Sunday Readings

New and Free

A friend of mine has a shed behind his house. In this shed he has a large collection of chemicals, folding chairs, filters, and flotation devices. If I showed you a picture of this shed, you would see very quickly that he is an enthusiast for backyard pool living. He is well-equipped and very prepared. But what if I told you he was missing something? What if I told you he did not have a pool? Obviously, we can think that he may have had one at sometime before or that he was planning on purchasing one in the next few weeks. Now, what if I told you he really didn't think he needed one? Sounds silly doesn't it? Why have all the accessories if you don't have the "big ticket item?"

Today is the feast of Pentecost. It is the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the world. In St. John's Gospel, this event is recorded a little differently. It is a very quiet and subtle event without the fiery tongues descending on the disciples or the miraculous alterations of life. Jesus gently breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples for the forgiveness of sins.

This is the "big ticket item" of Easter. The other gifts of the Spirit -- healing, preaching, and all the rest – are similar to my friend’s accessories. Of course they are gifts of God and are sacred for the building up of the church. But without the forgiveness of sins, they lose a useful quality.

This forgiveness of sins begins with what every act of contrition seeks: pardon. In baptism, we believe that God's grace removes the original sin we all as human beings have as our sad inheritance. Hopefully, we spent a good deal of time this past Lent considering our responsibility and need for pardon because of the sins we commit through human weakness. In the Easter season, we focus on the next stage we know as God's divine mercy. It can be said that Christians are enlivened by the Holy Spirit because they are forgiven by God.

Still, human beings can do great things and be guilty of the worst sins. It is tempting to think that God will give His blessings and talents to those who are not burdened by the need for moral living. It can seem that way if you watch some talk shows or the Grammys. There is no question that in God's providence, we cannot and we should not make a connection between success and absolution. "Prosperity gospel" preachers often do this -- especially for a $39.99 love gift. God's grace and mercy are not for sale nor are they bargaining chips. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for a much different purpose than increasing the best of our human skills and abilities.

Our religion places the forgiveness of sins at the center of the Christian mystery -- even to the point that we profess it (as we will in a few moments) as an object of faith. We understand the mission of the Church is first and foremost to proclaim and extend the mercy of God to all the world. We do this for the simple reason that Jesus told us to do it. In His divine love, He extends what He did on the cross through the ages. Throughout our long history, when the church fails to proclaim this message, the result has always been empty pews and empty churches. Some ‘progressive’ types seem happy that the church would focus more on the abilities and skills of the church community instead of our sinfulness. Many of them go too far with this and wonder why no one shows up on Sunday morning.

But this is not about long confession lines or some sort of sinister control of people's minds. The centrality of the Holy Spirit communicating the forgiveness of sins in God's mercy is there because God knows our deepest need for freedom – true freedom. Without freedom of the soul, the Christian is unable to exercise the gifts God has given us in both nature and in grace. This freedom is liberation from the destruction of sin and the finality of death. As we come to know that freedom, we discover a permission to be the men and women God has willed us to be. We are not hindered by lingering guilt and persistent discouragement. We declare our independence from the constant and changing opinions of others. We find a boldness that rejects the false and embraces what is true. We discard the shame of the past and the fear of the future to live in the present moment as God wants us to.

Yes, the forgiveness of sins truly is the big-ticket item of our faith. It's sometimes hard to believe it. It is hard to believe that God has loved us so and continues to. Pentecost really is a day of faith. Our fallen human nature has a tendency to throw a first-class pity party and arrogantly tell God that we are unworthy of His love. It takes faith, which is a gift in itself, to embrace the freedom of forgiveness in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus breathed on them much in the same way the breath of God blew over the waters of creation at the beginning. In Hebrew, the words ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ are the same. It is as if Pentecost is a second Genesis and another moment of creation. It is God's action, not ours. Pentecost simply asks us to allow God once again to do what He does best.

"Send forth our spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth." In forgiveness and freedom, we pray that this will be us.

Sunday Readings

In, Not Of

As we approach Pentecost, church can sound very self-congratulatory. We hear of how we are the people of God, the people destiny, the people with a mission and a purpose. All of this is true; all of it is accurate. But we can make a mistake in the church as easily as we make it outside of the church. We can confuse who we are with what we do.

It’s completely natural. We can identify ourselves by our jobs or medical conditions or what we think our social standing happens to be at the moment. But honestly, that is not who we are. It is what we have or what we do but it certainly does not touch our human nature. Now don't get me wrong here, I don't think people should introduce themselves at a cocktail party as a union of body and soul created in the image and likeness of God within eternal destiny begun here in the temporal realm. But it is all too easy to forget the truth of this self-definition when we think of ourselves, each other, and even the church as a whole.

