Eucharistic Eyes

Understanding how our body is not a tube

07/30/2024

Mt 13:36-43 Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

Nothing contributes more to human happiness and flourishing than a good meal. And incidentally, nothing causes more human misery and despair than a bad meal. We know this to be true on the physical, biological level because eating more vegetables, fruits, and fish makes us healthier.

I mentioned to my mom recently as I was devouring a handful of French fries, “Oh, don’t worry, mom, I’ll go for a run and burn it off.” My mom, a smart registered nurse, remarked: “Son, your body is not a tube, where food just goes in and out.” That is, what you eat affects you, sometimes in profound and even in permanent ways. It is not a tube.

But proper eating can also affect us on the spiritual and sacramental level. Bishop Robert Barron observed that all our spiritual problems began with a bad meal – Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. But the good news I that all our problems are ultimately also resolved when we gather to eat the best meal, namely, the Mass, where we sit down at table not only with our brothers and sisters, but with the Son of God, our Host.

In other words, it is table fellowship, especially experienced in the Eucharist, that promotes the highest form of human flourishing possible called holiness. At the very heart of the entire human enterprise, therefore, is learning to eat right. Why? Well, because our body is not a tube.

I would suggest to you that we try to read the entire Bible with “eucharistic eyes.” What do I mean? Well, just like we can intuit how eating is so essential to our basic contentment and peace, so God has engineered human beings so that he can save us through a sacred meal. Consider these eucharistic examples. It is not by accident that Jesus was born in Bethlehem – literally meaning “house of bread.”

He was placed in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Through eucharistic eyes, we are see Jesus as food for the world. Whenever Jesus speaks of wheat and wine, like in today’s gospel from Matthew 13, we should not see accidental or arbitrary imagery, as if Jesus is just using whatever first pops into his mind. Rather, all his parables, indeed, all his teaching and activity, is aimed at a specific target, in a word, the Eucharist.

So, in Lk 22:15, when Jesus opens his heart and says: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” he is indicating in effect that this sacred meal I what I have been teaching you about all along. In other words, just like all our problems began with a bad meal, so this Eucharistic banquet, the truly good meal, will be the solution to all our problems, indeed, it will be our salvation. After all, your body is not a tube.

In this context I want to make a brief comment about the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics, and the possible parody of the Last Supper. If you haven’t heard about it, there was a rather distasteful runway scene where an actor portrayed the Greek god Dionysus (also known as Bacchus), hosting a feast and everyone, including transgender people, gathering to eat, drink, and be merry.

If that is all that occurred, it could perhaps be excused and ignored as another example of foolish French frivolity. But apparently, there was a moment in which the actors paused and seemed to sit in positions at a table strikingly reminiscent of Leonardo DaVinci’s famous depiction of the Last Supper.

That pause caused several Catholic theologians and bishops to speak out against an apparent attack on the Eucharist, the heart of the Christian faith. They are certainly within their right to do so. But I feel that reaction may prove to be counter-productive, like giving too much attention to a rebellious toddler who only wants more attention.

My only point is that even this attack on the Eucharist, if it was intentional, ends up underscoring and emphasizing the fact that a feast is the key to human happiness and to human wretchedness. That is, a disordered meal, in the style of the debauchery of Dionysus/Bacchus, devoid of God, will lead to misery; while only the sacred meal of the Eucharistic banquet, hosted by the Son of God, will lead to true peace and joy.

In a sense, even the Opening Ceremonies could see life through “eucharistic eyes”(whereas we are normally blind to such enormous eucharistic themes) – that everything depends on what kind of meal you are sitting down to eat – and in that sense they got answer right (meals matter), but for all the wrong reasons. Why? Well, because as my mom would tell me, “Your body is not a tube.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Christian Oreos

Learning best practices of heaven and earth

07/23/2024

MT 12:46-50 While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

This past weekend I visited with about 50 hispanic youth who participated in a weekend retreat at our parish center. My message to them was something my brother told me a few weeks ago. He said, children of immigrant families are essentially like oreo cookies: brown on the outside but white on the inside. One young girl at the retreat who was rather light complected said with a smile: “I am a vanilla oreo because I’m white on the outside and white on the inside!”

In other words, we immigrant children inherit our parents' external appearances – brown skin, or language, or cultural habits – but our values and principles – often called mores – are absorbed from the American culture we grow up in. Brown outside, white inside.

But my real message to the Hispanic youth was not simply to admit we are oreos, but to take advantage of being oreos. How so? Well, since they have a foot in two worlds, they can learn and adopt the best practices from each. For example, Americans have a good habit of arriving early for Mass, but a bad habit of leaving early from Mass. Hispanics, by contrast, arrive late, but also stay late. So, adopt the American habit to come early, and the Hispanic habit to stay late!

Another example is being bilingual and speaking English and Spanish. Typically, teens want to be different from their parents, so we oreos try to speak only English to shows we’re not like mom and dad who speak Spanish, or in my case Malayalam. But that attitude is just caving in to adolescent angst.

The smart move would be to master both English and Spanish (or Malayalam) and you exponentially increase your job opportunities. A bilingual employee is hugely more valuable than someone who only speaks one language. And, I added, that way you can talk about your friends and they won’t know what you are saying about them. They understood that advantage.

In the gospel today, Jesus also invites his listeners to transcend their particular culture, class, or customs. As you know, what matters most in the Jewish world is ethnicity, and the more Jewish you are, the better. There are no Jewish oreos. From the Jewish worldview, there are only two kinds of people.

There are Jews and non-Jews, called Gentiles, or pejoratively, Goyim, the rabble, the hoi poloi, those who don’t count, the plebs, the riff-raff. So, when someone says to Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside asking to speak with you,” that ethnic bond should trump all other considerations and stop all other conversations.

Jesus, however, replies: “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” In other words, Jesus invites his hearers to become Christian oreos.

A follower of Christ can be any color on the outside but his inner color, his inner compass, must be the Father’s will. In a sense, Christians must learn from the best of both worlds, whatever their country or culture on earth, but also adopt the gospel values of the Kingdom of heaven. And if you are an American Christian, I guess that makes you a vanilla oreo.

My friends, as the political season ramps up into full gear, please keep this idea of being a Christian oreo in the forefront of your mind. That is, you can be a red Republican or a blue Democrat on the outside, but we are to be Christians on the inside, transcending all political colors. Some families forget that healthy prioritizing of principles and cannot have a civil conversation at the dinner table.

We can be proud of country and work and vote for the candidate we think will “save America.” But remember what Hebrews 13:14 teaches: “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come.” To be a Christian means being an oreo, living in two worlds, and adopting the best practices from each.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Woman’s World

Understanding and appreciating the role of women

07/22/2024

Jn 20:1-2, 11-18 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 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." Mary 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.

