Don't be frightened, be ready! (Sunday homily)

 When we hear words like these from Jesus, it can be frightening.

We wonder what he is saying, what this is about.

Is he talking about the end of the world? 

Or is he talking about something else?

This Gospel is actually about many things at once.

But at the center, always, is the Cross.

Think of the two thieves. They were the same.

Neither had any worthiness.

One repented and the other rejected.

And that’s the whole story.

If the thought of the end of this life frightens you,

then come stand at the Cross, with repentance and faith, 

and you’re as right as you can be!

How you and I do that is through the sacraments.

Baptism and confirmation, confession and Holy Communion: 

these bring the power of the Cross into our lives, 

and bring us back to the Cross to have God’s abundant grace.

The rest of Jesus’ words are also pretty straightforward.

He’s saying, no matter what happens, 

even if the stars fall from the skies! Jesus is the Rock.

Of course, people want signs. They read books and listen to podcasts, 

they pay out big money for people to give them the “secrets.”

There’s no need for any of that. All you need are the sacraments. 

Come to him with repentance and faith.

I just told you the “secret.” No charge!

Pope Benedict used to explain that when we talk about Jesus’ coming, 

we might do better to call it the completion of his coming.

Jesus isn’t absent. He’s here!

But his presence now is very polite: he’s hidden and, if you will, quiet.

Jesus speaks, but softly. 

He’s not booming out, silencing every other voice, as is his right as King.

At a certain point, time will end. His coming will be complete. 

And then, all will indeed fall silent before Him.

As a boy, I sometimes dreaded Dad coming home. 

Why? You know why: because I’d behaved badly.

But the good news is, Jesus gives us something my Dad couldn’t give us.

We couldn’t talk to him during the day: cell phones didn’t exist!

And my dad probably wouldn’t have wanted us to call him at work.

But our Father in heaven gives you a cell phone:

It’s called confession.

Don’t dread, don’t worry, don’t fear.

Yes, confession can be intimidating.

I don’t like confessing my sins to another priest!

But then, it’s also embarrassing to go to the dentist, 

and he sees that I haven’t been flossing.

I can guess it’s awkward for spouses to face each other 

when one or both has messed up.

But if there is one truth that is universal, 

it is that all humans need to change. 

Not just those other people: you and I need conversion, too.

Second universal truth: changing other people is a mistake!

Me changing me is hard enough: I can’t possibly change others.

But oh, we try and try.

Maybe because we’d rather avoid the hard work of changing ourselves, 

and instead, blame other people for not letting us change them.

The sharpness of these readings is meant like the teacher 

clapping her hands to silence the class, to listen.

Jesus is saying: this part of the story doesn’t go on forever.

Wake up! Be ready!

And right now, and here, everything we need to be ready is offered.

Don’t be afraid; be repentant. Be ready.

The widow and the 'venture of faith' (Sunday homily)

The Gospel we just heard poses a very simple question, 

but it cuts deep, right to our very core: 

how much are you and I willing to give to Jesus Christ?

It’s not necessarily a matter of money. 

The widow in the Gospel didn’t just give a donation. 

As Jesus said, she gave everything she had to live on. 

She put everything on the line.

How much will you and I put on the line?

Saint John Newman, the great English protestant 

who became Catholic, gave a sermon one time 

in which he posed a similar question. 

He asked, what have we Christians ventured; that is, put at risk? 

He adds: “I really fear…that there is nothing we resolve, nothing we do, 

nothing we do not do…which we should not resolve, and do, and not do, 

and avoid, and choose, and give up, and pursue, 

if Christ had not died, and heaven were not promised us.”

So that’s the question to ask ourselves.

What can you and I point to in our choices, in our lives,

that really is different, because we follow Jesus?

I think of couples who accept greater sacrifice 

in welcoming more children. 

And still others who might earn less money 

because they try to focus more on family.

We hear a lot of criticism and cynicism about people in business.

But surely there are many businesspeople who make decisions 

which the rest of us never know about, that sacrifice profit.

Our young people will certainly face peer pressure and mockery 

when they choose a path of self-denial and integrity.

Let me tell you a secret: you can have a crowd around you, 

with several loud voices taunting you. 

The ones who remain silent? 

They’re watching to see if you have any backbone.

And don’t be surprised if later, very quietly, 

they tell you, you did the right thing. 

Don’t expect them to speak up. But know you made a difference.

So, back to St. John Henry Newman’s question.

What do you and I put at risk for Christ?

What will we lose if Jesus ends up not being who we believe he is?

The widow put it ALL on the line for faith in God.

At this moment, I really think I’m in the way; 

I’m interrupting a conversation 

which is really between each of us, and Jesus himself. 

