become Christ-bearers by accepting the word of God
and living it out in our lives.
As Meister Eckart wrote in the 1300s,
“What good is it to me
if Mary gave birth to the Son of God 1400 years ago
and I do not give birth to the Son of God
in my own person and time and culture?
We are all meant to be mothers of God.”
__________________________________________
How are we carrying Christ?
Whenever you speak peace in the face of conflict,
whether it's with our family members or co-workers
or neighbors or strangers at the grocery store,
you carry Christ to our world.
Whenever you welcome the stranger
or respect the dignity of the poor,
you carry Christ to our world.
Whenever you reach out to help or to comfort
or just to smile in greeting,
whenever you lift a prayer for someone in pain,
you carry Christ to our world.
Whenever you stand up for the oppressed
or speak out against injustice,
write a letter to the editor,
make a phone call to your senator, or sign a petition,
you carry Christ to our world.
__________________________________________
I look around and see each of you here as a Christ-bearer,
in all the things you do,
preparing to once again give birth to Christ
through your own actions,
in this time,
in this culture so very much in need of his presence.
Thanks be to God for you!
Because of you,
there will be Christmas again this week,
and all year long.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 3 Advent C, December 13, 2015
First Reading: ZEPHANIAH 3:14-18A
Responsorial Psalm: ISAIAH 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
Second Reading: PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7
Gospel: LUKE 3:10-18
John the Baptizer is preaching good news to the people--
the Messiah is coming!
And the people are “filled with expectation.”
They are wondering, is John the one?
the Anointed One, the Messiah?
____________________________________
For over a hundred years before Jesus and over a hundred after,
Judaism saw people step forward to prophesy
and even to take actions that were interpreted as messianic.
The Jewish Messiah could be a king like David or Cyrus the Great.
Isaiah says the Messiah will establish a government in Israel
that will be the center of all world government,
both for Jews and gentiles.
Or the Messiah could be a military leader
who would defeat their enemies
and establish an independent Jewish kingdom,
like Judas Maccabeus who revolted against the Seleucids
to free the Jews from foreign domination,
or like Judas of Galilee, Simon of Peraea, and Athronges,
who fought Rome about the time of Jesus' birth
and were defeated.
Or the Messiah could be a charismatic teacher
who would give the correct interpretation of Mosaic law,
restore Israel, and judge humankind.
Jeremiah prophesies that the Messiah will rebuild the Temple,
re-establish worship in Jerusalem,
restore the religious court system,
and establish Jewish law as the law of the land.
Or the Messiah could mean a holy king
who would deliver the Jews from oppression
and usher in an age of peace and justice
known as an Olam HaBa--
the world to come, the Messianic Age,
the peaceful co-existence of all people
in which hatred, intolerance, and war would cease.
____________________________________
But none of those types of Messiah come,
not a governmental tyrant or a military leader
or a judgmental religious dictator or a magical deliverer.
God sends and anoints Jesus a priest, a prophet, a king...
but he's not priest, prophet, and king like ever before.
____________________________________
Today Luke gives us a snapshot of John the Baptizer
as one of the messianic prophets,
telling the crowds he is not the Messiah
and prophesying the coming
of a very harsh and judgmental Messiah.
The people want to be the wheat gathered into the barn,
not the chaff thrown into the fire.
They ask John, “What are we to do?”
____________________________________
The answer Luke puts in the Baptizer's mouth is startling.
He doesn't tell them to abandon their work
and spend their time in prayer.
He doesn't tell them to go to the synagogue.
He doesn't tell them to put more money in the Temple treasury.
No: Luke has John tell the crowds
the same thing that Jesus will be telling them.
Share your food and your clothes
with people who don't have any.
Put your beliefs into practice in your life.
He doesn't tell tax collectors to quit collecting the taxes.
He tells them to be honest--
not to take more than the going rate.
He doesn't tell soldiers to quit the army.
He tells them to be honest and not take bribes;
he tells them to be fair
and not accuse people of things they haven't done.
____________________________________
Preparing for the coming of the Messiah
is very different from what they expected.
It's not preparing for war against the Romans.
It's not insisting on expensive sacrifices in the Temple.
It's something everyone can do right where they are,
and they are filled with expectation.
Imagine that: business people would be honest and fair!
Police would people with dignity and respect!
Everyone would develop
a sense of fairness and justice and responsibility for others!
