I found an interesting contrast in two of the readings we have in our daily mass
today. Our first reading from Paul’s
first letter to the Church at Corinth states that “the wisdom of this world is
foolishness in the eyes of God.” But,
in contrast, the psalmist declares: “To the Lord belongs the earth and all that
fills it.” I
remember that I was with Father Albeen registering him for surgery at the
hospital. The
lady taking down his information asked him if he was married, and I responded:
“No, he is a Catholic priest.” She
went on with the other questions, and then she said she wanted to verified
something that we had said earlier. She
asked why we mentioned that Father Albeen was a Catholic priest when we stated
that he was not married. She
just couldn’t believe that priests cannot marry. She had never heard that before. She asked: You can never marry?
Never? Never ever ever ever? I said, yes, never ever ever ever. Her
response was: Well ok. That’s pretty strange. But I guess it is what it is. Sometimes our faith calls us to do something that the world doesn’t
understand. Sometime what we do for our
faith might seem foolish to the wisdom of the world. But, sometimes, that is what we are called to
do. May we take joy in our faith, even in the
ways we are mocked or treated as being foolish according to the ways of the
world.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
9/1/2014 – Labor Day – Matthew 6:31-34
In the ground breaking encyclical Rerum novarum ,
the first major papal address on modern labor, Pope Leo XIII wrote: “According
to natural reason and Christian philosophy, working for gain is creditable, not
shameful, to someone, since it enables that person to earn an honorable
livelihood; but to misuse people as though they were things in the pursuit of
gain, or to value them solely for their physical powers—that is truly shameful
and inhuman.” Pope Leo XIII wrote this encyclical back in 1891
when the working conditions for much of the world were not very humane. Pope Leo felt that the Church needed to
address the reality of the world that was present, and to interpret that
reality through the values of our Catholic faith. What is so striking is that the words of Rerum
Novarum are so fresh and relevant today.
The address conditions that unfortunately still exist in the world, even
though this encyclical was written 123 years ago.
Today, we celebrate Labor Day. I mentioned the comments that Pope Leo XIII made
about the dignity of work more than a century ago. What is Pope Francis saying today? He adds to what has been said in our tradition of
Catholic Social teaching by stating that work "is fundamental to the
dignity of a person.... Our work 'anoints' us with dignity, (it) fills us with
dignity, (it) makes us similar to God... (It) gives one the ability to maintain
oneself, one's family, [and] to contribute to the growth of one's own
nation." The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, the
Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops adds to Pope Francis' comments by stating that: “Work helps us realize our
humanity and is necessary for human flourishing. Work is not a punishment for
sin but rather a means by which we make a gift of ourselves to each other and
our communities.”
Our Gospel today from Matthew states the
Christian perspective that should be central to our life of faith, in which we
sees everything in light of the reign of God: to seek first the Kingdom of God
and his righteousness . . .” Yes, Labor Day is more than a vacation day for
us. It is more than the end to the
summer and a signpost that show that we are indeed back to the beginning of the
school year. Labor gives us the chance to see how work in
America matches up to the lofty ideals of our Catholic tradition. Catholic Social Teaching is to challenge us and
to make us think. Hopefully our reflection today during mass on
Labor day is doing just that.
9/5/2014 – Friday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta – 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
I
remember that back on a Sunday morning in 1997, when I was a missionary in
Ecuador, I was traveling home to my mission site by canoe, and upon arrival
back home, turned on the short-wave radio, where on the BBC they were talking
extensively about Princess Diana. It
took me a while to figure out that she had been killed that day in an automobile
crash. The world was shock and horrified
when the details of what had happened came to light. Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, and just a few days later, her friend,
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, would pass away. Mother
Teresa and Diana were two very different people – a humble Catholic religious
sister working with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India, compared to the
glamorous Princess of Wales of England in line to become Queen. However, they indeed were friends and they indeed admired each other. Mother Teresa said this of Princess Diana: “"She
felt very sorry for the poor. She wanted to do something for them. That's why
she stood so close to me. Diana helped me to help the poor. She was very
anxious with the lot of the poorest. That's why she is so beloved to me."
