He dwells with us!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

Jesus’ victory and mercy flows from the Cross and Resurrection to all! In our psalm today this is triply emphasized… all nations, all the peoples, all the ends of the earth! The psalms were written centuries before Jesus Christ, and yet already this mysterious universality of God’s call was evident. Every human person, created in God’s image and likeness, and redeemed on the Cross, is called to spend eternity with God… many of you either remember or have heard the famous 6th question from the Baltimore Catechism

Why did God make you?
God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven

Certainly more could be said, but this very succinctly captures the mystery of our lives… this invitation is not to some, but to all… every human person is called to know God, to love Him, and to serve Him here in this mortal and broken world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.

Our second reading from the Book of Revelation describes this new world in stylized and metaphorical terms… God’s eternal kingdom gleams with splendor, it is built of the most precious gems… it is grounded on the firm foundation of the Twelve Apostles and filled with the presence and light of God. It has twelve gates facing North, South, East and West… ample space for every nation, every people, to come in! All are welcomed to the journey of conversion; all are offered the great gift of salvation, eternal life.

This is God’s vision, this is God’s offer to us, and each one of us struggles mightily to embrace it personally; and just as importantly, to become an instrument of God’s mercy to all those we meet. Every generation has to face this struggle! In our first reading we see the Apostles gathering in Jerusalem and struggling with the first great doctrinal decision of the early Church: did the Gentiles have to become Jews first in order to be baptized? Were all those made new in Christ required to follow the full laws of diet and ritual purity? Did one have to be circumcised to become a member of the Body of Christ? After intense debate, that gathering, sometimes called the Council of Jerusalem, came to its decision:

It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right.

Christ has sealed a new covenant, and it does not eliminate the moral teaching and theological foundation of the Old Testament, but it does chart a new and fulfilled course. I sometimes jokingly imagine God making the pig and saying, “Oh, boy, are they going to like this, and the waiting will make it all the better when they’re allowed to eat it!”

Each of us, then, regardless of race or background… regardless of mistakes we may have made in the past… each of us is called into this intimate union with Christ, and to live a life full of Christ’s peace. In my conversations with people, and in my own heart, I am struck by how often we are ruled and grounded not in Christ’s peace, but in anxiety, fear, and agitation. We are swayed by storms of anger, lust, fear, or envy, and in their aftermath, many of us doubt whether God wants us or loves us or can forgive us. Someone recently described to me feeling great anxiety at the prospect of approaching a priest to discuss a situation they were facing. It is all too easy for us to be ruled by fear, one of our Enemy’s favorite tools.

Sometimes this jab of fear is directed against ourselves, but just as often we turn the knife against others, and we rule them out of God’s love… people who’ve hurt us, or people who don’t dress properly, or speak properly, people who aren’t like us. We are troubled by our own weakness, and troubled by the sins of others. We doubt whether we can be forgiven, and we doubt whether we can forgive, or even want to forgive, others. We cherish wounds and brokenness close to our hearts and poison our lives, leaving Christ’s Peace locked outside the hard shell we create.

Jesus speaks to this in our Gospel as He prepares His disciples for His coming Ascension, the feast we will celebrate next Sunday… He tells them that He will not leave them alone, rather, He will send an advocate, the Holy Spirit… and then He spoke the words we hear at every Mass, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” He gives us His peace… His peace, not superficial calm, not the absence of struggle… Jesus goes on, “Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” His peace is not the world’s peace… it is not the peace of having things or money, it is not the peace of beating others in some competition or getting our own way. Rather, it is the deep abiding peace of being rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ and in His living body, the Church… it is the deep abiding peace that flows from allowing the Holy Spirit to penetrate to the very deepest wounds and core of our hearts, bringing sweetness and light and healing. Receive Him who is Peace now… receive Him into your wounds, your sadness, your anxiety and fear. Receive Him, receive Peace, do not be troubled or afraid… He dwells with us!

