February 15 2018 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday - Luke 9:22-25

      The churches were crowded yesterday for Ash Wednesday.  And not just the Catholic churches.  Even a lot of Protestant churches who usually don’t make a big deal about Lent and about Ash Wednesday are starting to establish traditions for this holy season.  (And I can say that honestly having grown up Protestant myself – in the United Methodist Church and in the United Church of Christ.)  The big Protestant mega-church in Tupelo started giving out ashes several years ago,  contacting the Catholic Church in Tupelo where I was pastor, asking us if we would sell them ashes when their ashes failed to reach them in the mail before Ash Wednesday.  

       Yet, it is not about getting that smudge of ash on our foreheads in public that matters.  It is about what we do about our Lenten journey, how we meet God in that reality.  We priests usually have many different masses on Ash Wednesday.  Most of the Catholic faithful are really wanting to make something of their Lenten journey, to have it influence their overall journey of faith.  Jesus tells us today in the Gospel to deny ourselves and take up our crosses if we want to follow him.  In the egoism and narcissism of our modern world, many wouldn’t think that they would find fulfillment or salvation in denying themselves and taking up a cross, but that is what exactly Jesus wants us to do. That is one of the places we are called to seek God.  So, as we start our Lenten journey this week, let us really think about where we are to seek God on our Lenten journey.  Let us try to recognize the cross that we are called to carry as a part of our Lenten as well. Some of what we will find might surprise us.

2/14/2018 – homily for Ash Wednesday – Joel 2:12-18

     “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  This is what we hear proclaimed in a few short moments when we receive a smudge of ashes on our foreheads.   That is what Jesus asks of us today, to repent and to believe in the Gospel, in his Good News.  Today we start the holy season of Lent, a time of intense spiritual renewal for us as we prepare to celebrate the annual commemoration of the Paschal mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. Lent is also a very special time for the catechumens and candidates in our RCIA program, as they enter their final weeks of preparation for baptism or full-communion with us in our Catholic faith.

        Ashes were used in Old Testament times to symbolize mourning, mortality, and penance.  People like Job in the Old Testament wore sackcloth and ashes to proclaim their desire to repent.  But ashes are not just an outward sign.  Ashes are to symbolize what is going on in the inside.   The prophet Joel tells us that we are to return to God with our whole hearts, to return to him with prayers and weeping and fasting.  But we are not just to tear apart our outer garments.  We are to truly have an interior change and repentance of heart.

        Every year on Ash Wednesday, we priests are truly edified as we see the faithful come so sincerely and devoutly to church as we start this penitential season.  Today, you will all receive a black rubber wristband.   The color black of the wristband will remind us of the ashes we receive today.  The black wristband not only represents the contrition we feel in our hearts for our sins and our desire to repent; it is also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on him with repentant hearts.  We will turn in our Lenten promise cards today.   Inscribed on our wristbands is the word SACRIFICIUM – the Latin word meaning SACRIFICE.  These wristbands will remind us and the world of the promises we are committing to during this Lenten season.   And indeed, it will take commitment, sacrifice, and steadfastness to be true to our Lenten promises when we are tempted to break them or leave them behind.
        Pope Francis has said that Lent is to be a time that shakes us up out of our sleep and out of our complacency.  And Pope Benedict XVI sees Lent as a holy time that helps us live out the love of Christ in an ever more radical way in our daily lives.  Let us feel God calling out to us today in a very profound way, to “repent and believe in the Gospel.”

February 13 /2018 - homily for Tuesday of 6th week in Ordinary Time - Mark 8:14-21

     Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod: that is what Jesus tells his disciples in today's Gospel.  So often the disciples don't understand what Jesus is talking about, just as we might miss his point sometimes as well, or we might focus on some superficial issue, missing his underlying message.  Jesus points out that being able to feed them was not a problem, taking note of his miracle in multiplying the loaves and the fish. 

     The leaven of the Pharisees is found in their pride and scrupulosity, in the way that they place more importance to following a strict, rigid adherence to the letter of the law, while often violating the spirit of the law. The Pharisees try to mold God and their approach to religion into what they themselves want rather than letting God be God. Do we do the same thing in our lives of faith?  Are we so busy telling God how to be God, trying to tell him what commandments we should be following, that we don't have any time to listen to his will in our lives?

