Tag Archives: discipleship

Pentecost – we have a part to play

15 Sunday May 2016

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PentecostIn looking at my Facebook feed this weekend I have been reminded that we are in the midst of graduation season. Picture after picture of smiling graduates, at all levels, all across the country…  We certainly celebrate with graduates and congratulate them on what they have achieved.  But it is worthwhile to also note that behind every graduate stands dedicated teachers – men and women who often selflessly work for the good of their students.

I have recognized that one of the greatest gifts I have known in my life is that I have had exceptional teachers.  I have been blessed with men and women who have challenged and inspired me from elementary school all the way through my study of theology.  I owe to them so much – more than I can ever repay.  They guided my learning and also taught me how to keep learning.

But here is the catch – a teacher (even the very best teacher) can only instruct if the student is willing to listen. The student has a role to play.  The student must understand that he or she has a lack, that he or she does not have full knowledge, that he or she has something to learn and maybe even does not know what he or she does not know.  A student has to be open and willing to receive.  A student needs to be humble.

If today’s gospel (Jn. 14:15-16, 23b-25) sounds familiar it is because part of it was proclaimed last Sunday. Last Sunday I choose to focus on the Father and Son coming to dwell with the believer in friendship.  This Sunday, being Pentecost, it is appropriate I believe to focus on these words offered by our Lord, “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”  

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to teach but a teacher (even the very best) can only instruct if the student is willing to listen, if the student recognizes that he or she has a lack and if the student is humble and willing to receive. On Pentecost we proclaim and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples but the coming of the Spirit did not end there.  If this celebration is to be authentic then we, on our part, must be willing to ask the question, “Am I willing to listen and then receive the gift of the Spirit and the Spirit’s instruction for me?”  I have to be humble enough to acknowledge my need and my lack and then I have to be faith-filled enough to accept what the Holy Spirit has to give.

That day of Pentecost the gathering of disciples was so little, so small in such a big world. The Holy Spirit comes upon them like a strong driving wind and they begin to proclaim the good news!  Acts lists a multitude of nations and peoples present and then we are told that each nation and grouping heard the disciples proclaiming in their own tongue.  To this small, little gathering of disciples God gives nothing less than the whole world!  We have a part to play on Pentecost.  We have to be faith-filled enough to accept what the Holy Spirit has to give us!

Lord, may we not be so stingy and little of heart as to begrudge your call. Playing small is not part of Pentecost.  It is a false humility.

Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church and on this birthday we find two things – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the small gathering of disciples in prayer, listening and fully aware of their need. How do we learn how to listen?  In any age the skill of listening is needed but I believe now, even more, this skill is needed in our lives and in our world.  How do we learn how to listen?

Here is one simple thought. Scripture testifies that there is only one person who was present at the birth of Christ, who was present at the crucifixion and who was present at Pentecost.  One person – Mary, the mother of our Lord.  To learn how to listen and then have the faith to say “yes” go to Mary.  Seek her out in Scripture, seek her out in prayer.  Ask her to pray for you and to pray with you.  She will teach if we are willing to listen.

A teacher can only instruct if the student is willing to listen. We have a part to play on Pentecost.  We need to listen and we need to have the faith to say “yes” to the Holy Spirit.

“We will come to him and make our dwelling with him…”

30 Saturday Apr 2016

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A rendering of Rublev’s icon of the Trinity – a reflection on communion and friendship

When and where does friendship begin?  It is a question worthy of reflection.  When we look at the friendships within our lives, where and when did they start?  Did our friendships begin all at once in an instant or did they gradually develop and grow over time, even to the point where we might not exactly remember when a friendship began?  I think that the latter of these two is the more common nature of true friendship.  Friendship grows over time and it grows through daily means.

As Christians we believe in the friendship of God. This is an aspect of the uniqueness of Christianity.  But it is a friendship not because we have loved God first but because God has chosen to love us.  The readings for this sixth Sunday of Easter can be read in the terms of friendship (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Rev. 21:10-14, 22-23 and Jn. 14:23-29).

In today’s gospel we find our Lord saying, “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…”  In his book, The Priority of Christ, Bishop Robert Barron takes some necessary time and effort to explore what the doctrine of Christ as fully human and fully God has to say about the very nature of God.  Bishop Barron begins by exploring the very common fallacy of viewing God as just the “biggest” of beings.  He points out that if this were the case then God would still just be a being among other beings (albeit the biggest) and therefore if God is just another being then God’s will necessarily inhibits and limits my will, my freedom and my very being.  Nothing is further from the truth and this is demonstrated in the reality of Christ being both fully God and fully human, because in Christ we find humanity fully realized and not inhibited in any way in the presence of full divinity.  God is not the biggest being among other beings who will necessarily limit my freedom by his presence; God is “otherly other” – to quote one early Church Father.  God operates in a way that we cannot fully grasp because we are limited beings.  God does not need to compete with us.

