Jesus' Liberation (Sunday homily)

 Jesus chose this Gospel passage to announce: he is the Messiah.

That’s what he did in that synagogue that day.

People were waiting for something like this.

It must have been an electric moment.

Notice what Jesus identifies as the heart of the Gospel:

Liberation. Redemption. Freedom.

But what does that mean?

He is not speaking primarily about political freedom.

Jesus never organized a demonstration or circulated a petition.

Political freedom and activism are very worthwhile – 

but they were not Jesus’s starting point. 

Jesus focused on changing lives.

If you are poor, what counts as good news?

Maybe having that threat of no heat, no water, no home, go away?

A week’s groceries is good news.

Even better news is that you aren’t treated as “less than”; 

that you are treated with dignity; you matter.

Would it shock you to hear that there are people 

who don’t come to Saint Henry or Our Lady of Good Hope or Saint Mary, 

because they aren’t sure they’ll be welcome?

They don’t know if their clothes are nice enough.

They aren’t sure they know anyone who is here.

 

So if you want to bear “good tidings,” think about people 

who may not feel welcome in “our” circle – and change that.

Who are the “captives” to set free? Lots of people.

What about folks who need alcohol – too much?

Or people hooked on food? Or sports, or work? 

How about addiction to the Internet? 

Either to the latest news or gossip or outrage 

on Facebook and Twitter;

or to dark materials on websites

you don’t want anyone else to know you look at.

How do we get free from these addictions?

Only Jesus Christ can set us free.

Only he can give you and me the strong enough “want to,” 

to be willing to change what needs to be changed, 

to confess our sins without holding back,

and be willing to ask another human being to help.

Alcoholics Anonymous originated something called the Twelve Steps. 

And the first step goes like this:

“We admitted to ourselves that we were powerless over alcohol – 

that our lives had become unmanageable.”

People in AA recite that, and the rest of the Twelve Steps, 

to one another in regular meetings.

A lot of people are captive precisely because 

they aren’t ready to take that first step. 

How does this work?

The obvious starting place is the Sacrament of Confession.

After that is looking for people we trust who we can talk to.

Jesus wants to set people free. 

He asks you and me to be the face of that liberation;

To be the hands that help lift people out of the prisons of their shame.

I am convinced that lots of people – here, listening to me right now –

could experience that freedom, 

if only they are willing to open up to another human being and say,

“I need help. I’m addicted to…” fill in the blank.

“And I need a partner to hold me accountable and help me get free.”

How does this work?

Well, we have about four hours of confessions each week.

We priests are happy to meet you there.

But after that, the task is for each and every one of us.

Are you ready for a friend or family member to come to you?

Ready to say, I’ll listen; I won’t judge or reject you?

I’ll keep my ears wide open and mouth tight shut?

Twelve-step groups are all around for alcohol.

For people dealing with drug and pornography addiction, 

there are meetings around Dayton and Cincinnati,

along with online resources.

These Twelve Step resources are one tool to help,

Along with prayer, confession and Christian fellowship.

There are things we can do to be set free – if you are ready.

In the first reading, when Ezra was reading God’s Word to his People, they were crying! 

Why did they cry?

Because they realized how far they were, in their lives, 

from what God had for them.

But remember what Nehemiah said: “Do not be saddened: 

because rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.”

Jesus coming to be with us, to bring us complete forgiveness, 

and to give us the Holy Spirit to strengthen us – that is our joy. 

Sadness? Because we’ve missed out? 

Because of what enslaves us and others? Absolutely.

But replace that sorrow for sin with rejoicing for mercy!

Christ forgives! Christ liberates! Christ is with us to set us free!

Catholic Ministry Appeal (Sunday Homily)

 As you know, this time of year we revisit the Catholic Ministries Appeal. 

And Archbishop Schnurr prepares a homily and sends it out, with the option of playing an audio.

The Archbishop leaves it up to the priests 

whether to play the audio or not. 

My preference is to take his message and present it in my own homily. 

All the good parts that follow are from the Archbishop! 

If you don’t like anything that follows this introduction, that’s my fault!

Salvation history tells the story of God’s unfailing love for us. 

From the first moment of creation, with His loving, outstretched hand, 

God began to put order into the chaos of nothingness. 

After the heavens and earth came into being 

and were filled with the manifold wonders of creation, God paused. 

He looked at what He had made and saw that it was very good. 

Man and woman, created in God’s own image and likeness, 

stand at the pinnacle of creation, 

and it is to man and woman 

that God entrusted the care of all He had made. 

Even after the Fall, when all hope for mankind 

and the world seemed lost, God did not abandon His creation. 

Rather, He began, little by little, to guide it back to Himself, 

to restore what had been lost by sin. 

God’s greatest desire is that we should all experience 

the same fullness of life and love 

which was His gift to mankind at the beginning of time. 

