Do we receive the gift?

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Homily Outline for the 19th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Apostle Paul longs for his own people to receive the Gospel, “I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.” Nearly all the first disciples were Jewish, but many Jews did not receive the Gospel in any full way. Having been a zealous Jew himself, Paul knew the rich gifts given to his people: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, the patriarchs. In light of such gifts, it is heartbreaking for St. Paul to see so many of the Jewish people walk away from Christ. They should have been the first to recognize and welcome Him. Paul speaks with great emotion – he could even wish to be himself cut off, if that would bring his people to Christ.

What might Paul say to us in Kingsford today? As Catholics, we too are heirs to a rich heritage of faith. Our Church, made up of imperfect people like us, people in need of redemption, has nonetheless received and preserved all the gifts Christ intended for His Church for 2000 years! We have the inspired Word of God, along with the living Apostolic Tradition. We have the great wealth of the 7 Sacraments, the principal means by which God offers us grace, healing, and life; and with them, the beautiful Liturgy of the Church, with finds its source and summit in the very Eucharist we are now celebrating. We have the successors to the Apostles, the bishops, who guide us in union with the successor of St. Peter, the Pope. We have the rich treasury of the saints, each one of them a living example of holiness and obedience to God. We have the cultural and artistic riches of Catholicism, even this very building built for us by our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents in faith. Like Paul’s Jewish brothers and sisters, we have received a fruitful, and rich patrimony, and we are part of an enormous family of faith, over 1.2 billion Catholics throughout the world.

Not unlike the Jewish people, we haven’t always received our rich heritage joyfully. Our Church faces attacks and enormous challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the drifting away of very many of our own people. Sadly every one of us here could make a long list of family members and friends who have ceased practicing their faith… perhaps some of us here right now have experienced this drifting away. Even more than outside attack, we have fallen victim to a slow erosion of faith. Even as the Jewish people had been given so much by God and yet did not always accept Christ, we too have been given rich gifts. God in His mercy does not force these rich graces upon us. He doesn’t barge into our lives like a SWAT team; he gently knocks at the door. Will we receive this reich heritage… will we receive Him?

We see this Divine Gentleness in our first reading. Elijah has encountered violent opposition; fleeing, God has led him to the desert, and to a cave. Notice well… God does not come to Elijah in crashing wind, nor in the ground-shattering earthquake, nor in the raging fire… but in the tiny whispering sound. Where is God whispering to your heart? Have family duties, work, the buzz of music, text messages, and TV kept you from hearing His voice? It is a DAILY challenge for me to quiet my heart and listen, and I suspect it may be for you too. But, if we will stop and listen, Jesus WILL speak to us as He did to Peter out in the midst of the sea and storm, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” He will call us out of the boat of our comfort and routine, and invite us to walk on water, to serve Him, maybe even in unexpected ways. “Come,” He said to Peter, and while Peter’s eyes were fixed on the Lord, he strode over the waves. “Come,” He says also to you and to me.

The Lord continues to speak in our time! I was on the Steubenville trip last weekend with 300 young people from our diocese. All told, there were over 2000 high-schoolers in that gym in St. Paul, and the Eucharistic Lord was present in our midst, and our hearts were opened to Him. I heard dozens of heartfelt confessions, and saw the Lord’s mercy. I saw many young people realize that they are not alone: Jesus Himself is with them, and He is with them in their many brothers and sisters, with them in the Church.

Our youth LONG for the Lord; LONG for the Truth; LONG for the Body and Blood of Christ. Their hearts will only be satisfied by the rich tradition of our faith… Indeed, we ALL long for Christ! Will we respond? If our practice of the Faith is sporadic, will we make God our first priority? Without the Sunday Eucharist and regular confession, we die inside, starving and drowning under the burden of our sins and boredom. If we are regular in our practice, do we have the courage to go deeper… to make time each day for silence with the Lord? God will call each one of us, will we listen? He speaks to us: “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.” We have been offered a vibrant heritage of faith, a precious gift – may we receive it with joy. May we now draw near to this altar to receive that MOST precious gift, Jesus Himself, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity… having received Him, may we follow Him wherever He may lead.

