Walking Miracles

Learning to appreciate the wonder of women

12/29/2021

Lk 2:22-35 When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.

Today’s gospel begins with a line that can be easily misunderstood and therefore also misinterpreted and ultimately lead to a major moral mistake. Luke records how Mary fulfilled the Mosaic law of purity, saying: “When the days were completed for [her] purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord…” That Mosaic law of purification stipulated that after childbirth a woman could not enter the Temple for one week (7 days). That means for that one-week period of time a woman was “impure,” or that she suffered from “ritual impurity.” You can read all about it in Leviticus 12.

Several years ago, though, I read a book by Louis Bouyer called “Woman in the Church,” that turned that interpretation on its head. Bouyer argued that in religious matters, we use the term “purify” not only to denote that which is profane and unholy, but also to indicate that which is profoundly holy and even divine. For example, when a priest cleans the chalice after Holy Communion, do you know what that “cleaning action” is technically called? He “purifies” the chalice. Even the white cloth he uses to supposedly “clean” the chalice is called a “purificator.”

Now, let me ask you a question: does the wine that has become the Blood of Jesus truly make that chalice “impure” or “dirty,“ or rather does that Precious Blood not make the chalice super-pure and unspeakably holy? Louis Bouyer’s point was that sometimes we “purify” something that is unholy, but other times we “purify” things that are beyond holy, that are divine, and the second sense is the case with women after childbirth. A woman’s blood after childbirth, analogous to the Blood of Christ touching a chalice, has made them super-pure, not impure. Bouyer’s interpretation helped me understand “ritual impurity” in a whole new light, quite different from the common conception, which is really a misconception.

Sometimes when I meet with a young couple for marriage preparation, I try to explain why the Church does not recommend the use of contraceptives. Instead, she urges the use of “NFP” or Natural Family Planning. I point to the woman’s tummy symbolically and say: “Every woman is a walking miracle because right here is the cradle of life. A new human being will enter the world through YOU.” And I put both my hands on my tummy. One young lady elbowed her fiancé and said: “Remember that: I’m a walking miracle!” The Church wants you to treat the woman as profoundly holy and so do not go near her sexually unless you are ready to welcome a new life. That is the gist of NFP: seeing the woman as super-holy, as a walking miracle.

But when it comes to contraception, who has to do all the work, shoulder all the sacrifice and suffering? Who takes the pill, the IUD, the Depo Provera, the patch, the vaginal ring, etc.? Ninety-nine percent of the forms of contraception attack the woman’s fertility, and in a sense, make it seem the modern version of “ritual impurity.” According to the modern estimation, therefore, that which makes a woman “impure,” “unequal” to a man, holds her back from living her fullest life, is precisely the “blood” of her potential pregnancy.

Can you see how contraceptives treat women exactly wrong? Contraceptives treat the blood of the woman’s period as if it caused impurity and imperfection, whereas NFP treats a woman’s blood like the Blood of our Lord in the chalice that a priest apparently (but not exactly) “purifies” at the end of Mass. Can you see how an easy “misunderstanding” can lead to a colossal “misinterpretation” and finally culminates in a cultural “misogyny” (hatred for women)?

In other words, the “ritual impurity” that Levitcus 12 prohibited calling a woman after childbirth “impure” has been taken up by our modern culture that calls a woman’s ability to have a baby “impure.” Indeed, we consider it unhealthy and so we give girls a “pill” to take, to restore them to “health.” You give someone a pill when they are sick. Contraception is only the modern version of “ritual impurity.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Heartbeat of Heaven

Hearing Jesus’ heartbeat and finding peace

12/27/2021

Jn 20:1a and 2-8 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 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 do not know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.

I love to celebrate baptisms, but invariably the baby bursts out crying. I cannot imagine why. A friend showed me how to hold the baby so that it stops crying almost instantly. You allow the baby to face forward, put your left hand under his bottom, wrap your right hand around his chest, and hold him close to your own chest. Almost always the baby becomes calm and stops crying. I suspect that position makes the baby feel like it’s back in the womb of the mother, where he can feel her heartbeat, he can hear her voice over his head, and he can sense everything and everyone, even if his eyes are closed.

