11/13/2014 – Thursday of 32nd week in Ordinary Time - Philemon 7-20

      During the past few weeks, our first readings have been from the letters of Paul rather than readings from the Old Testament.   Today our reading is from his letter to Philemon.  Many Christians probably could not even name this book as a part of the New Testament.  It is by far the shortest of Paul’s letters, not even being organized in chapters, and containing only 355 words in the original Greek.  That’s very short, isn’t it? What strikes me about this letter is that Paul wrote it while he was in prison himself, probably in Rome.  But Paul is not interested in his own safety and well-being, but rather in the welfare of the runaway slave Onesimus, who was returning to his owner, Philemon.  Paul’s journey is so interesting, as he started out being a prosecutor of Christian, wanting them to be arrested or to be killed.   And now he is willing to do anything to spread the Gospel to the world, even to go to prison for the sake of the Gospel.  When I was in Rome a few years ago at the Basilica of St Paul just outside the walls of the ancient city of Rome, I even got to see a piece of the chains that enslaved Paul when he was in prison. Paul wrote to so many different Christian communities as their spiritual father, one who spent so much time nurturing them in the faith.  He even calls Onesimus his spiritual son in the faith, his own very heart.

     For Paul, God was not some ambiguous concept or some far away being in the heavens.  Jesus was his Lord and his Savior.   Jesus led Paul to the faith and to salvation. Do we see ourselves nurturing others like Paul did, reaching out to others in the faith? 

11/12/2014 – Wednesday of 32nd week in ordinary time – Luke 17:11-19–

      Today’s Gospel is the same Gospel that we will hear on Thanksgiving day, which makes a lot of sense because this Gospel reading is all about giving thanks. Jesus cleansed ten lepers that day, but only one of the lepers gave glory to God and expressed his thanks and appreciation, falling to his feet in gratitude.  I wonder if the other lepers were too focused on the new-found freedom and new-found opportunities that they did not think about going back.  In our modern society today, we often take things for granted and perhaps expect certain things in our lives with a sense of entitlement.  Meister Eckhart, a German Dominican priest from the 14^th century who was a great theologian and mystic said this: “If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, then that would suffice.”  What great wisdom this is for us.  Giving thanks is a genuine fruit of being a follower of Christ, of being able to feel this gratitude and thankfulness as a foundational sense of our very being. 

     St. Josaphat is the saint we celebrate today.  Perhaps he is not very well-known to us.  Josaphat was a Basilian monk from the late 16th & early 17th centuries, who later was ordained a priest & became the Archbishop of Polotsk, a region in current day Belarus. Most of the monks in his area did not want to join in union with Rome, fearing interference in their liturgy & customs.  However, by catechetical instruction, synods, reform of the clergy, and his personal example, Josaphat was successful in winning the greater part of the Orthodox faithful in that area to union with Rome.  Due to fear of this union, Josaphat was struck down, shot, and his body was thrown into the river.  His remains were recovered and are now buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  Josaphat was the first saint of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome. It is sometimes hard to give thanks in the difficult circumstances we face in our lives.  I think of the challenges and turmoil that Josaphat faced in his life, yet through his life and his actions, he served the Lord with joy, courage, and thanksgiving.  As we approach the national holiday of Thanksgiving later this month, may we feel a sense of thanksgiving in our lives and express this joyful thankfulness in the way we live out our faith.

