Don't answer too quickly (Easter homily)

Tonight’s Mass is supposed to be an ordeal. 

In the modern day, we have made it much easier.

It used to have many more readings, and would go all night.

When the faithful receive the Holy Eucharist,

particularly those doing so for the very first time, 

and the priest shows the Lord to the faithful, saying, 

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world; 

blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb”:

This would happen just before sunrise.

In other words, it coincides with the Resurrection!

So, for those who are becoming a Christian tonight,

With baptism, confirmation and the Holy Eucharist:

This night is especially for you.

For the rest of us – including those who were baptized 

in other Christian communities, 

and tonight enter into the fullness of the Catholic Faith – 

this is a re-experiencing, a rediscovery of these mysteries.

We call them mysteries, by the way, 

because the Apostle Paul and the first Christians called them that. 

The word “mystery” suggests something hidden and inaccessible; 

and that’s the point: Jesus gives us access!

The veil is torn in two; heaven is open; you and I are born again!

The other thing about a divine mystery 

is that pulling aside one veil doesn’t “solve” it. 

With God’s creation and redemption, there is always more. 

So the long vigil is meant to reinforce 

that exploring this mystery goes on, as it was in the beginning, 

is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

That is one reason why – 

although we are baptized and confirmed only once – 

you and I re-encounter these mysteries each year at this time, 

each Lord’s Day, and even every day.

In a few minutes, the deacon and I will lead you to the font.

The Easter Candle, the pillar of fire, goes before you.

Unlike pharaoh who perished in the sea, you are led safely through!

In baptism, you die: with Christ.

We all die; but this is the death you and I choose: 

with Jesus, accepting his cross and making it our own.

Every time you make the sign of the cross, 

Every time you bless yourself with holy water, you remind yourself:

I died with Christ, and through him, I will rise again!

So I want to be very clear and serious here:

this moment is a fork in the road, an ending and a beginning.

I will ask you to renounce sin and the vanities of this world.

I will ask you if you believe

in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 

and in the faith given to us through the Apostles.

Before you answer those questions, I must warn you:

to be a Christian has always been costly.

There has always been a tug-of-war 

between the kingdoms of this world, 

the kingdom of our own will, and the kingdom of Jesus.

And if no one ever told you this, I tell you now:

your choice of allegiance to Jesus Christ and his Kingdom,

which is in this world, imperfectly, in his Church:

that choice will cost you, sooner or later.

It may seem over-dramatic to speak of martyrdom; 

we’re in Ohio after all, not ancient Rome!

But martyrdom comes in a thousand small, daily, tedious choices 

long before it becomes some great climactic witness.

Probably none of us will ever stand before a guillotine; 

but every one of us faces the refrigerator, the computer, 

and the emperor that is our own will.

It isn’t a firing squad, but criticism from coworkers, friends and family, 

that cows us and shakes our resolve.

So, why should anyone profess this faith? Why should you?

On behalf of the faithful, some of whom are gathered around you, 

and on my own behalf as a Christian, I testify:

God has acted in time and history.

Jesus, the Son of God, having our same flesh,

revealed to us a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

For our salvation, he embraced the Cross. 

He truly died and rose, in his mortal body, from the dead.

He is the judge of all mankind, to whom he offers not only mercy, 

but new life, fullness of life, and union with God, 

in the resurrection and the new world to come.

Jesus, risen from the dead, is the true and faithful witness!

He drew you here and he invites you to life.

The Axis (Good Friday homily)

This day, which stands at the center of our Sacred Three Days,

Is the Day of all days.

The Cross stands at the center of time; and all Creation, all history, 

revolves around it as the earth revolves on its axis.

Thus everyone, without exception, 

must come and stand before the Cross. 

That is the meaning of the Final Judgment each human soul will face.

So it is a mercy that God has draws us here, now,

while you and I can still be changed by it.

We see the Cross, and we ask “Why?” 

Be very clear: No one made Jesus do this. 

The Father did not make his Son do this.

Before time, Father, Son and Holy Spirit knew man would sin. 

God saw it all, 

From the vanity and self-importance,

Wrath and pride, lust and greed and gluttony;

To the cruelty people visit on each other large and small,

From Cain and Abel, to Hitler and Mao,

To the crack of a whip, the prison of a slum, 

The office of an abortionist, and all the forms of our indifference.

Before anything began, God saw it all…

And He went ahead. He chose to create us.

And he chose to become one of us.

Was there no other way but the Cross? 

Of course there was. God chose this way. 

Remember, God didn’t invent the Cross; humanity did. 