As we prepare to celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which we have all received, we hear the words of Jesus giving us a game plan for how Christians are to see themselves. He prays that we be "in the world but not of the world." It may seem like a dichotomy or even a lack of reality. How can we be in one place and not be there at the same time? Doesn't this run completely opposite to the absolute, black-and-white categories of Christianity? Couldn't it seem as if Jesus is telling us to accept the good in the bad, the holy at the heart of the profane?

Well, that is precisely what he is telling us. He is offering His followers -- both then and now -- a chance to become a mystery. There's no question that God (and His ways) can be very mysterious. That, well, that's just how God is. But how can human beings be a mystery like God? How can the followers of Jesus dare to even attempt to play the role of God?

This mystery is not about location but about consecration. Just as what we do or have cannot accurately define who we are, so where we are in life is not the best indicator of who we are by grace. Jesus prays "consecrate them in the truth; Your word is truth." Consecration means a separation from what is ordinary. This is what we do when we separate bread and wine by placing them on the altar to become the body and blood of Christ. The consecration never means isolation. It never means that the ordinary things of life are so separate they mean nothing at all. Using the image of the bread and wine again, they are consecrated to be distributed. They are sanctified by God for the world.

This is exactly what the Holy Spirit has accomplished in each one of us. We have been sanctified by the grace given us through the action of the Holy Spirit. Beginning with baptism and continued through the sacraments we have received and the opportunities of grace God allows each day, the Holy Spirit remains active consecrating us. And like the bread and wine, we are sanctified not simply for our own spiritual benefit, but for the benefit of the world as well.

This is the starting point of whatever good we may do in the world. We are authorized to be the presence of God in the world by the presence of God in our hearts. How we live that out is quite another matter. God may call us to what we are skilled at doing or what we may never have considered. It may be as ordinary as anyone else or not. But who we are as a church, who we are as Christians, remains a matter of consecration. What we do with this vocation will be seen -- by ourselves and others -- by what we do.

And that is why we can be “in the world" as anyone else can be but not “of the world.” Because we are consecrated, we can reject false values and rankings without making the mistake of rejecting the needs of the world. We hold that indelible mark of God's favor as the center point of our life. Then our daily living is free of the constantly changing fashions and trends that our Holy Father, Pope Benedict has called the "tyranny of relativism."

This mystery is very much linked to the incarnation that we celebrated at Christmas. If it is power that changes the world because we have been changed. We can truly love the sinner and despise the sin. We can minister to Christ himself in those who are poor and at the same time launch a crusade against those things which cause poverty. We can correct in hope and hope in despair. We can better the world and announce the Gospel truth that the world is passing away. One of the church fathers once said that, "as the soul is to the body, so the Christian is to the world." All of this has happened because God has made the free and sovereign decision to pour out the Holy Spirit on us and to consecrate us in His truth. Sure, the world does not always welcome this truth. We are a church built on the witness of the martyrs. But then again, they treated Jesus in the same way.

So in this graduation season when the academic and athletic accomplishments of students give inklings (or fantasies) of future glory, we affirm the greatest of things God has accomplished in us. We offer thanks for the wonderful and varied opportunities of service he allows; we offer praise for the reason we serve and try to do His will.

And in all the world, there is no one greater or more important than someone who knows this is who we are.

Sunday Readings

Lovely

In every neighborhood, including this one, we have begun another season of love. No, I do not mean anything tawdry or scandalous. What I mean is that this is the season of the year, more than any other, when we see the lovely things of life. Brides and grooms nervously approach the altar and even more nervously approach the reception. Young children, dressed in white with wide-eyed enthusiasm, make their First Holy Communion. Young adults brimming with the anticipated freedom and maturity of their age ascend the stage to receive their diplomas. Yes, it is a wonderful time of year bursting with a love of life. And it is in these rituals, these sacred moments, that this love is sanctified. The Easter season, by its own nature, is a holy season and it is a season of love.

Could we have a better example than the risen Christ Himself? Could any of us reflect on the horror of Good Friday and be unsure of the love of Jesus Christ? In whatever degree our faith has grown, we see the triumph of this Divine Love over sin and death itself.

But here’s the thing – we have no definition of what love means that keeps us satisfied. Generation after generation writes new love poems and sings new songs of romance. Words and pictures too often yield to even more empty gestures and meaningless traditions. We struggle to put into words what refuses to be defined. If we do this with human love, it should be no surprise that we do the same with divine love. We can make the tenderness of Jesus so sweet that our souls cannot take the sugar shock. We can speak of the love of God as a smile from above that never changes even when we are far from being loving ourselves. We can even convince ourselves that the love of God accepts us as we are but really will not believe that we are capable of anything else or more.

I’ve seen that look of love on the faces of people so out of it – by drugs or nature – they could not tell you what year it is. Why would anyone want to believe in a love so static and catatonic? It’s certainly is not the love Jesus speaks of in this gospel.

