Fifth Sunday of Lent 2007

The Fifth Sunday of Lent 2007

You’ve probably heard the other version of this Gospel? Where Jesus says, “You who is without sin, cast the first stone at her” and he hears this rock go whizzing past him and he turns around and says, “Mom!” Good Catholic joke.

There are two main events happening in this passage. The first is that the Pharisees are trying to trip Jesus up. They’ve found the perfect opportunity in this woman. Rome does not allow the Jewish people to impose capital punishment. The Law of Moses proscribed that an adulteress be stoned. Jesus has been preaching about the purity of faith and people are beginning to believe in Him. The Pharisees see that they can put him in a catch-22. If he says the woman should be stoned in accord with the Teachings of Moses, then the Romans will arrest him, and the Pharisees will be rid of him. If however, he tells them that they should let her go, then he will be discredited in the eyes of the people because he has rejected the Law of Moses, which the Jews knew to be God’s word.

Jesus however is wisdom incarnate, his wisdom is much deeper than the Pharisees and he throws the trap back on the Pharisees, with his reply “whoever is without sin cast the first stone.” We’re told they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest. Quite possibly the eldest, not because they have a conversion of heart, but because being the wiser, they see that Jesus has just checkmated them. We might picture a bitter smile come across their faces as they realize the new alternatives. Knowing what we know of the Pharisees, they most likely considered themselves sinless (this is why Jesus always is in confrontations with them, because one must know one’s sinfulness before one can receive a savior). However, now that it is such a public event, if they throw the first stone, the Romans will come for them. On the other hand, if they turn away, now the people will assume that they must be sinners too, or they would not turn away. The eldest judge it more expedient to be discredited in the eyes of the people for some time rather than to be jailed by the Romans, and so they leave and all the others slowly do the same as each realizes the alternatives.

Too often, we mistakenly think “Good for Jesus - that law of Moses’ was too strict. To think that one should lose their life for adultery!” But Jesus is not doing away with the Law. As he tells us elsewhere “'Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.' "(Matthew 5:17)

Jesus has now sent away all of the sinners – for no sinner can judge another soul. Our vision is blurred by our sin, we cannot see clearly. Only the sinless One can judge another soul. Only the sinless One can judge what is moral and what is immoral. And yet we might picture the woman now more scared than ever. For before her is now One who is sinless, who can judge rightly, and she knows what the law says- that death is the consequence for this sin. And then those words, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” She probably left that day relieved and grateful for the mercy of Jesus, but also perplexed as to how Truth Himself could contradict the Truth spoken through Moses. The Law made clear that sin is incompatible with the all-holy God. Sin deserves death. For in sin, we take something that is a pure gift of God – which is our life and everything in it – and we misuse it, we use it in a way that is contrary to the way he created it to be used – our life, our resources, in this case, the nuptial meaning of the body, - we forfeit our right to the gift – death is the just and natural consequence.

Jesus does not change that fact. It is Truth. But what Jesus does, is take that sin to Himself, identifies it with Himself, and identifies every sin ever committed with Himself. We are told that “He became sin for us.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

There is a deeper wisdom here. It is the wisdom of Good Friday. The punishment for sin will still be a natural consequence of her sin, and of our sin, only now Jesus will be taking those punishments that naturally accrue to every sin, upon Himself. When He suffers the Agony and the Crucifixion, when He unites himself to every sin we’ve ever committed and experiences the natural outcome of that sin. God’s wisdom is always much deeper and wonderful than ours. Which is why our understanding of right and wrong can only come from Him – what He has revealed.

He came among us as a man, he taught us, he established his Church, and promised that the Holy Spirit would be with it always, to lead it into all truth. He so identifies Himself with the Church as to say to Saul, when before his conversion he was persecuting the church: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me.” Not “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute my church.” “ME” – He and His Church form One Body. To the Church, he says, “Whoever hears you, hears me.”