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Recent Journeys!

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By God's manifold and abundant grace, I've had the joy of making two pilgrimages, the first to the 2011 Steubenville North Youth Conference on the campus of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the second our Third Annual Bishop Baraga March!  In both cases, the Lord's generous work in the hearts of our young people was quite evident.  Can you see that grace in their faces... check out the pictures!

Steubenville North Trip

The Return Journey Rochambeau Tourney

Baraga March 2011

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

The Baraga March 2011 Crew outside Bishop Baraga's Tomb

A Shrewd Merchant's Final Purchase

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Homily Outline:

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

What desires bounce around in our hearts? What do we desire, what do we seek? There are so many levels to this question… I want a new bike, I want a hamburger, I want to rest, I want a cold drink of water… I want a friend, I want to be happy, I want meaning in my life, I want love. From superficial physical needs to the deepest spiritual hunger, we are never fully content. Often we think we know what we want, while at other times we are a mystery even to ourselves. What will bring peace and satisfaction to our divided hearts? Only God who comes to us in the person of His Son, Jesus, Himself fully human and fully divine, only Jesus, sometimes given the title “Desire of the Everlasting Hills,” Jesus Christ alone can satisfy the eternal and infinite longing of our hearts.

This is what the image of the merchant is meant to help us realize: this merchant is searching for fine pearls, presumably to sell again later at a profit. A good and shrewd merchant, he is looking for a deal, a bargain. He is looking for quality, beauty, and marketability. And, he is ready to strike… when he finds a pearl of great price, he does not hesitate… he knows value when he sees it, and he acts decisively. He sells all that he has and buys this one superior pearl. Interestingly enough, there seems to be no mention of resale… to have acquired this pearl is sufficient, it is enough, it is the end of his seeking, his buying and selling, his shrewd deals and careful planning.

The only thing that will settle our hearts in peace is the kingdom heaven, Jesus Himself… can we learn from this merchant? Are we willing to look into the depths of our hearts, passing through the surface buzz of little desires, and moving into the deep currents of desire within, with God? To be a good Christian, to follow Christ, this does not mean simply to ignore our desires. We are not just to keep a firm grip on ourselves and pretend that the molten current of hunger and need is not there… in any case, this doesn’t work. If we ignore our desires, they tend to burst out, often in destructive ways. Neither is the Christian path one of simply giving in, acting on each passing whim, obeying each fleeting lust or pull. God will search us and know us, and help us to know ourselves, if we will venture within.

And this deepest desire of our hearts admits no half measures, no convenient compromises! Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean, formulated by him more than 300 years before Christ, is often summarized “moderation in all things.” For some reason my Mom has OFTEN quoted this phrase to me, I’m not sure why… but this maxim has its limits. We are to exercise no moderation in our love for God, no holding back in our surrender into the Father’s hands. We do not abandon prudence in answering this call, but there is no prudence in loving half-heartedly. In loving God we are to take up our crosses and follow Jesus who gave Himself to us beyond all measure, beyond calculation, even unto death, death on a cross.

Your patron here, St. Gregory of Nazienzus, often called St. Gregory Nazienzen, is a beautiful example of

St. Gregory Nazianzen

this. Some 700 years after Aristotle taught moderation, he followed Christ with generosity. As a young man he showed great promise as a student of rhetoric, and was given the rich opportunity of studying in Athens with the very best teachers. While studying, he became friends with St. Basil the Great, and St. Basil’s brother St. Gregory of Nyssa. Later the three became known as the Cappadocian Fathers, from the region where they served in what is now Turkey. A lucrative career lay before St. Gregory, but he heard God’s call and sought a life of monastic prayer and study. That is where the Church found him, and he was ordained a priest and set to serve the Church in the midst of difficult pastoral circumstances, becoming a bishop and struggling to navigate the tumultuous currents of heresy and politics. He faced even physical danger preaching the truth in Constantinople, but did not back down. Having found the kingdom of heaven, he gave all he had and all he was for it.