11/11/2014 – Tuesday of 32nd week of ordinary time – Luke 17:7-10

       I have remarked many times to my parishioners that while we enjoy hearing the Gospel readings that are comfortable, consoling, and encouraging, we often don’t like Scripture readings that make us uncomfortable or that challenge us. We like to hear the stories about Jesus healing people, reaching out to the poor and feeding the multitudes, don’t we?  But what about the message in today’s Gospel? When we do a good job and when we go out of our way to do something nice for someone, we like to be shown gratitude and appreciation. Perhaps the point of this parable is that even after the servant has done his daily work, he is still the servant, and he should be ready to continue in his service to the master.  We are not to just do the minimum as Christ’s servants and followers. We are not just to do what we think is required of us or expected of us.  We need to give of our whole selves, to be ready to serve Christ at every moment of every day.  Since this is our identity and our being, it should not seem like drudgery.  We are called to serve Christ with joyful hearts.
       We are called to emulate Mary's willingness to serve God with her whole heart, as she saw her identity as the handmaid of the Lord.  We are called to emulate the humility of the many missionaries who sacrificed and died for the faith.  On Veterans' Day, we think of all the men and women who served in the military to protect their country.  Like all these examples of faith, may we always be open to be servants of the Lord.  May we live out our faith with our entire being.  

11/6/2014 – Thursday of 31st week in ordinary time – Luke 15:1-10

       We’ve all been lost before, haven’t we, when we couldn’t find our way?  When we’re lost, it is not a very good feeling.  I remember a couple of times when I was walking to one of the villages I had to visit in the jungle as a missionary, thinking I had made a wrong turn or didn’t know where I was going.  I was terrified.  I didn’t know how I would find my way back, I didn’t know who would help me.   Luckily, I always seemed to find my way back somehow, or I always found someone to give me directions. 

      Today, we hear Jesus telling the parable of the lost sheep.  If only one of a flock of 100 sheep is lost, the good shepherd finds him and brings him back.  Jesus is that good shepherd for us.  No matter how lost we feel, Jesus is there ready to carry us on his shoulders, helping us in our time of need.

       There a lot of different shepherds that the Lord has entrusted to care for his flock throughout history.  Spain is a country that has been on the forefront of Catholicism and it has produced some of the Church’s most beloved saints, such as Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila.  But Spain has had some very dark times throughout its history as well.  During the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, more that 6,800 priests and members of religious congregations, including 16 bishops, were martyred for the faith. More than 4,000 lay people were killed for helping or hiding them. The Church has beatified or canonized more than 1,000 them as Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, mostly under Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II. November is the month of remembrance when we remember the faithful departed and those who passed down the faith to us. May we remember the Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and all those others who have continued the work of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the world.

11/7/2014 – Friday of 31st week in Ordinary Time – Phil 3:17-4:1

       This is the sixth day in a row in which we have heard a reading from Paul’ letter to the Church at Philippi.  Philippi was an ancient city in northeastern Greece, founded 4 centuries before Christ’s birth and named after Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great.  It later became an urban center in the Roman empire where Paul founded a Christian community on his second missionary journey.  Paul was imprisoned when he wrote this letter, but he heard about discord in that community and wanted to write them a letter of encouragement and advice.

        We might think of the ways we look to our mentors or our elders for advice when we are struggling or going through a difficult time.  Paul, in fact, holds himself up to be an example for them to follow on their journey of faith.

F. The fact that he is writing this letter from prison and is the one offering encouragement and hope to them is a testament to Paul’s strong and joyful faith.  Paul saw some in the community who were false imitators of Christ, who clung too much to the things of the world and did not keep their eyes focused on our true homeland, on God’s heavenly kingdom.  I remember when I was serving as a missionary in Ecuador, one of the Peace Corps volunteers in the area came looking for me in the mission site.  One of the villagers told him – Brother Lincoln is not here – he has returned to his patria – to his homeland.  The Peace Corps volunteer thought  - Wow – Lincoln didn’t tell him he was going home to California to visit his family.  The villager explained – Oh no, he did not go back to the United States, rather he went to the homeland here in Ecuador – to the village of San Francisco – when he goes every weekend and were he has so many projects going on.  It was an honor for some of the villagers to see me having a homeland there in Ecuador, where I definitely put a lot of my heart and soul.  Where would others see us having a homeland?  Is our homeland in God’s kingdom, or is it in the things of this world?

