Homily for Wednesday, 8 October 2014– Ferial

Wednesday of the 27th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14; Psalm 117:1bc, 2; Luke 11:1-4

We hear at some length from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians today how St. Paul began his ministry as an Apostle of Christ. First, he preached to Gentiles, but only “to those of repute.” When he had gained the confidence of “James and Cephas” (Peter) “and John,” the three most trusted of Jesus’ first Apostles, St. Paul expanded his ministry to non-Jews. But what is at the core of St. Paul’s message for his own time and for us? Who is to be the main focus of our bringing Christ into our world; the same people as were the main focus for St. Paul in his time?

The question in Paul’s letter to the Galatians of how readily the Christian faith should be handed on to the Gentiles is secondary. St. Paul identifies the primary focus of his ministry when he says, “Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.” Is this not also a beautiful, if challenging, invitation to us, too: “Be mindful of the poor”? Again I say that we do not need to look far to find the poor; the homeless; the unemployed. And right here among us are our sisters and brothers who have lost loved ones. Do we perhaps know people; families who are estranged from the Church; estranged within themselves? These are our poor today. These are the people to whom St. Paul invites us to reach out and with whom to identify; to empathize.

This week, I read an article in the British newspaper The Guardian on the immediate reaction of Pope Francis to his election as pope. As the two-thirds majority of votes to become pope was surpassed, Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil embraced then-Cardinal Bergoglio (who took the name Francis) and said to him, “Don’t forget about the poor.”

At my ordination to the priesthood in May, I was greeted by Fr. Frank Amico, my Basilian superior from Cali, Colombia where I taught on two occasions while I was a seminarian. Fr. Amico said to me, “Remember the poor.” It is a message that I have taken to heart.

“Only, we were to be mindful of the poor,” St. Paul says to the Galatians. To all the baptized in Christ; to every one of us; to priests; to the pope, this invitation; this challenge still rings out in our time: “Be mindful of the poor… Don’t forget about the poor… Remember the poor.”

The poor are to be the focus of our service; our ministry as Christians, the people we are asked to be most eager to serve; to lift up; to welcome as sisters and brothers in Christ. How might we take up the invitation; the challenge of St. Paul; of Cardinal Hummes; of Pope Francis; of my brother Basilian, Fr. Frank Amico? They all echo this message, from the Letter to the Galatians to our own time: “Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.”

Homily for Thursday, 10 July 2014– Ferial

Thursday of the 14th week in Ordinary Time 

Readings of the day: Hosea 11:1-4, 8e-9; Psalm 80:2ac, 3b, 15-16; Matthew 10:7-15

Has there ever been a time when any of us have felt vulnerable; uncomfortable with a task or ministry with which we have been entrusted?

This past weekend, I was invited to preach at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church here in Rochester in support of our Basilian Mission apostolates in Colombia and Mexico. (This was not a task that made me feel vulnerable or uncomfortable; in fact I was grateful for the opportunity to preach for my Congregation’s missions.)

But preaching for the Basilian Missions gave me an opportunity to reflect on my time and ministry as a Basilian in Cali, Colombia. Shortly after arriving in Cali for my first Basilian appointment, as a new and somewhat naïve postulant of our order, I was walking with the superior of our local community in Cali. At that point, I did not speak Spanish, and postulants in Cali were instructed always to leave the house in pairs because of security concerns in Cali. At one point, as I was apprehensively keeping close to our superior’s side, he asked me, “Are you nervous”? I had to admit that I was nervous, not speaking the local language and having heard of the frequency of violence and theft in the part of Cali in which Basilians serve. This was a point very early in my Basilian ministry at which I felt especially vulnerable; out of my depth.

Can we not imagine the apostles whom Jesus sends out in today’s Gospel feeling similarly vulnerable? They are sent out on their mission to proclaim that “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” with the bare minimum of personal belongings. Jesus instructs them not to take along money; “no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or a walking stick.” They are to depend on the generosity of those whom they serve; into whose houses they enter.

I wonder if, today, Jesus’ instructions of what not to take along might be a smart phone or other electronic devices, extra money, fancy clothing, a second or third automobile… None of these things are in and of themselves bad, but they are things that may distract us from the core of our mission to proclaim the “Kingdom of heaven” that is “at hand.”

What are the material goods or personal comforts without which we feel vulnerable? What would inhibit us from entering the houses; the spaces of those in need of God’s presence to proclaim peace and the imminent kingdom of God to these people? We are invited not necessarily to proclaim a peace that we feel intimately at all times; not to proclaim a peace that comes from ourselves but ultimately comes from God. Do we have the courage and trust in God to proclaim God’s peace to those whom we minister‒ peace be to this house; to this person‒ especially in times when we feel most vulnerable; most like the apostles Jesus once sent out to proclaim to the world: “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”?

Homily for Sunday, 6 July 2014

14th Sunday in Ordinary TimeReadings of the day: Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30

This homily was given at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Rochester, NY, for the Basilian Fathers Missions Appeal.

