The Young SEE the Cross - We Pray that they ENCOUNTER the Resurrection

See – Encounter – Pray

Each year on Good Friday night, the Pope presides over a celebration of the Stations of the Cross at the ancient Roman Coliseum, a symbol of the history of Christian martyrdom.  This year, in anticipation of the Synod on Youth, Pope Francis invited fifteen young people between the ages of 16 and 27 to write the meditations. They did so using a precise methodology. Gathered around a table, they read the accounts of the passion of Christ from the four Gospels. In other words, they stood before each scene along the Way of the Cross and “saw” it. Then, after a certain time had passed, each young person spoke about a detail of each scene that had struck him or her the most. Three key words, three verbs, mark the development of these texts: first, as already stated, is seeing, then encountering, and last, praying. (See meditations here)

In giving young people, this challenge the Pope was asking that this two millennia old story be seen with the eager newness of youth.   When grow old when we no longer want to see anything new, we fear what is new, close doors and lack trust and openness.

To encounter means to change, to be prepared to set out once more on our journey with new eyes. 

To see and to encounter leads, finally, to prayer. 

If you would indulge me for a moment I would like to share with you, the meditation and prayer of the 11^th Station – Jesus is nailed to the cross.

I see you, Jesus, stripped of everything. They wanted to punish you, an innocent person, by nailing you to the wood of the cross. What would I have done in your place? Would I have had the courage to acknowledge your truth, my truth? You had the strength to bear the weight of the cross, to meet with disbelief, to be condemned for your provocative words. Today we can barely swallow a critical comment, as if every word was meant to hurt us.

You did not stop even before death. You believed deeply in your mission and you put your trust in your Father. Today, in the world of Internet, we are so conditioned by everything that circulates on the web; there are times when I doubt even my own words. But your words are different; they are powerful in your weakness. You have forgiven us, you held no grudge, you taught us to offer the other cheek and you kept going, even to the total sacrifice of yourself.

I look all around and I see eyes glued to telephone screens, people trolling the social networks in order to nail others for their every mistake, with no possibility of forgiveness. People ruled by anger, screaming their hatred of one another for the most futile reasons.

I look at your wounds and I realize, now, that I would not have had your strength. But I am seated here at your feet, and I strip myself of all hesitation. I get up in order to be closer to you, even if by a fraction of an inch.

To see – to encounter – to pray

This has been our task this Holy Week, on this Easter Day and throughout our Christian lives which begins in baptism.  A baptism which 4 young people will receive tonight.  To see, to encounter and to pray is what the Holy Spirit whom we received at confirmation who empowers us to allow our seeing and encountering give rise to mercy, even in a world that seems pitiless and abandoned to senseless anger, meanness and the desire not to be bothered.

Today with these women of Mark’s Gospel, we see the tomb of Jesus, not as expected.  We watched the women make their journey to the place where Jesus’ body had been laid, carrying spices, oils and everything that was necessary to properly clean, anoint and bury the dead.  Shockingly we see the tomb as they do, the stone has been rolled away.  Has someone broken into the tomb or stolen the body?

What we see gives way to an encounter – not at this point with the risen Lord, but a YOUNG MAN – who is sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe. He said to them, "Do not be amazed!
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him.”

What we and the women see is now different, no one has broken into the tomb – SOMEONE HAS BROKEN OUT!  This encounter at the empty tomb begins a change, a movement in a new direction, that will be empowered all the more when these women, and the disciples, encounter more than an empty tomb but the resurrected Christ.

Tonight, having witnessed salvation history in the scriptures proclaimed, having watched the story of Christ passion unfold over these days, we encounter the Risen Christ, in the Gospel proclaimed, in the conferral of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation and in the reception of the Risen Christ in the Holy Eucharist. 

Having seen, having encountered, on this Easter night we are therefore called to pray that we who have seen the suffering and have encountered Christ might receive the wisdom, courage and the grace we need to share in the salvific mission to which the Lord calls us.

On Ash Wednesday, the day the Lenten season began, 19 students and teachers were killed by a shooter at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida.  Since that time some of the young survivors have become very familiar to us.  They have appeared all over the media and have led massive rallies advocating change and have even inspired law makers to consider legislation that they hope would prevent such violence.  Many have been inspired by these young people and others have taken offense at some of the words, actions and policy proposals that these young people have advocated.  

