Coming from Afar

Seeing how all history is really Jesus’ story

12/25/2022

Mt 1:1-25 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.

What causes the twists and turns in the river of history? What are history’s major moments? We might be tempted to answer that it is the world wars, or the election of presidents or the enthroning of kings or even natural disasters that move the needle of history. That is what we read about in history books. But I would suggest to you that the real catalyst that determines the course of history is the birth of a baby. After all, it was a baby who became George Washington, our first president. And another baby who became Adolph Hitler, who started World War II. In other words, babies change history.

And ultimately all history revolves around the birth of One Baby, namely, Jesus. We even mark the days and months, years and centuries and millennia according to his birthday. B.C. means Before Christ, and A.D. is Latin for Anno Domini, meaning in the year of our Lord. Even the kings of the earth came to worship this Baby at his birth because they sensed this was the central event of history.

Someone sent me a funny meme the other day. It had two men staring at a Nativity scene. One man asked: “Why are your three kings dressed as firefighters?” The other man answered, “Well, the Bible says that the three kings came from afar.” But it was actually a brilliant idea to dress the kings as firefighters because not only did they come from a far, they were also going to a fire. How so? Hb 12:29 describes God saying: “For our God is an all-consuming fire.”

That is, the fire of God’s love is burning hot and out of control, and all time and history basks in the glow of that divine Inferno of love all wrapped up in an Infant. In other words, what we discover in this Baby in Bethlehem is that history is really “his story.” And he stands in the middle of that story like the burning sun at the center of our solar system, and all creation and all time are like planets revolving around the Son, Jesus.

Today we hear the magnificent opening verses of the gospel of St. Matthew. Now, truth be told, most priests and deacons dread reading the long genealogy of Jesus because of all the tongue-twisting Old Testament names. But I love it. Why? Well, because among other things, Matthew wants to make it crystal clear that the catalyst that controls the march of history is not kings or wars or disasters, but rather the birth of a baby.

And it is precisely through the birth of characters like Amminadab and Rehoboah, Abijah and Jechoniah, Eliakim and Eleazar, that the birth of Jesus finally bursts on the scene. Their births made his birth possible. The final line of that genealogy is like a thunderous crescendo of a great symphony, where Matthew writes: “And of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” I always get a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes when I get to that last line. And by the way, it is not only the crescendo of Matthew’s genealogy, but it is also the crescendo of all history and humanity.

And I think about this too. God could have sent Jesus into the world a hundred different and much more dramatic ways. Jesus could have parachuted down from the sky a fully grown man with bulging muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He could have ridden into Jerusalem on a white horse wearing armor and brandishing a huge sword. He could have appeared as a general of an army arrayed with countless weapons at his command. That’s what I would have done, and maybe you, too, if we were to save the world.

But God decided that his Son would enter the world as a helpless little Baby. Why? Because God knows that what causes the twists and turns of history, what moves the needle of time, is the birth of a baby. And this beautiful Baby would be greater than all the kings and presidents and generals who ever lived combined. And as a down payment of the homage of all humanity, three kings “came from afar” dressed as firefighters to adore the blazing Son of God.

My friends, when you think about your own history, what accounts for its twists and turns? What changes your life profoundly and permanently? Sometimes we mistakenly think it is our accomplishments or our wealth or our reputation. But those things are really small potatoes compared to the birth of a baby, or a grandbaby. When my brother and sister had a combined total of 9 children, my father’s only comment was: “Keep them coming!” My father understood intuitively that what makes our family history meaningful and moves it forward is the birth of a baby, especially grandbabies.

I receive dozens of Christmas letters from parishioners and family and friends. And do you know what all those letters are invariably about? They are full of the stories of the children and grandchildren and sometimes even their dogs and their cats. But not one Christmas letter mentions enthroning a king, or the election of a president, or the military victory of a four-star general. Just like the gospel of Matthew begins with Jesus’ human family, so our Christmas letters are all about our precious family members.

And on Christmas day we remember the most important member of our family is Jesus. Just like Amminadab, Jechoniah, and Abijah, we want Jesus to be part of our family story. Or better yet, we want our family story to be part of his story, which is ultimately the center of all history. Maybe we should all dress up as firefighters for Christmas, too. Why? We, too, all “come from afar” to worship our God, who is “an all-consuming fire”, an Inferno inside an Infant, smiling at the very heart of history.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

A New Name

Learning the importance of bestowing a new name

12/18/2022

Mt 1:18-24 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Well, you will never guess what I did this weekend. Do you give up? I adopted a dog, and so I have become a “dog-dad”. I guess I miss having Fr. Daniel’s dog, Lola, around to go on walks with and watch movies with. And now I will also have someone to practice preaching my Sunday homilies on before I deliver them at Mass. And if my dog falls asleep, then I know my homily needs more work! He is a mix between a lab and a pit bull, which means he’s very loving but also very athletic and strong.

One of the most important things a dog-dad has to do is give his dog a great name. When I got the dog at the rescue, they said his name was “Presley.” But I am not a big fan of Elvis Presley, so I would like to give him a new name. And I would like a little help from our parishioners. I have a list of nine possible names on a sheet of paper in the back of church. There is also a blank at the bottom, if you would like to suggest another name for Presley. There is also a picture of me and Presley so you can see what name suits him best. I will tally up the votes and see what name the congregation likes best. And then I will give Presley whatever name I want, because after all the Catholic Church is not a democracy.

I mention all this news about names because surprisingly that is exactly what our Scriptures speak about today at Mass. For example, the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet tells King Ahaz: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” And six hundred years later we would learn that Virgin’s name was Mary. And we all know the name Emmanuel means “God is with us.”

In the gospel today, an angel appears to St. Joseph in a dream and tells him some news about a name. He says: “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home…She will bear a son and you are name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now, unfortunately, an angel did not appear to me in a dream and tell me what to name Presley, so I need your help in our parish poll for Presley’s new name. In a sense, you will be my angel.

But names are not negligible or unimportant and they should be chosen carefully and lovingly. They are charged with meaning and over the course of time they carry historical and even cosmic consequences. For instance, the name Jesus (Yeshua) means “God saves” and that names touches the deepest core of Christ’s identity: he was born in Bethlehem to save us. The holy Name of Jesus is so sacred and singular that modern Americans would never think to bestow that name on their own children whom they love more than life itself.

At Mass, some priests and people slightly bow their heads whenever the name of Jesus is uttered in the liturgy. Why? Well, because St. Paul said in Phil 2:10: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” In other words, there is only one name that will save us, because that is what the name “Jesus” itself means, namely, “God saves.” And God the Father gave his Son that name with unspeakable love and tenderness.

My friends, today let me invite you to give a little thought not just to your dog’s name or even to Jesus holy name, but to your own name, and the names of others. Why? Well, because your parents chose your name as an expression of their love for you and all their hopes and dreams for what you might become. There is a lot of love crammed into that little word that is your name.

And that is why everyone has a right to a good name, a good reputation. That is, not only should we not take God’s name in vain, but we should also not take other’s names in vain, in the ways we speak about them and utter their names. Names should be treated with utmost respect and even with reverence.