But I believe it’s mainly the heartbeat – rhythmic, slow, steady and soft, that pacifies the baby and he knows everything is going to be okay. I am safe in the womb, or in my mother’s arms. Next time you are dealing with a fussy baby, test my theory, and let him or her hear your heartbeat, and see if pacifies them and gives them peace, and it might give you some peace, too!

Today is the feast day of St. John of Evangelist, another one of my patron saints. I love today’s gospel passage from Jn 21 where the younger John outruns the older Peter to the tomb. There is much to meditate on there. But if I were picking the gospel passage for today’s Mass, I would have chosen Jn 13:21-27, where John leans on Jesus’ breast during the Last Supper. Jesus has just announced that one of his disciples would betray him: “So Simon Peter nodded to [John] to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, ‘Master, who is it?’” And of course, we know how Jesus gives a morsel of bread to Judas, who betrays our Lord.

Why would I have picked that peculiar passage? Because I am struck by the poignant scene of the beloved disciple John leaning on Jesus’ chest. Here you have Jesus’ apostles, who are very much like his babies, anxious and afraid, perhaps even crying. And how does he calm them down and make them stop crying? He holds them close to his chest so they can hear his holy heartbeat, so they can hear his divine voice, so they can see what he sees and they are pacified and feel peace.

Just like holding a crying baby at a baptism calms him, so holding his disciples, especially John, close to his heart, calmed him and the others. John could hear the heartbeat of heaven, so he was not troubled by things on earth. Indeed, that is how John could contemplate the chaotic and cataclysmic images of the Book of Revelation (which he wrote), and still feel peace. He could hear the heartbeat of heaven while all hell was breaking loose on earth.

My friends, what are the troubling and tragic things that cause you to cry? Maybe it is the loss of a loved one to death. We have had a lot of funerals this past year and I have watched tears flow down lots of faces. Christmas is especially hard for them. Are there anxieties in your family: bickering between spouses, teenage troubles and tantrums? Maybe you are wracked by fears about the COVID virus or fears fanned by conspiracy theories that there is no virus? Maybe you mourn the loss of your youth, or the agitations and aggravations of old age. Or maybe you are worried about the whole world and the wars and famines and global warming.

When any and all of these things cause you to cry, I suggest you follow St. John’s example and lean on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper. How? Well, come to Mass and let Jesus hold you like I hold crying babies at a baptism. At Mass we are like little babies who can hear Jesus’ heartbeat, we can listen to his soothing voice in the gospel, and through the eyes of faith we suddenly see everyone and everything, even if our eyes are closed. And we feel peace. Indeed, like St. John, we can even behold the apocalypse and still smile because we know we are carried in Jesus’ arms, and held close to his heart.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

God Became a Baby

Coming to Mass in order to see a Baby

12/25/2021

Lk 2:15-20 When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

You will never guess who the newest employee is at Immaculate Conception Church. It is a baby! Actually it’s the baby of Cecilia Garcia, one of our church staff members. Every day we hope she brings little Juan Antonio to the office. Do you know how to translate “Juan Antonio” into English? It is “John Antony”! That’s my baby! We all love to take turns holding the baby because it feels like all our stress pours out of us while we are holding him. Some people have a “therapy dog,” well, we have a “therapy baby.” I’m sorry, that’s probably not an appropriate way to talk about a baby. Why not?

Well, because the proper human reaction to a little baby is one of love, care, tenderness, and protection. That is, when we see a baby, we forget about ourselves and focus entirely on the needs of the baby. We want to feed the baby, we want to caress the baby, we want to speak and sing to the baby, we want to play peek-a-boo with the baby. We do all that in the hopes of seeing a small smile on his chubby face. That angelic smile is more than ample reward for our countless sacrifices and silliness.

