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The storm and Jesus’ dream (12th Sunday of Ordinary Time – B)

23 Sunday Jun 2024

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“Christ Asleep During Tempest” by Eugene Delacroix

In today’s gospel (Mk 4:35-41) we have the episode of the storm calmed by Jesus. The boat on which the disciples are crossing the lake is beaten by the wind and waves and they are afraid they will sink. Jesus is with them on the boat, yet he is in the stern asleep on the cushion. The disciples, filled with fear, cry out to him: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”

Often we too, beaten by the struggles of life have cried out to the Lord: “Why do you remain silent and do nothing for me?”. Especially when it seems we are sinking, because of the loss of love or the project in which we had laid great hopes disappears; or when we are at the mercy of the unrelenting waves of anxiety; or when we feel we are drowning in problems or lost in the middle of the sea of life, with no course and no harbor. Or even, in the moments in which the strength to go forward fails us, because we have no job, or an unexpected diagnosis makes us fear for our health or that of a loved one. There are many moments in which we feel we are in a storm; we feel we are almost done in.

In these situations, and in many others, we too feel suffocated by fear and, like the disciples, risk losing sight of the most important thing. On the boat, in fact, even if he is sleeping, Jesus is there, and he shares with us all that is happening. His slumber, on the one hand surprises us, yet on the other it puts us to the test. The Lord is there, present; indeed, he waits – so to speak – for us to engage him, to invoke him, to put him at the center of what we are experiencing. His sleep causes us to wake up! (From Angelus address given by Pope Francis on 6/20/21) 

Because to be disciples of Jesus it is not enough to believe that there is a God, that he exists, but that God is also here, with us in the boat, and that God cares and that he hears our cries and knows our needs.   

In praying over this gospel passage and the Holy Father’s words, a question came to me that I had never thought of before.  What would Jesus have dreamt when he slept?  Jesus is fully human.  Part of being human is needing sleep and in that sleep dreaming.  Rapid Eye Movement, the subconscious organizing the experiences of the day, all the things that go into the science of sleep, what would have been Jesus’ dreams?  I’m not talking about the strange dreams we get when we decide to have pepperoni pizza as a midnight snack but those deep dreams that remain with us. 

We cannot know but as dreams seem to be shaped by what is important to us and what we experience, I think it might be safe to say that his dreams would center on his relationship with the Father, his mission, his love for us and all those encounters and moments he had in his public ministry.  I think his dreams would have been rooted in the living mystery of the Kingdom of God which he proclaimed. 

A thought – when we feel we are drowning in life, when we feel lost and afraid remember not just that there is a God but that we have a God who is with us – even in our very boat.  Call upon him and maybe even ask him in friendship to share his dream with us – his dream of the Kingdom, a dream which can give hope and even calm the storms we encounter.        

What does it mean to Jesus? The Eucharist.

02 Sunday Jun 2024

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A priest friend of mine tells the story that when he was in high school, he had a friend by the name of Carl that he hung around with.  Carl, it seems, could be kind of high maintenance and awkward, often saying inappropriate things at the worst times.  Carl was hanging around the house one day and was going on and on about wanting to go out and do something. Finally, my friend, who was not in the best of moods having to put up with Carl, had enough of this and was quite rude in telling Carl to stop bothering him and that he was not going to go out!  After Carl left, my friend’s mother – who had heard all of the exchange – came to my friend and said, “You need to be nicer to Carl.  He has been a good friend to you for a long time.”  Parents have a way of saying things that just stay with you and my priest friend still remembers what his mother said.  The story resonates with me because I once had a similar situation when I was in high school and took a friendship for granted. 