Katy Perry, the pop rock musician, recently released a new song called “Woman’s World.” She sings: “It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be living in it! Uh, huh!” And in a sense, she gets the answer right – it is a woman’s world – but for all the wrong reasons, like arguing the only way women can be equal to men is if they do all the things men can do.

And I would suggest that today’s feast of St. Mary Magdalene is the Church’s response to that song, and that sentiment, that it is a “woman’s world.” That is, the Church also believes it is a woman’s world, but for very different reasons. The Church would not say that women should become indistinguishable from men, but rather that they should rediscover their unique and irreplaceable role in society and in the Church.

Let me share three insights that can help us see how, as Katy Perry sang, this is “a woman’s world and we are lucky to be living in it.” First, G. K. Chesterton made the brilliant observation that when men perform the highest functions in society they wear a dress or frock. He said that when men act as a king, or as a judge, or as a priest, they don a dress and look a lot like women who perform these same functions at home with their children. He wrote: “The world is under petticoat government.” In other words, it is a woman’s world and men appear as women when we wish to govern.

Secondly, Louis Bouyer made the point that when the Bible speaks of the “purification” of women, it does not mean that there is something unclean in women but rather there is something super-holy, even other worldly, in women. There is a source of sanctity and grace in women that men do not possess. To drive home his point, he compared the purification of women after their menstrual cycle to the purification of the chalice after Holy Communion.

Have you noticed how meticulously the priest or deacon cleans the chalice after Communion? That gesture is called “purifying the sacred vessels” obviously not because they are "dirty", quite the opposite, it is because they have come in contact with the Blood of Christ. That is, a woman’s body needs purification like a chalice needs to be purified. It is indeed a woman’s world and we are lucky to be living in it.

And thirdly, more and more women are embracing the habit of wearing a veil when they attend Mass. That special veil is called a mantilla. Some people mistakenly think it is a sign of submission, that somehow women are second class citizens in the church. But again, the exact opposite is being asserted. The traditional way to show that something is sacred or holy is to cover it with a veil. So, for example, the tabernacle is often covered with a veil, and the chalice on the altar is covered with a chalice veil, and the traditional habit of a consecrated nun included a veil.

In other words, the holiest objects should not be lying under the sun in plain sight as all other mundane and unimportant objects. Rather, they should be hidden from view like a special secret that only the most fortunate few ever discover. But in our modern culture completely oblivious to the meaning of modesty, clothes are worn at a minimum, and what little is worn is designed to reveal rather than to conceal.

Back on July 22, 2016, Pope Francis elevated the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to a feast. That is why at this Mass we began by reciting the “Gloria,” which we only do on very special occasions. The pope wants to underscore the singular role that Mary Magdalene played as the “apostle to the Apostles” because she announced the good news of Jesus’ resurrection first to the apostles. A fearless woman shared the glory of Christ’s victory over death to fearful men.

And fearless and faith-filled women still do that today. How many young men learned the faith from their mothers and grandmothers? In how many households is the mother the one to insist that the family attend Mass? Why is the church packed with people on Mother’s Day, but just the usual crowd shows up for Father’s Day? That is the deepest meaning of living in a woman’s world. And if women abdicated that role to become more like men, it would be a tragic and irreparable loss.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Lord, Lamb, Lunch

Seeing how Jesus shepherds us as a Lamb

07/21/2024

Mk 6:30-34 The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

This past Tuesday, July 16, something extraordinary took place, a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was more spectacular than a Taylor Swift concert, more moving than the solar eclipse, and a better nail-bitter than the presidential election in November. Last Tuesday, a 6,500 mile pilgrimage culminated in Indianapolis to spark the National Eucharistic Congress taking place this weekend, with over 50,000 Catholics crammed into Lucas Oil Field Stadium.

All this started back on May 18 (two months prior), when four groups of pilgrims set off for Indianapolis from four sides of the United States: one from the east in New Haven, Conn., a second from the west in San Francisco, a third from the north Lake Itasco, Minn, and a fourth from the south in Brownsville, TX. And amazingly, Jesus was one of the pilgrims because a priest carried the Blessed Sacrament during the entire pilgrimage. Geographically-speaking, Jesus made a “cross” over our country and blessed our land.

One of those priests was a friend of mine from seminary, named Fr. Roger Landry. On July 12 Fr. Landry wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal, chronicling his journey. For example, he wrote: “In Philadelphia we proceeded along Kensington Avenue – an open-air drug market – where some addicts joined our ranks. One of my fellow pilgrims has since repeated in interviews: ‘That shows that Jesus wants to enter whatever darkness and addictions any of us has.”

Fr. Landry continued: “We brought Jesus into the Pickaway Corrections Institute in Ohio, where men lined up for confession and to receive Communion at Mass, and then courageously, processed with us on prison grounds.” By the way, that’s the real “Shawshank Redemption,” not breaking out of prison like in the movie.

In another example for us who have elderly parents, Fr. Landry shared: “We’ve processed through nursing homes with seniors joining us in wheelchairs, teary-eyed as they gripped the monstrance holding the consecrated host.” My parents are often in tears when I celebrate Mass in their home. Here’s another jaw-dropping anecdote: “In many towns we saw people traveling in opposite directions stop their cars and get down on their knees in the middle of the street as the Eucharist passed by.”

Have you ever seen the acronym, “IYKYK”? It means, “If you know, you know.” And that perfectly describes our Catholic faith in the Eucharist. In other words, the bizarre behavior Fr. Landry witnessed during the pilgrimage makes perfect sense to those who know who the Eucharist is. If You Know You Know. But if you don’t know or have faith in the Eucharist, such behavior seems utter folly.

In the gospel today, Jesus tender Heart is moved with pity for the people of his day. Why? Well, we read in Mk 6:34, “for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” But I am convinced that Jesus’ Sacred Heart is not only moved with pity for people of his day, but for all people of every day, including you and me. And Jesus shepherds us today through the power of his Presence in the Eucharist, like Fr. Landry described with such moving details.

My friends, perhaps the single greatest paradox of Christian faith is how Jesus shepherds us by becoming a Lamb, the Lamb of God. How so? Well, when the priest elevates the Sacred Bread, he declares like St. John the Baptist: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.” That was in effect what Fr. Landry was saying as he carried Jesus through the streets of Philadelphia, Ohio, and Indianapolis.

And the people who knelt on the streets as Jesus passed by on pilgrimage replied like we do at Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Think about it: our Lord becomes a Lamb so he can become our Eucharistic Lunch. Jesus doesn't just want us to see him but to savor him in a supper. Fr. Landry recalled something we learned back in the seminary: “As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in his Panis Angelicus, ‘O what a mind-blowing reality, a poor and humble servant eats the Lord.’”

