Miserando atque Eligendo... the Lord, looking upon us with mercy, calls us!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

I hope some of you may have had a chance to read the big interview with Pope Francis that I distributed after Masses some weeks ago, there are still copies by the doors if you didn’t get one yet. The very first question that the Fr. Spadaro, asked the pope was a deceptively simple one, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” Having used the pope’s baptismal name, he describes Pope Francis pausing, thinking, and saying, “I do not know what might be the most fitting description…I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.” “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon…I am one who is looked upon by the Lord.” Then the Pope referred to his papal motto, Miserando atque Eligendo. This Latin phrase is taken from a commentary written by St. Bede the Venerable in the early 700’s, where St. Bede says, “Jesus saw Matthew, and since he looked at him with feelings of love and chose him, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’” Miserando atque Eligendo refers to Jesus looking upon Pope Francis with mercy, aware of the pope’s need for love and mercy, and choosing him, calling him, even as Jesus offers him mercy. In mercy the Lord called the Pope, offering him healing grace in the midst of his call to serve. In mercy the Lord looks upon you and me, offering us healing mercy, in the midst of His call to us, a call to serve. Pope Francis with great humility and great clarity pierces through the murk that often surround our identities: we focus on our weakness, and end up discouraged. We focus on our strengths and accomplishments, and we get puffed with false pride. Like St. Matthew whom Jesus called from the midst of his sinful life as a dishonest tax collector, Pope Francis is able to see his need for God’s mercy while also seeing God’s loving call.

As the days shorten, and the temperature plummets, as snow piles up and green plants wither, we too might be tempted to discouragement in the face of nature’s death. On the other hand, we might look at our nicely stacked woodpile, or our full freezer, or our savings account, and count ourselves well prepared for whatever storms may come. We might be afraid, or complacent, and in either case we would be noticing only part of the truth. At this season of the year that the Church calls our attention to the last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The two beautiful and compelling feasts this coming week draw these to our attention. This coming Friday, we celebrate All Souls’ Day, and we praise and thank God for the shining example of His many saints, both the formally canonized and the anonymous. The veil is pulled back a little between heaven and earth. Halloween may have become commercialized in recent decades, but the feast itself, the Eve of the celebration of all the Hallowed, all the Saints, has deep Christian roots. Even the ghosts and the ghouls point to the closeness of death and judgment as nature dies the death of fall. Ghosts and ghouls are scary, and should be scary… they remind us not to toy with sin, not to toy with the Enemy, whose true face is hideous and fearsome.

Having joyfully thanked God for holiness, the holy lives of the saints that show us the way, on Saturday we remember All the Faithful Departed, All Soul’s Day. Traditionally we think of the Church in three parts: The Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant. We are the Church Militant: those alive upon this green earth who are engaged in the daily battle to choose good and reject evil, the daily struggle to Love God and Neighbor, the daily choice to follow Christ or to turn away. We, the Church Militant, celebrate our deep connection in faith and love to the Church Triumphant on All Saints’ Day, asking for the saints’ intercession. Then on All Souls’ Day we in turn intercede for the Church Suffering, all those who are in the midst of the loving and yet painful purification of Purgatory. Every soul in Purgatory is going to heaven, and knows it. The suffering of Purgatory is filled with hope and gratitude, and yet its not fun! Because we are connected in faith and in hope to every member of the Church, living and dead, we can assist those in Purgatory with our prayers, and so we pray for all the dead.

As the natural world grows cold and brown, the Church wants us to honestly and hopefully remember the truth of death, the passingness of this mortal world, and the great promise of eternal life that we are offered by Jesus Christ. Our two feasts, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, help us to remember.

In our Gospel, Jesus commends not the apparently virtuous Pharisee who is consumed with his own virtue and accomplishment, but rather the despised tax collector who knows both essential facts: his own sinfulness, and God’s mercy. The tax collector pierces through the murk of both despair and arrogance, and chooses contrition and hope. As he is living in touch with reality, he is able to touch and taste the most fundamental reality, God’s love.