So, where does God find us? Most of us will not be called to some historic endeavor, although perhaps some of us will be. Paul tells us that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” All things includes, especially, all the mundane details and small challenges of each day, along with the big events, both blessings and struggles. We are to surrender ALL of this, every last bit, into the Father’s hands. Will we, with Solomon, ask God for an understanding heart, for the wisdom to love God and to love our brothers and sisters?

Let me offer you a very modest and concrete proposal on how to acquire the Pearl of Great Price, the Kingdom of Heaven. Begin, today, to speak to the Lord of the desires of your heart and to offer them to Him. As you go out of Church you will find a stack of simple prayers called a “morning offering.” This prayer simply speaks of giving the Lord our whole day in advance, and uniting that offering to Jesus’ self-offering in the Eucharist. I try to make this prayer my first conscious act each day, rolling out of bed and kneeling next to it to pray. This is not a sufficient discipline of prayer for any Christian, but it is a good beginning. To give all we are to God is a lifelong endeavor, and to offer God our first waking moment is a good beginning each day. Please take one of these prayers with you… if you are willing to offer God that first moment, I suspect you will be surprised by how much He offers you in return! We see His Divine Generosity in the Eucharist He is about to give us. May we today receive the Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity with joy, and respond by offering Him all that we are.

Link to some Morning Offering Prayers.

Link to the Apostleship of Prayer, who promote this devotion and praying with the Holy Father's monthly prayer intentions.

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Baraga March 2011 is coming!

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Baraga March 2011 is coming, 

the 3rd Annual!

We're up on the diocesan website: http://www.dioceseofmarquette.org/peacepizza.asp

If you're interested, contact me ASAP!  benjhasse at yahoo dot com

It's going to be huge!

Last years pictures to whet your appetite: Baraga March 2011 pics on Facebook

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

Just AND Merciful... or, Don't Pull Out The Beans!

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Homily Outline for the 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Year A

We are in the midst of Ordinary Time. It has this name not because any lack of special grace, but because the Sundays are named with “ordinal” numbers… hence “Ordinary Time.” The color is green for growth. The 33 or 34 weeks of the year devoted to Ordinary Time are weeks devoted to our growth in grace, our growth and putting into practice of the mysteries celebrated during the special seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.

It is particularly appropriate, then, that we hear today of the planting, growing, and harvesting of a crop. I hope your gardens are growing… I have only a couple rows of sugar-snap peas back at St. Michael’s, but they’re flourishing. I suspect many of you have gardening on your minds in July. What does our parable tell us today about gardening, and life? There WILL BE a harvest, and the crop will be examined… God is just. And, God is patient and merciful… He has given us our entire lives to prepare and make ready for that harvest. He doesn’t strike preemptively… He harvests only in the fullness of time.

It is easy to come down hard on one side or the other of this question… to cry out, “Repent, judgment is near,” or to say, “no need to fear, God is merciful.” To take either piece by itself is to fall into error, because both are true! The opposition of God’s justice and mercy is a false dichotomy. The truth is often found in the dynamic tension between two claims that appear to be mutually exclusive: God is one and three, Jesus is fully human and fully divine, the Sacred Scriptures are God’s Word in human words, the Mary is both virgin and mother, and the Church is a human institution, but also divine, enlivened by the Holy Spirit. In each case, to resolutely affirm one thing seems to rule out the other, but the truth involves both together. God is bigger than our human categories, but works through them.