____________________________________
Throughout this advent season
we prepare once again to celebrate the first coming,
the birth of the Messiah, the Holy One of God.
We still look forward to the Second Coming,
the time when all creation will reach spiritual maturity
and learn to live in peace with justice.
In this meantime, we experience a Third Coming--
the coming of Jesus in our daily lives.
Jesus comes again
every time we share our bounty with people in need.
He comes among us
every time we treat people with honesty and fairness.
He walks with us along the Way.
First Reading: ZEPHANIAH 3:14-18A
Responsorial Psalm: ISAIAH 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
Second Reading: PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7
Gospel: LUKE 3:10-18
John the Baptizer is preaching good news to the people--
the Messiah is coming!
And the people are “filled with expectation.”
They are wondering, is John the one?
the Anointed One, the Messiah?
____________________________________
For over a hundred years before Jesus and over a hundred after,
Judaism saw people step forward to prophesy
and even to take actions that were interpreted as messianic.
The Jewish Messiah could be a king like David or Cyrus the Great.
Isaiah says the Messiah will establish a government in Israel
that will be the center of all world government,
both for Jews and gentiles.
Or the Messiah could be a military leader
who would defeat their enemies
and establish an independent Jewish kingdom,
like Judas Maccabeus who revolted against the Seleucids
to free the Jews from foreign domination,
or like Judas of Galilee, Simon of Peraea, and Athronges,
who fought Rome about the time of Jesus' birth
and were defeated.
Or the Messiah could be a charismatic teacher
who would give the correct interpretation of Mosaic law,
restore Israel, and judge humankind.
Jeremiah prophesies that the Messiah will rebuild the Temple,
re-establish worship in Jerusalem,
restore the religious court system,
and establish Jewish law as the law of the land.
Or the Messiah could mean a holy king
who would deliver the Jews from oppression
and usher in an age of peace and justice
known as an Olam HaBa--
the world to come, the Messianic Age,
the peaceful co-existence of all people
in which hatred, intolerance, and war would cease.
____________________________________
But none of those types of Messiah come,
not a governmental tyrant or a military leader
or a judgmental religious dictator or a magical deliverer.
God sends and anoints Jesus a priest, a prophet, a king...
but he's not priest, prophet, and king like ever before.
____________________________________
Today Luke gives us a snapshot of John the Baptizer
as one of the messianic prophets,
telling the crowds he is not the Messiah
and prophesying the coming
of a very harsh and judgmental Messiah.
The people want to be the wheat gathered into the barn,
not the chaff thrown into the fire.
They ask John, “What are we to do?”
____________________________________
The answer Luke puts in the Baptizer's mouth is startling.
He doesn't tell them to abandon their work
and spend their time in prayer.
He doesn't tell them to go to the synagogue.
He doesn't tell them to put more money in the Temple treasury.
No: Luke has John tell the crowds
the same thing that Jesus will be telling them.
Share your food and your clothes
with people who don't have any.
Put your beliefs into practice in your life.
He doesn't tell tax collectors to quit collecting the taxes.
He tells them to be honest--
not to take more than the going rate.
He doesn't tell soldiers to quit the army.
He tells them to be honest and not take bribes;
he tells them to be fair
and not accuse people of things they haven't done.
____________________________________
Preparing for the coming of the Messiah
is very different from what they expected.
It's not preparing for war against the Romans.
It's not insisting on expensive sacrifices in the Temple.
It's something everyone can do right where they are,
and they are filled with expectation.
Imagine that: business people would be honest and fair!
Police would people with dignity and respect!
Everyone would develop
a sense of fairness and justice and responsibility for others!
____________________________________
Throughout this advent season
we prepare once again to celebrate the first coming,
the birth of the Messiah, the Holy One of God.
We still look forward to the Second Coming,
the time when all creation will reach spiritual maturity
and learn to live in peace with justice.
In this meantime, we experience a Third Coming--
the coming of Jesus in our daily lives.
Jesus comes again
every time we share our bounty with people in need.
He comes among us
every time we treat people with honesty and fairness.
He walks with us along the Way.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 2 Advent C, December 6, 2015
First Reading: BARUCH 5:1-9
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Second Reading: PHILIPPIANS 1:4-6, 8-11
Gospel: LUKE 3:1-6
It's hard to keep hope alive when you're poor or oppressed
or running away from war and violence.