One of the truths of this little story is that friendship takes work, friendship is going to challenge us and friendship is sometimes going to make us do things that we would rather not do.  The old hymn tells us that we all have a friend in Jesus and this is true.  There is no one who will ever love us like Jesus loves us.  There is no one who will ever be as faithful to us as Jesus is faithful but we all know that sometimes it is hard to listen to Jesus because Jesus will challenge us, Jesus will make us take a serious look at our ways and our attitudes, Jesus will be present to us in a fullness of love that we may not feel we deserve.  Sometimes it is hard to go to Jesus, sometimes it is hard to come to Mass, but this is where the challenge of my friend’s mother comes in for all of us, “You need to go.  He has been a good friend to you for a long time.” 

We often talk about and reflect on what it means for us to receive the Eucharist – the very Body and Blood of Christ – and this is appropriate.  We receive Jesus himself!  We are being transformed, nourished and strengthened through this receiving of the Eucharist, being and becoming a part of the Body of Christ.  But, I think another question worthy of reflecting upon is, What does it mean to Jesus for us to receive the Eucharist?  This past Holy Thursday, I was struck with this question and the awareness that came from it.  For Jesus, it means everything!  Jesus loved his disciples to the very end and even as he accepted the will of the Father to walk to Calvary and the cross, he so wanted to remain with his friends.   His giving the Eucharist is his remaining with us.  Jesus is that greatest of friends who truly wants to remain with us, to be with us.  In the Eucharist, he gives himself to us.  What does it mean to Jesus?  I think it means everything. 

One further thought.  The Church teaches that it is a sin to miss Sunday Mass – a sin that must be confessed.  The Church also teaches that the Eucharist should be received at least once a year.  The Eucharist can be received more often and should if possible but at least once a year.  Holding these teachings together, the Church is telling us about the importance of the Eucharist as well as the importance of coming together, gathering together in worship.  Being community and church is important.  I share this because I believe that we are living in an epidemic of isolation.  People are more and more isolated from one another and because of this bad things are happening.  Studies are coming forward that are demonstrating that the more isolated a person is the less quality of life and quantity of life that person has. 

It is important to be Church.  It is important to receive the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity.  The Eucharist calls us together and this is truly needed in our lives and in our times.  Are we who gather for worship perfect?  No.  Do we have a perfect friend in Jesus?  Yes.  And for our friend it means everything that we receive and welcome him in the Eucharist – his very body and his very blood.    

“Soldiers for Christ” and the Standard of Christ

31 Friday May 2024

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“Soldiers for Christ” is a term used in our Christian life of faith but it is an ambiguous term in that it lends itself to different meanings for different people and it is an image that can be depicted and has been depicted in a variety of ways.  There are references to being “soldiers for Christ” (2 Tim 2:3) and putting on “the armor of God” (Eph. 6:11-17) in scripture and these passages highlight the resolve and determination that the life of faith demands.  Jesus never denounced military service; at one point he commends the faith of the Roman centurion (Mt. 8:5-13) and he made use of military images in his teaching (i.e. Mt. 14:31-33) but Jesus himself never used the term “soldier” in reference to his followers. 

My fallback for direction in the use of this term and its imagery is the “Standard of Christ” that St. Ignatius of Loyola speaks of in his spiritual exercises.  St. Ignatius came from a military background.  He knew the role that the lifted military standard or banner played in relaying orders and focusing the movement of soldiers across the chaos of a battlefield before there was any form of electronic communication.  Soldiers in St. Ignatius’ time knew to focus on their standard as the success of the battle and their very lives depended upon it. 

In the exercises, St. Ignatius encourages us to reflect on the two standards: the standard of Christ and the standard of Satan.  The standard of Satan is marked by riches, desire for vain honor and surging pride.  In contrast, the standard of Christ calls forth three steps: “the first, poverty in opposition to riches; the second, reproaches or contempt in opposition to honor from the world; and the third, humility in opposition to pride.” (SE 146) It is in these three steps that the good soldier rallies under the standard of Christ and knows success in the battle with the powers of the world.