Are we living in reality? Are we able to look in the mirror, to look within, and be honestly aware of our own sinfulness and weakness? As we see our great need for help, perhaps we taste the temptation to despair. Are we able to look within, and to look up, and to gaze upon the beauty of God’s face, His perfect and steadfast love for us, the mercy He is always ready to give us if we will but ask for that gift? God through His Church invites us to pull back the veil, to pierce the murk of confusion, and to see ourselves and Him, embracing contrition and hope, rejecting arrogance and despair.

We see this very clearly modeled for us by St. Paul in our 2nd reading. He knows that he is being marched towards his own martyrdom and death, using a vivid image from the pagan world, “I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.” The pagans poured part of their wine on the ground as a sacrifice to the capricious gods, and Paul purifies this image… he has freely chosen to pour out his own life, offering it to God and man for the spread of the Gospel, whatever the cost. In his trial Paul knows where strength comes from, “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength.” In God’s strength he is able face martyrdom and death with calm hope.

This world is passing, even as it is full of beauty, and all that we have is a gift from God. At my retreat this past week, one of the priests gave a very beautiful homily. He told us of visiting his sister’s house, and seeing her confront her little adopted son who had been selfishly clinging to a toy. She bent down and looked into little Peter’s eyes and said, “Oh, Peter, you must have forgot, you don’t own anything.”  Can we hear God speaking those words to us today, with gentle love? We are not to despair because of our sins, nor be complacent because of our possessions, but rather to hope in God who has given us all as a gift.

+ A. M. D. G. +

St. Paul’s trustworthy saying and Winston Churchill… huh?

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Our 2nd reading concludes with these pithy words:

This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

There is a great deal offered to us here, a great deal to think about, a great deal to put into practice!

First… “if we have died with him, we shall also live with him.” This is the Paschal Mystery at the heart of Christian Faith: Jesus Christ died and rose, He conquered death by death. Normally a hero succeeds by avoiding death and defeat, but Jesus definitively emptied death and defeat of their power over us by walking straight into the bloody maw of death and conquering it from within. We are invited to follow in His footsteps. Indeed, unless we follow in His footsteps, we are not able to enter into His victory. We must die with Christ so as to live with Him now and in eternity. For this reason we keep the Crucifix always before our eyes, reminding us that in all distress and pain, Jesus is at our side!

This mystery is present in God’s healing in our 1st reading and Gospel. Naaman the Syrian had been suddenly afflicted with leprosy just as he had risen to worldly power, but one of his servants was an Israelite, and she suggested he seek out the Prophet Elisha. At first Naaman had resisted Elisha’s instructions out of arrogance, but persuaded by his servants, he finally agreed to follow the prophet’s instruction, to bathe in the waters of the Jordan. He was instantly healed of his leprosy, that dread disease. It seems that he was also healed of a far more dangerous illness, arrogance and pride, because he admits his folly to Elisha, and he makes an act of faith in God, who Elisha serves. In sickness and folly, God offered Naaman healing and faith. He worked through the lowly, and yet offered Himself even to the rich and haughty!

Similarly, in our Gospel, we have this healing of the ten lepers. Like Naaman, but perhaps with greater humility, they seek Jesus out, and following the law that prevented them from approaching anyone healthy, they cried out from a distance, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” They do not have to be cajoled or convinced, they immediately follow Jesus’ instructions, going off to show themselves to the priests who by law must declare them clean and healed, free of leprosy, before they can enter back into the life of the community. That act of obedience opens them up to God’s blessing, and while they are en route, they are healed!

Naaman had to die to himself, swallow his pride, and follow the advice of a foreign prophet. In that act of humility, he was opened up to God’s healing. The ten lepers cried out in their need, much more open to God than the wealthy and powerful Naaman, and when Jesus gave them instructions, they immediately carried them out. By this obedience, they were opened up to God’s healing. God does not save and heal us without our choice, without our consent, without our response. If we will choose to die with him, we will live.

