3rd Sunday of Easter (Year B)

Acts 3:13-15,17-19; 1 John 2:1-5a; Luke 24:35-48

There was a news story recently about a woman in Denver, Colorado, who showed up for jury duty looking like a mess.  Her hair was dirty and in curlers, she had on mismatched clothes and her makeup was all on wrong.  She told the Judge that she was homeless and a veteran suffering with PTSD (Post traumatic stress syndrome).  The judge excused her.

A few weeks later the judge was listening to a local talk show.  The guest was a local hair salon stylist who bragged on the show about how she got off of jury duty by showing up as a homeless vet.  Needless to say, the judge made sure that this woman’s 15 minutes of fame would remain memorable.

Now, the hair stylist was on the show because she had written a book on how to help people deal with difficult relationships and situations through understanding passages from the Bible!

Obviously, she did not understand the passage from our second reading today from the 1^st Letter of John that states “The way we can be sure of our knowledge of him is to keep his commandments.  The man who claims, ‘I have known him,’ without keeping his commandments, is a liar; in such as one there is no truth.”

The words are plain.  If you say you believe in God and Jesus Christ, then you must follow His commandments.

What are the commandments?

There are the ten commandments from the Bible.  They appear in the Book of Exodus and Deuteronomy, and they are a little bit different in the two books.  Essentially, they are the same, but they are usually split out a bit differently by different faiths.  The Catholic version is:

1.    I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.

2.    You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3.    Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.

4.    Honor your father and your mother.

5.    You shall not kill.

6.    You shall not commit adultery.

7.    You shall not steal.

8.    You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9.    You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

10.     You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

Jesus summed up the commandments in this way: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, these are not really complicated rules:

Love God above anything else

Treat everyone else with love…in fact treat them like you would like to be treated.

So, why is it so hard for us to keep these commandments?

Why do people claim to be Christians and yet do not follow these basic rules?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint, myself, and I have committed my fair share of sins, but I think that there is a difference from being a sinner and knowing one is doing wrong, and sinning but thinking you are a good Christian who does no wrong.

Let’s think about how many times Christians hurt people with their actions and words; how many times Christians act as if money is the most important thing in their lives; how many Christians exhibit jealousy, envy, malice, and turn a blind eye to the needs of others.

But then let us image that these same Christians think of themselves as good people who are living good lives.

I know of people like that, and maybe you do to. 

I know a woman who once said to me that she never said “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you”…because she felt that she was worthy!

That’s the kind of thinking that leads people to do bad things and then photograph themselves doing it, because they can’t possibly believe that they are doing anything wrong.  After all, if they are doing it, it must be right!

Even worse some people believe that nothing they do can be wrong as long as what they are doing is for a greater good.

However, St. Thomas Aquinas stated that doing evil to achieve a good corrupts the end result.  To paraphrase St. Thomas: “Two wrongs do not make a right!”

St. Thomas also spoke about natural law.  That there is a law we all know within our hearts…that is ingrained in us as human beings, so that all people know and understand what is right and wrong.

I think people do understand right from wrong, but they don’t want to believe it.  So, we have commandments and teachings.  Rules give to us by God to remind us how we should act.

And how should we act?

Love God above anything else

Love others as yourself and that means: don’t hurt others, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t wish others harm or lust after them or their things.

If you do these things, well, then you have sinned, and you are not in communion with God, but that’s not the end of the world, because the Church has the sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as Confession) to help you say to God that you’re sorry and ask for forgiveness.

 As St. Peter said in our first reading today: “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away."

Easter Sunday

Why are we here today?

We could be sitting in front of the TV or reading the paper.

We could be at a diner enjoying a good breakfast.

We could be out with our friends.

Maybe we are here because someone made us come.

Maybe we are here because we always come on Easter Sunday,

but I’d like to think that some of us are here because of what we believe.

So, that brings up another question: what do we believe?

Now, belief can be a tricky thing.

At the time of our Gospel reading today, the Roman Empire was ruled by the Emperor Tiberius.

Tiberius believed in the love and loyalty of his right hand man: Sejanus, but it turned out that Sejanus was plotting to take over the empire. When he found out, Tiberius persecuted not only Sejanus, but his family, friends and political partners.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, owed his position in part to his being a supporter of Sejanus. He had already been reprimanded by Tiberius for his harsh treatment of the Jews which was causing unrest and for his violent put-down of a Samaritan uprising. Pilate believed that his position was in jeopardy. Tiberius had made it plain: any more trouble reported from Judea, and Pilate would be recalled to Rome.