“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…”  Christ is offering the terms of a friendship that is truly non-competitive in nature.  This is the amazing promise of Christ.  To the one who strives to keep the word of Christ; God will come and make his dwelling with him or her.  “Dwelling” is a neat word here.  It is not heavy.  It does not oppress.  It is a place of life and home.  The presence of God does not limit nor oppress because God is otherly other.  God can be fully present to us in our lives in a non-competitive manner and in a way that truly fulfills us.  Keeping God’s word leads to this true life.

Our Lord continues this invitation to a non-competitive friendship with the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  “I have told you this while I am with you.  The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”  Christ can promise and give a peace that moves beyond all the limits of this world precisely because Christ in the fullness of his divinity and humanity is otherly other.  Christ can enter into your life and my life in a way that brings fulfillment.  God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit does not come to limit life but to give the abundance of life and peace.

In today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation we are given the image of the new and heavenly Jerusalem.  It has been noted that in the development of Sacred Scripture there can be seen a progression in regards to the awareness of the presence of God.  First, God is present for his people in the meeting tent.  Second, God is present in the temple then God is present in Jerusalem.  In the New Testament, God is fully revealed within the person of Jesus who is both the new temple and the new covenant and Christ seeks to be welcomed within the human heart, “…and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him…”.

John writes of his vision, “I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.  The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.”  There is no need of temple or church in the heavenly Jerusalem because the presence of God is fully realized and welcomed within each human heart.  This welcoming in friendship begins today and it is found in the daily invitation to encounter our Lord as he makes himself present to us.

In the first reading from Acts we find the early Church deliberating about its mission to the Gentiles – how this is to occur and even “if” it should occur.  This is no small thing.  In fact, it is at the heart of the mission of the Church and it, in many ways, is a question about friendship.  Can the friendship with God that we now know through Christ be extended and should it be extended to the whole world?  The Church, guided by the Spirit, comes to the decision that yes, friendship should be extended and friendship is always possible.  This mission continues today and it is primarily an invitation to friendship.  The love that we have heard and seen and touched is a love that, by its very nature, must be extended to others.  As Church, we proclaim that friendship is always possible and we make this proclamation despite the messages that seek to isolate and divide people from one another.

“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…”

Little things matter: a thought on “Amoris Laetitia”

22 Friday Apr 2016

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big hand and little handOne take away that I have gained from Amoris Laetitia is to pay attention to the little things because they do matter.  Like many people, I am seeking to follow the Holy Father’s recommendation and read the exhortation a little at a time in order to reflect as I go.  I am doing my best to obey the pope in this regard and I have found that the document does lend itself to this style of reflective reading.

The exhortation is rich in scriptural and theological thought on love and marriage and there is much worthy of reflecting upon but one thing that I believe this pope is keenly aware of is that all that richness regarding love and marriage which our tradition affords has to be lived out in the daily and in the ordinary and that our daily choices do make a difference. Love and marriage do not exist locked away somewhere in a hermetically sealed vacuum but are made and grow (or sadly torn down) by the daily choices we make.  This is not to deny any of the teachings that the Church has but rather to both see and put them in context and to acknowledge that context does matter.

If God does not disdain the daily and ordinary (i.e. creation and the incarnation) then why should we? Pope Francis is aware of this and through his exhortation he is inviting the Church to this awareness.

One part of the exhortation that brings this awareness out for me can be found in chapters 127 and 128. It is shared below.  Notice how the Holy Father offers some astute theological and philosophical reasoning right alongside some very practical and daily observations and advice.  The two are not separate for Pope Francis.

…Loving another person involves the joy of contemplating and appreciating their innate beauty and sacredness, which is greater than my needs. This enables me to seek their good even when they cannot belong to me, or when they are no longer physically appealing but intrusive and annoying.  For “the love by which one person is pleasing to another depends on his or her giving something freely”.

The aesthetic experience of love is expressed in that “gaze” which contemplates other persons as ends in themselves, even if they are infirm, elderly or physically unattractive. A look of appreciation has enormous importance, and to begrudge it is usually hurtful.  How many things do spouses and children sometimes do in order to be noticed!  Much hurt and many problems result when we stop looking at one another.  This lies behind the complaints and grievances we often hear in families: “My husband does not look at me; he acts as if I were invisible”.  “Please look at me when I am talking to you!”  “My wife no longer looks at me, she only has eyes for our children.”  “In my own home nobody cares about me: they do not even see me; it is if I did not exist!”  Love opens our eyes and enables us to see, beyond all else, the great worth of a human being.  (AL, #127-128)

The innate dignity of the human person is affirmed along with the solid teaching that no human person should be treated as a means to an end. We can develop the ability to recognize this worth through the profound spiritual truth of making the free choice to love.  These are profound truths of our faith grounded both philosophically and theologically and the Holy Father immediately ties them in to our everyday lives when he then goes on to write: Much hurt and many problems result when we stop looking at one another. 