In our daily lives the choice to follow Christ, to obey Him, to imitate Him, often involves many daily choices, rather than one dramatic moment. St. Paul’s saying continues, “if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” An authentic following of Christ, an authentic Catholic life, will necessarily involve a great deal of perseverance. We keep going to Mass, even if the priest or the choir or our fellow parishioners aren’t always at the top of their game! We keep praying, even as we struggle with distraction or experience a time of dryness. We keep going to confession and receiving God’s mercy even though we often continue to struggle with the same sins. We keep responding to those around us with patience and generosity, with kindness, even if they don’t always, or perhaps often, respond in kind. We keep choosing to forgive, even as we are close to drowning under waves of bitterness, anger, hatred, or numbness. Jesus fell three times, and he kept getting up. The saints are men, women, and children like us, weak, sinful, and yet they kept getting up, they kept crying out for healing, they kept trusting God’s mercy.

I’ve been reading a biography about Winston Churchill, and the part I’m reading now describes the long political exile he experienced during the most of the years between WWI and WWII. He was on the outs for years, unable to exercise the high office he had reached as a very young man. He was blamed as incompetent for decisions that history has shown were right on target. As the Nazi menace grew from the early 1930’s on, he kept crying out in the wilderness that the world and Great Britain must be willing to stop Hitler. Almost nobody listened, and Churchill was often dismissed, ignored, ridiculed or insulted in the House of Parliament and in the press. Hitler gobbled up the Rhineland, and no one did anything; Hitler gobbled up Austria, and no one did anything; Hitler gobbled up Czechoslovakia, and no one did anything. Churchill was in the midst of despair and sadness as no one in power was willing to respond to the rapidly growing danger. In 1939 Hitler invaded Poland, and finally, as if waking up out of a drugged stupor, the world realized it was in big trouble, and suddenly England turned to Churchill. In short order he was Prime Minister, fighting for survival in terrible circumstances that he had tried to address constantly for 10 years prior. What would have happened if he had given up? What would have happened if he had simply backed away from the struggle, from the battle, and devoted himself to writing and painting? It is not easy to imagine someone else leading England through the bitter years that followed, and we might well be speaking German here if Churchill hadn’t stayed the course!




The principal applies to our daily lives! “If we persevere with him, we shall also reign with him.” Is it a persistent sin or vice that causes you discouragement or shame? Keep seeking God’s mercy in confession! Is it a wound or sin from the past that keeps dragging you down? Keep renewing your trust and faith in God! Is it the need to forgive some hurt that seems beyond your strength to forgive? Keep surrendering it to the Lord! Does God seem far away, does your life seem disconnected from God and His Church? Keep opening the door, keep crying out, keep seeking the Lord? Do some of the people you love seem to be far from God and running farther away as fast as they can? Keep praying for them, loving them, and seeking to be more converted to the Lord yourself! Only by refusing to seek the Lord, only by refusing to ask for His mercy, only by denying Him do we shut the door. And yet, even then, as St. Paul tells us, “If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” Jesus is for us, and when we seek God’s mercy, His answer is always, “Yes!”

St. Paul’s words are short and to the point, let’s listen to them once more as we prepare to approach this altar, where we will receive Jesus Christ, who is always faithful to us:

If we have died with him we shall also live with him;
if we persevere we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

Asking God for the gift of faith, the gift of perseverance, the gift of hope, we prepare our hearts, we open the door, to God who gives us Himself.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Iron Man vs. the Holy Spirit

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Jesus speaks in our Gospel of faith the size of a mustard seed, and the power and impact even this tiny kernel can have. It is important for us to be reminded of this in the midst of the storms and opportunities of our daily life! God has given us precious gifts… do we recognize them, do we use them?