This tragedy and these subsequent experiences with the young survivors have impacted the Lenten season for me.  We are foolish, if we reject seeing what they see.  No matter what we may feel about their words or actions, we can’t but help but be awakened to the injustices they see and to which we have become complacent.  Young people see the sufferings of Christ in a way we sometimes miss.  They more readily see poverty, racism, social inequity and a disregard for human life.  Yet often they don’t see the resurrected Christ.  Their anger and pain overwhelms them and they can be brought down in despair or overcome by the same forces they oppose.

So, we are called to see what they see and help them, help this generation to encounter the resurrected Christ, who conquers all these things.  As church and families, we witness to Jesus Christ risen from the dead, overcoming all evil.  As church we live the words of St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles

We are witnesses of all that he did…
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day

and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us…
He commissioned us to preach to the people
and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead.

In their empathy, our young can be lied to, and brought down the devil’s path of immorality, abusive relationships, destructive decisions and a rejection of the faith.  They need us to respond to their vision, to help them see that Christ sees what they see by living lives of faithful witness.  Because we have encountered the risen Christ we must reject hypocrisy, dualism, bigotry and any lack of compassion.  We must be merciful as the one who willingly died on the cross is merciful. 

The greatest experiences I have had in my priesthood are the moments when I have witnessed the empathetic vision of the young encountering resurrection faith.  The annual March for Life in Washington, Catholic Scouting, Youth Ministry, Service Retreats and our seminarians are what happens when the young encounter the resurrected Christ.

How blessed we are to have these four, young people with us  tonight.  They have a vision to share with us, they offer us a perspective that we must see.  And we offer to them - Christ crucified and raised – so that what they see does not end in despair but is transformed in hope.

Throughout Lent and this Holy Week, we have seen sin and death.  On this Easter Day we encounter Christ raised and we go forth in prayer and joyful hope.


With the vision of the young who have encountered the Risen Christ, let us pray the prayer which followed the meditation of the 11^th Station last night in Rome

I ask you, Lord, that in the face of good
I may be ready to recognize it,
that in the face of injustice I may find the courage
to take my life in my hands

and to act differently.
Grant that I may be set free from all the fears
that, like nails, immobilize me and keep me far
from the life you have desired and prepared for us.

HAPPY EASTER

CHRISTIAN LIFE...a TEAM sport

Some time today before tonight's 6:30 kickoff two coaches will address their teams one last time before they take the field for Superbowl 51.  Their messages will most likely not be addressed to individuals but the team as a whole.  They will direct their teams' attention to the gifts and talents that they already posses and challenge them to know that those gifts exist for the purpose of bringing their team to victory. Some time later at halftime those teams will be back in their locker rooms and winning or losing at that point their coaches will speak again.  The coaches will point out the successes and the failures of the first and instill in them a hope that using those gifts and talents they will succeed.  And win or lose both of those teams will return to the locker rooms at the end of the game and the coaches will speak once more and even the non victorious team will hear their coach speak perhaps of some individual achievements but will once again acknowledge the universal gifts and talents that brought the team to success that season.  The victories and the losses of life are reflective of the team not one individual.

Today's Gospel continues Jesus' Sermon on the Mount; his address to the team that are his disciples.  He speaks to their gifts, calling them salt and light, and teaches them that these gifts are to be used for a victory that serves others and gives glory to our heavenly Father.  He isn't telling them to conjure up these gifts or intensify them - as a team they are already salt and light, they simply must dedicate themselves to using them.

Salt and light elements that do not exist for themselves, they are made for the other. Salt preserves and brings out flavor.  Light highlights beauty helping us to appreciate it more and it also illuminates what is evil, dark and dangerous.  In commissioning his "team" Jesus is identifying them as gifts that are made for others.  To be salt, bringing forth the flavor, the presence of God and preserving the goodness of his kingdom.  To be the light that helps all to acknowledge the beauty of God's presence and to illuminate the darkness of sin and evil.

So in the midst of the game, how is this team, this church, these disciples doing? Looking over the course of some 2000 years of history, we can see the effects of the salt and light of the church.  In the care for the poor and infirm, the team has responded.  In the education of young and old, we have seen victory.  In laying down lives in sacrifice for those who are treated with injustice, persecution and violence we have known triumph. 

