Missing Mark

Giving accolades to the author of the second gospel

04/29/2021

Acts 12:24—13:5a The word of God continued to spread and grow. After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem, taking with them John, who is called Mark. Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off. So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.

Did you notice that a fabulous feast day slipped by on us Sunday? Last Sunday was April 25, the annual feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. Since Mark is mentioned in the first reading from Acts today, I would like to give some accolades to the author of the second gospel. Today’s passage from Acts 12 reads: “After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem, taking with them John, who is called Mark.” Right in the middle of the book of Acts – indeed, two times in chapter 12 – Mark is mentioned by name.

That is, one evangelist (Mark) is acknowledged by another evangelist (Luke), who wrote Acts of the Apostles. There are, of course, four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In other words, you and I may have missed Mark last Sunday, but Luke did not; indeed, he takes pains to point him out. And Luke points out that John was his Hebrew/Jewish name while Mark was his Latin/Roman name.

Let me follow Luke’s lead and also point out a few fun facts about St. Mark the Evangelist so we do not miss Mark entirely. First, his gospel should really appeal to all Americans. Why? Well, because it is so short with only 16 chapters. We Americans are busy people with little time for long books of the Bible, like John with 21 chapters, Luke with 24, and Matthew with 28. Mark could be called the “Cliff’s Notes” version of the life of Christ.

Even the story line skips along swiftly with the recurrence of the word, “immediately,” (eutheos in Greek). The word “immediately” occurs 59 times in the whole New Testament, and 41 of those times is found in Mark. And 11 of those 41 occurrences are found just in chapter one of Mark! You better put on your running shoes if you want to read Mark. His gospel is short, sweet and swift (like my Masses).

Secondly, Mark ran in some rather elite company, namely, with the two pillars of the early Church: Peter and Paul. Mark is mentioned at the end of three of Paul’s letters. Paul penned Colossians and Philemon from prison and Mark was there at his side. At the end of Second Timothy, Paul wrote to Timothy, his fist lieutenant: “Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is useful to me” (2 Tm 4:11).

St. Peter also affectionately addressed Mark at the end of his first epistle (or encyclical) saying: “She who is at Babylon (meaning Rome), who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark” (1 Pt 5:13). In other words, Mark had two fathers in the faith, Peter and Paul, who reared him as their spiritual son. It is intriguing to see the indelible mark of their influence in the second gospel.

Thirdly, let me make a cultural connection. If you have ever traveled to the city of Venice, Italy, you no doubt saw the magnificent cathedral church of St. Mark, named for the evangelist of the second gospel. The body of St. Mark made its way to Venice by a rather unsavory route. The evangelist was originally buried in Alexandria, Egypt, where the saint had started the great Church of Alexandria, one of the four original centers of Christianity. In the 9th century, Venetian merchants smuggled the corpse of Mark out of Egypt in a barrel of pork fat.

If that seems an undignified mode of moving for Mark, consider this self-effacing episode from his own gospel, that some scholars see as autobiographical. In Mk 14:51, we read about the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, including this delicious detail: “And a young man followed [Jesus], with nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.” You decide which is worse: running away naked or being run across Europe in a barrel of pork fat. Whichever may be worse, both stories highlight Mark’s holiness and humility.

Today we want to thank God for the evangelist who wrote the second gospel: St. Mark. His short and sweet gospel of sixteen chapters is apt for all Americans. Mark learned the faith at the feet of Peter and Paul, the two great pillars of the Church, and his gospel glows with their graces and gifts. And even if St. Mark is immortalized in a memorable cathedral in Venice, his memory also includes being dressed in pork fat and being dressed in his birthday suit. In other words, St. Mark was humble in his own estimation. Every year we should make it a point not to miss St. Mark’s feast. But maybe Mark would not mind if we missed it.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Failure and Fidelity

Seeing our weaknesses highlight God’s goodness

04/26/2021

John 10:1-10 Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

A priest-friend of mine has a surprising, even scandalous, argument for the fact that the Catholic Church was established by Christ. Believe it or not, he points to the period of the Renaissance popes for proof of the divine nature of the Church. Such an argument should shock you because that was the worst period for the papacy. For my friend, however, that is exactly how it highlights the holiness of the Church. How so? Well, the period of the papacy for about 150 years, from 1417 to 1559, was fraught was utter depravity and decadence. For example, some popes even had mistresses and illegitimate children whom they promoted to positions of power.

Do you know where the word “nepotism” comes from? It is based on the Latin word “nepos” which means “nephew.” Some of the Renaissance popes, like Pope Callistus III and Alexander VI elevated their nephews as cardinals, they were called “cardinal-nephews.” And that is where the reprehensible practice of nepotism originated. Not surprisingly, then, not one of the 19 Renaissance popes was ever canonized a saint or his cause even considered. And yet for my friend, this period was proof positive that God established the Church. Why? Simple: because if the Church had been merely a human institution it should have collapsed under the weight of all that sin, scandal and selfishness.

But the fact that the Church endured, and even expanded, in the aftermath shows that the Holy Spirit had not abandoned the “bark of St. Peter. Jesus promised Peter and his successors in Mt 16:18, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” And nor will the Renaissance popes. In other words, the Catholic Church belongs to Christ, not to any pope or priest, however revered or rotten he might be. By the way, it was very hard for me personally to say all that in public. I only say it to highlight our humanity and by contrast Christ’s divinity, and his desire to protect and preserve his Bride, the Church.

In the gospel of John chapter 10, Jesus demonstrates how he is the Good Shepherd by contrast to those who are evil shepherds. Sometimes you can prove your point by emphasizing the negative, like nepotism. Jesus declares: “All who came before me are thieves and robbers…A thief comes only to steal, slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Now, John insists that Jesus intended that rebuke for the Pharisees.

But in a broader sense, Jesus meant it for all the shepherds who put themselves before the sheep, such as the Renaissance popes.

The faults and failings of Church leaders are not a call to abandon the Church, but rather to see that how Good Shepherd never abandons his Bride. And it is in him alone that we put all our faith, hope and love. Catholics may give up on the Church and stop going to Mass, but Christ never does. Indeed, as St. Paul writes: “Christ loved the Church [as his wife] and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water and the word” (Ep 5:25-26). Our failures highlight his fidelity.

My friends, I hope you hear today’s message as good news not only for the universal Church but also the domestic church of your own family. Why? Well, what do children invariably see as they grow up: the faults and failures of their parents. So, they often swear: I will not be like mom and dad when I father my own family! But we end up making the same – or worse – mistakes than they did. Sometimes we feel the temptation to give up on our parents because we see their sins and scandals. But that can also be a call to see Christ’s presence in our domestic church as the Good Shepherd. Our failures shine a bright light on Christ’s fidelity.

