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Homily – April 3, 2015

Friday, April 3rd, 2015

Good Friday

The 20th of March was the first day of spring. The UN declared it ‘Happiness Day” for the whole world. Happiness Day. I wondered how the men, women and children in the refugee camps in the Middle East or the immigrants in interments camps in different countries or the hungry and homeless of the world celebrated Happiness Day.

What is happiness? The song tells us it is different things to different people. People can be happy because of the birth of a baby, a new job, a new friend, a raise, good news from the doctor. People are happy for any number of reasons.

A few years ago I was on a panel on the radio with a rabbi, and a Hindu priest. We were supposed to discuss the notion of happiness. For whatever reason the rabbi and the Hindu priest never showed up. It was a half hour program and the interviewer and I had to wing it.

The Holy Spirit helped me on that day. It dawned on me that happiness is not an end in itself. Happiness is a by-product of the way we live our lives. Self centered, self-absorbed people are never happy. They are wrapped up in their own concerns and worries they have no interest in the needs of others. For them it is all about what I want, what I need. You may have heard the story of the man talking with his friend who says ‘enough about me, what do you think of me? I suspect he was not a happy person, he needed to be the centre of attention.

Happiness is a by-product of how we live our lives. I suspect that doctors without borders are happy men and women. They are overworked, under lots of stress, working in dangerous places but when all is said and done they are happy men and women knowing they are doing good for other people. Volunteers in soup kitchens and food banks, people who deliver meals on wheels, volunteers in their blue smocks at NYGH, volunteers who drive cancer patients to treatments and many others who help others are happy people because they do their best to be there for other people in need. Hopefully most priests are happy persons especially if they are trying to be the kind of priest Pope Francis is calling for; priests who are close to their parishioners.

In the course of this radio program I remember some of the words of the prayer of St. Francis; where there is hatred, let me sow love, where is injury pardon, where there is doubt faith- for it in giving that we received, in pardoning that we are pardoned and in dying that we are born to eternal life. I suggested to those listening to the program that they would know happiness if they prayed and lived the prayer of St. Francis every day.

We just heard the words of Isaiah – surely he has born our infirmities – he was wounded for our infirmities, crushed for our iniquities and by his bruises we are healed. We’ve heard the passion narrative of John recounting the trial, the flogging, the crowning with thorns, the journey to his place of execution, Jesus being nailed to the cross and lifted up to be ridiculed and taunted by his enemies, his cries from the cross and his surrender into his father’s love – it is finished.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans writing about the death of Jesus tells us that ‘At the appointed time, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us godless men and women. Paul goes on to say, ‘it is rare that any one should lay down his life for a just person, though it is barely possible that for a good man someone may have the courage to die. It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us; that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us – for you – for me –

Happiness is the by-product of how we live our lives. With all the pain and suffering we just heard about can we imagine that the Friday we call good was the happiest day in Christ’s life? For it is in dying we are born to eternal life ..in dying Christ came to the glory of his resurrection

Happiness can be ours, will be ours when we live out our relationships as Christ lived his – being there for those in need – reaching out to heal hurts, forgive wrongs, accepting and respecting men and women different from ourselves, trying as best we can to live the great commandment – love one another as I have love you. Later as you come to venerate the cross pray for the generosity you need to always be there for those who need you. May we be blessed with a happy Good Friday.

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Homily – March 15, 2015

Saturday, March 14th, 2015

One of the saddest lines in scripture is found in the first chapter of St. John’s gospel; ‘he came unto his own and his own and his own received him not.’ We hear in today’s gospel ‘God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him’ and then we have another quote ‘The light has come into the world and the people loved the darkness rather than the light. ’These words echo John’s previous words, ’he came unto his own and his own received him not.’ Jesus knew the hurt and disappointment of rejected love. He came among us, not to condemn us but to reconcile us to God, to re-establish our friendship with God. Through the stories he told, like the story of the Prodigal Son, he showed us our God as a generous, loving and forgiving Father, not as some distant, unconcerned deity. Jesus showed us how to live as sons and daughters of God by living as God would have us live and loving as God would have us love.

The reality today’s scripture calls us to remember is that we are a blessed and gifted people.

In the second reading Paul tells us ‘for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God…for we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works..’

Each one of us is a graced and gifted person, chosen by God before the world began to be his sons and daughters. We don’t have to jump through hoops to be saved, we are saved, it is not our own doing, and it is a gift of God. As we all know gifts can be accepted and gifts can be rejected or just taken for granted. How often do we take our gift of life for granted? How often do we take the gifts of sight, hearing, mobility, awareness for granted? A stroke, a fall, a heart attack and these gifts could be gone. How often do we endanger our gift of life by a reckless life style of over eating, over drinking, reckless behavior? How often do we thank God that we can get out of bed in the morning and go to work? More importantly, how often do we say a prayer of thanks for the blessings of self and those we love?

