10/12/2014 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Matthew 22:1-14, Isaiah 25:6-10a

       So much of what we hear in the Gospel is what Jesus proclaimed to the world in his proclamation of the Kingdom of God.  Even though we hear Sacred Scripture proclaimed to us each time we go to mass, there are still questions that we need to ask ourselves each day.  What is God’s kingdom all about?  And who are the people who will belong to God’s kingdom?  These past several weeks, we have heard parables from the middle of Matthew’s Gospel.  It is already the middle of October.  On the last day of November, we will begin a new liturgical year with the beginning of Advent, when we prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus into our world.  But, for now, it is our task to struggle and wrestle with the message and meaning contained in these parables that Jesus presents.

     We hear a parable and prophetic vision of a great feast that God prepares for us.  Perhaps we think that these readings present us a vision of the heavenly banquet that awaits us in eternal life with the Lord.  But God’s kingdom is not just something we hope for in the future.   God’s banquet is in the here and now.  Yes, we admit the God’s kingdom does not come to its fulfillment or it perfection in the here and now of our lives on here, but God’s kingdom is definitely present.  To deal with the reality of God’s kingdom that exists in our modern world, Pope Francis convened a synod in Rome, which began its work this week.  Pope Francis advised the bishops at the beginning of the synod that this assembly was not to discuss beautiful and clever ideas, not to see who is more intelligent, but to tend to the Lord’s vineyard, to help realize his dream for us, to proclaim his kingdom here on earth and the plan he has for his people.  The pope said that the family from the beginning has been an integral part of his loving plan for humanity, so this synod is look at pastoral concerns that are affecting the reality of the family in our modern world.

       One last thing I wanted to discuss from today’s Gospel is the circumstance of the man who arrives at the wedding feast without his wedding garment, where he is thrown out of the banquet into the darkness where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.  Taking literally, it reminded me of a question that someone asked in newspaper of the Archdiocese of Detroit: Why do I see people in mass who wear things such as short-shorts and low cut tops?  Is there not some sort of dress code?   I think it is always good to discuss how we are to conduct ourselves at mass and to remember that this is a sacred place we are entering, not an auditorium or stadium or ordinary meeting place.  The way people dress for mass is a reflection of how dress codes have changed in all aspects of society in just the last decade or two.  Our grandparents’ generation talked about “wearing their Sunday best,” the best set of clothing they had that was reserved for when they went to Church.  I went to the homecoming game at Tupelo High School a couple of weeks ago, where I saw many of the students dressed in expensive dresses and suits and bowties, purchased especially for this special occasion.  A homecoming maid and her escort would not have dreamed of going out there in short-shorts and a tank top, or ripped jeans and a T-shirt, right? And if you go to St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Swiss guards will turn you away if you wear shorts or a tank top or do not cover your shoulders.  This is Mississippi, and many days throughout the year are hot and humid, so a nice pair of Bermuda shorts is not inappropriate in our culture.  But a heard a fellow priest say this: If you are walking past someone’s house or your way to church and they cannot tell by what you are wearing if you are going to church or going to the beach, then perhaps you need to think about what you are wearing when you are going to celebrate the holy banquet of the Eucharist at weekend mass. 

       When you think about the heart of our mass today, you could say RESPECT is a unifying theme: respect for God and his kingdom, respect for how we worship the Lord and how we proclaim God’s kingdom, and respect for all human life that we proclaim during the month of October during Respect Life Month.  It gives us a lot to think about, doesn't it?

10/13/2013 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2 Kings 5:14-17, Luke 17:11-19

      Two things struck me about our first reading and our Gospel today.  They both concern miracles of healing with God reaching out to the lepers, healing them from that terrible disease.  And, in response to these healing, the leper Naaman in our first, and the Samaritan leper in the Gospel, give thanks to the Lord.  Leprosy was a very feared disease throughout history.  In fact, in the Middle Ages in Europe, priests were enlisted to perform a special ceremony that would separate the leper from the rest of the community.  The leper often was required to have a clapper or a bell with him that he would ring if a non-leper was approaching, alerting the person to stay away.  In 1873, a young Belgian priest who was working in Hawaii volunteered to go to the island of Molokai, a place where lepers were forced to live in isolation.  He arrived on the island only with his cassock and his prayer book  Damien knew that leprosy was a very feared disease, but he knew that God was calling him to serve them.  Damien wrote his brother saying – “I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all for Christ.” He built a church on the island as his first course of action, and beyond that, he cleaned their sores and ulcers, he helped build homes and furniture for them, and he made coffins and dug graves.  It was difficult, challenging work, but Damien maintained an attitude of joy and thanksgiving by drawing strength on daily mass and the Eucharist.  Damien writes: "Having the Lord at my side, I continue to be happy with cheerfulness of heart and a smile on my lips."  Father Damien eventually contracted leprosy himself.  Although he experienced isolation, rejection and abandonment, as church and government authorities often neglected to offer him the support he needed, he remained faithful to God to the end, dying at the age of 49.  Father Damien is now a saint and remains very loved in Hawaii, where a statue of him sits in front of the Hawaii State Capitol building.