Jesus’ words in John 10 are not only directed to the Pharisees and the Renaissance popes, but also to me and you. Do not be too discouraged by your sins and struggles, your faults and failings. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow,” says Heb. 13:8. And you and I are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, too. Our failures only highlight his fidelity.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Menu of Mass

Understanding John’s emphasis on the Eucharist

04/22/2021

John 6:44-51 Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

One of the startling things that makes John’s gospel decidedly different from Matthew, Mark and Luke is there is no “Institution Narrative.” What is that? The Institution Narrative is the retelling of what happened at the Last Supper, specifically, the Lord’s words of consecration that changed the bread and wine into his Body and Blood.

But nowhere do we find this Institution Narrative in the fourth gospel. The reason, I believe, for that omission is because John is not worried so much about the sequence of the Last Supper as much as with the substance of the Last Supper. That is, he does not want to share the mechanics of the Mass as much as the menu of the Mass, that is, the real meaning of the bread and wine.

John helps us understand the menu of the Mass – what was served at the Last Supper – in John 6 with the Bread of Life discourse, and in John 15, with the Discourse on the True Vine. The Beloved Disciple wants to teach us in John 6 that Jesus is the Bread of Life. And in John 15, he wants to convince us Jesus is the true Vine, the vine in which you find the grapes that make the wine of the Eucharist.

John wants to understand that the menu of the Mass serves Jesus himself. That is why we read in today’s gospel from John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” The menu of the Mass, therefore, consists of Holy Communion in Jesus’ Body and Blood.

Sadly, though, today many Catholics question, doubt or even deny what is on the menu; they lack faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. That may be one reason God has blessed us with Eucharistic miracles up and down the centuries, to help our unbelief. Let me mention a few of the more notable miracles of the Eucharist. For example, some saints lived purely on consuming Holy Communion and fasting from every other food. Teresa Neumann from Bavaria survived on no solid food except the Eucharist for 36 years, from 1926 till 1962.

In Lanciano, Italy in the 8th century the Host (the Bread of the Eucharist) became human flesh. According to tradition, a monk who had doubts about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Mass said the words of consecration and the bread and wine changed into flesh and blood. He did not have trouble with the mechanics of the Mass, but rather with the menu of the Mass.

In 1263 a disbelieving priest celebrated Mass in Bolsena (a city north of Rome) and the Bread of the Eucharist began to bleed. The Blood from the host fell onto the corporal (altar cloth placed below the Bread and Chalice) and formed the shape of the face of Jesus as traditionally depicted. The priest came to believe immediately – and I think I would have too!

The following year, in 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi. Why? He wanted people to know not only the mechanics of the Mass – when to stand, sit, kneel and bow – but also what is really on the menu, the Real Presence of Jesus’ Body and Blood. The great Renaissance painter, Raphael, depicted this Eucharistic miracle in a huge fresco he painted in the Vatican.

Folks, let me conclude with a caution and a caveat. The Church does not require you to believe in Eucharistic miracles although she has verified their authenticity and declared them “worthy of belief.” They are good but they are not necessary for salvation. That is, such miracles may help you if your faith is faltering. Eucharistic miracles fall in the category of “private revelations,” like apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These miracles are not part of the “public revelation” which are necessary for salvation, and ended with the death of the last apostle, who incidentally was St. John, the author of the fourth gospel.

Public revelation is what we must believe in order to be saved. And that faith teaches us know both the mechanics of the Mass as well as the menu of the Mass. After all, it is in Jn 20 that Jesus says to Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Scream and Scare

Learning the virtue and value of obedience

04/21/2021

John 6:35-40 Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Did you know that I was in the Marines for a little while? It was only for one week but it changed my life because it taught me the virtue and value of obedience. In high school I was in the Marine Junior ROTC program. My senior year we took an orientation trip to Paris Island, while most of my friends were on Spring Break in Florida. If you want to know how hard Paris Island boot camp is, just watch 5 minutes of the movie “Full Metal Jacket” and you will get a really good idea really fast. Let me give you a glimpse.

Our bus-full of 35 cadets (juniors and seniors) arrived around midnight at Paris Island and we were greeted by two drill sergeants at the gate. Their covers (their hats) covered their eyes. Before they stepped on the bus they began barking orders as loud as they could and we all shot to attention. They marched down the center of the bus and paused briefly to shout in the face of some poor scared student.

I remember thinking: I would be so happy to do whatever you are asking, if I could just understand what you are saying! We finally did figure out that he wanted us off “his bus” (everything belonged to him) in 15 seconds. Have you ever tried to unload a bus full of boys with all their gear in 15 seconds? It is impossible. So, some of us actually jumped through the windows to get out of “his bus” in time. And that is how the whole week went: they shouted incomprehensible commands and we guessed what they wanted and learned to obey.

Finally, about halfway through the week, one cadet mustered the courage to ask a question. He asked: “Why do you do that?” In other words, why are you screaming at us and scaring us? The drill sergeant explained: “I have 13 weeks to take a group of 60 men who do not care about others, or care about life, or maybe even care about themselves and get them ready to take a bullet for the man next to them, to lay down their life for each other. I do not have a second to lose.”

He continued: “I have to tear them down psychologically and get rid of their stinking thinking of being selfish so that they start to think like a unit, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And they must execute my commands without hesitation or second-guessing. That is why I scream at you: to scare the selfishness out of you.” By the way, that is why the Marines are called “the few and the proud.” Not many people want someone to scream at them and scare the selfishness out of them.

In the gospel today Jesus says something surprisingly similar. He says: “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” And by the way, in case you think it was easy for Jesus to do the will of his Father in heaven, Hebrews 5:8 adds: “Son though he was [Jesus] learned obedience from what he suffered.” That is, Jesus’ coming to earth was like going to Marine boot camp for him. Actually, Jesus’ suffering and death would make Paris Island look like a trip to Disney World. The core of Christianity consists in the obedience of Christ, an obedience that was obvious on the Cross.

Now some of you may be thinking: thanks for that “life hack,” Fr. John! Now, I know I do not want to join the Marines or any military service. When I graduate and grow up, I want to do my own will, not what others tell me to do. I will be my own boss. Boys and girls, learning obedience is not just for Jesus or mainly for Marines; it is for anyone who hopes to be happy. If you want to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you will have to learn obedience and do what they want, not what you always want. Otherwise, you will not have a boyfriend or girlfriend for long.

Obedience is crucial for every successful marriage. Why do your parents fight and sometimes scream at each other? They scream to scare the selfishness out of each other, like that Marine drill sergeant did with us cadets. Northside and Southside teachers love to have Trinity graduates in their classes. Why? Is it because you are smarter than students from other junior high schools? Not necessarily: all school produce smart students. It is because you learned a little obedience here at Trinity. You listen in class, you do your homework, you study for tests.