Today we hear the prophet Baruch
speaking to the people living in diaspora,
scattered about the Middle East
after they escaped exile in Babylonia.
They're refugees, living in a strange land,
out of Babylon but still in exile.
Baruch tells them to have hope.
“Look east,” he tells them, toward the dawn, to a new day!
Then we hear Paul responding to rumors he has heard
about troubles in Philippi.
He encourages the community there
to look forward with hope to “the day of Jesus Christ.”
_____________________________________
Sadly, by the time Paul's message
gets to us here in the 21st century,
we're told that it refers to an apocalyptic “Second Coming,”
Jesus flying in on a cloud at the end of the world.
But that's not what it meant to Paul and the people of Philippi.
For them, “the day of Jesus Christ” meant the day
when they would have reached Christian maturity.
Most of them, Paul wrote, would still be alive on earth
when the whole community had advanced in spiritual growth
to the “parousia,” literally, the presence.
That is, on “the day of Jesus Christ,”
we will be present to God and God to us.
We'll be following the Way Jesus taught.
We will live in peace with justice.
Our hopes will have been fulfilled.
_____________________________________
It's not only Baruch's and Paul's words that we need to decipher.
In the Gospel we hear John the Baptist
preaching about a baptism of “repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.”
Luke has the Baptist quote Isaiah, with hope for everyone,
saying that all people will see the salvation of God.
Luke's words “repentance” and “salvation”
don't speak to us the way they did to Luke's community.
For those folks, salvation meant
deliverance from the ways of their oppressors
by following the Way that Jesus of Nazareth taught.
Repentance—the Greek word is metanoia--
meant turning around, literally “going beyond the mind.”
Our mind has a tendency to see our own experiences as truth,
so our own sins become part of who we are
and the sins of others become part of who they are.
We are all sinners.
Metanoia—repentance—means that we begin to pay attention
to how our mind tends to treat our sins as virtues
and turn away from that kind of thinking and acting.
I know how that works firsthand, so I'll give an example--
not a serious one, but one that will help explain what I mean.
I went through a red light the other day.
I wasn't even through the intersection
when I had already sorted out
the best of three good reasons
for why it wasn't bad or even wrong.
But when I see someone else go through a red light--
or do something even less flagrant,
like a rolling stop at the corner--
my mind condemns them roundly.
_____________________________________
When we realize we've chosen to do something we shouldn't have,
or not do something we should have,
we too often think the question
is whether or not God will forgive us.
Of course, God forgives us.
God is unconditional loving forgiveness.
The real question is how to see clearly what we are doing
so we can turn ourselves around.
It's easier to be good and do good
if the people around you love you
and help you along the way.
Again, I know that from personal experience.
Whenever we gather here at Holy Spirit,
whether it's two of us or forty of us,
the experience of celebrating with you
inspires me to be as good as I can and do as much as I can
to follow the Way of Jesus more closely.
Your example helps me become a better person.
_____________________________________
This past week I've been reading a book by New York Times writers
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
about people who have turned their lives around
and gone on to help others do the same.
The title of the book, A Path Appears,
comes from Chinese author Lu Xun, who wrote:
“Hope is like a path in the countryside.
Originally, there is nothing--
but as people walk this way again and again,
a path appears.”
We who have hitched our wagon to Jesus
follow the path he walked--
that path known to our ancestors in faith as “the Way.”
Again and again, whenever they strayed--
and whenever we stray--
we try to get back on the path,
try to turn around and head in the right direction,
or as Luke puts it, we work on
that transformative change of mind and heart, metanoia.
_____________________________________
Over the centuries our institutional Church
has developed various methods to call us to metanoia
and different rituals for us to celebrate God's forgiveness. Some of
them are best left in the dustbin of history.
A few of them are worth keeping.
The practice of the Church today, I think,
too rarely takes advantage of the instruction
in the Rite of Penance that tells the priest “to adapt the rite
to the concrete circumstances of the penitents,”
omitting some parts or expanding them,
so “the entire celebration may be enriching and effective.”
_____________________________________
Bishop Daniel has asked the priests of the Diocese
to to vary the form of the Lord, Have Mercy prayer
at the beginning of Mass throughout Advent and Lent
in keeping with Pope Francis' proclamation of a Jubilee,
or Holy Year, of Mercy,
Here at Holy Spirit,
we try to model renewal of our Roman Catholic Church,
so we'll go a little farther than changing those few sentences.