9/3/2014 – Wednesday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – St Gregory the Great – Pope and Doctor of the Church – 1 Corinthians 3:
Paul
speaks directly to the problems going on in the Christian community in Corinth
in the our first reading. This community
was divided into factions. Members of
the community were convinced of their own self-righteousness. They judged others. There was jealousy, bitterness, and
rivalry. A lot
of those same things plague our communities of faith and our society today, so
the wisdom of Paul still has so much relevance today.
Indeed, throughout the history of Christianity, we have had bold, courageous
individuals who have be called to directly confront the problems that exist in
our Church and in the world. As
you know, we only have 35 Doctors of the Church, and of those 35, only two are
popes – Pope Leo the Great from the 5th century, and Pope Gregory
the Great from the 6th century, the saint whom we celebrate
today. Gregory the Great was a leader during a time that was turbulent not only for
the Church, but for the world as well. James
Barmby, a Church historian writes: “It
is impossible to conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness,
the chaotic state of the Middle Ages without the medieval papacy; and of the
medieval papacy, the real father is Gregory the Great.” At
the time, it must have felt like Christianity was being attacked on just about
every front, including the Goths who were invading Rome. With
regards to the Church, his liturgical reforms and the strengthening of Church
Doctrine helped Christianity survive and pass down the faith to future
generations. Yet,
in all that he had to address as Pope, Gregory the Great never forgot the love
and mercy of God. He is quoted as
saying: “The proof of love is in the
works. Where love exists, it works great
things. But when it ceases to act, it
ceases to exist.” We
might despair sometimes at what we see going on in the world, at how we see our
faith under attack. Yet I heard one
priest say in response to this: “Don’t despair.
The world and the Church have been under attack for generations, and we
still are!” St
Gregory the Great, St Paul, and the community of saints – pray for us!
9/2/2014 – Tuesday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – Psalm 145 –
“The Lord is just in all his ways. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and of great kindness.” This
is what the psalmist declares today about the Lord. That
is true about God, but we know that throughout history, governments have lashed
out at Christians at different times.
We can think of the Roman Empire until the proclamation made by the
Emperor Constantine, or England during the time of Henry VIII or the Communist
regimes in Europe during the 20th century until the fall of the Iron
Curtain. There
is a group of martyrs from the French Revolution who were massacred in
1792. This group included priests,
bishops, seminarians, deacon, a brother, and an acolyte. In
particular, September 2 of that year, an enraged mob stored a Carmelite church
that held a group of 150 priests and bishops that were scheduled for
deportation. All of them were killed by
the mob. We
human beings can be anything but kind, merciful, and slow to anger. The
examples of faith that we have in the community of saints show us the courage
that we Christians can have to live out our faith in the midst of oppression
and persecution. The French martyrs were beatified in
1926. May
their courage give us inspiration and strength on our own journey.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Homilía - Quinceañera - 8/30/2014 – Lucilena Acosta
Estamos aquí en nuestra parroquia – en la Iglesia de Santiago el Apóstol
- para celebrar la misa de acción de
gracias para nuestra Quinceañera Lucilena. Lucilena - sus padres, sus padrinos, sus amigos,
y su familia están aquí para celebrar contigo.