Going to Trinity is a little like a Marine Corps boot camp (only a little), and “you learn obedience through what you suffer.” And sometimes we may even scream at you in order to scare the selfishness out of you. In that sense, Trinity students, too, could be called “the few and the proud.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

This Mortal Coil

Looking forward to the resurrection of the dead

04/18/2021

Luke 24:35-48 The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

One of the most natural things we do on earth is wonder about the supernatural things of heaven. Have you ever wondered what heaven would be like? Here are a few letters children wrote to their pastor asking about the afterlife. An 8 year-old wrote: “Dear Pastor, I would like to go to heaven someday because I know my brother won’t be there. Sincerely, Stephen.” Another tiny tot wrote, “Dear Pastor, I hope I go to heaven someday, but later than sooner. Love, Ellen.” I totally agree with Ellen! Another little lad wondered: “Dear Pastor, How does God know the good people from the bad people? Do you tell him or does he read about it in the newspaper? Sincerely Marty.” Actually, I tell God because I hear everyone’s confessions, but don’t worry, they are all good people.

Now, one of the most common confusions about our heavenly condition is thinking that only our souls go to heaven, while our bodies decay and deteriorate on earth. Hamlet said in his soliloquy “To Be or Not To Be,” “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause.” Hamlet felt the need for his soul to be free of the “mortal coil” of his body.

Indeed, doesn’t the body begin to feel like a burden as you grow older? An elderly friend of mine likes to say: “Getting old ain’t for sissies! It’s hard!” Sometimes we feel our human body is like a coil constricting our souls and heaven will be our final freedom from it. St. Augustine stated surprisingly: “On no point does the Christian faith encounter more opposition than on the resurrection of the body.” People deny the resurrection of the body.

In the gospel today, we see why that way of thinking is a major mistake. How so? Well, the risen Jesus stands in the midst of his disciples with his body, soul and divinity intact. But what did the apostles think? They thought like Hamlet: Jesus’ body was merely his “mortal coil” he had left back in his grave, and now he was a glorified ghost.

But Jesus corrects this chronic confusion, saying: “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And to drive his point home, Jesus added: “Have you anything here to eat?” After “they gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.” In other words, Jesus’ body was glorified, to be sure, but it was still his own, personal, distinctive human body, full of flesh and blood.

Now, here is today’s take-home point: Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the reward we all have to look forward to. What happened to his human body will happen to my human body, when our human mortal bodies will be raised from the grave, glorified and united to our souls. Heaven is not full of glorified ghosts. That is what we mean at the end of the Creed when we say, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead.” That is the true Christian and Catholic faith that the Church has professed from the beginning and that we profess today.

Have you ever wondered how old your body will be in heaven? After all, babies who die shortly after birth would surely want to walk and run in heaven. The elderly whose bodies have been crippled by illness and old age want to throw away their walkers. St. Thomas Aquinas speculated on that question and suggested that our glorified bodies would be 33 years old in heaven because Jesus was that age when he rose from the dead. I don’t know about you, but I would be glad to get back my body of 33!

Sometimes people ask me if we will recognize our loved ones who are in heaven. Will we look different or the same or somehow changed? Again, the answer becomes apparent when we accept the reality of the resurrection of the body. Just as our fingerprints are unique to each person, and because fingers are found on bodies, so our glorified bodies will only enhance our uniqueness rather than diminished it.

We will be more our true selves in heaven than we were on earth because our bodies will be bound perfectly to our souls with no sin to separate them. We will experience an inner peace and harmony between body and soul like Jesus promised in Jn 14:27, a peace this world cannot produce, but only the next world in the resurrection of the body.

Finally, do not feel bad if you begin to lose some of the beauty of your earthly body. You will not lose it permanently The fact that I need glasses, or I walk instead of run for exercise, or someday I may clutch a cane or waltz with a walker, does not mean my body’s final destiny is dust. The weaknesses and wearing out of the body are consequences of the original sin and expulsion from Eden, our earthly paradise. But all those regrettable results are reversible because of the resurrection of the body. I had really thick curly hair when I was a baby boy, and I look forward to running my fingers through it again. Why? Because “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead.”

My friends, when all is perfected in the Parousia, and it’s time for the resurrection, we will stand in our bodies before our Savior and say – not for his sake but for ours – “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” In other words, we will not be glorified ghosts in heaven, but rather we will be gladly clothed again in this mortal coil.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

I Do Not Know

Finding wisdom in the midst of ignorance

04/16/2021

John 6:1-15 Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.

Good teachers teach not only by giving answers but also by asking questions. Why is that? (Notice the question.) Well, it is only when students are aware of their ignorance that they are ready for wisdom. The Greek philosopher Plato simply asked his students questions to help them discover their ignorance. His writings are called “The Dialogues” because it is filled with his innumerable questions put to his students that inspired their dialogues. His own personal motto was: “The only thing I know is that I do not know.” When we think we know it all, we feel we cannot learn any more. One of the hardest things to say is the sentence, “I do not know.” But it is also one of the wisest things to say because only then are we ready to learn something new.

In the gospel today Jesus begins his greatest lesson in John on the Eucharist with a question. He asked Philip: “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Do you remember his reply? “Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.’” Why do you suppose Jesus asked Philip that question? Was Jesus perplexed peering at all the people and worried about how on earth they were going to feed them all? No. John explains Jesus’ motivation: “He said this to test him, because he himself know what he was going to do.”

Like a master teacher, far greater than Plato, Jesus was helping Philip and the other apostles discover their ignorance and insufficiency to deal with unsolvable riddles and unsupportable realities. When they finally admitted, “I do not know,” only then could Jesus perform his great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the precursor to the Eucharist, where Jesus would become the Bread that gives life to the world. Only when we admit our ignorance are we ready for God’s wisdom; only when we recognize our weakness are we prepared to experience God’s power.

My friends, sooner or later we all face situations that overwhelm us, where we find we are ignorant and we feel we are insufficient. How do we help our grown children who have left the Church and no longer practice their faith? Where do we find the solution for our personal financial crises when we lose a job? What shall we do when we are struck with a sudden and serious sickness like pancreatic cancer, or struggle with the physical and mental decline of old age? How do we fight and deal with the failures of overcoming chronic sins and bad habits like addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex and gambling? Why does a good and loving God allow such suffering and feelings of defeat and discouragement? Well, the answer is, “I do not know.”