“Poverty in opposition to riches.”  When the world says, “More is better.” the soldier under the standard of Christ learns that less is enough and that choosing the less leads to a joy that the world cannot offer.  Those who place themselves under the standard of Christ are called to learn and grow in appreciation of both the material and spiritual poverty that Jesus himself exemplified in order to learn reliance on God and to grow in relationship with God.  Why are you anxious about clothes?  Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.  They do not work or spin.  But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.  If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not provide for you, O you of little faith?  (Mt. 6:28-30)  A mark of the soldier of Christ is the ability and the desire to choose the less, just as Jesus did. 

“Reproaches or contempt in opposition to honor from the world.”  Just as Jesus himself was doubted, viewed with suspicion, misunderstood, the subject of slander, mockery and ridicule so will the soldier, who freely stands under the standard of Christ, be.  The disciple is not one who willingly seeks these things out nor revels in them (a badge of honor quickly leading into the sin of pride) but rather, learns that there are abundant graces received when one can walk through such moments as they come in faith and trust.  The disciple knows, that by so doing, he or she is walking where Jesus walked and that Jesus, himself, is present in companionship.  There is grace to be found when one is misunderstood, rejected and viewed in contempt for holding true to Jesus.  Whether or not it is recognized and valued by friend, stranger or neighbor, it is recognized and valued by Jesus and Jesus makes himself known to those who walk through reproaches and contempt for him.  The true soldier remains close to Jesus and patiently endures the storm if needed.    

“Humility in opposition to pride.”  The eternal Word let go of glory and humbly took the form of a slave being born of a virgin.  Jesus embraced humility throughout his life and ministry upon this earth.  Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and he humbly bore the weight of the cross.  In humble acceptance to the will of the Father, he even embraced death on the cross.  Humility is the road that Jesus himself walked and it is the disciple’s royal road of return to the Father.  It is within the humble heart alone that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit make their dwelling-place.  Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.  (Jn. 14:23)  Soldiers for Christ come to know humility both as a needed virtue and as a privileged place of encounter with the Triune God. 

What does it mean to be a soldier for Christ?  St. Ignatius, through his Spiritual Exercises, gives us a good understanding.  The soldier for Christ is the one who remains under the Standard of Christ.  The soldier for Christ is the one who learns the value of poverty, the value of reproaches and contempt and the value of humility. 

The Holy Spirit and the two vistas

13 Monday May 2024

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View from a hike on Hogback Trail in Lathrop State Park, CO.

The Holy Spirit opens vistas both before us and within us. 

Vistas, those wide expansive views, are part of what has been drawing me increasingly out west on vacation.  My home of East Tennessee is, I believe, one of the most beautiful places on God’s green earth but one thing it lacks are the vistas found in the western United States.  In a vista one can see for miles and miles and the sky opens before you!  Vistas and their sweeping views help to put all things and even ourselves in perspective.  When I gaze on the expansiveness of a vista, I hear an echo of a similar expanse within my very soul.  Wonder is easily born in those moments when one is caught up in the view of a vista. 

The Holy Spirit, the Advocate promised by the risen Jesus, continually opens every Christian disciple and the Church herself to the great vista before us which is the coming of the Kingdom of God.  The Church cannot stay behind locked doors.  This is not the mandate given us nor is it where we belong.  The Church must go forth into the world as Jesus has instructed us.  Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. (Mk. 16:15) 

The Church goes forth to proclaim the good news confidently because she knows that behind and undergirding the horizon of the world is the greater horizon of the Kingdom of God.  It is on this greatest of vistas that the eyes of the Church are set and to which her heart is drawn.  Hope is given by the Holy Spirit who has been poured forth and who dwells in our heart, who reminds us that we are indeed sons and daughters of God and who gives us the assurance to call God “Abba” (Rom. 8:14-17).  We proclaim the good news in the confidence of children of God knowing the truth of the Kingdom!    

The Holy Spirit also opens us to the vistas found within our very selves and to their expansive views. 