To deny a doctrine, to deny a teaching of the Church, we must reevaluate how we can judge it. For we have set ourselves up like the Pharisees, thinking ourselves sinless and with clear vision so that we can determine what is right or wrong, and so we dull our conscience to the voice of Christ that speaks through the ages. If Christ and His Church are not our standard for judging, what or who is? How can we judge the standard?

We pray in this Mass for the grace to see the deeper wisdom of God, and to realize that He Alone can and has determined right and wrong. That to deny a teaching of the Scriptures and the Church is to make ourselves the judges of right and wrong. May we have the humility to put Christ back in our lives, as the sole Judge.

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2007

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2007

On hearing this Gospel, the temptation for the homilist is to think, “well I’m preaching to the choir” – these are already the prodigal children – the one’s who have returned or they wouldn’t be here in Church today. However, on greater self reflection, I as a preacher, realize that quite possibly I’m not even the prodigal son yet, maybe I’m still somewhere on the road back…and maybe if I’m still on the road back, others might still be on the road back.

And so we look again at this Gospel, The Catechism (#1439) holds this reading up as the description of the process of conversion. How our separation from the Father begins: “the fascination of illusory freedom” - then the misery which follows; then his reflection on all that he has lost; his repentance, his decision to declare himself guilty, his journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy..” It is the story of every one of us. But often we place ourselves at the wrong point in the story.

The separation, the abandonment of the Father’s house, the “going to a far country” is the description of sin. We take our fortune – those gifts the Lord has given us – our share of his inheritance : our existence, our freedom, our intellect; and we use them for ourselves, we forget about the family – about God, about our neighbor – we become the center of our world – our desires become more important than HIS desires.

Before long we find ourselves suffering because of our sin. We put somebody or something before God – the One Alone who can love and fulfill us perfectly – the thing or the person falls short and we suffer. It is the time of the famine - so we turn and look for another source of love, of value, of filling. We begin to long even for the pods on which the swine feed. It can be another shallow relationship, a nicer car or home, comfort food, anything that we try to fill the void.

Hopefully along the way we come to our senses like the son – he says to himself – “think of how many of my father’s workers eat so well – if I return to the Father maybe I can get that food.” It’s a step, a small one but a step, he is still simply looking for food, he is still simply looking out for himself, but at least he now knows where to look for it.

He even schemes how he will get the food. “I shall go to my Father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as your would treat one of your hired workers.” - notice the ingenuity of that statement. If there is a famine, there are probably plenty of people looking for jobs – so how will he get the upper hand – He’ll remind his father that he is his son, “I no longer deserve to be called your son” …but simply treat me like one of your workers. Hire me, feed me, shelter me. Do these things for me. We can see him mentally rehearsing his lines. Maybe he even imagines himself walking into his Father’s home, dropping to the floor in front of guests and in grand fashion shouting out those crafted lines: “I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” Much more effective then simply trying to apply for a job. His repentance is still self-centered – it is a bit of insurance – the whole point is so he can get fed again.

But what happens along the way? While still a long way off, “His father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” This had to throw the son off balance – he was coming to get a job, to get food, and here is His Father – who had obviously been looking for him, probably every day, hoping for that day his son would return. Here is the one he had betrayed, had hurt deeply by taking his inheritance early as if to say “You are dead to me.”

And here is the Father, so full of love for the son. We might imagine the realization that comes across the son. “Oh my Lord, He was waiting for me. He’s running to me. What is this love? Why…How…can He love me this much? – I don’t understand this kind of love…what…?” And in that moment, it dawns on him the incredible love of his Father for him, and it dawns on him, the incredible suffering his sin must have caused his Father. And he cries out, “Father I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.” Notice, his statement. He stops with “I no longer deserve to be called your son.” The final line he had rehearsed so many times doesn’t come out. It can’t. He no longer is there to get food and drink. He has found something far better, and he has begun to realize far deeper that he doesn’t even deserve to be called a worker, let alone a son. TRUE REPENTANCE HAS BEGUN.

