Be like Henry! (Sunday homily)

Today we celebrate the patron of this church, Saint Henry.

That makes today a solemnity for this church!

And that’s why the readings and prayers for this Mass 

are different from what they will be at neighboring churches.

Henry was born in 973; he died on this day, in 1024 – 1,000 years ago.

The Benedictine Order reveres Henry as one of its patron saints.

Henry was taught by a Benedictine, Bishop Wolfgang,

And his wife, Cunigunde, lived in a Benedictine convent 

when she became a widow.

Henry may have felt an attraction to the religious life, 

but his family duties meant he would succeed his father as a Duke, 

and then become King of Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor.

He certainly devoted himself to building up the Church in his realm.

And he gave his support to a reform movement 

that had begun a century earlier 

at a Benedictine monastery in Cluny, France.

It is striking – if you read church history – 

to see how regularly someone was calling for reform.

But, given human nature, this is no surprise.

In each of our own lives, do we not wake up periodically to realize: 

I’ve gotten lazy, I’ve developed bad habits, I’ve let things slip?

Whether it’s John the Baptist, or a Benedict or Catherine of Siena, 

or Pope John XXIII, or the Emperor Henry, 

the Body of Christ on earth continually needs 

those who sound the alarm and call for housecleaning.

This is why our Catholic Faith has always included a focus on penance, 

meaning both including acts of self-denial in our regular routine, 

and of course, observing Lent each year,

and then, regular use of the sacrament of penance.

And that process of reform isn’t only about moral renovation.

Henry reorganized church structures to serve his times.

Our Archdiocese is doing the exact same thing in our time.

In Henry’s situation, they were trying to share the Gospel 

with the Slavic tribes to the east.

In our time, our parish family must go out 

and seek our families and neighbors and re-present Jesus to them.

Another striking detail from those times: it was anything but calm!

There were constant wars and political struggles.

Henry’s father was called “Henry the Quarrelsome”!

One of the wise decisions his father made 

was to entrust Henry to be educated by the bishop Wolfgang, 

who was later recognized as a saint. 

We might notice that not many politicians become saints!

Why did Henry? Maybe because of the seeds of faith planted early.

If you did the math, Henry lived only 51 years on earth – 

fewer years than this parish has been here in South Dayton –

And yet the light of heaven that shined through his life 

reaches forward a thousand years to us and beyond.

Think about that whenever you say, what difference can I make?

So many kings valued their wives solely for giving them heirs.

He and his wife Saint Cunegunda did not conceive any children. 

Other kings would abandon their wives; Henry remained true.

As king, Henry commanded armies and faced wars; 

but he was notable for seeking paths of peace and reconciliation.

There was one neighboring King who Henry would make peace with – 

then war would break out again, then peace, then war – 

It took a lot of patience before peace finally took hold.

Where did Henry learn these things? 

Was it when he got together with other kings and dukes?

Or was it when he attended Mass, 

or in the habit of prayer that he learned as a youth?

Perhaps as he and his beloved wife contemplated 

how to make a difference for eternity?

Again, it’s all about what you and I make a priority.

We always find time for what matters most. 

As St. Henry Parish comes together with Our Lady of Good Hope 

and St. Mary, as we work together, as we build together,

you and I can be just like Henry, as we:

Share our gifts with our community, not hesitantly, but confidently;

Be messengers of reconciliation, even repeatedly;

Don’t be discouraged as we plant seeds of faith; 

they will sprout, even if it takes a thousand years!

Love our country like Isaiah (Sunday homily)

Friday we celebrated our nation’s birthday: 

Almost 250 years of independence! 

I’ve seen news items recently claiming many Americans, 

including many younger Americans, don’t feel great patriotism.

I don’t know if that is true, 

but I will take this moment to say a few things about patriotism.

Loving our country is good and right.

The Fourth Commandment calls us to honor our father and mother;

That extends to all in authority and all who give us life.

In the Roman way of thinking, patriotism was a form of “pietas”;

We get our word “piety” from that. In Roman thinking,

It was about the devotion and obligation we owe:

To family, to our country, and above all, God.

You and I enjoy such remarkable advantages, 

that most people who ever existed, 

and most people alive today, do not have.

Maybe you don’t like our elected officials.

You have the freedom to say that in public.

You get to protest and organize and vote them out.

No, our nation isn’t perfect. 

As Catholics, we experienced prejudice in this country at times.

However, we’ve never enjoyed this level of freedom anywhere else.

Yes, our society is materialistic, and that’s bad.

But consider this. In 1900, 60% of the world’s population 

was in extreme poverty. Today, that number is 10%.

That’s huge progress. And our nation played a big role.

A lot of complaints people have 

come from misunderstanding our Constitution.