When Jesus was brought before him, Pilate now faced a dilemma. He had been brought a popular teacher and healer named Jesus by the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. Pilate needed to sort out which group would cause him the most political harm: Jesus’ supporters or Caiaphas’. Pilate, the ultimate politician, had to weigh his options, and he didn’t much care what the truth was. “Truth” he had said to Jesus, “what is truth?”

The High Priest Caiaphas believed that his position of power and that the fate of the people of Judea depended on the Romans. He knew that the Romans didn’t need much reason to hurt and oppress the Jews, and Jesus, was a problem. Would Pilate do what he did in Samaria and slaughter men, women and children? Caiaphas believed that all Jesus could do is bring about Roman wrath.

Jesus’ followers believed in Jesus. They believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of God who could call down hosts of angels and drive the Romans out and unseat the fat-cat politicians who ran the temple. Jesus could work miracles, after all.

We all know how this story is played out because we have heard it every year:

- We know that Jesus was abandoned by his friends and followers except by a few women followers and the disciple John.

- We know that Jesus died the worse possible death that a Jew could suffer at that time…crucifixion… a death reserved for the worse criminals and for slaves…an unclean death.

At Jesus’ death, Pilate and Caiaphas and even most of Jesus’ disciples believed that the story was over. Jesus was dead and buried and his tomb was guarded by Roman and Temple guards.

But belief can be a trick thing.

Something changed that Sunday morning more than 2000 years ago.

Something altered the reality of everyone involved in this story.

That something turned crying and sorrowful women into joyful witnesses.

That something turned cowards into preachers.

That something has swept through time and space so that today (tonight) we are sitting or standing in this building.

That something is a belief.

We believe that suffering and pain can lead to resurrection and glory.

We believe as St. Paul says in his 2^nd Letter to the Corinthians: “We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal”( 2 Cor 4:18).

Belief can be a tricky thing.

Pilate believed that he had made the right choices.

Caiaphas believed that everyone would forget Jesus.

Peter believed that he would never be forgiven.

But in a world of doubt: we believe in God, the Father All Mighty.

In a world of selfishness and greed: we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for our sins so that we can have eternal life.

In a world of science and mathematics: we believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son and who is one in three.

We believe that Christ is risen, Alleluia!

Good Friday

So have you ever asked yourself, “Why is today called Good Friday?” “What’s so ‘good’ about it?”

Well, that’s a good question.

No one really knows where the term “Good Friday” comes from.

It is only used by English-speaking Christians and some people think that it may come from the old Anglo-Saxon for “God’s Friday” or “Holy” Friday” where “good” is used as another word for “holy”

In fact, the Eastern and Orthodox Catholics call today “Holy” or “Great” Friday. Now, that certainly that makes sense.

Some cultures call today “Suffering Friday” or “Sorrowful Friday” or even “Long Friday”. That makes sense, also.

The Baltimore Catechism declares that Good Friday is called good because Christ, by His Death, "showed His great love for man, and purchased for him every blessing."

On this day, Jesus died for our sins…an acceptable sacrifice to God.

Now, that in itself may seem to not make any sense.

Isn’t God all merciful? Why would God required such a sacrifice? Couldn’t God just forgive us for our sins without punishment?

Yes, He could, but would that be just?

God is merciful. God is love, but God is also just.

Justice requires punishment for an offence and the offence of the sins and selfishness of all human kind requires a high price.

Our sins are not committed in a vacuum, because there is more to life than what our five senses tell us.

We live in a universe that is visible and invisible: a universe that is both physical and spiritual.

These elements (the spiritual and the physical) are inter-dependant and everything that happens in the physical world affects the spiritual and everything that happens in the spiritual world effects the physical.

I believe that if I sin today, it is not just my action and its physical consequence that I have to deal with, but that I have created an equal reaction in the spiritual realm.

Think of sin as a poison that we release into the air that not only affects us, but makes everyone else a little bit sicker.

All of our actions whether good or bad have consequences…not just for us but for everyone.

In this intertwined reality of the physical and spiritual world, we have created a sickness that helps evil to exist and to corrupt our brothers and sisters and even the environment.

