24 August 2013

If Our Lives Are To Speak



Homily for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
25 August 2013

          “Let your life speak!”

          This saying, which comes to us from a group that I cannot remember at this time, is a wonderful summation of our First Reading, Responsorial Psalm and Gospel for today. For at its very essence, at the core meaning of the saying, is that whatever we think, say or do, reflects upon the very core of our being, the very essence of what it is that we believe – as individuals and as a community.

          As Christians, it’s paramount that our lives speak the Gospel. As Christians, it’s important to relay to others that we journey to Jerusalem with Jesus. As Christians, it’s vital that our thoughts, words, and actions reflect that IT IS POSSIBLE to enter through the narrow gate. Our live need to simply speak of our trust and relationship with God.

          Think about all that you think, say and do throughout the course of a day. Are those thoughts, words and actions allowing yourself and others to see how generously wide the narrow gate can be through the grace of God? Or are those thoughts, words and actions making that narrow gate more narrow by the minute? If our lives are to speak, then, as disciples of Christ, then everything that we think, say and do will always focus on Christ and others. It’s hard to go through the narrow gate yourself when don’t allow the other person to go through first!

          As human beings, we have an aversion to doing difficult things. If we didn’t have to do them, we wouldn’t. The journey to Jerusalem is a difficult thing, because, like Jesus, we know that the ultimate end is suffering and death. If our lives are to speak, then we know that the journey of the Christian life is difficult. However, we know that truly the end is not suffering and death, but a new beginning through the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection. But we have to be willing to go through the suffering to receive the glory.

          When we look at the Gospel, when we look at the message Jesus preached and calls us to preach, we come to realize how radical it is. We are called to become radical people, preaching a radical Gospel by living a radical life! If our lives are to speak, then we must realize that love is sacrificial, that peace comes through personal surrender, and that justice comes through the righteousness of God. If we are to live the Gospel, it must be a total commitment on our part. As a popular saying goes, “You may be the only Gospel someone ever reads.”

          My brothers and sisters, LET YOUR LIFE SPEAK! Let your life be an unashamed witness for the Gospel! Let the love of God dwell in you deeply so that you may live with reckless abandon in the Cross of Christ! Don’t be afraid to approach the narrow gate, for it only looks narrow from a distance. When you approach that gate through the grace of God, you can see how generous He is in its actual width.

          We must let our lives speak, my friends. They must speak of a journey that promises suffering and death, yet a journey that promises eternal life. They must speak of a bitter hardship that turns into ecstatic joy. They must speak of a radical call to love.

          My brothers and sisters, through the reception of the Eucharist today, let us imitate Jesus Christ in our thoughts, words and actions, going out and announcing the Gospel of the Lord, glorifying Him by the way we live our lives.


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Enjoy the journey . . .

17 August 2013

Spiritual Pyromania, Consumption, and Consummation



Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 August 2013

          Fire.

Many people love it. Many people hate it. Some people are fascinated by it. Some people fear it. It destroys, but it also creates. Its flames and heat terrorize, but it also soothes through its almost whimsical dance.

The one thing it does universally is to move people. Literally.

When we see fire, we want to stay the heck away. We don’t want to be burned! Sometimes the heat and the brightness are too overwhelming, and we have a sensual overload.

In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus announce that He was sent to bring fire upon the Earth, and how He lamented the fact that it was not already burning. That fire which Jesus was talking about was the movement of the Spirit in the hearts of the people of God. Yes, while the Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus hadn’t yet happened, which means Pentecost and the decent of the Holy Spirit hadn’t yet happened, the Law and the Prophets had somehow failed to move the people to live by the Covenant they had with the Lord.

Jesus wanted His words, His actions – His very presence! – to move the people to a deeper relationship with the Father. He wanted to ignite in the hearts of all women and men a desire to burn with passion for the Lord.

And He still does.

Jesus wants us to be, to use a phrase I’ve somewhat coined, “spiritual pyromaniacs”. Jesus, through our relationship with Him in Word and in Sacrament, wants us to take the flame of faith that we received at our Baptism and spread it in the world. He doesn’t want us to be timid or shy about our faith. He wants that fire to literally move you and me to bring others closer to God. To be a “spiritual pyromaniac” means that you and I have a burning desire for God in our lives, and, by the way we live our lives, want it to be spread to our family and friends.