Someone says, why’d she get to say that? It’s called free speech.

Why didn’t they send that person to jail? 

Because a jury found him not guilty. It’s called due process.

Our Founding Fathers gave us the Constitution they did 

because they knew that without certain limits and protections, 

people could get run over.

And one of the best things they did was to give us  

the power to change our system of government.

Over the years, “we the people” have made a more perfect union.

That’s a lot to be grateful for.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah loves his country, too. 

God’s People were in deep trouble, in every way. 

Isaiah sees a better future, when God’s people 

would be secure, as in the arms of their mother.

Yet not only Israel, but all nations would be secure in, 

and draw life from, the City of God. 

Isaiah was the voice of conscience in his time.

That responsibility falls to you and me, 

especially given our freedoms and advantages! 

We might notice what Jesus told the 70 disciples.

Stay focused, don’t get distracted along the way. 

Don’t worry too much about what stuff you bring along; 

make sure you bring a peaceful spirit. 

If you find yourself getting worked up, stop and get prayed up.

One way to keep our focus is frequent trips to confession. 

When we feel anger, or worry, or we get off track, 

a good confession helps get our priorities back in order. 

In the second reading, Saint Paul said, 

“the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” 

He’s not saying, I don’t care. He’s not giving up, either.

He’s doing what Jesus did on the Cross:

Giving it all to the Father.

It was when our Lord was seemingly most powerless – on the Cross – 

that he poured out his grace on the world most abundantly.

There is a lot of anger and ugliness in politics.

Our right answer isn’t to turn away, but to bring a peaceful spirit.

Speak out; vote, get involved.

But do so with the grace and power of Jesus Christ.

Peter & Paul were certainly in Rome: what changes? (Sunday homily)

 When we are confronted with someone presenting a religious message, 

there are three ways we can respond.

First, we might say, “Isn’t that interesting?” 

A few years back, visiting Washington, D.C.,

I saw some Buddhist monks in their bright orange robes. 

That was my response: “isn’t that interesting?”

A second response is, “Is this useful?” 

A lot of people send their children to Catholic schools, 

who aren’t themselves Catholic, or even Christian. 

They appreciate the discipline, 

the quality of education, and the moral values – 

and our Bishop Leibold School has all this in spades.

In other words, they see a Catholic education as “useful.”

Then there is a third response we can give. 

And that is to ask, “Is this true?” 

Week after week, deacons and priests give homilies.

We try to make it interesting.

I have tried to make you laugh, only to have you not laugh – 

how crushing! 

Many of us try to give something practical.

But in the end, the only real question is: Is it true?

When Peter and Paul gave their witness,

maybe in a synagogue, or someone’s home,

or on riverbank or in a public square, 

there was little reason for anyone to ask, “is this useful?” 

Have you ever seen a street preacher? 

Or maybe someone on late-night TV? 

Don’t you think that’s how Peter and Paul looked to the Romans?

Then, now and always, people ask what gives meaning to life. 

In every age, people have gazed at the stars 

and wondered what caused them to be there, 

and to move in the way they do. 

Here come Peter and Paul who say, 

none of the gods you believe in are true. 

They are false, every one of them. 

The one true God is the God of the Jews. 

This odd people who you conquered. 

It was to that people God himself came, and became man. 

He became, not a Roman, not a Greek, but a Jew!

And what did you Romans do? You crucified him! 

The one true God died on a cross – and rose again!

That’s your hope! Not Caesar, but Christ! 

And God’s Plan was to send us—Peter, Paul—to tell you!

If you ever go to Rome, you can visit the places 

where both Peter and Paul’s bones were buried. 

There are huge basilicas built over their graves. 

 

Their bones are still there, sometimes on display!

And while it would take too long to explain it, 

There is no good reason to doubt 

those really are Peter’s bones, and Paul’s, 

in the two churches that bear their names.

So while we might wonder about a lot of things 

about this Catholic Faith, 

here’s a good, solid fact which hard-nosed people can appreciate: 

their bones are in Rome. 

What strikes me is this. 

Their presence in Rome, which is beyond doubt, 

Therefore that makes it beyond doubt they really believed it.

And they convinced others to believe and die for this Faith.

No other reason for them to go to Rome, to die there, 

and for anyone to remember them.

So, the improbable, persuasive witness of Paul and Peter continues.

We hear their words. We know they died for it.  

And so, I put the question to you:

Is it true? If so, what changes, today, for you?

Melchizedek points to you (Corpus Christi)

 During the readings, I imagine you wondered, 

"Who is this ‘Melchizedek’ fellow?”

He was a curious, shadowy, figure: 

a king and a priest, whose origins no one knew.

He brought an offering of bread and wine.

He blessed Abraham and all his descendants.

Who is Melchizedek? 

