Homily for Monday, 29 August 2016‒ Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist

Monday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Jeremiah 1:17-19; Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5-6. 15ab, 17; Mark 6:17-29

This homily was given at Anglin House, Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.

What would have been the response of John the Baptist’s and of Jesus’ disciples to the news of John’s death at the hands of Herod? I imagine John’s and Jesus’ disciples as having been heartbroken and probably afraid. John’s beheading would have been a great blow to the earliest Church, second only in devastation to Jesus’ own death.

Might we not imagine John’s and Jesus’ disciples thinking about abandoning their lives as disciples out of fear; wanting to return to their former livelihoods; wondering whether their own deaths at the hands of the authorities of their time and place were at hand? This was certainly the case for these same disciples after Jesus’ death.  But, had the disciples of John the Baptist and of Jesus fled after John was killed, their story and ours as Christians would have ended there. And even though most of Jesus’ disciples fled after his death, they reassembled, even if in fear at first, to witness to Jesus’ resurrection and to take up the Christian mission with the strength of the Holy Spirit.

These first disciples’ story; our Christian story continues because these first disciples, of John and then of Jesus, did not give into fear. They accepted their own vulnerability, the finiteness of their own earthly lives, their sin and their need for God’s mercy and forgiveness. The disciples’ example is in marked contrast to that of Herod, who would not accept his own vulnerability and finiteness of his rule or his life. He would not accept John’s speaking truth to Herod’s wrongful marriage to his brother’s wife Herodias, beyond a superficial level of liking “to listen to” John. Herod’s lack of acceptance of vulnerability and of truth led him to commit murder.

John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ disciples’ example of acceptance of vulnerability and of their need for God is an invitation to us to follow suit. Our world gives us many reasons to be afraid. Over this summer, while I have taught in Edmonton and so far travelled here to Toronto, I have been asked many times about the response in France to several terrorist attacks: Those in Paris last November; the killing of Fr. Jacques Hamel in July while he was presiding at Mass near Rouen; the Bastille Day attack in Nice… I have been encouraged that many French have not retreated in fear after these attacks; they have back out on the café terraces, living as French people do, within days of these awful events.

This is not to say that the French, nor we nor anybody, are or should be completely without fear. But may we not allow our fear, our vulnerability, even our sin to break us. May what could break us instead be what brings us together and brings us closer to God, after the example of the disciples of John the Baptist and of Jesus, and of John and Jesus themselves.    

Homélie du vendredi, 4 mars 2016– de la férie

vendredi de la 3ième semaine de carême

Lectures du jour: Osée 14:2-10; Psaume 80 (81): 6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14, 17; Marc 12:28b-34

Cette homélie a été donnée lors de la Messe d'ouverture (Messe avec l'équipe) du week-end Retrouvaille à Massabielle, France. Retrouvaille est un programme désigné à aider les couples dans des situations difficiles dans leurs mariages «à guérir et à renouveler leurs mariages».

Premièrement je souhaite la bienvenue d’avance à toutes et à tous que nous accueillerons commençant ce soir, celles et ceux qui assisteront courageusement à ce week-end Retrouvaille. De quoi s’agit-il un week-end Retrouvaille? Je me pose alors cette même question étant assez nouvellement initié au mouvement Retrouvaille. J’y suis impliqué depuis novembre seulement et, bien que je connais des confrères prêtres de ma congrégation religieuse, la Congrégation de Saint Basile, dite Basiliens, et d’autres amis ordonnés ou non associés avec Retrouvaille, mon initiation directe à Retrouvaille fut non dans mon propre pays Canada, mais ici en France.

De quoi donc s’agit-il un week-end Retrouvaille? Bien sûr, nous accompagnerons des couples qui seront ici pour «retrouver», comme implique le nom «Retrouvaille». Nous en connaissons probablement tous des couples  qui cherchent à retrouver ce qui a été perdu dans leurs mariages; dans leurs vies en couple: Le dialogue, la patience, le pardon, la joie, et même l’amour. Nous avons déjà peut-être cherché de nous retrouver au sein de nos propres mariages, en sachant que le mariage n’abolit jamais l’individu, femme et homme crées à l’image de Dieu, mais les rejoint en une chair pour réaliser ensemble un but commun à nous tous: Notre salut. Et puis nous sommes ici en cette Retrouvaille certainement pour s’entraider à retrouver Dieu, auteur de la vocation au mariage; auteur de notre salut.