Tenemos mucho gozo esta tarde. Este día significa que sus padrinos y sus padres
estaban fieles a las promesas que hicieron en su bautismo cuando era niña muy
chiquita. Sus padres son los primeros maestros de su fe en
su formación espiritual y en su formación humana y en los valores de nuestra fe. En esta misa, damos gracias por los dones de Dios
que tienes en su vida - el don de su
vida y en el don de su fe. El motivo de esta misa y esta celebración es para
decir a Dios que tu quieres consagrar tu vida a tu fe, que quieres seguir los
mandamientos de Dios por toda tu vida, que quieres ser una mujer católica y
responsable, que quieres servir a Dios y a su prójimo como discípulo de
Cristo. Como parte de esta misa, Lucilena, vas a hacer un
ofrecimiento a la Virgen María, Nuestra Madre y la Madre de Dios. María conoce tus desafíos y tus deseos. Nuestra madre, conoce la realidad de nuestra
vida. Ella va a ayudarte y guiarte en tu camino de
fe.
Las lecturas de hoy nos dan mucha sabiduría. Dios nos habla en su palabra esta tarde. En la primera lectura, escuchamos una
comunicación entre Dios y Jeremías. Dios dijo a Jeremías: “Antes de formarte en el
seno de tu madre, ya te conocía. Antes
de que tu nacieras, yo te consagré y te destiné como a ser profeta a las
naciones.” Dios tiene un plan para ti como El tenía para
Jeremías. Dios te conoce. En tu fe, en tus oraciones, y tu discernimiento,
conocerás la vocación que Dios tiene para ti. Dios va a ayudarte siempre con tus palabras y tus
acciones para ser testigo al mundo. Como Simón Pedro y Andrés en el Evangelio,
necesitas tener animo para conocer a Jesús y para seguir en tu camino de fe. Jesús vio a estos dos jóvenes – Simón Pedro y
Andrés -
y les preguntó – “¿Qué quieren?” Lucilena – Hoy, también, Jesús te pregunta: ¿Qué
quieres? Necesitas contestar esta pregunta cada día en tu
camino de fe con tus palabras y con tus acciones también.
Hoy, tienes la bendición de Dios en esta
celebración y tienes la bendición de toda de esta comunidad de fe. Oramos que puedas seguir creciendo y madurando en
su fe y en su amor de Dios, que sigas viviendo como mujer de fe, y que sigas
escuchar la llamada de Dios sobre la vocación que Dios tiene para ti. Es importante para celebrar contigo en esta misa de
Quince Años hoy – pero igualmente es importante para ir a la misa cada domingo,
para celebrar en los sacramentos de Cristo nos da, para ir a las clases de la
doctrina. Hoy es una celebración – pero es mas – es un
momento especial que tenemos con Dios. Por todos de nosotros aquí – nunca podemos
olvidar la importancia de nuestra fe – la importancia de la Iglesia y la
importancia de nuestros hermanos en la fe. Lucilena - nunca olvida que los sueños y las
esperanzas que tienes hoy en su Quinceañera pueden ayudarte en la aplicación de
tus dones de fe. Que Dios te bendiga siempre.
8/24/2014 – 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Matthew 16:13-20
I waited a while to post this homily on the internet. I wrote it with a lot of emotion and a lot of feeling. I originally was not going to post it to the internet, but with the positive responses I received regarding this homily, I thought I would post it. This is probably one of the most difficult homilies I have ever written. And it was written with compassion and with love for my parish. A lot of love.
Who am I?
Who do YOU say that I am? Jesus
asks his followers this question in our Gospel today.
Every
Christian must answer this question in the reality of his life. We
answer this question in both our words and our actions. Every mass we celebrate together on Sunday,
we profess the Nicene creed. The
Early Church started writing this creed at the Council of Nicea, convened by
the Roman Emperor Constantine in the year 325. We
start our profession of the Creed with the words “I believe.” We
profess the faith of the entire Catholic Church, a faith we share in unity and
solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. In
starting the creed “I believe,” each believer asserts and professes his own
personal faith with other believers. But
it goes beyond that. Way beyond that.
We
answer the question of who Jesus is by the way we live our lives. Last
Wednesday, I attended a workshop at the First Presbyterian Church here in
Tupelo about ministering in the midst of our recovery from the tornadoes that
hit our city on April 29. The
presenter from Presbyterian Relief Services asked if any of us remembered a
quote about proclaiming the Gospel in actions not only in words. Of course, as the lone Catholic at the
workshop I was able to identify the quote as being from St Francis of Assisi,
who stated: “Preach the Gospel always, and only when necessary, use words.”