After the homily on the weekend Masses of Advent and Lent
we will celebrate God's merciful forgiveness
with the traditional Sacrament of Reconciliation
using a slightly modified Rite 3, the Rite for Reconciliation
of Several Penitents with General Confession and Absolution.
_____________________________________
So let's begin today by repenting of our sins
and resolving to try to do better
and to make up as well as we can
for harm we have caused by doing wrong.
For our penance let us, in the coming week,
try to be mindful of any ways
that we are stepping off the path that Jesus showed us.
Now let all of us who wish to receive sacramental absolution
bow our heads to acknowledge that we have sinned.
PAUSE
Now let us make our confession
by lifting our minds and hearts in a silent prayer of contrition,
using our own thoughts
or one of the prayers printed in the bulletin.
ACT of CONTRITION
Loving God, I have sinned and I am sorry. In your mercy, forgive me
for choosing to do wrong and neglecting to do right. I will try to do
better. May I become more aware of your divine presence in my sisters
and brothers, in all of creation, and in my own self. Help me to
follow more closely the Way that Jesus taught. Amen.
OR
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest
all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my
love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and
to avoid the near occasions of sin.
OR
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do
wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should
love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance,
to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior
Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have
mercy.
OR
O my God, I am sorry for my sins because I have offended you. I know I
should love you, O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended
you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but
most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and
deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your
grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
GENERAL ABSOLUTION
Priest: Our loving and merciful God,
through the life and ministry of our brother Jesus
has reconciled the world and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church,
may God give you pardon and peace,
and you are absolved from your sins,
in the name of our God, Source of All Being,
Father-Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit. All: Amen.
First Reading: BARUCH 5:1-9
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Second Reading: PHILIPPIANS 1:4-6, 8-11
Gospel: LUKE 3:1-6
It's hard to keep hope alive when you're poor or oppressed
or running away from war and violence.
Today we hear the prophet Baruch
speaking to the people living in diaspora,
scattered about the Middle East
after they escaped exile in Babylonia.
They're refugees, living in a strange land,
out of Babylon but still in exile.
Baruch tells them to have hope.
“Look east,” he tells them, toward the dawn, to a new day!
Then we hear Paul responding to rumors he has heard
about troubles in Philippi.
He encourages the community there
to look forward with hope to “the day of Jesus Christ.”
_____________________________________
Sadly, by the time Paul's message
gets to us here in the 21st century,
we're told that it refers to an apocalyptic “Second Coming,”
Jesus flying in on a cloud at the end of the world.
But that's not what it meant to Paul and the people of Philippi.
For them, “the day of Jesus Christ” meant the day
when they would have reached Christian maturity.
Most of them, Paul wrote, would still be alive on earth
when the whole community had advanced in spiritual growth
to the “parousia,” literally, the presence.
That is, on “the day of Jesus Christ,”
we will be present to God and God to us.
We'll be following the Way Jesus taught.
We will live in peace with justice.
Our hopes will have been fulfilled.
_____________________________________
It's not only Baruch's and Paul's words that we need to decipher.
In the Gospel we hear John the Baptist
preaching about a baptism of “repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.”
Luke has the Baptist quote Isaiah, with hope for everyone,
saying that all people will see the salvation of God.
Luke's words “repentance” and “salvation”
don't speak to us the way they did to Luke's community.
For those folks, salvation meant
deliverance from the ways of their oppressors
by following the Way that Jesus of Nazareth taught.
Repentance—the Greek word is metanoia--
meant turning around, literally “going beyond the mind.”
Our mind has a tendency to see our own experiences as truth,
so our own sins become part of who we are
and the sins of others become part of who they are.
We are all sinners.
Metanoia—repentance—means that we begin to pay attention
to how our mind tends to treat our sins as virtues
and turn away from that kind of thinking and acting.
I know how that works firsthand, so I'll give an example--
not a serious one, but one that will help explain what I mean.
I went through a red light the other day.
I wasn't even through the intersection
when I had already sorted out
the best of three good reasons
for why it wasn't bad or even wrong.
But when I see someone else go through a red light--
or do something even less flagrant,
like a rolling stop at the corner--
my mind condemns them roundly.
_____________________________________
When we realize we've chosen to do something we shouldn't have,
or not do something we should have,
we too often think the question
is whether or not God will forgive us.
Of course, God forgives us.
God is unconditional loving forgiveness.
