In Other Words

Imitating Jesus as the one we admire most

05/26/2020

Acts of the Apostles 20:17-27 From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace. “But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”

It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. When you really admire and love someone you take on their way of speaking and acting: you imitate them. I’ve noticed this in my preaching style. I would say my preaching is a combination of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, C. S. Lewis, Bishop Robert Barron, G. K. Chesterton and Scott Hahn. These are the speakers and scholars I deeply admire and their words have become my words and even their mannerisms have become my mannerisms.

For example, Fulton Sheen thundered in the pulpit and so I raise my voice when I preach and sometimes scare small children. C. S. Lewis gave countless examples when he wrote, so I give examples in my homilies. Chesterton had an amazing aptitude for alliteration, and so I love to alliterate. Bishop Barron loves to say “Up and down the centuries,” and I’ve used that phrase often. Scott Hahn waves his hands for effect in his presentations, so I wave my hands like I’m trying to land an airplane in my homilies. And he frequently uses the phrase “In other words.” Have you noticed how I do too? We imitate those we admire and play a sort of “imitation game” that has been played “up and down the centuries.”

The two readings today demonstrate this imitation game being played between Jesus and Paul. What Jesus does in John 17 in the midst of his high priestly prayer, Paul imitates in Acts 20, his own farewell discourse during his third and last great missionary journey. Let me give you some examples (like Lewis). Jesus gathers his apostles, the first presbyters of the Church, to address them. Paul calls together the presbyters of the church in Ephesus to encourage them. Jesus knows he is about to face his trial, torture and death soon, and so Paul knows he is headed to Jerusalem when he will be put on trial, then sent to Rome and finally executed.

The apostles would remember these last words of Jesus and Paul would share the words of Jesus not even recorded in the gospel tradition. He says in Acts 20:35, “Keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’.” Did you know those words are not found anywhere else in the New Testament, but rather in Sirach 4:31, which reads: “Do not let your hand be open to receive but clenched when it is time to give”? In other words, Paul knows Jesus so well, he can quote him outside of the New Testament. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

The question for us today is: whom do we imitate? Whose words have become your words? Whose actions and mannerisms have you adopted as your own mannerisms? If we are not careful, we imitate people without even knowing it. While Barak Obama was president, I noticed I imitated some of his mannerisms and speaking style. People even commented: “Fr. John, you sound just like Barak Obama!” But far better than modern politicians and mesmerizing preachers, we should imitate Jesus. And we come to know him through the scriptures and the saints.

                Get involved in a bible study, especially on one of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, where you find the words and wisdom, the mind and the mannerisms of Christ. Read the lives of the saints like St. Peter and St. Paul recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and St. Philip Neri, who founded the Oratorians who are outstanding orators. The saints are the imitators of Jesus who have made him alive in every age, “up and down the centuries.” In other words, we all play the imitation game all the time, whether we know it or not. We are all imitating someone. The only question is: who?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Eat at Jesus's

Giving thanks on an ordination anniversary

05/25/2020

John 16:29-33 The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Today, May 25, 2020, I celebrate my twenty-fourth ordination anniversary, and my heart is filled with gratitude to God for the inestimable gift of the priesthood. A friend asked me how I would celebrate the day, and I replied: “Well, I will say morning Mass and then work on my bible study on the book of Revelation.” She responded drily: “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Seriously, how much can you party during a pandemic? But what better way is there to celebrate the priesthood than by celebrating the Eucharist?

As you know, the word Eucharist comes from the Greek word “eucharisto” which means “I give thanks.” One great saint captured the majesty and mystery of the Mass saying: We need three eternities to celebrate the Mass. One eternity to prepare for the Mass; a second eternity to celebrate the Mass; a third eternity to give God thanks for the Mass.” Only a priest can celebrate the Mass. It is his highest honor and his most sacred duty.

Many years ago Bishop McDonald ordained a priest who was seventy years old and some people questioned his decision. He answered his doubters: “If he celebrated only one Mass as a priest, then all his many years of seminary studies and formation would have been worth it.” C. S. Lewis once observed: “He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.” That’s how I feel celebrating Mass on my ordination anniversary: like I have God in the Eucharist, and nothing else is necessary. Or, as the great Spanish mystic, St. Teresa of Avila, expressed it so eloquently: “Solo Dios basta,” meaning “God alone suffices.”