And the Father calls for the feast, and “then the celebration began.” The question for each of us today is : where are we in this story? In a foreign country still squandering the gifts the Lord has given us in this life for ourselves. Are we at the center of our world rather than He? Do we look at our time, our talents and our treasure and say how can I get the most out of these for myself, rather than how can I serve the Father with this inheritance He has given me?

Or are we at a point in our lives where we feel empty, the goods squandered, the famine begun? Emptiness in our hearts and in our lives?

Or are we on the road back – the early step of conversion – going to church as much as fits our schedule, giving what we have to give in order to soothe our conscience, punching my Catholic card: “Oh I’m a good Catholic, went to Catholic school, rooted for Notre Dame, eat Fish on Fridays, put my time in.” I should be getting something out of this, God will owe me when I die. My bases are covered. This is the mechanical stage – when we do things more out of group-think than out of real love and conversion. I punch my card…this is the prodigal son on the road, rehearsing his lines.

Or maybe we are at the point that we are just beginning to make out the Father running down the road towards us. There is a realization beginning to dawn on us – “My God, How you Love ME!” and with it an accompanying thought is forming – “My God, how I have hurt you by my sin.” This is the point where we begin to understand that sin is not some breaking of an arbitrary law – some infringing of a commandment in which no one gets hurt, like driving over a posted speed limit. We begin to realize that God is hurt, He has actually made himself so vulnerable in His love for us, as to be able to be hurt by our sin. This is the message of the Crucifixion. Then Confession becomes something we seek because we love him rather than as another punch in our Catholic ticket, or worse, as something unnecessary, that we needn’t even bother with.

Or quite possibly, you could be in the Father’s House. You might be at a point in your life, where you realize the immensity of God’s love. That he has forgiven you your sins, not by the wipe of a wand, but by the enduring of the pain, and the loving you through it. If you are at this point, I commend you, and ask you to pray for the rest of us, but also to be on guard. For in this life, there is always a chance that we will wander once again from our Father’s Home.

Finally, I must make clear the point of this homily. If it leads you to return to the confessional on your own…Great.

If it leads you to seek to give more of your time, talent, and treasure, to God…Great.
But the main point of this homily is to inspire us to take a long hard look at our lives – too often we think we are already in the Father’s House when really we’re still salivating over the food of swine.

Conversion is not a finished project in this life – we are constantly in need of greater knowledge of self and greater knowledge of God. The Gospel reminds us of who God, in His Great love, is; now it is to us to reconsider who we are, where we are at, and then to redouble our pace back to the Father’s House.

Marriage Homily March 10, 2007

Marriage homily for wedding of Jonathan Bennett and Carmel Brizzi married at St. Peter's Church on March 10, 2007. They share a blog, along with Jonathan's brother, David, and his fiance, Jennifer Dierker and a few other contributors at http://blog.ancient-future.net/ . This is the online teaching I make reference to in the homily and is a great site in which to learn more about the Faith and of news of interest.

Tobit 8:4-8
1 Cor 12:31-13:8
John 15:9-12

In the prayer of Tobiah we just heard in the first reading, Tobiah recalls God’s Words : “It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.” – recalling us to the foundation of marriage. That God created them Male and Female. And that the two shall become one flesh. In a sense this is a prayer that both Jonathan and Carmel are praying together today. A prayer of thanks to God for creating a partner like oneself, one with which to share in the love of God in this life. In the Garden - God created Adam and placed Eve next to Him so that they might find each other and become One. In Jonathan and Carmel’s case, he put a little more space in between – one in Kingston and the other in Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia. But as God always provides the means, He invented the internet just in time to allow them to find each other. That’s the way it is with God’s plans sometimes. He works in our lives in ways we don’t expect or couldn’t have dreamed of.

This is brought out in that first reading this afternoon. Tobiah probably never would have thought that he would have found himself kneeling next to Sarah and praying this prayer on their wedding night. And for good reason.

For I believe you need to know some of the background to this story in case you’ve forgotten the full story of Tobiah and Sarah. At first listening it sounds simply like a pious couple who on their wedding night, are sure to include God, praising him for the gift of creation, and of marriage, and asking that their marriage be always based on love.