He’s the one who makes the invitation:

Come, follow me – and Peter and Andrew, James and John 

left their nets; their livelihood; everything they had.

Jesus speaks to you as only he can. 

He has prepared your life and given you your gifts. 

What will you answer?

The frame and the purpose (Sunday homily)

 A few years ago, I recall seeing a neighbor rebuilding his garage.

He’d knocked down the old one and started a new one.

And I noticed how hard he worked to get the frame just right.

Or else it wouldn’t stay standing.

The first commandment our Lord mentions: put God first.

That’s the frame. It keeps the rest of our life upright.

It helps us stand firm when the winds of pressure or desire blow hard.

We’ve all been in situations where someone said, 

we have to compromise.

Our politicians make that excuse 

for cutting corners with the Constitution or with the moral law.

In our personal life, we make compromises.

As a priest, I am frequently tempted to put the work I do first,

and I’ll pray later. 

If a priest can be tempted to do that, how about you?

The second commandment gives us purpose. What are we for?

You and I are here to make a difference in others’ lives.

As each year goes by, I learn a little better

just how self-centered I can be.

Think of a baby. He points to his mouth and says, “feed me!”

She points to her diaper and says, “change me!”

I’m always amused to see how kids think mom is a coatrack.

Somewhere along the line you and I recognize that

God didn’t give us our talents, our time, and treasure, just for us.

We discover the satisfaction of helping others is like nothing else.

Look: we can get cynical and negative. 

The politics right now don’t help.

But here’s a choice you have, whatever else is going on.

You can choose to marinate in all that fretting and fighting.

Or, you can choose to add some joy to another person’s life.

It is as simple as opening a door, 

or letting someone else out of the parking lot first.

If you’re online getting burned up about…all that stuff,

Then put down the phone! Do something else.

Don’t worry: those people online will argue just fine without you!

A funny thing happens when you start 

making little, extra efforts at kindness and calm.

It spreads to other people. 

And in time, it turns into a habit of helping. 

It becomes who we are.

And when you look back on the day, 

the griping and the sourness doesn’t matter as much.

Let me say a couple of things about the election.

Be sure to cast your vote, if you haven’t already.

And I encourage you to keep these commandments, 

both of them, in mind when you do.

When we have the results, a lot of people are going to be unhappy; 

and truth to tell, some of the others are going to think, 

“Good, they should be unhappy!”

Maybe each of us can resolve – 

Now, before you and I know the results – to be gracious?

And no matter who wins, the frame and the purpose remain unchanged.

God is God; not the government, and not whoever is elected.

And the day after the election, 

there will still be people needing a helping hand.

The truth about Hallowe'en & All Saints (homily)

 

Apologies to Harold Ramis, his great cast and fun film

Let’s spell out a few key points about this feast.

First. There is a lot of nonsense spoken about Hallowe’en, 

which is part of this feast. Hallowe’en means the eve, 

or “e’en” of All Hallows, which is just another way of saying, All Saints. 

So maybe you saw someone claim that we Catholics 

dressed up a pagan holiday and turned it into this feast. 

Not true. 

The fact that a pagan holiday was on or around Nov. 1 is meaningless.

If you do more research, 

you’ll discover there were pagan holidays all year long! 

You can’t pick a day that doesn’t have some pagan association.

That’s why, therefore, you see the same claim made 

about Easter, Christmas, Candlemas, Assumption, 

and lots of saints days as well.

So, the pagan holiday associated with Oct. 31? It was in Ireland.

The first celebration of All Saints on November 1? 

That was in Rome, when Pope Gregory III 

dedicated a chapel to All Saints.

Why’d he pick Nov. 1? Maybe because that’s when it was finished?

But no, he wasn’t thinking about pagans in Ireland!

Let’s stop being on the defensive about Hallowe’en and All Saints.

There’s nothing wrong with wholesome fun. 

But the main point was and is the saints.

That is my second point: Halllowe’en and All Saints are about grace.

Grace is God’s own life and love, poured into our lives, 

to make us like God.

All Saints – including the eve, Hallowe’en – 

exists to celebrate God’s success stories.

What would it say about Jesus’ plan to become human, go to the Cross, found the Church on the apostles 

and send them out in the power of the Holy Spirit, 

and 2,000 years later, and there wasn’t much success?

Like, we maybe got one saint a century, we’re up to 20! Woo hoo!

No! We have in the shared memory of our Church, 

the names of tens of thousands of saints. 

We don’t even know for sure, because so much information was lost.

We have stories about many of them,

But for others, we have but a name and the barest details,

Such as Saint Christopher and St. George.