     I thought about Father Damien in conjunction with today’s Gospel, because not only did he reach out to the group of lepers who were abandoned and discriminated against, not only did he offer them Christ’s love and mercy, but father Damien also always lived his life in thanksgiving to the Lord, even in challenging circumstances, even when he contracted leprosy himself, even though he died from that terrible disease.   We are all called to do what Father Damien did in his lifetime in our own way and in our own circumstances: to live our lives in thanksgiving to the Lord and to reach out to those who are lepers in our own society, to those on the margins.  And giving thanks to the Lord in all things is never easy.  

     We are all to give thanks to the Lord, not only for the blessings he gives us, and for the grace he gives us to meet our challenges in life, and those challenges in life can be very difficult, can’t they?  A friend of mine recently reminded me what I told him once, that every morning I thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to serve him and his people as a priest here in the Diocese of Jackson, and I give thanks for all of my parishioners.  I do this even when I have a tough day, and believe me, we priests can also have tough days.  A lot of time, life is all about perspective, isn't it?  There were ten lepers in the Gospel who asked Jesus to have pit on them and their situation.  All ten of them were healed. But only one of them came back to give thanks.  In return, this Samaritan leper received another blessing.  Not only did he receive healing of his leprosy, but in his faith he also was made whole both body and soul, and received the blessing of salvation through this faith as well.  We dwell on a lot that is going on in our world – the crisis in Syria, the government shut-down, a difficult world economy.  We can dwell on problems and struggles in our own personal lives as well.  All those things are real as well.  But we are also called to give thanks for the blessings we have, both in good times and in bad.  And with a thankful and joyful faith, we reach out to others, especially those on the margins.  There are modern-day lepers in our own society, those who need our compassion and care.    

10/21/2012 – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – World Mission Sunday - Matthew 10: 35-45

        James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were two of the apostles called by Jesus.  Jesus gave them the nickname “the Sons of Thunder”, probably for their great zeal and fiery personalities. James and John make a very bold request of Jesus: they want him to give them a place of honor at his side.  Yet, Jesus tells them that they must be willing to drink the same cup that Jesus drinks, they must be willing to recognize that our faith is not all about honor and glory, but rather about being a servant and about carrying our crosses in life.  Little did James know that he would be the very first apostle martyred for the faith, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.  This happened after James returned back to Jerusalem from his missionary travels in Spain, in which he came back after having converted very few inhabitants to our faith.

         Today, the next-to-last Sunday in October, is always celebrated in our Church as World Mission Sunday.  This day reflects the deep identity of our Church to always be missionary and to bring Christ’s Gospel to all the world.  On this day, October 21, Pope Benedict XVI will canonize 7 new saints in our Church.  Kateri Tekakwitha, who has been recognized as blessed in our Church since 1980, will be the first native American recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.  Kateri, known in our Church as “the Lilly of the Mohawks”, was born in the mid-17^th century and was baptized by the French Jesuit missionaries when she was 20 years old.  Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, himself a native American, states that “Kateri's life is a witness not only to the cost of discipleship – she bore a great deal of suffering for her faith among her own people – but also to its fruitfulness….She reminds us that Jesus came for all people in every age, but especially for the lowly, whom God loves in a special way."

         Also being canonized today is Sister Marianne Cope, a Sister of Saint Francis from Syracuse, New York, who was invited with her fellow sisters by Father Damien and King Kalākaua of Hawaii in 1883 to journey to the island of Molokai in Hawaii to work with the poor and the lepers there.   Bishop Silva of Honolulu notes: “In this Year of Faith, we thank God for (Mother Marianne and) these beautiful models of women who embraced the sufferings of life and who nevertheless exuded great joy because they were so in love with Jesus."  In addition to serving the lepers, Mother Marianne and her fellow sisters established schools and hospitals that served the poor in Hawaii. 

         Our theme on World Mission Sunday is “Called to Radiate the Word of Truth”.  Just as Mother Marianne and Kateri Tekakwitha were models for living out joy in their faith, we are all called to share the Good News of Jesus in joyful proclamation, to bring hope to our world through the joy that is at the heart of our Christian experience.  We don’t have to travel to a faraway place like Hawaii to be missionaries to the world.  As a part of our baptismal calling, we are called to radiate this missionary joy wherever we are in our lives, to be bearers of the hope-filled witness of the Gospel in our prayers and in our proclamations. 