I hope and expect that Jonathan and Carmel will follow the example of Tobiah and Sarah and will pray on their wedding night as well as everyday of their married life together.

But in the reading today, Tobiah has even more of a reason for praying. For he is Sarah’s eighth husband, and every one of the seven before him, died on their wedding night with her. You’ve heard of the runaway bride, but if there were ever a case for a runaway groom, Tobiah would never have been blamed. And yet Tobiah is so in love, he counts not the cost, nor risk. Tobiah is so in love, that he finds himself willing to be “victim” number 8 if it comes to that. Tobiah realized that the odds were against him. Tobiah also realized the power of placing a relationship in God’s hands. For God answered Tobiah’s prayer.

Jonathan and Carmel realize the same. They realize that they are about to make promises that are nearly impossible to keep, on human terms, to remain faithful to one another through good and bad, for the rest of their lives. They know the statistics of our culture which reveal the difficulty of such far-reaching promises. For this reason, they come here to the altar of God today, to ask the One who can give them the grace to live out fully their marriage. They, like Tobiah and Sarah, get down on their knees and implore God’s blessing.

I don’t see too much pain in their faces yet from kneeling…but then of course I’ve only just begun preaching. A marriage that is founded on God and centered in Christ, through prayer and worship, will be aided with every grace necessary.

They also realize that their marriage is a sacrament – that it is an outward sign that signifies and inward grace. Marriage is the outward sign of the symbol of God’s love for His People. This is what you are to teach us.

Today, by the power of this sacrament of marriage, your very lives will become a textbook, a catechism. Whereas the teaching you do now online, involves lots of reading and writing, the teaching you will be doing soon by the power of this sacrament, will be done by simply living your life as a married couple. Yes, today you are to become a living teaching about Christ’s love for His Church. The Scriptures reveal that marriage was created for this reason, as an image of God’s total union with his Bride, the Church. This is what marriage is about – about revealing to the world, God’s love for His People. The responsibility is great but the grace given to you in this sacrament is even greater. Your primary service work now becomes living as a married couple, a communion of persons, a family and even if you are the best teachers in your school and online, nothing will give greater glory to God and be of more importance than the witness of your marriage.

Just as the crucifix is a sacramental, and every time we see it we are reminded of the love that Jesus has for us, so will the two of you, joined in holy matrimony, be a sacramental, a reminder for the Church of the love of Christ. When you live your marriage promises faithfully, people will look at you and how much you love each other and the way you treat each other, and they will understand better how much Jesus loves his Church.

In a culture where solid, lasting, holy marriages are in the minority, Christianity struggles to make sense. The image of marriage is foundational to Christianity. That is why the Bible begins and ends with marriages, between Adam and Eve in Genesis and between Christ and the Church in the Book of Revelation. In holy marriages we learn about the truth of our relationship with God in Christ Jesus. Your marriage is to teach us.

Jonathan and Carmel, we heard in the Gospel, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” This means the love you are to show forth is to be like the Father’s, which holds nothing back from the Son, and like the Son, who holds nothing back from his bride, the Church. You join together in a covenant today, where you bring everything you have, everything you are and unite it to each other. So that what was once yours Carmel is now Jonathan’s and what was yours Jonathan is now Carmel’s. Carmel, as the bride, you will even take on the family name of Jonathan and shortly become Carmel Bennett.

By this you teach us that in our Baptism, which is a covenant alike to marriage that was made between God and us, what was ours is now God’s, and what was God’s is now ours. What did we bring to our marriage with God? A look at the crucifix reminds us – sin, suffering, and death. And what did God bring to us: divine love, endless life, and joy and glory. Yes we share everything now, sufferings, sorrows, life, joy; everything in our life is shared with God and everything of God’s shared with us. Like Carmel, in baptism, we even take a new name – Christian. And there is no other name under heaven more glorious than that of Christ’s.

What you, Jonathan and Carmel commit to today is a faithful and indissoluble bond. “What God has joined, no man may divide.” Through good times and bad, in sickness and in health you are to be joined.