He is the foreshadowing of who would come: Jesus Christ.

> Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who has no beginning or end;

> Jesus, the first and true priest of all Creation;

> Jesus, the rightful king of the universe;

> Jesus, who offers the new and everlasting sacrifice 

that is a blessing to all humanity.

Melchizedek pointed forward to something greater; and so do we.

You and I are the image, the sign, for our time, 

that points ahead to the reality that is yet to come, 

a reality that is vaster and greater than anyone can possibly imagine!

This is why, the language we use as Christians 

is full of power even if we don’t realize it.

Here’s an example: you and I use the term, “Body of Christ,”

to speak of both the Eucharist, as well as ourselves.

Do we really think we are the same?

I can imagine you saying, “No! I’m not God! I’m not Jesus!

No one falls to his knees before me!”

That’s all true. 

And yet—when you and I call the Eucharist, as well as ourselves,

"the Body of Christ” — we truly are describing the same reality!

This is because the Eucharist who we adore and receive 

is already, and completely, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile you and are still "in process."

Here is the Body of Christ (the Cross),

Here is the Body of Christ (the Eucharist);

and here is the Body of Christ (the people).

This Cross is a sign of what Jesus did for us. 

A tremendously powerful sign, yet only a sign.

The Eucharist is a sign too, 

except the Eucharist is also the reality of what the sign points to. 

Jesus, is truly and really here.

But, if you will, under a veil – the appearance of bread and wine.

His Sacrifice for us is “veiled” within the Mass.

Why is this so?

First, because: do you and I really want to see 

the violence of the Cross? 

Second, because even that graphic reality, while true, 

is still not the whole of it. 

The Son of God became human and surrendered himself for us.

In sharing his dying and rising, you and I become one with him.

The full depth of this reality is just too much for us:

So it is, as I said, “veiled” by the Mass 

and the appearances of bread and wine.

The Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Eucharist,

Serve as a lifeline connecting us to that fuller reality, 

drawing us onward toward it. 

St. Thomas Aquinas called the Eucharist "the pledge of future glory."

Glory for whom? Glory for us!

I said a moment ago that you and I, 

in calling ourselves the Body of Christ,

probably draw back from really thinking

we’re the same as the Eucharist—and of course, we’re not.

Not yet! I repeat: NOT YET! 

But, that truly is what lies ahead for us.

No one said it better than St. Augustine:

If you want to understand the body of Christ,

listen to the apostle telling the faithful,

"You, though, are the body of Christ and its members."

So if it's you that are the body of Christ

and its members, it's the mystery that means you.

It is to what you are that you reply "Amen,"

and by so replying you express your assent.

What you hear, you see, is "The body of Christ,"

and you answer, "Amen."

So be a member of the body of Christ,

in order to make the Amen true.

Do you want to be God's goldfish? (Holy Trinity homily)

 Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

When we talk about our believe that God is a Trinity--

God is Three while still being One--

We always wrestle with trying to explain this,

to ourselves and others.

But let me pose a different question: Why do we believe this?

And the answer is: because Jesus Christ told us this.

In so many places in the Gospels – such as today’s Gospel –

we hear Jesus referring to the Father, and to himself,

and to the Holy Spirit.

Even though he doesn’t use the term, “trinity,”

he makes clear that the Father is God, he himself is God,

and the Holy Spirit is God; yet not three gods, but one God.

So, if someone asks you, why do you believe God is a trinity,

the answer is, because Jesus said so.

We believe it because we believe him.

Is it hard to explain exactly how it works? Sure.

But why shouldn’t God’s nature baffle us?

What’s remarkable is how much

of God’s mystery we are able to penetrate.

Look around at our world. Why, of all the animals,

is man uniquely so curious?

By all accounts, apes and dolphins are very bright animals.

They seem to like us. I don’t know why, but they do.

Yet they don’t seem overly curious about us.

Could it be that this unique capacity and longing for truth in us,

is a sign of God’s creation:

that God intended us to try to penetrate his mystery?

In other words, God created us to seek a relationship with him.

Now, we say that: “a ‘relationship’ with God.”

But what does that even mean?

I fix meals on my stove, 

but my stove doesn’t have a “relationship” with me. 

I don’t have a pet; not because I don’t like animals, but I’m too busy.

But for those who have pets, how do you describe that?

There’s a sort of relationship there but it’s limited.

Is that what our relationship is to God? Are we his pets?

No! God gives us freedom you and I don’t give our pets.

And God also asks far more of us. God has bigger ambitions for us.

He calls us “friends”! The Son calls Mary, his creature, “Mother”!

He calls himself the Bridegroom, and we are his Bride.

What a startling image!

We wouldn’t dare to have suggested it ourselves,

because it would seem blasphemous,

to suggest that sort of intimacy.