We as
Catholic profess who Jesus is both in our actions and our words. We
are diverse community here in Tupelo, and in our diversity there is a lot of
richness. This
weekend, our Hispanic community is having a retreat for our Hispanic children
and youth. The
idea started as providing a retreat opportunity for our altar servers here at
St James. We thought we would have about
20 or 30 attending. Then
several other parishes in the area wanted to collaborate with us. And we expanded it to include all youth and
children from age 8 to age 15. There
ended up being more than 150 children and youth at the retreat. We
have one the most active and vibrant Hispanic ministries in our diocese,
something we at St James can be very proud of. It is
the fruit of the vision that Father Henry, Father Gus, and Father Tom had of
reaching out to the Hispanics here in Tupelo. I am trying my best to follow in their
footsteps and to follow through with the ministry that they did here at St
James in Tupelo.
But
with the diversity we have in our parish, there can be tension as well. There can be conflict. There can be misunderstandings. But
we are called to grow together as disciples of Christ. To learn
from each other. To be
the Body of Christ. To really show what
we believe about Jesus, about what we see in him.
This is an exciting, busy time at our parish. Religious education for children and youth has started up again. So has the youth group. Our
adult faith formation and RCIA will start in a few weeks. And
in a couple of weeks we will have Father Burke Masters come and give our
mission on Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel. This
has always been a vibrant, alive parish – and with all we have going on we
continue in that tradition.
I was recently reading comments that Pope Francis, the wonderful leader of our Church, directed to his priests. And I use the phrase "his priests" because that is indeed what we are. He
said that we who are called to the priesthood, who answer that call and are
ordained, we priests are called to serve God’s people. As being anointed and
ordained into the priestly ministry, the Pope see us priests are being chosen
by God for the purpose of helping to pass down the faith to the people, in
celebrating God’s holy sacraments with the people of God. And I, as the appointed pastor of St James,
am called to serve all of you. The pope
said that we called to serve God’s people in the anonymity of our daily lives
as priests. It is
very humbling for me to be up here, preaching to you as your pastor. I
pray for our parish every day – I give thanks for all of you. I give thanks for the opportunity and
privilege to serve you as your pastor. And
as your pastor, sometimes I have to make very tough decisions. I have to apply the laws of the Church to the
reality of our lives, which not always clear-cut and easy to do. Know
that my heart is with all of you. Know
that I take my role as pastor very seriously.
Know that I take my promise of obedience to Bishop Kopacz and to the
Roman Catholic Church very seriously as well – very, very seriously. Know that I will be the pastor to all of you and to give
it all I have got.
Pope
Francis, when he chose his name as pope after St Francis of Assisi – the first
pope to do so – he sent a powerful message to the world. He
chose the name of a saint who is not only beloved in our Church, who not only
represents in a very strong witness Christ’s mission and ministry, but that
name also represents a saint that transcends the Catholic Church and is loved
by all the people of the world, a saint who reached out for simplicity, to
those in poverty, and who cared for the poor.” I
want to end with the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi, because these words are
the wish I have for myself as your pastor, and the wish I have for our parish:
Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace;
where
there is hatred, let me sow love;
where
there is injury, pardon;
where
there is doubt, faith;
where
there is despair, hope;
where
there is darkness, light;
and
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine
Master,
grant
that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be
understood, as to understand;
to be
loved, as to love;
for it
is in giving that we receive,
it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it
is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
8/31/2014 – 22nd Sunday of ordinary time – Psalm 63:2-9; Jer 20:7-9
My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord. You are whom I seek. My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds
me. What the psalmist expresses today is probably
what most of us want to proclaim in our lives as followers of X. We want to find joy in our relationship with our
Lord, a joy that surpasses all else in our lives. We want to feel God’s love and mercy in deepest
recesses of our hearts. Yet, there are times in life when these
sentiments feel distant, when we wonder where God is. When we struggle, when we don’t have the answers
to our questions, when we are searching and searching and seem to find nothing,
then we have to trust in our faith, to trust the call we’ve received from God.