We are gifted people; we are saved by the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, the crucified Christ. How do we receive this gift? Do we accept it or do we take it for granted or just ignore it. There are good but thoughtless men and women who live their lives as if God does not exist. For them there are more important things in life than their relationship with God; careers, advancements, making money and party times. These are not bad people but they are men and women who have their priorities a bit messed up, men and women who take their giftedness for granted. How many grandparents and parents are saddened by the reality that the values of life and faith they passed on to their children are of little interest to them or have no impact in their lives.

He came unto his own and his own received him not. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light.

There is a song that goes ‘you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone, cut down the trees put up a parking lot.’ This is true of the gifts of nature, of life and of faith, gifts we are meant to treasure and share.

‘For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God…for we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works.’

As men and women of faith, our major labor and effort is not to achieve our salvation. It is to entrust ourselves to our salvation. “God is rich in mercy; because of his great love for us he brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin. By this favor we were saved.” We are saved. We are called to live out our salvation by living Christ like lives. We are meant to accept and love all others as Christ loved and accepts us. We are to forgive as we’ve been forgiven. We are to reach out, as best we can, as Christ reached out to the men, women and children of his time who counted for nothing in society. Christ cared for each one of us. We are to be no part of the global indifference that diminishes our world today. Most of all we are to be grateful, as Christ was grateful, for all the blessing that enrich our lives and our relationship with God.

He came unto his own and his own received them not. May these sad words of John never be true of us. We are to embrace the example and the teaching of Jesus in such a way that the Father may see and love in us what he sees and loves in Christ. Let us pray for each other that our constant prayer be, ‘ thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Homily – March 8, 2015

Sunday, March 8th, 2015

I remember hearing a sermon years ago and the priest quoted from today’s first reading;’ I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, you shall no other gods before me.’ He said ‘you shall have no other gods before me’ is the probably the commandment we break more than any other. When we stop to think about it he was telling the truth.

During this season of reflection, this season when we are asked to look more deeply into the way we live our lives, the way we treat other people, the way we use the resources of planet earth, the quality of our life styles and the quality of our relationships with family and friends and with God. Reflecting on these things we may have to admit we do have our own idols to which we bow down.

Maybe our idol is self-concern. We can get so caught up with concerns about our health, our jobs our investments, our relationships that we fail to see or even care about the needs of those around us. We see nobody but ourselves. We may feel ‘I have enough problems of my own without worrying about others. Pope Francis calls this idol ‘global indifference’. We couldn’t care less about the refugees of the world, the hungry, the homeless, the oppressed men, women and children that look out at us every evening on the news of the world programs. Maybe we’ve just grown weary of seeing their suffering and change channels.

Consumerism could be our idol in the sense that we accumulate more than we need – the shop til you drop mentality. We get suckered into the mantra ‘I must have the latest, the new and improved gadget. Our clothe closets are filled with clothes we haven’t used in years, clothing and shoes that could be worn by other people. Self-indulgence may be our idol because we over eat; drink too much, not just alcohol but anything to which we may become addicted. May our idol is power or authority over other people. Who is the ‘boss’ in the home? Who has the power in your work place? If it is me, do I abuse my power, do I lord it over other people. If I have a powerful personality do I use it to intimidate others or manipulate others? Have we allowed technology to become our idol? How much time do we spend on the internet, on web sites, on cell phones, on texting?

There are a few more weeks left in Lent. Maybe we could use them to take another look at this first commandment and wonder about, search out and destroy the idol before whom we’ve allowed ourselves to bow.

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Homily – March 1, 2015

Sunday, March 1st, 2015

In the scripture readings we hear at a Sunday Mass there is usually a connection between the first reading and the gospel and the epistle has a lesson of its own. Today the connection is between the first reading and the epistle.

It is hard to imagine the event of the first reading in which God asks Abraham to offer his son, the son of his old age, his only, on an altar of sacrifice. Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sara’s old age. He was their promise of a blessed future for generations to come. Yet God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and Abraham believed in his heart of hearts that God would be true to his promise that he would – through Isaac – be the father of a mighty nation. Trusting that God would be faithful to his promise Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son to God.

In his desolation on the cross burdened with a deep sense of abandonment Jesus cried,’ my God, my God why have you forsaken me?’ Even in that darkest of dark hours Jesus trusted the faithfulness of his Father’s promise of his vindication and that love would conquer hate and life would prevail over death. With this conviction Jesus spoke his last words, ‘into your hands I commend my spirit’ and breathed his last.

So many times we tempted to doubt God’s love and care for us. We think that the hard knocks that come our way are punishments from God. Visiting men and women in the hospital, good people seriously ill, I am too often asked the question, ‘what did I do wrong, was I so bad? There’ that twisted conviction, God is out to get me.

With thoughts like these we project unto God our own limited ability to let go of past hurts and wrongs, our own twisted wishes to get even. We project unto God our own limitations to love others, forgive others. There can be times when we can’t get our heads around the awesome truth that God did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. We can’t get our heads around the truth that though our sins be as scarlet they will become white as wool, though they be red as crimson they will be white as snow. We can’t get our heads around the truth of God’s unconditional love for each one of us – there are no holds barred.

