July 19th, 2009
In the gospel we hear of the Apostles coming back from the mission on which Jesus sent them. We heard of that missioning last Sunday. Today we hear of the excitement that griped them. They were anxious to tell Jesus of the things they said and did, the reception they received or the lack of welcome they experienced. Each one was probably trying to top the other one’s story. At the same time too, they were drained. They were anxious as they left for their mission. Jesus would not allow them to take anything with them, they were to depend on the generosity and hospitality of those who welcomed them. They threw themselves fully into the work of preaching and healing. Now they are back and they are wiped. Even when they came home there was so much demand on their time and attention that they had no leisure even to eat.
Jesus makes the wise decision, get them away from it all. “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Give yourselves a break.
It was a tradition in the Passionist Community that when a priest preacher came home after preaching a series of missions or retreats he was dispensed the chapel observance, in other words he could sleep in in the morning. At meal time he was given a ‘mission plate’ A mission plate usually had pieces of fruit and a few cookies. It was a way of recognizing the work he had done and a way to help him regain his strength.
The invitation of Jesus to come away and rest a while is an invitation we should all accept. So many people live frenzied frantic and fractured lives. They are going in a thousand different directions. Through cell phones and blackberries they are available 24 -7. Only God can keep up such a pace but even God rested. As I’ve said before” cemeteries are full of indispensable people.
We all need time to take a brake. We all need time to be still. As a wise old woman once said, sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits. Scripture tells us that Jesus often slipped away and found a quiet place to pray, to talk with His Father. We need that too, a time to be still, a time to be silent, a time to pray. There is that great song in Jesus Christ Super Star when Mary Magdalene sings to Jesus, “Let the world spin without you tonight”. In other words ‘chill out’ these same problems will be around tomorrow, get some rest.
In the gospel of Matthew Jesus offers a wonderful invitation, ” come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you.” He’s saying “come to me and be undisturbed for a few minutes, let me relieve you for a time of the heavy loads you carry. Enjoy the stillness and quiet you find in me. As one concerned for our wellbeing Jesus want to free us from the things that bind us and weigh us down. Spending time in His presence, in peace and quiet is a way to unwind and be refreshed.
Jesus is always present to us, we are not always present to Him, we are distracted and preoccupied by so many things. Usually when we try to set some time apart to be still, to accept His invitation ‘ come to me” the first thing that comes to our minds is all the things we have to do, we’re tempted to believe that being present to the Lord is some kind of duty or burden and we are wasting valuable time.
Not so. How about trying this; promise yourself that every day, at some point in the day or evening you’ll set aside ten minutes and find your self a quiet place and be still. Fix your attention on Jesus and talk with Him as a friend, a friend who listens, a friend Who cares. Tell Him what worries you, what burdens you, what frightens you. Thank Him for the blessing in your life. Tell Him you want to experience the rest He offers. Give Him the problems you can’t solve, the pain you can’t heal, the desires you can’t control. Let your heart be open to the rest and peace He offers. This is not wasted time, this is a blessed time.
As we continue to offer this Eucharist we can pray for ourselves and for each other for the grace and wisdom we need to hear and heed Christ’s invitation – come away to a deserted place and rest awhile.
| Posted in Homily |
July 12th, 2009
Each of the gospels has it own telling of the time when Jesus sent the apostles out to preach the good news. Mark tells us they were to use a staff and wear sandals but that was it – Matthew on the other hand tells them to leave everything behind – take no gold or silver or copper, no bag, no tunics, no sandals – they are to trust they will be taken care of; ‘the labourer is worthy of his wages’
Jesus sends these men out to people and places unknown to them without even the barest essentials for their journey. In modern terms they were not to pack a lunch or even a snack, they were not to take money or travelers checks, They carried no suitcases, they had no reservations for lodgings or even a predetermined route to follow. They were to rely completely on the kind welcome of those to whom they were sent.