But did you know that God also wants to give you a new name? Of course we are given lots of names over the course of our life, some good and some maybe not so good. But the name God wants to give us will also express God’s eternal love and hopes and dreams for each of us and everything we should become, like the name of Jesus does for God’s Son. We read in Rv 2:17, “I shall also give a white stone upon which is inscribed a new name which no one knows except the one who receives it.”

In other words, we will not know this new name until we get to heaven and God reveals it to us. So, all the names we are given on earth are only imperfect approximations to the new and perfect name God will give us in the end. That means that we really do not know ourselves fully yet, because we do not yet know our true name, which God alone can give us. But one day we will know it, and we will know the full extent of God’s love for us. So, in the meantime, let’s just work on a new name for Presley.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Consulting the Faithful

Learning the purpose of the Synod on Synodality

12/13/2022

MT 21:28-32 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”

This past Sunday I read Bishop Taylor’s letter on the Synod on Synodality. I think that subject of a synod is serious enough to warrant another sermon. For those of you who keep up with Catholic news (Church watchers), you know how this synod has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in some parts of the world. Bishops writing to other bishops and telling them to stand down. Some of you may have been surprised or even shocked when I shared the 11 areas of concern raised during the diocesan phase of this synod. Put simply, some Catholics feel this synod is pushing the Church in the wrong direction, even flirting with heresy.

There may be some legitimacy for those concerns, but I believe those concerns miss the larger purpose and the good the synodal process can accomplish. I tried to describe the synodal process as listening and learning between church leaders (like bishops, priests, and deacons) and the laity, and compared it to the familial relationship between parents and children. How so?

Well, while it is true that most of the time parents lead, guide, and teach their children, at some critical moments children also lead, guide, and teach their parents. All wise parents know they owe a debt of gratitude for many lessons they have learned from their children. That listening and learning between parents and children is the heart of the synodal process, and its greatest contribution to the life of the Church.

I said all that last Sunday. In this second sermon on the synod, I want to share the groundbreaking insights of a recently canonized saint, John Henry Newman, and his work called “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine.” Newman was a convert to Catholicism in England in the mid-1800’s. One thing that convinced Newman of the truth of the Catholic faith was the study of Church history. In other words, if you seriously and soberly study the history of Christianity, you must conclude that the Catholic Church is the one true Church that Jesus Christ established. And our Lord founded that Church on St. Peter, the rock.

But a careful study of Church history also teaches another valuable lesson, namely, the crucial importance and involvement of the laity (everyone who is not ordained clergy) in the life and mission of the Church. At one point Bishop Ullathorne paid Newman a visit to question him about his views and asked haughtily, “And who are the laity?” And Newman humbly answered, “Well, the Church would look foolish without them.” Newman’s comment wasn’t just a sharp come-back; it was also a sharp insight that really bishops, priests, and deacons exist not for ourselves, but to serve lay persons. In the same way, good parents know their real purpose in life is to raise up holy children. That is, without children, parents would look foolish.

In his small book Newman cites two clear instances where the lay people helped the Church to maintain the true faith, while even bishops fell into confusion, doubt, and heresy. The first, and most stunning case was the Arian heresy of the fourth century. Arianism denied that Jesus was fully God, even though they believed he was fully human. That’s probably hard for us to imagine.

Newman wrote this very pregnant sentence: “The body of the faithful is one of the witnesses to the fact of the tradition of revealed doctrine, and because their consensus through Christendom is the voice of the Infallible Church.” In other words, that voice and that consensus of the faithful speaking for the Holy Spirit is what the Synod on Synodality hopes to achieve.

As I said, the first instance of which the voice of the faithful was highlighted was during the Arian heresy. Newman explained: This period in the fourth century is “the age of doctors, illustrated, as it was, by the saints Athanasius, Hilary…Augustine,…nevertheless, in that very day the divine tradition committed to the infallible Church was proclaimed and maintained far more by the faithful than by the Episcopate.”

By the way “episcopate” means the body of bishops, while the word “presbyterate” refers to the body of priests. Newman continues: “In that time of immense confusion the divine dogma of Our Lord’s divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved, far more by the Ecclesia docta (laity) than by the Ecclesia docens (bishops).” That is the laity got it right while the bishops got it wrong.

The second instance of consulting the faithful was the declaration of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, or in Italian “Pio Nono” which was a fitting name because he often said, “No” to a lot of things. But one thing Pio Nono said “yes” to was checking with the laity before declaring and defining that Mary was immaculately conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne.

In other words, the Holy Father was saying in so many words, “Hey guys, I think I’m right about the Immaculate Conception of Mary. But just to double-check myself, and to be sure, what do you guys thing about it?” And he conducted a world-wide consultation of the faithful. And the voice of the consensus of the faithful rose up in a chorus of approval and praise. After having consulted the faithful, the pope knew he was on the right track. He had heard the voice of the Holy Spirit in the voices of the people.

This, then, is the purpose of the Synod on Synodality, listening and learning from one another. In other words, trying to train our ears to hear how the Holy Spirit speaks through the clergy (to be sure), but also speaks at important times through the laity. When St. John Henry Newman was asked, “What is the laity?” he answered, “The Church would look foolish without them.” In addition, the Church might also err in matters of faith without them.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Hard to Hack

Coming up with Christian codes to protect our faith

12/08/2022

Lk 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

When I was first ordained a priest, I was assigned to Christ the King Church in Little Rock. My pastor was Msgr. Gaston Hebert, who was like the “Msgr. Galvin” of Little Rock. He was a big deal. As he was showing me around the rectory, my first home as a priest, he told me the garage door code. It was 1208. He asked me if I could guess what the numbers stood for. Can YOU guess what 1208 stands for? Don’t worry, I could not guess either. He said, “Well, 1208 is December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. And so it should be easy to remember the garage door code.”

He was right! I not only remembered the garage door code, but I use 1208 for many of my other passwords. Don’t tell anyone. Whenever I create a new account I try to put 1208 into the password. Now, not only is that 4-digit code easy to remember, but it is also hard to hack. Why? Well, because most people’s passwords use their name or their children’s names, or their dog’s name, or their birthday, or some other memorable number. But hackers know all that and so they can crack the codes of our passwords easily. But guess what hackers never think of: spiritual codes, saints feasts, our patron’s name, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just like you and I could not guess what 1208 means, so it is hard for hackers, too.

Now, being hacked was not just a problem for us modern Christians. It was a problem for the early Christians, too. The early Christians did not want to protect their log-in passwords, but they did want to protect their Christian identity. Why? Well, if people found out someone was a Christian, they would throw you into prison, persecute you, and probably feed you to the lions. That is a lot worse than having your computer hacked!

And so, the early Christians came up with a code, kind of like Msgr. Hebert’s 1208, to protect themselves. Their Christian code was the word fish in Greek, which is ICHTHUS. In the Roman Empire streets were often made of sand. If one Christian approached another and wanted to see if they were both Christians, one made an arc with his sandal. If the other person was also a Christian, he completed the arc with another, upside down arc, which formed the outline of a fish in the sand, an ICHTHUS. And that is why Catholics are called fish-eaters, not just because we eat fish on Fridays.