This sickness…this evil…of our own making…theses sins: past, present and future, cannot just be wished away, they need to be cleansed from our souls and from our bodies and from our world.

Only the sacrifice of Jesus could create a spiritual force great enough to bring about this cleansing. This sacrifice…this moment in time was so great that no sin can conquer it. Indeed, Jesus’ sacrifice has conquered all evil in this world. Jesus has triumphed in his death and brought us salvation. We only need to accept this gift which we are given and we need to acknowledge our guilt and claim Jesus as God Almighty…and unfortunately for all of us…all evil will not be eliminated from this world until everyone makes this claim.

This day…this moment in time… makes our souls purified and clean and acceptable to our God.

So, we can see in Jesus’ suffering and death why some people would call this day “long” or “sorrowful”.

We can see in the triumph of Jesus’ death over sin why some people would call this day “holy”.

And we can see in the salvation of our souls, why some people would call this day “good”.

Palm Sunday

Back when I was a child I used to watch a show everyday after school called “Let’s Have Fun” starring Chuck McCann. The show had cartoons, skits and old time movie serials.

Now for those of you who don’t know, movie serials were films that were broken up into 12 or more chapters that were 20 to 30 minutes long. They used to play them in the movie theaters weekly and each episode would end in what is called a “cliffhanger”. The cliffhanger was when the hero or heroine were placed in deadly peril and it looked like they would die or be killed, but next week, when you came to theater, you could see how they miraculously escaped. Whether it was Flash Gordon, Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher or even Superman, these heroes who had great powers, would be in peril of death every week.

Today’s readings reminded me of those old cliffhangers where Mark writes:

Pilate was amazed that he was already dead.
He summoned the centurion
and asked him if Jesus had already died.
And when he learned of it from the centurion,
he gave the body to Joseph.
Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down,
wrapped him in the linen cloth,
and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.
Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses
watched where he was laid.

Jesus died that day 2000+ years ago and we have come here today remember his sacrifice.

We are here because as St. Catherine of Siena wrote:

“Your Mercy caused Your Son to do battle for us, hanging by His arms on the wood of the cross, life and death battling together, then life confounded the death or our sins and the death of our sin destroyed the bodily life of the Immaculate Lamb.”

On the cross, lifted above, Jesus triumphed over our enemy who is ruler of this world. On the cross, Jesus opened up his arms and offered God his life: the sacrifice that gives to the sacraments their saving power.

Last week, Jesus said in the Gospel that a grain of wheat must die to bring forth abundant fruit.

Jesus is that grain of wheat and we are that fruit.

And unlike the old movie serials of old we don’t have to wait until next week to find out how our hero will miraculously escape from death, because we already know.

We remember, we celebrate, and we believe.

The 5th Sunday of Lent (Year B)

This is the 5th Sunday of Lent.

Next weekend will be Palm Sunday which will be followed by the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. So, as the end of Lent draws near, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on what have we learned?

Well, for one thing: Chocolate can smell pretty good when you can’t eat it.

All kidding aside, we have had the chance this Lent to hear, read and reflect on love and suffering, sacrifice and redemption.

As Jesus stated in our Gospel Reading last week:
“For God so loved the world that he sent His only son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Writer Wendell Barry wrote in his book “The Art of the Commonplace”: “I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement with God.”

God’s love and redemption are also clear in our first reading today from the prophet Jeremiah:
“But this is the covenant that I will makewith the house of Israel…I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.”

Redemption is the act of buying back something that was sold or given away. Through our sins we gave away our life with God and our eternal home in Heaven, but Jesus redeemed us by his love, sacrifice, suffering and death.

As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote in our second reading:
“In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered… and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him...”

And in our Gospel, today, Jesus tells us:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

Jesus suffering and death brings about our redemption before God
and, as the Prophet Jeremiah states, our sins are remembered no more.

To God, our slate is wiped clean and we can start anew…or as Jesus tells Nicodemus in that same Gospel of John: we are born again.

How many times have we thought about something that we had done in our lives and wished we could do it over again?

How many times have we wished that our lives had a rewind button?

I know I have, but instead of the rewind button, God gives us the chance to make up for past mistakes, by forgiving our sins and forgetting them.

Just as the Prophet Isaiah wrote: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!”

With our souls redeemed, we can then go forward living our new changed lives as followers of Jesus, or we can go back to living our lives as we once did.

