You Gotta See the Baby - Christmas 2012

My guess is everyone has had some experience of babies.  As parents, grandparents, siblings, extended family members or friends.  We all have some knowledge of babies, particularly new born ones.  I think it is probably safe to say that none of our experiences of babies are anything like the Christ child we see in our manager or other similar scenes.  The newborn babies we know sleep a lot, cry when they are not sleeping and in the moments when they are not doing either, they look totally confused about their surroundings.  The child in the manger is alert, wide eyed, reaching out, ready to go and self-aware.  

The newborn Jesus was certainly more like the babies we know and less like the images we see in nativity scenes.  But artists have rendered the Jesus not simply as a helpless newborn but as the Christ child, alert and self-aware, so that the story could be told in the image, that this was not an ordinary child but a savior.   

The alert and self-aware Christ child is also what we want.  We want a savior, not a baby.  We are eager for him to be what he came to be.  This is true for the babies and the children of our lives, as much as we tell them not to grow up too fast, we are eager to see their growth.  We wait her to crawl and walk.  We are excited by his first words and his budding talents.  We even ask children at a very young age what they want to be when they grow-up.  We eager to see them become the people God created them to be.  In the case of the baby Jesus we are eager to see him grow because we need him to be the person the Father sent him to be.  We are in need of a savior now.

I doubt there will be a Christmas homily offered here on Long Island that does not make some reference to our experience of the Super storm Sandy or the horror and sadness we feel after the tragedy in Newtown CT.  We long to be saved from these universally painful experiences and we have our own particular trials and tribulations that cause us to want this savior to move quicker.

The Christ Child in the manger is an image of potential and we long to see its fulfillment.  At the same time it is also a moment of perfection.  When a child is born we marvel at the perfection of human creation.  Even in this defenseless and dependent life we see the perfection of God’s design and we know the Lord’s nearness to us at the same time we are eager for a child’s growth we also know that we are in the presence of God’s perfection.  

The savior comes then in potential and perfection.  That potential and protection is also an accurate understanding of our faith.  It is always in potential, never fully what we or God want.  Doubt, temptation, anger and pain are stumbling blocks to our faith reaching its potential.  Our faith is also perfect – not because of us, but because it too is a creation of God.  The gift of faith is given to us through our baptism.  Our faith is potential, like children we are eager to believe and know God, and we spend our lives maturing in that process, but it is always perfect because of his abiding presence.

Beyond the realities of potential and perfection, God comes to us a new born child because of a more important reality – love.  We cannot but help to fall in love with a newborn baby.  Our relationship begins again or is renewed at Christmas because we can fall in love with God who is new born child.  

We may desire a relationship with the Lord but we don’t know where to begin because of doubt, temptation, anger and pain.  God is too big, we are too distance and life has become too complicated.  And so we are given this baby once again, too fall in love with.  To let our faith and relationship with him grow and mature over time and not all at once.  Today we are not eager for baby Jesus to grow up, but eager for our relationship with God and our faith to grow and mature.  We are here to fall in love with God again or for the first time.  After I prepared this homily and actually offered it Mass at 4:00 p.m., I read the words of the Pope’s homily and he too said something very similar about love and the Christ child.
God makes himself a child so that we may love him…It is as if God were saying: I know that my glory frightens you, and that you are trying to assert yourself in the face of my grandeur. So now I am coming to you as a child, so that you can accept me and love me.

And so the Holy Father challenges us to make room for this child, for God in our lives.  If we are to truly be blessed by the baby Jesus, we must make room for him as we must for any child in our very busy and cluttered lives.

May our celebration of our savior’s birth make us eager for the fulfillment of his saving mission by loving him as he loves us so perfectly, while believing in our potential to share in the building of His Kingdom. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Marketing Thanksgiving

Food, Folks and Fun.  That was the tagline of a 1990's McDonalds's marketing campaign and for some reason while preparing for the parish Thanksgiving Day Mass, the slogan popped into my head.  As much as I would not want to reduce the meaning of Thanksgiving to a fast food catch phrase, it works.  A successful ad campaign is one that effectively causes the consumer to remember the product as one that is familiar, trustworthy and satisfies one's need.  (At least that is what I learned from my ad executive cousin.  See A Gentleman's Musings)In simple terms, "food, folks and fun," not only articulates the basic truth of Thanksgiving, it speaks to the truth of every celebration of the Eucharist; which is the Greek word for thanksgiving.