But the fish symbol goes a lot deeper than that. The letters of fish in Greek, ICHTHUS, spell out the whole Christian faith. The I is for Jesus (I’s and J’s are virtually identical), the “CH” is for Christ. The “TH” is for theus, the Greek word for God. The “U” is “huius” meaning son. And the final “S” is for soter, meaning savior. Did you catch all that? Well, that’s kind of the point. But if you put all that together you get: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” – the whole Christian faith in a nutshell, or better, in a little fish. And no ancient hacker could crack that code.

My friends, we are constantly coming up with codes and passwords and logins. Well, why don’t we use Christian signs, saints, and the Immaculate Conception 1208 to protect our privacy like Msgr. Hebert and the early Christians did? For example, when I pump gas, I always tap the nozzle at the pump three times. Instead of counting, “I, 2, 3” I say, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” When I turn the portable mic off at the end of Mass, I have to hold the button down for a few seconds. Instead of counting to three, again I say, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit.” This is why almost all Hispanic men are named “Jose” for St. Joseph, and why Hispanic women are frequently called “Maria,” for Mother Mary.

In other words, when we think of Christian numbers for garage door codes, when we name our children for Mary and the saints, and even how we pump gas, we are transforming the temporal order with our faith. Nothing is left outside the Kingdom of God. And that transformation began with Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. She was the first person touched by faith, and she was immaculately conceived. She was the first Christian code in this world that changed it forever, and prepared the way for her Son.

In other words, we are making the whole world we live in part of the Kingdom of Christ, one garage door code at a time. And the best part is: Christian coding always has been and always will be, hard to hack.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Here He Comes

Preparing for Jesus by understanding his parables

12/06/2022

Mt 18:12-14 Jesus said to his disciples: "What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

I’ll never forget when Msgr. Scott Friend explained that there are several things that Jesus was bad at. I remember that startling me because I thought: “No, way, Jesus is good at everything.” But in fact he was right, there are several things that Jesus does very poorly. For example, he mentioned that Jesus is a very bad gardener. Our Lord says that we should let the weeds grow up together with the wheat. No master gardener would do that, only a bad one.

And then he said that Jesus is a very bad businessman. How so? Well, he hires people and pays those who work a full day exactly the same amount as those who only work one hour. No CEO would allow that because you would go bankrupt, but the unions would love that! That shows that Jesus is a bad businessman. And monsignor was right.

And in the gospel today we see the third thing that Jesus is bad at, namely, in being a shepherd. Again Jesus says that it is very clear that if one sheep goes astray, you should leave the ninety-nine and go in search of the one that is lost. Well, no good shepherd would do such a thing. A good shepherd would make sure that the ninety-nine are safe so that he doesn’t lose any more. Cut your losses by letting the one stray go.

And so it is true that in our calculation, our way of thinking, human thinking, earthly thinking, Jesus is bad at these occupations. He is a poor businessman, he is a poor farmer, and he is a poor shepherd. But Jesus is trying to teach us another kind of thinking, an eternal way of thinking, God’s way of thinking, a heavenly way of thinking, that looks pretty poor by earthly standards.

Today we see what, at least I believe this parable means, that when Jesus says he leaves the ninety-nine in search of the one stray, he’s talking about leaving the righteous in search of the sinner. And we have to be very careful when we listen to that parable, because we all have a tendency (myself included) to think that well I’m doing pretty good. I must be among the ninety-nine.

And we conclude sometimes too easily that of course the big sinners live in the big cities and commit all the big sins, the drug lords and the prostitutes. They are the stray; they are the one lost sheep. Me, on the other hand, I am right here in church going to Mass and doing pretty good. Surely, I am among the ninety-nine righteous. Well, that is precisely not the point of Jesus’ parable.

My understanding of it, and I might not be exactly right, is that when Jesus leaves the ninety-nine in search of the stray, he is really leaving heaven, where the ninety-nine righteous are. He’s leaving the good angels, who have been saved and are eternally righteous, in search of the lost sheep. That one lost sheep symbolizes all of humanity, all of us, each one of us, here on earth. Jesus, in other words, leaves the righteous angels in heaven and comes in search of us on earth, the lost sheep. And thank goodness that he does!

That is the point of all the parables. We are not the workers who work the full day. We are the ones who look for short-cuts and work only the one hour. And yet, in his generosity and his mercy he pays us more than we deserve. We are not the wheat in his garden, we are the weeds. We are the sinners who he allows to continue to grow in the hope that we might change before it is time for the harvest.

We are the weeds, we are the lost sheep, we are the one-hour worker. That is the point of Jesus’ parables. We are not the righteous sheep, we are not the wheat, we are not the diligent workers. And that is what Christmas is all about. Here he comes. Here he comes, to save us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Driving out Demons

Expelling demons and being filled with God

11/27/2022

9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8 Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Then he summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

I saw a funny meme the other day that said, “Everyone makes fun of the Catholic Church until they have a demon in their house.” But I think that meme says more than it seems at first sight. How so? Well, I believe people also “make fun of demons until they have a demon in their house.” In other words, demon possession might not only help you believe in the Catholic Church, it can also help you believe in demons themselves. Sadly, we live in a society that is asleep to the spiritual world, and sometimes it takes a demon to wake us up from our dogmatic slumber. Demon possession is never a good thing, of course, but sometimes it can have some beneficial, even if unintended, consequences.

In the gospel today, Jesus has no doubts about demons and no doubts about the Church to which he gives the authority to cast out demons. We read from Matthew 10, the great missionary discourse, as well as the third Luminous Mystery of the rosary called the Proclamation of the Gospel. Notice what Jesus tells his apostles (his first bishops) to do: “As you go make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.”

It is so significant that Jesus says “the Kingdom of heaven” because all these healings are exactly what being in heaven will feel like, especially driving out demons. In Rv 12:7-9, we hear how St. Michael drove demons out of heaven, and now the apostles drive demons out, because they are bringing the Kingdom of heaven down to earth.

Now, usually not a week goes by in which someone does not call the church and ask for a priest to come and bless their house because people think they have a demon in their home. And what do we do? I send Fr. Bala, and tell him to go check it out and let me know how it goes. But seriously, we do get such calls and we go and bless people’s home with holy water.

In a sense, every house blessing with holy water is a pseudo-baptism of that home. Why? Well, because part of the baptism of a baby includes an exorcism. That occurs when we anoint the baby on the chest with oleo catecumenorum, which is Latin for the oil of catechumens. That anointing includes a prayer of exorcism. In other words, in every baptism, as well as at every house blessing, we fulfill Jesus’ command today to “drive out demons.”

My friends the commission to drive out demons is not exclusively the task of bishops and priests, but also the job of every Christian. In other words, every Christian has to bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth so that both heaven and earth can be filled with angels rather than demons. I tell people that the best way to drive out demons is not simply by a sprinkling of holy water and a few spiritual words, although that is very important.

In addition, a Christian drives out demons from his or her life by living faith, hope, and love. By immersing themselves in the Scripture and sacraments. By caring for the poor, the sick, the homeless, and the immigrants. I insist with people who just want me to come bless their house to drive out demons that such a blessing will do no good unless their life is transformed by the gospel. In other words, a demon does not just want to hang out in your house and scare you at night. He wants to hang out in your heart and torment you for eternity in hell.