     What could Jesus mean be the leaven of Herod?  Could it be the lure of materialism and wealth, pride and selfishness that he displayed as the king of Israel, the same values that seduce many of us in the modern world today?  The leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod: we need to be careful of those things as we journey through life in faith. May we not fall into temptation.  May our hearts and prayers be set on the Lord rather than the ways of the world, rather than our own rigid, distorted concepts of God.

11 de febrero de 2018 – Marcos 1, 40-45 – homilia del Sexto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

     Un leproso viene a Jesús en su humanidad.  El se acerca a Jesús de rodilla para mostrar su humildad. En el mundo antiguo, un leproso es una persona muy separado de la sociedad.  El leproso sufre mucho en el dolor de su enfermedad y en el dolor de su soledad.   En los tiempos de Jesucristo, había la creencia que los leprosos y las otras personas con defectos físicos y enfermedades estaban abandonadas por Dios. En el libro de Levítico, escuchamos sobre las leyes de Israel, sobre la separación de los leprosos en esta sociedad.  La ley dijo que los leprosos no pueden acercarse a las otras personas.  G. Pero, el leproso mira a Jesús – él mira su misericordia y su compasión.  Jesús mira la fe y el corazón de este leproso.  La ley judía dijo que el leproso era intocable, pero Jesús tocó a este hombre intocable.  En los ojos de Dios, en los ojos de Jesús, nadie es intocable, nadie es impuro, nadie es sucio. El amor de Dios y la compasión de Dios quieren tocarnos y sanarnos como Jesús tocó al leproso.

      El valor de este leproso es un ejemplo para nosotros. El rompe las leyes judías que declaraban que él era intocable y en los margines de la sociedad.  El creía en el poder de Jesucristo.  En sus palabras humildes, él le dijo: “Si quieres, Jesús, tu puedes limpiarme.”  El leproso quiere ser limpio – quiere entrar y integrar en la sociedad, en la comunidad, en el culto de la religión.  Y con esta curación, terminó su exilio. 

      ¿Cómo somos nosotros separados de la misericordia y el amor de Jesucristo en nuestro mundo?  ¿Estamos ocupados con la limpieza de nuestro exterior y no importa la limpieza de nuestro corazón?  ¿Tenemos la voluntad para arrodillarnos a Jesús en nuestra humanidad, en nuestra humildad, en nuestra debilidades?  Termino esta homilia con las palabras de Thomas Merton, monje trapista  de los Estados Unidos. El murió en el año 1968.  El sentido de esta oración es pertinente del camino de fe del leproso en el Evangelio de hoy y de nuestro camino de fe también.  

Dios, Señor Mío, no tengo idea de adónde voy.

No veo el camino delante de mí.

No puedo saber con certeza dónde terminará.

Tampoco me conozco realmente, y el hecho de pensar que estoy siguiendo tu voluntad no significa que en realidad lo esté haciendo.

Pero creo que el deseo de agradarte, de hecho te agrada.

Y espero tener ese deseo en todo lo que haga.

Espero que nunca haga algo apartado de ese deseo.

Y sé que si hago esto me llevarás por el camino correcto, aunque yo no me de cuenta de ello.

Por lo tanto, confiaré en ti aunque parezca estar perdido a la sombra de la muerte.

No tendré temor porque estás siempre conmigo, y nunca dejarás que enfrente solo mis peligros.

Amén

Back from a week of vacation

For the first time since the summer of 2009, I was able to get back to southern California to visit my sisters Kimberley and Heather.  Heather still lives in Orange County, the place where I lived during my teen years.  Kimberley was out there for work, from her home in metro Boston.  It was good seeing them, my uncle, and some old friends.  I will resume my blog posts, which is very timely with Lent approaching this week. 