Had God never become man, 

man would still have faced a cross, but now alone; 

and it would have been all death with no life.

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us the Cross was “too much”: 

“Any suffering of his, however slight, 

was enough to redeem the human race…” 

The Cross is God’s exclamation mark 

on the sheer extravagance of his mercy.

God did the maximum where the minimum 

would already have been generous!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said this:

“I tell you that if God had not come down …

and given us the supreme example of sacrifice, 

then it would be possible for fathers and mothers, 

men and women of countless ages, 

to do something greater, it would seem, 

than God himself could not* do, namely, 

lay down their lives for a friend.”

Why the Cross? 

Consider an amazing image from our patron,

Pope Saint John Paul II:

God came to earth—so man could put God on trial—

so that man could forgive God.

Our late pope asked, "Could God have justified himself 

before human history, so full of suffering, 

without placing Christ’s Cross at the center of that history? 

"Obviously, one response could be 

that God does not need to justify himself to man. 

It is enough that he is omnipotent. 

From this perspective everything he does or allows 

must be accepted. 

"But God, who besides being Omnipotence is Wisdom 

and—to repeat once again—Love, 

desires to justify himself to mankind.

"He is not the Absolute that remains outside 

of the world, indifferent to human suffering. 

He is Emmanuel, God-with-us, 

a God who shares man’s lot 

and participates in his destiny.

"The crucified Christ is proof of God’s solidarity 

with man in his suffering."

We blame God. God does not argue. 

He comes to us; offers himself for trial. 

Pilate presides, and we are in that court as jury. 

We found him guilty; we sentenced him to death.

The price is paid. God himself atones. 

God and man are reconciled.

We see the horror of the Cross; we see the horror of human evil; 

and we wonder—can man be saved?

The Cross is our answer.

It is God saying “Yes.”

* typo fixed.

Our first Supper as a family! (Holy Thursday homily)

Mystical Supper Icon, All Saints Russian Orthodox Church, Las Vegas.

Tonight’s Mass marks something very special for our parish family.

Look: you have never seen all these priests and deacons at one Mass.

I realize that this is a change: having Holy Thursday Mass together. 

And it may take some getting used to. 

But, if you and I are truly a family, then – like every family – 

There are moments when we’re busy in different ways.

Yet on certain occasions, it is necessary that we come together as one.

Tonight is one of only two times in the whole year

when the Church insists a parish has just a single Mass together – 

the other will be two nights from now, the Vigil of Easter.

Let’s peel back the layers of what we’re doing here.

The first reading describes the Passover, 

celebrated by the Jewish People. 

The lamb was one year old and “without blemish”; 

it was obtained several days before and lived with the family.  

Why is this important? 

This points to Jesus, who became a member of the Jewish household, 

a member of the human family.

Then, with the whole assembly present, the lamb was slaughtered. 

When we come to church tomorrow, what do we recall?

Jesus is crucified with the whole assembly present.

The blood of the lamb is then spread over the doorposts.

This is protection from divine judgment. 

By the way: when you and I are baptized, 

that’s when the blood of the Lamb covers us! 

When we fall back into mortal sin, confession renews it.

And then after the lamb is sacrificed, its flesh was eaten. 

This was necessary to complete the sacrifice.

But only those who were members of the household could eat the lamb.

So, this is why only those baptized 

and who have chosen to join themselves to the household – 

that is, the Church – and who are also in a state of grace,

receive Holy Communion at Mass. 

While the lamb is central to the Passover,

Notice the accounts of Jesus’ Last Supper never mention a lamb.

Why not? Because HE is the lamb!

Instead, he takes the bread, and says, 

“this is my body, given up for you.” 

And of course, there was a cup of wine.

But did you realize there were four cups of wine.

The first was called the “cup of sanctification,” 

and the father began the meal with a prayer, over this cup, 

and the food is brought to the table.

The second was the cup of “proclamation” – 

it was prepared, but not drunk right away; 

because while the food was on the table,

the father would tell the account of what God did 

for his people who were slaves in Egypt.

By the way, when these events were “remembered,”

the understanding was that in remembering, you were present!

You were actually brought there spiritually, through the meal.

So, when Jesus tells the Apostles, “do this in memory of me,”

two things:

That reveals he made a plan for each of us to be part of his Passover.

Jesus planned for what we call Holy Mass,

and for priests to offer this sacrifice.

And second, our “remembering” here, 1,995 years later,

likewise makes you and me truly present: 

in the Upper Room, at Calvary, at the empty tomb.

It happens not because we want it; but because he wants it!

Now, back to the Passover.

After everyone ate, the father would share the third cup, 

called the “cup of blessing.” 