But as a team of disciples we must also be attentive to our

failures.  How did genocide and holocaust take hold in Christian Europe and anciently Christian Russia?  Why did slavery and racism take root in a land founded by Christian pilgrims?  Why does gun violence prevail in the streets of cities with churches on every block?  Why in a country that was born under the Christian premise that all are created equal do we see abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, bigotry and bias being celebrated as a right?  Quite simply these are examples of the team, Christian disciples not being salt and light.

Today we mark the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. We celebrate and give thanks for the professed religious men and women who through their communities have been at the forefront of manifesting the gifts of salt and light and even more so modeled for us the unity of team.  We may mention a particular sister or brother who taught us, but we speak of being educated by the Dominicans, the Jospephites, Sisters of Mercy, Christian Brothers, Franciscans and Marianists. We not only give thanks for what they have done for the mission of Jesus Christ in the church, but pray fervently that consecrated life may continue to grow and flourish.

As we receive the Holy Eucharist, we are reminded of whose

team we are on and through it we are empowered to be salt and light as a team.  We are the team of the universal church. This week we celebrated the installation of our new Bishop, John Barres and from those days one image of team stands out for me.  The seminarians of the diocese were assembled to take a picture with the bishop.  The formed a semi-circle with some standing and some on one knee waiting for the Bishop to slip into his spot.  Before he did that though, the Bishop stood before the group of seminarians and spoke with them for about five minutes.  He looked like a coach speaking to his team.  I expected them to run a play after he was done. As church we can never forget that we are a team united around our bishop who stands before us in the fullness of Christ's priesthood.

Our families are the most basic of our Christian teams, where salt and light are fostered.  Our families are fractured, not necessarily in the sad brokenness that is a reality for many. But by simply having two and sometimes three generations in one household our families can be simply a group of individuals living under the same roof.  We pray for the unity of our families, the first team of Christian life so that they may be salt and life for each other and the world.

Its half time, the struggle is real.  The gifts have brought successes and our failure to use them have hurt us.  Let us hear Jesus speak to us, recognize the gifts with in us and use them to be salt, light and share in the building of his kingdom

RISE ABOVE THE CROWD - Learn Happiness

The audio for this homily can be found here January 29, 2017 homily audio

For the last week or so, I think the most popularly used word was, “crowd.”  The crowd at the Inauguration.  The crowds at the Women’s Marches.  The crowd at the March for Life.  We looked at the sizes of the crowds to tell a story.  How many supported the president.  How many opposed him.  What issues have the greatest support?  These are fair topics for discussion.  Those of us who have gone to the March for Life in Washington have long lamented the lack of attention given to the size of the crowd.

Jesus had crowds following him too and by all accounts they were massive given the population and the limited means of communication in 1st century Palestine.  But what was our Lord’s relationship to the crowds?  They were fickle, praising him as he rode into Jerusalem only to call for his crucifixion a few days later. Sometimes their size drove him to escape in a boat or to a secluded place.  While he did he miraculously feed the multitude because he took pity on them, one such occasion he had to flee because after they ate and were satisfied the crowd tried to carry him off and making him king.  The enthusiasm of crowds can be exhilarating and validating but they can lack substance and sometimes be dangerous.

Today’s Gospel passage begins

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,

and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 

He began to teach them

As much as the crowds could be understood as a sign of affirmation for Jesus’ mission, it was not within that throng that the real work took place.  Jesus goes “above the crowd” and his disciples come to him to be taught.  A disciple a follower and student of a teacher.  The 12 apostles were among the larger group of learners but not the only ones.  This is a substantive group who are not simply caught up in the fervor, but seek a deeper understanding.  And so they too rise above the crowd and follow Jesus to a place where they can learn with depth and greater understanding.  And Jesus doesn’t simply run up the mountain and hide, but he finds a place and sits down, the position of a teacher in his time.  We think of a teacher who stands in front of a classroom, perhaps behind a podium and lectures, but in Jesus we see a more natural and organic approach.  

Think of young children returning to a classroom after running around outside.  What might be the best way for the teacher to calm this crowd down? Instead of speaking loudly and ordering them to their seats, she might invite them to come join her in sitting on the classroom carpet, speaking softly as she reads to them from a book.  This is Jesus and his disciples sitting at the feet of the master, rising above the crowd and hungering for knowledge.