Book Review - The Lore of the Camino de Santiago by Jean Mitchell-Lanham

In 2002, while studying in Chile and Argentina with a group of teacher, I got to meet a very wonderful couple from Maine, two Spanish teachers named Rick Thompson and Pam Davis.  They had spent a lot of time in Spain and they encouraged me to walk the Camino of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, a medieval pilgrimage that was quickly becoming popular in our modern world.  With my friend Nancy Sowa, who I met in the Peace Corps, I hiked the Camino in the summer of 2003, a wonderful experience that help me discern my call to the priesthood.  Little did I know, that this would not be the end of of the story.  I saw the pilgrimage as a one time thing.  Little did I know, that fast forward to 2018, that I have know hiked the Camino five different time, highly anticipating the time when I can get back there again. 
       The Camino world of pilgrims is a small, small world.  My friends John and Arlene out in California, whom I met when I worked as an accountant in North Carolina, sent me a book written by their neighbor, Jean-Mitchell-Lanham, entitled The Lore of the Camino de Santiago: A Literary Pilgrimage.  I have read a lot of books about the Camino, but this one was quite unique and very interesting.  It addresses the literature and fables and folklore directly related to the Camino and taking place in along the Camino route.  For example, the Camino goes through the city of Pamplona, which is closely linked to the life and works of Ernest Hemingway.   In fact, Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises made Pamplona and its bullfighting culture well-known throughout the world.  Many fables and legends that tell stories about the Camino, such as the miracle of the rooster and Santo Domingo de Calzada.  This book brought back many memories of the Camino and I enjoyed it tremendously.  It is very hard to put into words what the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela means to me, but it has touched my heart in more ways than I can explain.  I love reading books about the Camino, as it helps me feel connected to an experience that means so much to me.  

4 de febrero de 2018 – Marcos 1, 29 – 39 – Quinto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

      La semana pasada, escuchamos la narración sobre Jesús en la sinagoga de Cafarnaúm, enseñando con autoridad y curando un hombre con un demonio.  Después de esta visita en la sinagoga, Jesús se fue a la casa de Simón y Andrés, donde Jesús encontró a la suegra de Simón.  Después de su encuentro con Jesús, quitó la fiebre de esta mujer.  La curación de los enfermos por la parte de Jesús es un signo muy importante de su proclamación del reino de Dios. 

         Nosotros podemos entender la importancia de curación de las enfermedades en nuestra vida.  Hay enfermedades físicas, pero también hay enfermedades emocionales, morales y espirituales.  Necesitamos curación en todas de estos niveles de nuestra vida.  Pero, las enfermedades y la muerte son aspectos esenciales de nuestra vida, de nuestra identidad como seres humanos.  En mi papel como sacerdote, yo visito mucho los enfermos y los ancianos de nuestra parroquia.  Las curaciones de los enfermos que escuchamos en los evangelios significan en nuestra fe cristiana que Dios tiene misericordia y ternura para nosotros cuando estamos enfermos, cuando estamos sufriendo.  Jesús está con nosotros para decir que las tinieblas, las sombras, y los dolores de nuestra vida tienen significado.  La llamada cristiana dice que necesitamos acercarnos a la cruz de Jesucristo, pero al otro lado de sus sufrimientos, hay su resurrección, hay la vida nueva que tenemos en El.  Porque estamos cerca del Tiempo de Cuaresma, cuando caminamos con Jesús a su viaje a la cruz, este mensaje en el Evangelio de hoy habla con claridad para nosotros. 

         Jesús se acerca a la suegra de Simón, una mujer enferma, en su curación de su enfermedad, en este signo del reino de Dios que está con nosotros.  Jesús se acerca a todas las personas que sufren, que abren sus corazones a su cruz y sus sufrimientos.  Necesitamos darnos cuenta que Jesucristo estaba presente en Israel en la encarnación cuando vivía aquí en la tierra, pero todavía Jesús vive con nosotros – él vive en nosotros. Como sus seguidores, tenemos confianza en Cristo, en su mensaje, en su camino, en su presencia con nosotros, en su proclamación del reino de Dios.  

     Voy a terminar la homilia con una oración de Santa Teresa de Ávila.  Oremos: 

Dios no tiene cuerpo en la tierra sino el tuyo.

No tiene manos sino las tuyas.

No tiene pies sino los tuyos.

Tuyos son los ojos con los que la compasión de Dios mira al mundo.

Tuyos son los pies con los que Él camina para ir haciendo el bien.

Tuyas son las manos con las que ahora tiene que bendecirnos. Amen.