How Lenten Masses are like Braveheart!?!?

 + J. M. J. +

Things this priest thinks about...

Some time ago, I realized that sitting in the confessional, often on a Saturday morning, waiting for people to come reminded me of something... what was it?  I realized it was just like sitting in my deerblind, all my senses attuned, hoping to hear a leaf rustle or a stick crack.  And, then, often it would be a squirrel! Similarly, just when I would think someone was coming towards the confessional, I would realize it was just the building settling!

Well, recently, something like this happened again! We did a silent recessional during Advent at St. Al's and St. Anne's, a simple way to simplify the liturgy and create a sense of waiting and expectation during these preparatory seasons.  Singing is very good, and so is silence!  Frankly, during Advent, it didn't go so well! There was lots of rustling, lots of people who didn't realize what we were doing or why, and some people who were disgruntled about it!  Discussing it with the team, I decided that we would try it again during Lent, but with more effort to explain and remind people of it.  However, as we got started, it all just fell into place, and people have been really good about standing quietly in their places, with relatively little grabbing for jackets and purses and making noise!  If fact, I have felt a very beautiful stillness and quiet during those moments after the blessing as I kiss the altar, and genuflect at the foot of the sanctuary, and then quietly follow the altar servers out.  But, once again, it reminded me of something and I couldn't quite place it!

And, then, last Sunday, I placed it... that hush, that pause, that expectation... my own hope that nobody would make a break for it and spoil the moment... it reminded me of the scenes in movies where everybody's waiting in the ambush, or the attack, for the special signal!  A trumpet, a flare, and then the tumult is unleashed!  Oftentimes, someone will mess it up and jump the gun... or the general will say, "If anybody charges too early, I'll skewer them myself!"  Or, from the Battle of New Orleans, "Ol' Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise if we held our squirrelgun fire till we looked 'em in the eyes..."

That's what it feels like as I'm processing out in the hush, hoping no one jumps the gun!

One time I didn't time it right with the closing hymn, and the final verse finished while I was still only halfway down the aisle, and I could feel everyone just pouring out of the pews behind me, and I thought to myself, "Ol' Ben, don't stumble now, or you'll be a goner!"  I had the distinct impression I would be trampled down by the hoard!

+ A. M. D. G. +

To Gaze upon another's Face

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

This morning as I drank my coffee, I was looking at my garden seeds.  As it was - 16 F below zero, I was wondering if I'll every be able to plant tomatoes!  Just buying those seeds was an act of hope!  And I think that's why the Church gives us our Gospel this Sunday!

Our Gospel this Second Sunday of Lent tells us of this amazing encounter between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, and how Peter, James, and John were witnesses to it. They gazed upon the Lord Jesus in His glory, and they gazed upon Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the Prophets. They heard the Father’s voice, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Last Sunday we heard of Christ’s temptation in the desert, and I talked about the reality of the devil and the spiritual battle in which we live. This Sunday the Church places before us this image of grace and beauty, as if to balance the rather dire prospect of spiritual combat. When we gaze upon the beauty of the Lord’s Face, we are equipped to persevere and to overcome. It seems that this may have been why Jesus brought Peter, James, and John with Him up the mountain, so that seeing His glory they might not despair when they also saw His Passion.

We begin to experience the power and beauty of this encounter when we gaze upon the faces of our brothers and sisters. It seems to me that no musical instrument approaches the beauty of the human voice, and no scene or image in the world surpasses the beauty of the human face. Think of all the portraits and photographs… think of the icons of the Lord and the Saints! Many things in the created world are very beautiful, but when we gaze upon the face of another, when we look into another’s eyes, all other things pale and fade in comparison.

Perhaps we often think of this in the context of romantic love, and perhaps we remember what it was like to have a middle-school crush on someone, and to think about them obsessively, unable to turn our attention to anyone else! Our gaze can be immature, or compulsive, and this isn’t what I’m talking about. Think rather of the beauty of a little baby’s face, or the beauty of your grandfather’s weathered face… think of the beauty of someone you’ve loved and struggled to love for many years. The greatest beauty isn’t produced by make-up or youth or genetics or PhotoShop, but rather by love, and all the sacrifices that love makes, and all the joy that love brings, even in the midst of wounds and loss.

 I hope that some of you have seen the beautiful film Bella, which tells the tale of a woman who finds herself pregnant at a very bad time, and the broken man who walks with her in her time of testing. The film, whose name means beautiful, is beautiful on many levels, but one thing I’ve noticed as I’ve watched it with many different groups is that the majority of the film is comprised of the interplay of the two main characters’ faces. Neither of them is particularly glamorous in the film, on the contrary, they are both in the midst of deep loss and failure, but their faces are open to each other, and as the story develops, more and more open to each other. It is a love story, but not a superficial romance, and the audience is drawn into the faces and the struggles and the love.

Notice, too, how rarely we actually look into another person’s face! We’re rightly taught not to stare when we’re little, and in many circumstances it would be rude to simply lock eyes with each person we encounter. There is power in such a gaze, and vulnerability.