Jesus knew those He sent out on mission would be welcomed by some and rejected by others. He assured them that those who welcomed them and the message they brought would in their turn be welcomed to experience the presence, the love and the healing of God. Those who were unwelcoming would not be so blessed.
That missioning of the Apostles by Jesus continues in the life of the church. At the end of every Mass we hear the words,” the Mass is ended let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord.’ Every Sunday this parish community prays,” may we live this Mass outside these walls in the lives we live, the service we give and work we do and the prayers we pray.”
There was a store front church in the southern states and over its front door were the words, “welcome to the house of the Lord” but on the inside of the doors were words written for those leaving the church, “welcome to the vineyard of the Lord.”
We live this Mass outside these walls in the vineyard of the Lord, by bearing witness to our faith by what we say and what we do in the daily living of our lives. We live this Mass outside these walls in the way we relate to other people, family, friend or strangers. We live this Mass outside these walls when we show concern and sensitivity toward men and women less fortunate than ourselves. We live this Mass outside these walls when we show, in the living of our own lives, that we believe in the good news of God’s love for us made visible in the crucified Christ.
Jesus sent the Apostles free of baggage. We live this Mass outside these walls when we are free of the baggage of past memories of prejudice and bigotry toward men and women of other faiths and cultures, free of a narrow minded image of God and law bound image of how to live a Christian life.
With today’s gospel before us we continue this Mass praying for ourselves and each other that as we live this house of the Lord and go into the vineyard of the Lord we will live this Mass.
July 10th, 2009
| Posted in Events |
July 5th, 2009
I’d like to say a few words on today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Corinth. Paul had a lot of difficulties with this community. His authority, his preaching, his integrity was challenged by disgruntled people in the community. Paul refused to back off from his vocation as an apostle, just as Ezekiel and Jesus refused to back away from their vocation as prophets. As we know, prophets were men or women who didn’t foretell the future, they named the present properly – often times in a way that exposed it faithlessness and injustice.
In defense of role as overseer of this Corinthian community Paul – in the verses previous to today’s reading Paul tells of some of his spiritual experiences, about visions and revelations he had from Christ. He found it difficult to put these experiences into words. He claimed he was caught up into paradise and heard things which must not and cannot be put into human language.
Then we have today’s reading where Paul tells us that in view of these extraordinary experiences, to keep him from getting too proud, too self confident, he was given this ‘thorn in the flesh’. In other words, in spite of all these gifts Paul still had to deal with his own humanity, his own short comings. We have no idea what this thorn was but it was meant to keep Paul mindful of the fact that it was God’s grace, God’s gift that made him apostle and preacher and kept him faithful to Christ. Paul knew he had to hand over to God his human needs and weaknesses because he knew from his own experience it was the weak things God chose to confound the strong and the foolish things God chose to confound the wise. Paul was deeply aware of the reality of his life ‘the good that I would, that I do not and the evil that I would not do, that I do.” Paul trusted that Christ could see through Paul’s opinionated ways, his impatience with those who disagreed with him and see the basic goodness that was in him.
We’ve all heard the expression ‘ pulling yourself up with your own boot straps’ we’ve heard of the self made person, we’ve heard the song,” I did it my way”. All these expressions smack of pride, arrogance and egoism. When we try to live our lives guided by these convictions we are in for trouble and disappointment. We are bound to be overwhelmed by a sense of failure and shame as we try to cope with our own personal ‘thorn in the flesh.’ We are bound to be hurt if we fail to put aside such convictions of doing it our way and open our lives to try to do it Christ’s way. Like Paul we have to trust the truth that Christ can see beyond our weaknesses and love the basic goodness that is in all of us. Like Paul we could be glad of our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in us.
At each Eucharist when we hear the words, this is my body, this is my blood – as Christ hands himself over to us, we can respond by saying to Christ, this is my anger, this is my discouragement, this is my unwillingness to forgive, this is my resentment toward others, this is my lack of care for the poor, this is my self indulgence, this is my temptation toward infidelity, this is my indifference to You, my lack of faith. I hand them over to You and the power of Your grace.