You know, we have a little four year-old parishioner named “Vinny” who comes to Mass every Sunday. But as he comes up for Communion, his mom quietly whispers to him that he cannot receive Holy Communion yet, but rather he must cross his arms for a blessing instead. But Vinny has such great faith in the Eucharist that often he blurts out, “But I want one of those Jesus cookies!”

Would that we all were as hungry as Vinny and want to feast on the Eucharist. That child-like faith is what Fr. Landry testified to in his article and what he witnessed all over America. That innocent faith is what the Eucharistic Revival is designed to revive in us Catholic Christians. Why? Because at the core of our entire Christian faith stands the belief in the Eucharist: the great paradox of our Lord who becomes a Lamb, so he can be our Lunch. Or, as people of faith would say, IYKYK: If you know, you know.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Extending the Workday

Seeing how we truly rest in the Eucharist

07/18/2024

Mt 11:28-30 Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

One of my favorite past-times as a priest is going over to parishioner’s homes for supper. I started this culinary custom shortly after I was ordained. My first pastor, Msgr. Gaston Hebert, whom I admire deeply, was not a fan of going to people’s homes for supper. He would often say: “John, that’s just an extension of the workday.” And I can understand his feeling of having to work while at dinner, “being on” pastorally-speaking.

But my experience was (and is) quite different. While sharing food and drink, I can forge friendships with my parishioners, and can truly relax in their company. While I was in high school, I worked at a steak house called Bonanza, whereas my friends worked at burger joints or pizza places. When I got tired of eating steaks, I would trade my meal for theirs and enjoy burgers or pizza.

In a sense, I was practicing the same switcheroo for supper as a priest. I eat what you serve for supper at your house, and when you come to Mass, you eat what I serve for supper, namely, the Eucharist. And I am convinced it is always in the midst of a meal where we find friendship and real rest, rather than simply "extending the workday."

In our super short gospel of only three verses, Matthew says a lot with a little. But the focus of this passage is where to find true rest and that real rest is found only in Jesus himself. Our Lord teaches: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” And we know Jesus is nowhere more truly present than in the Bread and Wine of the Mass. Hence, the Blessed Sacrament is simply referred to as the Real Presence.

And this notion of resting at a meal is reinforced by the Jewish gesture of reclining at table. That is, you literally “rested” by your physical posture while you ate supper, as we read in Jn 13:23, “One of his disciples whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus.” What gesture could signify deeper friendship and repose than lying on someone’s breast during dinner? That intimate image is mean to evoke the parallel image of a mother breast-feeding her baby with her own milk. Indeed, Jesus was nurturing his beloved disciple with his own Body.

That is, like I did back in high school with the old switcheroo suppers, so, too, Jesus had eaten other people’s cooking time and time again, and now he was offering them his own cooking at the Last Supper. Paraphrasing our Lord, Jesus says in effect: “Come to me [in the Eucharist], all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” In other words, sharing the meal of the Mass with Jesus is not “an extension of the workday,” but rather when the workday really ends.

My friends, everyone’s chief preoccupation during summer is finding real rest and relaxation. So, some people escape to cooler climates onboard an Alaskan cruise, others retreat to hidden lakes, or shining, sunny ocean shores, or climb to mountain peaks with endless vistas. We all want, and need, some down-time, and at all costs, to avoid “an extension of the workday.” And a good vacation is healthy for mind, body, and spirit.

Nonetheless, I would submit to you that there is no better rest, on the natural or supernatural levels, than when we recline at table with the Lord at the Eucharist. Bishop Robert Barron recently wrote a little book on the Eucharist, called “This Is My Body.” There he quoted Erasmo Leiva-Merkakis, who commented: “The deepest meaning of Christian discipleship is not to work for Jesus but to be with Jesus.”

In other words, we are never more “with Jesus” than when we recline at table and break bread with him at Mass. Listen again to Jesus’ sparse but significant words in today’s gospel: “Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” So, what are you waiting for to invite me over for supper???

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Deeds of Dead People

Learning the lessons of personal and public history

07/16/2024

Mt 11:20-24 Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the nether world. For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

The Spanish philosopher George Santayana once famously said: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” That means we should all be students of history and learn its lessons. And further I believe we should assiduously study not only the macro, world history, but also our own micro personal and family histories. A Latin student was once trying to get his teacher to pay attention to history when he wrote on his Latin test: “Latin is a dead language, dead as it can be. First it killed the Romans and now it’s killing me.” But unfortunately, his teacher taught Latin and not history.

Jesus wants the Jewish people to become students of history and learn from their own sordid past. He warns, like George Santayana: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.” In the Old Testament these pagan cities were notorious for their wickedness. So, if the Jewish people of Jesus’ day were smart they would learn from their ancestors, rather than repeat their mistakes. But they didn’t learn and so they would suffer for their ignorance. And these cities did suffer, and they still do suffer.

Let me give you two examples where we today are no different from Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. First, on the macro, national level, and second on the micro, personal level. We Americans are quick to denounce the atrocities of World War II, especially the systematic extermination of 6 million Jews in Nazi concentration camps. And those war crimes are indeed horrendous and cry out to heaven for justice.

But have modern Americans really taken a moral step forward when we systematically exterminate tens of millions of babies by abortion? The Nazis took a class of human beings – ethnic Jews – and decided they were not human. We Americans take a class of human beings – unborn babies – and we have decided they are not human. Our American atrocities are also crying out to heaven for justice. “Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Here’s an example on the micro, personal level from the world of annulment ministry, where I serve as a judge. Anyone who seeks an annulment for a previous marriage must fill out a lengthy questionnaire and a crucial part is a family history. Thus, we inquire about their parents, and their childhood, and their adolescents, and their prior dating experiences. Petitioners often ask in frustration and anger: “What does any of that have to do with my marriage to my ex-spouse who I want an annulment from? Let’s talk about how evil he is!”

We patiently try to help the petitioner realize that if we do not learn from the mistakes our parents made – being an alcoholic, abuser, womanizer, etc. – we will very likely repeat those mistakes. One psychologist put it well saying: “We are our parents unfinished homework.” That is, what mom and dad failed to learn in their own lives, they pass that ignorance – their character flaws – on to their children.

The last question on the annulment form is a very telling one: “What have you learned from your previous marriage and divorce?” And if all the person can answer is: "I learned that I married a jerk!” then I am afraid that person has learned nothing about themselves, or about what marriage is.

My friends, it is imperative that every Christian should become a student of history. The coming of God’s Kingdom is hampered when his people keep repeating old mistakes! My good friend, Fr. Greg Luyet, majored in history in college. I always thought it was such a waste of time studying the deeds of dead people and times and places that have no relevance for me today. But the more we adopt that arrogant attitude, the more we repeat the mistakes of the past on the national, personal, and kingdom levels.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Fifth Gospel, Part 6

The final stop on the tour of the Holy Land

07/13/2024

Today we come to the last stop while riding onboard our train of homilies called the Fifth Gospel. We have been travelling through the Holy Land with the Scriptures as our tour guide, and now we consider the last lesson the land – the Fifth Gospel – has to teach us about the liturgy. To learn that final lesson we turn to the final book of the Bible, Revelation, or more ominously, the Apocalypse. Until now we have focused on the stones and surfaces of the earthly Jerusalem, but now we gaze upward to the heavenly Jerusalem. John the Seer writes: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Rv. 21:2). That is, our homily train is no longer traveling horizontally but vertically.