It is not enough to just contemplate the idea of love, we must be willing to live the choice to love and that choice is made in the very ordinary and daily context of our lives. In this regards it is the choice to simply gaze on the other person and simply make eye contact.  And it does make a difference.

Not that long ago I ran into a parishioner from a previous assignment and she shared with me that one of the things she appreciated about my ministry at her parish was that I actually made eye contact with her and other people when I distributed communion. This assignment was years ago and she still remembered the simple exchange of eye contact and not just hurriedly handing out the Eucharist as if in an assembly line!  The little things we do matter for people, more so than we may often realize.

Going further, I think that Pope Francis has recently given the whole world a lesson in this in his willingness to have the Vatican (assisted by the Community of Sant’Egidio) take in and provide shelter for twelve Syrian refugees. The Church and Popes have consistently taught both the dignity of the person and the dignity of refugees.  Pope Francis has continued this teaching and he has demonstrated his willingness to go beyond just a theoretical teaching and make the choice to love specifically in the context of our day by welcoming these refugees!  Before the whole world, the Pope is practicing what he is preaching.  By welcoming these refugees, the Holy Father is demonstrating that he has “made eye contact” as it were; he has gazed upon these men, women and children in their need and has recognized their innate dignity and worth and has made the choice to help them.

Choices made in the daily context of our situations do make a difference including the choice to gaze on the other person with love and respect.

In the gospel for this coming Sunday (Jn. 13:31-33a, 34-35) our Lord gives us the new commandment to love one another. It is important to note that this commandment is not given as a theoretical abstract but is given within a specific context: after our Lord humbles himself and washes the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.  Throughout that sacred meal our Lord gazed upon his disciples with love (John tells us that he loved them to the end) and they humbly looked on as he (the teacher and master) washed their feet.  Love here is not an idea contemplated but a choice lived for the other.

Choices made in love do matter. They do make a difference.  Even the most daily and seemingly mundane of choices to love and show love matter and they connect us, as disciples, to our Lord himself.  Pope Francis knows this.  Hopefully we can learn from him.

Belonging to Christ

16 Saturday Apr 2016

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Christ the Good ShepherdThe context of today’s gospel (Jn. 10:27-30) is the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem. Jesus is in the Temple when he is approached by some Jews who begin to question him, asking if he is the Christ.  The feast of the Dedication marked an historical moment in the history of Israel when the Jewish people were able to overcome their Greek oppressors and re-dedicate the Temple by destroying and removing a pagan altar that had been placed there.  The context is important because it demonstrates the importance of the Temple in the culture and psyche of the Jewish people.  The Temple was the meeting place between God and his people.  The Temple was the visible sign for the Jewish people of their belonging to God.  This sense of “belonging” is of importance.

In his reply to their questions our Lord says, “My sheep…” Another translation gets more specific and has our Lord say, “The sheep that belong to me…” Elsewhere in the gospels our Lord says that he is the good shepherd and he then shares the attributes of the good shepherd but here the focus seems to be more on the sheep and true belonging. True belonging is not ultimately to be found in any sort of physical structure but in relationship with Christ, who is God incarnate in our midst.  This is the new covenant that our Lord inaugurates and it is the covenant in which we belong and have fullness of life.

What does it mean “to belong”?

“My sheep hear my voice…”  To “hear” the voice of Christ is to let it enter into one’s life and one’s heart.  It also means being willing to listen.  In the equation of Christian life there is a part that is our due.  We have to take the time and make it a priority to listen to God through prayer, through reading the Scriptures, through receiving the sacraments, through being active in community.  We have to be willing to turn off all the distractions that this life affords in abundance and listen for the voice of the shepherd.  We also need to not let the voices of fear drown out the voice of the shepherd.  We need to guard our hearts for the one voice that brings true life.

“I know them, and they follow me.”  In the third chapter of John’s gospel, our Lord tells us that everyone who does wrong hates the light that has come into the world and avoids it.  This is the human condition weakened by original sin.  We all have this fear in us.  We all want to hide away parts of ourselves – our sins, our weaknesses, our little egos.  The Christian life is a journey of letting go of this fear.  We need to allow Christ in.  We need to allow him to know us and we need to trust in his love and his mercy.  It is like going to a doctor.  A doctor cannot prescribe the proper cure if we keep our mouths shut and do not say what ails us.  Christ is the divine physician but he wants to hear from us what ails us.  Knowledge and love are connected.  The more that we are known by Christ, the more we know we are loved by Christ and then we follow – not out of fear or obligation – but out of love.

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”  This answers the deepest yearning of the human heart – to belong eternally.  This is the hope that we have as Christians – already planted deep within our hearts.  C.S. Lewis describes it as the memory of the distant land we have yet to visit.  It is a hope that continually pulls us forward – beyond our limits, our fears and our sins.

The truest friendship we have is friendship with Christ. His words spoken to us are words spoken in friendship and they are words that invite us into the greatest mystery – in Christ we come to know the Father and we come to know that we belong to him.

