O Night Divine

On December of 1989, President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama to apprehend General Manuel Noriega and bring him to the United States to faces charges of drug trafficking. When the American troops landed, General Noriega went into hiding and it was widely speculated that he had disappeared into that tropical country's thick jungles. However, on Christmas Eve, he showed up at the door of the Vatican Embassy requesting asylum. The ambassador was about to turn him away when the embattled general pleaded with him, "All over the world, priests are preaching about how there was no room for Jesus in the inn. This is a chance for you to practice what your Church teaches." The ambassador recognized that it was Jesus visiting him that night, and, moved by his words, he allowed General Noriega to stay in the Vatican Embassy.

We call it the "scandal of the Incarnation." Even as Jesus' birth inspired awe and wonder in the shepherds, it provoked fear in King Herod and disdain in the religious leaders. God cannot become man; or at least not such a weak and poor man as Jesus was. It continues to be a stumbling block for the atheists of our day who state that if God does exist and if he did become a man, why would he not show himself more plainly? Why would he come among us as a baby? Our familiarity with the Christmas story has cushioned much of the shock that the Eternal Word would become a baby born into homelessness and poverty. But for anyone who would stand before a manger scene and take to heart its true meaning, it continues to be a stunning revelation of the depth and breadth of God's love.

We would like to think that we are different than the religious and political leaders of Jesus' day. We would like to think that we would make haste to the stable, take our newborn Savior in our arms and pledge him our eternal devotion. But our King appears to us in hundreds of scandalous ways throughout our lives just as he appeared in the form of a corrupt dictator twenty years ago at the Vatican Embassy in Panama. He can appear in the form of a disinterested teenager unwilling to acknowledge our hello. He can enter our lives as a pesky ex-husband late on his alimony check. He can visit us as a drunk uncle vomiting into the punch bowl at Christmas dinner. Or he can appear as an unplanned pregnancy. We might even turn out to be Christ to someone, not because of our goodness and talents, but precisely because we are a burden to them. Now that God has taken on our flesh, there are no bounds to the masks he can now wear.

Because of his love, God cannot stop tinkering with his creation. He cannot stop interrupting our history with eruptions of his grace and love. We must be ready, because he will make a cameo in our lives in a most unexpected way. We cannot bow before Jesus in the creche, and then reject him when he visits us in the flesh.

The Bishop and the Politician

I have heard friends lament that the Church is once again in the news this time denying a politician, Representative Patrick Kennedy, communion. They fear that it is more bad press which the Church doesn't need and that it gives the media another opportunity to lambaste the bishops. I, on the other hand, think any opportunity to put the Church's opposition to abortion on the front page is a good thing. At the very least, it gets people talking about this important issue and gives us an opportunity to dispel some persistent myths.

One of the most frequently heard criticisms of the Church's actions over the past years is that it is the role of legislators to represent their constituents, not their personal beliefs and certainly not the mandates of their Church. According to this view, Representative Kennedy is simply upholding the settled law of the land and the wishes of those who elected him to office. For him to go against the wishes of his constituents because of his personally held views would be a violation of his oath of office.

This line of argument was first proposed by Mario Cuomo when he was the governor of New York and has been echoed by every pro-abortion Catholic politician since. However, it does not hold up to scrutiny because it is not at all the way that politicians behave. Politicians routinely support and promote legislation which flies in the face of the values of their constituency. For instance, though the first Gulf War was largely supported by the people of Massachusetts, Senator Ted Kennedy voted against it and was applauded for his courage. He was not representing the opinion of the people of Massachusetts, but his own personally held views. Most recently, the state legislature in Massachusetts enacted a law legalizing same-sex marriage though a majority of Massachusetts residents opposed it at the time. For that reason, the representatives would not allow the legislation to be placed on the ballot knowing it would go down to certain defeat. Again, their actions were not reflecting the interests of their constituents, but their personally held beliefs or the desires of an especially powerful and vindictive special interest.

In the current debate over health-care reform, Representative Kennedy has made it known that he would not support a bill that lacked a public option even though a majority of his constituents oppose it. Neither would he support a bill which did not include coverage for abortions, though his constituents oppose it. It is his personally held view that the public option and coverage for abortions are essential elements of any health-care reform package, and he is more than willing to impose that view on the people who elected him to office. But protections for the most vulnerable in society, the unborn child, he is not willing to either support or promote.

The fact is that Representative Kennedy has the clout because of his family's legacy to enact legislation to protect the unborn child from destruction and perhaps even convince his constituency that such laws are a good thing. He chooses not to whether because he does not agree that abortion is a heinous act or because he is under pressure from special interest groups within his party. Whatever the case, the values and interests of his constituents have nothing to do with it.

It is time for Representative Kennedy to admit that he does not think abortion is wrong and to accept the consequences his support for it has on his relationship with the Church. Of course, there is always hope that he will experience a conversion and become a champion of the rights of the unborn. With prayer and the continued persistence of our Catholic bishops to articulate clearly and forcefully how abortion harms the common good and undermines the future of our country, it is a possibility.

Rising Health Care Costs

Access to health care is a basic human right. How that care is ensured to everyone is up for discussion. As always, the ends do not justify the means, and for a program to be morally acceptable it must be effective at delivering what it promises.

Extending health care insurance to more Americans is estimated to save 40,000 lives a year. As followers of Christ, we are bound to work toward providing people more access to quality healthcare.

Part of that commitment entails working to keep the cost of healthcare and insurance premiums within reach of more Americans. The current administration is correct to note that healthcare costs, which grow at a much faster pace than other costs, siphon off funds that would otherwise be used by households to buy food, make necessary home repairs and contract other services which keep the economy humming.

But can government involvement effectively bring down the costs of healthcare and health insurance? I must admit that I am highly skeptical.

A case in point from my own experience as a real estate appraiser.

A year or so ago, before the current crisis in the financial markets "hit the fan", my company charged $295 per appraisal. In April of 2009, Fannie Mae, now run by the US government, required all appraisals to include a new form detailing market trends including median sales price, marketing times and absorption rate. Our fee per appraisal went up to $345 to cover the upgrade to our software and the time involved in completing the additional research. This amounted to an increase of 16.9%.

Appraisals for homes whose mortgages would be insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), another arm of the federal government, require more detailed inspections because the appraiser must verify that the heating, plumbing and electrical systems are in working order, that the septic system complies with state regulations, and other items which we would otherwise assume in a conventional mortgage or rely on a home inspector to verify. For our trouble, we charge a modest $50 fee, raising the cost of the appraisal to $395.

This year, FHA has required that any home whose mortgage it insures undergo a second appraisal, again at a typical cost of an additional $395.

So the appraisal which originally cost $295 now costs $790, a 168% increase! And I've not mentioned the additional costs involved in their mandate that one out of ten of those appraisals undergo a review by another appraiser at the cost of an additional $250 each. This has been a boon for appraisers, but a burden on consumers and lenders.

Perhaps government involvement will have the opposite effect in the field of healthcare. But I seriously doubt it.

The Cost of a Human Life

I read an interesting opinion piece in the Boston Globe on Saturday ("The Cost of not enacting health care reform", by Linday Bilmes and Rosemarie Day 10/07/09)

The authors argue that we work under the erroneous assumption that we are saving money by not insuring more Americans. However, sick and dead people do not work and do not spend money. By insuring more Americans we both save and extend their lives giving us more workers to increase our productivity and more consumers to boost our economy.

It turns out that the government estimates the value of each human life in terms of its contribution to the overall economy to be 7 million dollars. This is important to the cost benefit analysis of government programs. For instance, if a government program costing 100 billion dollars were estimated to save only 100 lives, it would not be considered worth the expense.