If each of us were to put into words a personal mission statement, what would that mission statement be? In our readings today, we hear mission statements of prominent figures in our Scriptures. The prophet Zechariah, speaking to a nation of Israel that cannot seem to get out from under foreign rule, curiously crafts his mission statement around the theme of “dominion”; not of course the dominion of foreign nations over Israel but the peaceful, humble, and benevolent dominion of God.

Zechariah says that God’s “dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Zechariah’s mission statement has long been one of my favorite verses in Scripture. Since I am originally from Canada, I recognize this verse immediately in Canada’s motto; a kind of mission statement of my native country: “A mari usque ad mare” in Latin, meaning “From sea to sea.”

God’s “dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” God gives to Zechariah and to all of us in baptism a mission to extend God’s dominion; to extend God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth.” In our own time, our Church more and more explicitly understands herself as “a pilgrim Church” that “is missionary by its very nature.”[1]

This mission to cooperate with God to extend God’s “dominion… to the ends of the earth” is a mission that is outgoing as it is humble. Zechariah prophesies that God, Israel’s and our savior, will establish dominion, not with the trappings of the rich and powerful but with justice and meekness; “riding on an ass on a colt, the foal of an ass.” If we are to be co-workers with God in the establishment of this universal dominion, we are called to this same kind of outgoing yet humble mission as that of our God.

And yet, while mission in the Catholic sense involves an outgoing yet humble movement, it also includes a complementary and equally humble movement that draws inward toward its source. Who is the source of all Christian mission but Jesus Christ? Jesus invites us in our Gospel reading today, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”

“Come to” Christ; “learn from” Christ. Who among us would instinctively see this as a mission statement? I think that many if not most of us would identify Christian mission with going out to a community of people, perhaps a distant country and a foreign culture, to bring our faith to them and maybe to do humanitarian work. This outgoing aspect of mission is at best only half of what Christian mission is. Outgoing Christian mission is nothing without also its drawing inward toward its source, Jesus Christ, who invites us, “Come to me… Learn from me.”

Very early in my time with my religious community, the Basilian Fathers, I learned that Christian mission consists of these two movements. Christian mission is both outward and inward. It brings God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth” but also must draw inward toward the source of mission; the source of all strength for ministry, Jesus Christ.

My very first assignment as a Basilian postulant was to Cali, Colombia, to teach French and English in our community’s high school there while learning Spanish. I naïvely thought then that my greatest challenges in Colombia would be to learn a new language, Spanish, and to teach in a classroom for the first time. I had a good sense of the outgoing movement of mission: Go and teach; be mindful of the poor; perhaps learn some Spanish. However, I had much to learn about the inward movement of Christian mission when I first went to Colombia. I would learn quickly that a good teacher is first a good learner. A good learner is a person who prays; for whom attentiveness to prayer is essential, otherwise the Christian missionary becomes tired and frustrated both spiritually and physically. A person who prays well is a good listener, to the people to whom one ministers; to members of one’s own religious community; to God. A good listener is a more effective missionary who responds best to needs of the people in the mission field. The Christian missionary is sent to bring God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth” while at the same time being called to turn toward Christ who invites us, “Come to me… Learn from me.”

After twice serving as a French and English teacher in Cali, I have been taught far more about ministry; about the richness our Catholic faith into which I was baptized as an infant; about ministry; about Christian mission than I ever could teach the people in the community we Basilians serve in Cali. I have also been privileged to visit our Basilian communities in Tehuacán, Mexico and Medellín and Bogotá, Colombia. Each time, when I enter with the spirit of the Christian missionary who will help to bring God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth,” I am taught more about the Christ who invites us, “Come to me… learn from me.” Come to and learn from your Basilian brothers; from the people among whom you have been sent to serve.

But all this speaking on Christian mission; specifically on Basilian missions abroad, may seem quite distant to us here and now at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Rochester. How, then, do we speak of Christian mission in a way that may not seem so distant from us?

I appeal to you today to support the ministry of the Basilian Missions in Mexico and Colombia. I ask for your prayers for Christian missionaries more broadly, many of whom risk their lives by their service. Yes, but I am asking us for more; I am asking and our Church asks us all to be missionaries wherever we are.

Our Church “is missionary by her very nature,” and so let us ask: Who are the people who most need our service; who most need Christ’s presence through our lived example as Christians? Is this person in need poor; unemployed? Do we know a friend, relative, or other loved one who struggles with her or his faith; who needs our patience; our forgiveness; our empathy; our welcome? These are opportunities for us to make an outward movement of Christian mission. This is the kind of outgoing mission that works together with God in bringing God’s “dominion”; God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth.”

And yet let us remember as we seek out and serve those to whom we bring God’s presence; God’s kingdom, that Christian mission is both outward and inward, responding to Christ’s invitation: “Come to me… learn from me.”

What, then, would our Christian mission statement be? Perhaps it is that as Christian disciples through our baptism, we strive both to bring God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth” and to draw inward toward the source of all Christian mission and ministry, to “come to” and to “learn from” Christ even as we bring Christ and the kingdom of God to our communities; to our parish; “to the ends of the earth.”

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[1] Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church (Ad Gentes), 2. http:// www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html. Accessed 4 July 2014.