Our parable today imagines God as a gardener.  Growing up, I was always the lieutenant gardener, and my mom was the commander-in-chief. One time I received orders to weed out our beans. We normally planted long rows that we would eat fresh as well as freezing. There’s NOTHING as rich and good as freshly picked green beans! I yanked out the weeds with great vigor and enthusiasm. By the time I was done, not a weed was left. However, I’d nearly uprooted all the bean plants. My mom thought they were all going to die, but eventually, after several weeks of extra tender care, many of them survived! I had exercised more justice than mercy!

God does not make this mistake. We hear in the first reading that God has perfect and complete power, and so is full of lenience. Jesus explains the parable and makes clear that God sows only good seed, but the evil one, our adversary, attacks and distorts. God wills only good, but the abuse of our freedom in sin has distorted us and damaged the entire created world. Whatever water has passed under our bridges, we are to repent of our sins and hope in God’s mercy. We will each encounter God face to face, whether at our death or at the end of time, whichever comes first. Our time now, today, is to prepare.

C.S. Lewis

This mystery of God's perfect justice AND perfect mercy is beautifully captured by C.S. Lewis.  I’m a BIG fan of his… he has a marvelous ability to explain the truth with great clarity. One of his best books is very short, I recommend it to you, The Great Divorce. Despite the title, it’s not about marriage, but about eternity. In that book he explains judgment with great lucidity,

“Never fear. There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell . No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.”

The Lord, as it were, puts this ball very much in our court, that is the significance of the imperfect but real freedom that we are given: will we choose love, will we choose truth? To choose that which is good, true, and beautiful, to choose God and His will, that is the only real freedom.  Any parable or image fails to capture every detail... in this parable, a weed cannot become a bean plant.  We, however, are not stuck being thistles, even if we have planted many bad seeds ourselves, we can choose to repent and be healed, we can choose joy. The Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, helps us to pray and to open ourselves to God’s grace.

Our Mother the Church gives us not just the liturgical seasons, but also the individual feasts... July 16th, is the memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patronal feast of the Carmelites.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

We remember in a special way the cloistered Carmelite nuns who give their lives in hidden prayer for us! They imitate Mary's surrender in a special way and become vessels of intercession and grace for the whole world. The Carmelite monasteries of our country are mostly full! There are over 20 women in Iron Mountain, my home area, and regular new vocations there. Mary models for us in a particular way this trust in God’s mercy… she says, “Be it done unto me according to thy will.” The devotion to our Lady of Mount Carmel is accessible to anyone through the wearing of the brown scapular, given to St. Simon Stock in England on this day in 1251… the scapular is a sign of devotion to Mary and her protection, a sign of the desire to imitate her surrender to God’s will. I have worn one since high school, perhaps some of you also wear one. The scapular is not magic, it is not a charm or an amulet, but it can be a symbol and reminder to the one who bears it of devotion to Mary, and of the intention to stay close to her in prayer. It can be like a good yeast rising in our lives, a mustard seed reminder of God’s call to us.

God is perfectly just, AND full of patient mercy. Let us respond to both truths with joy, repenting of our sins and opening our hearts and lives to God’s grace. At this very altar God offers us not just truth, but the power to live in Him. We will receive Jesus Himself, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Let us ask God for the grace and strength offer to Him the harvest of our lives.

A rather unusual gardener

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Planting corn in El Salvador

Homily Outline for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

On this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear a parable that presents us with a vivid image of the gospel… the sower and the seed. I suspect most of you have planted a garden at one time or another… a show of hands, how many have gardened or farmed? Drawing on that experience then, let’s look more closely at this parable, starting right at the beginning… There is something strange here that it might be easy to miss! When I have helped my mom plant a garden, and more recently when I’ve planted my own garden, a great deal of effort precedes the actual sowing of the seed! There’s the spreading of manure or compost in the fall, the roto-tilling or spading in the spring, the careful laying out of rows and raking the soil to break up large clumps. Finally the holes or furrows are made to accept the seeds… No gardener I know throws seeds on sidewalks or roads, or in the midst of rocks, or in the midst of a thicket of thistles! But God does!