“No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.  The Father and I are one.” 

Joy in the Resurrection and the Call to Trust

09 Saturday Apr 2016

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Jesus Christ appears on the Shore of the Lake of Tiberias by James Tissot

It is interesting to note how the disciples react in the gospels when they encounter the risen Lord. They all have this very interesting reaction of a mix of great joy and amazement but also fear and uncertainty.  They rejoice that Jesus is risen and alive but yet they remain locked behind closed doors out of fear of the religious authorities.  The tomb is emptied yet they know that the powers of the world are seeking to persecute and destroy them because they are the followers of this Jesus of Nazareth.  It was true for the first group of followers and it remains true today.

It is also interesting to note how the risen Lord responds to this mix of emotions on the part of his followers. He does not respond by given them a blueprint or map if you will.  The risen Lord in all of these encounters never tells them how things will go or what will happen, how they will witness to him or where it will take them rather all that he continually says is to rejoice in the resurrection and to trust in him.

A scene from the movie “Risen” has remained with me these past few weeks. In the movie the Roman tribune at the center of the story has seen the risen Lord and his world is turned upside down.  He is following along with the disciples and at one point he is with them as they are rushing to Galilee because Mary Magdalene had told the disciples that Jesus had said he would be there waiting for them.  The tribune is running alongside Peter and they both stop to catch a breath.  The tribune asks Peter what he thinks they will find in Galilee and Peter says, “I don’t know.”  Perplexed by this, the tribune then asks him why he is going if he does not know what they will find and Peter responds, “Because I trust.”

Those first disciples, when all the powers of the world were arrayed against them, had nothing other than joy and amazement at the resurrection and trust. It was enough for them and frankly, it is enough for us.  We also have the joy of the risen Lord in our hearts yet we also know fear and uncertainty.  We also do not know where it is all going.  There are also powers arrayed against us.  Christ does not give any one of us a blueprint or a map; rather he gives us some things much more worthwhile – his very resurrection and the call to trust in him.

We find in this Sunday’s gospel (Jn. 21:1-19) that there are also two other things given to aid the disciples in their journey throughout history. One is community – the Church.  The disciples are gathered together again at the Sea of Tiberias and this is not just coincidence.  Peter says that he is going fishing and the others respond that they will go with him.  Together, they all get in the boat.  Scriptures tells us that where two or three are gathered together, there is our Lord in their midst.  It is when they are together and all of them hard at the work of fishing that our Lord appears to them.  The life of Christian faith is not meant to be lived alone.  We encounter the risen Lord together.  Community and the Church are not optional for the Christian, rather they are a source of encounter with the risen Lord.

The other great gift given to the Church in this gospel and a continual way to encounter the risen Lord is the call to charity. Three times our Lord asks Peter if he loves him.  Three times Peter says “yes” and the risen Lord responds with, “feed my lambs … tend my sheep … feed my sheep.” It is a call given to the whole Church.  It is also a gift.  When we feed and tend one another, especially the most vulnerable and poor in our midst, then we meet the risen Lord and we are graced and strengthened in our encounter.  The powers of the world do not understand this and they never will but there is a great power, perhaps the greatest, given to the poor and the vulnerable.  When we live charity, we encounter the risen Lord.

As for the first disciples so for us, we know the joy of the resurrection yet we also can be fearful and uncertain in our world. The risen Lord does not give a blueprint of how it will all work out.  Rather, he invites us to live in the joy of the resurrection and to trust in him and he teaches us that we will encounter him in community and in the living of charity.

Rejoice and Trust!

07 Thursday Apr 2016

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RESURRECTION PICTURE 2It is interesting to note what strikes us and what we notice when we journey yet again through a liturgical season through which we have already traversed each year of our lives. My experience has taught me that each year is different and that there are new challenges and new insights gained.  This liturgical season of Easter is no different.

Maybe it is because I just concluded a series on the Gospel of John in the parish which required me to delve deeper in my gospel study or because I recently saw the movie “Risen” which, at least for me, brought home the same point but this Easter season I have been reminded how the disciples still did not fully know where things were all going even after they encountered the risen Lord.

In their encounters with the risen Lord, as found in the gospels, we find within the reactions of the disciples an interesting mixture of incredible joy held along with fear and uncertainty. Christ is risen!  The master and teacher that the disciples loved and followed now lives again, the tomb is empty, but the disciples still gather behind locked doors.  Even as Christ defeats death, the powers of the world are searching out his followers to persecute and destroy them.  It began with that first small band of disciples and it continues to our day.

I believe that the scene which most struck me in the movie “Risen” was when the disciples were rushing to meet the risen Lord in Galilee as they were told to do. At one point the Roman tribune is running alongside Peter and they both stop to catch a breath.  I cannot remember the full and exact dialogue but the tribune basically asks Peter what he thinks they will find in Galilee, to which Peter replies, “I don’t know.”  The tribune then asks why Peter is going if he does not know what he will find.  “Because I trust,” replies Peter.