The topic I wrote on for my licentiate in sacred theology was a comparison of our modern understanding of what constitutes the human person and the concept of the human person as expressed by St. Augustine in his writing of The Literal Meaning of Genesis.  Through the comparison I came to realize how truly anemic and limited in some very critical ways our modern secular understanding of the human person is.  Modern secular definitions of the human person are limited because – through a whole development of historical-societal occurrences and trends in philosophical thought – we have boxed ourselves in.  We have isolated ourselves from any hint of a connection with the transcendent as well as increasingly isolating ourselves from authentic connection with one another.  This anemic understanding of the human person is, I believe, at the heart of many of our current societal ills and confusions. We have forgotten who we are, in whose image we are made and for what purpose we are made.  We have forgotten and cut ourselves off from seeing our own expansiveness. 

We have lost sight of our own inner vistas. 

The concept of the human person found in St. Augustine’s The Literal Meaning of Genesis on the other hand, does not box us in.  In fact, it does the exact opposite.  Where modern understanding locks the human person in a box, the thought that St. Augustine expresses in his writing on Genesis locates us in a columned courtyard (my image) which stands open, by design, both to the sky above as well as to all of the surrounding vistas.  For Augustine, we are hardwired for authentic and true connection both with God and with one another.  Not so for the modern secular understanding of the human person. 

It seems to me that a critically important task for the Christian disciple in our world today is to free ourselves from/step out of the box of this modern concept of the human person which we have all inherited.  It is fair and just to acknowledge the good found in this modern inheritance (and there is good) but we do not have to be imprisoned nor limited by the constraints also found within this inheritance. 

The Holy Spirit is the prime mover in this task.  We have received the Spirit who is the very love between the Father and the Son. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it.  But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. (Jn. 14:16-18)

Truth cannot exist alongside illusion and falsity and the “Spirit of truth” has been given us and even dwells within us.  The “world” – human pride and error – does not recognize the Spirit because the Spirit is not constrained by its limits and the Spirit has been given to us to continually set us free from whatever would seek to bind and imprison us as well as deny our dignity – whatever would box us in.  The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (Jn. 3:8)    

Ask the Holy Spirit to strip away any and all internal illusions of isolation and separation.  It is time to move beyond the sad and anemic concept of the human person found in modern secularism.  Pray the Holy Spirit to liberate you and bring you into a living and authentic relationship with God and with others – not an isolating box but a columned courtyard open both to the wonder of the sky and the surrounding vistas! 

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba, “Father!”  The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we also may be glorified with him.  (Rom. 8:14-17)

We, who have received the Holy Spirit, are called to keep our eyes fixed on the great vista before us which is the coming Kingdom of God as well as be ever aware and attentive to the expansive vistas that God has placed within us. 

The two vistas are connected: if not even one and the same.   

The Resurrection – Only God makes a beginning, only God creates an end.

13 Saturday Apr 2024

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I recently read an article where a woman by the name of Norann Voll reflects on the many lessons she learned from her father growing up on a farm during lambing season.  At one point the author wrote this,

When the miracle of (the twin lambs) lay there in the sawdust and the ewe licked them off, urging them to stand for their first meal, I looked at Dad.  His eyes shone as blue as chicory flowers and his face was wet with tears.  “No human can create a beginning, Nora,” he said, “and no human can create an end.  It’s all in God’s hands.”

Friends, this is a truth of faith and a lesson of Easter.  Only God creates a beginning and an end.  The first reading of the Easter Vigil Mass is the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis.  After that reading the Church prays these words,

Almighty and ever-living God, who are wonderful in the ordering of all your works, may those you have redeemed understand that there exists nothing more marvelous than the world’s creation in the beginning except that, at the end of the ages, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.   

… there exists nothing more marvelous than the world’s creation … except that, at the end of the ages, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 

There is a tradition in our faith that Easter – the day of the resurrection of our Lord – should be considered the eighth day of creation.  Only God can create a beginning.  Only God is the author of life.  Only God could enter the false end that we made – the silence of the tomb – break it open and create a new beginning for us.  From the death of the tomb, Jesus rose! 