It’s impossible to summarize the sublime spirit of the priesthood that I feel on my anniversary, so I will try to do it by sharing these humorous church signs someone sent me by email recently. At the end of the day, that’s what a priest is: a huge blinking neon sign that says, “Eat at Joe’s,” or in the case of a priest, “Eat at Jesus’s”! Here are the church signs: “The Best Vitamin for a Christian is B1.” “Try our Sundays, They Are Better Than Baskin Robbins.”

“You are not too bad to come in. You are not too good to stay out.” “Can’t sleep? Try counting your blessings!” “Try Jesus. If you don’t like him, the devil will always take you back.” “Life is hard. Afterlife is harder.” I really like the following: “Aspire to inspire before you expire.” “Where will you be sitting for eternity? Smoking or non-smoking?” The last one reads: “Under same management for over 2,000 years.” And I’m pleased to be a priest and part of that management team for twenty-four of those 2,000 years.

Today’s gospel reading from John 16 ends with a wonderful word of encouragement for priests and for everyone else. Jesus says: “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” To be honest, I haven’t had much trouble in the world in the past twenty-four years. My challenges have been tame, not like tigers but more like skunks. But I am happy to have that assurance from Christ that in case my troubles suddenly turn titanic he will provide his peace and courage. I feel Jesus’ peace and courage every time I celebrate the Eucharist. Don’t worry, I won’t take an eternity to finish Mass.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Happily Ever After Husband

Ascension helps us put our hopes in heaven

05/24/2020

Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

A Jewish man, his wife and mother-in-law made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While they were there, the mother-in-law suddenly had a heart-attack and passed away. They went to the local rabbi to get advice on what to do. He told them: “We can do a funeral service in the synagogue and bury her here for $150. Or, if you wish, you can have her shipped back to the United States for $5,000.” The man thought for a moment and replied: “We’ll have her body shipped back home.” The rabbi asked surprised: “Why would you spend $5,000 instead of burying her here for only $150?” The man answered: “Look, a man died here 2,000 years ago and you guys buried him and three days later he rose from the dead. I can’t take that chance.”

That man who died 2,000 years ago and rose 3 days later, of course, was Jesus. I hope that joke might serve as a segue to today’s sermon on the Resurrection and the Ascension. The first thing we have to realize about the Resurrection is that Jesus did not rise from the dead in order to remain here on earth. As great as the Resurrection is, it was only Jesus’ first step out of the grave, but the Ascension was his last step into glory. The Ascension is absolutely critical to Christianity. Why? Well, without the Ascension we are liable to think Jesus’ resurrection is the end of the story, like the final lines of all fairy tales: “They lived happily ever after.” And that “happily ever after” is always imagined as an earthly fulfillment of our hopes for happiness. But the Ascension tranforms that earthly hope into a much higher hope, namely, happiness in heaven. St. Paul warns against exactly that earthly emphasis saying in 1 Cor. 15:19: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men the most to be pitied.”

If you find it difficult and disappointing to postpone your hopes for happiness until heaven, the apostles struggled too. At the end of the gospel of Matthew we read: “When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped, but they doubted.” What did they doubt? The first reading from Acts 1:6, retelling the same episode, records: “They asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’” Put in modern English, they were asking: “Is this the part where we live ‘happily ever after’?” In other words, they expected Jesus to be the new Davidic king and bring back the glory days when David and Solomon sat on thrones and ruled all the nations. Indeed, the apostles would not understand the true nature of Christ’s kingdom with the Ascension, but only at Pentecost, which would turn their minds totally to heaven and radically transform their lives on earth.

Here are a few suggestions on how we can apply the Ascension into our daily lives. First of all we need the Ascension in our marriages. I work on the marriage tribunal that grants annulments. One person who petitioned for an annulment actually had four previous marriages. We know they are looking for the fairy tale ending for their marriage, for the “happily ever after husband.” The Ascension helps us realize, however, that every earthly marriage is imperfect and our only perfect marriage will be with Jesus in heaven. It says in Rev. 19:9: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The only “happily ever after husband” is Jesus.

This pandemic is a perfect case in point, too, of the assistance we get from the Ascension. How many lives and livelihoods have been destroyed in just two months? A lot of people have lost their “happily ever after” on this earth when they lost their loved ones and their jobs, and especially if there’s no college football this fall! The Ascension reminds us, however, to put our hopes for happiness in heaven, where there will be no pandemics but only peace.