The book had not yet been written when the disciples encountered the risen Lord those first days after the resurrection. In one sense we have “the book”.  We know through Sacred Scripture and Church history what happens and how things begin to take shape.  We know what the apostles do afterwards and how they all go out in mission into the world.  We have the book.  They did not.  The pages were still being written.  All they had was their trust in the Lord and their amazement at his resurrection.  But that was enough.

The truth is that it is enough for us in our day also. This, I think, is a message we need to hear this Easter.  We live in interesting times to say the least.  In the U.S. it seems that Christianity no longer enjoys the dominant cultural status it had enjoyed and exercised (at least on the surface), our society is becoming more pluralistic and more secular.  Things once taken for granted can no longer be.

One reaction to this is to circle the wagons, say it is all done, the book is finished and the end times are upon us. Some people choose that route.  Another response is to do as the first disciples did: be amazed and overjoyed by the resurrection and trust!  I do not believe that the book of Christianity and the Church is done.  I think that the pages are still being written and that we are blessed to live in the times we find ourselves!

One of my favorite saints is St. Augustine. I love to read his writings, to try to follow and grasp his depth of thought and to catch his snarky comments.  For my Licentiate in Sacred Theology, I compared Augustine’s anthropology expressed in The Literal Meaning of Genesis with modern, secular anthropology.  The cliff notes version of my work is that Augustine’s anthropology is better.  There you have it.  During my study and since then, I have realized that part of the appeal of Augustine for me and other readers is connected to the context in which he lived and wrote.  He wrote in a time when Christianity was small and vulnerable and not the dominant social force but his writings still reveal the genius and beauty of our faith and thought.  There is something worthy of remembering and reflecting upon in this.

Is the United States becoming more secular and pluralistic? Seems so.  Will Christianity remain the dominant social power player it once was?  Maybe not.  Is Christ risen, is the tomb emptied?  Yes.  Then rejoice and trust!  The pages of Christianity and the Church are not finished being written!  Contexts may change but the gospel truth stays the same and continues on!

The very human temptation to remain behind the locked doors and believe that it is all coming to an end just because the context we find ourselves in is changing is constantly before us. But just because the context changes that does not mean that the end is near.  Frankly, history demonstrates that it is in times of change that the greatest growth occurs partly because we are brought back to what is essential which, in this case, means rejoicing in the risen Lord and trusting.  Our Lord’s call to go to Galilee is a continual call and corrective to his band of followers to move beyond the resignation of a “circle the wagons” mentality and to trust and go out into the times in which we find ourselves proclaiming the risen Christ as Lord!

As true for that first band of followers, so for us. Christ is risen!  The tomb is emptied.  Rejoice and trust!  The Lord goes ahead of us to Galilee!

The Priest as Friend

02 Saturday Apr 2016

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friendship in christThere are many images of ordained priesthood that operate in our Church today – the priest as sacramental minister, the priest as co-worker with the bishop, the priest as pastor, the priest as leader of the worshipping community. These are some of the more “official” images of priesthood but there are others, I have come to realize, that can often operate in the hearts and minds of both priests and laity alike.  The priest as administrator and builder operating the parish with efficient ease!  The priest as superhero stomping out evil with his superpowers.  (I have seen many a vocation poster/image along this line and I have to admit I find it rather silly to say the least.)  The priest as shaman battling dark forces behind the scenes by the use of ancient languages and rituals.  The priest as philosopher or wisdom figure enlightening the masses with his erudite thought.  Are there times when a priest does have to head a building project and administrate a parish?  Yes, certainly.  There are also times when a priest has to wade through the darkness of sin and evil in life and I hope that at least every now and then the priest does offer something worthwhile for people to consider.  All this is to say that there are many images surrounding the priest – some official and some not-so-official yet held in different hearts.

One image that I would like to explore is priest as friend but a friendship that has a specific root and foundation which is from and in Christ. I do not presume that others cannot also share in this friendship, in fact I think it is a commonality among all disciples, but for my purposes here I want to relate this vocation of friendship specifically to the ordained priesthood.

In the fifteenth chapter of John we find our Lord uttering these rather amazing words, “This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends, if you do what I command you.  I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.  You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.  My command to you is to love one another.”  (Jn. 15:12-17)

I once read where a renowned theologian, much more knowledgeable than I, wrote that we need to, in essence, avoid the danger of presuming friendship with Christ. Friendship implies peer to peer and we must remember that Christ is “God made flesh” and we are creature.  I certainly agree with this and recognize the important point being made … but Jesus did say, “I call you friends…” I do not think this should be dismissed so readily.

