Homily for the week of May 30, 2010

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Proverbs 8:22-31

Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Romans 5:1-5

John 16:12-15

Today we come face to face with what religion calls mystery. Often events in our life are mysteries. All of us live with mysteries. A mystery is something or some event which is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. Examples are the mysteries of outer space, or the mystery hidden in a riddle, or the mysteries hidden in old abandoned houses. Sometimes we refer to persons we know by saying he or she is a mystery to me. Some particular trades or jobs or specialities contain mysteries such as the mystery of analytical geometry or psychology. The medical profession deals with the mysteries of the human body day after day. Some people spend hours watching mystery programs on TV. Right now trying to cap the oil well in the Gulf seems to be a mystery. So it is reasonable to believe that all religions have mysteries. Religions have teachings or beliefs that go beyond human understanding. Catholics believe that God has provided us with some supernatural truths that are necessary for salvation, but some of these truths we could never know without God revealing them to us.

Today we honor one of these truths known as the central mystery of our Catholic faith. It is the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. The mystery of believing in one God there are three distinct persons by the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Today on Trinity Sunday we are asked to BELIEVE this mystery of our faith. But we are not asked toUNDERSTAND the mystery, because like all good mysteries, we cannot really understand it. We can know a lot about it, however. If God had not revealed this mystery in the Bible, we could have never dreamed of it. In the Bible Jesus tells his friends and us: Go then, to all people everywhere, and make them your disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Mt 28: 19)

However, we must not confuse this mystery of the Trinity with mystery as it applies to a puzzle or detective story. The mystery of God is not a puzzle to be solved. It is a truth for us to believe. It is a reality which cannot be fully understood by our minds. God has always remained beyond our understanding.

Because of Jesus and his teachings we are better able to answer our question WHO IS GOD? If we want to know who God is, trying to know Jesus better gives us a clue to God. The early Catholics did not use Trinity when they spoke of God, but they believed in God’s continuing presence among them.

Probably without knowing it, each of you as Catholics have expressed this mystery of the Trinity in many ways. We express the Trinity:

We make the sign of the cross at the beginning and end of Mass

In the Creed that we will soon pray together

We make the sign of cross in blessing the bread and wine

At Baptism when we pour water over the head of a child

When sins are forgiven in the sacrament of confession

In the anointing of a sick person

In beginning and ending a prayer, either alone or in public

In beginning Catholic meetings and conferences and classes

In the blessing of the wedding rings right before a couple place them on each others finger

By the Trinity we mean that God the Father is a person; that Jesus is a person; and that the Holy Spirit is a person. So we can say: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And each of them is God, but there are not three Gods but one God. And they are all equal.

While I cannot explain this mystery, or any spiritual mystery to you, I may be able to help you to BELIEVE it more. In a sense it is based on love. For example, the love between two persons or friends is often bigger than the combined love of each person; or the love between a wife and husband combined in marriage form almost a third person. Both husband and wife are individuals, but they almost form a third person created by the love they have for each other. They bring together responsibilities and joys which they never had as individuals.

Legend tells us that St. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to teach about the three persons in one God. It has three petals but it is one leaf. It is a neat teaching device, but it does little to explain the mystery we call God.

Or consider a musical instrument like a piano or a guitar. Pluck each key or string alone and you have one sound, but pluck three strings together and you will have a sound quite different from the three that formed the sound.

Each of us may have a special devotion to one or other of the three persons of the Trinity. It most often happens that one of the persons of the Trinity may mean more to you than do the other two. Perhaps the Son Jesus is the person of the trinity that means most to you, although you may pray to God the Father when you want something special. What is important for us that each of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity can have a special meaning for us. It may be that

the Father provides

the Son saves us

the Holy Spirit guides us.

Today, on this feast of the Blessed Trinity, we are not directed to understand a mystery of our faith and religion. We are, however, invited to renew our faith in the mystery of God the Father as our creator and provider, God the Redeemer as our for giver and redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit as our sanctifier. As you make the sign of the cross today remember that you are telling yourself and anyone else who sees you that you believe that in God there are three persons: the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Homily for the week of May 23, 2010

Pentecost C 2010

Acts 2:1-11

Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Rom 8:8-17

Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 14:15-16, 23b-26

There was a little girl who had a grandfather she loved very much. She always looked forward to visiting him. Her grandfather had a collection of hourglasses and the little girl always had fun turning them upside down and watching the sand shift through.

One day she asked her grandfather why he had all those hourglasses. He said they remind him that time was the most precious thing in the world.

One day her mother told her that her grandfather was in the hospital because he was very sick and he might die. The little girl wasn't sure what death was. Her mother said that life was like one of grandfather's hourglasses and that grandfather had very little time left.