The real question is how to see clearly what we are doing
so we can turn ourselves around.
It's easier to be good and do good
if the people around you love you
and help you along the way.
Again, I know that from personal experience.
Whenever we gather here at Holy Spirit,
whether it's two of us or forty of us,
the experience of celebrating with you
inspires me to be as good as I can and do as much as I can
to follow the Way of Jesus more closely.
Your example helps me become a better person.
_____________________________________
This past week I've been reading a book by New York Times writers
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
about people who have turned their lives around
and gone on to help others do the same.
The title of the book, A Path Appears,
comes from Chinese author Lu Xun, who wrote:
“Hope is like a path in the countryside.
Originally, there is nothing--
but as people walk this way again and again,
a path appears.”
We who have hitched our wagon to Jesus
follow the path he walked--
that path known to our ancestors in faith as “the Way.”
Again and again, whenever they strayed--
and whenever we stray--
we try to get back on the path,
try to turn around and head in the right direction,
or as Luke puts it, we work on
that transformative change of mind and heart, metanoia.
_____________________________________
Over the centuries our institutional Church
has developed various methods to call us to metanoia
and different rituals for us to celebrate God's forgiveness. Some of
them are best left in the dustbin of history.
A few of them are worth keeping.
The practice of the Church today, I think,
too rarely takes advantage of the instruction
in the Rite of Penance that tells the priest “to adapt the rite
to the concrete circumstances of the penitents,”
omitting some parts or expanding them,
so “the entire celebration may be enriching and effective.”
_____________________________________
Bishop Daniel has asked the priests of the Diocese
to to vary the form of the Lord, Have Mercy prayer
at the beginning of Mass throughout Advent and Lent
in keeping with Pope Francis' proclamation of a Jubilee,
or Holy Year, of Mercy,
Here at Holy Spirit,
we try to model renewal of our Roman Catholic Church,
so we'll go a little farther than changing those few sentences.
After the homily on the weekend Masses of Advent and Lent
we will celebrate God's merciful forgiveness
with the traditional Sacrament of Reconciliation
using a slightly modified Rite 3, the Rite for Reconciliation
of Several Penitents with General Confession and Absolution.
_____________________________________
So let's begin today by repenting of our sins
and resolving to try to do better
and to make up as well as we can
for harm we have caused by doing wrong.
For our penance let us, in the coming week,
try to be mindful of any ways
that we are stepping off the path that Jesus showed us.
Now let all of us who wish to receive sacramental absolution
bow our heads to acknowledge that we have sinned.
PAUSE
Now let us make our confession
by lifting our minds and hearts in a silent prayer of contrition,
using our own thoughts
or one of the prayers printed in the bulletin.
ACT of CONTRITION
Loving God, I have sinned and I am sorry. In your mercy, forgive me
for choosing to do wrong and neglecting to do right. I will try to do
better. May I become more aware of your divine presence in my sisters
and brothers, in all of creation, and in my own self. Help me to
follow more closely the Way that Jesus taught. Amen.
OR
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest
all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my
love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and
to avoid the near occasions of sin.
OR
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do
wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should
love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance,
to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior
Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have
mercy.
OR
O my God, I am sorry for my sins because I have offended you. I know I
should love you, O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended
you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but
most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and
deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your
grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
GENERAL ABSOLUTION
Priest: Our loving and merciful God,
through the life and ministry of our brother Jesus
has reconciled the world and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church,
may God give you pardon and peace,
and you are absolved from your sins,
in the name of our God, Source of All Being,
Father-Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit. All: Amen.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 1 Advent C, November 29, 2015
First Reading: JEREMIAH 33:14-16
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
Second Reading: 1 THESSALONIANS 3:12—4:2
Gospel: LUKE 21:25-28, 34-36
A week from this coming Monday, on December 7,
we'll mark 50 years since Vatican II issued
the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
Gaudium et Spes, which said:
”the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing
the signs of the times
and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.
Thus, in language intelligible to each generation,
she can respond to the perennial questions...
about this present life and the life to come,
and about the relationship of the one to the other.
We must therefore recognize and understand
the world in which we live....”
____________________________________
Signs of the times.
Look at them.
Look at the world.
Figure out what the signs say
about life now and in the future.
Figure out what the signs say
about our relationships with one another.