It is a mercy to say the least that God, in Christ, now calls us friends but it is, in fact, a mercy given. You did not choose me, no, I chose you… It is interesting to note that it is within the gospel with the highest Christology that this assertion from our Lord is found.  It is a mystery of a friendship given that is truly intimate yet also does not deny the transcendence of our Lord.  It is also a unique mark of Christianity in relation to all other world religions that God so greatly desires to bestow upon his followers the grace of friendship.

Christ calls us friends because he has made known to us all that he has learned from the Father and that we are to do as he has commanded. We must put what we have learned into action to fully know and live this reality of friendship.  This comes after the washing of the feet where Christ teaches that we must do as he has done, which is to pour oneself out in love and service for others – especially the poor and forgotten.  This, I believe, is where the door to seeing priest as friend of Christ and friend of humanity has its foundation and root.

The priest is called to serve but to serve in a unique way. Many people, many good people who do not even have to have a faith, serve continuously throughout life.  Think of parents serving their children, police or EMTs serving the public, firefighters daily putting their lives at risk, people generously donating their time and effort for some cause.  These are all worthwhile forms of service which might or might not be attached to some form of belief but the priest serves explicitly for the Kingdom of God. I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last… 

The service of the priest is connected to the Kingdom of God and therefore the friendship with Christ which the priest has been given is known and enlivened through this service to the Kingdom. I recently shared a confession with my parish.  My confession was that I do not always want to serve.  I do not always want to make the nursing home visit, I do not always want to sit in the confessional (especially on a beautiful spring day), I do not always want to make an administrative decision at yet another meeting, I do not always want to serve the poor but when I do, I meet Christ and his friendship enlivens and blesses me and my priesthood.

Yes, the priest can be seen through the lens of all the images shared at the beginning of this reflection but another worthwhile and truly important image is the priest as friend – friend of Christ and friend of humanity. I also believe that this image of priesthood truly explored and lived can also help provide a healing balm needed in our world today.  A balm that Christ can use to help heal the wound of isolation.

We find ourselves in a time where people are truly isolated one from another and this is causing intense pain, suffering and even death. The elderly are forgotten, the poor are ignored, the “other” is demonized and our hearts are continually being more and more hardened and turned inward.  We must not shrink before this gaping wound of our world’s isolation but rather hold even faster to the words our Lord speaks in John 15.  Christ calls us friends!  Christ calls us to love one another!  Christ calls us to bear fruit that will last!  In Christ, the priest must live friendship with all humanity and he does this precisely because Christ calls him friend.

Christ calls us friends! We need to believe this and truly let the awareness of this grace given sink into our lives and our hearts.  We have a friend in Jesus.  It is much more than just a cliché.  It is a reality and a mercy shared.

I call you friends… It is a mercy given from our Lord for all his disciples but also in this Jubilee Year of Mercy it a worthwhile grace for the priest to reflect upon and truly explore. The priest as friend.

Accompanying one another toward Easter: the Parish and the Community of Sant’Egidio

01 Friday Apr 2016

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emmausA friend of mine in the Community of Sant’Egidio has asked me to reflect upon this past Holy Week and Easter Sunday in the parish and how the community accompanied the parish in its celebration.

“Accompanied,” I believe, is the proper word. Parishes by their very nature are living realities that are grounded in faith and their own particular history, tradition and makeup.  St. Dominic Parish is no exception to this.  Every parish has a living history that should be honored for what it has achieved yet also continually nourished into future growth.  No movement within the Church should seek to replace or even replicate the living reality of the parish.  That being said, we all help one another along in the journey of faith and it has been my experience that the Community of Sant’Egidio has many rich gifts to offer that a parish can benefit from both in the celebration of Holy Week and throughout the year.  In order to be manageable though the focus of this reflection will be solely on Holy Week.

For full disclosure, I believe it important to also state that my own discipleship and priesthood has been effected by my encounter with and involvement in the Community of Sant’Egidio and, that as pastor of St. Dominic parish, I bring this influence with me into the parish. The pastor of a parish does have a unique role is helping to set the atmosphere of a parish.  It is not the sole influence on a parish but it is one that should be acknowledged.  For example, one of the things I find truly good and right about the Community of Sant’Egidio is a healthy relationship between priests and laity.  These two groups are neither in competition nor are they set apart and, I believe, neither should they be viewed so.  I bring this perspective with me into the parish.  I am willing to work with the people of a parish as fellow disciples and I believe that people notice this and appreciate it.  Yes, priests have specific roles and the pastor does have specific duties and responsibilities but these are best lived within the whole context of a community seeking discipleship together even as it may make things more laborious at times.  Frankly, I believe that the priest needs to avoid the common temptation of playing the hero and the people need to avoid the temptation of seeking to make the priest the hero as a way of avoiding their own responsibility.  We are disciples together.