Looking toward the coming of Jesus as Messiah, 

Isaiah proclaims, as we hear today, “The Lord delights in you.” 

He has made us for Himself, and as the bridegroom 

gives everything for his bride, so does God give everything to us. 

He delights in us and wants us to have all 

that is necessary for our salvation. 

Furthermore, God has made us stewards of all His creation, 

and He calls us to use everything at our disposal for the good of others – 

thereby sharing in His work of redemption. 

Saint Paul points out, each of us has something to contribute. 

The Holy Spirit, poured into our souls at Baptism 

and strengthened and sealed by the grace of Confirmation, 

nurtures the gifts and talents 

which God entrusted to us from the first moment of our conception. 

The Holy Spirit enables those talents to bear fruit. 

The gifts God gives us are meant to benefit one another. 

You and I need each other. 

This is the sign that is the Church: 

Jesus did not merely create an individual relationship with each of us; 

he created His Body on earth, and calls us to be part of Him.

A temptation exists to think that my contribution 

may not be significant, that I don’t really have much of a role to play 

within the seemingly limitless expanse of God’s work of redemption. 

But you and I really know that isn’t true. It’s an excuse. 

As you see at wedding feast at Cana, God gives abundantly. 

But notice: you and I have to be willing to cooperate. 

Maybe Jesus would have granted the gift of wine 

without Mary coming to him – but that’s not how it happened. 

You and I have to be ready to cooperate. 

So the connection to the Catholic Ministries Appeal is obvious. 

Every donation to this annual archdiocesan collection 

supports various parts of God’s work of redemption 

which none of us can accomplish on our own. 

The ministries supported by the CMA assist the most vulnerable, including the hungry, sick, imprisoned, the hospitalized and the marginalized members of society.

The funds raised through the CMA 

provide for the formation of seminarians, our future priests, 

who make God present to us through the sacraments. 

They also support our retired priests who continue to minister 

to the People of God in this archdiocese and beyond.

Archbishop Schnurr thanks you for your support for the Catholic Ministry Appeal, and so do I. 

Our family of parishes has been very generous over the years,

and with your help again, we can continue 

to combine our small, personal contributions together 

to make a big difference together.

Jesus stands with you (Baptism of the Lord homily)

Today we recall when Jesus showed up 

on the banks of the Jordan River and asked to be baptized.

We might wonder, first: why did he do this, 

and second, why is this important to us? What does it mean?

John was baptizing people as an act of repentance. 

They were confessing their sins along the way.

So: they were, in a sense, going to confession.

The shocker is to see the Lord Jesus get in that line.

Jesus puts himself squarely with us, in our situation. 

He does not hesitate at all.

This is also about Jesus showing himself as the new Adam.

The first Adam rebelled and failed to keep God’s law, 

and that set the whole, sorry story of human history in motion. 

Here, Jesus does the exact opposite.

This Adam is obedient. He fully does his Father’s will. 

And, most astounding, Jesus accepts the punishment for sin 

that otherwise was due to Adam and the rest of us.

So, when Jesus came to be baptized, he accepted 

his vocation as the faithful Son, the new Adam, the Messiah.

So, notice this: Jesus never says, there’s no need to change.

Jesus never offers a path bypassing the Cross.

Now: what does this have to do with you and me?

When you and I were baptized, we became one with Jesus.

So, the question is, will you respond to God as Jesus did?

Will you embrace the life you have been given?

Will you take up the Cross? Will you be a witness to Jesus?

Maybe you never gave much thought to your baptism. 

Think about it now. 

At a certain point, each of us must decide 

to make the commitment of baptism our own. 

So, in case it wasn’t clear, this is why I sprinkled you with Holy Water. 

And, in case you never realized it, 

when we recite the Creed in a moment, 

you and I are confirming our baptism.

Something else happens when we are baptized.

Saint Paul said we become “heirs of hope of eternal life.”

When Paul calls us “heirs,” that is no metaphor.

Children not only inherit all the stuff their parents owned, 

they inherit all that their parents are.

When children are conceived and born, 

What do people say? “You have your mother’s eyes!”

“You look just like your daddy!”

And as we grow to adulthood, like it or not, we become a lot like them.

So, to be “heirs” with Jesus, means that when the Father said, 

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased,”

He didn’t only say it to Jesus. He said it to you and me, too!

That’s what the Father said – of you – when you were baptized.

It is what he says every time you and I go to confession.

Each of us has moments of doubt.

Maybe you are single and wondering, what does God have for me?

Are you called to be a priest or in religious life?

Or you are married

and you despair of ever being a good enough parent. 

Every mistake is always on your mind.

Perhaps you are a young person, and you hate being asked, 

“what are you going to do with your life?” Because you have no clue!