Whatever be that thorn in our lives that keeps us from being the person we wish to be, the Christian we wish to be; let these be our offerings at Mass. As Christ gifts Himself to us we give Him all these wounds and weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell is us. Whenever we offer our weakness to Christ then He offers His strength to us.
At each Mass we can say ‘this is me, gifted with many gifts, this is me weakened by my self inflicted wounds, nourish me with Your body and blood, save me from being discouraged by my weaknesses, help me realize that when I am weak, then I am strong.
As we continue this Mass having heard in the scriptures of the struggles of Paul may each of us be blessed with the conviction that kept him faithful, for all his failing, that the power of Christ was with him and that is was by God’s grace he was who is was – as it is with each of us – by God’s grace I am what I am.
June 28th, 2009
In today’s gospel we hear of two wonderful works of love and mercy on the part of Jesus; curing the woman who suffered poor health for years and the raising a young girl to life. Both these wonders involved touching. “If I but touch his clothes I will be made well” and “Jesus took her by the hand and said, little girl get up.”
I’d like to focus on the raising the young girl to life. In a society that valued men over women and sons over daughters this father’s concern for his daughter’s well being is remarkable. Maybe she was his only child. He was a person of importance yet in desperation he falls at the feet of Jesus and begs, pesters Jesus to come to his home and just touch his daughter and make her well again.
Have you ever been to a wake and sense that the grieving in the room is almost tangible? The grief, the sorrow, the mourning, the hurt is so intense. You’d give anything to be able to change things, turn things around, you wish you could go to the casket and say “get up, be well” and restore that dead person to his/her family. You know that’s not possible but you wish it were.
Have you thought about what a tragedy it is that so often we wait until someone dies to appreciate how much they meant to us, what good people they were, what good things they did in life? Have you ever grieved over the fact that you put off visiting them while they were ill and confined to home or hospital? A sudden death is like that thief in the night who robs us of one last chance to say to someone we love; ‘I love you, thank you, I’m sorry, I understand.’ Have you ever wanted to turn back the clock for a day, an hour, even a minute just for that one last chance to say and do the things you wished you’d said and done?
As I mentioned these two wonders in today’s gospel are about touching and being touched. We touch people in so many ways; by our words, by our actions, by our attitudes.
A lesson we can learn from today’s gospel is that every day of life we are offered an opportunity to be sources of life and love and healing to family, friend and stranger as we reach out to touch them by a kind word, an understanding word, a forgiving word, an encouraging word. St. Paul tells us, “say only the good things people need to hear, things that will really help them.” Every day we can speak kind and encouraging words that help people endure the pain of depression and alienation. Every day we say words of gratitude to seniors, letting them know their lives were worthwhile, their lives made a difference. Every day we can speak words of encouragement to young people unsure of their possibilities, their future. Every day we can speak words of comfort and consolation and ease the anxiety of those who are ill and frightened. Every day we can speak words of peace and apology that placate and calm the anger in others. Every day we can speak words of consolation to those who mourn the loss of someone they loved.
Every day we can reach out and touch, heal and enliven others as we put aside our prejudices or narrow mindedness towards good people of other cultures, faiths or lifestyles and come to treat them with respect, realizing Christ died for them as much as He died for us. Everyday we can reach out and touch and heal and enliven men and women less fortunate than ourselves, who struggle to survive on welfare checks and food banks as we try to understand what it must be like to live under their circumstances.
We hear much about the culture of death and the culture of life. As followers of the healing, loving, life giving Christ we try to foster a culture of life within ourselves, being sensitive to all those occasions when we can be sources of healing, life and love to others.
Jesus said “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” His ministry was all about preaching the good news of God’s love for all of us and calling people out of selfishness and sin into the new life of grace and love.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that however and whenever we touch other people’s lives – family, friend or stranger – it will be a touch for healing, a touch for life, and a touch for love.
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
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