If you find all this talk about driving out demons fascinating – at least so you don’t make fun of the Catholic Church – then perhaps you will enjoy reading C. S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters, about how a higher ranking demon gives advice to a lower ranking demon, who is actually his nephew. Lewis has a brilliant insight about why demons bother us and what they are finally after.

In one letter Screwtape, the uncle demon, writes about what Satan wants with humans versus what God wants with us. He says: “We want [humans like] cattle who can finally become [our] food. God wants servants who can finally become sons.” In other words, Satan and his demons want to consume us, whereas God allows us to consume him in Holy Communion. And being filled with God, and even becoming like God, is the only way to drive out demons.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Prepare Early

Learning how to PREP to have a better Christmas

11/27/2022

Mt 24:37-44 Jesus said to his disciples: "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Our former associate pastor, Fr. Daniel Velasco, gave me some valuable tennis lessons through which he also taught me invaluable life lessons. One such lesson was to “prepare early”. What does that mean? He explained that whether I was going to hit a forehand or a backhand shot, I should have my tennis racket back and in the ready position long before I actually swing. Even while I am running to hit the ball, the racket should already be back and ready. At first I thought he was playing a practical joke on me because I thought I looked silly running with this racket sticking out behind me like a peacock tail. But eventually I learned that when I do prepare early, I hit the ball much better.

And by the way, Fr. Daniel practices what he preaches about preparing early. Do you know he write his homilies at least a week or two in advance? Heck, he has probably already written his Christmas homily by the First Sunday of Advent! When he was in seminary he did the same: he would write his theology papers for the whole semester within the first week of school. Why did he do that? Well, that is how you prepare early and how you can "play better" both in tennis and life.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and Advent is the quintessential season of preparing early. That is why all the readings today – Isaiah 2, Romans 13, and Matthew 24 – all speak about preparing spiritually and preparing early. Let me just take one example, from the gospel of Matthew. Jesus summarizes his lesson saying: “So, too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Sun of Man will come.” In other words, not only should you prepare early, but procrastination will have catastrophic consequences, indeed, eternal consequences.

Louis Pasteur, the 19th century French chemist, who invented the process of pasteurization for milk – pasteurization comes from his name Pasteur – once said: “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” Well, not only fortune but also faith favors the prepared mind. That is, when we prepare early, we live our faith more fully and joyfully. Put simply, preparing early makes you not only a better tennis player, it makes you a better Christian.

I read this powerful point about preparation from Matthew Kelly’s book Holy Moments (good Advent reading, by the way). Kelly wrote: “Toward the end of his life, Michaelangelo observed, ‘I regret that I have done so little for my eternal soul and that I am but beginning to learn the alphabet of my craft.’”

Kelly continued: “He was eight-eight years old and indisputably a genius who had lived a life of astonishing worldly accomplishment. But what was his regret? Care of the soul.” In other words, if Michaelangelo had just taken some tennis lesson from Fr. Daniel, he would have learned to prepare early, both on the courts and in Christianity, and been happier in both arenas.

Folks, I cannot teach you how to play tennis, but I can give you some free lessons on how you can prepare early this Advent and have a more successful and joyful Christmas. I have four suggestions that spell the word “PREP”. The first “P” stands for prayer. Do a little extra prayer this Advent. My favorite prayer is the daily rosary. Others love to spend an hour in Adoration. Still others read the Bible prayerfully for 15 minutes a day. Prepare early in Advent by adding more prayer to your daily routine, and you will have a better Christmas.

The second letter in PREP is “R” which stands for reconciliation, or confession. You know, I am so pleased with how many parishioners go to confession here at I.C. This church is full of a bunch of sinners! Actually, we’re all sinners. But I also know some people have not gone to confession in years, maybe 10, 15 or 20 years. We call those people “the big fish” we catch in confession. My friends, stop procrastinating and putting off confession. Prepare early this Advent by going to reconciliation and you’ll have a better Christmas.

The third letter in PREP is “E” which means Eucharist. This Advent go to Mass, the Eucharist, every Sunday without missing one Sunday. By the way also go on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, a holy day of obligation. When you go to the eye doctor and read the eye chart, what is the first and largest letter? It is the letter “E” which stands for Eucharist. Ask any eye-doctor and that’s what he or she will tell you. There’s your reminder to go to the Eucharist! Prepare early this Advent by keeping your eye on the “big E” the Eucharist every Sunday, and you will have a better Christmas.

And the fourth letter is “P” which indicates peace. That is, foster peace in your hearts and bring peace to others this Advent. Be a person of peace. John Maxwell said that every leader always carries two buckets. One bucket is filled with water, and the other bucket is filled with gasoline. Whenever he or she comes upon a fire in the organization, which is invariably a people problem, he can throw one or the other bucket onto the fire: water or gasoline. A great leaders is a person of peace, who splashes the bucket of water to extinguish the fires. In other words, prepare early this Advent by seeking and spreading peace, and you will be ready to welcome the Prince of Peace this Christmas.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

In the Secret Service

Learning how to see and love a hidden God

11/19/2022

Lk 23:35-43 The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews." Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

One of the most frustrating things about Christianity is how hidden God is. Wouldn’t you like God to be more visible, more audible, and even easier to behold and worship at Mass? God is a little like the man a priest stopped after Mass one Sunday. The priest was shaking hands with people when he noticed one young man whom he had not seen in a while.

The priest took him aside and said, “You need to join the army of the Lord.” The man answered: “I am already in the Lord’s Army, Father.” The priest frowned and inquired: “Then how come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?” The man whispered back: “I’m in the secret service.” In a sense, God, too, is in the secret service because it is often hard to find him.

We see a perfect instance of God’s hiddenness in the gospel today. Jesus is hanging dying on the Cross, and the Jews ask the most reasonable question in the world: “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” In other words, stop hiding your power and prestige, flex your royal muscles, and show everyone who’s boss! We don’t want a hidden God, we want a rock-star God who will dazzle us with light and smoke and thunderous noise!

Still, even though Jesus was in God’s secret service, someone nonetheless noticed his hiddenness, namely, the Good Thief hanging by his side. The Good Thief, sometimes named Dismas, humbly says to our surreptitious Savior: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” That is, the criminal recognized that Jesus was indeed a King but in disguise, hidden from the eyes of the world, and yet visible to the eyes of faith.

And perhaps no one saw Jesus more clearly with the eyes of faith than St. Paul, the great theological mind of the New Testament. If Peter is the “Braun” (the Rock) on which Christ builds his Church, then Paul is surely the “brains” behind the operation. Thus, he wrote to the Colossians (our second reading) of the great Christological hymn of the New Testament, saying: “Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.” In other words, God is indeed hidden, but God’s glory is manifest in Jesus to the eyes of faith.

Now, when we acknowledge and accept that we believe in a hidden God, who works in his own secret service, two things follow rather clearly. First of all, we begin to understand why the seven sacraments are rather plain, unassuming, and honestly, even unimpressive rituals. Think about this. Baptism is a little water splashed on a baby’s head. Confirmation is a smidge of oil smeared on the forehead. Eucharist is a nibble of unleaved bread and a sip of tasteless wine. And so forth for each sacrament that to all the world looks as uninspiring as a dying man hanging on a tree.