And thirdly, what are the only two things that we cannot escape on earth? They are death and taxes. And the resurrection is not enough to overcome death and taxes. Why not? Well, just ask Lazarus after he was raised from the dead. He still had to pay taxes to Caesar and he would die again. No, it is the Ascension alone that drives the last nail in the coffin of death and taxes. The Ascension teaches us to delay our earthly enjoyments and hope for heavenly happiness, and is really the only relief from death and taxes.

In a way, the Jewish man in the joke was right about not burying his mother-in-law in Jerusalem, even he wanted to do it for all the wrong reasons. He was right in that rising from the dead is never enough. We need more than the resurrection from the dead to discover true happiness. We need the Ascension to raise our hearts and hopes all the way to heaven. Why? Because only in heaven will we find our “happily ever after husband.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Essential Services

Seeing people as primarily religious animals

05/22/2020

Acts of the Apostles 18:9-18 One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.” He settled there for a year and a half and taught the word of God among them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him to the tribunal, saying, “This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law.” When Paul was about to reply, Gallio spoke to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud, I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles and your own law, see to it yourselves. I do not wish to be a judge of such matters.” And he drove them away from the tribunal. They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official, and beat him in full view of the tribunal. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.

One of the more important innovations of the United States Constitution was the concept of the separation of church and state. You have probably heard of that. I believe it is a generally good concept but I do not believe it is an absolutely good one, that is, it admits of exceptions. Sometimes church and state should not be so separate. We find this notion of separation enshrined in the first Amendment, where we read (among other things): “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

In Acts 18 (our first reading today), though, we see this separation had its antecedents in Roman law, where you find the seeds of this separation. The Jews want Paul tried for violating religious laws, but Gallio, the Roman proconsul, states: “If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud, I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles and your own law, see to it yourselves. I do not wish to be judge of such matters.” That reminds me of that old television sitcom where a small town mayor dismissively told his staff: “Handle it! Handle it!” He didn’t want to be bothered with mundane matters.

In all honesty, however, Roman authorities were intensely interested in religious matters and frequently tried and executed people for failing to worship the emperor. The Romans believed in emperor worship. So, Gallio’s statement was exercising pragmatic diplomacy, not expressing political doctrine. You might remember another Roman official named Pontius Pilate who followed the same political path, washing his hands in the bowl of the separation of church and state.

But human beings are not essentially social animals, nor are they merely rational animals, nor are they primarily scientific animals. I am convinced man and woman are first and foremost “religious animals.” That is, our first task and highest vocation is to worship God. When I was a newly ordained priest I visited an eighth grade religion class at Christ the King School, where the students were discussing cloning. Scientists had just cloned “Dolly” the sheep. They asked me: “Fr. John, if scientists could clone human beings would they truly be human?” I looked at my pager and said: “Oh, sorry, I just got a call to the hospital for an emergency.” No, not really.

I answered: “Well, if that cloned human being could kneel down and pray to God, then I believe it would truly be human. Why? Well, because then it would have a soul.” In other words, what makes you and me different from a machine or a monkey is a soul, and the soul’s first job is to pray to God. Indeed, the point and purpose of all creation is to praise its Creator, as we learn in Daniel 3: “Ye sun and moon, praise the Lord!”

That brings me back to the separation of church and state, and why it is not an absolute good, but only a general good, and therefore admits of exceptions. If the role of the state is to ensure human happiness and flourishing, then it must zealously provide the opportunity and eagerly protect the obligation for man to worship God. Otherwise, the government is not guiding a nation of human beings, but a herd of animals.

And now here’s my take-home message: this is why I would argue that religious services should be defined as “essential services” during this pandemic. Of course, there are lots of good reasons for closing churches and suspending services – mostly to protect priests from infections! Still, I believe we also inadvertently overlook what makes a human being truly human, namely, worship. Arguably more urgent than food, shelter and health is our need to worship God.

The government that cannot see and safeguard man’s religious duty has lost sight of what makes man truly human. That is where the wall of separation between church and state should come down. Otherwise, we have erected a wall between heaven and earth.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Are You Saved?

Both belief and baptism are necessary for salvation

05/19/2020

Acts of the Apostles 16:22-34 About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.