And that’s exactly what some accuse us Christians of:

Blasphemy, because we state boldly that yes, 

You and I can have an intimate relationship with God.

God isn’t a solitary other, infinitely distant from us.

Unapproachable. Unknowable. Always and forever far away.

Saint Paul tells us in the second reading:

The Holy Spirit is poured into our lives.

God stoops down, and lifts us up,

into the life and love of the Trinity.

God – being Three Persons – is himself a community of love.

You and I, through faith and baptism, are brought into that communion.

Couples, you know what it is to strain your relationship.

How do you heal it? Talk. Listen. Bend. Forgive.

What do we do with God? We go to him in confession.

We talk. He listens. We bend our stubborn will. He forgives.

Now, a practical person might ask:

OK, but what difference does it make that God is a Trinity? 

For us, it’s the difference between being God’s pet,

and being his beloved, his spouse.

This explains everything 

about our Catholic Faith that often seems troublesome.

Why do we do penance? Why deny ourselves?

Why wait for marriage?

Why must marital love be open to life, all the time?

Why can’t we just do whatever we like?

Because we’re not God’s goldfish.

You put a goldfish in the bowl and it does what it likes.

But it never goes beyond that little world.

God has destined you and me for sharing his life.

To be life-givers. 

Truly free and full of possibility, 

which means full of responsibility.

God chose us as his one and only. Forever.

Pentecost & Beacons of Light (Sunday homily)

 There are five super-feasts the whole Church celebrates: 

Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, and today, Pentecost. 

These are the days when we bring out our best, 

just like our nation will do in a few weeks on Independence Day,

or families do for the most special occasions. 

Today is the family reunion for the Body of Christ.

Why? What’s so special about Pentecost?

Well, you could look at it this way. 

Christmas is when God gives the world his Son. 

Easter is when Jesus gives us the Father – by opening heaven for us. 

Notice how we signify that in every Mass: 

right after the Eucharistic Prayer, 

which recapitulates Jesus’ offering on the Cross, what do we do? 

We pray the Our Father.

And so, today is when the Father and the Son gave us the Holy Spirit – 

the third Person of the Holy Trinity. 

This forms the complete picture, if you will, of what our destiny is: 

to live forever in relationship with God, and with each other.

In the Old Testament, there were two key things about Pentecost: 

it was when the first harvest happened, of wheat.

And, it is when God gave his law to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Notice how these foreshadowings illuminate what Jesus did.

The Holy Spirit is the true law of God.

And with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 

the Apostles began the harvest of believers 

that continues to this day.

But to return to a key point: the main thing that happens on Pentecost 

is the giving of the Person of the Holy Spirit 

to the Church as a whole, and to each believer individually.

Notice that: the Holy Spirit isn’t given only on an individual basis.

Sometimes people talk about the Holy Spirit that way:

They say, well, the Spirit told me to do such-and-such…

But the Holy Spirit is not about division. 

That’s what sin does: sin creates divisions and conflict.

The Holy Spirit creates oneness. One Body of Christ. One City of God.

And again, the Holy Spirit is a Person. 

You and I, individually and collectively, are invited 

to have a personal encounter and relationship with God.

For whatever reason, in God’s Plan, the Holy Spirit 

isn’t so much the word that is spoken – we call the Son the “Word” –

but rather, the Holy Spirit gives voice and force to that Word.

Think about how you and I, ourselves, speak.

We have a word we want to say; but if we have no breath?

It’s only a whisper, or nothing at all.

So it is with us as the Body of Christ:

We have a Word to speak, but we need Breath: the Holy Spirit!

Now, some of us are naturally quiet people.

Others of us, not so much! And that variation is wholesome.

But the Body of Christ, may I suggest, is meant to have – 

through our individual personalities and gifts – a bold voice.

That’s the Holy Spirit, giving boldness to the whole Church.

May I suggest to you that as we celebrate this great feast,

Each of us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to have that boldness.

It may not be in big talk, it might be in big action.

But let each of us be willing to be bold for Jesus Christ!

In a few weeks, members of our Pastoral Council and I 

will present to Archbishop Casey our request 

to finalize our coming together 

as the Parish Family of St. John Paul II.

As our three parishes have grown together, sharing our gifts,

We are trying to be responsive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 

under the guidance of Archbishop Schnurr, and now, Casey.

We mere mortals can’t perceive the plan perfectly; 

there are twists and turns that come with human frailty.

Still, we know it’s true the Holy Spirit calls all Christians to unity.

So, surely he wants our parish family to become closer.

Remember, that’s the key to Beacons of Light:

Coming together to be a more powerful witness, 

to draw more people to Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the mighty breath 

that powers our word and witness!

And so, we say: Come, Holy Spirit!