The food of the celebration of the Eucharist is the sacred body and blood of our Lord.  It is our food for the journey of life.  It sustains and nourishes our souls and our faith as we face the challenges of life.  The bountiful food that we eat at our tables today, represents that which sustains and nourishes our bodies.  We give thanks today to God who gives us this spiritual and physical food.  Without either we can not live.  

The "folks" of our lives are our families, the communities we create and the Church.  Our communal life reminds us that we are not alone, we are one with the Body of Christ and we are sons and daughters of God.  We give thanks for the community of faith and family without which we would not only be alone and unloved, we would not have the means to fulfill our mission of service.  These communities of ours are broken, our time with family today may be tense and even hurtful, but it is into this brokenness that we live our lives as disciples. We give thanks for the community of family, friends and church, who serve us and give us the opportunity to serve.

The word, "fun" be better expressed as joy.  In his final commandment, Jesus tells his disciples to "love one another as I have loved you."  He ask that this commandment my be filled so his joy may be complete.  In coming together as family, friends and community of faith we practice the great commandment of The Lord and complete his joy.  It is often easy to miss the joys of life, essepecialy after the sorrowful weeks we have endured.  But did we not find joy in the simple acts of love that were manifested during these days?  We give thanks for the joy that comes from loving and being loved by God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son.  We are grateful for this we love and have loved us.  And we rejoice in the knowledge that our acts of love, complete the joy of Christ himself.

It is more than a slogan, it is the truth of this day for we truly give thanks for the food, folks and joyful fun of this life bountifully bestowed upon us by God whose blessings endure forever.

Reelection and Religious Liberty

The reelection of President Obama has brought an end to a terribly long and antagonistic campaign.  With it comes some serious challenges for the Church.  What many continue to misunderstand about the Church’s opposition to the HHS mandate to fund contraception is that it was always more than a moral opposition to artificial contraception, sterilization and abortion inducing drugs.  The greater issue is the philosophy that is behind it’s implementation.  

In order to mandate this coverage, the President’s administration has used an extremely narrow definition of what constitutes a religious institution and therefore employer.  A religious institution, in their mind, is one that  (1) Has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets .  In an effort to care for those who still bear the pains of last week's storm many Catholic parishes and other Catholic institutions have acted in violation of the third point of this definition.  In addition we may also be in violation of the first as well, since it was not our intention to inculcate religious values but simply provide shelter.    All people of faith as well as those who value our civil liberties ought to be greatly concerned with our future.  Because this definition has been codified in the mandate and the overall act, a precedent has now been set, which can now be applied more broadly.  Once we accept this definition as a valid and legal descriptor of religious institutions there are no limitations.  Anything outside of worship is therefore subject to this definition and whatever mandate the government may place upon us.  

Our nation does not need this fight.  This week has once again shown the value of the Church and its institutions.  Our society and our people are better off because of the faithful service of the people of God who are the Church.  Let us pray that given the opportunity to serve another term, the President will rethink this position and the courts will recognize its unconstitutionality so that we can continue to be a Church in service to all God’s people.

Homily for 

September 11, 2012

Mass for Rescue 2

Brooklyn, NY

On Sunday afternoon, I made my second visit to the 9-11 Memorial because I recently became aware of what is known as the “Survivor Tree,” and I wanted to see it myself.

The Survivor Tree is a pear tree that was planted around the time of the original construction of the World Trade Center towers.  It survived some 30 years in that spot, in the harsh environment of downtown Manhattan and our Northeastern U.S. weather. It survived the attacks of eleven years ago and was found one month later, still alive under the rubble.  It was taken to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to recover; there it survived a windstorm that uprooted it.  Soon after it was replanted at its spot on the grounds of the 9-11 Memorial, it survived Hurricane Irene.  Today it stands, in full bloom, over thirty feet tall.  Its first eight feet are covered in thick aged, gnarled, dark bark.  The rest of its 22 feet is covered in lighter, younger bark, with gentle branches that bloom pear blossoms in the Spring and rich green leaves in the summer.  The first eight feet is the tree as it was on the day of the attacks the 22 feet and counting above is the new life of the last eleven years.