And Saint Paul just told us that this was the cup Jesus took up, 

and said, “This is my Blood.”

I said earlier there were four, where’s the last one?

Tomorrow, you and I will hear these words in the Gospel of John:

After this…Jesus said, “I thirst.”

There was a vessel filled with common wine….

They put a sponge soaked in wine…up to his mouth. 

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” 

And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

So, we don’t finish this Mass tonight. No final blessing.

We do go on a procession – to a special altar – recalling the Garden.

Let me share something very special 

about how Father Manning arranged this church.

By the way, Father Jim wanted to be here 

for this first gathering tonight as a family. 

He was a huge part of the work that brought us together.

Now, notice: the window to your left shows Melchizedek and Abraham. 

That meeting foreshadows the Holy Mass, 

and it’s referenced in the Eucharistic Prayer.

Look over to your right: that shows the Apostles 

gathered with Jesus on the night before his death. This night!

There’s still another detail I want to share with you.

In Jesus’ time, when the lamb was prepared for the meal, 

in order to roast it, do you know how they did it? 

They took two skewers, made of wood. 

One was speared through the torso, from head to tail. 

The other was speared through both shoulders. A cross.

Tomorrow we will worship the Cross on which our Savior, 

our Lamb of God, was slain. 

Tonight is our Passover. It begins tonight. 

'The Week of Salvation' (Palm Sunday homily)

 Listening to the Gospel we heard--the heart of our Faith --

Makes me fall silent. Maybe you, too.

That’s why we do this every single year.

If you’ve come this far in Lent, 

it may be that you feel you missed the boat.

You can still make Holy Week your Lent.

If you ever said, I wish I knew my Faith better, 

may I suggest that taking time during Holy Week,

to come on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil?

These days will help you go deeper into our Faith,

because this week is the heart of our Faith.

If you wish you’d gone to confession—it’s not too late. 

There are confessions Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

To accommodate everyone, we added a Sunrise 7 am Mass 

here at Our Lady of Good Hope just for Easter. 

And, if Masses are crowded, let’s try to have good humor and patience.

We’ll have folks we don’t see very often;

Yes, your favorite seat may be filled.

Our generosity of spirit can only make it more likely 

we’ll see them again.

Also, as the Mother Church for our parish family,

Our Lady of Good Hope is the site of our shared Easter Vigil.

We have a large group of men, women and children 

Who will be baptized and confirmed 

and receive Jesus in the Eucharist the first time.

This is the week of salvation. His week; our week.

It’s about what we did to the Lord; even more, what he did for us.

Why so much death? (5th Sunday of Lent homily)

 

This Gospel provides an opportunity to deal with a question 

that sometimes people ask about us Catholics: 

Why do we talk about death so much?

Why is an image of Jesus dying on the Cross so prominent?

Many say we should focus on the Resurrection.

Sure: but you can’t talk about resurrection without talking about death.

One answer might be: well, death is just part of life.

That’s true, but only to a point.

It ignores something else we Christians believe: 

that God, in the original plan, did not want us to die. 

Let me say that again:

God’s original plan did not include death!

The world we live in – which includes sin and death –

is not the world God wanted for us;

And it isn’t the new world he is preparing for us.

Sin means that our life is a shallow, shadow kind of life. 

Let’s remember that death came into the world 

because of human rebellion against God.

That rebellion, however, doesn’t mean living without God; 

it means replacing the God who actually made us,

with the god of my own will, my own desires, making myself god. 

And that means not a world centered on one God,

but a world of seven or eight billion gods – one for each of us;

and what do you think that world looks like?

That’s a world of greed, injustice, murder and indifference. 

And that kind of so-called “living” – Jesus came to tell us – 

is a shadow experience of life; a kind of “deathly” living.

Whereas Jesus came to give us true life; the fullness of life.

And to have that fullness of life, 

you and I must die to what this world thinks is life. 

This is where God’s mercy is at work.

As you and I get a little older, our eyes aren’t so good, 

our hearing fades, our body doesn’t do all it used to…

this experience has a way of humbling us, and teaching us: 

you really aren’t God, you know that? 

And if we listen, and accept the lesson, we grow wise. 

And we are reminded: this life isn’t my destination; 

I’m on the way to something bigger and better. 

It is in letting go of this world that we gain the world to come.

This might be a good exercise for each of us: 

to look ourselves in the mirror, and ask the question: 

“Who is God?” And then tell ourselves: “Not you.”

Dying to self is the very hardest thing we do: 

we fight it from the first word many of us learn – “No!” – 

to our last breath.