As we began Holy Week 2016, I shared with the St. Dominic community the thought that our Lord greatly desires to spend these days with us. In the thirteenth chapter of John’s gospel, we find expressed a great longing and even tender love on our Lord’s part to be with his disciples and prepare them for what is to come even as his own hour approaches.  This is a perspective firmly rooted in the gospels and an awareness that the Community of Sant’Egidio maintains.  There is a deeper movement to Holy Week than that of us going about our rituals professing our belief, together yet isolated at the same time.  Christ himself gathers us in and he gathers each one of us.  Christ wants to spend these days with all of his disciples and with each disciple.  We are not forgotten and we are not disposable.  We are each remembered by Christ in Holy Week and we are each wanted by Christ.  He greatly desires to spend these days with each of us.

Within the above mentioned deeper context of Holy Week there were three particular moments that the Community of Sant’Egidio accompanied St. Dominic Parish these days. The moments were not “Sant’Egidio only” but were a joint accompanying between the parish and the community.  The three moments were Mercy Palms on Palm Sunday, the Prayer for the Martyrs and the ongoing relationship with our sister parish in Blantyre, Malawi.  I would like to reflect a little on each aspect.

In a way to live the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Marco Impagliazzo (the president of the Community of Sant’Egidio) invited all the groupings of Sant’Egidio worldwide to live Palm Sunday as a demonstration of mercy. In the spirit of Pope Francis, we were invited to take the palms outside the walls of our church as a visible sign of God’s love and mercy for the poor and forgotten in our society.  At St. Dominic’s we decided to do this by making close to 150 palm crosses and taking them as a gift to our friends at Holston Manor Nursing Home.  We gathered on Palm Sunday afternoon with a few of our friends in the day room of Holston Manor.  We had a simple ceremony with a reading of the gospel and blessing of the palm crosses.  Those present had some social time together and then after a while our group divided up and we took the palm crosses throughout the nursing home, offering them to every resident we met as well as staff members.  It was a simple gesture but a gesture that said “you are not forgotten”.  The residents were truly grateful.  In this simple act, St. Dominic Parish and Sant’ Egidio began Holy Week together by going out to the poor and forgotten in a gesture of mercy.

On Monday night of Holy Week, St. Dominic Parish with the Sant’Egidio Community offered the Prayer for the Martyrs. This prayer is an annual remembering of our Christian brothers and sisters who have offered their lives for the gospel within the past year and in the recent past.  This was the second year that this prayer was offered at St. Dominic Church.  This prayer is very meaningful and beautiful.  The Prayer for the Martyrs fits quite well within the first few days of Holy Week and helps to bring a deeper awareness and connection with our fellow Christians who are experiencing persecution for their faith in Christ.  Prayer is powerful and it is a good and important thing for the Church to gather in prayer and to remember that the names of our brothers and sisters are not forgotten and are precious to our Lord.

In the fall of 2015, St. Dominic Parish began a sister parish relationship with St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Blantyre, Malawi – a church staffed by priests of the Community of Sant’Egidio. St. Dominic’s is currently raising funds that will enable to parish and school in Malawi to build housing for teachers that will, in turn, allow the school to attract good teachers and make sure that classes do not have to be cancelled due to transportation difficulties during the rainy season.  We believe that the best way we can help to have a long term impact is to strengthen education possibilities in the local community.  Our parish youth coordinated a fund drive during the season of Lent for the school at our sister parish.  The presence in friendship of our sister parish was expressed during Holy Week through photos from Malawi shared via social media as well as a note from Fr. Ernest, the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

We do accompany one another along the journey of faith and this is especially true during Holy Week. I can only speak to my experience with Sant’Egidio and the parish, but I do believe that the movements within our Catholic Church have great gifts to share with our parish communities and vice versa.  We all mutually benefit from this sharing and accompanying.  We help one another along.  Together, St. Dominic Parish and the Community of Sant’Egidio, celebrated a Holy Week where we were both gathered in by our Lord and sent forth to proclaim the truth of the resurrection and God’s love!

I wish this reflection to be a beginning of a dialogue so I encourage friends both within the parish structure and within Sant’Egidio to share your thoughts through comments. I would enjoy hearing from you.  Here are a few question for reflection that might help begin the process:

What do you find life-giving about your parish? What do you find life-giving about your experience with a movement within the Church?

How was Holy Week celebrated in the context in which you found yourself? What was profound about the celebration and what might have been limited?

How might movements “accompany” parishes both during such times as Holy Week but also throughout the year? How might parishes benefit from this accompanying?  How might movements benefit from this accompanying?

The Wedding at Cana: Heart speaks to Heart

16 Saturday Jan 2016

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The-wedding-at-Cana.3There is much worthy of reflecting upon in today’s gospel (Jn. 2:1-11) which gives the account of our Lord’s first public miracle – the turning of water into wine and the wedding in Cana. We can see in the image of the couple running out of wine on their wedding day a symbol of the ending of the Old Covenant and the freshness of the New Covenant beginning with our Lord turning water into wine.  We can see in Mary’s noticing of the wine running short a concern for the young (and probably poor) couple who will soon be greatly embarrassed by not being able to provide for their guests.  The first step of true mercy is noticing needs and not being indifferent toward others in their plight.  This is a good witness Mary gives us during this Year of Mercy.