With Saints Valentine and Cecilia, 

we may have multiple saints jumbled together.

But that makes sense: a boy in the 3rd century 

was named for a saint from the second century, 

and the boy becomes a saint too!

Isn’t that why you name a child after a saint?

There are places named for saints because there was a church, 

but now that’s just a pile of stones. No one knows any more about it.

All that is left is the memory, but what a memory!

They remembered God’s grace and that memory lives on.

Of course, there are vastly more saints 

who we will not know about until we, ourselves, 

become saints and join them.

Just a note here about All Souls, which comes on November 2.

That is the day for the “faithful departed,” meaning: 

for those who weren’t necessarily finished products, 

as it were, in this life, but who have certain hope – 

I repeat, certain hope – of victory.

If you didn’t know this before, hear me: 

everyone who enters Purgatory will be a saint. Without exception.

Purgatory is the saint-finishing school, and our prayers help.

Now, a final point, about the way this day of grace is being falsified.

Surely you notice that lots of celebration of Hallowe’en 

isn’t about good, but about evil. 

Not about the saints, but devils and other ominous things.

It’s not about heaven, but about hell.

So much so, that many people avoid Hallowe’en.

And that’s a shame because, again, it’s about Heaven, not hell.

Don’t be fooled. 

Of course, the devil would want to change the subject to himself! 

Every time God fills another human being with light, forever, 

is a scalding defeat for the enemy. He hates it!

God wants friendship and love, the devil wants fear and pain.

I am asking all of us to work together to change the subject back:

Hallowe’en and All Saints are about God’s grace changing us.

There’s nothing wrong with having fun with scary stories,

But just remember, to be a friend of Jesus – to be a saint – 

is to have nothing at all to be afraid of.

Our Patron, John Paul II (Sunday homily)

 This weekend you and I do what we always do: we gather for Mass.

We’ll have about 2,500 people in our eight Masses, 

and we’ll have more who will observe via the Internet.

And yet, there’s something we’re doing for the very first time:

All three parishes together 

are observing the solemnity of St. John Paul II.

Today is a good time to reflect on what it means 

that God gave us Pope John Paul II 

as the patron of our three parishes coming together.

“JPII” had an unparalleled devotion to our Lady;

He must love being a protector of two churches dedicated to her!

St. Henry was a king who preferred peace to war;

John Paul helped peacefully win the Cold War.

What St. John Paul might best be known for is that all his life, 

right until his last breath, was about pointing to Jesus.

There is a phrase he often used, which I’d like to propose 

you and I adopt as our inspiration: “Open wide the doors to Christ!”*

He looked ahead to the 3rd Millenium 

and foresaw reimagining parish life, to reorient familiar things.

That’s what you and I have been doing, and there’s more to do.

So, we pause to consider: 

what do you and I want that reimagined life of our parishes, 

the re-ignited spreading of our Faith to those around us, to look like?

Today, I’m giving you an invitation

to play an essential part in making that new reality happen.

That is the objective of our “Open Wide the Doors” campaign, 

which you may have heard about already, 

and you will hear more about, in the days ahead.

Consider the journey we’ve been on.

We could go all the way back to 1852, 

when Our Lady of Good Hope was founded, under another name; 

or to 1867, the beginning of St. Mary in Franklin; 

or to the beginning of St. Henry in 1960.

Lots of challenges and surprises 

and lots of people full of faith ready for them,

including our recent journey bringing us together.

Thank you for already opening wide your hearts to this journey, 

and to the future that remains hidden;

but which will be far brighter faced with faith and not fear. 

You and I, in turn, owe thanks to all who brought us thus far, 

on whose work you and I will continue to build.

It has always required more than the ministry of our priests, 

the instruction of teachers and catechists 

and the labors of staff and volunteers, all so valuable.

No, you and I got here together; it requires all of us.

So, at this moment, I’m asking everyone to pause and consider:

What will be your part, my part of the story 

as we write this next chapter?

You’ve certainly noticed new faces: mine! 

Also our safety volunteers, and new staff members.

You have read about things we’re organizing in some different ways,

Both to get more value for your dollars and to serve people better.

We’ve opened wide the doors of our three campuses.

More people are enjoying the PAC at St. Henry.

You’ve seen improvements 

at Our Lady of Good Hope and St. Mary, long needed.

These things all cost money.

You may not realize it, but I’ve been meeting quietly with folks 

who have responded generously thus far with about $340,000 pledged 

toward these efforts to make our shared homes more welcoming.

But the financial backbone of our parishes is your weekly offerings.

In the next few days, you’ll receive a letter inviting you to consider: what am I willing to offer to help open even wider the doors 

of all three of our churches and all we can offer?