But to the eyes of faith that water, that oil, that bread and wine, convey to us the grace of “He who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Many Catholics come to Mass with the same attitude as the Jews looking at Jesus on the Cross: “Save yourself! Show your splendor and glory if you are the King of the Jews!” And maybe that’s why some Catholics attended churches where there is more light and smoke and thunderous music. But I believe the simplicity of the sacraments continue the same logic of the hiddenness of God that we see in Jesus on the Cross: his glory is visible only to the eyes of faith.

The second lesson that God’s hiddenness can teach us is that the most important things in life are hidden and invisible. What does that mean? Well, the truly valuable, timeless, and important things cannot be measured or weighed; they cannot be tasted or touched, or even heard or felt or smelled. What things? These immaterial things are faith, hope and love; they are freedom, and decency and courtesy; they are kindness, mercy, and humility; they are patriotism, loyalty, and courage; they are joy, peace, and perseverance.

I am convinced that God prefers to remain a hidden God – not a God of shock and awe – because he is trying to teach us to look for the most important things (like Him) not in the obvious and overt places. In a word, look for God in his Army’s secret service, and there you will find everything else worthwhile.

Every year we conclude the liturgical church calendar with the great feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. But he is a curious kind of King, who likes to hide from the eyes of the world, but reveals himself to the eyes of faith. One of the most aggravating things about Christianity is how God is hidden. But that is also one of the saving graces of Christianity. Why? Because God’s hiddenness helps us to remember that all truly enduring and eternal things are always hidden.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

All Is Gift

Fostering an attitude of gratitude to God

11/17/2022

LK 19:45-48 Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

I want to share with you a profound experience I had many years ago that taught me everything is a gift and the only proper attitude is that of gratitude. I was a seminarian and went over to a friend’s house one fall day. He was raking leaves in his front yard and I offered to help him so he could get done faster and we could play video games.

We made a huge pile of leaves, and before we bagged them, guess what we decided to do? We dove into them and rolled around in them. Eventually, we cleared up the leaves and went inside, but we were both pretty dirty with leaves and small sticks inside our clothes. So he let me borrow some of his clothes and let me take a shower before dinner.

As we sat there at dinner with his family, I remember thinking to myself, as I chewed on the pot roast and drank the iced tea. First, I realized that every stitch of clothing I was wearing was borrowed from my friend. All my clothes were a gift from him. But then I thought at least my body is mine. But that is not true either. My body is a gift from my parents: 50% of my body is from my mom and 50% of my body is from my dad.

But then I figured at least my soul, my personality, my spirit is all my own, but that is not true either. My soul, my spirit, was planted, infused, in my body when I was conceived as a gift from God. No matter how deep I went inside me, everything was a gift from someone else: clothes from my friend, my body from my parents, and my soul from God. The deepest truth about me is that I am a gift. Even the “me” that receives gifts was a gift.

By the time I started eating dessert, I thought about something else. We discover the same truth no matter how far outside ourselves we go. The house I lived in as a kid was someone’s gift to me. The Catholic school I attended was a gift of many benefactors. The city and country in which I enjoyed my freedom was a gift to me by the men and women who shed their blood for our freedoms.

This planet and its beauty – rivers, mountains, and beaches – are a gift to me. This solar system, the stars, and the whole cosmos I did nothing to deserve but has been placed before my eyes as pure gift for my happiness. In other words, no matter how deep I look into my heart, or how far I peer out into the night sky with the Hubble telescope everything is a gift to me. In the final analysis, all is gift.

Now there are two very important things we must remember when we discover everything is ultimately a gift. First of all, the right reaction when you receive a gift is to say “Thank you.” When you receive a Christmas present, what should you say? The right response is “Oh, wow, thank you so much!” No one has to give you a Christmas present, and so it comes from someone else’s love for you, just like my friend gave me his clothes after we raked leaves and jumped into the pile.

And that is also the reason we come to Mass, especially in a Catholic school. Why? Well, because in a Catholic school you learn that another name for the Mass is Eucharist, which comes from the Greek word eucharisto, which means thank you. In other words, one of the main aims of Catholic education is to help you discover what I did that fall afternoon raking leaves and wearing my friend’s clothes. All is gift, and we go to Mass to say eucharisto, thank you, to God. And that may be why we sometimes don’t like to go to Mass or feel it’s boring: we have not yet learned that all is gift and the right response is to say “thank you.”

The second important thing to remember when all is gift is that we do not deserve any of these gifts. We do not deserve to receive Christmas presents: they come from someone else’s generosity, not our goodness. We cannot demand Christmas gifts. They are gratuitous, meaning entirely undeserved. But that also means we cannot get upset if we do not receive a specific gift or if we lose a gift.

That is why Job in the Old Testament did not get upset when he lost his family, his possessions, and even his health. Instead, he said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In other words, when we discover that all is gift, we also feel a profound peace. That is, nothing will really bother us because heck it was all an undeserved gift to begin with; we have suffered no injustice.

Boys and girls, I hope someday you will rake leaves with a friend and wear his borrowed clothes, and discover all is a gift. Even you yourself are a gift. When you do, you will discover why we go to Mass: to say thank you. And you will feel a peace that no one can take away from you. Even this homily is my gift to you, not because you deserve it, but because I love you. You’re welcome.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Emperor’s New Clothes

Learning how to follow the naked Christ

11/13/2022

Lk 21:5-19 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here-- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" He answered, "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name."

Have you heard of the folktale by Hans Christian Andersen called “The Emperor’s New Clothes”? Today, I would like to give it a very different interpretation than the one you commonly hear, and probably not at all what Hans Christian Andersen himself intended! If you are not familiar with the folktale, let me summarize it for you.

Two swindlers (thieves) arrive at the capital of a city of a very vain emperor who spends lavishly on fancy clothing while neglecting his royal duties. The swindlers pose as weavers of fine clothes and offer to provide the emperor with magnificent clothes the likes of which have never been seen. But there’s a catch: the clothes are invisible to people who are stupid or incompetent. So guess what happens? Even though no one can see the clothes, they all pretend to see them because they don’t want other people to think they are foolish or incompetent. That is, there really is not magnificent suit but people pretend to see it.

Finally, the weavers report that they have completed the emperor’s fabulous new suit, and the material is so fine it is light as a feather. The emperor will hardly be able to feel it on his body (because there is nothing to feel). The weavers move their hands miming as if dressing the emperor – who also pretends to love the outfit so people don’t think he’s a fool. At last the duped emperor goes off in a royal procession through the whole city in his birthday suit, not dressed in any royal robes at all.

The townsfolk lining the streets uncomfortably go along with the ruse so, again, that no one thinks they are foolish because they cannot see the splendid suit. Then all of a sudden from the side of the street a small boy blurts out the obvious truth: “The emperor has no clothes!” Suddenly, the people stop pretending to see the suit, and have a good laugh at themselves and their naked emperor. But the vain emperor continues his parade oblivious to their laughter.

