Inviting Ourselves Over

Learning how to dine with the poor

11/04/2024

Lk 14:12-14 On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

After 28 years as a priest I don’t have many new experiences that I have not encountered before. But I did recently. I asked a parish family if I could come to their home for supper and to bless their house and just to spend some time together to get to know each other. I figured Jesus told Zacchaeus he was coming to his house for dinner so it was okay for me to invite myself over for supper too.

We had set the date several weeks in advance. But the morning of the dinner the mother texted me and said somewhat embarrassed: “Fr. John, I feel so bad to tell you this but can we reschedule dinner? My husband and I are in-between jobs and we feel we really cannot afford a nice meal for you tonight. When we get back on our feet financially, we will definitely have you over!”

Of course, you can imagine how I felt, about 2 inches tall for inviting myself over. Obviously, that’s something Jesus can do but I cannot copy! Still, I replied and said: “Please don’t worry about dinner. But may I still stop by to bless the house and say ‘Hi’ anyway?” She eagerly answered: “We would love that!” You know, we have parishioners here at Immaculate Conception across the whole economic spectrum – from the super rich to the super poor.

But when we come to Mass, we are all spiritually beggars for God’s grace. We all humbly kneel during Mass because we are all equally penniless before the One and only King of kings, Jesus Christ. as James Joyce famously said, “The Catholic Church: here comes everybody!” Our parish is a microcosm of humanity, and that is as it should be, because that is one meaning of "catholic."

In the gospel today Jesus talks about inviting people over for dinner – and he does not say invite yourself over for dinner! Notice how our Lord makes a point about inviting “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” for supper. Now those folks would not typical make dinner guest list. In my home country of India, when someone dies in the family, we would have a big reception after the funeral.

But instead of family and friends, we would invite people in the neighborhood we knew were struggling financially or otherwise. When my uncle died many years ago, my family went to a leper colony and fed them lunch, and made a donation to Mother Teresa’s sisters who cared for the lepers. It was a small gesture to help the poor as Jesus prescribed in the gospel today by inviting them to a banquet.

My friends do you know your brothers and sisters in this parish? We have over 6,000 parishioners who attend our church. Sometimes we become part of a small group and that becomes our whole experience of church. And that belonging is a good thing because we need best friends in the faith. But that is no excuse to ignore everyone else. For example, we can get into a habit of always attending the same Mass. Maybe go to a different Mass on Sunday, and see who all belongs to your parish.

Did you know we have 6 Masses every weekend, and 2 are in Spanish? And by the way, there are more people packed into those 2 Spanish Masses than in all 4 English Masses combined. It’s a sight to behold. And the Spanish music ministry is amazing, with 5 different choirs taking turns singing on Sundays. They sing so loudly you can’t even hear all the babies crying!

And when you think about it, isn’t going to a Spanish Mass a beautiful way to fulfill Jesus’ command in the gospel today? How so? Well, think about going to a Spanish Mass – a spiritual banquet – and listen again to Jesus’ words: “When you hold a lunch or dinner do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors [kind of like going to an English Mass].”

Jesus continues: “Rather…invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, blessed will you be because of their inability to repay you [kind of like going to a Spanish Mass – although many of our Hispanics are very well off financially].” In other words, our experience of attending Mass can be a perfect way to put Jesus’ words into practice by dining with the poor. And maybe that is an instance where it is okay to invite yourself over for supper.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

An Unfair Test

Learning how to think about death in our culture

11/04/2024

Jn 6:37-40 Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

One of our greatest dilemmas as a society is dealing with death. This dilemma about death was depicted dramatically in the movie “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.” In the beginning of the movie a captain-in-training, named Savvik, has to navigate the Kobiashi-Maru. The would-be captain confronts a no-win situation to either rescue survivors from a disabled ship and thereby violate Klingon airspace, or leave the survivors to their fate, which is morally unacceptable.

She decides to rescue them. But suddenly she finds herself face-to-face with three Klingon warships, and is hopelessly outmatched and her ship is destroyed. Afterwards, in the debriefing, Admiral Kirk talks to her and she comments: “I don’t believe this was a fair test of my command abilities.” Kirk asks, “And why not?” She continues: “Because there was no way to win.”

Kirk answers: “A no-win situation is a possibility every commander must face. Has that never occurred to you?” She replies coldly, “No sir. It has not.” Kirk keeps going: “How we deal with death is as least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn’t you say?” She states again stoically, “As I indicated, Admiral, that thought had not occurred to me.” Finally, Kirk smiles and finishes with, “Well, now you have something new to think about. Carry on.” Of course, the great irony is Kirk will face his own no-win situation by the end of the movie when his best friend Spock dies to save Kirk and the ship.