This is the context of the Beatitudes, which is the bulk of today’s Gospel.  The definition of beatitude is a state of supreme happiness. 
The lesson Jesus teaches is simply but profoundly what it takes to be happy.  The crowd left below might be joyful and exuberant but they are not engaging in what will ultimately make them happy. I remember reading the story of a musician who was touring the country giving concerts.  He said there was nothing greater than the cheers of the crowd.  But those cheers don’t last and there is nothing lonelier or joyless then riding back to the hotel alone in a limousine. That is not happiness.  In the beatitudes Jesus teaches his disciples how to be joyful.

The happiness and joyfulness of the beatitudes is counter intuitive to our worldly wisdom.  Happiness is not found in money, pleasure, power or glory but a single hearted focus on doing the will of God by ministering mercy and peace.  Look at what makes us truly happy in our lives, fulfilling the will of another who loves us; making our parents proud, providing our children with a tender and caring home. Happiness comes to us when we do the will of God who loves us.  And what is God’s will to be merciful and to foster peace.  This is the lesson of the Beatitudes, this is the lesson we learn when we sit at the feet of the master and rise above the crowd which often is about seeking pleasure not happiness, power not peace, glory through submission and not mercy.

So here is the question.  Are you a part of a crowd or are you a disciple? Are you here at this celebration of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist because you hunger and thirst for supreme happiness?  If so, then you are a disciple.  And you are learning through every celebration of word and sacrament that happiness is found perfectly in the heavenly kingdom that awaits us but is obtainable within the human experience as well. We ultimately seek and find happiness not just when we are seeking it for ourselves but for others as well.

We live among the crowd, we hear those voices, we join in their passions and engage in their fights – but we know that none of that makes us happy, so we come up the mountain each and every Sunday to learn who we really are called to be.

Several months ago as we prepared for the presidential election I was asked to read Bishop Murphy’s letter on the preeminence of the right to life.  That letter was an attempt to form us as disciples and help us to rise above the crowd.  I think today it is important for us learn and be formed by other words as well.  Bishop Joe Vásquez chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration

"The United States has long provided leadership in resettling refugees. We believe in assisting all those who are vulnerable and fleeing persecution, regardless of their religion… including Muslims, who have lost family, home, and country. They are children of God and are entitled to be treated with human dignity…
We will work vigorously to ensure that refugees are humanely welcomed in collaboration with Catholic Charities without sacrificing our security or our core values as Americans

This is what happiness means.  This is what it means to rise above the crowd.  But that’s the U.S. Bishops, they should stay out of politics. Right?

Then there is Pope Francis

“It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help. If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite.” -  Oct. 13, 2016

But Pope Frances is too liberal.  Right?

Pope Benedict then

Anyone who can kneel before the Eucharist, who receives the Body of the Lord, cannot but be attentive in the ordinary daily routine to situations unworthy of the human being (the hungry, thirsty, naked sick and imprisoned.) – September 11, 2011

But he was old and out of touch.  Correct?

Then there is Saint John Paul II

Solidarity means taking responsibility for those in trouble. For Christians, the migrant is not merely an individual to be respected in accordance with the norms established by law, but a person whose presence challenges them and whose needs become an obligation for their responsibility. – July 25, 1995

Are we going to argue with a saint?

We come up the mountain, we rise above the crowd because the crowds that tell us our happiness will come from isolation and the establishment of enemies. The crowd on the Washington mall, in the presence of the Vice President of the United States, fervently celebrated a new found administrative support for the Right to Life movement, but we who are disciples must find happiness not in slogans or others joining our crowd but in a single hearted desire to do the will of God who is merciful to the vulnerable.  Our joy is found not simply in assuring a right to be born but a right to live with human dignity.

We celebrate Catholic Schools this week not just for those who attend it.  The presence of a school within the mission of the parish serves as a reminder that we are all students, we are all disciples, seeking happiness.  Our parish finds happiness in knowing that we provide an opportunity for learning in the context of faith.  And our school finds happiness in awakening in each of us the necessity of learning; doing what it takes to rise above the crowd and sit at the feet of the master.  You and I are challenged today to remain with the crowd or to be disciples.  To go up the mountain so we may know that mercy and peacemaking are essential to doing God’s will and that mercy and peacemaking are essential to our own pursuit of true supreme, earthly and eternal happiness. And so share in the building of God’s kingdom.

CHRISTMAS - We Are Made For the Child

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.