By “wider,” I mean this:

There are 130,000 people who live in our combined parish boundaries.

A lot of them are fellow Catholics who we haven’t met yet.

There are so many ways you and I can welcome them, 

but our present resources are limited.

As you saw in my report a few weeks ago, 

two of our parishes have a deficit, 

almost all due to the maintenance needs we are catching up on. 

We’re spending more because we’re doing more.

You and I can balance our budgets tomorrow by simply deciding:

we won’t be ambitious. We will stand pat.

But that’s not Opening Wide the Doors; that’s shutting them!

And our parishes will not thrive if you and I don’t step out in faith.

When you receive the mailing I mentioned, 

please consider how you can help our parishes take these steps.

There will be a commitment card 

and I ask you to pray about what you will do, 

and bring your commitment to church next weekend. 

And just to make clear: when you check that commitment card, 

you decide what to offer and how it will be used. 

One of our goals is to give you maximum flexibility

in being able to direct your donations where you want them;

and to enable you to contribute safely online or with an envelope.

We can’t do any of this without you!

St. John Paul II had another phrase he was famous for,

Which was, of course, Jesus’ own words:

“Be not afraid”!

Together, you and I can offer ourselves 

and the treasures of our parishes, our shared home, 

to welcoming more, to help others share our faith, 

and as a result, we build the St. John Paul II Family.

It’s in our own hands. Be not afraid!

* After the first Mass, I was reminded by a reading in the breviary that Pope St. John Paul II said these words in his first homily as pope.

The gold of heaven (Sunday homily)

 This meeting between Jesus and the rich young man 

reminds us that there is only one form of wealth 

that we can take with us after we die.

It is not money; we will leave it all behind. 

The only wealth you and I can take with us is other people.

That’s why the most beautiful work any person can accomplish 

is to be a parent, to bring new life into the world. 

We do this both in the natural sense, and in the spiritual sense.

Notice Jesus talks about those who give up family and children 

will “receive a hundred times more.” 

If I had raised a family, it would not have been easy 

to match my parents’ achievement of seven children.

But as a priest, I have baptized hundreds of babies, 

And witnessed hundreds of weddings.

I’ve heard thousands of confessions.

With our Parish School of Religion and Bishop Leibold School, 

we have over 600 children we share our faith with each week.

Parents, you know how beautiful it is to cooperate with God 

and bring new life into the world;

and you grasp better than any others the even more urgent task 

of bringing them into the next world, into God’s Kingdom.

This you promised when you brought them to be baptized.

Recall that we name the family “the domestic church.”

And this a good time to remember that the family – 

not the parish and our many activities, not our school, but the family – is where the faith is first nurtured and best nurtured.

 

As much as we need priests and deacon and vowed religious – 

and you can make such a difference saying yes to that call! –

it is the task of every single Christian 

to beget spiritual life in ourselves and others.

As in family life, this goes beyond what we learn and know;

it is fundamentally about the witness of daily perseverance.

And, to state the obvious: you and I can’t give what we don’t have.

True for money; true for faith. 

People around us, our kids, our coworkers, see what our priority is.

As they see you and me put Jesus at the center, that’s how we do it. 

And anyone can do that, any age or situation. 

Everyone can do this!

By the way: people say, what will revive our parishes?

What’s the secret? This is it!

Jesus at the center, in our lives; people will see it.

And over time, they’ll decide you’re for real, and they’ll respond.

The book of Revelation says the heavenly Jerusalem is a city of gold.

But what is gold to God is not a rock in the ground, but people!

God can have all the gold and diamonds he wants, just by wishing it. 

But God the Son came to earth, 

and shed his blood, for people. He thirsts for souls.

You and I are the treasure God values above all. 

This is one reason you and I as Catholics push back 

on the claim that there are “too many people.” 

God never says that. 

We human beings, who sometimes mismanage 

the resources of this abundant world, are the ones who say that.

Human beings, the image of God, are his greatest treasure.

So, I’d say to our children, in your day-to-day experience at school, 

it is pretty common for students to treat each other badly.

When I was a boy, there were some who bullied me.

And there were times I joined in insults, 

or remained silent when I ought to have spoken up.

Don’t wait to be a friend and to be bold standing up for what is right.

The ability to make a difference in someone’s life starts early.

Saturday I got together with a friend I’ve known since Kindergarten!

We’ve been a good influence on each other. I hope I see him in heaven!

Think about that.

You and I are hoping to make it to the Kingdom.

Think about what it will be like to get there, and look around,

and see all the people you helped get there, or who helped you.

That is the only way to be truly rich.