Now, that is the folktale by Hans Christian Andersen. But here is my interpretation, which I hope you will not think is too irreverent. I like to think of Jesus as the emperor, not in that he is vain or incompetent, like the one in the story. But rather, Jesus, too, wears royal robes that are also invisible to everyone except to those who have the eyes of faith. By the way, did you know that when Jesus was crucified, he was stripped of all his clothes? That is one of the 14 Stations of the Cross. The 10th Station reads: “Jesus is Stripped of his Garments.” In other words, Jesus on the Cross was as naked as the emperor in the Hans Christian Andersen folktale.

And what did people see who looked at Jesus on the Cross? Most of the people saw a bloody and beaten, naked, 33 year-old rabbi from Galilee being crucified by cruel Roman soldiers. But a few people – like Mary and John and other holy women – saw that Jesus was robed in glory on the Cross. What do I mean? Well, to the eyes of faith, Jesus is a holy priest and a powerful king robed in glory and splendor, shining brighter than the noonday sun as he hung upon the Cross. What do you see when you look at a crucifix: a naked man impaled on a tree, or the King of glory? In other words, Jesus is also an emperor being paraded through his kingdom, and some see his nakedness while others see his glory.

Now, here is the first take-home message for us (there are two take-aways today). It is not enough for us to follow Jesus as he wears his invisible robes and to gaze at him through the eyes of faith and see his splendor. We must put that invisible suit on ourselves and suffer the jeers and taunts of the crowds. In a sense, we too much look naked to others as we give up the world’s pomp and circumstance. Christians are called to keep all the world’s wealth at arm’s length while we cling to Christ alone, our only true possession.

St. Jerome in the 5th century put it perfectly in Latin: “Nudus nudum Christum sequi,” meaning “Naked to follow a naked Christ.” This is at least part of what Jesus meant in the gospel today when he said: “You will be hated by all because of my name.” In other words, as they laughed at my nakedness on the Cross – “The emperor has no clothes!” – so they will laugh at your poverty, your chastity, and your obedience, your “nakedness” of the things of this world.

Now, here is the second take-away today, and it has to do with Catholic schools. We have really exceptional Catholic schools in the Fort Smith area: Christ the King, Immaculate Conception, and Trinity Middle School. And I want to thank you for sending your children from Barling and Jenny Lind to these fine schools, and I would like to ask for your help with a second collection for Trinity today.

But besides math and science, volleyball and basketball, cheer and dance and quiz bowl, do you know the real reason Catholic schools exist? We try to teach students to see the Emperor’s new clothes – Jesus’ new clothes! – with the eyes of faith. Why? Because our Lord’s glory is invisible to the rest of the world.

That is why there is a crucifix in every classroom. So that when a student happens to glance at the crucifix, he or she might ask himself what they see? Do they merely see a 33 year-old, bloody, beaten, and dying rabbi. Or do they see the High Priest and eternal King, clothed in splendor and glory, seated on his throne judging all the nations. And so that one day they, too, might be inspired like St. Jerome to be “nudus nudum Christum sequi”, that is, naked to follow a naked Christ.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Everything That Dies

Learning how we must die in order to truly live

11/10/2022

Jn 2:13-22 Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

Today I want to talk to you about something my mom never wanted us to talk about, namely, death. If the topic of death, or someone dying, came up at dinner my mom immediately said, “Shh!” Well, my mom is not here to “Shh!” this homily, so I’m going to talk about death. Now, most teenagers think they are “bullet-proof” and they will never die.

But that is an illusion, like the mirage of an oasis of water and palm trees in the desert. You're seeing something that's not really there. But death is not only inevitable, it is necessary to grow and be better. As the great theologian Bruce Springsteen sang: “Everything that dies, someday comes back.” In other words, death can be good, even necessary, for us to be fully alive. You must die in order to really live.

If you open your eyes, you will see how death brings new life all around us. For example, every fall and winter trees, plants and flowers die in order to blossom more beautifully in the spring and summer. Without winter, there would be no spring. Do you know how to build bigger muscles? You actually have to tear down your muscles by pushing them beyond their limit. They must die in order for them to grow bigger.

Do you want to learn to run faster? My marathon coach told me you must run so fast and long that you actually throw up; you feel like you’re going to die. But through that death, your legs and lungs will come back faster and stronger. Again and again, we see how Bruce Springsteen was right: “Everything that dies, someday comes back.”

And of course, this dying and rising is the central mystery and miracle of our Christian faith. How so? Well, every classroom in a Catholic school has a crucifix hanging in it to remind us of Jesus’ death. And we know three days later he rose, and incidentally he was not just a resuscitated corpse, like Lazarus who came back to earthly life. No. Jesus’ death produced a glorious, eternal life.

You might say Jesus’ death and resurrection were the ultimate workout: his muscles were torn down and died but he came back with a glorified body, better than that of any body-builder. That’s what Jesus meant when he said today: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The temple that would be destroyed was his body, and it would rise a glorious body. Like Bruce Springsteen sang: “Everything that dies, someday comes back,” and no one has “someday come back” like Jesus did.

But of all the things that need to die to come back new and improved, do you know what is the hardest thing to die and kill? It is our ego, our pride, our self-will. The self-will refuses to die. Have you heard how some young people deal with depression, anxiety and stress by cutting their bodies? Well, they’re executing the wrong criminal! The body is innocent!

It is the ego and pride that is the guilty party, and justly deserves the death-penalty. In other words, the muscle that needs to be torn down and killed is not your biceps or your pecs or your quads. It is the muscle of your self-will, and ego and pride. And when we die to self-will, Bruce Springsteen’s song will make perfect sense to us: “Everything that dies, someday comes back.” When we finally kill our self-will, we find the joy of doing God’s will, and that is new life.

How do we kill the will? For example, listen, learn and obey your teachers and coaches, parents and priests. Do their will not your own will be tearing down the muscle of your own will. And by the way, this happens after you get married, too: a happy marriage is when the husband and wife kill their own will and do the other’s will.

The hardest part of being a priest not the celibacy or the poverty, but rather the obedience: to kill my will and do what the bishop wants me to do. Another way to kill the will is to go to bed on time and not stay up past midnight. In sleep the body looks like it is dead, but so is the will. Your body needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep but your will wants to stay up late and talk and text and make tik-tok videos to go viral. When you get home after school do your homework first and all the fun stuff second. In all these ways, we kill the will.

But here’s the good news: when we tear down the muscle of pride and ego and self-will, we begin to build a bigger muscle, namely, doing God’s will, and we discover greater joy and peace. There is no spring without a winter; no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday; and no “good morning” without a “good night.” Why? Because “everything that dies, someday comes back.” And please don’t tell my mom about this homily.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Riddle of Recognition

Learning how to see and love others in heaven

11/06/2022

Lk 20:27-38 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise."

One of the unresolved controversies about heaven is whether or not we will recognize other people when we get there. We might call it a sort of riddle of recognition. Some theologians say that we will be able to tell who is who, and be able to see others as God sees them. Other theologians, on the other hand, insist we will not recognize others because that might spoil the joy of heaven if we saw our ex-spouse or former boss in heaven. Let me give you an example of how hard it may be to recognize people in heaven.

One day when Jesus was relaxing in heaven, he happened to notice a familiar-looking old man. Wondering if the old man was his father, Joseph, Jesus asked him, “Did you, by any chance, ever have a son?” The old man answered, “Why yes. But he wasn’t my biological son. He was born by a miracle, by the intervention of a magical being from heaven.”