In other words, babies bring out the best in us because we stop thinking about our own happiness and are fully focused on the baby’s happiness. One friend of mine likes to say that having a baby is “induced maturity.” That is, babies make us better people almost overnight. We become more hard working and self-sacrificing and get up for midnight feedings and work two jobs and give up what we want to do: everything for the baby and nothing for us. You see, a mature person lives for others, not for himself.

Today we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, as a Baby born in Bethlehem. In a sense, Jesus is another Baby who is coming to work, the newest employee on Earth. But this baby is not working in the Church, but he is working to establish the Church. In the year 1098, St. Anselm wrote a famous book called, in Latin, “Cur Deus Homo,” which means, “Why Did God Become Man?” But I believe a better title – and a better book – would have been the question: “Why Did God Become a Baby?”

And I am convinced that he became a baby for the same reason he did everything else: not for his sake but for ours. That is, God knows better than anyone how people tend to react in the presence of a baby: we experience that “induced maturity.” In other words, we grow up. Instead of being selfish, we become self-sacrificing. Indeed, most people would die in order to save the life of a baby. That is why God became a Baby: to teach us what St. Paul said in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

My friends, I believe Christmas is the one day out of the whole year – maybe the only day – when we finally come to Mass for the right reason. What do I mean? Well, today we come to church to give something rather than to get something, because we come here to see a Baby. I’ll never forget Fr. George Tribou, the principal at Catholic High School, told us boys one day: “You don’t come to Mass to get something. You come to Mass to give something: to give an hour of your time, to give a little of your love, to offer some of your attention.” That totally changed the way I look at the Mass.

What is our attitude when we come to Mass the rest of the year? Well, we tend to complain: “I didn’t get anything out of the Mass! I didn’t hear inspiring music. The homily was long and boring. I couldn’t understand the priest who spoke with a foreign accent. The guy next to me was snoring,” etc. etc. But today at least for one Mass, and maybe for the only Mass out of the whole year, none of that matters. And we come to church in order to give something rather than to get something. Why?

Because there is a Baby here, and deep down we know when you are dealing with a baby, the proper human response is to give it some of your of care, and some of your love, and some of your tenderness, some of your protection, in a word, some of your sacrifice. It would be silly to come and demand something from a Baby.

And that is why God did not just become a Man, he became a Baby, in order that we might experience “induced Christian maturity.” But, as C. S. Lewis said, “tomorrow is a Monday morning” and we will all go back to business as usual. But at least for one day out of the year, we might actually have come to Mass for the right reason.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Crime and Punishment

Seeing how our penances correspond to our sins

12/23/2021

Lk 1:57-66 When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

One of the best books I have ever read – after the Bible, of course – was in high school and it was called “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoyevsky, the Russian novelist. That book taught me that the punishment always “fits” the crime, like a hand in a glove. There is an intimate correlation between crime and its punishment, like between a cause and its effect: one inexorably follows the other. I often wondered: what heinous crime did I commit to be punished with reading this long book with unpronounceable Russians names?

At Catholic High School I not only read about crime and punishment, I witnessed it in how our principal disciplined us boys. One day a student was having fun slamming doors. When he entered a room, he would slam the door. When he exited a room, he slammed the door. The teachers could not get him to stop, so they sent him to the principal’s office. Fr. Tribou read him his sentence: “So, you like doors? Your punishment is to take one of the doors off the hinges and carry it with you everywhere you go for a week.” That poor kid lugged that big door under his arm to the cafeteria, to the gym, to his classes, and even to the chapel for Mass. He never slammed a door again. Crime and punishment.

In the gospel today, God also follows this “inner logic” of crime and punishment in the case of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. What was Zechariah’s crime? Well, he did not slam classroom doors, but he did “slam the door shut” in the face of the archangel Gabriel when the heavenly messenger announced the birth of John. That is, Zechariah used his speech poorly, to doubt God and his plan.