This is the wonder that the readings throughout this season of Easter proclaim and that the first disciples experienced!  In today’s gospel (Lk. 24:35-48), after the two disciples share how they encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus, the risen Lord stands in the midst of his disciples, Peace be with you … Why are you troubled? … Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me and see …  Jesus showed them his hands and his feet, his wounds.   God wastes nothing and God redeems all.  Even the wounds of life are taken up into the new creation of the resurrection. 

Only God creates a beginning and an end.  There is nothing more wonderful than the world’s creation except, even more, the new creation brought about by the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ.  This is the truth we know and the hope we live by as Christians. 

If there are tombs in our lives – a besetting sin, an addiction, a wound inflicted or a pain endured – know that only God creates a beginning and only God creates an end.  The tomb has been broken in the resurrection.  Invite the risen Lord into that tomb.  Welcome Christ even into that!  Let his presence, his grace, his mercy pour forth and know that all tombs can be broken in Christ. 

“No human can create a beginning, Nora,” he said, “and no human can create an end.  It’s all in God’s hands.”

Good Friday – to stand where Jesus stood

29 Friday Mar 2024

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Good Friday invites us to stand in that place where Jesus stood. 

In Isaiah 50:5-6 we hear of this place from the very mouth of the suffering servant.  And I have not rebelled, have not turned back.  I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.

In the Garden of Eden, through pride, we rebelled, and we turned back from God’s will for us, but Jesus does neither.  In his passion and in the fullness of his humanity, Jesus stands in that place where we failed.  Jesus obeys the will of the Father.  He neither rebels nor does he turn back. 

How do we respond to insult, mockery, abuse, disregard and violence?  Is not our first inclination to respond in kind?  If you insult me, then get ready for my insult back!  If you hurt me then I will hurt you even more!  We see this sad logic at play throughout human history and throughout our world today.  But Jesus does not buy into this sad logic.  Jesus does not rebel, he does not go against the will of the Father.  Jesus does not disobey God’s law; he does not respond to violence directed towards him in whatever form with violence in return. 

Nor does Jesus turn back.  Again, in the fullness of his humanity, he remains in the Father’s will even as he is betrayed, insulted, mocked, scourged, slandered, tossed between Pilate and Herod and disregarded by so many even as he hung on the cross for us.  Jesus remained, he took all the violence and spite that was thrown at him.  Could any of us have done this?  Would our inclination not have been to fall back, to get away from such pain? 

This is the place where Jesus stood, neither rebelling nor falling back.  Jesus stood fully in this place where we failed and he did what we could not.  Jesus obeyed, trusting in the love of the Father. 

Good Friday invites us to stand in this place where Jesus stood.  It is only in grace that we can do this but that grace has been given now in Christ.     

And a deeper truth, when (in grace) we are able to stand in that place where Jesus stood – neither rebelling nor falling back when violence is directed at us – we will find that Jesus stands there with us.  That very place becomes a place of encounter with our Lord where we know his companionship, his friendship and his love.  It becomes a place of blessing rather than a curse. 

Good Friday invites us to stand in that place where Jesus stood.   

How to handle Calumny

11 Monday Mar 2024

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In his recent homily (found on Word on Fire) for the third Sunday of Lent, Bishop Robert Barron offers succinct reflections on each of the Ten Commandments.  He rightly (I believe) connects the breaking of the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” with the sin of calumny.  Calumny, the willful spreading of false statements about another person in order to damage their reputation, is rife within our society and given safe haven, it seems, especially on social media.  Bishop Barron, both in his insight as a theologian and pioneer in ministry via social media, is in a unique vantage point to note this besetting sin of our age and to call it out.  Which he does. 

The point of reflection for this post is how are we to handle calumny when it comes our way?  Which, more than likely, it will at some point or even points within our lives.  I offer four thoughts for consideration. 