I have a surprising question for you this morning that you might not expect your Catholic pastor to ask: Are you saved? More often our evangelical or fundamentalist friends put Catholics on the spot with that uncomfortable question. How do most Catholics answer: “Uh, I don’t know. Ask Fr. John!” Well, this time it’s Fr. John who’s asking, so you have to supply your own answer. Our Protestant friends usually reply that you are saved by “accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.” That is, belief leads to salvation, or in Latin, “sola fide” (faith alone). But I would suggest to you that the Bible teaches that belief alone is not enough. In addition to belief, the Bible insists that you must be baptized. Faith alone will not save you, you also need the sacraments.

I want to offer you five scriptures that show an intrinsic link between belief and baptism, that salvation requires the sacraments. The first is today’s reading from Acts 16. Paul and Silas are miraculously freed from prison and the jailer is about to kill himself. Paul preaches the good news to him and the jailer believes in Jesus. But does the story end there with the jailer's belief in Jesus, “and they lived happily ever after”? No, we read a few verses later: “Then he and all his family were baptized at once.” Belief and baptism go hand-in-hand, like the two wings of a plane they are both necessary for us to fly up into heaven.

Eight chapters earlier in Acts 8, Philip preaches to an Ethiopian eunuch, who’s reading Isaiah 53 about the “suffering servant.” Once the eunuch learns from Philip that the suffering servant is also his Savior, Jesus Christ, he exclaims: “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” Notice how effortlessly the eunuch’s belief led to his baptism, salvation runs through the sacraments.

The third passage is from our first pope, St. Peter. In the first encyclical, Pope Peter explains that Noah and his family in the Ark, floating on the waters of the flood, were a symbol of baptism. We read: “This (Noah and the Ark) prefigured baptism, which saves you now.” Did you catch how 1 Pet. 3:21 described how we are saved? We are saved by the sacraments, especially baptism.

The fourth scripture is from St. Paul, the great proponent of faith as a prerequisite for salvation (but not faith alone). Peter had connected baptism to the ancient flood in Gen. 6-9, and now Paul connects baptism with the ancient practice of circumcision in Gen. 17. He writes in Colossians 2:10-11, “In Christ you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand…You were buried with him in baptism.” Incidentally, in India babies are baptized exactly eight days after they are born, which was when male Jewish babies were circumcised. Baptism is the new “Christian circumcision.” Every baby that cries when he’s baptized should be warned: “Be glad I only have water in my hand, and not a knife.” Sacraments are necessary for salvation.

Last but not least is the teaching of our Lord and Savior himself in John 3:5. Jesus tells Nicodemus in no uncertain terms: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God (be saved), without being born of water and the Spirit.” That is the perfect description of the sacrament of baptism: being born again into new life (salvation) by water through the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus himself urges: “Don’t just believe in me as your personal Lord and Savior, but also be baptized!”

Now can you answer the question, “Are you saved?” The correct answer is: “You must believe in Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, AND you must also be baptized.” That is the constant teaching of the Scriptures and the teaching of our Savior. So, don’t ask me the answer to that question again.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Lady Lydia

Seeing how female figures symbolize nations

05/18/2020

Acts of the Apostles 16:11-15 We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city. On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.

Female figures often symbolize the soul of a nation. Can you think of the lady who symbolizes the soul and even the strength of America? Of course, she is “Lady Liberty.” Emma Lazarus famously put these words on the lips of Lady Liberty, and thus on the lips of every true American: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teaming shore, send these the homeless, tempest tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” Not only Americans, but many immigrants like my family from India, have read those lines and our souls have been stirred. Did your soul stir when you just read those lines? Lady Liberty symbolizes the highest ideals of the American spirit; she is each American at our very best.

In the Acts of the Apostles we meet a widow woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia. Like Lady Liberty, she offers hospitality and welcome to Paul, Silas, Timothy on their second missionary journey through Asia Minor. Lydia is traditionally believed to be the first Christian convert in Europe, a noble distinction to match her noble character. She seems to be a good symbol of the people and place of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, like Lady Liberty, who stands for America.

Lydia, however, had competition for that singular status. In Revelation 2:20 we hear of another woman from “Thyatira,” namely, Jezebel. You might remember the infamous Jezebel from the first book of Kings. One of the seven letters in Revelation is addressed to Thyatira: “You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of foods sacrificed to idols.” Notice that Thyatira’s wrong-doing – symbolized by Jezebel – is not only idolatry and sexual misconduct, but also misleading Jesus’ followers, that is deceiving Christians. Thus, two women vie to be symbols of the soul of Thyatira in Turkey: Lydia, who welcomes Christianity and personally converts to it, and Jezebel, who misleads Christians and leads them away from Christ.