This same theme is very beautifully echoed in our 2nd reading, from St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. Paul wants to encourage and empower this young bishop to serve, and to serve well. He says to him:

Beloved: I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

Through the imposition of Paul’s hands Timothy received the gift of Holy Orders… St. Paul called down the Holy Spirit upon him. The fire and power of Love, the Holy Spirit nestled into his heart and soul at this minute. This verse is particularly close to my own heart because I used it on my ordination prayer card, desiring that God would help me to remember the gift I received when I was ordained a priest, so I would not forget what was given to me.  This doesn't only apply to those who are ordained, but also to every baptized and confirmed person… in those essential sacraments we received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the spark and fire of love, the Spirit of Truth. That spark burns in our hearts and souls, even if at times it burns very faintly. We are reminded, we are exhorted, we are invited, to fan that little spark into a flame, even into a raging fire of love!

This is what happens in the lives of the saints… by God’s grace the recognize the gift of life, the gift of new life in Christ, the gift of each day, minute, and hour, the gift of each person in their lives. Recognizing those gifts, they begin to cherish them, to give thanks… as they give thanks, their hearts open wider and wider still to the fire of God’s love. God’s love begins to purify and burn away their sin and fear. God’s love begins to draw them to service, and love, and truth. Other people begin to notice the warmth and light that flow from the saints words and deeds. Have you ever been warmed by the charity, the kindness, the encouragement of a friend? That spark in you and in them flared up!

St. Paul continues… we are to stir up this flame, this gift. How does the Holy Spirit go to work in our lives, what is this gift like?

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.

The Power and Fire of the Holy Spirit leads us to love, and to self-control. It leads us to virtue and discipline, and to charity and the gift of self. We are empowered, strengthened, equipped, and moved to serve the Lord and our neighbor.

Perhaps many of you have seen the Iron Man movies, where Robert Downey, Jr. plays Tony Stark. Through a series of highly improbable but entertaining events, he ends up with this throbbing energy source plugged into his heart, an energy source which powers his carefully engineered Iron Man suits. Maybe the Holy Spirit
is a little like this… only MUCH more powerful! Think of Mother Teresa impacting the lives of 100s of thousands of people, and calling thousands of women around the world to follow her. Right now, on every continent, they are caring for the least among us, for the hungry, for those dying from AIDS, for those most in need. Think of Blessed John Paul II and Blessed John XXIII who will be canonized saints this spring, and how they touched and enlivened so many lives. Think of Venerable Frederic Baraga who set our diocese on fire in the midst of such hardship. Think of St. Therese of Lisieux who feast we celebrated this past week, with her little way of great love. She lived a hidden and cloistered life of prayer and died in her 20's... and yet she is known and beloved around the world.  Think of the Blessed Mother, whose simple yes to the Angel unleashed the entire mystery of salvation!

All of these saints, and especially our Lord Jesus Himself, show us the way to be set on fire, they show us the rich fruits of allowing ourselves to be set on fire! We will face obstacles, challenges, failures… and St. Paul acknowledges as much as he encourages St. Timothy:

So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.

Each of us carries our share of hardship… our share of sin, our wounds caused by our own choices and by others. But in God we can bear them with strength that He promises us and gives. Each one of us here at Mass today carries some portion of grief or sorrow or frustration or boredom or anger. We encounter obstacles to living our faith and sharing our faith. Let us not be ashamed to come before the Lord, whatever we carry, let us not be ashamed to beg him for the strength that we need!

In the midst of national struggles, and personal struggles, God calls you and me to move forward with courage, never forgetting the gifts of faith we have received. St. Paul continues:

Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

We have heard the word of God, we have been entrusted with the fullness of Christ’s teaching in the Church. May we cherish this, may we allow it to penetrate our hearts and lives, a glowing coal of love and truth that will warm us, and all those around us. If you gather several glowing coals together, they may even burst into flame… as we are gathered here in this church, before this altar, the Holy Spirit wants to set our love ablaze.

We prepare to approach this altar now, to receive the Fire of God’s Love made Flesh, the glowing coal of the Eucharist, a spark that can set us ablaze. May we lay all our fears and burdens at the foot of this altar, and receive the power and grace that we need. May we bring this fire of love with us as we venture forth from this church today.

+ A. M. D. G. +