The people to whom Paul wrote this encouraging letter were men and women on the fringe of society. They were seen as different, looked upon with suspicion by family and friends because they had abandoned their faith in the gods and were believing in some criminal Jew who was put to death my crucifixion but then, they claimed, he’d came back from the dead. They were hounded and persecuted for their new found faith.

Paul’s letter was meant to help them stand fast. They were not alone, God, who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, is with them to strengthen them in their trust in him. Paul’s question to them is as valid today as it was then ‘if God is for us who can be against us’ hopefully these words strengthened the Coptic Christians as they faced their own deaths in Libya for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Whatever burdens of mind or body we bring to the Mass, whatever in our lives that causes us to wonder or question God’s love and care for each of us, may these powerful words of Paul strengthen our faith in the love we celebrate at this Mass – take eat, this is my body – take drink this is my life’s blood poured out for you…who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, disappointments, poor health, aging, loves gone sour, family disputes, loss of work, racism, sexism, discrimination – no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

The motto of our Passionist community is – may the passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts. That’s another way of saying ‘If God is for us who can be against us. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, will he not with him also give us everything else.

As we continue to celebrate this conscious of our own weaknesses and worries may the words of Paul -If God is for us who can be against us? Strengthened us to live another day.

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Homily – February 15, 2015

Sunday, February 15th, 2015

The other day I watched a video of a recent visit Pope Francis paid to the little village of Ponte Mammolo on the outskirts of Rome. The video gave no reason as to why he went there; he just seemed to drop in. Needless to say the people went wild. They were so excited and so surprised with this ‘drop in’ by Pope Francis. Francis, with that big smile on this face reached out to touch and hug men, women and children. He asked their names, listened to their stories, blessed them and before he left he prayed with them. I’ve watched that video about five times now. It just brings out the deep humanity of Pope Francis.

I thought of Pope Francis’ visit to Ponte Mammolo when I read today’s gospel. Certainly Jesus was not as well-known as Pope Francis. But his reputation went before him more as a miracle worker than as a preacher. People flocked to him to seek favors as did this leper. They all wanted something from him. The only conversation we have out Jesus’ visit to this town is the man’s words ‘if you want to you can make me clean. Jesus answers, of course I want to –be clean. But Mark never describes any interaction between Jesus and the townspeople. We never hear of Jesus asking their names, how long have they been sick, how are their children, do they know of anybody else who could use help. In fact if we look at any Christian art depicting the miracles of Jesus they are all so solemn and staid. There is little if any of his joy of being with the people and mingling with them, talking and laughing with them that we see in Pope Francis’ visit with the people of Ponte Mammolo.

Yet there must have been. Jesus was a people person and he enjoyed the company of others. He accepted a dinner invitation from a leader of the Pharisees and another from a despised tax collector. He performed his first miracle at a wedding celebration, his second home was that of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. But when we think back on our religious art can we ever remember seeing Jesus enjoying a great belly laugh as he mingled with the people of his time. And yet he must have, he came to us to bring us the good news that we are precious to God. He came to lift us up.

Jesus must have been smiling when he looked this leper in the eyes, this man condemned to live outside the camp, forbidden to have contact with family and friends, and say to him ‘of course I want to’ – why wouldn’t I want to? Be made clean.

With a simple touch or better still with an embrace Jesus restored that unknown man to health, to his family and to his community. And then he tells him a very strange thing, ‘see that you say nothing to anyone but go show yourself to the priest.’ There’s no way the cleansed leper will do this. Forget the priest, he wants to run home and show his wife and children he is cured, his leprosy is gone. Then the neighbours hear and the news spreads thru the whole town. And Jesus has to go into hiding. People will only see him as a wonder worker and fail to listen to what he has to say to them about his heavenly father.

But when you stop to think of it – there are two things we can’t keep to ourselves – good news and bad news. Can you imagine a scene like this? A guy goes to work and is called into the boss’ office and told he’s just been put in charge of the most important department in the company – it will be announced tomorrow. He comes home for supper and his wife asks.’ Anything happen at work today? And the good news come tumbling out of him.

It’s the same with bad news. You have a secret, something someone knows nothing about. You are too ashamed to tell anyone. It’s eating you up, wearing you down. The time comes when you have to tell, you have to get it off your chest. It may be a total stranger you meet in a bar –they say bartenders hear more confessions than any priest. It could be told under the seal of the confessional – but it must be told. The cured leper couldn’t keep his mouth shut neither can a person burdened by a shameful secret.

Here we are as a parish family gathered to celebrate Christ’s great act of love for each of us. Can we imagine the Risen Christ showing us his wounded side, hands and feet and smiling on each one of us – with a smile like that of Pope Francis – and saying to each one of us – ‘it is good for us to be here’ This is my fantasy at this morning Mass, try to make it yours.

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