Jesus said: “Very interesting. Did this boy ever have to fight temptation?” The old man replied: “Oh yes, many times. But eventually he won. Unfortunately, he heroically died at one point, but came back to life shortly afterwards.” Jesus couldn’t believe his ears. Could this actually be his father? Jesus said: “Okay, one last question. Were you a carpenter?” “Why yes!” exclaimed the old man, “Yes, I was!” Jesus rubbed his eyes and said, “Dad?” the old man rubbed his eyes and said, “Pinocchio?”

The gospel today from Luke 20: 27-38 also weighs in on the question of recognizing people in heaven. Jesus, however, only gives half the answer to this riddle of recognition. Let me explain how. The Sadducees paint a picture of a poor woman who successively marries seven brothers, and finally dies herself. What woman wouldn’t die after all that? So the Sadducees ask who the woman would recognize as her husband in heaven. At that point, Jesus supplies half the answer by saying there will be no marriage in heaven as you find it on earth. In other words, we will not recognize anyone else as our husband or wife when we get to heaven. That may come as a welcome relief to some people.

But we hear the second half of the answer to the riddle of recognition in Rev 21. That is, there will be a marriage, and a Husband and Wife clearly recognizable in heaven. There we hear who will be recognized as the Bride in heaven. John the author of Revelation writes: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” I’ll give you one guess who the heavenly Husband is. John answers that question in Rev 22:17, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come [Lord Jesus]’.” That is, we may or may not be able to recognize one another in heaven, but we will definitely recognize Jesus as our divine Spouse, and he will recognize us as his Bride. And he will recognize his beloved Bride a lot easier than he recognized poor Geppetto (Pinocchio’s father).

Whenever I conduct a wedding rehearsal the evening before the wedding I tell the wedding party (the groomsmen and bridesmaids) which way they should be facing during the ceremony. I tell them: “All eyes on the bride!” And I explain that there is a theological reason for this, and not just a practical one so they all look good for the wedding pictures. At every wedding we see a snapshot of the end of time, which will be a great, cosmic wedding. How so?

The end of time is when the Bride, the Church, is finally made perfect, “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing” as St. Paul taught the Ephesians. And as we watch the human bride walk down the aisle, we see how she proceeds toward her human husband, who himself stands as a symbol of Jesus at the end of time. And this I believe is the second half of the answer to the Sadducees: that is, there will be marriage in heaven, but a mystical marriage between the Church, the Bride, and Jesus, the Bridegroom. So, there will be no human marriage but there will be a heavenly marriage.

It is interesting that we use the word “consummation” to describe both the end of the world, we say “the consummation of the world.” But the same word consummation also describes how a husband and wife on their honeymoon ratify their consent through marital intimacy where the two become one flesh. That, too, is called “consummation.” Perhaps Shakespeare meant both these meanings when Hamlet said in his famous “To be or not to be” speech: “Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished” – the end of the world, and intimate union with Christ.

So, I suppose that would be my answer to the riddle of recognizing people in heaven. Will we recognize our brothers and sisters, our mother and father, our ex-spouse and our former boss in heaven? Will we recognize Fr. John? If we do, that will all be secondary in a sense. Why? Well, because the main Person we are going to heaven to see is Jesus. And the main Person Jesus is waiting to see in heaven is his Bride, the Church, in splendor.

Let me add that, of course, God loves each of us individually. Each person is unique and unrepeatable and created in God’s image and likeness. We all have an experience of this dual identity: we are individually U.S. citizens, but we are collectively called “Americans”. So, too, we have an individual identity as Christians, but we also have a corporate identity as the Bride of Christ, and all eyes are on the Bride at the end of the world, and especially the eyes of Jesus.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Hidden Blessings

Giving God gratitude for all our many blessings

11/05/2022

PHIL 4:10-19 Brothers and sisters: I rejoice greatly in the Lord that now at last you revived your concern for me. You were, of course, concerned about me but lacked an opportunity. Not that I say this because of need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. You Philippians indeed know that at the beginning of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia, not a single church shared with me in an account of giving and receiving, except you alone. I am very well supplied because of what I received from you through Epaphroditus, “a fragrant aroma,” an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Today we hear one of the most famous lines from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians. You often see it just as the citation from Scripture, Phil 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” St. Paul realizes that his greatest asset, his greatest gift, his greatest glory, his greatest boast, is Jesus Christ, through whom he can do all things. Sometimes we don’t always realize, or recognize our greatest gifts, our greatest assets.

That’s something that Fr. Daniel was trying to teach me as he was teaching me tennis. He would say, “The best part of your tennis game is your coach.” Fr. Daniel is the best part of my tennis game, not anything I do on the court. So just like that we often overlook the gifts and blessings we have received. Today, I just want to mention two such hidden blessings that we here at Immaculate Conception are liable to overlook.

The first is our wonderful Ladies Auxiliary. And as you know today we are going to have their great Bazaar, that they have been preparing all year long to create and produce for us, and not just for us but for the whole community. People come from Arkansas, Oklahoma and all around to do their early Christmas shopping at the Ladies Auxiliary Bazaar.

And I don’t want us to ever take them for granted. They are a wonderful organization that works very hard, and most especially because they bring meals for the priests every Tuesday, so we priests never want to take them for granted. They are a gift, an asset that we have. And it is very easy to get busy in our daily lives and not recognize the people on whose shoulders we stand; the people who make our lives easier and more enjoyable.

Another asset I would like us to be aware of and give God the glory for in our parish is the fact that our parish is multi-generational. Do you know what I mean by that? Multigenerational means that in our parish we have great-grandparents, and grandparents, and parents and children from the same family right here in this parish. And that is a huge asset and blessing.

I remember being very surprised by this when I first came to I.C. almost nine years ago. I would come to Mass and I was beginning to get the know the families. And I noticed the grandparents were sitting on one side of the church and the parents and grandchildren were sitting on the other side. And I began to wonder, “Oh, no, is there some family problem? Perhaps there has been some falling-out and they are not sitting together at Mass anymore.”

But later I learned that is as normal as it could possibly be, because they were going to get together after Mass and go to breakfast. But if you go to another parish in some other area of the state or the country, you would never see grandparents sitting on one side of the church and their kids and grandkids on the other side. Why not? Well, when you don’t live in the same place and you end up at Mass, of course you would always sit together.

Some people cannot conceive of a multigenerational parish, where there are great-grandparents, and grandparents, and parents and children who all go to the same church. And that is a tremendous asset and blessing. Let me give you two examples of why that is such a blessing besides being able to go to breakfast together after Mass.

For example, that is why it is easy to put in new carpet in the church. Do you know why a group of families got together and donated together to provide this beautiful carpet in the church? Because they were not just doing it for themselves. They were doing it for their children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who are all in this parish. Can you see how easy it is to donate when you are not just doing it for yourself but when you belong to a multigenerational parish?

That is the reason why this magnificent church stands here today. Those people (Irish immigrants) who built this church did not just build it for themselves but for their children, their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren and for us, their great-great-great-great grandchildren. You see, that is the blessing of a multigenerational parish.