That tree in the memorial park, almost directly across from the names of Rescue 2 at the South Tower pool is to me a profound symbol of you.  Like the tree which on that day was already made strong by years in downtown Manhattan, you too were already strong people.  You were strong because you already knew the risks and dangers of a firefighter’s life.  Like the tree, you too were buried in the rubble of horror, fear, anger and inconsolable mourning.  And like the survivor tree, over these years you discovered yourself still alive and have sought and found healing, growth and new life.  You too have survived storms that have threatened your healing.  There have been ups and downs in your healing process, but you stand here today bearing eleven years of new life.  Like the Survivor Tree, your dark, gnarled and burnt trunk will never go away, but like the tree - most of you is new life.

You are not like the tree you are the tree.  United together bearing the branches of new life, your solid trunk is your faith, your care for one another and the undying love of the heroes we honor today.  Your love for them, their love for you and your love for each other, continues to nourish this survivor tree that you are.  Yesterday a friend that I have come to know over the last few years posted an old picture of the lobby of one of the towers.  Thinking he had worked there, I asked if he was a survivor.  He replied that he did not, but that we are all survivors.  The true survivor tree is very large.  There are hundreds of thousands of branches that have sprouted from that damaged trunk.  There is life today, eleven years later, beyond our imagination.

For eleven years now we have come together to remember what we could not possibly forget.  We remember that the souls of these just are in the hands of the Lord.  We remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God or those we have loved.  We remember to love one another as Christ has commanded, as our brothers did in laying down their lives for friend and stranger.  For eleven years you have remained in Christ’s love and you remained in love with these men.  You have loved and been loved through your support and care for each other.

The tree was a Survivor Tree the day it was found eleven years ago.  Today it is more than a survivor; it is a tree of new life.  You too are more than survivors, despite a terror beyond imagination you are people of new life.  Your families have lived and continue to be bearers of new life.You have grown and are bigger and more powerful then the forces that brought this terror and sadness into our lives.

We still mourn today because, on that day, our brothers were not among the survivors.  Our confident prayer today, however, is that though they were not survivors, they are in fact among the living, rewarded for their goodness.  May the new life that we see in a tree and in you, be an ever present reminder of the new and eternal life that the Lord prepared for these just men and that which awaits all of us.

Palm Sunday on Telecare

Do not be frightened by the scary picture.  Its a video of my Palm Sunday homily

 

The "Season" of Saint Patrick

Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. “The Breastplate of St. Patrick.”  

At the beginning of this month, while watching the news, I saw a reporter in Hoboken, New Jersey reporting, as the caption on the screen said, on the beginning of the “St. Patrick’s Day Season.”  I had no idea that it was now a “season.”  And what were the signs of this now budding season?  Obviously inebriated twenty-something year-olds with their drinking glasses raised behind her.  We talk about passing on our faith tradition to our young people, is this the only result of our efforts?  I hope not .

While the celebration of Saint Patrick and Irish heritage is a noble and important cultural and faith tradition, we don’t truly honor Saint Patrick, or the faith tradition passed on by our Irish ancestors, if our celebration is an excuse to  drink ourselves silly.  I like the idea of a St. Patrick’s Day season, but it ought to fully reflect  what has been passed on to us by this great saint.  And that is that Jesus Christ is truly around us in all that we do.  Our actions, our decisions and the way we conduct ourselves ought to be Christ centered.  We use the season of Lent to contemplate when and how we have not lived with the recognition that Christ is around us in all things and we conclude the season, celebrating the Resurrection, acknowledging that he dies to transform a sinfulness that does not always acknowledge his presence.

Over ten years ago, I made my first and only trip to Ireland.  A priest friend suggested on our first day we climb a mountain known as Croagh Patrick, also nicknamed, The Reek.  I imagined us meandering up an emerald green hillside and agreed to the hike.  My presumption was wrong, because climbing The Reek, is a traditional penitential experience.  People climb this steep rocky hill, often bear foot, to the traditional spot of Saint Patrick’s calling, as an atonement of sins.  And so jet-lagged, we climbed that horribly difficult mountain in mist and rain, and the walk back down was not any easier.  I believe we made it only with God’s help!  What greeted us at the bottom of this hill was a traditional Irish pub, where we rewarded ourselves with a pint (or two) of Guinness.  For me that experience encapsulates a true celebration of Saint Patrick.  A difficult struggle with human weakness and meeting the challenge only because Christ is truly around me, followed by a celebration of the victory the Christ has one for and through us.  May we all celebrate this “season” of Lent and St. Patrick with hard work and joy for the good that God does for and with us.