But why should we want this fire? To be a spiritual pyromaniac calls us to recognize the power of the fire of God’s love. To be agents of spiritual pyromania with this fire calls us to become agents of evangelization. Spiritual pyromania teaches us that this fire is for us the agent by which the Gospel becomes alive and the life force in this world so full of spiritual death and spiritually dead people.

However, to be a true spiritual pyromaniac demands us to goes a bit further.

One who truly knows and understands the great power that fire has is constantly reminded that fire doesn’t simply “burn” – it consumes. And through its consumption, it purifies. The fire that Jesus wants us to burn with is the fire which consumes all that is distorted, evil, vile, misguided, and wrong in our lives. To be a true spiritual pyromaniac is to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn away, to consume by its heat and its glow everything that divides our hearts from God, the Gospel, and our role in its evangelization. One who truly engages in spiritual pyromania allows the fire of God’s love to burn away anything that divides one’s heart from loving God alone.

What needs to remain is a purified, unadulterated, unified love for the Heart of God. This is important because one who burns alive with an uncontrollable fire in their life for our God knows that this becomes a fire of unbridled passion for our God. And so the true spiritual pyromaniac moves from “consumption” to “consummation”, allowing the fire of the passion we have for God and God’s fiery passion for us to join together in one ecstatic movement and mission.

When the fire of our hearts joins in the consummation of God’s love for all that He has created, everything that we have been, are, and hope to become is united into the eternal will of God. Our lives and our will fail to become our own, but are used as torches burning brightly to allow God’s will to be completed on this Earth. The fiery consummation of our hearts to God, just as the consummation between man and wife, will allow new life to come forth in the way that the Lord calls us to the vocation, mission and ministry He has invited us to from the moment of our initiation into the Church.

Be warned! If we truly live out this spiritual pyromania, if we exercise this emphatic flame in our hearts for the evangelization of the Gospel, people are not going to want to hear us. They will be repulsed by us, by our message, and even by our very presence. Our secular society doesn’t want to its members to become spiritual pyromaniacs, because when one lets the fire of God’s love to consume one’s self, and allow that consumption to turn into the consummation of our hearts to God’s, it scares people. It scares people because there is no controlling the Heart of God; there is no controlling the flames of the Spirit.

But they want their control. They want to be able to turn on the flames of passion when it suits them and to turn off the flame to exact revenge and so-called justice toward those who wrong them. Society tells us it’s better for us to control the fire that God has placed within us. This is such a lie. God wants us to live with reckless abandon in the fire of His love. He wants us to constantly be consumed by the passion which burns for us, and we, in return, ache for the consummation of our entire being to be united with our God.

The fire given to us by God IS divisive. The message of the Gospel is not one of bunnies and rainbows and cheap ideas of love, peace and daisies. The fire of the Gospel should enrage us for God’s justice to be poured upon the Earth. The fire Jesus came to give us is a call to radical love, radical poverty and radical relationship – that everything that we think, say and do should never be about us, but is a call to care for the others in our lives.  The Gospel is difficult to live out. The call to evangelization is one that scares us to death. But that’s the moment where we need to be consumed by the fire of God, and seek out our heart’s consummation to His.

My brothers and sisters, to be true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be willing participants in the evangelization of the Gospel: Allowing the fire we have for our God to be spread to others by the way we live our lives. People will reject us, reject the message of the Gospel . . . They’ll even reject the fire of God’s love in their lives. Nevertheless, if we truly accept our call to be spiritual pyromaniacs, then the Lord will never allow the fire of His love to be extinguished in our hearts. Rather, He will intensify that love; He will add fuel to the fire. And that fuel is the very Eucharist we celebrate today. And in our consumption of that Most Blessed Sacrament, the Lord will consume us in the fire of His passion for us. We, then, in turn, need to allow the consummation of our hearts, our lives, and our will to that of God’s. And in that consumption and consummation, we never become ashamed of the Gospel.

That is what it means to be a spiritual pyromaniac. That is what it is to never run away from the fire of God’s love, but, ultimately, to run into it with reckless and ecstatic abandon.

We heed the words of Saint Catherine of Siena:

If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire.



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Enjoy the journey . . .