Just as there is rightly caution in our faces when we meet other people, perhaps there is often caution and hesitation when we seek to gaze upon the Lord’s face. Our psalm says, “See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness…” God never ceases to gaze upon our faces, holding us in love, even in existence, by His look of love, but we often fail to look back with open eyes. The words of our entrance antiphon today are beautiful, “Of you my heart has spoken: Seek his face. It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face from me.” This is the eternal and infinite desire of our hearts, to gaze upon the Lord’s face, and if we will respond and cooperate with God’s call, this is how we will spend eternity, in loving, and being loved. Peter babbled in the light of Jesus’ glory about building tents, and when they heard the Father’s voice, they fell down, very much afraid. We should not lightly assume we are ready to see God’s face, or to hear His voice, but we should seek them nonetheless. God’s love for us is, in St. Paul’s words, “made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” If we will allow the light and glory of heaven to shine in our eyes, to shine into our hearts, we will be made ready to gaze upon the light of the Father’s countenance, to see His face, which will fill our hearts.

We are in a battle with the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and our Lord Jesus was Himself tempted. The same Jesus who was tempted allowed three to glimpse His glory that day, and He calls us into that same glory. May we notice the hunger in our hearts, and may we look for the Lord, and may we receive Him now, His own Body and Blood, which sustain and heal and prepare us for the day when we will see Him Face to Face.

+ A. M. D. G. + 

Spiritual Combat: Revealing the Enemy's Tactics

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Notes for the First Sunday of Lent, Year A

As some of you may know, I was able to ski the 50 K Classic race at the Great Bear Chase in Calumet today, and I think it was particularly appropriate during this Lenten Season of Penance… I’m not light, or light on my feet, and I’m not in great shape, and with about 10 miles to go, I tweaked one of my hamstrings, so I had plenty to offer up!

Why is penance so necessary in our fallen world? Why does the Church call us to penance so steadfastly?

Our readings today in our readings unveil the source of sin and death, and also of tell us of Christ’s victory over both sin and death.

We begin in Genesis… Adam and Eve are created free, free from sin, but free to choose toward God or away from him. When they encounter the serpent, the dragon, they give into fear and cunning. We often imagine Eve alone with a snake, but the Hebrew text really suggests Adam present but standing back, letting Eve face the Enemy alone, and the word that we often translate snake or serpent, had more the connotation of dragon or monster. With disobedience to God, everything began to unravel… and I suspect you can relate to this in your own life, I know I can!

One of the favorite metaphors in our Catholic Tradition of our encounter with the Enemy and with sin is “spiritual combat.” The point is not that we are called to violence, nor to glorify war, but rather to recognize that we DO have an enemy who desires our despair and destruction. It can be daunting to realize that spiritually we are at war, but it would be far worse to be under attack and to pretend it’s not happening. In our popular culture, one of the devil’s biggest victories has been to convince many people he doesn’t exist.

Adam and Eve do NOT resist, rather, they listen, and Eve enters into conversation with the tempter, she allows a note of doubt to enter in, “Did God really tell you not to…..” Again, I suspect that most of us recognize that voice all to well.

As we recognize that we are in fact under attack, that there are in fact enemy forces who seek our ruin, our Gospel gives us great reason for hope and courage… Christ has encountered the Enemy, He has done battle, and He has won. In the desert, three times Christ was tempted in His humanity, and those three temptations line up with St. Paul’s list of the sources of temptation: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

Christ encounters first the temptation of the Flesh… to use His power to provide Himself with bread, even though the Holy Spirit has taken Him into the desert to fast and pray. We often have opportunities to satisfy our physical and spiritual hungers contrary to God’s law, both in obvious ways, like lustful actions or gluttony, but also in more subtle ways, like sloth or pride. It seems to us in the moment of temptation that only acquiring what we desire will bring us peace… and Christ gives us the true answer, that we do not live by bread alone, but rather by the word of the Father.

Next, the devil attacks through the temptation to tempt God, to presume on God, and to gain power in a worldly way. When we make the things of God subservient to the world, when we seek to shine in the eyes of others rather than God, when we treat faith and sacrament as a means to worldly respect, we worship the world rather than God. What sets the agenda in our lives? Is it the world’s voice, or worldly ways? Or is it God and His Church? Each one of us can go deeper in placing God first and at the center, and allowing His Law to structure our lives.

Finally, the last temptation is the devil, he attacks Jesus through the attraction to worship him and so gain immeasurable power. It is often the case that we can get ahead in the world by sinning, and it is often the case that faithfulness to God comes with a price. Perhaps there are not so many people who have literally sold their souls to the devil, but there are very many who began cutting a corner here, and a corner there, and got ahead, but ended up deeply embroiled in sin. Again, at least in small ways, I think this too we have all experienced.

The devil departs, having been vanquished by the Living Word, Jesus Christ, at least for a time. In the Gospels, the battle will continue through the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Romans, and it will reach its climax on Calvary. It is sobering to recognize clearly that we are under attack, but it is true, and in that attack, we also know that we have a victor and a savior… as St. Paul says, “…through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.” That victory comes to us now on this altar… may we bring all the places we are tempted and attacked into the light of prayer, place them on this altar, and receive from this altar the victor, Jesus Himself, and His Saving Remedy, His Body and Blood.

+ A. M. D. G. +