In recent years, many people have been “coming out” 

and saying, “I’m gay,” or “I’m trans” and the like. 

So many of us don’t know how to react. 

There is a much broader problem: 

more and more people simply do not know who they are. 

Many, many people don’t know what it means to be a child of God.

And by that, I mean, a God who relates to us 

and acts in our lives and wants you and me to know him.

A lot of the anger and alienation in our society is a product of this:

that people who were created to be loved, are starved for love.

Sooner or later, each of us will meet a family member or friend 

who says he or she can’t relate comfortably with the opposite sex.

Some, who are say they don’t know if they are male or female.

Don’t dismiss them. Don’t mock them! Walk with them. 

And tell them:

Jesus got in line with you! He takes up your cross with you!

The Holy Spirit wants to come down on you!

You and I cannot resolve all the confusion of our times.

But we can remind people: You are a child of God.

'What does it mean to be a faithful Christian?' (Epiphany homily)

 Let me start with a straightforward question:

“What does it mean to be a faithful Christian?”

If you were pressed to answer, what would you say?

Maybe someone would say, you receive your sacraments.

Or, you go to Mass faithfully and go to confession.

Or, you give to charity and the church, you live a good life.

Or some combination of the above.

These are good answers, but incomplete, 

especially if people end up talking about following rules 

or checking off items on a to-do list.

Here’s the answer I propose to you:

To be a Christian is to be another Christ;

And I want to put a big, bold line under the word “be” in that sentence.

This isn’t just a matter of things we DO.

Rather, it’s all about who and what you and I are:

It is what you and I become, 

which happens only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Today is the Solemnity of the Epiphany.

Epiphany represents the first 

revealing and sending-out of the Good News of a Savior, 

of God coming into the world to set a longed-for change in motion. 

On Christmas we were given the present,

On Epiphany, we tell everyone, “Look at the great gift God sent me!” 

This brings to mind the startling words of St. Athanasius: 

“God became man so that men might become God.”

Epiphany – with the arrival of foreigners to venerate the child King – 

is when this astounding news began to be revealed to the world.

Now, someone might find those words shocking. 

After all, isn’t that what the devil wanted? To be God?

Here’s the difference.

Satan wanted to kick God out of heaven.

What God wants is to have us join him and be united to him.

So when God offers you heaven, it’s not a sin to accept!

So back to my opening question: 

What does it mean to be a faithful Christian?

It’s about who we become. Little Christs. 

People filled with the light of Christ, changed by it, 

made pure, made new, made heavenly.

There’s a film that plays on TV this time of year, 

you’ve probably seen it, called “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

At one point, the hero George is trying to woo his wife-to-be, Mary.

He romantically offers to lasso the moon for her.

And then he says, “you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve, see? 

And moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes, 

and the ends of your hair.”

Am I the only one who, hearing that, thinks of the Holy Eucharist?

God gives us, not the moon, but “true Light from true Light.” 

He literally gives himself to us, holding nothing back.

What happens when we receive God fully, not fighting him?

If there is a challenge or an “action item” here, how about this?

In this new year of our Lord 2025, pray and think about 

how you will let that heavenly light penetrate you, change you – 

and to shine out of you.

Let’s you and me think about our life as a Christian, 

not in terms of “doing,” although that is important – 

but rather, in terms of WHO YOU ARE, and who we WILL BE.

You surely have noticed, I speak often about confession.

Confession is the sacrament of conversion.

And what many don’t realize is, sin isn’t just something we DO.

It’s about what you and I are becoming.

If I lie, once, twice, five times, over and over…

At some point, it’s what I am. I am a liar.

Confession is that essential step of opening up to let God change us.

It is the first step admitting, I can’t do this on my own.

You’ve also heard a lot about change: the life of our parish – 

our three parishes coming together – is all caught up in change.

That, too, is a process of conversion.

You’ve been very open, and that is a huge part 

of any success we’re experiencing.

But remember, the essential point of all we’ve been doing 

is to become a family of believers who are powerful witnesses.

The Catholic Church of 2025 can’t just wait for folks to show up.

Part of the conversion we ask for is to be witnesses.

It’s not mainly about the right words, or memorizing explanations.

Yes, knowing our Faith is important.

But the witness that attracts others is how genuinely you and I live it. 

So that brings us back, not merely to what we do – 

but what and who you and are becoming, by God’s grace.

Jesus came into the world to show you, me, and everyone 

what it means to be not twisted and broken, but fully alive in God. 

Truly free, not enslaved by sin and habit.

Full of grace; full of life. Full of heaven. Full of God. 

“God became man so that men and women might become God.”

So, the daily choices we face? That’s how we sort it out: 

These things don’t get me there. 

But other choices help me become more like Jesus. 

Maybe I’ll seek those more.

Who do you want to be? What will you do to get there?