Homily for Wednesday, 22 April 2015– Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 8:1b-8; Psalm 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a; John 6:35-40

Has anybody ever experienced somebody who is joyful, even when this person is experiencing great suffering or distress?

Ever since my first time serving as a Basilian in Cali, Colombia, seven years ago, the Easter season has brought to my mind many experiences there of people who showed great joy amid the suffering and distress of deep poverty. My first Palm Sunday in Colombia was especially moving. We Basilians were carrying bundles of palm branches we had cut through the poorest neighborhood of the parish we serve in Cali. Along the way, children left their shelters (often made of scrap metal or even cardboard) three; four; five; six at a time to embrace us and greet us with bright smiles. These children showed so much joy and gratitude for the service of the Basilians in their neighbourhood; their parish. This remains one of my most moving moments of my life as a Basilian: Great joy amid such great distress; suffering; poverty!

I see similar joy amid suffering and distress when I minister with the poor in our own inner city of Rochester: House of Mercy, Bethany House with the Sisters of St. Joseph… On Easter Sunday at Sanctuary Village, a tent city relocated to a loading dock, over one hundred fifty people, most homeless, joined us in worship with lively song to greet our risen Lord. How beautiful, this joy amid homelessness; poverty; hunger! I also see this joy amid suffering when I visit the sick in hospitals and homes; when I anoint the sick with blessed oil.

This joy amid suffering; distress; persecution is the experience of the people in our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles. The persecution led by Saul (who would later be converted and become the great St. Paul) had “scattered” all but the Apostles “throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.” Facing persecution, the Apostles do not give up their ministry. We hear in Acts especially of the ministry of the Apostle Philip: Preaching, healing the sick and those with “unclean spirits.” And we hear of how the people responded to Philip’s ministry in Samaria: “There was great joy in that city.”

The people of Samaria recognized the presence of Christ risen in the Apostles, even amid great suffering; distress; persecution. They recognized and hoped in the presence of the Lord who says in John’s Gospel to us today: “I am the bread of life… This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” They recognized and hoped in the signs of eternal life that were already with them in the Apostles’ loving service. Our Psalm response today was the song of these people, even amid their suffering: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy”!

And the risen Christ invites us to make this song our own, by serving especially amid those who suffer; who are sick; dying; homeless; displaced; persecuted. Many of us know already, I am confident, how, when we serve with joy, we receive joy, even from people who suffer; people in distress; people whose only gift (but what a gift!) to us is joy.

Homily for Sunday, 15 March 2015

4th Sunday in Lent

Readings of the day: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23; Psalm 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21

“For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Are these not some of the most beautiful and memorable words in our entire Bible? What a testament to God’s mercy: “He gave us his only Son.” God has given us “eternal life”! How frequently have we heard or seen references to these words, from John 3:16, in our popular culture? Those of us who enjoy watching sports like I do have probably seen references to John 3:16 often at sporting events. Is this not so much a part of our culture that we see “John 3:16,” or simply “3:16,” and many if not most of us know exactly what this means? What makes this verse so memorable; so influential even in our culture that is far from uniformly Christian, let alone religious?

“3:16”… This verse from John’s Gospel speaks to us of profound joy. What or who is the source of our joy? Our joy is deeper than our favorite football team scoring a last-minute winning touchdown; fans displaying “3:16” on banners while the victorious players show “3:16” outlined in their eye black.

“For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” This is the source of our great joy. That “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son,” Jesus Christ, is the most profound act of God’s mercy our world has ever known and will ever know.

But that God has given us “his only Son” to live as one of us, to die for us, to rise and to ascend to heaven for us, one day to return in glory for us, and to be with us now in the sacrament of the Eucharist, is not a surprise to us. God’s gift to us of Jesus Christ is the high point of God’s ongoing work of mercy toward us from the first moment of creation until now. We celebrate and rejoice in this mercy of God. And our joy in God’s mercy toward us is at the heart of another Biblical verse, perhaps less famous than John 3:16 but still beautiful, with which I greeted us at the beginning of this Eucharistic celebration. Our Entrance Antiphon from the prophet Isaiah is this: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her! Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast”! “Laetare Jerusalem,” this verse begins in Latin. And so we call this Laetare Sunday; Lent’s “Rejoice” Sunday. We wear rose (not pink!), the color of joy, on this Laetare Sunday. And yet why do we rejoice? Why “laetare”?