Perhaps that is why when you travel and see some of the churches we are building today, it does not look like Immaculate Conception. Why? Because we live in a very mobile society, in which people come into a community, where they will be for three to five years, and they are moving on. They think: “I’m not living here for very long. I’m not going to raise my kids here. Lord only knows where my grandkids are going to grow up! Why would I want to make a donation to build a beautiful church?”

But if you knew you belonged to a multigenerational parish, and your kids, and your grandkids and your great-grandkids might live in this church and worship in this place, you might dig a little deeper. That is an asset we have. That is a gift we have. And sometimes we don’t notice it until we go somewhere else and see how other parishes live their life as a Christian community. I don’t mean to criticize anyone else, I just want to point out how blessed we are.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Hocus Pocus

Learning how to imitate God's originality

11/01/2022

1 Jn 3:1-3 Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.

Do you know where the phrase “hocus pocus” comes from? We all know that sometimes magicians say “hocus pocus” before they pull a bunny rabbit out of a hat. But hocus pocus originally came from the Catholic Mass. Many years ago the priest said Mass in Latin. And when he said the most important words over the bread and wine (the words of consecration) to change them into Jesus’ Body and Blood, he said this: “Hoc est enim Corpus meum.” Can you hear the words “hocus pocus” in those Latin words? In fact, at Mass today, during the Eucharistic Prayer, I will pray that part in Latin, kind of going “old school” at Mass today.

I mention hocus pocus today because it illustrates that nothing we do is ever original. It is always borrowed, or copied, or derivative of the only One who is truly and always Original. Can you guess who alone and always is Original? God is. Why? Well, because the word original comes from the word origin and God is the Origin of all that is good and holy; indeed, God is the origin of all that exists.

The best we can do, therefore, is copy him in what we do, and try to be closer and closer to the Original, the Real McCoy. In a sense, we are all plagiarists, someone who copies someone else's original work. In other words, Isaac Newton, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Aristotle, Michaelangelo, Tom Brady, Ariana Grande, no matter how great their masterpiece of literature or science, music or art, or sport, they are all simply saying in effect “hocus pocus” and imitating what God the Son, Jesus said originally, “Hoc est enim Corpus meum.” Everything we have or do or become is borrowed from Him who is the Origin of all.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. One of the first steps (and perhaps the last step, too) of becoming a saint is to recognize that everything they accomplish in holiness is an attempt to copy Jesus, the Original Saint. Some saints are martyrs who shed their blood, like Jesus original did on the Cross. Some saints are great teachers, like Jesus was the original Teacher in his Sermon on the Mount. Other saints loved and served the poor, like Jesus originally loved and served the poor, and multiplied bread to feed five thousand. Other saints gave up their family and possession and did penance, like Jesus originally gave up the glory of heaven to become a poor Baby in Bethlehem.

This imitation of Christ is why St. John said in the second reading today: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him.” In other words, just like small children like to imitate their parents wearing their clothes, and talking like them, and acting all grown up, so the saints do what Jesus did in his earthly life.

But the saints imitate Jesus’ originality the best. Why? Because they do not say “hocus pocus” but rather Jesus’ own words, “Hoc est enin Corpus meum" which means "This is my body." In other words, the saints come closest to the originality of Christ because they make their bodies like Christ's Body in the Eucharist, which is given for the world.

What is the take-home message for us today? I think there are two take-aways. First, realize that whatever we do, no matter how great or earth-shattering we think it is, it is always a copy of the Original which is God and his glory. In sports or science or spirituality, we are all plagiarists and God alone is uniquely and universally Original. Secondly, the best way to come close to the originality of God is to imitate the saints, who in turn, imitate Jesus. The saints copy Christ the closest - they make their bodies like his Body in the Eucharist - and that closeness to Christ is what we celebrate on the Solemnity of All Saints.

The next time you hear the phrase hocus pocus, you will know where it comes from: the words of consecration at the Mass. The real magic, however, is not when a magician pulls a bunny rabbit out of his hat, but when Jesus turns sinners into saints.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Being Ourselves

Learning how the last shall be first

10/26/2022

Lk 13:22-30 Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.' He will say to you in reply, 'I do not know where you are from.' And you will say, 'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.' Then he will say to you, 'I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!' And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

One of the big changes between elementary school and middle school is you begin to compare yourself to other students. Have you noticed yourself doing this? I am not as tall as he is. I am not as pretty as she is. I am not as smart as he is. I cannot run as fast as she does. Unfortunately, we keep doing this for the rest of our lives. I don’t earn as much money as he does. They live in a nicer neighborhood than my family does. Their family takes better vacations than we do.

In elementary school we were happy being ourselves. We don’t worry too much about what others do or think. But in middle school we want to be like other students, or we want to be better than others. We obsess about what other people do and what they think, especially what they think about us.

Now, when we start comparing ourselves to others we also start doing some silly stuff to be more like them. Let me give you a couple of examples from my own life in middle school. Growing up as a small boy I had this really thick, curly hair. I know you find that hard to believe today. Well, I hated my curly hair and I wanted straight hair like some of my friends had.

So, every night I slept with this hairnet on my head that flattened my hair so I could go to school and have this really cool straight hair like my friends. Well, one morning I got up late for school, and guess what happened. I forgot I was still wearing my hairnet and rant to school with it on. At lunch I was sitting and talking to my friends and reached up to scratch my head and suddenly realized what I did.

One good thing about being a dark-skinned Indian is that people cannot tell when you get embarrassed and your skin turns red. I don’t know who all noticed but I went straight to the bathroom and flushed the hairnet down the toilet. I was so embarrassed and felt so foolish. I have never worn another hairnet since that traumatic experience. But you see the silly things we do when we compare ourselves to others, and are not happy being ourselves with curly hair.

Another thing I did in middle school when I compared myself to others was start wearing glasses. Why? Well, my eyesight was perfect, 20/20 vision. But I noticed that my friends who always made the best grades wore glasses. So that was their secret to being so smart: wearing glasses! So, even though I could see crystal clear I started squinting and complaining about not seeing well. My parents finally gave in and took me to the optometrist. He tested my vision and said I had a slight stigmatism in my left eye, but it wasn’t anything to worry about.

But I said, “Ah, ha! You see, I need glasses!” And so my parents reluctantly bought me a very low prescription pair of glasses. And guess what happened to my grade in school? Nothing! But I didn’t care about the grade. Why not? Because I looked smart like one of the super smart kids in school. I still wear glasses today, not because I’m so smart, but because I’m so old. But you see the silly things we do when we compare ourselves to others rather than being content with being ourselves.

In the gospel today, Jesus gives us a helpful tool to stop comparing ourselves to others. He says: “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” In other words, for those who think they are not good enough or don’t measure up to their peers, those who think they are last, will one day be first. On the other hand, those who think they are rockstars and above everyone else, some day you may be last. So, don’t get a big head when you compare yourself to others.

I think Jesus’ real point is try to be happy just being yourself. Be happy with your curly hair. Be happy not wearing glasses and making the best grades you can. Be happy being tall or short. Be happy being able to run fast or slow.

Like I said, boys and girls, this comparing ourselves to others starts in middle school, but continues for the rest of our lives. Do you see or hear your parents or other adults comparing themselves to others? But wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t do that, and could be content just being ourselves?

Praised be Jesus Christ!