But why is it necessary to avert our eyes from the old Jerusalem? Put simply: it had served its purpose and was scheduled to be retired. The old Jerusalem was a teacher who had completed its tenure. Scott Hahn summarizes how Revelation records this retirement party of the old Jerusalem: "The details of the destruction described in Revelation correspond closely to the history of Jerusalem’s destruction [in A.D. 70]. In Revelation 17-19, John shows a city destroyed by fire; Jerusalem was entirely destroyed by fire…Revelation closely tracks the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, and Ezekiel’s single outstanding message is that the curse of the covenant will come upon Jerusalem. We see this curse fulfilled in the Book of Revelation.”

In a word, the old Jerusalem was doomed. And doomsday came in A.D. 70 when General Titus led the Tenth Roman Legion and leveled the Holy City, and burned it to the ground. But Jerusalem’s story was not concluded in 70 A.D., just like Jesus’ death on Calvary was not the end of his story; indeed, it was only the beginning. That is, in a sense, just like Jesus’ Body would be gloriously resurrected, so John would see “a new heavens and a new earth” (Rv 21:1). These earthly stones would be transformed into streets of gold (Rv 21:21). Jesus had intimated this connection between his Body and the Jerusalem Temple when he told the Jews: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19).

Revelation, you see, is revealing a resurrection, not only of those born again in Christ by Baptism, but also of the land, and especially the Holy City of Jerusalem which would undergo an earthly death and heavenly resurrection. In other words, the true land of the liturgy is not Melchizedek’s ancient Salem, nor best understood as Moses’ manna in the desert, or King David’s bread for the bivouac, or even the apostolic traveling Masses moving between supper and sacrifice and celebrated on the rocks scattered on the road to Emmaus. All of these earthly liturgies were faint shadows and distant images of the eternal land of the liturgy, namely, the heavenly Jerusalem. And every time we celebrate the liturgy on earth – like we are right now! – we are lifted up into the liturgy of heaven.

Sometimes on my day off, I celebrate Mass by myself in a little chapel we have in the rectory. It feels like I’m talking to myself, because I say, “The Lord be with you.” And I reply back to myself, “And with your spirit.” A priest friend of mine insists that I should not say, “And with your spirit,” because our Guardian Angel makes that reply. In any case, we priests suffer from spiritual schizophrenia when we celebrate Mass by ourselves.

But it is theologically inaccurate to say, “I celebrate Mass by myself.” Why? Well, because if we look inside that little rectory chapel with the eyes of faith, we would behold it is crammed with all the angels and saints of heaven. And how many is that? Well, Rv 5:11 answers: “I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures, and the elders. They were countless in number.” Vatican II taught: “In the earthly liturgy we share in the foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims.”

In other words, during Mass we mere mortals stand in that Holy City and rub shoulders with the glorious heavenly hosts, St. Peter and St. Paul, and with St. John Paul II and St. Mother Teresa, and with our deceased grandparents, and my beloved nephew Noah. The Eucharist sacramentally (but really!) unites us not only with those we can see (you and me), but also with those we cannot see, because this is the Mass of the heavenly hosts. The final location of the Mass, therefore, is heaven. Can you see how the land is one of the best professors of the liturgy? No wonder it is called the Fifth Gospel!

But if all this is true – and it is! – then why do so many Catholics find the Mass so boring? Because we bring little knowledge or understanding to the altar. Golf is boring to those who know nothing about birdies, eagles, and bogies. They don’t know, “How you drive for show but putt for dough.” Chess is boring to those who know nothing about how knights and bishops move, and how the most powerful piece is the queen. Chess is an elegant analogy for Catholic faith. Cooking is boring to those know nothing about spices, and seasonings, and side dishes. And why Emril Lagasse shouts, “Bam!” when he tosses spices to his dishes. But when you know these things, you fall in love with golf, and chess, and cooking.

This is what the land can teach us about the liturgy. By examining the locations of where the Eucharist was celebrated – travelling on the liturgy train horizontally from Genesis to Revelation, but also vertically from the Old Jerusalem on earth to the New Jerusalem in heaven - we can fall in love with the liturgy. Well, so what? Well, so that we can bring a little more knowledge of the liturgy when we celebrate Mass next Sunday. Why? Because you cannot love what you do not know. And once you know the meaning of the Mass, you cannot help but love it. Bam!

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Fifth Gospel, Part 5

Understanding the discipline of the secret

07/09/2024

As we continue our journey though the Fifth Gospel, the land that serves as the stage of the drama of salvation, perhaps a worrisome question keeps nagging at you, like it does me. If the Eucharist is truly the “source and summit of Christian life” as Vatican II teaches, why does this Sacrament of sacraments remains rather obscure, almost as an after-thought, in the inspired pages of the Bible? That is, apart from the gospel accounts of the Lord’s Supper, and a few fleeting mentions first Corinthians, the Scripture on the whole is conspicuously quiet about the Mass. Why is there so little information, and indeed inspiration, on this sine qua non sacrament of the Eucharist?

I found a helpful answer in Jean Danielou’s marvelous book The Bible and the Liturgy. Every Christian should read it after they read the Bible. Danielou explains why the early Church Fathers, like Tertullian, gave lengthy expositions about the other sacraments while remaining remarkably reticent on the Eucharist: "It may seem astonishing that there is nothing like [Tertullian’s expositions on Baptism] to be found in relation to the Eucharist, but the reason is that the discipline of the arcana, of secrecy, forbade the revelation of the Mysteries. The only teaching given on the subject, therefore, could not be preserved for us in writing.” The Latin “arcana” is the root of the English word “arcane” meaning “secret,” not to be confused with the word “archaic” meaning “old.”

Incidentally, we continue to preserve remnants of this disciplina arcana today, for example, when we dismiss the RCIA candidates after the homily. They are not fully initiated into the divine Mysteries until the glorious Easter Vigil Mass, the granddaddy of them all. In other words, the inspired authors of Scripture deliberately disguise the sacraments, most especially the Eucharist, so the careful reader of the Bible must read between the lines to detect the discipline of the secret. After all, Jesus urged: “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mt 15:26).