The authors apply this cost benefit analysis to the current health care proposals assuming that it will save 40,000 lives a year:

US government agencies typically use a figure around $7 million to represent the lost economic output from each death. If we conservatively use only half the government figure, or $3.5 milllion, it suggest that the annual cost to the US economy of 40,000 deaths is about $140 billion. That adds up to a cost of more than a trillion dollars over a 10 year period - even taking future inflation into account - well above the cost of enacting a health care package.

I find this a compelling argument. But I wonder if these authors would consider applying the same calculus to abortion. If so, we would find that the cost to the economy of ending 1.5 million unborn lives annually is a staggering 5.25 trillion dollars. If we were to multiply that over the 36 years since the legalization of abortion in the US, we would have a sum requiring exponents to calculate. If the price of doing nothing to provide healthcare to the 40,000 people who would otherwise die without it is too high, what is the cost of allowing millions of unborn children never to see the light.

The Widow's Offering

They say, "If you need something done, find someone who's busy."

When God needs something done, he chooses a poor person.

The prophet Elijah could not have found a poorer, more desperate person than the widow gathering sticks outside the gates of Zarephath. She was down to her last morsels and was resigned to the fact that she and her son would soon starve to death. The story of her generosity to the prophet despite her own need has fed the faith of countless believers throughout the millenia and has inspired them to generosity even in the face of destitution.

Jesus likewise chose a poor widow as an example of giving in faith. In sharp contrast to the religious leaders whose fine garments covered over their spiritual nakedness, she abandoned all she had to God. She could have held onto those pennies thinking they'd be of no use. She could have looked at the religious leaders in their finery and thought that she needed the money much more than they did. Her generosity, instead, was an act of faith that God would provide for her if she would abandon everything she had into his hands. The story of her generosity now enshrined in the gospels has done immeasurably more good down the centuries than millions of shekels donated to the temple treasury could ever have.

It is an enduring truth of God's plan that he chooses the weak. If God has a plan for us - and he certainly does - we can be sure that it does not involve what we perceive our talents and strengths to be. If we think we are good speakers, he may ask us to be silent. If we think we are good organizers, he may call us to suffer under the chaos of a scatterbrained leader. Most likely, God is going to ask of us something we think we are totally incapable of doing or giving, something outside our "skill set".

This was the experience of every great saint. At some time in their lives they felt the frustration of wanting to do something great for God but being called to do something else. He led them to a ministry they thought was less important or that they felt ill-equipped to undertake. Yet they obeyed and drew on his strength to bring to fruition his great design, a plan much bolder and more effective than anything they could have otherwise mustered. God does all this to make it clear that it is his plan that works, not ours, and that it is his grace that proves effective, not our own gifts and talents.

The best advice I ever got from a spiritual director is that God is in the real, not the ideal. We may dream of doing great things for God, but he most often calls us to do small things with great love. He is calling us to take out the trash, pick up dog poo or coach a soccer team with great love. If we think we're not good at it or capable of it, we may find ourselves called to it nonetheless.

God can only use the poor because they have nothing to lose. They are the freest to give. If we want God to use us, then we must give out of our weakness and need.

Grief and Community

This originally appeared in Wednesday Morning Connection


When I was growing up, everyone in the neighborhood had the local paper delivered for one reason only - to read the obituaries. I remember it being the first page my grandmother would turn to. She would read off the ages of those who died shooting a "see that" look at us whenever they were younger than she.

Reading the obituaries was not about a morbid obsession with mortality, it was about the duty to remember those who had died and to comfort the families. And the spiritual work of mercy to pray for the dead was taken very seriously. Funeral masses and monthly memorial masses were always well attended for that reason. My grandmother's prayer book bulges with memorial cards from funerals and wakes. All of it to commemorate those who have gone before us and to remember them in prayer that they enjoy the mercy of the Savior.

One of the popular readings for the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed is from the Book of Wisdom: "...their hope is full of immortality" (Wis.3:4). As a Christian people we approach death with hope and confidence for it is the gateway to an everlasting life with the God we long to see. Nonetheless, we never lose sight of the fact that death is a real loss. While the lives of our loved ones are changed and not ended, that change is real and leaves us with a deep sense of grief. Our words of comfort are always accompanied by gestures such as holding hands, crying together and remembering together. Grief brings us right up to one of life's great paradoxes for we are never so alone as when we lose a loved one, and yet we are never so remembered and never so held in prayer by a loving community.

Our shared grief creates community. In the recent past, we have probably never been so united as a country and as a world community as we were after September 11, 2001. There is a shared sense of loss when a soldier is killed, when young people senselessly lose their lives , and when people die unexpectedly in accidents. Even when the loss is economic, when we have even more reason to hold on to our money, we do not forget to be generous. In the face of pain, we remember who we are, that we are inter-connected.

Remembering those who have gone before us and praying for them is a demand of justice. Sharing grief is a constituent element of Christian community. The Church, in fact, was born in the upper room where Jesus shared a last meal with his disciples and where the apostles later gathered to mourn his death. The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed is a time not only to remember where we came from and where we are going, but who we are - a people bonded by loss and directed by a hope full of immortality.


PRAYER

Loving Father,
We celebrate your victory over death
which we already taste when our grief
draws us into the consolation of community.

We pray for those who have gone before us
marked with the sign of faith,
that one more act of mercy may attend them
as they journey into your presence.

Make us generous so that no one may feel
abandoned in their bereavement.

We ask this through Christ our Lord
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God forever and ever.
Amen.

All Souls Day

There is quite a different spirit and tone between yesterday's celebration of All Saints Day and our celebration of All Souls Day today.

Yesterday we rejoiced with the saints who already enjoy the glory of heaven, while today we pray for those souls experiencing God's last act of mercy in Purgatory. Yesterday we celebrated Jesus' resurrection victory which the saints already share in, while today we pray for those souls being stripped of the last encumbrance of sin which clings to them. Looking at it again from our perspective, yesterday we celebrated Jesus' promise to us that we will ourselves one day "share the lot of the saints in light", while today we painfully remember that before reaching the glory of heaven we still have to struggle and suffer with the realities of sin and death in our world. Jesus has already won the victory for us, but the drama of redemption is still being played out in history and in our individual lives.

Despite the more somber and penitential spirit of today's liturgy, the hope that faith gives still takes center stage, is still the focus, is the reason we can call today's liturgy a "celebration". For death is no longer the victory of sin over God's gift of life, no longer an senseless and tragic end to human existence, but, in Jesus, death becomes the passageway to everlasting life and salvation.

The Old Testament readings underline this victory of God's mercy over his just wrath. In the first reading from the book of Lamentations the author reaffirms his belief that "the favors of the Lord are not exhausted." Though he interprets the destruction of Jerusalem as God's just punishments for the people's infidelity, he reminds himself that God does not delight in destruction but wounds only that he may heal. In the responsorial psalm, the people of Israel are encouraged to hope in the Lord because he will not keep track of sin but treat us according to his mercy.

But as yet in the Old Testament that hope in God's mercy remains vague. The people continue to await an historic salvific event to focus their hopes upon. It is not until the New Testament that our hope in God's mercy becomes real in the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His death ripped away the veil barring our access to the Father. By our baptism, we are all given a share in his death and the pledge that we would likewise come to share in his resurrection.

We are a people who continue to live in bondage to sin and in the shadow of death. When we have passed through death, God will show us one last act of mercy by stripping from us whatever stain of sin may still be remaining so that we may look with unveiled faces upon the revelation of his glory which he has had planned for us for all eternity.

Blind from Birth

I watched a Mass telecast from Italy last year. The lector proclaimed the readings without looking down at the text. His eyes, filled with the light of joy, fixed on the assembly in an unbroken gaze. At first, I thought he had memorized the readings. But, when I noticed his fingers running over the page, I realized he was blind. What a powerful image to invite a blind person to lector on the Sunday we remember Jesus' healing of a blind man!