Relgious Freedom - The President and His Court Today

English history always intrigues me so after catching some repeats of the Showtime series, "The Tudors," on BBC America, my interest in English was peaked again and I was prompted to do some more reading on the history of King Henry VIII and his court.  In addition to being remembered for the renaissance he brought to the monarchy, his multiple wives and executions of his enemies, his legacy also includes his suppression of the Roman Catholic faith in England.  The more I read and watch the series I can't but help to find it hard to believe that one man and his court had such power to destroy the religious freedom of his people, raze its monasteries and suppress its clergy.  We might think to ourselves that this is an experience of the past or if it happens today it happens in other countries that do not enjoy the liberty that our nation does.  We would be wrong to assume this, however, because recent actions of our federal government make evident how much religious freedom is threatened in our country today.

When the federal health care reform law was passed it included a provision that all employers who provide health care benefits, must provide coverage for contraception (including abortion inducing drugs and sterilization) at no cost (no-copay) to its employees.  When religious employers raised concern about being made to pay for products and procedures they considered morally objectionable, a very narrow religious exemption was proposed.  The exemption would only be granted to religious institutions that engaged primarily in serving people of the same religion.  As many pointed out at the time, even Jesus and the disciples would not qualify for such an exemption because of their commitment to people of all faiths.  For the last several months Catholic and other religious institutions  have lobbied to have our religious freedom respected.   This week, however, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good—including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals—from the mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees.   Instead they have given us one year delay to comply with the directive to violate our conscience.

This action of the President’s administration is an unprecedented act against the freedom of conscience.  Furthermore this is the second such attempt by the administration to define parameters for religious institutions.  Two weeks ago  in the case of Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the administration dismissing as an “extreme position” the plea of EEOC to limit any “ministerial exception” solely to workers who perform “exclusively religious functions.  In this case the government was arguing it was within their purview to define who qualified as a minster and not the Lutheran Church.  This ruling did not seem to stop the administration in their pursuit of governing religious entities as it pushed forward an exemption to only those who serve and employ people of their own faith exclusively.  This unjust action will force us to violate our conscience or stop serving people of all faiths in our ministries or stop providing health-care coverage to our own employees.   Are any of these choices just?  Are any of these choices reflective of the religious  freedom and the right to conscientious objection that Americans have fought and died for?   

These actions of President Obama and his administration ought to concern all Americans, not just those with a religious affiliation.  It seems hard to believe that one man and his administration have such power to destroy the religious freedom of we the people.

What Does Christmas Feel Like?

On Thursday I was out for the day finishing my Christmas shopping.  If you remember it was an unseasonably mild day, close to 60 degrees.  Throughout the day I heard people remarking on the temperature and many of them said because of the days’ mildness, “it doesn’t feel like Christmas.”  That statement got me thinking, because I have heard it before. Sometimes, because particular events affect our preconceived notions about what we should feel like at Christmas, we say, “It doesn’t feel like Christmas.”  In fact I found myself thinking that it did not feel like Christmas as I was preoccupied checking football scores right up until the beginning of the 4:00 Mass on Christmas Eve.  And after that game I am sure it doesn’t feel like Christmas for Jet fans.  In a more serious way, I am mindful of some of the people I sent Christmas cards to in the last few weeks.  We sent special Christmas cards to the families of those who last a loved one this year.  Certainly people who have experienced a loss or are going through an illness or other difficulties may be saying it doesn’t feel like Christmas, because surrounding events have made this year less joyful for them.  What then is Christmas supposed to feel like if the weather or more importantly the events of our lives can inhibited us from feeling what want to feel?  What does Christmas feel like?