16 August 2013

"Peace Prayer" Retreat Reflection



A Reflection on the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Since my annual retreat (2013) found me at a Franciscan friary, I thought it would be a good exercise to digest for myself Saint Francis of Assisi’s “Peace Prayer”. It gave me a blessed opportunity to really think out this prayer as becoming an instrument of God’s peace in this world, but also how becoming that instrument fulfills the vocation that I am called to.

I now offer this to you, for your own reflection. It’s not exhaustive, but only a starting point for a conversation with God.
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Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace What does that mean? One plays an instrument, often to inspire another; to calm and console another. How is the Lord “playing me”? (Of course, not in a negative sense.) How is He using me to call others to Himself? Am I like a brass instrument? A woodwind? A stringed instrument? A piano? An organ? Is my sound pleasing to others? Does it call them to know the peace of the Lord? Or am I being an instrument, thinking I am doing the Lord’s will, but only bringing attention to myself? And am I allowing Him to make me that instrument – to be crafted by the Hands of God? Or do I think I’ve been made “good enough” to do His will? Do I allow myself the opportunities to be tuned and fixed, or do I just allow myself to squeak and be out of tune, not allowing God’s breath (the Holy Spirit) to blow through me properly?

Where there is hatred, let me sow love – In the midst of confusion and doubt in life (in general, in my own, in another’s), do I plant the seeds of God’s eternal love? Does my life reflect the height, depth, and width of God’s eternal love? Or do my thoughts, words and deeds, does my very presence compound the hatred in the situation? How am I the conduit of God’s love at every moment of my life?

Where there is injury, pardon Do I allow God to use me as a source of healing in the course of life? Do I reflect the workings of the Divine Physician in my own thoughts, words and actions? Do I use my own brokenness to foster the healing of God? Have I forgiven myself so that I can forgive others? Have I tried to help others past the pain, the injury in their own lives to see and experience God’s pardon – especially as a priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Last, but not least, have I forgiven those in my life so that I may know God’s gift of healing before I can extend it to others?

Where there is despair, hope Do I bring the gift of hope to those who seem to have little of it in their lives? Do those who despair in their lives see in and through me the Presence of the One who IS Eternal Hope? In those moments of despair in my own life, have I turned exclusively to the hope that is given to me by God, or have I turned to things which offer a false hope, which leads me further down the road of despair? Do my thoughts, words and actions portray something that will bring others hope when all hope – and the presence of God – seems lost?

Where there is darkness, light I was given the light of Christ at my Baptism. Have I placed that light under a bushel basket, or have I let it become the light of the city on a hill? When others are lost in the darkness of sin and death, do I push them farther into the darkness, or do I guide them to Christ by the light that He has given me to share? Am I that guiding light or the extinguisher of the flame?

And where there is sadness, joy Joy is a sign of life. Does my life signify a sense of joy? Or am I a prophet of sadness? Does my life mirror the joy given to the world by Jesus, or does sadness proceed from my heart from the hardships that endure in my life? Do I radiate a joy that others want to have in their lives? Do I bring others to know that eternal joy in their relationship with Jesus Christ, or do I push them into a sense of “false joy”, and keep them in sadness through the fleeting happiness the world tends to bring?

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to consolePeople need to know that someone cares for them in this life. They need to know that God cares for them. I need to be that instrument of consolation, bringing the healing melody to others to let them know that someone else DOES care for them in their sadness, in their despair. That in the darkness of life, consolation can be found in the small, warm glow of the fire of God’s love.

To be understood as to understand When others lack that sense of peace, it’s not up to me to be understandable in my thoughts, words or actions, rather it’s important that I understand the other, so that they can see in and through me the presence of God. It doesn’t matter if what I say makes sense to them. They’re not looking for my wisdom (or lack-thereof); they’re just asking to have that lack of peace in their lives understood.

To be loved as to loveWe all want to be loved. We all need to experience God’s eternal love in our lives. But how do I do that? How do I love without asking for love in return? It truly is a sacrifice in one’s life to do this, and it’s something that I must learn to do daily. I must not be the one to seek the love – I must always be the one to supply the love. Unconditionally. Hopefully, love will be returned to me at the proper time and in the proper way. Until then, I love without counting the cost. I must be the one with the open arms, signifying God’s love for the other whether they realize that they need it or not. I must love, and learn how not to be loved. I must be able to sacrifice the love for another, just as Christ did for me (and for many) on the Cross.