As I watched him read, I couldn't help but wonder what life must be like for someone born blind. All their life, they have to depend on others to pick their clothes for them and to help them along. Most of all, they have to believe that there is a world out there beyond the midnight of unending darkness that their life is. And so, trust must come naturally to the blind.

When Jesus approaches the blind man in today's gospel, it must have been very easy for the man to trust him. He had relied on other people his whole life. Now, he would put himself in Jesus' hands, allowing Jesus to cake his eyes with mud and obeying Him when He told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. This man had nothing to lose. And because he chose to trust, he gained everything - not only the ability to look out onto the world God created, but to see and believe in God made flesh in the person of Jesus.

In contrast, the religious leaders who see perfectly well and understand their religion perfectly well are the ones whose eyes are now covered over. They are scrambling to fit Jesus' miracle into their narrow categories. Unlike the blind man, they fear they have something to lose. They fear losing their standing with the people and their authority. They fear Rome will be displeased with Jesus' messianic claims and harshly surpress the people. Though they see perfectly well the miracles Jesus performs, their fear drives them into the darkness of denial and ignorance.

We all approach Jesus with a bit of faith and a bit of fear. We often see and believe. But, we just as often fear and flee. There are times when we rejoice in the gifts and insight Jesus so freely bestows on us. At other times, we are scared that by following Jesus we will lose something precious to us. There are times we choose to open our eyes, and there are times we choose to cover them over.

The blind have something to teach us about trust. They can teach us about what it's like to take another person's hand and allow them to lead us. They can teach us about believing that there's something out there beyond what we can see though we only hear whispers of it. They can teach us that we have less to lose than we fear and more to gain than we can ever imagine.

Should We Be Excluded?

The oldest political trick in the book is to get your opponent to talk about anything else except the issues. We have seen this many times over the past year. They bring up something a candidate's pastor once said. They question a candidate's commitment to his or her family. Rumors are started about possible shady business dealings. All this in hopes of getting the opponent to be on the defensive. Then the press will focus on the candidate's weaknesses rather than his or her strengths. Little by little, support for the candidate begins to diminish as he or she is required to talk about everything else except the issues.

This is a tactic which the enemies of Jesus tried often. In one famous episode from the gospel recorded by Matthew, Jesus is asked whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. By asking him whether or not Jews should pay taxes, they hoped to catch him in a trap. If Jesus said they should pay taxes, he would lose support among his followers who opposed the Roman occupation of Israel. If he said they shouldn't pay taxes, then the religious leaders would have cause to report him to the Roman authorities as an insurrectionist. Whichever way Jesus answered, his enemies hoped that he would have to keep explaining himself, digging himself into a deeper hole and losing support among the people.

As usual, though, Jesus is far more clever than his adversaries. His answer has become one of the most quoted verses from the Bible: "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; but give to God what belongs to God."

When we hear Jesus' words, we have to ask ourselves: What exactly belongs to Caesar? What do we owe to our government and to our fellow citizens? We have a responsibility to pay taxes and follow the laws. Being blessed to live in a democracy, we also have a responsibility to vote and to voice our opinion. Along with that, we must study the issues facing our society and form our consciences so that our opinions are based on sound logic and good moral principles. All these elements go into being good and responsible citizens. God expects that of us, especially as he has blessed us with a country which values freedom so highly.

Too often, however, Jesus' words, "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's", are quoted by adversaries of the Church who try to tell us that religion has no place in political life. They are using that old political tactic of trying to keep us from talking about the issues. When they claim a wall of separation between Church and State, they hope that people of faith won't become involved in the national debate about abortion, homosexual marriage, the death penalty or stem cell research. They tell us that people of faith should keep their opinions to themselves. They dare to say that we have no right to voice our opinion because it is informed and motivated by faith. Sad to say, too often Christians have taken that criticism to heart and left their faith at the door when they entered the voting booth.

But, it is absolutely un-American to believe that someone has less of a freedom of speech because his or her ideas are informed and motivated by religious faith. As a country, we have fought to guarantee that each person have the freedom to voice their opinions no matter what their source or what their content. Should a person's beliefs and opinions be excluded because that person is a Catholic Christian? Why are the opinions of Catholics any different from the ideas proposed by environmentalists, animal rights supporters or business people? Like every other American, we have a right and a duty to witness to our faith even in the political arena.

And, the fact is that people of faith have always been a part of the political process in our country. In the last century, it was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a man of faith, who led the fight to guarantee civil rights for all people regardless of race. In the nineteenth century, people of faith were among those who stirred the conscience of our nation to recognize the evil of slavery. And, many of the drafters of the constitution and forefathers of the country were informed and motivated by their faith to make America a place of freedom and opportunity. In this century, it is up to us now to take up the cause of justice and to witness to the dignity of every human person no matter how weak or how vulnerable.

As a church, we must never endorse a political candidate or a political party. We can never fall into the trap of partisan politics. But, we do have a right and a duty to speak to the issues facing the society in which we live, work and raise our children. Because of our faith, we have much to offer. We have insights regarding the dignity of the human person, the sacredness of human life, the importance of the family and the role of government in protecting the most vulnerable of our citizens. As Pope John Paul II said so often, as a Church we do not seek to impose our views but to propose them to society, to enrich the debate through the witness of our faith.

Governments come and go. Political leaders come and go. But, God's word endures forever. The Church has survived numerous governments, both good and bad, from the Roman Empire, through the Middle Ages, through Nazism and Communism to the present day. As a community of faith we have a treasury of wisdom built up over those many centuries which we must share with the people of our day and use to strengthen our society. Let us pray that we will have the courage to speak the truth of the gospel even in the public arena and pray also for our leaders that they may be inspired by a vision of justice that will lead us to true peace.

The Sign of Jonah

The introduction Paul gives to his epistle to the Romans expresses the way he perceived his own vocation and the vocation of the community in Rome. Of himself he writes that he was "called to be an apostle" and "set apart to proclaim the gospel." Later he writes that he and those who assisted him in the work of evangelization were "favored with apostleship."

Paul was a man consumed - almost obsessed - with his task of converting the Gentiles to faith in Jesus Christ. Yet he looked upon it not as a burden - not as a penance laid upon him for the time he spent persecuting the Church - but as a grace, as a privilege bestowed upon him by Jesus Christ.

Who is this Jesus about whom Paul was commissioned to preach and who likewise favors us with the task of evangelization? Today's gospel reading reveals a Savior rejected by those he came to save. His ministry among his people was marked by a phenomenon which he called the "sign of Jonah." Whereas Jonah preached condemnation to Nineveh, and they repented and found salvation, Jesus preached salvation to Israel, but they would not accept him and so would be condemned. This Jesus brought salvation to those willing to accept him yet condemnation to those who opposed him. His message was good news to the poor but bad news to the rich.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work, The Cost of Discipleship, writes that the cross is primarily an experience of rejection and ridicule. Jesus faced rejection continually in his ministry. Paul and those who followed him in the task of evangelization likewise encountered rejection. Jesus in fact promised us that any integral preaching of the gospel will be opposed because many people regard the dawning of God's kingdom as bad news. But there is cause for rejoicing for us who have been favored with the ministry of evangelization because if we face rejection and ridicule for our faith in Jesus then we are being made similar to our crucified Lord.

Jesus failed to convert Israel. But he turned that failure into the means of salvation through the cross. We cannot presume to have any more success than our Savior had. Our lives as Christians and our ministry will likewise be marked by the same rejection, ridicule and failure that Jesus suffered. Yet, as was the case with Jesus, it will be our faithfulness not our success that God will use as a means of salvation for the world.

New England Haiku

Autumn's first brown leaves
parachute onto my deck.
My rake prepares for lift-off.