Prior to the procession to the altar at the beginning of Mass, I picked up some of the straw or hay from our manager.  I did so because the hay and straw of the manager feel like Christmas.  The straw is simple.  It is one of the simplest things we can encounter in life, dried up grass, yet I could sit outside a peacefully play with a straw in my fingers, letting my thoughts wander.  It was in this simplicity that mine and your savior comes to us.  It is to simple and routine human existence that God is born.  It was in a simple stable, to a simple man and women, in a simpler time, that the Messiah enters human history.  So maybe it does not feel like Christmas because we have lost our sense of simplicity, our lives have become too complicated.  We have so many technological things that are designed to make our lives simpler yet they seem to complicate them even more.  The other day, Volkswagen announced that it would be turning off its email server during non-business hours so their employees would be free from the expectation of answering email 24 hours a day.  Thank you, Volkswagen, for simplifying the lives of your employees.  Christmas feels like a simple piece of hay, stray from a stable and if we wish for it to feel like Christmas we need to make our lives less complicated.

This straw also holds warmth.  For the animals that rest in the hay, the heat of their bodies warms the straw and holds the warmth within it so the animals themselves may be kept warm.  Christmas feels warm.  Not the unseasonable warmth of the other day or the warmth created by a fireplace.  But the warmth of love that abides within humanity.  Christmas feels warm because of the loving presence of God who so loved the world he gave his only Son.  To feel Christmas, we must allow ourselves to be the dwelling place of love as Mary herself does.  It is our coldness to the stranger, the poor and marginalized that makes it feel less like Christmas.  When cool indifference, judgmental temperaments and a lack of charity in word and deed exist in our world it cannot feel like Christmas, which celebrates the warmth of God’s love.

The straw and hay of the manger also feel rough and may even irritate the skin.  One would not expect to get as good a night’s sleep on a pile of hay as you would on your adjustable sleep comfort mattress.  Christmas feels rough like this hay.  Not rough because of the family tensions that sometimes exist during the holidays.  Nor is it the irritation that comes from the pressures we feel to get everything done at Christmas.  Christmas feels rough and irritating because it calls us to be alert to the mystery unfolding.  Mary and Joseph do not yet understand what the presence of the Shepherds or the others means but they are alert to them paying attention to what is happening because of the presence of this child.  Our lives can become routine and lack feeling.  We can become complacent about our discipleship.  We accept temptation and a failure to sin as a part of life with no motivation to change.  We are dull to the mystery that surrounds us.  The roughness of the manger hay of Christmas calls us to an alertness that comes when we step outside of the false comfort zones we create.

What does Christmas feel like?  It feels like simple, warm and rough straw.  And it also feels like the new born child laying in that straw – and that child feels vulnerable.  We know the vulnerability of a child and how scary it is to be that vulnerable.  We are frightened by what our children are exposed to.  We feel vulnerable ourselves when we hold that child.  We may drop the baby or not be able to meet its needs.  Christmas feels vulnerable because God himself takes on that vulnerability.  And it cannot feel like Christmas if we do not allow ourselves to be vulnerable; for it is only in vulnerability that we can truly receive the love, the wisdom and the hope that the birth of our Lord offers.

In our celebration of Christmas we pray that the vulnerable new born child may inspire us to live simply, abide in the warmth of love, and be awakened to the mystery of God’s presence.  

 Merry Christmas!

My ways are not your ways says the Lord

As I sit here waiting for the President's announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden, it occurred to me that there is a mystical irony of this announcement coming on the day of the beatification of Pope John Paul II.  Here is what I had written for my bulletin column this week.

 In the Jubilee year 2000, Pope John Paul II declared this Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday at the Mass of canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska. In giving this designation to the Second Sunday of Easter, the Pope was asking the church to live Easter faith through the essence of mercy.  Just one year later the terrorist attacks of September 11th set in motion a world bent on a violence that we never would have anticipated.  How do we cultivate mercy when our natural anger seeks revenge or at the very least retribution for the pain that has been inflicted? 

Pope John Paul II answered that question through his faith in action when he forgave the man who attempted to assassinate him.  The now famous picture of the Pope sitting in a prison cell holding the hand of his attempted assassin was not simply an example of human mercy but divine mercy.  It is only through prayer and the deepening of one’s relationship with Christ that mercy begins to feel right and good.  The resurrected Christ enters the upper room in today’s gospel he bestows the gift of peace on his shaken disciples.  Through our prayer, we seek to be in that same upper room with Christ who is mercy himself.  We seek Christ’s gift of peace so that we can cultivate that kind of mercy in our hearts.  No one of us wants to perpetuate pain; yet it is so difficult to dispense mercy without a deepening of our awareness of the divine mercy of God who so loved the world he gave his only Son. 