What is it about babies?  Why are we saw drawn to them?  I suppose not everyone is, but it seems that most people are instinctively moved by babies.  In saying this to you, perhaps you might verify these thoughts from your own experience – you have seen how people react to a baby.  This response is not only an adult response; children respond to babies as well.  I recently observed my 2 young nephews interact with another friend’s baby.  All other play came to a halt as they were transfixed by an infant.  Even babies respond to other babies, they are drawn to the face, the smile and the eyes of one who is so similar to them. 

Not too long ago I read an article that researched this question from a scientific perspective.  The article acknowledged that it was Charles Darwin who originally pointed out that there is something about infants which prompts adults to respond to and care for them which allows our species to survive. A zoologist further proposed that it is the specific structure of the infant face, large head, big eyes and cheeks that elicit a parental response. But a study from 8 years ago took this hypothesis a step further, finding a key difference in the brain activity of normal adults when they viewed infant faces compared to adult faces.  Their study showed that a region of the human brain called the medial orbitofrontal cortex (I guarantee you – no other Christmas homily is using the phrase "medial orbitofrontal cortex") becomes highly active within a seventh of a second in response to infant faces but not to adult faces.  The study determined that these responses are too fast to be consciously controlled and are therefore perhaps instinctive.  This study gives us the ability to acknowledge that we are biologically made to respond uniquely and positively to a baby.  -- I guess God knew what he was doing.

Is not our celebration of Christmas a faith expression of what may also be a biological reality?  We are made to respond to the child.

In a few moments we will profess our faith.  Together we will say…

He came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day.

As we gather to celebrate the birth of the Lord, we are professing that what we ultimately see on the cross, we see first in the manger. In the cross, the mystery of God’s plan for salvation is fully revealed; by his act of sacrificial love, granting us hope through the power of the resurrection.  In the manger we see a child who engages the instincts of our biology and our faith and from this very moment the world is transformed

The child is mystery.  No matter how much knowledge we have about biology, genetics and reproduction, a newborn child is a profound mystery.  We stare in amazement, because we can’t quite wrap our minds around the full mystery of the birth of a new life.  We need mystery in our lives, making us aware that there is something beyond what we see through eye and mind.  Mystery impels us to continue to seek, to wonder and to be filled with awe in the presence of God.  The child born in mystery sets us on the path of the mystery of our salvation.

The child is Love.  We love babies. We caress them and hold them, expressing the depth of our affections.  But children evoke in us a deeper love, a sacrificial love.  The baby needs the sacrifice of the sleepless nights of parents, who work two jobs to support him.  The sacrifices of time, energy and finances are just some of the ways in which the parent offers loving sacrifice.  The child in the manger needs the sacrificial love of parents and in so doing prepares the way for the sacrificial love that he offers of himself on the cross.

The child is hope.  We have big dreams for our children.  In them we the solution of world problems, joyfulness in the simplest of things, and a passion for knowledge.  A child gives hope to the generations that precede her, trusting that she will provide the care for them as they provided for her.  The child in the manger is the hope that God has not forgotten his people, that all is not lost and that sin and death ultimately have no power over us.

What begins in the manger, is fulfilled in the cross and his lived here on this altar whenever we celebrate the Holy Eucharist.  Through mystery, love and hope, the one born in a manger, the one who is raised from the dead, is the one whom we encounter today and every day in the Holy Eucharist.  We are made to respond to the child, who comes to us.  Let our innate desire for him, awake in us an awareness of his desire for us.  For he longs for us to embrace the mystery, love and hope of his presence, and so share in the building of His Kingdom.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving LAFTR

Thanksgiving Homily 2016

Is. 63: 7-9

1 Cor. 1: 3-9

Mark 5: 18-20

“Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

The Gospel passage just proclaimed tells us that, having been set free from the demons that has possessed him, the man implores he may be allowed to get into the boat and depart with Jesus.  But the Lord tells him to “go home to his family.”  In my mind I imagine him pleading with Jesus again – “Go home to my family?  Where do you think my demons came from?”  I imagine that some gathered here this morning, at Thanksgiving mass may be thinking the same thing as you anticipate the day ahead.

In seriousness though, there are legitimate questions here.  Why was the man’s initial instinct to get in the boat and follow the Lord; rather then return to family and friends?  Earlier in this chapter, St. Mark describes the gravity of this man’s possession:

The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.