Another old homily from 1991

I preached this homily on last Sunday's readings (26th Sunday of Ordinary Time) way back on September 27, 1991. In the interest of full disclosure, I stole the opening story from one of the faculty members at the seminary.

I once overheard two ladies having a conversation at K-Mart a couple of years ago. One of them was saying how happy she was that their old pastor had retired beacuse all he did was tell the parishioners that they were all going to hell. Her friend then asked her if the new pastor was any better, and she answered, "Yes. He's a much nicer, friendlier guy." Her friend asked her again, "He doesn't tell you that you're all going to hell?" And she answered, "Well, yeah, he does. But he doesn't seem so happy about it."

Like the pastors in this story, it seems that the Bible loves to tell rich people that they are going to hell. Besides today's scathing second reading, there are many sayings of Jesus which suggest that having wealth makes one incapable of entering into heaven. What is the Bible's problem with rich people? Why are the authors of Sacred Scripture so quick to condemn them?

In today's reading, James' major complaint against the rich is that they did not pay their employees a just wage. These rich people gained their wealth by underpaying those who worked the land for them. They lived luxurious and comfortable lives while those who earned money for them worked long, hard hours with nothing to show for it. James warns them that God is not blind to such blatant injustice but will comfort the oppressed laborers by punishing thier wicked employers.

The conviction of early Christianity was that the rich person's plenty came at the expense of the poor. For example, Saint Augustine wrote in the fourth century that anyone who has more food, money or clothing than he or she needs has stolen it from the poor. What the early Christians could not understand was how anyone could eat too much or throw away food if they knew someone else was starving. Because they believed that the goods of the earth were given by God for everyone to enjoy no one had a right to horde if others were starving or in debt. Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked became the number one way of witnessing to their faith in God who loves and watches over the poor and those who are denied their rights.

As citizens of a country with many material blessings we have alot to be thankful for. Most people in this country never worry about having enough to eat. Most people have enough clothes to keep them warm and some kind of home or apartment to live in. But we cannot thank God for the blessings we enjoy without remembering those people in our country and in our world who do worry about how they will feed their families and who may have nowhere to live because they were evicted from their apartments so the landlord could turn them into condominiums.

The God who gave us all that we have and the plenty which we enjoy puts only one demand on us who receive them - that we show our appreciation by sharing those blessings with others, especially with those who are most in need.

Preaching to Mother Teresa

The second time I had an opportunity to preach as a deacon was at San Gregorio Church in Rome where the Sisters of Charity had a convent. As it turned out, Mother Teresa was there for the Mass. Of course, I should have been there to listen to her! Instead, with her characteristic humility, she listened attentively to me dare to preach God's word. As luck would have it, I found my homily notes among some old papers of mine. I don't know what the readings of the day were, but the date was May 21, 1991.

Whenever Jesus speaks with his disciples he is careful to bring them back to what is most basic and most important.

For instance, in yesterday's gospel when the disciples were bickering about who was the most important, Jesus reminds them that to be a disciple of his is not to be better than others but to serve others.

In this morning's gospel quite the same situation reoccurs.

The disciples felt that they were right to try to stop the man expelling demons in Jesus' name. After all, he was not an intimate friend of Jesus as they were. He had not traveled with Jesus witnessing his healings and hearing his words as they had. He had not seen Jesus transfigured as they had. What right did he have to use Jesus' name?

But Jesus sees through their pride and tells them the way things really are and should be: "Don't you realize what you have done? You almost stopped him from freeing a child of God from the grip of the Devil."

And in doing that, Jesus brings them back to what is most basic and most important about a life of discipleship - that Jesus' name be the source of freedom and salvation for all God's children.

What then, sisters and brothers, is most basic in our lives as disciples of Jesus? Does not he who has shown us so much love and forgiveness simply want us to show that same forgiving love to everyone we meet so that his name may be a source of freedom and salvation for them?

Enlightened by his word, nourished and strengthened by his body and blood, let us get back to basics, to what's most important.

Let us show the loving, forgiving, consoling face of Jesus to the poor, the needy and the sinners we meet today.

Beautiful in God's Eyes

Who are the people whom the world considers important? Who are the people who show up on the covers of Time, Newsweek and People magazines? They are the women and men with power who make things happen. Or the rich who have luxurious homes and fast cars. They are the "beautiful people" - actors, musicians, politicians - who are attractive and have personalities that get them noticed. These are the people our materialistic culture holds up as "heroes". These are the people our society worships.

But the way we measure importance is far different from the way Jesus measured it. Power, money, looks, charisma - none of that made a person important to him. Instead, Jesus came to serve those who went unnoticed, those who didn't seem to make a difference in society. He came for the sick, the lepers, the poor and all those pushed aside by the world and seen as a drain on its resources. Those were the people he sought out in every city and town he entered. When he preached God's love and concern for every person, he was speaking to them. When he healed, theirs were the bodies he touched. And it was the sinners he chose to eat with, not those who were righteous in their own eyes. Everything Jesus did and said was directed to those who were forgotten, pushed aside, ridiculed and reviled.

And so he taught his followers that the only way that they could be important in God's eyes - the only way that they could get noticed - was to make themselves the slaves of others. If God's loving gaze was always on the poor, then they had to make themselves poor. If it was the sick that God was gathering into his kingdom, then they had to be found among them. The strong would have to make themselves the slaves of the weak, and the rich would have to put themselves at the service of the poor. Jesus taught that his greatest follower would be the one who acted as if everyone else were greater, as if everyone else were holier, as if everyone else were more important.

In today's gospel, Jesus illustrates his point by placing a child in their midst. In doing so, he was stressing that their job was to reach out to those members of society who were the most insignificant. In Jesus' day, children had no legal rights at all and were, therefore, the most vulnerable members of society. Jesus' message was that the greatest of his disciples would be the ones to look after the needs of the most vulnerable, those who otherwise would fall through the cracks.

Why does Jesus insist on this point? Because he believed that every human life had the same value in God's eyes. The poor person's life means as much as the wealthy person's life. The life of the sick is no less valuable than that of the healthy and strong. In God's eyes, the death of an Iraqi soldier is as tragic as the death of an American soldier. A person's power or money cannot make their lives more precious. To God, every human life is worth creating and every human life is worth saving. God never thinks that he has wasted his gift of life on any one of us.

The greatest example of this is the cross. Jesus, the innocent Son of God, the most important person who ever lived, was willing to give his life for each and every one of us. Whenever we are tempted to doubt our own worth or the worth of another person, we must remember that, no matter what we might think about ourselves or others, God thought us precious enough to offer up his Son in sacrifice for us. Jesus was willing to give his life up for ours. How, then, could we ever doubt the inestimable value of each and every human life, no matter how young or how old, how rich or how poor, how weak or how strong?

Jesus calls us who wish to follow him to serve the needs of those society deems unimportant. We must consider the needs of those who normally go unnoticed to be more important than our own because every human being deserves our love and attention.

Who in our lives could be going unnoticed and could use a little love and attention? Do you have a sick relative who would be delighted to get a visit from you? Is there someone at your work who is struggling and could use a helping hand? Is there someone at your school who has trouble making friends and would appreciate it if you sat with him or her in the cafeteria? Is there a poor person asking for hand outs at the light on your way to work whom you could give a dollar to and let know that someone cares for him? Each of us knows such people. They are Jesus approaching us in disguise and asking us if we love him. Even though our society has little use for them, they are God's precious children worth more to him than we can ever know.

What makes a person important in God's eyes? We know that wealth, beautiful homes and powerful positions cannot impress the all-powerful God who created the universe with all its wonders. To impress God it takes a loving heart willing to go out of its way for those who cry out for our help. At the end of time, the world with all its glory will be wiped away. Everything we thought was important will be no more. We will each stand naked before the God who created us, and we will be judged on how we loved the poor people he placed in our lives. Today can be the day when we confess to God that we have been busy trying to impress the wrong people. And today can be the day when we begin to ask him to open our eyes and our hearts to those in our families, in our places of business, in our schools and in our communities who are truly in need and who, therefore, are truly important and deserving in his eyes.

