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 Thursday, 7 May 2015– Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 15:7-21; Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 10; John 15:9-11

Have any of us ever found ourselves at a crossroads in our lives? Perhaps we have experienced the arrival of a loved one or new family member; a child, grandchild, great-grandchild, niece, or nephew. Maybe it was when we were married or a marriage or relationship broke down. Maybe we have experienced the loss of a loved one. Maybe it was a new job, or the loss of a job. Maybe we were faced with one or more important decisions in our lives. Maybe we have experienced severe illness or that of a loved one.

Many events can place us at a crossroads in our lives. In the Acts of the Apostles today, we hear of a point at which the whole Church was at a crossroads. And what placed the Church at this crossroads? It was love that placed the Church at this crossroads; God’s love for us.

A key to the entire Book of Acts is the action of the Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit is the presence of God’s love in our world. The Holy Spirit is continually portrayed as somewhat scary and mischievous, but always for our good. The Holy Spirit, the presence of God’s love in our world, is not held back or contained by the limits we can sometimes place on God; on God’s love.

Very quickly after Jesus’ disciples experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in our world, at the first Pentecost, they realize how unlimited the Holy Spirit; how unlimited God’s love for us is. God’s love is still with the Jewish people, the first to hear God’s Word, but now it has expanded to include the Gentiles as well: People with foreign cultural customs, different religion, different languages, and who ate food the Jews would have considered unclean.

Peter is moved to accept these people as Christians as they confess their belief in Jesus and are baptized. These Gentile Christians receive and act by the Holy Spirit just as the Jews who accepted Jesus as God before them did. Peter asks why these Gentiles should not be accepted into the Christian community, the Church, just as the Jewish Christians had been. After all, God’s love is not limited to Jew or Gentile.

But Peter brings together the first Apostles, the leaders of the early Church, in Jerusalem to discuss this issue of Church expansion to the Gentiles. God’s unlimited love has placed the Church at a crossroads, and so Peter convokes a kind of “council” of Apostles. We can think of many times at which the Church has been at a crossroads, perhaps faced crises, and has called councils of its leaders. We think of Nicaea and Constantinople to discuss the full divinity of the persons of the Trinity in the fourth century; Trent in response to the Reformation; most recently Vatican II.

The small but significant Council of Jerusalem in Acts was a response to God’s love that defies our limits; that is for Jew and Gentile alike. The Church, at its first major crossroads, trusted the Holy Spirit, the presence of God’s love in the world. And Peter’s and the other Apostles’ example invites us to trust in God’s Spirit of limitless love, especially when we are at a crossroads.

Homily for Wednesday, 25 March 2015– Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Readings of the day: Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10; Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38

This homily was given at Bethany House, a shelter for homeless women and children in Rochester, NY, and a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!” This is the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary in our Gospel reading today. And yet has anybody here ever thought about how this greeting is not just to Mary, but to us, too?

Gabriel’s greeting to Mary is unnerving for sure. And then Gabriel follows this greeting by announcing to Mary that she “will conceive a child”; not just any child but Jesus, the Savior of the world. Luke’s Gospel gives us a detailed sense of how Mary felt at this announcement, which we celebrate today as the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. Clearly Mary is afraid: “How can this be?” she asks Gabriel. But we know that Mary’s fear does not stop her from saying her famous “Yes” to God: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

One of my favorite hymns, heard more often during Advent, sets the scene of the Annunciation: “The angel Gabriel from heaven came, his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame. ‘All hail,’ said he, ‘O lowly maiden Mary. Most highly favored lady! Gloria’”! The way this hymn describes the scene of the Annunciation, it is a fearful scene indeed.

How would we respond to Gabriel’s greeting and announcement if we were in Mary’s place? Would we echo her “Yes” to God: “May it be done to me according to your word”? Or would we be more like King Ahaz in our first reading, from Isaiah, who refuses the Lord’s will for him and for Israel? “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Ahaz turns away from the Lord’s greeting that is very similar to Gabriel’s message to Mary: “God is with us.”

Do we sense and trust in God’s presence “with us,” especially in crisis situations? How many of us, here at Bethany House, have faced poverty; faced, as Mary did, an unplanned pregnancy; faced homelessness and unemployment or underemployment? And if we have not been among the poor, the homeless, the unemployed and underemployed, or those faced with bringing a child into our world in these circumstances, have we ever taken time to care for people who have; to minister to and with them?

Even (perhaps especially) through crisis situations or in our ministry with those experiencing crisis, God still greets us: “Hail, full of grace”! Will we echo Mary’s “Yes” to a God who saves us; is “with us”; lifts us up; upholds our dignity; makes us “full of grace” even in our most difficult situations? “Behold… Let it be done to me according to your word.”