I don’t think Lady Liberty is the only woman who symbolizes America, like Lydia was not the only symbol of Thyatira. Sometimes Jezebel also seems to represent our nation, not our highest and selfless ideals but our lowest and selfish inclinations. This is especially true in our treatment of immigrants and religious freedom. I am not suggesting that Christianity needs to be the cornerstone of our Constitution; separation of church and state is basically a good thing. But I do believe Lady Liberty’s lamp shines brightest when we welcome immigrants and welcome Christianity, like Lydia of Thyatira did. Of course, what do you expect a Catholic priest from India to say? Then again, that’s what Emma Lazarus would say, and that’s also what the Acts of the Apostles and the book of Revelation say.

Women often symbolize the soul of a nation. Many years hence, when people look back and can more easily see the soul of America, what woman would have been her most appropriate symbol: Lady Liberty or Jezebel?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Pandemic Positives

Holy Spirit teaches us the positives of the pandemic

05/17/2020

John 14:15-21 - Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Let me share a few humorous memes I received lately. One read: “People keep asking, ‘Is COVID 19 really that serious?’ Listen up. Casinos and churches are closed. When heaven and hell both agree on the same thing, it’s probably serious.” My apologies to Cherokee Nation for that one. Here’s a second one: “Breaking News: Wearing a mask inside your home is now highly recommended. Not so much to prevent COVID-19, but to stop eating.” Here’s the last one: “To all the grandparents who are missing their grandchildren. When this is over, you can have them for a month. Promise.” This epidemic has provided endless inspiration for funny memes. And that’s a good thing because laughter can lighten the mood in these dark days of this pandemic.

Do you know that it has been exactly two months since we stopped celebrating public Masses? Our last Sunday Masses were on March 15, and our first public Masses will be May 16. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news that we would no longer have public Masses? I do. On Thursday, March 12, I had gone to Christ the King to help with confessions, and Fr. Juan Guido told me about the bishop’s decision. My first reaction was, “Yay! Vacation time for me!” No, I didn’t really say that. Rather, I felt a deep sinking feeling in my stomach. Why? Well, spiritually-speaking, the Church had entered into a protracted period of penance, a long and languishing Lent, fasting from the Food of angels. Isn’t it odd how easily, even eagerly, we remember tragedies and troubles? Human beings have a knack for knowing the bad news, while we are fast to forget the good news. We would rather share gossip about others than the gospel about Jesus Christ. The human head is sort of hard-wired for bad news.

Today’s gospel reading is taken from John 14, where Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit upon his apostles. Jesus describes the work of the Holy Spirit as inspiring us to remember the Good News. He explains: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit…will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Jesus came to give us the Good News, but our brains are too busy bothering about the bad news. So, we need the Holy Spirit to “rewire” our hard-wired heads, so we recall the good more than the bad. One of my favorite scriptures in the whole bible is Phil. 4:8. It reads: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” When our heads are hot-wired by the Holy Spirit, we remember Phil. 4:8, and we are far more interested in the gospel than in gossip.

Folks, let me give you a little holy homework today, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Try to think of three positives that this pandemic has produced. Have you noticed how easy it is to find the negatives, just turn on the news or listen to your hardwired head. The work of the Spirit, on the other hand, is to remind us of the Good News: what Jesus had done and continues to do in our lives. Here are three positives I have personally found in this pandemic. First, I can grow a beautiful beard, and it makes me look smart and distinguished. At least I can look that way; after all, image is everything. Second, my family has started a tradition of Facetime every Sunday evening now and we talk a lot more than we did before. My mom says it feels like we’re all sitting at the kitchen table, and at the end of the call, she feels like I just went upstairs.

And third, I’ve finished putting together a bible study on the book of Revelation called “Apocalypse Now.” The world is obviously about to end, and we should study Revelation to get ready. I’m just kidding. Seriously, though, I would not have had the time for the research required for that bible study without the pause in pastoral ministry during this pandemic. The last two months have been like a sabbatical for me. I didn’t even ask the bishop’s permission for the time off.

My friends, even though some of us are back at Mass, this pandemic is far from over. In the meantime, where do your thoughts tend to roam: are you giving into your knack for the negative or are you perceiving the positive? Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit to remind us of everything Jesus told us, and what he told us was the Good News. There is a lot of Good News around us today, and the Spirit can help you see it, right after you send your kids to the grandparents.

Praised be Jesus Christ!