What kind of gardener is God? Think about that… these seeds, representing “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” are strewn about all over the place, almost indiscriminately. Not surprisingly, they suffer a variety of fates.

Although surprising, this is good news for us today. My heart is not always rich, deep, fertile soil, free of weeds and rocks… very often my heart is hardened or choked with busyness, and I suspect your hearts are often like that also. And yet, in Divine Generosity, God sows the seed of grace and life nonetheless, and entrusts the fruitfulness of that seed to our free response.

The 120 Chinese Martyrs

Today, July 9th, is actually the feastday of a new saint in the Church, St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions… this feast celebrates 120 Chinese Martyrs who were killed for the faith between 1648 and 1930. St. Augustine was a Chinese soldier who converted and became a priest. In 1815 he was imprisoned, tortured, and died rather than reject Jesus Christ. Catholic and other Christian missionaries have tried for centuries to bring the Gospel to China, but until recently, with little success. The seeds of truth and conversion did not appear to find fertile soil. However, in the last 50 years, in the midst of much persecution, the Gospel has begun to spread. Now perhaps 10%, or roughly 130 million people, are Christians, and about 1% or 13 million are Catholics. This may be a small percentage, but it is nearly half as many Christians as here in the United States! Humanly, it seemed that the seeds of faith found only rock and thorn, but in God’s time these seeds now seem to be bearing fruit! As God tells us through

St. Augustine Zhao Rong

the prophet, “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

When we look into our hearts and lives it is easy to be scandalized by our own weakness, our sins, our failures. It is easy to say to ourselves, “Well, I hope someone else will be faithful and good, because I’m just not cut out for it.” Or, perhaps, we might say to ourselves, “Well, I’m good enough… plenty of people are worse than me… no need to really do anything radical.” Both mistakes cut us off from the grace and life God wants to offer us. God in His generosity offers not just to plant the good seed of faith in our hearts, but also to till the soil there, to break up the big clods of unforgiveness, to throw out the hard rocks of bitterness, to pull up the weeds of sin and temptation. Will we cooperate; will we participate in this good work? Will we respond to this precious gift with the same courage that lead those Chinese martyrs… men, women, and children, young and old, priests, sisters, mothers and fathers… the same courage that led them to give up their lives rather than surrender or abandon their faith?

Make no mistake… the same spiritual combat that lead to their martyrdom is very much at work in our society, albeit in less obvious ways. As our second reading says, “All creation groans in labor pains even until now… we also groan within ourselves.” To allow this seed of faith to grow in our hearts, we are called to choose the good and reject evil. We are called to forgive our enemies, help the poor, to share all that we have been given. We are called to put God and family before career and pleasure. We are called to defend the dignity of every human person from conception to natural death. We are called to defend marriage between man and woman, to fight for the unborn, to fight for our own families and children against the attacks of pornography, addiction, and selfishness.

God will do this in us if we will open the door, if we will permit the seed of faith to be sown. His grace, His strength, His wisdom will work in us if we will allow it. At this very Mass we will draw near this altar to receive the Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This food of life, this good seed, will be offered to us, planted in us as it were. God offers us this not because we’re such fertile soil, but because He is good and loving! Will we respond to love with love? Will we respond to God’s giving of Himself by giving Him ourselves? No other response is fitting… may we receive infinite love from this altar, and offer all that we are in return.

Bishop Baraga March is less than a month away!

It's almost time for the 3rd Annual Baraga March, a bike pilgrimage from the shores of Indian Lake near Manistique, where Bishop Baraga first celebrated Mass in the UP, to his tomb at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette.

There's a simple announcement up here: http://www.dioceseofmarquette.org/peacepizza.asp

The dates: Wednesday, August 3rd, starting with Mass at 10 am at the Baraga Park where the Indian River flows out of Indian Lake, to Friday, August 5th, when we'll close with Mass in the Baraga Crypt about midday.

Email me ASAP if you want to come!  benjhasse@yahoo.com

God Bless,
Fr. Ben