Today the church celebrates the beatification of Pope John Paul II.  We honor him with this designation and we pray that through the intercession of Blessed John Paul we may heal our world through faithful acts of mercy.

Will there be healing? Or will peace begin to bloom?  Blessed John Paul II pray for us.

A Reason for Hope

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope 

1 Peter 3:15

As I have been reflecting on the the events of my previous week these words of St. Peter came to mind. I could not help but think of how quickly I moved from a moment of contentment in God’s presence to the chaotic moments of tragedy and sadness. On Wednesday, February 23rd I went to bed well pleased with the success of our Parish Mission with Fr. Frank Sutman, our visiting preacher for the previous four days. On Thursday morning, I was awakened to fire alarms and the shocking experience of a man whose clothes caught fire while lighting a votive candle in the church. On Wednesday night, I was aware of the peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit who guided us through our days of renewal, on Thursday I searched for God amidst the horror. 
Fr. Frank’s mission talks were based upon the questions we ask of God and our faith. Fr. Frank had not yet left our rectory on Thursday morning and we were confronted with new questions. Where was God on Thursday? How could God let this happen? One of the questions Fr. Frank asked during his talks was, “Does a fish know it’s in water?” The answer being, “no” a fish is not actively aware of its immersion in water. In the same way we are always “in” God, and are not aware of it. When times of tragedy occur, we ask, “Where is God?” without being aware of the truth that if we were not already in God we would not be able to endure the painful experiences of life.

It was clear to me that we were “in God” during the days of retreat. Upon further reflection, I can see a little more clearly that Mr. Badalamente and all of us were “in God” throughout the accidental tragedy. Vito was given excellent and comforting care from the moment Fr. Henry extinguished the flames, to the first responders, and to the doctors and nurses in the burn unit, who eased his pain. He was surrounded by his prayerful and loving family and in God’s great mercy he quietly and peacefully passed from this life. Our parish community was most certainly “in God” through the guiding and assuring presence of the police and fire departments. Our parish staff navigated through a difficult day, continuing to serve the needs of our community. And the people of the parish sought to bring all of us who were directly involved, consolation and support. In a very significant way, Vito’s family also helped us to be “in God,” through the gratitude they have expressed and their willingness to allow us to pray with them.

The media presence, certainly added to the anxiety and pain of the day. It was harder for me to see the presence of God in their parasitic behavior. A member of our staff helped me to reflect more deeply on this aspect, however. In their relentlessness, the media, placed before us the words of 1 Peter. They wanted a reason for hope. Amidst the tragedy, they wanted there to be a hope that the injuries were survivable because a priest had saved him. There was hope for Vito not because a priest had come to his rescue at the moment of a tragic accident, there was everlasting hope for him because throughout his life, the church had come to his aid with the presence of Jesus Christ, who came so we might have eternal life. Vito came to church that day because amidst the sadness of missing his wife throughout these years he had hoped that she was “in God” eternally and that he too was “in God” until they could be together again.

There are times when it is easier to know that we are “in God” and times when it is more challenging. Through the grace of hope, we are given the ability to know that we are “in God” in both joy and sorrow.

Who is to blame?

 I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.  And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.

Throughout this past week much of our national attention was directed to the assassination attempt on Arizona Congresswomen, Gabrielle Giffords, and the subsequent injuries and loss of life of others in the crowd assembled with her.  Senseless acts of violence like this one are not as rare as we would hope.  These horrendous acts of evil strike at the most normal of times and places like the workplaces, schools and in this case a grocery store.  They remind us that evil is ever present and that no one of us is safe from the pain it inflicts.  It is also in moments like this that we find ourselves crying out to God as the psalmist does today, seeking  to find him in the midst of sorrow. 

Tragic acts of evil also leave us searching for a reason or a place to direct blame.  While I do not agree that  vitriolic political discourse is the cause of this evil act, I think this violent act awakens us to a greater awareness of the disregard that we can have for the lives of others.  Because we live in a culture of objectification, we often do not recognize, “the other” as one who is made in the image and likeness of God.   It is, therefore, easier for us to vilify, tear down, verbally attack and commit acts of violence.  It has become too common for us to not simply disagree with each other, but instead, we rain down on an opponent with unfathomable anger and outrage.  We do not recognize the person who presents us with a difficulty as someone else’s spouse or child and  therefore speak or act toward them in ways we would never accept if directed toward our loved ones.