What I was struck by in praying over this gospel passage was the depth of the relationship (and this word is important) between Jesus and his mother.  Mary does not even need to ask.  She knows her son and even if she does not know fully how everything will play out she knows who he is and why he has come. “They have no wine,” is all that she needs to say.  Our Lord knows what she is implying, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”  Our Lord acknowledges the truth of Mary’s concern and for a brief instant we are invited into this amazing and profound exchange between the sacred heart of Christ and the immaculate heart of Mary.  Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman had a phrase regarding the true place and moment of encounter and conversion in life: “Heart speaks to Heart”. “Fill the jars with water,” Mary responds.  Jesus, who is God made man, acquiesces; “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” The water is turned into wine which nourishes and refreshes!

Heart can only speak to heart in the willingness to enter into relationship. New life (and even miracles) can occur only when we let go of isolation and fear.

When St. Francis began the great spiritual journey of his life he made a simple prayer to God for an “honest faith”. Part of having an “honest faith” is to live a personal relationship with Christ.  We can relate to Christ in a multitude of ways but that does not make them fully honest and therefore life-giving.  I can see Christ as a great human being worthy of admiration or a wise teacher whose lessons are worthy of my attention and learning.  I can see Christ as the authentic human person.  I can see Christ as a means to my personal well-being.  There might be some truth to these viewpoints of Christ but they all fall short both of honest relationship and of who Christ is.

Christ is savior. This is the honest faith of the Christian and it is the most profound relationship any of us can have with Christ.  When we know Christ as savior then we know him as the one who saves us from sin and death and the one who calls us to follow him wholeheartedly.  Christ is savior and this is truth – pure and simple.

Faith can be life giving and even transformative only when it is lived in relationship with Christ. Ideas of Christ might be interesting and even satisfy for a time but it is only relationship with Christ that turns water into wine.  Mary witnesses this for us.  Heart speaks to heart.

We should all learn from St. Francis and pray for an “honest faith” – a faith willing to let heart speak to heart. Our hearts to the heart of our Savior and his sacred heart to our little hearts.

Thoughts on the Sunday readings: “All things are possible for God.” (28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B)

10 Saturday Oct 2015

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It is said that where a person’s heart is, there his or her will and actions will follow. We strive after that which we value. We set our lives by that which we love. The young man in today’s gospel (Mk. 10:17-30) is in many ways a good person. He is someone who is seeking to live his faith; he is striving to live his life by the commandments of God. He also recognizes or intuits that there is something unique about Jesus. This is why he runs up even kneels down and uses the title, “good teacher”. The young man’s heart is searching but, we come to realize, his heart is also divided.

Our Lord knows this. Our Lord knows the human condition weakened by sin. The gospel passage is not so much about material possessions as it is about the divided human heart and God’s consistent love.

Christ knows this young man. The gospel tells us that Jesus “looking at him, loved him…” Now, imagine being before Christ. Picture yourself being in the full and immediate gaze of Jesus. It is an amazing and humbling thing to stand before the presence of God. Christ knows us through and through. He knows us more than we know ourselves. Christ sees that this young man is seeking to live the commandments but he also recognizes that divisions remain within his heart. We follow our hearts! How can we follow that, which itself, is divided? The young man is divided by even seemingly good intentions. It makes sense to live the commandments. It is logical and philosophically consistent to seek to live the commandments and to do good towards others. We should treat others as we ourselves want to be treated. We can strive to do all things within ourselves and by our own abilities. Even in seeking to do these good things we can remained enclosed within ourselves.

But there is more! And Jesus wants to invite this young man into this “more” which is living not with a distracted and divided heart content within oneself but living fully and authentically in the mystery, living in relationship with Christ. Jesus wants the young man’s heart to be firmly rooted in friendship with God and an ongoing encounter with God. “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Christ is inviting the young man (and us) to true richness – to live fully and authentically with an undivided heart not within an enclosed self but in friendship with God and others.

The young man goes away sad because, we are told, “…he had many possessions.” This is where we need to remember our Lord’s reaction to the young man; “Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” Our Lord’s love for the young man remains even as the young man is conflicted with a divided heart. Our Lord’s love for us remains even as we are conflicted with divided hearts!

On our own we cannot overcome the divisions and distractions in our hearts. Jesus himself tells us. “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

The gospel does not tell us where the young man’s life took him but I have hope that eventually he came around to the recognition that it is not about the ability to live the commandments by one’s own effort but rather about receiving the love and friendship of God into one’s heart. I have hope because the gospel says that Jesus loved the young man and that love remained even as the young man went away sad in the moment. I have hope that the young man learned that for God “all things are possible”.

The same hope remains for us. Yes, we all too often, have divided hearts but Christ looks on us with love, Christ continually invites us into friendship and for God “all things are possible”.