Homily for Wednesday, 28 June 2017‒ Memorial of St. Irenaeus

Wednesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: 2 Timothy 2:22b-26; Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 30-31; John 17:20-26

How might we define glory? Does glory not seem like a somewhat abstract concept? Glory could be what is achieved in military victory or, usually less violently, when we out-argue somebody in a debate. These kinds of concepts of glory are in the background of our readings today on this feast day of St. Irenaeus, second century bishop and martyr. The second letter to Timothy asks us to “avoid foolish and ignorant debates” that only “breed quarrels” and so lead to nobody’s greater glory.

In Jesus’ great “high priestly” prayer from which we hear today in John’s Gospel, our Lord is especially concerned with both God’s and his Apostles’ glory. Jesus prays to God the Father, “I have given them the glory you gave me… I wish that where I am they may also be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me.”

Of what kind of glory is Jesus speaking? Our glory and our giving glory to God depend first and foremost on one thing: Our unity. And so Jesus prays for his Apostles; for us: “That they may be one, as we are one.” How often do we pause to think and to pray over the beauty and the significance of this prayer? What would our unity look like? Perhaps our unity might show itself as greater unity among Christians, or maybe unity would mean a greater striving for the virtues listed in our first reading, from 2 Timothy: “Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace”…

In 2 Timothy, unity that gives glory to God is shown through patience and gentleness, even (or maybe especially) with people in error and sin. “Be gentle with everyone,” 2 Timothy says, “able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness.” In religious communities like the Basilians, we may refer to the kind of gentle, kind, and sometimes tolerant approach to error as “fraternal correction.” Too swift or too harsh, and correction may drive people away, making them less likely to be convinced of their error or even sin. Too permissive or slow an approach to correction may encourage the error. Neither approach forms consciences; neither approach contributes to our glory or to recognizing God’s glory. And is the line between these two false approaches not perhaps finer than we realize?

St. Irenaeus, whom we remember today, is not often remembered as a patient, gentle, or kind corrector of the errors of his day. One of his most famous writings is the Treatise Against Heresies. But Irenaeus did have a gentle, kind, and even tolerant side. Within his Treatise Against Heresies, Irenaeus encourages a cautious approach against heresy as against lesser errors. He says that now “we receive a certain portion of [God’s] Spirit” and are “little by little” made “accustomed to receive and bear God.”

This “little by little” approach resembles that of 2 Timothy and of Jesus himself. Irenaeus also says in Against Heresies that “the glory of God is the human person fully alive.” To become “fully alive”; to be perfected for heaven, takes us a lifetime. If we follow Jesus, 2 Timothy, and St. Irenaeus, it would seem that our journey to being “fully alive”; to meeting the fullness of God’s glory in our unity, is a journey taken “little by little.”

Homily for Monday, 29 June 2015‒ Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 24:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-18

“Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” What do these words, first spoken by Jesus to St. Peter, mean for us today?

We live in a world of many crises, far from and near to us. Within the past week terrorist attacks have taken place in Kuwait, in Tunisia, and in France. Racism still rears its head in these United States. It has been exposed by the killing of nine people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the role the Confederate flag may have as a symbol of racial hatred. We have heard this past weekend of the killing of one escaped convict and the capture of another here in New York State after a long manhunt. And with the recent Supreme Court ruling our country is once again deeply polarized over the meaning of marriage. Many, particularly some in leadership positions in the Church, have offered reasoned and nuanced reflection on this issue. I find this encouraging. But still many have forgotten due charity toward one another, especially those with whom we disagree. Many have forgotten the primacy of human dignity and Jesus’ teachings on love of God and neighbor; are in danger of forgetting Jesus’ words to Peter: “The gates of the netherworld” will not prevail against this community of faith, the Church, that Christ has instituted and safeguarded with its teaching tradition handed on from the Apostles.

“Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Jesus first spoke these words to Peter in a time of crisis. Jesus went with his disciples “into the region of Caesarea Philippi.” Caesarea Philippi was built as a monument to Caesar and his puppet ruler in Israel at the time, Philip the Tetrarch, descendant of Herod. A cave outside of Caesarea Philippi is known as “the gates of the netherworld.” Animals would be thrown into this cave (a kind of magic ritual) by pagan believers to make peace with their gods. If the animal did not emerge from the other end of the cave, it meant the pagan gods were satisfied; Hades was kept at bay.

Jesus says here that these pagan rituals were useless; that our God is not an angry God placated by sacrifice but a God of mercy who sacrifices his Son out of love for us. And we as Church can have confidence in our God of love and the Church Christ has founded.