For it is in giving that we receive The giving of my own self is its own reward. The more that I give the life, love and presence of God to others, the more that I am able to receive those same gifts from God through Himself – and through others.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned I must learn to forgive so that I may be forgiven. That begins with forgiving myself for anything that I’ve done against God or my neighbor . . . OR EVEN MYSELF! I must be willing to seek the grace to forgive others if I must learn what it is to be forgiven in life. And the more I learn to forgive, the more the Lord will bestow His grace upon me, because I have open myself to know that peace.

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life We already have a taste of this through the Sacrament of Baptism, where we died with Christ so as to be a new creation in this life. We are not destined for this world. We need to be born again, again. Yes – born three times!: Naturally, Sacramentally, Eternally. And it is this final birth that we gain the fullness of the peace of God. As much as we work for it here on Earth, we will never have it completely until we are reborn to that eternal life in and with Christ. Yes, dying to ourselves so that others may live is one of the best ways to establish God’s peace in the world, when we are an instrument of our own death-to-self, so that another may live in God’s peace. But, ultimately, being that instrument of God’s peace will help allow us pass through our physical death to the eternal life, joy and peace of the fullness of the Kingdom of God.






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Enjoy the journey . . .

14 August 2013

All Generations Still Call Her Blessed



Homily for the
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
15 August 2013

          I doubt that many in this church today – or in any church today! – have read the document Munificentissimus Deus, the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII defining the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – body and soul – into Heaven as an official dogma of the Catholic Church. (The official declaration happens in paragraph forty-four [44], by the way.)

          It’s a wonderful, and actually not-too-long read. Pope Pius XII goes through Christian history, showing us how the tradition of this particular celebration stems from the most ancient times of the Church’s life. We have acknowledged this sacred feast for almost two thousand years, though not officially defined as dogma until 1950, a mere sixty-three years ago . . . a drop in the bucket of time.

          But why do we acknowledge this event in Salvation History? In fact, why do we have so many devotions to the Blessed Mother at all? As some of our Protestant brothers and sisters would point out to us, it ALMOST seems like we are worshiping Mary.

          But as you and I know, we’re not.

          If someone asks you why we honor Mary so much in the Catholic Church, simply point out to them the Gospel reading we just heard. If they don’t understand, then narrow it down, pointing out to them Luke, chapter one (1), verses forty-eight (48) and forty-nine (49):

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

          We celebrate this great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary because, as with all of theology and understanding of Mary’s role in Salvation History, we know that Mary recognized the blessedness that was hers. She knew and understood she had a special role to play in the supernatural course of human history, though she could not completely know the exact magnitude of what her “yes”, her fiat, to God would actually mean for her – or for you and me!

          We honor Mary because her words in Sacred Scripture foretold that “all generations [would] call [her] blessed” . . . but not because she sought glory in or for herself. She is to be called “blessed” because “the Almighty has done great things for [her]”. The life of the Blessed Mother always reflected back the glory of God. The life of Mary always points the way to Jesus. Ad Jesum per Mariam – “To Jesus through Mary”: We wouldn’t consider Mary to be blessed if she had given birth to Rex. But since through her the Rex Mundi came into this world, the fullness of blessing is given to Mary, and she, in turn, returns it to God.

          We also honor Mary on this great Solemnity because she is what we hope to be through our faith in her Son. This great festival celebrates the fact that humanity has a higher calling, and those who are faithful to the Gospel will, indeed, merit the promises of Christ. We celebrate the fact that Mary, assumed body and soul into Heaven, is for us the model of what we hope to become on the great and terrible day of the Resurrection, when, God willing, our bodies and souls will be reunited to worship before eternity before the throne of God.

          And so, we honor Mary for the blessedness that is hers, recognizing that all generations have and will continue to call her “blessed”, for through her, the Almighty God has and continues to do great things for the benefit of all humanity. We honor Mary because, through her, the glory of her Son is revealed, and that glory is the promise she now shares in because if her cooperation in God’s plan for her (and for humanity).

          From the earliest days of the Church, as Pope Pius XII reminds us, this feast has been celebrated – but not for the glory of Mary, but for the glory of God, and the hope that what Mary now experiences body and soul in the fullness of Heaven will be shared by us who, through the Eucharist are united to each other, our Blessed Mother, and all the saints, hope in the eternal promises of Christ.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may attain the promises of Christ.

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Enjoy the journey . . .