What was Zechariah’s punishment, therefore? He lost his precious gift of speech, and was struck dumb, unable to talk. Today his speech is restored because he accepts God’s will and declares that his son’s name will be “John” (a great name!). In other words, there is an inner logic, an intimate connection, between a crime and its punishment. They fit together like a hand in a glove, or follow infallibly like the day follows the dawn. You cannot stop them.

Did you know that every time we go to confession, we too experience a moment of crime and punishment? That is, our sins are the crimes we commit against God, against others, against creation, and even against ourselves. And the “penance” the priest assigns you is the “temporal punishment” for those sins. I have always wished someone would confess the sin of slamming doors so I could give them the penance of carrying a door everywhere for a week. But I am still waiting.

The penance I always give, however, is “one Our Father.” Why? Well, because I know for sure they will complete that penance before they receive Holy Communion next time. How so? Well, the next time they go to Mass, they will pray the Our Father before going up for Holy Communion, and complete their penance. Even if they forget their penance, they will still complete their one Our Father before receiving Communion. That is my own interpretation of the inner logic of “crime and punishment,” one follows the other like a headache follows heavy drinking, whether you remember your penance or not.

But I also feel I am doing a disservice to all those who go to confession to me because their real penance is waiting for them in purgatory. In the end, purgatory is only the necessary punishment for the crimes and sins we commit in this life. And the punishment will correspond exactly to the crime. If we slammed doors on earth, we will carry doors in purgatory, until we no longer desire to slam doors. If you want to avoid purgatory, the solution is simple: confess your sins and do your penance now. And if you cannot think of a good penance, perhaps you should read Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Guns, Girls and Gold

Seeing what life is about with hindsight

12/21/2021

Lk 1:39-45 Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

Have you heard the old adage that “hindsight is twenty-twenty”? It means that the further down you get on the road of life and look back, the more clearly you see what life is all about and what you should have done with your life. For example, I look back on my high school days and wish I had played football for Catholic High School. During my four years we won the state football championship an unprecedented two times, one year beating Northside in Fort Smith – sorry, Grizzlies fans! Instead of football, though, I played soccer, a safer sport. In one game, where I was playing defense, I tried to kick the ball away from our goal and the ball actually curved so much it went backward into our own goal. I scored for the opposing team. I bet Beckham never bent it like that!

There is a phenomenon these days of grandparents raising their grandchildren. Have you noticed this? For a whole host of reasons, millennials have abdicated their role of parenting and left their children literally in their grandparents’ laps. And grandparents are rising to meet that responsibility in heroic ways. Why? Well, because grandparents have the benefit of “hindsight,” and can see that life is about more than “guns, girls and gold,” as C. S. Lewis colorfully put it. That is, life is about more than money, sex and power, and playing video games all day. Because they are further down the road of life, they see clearly that life is really about family, friends, and faith. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.

In the gospel today, we meet another set of elderly people who could have been grandparents, who will be raising a child, namely, the elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth, who will raise John the Baptist. Of course, John was their own son, not a grandson. Nevertheless, their advanced age afforded them a certain “clarity of vision” to see God’s plan unfolding. If you closely study their names, you discover the depth of their faith life. The name “Zechariah” comes from two Hebrew words, “zachar” and “yah” (Yahweh), meaning, “God remembers.” And “Elizabeth” is a compound of “El” and “sheva” which means “God of the covenant.”

In other words, both names together mean that “God remembers his covenant,” which is exactly what Zechariah and Elizabeth bore witness to. God was faithful and remembered his covenant by sending John to announce the coming of Christ. In other words, elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth knew life was about a lot more than guns, girls and gold; it is about family, friends and faith. And that is how they raised St. John the Baptist, who lived out in the desert, eating wild locust and honey, dressed in camel’s hair, and where there are no guns, girls or gold.

My friends, soon many of us will spend some time with our grandparents for Christmas. I hope you will make the most of that precious time and not squander or waste it. Why? Well, often we focus on all their limitations and struggles, their weaknesses and inabilities. They are not always adept at the latest technology. They move slow with walkers and canes, and they drive slower than they walk! Their minds may not be as sharp as before and forget what they had for breakfast or who is president.