Because of his possession, this man’s humanity was no longer recognizable. His shame at what he had become may very well have removed any desire he had to face the family he once knew. In addition, wouldn’t it be hard for his family and friends to accept such a change?  Would he still be seen as the possessed one?  Such is the case in our own family dynamics.  Over the course of our lives, we change, for better and for worse.  We might have shame for past indiscretions and old wounds.  Further, while we may recognize growth and conversion in our lives, others may refuse to do so or be unable to see those changes.  Like the formally possessed man, our anxiety over others disbelief or lack of mercy is real and can keep us from sharing who we have become.

So why then does the Lord not let the man remain with him?  Most assuredly Jesus would have been aware of such fears, but this moment of healing happens for this man “and for many.” Who better to be a witness to the good God has done then one with whom we are familiar?  This man’s family and friends knew the depth of his possession, only they could appreciate the magnitude of the healing.  Jesus heals and sends them man back to his family so that he may be an evangelist; a bearer of good news and a cultivator of faith.  The man does as Jesus tells him and – all were amazed.  Or more literally from the Greek translation - they all marveled and wondered.  In simply telling the story of what happened to him, the man provoked within others a desire to know the work of God.

We give thanks today because as St. Paul says, Jesus Christ strengthens and considers us worthy to be his ministers. [1Timothy 1:12] The word that we give to the blessed sacrament we receive today is “Eucharist;” a Greek word meaning, thanksgiving.  By this Holy Eucharist we are strengthened so we can be bearers of the good the Lord has done for us.  Regrettably our instinct is to keep this thanksgiving private.  We recoil from the notion of evangelization and are particularly averse to considering ourselves one to our friends and family.  But Jesus kicks us out of the comfort of this boat and commands us, if we are truly thankful for what we receive in this Eucharist, to go back to our families and tell them all that the Lord has done for us.

So what am I asking us to consider today?  Am I asking you to approach the Thanksgiving table with a bible in one hand and the catechism in the other?  Probably not a good idea.  Your family might think you are as possessed as the man in the Gospel.  Let me show you a subtler way.  The first pastor I served with as a priest, liked to offer acronyms as a way of remembering his homily.  So let me offer you one to guide you today.  Using the first letter of words taken from this morning’s scriptures I offer you the acronym LAFTR, L-A-F-T-R, LAFTR

Love – In first reading the prophet Isaiah tells us, because of love, the Lord redeems.  We are called to tell love stories.  Not just tales of romance, but the ways in which love, or our passion for someone, or something, brought about change in our life.

Amazed – The people were amazed at the man’s story in the Gospel and therefore pondered this divine intervention.  What ability, talent, skill or act of kindness have you observed in someone or even yourself?  Find an opportunity to share your wonder and awe, allowing another to be aware of mystery that comes from the divine presence.

Faithful – In the second reading St. Paul tells us that God is faithful to us.  So often we tell the tales of infidelity.  We repeat gossip or relate how we’ve been wronged. A story of another’s faithfulness can counter that negative inclination and restore hope in the fidelity of God and those he sends into our lives.

Thanks – While this one might seem obvious, remember how St. Paul begins that second reading, “I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus.”  We can so quickly point out flaws in the other.  St. Paul give thanks for the gifts of God that he observes in the people.  In so doing he shows us how necessary it is to acknowledge the good we see in the other.  This is particularly important to offer to those who lack esteem and self-worth.

Recall – The passage from Isaiah begins with his commitment to recall the loving deeds and acts of God.  How many of our gatherings of family and friends devolve into the rehashing of old arguments or past mistakes?  Instead recall a shared memory of the good of your lives, the blessings you have encountered and the joy you have shared. Positive recollection transforms that inclination to dwell on the negatives of the past and instead establishes hope in remembering the good the Lord has done for us.

As you go back to your families today, in a moment when the attention turns to you or better yet, if you have the courage to initiate a conversation, interject some LAFTR - love, amazement, faith, thanks, recall - and be the thankful evangelist the Lord has called you to be.

In his proclamation that created the national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, amidst the Civil War, President Lincoln, asked the Almighty to heal the wounds of the nation & restore peace, harmony, tranquility & union.  It is with the very same desire that we go forth from the Lord’s Table today.  We need to be bearers of Good News at our Thanksgiving tables today.