But St. Paul faced a similar situation of some chronic sin or weakness which he called “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7). And here is his answer to why God gave him that struggle. It is passage well worth meditating on and maybe memorizing. St. Paul humbly confessed: “Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’” And Paul goes on to do what Plato and Jesus hoped their students would learn to do, saying: “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.” And then he concluded: “Therefore, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

When I was first ordained a priest and assigned to my first parish, I was terrified someone would ask me a question for which I did not know the answer. After all, what did I learn in eight years of seminary and two years in canon law school? I learned that more often than not, the best answer is, “I do not know.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Still a Student

Staying humble by seeing ourselves as students

04/13/2021

John 3:7b-15 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to him, ‘How can this happen?” Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Let me share with you something that I sincerely thought when I graduated from high school; and it is a little embarrassing in hindsight. I honestly believed that I knew everything; after all, I had studied biology and chemistry, trigonometry, algebra and calculus, world history and social studies, literature and poetry. I remember saying to myself: “Self, what could they possibly teach us in college? I already know it all! I guess they will just rehash and repeat what we have already heard!”

There is a similar sentiment often attributed to Mark Twain, the brilliant American writer. He said: “When I was a boy of 17, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in four years.” Did Twain’s father in fact learn a lot in four years? No. It was Mark Twain who learned a lot, namely, he learned that he did not know everything and his father was a lot wiser than he knew. That is the same lesson I had to learn at 17 and I am still learning it. I am learning to be humble; I am still a student.

In the gospel today Jesus helps Nicodemus learn the same lesson, namely, that even though he is a teacher, he is still a student, and has much more to learn. Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the beautiful sacrament of baptism, and being born again by water and Spirit. Nicodemus asks: “How can this happen?” And Jesus sort of puts him in his place, answering: “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?”

Up to that point poor Nicodemus must have felt pretty smug about himself knowing how much he had studied and how respected and renowned he was in Israel, a little like me and Mark Twain at 17. And Jesus even said, “You are THE teacher of Israel,” like some people from Ohio say, “THE Ohio State University.” He might have imagined: “What could Jesus possibly tell me that I don’t already know? I guess he will just rehash the old stuff.” Jesus teaches him how much wiser and holier he is than Nicodemus every imagined, just like me and Mark Twain learned about our fathers who are much wiser and holier than us.

But the most important lesson Jesus wanted to teach Nicodemus was the lesson of love. You see, as long as a person is poisoned by pride, arrogance, and feeling like he or she knows it all, they cannot love others. Pride was the problem for the Pharisees (like Nicodemus) because their hearts were filled with so much self-love – they believed they were the BMOC (big man on campus) – that there was no room for love of others. They first had to be humbled – even humiliated – before they could learn to love others. Nicodemus, the teacher, had to learn he was still a student.

This year we will graduate two classes of students from Trinity Junior High: 9th graders and 8th graders. As you leave this school, I hope you will feel like you have learned a lot, because we have really outstanding teachers. We hope you are even better prepared than your peers from other schools. But the most important lesson we can teach you as a Catholic school is the lesson of love. That is, we hope you have learned to be humble, and make room in your heart for others.

You see, it is really pride that poisons us: that is why it is hard to love your parents (your pride), or you pick on or make fun of your younger siblings (your pride), or we are tempted to look down on schools we beat in Quiz Bowl or basketball or tennis (your pride). If we are full of pride, we will be empty of love. But when we begin to see like me and Mark Twain and Nicodemus that others are often smarter and more talented and holier than we are, when we are humble, it becomes easier to love others. We are still students.

Boys and girls we are really proud of you and all that you have accomplished here at Trinity. You really are an amazing group of students and I mean that sincerely. But let US be proud of you; do not be proud of yourselves. Rather be humble, and to help you be humble, remember that you are still a student, and so am I.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Secrets of Christianity

Learning the secret of Scripture and sainthood

04/12/2021

John 3:1-8 There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

One of the hardest things about studying Scripture or becoming a saint is that it is not simple or straight-forward; indeed, it is sometimes secretive. Why is that frustrating? Well, we Americans like things to be obvious and uncomplicated. The golden rule of journalism is the “KISS principle,” “keep it simple, stupid.” Newspapers and magazines are written for sixth grade-level comprehension. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? They are “bilingual.” What do you call someone who speaks only one language? They are “American.” We always want everything easy for us, and therefore the Bible often baffles us.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, there was a prevailing practice of the “disciplina arcani” or the “discipline of the secret.” That is, we did not talk about the most important mysteries of our faith in public or with non-Christians. Have you ever noticed how we dismiss the RCIA candidates after the homily on Sunday? The first half of the Mass was called the “Mass of the Catechumens,” and the catechumens had to leave before the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the main mystery of our religion, Holy Communion. The assembly would exclaim: “Holy things for the holy!”

In other words, Holy Communion is for the saints who have struggled to grow closer to Christ. That is also the reason that underlies why non-Catholics cannot receive Holy Communion today. There is a “secretive quality” to Sacred Scripture that is also evident in the lives of the saints. Holy things are for the holy – those who struggle, sweat, study and sacrifice – and that is really hard for 21st century Americans, who want everyone to “keep it simple, stupid.”

In the gospel today, Nicodemus must have hailed from somewhere in the United States because he begs for Jesus to “keep it simple.” In Jn 3 Jesus is revealing the great secret of baptism and how it makes you a child of God by being born again by water and the Holy Spirit. What does Nicodemus reply? He asks: “How can a man once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” If Nicodemus’ question sounds silly to me and you, that is a good thing. Why? Because you know one of the “disciplina arcani,” one of the great secrets of the Scriptures and the saints, namely, baptism.

But notice how hard it was for Nicodemus to grasp this secret, a man who was highly educated, a Pharisee, and member of the Sanhedrin, and even holy because he wanted to follow Jesus. Nicodemus would first have to sweat, struggle, study (even more) and sacrifice to be able to stay after the “Mass of the Catechumens” and eventually enjoy the “Liturgy of the Eucharist.” In other words, Christianity does not comply with the KISS principle. Those who seek a faith that is simple and stupid will not understand the Scriptures or the lives of the saints.

My friends, what grade-level is your understanding of the faith? Is it at a second-grade level, or are you “smarter than a fifth grader” in Christianity? Now, there is a true sense in which our faith should be “childlike.” Jesus urged in Mark 10, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Nonetheless, be careful not to confuse “childlike” with “childish,” that is, being “childlike” is not an excuse for being lazy.

No one in the history of humanity has had the educational resources at their disposal as we Americans do today, and yet how easily we squander them. We have libraries full of books, even in our phones and laptops, but they remain unread and ignored. We can enjoy the erudition of world-class professors, theologians and Scripture scholars through on-line resources, but we would rather play video games or watch silly cat videos.

No country or culture has ever experienced this much unprecedented free time or leisure, and yet how do we spend our day off and our downtimes? We may laugh at the silly statement of Nicodemus, but at least he was willing to work to understand the faith asking questions and even feeling foolish. He wanted to sweat, struggle, study and sacrifice to know the Scriptures and be a saint.