As Jesus states in our Gospel today:
"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life..."

This is a warning to us that we need to make the effort to live our lives in Jesus. It easy to go back into the old habits of our previous life…just ask anyone who has ever been on a diet.
Old habits (especially) bad ones die hard, but Lent is a time where we have the chance to break the old habits and break away from the old sins that keep us bound.

We can break the old habits of sin, through love because as Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. wrote in his essay "Loving Your Enemies”:
“.. love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals…this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.”

Love and redemption and new life…these are all waiting for us now during this season of Lent, all we need do is ask God and they will be given to us, so what are we waiting for?

The 1st Sunday of Lent

(Gn 9:8-15; 1Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15)

There is an ancient prayer of the Eastern Catholic Church that begins as follows:

“The Lenten spring has come:

let us receive the announcement of Lent with joy!

For if our forefather Adam had kept the fast,

we would not have been deprived of paradise.

The time of Lent is a time of gladness!

Filled with resplendent prayer and all good deeds,

let us sing with joy ...”

Now, joy is not what we usually think of when we think of Lent. In popular thought, Lent is usually associated with suffering, sacrifice, being miserable and facing our own mortality.

But why do we feel that Lent is such a gloomy time?

Could it be that we are so tied to our possessions and wants, that to deprive ourselves of even little things makes us unhappy?

Christian author Linda Dillow comments on how she was satisfied with her life as a child until she saw a Sear Catalog and learned about all of the things that she was missing or was supposed to be missing.

That’s because we live in a consumer society where we are inundated with advertising telling us what we want and what we have to have. Our clothes and shoes go out of style faster than they wear out. Our appliances, electronics and cars are changed many times on whims instead of needs. We want the latest gadget, the nicest car, and fanciest house, the most modern kitchen, but do we really need these things.

In the film “Moscow on the Hudson”, Robin Williams plays a man from Russia in the 1980’s who defected and is now living in America. One day he is sent by the family he is living with to the supermarket to get coffee. He walks down the aisle of rows and rows of different brands and kinds of coffees and it so overwhelms him that he faints.

In her book “The Peace that God Promises”, Ann Spangler tells a story about the authors, Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller, who were invited to a party at a billionaire’s home. During the party, Kurt Vonnegut said to Joseph Heller that their host made more money in a day than Joseph Heller ever made in his lifetime with the sales of his book “Catch 22”, but Heller said that he was unimpressed because he had something the billionaire didn’t. Kurt Vonnegut asked what could he have that the billionaire did not, and Heller responded “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

Do we really think that we have enough?

Do our cravings for things take the place of our spiritual needs, and in the end, do we feel satisfied by these things or do we also want something more to fill the emptiness with in us?

That’s one thing that fasting and giving up something can do for us. It can help to free us from worldly desires. When we fast we open up a space to allow God in and lay claim to part of our attention. Jesus fasted in the desert and was able to resist the temptations of the Devil because fasting is not just about dieting. Fasting is an act of humility before God. It’s creating an empty space for God to fill. It is also a penitential act: expressing our desire to be converted from sin and selfishness.

Fasting doesn’t have to about food. It is about focus and awareness. It is about trying to eliminate the effects of sinful patterns, habits and mindlessness that fill our lives.

While fasting can be found throughout Scripture, God does not approve of fasting as an end in itself. The prophet Isaiah writes:

“Is this the manner of fasting that I wish…that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast…?”

“This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke: Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke: Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”

Fasting is a way to cultivate a deeper intimacy with God and a just and caring relationship with others, and it goes hand in hand with prayer and alms giving.

But just as we tend to not want to give up something, we, also, can find ourselves too busy to even spend a little extra time at Mass or at prayer or at adoration or stations of the cross…or so we think?

Just as we can become slaves to our wants, we can become slaves to time, or rather our imagined need for time.

We rush from place to place…work long hours and crash in front of the TV or computer or game device. In Anne Spangler’s book “The Peace God Promises” she mentions the importance of rest and spending time with God. She states that Rabbi Abraham Heschel points out that the Sabbath was the first holy object in the history of the world. It is a day that teaches us to be attached to holiness in time and to be attached to sacred events.

We need to step back and give ourselves a breather. We need to free ourselves from the slavery of material goods and the bus-i-ness of our day-to-day activities.

Lent is an opportunity for us to do that.