Sent by the Father

Digging through some old papers, I found the first homily I ever gave as a deacon way back on April 24, 1991.


The Christology of the gospel of John depicts Jesus as the One sent by the Father. Jesus' identity and self-consciousness revolve around the mission the Father has given him to save the world. He makes real the Father's presence in the world such that he can claim: "Whoever puts faith in me believes not so much in me as in him who sent me, and whoever looks on me is seeing him who sent me" (John 12: 44-45).

The identity of the early disciples revolved around the same concept. Just as the Father had sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sent his disciples to preach the good news of salvation in his name. In fact, the Greek word, apostolos, which came to designate those disciples closest to Jesus, derives from the verb, apostellein, meaning "to send". Throughout the Acts of the Apostles the disciples are presented not only as witnesses to the resurrection but, by means of the miracles they perform, they are shown to continue the salvific ministry of Jesus. Saint Paul captures this self-understanding of the early Christian community in his second letter to the Corinthians: "We are ambassadors for Christ; God making his appeal through us" (2 Cor.5:20). They understood themselves as a continuation in history of the saving presence of Jesus in the world. So it is that Jesus says: "I solemnly assure you, he who accepts anyone I send accepts me, and in accepting me, accepts Him who sent me" (Jn.13: 20).

Brothers, in the light of the word we have heard proclaimed, how are we to understand our own identity as men called to priesthood? In the word we are preparing to proclaim and preach, are we not the instruments through which Jesus contines to appeal to the human heart? In the sacraments we are preparing to celebrate, are we not continuing Jesus' healing activity among his people? Even now, are we not called to make real to everyone we come into contact with the love of Jesus who lived and died for us?

The effectiveness of our lives and our testimony is guaranteed by Jesus' promise to accompany us in our Christian lives. Christ makes an appeal to the world through us. It is Jesus himself whom people hear and see in us. And who can remain indifferent before the appeal of Jesus?

Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres

One of my favorite holy cards is that of Senhor Santo Cristo, a statue depicting Jesus at the moment when he was presented to the people by Pilate after he was scourged, which has been venerated for centuries in the Azores. I've translated this beautiful prayer from the original Portuguese


O good and lovable Jesus,
who for love of our souls
desired to be scourged, crowned with thorns
and treated with ridicule in the praetorium of Pilate,
giving us the greatest example of humility,
Grant that, drawn by your beloved face,
we may have no other thought than to praise you,
and no other desire than to love you.
Grant, Lord, that our lives may be always enlightened
by the luster of your sacred passion so that,
in our struggles we may feel your strength,
in our aflictions your solace,
in our pain your consolation,
and in our sadness your joy,
and so enter unharmed into your eternal Kingdom.

A Faith That Saves

What is faith? What do we mean when we say that we have faith?

When we say that we have faith we mean that we believe in something without any hard evidence for it. For instance, I do not need faith to know that two plus two equals four because it can be proven to me. However, I do have to have faith to believe God exists because it cannot be proven.

Faith, however, also means something more. It means trust. It means not only knowing that God exists, but loving him and placing our lives in his hands.

Because faith is both belief and trust, it can be at work in our lives on two levels.

On the first level, we accept certain truths of Catholic teaching. For instance, we believe that God exists, that we should go to Mass on Sundays or that babies should be baptized. This is a faith of the head, an intellectual faith, dealing mainly with doctrines and catechism. It is a faith of belief which is centered on facts and data. Most people have at least this level of faith at work in their lives.

However, there is a deeper level of faith which not only agrees that God exists and that he loves everyone, but believes it so deeply that it changes the way a person thinks, acts and speaks. If the first level of faith is a faith of the head, this second level is a faith of the heart, a faith that drives us to believe with our whole being. People who have been given such a level of faith love everyone because they believe that God loves everyone. They forgive whomever may hurt them because they believe that God forgives all wrongs. This level of faith goes beyond mere belief in God to trust in God. People who have such a gift of faith are willing to stake their lives on what they believe, not just their intellect or their opinions.

It is this second level of faith that James describes in today's second reading. When he says that faith without works is dead, he means that if our beliefs do not lead us to change the way we live, then our faith has no power to save us. If it is not making a difference in the choices we make, then we really do not have faith. We all know this from our personal lives. People may tell us they love us. But we know that our true friends are the ones who stand by us in the bad times as well as the good times. It is the actions of our friends that reveal whether or not they have love for us in their hearts. Just so, it is our actions that reveal whether or not there is faith in our hearts.

In today's gospel reading, both levels of faith -faith of the head and faith of the heart - are tested in Peter. When Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?", Peter alone has the right answer: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." But when Jesus pushes beyond this faith of the head to see if he has a deeper faith of the heart, Peter flunks. Peter could not accept that being the Messiah meant that Jesus would have to suffer. Though in his head he could believe that Jesus was the Son of God, in his heart he was not ready to accept the consequences.

As with Peter, it is suffering oftentimes which tests on which level our faith rests. It is natural to want to avoid suffering and even more natural to not want to see the people we love suffer. Sometimes, however, suffering is unavoidable, and it is in those times when our experience seems to clash with what we believe about God. Faith that is merely at the level of the head will not be able to survive the ordeals of disease, divorce or death. It takes a faith of the heart to continue to believe that God loves us no matter what difficulties we or our loved ones have to suffer. The good news is that God uses suffering not only to test the faith we already have, but to offer us a deeper faith. If we can accept our suffering with patience, God can make the faith in our head trickle down into our heart. That way, we can learn to trust that no matter how senseless our suffering may seem, God still loves us and can still make all things work for our good.

Suffering is very often an inevitable part of life. Jesus came not to take our suffering away but to suffer with us and to make our suffering an opportunity to have a deeper faith of the heart. And so Jesus says to all of us who want to follow him: "Pick up your cross and follow me. Pick up your suffering and follow me. Pick up your loneliness and follow me. Pick up your broken marriage and follow me. Pick up your failed business and follow me." These difficulties need not be obstacles in following Jesus, but they are the ways God uses to help us grow in holiness and trust. It is the way God uses to place in our hearts a faith that can really save us.

Exaltation of the Cross

The cross is at the center of everything we do as Christians. We begin all our prayers by marking ourselves with the sign of the cross in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. A cross features prominently in every church. All our processions are led by a cross. The cross is the symbol of everything we believe and everything we are as followers of Christ.

Because the cross is such a part of our life, we can forget exactly what it is. The cross was originally used as a means of torture and punishment by ancient Rome. In fact, it was such a cruel form of punishment that it was reserved for foreigners and the worst of criminals. Often, the Romans would leave the bodies of their victims nailed to the cross for days as an example to strike fear in the people. For the Jews of Jesus' day, the cross was a shameful way to die.

Jesus, however, has transformed the meaning of the cross. Because he accepted it with all its suffering out of obedience to the Father and love for sinful humanity, the cross went from being a shameful tool of execution to a means of salvation for all the world. When he was preparing his disciples for the violent death he would face, Jesus repeatedly told them that he would lay down his life willingly. Because he was the creator and the Lord of heaven, he could have called on a host of angels to save him. He could have silenced the taunts of the crowd by showing off his tremendous power. But, out of love, he surrendered his life to gain for us the hope of everlasting life.

The cross is no longer a source of shame but a source of hope to all who look upon it and place their faith in it. Jesus, raised up from the earth on the wood of the cross, shows us the depth of God's love. He accepted the shame and pain of the cross out of love for each of us. No one is left outside of this all-embracing act of salvation. It is never too late to approach the cross to seek healing and forgiveness in our time of need. Because the sacrifice of Jesus is a bottomless treasury of grace and mercy, it can never run out. We can go to the wood of the cross every day and even every hour of every day to find forgiveness again and again and again. We can never use up or exhaust God's infinite mercy.