Folks, the journalistic jargon of the KISS principle will take you far in a career in writing. I know, I have written three books, which I kept pretty simple. But it will not take you far in learning the Scriptures or in the lives of the saints. Keep the discipline of the secrets from those who are not Christian, but don’t keep the secret from yourself.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Chicken or Egg

Mutual dependence of Scripture and sacraments

04/10/2021

Mark 16:9-15 When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country. They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either. But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

You have probably heard about the classic conundrum of causality called “the chicken and the egg.” Sometimes people ask, “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?” Have you ever wondered that? If the egg came first, who laid the egg; and if the chicken came first, where is the egg that chicken was hatched from? The poet William Wordsworth put the puzzle differently, in his poem, “My Heart Leaps up.” He wrote a line that has now become famous: “The child is father of the man.”

We are used to thinking that adults raise their children; and they do. But there is a very true sense in which children “parent” or “father” the next generation. That is, our childhood experiences, attitudes, traumas, and loves become the blueprint for the man or woman we grow into as a father or mother. Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Which came first: the child or the man?

During the coronavirus pandemic, I had a lot of time to study the scriptures, and I discovered a similar conundrum of causality, namely, which came first, the scriptures or the sacraments? Or, put differently: which came first: the Bible or the Body of Christ, the Church? It is a question of causality: which produced or created the other?

If you ask many Protestants (although not all), they may answer the Bible came first, and from the subsequent apostolic preaching and teaching from the Scriptures, the sacraments or the Church was born. That is why our Protestant brothers and sisters constantly ask Catholics: “Where does it talk about the pope or Mary or purgatory in the Bible?” Why do they ask that? Because for them the Bible came first and any faith not found there explicitly and unequivocally is not holy but rather heresy.

But the Catholic view is both more complex and more comprehensive, and therefore, I believe, more correct. We believe the chicken and the egg were sort of "born together," like twins. We maintain like Wordsworth that the man fathers the child, but the child is father to the man as well; they are inseparable. In other words, there is a dynamic interdependence between the scriptures and the sacraments; they came to be at the same time, mutually giving birth to one another. I know that sounds weird.

Today’s gospel reading from Mark is a perfect case in point. Did you know there are actually two endings to the gospel of Mark? There is a “longer ending” which we heard as our gospel reading from Mark 16:9-15, as well as a “shorter ending” which ends at Mark 16:8. How can there be two different endings of the gospel? Well, here is one of the discoveries that blew my mind as I studied the Bible. Did you know there is not one original book of the Bible in existence? That means what we have are not originals but copies, in fact, we have copies of copies of copies. And in that process of copying – remember the printing press would not be invented until 1440 – the process was not perfect. Sometimes, the scribes added or changed the original texts.

So, this evening, go home and take out your Bible, brush the dust off the cover, and turn to Mark 16. (Some of you may have to buy a Bible on the way home.) When you finish Mark 16:8, you usually find a bracket beginning in verse 9, and the closing bracket at verse 20. Why are those 12 verses set off by brackets? Because some of the oldest manuscripts (copies) have those verses while some of the oldest manuscripts (copies) do not contain those 12 verses. Well, which is it: does the gospel of Mark end at verse 8 or does it conclude at verse 20? That will be one of the questions I hope to ask St. Mark when (and if) I get to heaven.

The answer to the question about the ending of Mark’s gospel goes back to the chicken and the egg dilemma. How so? Well, even though the scripture itself cannot decide the debate - there is not original text to settle the matter - the sacraments come to the rescue, especially the Mass. You see, the reason we have any books of the New Testament is because those 27 books were the ones read at the celebration of the earliest Eucharists.

It is because the early Christians read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John when they celebrated the Mass that they decided to include them in the list of New Testament books in the year 393. In other words, the sacraments gave birth to the Bible. Therefore, because we read the longer ending of Mark at Mass, we believe that is the authentic ending of his gospel. The liturgy is the litmus test the Bible.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg, the child or the man, the scripture or the sacraments? Well, the Catholic answer is they came into being together, kind of like twins. And like all twins, they sometimes argue and fight, but don’t worry, it is always the good fight of faith.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Faces and Names

Seeing and serving Jesus in everyone we meet

04/07/2021

John 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are  you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.

Remembering people’s names is a very important skill for priests and preachers. Why? Well, it makes people feel loved and cared for, as well as making people feeling close to the minister and the minister close to them. But it can be hard to remember thousands of people’s names, like here at Immaculate Conception, where we have over 6,000 parishioners.

I had a friend in the seminary who went to great lengths to remember people’s names and he learned all kinds of elaborate name-association techniques that would trigger his recollection. His association techniques usually related to people’s facial features, like their eyes, nose, lips, etc. Now with everyone wearing masks in church, many of those facial features are hidden. You all look the same to me now! It’s like we say about people from another country: all those Indians look the same!

In the gospel today Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and she has trouble remembering Jesus’ name and identity, almost as if he were wearing a mask. Indeed, she mistook him for the gardener. Maybe Mary thought that all gardeners looked the same: “Eh, he’s just another gardener; they all look alike!” But after Jesus says her name, “Mary,” she remembers his name and calls him “Rabbouni,” which is another form of “Rabbi,” or teacher. Somehow Jesus’ resurrection has not only revealed his identity as the Son of God; it has also concealed his identity as simply a Jewish rabbi. In other words, Jesus has become both easier and harder to recognize. And I believe that is both deliberate and decisive: it teaches us something crucial about Christianity. What do I mean?

In Luke 24 two disciples are on the road to Emmaus and they do not recognize Jesus who walks and talks with them for nearly 7 miles. But then their eyes are opened in the “breaking of the bread” (Bible code-language for the Eucharist). At first, they thought he was just another visitor to Jerusalem; and all those foreigners look the same! In Acts 9 Saul the Pharisee encounters the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus and asks, “Who are you, sir?” And Jesus replies, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Consequently, Saul was blind for 3 days, but when he opened his eyes he could see Jesus in all Christians. But before that encounter, Saul would have said, “Ah, that is just another Christian; they all look alike!” In other words, Jesus is present in each person, especially in every Christian.

And in Mt. 25, in the dramatic Final Judgment scene where Jesus separates all humanity into the sheep and the goats, into the blessed and the condemned, what causes you to end up in one category rather than the other? Jesus explains: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” That is, the saved will be those who see and serve Jesus in the poor. The resurrection, therefore, has revealed Jesus’ glory and identity, but it has also concealed his Presence in the Eucharist, in the Church (in individual Christians), and in the poor. Jesus will be more easy to see and recognize (because he will be everywhere), but also harder to spot and pick out because he will be incognito.

