Book Review - Take This Bread - By Sarah Miles

     I found this book very interesting. It is about a personal journey: of where the author found God, of where she found faith, of where she found community, of where she found a place to serve. Our journeys are very personal. I have worked full time as a missionary, including two years at a soup kitchen and food bank and three years in a remote jungle in South America. I am now an ordained clergy person myself, having served in such a role for 12 years now. I currently work in administration and in parish ministry. There were times in my life, too, when I hungered. At times I did not have enough food to eat and lost a great deal of weight. At other times I was sick with a string of illnesses: tropical fevers, malaria, Dengue fever, pneumonia, dysentery. So sick my body had a hard time recovering. There are times when I hungered for justice and meaning. The author's journey and my journey have similarities but big differences as well.  I could relate to the way that the author found God in feeding the hungry.  While I find God as a Catholic priest, rooted in the liturgy and the Mass, serving as a pastor and an administrator for the Diocese.  The author, Sarah Miles, entered the Episcopal Church as an adult after not having been very active in the Church.  While she was looking for a Church that pushed to the fringes of traditional practice and liturgy, I am drawn to the traditions and the history of the Church and want to be a part of that tradition and history.  All in all, I am thankful to the author for sharing her journey with us.  I am glad I read this book.  

3 June 2020 - Wednesday of the 9th week in Ordinary Time - 2 Timothy 1:1-3, Mark 12:18-27

    I love the gratitude and thanksgiving that Paul expresses near the beginning of his second letter to Timothy, as he writes: “I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.” It is easy to think about the things that are wrong in our lives and wrong in the world.  Yet, in the midst of all the challenges and struggles in the world today, we have a lot for which we can be grateful. 

St Ignatius of Loyola thought that being grateful and counting our blessings was foundational to our life of faith as disciples of Christ. In his examen reviewing his day, he always gave thanks for the way God was present to him in his day.  Yesterday, in our diocesan finance counsel meeting, I gave thanks for Bishop Kopacz and all the members of our finance council who are working hard to help our Diocese be on a firm financial footing.  It is not easy balancing the finances of our Diocese, but all of these men and women are dedicated to helping us in this way. 

      Paul also tells Timothy to stir into flame the gift of God that has been given to him, to embrace the powers of love and self-control. It is not easy sometimes using our God-given gifts, is it?  Last weekend, we celebrated Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit in our lives of faith. A flame is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is only through the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we can truly stir into flame these gifts that God has given us. 

       Timothy is lucky to have someone like Paul in his life, leading him and guiding him in his life of faith. Like Timothy, we need a community of faith as well to help us and support us and guide us.  Our reading from Mark’s Gospel today tells us that our God is a God of the living.  May we feel the God of life breathing new life in us today.  

7 June 2020 - Homily for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Cycle A - 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, John 3:16-18

      Today, the first weekend after the end of the Easter season, we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  The Doctrine of the Trinity was enunciated in the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in the fourth century, one of the fundamental doctrines of Catholicism and the greatest mystery of our faith, namely, that there are three divine persons sharing the same Divine nature in one God. Many of the Church Fathers wrote in defense of the Trinity, most notably Tertullian of Carthage from the 3rd century, St Athanasius of Alexandria from the 4th century, and St Augustine of Hippo from the 4th and 5th century.  We took an entire course on the Trinity in seminary, a course that was called The Mystery of God.  

        A story has been passed down from the Council of Nicaea that states that St Spyridon from Cyprus was asked how three can simultaneously be one.  He responded by taking a brick and squeezing it.  The clay softened in his hands, a flame flared out of the brick and water flowed out of it.  Spyridon proclaimed: “As there is fire and water in this brick in the same way there are three persons in the one Godhead.”

       I love the reading from St Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians that we hear from today. This letter ends with the conclusion of that letter which you commonly hear from the priest at the beginning of mass: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” In that reading, Paul also tells us to mind our ways, to encourage one another, and to live in peace, so that the peace and love of God be with us. So, although there was a lot of discussion and development regarding God as a Trinity of persons in the Early Church, we hear from Paul a profession the Trinity, which he uses to bless the Christian community of Corinth. 

        Probably the most famous profession of our Christian faith is found in our Gospel reading today, from the third chapter of John.  This profession comes in John’s Gospel right after Jesus’ visit from Nicodemus, a Pharisee who comes in the darkness of night to learn from him and to ask questions.  We profess our faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We profess that faith in the Creed each Sunday at Mass.  But, the community of persons in the Triune God is more than a doctrine we profess: it is a reality that we are called to live out each day in our life of discipleship. 