First, be grateful.  Yes, it’s a paradox but we have a God who delights in paradox and frankly, life if full of paradoxes.  The silver lining in the dark cloud of calumny is that you quickly learn who your true friends are.  “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure” (Sirach 6:14).  Isn’t it best to know where the sturdy shelter is during a time of turmoil than be left out in the cold by false friends who turn away from you just because of something they have heard or something that they suppose to be true about you which is not?  Calumny can actually clear the weeds of false friendship out of one’s life which makes the true, faithful friend all the more apparent and valued.  Being receptive to the lies of calumny also demonstrates a profound lack of intelligence.  Judging another person because of what others say before even knowing the person oneself or even choosing to believe lies about another person rather than one’s own experience of the person is intellectual sloth, plain and simple.  Who wants a stupid friend?  There is a silver lining. 

Second, be civil.  If calumny is a besetting sin of our time, if there are victims of calumny then that means there are perpetrators of calumny.  I call them “wormtongues” after the pathetic character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”.  (Grima Wormtongue is the court official who whispered lies into the ears of King Theoden in order to steal away life and keep the king paralyzed in doubt.)  Wormtongues lack true moral authority and courage (think of internet trolls) and they think that the way to build themselves up is to tear other persons down.  Don’t sink to the level or actions of wormtongues.  Don’t be naïve to them or their machinations, know them for who they are, but be civil in the face of their incivility.  Choosing to respond civilly even in the face of hostility and lies is an act of moral courage and strength.  Be civil. 

Be faithful.  Here we encounter a deep mystery of our faith.  Not only do we have a God who is Truth and who calls us to live in truth in our relationships and to not bear false witness but we have a God who also fully endured the scourge of calumny himself.  Jesus, throughout his ministry, had to endure the whispers of lies and doubts about who he was and his true motives.  “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” (Mt. 9:34) This whispering became a consistent and hellish roar directed straight at our Lord throughout his passion from the agony in the garden and the running away of the disciples to the mocking of the soldiers during the scourging to the crowd calling for his death to insults even as he hung on the cross, “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Mt. 27:40).  Jesus knows full well the pain of calumny. 

Here is a spiritual exercise for those times when one is experiencing the pain of calumny: pray over a Gospel passage where Jesus is enduring the pain of calumny, place yourself in the scene and just be there as faithful friend for our Lord.  We cannot take the pain away, but Jesus so values our presence and our friendship.  Just be there in that moment as friend for Jesus.  Graces will come from that prayer. 

Finally, be open to leaving by knowing your fixed point.  Throughout his ministry, Jesus moved from town to town, sometimes because he knew that forces were aligning against him and lies were being told but that his hour had not yet come.   Throughout all this movement, Jesus always remained rooted in his relationship with the Father.  His relationship with the Father was his fixed point.  When we know our fixed point everything else becomes secondary.  As Christians, our fixed point is that each of us is a beloved child of God with a dignity and worth.  If this is not being respected, if lies are being told, then we have the freedom to move on from a particular group and its relationships, from a specific social setting and even from a certain location.  Knowing our fixed point brings a freedom that the sin of calumny cannot overcome. 

Calumny is a sin and it is a besetting sin of our time.  It is a sin that will probably come our way in one form or another but it can be endured with dignity and grace and we can know that our Lord, who himself endured the pain of calumny, walks with us in friendship and that this too shall pass.    

Finally, if you are a wormtongue, if you are a perpetrator of calumny, stop it.  You are breaking the Eighth Commandment which is a sin before God for which you will be held accountable.  You are tearing your brother and sister down; you are helping to tear our society apart and you are demeaning yourself in the process and that is pathetic.  Don’t be a wormtongue.  There is no dignity in being a wormtongue.    