And yet: think of those whose sacrifices gave us our freedoms.

Think of those who, when disaster strikes, run to the fire.

Think of your own parents.

Only when we die to ourselves do we become life-givers.

At this Mass, we are joined by those preparing to be baptized in two weeks.

Baptism is dying with Jesus, so that we can live for him forever.

Dying to shadow-life; rising to eternal life.

They are here to pray, 

but also, to seek our prayers, for the grace of conversion.

God has called them; and their witness reminds us: 

he’s calling you and me too!

Next week is Palm Sunday and then Holy Week:

if the Cross is the most important thing that ever happened, 

then Holy Week recalls the most important week in history.

We’ll have all our normal activities this year!

Make the most of it.

If you need to go to confession, but have been procrastinating, 

there are plenty of opportunities over the next two weeks. 

Do I live for me, for here, for this? Or do I want to live forever?

Who is blind? (4th Sunday Lent homily)

 

Credit: Masterfile

Of all the people in the Gospel who couldn’t see,

only one was healed.

It was he who, without question or delay,

simply went and did as the Lord said.

Everyone else tried to analyze, argue or deny.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to understand.

Some questions we ask help us to see;

There are others we ask that aim to delay choosing.

So often, there comes a point when we know:

no more delays—just go!

When I was 19, I left the Catholic Church,

And joined another church. I came back 10 years later.

Over that time, I had questions,

I debated and wrestled—and that was right.

But, there came a moment, and I remember it vividly.

It was during Lent: as I drove home from work one day,

past a Catholic church, I heard the question in my head:

“What holds you back?” And I knew: “Nothing, Lord.”

A day or two later,

I went to confession for the first time in 10 years.

So, how about you? Are you holding back, or delaying,

on something you know the Lord wants you to do?

For a lot of us, that’s how we handle the sacrament of penance;

That is to say, we hem and haw and put it off.

It’s no great mystery why that happens.

Not many of us want to admit our sins,

especially to another human being.

Maybe we get discouraged,

Or we rationalize, I’m doing pretty good.

Just so you know; priests go through the exact same thing.

Again, the blind man could have had all the same feelings.

Did you notice, he didn’t ask to be healed?

Maybe he’d gotten accustomed to his situation or given up hope.

It amuses me to imagine him arguing with Jesus:

“Hey, what’s with this messy mud on my eyes?

Can’t you heal me without that?”

That makes me laugh, 

because sometimes I have conversations like that:

“Do I really have to do it this way?”

Instead, he simply went and did what the Lord asked.

He, and he alone, was healed.

So—for the sacrament of penance—just go!

We have confessions Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 

Thursday, Saturday and Sunday!

Check the bulletin.

As Mass began today, we prayed the words of Isaiah:

“Rejoice…”

But wait, Lent is about self-denial—

what are we rejoicing about?

Well, consider the blind man in the Gospel.

After the Lord put clay over his eyes,

and sent him to the pool:

what might he have been thinking?

I don’t know, but: if he felt certain he would be healed, 

would not his heart have swelled with hope?

Would he not have raced to that pool? 

Well then, the same for us:

Even as we pray, and confront our sins,

and ask God to help us change,

You and I really can be sure

God will forgive and heal us.

Here at this Mass, some among us can’t wait to be baptized.

They’re racing to the pool! In a moment, 

I’m going to invite you to join me in praying for them, 

for God’s help on the rest of their journey.

Meanwhile, the rest of us can—in confession—

Go back again to the pool of Jesus’ healing forgiveness.

And, when we share the Eucharist at Mass,

We are the blind man who can now see.

We come to worship the one who healed us.

It's not about them, it's about you (Sunday homily)

 These readings are about heaven and hell.

Let’s start with heaven.

In the first reading, Moses asks to know God’s Name. 

He wants to draw closer to God. 

After all, Moses and God’s People had been in slavery 

for over 400 years. 

The stories of what God did in Abraham’s life, 

in the lives of Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, were all distant memories. 

Perhaps even God himself seemed very distant. 

In Hebrew, names are more than just what someone is called.

They express the essence of who someone is.

When God tells Moses he is “I AM WHO AM,” 

he is revealing his true nature, 

that he is the One who truly and fully exists.

By responding this way, God is being very intimate with Moses,

And encouraging Moses’ desire for that intimacy.

Notice that: God WANTS US to know him this way!

This intimate union with God is heaven.

That is what heaven is.

So, whatever else you imagine heaven to be,

First and last, it is complete closeness with the Blessed Trinity.

And please remember: God wants this for us.

You and I don’t talk God into this; he’s talks US into it.