In one week’s time the annual March for Life in Washington will take place.  I truly believe that our failure to value the sacred life of the unborn is at the root of all other violence, hate speech and attacks on human life.  We march next week to bring about an end to abortion, to witness to the sacredness of human life and to pray that the command to love one another as we have been loved by Christ will be fulfilled so his love may conquer all acts and words of violence, hate and evil.

Resolutions

New Year's Epiphany  Resolutions

The Magi opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Resolve to offer the gift of yourself to the Lord.  Make a commitment to Sunday Mass, Daily Prayer and the Scriptures

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magi departed for their country by another way.

Resolve to change your path, change destructive behavior, seek reconciliation and forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.

Resolve to reveal Christ to others.  Talk about your faith, pray with others, perform acts of service in his name.

The Feast of the Epiphany

“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”
 

In addition to the Christmas albums of Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and the Ray Conniff singers, I recall my Mom playing an album by Gregory Norbet and the Monks of the Western Priory. One of my favorite songs on that album was “Shepherds and Kings.” The refrain went as follows,
 
Shepherds and Kings,
following hopes and stars that take them
deep into the night.
How far have they come?
We should really know
for certainly everyone is a shepherd and king.
 
I thought of these lyrics as I read the opening paragraphs of Bishop William Murphy’s Pastoral letter, Belong More Deeply. Bishop Murphy uses the illustration of the Shepherd and the Magi as a way to describe those who come to the “the manger” of their parish church during the days of Christmas.

These two groups represent so many who are Catholics today. How blessed we are if we are among those who, like the shepherds, have come quickly to Jesus and regularly pay homage to Him by our active participation of mind and heart in the Sunday celebration of Mass. Yet we have also many of our brothers and sisters who are still searching for Him, may be longing to know Him better but, for one reason or other, they cannot find their way to the manger of Sunday Mass. Like the Magi they want to discover the newborn King in their lives and have already followed His star by baptism and some closeness to Jesus. But for many different reasons or circumstances, they are not with us at the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist, the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
 
Both the words of the refrain and Bishop Murphy’s reflection make us mindful that we are all seekers and searchers in the ways of our Catholic Faith. Whether we are actively engaged in the life of the church through faithful Sunday worship and participation in the church community or we seek to know, love and believe in Christ. Some of us are motivated by the blessings we have received and others are prompted by the tragedy or pain they endure. As we look around church on any given Sunday we have no idea how far each other have come and what obstacles still remain. What we do know is that we all seek Him who seeks us.
 
The secular celebration of Christmas ended a week ago and our marking of the New Year has passed as well. There is a great temptation to pack up and put away Christmas but that would be in great opposition to the journey we have been on. We have just arrived at the manger. With the Magi and the Shepherds we have found what we were looking for. We need to stay here in the moment with the Holy Family. If we run away now to go back to our ordinary and busy lives we will continue to wander and seek. The season of Christmas is given to us, so that we might understand that the one we seek is truly with us. Let us take the time to stop wandering and instead pray for the grace to rest in him.
 
There are times when we feel close to God and times we feel far off. We need look no further then the Eucharist that has brought us together abundantly at Christmas and unites us as one body each and every time we celebrate the holy sacrifice of the mass. We are shepherds and kings who have discovered our newborn King.

Christmas 2010

Do you believe it’s Christmas?  That is the question everyone seems to ask.  Can you believe that time has moved so quickly?  It seems as if summer was just yesterday.  We are a busy and thoroughly occupied people and so it makes sense, that events, such as Christmas, or birthdays, or deadlines or exams (for those of you home from college,) seem to catch us by surprise or at the very least, unprepared.  Despite us being caught off guard or running out of time, we are here, celebrating the birth of our Lord once again.  But I would like to stay with the question, “Do you believe it’s Christmas?” because by moving the words and punctuation marks around, we have another more important question that I hope can assist our prayer this Christmas.  Instead of asking ourselves, “Do you believe it’s Christmas?” I would like to ask you this, “It’s Christmas; do you believe?”  As we hear the words of sacred scripture recount the telling of the birth of the Messiah, we are asked the question, “Do you believe?”  As we look upon the scene in the manger, as did the shepherds, do you believe it?  As we approach the table of the Lord to receive Him in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, do you believe?”  As we sing and say the word, “Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us,” do you believe it?”