First Sunday of Lent B – “Jesus, the New Adam”

18 Sunday Feb 2024

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In their presentation of the temptation of Jesus, Luke and Matthew lean on the imagery of Israel’s experience of the forty years in the desert.  Luke and Matthew present Jesus as the new Israel, the Israel who remains faithful to God’s covenant.  Mark – on the other hand – in his two short verses (Mk. 1:12-14) draws on a different source.  Mark goes to the very beginning of creation and draws on the imagery of Jesus as the new Adam.  Jesus, we are told, is “among wild beasts” not in fear and trepidation but rather walking freely in their midst and company just as Adam and Eve had walked freely before the Fall.  “Angels ministered to Jesus,” just as God walked in the cool of the evening in the garden and spoke freely with Adam and Eve.

Within the first chapter of his gospel, Mark is teaching that Jesus is the new Adam who restores that original unity and harmony to all creation that sin had fractured and broken.  Where Adam and Eve had succumbed to the temptation of Satan in the beauty of the garden; Jesus triumphs over Satan’s temptations in the barrenness of the desert. 

This is why Satan and all the demons take fright, tremble and beg not to be cast out before the power and authority of Jesus throughout the remainder of the gospels up until Satan attempts his great counterattack in the passion of our Lord but it is in that final move that Satan is dealt his defeat and our Lord’s full triumph is realized.    

In the desert (in these two short verses in Mark’s gospel) Jesus frees himself from Satan in order to then begin the work of freeing all of humankind.  Jesus had to face Satan before he could begin his public ministry.  This is why Scriptures says that the Holy Spirit “drove” Jesus into the desert.  It is in the desert, faced with the temptations, that Jesus overcomes sin.  It is in the desert that Jesus chooses his relationship with the Father above all else.  It is within the arena of human free will that Jesus meets and conquers Satan in the desert.  Adam and Eve misused their freedom.  They chose to disobey; sin was released and the human will was corrupted.  Jesus obeys.  Jesus says a free “yes” to the will of the Father.  It is in Jesus that a human will expands to fully welcome the entire will of the Father (paraphrased from The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa).  The domination of Satan over human will is destroyed.

What does this mean for us on this first Sunday of Lent in 2024?  It means that sin is not inevitable.  It means that our will is not the plaything of the devil.  It means that now in Jesus, we too can say “yes” to God.  It means that we also can welcome the will of God into our wills.  It means that we too can begin, even now, to know that authenticity and integrity of life that God intends for his creation rather than living just by the brokenness and pain of sin. 

What does it mean?  It means everything. 

Jesus is the new Adam.  Jesus is the one who restores unity and authenticity to all of creation and to each of our lives.  This first Sunday of Lent invites us to welcome Jesus and learn from him how to also say “yes” to the will of the Father.    

Holiness is not stingy. Holiness gives and welcomes. A homily for the second Sunday of Ordinary Time – B

13 Saturday Jan 2024

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“Andrew taking Simon to meet Jesus” by Mary Evans. Image may be subject to copyright. 

Holiness and the life of grace are not stingy.  Holiness gives and it welcomes. This is my personal learning from the Advent and Christmas seasons. 

When I placed myself in prayer in the manger scene, Joseph and Mary did not just allow me to gaze upon the child, they welcomed me to hold the babe in my own arms.  They did not hesitate in inviting me to hold the child.  When I watched as Simeon and Anna rejoiced in encountering the newborn Messiah in the Temple, they both welcomed me into that joy and hope fulfilled.  When I prayed over Matthew’s account of the three magi journeying to find the newborn king, I found myself eagerly welcomed by the three wise men to journey with them. 

Holiness and the life of grace are not stingy.  Holiness and the life of grace welcomes, invites and encourages.  It does not seek to keep for itself. We find this is today’s gospel ((Jn. 1:35-42) also.  John the Baptist, the one who was declared the greatest of those born of women by our Lord, eagerly points out Jesus as the Lamb of God to his own disciples, not a bit concerned if that means he and his own proclamation would be lessened.  “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  John’s two disciples begin to follow Jesus and John does not begrudge this.  