A CNN poll has found that 53% of Americans dread the idea of talking about the Presidential election over dinner today.  There are also found numerous articles online suggesting topics other than the election to be discussed at family gatherings, so as to avoid strife.  There is a need for healing and not more animosity in our world.  So I pray that as a result of the strength we receive in this Holy Eucharist, this sacred thanksgiving; we may be grateful for the opportunity to go home to our families, enjoy the blessing of a meal shared and through LAFTR announce to all, the good the Lord has done in us.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The journey -- HOW DID YOU GET HERE?

For whatever reason, as a child, I remember adults often asking each other at social gatherings a question that I thought was strange.  Shortly after arrival, coats now off and initial greetings expressed someone could be heard asking, “How did you get here?

CHRISTMAS TRUCE

Because this year marks the 100^th anniversary of its occurrence, there have been quite a few articles and stories written about what is known as the 1914 Christmas truce.  It is the legendary story of British and German soldiers on the western front of World War I, ceasing hostilities on that Christmas and actually joining each other in companionship, playing soccer and singing Christmas carols together.  Movies and books have been written, dramatizing the occurrence and it has become a hopeful symbol of the possible.  The reality is the Christmas day truce, was the culmination of what had become an ordinary occurrence.  Soldiers on the front were in such close proximity to each other that they would shout to each other in conversation.  They develop agreements not to attack each other at tea, meal or washing times.  They allowed each other the opportunity to peacefully recover the deceased and injured.  During these breaks they were known to exchange small gifts and cigarettes.  One historian reflected on these truce experiences as one that “gave soldiers some control over the conditions of their existence.” The December 1914 Christmas Truce was not a unique event, but a result of the closeness they had already developed.

What I find most interesting about the famous Christmas truce is that it was not a political or humanitarian decision from above, it came genuinely from the men in the trenches.  Such truces were discussed and proposed by various leaders, but few believed it was possible and some saw it as weakness.  Pope Benedict XV is known for appealing to the heads of state to avoid the war before it began and at the beginning of that December begged again that the warring nations would embrace a Christmas truce. His appeal fell on deaf ears.  The truce happened not as a top down order, but a grass roots gesture of human decency.  The enemy was so close, their deplorable living conditions similar, and they all shared the same desire to return to their families.  They had more in common than they had differences – and those common desires evolved into a unifying peace -- which perhaps was the most authentic celebration of the birth of the savior that one could have. 

We've lived for many years now in a new kind of war. One hundred years after the First World War, we are still longing for a peaceful world.  We feel powerless and we find ourselves saying someone needs to do something.  We look to our leaders and to Pope Francis for the answers and direction; but the world doesn't seem to change.  Within our own nation and our own city we have been living a painful war these last few months.  In the wake of the assassination of two police officers – political leaders and clergy have called for a truce to this war but the protests and rhetoric go on. We have battles in our own personal lives too, wars at home.  How many of us have asked our mother what she wants for Christmas only to receive the reply, “I just want everyone in this family to get along.”

In the divine wisdom of God, the savior of the world is not an earthly king, a soldier or even a member of the religious establishment – but a savior who is close to us in our humanity.  The salvation that we seek from the battles of our lives is found when we draw close to this child born in a manger.

God himself literally comes across the line to be in humanity, because God sees himself in us. We are made in his image and likeness – so we may know peace.

On the western front of World War I, soldiers drew close to the child as they spent time with the savior who was present in their enemy across the line – and they knew peace.

Through the words of the Gospel, the reception of the Holy Eucharist and our meditation on the nativity scene before us, - we draw close to the Lord and we hope for his peace.

When we have the courage to cross the lines of life and see our God in our enemies and our agitators, we know the saviors peace.

With whom do we need to come to a truce?  Who is across the table, across the street, down the hall, around the corner, in the next town over, the bordering nation or across the globe who bears the same struggles and the same Christ as me?    Can we look across these battle lines of life and see a brother or sister whose joys and sorrows are the same as mine?  Who simply longs for peace like I do?

We heard St. Paul in his letter to Titus say, “our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy.”  God looks across the battle front of human history and he sees his Son in us, he sees his sons and daughters – and without merit, he extends his mercy, there is peace.  When we look across the battle fronts of our lives – we can’t help but see Jesus.  The innocent child born of meager means, the man on the cross who dies for us; calling us to be merciful.  No one deserves mercy – it is a sacrificial gift which is the seed of peace.