But our society is very much like Savvik: we do not know how to deal with death, we think it is "an unfair test." When we are young we believe we will never grow older and die. Why do we sell so much age-defying cosmetics in our culture? And then when we are old we want to rush head-long into the arms of death. I have an elderly friend who suffers from many ailments and prays God will take her home soon.

I remember Archbishop Fulton Sheen saying once that funeral directors dress up the deceased in the casket so beautifully that they promise “happiness in every box.” People often say to me, “I hope I go quickly, and preferably in my sleep.” Why? Because death is our great inescapable dilemma and we need to heed Admiral Kirk’s words to Savvik: “How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.”

Most of the year we can put death on the back-burner and ignore it. But on November 2, the Church invites us to bring death out of the closet and put it front and center. In other words, the Church, like Admiral Kirk, wants to give us “something new to think about.” Today we commemorate – not celebrate which is what we usually say – All Souls Day. And the main message both the Scriptures and the sacraments teach us is that death is not the end of life, but in some ways, truly the beginning.

The Book of Wisdom reminds us: “The souls of the just [who have died] are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” That is, the dead may not be in our arms, but they are embraced warmly and lovingly in God’s arms. And in the gospel Jesus assures us that he has come to offer us eternal life. Why? Because he says: “I shall raise him on the last day.” You see, Jesus has come not only to save our souls but also to save our bodies.

On the last day of resurrection, the final and eternal Easter Sunday, our bodies will be raised from the graves and glorified like Jesus’ Body was on that first Easter Sunday 2,000 years ago. In other words, only our faith can penetrate into the great mystery of death that our society struggles helplessly with. We tend to either exaggerate death and try to avoid it at all costs, or we run toward death and try to get it over with as quickly as we can.

The Christian attitude to death is all together different. Like Admiral Kirk said, “How we [Christians] deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.” And we believe that Jesus has dealt death a mortal blow. And therefore the Church invites us to pray for a happy death, that is, to die in the state of grace. To put it grammatically, Jesus’ resurrection has changed death from a period at the end of the sentence of life into a comma. And so maybe “now we have something new to think about. Carry on.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Indian Chief

Growing up to become saints

11/02/2024

Mt 5:1-12a When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

When you were small and someone asked you “What do you want to be when you grow up?” what did you answer? Maybe you said, “An astronaut,” or perhaps “a firefighter,” or maybe “a police officer.” My high school history teacher, Coach Long, always summarized our future job opportunities by saying, “Do you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief?” I guess since I am pastor of this parish, I grew up to become an Indian Chief.

Yesterday morning we had the funeral of Dc. Bill Curry. At the end of Mass his son Mike stood up to deliver a very moving eulogy. At one point he remarked, “As a kid I always wanted to grow up to be like my dad, but he set the bar too high. I could never be as good as him.” In other words, a very good answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up,” is the reply, “I want to be like my dad.”

But did you every think we could ask God what he wants us to be when we grow up? I think we can and we can also expect to get an answer. For example, I tell young men who are thinking about being a priest, “The worst question you can ask yourself is, ‘Do I want to be a priest?’ Rather, ask yourself, ‘Does God want me to be a priest?’” Can you hear the difference?

In other words, God made each of us for a purpose, as the Scottish runner Eric Liddell said in the movie “Chariot of Fire,” to his sister, “God made me fast, Jenny, and when I run I can feel his pleasure.” And when we fulfill God’s purpose for us - when we become what he wants us to be - we too can feel God’s pleasure.

But besides the specific vocation of being a priest – or in my case an Indian Chief – God calls everyone to become a saint. That is, everyone could answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” with one word, “a saint”! At least that is what God wants us to be when we grow up.

And if you want to know what a saint looks like, we have a perfect portrait in the gospel in the Beatitudes. There Jesus teaches us a saint is “meek”, “poor in spirit,” “hungers and thirsts for righteousness,” “merciful,” “clean of heart,” “a peacemaker,” and “persecuted for righteousness.” In other words, besides aiming for becoming a doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief, God wants us to become a saint when we grow up.

I once heard a theologian say this whole universe is one big saint-making machine. How so? Well, everything that happens to us in this world and in our lives is designed to contribute to our sanctity: maybe to make us more meek, or to become more clean of heart, or to hunger and thirst more for righteousness, or to learn to become peacemakers. And I am not talking about going to the Peacemaker Festival in Fort Smith.

That is, try to see all your joys and sorrows, your triumphs and tragedies, your accidents and accomplishments, your stumblings and sacrifices as all designed to help you grow in holiness. So that when you finally “grow up” you will become a saint. That growth in holiness is our principal purpose on earth, and when we live for that, we too will “feel God’s pleasure.”