Her mother said they were going to visit her grandfather in the hospital and asked the little girl to make him a special gift. The girl spent the rest of the morning working on her gift.

When they got to the hospital, the little girl gave her grandfather a beautifully wrapped box. Her grandfather slowly unwrapped his present and looked inside and smiled. The little girl had filled the box with sand.

How does a person deal with the loss of a loved one? The disciples, like anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one, would have felt that something of their own spirit and zest for life had also been snuffed out with Jesus’ death Huddled together, trying to comfort one another, they were unable to muster any energy for carrying on his mission. Grief and fear had deflated any impetus to continue the movement into which he had drawn them. The 11 men and 1 woman, all close friends of Jesus, had gathered together in a small locked room, wondering what they were going to do now that Jesus had left them. After all, the one for whom they had given their life was gone. But Jesus did not want to leave his friends alone, so he arranges to send them the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to them through a strong driving wind.

Breathing and wind are very often mentioned in the Bible as signs of God's presence. Following the recent coal mine disaster in West Virginia, many news stories focused on the risks miners face, like being trapped below ground without air. Those who suffer from breathing difficulties recount how terrifying it is not to be able to catch their breath. Breath or wind is the very symbol of life and has been since ancient times. At Pentecost, it is this same divine life-force that recreates a frightened group of disciples into bold proclaimers of the Gospel.

In a section of the Bible Luke mentions that there came from the sky a noise like a strong wind outside. In a sense that is the way that the writers of the old testament described God. God’s voice was always described as sounding like the wind. The noise that is described can be compared to the noise we hear in the house when there is strong wind blowing outside. We don't feel the wind. We only know how strong it is by its sound.

Pentecost is about seeing and realizing that God has touched each of us, and appreciating that He has touched no two of us in the same way. God has given us the exact gifts we need to do his will. That is why we all suffer when just one of us is absent from the family table or the parish community. We rob the family or the community of something God gave just to us.

Unfortunately, so often it can happen that religion and spirituality are placed on the back burners of the daily life of our businesses, educators, politicians, newspersons, workers and families. Because of this spiritual vacuum, love and caring and sharing are missing in our society. However, we need not feel depressed or worried as long as we believe that the Holy Spirit is always there to fill that spiritual vacuum with love and caring and sharing.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity which we mention when we make the sign of the cross. But how do you know when the Holy Spirit is at work in you? The Holy Spirit was working in you when you said or thought of something unexpected that benefited yourself and others; at times when you had been away from God or Jesus and felt a need to return; at times when you stood firm for what was right and good. We imitate the Holy Spirit when we arrange delightful surprises for someone like making an unexpected visit or phone call to a grandparent, or like the little girl I mentioned by bringing and to fill the hourglass.

Homily for the week of May 16, 2010

SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, 2010

Acts 7:55-60

Psalm 97:1-2, 6-7, 9

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20

John 17:20-26

A few years ago the movie “Cold Mountain” came out, telling the story a wounded Civil War soldier who had fallen in love just before he marched off to war. The movie portrays his gruelling trek home to Cold Mountain, N.C. to be reunited with Ada, the woman he left behind before going off to fight in the Civil War, only to be tragically killed just after he reaches her.

This past week we remembered the event known as the Ascension when Jesus left his friends and went back to God the Father in heaven. After his death on the cross Jesus rose and then lived with his close friends for nearly 7 weeks. You can imagine what they talked about. The bible gives us some hints, but I am sure there was much more. Imagine that a very close friend of yours were to leave forever. And you had just 7 weeks together. That was the experience of Jesus with those who loved him. He told them not to worry because the Holy Spirit would stay with them to help them out.

The problem they faced, however, was even more difficult than Jesus leaving them. Their message was so new and their actions so revolutionary that their hearers took offense, because it was all a challenge to their religious traditions. After all Jesus was nailed to a cross for speaking out. If they were going to follow Jesus, it might mean that they too would be killed for their beliefs and way of life. And many of them were.

Stephen, the main person in our First Reading, is such a person of faith. He was a young man, a Greek speaking Jew living in Jerusalem and converted to Christ. Stephen had been chosen by the apostles to look after the distribution of money to widows and to assist in preaching. He is referred to as the first deacon. In our first reading he talks about God’s call through their religious history. The Jewish people have always resisted God’s call by resisting their “God-called” leaders. Immediately before the verses we hear in today’s reading, Stephen infuriates the crowd by saying,You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit just as your ancestors used to do. Stephen had told the truth and they did not like it.