____________________________________
Today's Gospel has Jesus talking about the signs of Luke's time--
10 to 30 years after the destruction of the Temple--
a time of chaos and disruption and diaspora.
He says we can see the signs of the time in nature and in the world
—the sun, the moon, the stars,
the roaring of the sea and the waves,
the shaking of the heavens.
We're warned to stay awake and alert--
not to get sleepy from “carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life--
because the times will “assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.”
We're told to keep watch
and pray for strength to escape what's coming.
____________________________________
We know what's coming for planet Earth.
Scientists tell us
that the sun will burn up all its hydrogen in 4 billion years or so,
and that human life will not survive here even that long,
probably about a billion years.
But we may have significantly fewer than a billion years,
given the signs of destruction we see
as a result of our misuse and abuse of our common home.
We can read the signs of our time.
It snowed last week; winter's coming.
But my spring candytuft has been in bloom for two weeks.
And the elderberries sprouted new leaves this week.
Our climate is changing, and it doesn't look good.
____________________________________
This Advent season can help us get
what Msgr. William Mehrkens calls
an “eschatological perspective,”
a view into the future that reminds us of who we are,
where we came from,
where we're going,
and what’s really important.
It's like the college student
who is more likely to make good decisions and use time well
because she keeps graduation and a profession in mind.
If we don't think about the future,
we can get caught up in day-to-day life
and forget what's really important for the long haul.
____________________________________
Sometimes the signs of the time hit us in a very personal way.
Something changes in our life,
and our world is shaken, even destroyed.
It feels like a cosmic catastrophe.
Our children graduate and move out of state,
our job is downsized,
our spouse has an affair,
we develop health problems--
our world is in shambles.
Whether we see the collapse in our personal lives
or in the world at large,
it takes work to find balance again.
We can't change the past.
We can't control the future.
We have right now, this space, this day, this time
to use what we have
to set our world right again.
____________________________________
So we pay attention to what's going on.
We work at making good decisions in our lives.
We learn to live for others
and to do justice in working for human rights.
We get rid of habits of greed, racism, and violence.
We take time to remember what life’s all about.
____________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit we've been reading the signs of the times
and using the present moment
to bring about that safe and secure world
that Jeremiah wrote about,
that reign of peace and justice that God promises.
We do it with Tree Toledo.
We do it with our donations to local efforts
like the Padua Center and 1Matters and Rahab's Heart.
We do it with volunteer time for UsTogether and Pax Christi
and the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition and Hospice.
____________________________________
There is hope for us—for all of us.
God is with us, among us, and in us.
So we know that the day is coming.
It will be a day of justice and peace.
First Reading: JEREMIAH 33:14-16
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
Second Reading: 1 THESSALONIANS 3:12—4:2
Gospel: LUKE 21:25-28, 34-36
A week from this coming Monday, on December 7,
we'll mark 50 years since Vatican II issued
the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
Gaudium et Spes, which said:
”the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing
the signs of the times
and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.
Thus, in language intelligible to each generation,
she can respond to the perennial questions...
about this present life and the life to come,
and about the relationship of the one to the other.
We must therefore recognize and understand
the world in which we live....”
____________________________________
Signs of the times.
Look at them.
Look at the world.
Figure out what the signs say
about life now and in the future.
Figure out what the signs say
about our relationships with one another.
____________________________________
Today's Gospel has Jesus talking about the signs of Luke's time--
10 to 30 years after the destruction of the Temple--
a time of chaos and disruption and diaspora.
He says we can see the signs of the time in nature and in the world
—the sun, the moon, the stars,
the roaring of the sea and the waves,
the shaking of the heavens.
We're warned to stay awake and alert--
not to get sleepy from “carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life--
because the times will “assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.”
We're told to keep watch
and pray for strength to escape what's coming.
____________________________________
We know what's coming for planet Earth.
Scientists tell us
that the sun will burn up all its hydrogen in 4 billion years or so,
and that human life will not survive here even that long,
probably about a billion years.
But we may have significantly fewer than a billion years,
given the signs of destruction we see
as a result of our misuse and abuse of our common home.
We can read the signs of our time.
It snowed last week; winter's coming.
But my spring candytuft has been in bloom for two weeks.
And the elderberries sprouted new leaves this week.
Our climate is changing, and it doesn't look good.
____________________________________
This Advent season can help us get
what Msgr. William Mehrkens calls
an “eschatological perspective,”
a view into the future that reminds us of who we are,
where we came from,
where we're going,
and what’s really important.