Perhaps now we can see how St. Luke is really practicing this disciplina arcana as he carefully constructs the story of the road to Emmaus as a literary liturgy, maintaining the mystery of the Mass. How so? Well, Luke 24:13-35 can be easily divided into two distinct halves. First, on Easter Sunday Jesus walks seven miles with Cleopas and another unnamed disciple. They strike up a conversation about the events of the last three days. Then, we read in verse 27, “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all in the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Those two lucky disciples participated in the very first Bible study with Jesus as the Facilitator! Can you perceive in that pericope the first half of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word?

Then, from verses 28-35, the two disciples invite Jesus to dine with them and this literary liturgy moves from the “table of the word” to the “table of the sacrament.” We read in verse 30: “When he was at table with them, he took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” That deliberate action-sequence described by four particular verbs – take, bless, break, and give – were precisely the actions Jesus performed at the Last Supper in Mt 26:26, Mk 14:22, and two chapters earlier in Lk 22:19.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible provides the proper liturgical interpretation of the whole Emmaus story in Luke 24:13-35: “The structure of the Emmaus episode reflects the structure of the eucharistic liturgy, where Jesus gives himself to the Church in word and sacrament, in the proclamation of the Scripture (24:17) and in the eucharistic Bread of Life (24:30, 35).” As we can see, St. Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, used his literary artistry to teach a liturgical lesson, namely, the mystery of the Mass.

Let me add a word about a pregnant phrase we find recurring in the New Testament that serves as more code language for the Eucharist, further evidence of the discipline of the secret. Luke ends the Emmaus episode recording: “Then they told what had happened on road, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:35).

Pope Benedict explains the monumental significance of the term “breaking of the bread”: “This gesture of Jesus has thus come to symbolize the whole mystery of the Eucharist: in the Acts of the Apostles and in early Christianity generally, the ‘breaking of bread’ designates the Eucharist.” That is, wherever you find the phrase “breaking of bread” in the Bible, you are hearing an oblique reference to the Eucharist, the Scriptures maintaining the mystery of the Mass.

In 1999-2000, I was assigned as pastor of St. Joseph and St. Thomas Aquinas parishes in Fayetteville. Dc. Paul Cronan, a holy and humble deacon, served at both parishes. One day before Mass he suggested, in his very obsequious, demur way: “Fr. John, when you get to the Fraction Rite (that is when the priest breaks the Sacred Host), please hold up the Eucharist so everyone can see you break the bread.” I remember feeling a little offended.

I thought: “Who is this upstart deacon to tell me, a priest, how to celebrate Mass? I just finished my degree in canon law, and I don’t need anyone to teach me the rubrics of the Mass.” That is what I thought, but thank goodness that is not what I said. Instead, I replied, “Hey, that’s a good suggestion!” And I have held up the Sacred Host at the Fraction Rite at every Mass I have celebrated since then. Why? So that people today, like the two disciples in Emmaus, can see the “breaking of the Bread” and recognize Jesus.

My friends, it does not take a ton of imagination to see what a privileged position the land occupied in this Emmaus liturgy. Those rocks on the road to Emmaus eavesdropped on the most comprehensive and compelling Scripture study in history, delivered by the Word of God himself. And after the disciples eyes were opened at the breaking of the Bread, the same rocks rejoiced as they two ran back breathless to Jerusalem to share their eucharistic encounter with the risen Lord.

For two thousand years that road to Emmaus has guarded the discipline of the secret and kept quiet about the mystery of the Mass that they once beheld. But one day they will break their silence, because in the end, “even the stones will cry out” (Lk 19:40), and the Holy Land will shine forth in all its glory as the Fifth Gospel. On that day, there will be no more secrets.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Fifth Gospel, Part 4

Understanding how every Mass requires traveling

07/08/2024

We climb onboard our train of reflections on the Fifth Gospel, that is, how the Holy Land can teach us about the holy liturgy. The curious thing about saying Mass onboard a moving train is that where we start Mass with the Sign of the Cross is miles always away from where we end Mass with the Sign of the Cross and the dismissal “Go in peace.” My parents and I started celebrating our train-Mass in the peaceful prairielands of Manitoba, Canada, and finished the Eucharist before we reached the borders of Saskatchewan. We watched the land flash by outside the window, while the land watched the liturgy speedy by inside the window.

In this way, the land witnessed the progression of the liturgy like mile-markers on the side of the highway. I remember as a small child attending Mass thinking that when we stood for the Our Father the Mass was mercifully almost over! We passed one of the last mile-markers of the Mass! Celebrating Mass is a lot like traveling on a train: some priest-conductors drive furiously fast, while other go agonizingly slow. And the poor passengers have to put up with it all.

I want to suggest that the two Masses we want to consider next – we will only get to one of them today – are also curiously traveling Masses. That is, they begin in one location and end in an entirely different place. Further, in this way, the Holy Land – upon which this journey takes place – bears a unique witnesses to these first liturgies and reveals that an essential characteristic of the Eucharist is that it requires us to travel. First, we will see this in the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles, which begins in the Upper Room but ends on the heights of Calvary.

But secondly, we will consider it in the Mass of Jesus with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. There, the Mass begins on the outskirts of Jerusalem with Jesus breaking open the Word as they walk, and ends with the Breaking of the Bread in Emmaus as they eat and their eyes are opened. If you have ever carefully watched choreography of the liturgy, you will notice how every Mass sort of travels visually from the Liturgy of the Word at the ambo to the Liturgy of the Eucharist at the altar. Movement is a constitutive quality of the Eucharist.

First, we should note the Passover – as prescribed by rabbinic tradition – consisted of consuming four cups of wine, each charged with symbolism and significance. The first cup was consumed after a special blessing, the Kiddush, was spoken over it. The second cup was drunk after reciting the Passover story, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The third cup followed eating the lamb and the unleavened bread called “the cup of blessing.” Fourthly, and finally, the Great Hallel was sung, Psalms 114-118, after which the fourth cup was consumed, called “the cup of consummation.”

Scott Hahn draws attention to the stunning fact that Jesus did not drink the fourth cup, but rather took the Last Supper, in effect, “on the road.” This break with liturgical tradition is amazing because of that old joke: what is the difference between a terrorist and a liturgist? You can negotiate with a terrorist. In any case, Hahn observes how irregular such an interruption would have been:

"Among the difficulties presented by the Last Supper narratives is the way they end the seder prematurely. Jesus and his disciples exit the room and go off into the night singing a hymn (see Mark 14:26). But they neglect to drink the cup of wine prescribed to accompany the hymn – the fourth cup. This is a glaring omission."

Then Hahn answers the question on everyone’s mind: Well, did Jesus finally drink the fourth cup, and if so, when? In order to find the answer, Hahn takes us to the scene of the crucifixion and provides the color commentary: "Finally at the very end, Jesus was offered “sour wine” or “vinegar” (John 19:30; Matthew 27:48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36). All the Synoptics testify to this. But only John tells us how he responded: “When Jesus had received the sour wine he said, ‘It is finished’; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (19:30).