What we hear is their natural reaction. Like so many people today, if you don't like the message, kill the messenger. Stephen debated with his accusers, was arrested, brought to trial and taken outside the city to be killed. As he is dying Stephen repeats the words of Jesus when he died, by saying that now he will be in the hands of God. But, like Jesus on the cross, before he dies Stephen asks God to forgive his attackers. Stephen is considered as the first Christian martyr, that is, a person who dies for the faith.

It is interesting that one of the witnesses to Stephen's stoning is a young man by the name of Saul. Saul later on changes his way of life and becomes a great preacher known as St. Paul, the one whose letters are part of our Bible.

In our Gospel we have Jesus praying for us. Can you imagine this: Jesus praying for us? We are more accustomed to pray to Jesus, but today we are told he is praying for us. For what does Jesus pray and ask us to pray? He prays for unity. He prays that he will be united to us and we be united to him. Jesus prays for unity in the community, for unity in our worship, for unity in our service to others, for unity in our family, for unity with the lonely, the poor, the unemployed, the hungry, the homeless, the stranger.

If there is to be this unity there must also be love. So Jesus concludes his powerful prayer when he asks God the Father: THAT THE LOVE WITH WHICH GOD LOVED JESUS MAY BE IN EACH OF US. Jesus was sent by God to the world to love it and redeem it. So too we are sent into the world to love in and redeem it.

How could Jesus endure what he did? How could Stephen endure what he did? It could only happen because they knew God and had a relationship with him. Jesus knew the Father. Stephen knew Jesus.

Likewise, many will come to know God and Jesus because of you -- not necessarily what you may have said, but how they see you live and talk. Our faith and our religion must be consistent. We can't behave spiritually one way at home and another way at work or school.

Pray this week for the gift to let your faith guide you to be the person you think Jesus would want you to be. This is what St. Paul wrote: Do not let your love be a pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as much as brothers and sisters should, and have a profound respect for each other.

Homily for the week of May 9, 2010

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, CYCLE C, 2010

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29

Rev 21: 1-23

John 14: 23-29

Most Americans today do not know that Mother's Day was born in a church in West Virginia. Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe as a day dedicated to peace. But 35 years later Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. Ms. Jarvis wrote to priests and ministers, and rabbis to celebrate a Mother's Day in their church or synagogue. In 1914 President Wilson made it a national holiday.

At times we refer to each one of us as members of a one big family which we call the Church. But this family is 2000 years old, and as with all families, throughout history there have been a variety of conflicts within the family. A times it was messy. Such a situation was described in our First Reading. The Catholic Church was just about 50 years old. Remember that Jesus' first followers were all Jews. They would worship in the Temple on Saturday and then then celebrate Mass and receive Holy Communion on Sunday. Jewish law demanded that males be circumcised as a sign that they believed in God.

This practice became a problem, however for those who were not Jews and who wanted to be Christians. There were heated debates over whether these Gentiles as the newcomers were called, should keep the entire Jewish law. Does a Gentile have to become a Jew to become a Christian? Some said yes, some said no, and others argued for a compromise position: keep some observances, but not others. How would a mixed community be able to eat together if some were keeping kosher and others not?

There came a point when a group from Jerusalem came to Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas were recounting all that God was doing through them in their missionary travels among the gentiles. The Judeans, who were arguing for full observance of the law by gentiles, created no little dissension and debate, as Paul and Barnabas took them on, holding that gentiles should not be bound by the law. How did they solve it? Church leaders met. they honestly and passionately argued things out. As they discussed they realized that God's hand was with them in the form of the Holy Spirit.

First there was intense listening by all sides. After much debate, Peter finally stood and put forth a decisive argument: it was apparent that God had given the Holy Spirit to the gentiles as well as to Jewish Christians, making no distinction between the two. Jesus had arranged to have the Holy Spirit guide the church after his resurrection into heaven. These young Catholics call on the Holy Spirit to help them daily for assistance especially when they had to make serious decisions.

The role of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in the lives of all Christians is to preserve and protect the revelation that God has given us. There are times in the lives of many of us when we are tempted to doubt about what we are called on to believe, or to hesitate with regard to what we are called on to do. It is on such occasions that the help of the Holy Spirit is especially necessary. He will not fail us if we turn to him earnestly and sincerely

Today we hear Jesus say, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Not as the world gives it. At Mass, Catholics have a rite of peace. After a brief prayer, the priest says, Let us offer each other the sign of peace. We then offer a sign of that peace to those nearest to us. This offer is an acknowledgement of the deep human need for our unity with God and with each other. For Catholics, the reception of Communion is the ultimate expression of unity in God and with each other.

This peace is not a ''feel good'' peace. Rather it goes back to the Jewish offer of ''shalom.'' The Hebrew word ''Shalom'' is used as a common greeting such as ''hello'' and ''goodbye,'' but its true meaning is deep and profound. It is the peace of God. This is a gift from God. This is what Jesus gave us when He said, ''My peace I give to you.'' It is not peace meaning the absence of bad things going on. It is the peace that exists within us precisely when bad things are going on. It is the peace that can only exist when we are in union with God.