The holiness of Jesus also gives and welcomes – and this is the deep truth of today’s gospel.  Jesus asks John’s disciples, “What are you looking for?”  “Rabbi,” they answer, “where are you staying?”  Jesus says, “Come, and you will see.”  We are told that they stay with him that day and then they too rush out to invite others.  “We have found the Messiah!” 

“Where are you staying?”  “Come, and you will see.”  It was more than an invitation to a specific physical place.  Elsewhere in the gospel, Jesus says that the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.  The invitation of “come and see” is an invitation by our Lord into that deepest place where he truly resides.  It is an invitation into his very relationship with the Father.  It is an invitation freely given and those two disciples, even in their imperfections and lack of understanding, are both freely welcomed.  It is precisely this new experience of being welcomed into the Son’s relationship to the Father that impels those two disciples to then immediately go forth themselves and invite others to know what they have found.    

Holiness is not stingy. Holiness does not begrudge. It does not try to keep all for itself. Today’s gospel invites us to that same honesty of heart that the two disciples of John had.  “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  Today’s gospel invites us to the same courage and faith that the two disciples had when Jesus responds, “Come, and you will see.” The gospel invites us to also go to that place where our Lord abides in his relationship with the Father and to know that we – even in our imperfections – are indeed welcome. 

Andrew first went and found his brother Simon and brings him to where Jesus is staying.  Jesus looks at him and says, “You are Simon the Son of John: you will be called Cephas (Peter)”,

Life changes when we go to where Jesus resides.  Life changes when we come to know that we also are welcomed into the Son’s relationship with the Father. 

A coin, census and citizenship (Mt. 22:15-21)

21 Saturday Oct 2023

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This last week I bought a 1935 buffalo nickel for $3.00 in an antique store.  The nickel has the image of an American Indian on one side and on the other side it has the image of a buffalo.  I like the coin because it is a piece of American history and it is a reflection of our nation’s complicated story with both the indigenous peoples and the buffalo – a story that is far from over and continues. 

(A funny story to share regarding a priest who has now gone home to God.  This priest was known for being very, very frugal with money, so frugal in fact that people joked that if he ever had a buffalo nickel, he would squeeze it so tight that the Indian would end up riding the buffalo!  But I digress.) 

In answer to the Pharisee’s question about the lawfulness of paying the census tax to Caesar or not in today’s gospel (Mt. 22:15-21) our Lord asks to see a Roman coin.  Remember that “census” is about citizenship and being a subject.  Subjects pay tax to the authority that rules and governs, whether that be a government, a king or an empire.  On the coin is an image of Caesar with his inscription.  This is more than the image of George Washington on our dollar bill.  Caesar was considered a god in the empire.  In fact, the common greeting that subjects would give one another in the Roman Empire was, “Caesar is Lord!”  When the first Christians began to greet one another with, “Christ is Lord!” they were doing something very intentional and even dangerous as the Roman authorities would regard such a greeting as an act of treason.  The first Christians gave this greeting precisely because they had learned what our Lord was teaching in this gospel passage. 

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (let him and all the powers of the world have their piece of dead metal) and to God what belongs to God.”  If the coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image, then what belongs to God because it bears his image?  Genesis 1:27 gives the answer, “God created man in his image, in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.”  We bear the image of God; we belong to God and while we walk this earth, yes, with earthly citizenship and responsibilities, we know that our true citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and we strive to live our lives by God’s truth.  We must repay to God what belongs to God. 

There is another truth to our Lord’s answer that we need to let sink into our hearts.  God desires us, each one of us.  God desires the unique image of himself that he has crafted within each one of us.  God rejoices as we receive his love and as our own unique image of him begins to grow and shine!  We are not meant to repay half-heartedly nor grudgingly the image that God has placed within each of us but rather repay it back in abundance and love.  We do this by receiving God’s love and living in that love.  We come from God, we are with God and we are in journey back to God!

Census is about citizenship; it is about being a subject of a kingdom.  Our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and even now, we strive to live by the light of God’s Kingdom.  Repay to God what belongs to God.