3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son.” And this is only the high point of God’s mercy, which has been with us since the beginning; by which we exist; by which we have pardon for our sins; by which we are able to pardon one another for their sins against us; by which we “have eternal life.” Let us rejoice in God’s mercy!

Are we somehow worthy of God’s love; God’s mercy? Of course not! Our readings today are clear on this. “The light,” Jesus, “came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil,” John’s Gospel says. Many today continue to prefer “darkness to light”; continue to do “evil.”  Our world knows the evils of extremism; of persecution of people because of their faith by groups like ISIS; Boko Haram in Nigeria; Al Qaeda. Our world and our nation know assaults against human dignity and the human right to life from conception to natural death. We know, right here in our city and parish, poverty and hunger. Subtler still but nonetheless damaging, we know political partisanship; gossip; division and breakdown of friendships; of families. And yet, in the face of all this, God’s mercy is still present; still greater than any human evil. 

The second Book of Chronicles recounts how the people, from “the princes of Judah” to “the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity.” Yet even this did not stop God’s mercy. Yes, the people of Old Testament Israel, who had been unfaithful to God and unjust among themselves, suffered exile for their sins. But even this seventy-year exile in Babylon is seen as evidence of God’s mercy; a time to allow the land to rest while the people did penance. 2 Chronicles speaks of a time when God’s people did evil, but when God’s mercy proved greater than any and all human evil. The same could be said of our time: God’s mercy is still present; still greater than any human evil. 

And so let us rejoice in God’s mercy and not grow discouraged. Many of us (rightly, I think) lament the evil in our world. I hear somewhat constantly, here at St. Kateri and beyond: “Father, there is so much evil; so much violence; so much persecution in our world. What are we to do about it”? I believe that just to ask these kinds of questions, to pray over them, is itself a mark on us of God’s mercy. This compassion is evidence of people who live “in the light.” All of us who share in this way in the passion and death of Christ; who suffer because our fellow human beings suffer and who have genuine mercy for them: I am confident that you will also share in the resurrection of Christ in a special way. 

Rejoice in God’s mercy! Rejoice, all of us who live God’s mercy as well as we are able! “For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son.” God so loves our world that is so far from perfect; so in need of God’s mercy, today perhaps more than ever. And we are the presence of God in our world. We are God’s mercy in action, called to live God’s mercy with joy in our world. 

To anybody has ever despaired of God’s mercy, I ask: How well do we hear and believe in the words of the Letter to the Ephesians; of our second reading today: “God… is rich in mercy”? God is merciful, not because of our own “works”; our own merits but purely by God’s gift to us. “Even when we were dead in our transgressions,” God “brought us to life with Christ… raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus.” These are remarkable words; confident words from Ephesians.

May we never despair of God’s mercy! May we seek God’s mercy in one another; in prayer; in our Church; through our Eucharist; in Reconciliation; in the Anointing of the Sick and our Church’s other sacraments; through our celebration of Lent. Let our poverty; our sin meet and be conquered by God’s love; God’s rich mercy. May we live God’s mercy; rejoice in God’s mercy! Why rejoice in God’s mercy, even as we live by it? 

3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” God’s mercy is our cause for rejoicing; our cause for this Laetare Sunday; “Rejoice” Sunday. By God’s mercy we have the gift; the presence of Jesus Christ here in this celebration; here in our world. And so we bear Christ to our world with confidence. We reflect God’s mercy in living our Christian faith. By God’s rich mercy, in and through Christ, we “have eternal life.” This is why we rejoice.

Homily for Tuesday, 9 December 2014– Ferial

Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Advent

Readings of the day: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 96:1-2, 3, 10ac, 11-12, 13; Matthew 18:12-14

Comfort: What is it? What is the comfort that God offers us through the prophet Isaiah in our first reading and through Jesus in our Gospel reading today from Matthew?

Ordinarily do we not think of comfort as having somewhat more than the minimal essentials: shelter, water, food, a clean environment, tolerable weather, and good health? We have phrases like “comfort food,” which describes foods we enjoy from time to time, but that may affect our health if eaten to excess. In Irondequoit, which I recently read has the most per capita pizza restaurants of any town or city in the United States, there is “comfort food” in abundance!