At the moment he took that sip of wine, Jesus not only concluded his passion and death, but he also finished the Passover liturgy and thereby transformed it into the New Passover, that is, the first Mass.

Every Mass, therefore is at heart a “traveling Mass” because it traces Jesus’ steps from the Upper Room and finds its fulfillment outside Jerusalem on Calvary. We daily travel between these two poles of the mystery of our salvation: between the Upper Room and Calvary. We can even say we are “fed” at the ambo, the table of the Word, and then we move to the altar of sacrifice. Think about it: when you don’t hear a good homily, don’t you feel like you leave Mass still spiritually hungry?

Pope Benedict insisted that these two foci of the Eucharist were present from the beginning: "Thus, in the early church buildings, the liturgy has two places. First, the Liturgy of the Word [the spiritual supper] takes place at the center of the building. The faithful are grouped around the bema, the elevated area where the throne of the Gospel, the seat of the bishop, and the lectern are located. The Eucharistic celebration proper [the unbloody sacrifice] takes place in the apse, at the altar, which the faithful “stand around”."

Let us return to look at the land. Along the road between Supper and Sacrifice, Jesus stops in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. And here the land gets a privileged taste of the liturgy. I would like to propose that the first to taste the chalice of the Blood of Christ, after the apostles, was the Garden of Gethsemane. How so? Fulton Sheen eloquently explained: "No wonder, then, with the accumulated guilt of all the ages clinging to [Jesus] as a pestilence His bodily nature gave way…He now sensed guilt to such an extent that it forced Blood from his Body, Blood which fell like crimson beads upon the olive roots of Gethsemane, making the first Rosary of the Redemption."

That is, while the apostles drank from the sacramental chalice of Christ’s Blood, the roots and rocks of Gethsemane drank directly from the chalice of Christ’s Body. The name “Gethsemane” literally means “an olive press” which squeezed out the juice of the olives. Jesus’ Precious Blood was likewise squeezed out of him in that spiritual olive press of his Passion, and the land was among the first to taste the Lord’s love poured out in the liturgy.

At every Eucharist, therefore, we like the apostles, follow our Lord as he travels between his Supper and his Sacrifice, between the Liturgy of the Word (his three years of public ministry), where he feeds us with his teaching, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist (his three days of the Paschal Mystery, the Holy Triduum), where he feeds us with his Body and Blood, and we, too, drink from the fourth cup at the Cross.. And the land had a front row seat to the great mysteries contained in the liturgy, where Jesus first preached the fullness of truth, and where he perished to give us the fullness of salvation.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Townspeople's Faith

Seeing how faith makes sense of the senseless

07/07/2024

Mk 6:1-6 Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Last year I gave a series of homilies at daily Mass called Apologia Pro Vita Sua, which means “a defense of one’s life.” Basically, I wanted to explain why I decided to become a priest. I asked rhetorically in that homily: “Why would any healthy, red-blooded, virile young man choose a life of celibacy, church service, and a salary slightly above the poverty line?” Why would any sensible young man pursue the priesthood? It makes no “sense.”

So, why do it? Well, I gave several reasons in those homilies, but in the end the only adequate reason is faith. That is, faith teaches me there is more to life than what meets the eyes and the four senses. As Heb 11:1 puts it: “Faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” When a man looks through the eyes of faith, he begins to see beyond his five senses – that life is really about more than money, sex, and power – suddenly the senseless priesthood starts to make perfect sense.

The gospel today ends with the rather tragic line: “Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith.” Jesus was visiting Capernaum, a town he knew well, maybe too well. And because they knew his family intimately – heck, they list them by name – that familiarity blinded them to his divinity. You may have felt the old adage this Fourth of July weekend: “The only thing better than seeing family come is seeing family go.”

Sometimes we struggle to see each family member as a child of God, and so did the folks in Capernaum. They doubt Jesus is the Son of God because they know his earthly family too well, at least on the surface level of the senses. But detecting his divinity would require faith, which peers beyond ordinary sight. In other words, you won’t become a priest without faith and you won’t see Jesus is God without faith.

You know, even though Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of the people of his town, I am constantly amazed at the loads of faith of the people of this town, especially of I.C. Church. Let me give you some examples. Did you know we currently have a seminarian from I.C., Ben Keating, studying to be a priest? A young lady from I.C. named Josie Nunez is entering the Olivetan Benedictine sisters in Jonesboro this summer. Two priests have been ordained from our parish in the last 15 years: Fr. Juan Manjarrez in 2012, and Fr. Omar Galvan in 2021. Their faith helps them see how an apparently senseless vocation is perfectly sensible.

A 2019 Pew Research Poll showed 70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, because they believe it is a symbol. Now, that’s bad. But think about this: 30% of Catholics DO believe in the Real Presence: that Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity sits on this altar like he stood before the townspeople of Capernaum 2000 years ago. That’s amazing faith. That faith is why roughly 2,000 I.C. parishioners attend Sunday Mass each weekend. You could be doing so many other things, but you come to Mass. Why? Because your faith helps you see Mass is more than meets the eyes. The Bread and Wine is Jesus’ Body and Blood.

Take another example: our daily Mass crowd often swells to 100 people. Now, there is no natural or logical reason to come to daily Mass, except as a sheer act of faith. We might be motivated to attend Sunday Mass on pain of mortal sin if we miss. But as Dc. Charlie says, “There’s no purgatory time” for missing daily Mass. And typically, 20-30 Hispanics come to the 7 a.m. English Mass even though understand very little English. Why on earth would you get up early, drive across town, listen to a language you cannot comprehend, just to nibble on a tasteless white Wafer? No sensible person does that! But for our daily Mass crowd, their faith makes sense out of what looks like a senseless waste of time.

We have started our new campaign for a beautiful back altar for the Blessed Sacrament and other parish improvements. And several families have made very generous donations. Thank you! But two weeks ago I received an all-cash donation from a Hispanic family for $1,000. It came in an envelope stuffed with 50 and 20 dollar bills. I know that family well and they are not rich by any stretch. That donation did not come from their surplus because they have none. Think of all the urgent and important things they could do with that money!? Such sacrifice makes no sense! And that is true. Unless you walk by faith rather than dollars and sense.

My friends, the only explanation for such outlandish, irrational, unnatural behavior is faith which makes all the sense out of the apparently senseless. To make choices based on faith in Jesus, and not by any other worldly calculus, alone explains why young people choose the religious life, why 30% of Catholic crack open the doors to church every Sunday, why people attend daily Mass in a foreign language, why anyone give until it hurts and beyond. Today Jesus is amazed at the lack of faith of his people, but I am amazed at the loads of faith of our people, everyday.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

National Treasures

Appreciating our natural and national treasures

07/04/2024

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

There’s an old adage that states: “foreigners know the land better than the natives do.” What does that mean? Well, we have so many national and natural treasures in this country – such as Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith! – but often we are far more excited to visit a foreign country and see their natural and national treasures.