But instead of focusing or fussing about that – which is really unimportant anyway – ask them to share the one thing you don’t have, namely, the clarity of vision that comes from hindsight. In other words, invite them to share their experiences and adventures and life lessons. Ask them: “After 80 years of kicking up dust on this planet, what have you learned? What is truly important and worth living for? And if you had a chance to live your life again, would you play football in high school?”

I bet every elderly person will have slightly different answers. But all truly thoughtful answers will be a variation of this theme, namely, life is ultimately not about guns, girls and gold, but about family, friends and faith. How you would answer those questions indicates how far you have gotten down the road of life. Why? Because hindsight is twenty-twenty.

                                                            Praised be Jesus Christ! 

Dirty Pictures

Understanding the perpetual virginity of Mary

12/20/2021

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

One of the most controversial teachings of the Catholic Church is the perpetual virginity of Mary. Are you aware of that doctrine, that Mary was perpetually virgin her whole life? That is, Mary did not have other children besides Jesus, and more to the point, she never had sexual relations with St. Joseph. Now I say that teaching is “controversial’ because it is flatly denied by most Protestants, and it even surprises some Catholics who should be more familiar with their faith.

The Protestant position is based on those passages in Matthew 13 and Mark 6 that refer to the “brothers” (and even some sisters) of Jesus. Hence, they argue that Jesus could not have had “brothers” if Mary and Joseph did not have marital relations and thereby produce other offspring.

The Catholic Church’s answer can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 500. It states strongly: “The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact, James and Joseph, ‘brothers of Jesus,’ are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls, ‘the other Mary.’ They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression.” So, we have our ways of explaining these problematic passages.

Our Scriptures today also support the virginity of Mother Mary. In the 8th century B.C. Isaiah prophesied: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall name him Emmanuel.” And in today’s gospel from Luke, we read: “The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.” In other words, both Isaiah and Luke explicitly affirm Mary’s virginity, at least prior to the birth of Jesus.

And the two thousand year tradition of the Church is emphatic about her perpetual virginity after the birth of Jesus. Why? Well, because our Christian faith not only sheds light on how we should live on earth, but also how we will live in heaven. And in heaven we will all be “virgins” in the sense of not being married. But don’t take my word for it, listen to the words from the lips of Jesus in Mt 22:30: “At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.” And Mary is the model of both earthly life and heavenly glory, and that is why the Church teaches she was a perpetual virgin.

But the real reason, I believe, that this teaching of Mary’s perpetual virginity is so controversial has little to do with the biblical evidence, but rather it is based on our society’s obsession with sex. We cannot imagine life without sex and so we cannot imagine someone who could be a perpetual virgin. It’s like that joke about the guy who goes to see a psychologist. He says, “Doc, I got a real problem. I can’t stop thinking about sex.” The doctor says, “Well, let’s see about that.” He takes out a series of cards with ink blots.

He shows the man the first picture and asks, “What is this a picture of?” The man looks intently and answers, “That is a man and woman in bed making love.” The psychologist shows him the next picture and asks, “Now what do you see?” The man stares for a moment and says: “It’s a man and woman making love.” The psychologist presents a third ink blot and asks the man’s opinion. He answers: “That is a man and a woman making love.” The psychologist concludes: “Yes, you do seem to be obsessed with sex.” The man exclaims: “Me!? You are the one who keeps showing me the dirty pictures!”

And that is why we find it so hard to accept the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Because everywhere our sex-saturated society looks all we can see is “a man and a woman making love,” even when we look at the Sacred Scriptures, even when we look at Mary and Joseph. But the Catholic faith, instructed by the inspired Word and taught by Tradition, shows us how to live and be happy not only in this life but also in the next life, where we “neither marry nor are given in marriage.” And Mother Mary is the model of both worlds. Why? Because she was Jesus’ first and best disciple, who learned his lessons both perfectly and perpetually.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Home for the Holidays

Seeing the Church as the true Bethlehem

12/19/2021

Mi 5:1-4a Thus says the LORD: You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.