         We have had such wonderful examples of missionaries in our Church through the ages – Father Damien and Mother Marianne Cope and their example of working with the lepers in Hawaii is just one example among many.  However, we must remember the example of one of the patron saints of our Church’s missionary spirit – Saint Therese of the Little Flower.  Therese died at the very young age of 24, and lived her life as a Carmelite nun in a cloistered convent in France.  Yet, Pope John Paul II named Therese as one of the patron saints of the missions, even though she never went off to a faraway land herself.  I saw a posting on the internet when someone questioned why the pope would name a cloistered nun as a patron saint of the missions, when we have so many great missionaries from which to choose.  Perhaps she was chosen for this role to show how all of us are called to have a heart for the missions.  Therese always dreamed of going to the missions, but her poor health prevented her from doing so.  She recognized God’s calling to be missionary, as she supported the missions in prayers and in sacrifices.  She spiritually adopted missionaries and seminarians, praying for them and corresponding with them, giving them spiritual advice and counsel.   Therese brought a joyful spirit in her love for the missions, which echoes the joy that Pope Benedict calls us all to have in our Christian witness, a joy that is so important in midst of the anxiety, sorrow, and violence that is so present in our world.  As members of the Church, we are called to bring a joy that is authentic and enduring, the same joy that the shepherds and angels proclaimed on the night that Jesus was born. 

         There a lot of things that bring us happiness and pleasure in this world.  And it is certainly good to have earthly pleasures and happiness as a part of our lives.  Yet, they are mere shadows of the joy that we find in our faith.  I always remember the advice Paul gave to the Philippians, telling them to always to joyful in Lord.  Paul tells them to let this joy be obvious to everyone, to realize that the Lord is always near to us.  Paul is able to say in this letter that he is full of joy for the Lord, even though he is writing this letter to the Philippians while he is in prison.  Thus, this joy had to be deeper and more profound than any of the pleasures and happiness that he could experience in a worldly sense.  I try to convey this sense of joy in my priesthood. In fact, we are all called to convey this sense of joy in our lives as this joyful aspect of our faith calls out to all of us each and every day.

         As we celebrate the Year of Faith this year, we are called to deepen our love and understanding of all different aspects of our faith.  We celebrate today our call to be missionary no matter where we are in our lives.  We celebrate the great missionaries who have brought our faith to people near and far.  May we search out ways to be missionaries in our own little corner of the world, and to support the missionary endeavors of our Church.  

Homily – Message of Christ to the Cursillistas - 28th Sunday in ordinary time – Matthew 10:17-27

This homily will be given at the Men's Cursillo Weekend on October 11 - 14, 2012 for the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi at Camp Duncan Gray in Canton, MS: 

      Today, as we come to the last day of our weekend together, and the last time we will celebrate the Eucharist together as a community this weekend around the Lord’s table, we recall how Jesus brought us here to this Cursillo retreat for a purpose.  We have encountered Jesus in a new way.  Just as Jesus prepared his apostles and followers for their lives after his death and resurrection, Jesus is preparing us this weekend in the ways we can incorporate these teachings into our daily lives after we leave this afternoon. 

         Jesus brought us here in order to send us to do his work in the world.  The call of the Cursillo does not end with ourselves – it must be lived in our environment.  We are to bear the fruit of Jesus’ apostolic action.  This is the fruit that will endure after we leave our Cursillo Weekend. 

         Today’s Gospel presents us a good teaching on  discipleship, of how we should be in the world but not of the world. The rich young man told Jesus that he had followed all of the commandments since his youth.  Following God’s law is indeed an important part of our faith, and it is not always an easy task to do.  Yet, when Christ told him to sell all of his possessions, and to give that money to the poor, the young man walked away dejected.  Indeed, it is hard to give up the things of this world – the values of our world, our possession, our prestige and power, our egos and our pride.  Yet, Christ asks us not to put value in these things in the world that are fleeting, but rather to place our trust and our whole hearts in the values of the Gospel. The young man walked away – we don’t know if he ultimately followed Jesus or if he decided it would be too much of a sacrifice. Yes, it is one thing to say we agree with the values and doctrines of our faith, but it is another thing to embrace them with our hearts and to live them whole-heartedly in our daily lives. 

         As we begin our final day of our Cursillo weekend together, as we reflect upon today’s Gospel, we may ask ourselves if we acknowledge that our lives belong to God and not to ourselves, not to the values of the world. Are we willing to take this next step.  Are we willing to give ourselves over to Christ?

         Jesus did not have a huge following in his earthly ministry.  We probably imagine that the Son of God should have been more successful.  Yet, what we fail to understand is the strategy Jesus is teaching us for reaching our world in building up Christian community.  Jesus spent his time forming the apostles into a community, knowing that His work would endure as long as they remained united.  It is only as a genuine Christian community that we are a sign of his presence to the world.  We cannot be effective in the apostolate alone, we will not be a part of this community if we close ourselves to Jesus’ message, if we try to trap him and criticize him like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel.  On the contrary, only if Jesus’ life and message flow freely through us will we be able to bear fruit.  If we are to bear fruit, it we are to have Jesus be a part of us and to transform our lives, we must have a progressive conversion and change of heart that continues way beyond this weekend.  In Jesus and in our community of faith, we will have a revolutionary power. 

         To become a true disciple, to open ourselves to transformation and conversion, to bear the fruit that Jesus calls us to bear in our lives – these are challenges that should not frighten us.  A journey begins with the first step, and we have made a big step this weekend.  We need to continue to bear witness to what we now know to be true about Jesus’ victory.  Jesus has won the victory; it is our job to proclaim in our lives, in our words and in our actions.