Lent is an opportunity for us to live more fully and joyfully the life that we are supposed to be living all year long.

The 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year B)

Jonah 3:1-5,10; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

The story of Jonah is one of the many Biblical stories that have transcended into our popular culture. One doesn’t have to read the Bible to know the story of Jonah and the whale (although it really wasn’t a whale…it was some kind of big sea creature called a leviathan).

While many people may know the story of Jonah being swallowed by the big fish, they probably don’t know the rest of the story. Jonah’s story is a story about doing God’s will.

You see, God spoke to Jonah and asked him to go to Ninevah, a large city in another country, and preach to the Ninevites that they must repent or be destroyed.

Jonah didn’t want to do that.

Jonah was not thrilled about going to Ninevah and preaching, and he came up with a variety of reasons why this was a bad idea:

First, he was a Jew…why would the Ninevites listen to him?

Second, Ninevah was a big city and he was just a small town boy. He wouldn’t know where he was going and he would probably get lost.

Third, the Ninevites might think that he was crazy, and he would probably get ridiculed, beaten up or worse.

So, in the end Jonah decided that what God was asking just didin’t make sense, and he decided to run away and find someplace where God couldn’t find him.

So, Jonah purchased a ride in a ship and sailed away, but soon that ship was caught in a severe storm, and the sailors figured out that some god was mad at Jonah, so they threw Jonah overboard to appease this god that they didn’t know and save their lives.

Jonah was then swallowed by a giant leviathan and trapped in its belly for 3 days until he repented and asked for God’s help. God responded, and Jonah was vomited up on the shore.

Now, Jonah was ready to preach to the Ninevites, which brings us to our reading today.

Jonah was reluctant to do God’s will and he did whatever he could to get out of doing it. I think that in that way, Jonah is a lot like us.

You know, God speaks to us all of the time just as he did to Jonah. God wants us to do His will. He wants us to be willing participants in His plan for Creation. He wants us to be His instruments in this world.

Some of us are lucky enough to actually hear God speak, but that’s pretty rare. Probably, most us have been touched by God through readings, or music or films, or nature or by other people. You know those times when a feeling of calmness and warmth fill you, and for a brief moment you feel one with the Universe and you can sense what God wants you to do. You get a thought, and it feels so right, but then you take a step back and think about it.

Maybe, you come to Mass and you hear a Missionary speak about his work with the poor, and you think about that extra $20 in your wallet…but you need that $20. You’re not getting paid for another week…you have groceries to buy and things to do.

Like Jonah, we may think that what God wants doesn’t make any sense. We ignore it or reject it.

In my own case, I received a profound sense that I should become a deacon around 19 years ago. It felt right, but if I was going to do that I needed to quit a high paying job for IBM in Endicott and find some job closer to home so that I could do the studies and preparations needed. It didn’t make any sense.

Jonah responded to God’s call by trying to run away from God. Sometimes, we do that the same thing. What God asks us to do may seem frightening. Maybe we stop going to Confession, stop going to Mass, or stop praying, but like Jonah, we learn that one cannot hide from God because God is all around us. All of creation is God’s and God is in every living thing. We can no more run away from God then we can run away from ourselves, and then like Jonah, we learn that God is there to answer our call when we are desperate. He is always there waiting for us.

For me, I had to accept that God wanted me to do something drastic and then quit my job. Like Jonah, I had a lot of trials and tribulations, but when I asked God for help, He was there for me.

And once we do God’s will, we will find out like Jonah, that God’s plan make sense. It was only our limited knowledge that made things seem crazy.

I left a high paying job, was unemployed for 8 months with no health insurance for me and my family. I exhausted our savings and we were living off our credit cards. Then when it seemed like all hope was gone, a job found me. A job that proved to be perfect and allowed me to enter into the diaconate program and study to be a deacon. Now I can look back and see how God’s plan for me made sense.

In contrast to Jonah, Mark tells us in our Gospel reading today that Simon, Andrew, James and John dropped what they were doing; dropped everything to follow Jesus. Jesus told them that the time to act is now, and like the people of Ninevah in the story of Jonah, the disciples felt that the sacrifices that they had to make were worth the effort.

That is an example for us all. Any sacrifices that we make for God are worth the effort.

We are called like Jonah, like the Apostles to proclaim the Good News. We are called to live out our lives in service to others.

We are called to be instruments for God.