More than minimal shelter, water, food, cleanliness, good weather, and good health, and even occasional “comfort food,” are good things to have. But these are not the “comfort” of which our readings speak today. They are passing comforts. God’s comfort is everlasting.

And what is God’s greatest source of everlasting comfort for us? Our readings today say that God’s greatest source of everlasting comfort is God’s mercy.

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God,” Isaiah begins. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.” “Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

Through Isaiah, God speaks of the comfort of God’s everlasting mercy. God speaks to a people who had trusted in other nations’ might instead of in God, and so had been driven into exile in Babylon. Now, Isaiah speaks of pardon for the sin of failing to trust in God; in the everlasting and limitless comfort of God’s mercy:  “Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

In Matthew’s Gospel, God’s mercy is to the point of foolishness. What shepherd would mindfully leave ninety-nine sheep behind to search for and to bring home one stray? This is how great God’s mercy is. It is everlasting; it is limitless; it is not bound by our logic.

Today’s readings call us to trust in God’s mercy more and more deeply. As Pope Francis has repeated, “God never tires of forgiving us,” as long as we never tire “of asking God for forgiveness”; of trusting in God’s mercy. There are many channels of God’s mercy, especially our Church’s sacraments of reconciliation, the Eucharist, and the anointing of the sick. Each of us, should we choose to be, is a channel of God’s mercy; of God’s everlasting comfort in our world. Let us all go out and find at least one person in need of comfort; in need of God’s mercy, and be the presence of God’s mercy to that person this Advent.

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.” Comfort: May this be our gift to the world. The comfort we offer is not a passing good, like having more than minimal essentials or the occasional “comfort food.” No, we are invited to offer our world God’s comfort. Our gift is to be the presence of God’s everlasting mercy by our words and our works toward one another and to our world.

Homily for Saturday, 29 November 2014– Ferial

Saturday of the 34th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Revelation 22:1-7; Psalm 95:1-2, 3-5, 6-7ab (R: see Revelation 22:20c); Luke 21:34-36

“Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!” This Aramaic then English response to our Psalm is not actually from the Psalms. It is the next-to-last verse of the Book of Revelation, following what we have heard today, also from Revelation, in our first reading. Clearly these are words of anticipation of the Lord’s return in glory. Would this response, “Marana tha, Come, Lord Jesus,” not fit best with our season of Advent, which we begin this evening?

Why do we have this anticipation of Advent? Why this prayer, “Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus”? It is a very ancient Christian prayer, going back to the earliest Church. It is a prayer for the end times; for Jesus to return in glory. It was originally a plea to Jesus in a time of crisis and persecution of the first Christians. How might we make this our prayer; how might “Marana tha! Come Lord Jesus” become more real to us in our social context, as Christians in 2014?

Would this prayer become more real to us if we were to think of it not only as calling to mind the end times; Jesus’ return in glory (which it does), but also as drawing us back to our beginning; to creation; to our re-creation as daughters and sons of Christ in baptism?

The Book of Revelation, for all its strange imagery, is all about God’s act and our cooperation in this act of re-creation. It is no accident that John’s last vision in Revelation, the river flowing in all directions from the tree of life, “serving as medicine for the nations,” recalls the paradise of the Garden of Eden in Genesis. The river and the tree of life in Revelation are a reversal of sin; of the Fall of Adam and Eve and the confusion of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. They are images of restoration; of re-creation.

When in our lives have we experienced restoration; re-creation; total freedom from the Fall (or, as many call it, Original Sin)? We experience this act of restoration; re-creation; total freedom from sin not first as an end, but as a beginning, in our baptism. We experience this again and again in the other sacraments, especially in our Eucharist, in reconciliation (a kind of “second baptism”), and in the anointing of the sick. We experience this continually as “medicine for” individual souls; “medicine for the nations.” Our lives as Christians are a continual experience of restoration; re-creation; freedom from sin. From our baptism to our death and entry into eternal life; from beginning to end, our lives are a continual experience of “Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!”

Our Scriptures, too, are our continual experience of God among us, from creation to re-creation; from the river and the tree of life in Eden to the river and the tree of life in John’s vision in Revelation; from “in the beginning,” the words in Genesis that introduce God’s creation of the universe, to a new beginning that we anticipate in Jesus’ return in glory. “Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!”