Not infrequently, people ask me why my family came to the United States from India. I am always surprised by that question because I wonder: why wouldn’t someone want to come to this country? I know such people are well-meaning and maybe only trying to make conversation, but in my mind that question betrays a glaring lack of awareness of the blessings of living in the United States.

Yesterday I was having lunch with a friend who helped me organize our Honduras mission trips several years ago. We were reminiscing over how much we learned to appreciate our blessings in the U.S. when we saw the extreme poverty and plight of people in other countries. In other words, we could see the United States almost as if through their eyes, and we were overwhelmed by how blessed we are. Foreigners know the land better than the natives do because they can see the land as if for the first time and so do not take it for granted.

Since today is Independence Day, let me invite you to see one of our greatest national treasures, the Declaration of Independence, through the eyes of a foreigner, namely, me, a priest from India. You know perhaps the most famous line from the Declaration. It goes: “We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Now, in my native country of India – at least in most rural areas – the prevailing social structure is called the caste system. That is, each person is born into one of five castes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, or Dalits, also known as the Untouchables. That is, you are born, you will live, and you will die in that caste. So, there is no social mobility, no rags to riches stories. Cinderella never meets Prince Charming in India.

Thus in 2017 when India elected Ram Nath Kovind as president from the Dalits, the Untouchables caste, it marked nothing less than a cultural revolution. But here in the United States anyone can run for president – and by the way, they do! In other words, what we Americans take for granted – that all men and women are created equal – would spark revolutions in other countries. Foreigners know the land better than the natives do.

My friends, even though we should take time to cherish our natural and national treasures in this great land, nonetheless, we should never forget our true homeland is heaven. As St. Paul reminded the Philippians in the first reading today: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And in the gospel Jesus urges us to fulfill our earthly duties while never forgetting our heavenly destiny, saying: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” In a spiritual sense, we are all foreigners here on earth no matters what country we call home – Honduras, India, or America – and therefore we should consider ourselves first and foremost patriots of Paradise.

Today on July 4, I hope you will enjoy some of the blessings of living in this extraordinary nation that we call the United States of America. Visit family and friends, grill hamburgers and hotdogs, shoot fireworks, swim and ski, and so forth. And if you have the time and interest, I would highly recommend you watch the HBO series called “John Adams” about the Revolutionary War and writing the Declaration of Independence.

But you know, sometimes it is only by hearing a homily preached by a priest from India that can help Americans to fully recognize the greatness of their own nation. Why? Because, as everyone knows: foreigners know the land better than that natives do.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Second Element

Understanding the master metaphor of water and ship

07/02/2024

MT 8:23-27 As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

One of the most popular places for summer vacation is somewhere near, in, around, or on water, the second of the four classic elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. Some people love to lounge by their swimming pool, trying to tan and look like Fr. John. Others rambunctiously boat or ski on lakes. Still others quietly fish on rivers. My brother and his family sent me a picture yesterday as they boarded an Alaskan cruise, hoping to see a whale. We are mesmerized by the wonder of water like we are fascinated by the flicker of a flame.

But while water can be wonderful, it can also become wild and dangerous. That is how Gilligan’s Island ominously started, remember: “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…” And later, “The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost.” In other words, while we are irresistibly drawn to water to rest and relax, we are also keenly aware of its inherent dangers.

If we can keep this fascination in mind of both the wonder and wildness of water, we can begin to appreciate it as a metaphor for life, as well as see the Church as a ship on the open seas. In fact, churches, especially the great cathedrals, were deliberately designed to evoke the imagery of being inside a great ship when we walk into a church. How so?

Bishop Robert Barron explained why the central aisle of the church is called a “nave.” He wrote: “The etymology of the word is somewhat ambiguous, but it seems to be derived from the Latin navis, meaning ship or boat…When pilgrims enter the hull of this cathedral-ship, they are meant to feel a rush of relief, a keen sensation of being secure even as the waves crash against its side.”

On the next page, Bishop Barron develops another fascinating dimension of the cathedral as a ship. He elaborates: “If you position yourself behind Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and look back at the mighty building as it looms over the Seine, you see the flying buttresses jutting out from the side of the church. And with this naval imagery in mind, you can’t help but imagine them as oars sticking out from a great ship and propelling it through the ages.”

The U.S.S. Minnow indeed! In other words, the safest place to experience the wonder and also the wildness of water is in the secure nave of a great ship, and that becomes a master metaphor for the Christian life. The storms and waves of life crash against the sides of the Church, the barque of St. Peter, and we ride out the storms safely inside.

With this metaphor of the Christian life in mind we get a deeper understanding of today’s gospel from Matthew 8:23-27. Jesus and the disciples are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee (probably during their summer vacation). A violent storm erupts and we read how “the boat was being swamped by the waves.” Hearing the desperate cries of his disciples, Jesus rebukes the wind and waves and the seas were calmed.

This gesture of commanding the seas is supposed to evoke the beginning of creation where God stretched out his hand over the deep waters of chaos and brought forth creation. That is, Jesus’ mastery over the waves and winds testify to his divinity. Put differently, the waters of the Sea of Galilee would recognize who Jesus was long before the disciples from Galilee would.

My friends, try to think about your Christian life like a journey through open seas. When the water is calm and peaceful, like during summer vacation, we can sunbathe by our pools, fish in the rivers, ski on the lakes, and hope a whale winks at us on a cruise. But eventually storms come up, as Barron observes: “human life is a dangerous proposition. We are surrounded on all sides by threats: warfare, disease, failure, economic collapse, loss of friendship, death itself.”

And in such storms and calamities don’t look for the U.S.S. Minnow to save you, but rather board the Barque of St. Peter, the Catholic Church. And knowing Jesus is with us to calm the storms of life and help us safely reach the harbor of heaven, let us set sail with faith and confidence into open seas. I love a meme that I saw recently that said: “A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what ships are made for.” “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,” and that fateful trip is precisely the Christian enterprise.

Ventura Highway

Appreciating the saint-founders of our cities and churches

07/01/2024

Mt 8:18-22 When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore. A scribe approached and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."

Part of our new "Yesterday, Today, and Forever Campaign" involves purchasing a new statue of St. Patrick of the Emerald Isle. And I am so pleased that some generous Irish parishioners have pledged to pay for it, which is great! Once we move the tabernacle to the center, we will place the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue where the tabernacle was, and then put the new St. Patrick where the Sacred heart formerly stood.

Now, why put St. Patrick there instead of any number of other heroic and holy saints of the Church? There are innumerable saints to choose from! Well, Immaculate Conception was originally called St. Patrick’s Church because it was founded by brave Irish immigrants who loved this new world and loved their Catholic faith. In other words, we owe those intrepid Irish a debt of gratitude and this statue is a small way to repay them.