In the gospel reading, Jesus explains why this is. God so loved the world he created that he couldn't bear to lose it to sin and death. At the same time, sin is so offensive to the majesty and goodness of God that it couldn't go unpunished. And so, God sent his son, Jesus - a man who never sinned - to take upon himself the punishment which we deserved for our disobedience. Now, no matter how we may have offended God in our lives, we may go to him without fear knowing that Jesus has taken upon himself the punishment we deserve.

All this is because God loved us so much. Like all love, it isn't ours because we deserved it or because we earned it. It is simply a free gift of God.

Today's gospel reading contains some of the most popular verses in the Bible because it captures the whole mystery of God and his plan of salvation. Very simply, God loves us and wants to forgive us; not because we are nice and not because we deserve it. God loves us and forgives us because he created us, and because he is good.

Knowing how much suffering our sins have caused Jesus, how could we not weep with sorrow for our disobedience? Knowing how generous God has been in forgiving us, how could we not shout with joy and gladness? And, knowing how ready God is to shower us with his mercy, how could we not resolve to meet him as frequently as possible in confession and in the Eucharist to access the treasury of grace flowing from the cross of Jesus Christ?

Christ and His Cross

There is a saying: "Don't seek Christ without his cross. You might find a cross without Christ."

Jesus cannot be separated from his cross. The whole purpose of his life was to bring us back to God through his death on the cross. The cross is the fulfillment of Jesus' mission on earth and the realization of God's promises. Without the cross, Jesus is just another good man who said some nice things but who has no power to forgive sins. With the cross, Jesus is the Savior of the World holding out to us the promise of everlasting life.

Jesus makes this very clear to his disciples. To save the world, he will have to be rejected, will have to suffer and will have to die. In so doing, Jesus will take upon himself the punishment we deserve for our sins.

Peter, however, would have none of it. He didn't want to hear that Jesus, whom he loved dearly, will have to suffer. I have no doubt that Peter would gladly have suffered and died for Jesus. But it is often more painful for us to see the suffering of those we love than to go through the suffering ourselves. Peter loved Jesus so much that he couldn't bear the thought of him suffering and dying. And so he cried out: "God forbid that any such thing happen to you!" However, Jesus rebuked Peter in the strongest possible terms, going so far as to call him "Satan". For Jesus, there was no other way for him to save the world and gain for us the forgiveness of our sins except by embracing the suffering of the cross.

Peter did what we are so often tempted to do. He tried to separate Jesus from his cross.

If Jesus and his cross come as a package, then we cannot welcome Jesus into our lives without also welcoming his cross. We cannot follow Jesus without picking up our own cross. We cannot love Jesus without also loving the cross.

Each of us has a different cross to bear. For some, it is illness. For others, it is financial hardship. Most of us struggle under the weight of a cross made up of many smaller crosses. Whatever form it may take, we can often stumble under its weight. We can feel alone and isolated because of the pain we feel. We can become bitter and let suffering harden us and close us off from others.

But, when we welcome Jesus into our lives and choose to live as his disciples, our cross is transformed from a burden into a source of life and even joy. We begin to experience that we are not alone in our pain, but that Jesus is carrying our cross with us. Our suffering no longer closes us off from others, but helps us to become more sensitive to the pain that others experience in their lives. And, instead of making us bitter, our pain begins to open our heart to the love and mercy of Jesus. We even begin to inspire others by persevering through difficulty. Suffering, then, takes on a whole new meaning in our lives. We begin to love the cross because it is the means by which we come to know Jesus in a profound and personal way.

We can begin to experience the transforming power of the cross in our lives by following the advice many of us received from our parents whenever we complained about something - by "offering it up". It is as simple as saying, "Jesus, I offer this suffering up to you for my sins and for the sins of the world." Or, "Jesus, I offer this pain to you for my friend who is also in pain." We can offer up our suffering for our own sins, for the souls in purgatory or for others who are also suffering. When we offer up to Jesus whatever difficulties, inconveniences and hardships we experience, they are transformed from sources of anger and frustration into opportunities to give Jesus more of our heart and more of our lives. Eventually, we even become grateful for the struggles we encounter in our daily life because they bring us closer to Jesus. We come to love the cross because we understand that it is the way to Jesus.

There is a still deeper meaning of the cross in our lives. If we decide to live according to the gospel message, we are going to experience difficulties. We are going to be ridiculed for our beliefs which seem out of touch to many people. We are going to be rejected by our friends, co-workers and classmates because we live differently than they do. We are going to be accused of being close-minded and judgmental. We are going to feel left out of the crowd. It is the same rejection and ridicule that Jesus experienced in his life. When we have the courage to stand up for what we believe, to go out of our way to help the poor and the needy and to defend the rights of the weak against the powerful, we will know the real power of the cross not only to transform us but to transform the world.

Jesus cannot be separated from his cross. But, just as importantly, the cross cannot be separated from the Resurrection! The power of the cross comes from the fact that it leads us to the Resurrection. The Resurrection is Jesus' victory over sin and death. It is the Resurrection that we celebrate when we gather every Sunday. We come to this place with our cross on our shoulders to proclaim boldly that there is no suffering, no persecution, no difficulty which God cannot transform. And, we reaffirm our commitment to embrace the cross by overcoming evil with good through the power that Jesus gives us in his Body and Blood.

Every Morning, He Opens My Ears That I May Hear

For over 70 years, Alcoholics Anonymous has helped people from all over the world overcome addictions to alcohol, drugs and other destructive behaviors. Through a program comprised of 12 steps, the addicts learn to combat the spiritual sickness at the root of their compulsions by confessing that they are powerless to change their behavior and by giving control of their lives over to a "higher power". As they make their way through the other steps and achieve a certain level of serenity and healing, they learn that it is not enough for them to simply stop drinking or using drugs. If they are to know true and lasting healing, they cannot keep their stories to themselves. Rather, they have to reach out to others with the good news that their addictions can be overcome. It is part of the healing process itself to help bring others to experience healing in their own lives.

The same is true with those who are healed by Jesus. They are so overcome with joy after their encounter with him that they have to tell everyone about it. It is interesting that throughout the gospel of Mark, Jesus commands people not to tell anyone who he is and what he has done for them. It seems strange to us that Jesus would want to hide his identity, but he needed it to be clear to the people that he would not be a political Messiah who would liberate them from Roman rule, but a suffering servant who would free all people from the tyranny of sin. When he tells the apostles not to tell anyone who he is, they obey him. Even the demons whom he casts out obey him when he tells them to keep quiet. But those whom Jesus heals, though they are warned sternly not to spread the word, cannot help but go around telling everyone they meet about the powerful prophet who restored them to health. For them, telling the story of Jesus' healing power is part of the healing process itself.

Today's gospel is no different. Jesus opens the ears of a deaf man and heals his speech impediment. Throughout his whole life he was unable to hear the sounds all around him. Now the first voice he hears is that of Jesus commanding his ears to be opened. During his life he probably spoke only when necessary because he was ashamed of his speech impediment. Now, with his tongue loosened by Jesus, he cannot help but tell everyone about the miracle that God performed in his life. His first clear words were praise of God for the gift of healing he received in Jesus. How could he now be expected to keep silent about the great work God performed in his life?

Jesus continues to be in our midst exercising his healing powers. Though it is rare, it still happens that people are cured of diseases or physical impairments through the power of prayer. Most often, however, the healings we experience through faith are of an emotional or spiritual nature. Because of our own prayers or those of others, we may find ourselves finally able to forgive someone who has hurt us. Or we may find the strength to let go of a burden of anger which we were carrying for many years. Or we may simply be overcome with a sense of God's infinite mercy and believe that our sins have been forgiving. No matter how we may experience it, each of us here has been touched by Jesus and healed. Now it is up to us to tell others about it so that they too may meet Jesus, the healer. If we want to hold on to the healing we have received, and if we want it to deepen in our lives, we must spread the word.