All the crises of St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s time, even death for their faith; our faith did “not prevail” against this Church. All the crises present and future will “not prevail” against us, either. How deep is our confidence; our trust in these words of Jesus? Jesus invites us to trust; to hold fast to truths handed on from the Apostles; to “run the race” and keep “the faith” as St. Paul did; to confess and live as St. Peter did that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus invites us to go out into our world with confidence: “Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Homily for Sunday, 29 June 2014‒ Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Mass during the Day

Readings of the day: Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19

If we had the choice to place ourselves in today’s readings as either Peter or Paul, who would we be? When I was a catechist of both children and adults at St. Basil’s Church while in seminary in Toronto, I would ask similar questions to this of my catechesis groups: If you were able to be a character in the Biblical passage we just heard, other than God, who would you be?

Who would you want to be or be like, Peter or Paul? For those awaiting my answer to this question, I would want to be a bit of both Peter and Paul. We may interpret my response as either typically Catholic or a convenient excuse to evade the question: “Both-and.”

Both Peter and Paul have qualities as saints and apostles that I admire. And yet both Peter and Paul are in many respects very different from each other.

At the risk of defining either Peter or Paul too narrowly, Peter is often viewed as the free-spirited, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants (or perhaps his tunic, in those days) apostle, Church leader, and missionary. Peter fails and repents often, sometimes spectacularly. Peter follows Christ when it counts; asks the right questions when it counts; gives the correct answer when it counts, even when he does not fully understand the implications of his own words and actions.

Our readings today show Peter in action; constantly open to and trusting in what God reveals to him as the correct action or the correct answer in a particular situation. Can we imagine the independent Peter, now imprisoned by Herod as we hear in our first reading from Acts, “secured by double chains”; James, one of the three most trusted original apostles along with Peter and John, “killed by the sword”? I imagine that this would have been a deeply distressing situation for Peter; a deeply distressing situation for the Church.

God would not allow this distressing situation to persist, and so sends an angel to Peter to free him from prison. Peter may have been independent, but he knew when to trust in God; to depend on God. Three times in our first reading, Peter obeys the orders of God’s angel. “‘Get up quickly’… The chains fell from his wrists… ‘Put on your belt and sandals.’ He did so… ‘Put on your cloak and follow me.’ So he followed [the angel] out” of prison.

Peter could not have planned this escape from prison, but this episode fits the personality of Peter: Fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants but trust God when it counts; be obedient when it counts… Peter exclaims after breaking free from prison: “Now I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me…” These are not the words of someone who had worked out a plan down to every fine detail.

Do we not see the same Peter in our Gospel reading from Matthew? Here, Jesus asks the provocative question: “Who do you say that I am?” How would we have answered this question if we were Peter? Would we have repeated the gossip; the results of the latest opinion poll on who Jesus is: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets”? Or would we have responded as freely and yet with as much trust in God as Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

We cannot plan for when we will be called upon as Christians to be as bold as Peter; as independent as Peter and yet as trusting in God’s revelation as Peter; as blessed as Peter, to whom Jesus gives the responsibility to lead his Church.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” These are not the words of someone who had worked out a planned response down to every fine detail. On the one hand, we hear of the free-spirited and independent Peter. On the other hand, we hear of Paul, the missionary apostle but also more of a planner than Peter.

In the second Letter to Timothy, Paul faces his own mortality serenely. This is part of God’s plan; of Paul’s plan that has worked all along to give glory to God: “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith… The Lord stood by me and gave me strength.”

Again, then, if we had the choice to be Peter or to be Paul; the free-spirit or the planner, who would we be?

Naturally, I am usually more like Paul than like Peter; I am more of a detail-oriented planner. Ideally, I like to prepare for upcoming events; assignments; speaking functions; important liturgies days, weeks, or even months ahead of time. This is not always possible, but I do not work as well under the pressure of an immediate deadline as when I have time to plan. I admire those (when they do not make me envious by exercising a gift that God did not give me) who seem to work best under the pressure of a deadline.

Life as a Basilian has given me a greater appreciation of people who are more like Peter than like Paul (Fr. Morgan!).[1] But I am still naturally more like Paul than like Peter, if I were to choose between these two great apostles.

And yet how many of us would say that our Church needs both people like Peter and people like Paul? Our Church; my religious community includes people more like Peter and people more like Paul, and our church; our communities; our households; our workplaces are enriched because of this.

There are times in which we need to plan ahead like Paul to be most effective, and there are times (in my own experience) in which planning can become like a prison from which we, like Peter, are invited to break free.

The Church is a Church of Peter and Paul. The Church needs both its Peters and its Pauls. And so we celebrate on this solemnity; this feast day two very important early apostles together; two people who were at times very different from each other; two people who responded to God’s revelation in different ways but together worked to build one Church, God’s Church; two saints of the earliest days of the Church; both Peter and Paul.

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[1] Fr. Morgan Rice, CSB, is a priest of the Congregation of St. Basil at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Irondequoit, NY.