Today is the feast of St. Junipero Serra, who, like the intrepid Irish, fearlessly founded many of the original missions along the Pacific coast that now make up the famous cities of California. St. Junipero, too, loved this new world and loved his faith! But just like recent arrivals to Immaculate Conception don’t know the history and the holiness of our founders, so many Californians are ignorant of the origins of their state. Both have roots that are deeply Catholic. Whether they know it or not, the inhabitants of the Golden State owe a profound debt of gratitude to St. Junipero Serra and at least acknowledging that debt is a small down payment toward repaying it.

From 1769 to 1784 St. Junipero Serra led a group of zealous Franciscan missionaries along the California coast and established mission churches along the way. The first one was San Diego, later followed by San Jose, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The original name for the Los Angeles mission was Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, Our Lady of the Angels, or now shortened to just “Los Angeles,” and hence sometimes called “The City of Angels.”

How many people in or out of California know the original mission of Ventura, California was “Buenaventura” named for St. Bonaventure, one of the most brilliant early Franciscan saints and scholars? Most people today just know the song “Ventura Highway” sung by the band “America.” Or, how many are aware the coastal and costly Carmel was originally named “Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo” for St. Charles Borromeo, the saintly archbishop of Milan, Italy one of the leaders of the Catholic counter-reformation?

Who is aware that Sacramento, the capital city, was originally named for the Blessed Sacrament? In other words, just like we modern parishioners of Immaculate Conception need to remember our Irish roots, so citizens of California need to remember their Catholic and Franciscan roots and say a word of thanks today to St. Junipero Serra.

My friends, it can be hard to appreciate the life and legacy of saints like St. Junipero Serra in our modern “cancel culture.” For example, in July 2020, the statue of St. Junipero Serra was toppled in Sacramento, CA and replaced by another statue honoring Native American tribes. And there were strong protests when Pope Francis canonized Junipero Serrra in 2015. It is worth noting that if any pope would be sensitive to the plight of indigenous people, it is Pope Francis.

Of course it is a good gesture to honor the culture and history of Native Americans, as well as to stop and rectify injustices perpetrated over the years. There is still a lot of work to do in that respect. Nonetheless, those well-intentioned efforts, I believe, sometimes can go too far when they attempt to erase the past, or gloss over the good work done by heroic saints like Junipero Serra.

California would not be what is it today had St. Junipero Serra not worked tirelessly to establish 9 of the 21 missions along the California coast. The Golden State might not be so “golden.” To entirely eradicate the Franciscan history from the collective memory of Californians is a little like sawing off the branch you are sitting on. I hope they don’t go that far in California, and we certainly will not take a step down Ventura Highway here at Immaculate Conception.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Low, I am with You

Seeing how Jesus is with us in all life circumstances

06/30/2024

Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43 One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live." He went off with him. There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction." While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?" Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded.

I was discussing recently with a friend named Bill how I hate to fly. I shared with him how I once I drove all the way to Seattle, WA for three days to give a retreat just to avoid flying. So, Bill send me this brief email back, saying: “Several years ago, I had an African American friend I met in seminary come to speak at our church. We were going to pay for his air faire, but he wanted to drive because he had a fear of flying. Bill said, “Mack, where is your faith?” His response was that Jesus said, ‘Lo[w], I am with you.’” Get it, “low” I am with you, not “high.”

But I would suggest to you that Mack’s answer is a lot truer and more profound than we might think at first sight. Why? Well, isn’t it usually when we are “low” – down in the dumps, laid low because of illness, earning a low income – rather than when we are “flying high” that we want Jesus to feel like he is more fully present with us?

Have you ever noticed how our stained-glass windows are deliberately designed to inspire the lowly? What do I mean? When the sun is high in the sky and the light is bright outside in the world, what do the stained-glass windows look like to the people driving by on Garrison Avenue? They just look like dull, dark glass.

That is, when we are feeling high like the sun in the sky, the stained-glass teaches us nothing. But when the sun is down and it is dark outside, symbolizing our spiritual lowliness, the stained-glass bursts into brilliant colors because the light of faith inside shines through them. It is as if through the stained-glass windows Jesus tell us symbolically, “Low, I am with you.”

In the longer form of the gospel today, Jesus draws very close to two people who are feeling especially low. The first person is Jairus’ daughter who ends up dying before Jesus arrives. And the second person is an anonymous woman with a hemorrhage, bleeding for 12 years. These two people feel extremely low, alone, exhausted, desperate, on the brink of death, abandoned by God. But Jesus breaks into their lives at their lowest points, heals their sickness, raises them from the death, and declares in effect: “When you are low, I am with you!”

This experience of Jesus’ healing and holy presence in our lowliness is theologically called “the divine condescension.” God lowers himself, he accommodates himself, to our child-like level to show us his tender love. Let me give you an example. When Pope John Paul II was still the archbishop of Krakow, he visited a family for dinner. When he entered the house, the little 2 year-old boy ran and to hide under the dining room table out of fear.

Unable to persuade the frightened toddler to come out, the future pope said, “If you will not come out to play with the archbishop, then the archbishop will come in to play with you.” Then the archbishop proceeded to get down on his hands and knees, crawled under the table to play with the little boy, who was now beaming with delight. The pope was saying like Jesus in the gospel: I will humble myself, and when you are literally “Low – under the table low – I am with you!”

My friends, sooner or later, we all eventually stop “flying high” and begin to feel very low, due to illness, death, a lost job a broken relationship, or as Shakespeare said: “the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” Stuff just happens. And I am convinced that just like Jesus did in today’s gospel to Jairus’ daughter and the hemorrhaging woman, so he says to us in our sadness: “Are you feeling, low, I am with you!” How so?

Well, we encounter Jesus’ “divine condescension”, his utter humility, in each of the seven sacraments, but most especially in the Holy Eucharist, at Mass. Blessed Fulton Sheen once made a startling comparison for Holy Communion I will never forget. He said that theologians often compare God becoming man to how humbling it would be for a man to become a dog. We can imagine how hard it would be to think like a person but only be able to bark, to want to stand erect and walk and eat with our hands, but as a dog only lap up water with our tongue and swallow kibbles and bits. It would be very humbling for a human to become a dog.

But Sheen added that was not the correct comparison for the Incarnation of Christ. Rather Jesus being like a man who becomes a dog, Jesus goes so far as to become a dog biscuit when he becomes Bread and Wine in the Eucharist. Talk about how low can you go?? In other words, Jesus doesn’t just want to hang out with us like a human being, talking, eating, suffering, and finally dying for us.

No, his humility drives him to become our very Food. My friends we will only begin to grasp the true miracle of the Eucharist, the condescending love of God, when we hear Jesus say in that little white Wafer when we come up for Holy Communion, “This is how low I will go so I can be with you.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!