This will teach us that with our marriage to God, we are in a bond that will not be broken. God will never take back his love from us. We in our sin, can turn away from Him, we can break our end of the covenant, but He, for His part, is always faithful. We also know from Scripture, that ultimately the Bride, the Church, is faithful too, for in the end she will be presented to Christ holy and without blemish. So long as we remain united with her, the bride, following her teachings, living her life, we know that our bond with Christ can never be broken.

Jonathan and Carmel, you commit to a relationship open to life. You are to love each other so much that you will be open to and desire to have children who can share in this life of love together. You are to be content not only to sacrifice yourselves for each other, but to be open also to children for whom you will make even more self-sacrifice out of love.

From this we learn that Christ desires a Church that is open to life. That is one that seeks to bring all of humanity into its fold. He wants us to realize how awesome the Faith is, how awesome a relationship we have with him, and so desire to share it with many others.

Jonathan and Carmel, we are asking you to teach us, to show us how much Christ loves His Church.

Jonathan and Carmel, I ask you, the Church asks you, to give yourselves so unreservedly to each other as to become that image for us, of Christ’s love for the Church. With Jesus as the foundation of your marriage you will bring each other to holiness and happiness. You will raise up children to God. And you will perform the greatest teaching service you can possibly do in this life – as your life teaches us of the love of Christ for his people. God bless and keep you.

Second Sunday of Lent 2007

Second Sunday of Lent 2007

I’m going to tell you a story today, after which you will probably think of me as nuts, but of course that might not be too much of a change from your opinion of me before. This story is about what happened to me and about fifty other seminarians on the first weekend of Lent in the year 2000. The seminary was hosting a Catholic priest who was very active in the Catholic Charismatic Movement. His name was Fr. Robert DeGrandis and he is a quite prolific author and is known for having the gift of healing – one of the many spiritual gifts spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles. He had been invited to give what is called a “weekend of recollection” – basically a retreat or spiritual conference.

These conferences were held twice a year and were mandatory for all seminarians. Well, after his conference, on the Saturday night of the retreat he invited anybody back who would like to be prayed over for a more full release of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Now, I had been around the Catholic Charismatic movement for sometime and so was used to hearing people, yes Catholics, praying in tongues and speaking “words from the Scriptures” and so on – so I thought well this should be kind of fun.

About fifty, or a little over half of the seminarians returned for the session. It started with a general prayer asking for the release of the Holy Spirit and then Fr. DeGrandis began walking around and praying over people individually-then it began happening – it was something like I had seen on TV with those hokey tele-evangelists. The “BE HEALED” kind – one after another, the seminarians began dropping to the floor. Bam, bam, bam, including myself. I thought I was experiencing the Presence of God in a way I had never felt. I felt like Peter and James and John when it today’s Gospel it says “They were overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake they saw his glory and…Peter said “Master, it is good that we are here” because let me tell you “it was one of those moments where the veil is torn and you think to yourself how could I ever doubt the existence of God” – His Glory! His wonder!

It was what we call a mountain top experience. What Peter, James and John experience today, what Moses had experienced on Mt. Sinai and what Elijah had experienced on Mt. Carmel – it is a lifting of the veil. He isn’t doing it to capture people’s attention and lead them to him – as the devil tried to tempt Jesus to do last week. Moses climbed that mountain because he already had a relationship with God, Elijah climbed that mountain because he already had a relationship with God. Peter, James and John go up the mountain because they already have a relationship with God.

The seminarians already had a relationship with God, and we had been on numerous retreats before – where the Lord spoken in less dramatic ways, but spoke nonetheless. I sometimes think the difference with this retreat is that only two months prior, we had had a terrible fire that destroyed the fourth floor of our seminary, including nearly everything I had owned. It had happened in the middle of the night and it was only by God’s grace that we had all escaped. It had shook us up and made us much more vulnerable to God and what he wanted to give us at that time.