It could also be that many of us have been waiting for a healing that just has not come yet. Whether the cure we are seeking is for ourselves or someone we love, we have prayed, offered up Masses and asked others to pray for us, but God has not chosen to touch us with his healing power as yet. It could be that, for reasons only he can know, he wants us to bear that suffering so that we can grow to be more like his Son. Or it could be that he wants us first to bear witness to what he has already done for us to others. Many times when we take the opportunity to speak to others about the wonders God has worked in our lives, we look back and see that the healing has already been granted to us. We just have not noticed it. If we are seeking a healing and have tried everything from prayer to counseling to try to get it, could it be that God is asking us to try one more thing - making known to others the good things Jesus has already done for us?

Before we approach this altar to receive the Body of Christ, we will pray: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed." The Eucharist is the greatest source of healing for our body, mind and spirit. The man in today's gospel was privileged to have Jesus touch his ears and his tongue, but we have the awesome gift of receiving him into our entire body. If we approach him with faith, he will open our ears to hear his word and loosen our tongues to proclaim his praises. If we seek a healing, he knows it and most certainly will want to grant it to us in some form or another. It will then be up to us to spread the word that our God heals and saves.

A Light to the Nations

God had a dream for Israel when he called them out of slavery in Egypt to form a new nation. He dreamed that they would be a sign to the whole world of his love. As we hear in the first reading, The people of Israel were meant to live by God's commandments in such a way that people in surrounding nations would be attracted to God because of their holiness. For this reason the Jewish people did not look upon the commandments as burdens - as a bunch of hoops God placed before them - but as a gift by which they could radiate to the whole world God's love and goodness.

For the most part, Israel lived up to this great expectation God placed upon them. They taught the nations the truth that there is only one God who is the Father of all. They witnessed to the value of human life by speaking out against child sacrifice which was rampant in the cultures around them. By prohibiting divorce and not allowing men to have more than one wife, Israel did much to begin promoting the equal dignity of women. And by insisting that orphans, widows and immigrants be treated justly, they testified to the responsibilities of society to its weakest members. There were also times when they failed as a people to live up to these lofty values. But they never stopped turning to God to seek his mercy and renew their commitment to his commandments. The Jewish people to this day strive to be a light to the nations.

God's dream, however, does not end with Israel, but continues with us who profess belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Christians are to live in such a way that the people around us say, "Hey, they have something that I want." The joy we manifest in our lives, the concern we show for strangers and our willingness to tell others about our faith in Jesus are all meant to make an impression on others and leave them with the question: "Why have I never known that believing in Jesus was so important to leading a happy life."

Like the people of Israel, Christians for the most part have done a good job through the grace of God in witnessing to the truths of our faith. It was Christians who led the way in abolishing slavery and establishing civil rights in our country. It is Christians who are the strongest voice for the dignity of all persons both born and unborn. And the Catholic Church is the largest provider of education and health care in the world today. The witness of Christians has been indispensable to guaranteeing that justice is done for all people created in God's image and likeness. By the grace of God, we have much to be proud of about our Christian faith and heritage.

Unfortunately, many people in today's world don't see things this way. There is a lot of cynicism about religious people. Those who choose to live the way Jesus lived are often labeled as fanatics or hypocrites. So many widely publicized scandals involving religious leaders make people suspicious that we Christians do not practice what we preach. And what we do preach is often looked upon as backward, not up to date with the findings of science and with the way people live today. Because of this, many people find it hard to believe in Jesus, to read the Bible and to participate in Mass.

Though much of what I have mentioned is caused by prejudice against Catholics and ignorance, we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that we Christians have not always been the examples of holiness and goodness that God dreamed we would be. People have not turned to Jesus often because we have not shown by our lives or by the way we act that belief in Jesus does make a difference. I think the reason Jesus got so frustrated and angry with the religious leaders of his day, as he does in today's gospel, was that so many people in Israel needed to hear about God and his love for them, but they were too busy worrying about matters of little importance.

There are people all around us who need to hear that God loves them - people in whose lives God could make a big difference. What can convince them more movingly than any words we say or any arguments we come up with is for them to see us loving others as we love ourselves, forgiving others as God has forgiven us and giving to the poor and needy just as God has provided for our needs. As Saint James tells us in the second reading, such is the religion which is pure and undefiled in the eyes of our heavenly Father. And the world, despite its prejudices, cannot help but take notice of the good we do when it is done in the strength provided by God.

Saint Francis of Assisi said: "Preach always. When necessary, use words." As followers of Christ, it is our mission to bring him into the world by living holy lives. Through our baptism, we are the hands of Christ stretched out to the world. We all know someone who needs God. Maybe we need to make it a point this week to reach out to them, give them a phone call and invite them to have coffee with us. By showing love and concern, we can witness to them about the love of God and perhaps change their lives. It may be the only opportunity that person will ever have to hear the good news. That is God's dream for each one of us - to live lives marked by such holiness that others will say, " I want to know your God."

(artist: Alan Falk)

God's Will Be Done

In the recent biography about the life of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, one of her sisters recounts how she noticed the future saint staring at a painting of Jesus in the hallway of the convent. Not realizing that anyone was within earshot, Mother Theresa blurted out, "Oh Jesus, I have always said 'Yes' to you!" Mother Theresa's whole life may be summed up as one big 'Yes!' to the Lord. Her holiness stemmed from her desire to do God's will - to say "Yes!". Every poor person she gave shelter to, every hungry person she fed, every sick person she comforted, every good thing she did sprang from her commitment to God's will. And so, she stands as a shining example of how beautiful a life lived for God can be. Hers was a life built on the rock of God's will.

Jesus makes it clear at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Only those who seek to do God's will, as Mother Theresa and so many other saints before her did, can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are saved because we have listened to Jesus' words and said "Yes" to them.

Saint Paul expands on this in the letter to the Romans. Because we have all sinned, we have fallen short of God's glory. We are not fully the men and women God created us to be in His image and likeness. But, because God has loved us so much, we have been justified through faith in Jesus. What does it mean to be justified by faith? As Saint Paul uses the term, justification means having our relationship with God repaired. Whereas sin has distanced us from God, we are made friends again with Him through our faith in Jesus.

Now, the faith that makes us friends with God is not simply believing that God exists or that Jesus died for us. Rather, the faith that brings us to salvation is the faith that seeks to do God's will. It is the faith that recognizes that God's will for us is better than whatever we may desire for ourselves. It goes back to what Jesus says in the gospel: the one who does God's will is the one who is pleasing to Him.

It takes a great deal of faith to entrust our lives into God's hands and say, "Do with me what you will." It takes a deep trust to believe that God knows better than we do what is good for us and what path we should walk. And, it takes a strong commitment to God for us to stop living for ourselves and our short-sighted plans and to devote ourselves totally to God's plan. Yet, we have that faith already as a gift through baptism. And, the Holy Spirit is at work in us to increase our desire and ability to do God's will and so to grow in holiness.

If we are to take Jesus' words to heart, then we must ask ourselves some difficult questions. Do we make our choices in life based on God's will? Does God's will determine how we live our lives? Does God's will affect the choices we make at work? Does God's will make a difference in how much of our time and money we volunteer to charity? Do we spend time in prayer trying to learn what God's will for us is? Do we ask God to reveal His will to us? And, do we say "Yes" to God every day of our lives? When our faith makes a difference in the way we live our lives and in the choices we make, then we know that it is real.