Today on this feast of All Saints, we praise God for all those men and women who have already achieved the purpose of life, namely, to become a saint. They grew up to be what God wanted them to be. So, next time someone asks you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” now you know the best answer is “a saint.” Why? Because “Indian Chief” is already taken.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Saved by Our Spouse

Seeing Christianity in light of spousal love

10/31/2024

LK 13:18-21 Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

Do you think that all people will be saved, that is, that in the end everyone will end up in heaven? And if you answer negatively – that is, some will go to hell – what will be the criteria to cause that condemnation? Do you feel only Roman Catholics will be saved and everyone else damned? Or, do you believe Christians in general will be saved while non-Christians will take the euphemistic "escalator down"?

Or perhaps it’s people who follow their conscience versus those who violate their own moral principles that end up in hell? Whether we agree or even like that rather sober language about heaven and hell, salvation and damnation, that was the frequent language of Jesus and the Church about what our Lord came to accomplish and the consequences of following him or abandoning him.

In short, that Christian faith revolves around being saved or not saved. As our Protestant friends like to persistently ask us Catholics: “Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” Our eternal destiny hangs in the balance of the answer we give.

Without denying any of that, let me ask you another question. Don’t you sometimes wish there was another language for the faith that didn’t emphasize heaven and hell or salvation and damnation so much? To go a step further, do you think that most modern people today fear eternal consequences for the actions? Do you think your children or grandchildren worry about heaven or hell, about salvation or damnation?

Or don’t you rather think that all such talk sounds like spiritual scare tactics, or merely Medieval mumbo-jumbo, or maybe seems irrelevant and boring to people today?  Whether we like it or not, or agree with it or not, the general cultural consensus today is that the traditional language misses the boat and does not resonate with people’s lives today.

Well, I believe Pope St. John Paul II was acutely aware of that cultural criticism of Christianity. And so he developed an entirely new language to discuss and define Christian concepts that would excite and engage modern believers and even non-believers, namely, the love of human relationships, and specifically, marriage.

That is, without denying the doctrines of heaven and hell, salvation and damnation, John Paul cast Christianity in terms of love, and marriage to Jesus Christ. Think about it: what causes the greatest joy, produces the most anguish, is celebrated most exuberantly, and talked about incessantly more than marriage? Every human being hopes to enjoy a fairy-tale wedding and dreads the day they may be divorced.

No matter how confused we may be about marriage – like same-sex marriage, or divorce and remarriage, or polygamy, or cohabitation (aka shacking up), etc. – we all know intuitively that nothing matters more than marriage. Marriage and family life are the cell of society; and we know its breakdown will be our society’s downfall. No one doubts that, even while many doubt salvation and damnation.

So, Pope St. John Paul boldly proposed we should make marriage the matrix or language with which we talk about Christianity. For example, Baptism is the moment not only that original sin is washed away and we are forgiven, but also when we become part of the Church, the Bride of Christ. Hence the traditional baptismal gown was always 20 sizes too big for the baby. Why? It was supposed to resemble a bride’s wedding dress, which has a train making it 20 sizes too big for the bride.

Or take the intimidating sacrament of reconciliation or confession, if you can even remember the last time you went. Besides forgiving actual sins, which it certainly does, think of it in terms of husbands and wives needing to ask pardon for hurting each other. Every married couple without exception has said or done something to hurt their spouse. They have had to swallow their pride, and with humble hat-in-hand, said, “I’m sorry, honey. I promise never to do that again.” Suddenly, the dreaded sacrament of confession makes perfect sense when seen in the light of spousal love.

And what about the Eucharist, the Sacrament of sacraments? Well, we can talk about Holy Communion not only in terms of eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Christ in order to have eternal life, but also in marital terms. How so? When spouses consummate their marriage on their honeymoon night the two become one flesh. Every time we receive the Body of Christ, we become sacramentally “one flesh” with Jesus our Bridegroom.

At every Mass, we consummate our mystical marriage with Christ. And that is why we have to go to confession before going to Communion, because spouses should reconcile and be one in heart before they become one in body. We can debate and doubt salvation and damnation but no one with any common sense questions how spouses relate to each other. And the pope-saint says we should make marriage the language of faith.

Of course, John Paul is building on the foundation already laid by St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. He writes in our first reading today: “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her.” Can you hear how St. Paul employs marriage as a great analogy for the work of Christ? Or as we say in the South, “Christ came a courtin’!”

And one way to understand Jesus’ words today in the gospel is also in light of marital love. He compares the Kingdom of God to a small mustard seed which, “When fully grown becomes a large bush and the birds of the sky dwell in its branches.” I am convinced that what John Paul II taught about marital love as an analogy of faith is only a small seed today. But one day it will blossom into a large bush, where everyone will come to Christ, as their beloved Spouse. Oh, and then they will be saved, too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!