The Lord wanted to “refresh” us and re-spark the fire. Which let me tell you, it did. In the weeks after, early in the morning you would see many seminarians making a holy hour, or longer, in the evenings a prayer group began to form, with praise and worship, praying over each other for specific gifts and healings, and there were many. Afterwards we would go pray the Rosary. It got to a point where the seminary, get this, the seminary told us that we were Praying too much. They were afraid we wouldn’t get our studies done, or maybe that if we kept this up we would scare our future parishioners away. The Mass took on a renewed and deeper meaning. Scripture came to life as though I had never really read the Scriptures before. In my prayer I was saying “Lord it is good to be here – let’s not end this”…..but…..this life is meant to involve a struggle, this is the time for battle, and the rest, the permanent rest will come after this life. And so after seminary let out for the year, the zeal lessened, the prayer went through the usual dry spells, and the idea of praying for three hours every evening lost its draw.

But something stuck, and I bet it stuck with Peter, James and John and that was the words of the Father, the words that accompany every mountain-top experience – the one thing that is meant to last when the feelings are gone: “This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.” A reminder that He is the One, that no matter how un-zealous I feel, how dry my prayer is, how distracted I get in Mass – Jesus is the One – and if I hope to find any peace, I must listen to Him.

LISTEN TO HIM, LISTEN TO HIM, LISTEN TO HIM -as if to say “did you like seeing His glory, then if you want to taste this again, and not for just an hour, or a day, or a month, but for all of eternity, LISTEN TO HIM. And the next words that he will address specifically to his disciples are these, from Luke 9:44 “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying.

The mountain top is a time of refreshment, but one must soon return and take up the Cross if He is to follow Jesus. If he is to seek God and not merely a “good feeling.” For “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men.”

To be with Him on the Cross, to be with Him on the mountain top, to be with Him, is what were created for. There can be no lasting peace without Him.

The Catechism (2584) states: “In their “one to one” encounters with God, the prophets draw light and strength for their mission. Their prayer is not flight from this unfaithful world, but rather attentiveness to the Word of God.” The prophet of God goes to Him, not to escape the world, but simply to be with Him and to listen. That is our call.

The problem that I see today is not that we want to spend all day on the mountain top with him, the problem I see is we don’t spend enough time with Him, for Him to bring us to the mountain, or anywhere. The prophets went away to listen to him. Elijah went to Mt. Carmel to hear his word, Moses climbed Mt. Tabor to hear his word. Where do we go to hear his Word? He speaks in our daily life – Yes – but some things he wants to tell us can’t be told to us in our daily life. Some things require his taking us off by ourselves “away” from ordinary life, “away” from concerns other than Him.

One of the easiest to arrange is ONE hour in the Church each week with Him in Adoration. Every one of us should commit to at least an hour before him, each week in the Church, away from the concerns outside, giving Him the opportunity to speak. Many say I don’t hear anything. He didn’t say hear, he said listen. And I promise if you listen consistently you will begin to hear. Some say I sat 5 minutes and didn’t hear anything try 10 – 20- 30 –60 minutes – tell him you won’t leave until he says something in your heart. Be persistent.

The other thing is a retreat or conference. The Church says that everyone should make at least one each year. Spending a day or a weekend away from the ordinary – and I know this can be hard to schedule, but it is so worth the trouble. Just going to something out of the ordinary – something different from Sunday Mass – something out of the ordinary that is focused on God and helping us listen to Him.

There are many opportunities coming up in Lent - Conferences, missions, retreats, Eucharistic Congress, etc. The opportunities are available, we’ve just got to step out and break up the routine of our life and allow the Lord in.

Do I expect that people will be physically knocked down in the Spirit at these events? No, unless, maybe you attend a charismatic retreat. But I pray we will all be spiritually knocked down in the Spirit at these events. One of my favorite stories of the Scriptures is Jacob wrestling with God and pinning Him to get his blessing – the Holy Spirit wants to shake us up. We need to give him some opportunities. Make the time in a busy week, to listen for him, LISTEN, not necessarily HEAR, and to go out of yourself by attending a retreat or conference, which gives him a new avenue to reveal his glory in your life. We just need to give Him the permission.