11/9/2014 – The Dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran - Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

       The different feast days and celebrations in our Church calendar tell us so much about our Church and about our history.  During last Sunday’s liturgy, we celebrated All Souls Day, as we pray for the souls of the faithful departed, especially those in a process of purification in purgatory.  Today, on November 9, we celebrate the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, one of the four major basilicas located in the holy city of Rome.  The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome, the Pope's cathedral & the baptism church of ancient Rome.  It is also called the Church of the Holy Savior & the Church of St. John Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.  It was built as a palace by the Laterani family, passed into the hands of the Emperor Constantine through his wife, and then was consecrated a cathedral by Pope Sylvester in 324.  This feast became a universal celebration in honor of the basilica called "the mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world" as a sign of love for and union with the Holy seat of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

      In each of today’s readings, some aspect of our place of worship is mentioned.  I wonder how often do we take our places of worship for granted.  The prophet Ezekiel has a vision a new temple with life-giving water flowing from it.  Israel had been through much strife.  It had become a divided kingdom. Israel chose to leave God's path many times.  While he was in exile, Ezekiel responded to the call of the Lord to become His holy prophet.   In his visions and in his prophecies, Ezekiel becomes an instrument of the Lord, calling his people back to Him.   Ezekiel makes many sacrifices to follow this call.  At one point, the Lord asks him to lie on his side one day for every year that the Israelites were disobedient to God.  But, in today’s reading, Ezekiel talks about the glory of the rebuilt temple when the Jews will be back in Jerusalem after they return from their  exile.

       As we hear this reading from Ezekiel, it is insightful to note that today we have also been asked by our Diocese and by our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to celebrate Vocation Awareness Week as well.  As God called Ezekiel to bring the people back to their faith, our process of the new evangelization in the Catholic Church tries to bring our faith to people and places where it was once embraced.  Young people who are keenly attuned to the modern world and who are called to a vocation in the Church will be needed for this work.  Recently I read, that when compared to 50 years ago, our Church in the United States has 20,000 fewer priests and 129,000 fewer religious sisters, all the while our needs in the Church have grown and grown. Many people are called to the vocation of married life and are called to different professional vocations in the world.   However, we need priest, deacons, consecrated members of religious congregations, catechists, and lay ministers to carry out Christ’s mission in the world and in the Church.  Pope Francis has said: “Behind and before every vocation to the priesthood or to the consecrated life there is always the strong and intense prayer of someone: a grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a father, a community… Vocations are born in prayer and from prayer: and only through prayer can they preserve and bear fruit.” 

      Our Church is both universal and local.  Today, we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran, but today’s celebration also calls us back to the importance of our own place of worship, of the building up and strengthening of our parish community here at St. James.  National Vocation Awareness Week draws attention for the need for vocations in our Church and the need for each person to discern where God is calling him in his vocation. We pray in solidarity with our universal Church that all young people in today’s society may hear God’s call for them in their lives and be able to respond to it with courage and zeal.

11/5/2014 – Wednesday of 31st week in Ordinary Time - Phil 2:12-18

       Paul was very connected to the communities to whom he wrote.  He felt a great sense of loyalty and allegiance to them.   He writes to them to encourage them and to give them advice as they journey in faith. He tells them today that they have been lights shining in the darkness of a crooked and perverse generation.  He asks them to persevere through obedience even when it is difficult to do so.  It is hard being a light in the midst of so much darkness when the ways of the world are calling out so strongly to lead us astray.  In many ways, I can see Paul writing this same sort of letter to us in our own modern world, since we are faced with similar circumstances.  Paul advises the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.  Fear in the Jewish mind meant to have respect and awe for God, to let God be God, and for them to be the dutiful servants and followers.  So often we want to become gods ourselves, don’t we?  We want to be in control, we want to have all the answers, we don’t want any ambiguities or mystery to be present.  We as human beings want to call the shots and don’t want to have rules constrain us.  This is the richness of Sacred Scripture – it can be as true for us today as it was for the people of the ancient world to whom Paul wrote.  May we continue to be open to God’s word as it calls out to us.