+ A. M. D. G. +

The Cross at the Center of All Things

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C

At first glance this Sunday, our readings seem relatively mild and unassuming… Paul and Barnabas are going around doing their thing, proclaiming Jesus Christ. In our second reading and psalm we hear of the glorious splendor of God’s kingdom, where every tear will be wiped away, and in our Gospel, we hear a line we have heard many times, “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

We find, ourselves, though, right at the very heart of the Christian Mystery, right at the very heart of this Easter Season, and right at the heart of the great beauty of our children making their First Holy Communion, this Sunday at Immaculate Conception, and next Sunday at St. Sebastian. The last line of the second reading rings out, “Behold, I make all things new.” How did Jesus make all things new? What is new and surprising about this making?

Here we come right back to the Cross, which sits at the heart of all things, at the heart of our Church, at the intersection of every truth. In the biological world of striving and struggling, of predator and prey, every creature seeks to eat or be eaten. Nature is no Earth Mother… nature is no mother at all! Nature is the promoter of a bare-knuckle tournament, a race-horse owner who offers two options: win or become dog food! Even among us humans this fierce struggle to get and take often rules the day.

However much our fallen world may operate on this principle of strife and violence, this is not how God operates. Our Gospel actually comes from the moments before Jesus’ Passion, and Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.” He is not referring only to the Resurrection, not only to His victory over sin and death, but even to His bloody path to Calvary. God is glorified when Jesus lays down His life for us, when He takes up on Himself every wound and sorrow… it is this laying down, this surrender that leads to the sunburst of Easter Resurrection. In light of this unlocking of all darkness, a new heaven and a new earth become possible.

So… at school, you must outperform the other students to make the team. Only the best grades lead to being valedictorian. The shiniest people get elected Prom King and Queen. Very often at work and at play we seem to be in a zero-sum game where one wins and another loses. And Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new.” More fundamental than this world of eat or be eaten is the reality of Grace, of God, of Love. Jesus breaks down the dividing wall between God and us, and allows this reality to come into contact with our daily lives. He gives us a new commandment, “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” How did Jesus love us? Total self-gift, a total laying down of His life, a taking upon Himself of all our burdens. Perhaps now the beautiful and daunting invitation of our faith stands a bit more clearly before us… to love as Jesus loved! To love unto the Cross, unto death! Christian love is not the path to getting what we need, to finding superficial pleasure or satisfaction, to filling ourselves up in a worldly way, quite the opposite! We are glorified in God’s eyes, which is to say glorified in a real way, when we follow Jesus’ path to the Cross, to Calvary, to Resurrection.

And so, parents, love your children unto the complete self-emptying of Christ. Husbands love your wives as Christ love the Church! Wives, love your husbands unto the Cross! Children, love your parents, however much you don’t understand them, even unto their dying day. Brothers and sisters, love each other even as that causes you to sacrifice your own convenience. Parishioners, love each other as Christ loved us, and love each person in the world such that they see Christ in you!

Perhaps you’ve heard Mother Theresa of Calcutta’s line, “God calls us not to be successful, but to be faithful.” This doesn’t only refer to choosing Christ over worldly success, but also to trusting Jesus even when we seem to be failing in following Him. When we confront sin and darkness and deception in our lives, we don’t often overcome it all with one try, in one swoop… we have to keep trying, we fall, we get up, we keep trying. Our Church is not a club of the perfect, it’s a hospital for sinners. God is doing something new in our midst, but it’s often messy, and incomplete, and confusing. When people see our lives, will they see people who think they’ve arrived, so to speak, or people who are on the journey, on the road, walking towards the Cross and towards Christ’s glory? How is Jesus calling you to love concretely today?  How is Jesus calling you to love concretely today?

“As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” Jesus didn’t stop by telling us what to do, He showed us, and He continues to show us at each Eucharist. With infinite humility at every Mass Jesus who is God comes to us hidden under the appearance of Bread and Wine… Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He makes all things new, lays down His life before us, and fills us with Himself. A new heaven and a new earth is breaking forth within our midst! Having been filled with Jesus Christ, may we begin once again to love as He did.

+ A. M. D. G. +