     The Episcopal Conference of Latin American Bishops was formed in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The fifth conference of the Latin American Bishops was held in the country of Brazil in the basilica of our Lady of Aparecida in 2007.  In a document entitled DISCIPLES AND MISSIONARIES, the Bishops proclaimed the following: “The church is called to a deep and profound rethinking of its mission … confirming, renewing, and revitalizing the newness of the Gospel rooted in our history.”  I love the title of this document, because the Bishops are implying that one cannot be a disciple of Christ if one is not missionary in spirit.  The final version of that document was written by a committee headed by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires at the time, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who the world now knows as Pope Francis.  Out of our relationship with the Triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are called to profess our faith as disciples of Christ as proclaimed in the Gospel of John today.  And as disciples of Christ, in the spirit of the apostles of the Early Church and the apostles, we are called to bring the Gospel message to the world.  As we reflect on the Most Holy Trinity today, let us remember that each time that we make the sign of the cross, we affirm our commitment to live in loving relationship with our Triune God and with our each other. As we receive the blessing of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we are called and empowered to a relationship with one another and to an exchange of love with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

2 June 2020 - Tuesday of the 9th week in Ordinary Time - 2 Peter 3:12-15a and 17-18

     We have now left the Easter season and we are back to the liturgical color of green for ordinary time. In our first reading today, we hear from the second letter of Peter, which encourages us to believe the ancient Christian expectation that Jesus would soon come again and set the world in order, establishing a new heaven and new earth. Other voices had been telling the early Christians that this wasn’t going to happen, that they were deluded and misled. Perhaps we Christians in the modern world do not think much about the second coming, but in the Creed that we profess each Sunday at Mass, we state that we believe that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”

      We say these things in our profession of faith, but do we pay attention to the words and their meaning?  In our faith, we believe that Christ will return and transform our world and beyond to the cosmos, with all of creation made new. Until that day when Christ comes again in glory, we are called to live out the values of God’s kingdom here on earth.  

      There is a lot going on in the world today.  A pandemic is taking many lives, more than 100,000 dead in the US alone.  Our economy is being threatened and a lot of people have their economic livelihood threatened.  Protests are sweeping the nation.  A lot of people are in pain, anger, and confusion about a lot of things.  There does not seem to be a lot of dialogue and coming together.  

        How do we make sense of God’s kingdom in this reality?  What are we called to do?  What do we think?  I don’t think there are a lot of clear cut answers right now.  Let us pray for wisdom, courage and strength right now, for all of us and especially our leaders.  

Diocesan Finance Council - Closing Prayer - 2 June 2020

Lord of day and night, Lord of beginnings and endings, as we prepare to conclude this meeting, we once again lift up our hearts to you who are the divine source of all life.
We thank you for the gifts that have been present within this act of service to the community.
For the gifts of fellowship and understanding, of mutual respect, shared vision, and perseverance, we give thanks. 
We ask that you continue to give us insight into the common concerns we share.
As you have blessed our coming together, we ask that you now bless our departure and journeys homeward.
May Your blessing be upon us, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Diocesan Finance Council - opening prayer for meeting - 2 June 2020

Lord God of holiness and mercy,

You have called us to be the servants to your Church and to your people.

As we meet today as the finance council of the Diocese of Jackson, we ask for the grace of your guidance.

May the true needs of our Diocese and the common good of all be our concern.

May your will become our will.

As we meet in these challenging difficult times, we ask for your blessings for the spiritual and financial well-being of our diocese. 

May the Holy Spirit who inspired the Pentecost meeting of the apostles visit us and grant us the light of divine wisdom, leading us and guiding us in our meeting today.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  AMEN.  

Bulletin Reflection - 7 June 2020 - celebration of the Most Holy Trinity

      It was wonderful being back to Mass publicly last weekend as we celebrated Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We closed the Easter season with Pentecost last weekend, which means that this weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. As being one of the principal ministries of our faith, the Trinity is something we profess often, but to me, it is a concept that often is hard for us to understand in our human understanding of things, for we will never fully understand the complexity and mystery of God.  As God is a community of persons, perhaps we can appreciate that community in a more profound way through this pandemic we have been going through.  No, we have not have been able to celebrate public Masses since the middle of March, but we as a Church have still been active and have still found ways to live out our faith.  Like the missionaries throughout the centuries and the like the members of the Early Church, we are called to find creative way to preach the Gospel and to live out our faith.  As we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity this weekend, I would like to share with you this prayer to the Holy Trinity: 

The Father is my hope. The Son is my refuge. The Holy Spirit is my protector. Glory to the holy and undivided Trinity, now and forever. Let us praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Let us bless and exalt God above all forever. Almighty and everlasting God, to whom we owe the grace of professing the true faith, grant that while acknowledging the glory of the eternal Trinity and adoring its unity, we may through your majestic power be confirmed in this faith and defended against all adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.