This love is different. It is a love that can be commanded and exemplified. We don’t normally associate love with a command; we usually think of it only as a feeling. We can have examples of love even if we can only value them from our own personal perspective. But this new commandment is more than a feeling. It is greater than a response to what we have been given. And humanly, it is impossible. Our ideal is not to love as best we can but to love as God Himself.

When most people hear something like that they begin to roll their eyes and start thinking of their Christmas card list. “Love, love, love – it’s the same old thing.” But faith, especially in the light of the resurrection, says that God is doing a new thing. This Easter faith says that with Him, through Him, and in Him love – true love – is possible. In fact it is more than possible or potential; it is a gift. We are commanded to do something we have been given the grace to accomplish. We have faith in the power - by the example of God Himself - to be our example and our guide.

Yes it is those difficult times in life that often call for that such a love. We see a in the care of families as well as in the act of kindness for a complete stranger. We see reflections of it in the better angels of our nature that show us how good and loving we can be even with our mixed motives. And in the season of love, as the natural and the supernatural world seems to be reborn with hope, we say that it is possible as well.

The opposite of love is not hatred as much as it is hopelessness. Sadly, many give up on hope by the evidence of our life. Faith refuses to give up by the evidence of Christ’s death. That is one of the great mysteries of the Easter as well as its most compelling grace. Celebrate it when you see it but see it first in your heart. You may not be able to define it but you have received it. In older catechisms, they used to say that when we are baptized, the sanctifying grace of God infuses the soul with supernatural faith, hope, and charity. Maybe we need to be reminded of that again. Maybe as we celebrate the new life of Easter and the new life of baptism, it would do us well to be mindful that the love of God has been given to us before we knew it or started to think (incorrectly) that we are entitled to it.

No, we love, we try to love, we try to be loved, because God has loved us first. And there is nothing more lovely than that.

Sunday Readings

I'm back from Lourdes.
Here's the blog

Pruning

Last Tuesday, I returned from Lourdes. To be honest, I’m still adjusting to New York time after a wonderful pilgrimage. As I reflect on this last pilgrimage, I noticed something interesting in the Gospel today.

Jesus says that we need to be rooted in Him if we are going to be that people of faith we are called to be. If not, like a branch no longer attached, we will wither and die. This is pretty clear. It makes sense that to be in a relationship, we actually have to have a relationship. We could even say, in the political language of today, that Jesus is polarizing the world and separating the good from the bad. And while we may find a certain sense of security thinking that, by God’s grace, we fall into the right column, our faith hints of something more.

Jesus also says today that every good branch is pruned. He uses the image of the Father as a gardener who maintains a healthy plant by removing even the smallest of imperfections. The Father not only separates the healthy from the sickly, He also works on the healthy. In other words, living is not enough. The Father - as a gardener - wants things to be both living and thriving.

Maybe this is just another way of saying that Lent never ends. The purification goes on.

Last week, I saw this first hand. I saw thousands of people come to a place where this happens. By going there, they made a statement that they, to whatever degree they were able, were people of faith, the ones who were attached to the vine. And as such, they were also the ones who were being purified further. Many were obviously undergoing this through the very visible illnesses they had. But the vast majority appeared “healthy” as far as you and I could tell. Their purification was a little different. Perhaps they had to endure financial hardship in these difficult times. Or maybe their family life was starting to crumble under the weight of modern life. Or maybe they were feeling a bit lost or unsure of why God put them on this earth.

In other words, no one is exempt from difficulties in this life. The real difference is what we do with them.

The faith of Easter is not a religion of denial. It does not sugarcoat life with a protective cover that somehow or another convinces us that even the worst things in life are made happy and sweet by the sprinkling of an “Alleluia” or two. The Easter faith sees the normal ups and downs of life as moments of holiness. In the light of the risen Savior, the “whips and scorns of outrageous fortune” are instruments of purification. They are the tools of the Divine Gardener to make something of eternal beauty.

On this Mother’s Day, we celebrate the women who taught us this. We honor those who showed us that the difficulties of life were not to be feared as final or avoided as terrible. They taught us – and continue to teach us -- that courage is found only by those who are willing to live. Their faith and hope echoes the words of our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette: “I cannot promise you that you will find [total] happiness in this world, but I can promise you it in the next.” The Christian purification in this life points to a future way beyond the difficulties of the moment. This is faith in real time, in the real world.

Imagine what would have happened if those in our lives who played the role of mother gave up at our first temper tantrum? Or our second? Or our latest? Where would we be today if they could not have been bothered with yet another doctor appointment because we had the flu? And God knows none of us need to recall today any examples from our teenage years!

So on this Mother’s Day, this fifth Sunday of Easter, thank God. Thank Him for the example of patience and penance that guide us. Thank Him for this life (and this eternal life) that we prepare for here and now. This is the fruit of God’s harvest. We are His joy as He readies us for the glory of eternity.

And if we need help or need to be reminded that it is possible, He gave us the women in our life who play the role of our mothers.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Sunday Readings


I'm in Lourdes this week.
Here is the blog