This year my father turned 87 years old, and do you know what his only wish is? He wants to go back to India, his home, where he grew up, where he spent his youth, where he met our mother, and they got married, and where he raised his children. But it is getting harder and harder for my father to travel, so I am not sure how we will get him home again anytime soon. The last several times we have returned to India, he always says, “You know, this is probably the last time I will get to go to India, so we better go.” He has said that like ten times, and I fall for it every time!

Saturday morning we had the funeral for Dr. Morris Richardson, who was also 87 years old like my dad. He grew up here at I.C. and attended grade school here, but he spent the better part of his life in Houston. After retiring from family practice medicine, he moved back to his parents’ home in Muldrow, OK, and spent his golden years back in his boyhood home. It’s funny how as young people we cannot wait to leave home, but the older we get we cannot wait to come back home. Why? Well, because home is where the heart is.

Today’s first reading is taken from the prophet Micah, who predicts the future Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Why would Jesus be born in Bethlehem? Well, because that is the ancestral home of his family and he is a descendant of the royal family of King David. Bethlehem was David’s home. But did you know that Bethlehem was important even before David? It was the home of David’s great grandmother, Ruth.

By the way, whenever I pray the third Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, I always meditate on the book of Ruth and this prophecy of Micah. All that Bible backdrop is sort of like scriptural wrapping paper that covers the secret beauty of Bethlehem, like shining wrapping paper covers the gifts of Christmas. And that’s why the Messiah would call it his home. And home is where Jesus’ heart is, that is, with the people, the places and the prophecies of the Old Testament.

But just like it is getting harder for my father to go back home to India, so Jesus did not return to Bethlehem. But in a sense, he did not need to go back to that “little town of Bethlehem.” Why not? Well, because I am convinced that Jesus actually “became Bethlehem” wherever he was. What does that mean? Well, the two words, “Beth” and “Lehem” literally mean “house of bread.” And Jesus is the true “Bread of Life” as he declared in Jn 6:51. In other words, Bethlehem is not so much a city in Israel, but rather Jesus himself, the true house of Bread, and Bethlehem is wherever Jesus is present.

It’s kind of like that joke about where the CEO sat. A CEO was running late to a board meeting. When he entered the room, he took a seat closest to the door, so as not to interrupt the meeting. A younger assistant objected and said, “Sir, please come sit at the head of the table.” The CEO smiled and answered: “Son, wherever I sit is the head of the table.” So, too, wherever Jesus is present, there we find the real “House of Bread,” there we find Bethlehem, not only in Israel.

My friends, we cannot always return to our family roots, like my father cannot travel easily back to India. But we can always return to our spiritual home, the “House of Bread,” the true Bethlehem, that is the Catholic Church. Only in the Church do we enjoy the Eucharist, the living Bread that is Jesus himself. Many people come home for the holidays, packing the pews at Christmas Masses. I hope you all feel like you are spiritually back home in Bethlehem, the House of Bread, when you come home to I.C., especially those who have been away for a while.

Sometimes young people return to their home church to get married. They want to go home. Often people start to feel they need a “spiritual home” when they baptize their children. But it is usually when their children are in grade school and make their first Holy Communion that it really starts to hit home for the parents. Their children innocently ask: “Mom and dad, why don’t we go to Mass and receive Holy Communion every Sunday?” The children can clearly see the Church as Bethlehem, as the house of living Bread, and slowly help their parents to open their eyes of faith and see that as well. Home is where the heart is, and our hearts should be where we break Bread together, and where Jesus always sits at the head of the table.

Young people cannot wait to leave home, and older people cannot wait to return home. And that is why we love to come “home for the holidays.” But one day we will all return home for the holidays permanently, that is when we return home to heaven. And we will all be able to go to that eternal home, no matter how hard it is for us to travel, even for my dad.

Praised be Jesus Christ!