My friends, do you have a job or responsibility that requires you to remember a lot of people’s names? Not only pastors but also teachers who have lots of students’ names to remember and new students every year; but also leaders of church ministries with many members (like the I.C. Ladies Auxiliary), or even some families that have so many uncles and aunts, cousins and in-laws, like the Siebenmorgen’s, Seiter’s and Sanchez’s. It is certainly a good thing to do like my friend in the seminary and learn everyone’s names. It will help you to feel close to them and for them to feel close to you, and you will be a better leader.

Nonetheless, I am convinced there is a deeper identity in each person, namely, Jesus is in them. That is, even if we cannot remember someone’s name, be careful not to write them off or dismiss them by thoughts like “Ah, he’s just the gardener,” or “All those Indians look the same.” Each person is a unique and unrepeatable child of God, and even if you cannot remember their name, at least remember Jesus is in them. Even if you forget the name Maestri, or Martinez, or McNally, just remember the name “Jesus.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Resurrection Results

Seeing how the Resurrection changes everything

04/04/2021

John 20:1-9 On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Which do you like to hear first, the good news or the bad news? I always want the bad news first and the good news last, like eating my salad first and the dessert last. But can you always tell the difference between the good news and the bad news, which is which? Just listen to this little joke. After dying in a car crash, three friends go to heaven for an orientation. They were all asked the same question: “When you are in the casket at your funeral, friends and family are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say about you?” The first man immediately responds, “I would like to hear them say that I was one of the greatest doctors of my time and a great man.” The second man says, “I would like to hear them say that I was a wonderful husband and a terrific teacher who made a huge difference in the children of tomorrow.” The third man thinks for a moment and answers: ‘I would like to hear them say… ‘Look! He’s moving!’”

Now, all joking aside, ask yourself: would hearing “Look! He’s moving!” while you are in the casket sound like good news or bad news? It sounds pretty good, right? After all, who doesn’t want to come back from the dead, especially at a funeral and prank your friends? But what eventually happens to everyone who comes back to life? They have to die again. It’s like that truism: the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes. Everyone eventually exits through the door of death.

Even every person whom Jesus raised from the dead had to die again. The widow of Nain’s son in Luke 7 died again; Jairus’ daughter in Luke 8 died again; and even Lazarus in John 11 died again. When it comes to death, therefore, it is not easy to tell the good news from the bad news. I would suggest to you that the good news is not living a little longer on earth; the really good news is living a lot longer in heaven, indeed, living forever. But for those who have not found faith, it is hard to tell the difference between the good news and the bad news.

On that first Easter Sunday, Mary of Magdala goes to Jesus’ tomb and finds it empty. She runs to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple (John), “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” Mary didn’t say, “Look! He’s moving!” She said, “Look! He’s gone!” Now, did Mary think that was good news or bad news? Well, I am convinced Mary, Peter and John thought it was actually bad news. Why? Well, not only had Jesus died, but now his body had apparently been stolen. So, we read at the end of today’s gospel, “For they did not understand the Scripture, that he had to rise from the dead.” But after they see the risen Jesus they have what is called “resurrection faith,” which opens their eyes to tell the difference between the good news and the bad news. They realized there is no more bad news, not even death.

My friends, do you realize that we have had ten funerals in the past three months? I hope their families will not mind me mentioning their names out loud. On January 13, we had the funeral for Gene Borengasser, on Jan. 26 for Dr. Kent Magrini, on Feb. 5 for Van Philaly, on Feb. 20 for Tom Caldarera, on Feb. 23 for Katie Reith, on Mar. 11 for Mary Maestri, on Mar. 20 for Eva de la Cruz, on Mar. 24 for Larry Komp, on Mar. 26 for Rosella Boerner, and on Mar. 31 for Carolyn Schmidt. I am sure their family and friends having gone to visit their graves, just like Mary of Magdala went to visit Jesus’ tomb.

But is their passing entirely bad news? That is when we must look through the eyes of resurrection faith. In other words, we don’t want to say, “Look! He’s moving!” because we know that would only mean Tom or Katie, Eva or Larry, Kent or Carolyn would have to die again. Rather, resurrection faith tells us these beloved dead will now live forever in heaven. The resurrection means there is no more bad news, not even death.

My friends, may I draw out one more result of resurrection? Heck, this is the only time some of you come to church, so I have to give you all I got! I am convinced that the resurrection of Jesus changes all bad news into only good news. In Rm 5:20, St. Paul declares: “Where sin abounds, there grace abound all the more.” Paul could just as well have said, “Where bad news abounds, there good news abounds all the more.” Why? Resurrection faith assures us that the return on the investment (ROI) of Christianity is not limited to this world but also realized in the next.

It’s like that recruiting poster for the priesthood: “The priesthood doesn’t pay much, but the retirement plan is out of this world!” Our retirement plan is the resurrection. Therefore, the sacrifices we make as priests and deacons, the pains and problems you experience raising children, the hurts and humiliations you suffer as a spouse, the ways we provide for the poor, in a word, all the crosses we carry as Christians, will be rewarded in the resurrection. In other words, there is no bad news in this world that Jesus cannot turn into good news in the next.

The next time someone asks you, “Which would you like to hear first, the good news or the bad news?” What will you reply? If you have resurrection faith, you can say: “It doesn’t matter. Easter means there is no more bad news.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Do You Bleed

Contemplating crucifixes and learning about Good Friday

04/02/2021

Isaiah 52:13—53:12 See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him -- so marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man-- so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore, because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.

Everyone knows the most distinctive symbol of Christianity is the cross. But do you know the difference between a “cross” and a “crucifix”? I would suggest to you that it is equivalent to the difference between Protestants and Catholics. How so? Well, a cross is a geometrical figure of two intersecting lines, perpendicular to each other, making the shape of a “plus sign.” A crucifix, by contrast, is a cross that has the body of Jesus on it, called a “corpus,” which is Latin for “body.” When you walk into most (not all) Protestant churches you will find a “cross” without the corpus. But you are probably in a Catholic church if you see a cross with the corpus, Jesus’ body in his final agony. Why is that?

Well, I believe our Protestant brothers and sisters want to emphasize that Jesus has risen and is no longer on the Cross. Hence, the cross without the corpus; Jesus’ body is glorified in heaven. Catholics, on the other hand, want to remember how much Jesus suffered and died to save us. “Crucifix” is an abbreviation of the word “crucifixion.” Now, I don’t want to overstate this point, because Protestants still sing about Jesus’ saving death, and Catholics regularly reflect on his resurrection; the cross and the crucifix are not mutually exclusive. Still, both theological traditions want to highlight different aspects of the one Paschal Mystery: Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.

I believe we Catholics are fond of crucifixes more than mere crosses because they teach us why Good Friday is so “good.” Have you ever wondered why we call this day so “good,” the day we killed the King of kings? But I believe crucifixes teach that lesson in three ways. First, the crucifix shows us that Jesus’ love is not talk but action, and his specific action is suffering. We prove that we really love someone by doing something hard for them, not by doing something easy. Even God shows us he loves us by doing something extremely hard, namely, by suffering and dying on the cross.