Four weeks ago on the first weekend of Advent, a billboard was erected on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel.  On the billboard was an illustration of the nativity scene and the words, "You Know It's a Myth: This Season Celebrate Reason." In response, another billboard was erected on the Manhattan side of the Lincoln Tunnel.  It too had an illustration of the nativity scene but its wording said, “You Know It’s Real: This Season Celebrate Jesus."  While it should disturb us when our faith is attacked, like the first billboard does, the opposing messages also speak to a reality that we find ourselves caught up in.  What do we believe?  Why do we believe?  And even in our belief, can we believe more deeply?  Despite the doubts that we all struggle with, the sorrows we all face and the pain we endure, can you believe today, that the Messiah has been born to us?  Can you believe today, not because of your own reasoning and intellect but because of the faith that is within you?  Can you believe, because it is Christmas?  Because it is Christmas we see most clearly that God has entered the human experience and taken on flesh.  Can you believe because there is no more sacred a mystery than this very earthly and human mystery?  Can you believe because here before us today we celebrate that our God is not distant and above our struggle but here with us?  Can you, who have known your share of obstacles yesterday, believe today, because - today it is Christmas?

We are drawn to the manger, to the truth of the scriptures and to the sacrifice offered on the altar because we want to believe.  We want to believe that the promises of the scriptures were fulfilled.  And we want to believe that God is truly with us in our daily life, in our families and in the community of faith that comes together here.  No one of us would be here to worship and celebrate this Christmas, if we did not believe.  Among the many people that gather at our parish this Christmas, there are most assuredly different depths to belief.  Here today are people who attend mass every day as well as those whose participation in the Eucharist is infrequent.  No matter what our practice of faith is or how assured we find ourselves in that faith, we all long to believe more deeply in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born to Mary of Nazareth.  Because it is Christmas, our worship is enhanced with the beauty of environment and music.  Because it is Christmas, we gather in great numbers and see the Body of Christ alive and strong.  Because it is Christmas we are drawn into this particular and unique mystery that seems to go unnoticed on the ordinary day.  Can we believe, because it is Christmas today?  Yes we can.  We can because even though our hearts, minds and souls move us to be here, it is God who acts.  We can believe because it is Christmas, because Christmas is the celebration which acknowledges that God chooses us.  He breaks into our lives.  He comes to Mary and Joseph a deeply faithful couple, while at the same time revealing himself to the nomadic shepherds of no or little faith.

At Christmas we can believe because in taking on flesh, God teaches us what it means to be human.  Humans are weak, easily discouraged, lack the courage to face evil, and their survival is dependent on another – yet through humanity we are saved.  Its Christmas and we can believe not in spite of our humanity but because our humanity is where God chooses to dwell.  As we look on the manger and listed to sacred scripture we realize that there is nothing in authentic humanity that can keep us from believing.  Alienation, poverty, and ignorance are there before us and Christ dwells within it.  Never can we let our humanity be the reason we don’t believe, because it is in our humanity that we find Him.

Each of those who are assembled at the manger, had to answer the question, “Do you believe.”  Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds are advised to not be afraid and to believe that this could be. By the grace of God they came to believe and so too do we.  In his public ministry Jesus asked those who came before him to be healed, “Do you believe I can heal you.”  When they affirmed their belief, his response was, “your faith has saved you.”

Christmas is a time we cannot be afraid to examine what we believe.  Everything about this mystery seems impossible, yet we hear, that with God all things are possible.  Its Christmas, do you believe?  If we say yes, we seek to deepen that faith.  If we answer with uncertainly or doubt, we need to create a place for Him in the routine of our lives.  We need to clear away the temptations and the distractions.  We need to not let our humanity be reason for unbelief.  We must be willing to let go of fear.

Its Christmas and you and I are here because we do believe.  We believe because we have allowed at least of a part of our humanity to be open to Christ’s dwelling within us.  And we believe because he has chosen us to be his sacred dwelling place.

It’s Christmas and we believe it.  Merry Christmas.