Once God and His will become the center of our lives, we live with a new sense of purpose and security. It is Jesus' promise to us that if we put His words into practice then our lives will have a firm, unmovable foundation. Our lives become like a strongly constructed home set on a bedrock foundation. No matter what storms may be brewing on the horizon, we rest easy. We come to trust that God will make everything work out for our good.

We can experience the blessing of a friendship with God which is ours simply for believing in the name of Jesus and dedicating every day of our lives to Him. If we are afraid to put our lives into God's hands, then we must pray for the confidence and faith to be able to trust God more fully. If we are confused about what God's will for our lives is, then we must ask Him to reveal it to us. No matter what our situation in life may be, it will never be easy for us to leave our own dreams in the sand and climb up onto the rock of God's plan for our life. But, what blessings we'll receive! What joy we'll experience! What a friend we will have in God! And, what a reward will be waiting for us when we finally enter heaven and gaze on the one we have said "Yes" to!

To Whom Shall We Go?

After a life-changing spiritual experience, a woman decided to try reading the Bible from cover to cover. She had a hard time making it through the Old Testament because there was so little of it that she understood. And yet she tried not to let herself get discouraged because she believed that even in all the bizarre stories about kings who lived thousands of years ago God had a message for her. Even though she understod only about ten percent of what she read, she thanked God for the ninety percent he would one day reveal to her. Her trust that God would help her to understand kept her from getting discouraged and abandoning her commitment to reading Scripture.

The disciples in today's gospel find Jesus as hard to understand as the woman in our story found the Old Testament. Jesus had just finished saying that he would give them his flesh to eat, and they cannot understand what in the world he could mean by that. So, in frustration, many of them choose to stop following him rather than listen to what they considered to be nonsense. However Peter, speaking for himself and some of the other disciples, tells Jesus that he will stick by him. It is not that Peter understood what Jesus was saying any more than the disciples who decided to leave. The difference was that Peter knew he had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to. He had left his family and his job as a fisherman to follow Jesus because he was convinced that there was something special about him. Even though there was much about Jesus that he didn't understand, he knew that no one could speak about the Father the way he could. No one else could make his heart burn with love and faith. No one else could inspire him the way Jesus did. Though he did not always understand what Jesus was saying, he could not imagine ever leaving him.

Looking at our own lives, we can relate to the disciples' confusion. There is much about life, about God and about religion that we find difficult to comprehend. Many of our questions never seem to get a satisfactory answer. Some mysteries of the faith are so perplexing that we cannot even begin to understand them. How does the bread and wine become the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus? How can God be three persons in one nature? They are important and difficult questions, but to be honest, we are not going to have a nervous breakdown over them. The toughest mysteries are those that hit us where we live, the senseless experiences that really challenge our belief in God. If God is good, how can he look on as innocent people are tortured and murdered? Why do I have to suffer? Why did my father, wife or daughter have to die? Why can't I find the love I need? Why does God tell us to forgive and turn the other cheek when there are so many wicked people in the world?

Many good and intelligent people have abandoned their faith in God because of these questions. But we have decided to stick around. We have decided to continue believing in God, believing that he is good and believing that he loves us even though that sounds like nonsense in a world that's falling apart.

What keeps us coming back to God? It must be because, like Peter, we know that there is no one else to turn to. No one else can give us the hope God gives us that the world can change and that things can get better. No one else but God can give us the hope that the sufferings of the present are as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us. If God does not exist, if he is not all good, if he does not know each of us and love us completely, then we are ruined. There is nothing left to hope for. There is no meaning in our lives.

It is during the difficult times in our lives, when these hard questions arise, when we are suffering or depressed or bored that our faith in God is put to the test. We know that our faith is strong if we can pull out of these hard times still believing in God, still loving him and still trusting that he cares for us. That is the type of faith that saves us: the faith of a woman who continues to read the Bible even though she finds it hard to understand; the faith of Peter who can stick by Jesus even when many of the other disciples have left him; our faith that no matter what life throws at us, our God still loves us.

Weeds among the Wheat

Anyone who has ever taken care of a lawn or tended a garden knows how dangerous weeds can be. Whether it's crabgrass or dandelions, not only are weeds ugly, but they steal nutrients and minerals from the good plantings. The only solution is to pull them up from the roots or poison them with chemicals. There's a risk to these treatments, however. Very often, in trying to uproot the weeds, some of the good grass is pulled up leaving an ugly bald spot on the lawn. And, with chemical treatments, the good plants can also be poisoned leaving a burn mark behind.

Jesus tells the parable of a landowner whose wheat field becomes infested with weeds. The weeds which Jesus describes, which the Bible sometimes translates as "darnel", are not the type of weed that farmers in Jesus' day could recognize right away. Unlike a dandelion or crabgrass, darnel mixes in with the wheat. It's not until the crop matures and starts to yield grain that you can tell the wheat and the weeds apart. Because the crop is already so far along, the landowner is afraid that ripping up the weeds will do damage to the wheat. He is content to wait until harvest time rather than risk ruining any of his crop.

Jesus tells us this story to teach us something about God and about how God handles the world. As Jesus explains, the field is the world and all the people in it. The wheat represents good people and the weeds represent bad people. Like the landowner in the parable, God does not act right away to pull up the weeds. But, God's failure to act does not mean that he is not offended by our sinfulness and it certainly is not a sign of weakness. Rather, God waits patiently for sinners to repent and to change their ways. As we hear in the first reading from the book of Wisdom, God shows his power not in his willingness to punish but in his willingness to forgive. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son and the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep, God does not want to lose any person he has created. And so, he deals patiently with sinners in hopes that they will recognize his love and turn to him for pardon. God gives each of us the time we need to turn to him for forgiveness.

There is a good reason for God's patience. Unlike the landowner in Jesus' parable, God has the power to change weeds into wheat. God can work in our heart, helping us to recognize the error of our sinful ways and calling us to embrace the love he offers us. Saint Paul alludes to this in the second reading. None of us is able to pray as we ought. We get distracted or don't make the time necessary for God. Nonetheless, God's Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness by interceding for us. The Holy Spirit is within us as we pray so that our prayer can become acceptable to God. Just so, the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts and minds calling us to be holy and transforming us from weeds which are useless and harmful into wheat which provides food for the world. As long as we are alive, God never gives up on any of us but is always trying to find ways to get our attention so that we can become a shining harvest for him.

There is another way we can understand Jesus' parable. The field can represent not only the world, but each of us. Each of us is a mixture of good and bad. There is some wheat in us and some weeds. We love, but we also have resentments. We forgive some people, but judge others. And, we may wonder why God allows us to be so weak in some area of our life. Could it be that, like the landowner in the gospel, God is allowing some weeds to grow within us? Could it be that God is trying to teach us something through our weakness and our temptations? Very often, God allows some weakness in our life to keep us from getting proud. There is no weed which is as dangerous to our spiritual life as pride is. It is the sin which made the devil himself fall from heaven. If it were not for our weaknesses, we could begin to think that we were better than others. We could even begin to think that we didn't need God. If it weren't for our weakness, we wouldn't know how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, as Saint Paul tells us. If it weren't for our weakness, we might not turn to God at all. And so, God can allow some weeds in the garden of our heart to remind us that it is he who is the landowner and that he is the one who makes our garden grow.

Because God wants us to be saved, he is patient with us. He gives us the time we need to recognize our sinfulness and to turn to him in repentance. As we receive the gift of finest wheat, Jesus' Body in the form of bread, we must pray that we never become discouraged by the evil we see in the world or the evil we see in ourselves. In our weakness, we must pray to understand that God's purpose is somehow being served despite the sinfulness we see around us and in us. If we can entrust ourselves to God in our weakness, then he will transform us into wheat to feed the world. And, when God finally comes to reap his harvest, we will have confidence that he will gather us up to the reward he has prepared for us.