Our ''Sign of Peace'' can become a moment when we offer each other God's love. It expresses our desire to be in union with those around us, yet it is meant to be so much more. In fact, it is meant to be a little bit of a reconciliation rite, so that we can approach the one who gives us peace precisely because we are reconciled both with God and each other.

Homily for the week of May 2, 2010

Fifth Sunday of Easter. 2010

Acts 14:21-27

Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13

Rv 21:1-5a

Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35

Two neighbors had a nasty falling out a number of years ago. One reached out to the other over and over: greeting her whenever they pass one another on the street, calling out to her former friend when she would see her in her yard, attempting time after time to mend the breach. Each effort is ignored, and yet the persistent neighbor tries again and again. In many ways these efforts exemplify the kind of love about which Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel.

Today’s Gospel is Jesus’ last speech to his followers. He focuses it on what it means to love and to be a loving person. Jesus’ command to love one another is part of his explanation to the disciples of his washing their feet. He has modelled for them actions that bespeak love—a love that will even go so far as to surrender life itself for the other. It is a love that is extended even to those who will not reciprocate it. Jesus washed the feet of all the disciples—even Judas, who was about to hand him over to his opponents, and Peter, who was about to deny he ever knew Jesus. The message from the lips of Jesus is short, said while they were all at table for their Last Supper with Jesus, and while he knew that in a short time Judas would betray him. He tells them and he tells us: You are my followers if you love one another. Yesterday Father Terry LaValley of Mooers Forks became the 14th Bishop of Ogdensburg. In his short speech before the end of the ceremony he mentioned that his motto as Bishop would be the words of Jesus to us and to St. Peter: Follow Me.

The followers of Christ had understood love to mean loving your own, looking out for your own. While that was an authentic kind of love, it was not a love that would include all persons. Jesus tells his friends that they must also love Judas, the betrayer. Christians have been told to love one another as Christ loves them. This was a new kind of love, one that had not been known. It was a hard change, and many could not make the change. That is sacrificial love, and it added something new to the nature of love.

Throughout his public life Jesus never gives up on those who opposed him or who did not understand him. He continued to offer them opportunities right to the end. His love could even reach the Roman procurator, Pilate, with whom he engages in lengthy conversation, as he had done with Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman, a man born blind, Martha and Mary. In those instances, there was an openness that eventually resulted in faith. Even though Pilate would ultimately reject Jesus’ love, Jesus nonetheless offers it.

Love is perhaps the easiest yet most difficult human experience about which to write. Poems, songs, plays, paintings, books and movies tells us about love, but never quite say it all just right. Mothers, fathers, friends, strangers all have tried to reveal to us what love means to them and what it would mean to us. But love is probably one of the most over used words in our vocabulary. Unfortunately, for many the words I love you gives permission to do what you want with me. Love often replaces the word like - I like you. Also, for many falling in love has little resemblence to what Jesus talks about in today's Gospel.

Love as Jesus wants us to love does not consist of warm, fuzzy, romantic feelings toward another. To love as Jesus loves, it is not necessary to like or even feel kindly toward the other person. But it is necessary to act toward the other in the way Jesus treated his disciples as he washed their feet.

This kind of love is not affection. This kind of love is not feeling. This kind of love is not reserved for those we find attractive or those who think like us or look like us or act like us. This kind of love is doing. It is being ready always to care for the person who is placed in our path regardless of whether we like or do not like this person. This kind of love is often called charity.

There are thousands of broken homes or families today which would not be broken if there was true love or charity among those who at one time agreed to live together in love. There are thousands in jails and in hospitals of rehabilitation today who would not be there if their families and neighbors fulfilled their obligation of Christian charity. There are many who l have left the practice of their Catholic faith because they did not see true love and charity practiced by their relatives and neighbors and at times those sitting in the same church pews. Each one of us could, with great profit, spend a few moments today looking into ourselves and comparing our thoughts and our words and our actions with the thoughts, words and actions of love which Christ expects from his followers.

It is never too late to mend. Begin today to take a true Christian interest in the spiritual fate of your family and neighbors. Where words have already failed perhaps, try prayer and example. The grace of God will cooperate with your sincere, charitable effort.

But the only thing more difficult than loving is not loving because that path leads to nowhere. Modern medicine has found a cure for nearly all sickness. The only sickness that has no cure is the feeling of being unloved. God pays attention to our love. Not one of us is indispensable. Jesus wants us to fall in love with him and his way of life. If we do we will follow him today and every day.