A small child once asked Jesus, “How much do you love me?” And Jesus answered, “This much!” and he stretched out his arms wide and was nailed to the cross. We Catholics are like little children always asking that question: “Jesus how much do you love us?” And we find great comfort when hear his answer: “I love you this much!” That is why Catholics want to behold a crucifix with our Lord’s arms stretched out in love for the world. That is why Good Friday is called “good.”

Secondly, when we see how much Jesus’ suffered on the cross we see how human he became. Did you see the movie “Batman versus Superman”? Don’t worry, I saw it! One of the best lines was when Batman menacingly asked Superman: “Do you bleed?” What he was asking was “How human are you?” Nothing proves our humanity like when we bleed. Bleeding shows we are simple men, not Supermen. Therefore, when Jesus’ bled on the cross, he highlighted his humanity every bit as much as becoming a Baby in Bethlehem.

A crucifix underscores that Jesus was fully human at the Crucifixion as well as at the Incarnation; when his clothes became dazzling white on Mt. Tabor as well as when his clothes became crimson red on Mt. Calvary; when the crowds stood spell-bound during his Sermon on the Mount as well as when they listened to his “Seven Last Words,” our Lord’s last sermon while mounted on the pulpit of the Cross. To the question, “Do you bleed?” – are you really human? – every crucifix gives a resounding “Yes!” That is why Good Friday is called “good.”

And thirdly, the crucifix shows us a powerful way we can be a little more like Jesus. You know, it’s hard to be as smart and wise as Jesus; he knows more than Google. It is impossible to be as holy and sinless as Jesus; he perfect and impeccable. We will never come close to being as prayerful or spiritual as Jesus; he always beheld the Face of his Father. But in one area of life we can imitate our Lord, namely, in our suffering. One of my favorite Bible verses is Colossians 1:24, where St. Paul writes – which incidentally, he wrote from prison – “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, the church.” In other words, my suffering makes me like my Savior.

On Good Friday Catholics are called to fast from food and to abstain from eating meat. Why? Simple: so our suffering makes us more like our Savior. Every crucifix tells us that every Christian can imitate Christ: when we lose our job, when our marriage fails, when our children abandon their faith, when we feel alone and misunderstood, when we fail to overcome our sins, when we suffer from cancer or chronic illnesses, we feel like Jesus did on the cross. Suffering may make us feel far from others, but it can also make us feel very close to Christ. That is why Good Friday is called “good.”

Catholics love crucifixes more than crosses because they teach us why Good Friday is called "good." But crosses are good too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Smell of Wine

Seeing the Eucharist as the food for every journey

04/01/2021

John 13:1-15 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. So, during supper, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel nd tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Do you have a favorite food you like to take on a road-trip? Many of our parish families may have hit the road last week for Spring Break so their “food for the journey” is still fresh on their minds, or still lingering on their lips. Food and drink for the journey reminds me of that classic joke. A police officer pulled over a priest for speeding and immediately smelled alcohol on his breath. The next thing he noticed was an empty wine bottle lying on the passenger seat. The officer asked: “Have you been drinking, Father?” The priest answered, “Just water.” The officer insisted, “Then why do I smell wine?” The priest looked over at the bottle and shouted: “Good Lord! He’s done it again!” That’s an old one, but I still love it!

I’m sure the priest had just finished celebrating Mass and only the slight smell of wine was on his breath. It’s interesting that on the day of Pentecost when the apostles spoke in tongues, we read in Acts 2:13, “But others mocking said, ‘They are filled with new wine’.” The apostles were indeed filled with new wine at Pentecost because the Holy Spirit had changed the wine into the Blood of Christ at Mass that morning. And then, strengthened by that Eucharistic Food, the same Spirit gave the apostles the power to speak many languages. The Wine had loosened their tongues! The apostles took the “new Wine” of the Mass on their great missionary journeys over the whole world, fearlessly preaching the Gospel.

Indeed, the new Bread and Wine of the Eucharist is the ideal food for the final journey after death, our personal Passover, when we “pass over” from this world to the next. The Church teaches that when we receive Holy Communion for the last time, it is called “Viaticum,” literally “for the road,” or “food for the journey.” Why? So we will have the strength to make it to our ultimate destination, our Father’s House. The Eucharistic Food gives us the confidence to set out on that final journey with joy. Why? Because Wine makes us smile.

Today we celebrate Holy Thursday, the night on which our Savior instituted the Eucharist to be our Food for every journey. Of course, he did not start cooking from scratch, but rather built on the Jewish feast of Passover. Before their momentous march across the desert, Moses fed the Israelites with the original food for the journey, namely, lamb and unleavened bread. The people were not leaving schools and books for Spring Break, but leaving slavery and bondage, and many students may feel those two are exactly the same.

Leaving slavery in Egypt for the freedom of the Promised Land prefigured leaving this valley of tears we call “earth” for the glory of the real Promised Land called “heaven.” Egypt was earth, the Promised Land was heaven. In other words, that evening of the Passover Moses fed the people with a sort of “spiritual viaticum,” spiritual food for the journey. Don’t forget, though, along with the unleavened bread the Israelites also drank wine that night, and the Egyptians might have mockingly said about them: “They are filled with new wine.” The wine made the Israelites smile as they departed Egypt.

The Eucharistic Bread and Wine are not only food for the final journey after death, but also food for all our earthly journeys. That is, the Eucharist strengthens us and helps us to live like Christ lived. That is the reason at the Last Supper Jesus also washed and dried his disciples’ feet, and then commanded: “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” Of course, Jesus did not mean that literally but illustratively, that is, his action was an example of service to the extreme, even if it meant washing feet.

How will we ever be humble enough and holy enough to do that? How can we perform service to the extreme? Simple: we must consume Jesus’ own Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion. The Eucharist, therefore, not only makes us holy but humble; we not only feel our Lord’s sanctity but also his strength, and that is how we are able to love like our Lord. When we are filled with the new Wine of the Eucharist, we can set out on all our journeys with joy. The wine makes us smile.