It's like the college student
who is more likely to make good decisions and use time well
because she keeps graduation and a profession in mind.
If we don't think about the future,
we can get caught up in day-to-day life
and forget what's really important for the long haul.
____________________________________
Sometimes the signs of the time hit us in a very personal way.
Something changes in our life,
and our world is shaken, even destroyed.
It feels like a cosmic catastrophe.
Our children graduate and move out of state,
our job is downsized,
our spouse has an affair,
we develop health problems--
our world is in shambles.
Whether we see the collapse in our personal lives
or in the world at large,
it takes work to find balance again.
We can't change the past.
We can't control the future.
We have right now, this space, this day, this time
to use what we have
to set our world right again.
____________________________________
So we pay attention to what's going on.
We work at making good decisions in our lives.
We learn to live for others
and to do justice in working for human rights.
We get rid of habits of greed, racism, and violence.
We take time to remember what life’s all about.
____________________________________
Here at Holy Spirit we've been reading the signs of the times
and using the present moment
to bring about that safe and secure world
that Jeremiah wrote about,
that reign of peace and justice that God promises.
We do it with Tree Toledo.
We do it with our donations to local efforts
like the Padua Center and 1Matters and Rahab's Heart.
We do it with volunteer time for UsTogether and Pax Christi
and the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition and Hospice.
____________________________________
There is hope for us—for all of us.
God is with us, among us, and in us.
So we know that the day is coming.
It will be a day of justice and peace.
Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Christ the King--34 OTB
First Reading: DANIEL 7:13-14
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 93:1, 1-2, 5
Second Reading: REVELATION 1:5-8
Gospel: JOHN 18:33B-37
The title of King is foreign to us.
To our 21st century American ears, it connotes domination.
It goes against our cherished values of freedom and liberty for all.
It excludes the female half of the population.
Definitely not a positive or attractive metaphor, not helpful.
So what are we to make of this celebration?
Some would have us throw it out.
Some would just ignore it.
But our ancestors in faith
heard the words “king” and “kingdom”
very differently from the way we do.
_________________________________________
For ordinary Jews it was time without much hope.
Most of them lived lives of quiet desperation.
A few of them fought back with violence,
leading to the First Jewish War
that ended in the destruction of the Temple,
but most of them just kept on the best they could.
They knew from their own experience
that the values of the world around them were askew,
and they saw those false values enforced by a despot--
Herod Antipas—who called himself “king of the Jews”
and an emperor—Tiberius—who was hailed as a god.
When Jesus came, preaching a reign
of justice, peace, love, truth, and freedom for all,
what he proclaimed was very good news to them.
He told them that King Herod is not #1.
King Herod may have power, but God is in charge.
Herod rules with force and domination.
God rules with love.
And God's rule is here right now.
_______________________________________
The contrast between the powers of domination
and the Way of Jesus
was stark.
So those Jewish farmers and laborers and sla
First Reading: DANIEL 7:13-14
Responsorial Psalm: PSALM 93:1, 1-2, 5
Second Reading: REVELATION 1:5-8
Gospel: JOHN 18:33B-37
The title of King is foreign to us.
To our 21st century American ears, it connotes domination.
It goes against our cherished values of freedom and liberty for all.
It excludes the female half of the population.
Definitely not a positive or attractive metaphor, not helpful.
So what are we to make of this celebration?
Some would have us throw it out.
Some would just ignore it.
But our ancestors in faith
heard the words “king” and “kingdom”
very differently from the way we do.
_________________________________________
For ordinary Jews it was time without much hope.
Most of them lived lives of quiet desperation.
A few of them fought back with violence,
leading to the First Jewish War
that ended in the destruction of the Temple,
but most of them just kept on the best they could.
They knew from their own experience
that the values of the world around them were askew,
and they saw those false values enforced by a despot--
Herod Antipas—who called himself “king of the Jews”
and an emperor—Tiberius—who was hailed as a god.
When Jesus came, preaching a reign
of justice, peace, love, truth, and freedom for all,
what he proclaimed was very good news to them.
He told them that King Herod is not #1.
King Herod may have power, but God is in charge.
Herod rules with force and domination.
God rules with love.
And God's rule is here right now.
_______________________________________
The contrast between the powers of domination
and the Way of Jesus
was stark.
So those Jewish farmers and laborers and sla