In the folklore of the telling of the 1914 Christmas truce, it is often recounted that the carol the soldiers sang together was, Stille Nacht - Silent Night.  This probably was not accurate, since the German song was not yet well known to the English speaking Brits.  It is more accurately believed that what they sang together was, “O Come All Ye Faithful,” because both the German and English speakers would know the tune and its Latin lyrics.  Moreover, this carol more accurately reflects what made the truce possible; faith and the faithful.  Not leaders and governments – the faithful who come to adore Christ.

The birth of Jesus, God made man, is the manifestation of the divine truth that a genuine peace happens when the desire to be right is sacrificed for the greater desire of mercy.  The child in our midst draws us close this day and every day so we may recognize him in friend and adversary, extinguishing our thirst to battle and fostering in us the desire to manifest divine peace.

You Belong Here, Christmas homily 2013

Here at Holy Family, this celebration of Christmas is particularly joyful as it is our first Christmas in our newly renovated church.  With the renovation comes the additional blessing of now having the space to place our Nativity in our sanctuary for the first time in many years.  Up until now it was displayed in the back of the church.  Its presence in the sanctuary enhances our focus on the profound mystery of the Lord’s birth in the most humbly of environments.
 

This image of the manger in the stable is one that we have come to take for granted.  It is now very common to us but it came about because of the piety of Saint Francis.  In 1223 – three years before he died Francis asked the Pope for permission for a special ceremony.  In the outdoors with real live stock and a child in the manger Mass was celebrated amidst this living nativity.  It touch the hearts of the people and the friars because even then Common sense would say that the Son of God, the messiah does not belong here in a stable.  What Saint Francis sought to teach, however, was that none of the world, nor the most impoverished of humanity is beneath the dignity of Christ.  No one can say to this newborn, “You don’t belong here,” because he chooses to be here in the stable but on the cross that hangs above it as well.  The Father chooses and the Son accepts his place amongst sinful and dirty people.

As I looked at our nativity the donkey resting behind Mary caught my attention and reminded me of song on one of my family’s Christmas albums called, the Ballad of the Christmas Donkey 

Long ago, in another day,
A donkey cried in his donkey way,
I'm not beautiful, I'm not beautiful,
What good to anyone am I.

Other animals are big and strong,
Or rare or filled with an animal song,
But I'm not beautiful, I'm not beautiful,
What good to anyone am I.

Heaven cried...donkey you can carry,
Will you carry Mary...angels for your guide.

On Christmas morn', in the stable hay,
The donkey smiled in his donkey way,
I feel beautiful, I feel beautiful,
As beautiful as anyone am I....
As..beautiful..as..anyone...am......I

.

There are a number of examples in our Christmas stories of those who don’t fit in, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Buddy the Elf and this Christmas Donkey.  I think this is so because even if we have come to accept that our Lord and Savior belongs in a manger. We sometime have a hard time believing that we belong “here” – in church, at the manger in the companionship of the Lord.

Because I know that I’m guilty of a heavy sin, I’m caught up in addiction, I’ve been away from church, I don’t know how or can’t pray – I doubt or do not believe at all – I feel that I  don’t belong here.  What we must understand though is that the child in the manger, the condemned on the cross says to you – You belong here

A CNN poll released Tuesday found that 88% of American Catholics approve of how Francis is handling his role as head of the church.  I am not sure he cares about his poll numbers, but perhaps they are result of the fact that “You belong here” has been his authentic message.  With this the Holy Father has also taught that conversion and growth is necessary for all who belong here with Christ, whether we find ourselves at mass each week or are distant and at odds with church.

The Birth of the Savior is a moment that changes everything.  The dignity of the earth is raised; it is not God forsaken but God’s dwelling place. The human body, though vulnerable is chosen as the temple of the Lord.  Our prayer this Christmas is that we may know that we do in fact belong here and to him as he has chosen to belong to us. 

A classic Christmas carol tells us that this is a Holy Night, because it is the night of our dear savior’ birth.  But as importantly the hymn tells us it is the night when the soul felt its worth.  May every soul who celebrates this Christmas day – celebrate because he or she has come to feel his or her worth.

We do belong here, as does he who took on human flesh, so that we many know and share in the building of His Kingdom.  Merry Christmas!