I recently looked up the ten most popular foods to take on a road-trip. See if any of these match your personal list. They included: (1) beef jerky, (2) popcorn, (3) hard-boiled eggs, (4) protein bars, (5) string cheese, (6) carrots, (7) grapes, (8), hummus and celery, (9) Greek yogurt, and (10) pistachios. I was shocked that “viaticum” did not make the top ten list of road-trip foods! But Holy Communion should be at the top of every Catholic’s list of road-trip snacks. We should not leave home without it, whether we are trying to make our way on earth, or trying to make our way home to heaven. Sometimes, it’s good to get on the road with the slight smell of Wine on your breath.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Let’s Talk Money

Making Christ our king rather than cash

03/31/2021

Matthew 26:14-25 One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“ When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

Kevin O’Leary says frequently on Shark Tank, “Let’s talk money.” Let me begin with a question: is money the "root" of all evil, or rather does money "rescue" you from all evil? Well, if you ask Pink Floyd, they will say that money rescues you from all evil. In their wildly popular 1981 hit song, they sang: “Money, get away / You get a good job with more pay and you’re okay / Money, it’s a gas / Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash / New car, caviar, four-star daydream / Think I’ll buy me a football team.” So, we might say that one attitude toward making money is to say “Cash is king.”

On the other hand, St. Paul teaches Timothy, his young apprentice and future bishop, that money is the root of all evil. St. Paul wrote in 1 Tm 6:10, these familiar lines: “The love of money is the root of all evil, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” St. Paul warned Timothy (and us) that money does not “rescue” us from evil; loving it too much is the “root” of all evil. In other words, for St. Paul, “cash was not king” but rather “Christ is king.”

I am convinced this is the problem for Judas in the gospel of Matthew today. Judas Iscariot is the one who betrays Jesus and hands him over to the Jewish authorities to be killed. But before he did that, Judas said, “Let’s talk money.” We read in Mt. 26:14, “One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Isacariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you going to give me if I hand him over to you?’” Using terminology we might hear on Shark Tank, Judas was asking, “What is your valuation of Jesus? How much is he worth?” They paid him “30 pieces of silver,” which Leviticus tells us was the price of a slave. Clearly, for Judas, “cash is king.”

By contrast, we read about how Mary (not Jesus’ mother but Martha’s sister) deals with money and valuable things when Jesus visited her, Martha and Lazarus a few days earlier. In Jn 12, we read: “Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil…and anointed the feet of Jesus…the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” And do you recall who objected to that supposed “waste” of costly perfume? You guessed it: Judas, who said it should have been spent on the poor. But John explains: “Judas said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal from the contributions.” So, on the other hand, we see Mary for whom “Christ is king” and therefore “cash cannot be king.” In other words, you must sacrifice either one or the other: either Christ or cash. You cannot serve two kings.

My friends, if there is one thing Catholic schools have taught me, it is how to make “Christ the king” rather than believe that “cash is king.” Let me give you three examples. First, my parents taught me that Christ is king because they came to America from India and saved their money only to spend it by sending their three children to Catholic schools. Catholic schools are not inexpensive and you must sacrifice cash in order to serve Christ when you send your children there.

Second, I tried to follow my parents’ example by running marathons and writing three books to raise money for students who could not afford to go to a Catholic school. I did not offer Jesus a jar of perfumed oil, but I did pour out my sweat and tears out of love for him. It takes money to write books. You sacrifice cash in order to serve Christ. Third, I pray our students who graduate from Trinity will be successful in life and even make lots of money. But then, I sincerely hope they will turn around and use that money to help the poor, and maybe even help poorer students to go to Catholic schools. You have to sacrifice cash in order to serve Christ.

The felicitous phrase, “Let’s talk money” can be used in both Shark Tank and in Catholic schools. In Shark Tank that talk about money tends to mean that “cash is king.” In Catholic schools we too talk about money, but only so we can see that Christ is king.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Rearing Rebels

Fathering the future with hope and peace

03/30/2021

Jn 13:21-38 Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. When he had left, Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

Isn’t it fascinating how children from the same parents can turn out to be so different? Parents try their best to raise their children right. They try to provide the best food, shelter and clothing. They send them to the best schools – like Immaculate Conception and Trinity, of course! They teach them right from wrong, and how to love God and their neighbor and the poor. Even though they love their children more than life itself, still each child turns out very differently, each with his or her own personality, priorities and pursuits.

My own family is a clear case in point. My parents raised me, my older brother and younger sister giving all three of us the best they had. They undertook the amazing adventure of leaving their home country and living in a foreign land to give us opportunities they never had. And each of us responded to their rearing differently. I pursued the priesthood, my brother studied electrical engineering and my sister chose a career in communication. But clearly I was my parents’ favorite (just kidding). Parents try very hard not to play favorites, but rather want each child to know they are loved unconditionally. Parents only want a future filled with happiness, success and love for each child. That is what my parents wanted for us, and what all parents desire deeply for each child they bring into the world.

The gospel of John today presents us with a portrait of two apostles: Judas and Peter. We could even say a portrait of three apostles because John is narrating the scene of the Last Supper and makes a conspicuous cameo appearance. Jesus is clearly the Teacher and the apostles are the students or disciples. But in another sense, Jesus is like a father who is raising his sons to become mature men of faith. The Second Vatican Council characterized the relationship between bishops and priests like that between father and son. Like all good parents, Jesus, too, gave his sons/apostles the best he had: making personal sacrifices, teaching, correcting and encouraging, and most especially leading by example, like when he washed their feet at the Last Supper and commanded them to do likewise.

Even though Jesus gave all 12 sons the best he had, they all still turned out so differently. Today we see a low point for two of the Twelve: Judas and Peter. Jesus predicts that both of them will turn their backs on him. Judas will betray Jesus and Peter will deny Jesus. And up to the last moment Jesus held out hope for them. When Jesus handed the morsel of bread dipped in the lamb sauce and gave it to Judas, he was not only indicating who would betray him. That was also a gesture of intimate and loving friendship, like when my father gives me a little food from his dinner plate. I always say: “No way, dad! I read the bible and I know what happens if I take that bite!”

In other words, Jesus was inviting Judas to reconsider his plan to betray his Lord and Savior. Like all good parents Jesus only wanted a future for each of his apostles/sons filled with happiness, love and success. Nonetheless, each one turned out so differently. And John would even make a parenthetical comment in today’s gospel: “One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at his side.” Put in plain English: I am obviously the favorite.

My friends, when we study the life and ministry of Jesus and his apostles we not only get a glimpse of the life of the Church, we also see a snapshot of normal family life. Indeed, parish life and family life are very close correlatives, as Vatican II suggested comparing bishops and priests to fathers and sons. I hope today’s gospel will give some comfort and encouragement to all parents doing the best they can to raise their children right and yet they all turn out so differently. Even though you give them the best food, shelter and clothes, the best education, the best of yourself and surround them with only positive influences, they still have their own personalities, priorities and pursuits. You cannot control the outcome of their lives, no matter how hard you try, just like Jesus did not control the outcome of his apostles’ lives, even though he tried.

Today, let us pray for our precious children, our beloved parents, our blessed siblings, and for each other: brothers and sisters in Christ. God, our heavenly Father, only wants to give us a future filled with happiness, success and love. May we want that future too, at least half as much as he does.

Praised be Jesus Christ!