One of my favorite saints is Jean de Brebeuf, a
Jesuit priest from France who was one of the first Catholic missionaries to the
native people of Canada in the 17th century. I don’t think we can understand the hardship and
isolation and struggle that some of the missionaries experienced on their
journeys. He was content and even grateful to put up with
any hardship or sacrifice if only God would allow him to bring the Gospel to
others, to bring them the salvation that comes from our salvation in
Christ. For 25 years, Brebeuf lived with the people of
the Huron tribe. He embraced their
customs and mastered their language, and even wrote a catechism for them. But for most of his ministry, he met with
little success. Yet, Brebeuf persevered and even kept a sense of
humor. He wrote this in a letter
inviting other Jesuits to his mission:
“When you reach the Hurons, you will find us with hearts full of love.
We shall receive you in a hut, (a hut) so mean that I have scarcely found in
France one wretched enough to compare it with. Fatigued as you will be, we
shall be able to give you nothing but a poor mat for a bed. Besides, …the fleas
will keep you awake most of the night.” Jean de Brebeuf found joy in his missionary work
and in his calling, even in the midst of very difficult circumstances. He eventually he found success in converting the Hurons to
Christianity. His life ended when he was
tortured to death after being captured by an enemy tribe of the Hurons. When I was a missionary, and now as a priest,
Jean de Brebeuf’s faith and courage inspire me in my ministry and on my
journey.
The calling of faith cried out to Jean de Brebeuf
– it cried out to the prophet Jeremiah as well. Jeremiah was called to be God’s prophet at a time
when Israel was straying from its covenant with God and getting into
ill-advised alliances with other nations. This all ended with the destruction of Temple in
Jerusalem and with exile of many of its citizens to Babylon. From the beginning, Jeremiah did not want to be a
prophet. He agreed to go where God called him, but then
saw the people and their leaders turn against him when he delivered God’s
harsh prophecies in this turbulent era.
Jeremiah’s messages were hard for the people to hear because they were
truthful. Jeremiah cries out to God in the midst of the
pain and anger he feels in his heart: You tricked me, Lord, you seduced
me! You lured me into a situation where
I’m now despised by everyone, even my family and friends! Jeremiah blamed God for his misery, even
wishing that he had not been born. Yet, no matter who we are, we’re going to have
our ups and downs, our joys and our struggles in our journey thru life. Even though Jeremiah lashed out at God, later on,
just few verses after today’s reading ends, he’s able to say to God: You know,
God, you are at my side like a mighty hero. With you beside me, my opponents will stumble and
be vanquished and be confounded with their failure. Jeremiah is able to say: Lord, I sing praises to
you, for you have delivered the soul of one in need from the clutches of the
evil doers.
Our human spirit is resilient if we put our trust
in the Lord, if we let the Lord lead us in our words and our actions. Recently,
I saw on the internet a photo that was taken by a Sister of St Joseph when she
was visiting South Africa in 1987. It was in the middle of the Apartheid era; Nelson
Mandela was still in prison; the South African government had declared a state
of emergency and military troops patrolled the street. The photo
showed large black printing scrawled on a cement wall. It said: HANG MANDELA. But in another hand, you could see another word
inserted between the two. It now read –
HANG ON, MANDELA. The original message
of hatred and intolerance was turned into a message of love and encourage – the
original message was completely subverted. In the context of our faith, we can turn a curse
into a blessing, but can turn an insult into an act of encouragement. Let Jeremiah, let us hear God calling out to us:
Encouraging us, Comforting us, calling us to be his servant.
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