The problem is never God’s want-to, but ours.

You and I never have to change God’s mind. 

It is our mind, our lives, that need to change, 

and God is always at the door our heart, 

you and I only need to invite him in.

At the beginning, I mentioned hell. Where does that fit in?

Well, that’s what Jesus is warning against in the Gospel. 

Unless you and I repent, he says, we will all likewise perish.

He doesn’t mean natural death, but spiritual death.

And, one of the escape routes we choose to avoid a serious question

is to focus on other people – instead of ourselves.

Jesus says: don’t focus on whether those Galileans were sinners.

That’s a way to avoid thinking about the really hard question:

My need to change.

Our Lord Jesus points to a fig tree yielding no fruit.

God is patient – vastly more patient than you and I are.

In fact, this is actually one of the major reasons 

people don’t believe in God; 

because they say God is too slow to act, to bring justice.

“Why does God wait?” people ask. 

Still, don’t presume on God’s patience.

Jesus said it: give the tree some time; but: 

if it doesn’t yield fruit, cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?

There’s nothing fruitful about looking at others and saying,

“Oh yeah, she’s a fruitless tree!”

Ask yourself…about yourself.

The Gospel – the Good News – Jesus brings us 

is what he, as God, told Moses so long ago: 

He is True Life, and he invites each of us to be fully alive with him.

There is always an invitation, as there is right this moment, 

to become that life-bearing, fruit-giving friend of God!

Take advantage of this Lent: of many opportunities for confession;

of the opportunity to turn back to Jesus.

The Power of 'No' (Sunday homily)

 Let me repeat something that is so simple we may miss it:

Lent is all about conversion. 

That’s the point of self-denial, of taking more time for prayer, 

and of giving away money or things to others.

You and I don’t fast and pray and give things away

In order to gain more of God’s love;

He already loves us as much as he possibly can.

We also don’t do these things for a show.

The only point is the extent to which this helps our own conversion.

And note that: Lent is about our own conversion; 

it’s not your job to convert her, or him.

Even in the family: true conversion has to be me choosing it for me.

Focus on your own conversion, and let that be your witness.

So we start with humility.

In the first reading, the faithful Israelite must confess:

My father was a nobody. My ancestors were slaves.

We didn’t set ourselves free – God did it.

In fact, everything we have comes from God.

And in the Gospel, even Jesus the Lord humbles himself.

But perhaps the main thing we might notice

in the Gospel is the power of a single word: NO.

How much you and I need to learn the power of saying “NO”:

No to temptation; No to all the tasty and enjoyable things 

that are too important to us;

“No” to all the distractions and short-term things 

that so fill our thoughts, that we fail to focus on the distant horizon.

This is really hard. But it’s an essential part of our Lent.

We know this, because Jesus himself did it. 

He went into the desert and fasted.

He said “No” to pretty much everything – 

food, drink, entertainment, other people’s company –

before he launched on his great mission of our salvation.

He did it, without needing it, to be in solidarity with us.

And thus he makes clear how much you and I DO need it.

Notice we began Mass with the sprinkling of holy water.

Remember that Lent is also about preparing for baptism, and – 

for those of us who have been baptized – 

about renewing and reclaiming it.

[And I might mention, at this Mass, we have some folks 

who are preparing to be baptized in six weeks. 

Today we acknowledge them as the “Elect” – 

meaning, they are chosen by God to enter into the new life of baptism. 

And we have others who were baptized in other communities, 

but now wish to be part of the fullness of the Catholic Church.

It is the grace of their baptism that urges them to this! 

And we want to pray for them along the next steps.]

Recall that when you and I were baptized, 

The deacon or priest asked three questions;

And we, or our parents, gave three renunciations. 

We said “No” to Satan; 

“And all his works?”

“And all his empty show?”

And notice, Jesus is tempted by the devil after 40 days.

That means his struggle with evil corresponds to Holy Week.

Good Friday represents the devil seeking to kill him,

Perhaps because he would not bow down to him.

When you and I learn the power of “No” when it’s needed,   

We gain the power of a true “YES” when that is needed!

YES to being truly generous with ourselves and our time and our stuff.

YES to trusting God with peace and calm.

YES to going deeper and farther, 

the way Peter stepped out of the boat, 

and walked – albeit briefly – on the water.

So if you want to take something away from this homily,

Take a simple word. That word is “No.”

Use this Lent to learn how to say that word and mean it:

A “No” to the stomach, a “No” to the eyes, and a “No” to the ego:

So you and I can receive the fullness of God’s life.

That’s a good way to make Lent fruitful, don’t you think?