Mais avant de pouvoir retrouver que ce soient les qualités perdues de nos mariages, nous-mêmes au sein de nos mariages, et même Dieu, nous sommes invités, surtout en ce week-end Retrouvaille et en ce temps de carême, a un approfondissement de notre discernement. Alors que sommes-nous invités à discerner?

Notre Évangile d’aujourd’hui nous donne un indice de ce que nous sommes invités à discerner toujours plus profondément. Selon Saint Marc, Jésus et le scribe qui lui met au défi se retrouvent d’accord à propos du «premier de tous les commandements»: «Le Seigneur notre Dieu est l’unique Seigneur. Tu aimeras le Seigneur ton Dieu de tout ton cœur, de toute ton âme, de tout ton esprit et de toute ta force». Ce premier commandement est lié à un second, puisqu’aimer Dieu est inséparable d’aimer notre prochain. Donc «tu aimeras ton prochain comme toi-même».

«Écoute… tu aimeras». Écouter et aimer: Ce sont les deux verbes les plus importants de notre Évangile; le test décisif de la qualité pratique de notre foi. Mais pour discerner comment nous écoutons et comment nous aimons, surtout dans la vie mariée, ne sommes-nous pas toutes et tous appelés à discerner nos défauts; nos péchés, quand nous n’avons pas écouté et aimé Dieu et notre prochain; notre épouse ou époux, comme Dieu nous demande?

Ce discernement de nos défauts d’écouter et d’aimer est sans doute difficile, même pénible. Ne sommes-nous pas par contre tentés de substituer des idoles à la place de Dieu et de l’amour de Dieu et de notre prochain, même dans le mariage? Le prophète Osée dans notre première lecture parle surtout de l’infidélité et de l’injustice, mais une idole est n’importe ce qui n’est pas de Dieu et ce qui ne nous conduit pas à mieux vivre notre dignité individuellement et en relation les uns avec les autres. Que sont quelques-unes de nos idoles aujourd’hui, surtout dans nos mariages; nos familles? Parmi nos idoles sont peut-être la colère; l’agression passive; le silence; le chantage affectif; l’impatience; la paresse; des commérages; des addictions non-traitées. Nos idoles sont moins souvent l’infidélité ou d’autres actions destructives flagrantes que des «petits maux» cumulatifs.

Un bon discernement, surtout en nos relations familiales, avec responsabilité mais sans honte ou désespoir, nous ouvre à la miséricorde entre nous-mêmes mais, de manière plus importante, de Dieu. Le discernement est alors un premier pas vers la guérison; vers le pardon; vers mieux écouter et mieux aimer; vers la retrouvaille.

Homily for Sunday, 3 May 2015– Fifth Sunday of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8

What does it mean to be connected to something or to somebody? Back in 2001, I went to study in France for the first time. Fourteen years ago, the flip phone was the latest in cellular technology, an increasingly portable way to remain connected. The communications company Nokia ran an English ad in France for its flip phones. At the end of the commercial, a child announced the Nokia slogan proudly in a French accent: “Connecting people”!

Nowadays, what are our ways of “connecting people”? Flip phones have led to smart phones. E-mail has led to Messenger. We have Facebook; Twitter; Linked-In for the more professionally-inclined… Technology has afforded us more ways than ever to be connected to one another. I communicate regularly with my family in Edmonton over Skype, and I am able to “Skype into” faith and Scripture sharing meetings with my brother Basilian priests from as far away as France and Colombia! Social media have become an indispensible tool for ministry, as long as they do not replace physically meeting people we serve.

But with all this electronic technology, is something not still lacking insofar as being connected? Some of us may ask, “What is lacking”? In John’s Gospel today we hear Jesus encourage us to rise to a new standard of being connected. All this technology is good. Actually to meet and speak with other people is better than technology. But Jesus speaks to us about the best way to be connected. What is the best way to be connected both to one another and to God; to Christ?

Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower… I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” What does Jesus mean by all this: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower”? What does it mean to “remain in” Christ and for Christ to “remain in” us? How is Jesus asking us to “bear much fruit”?

We do not need to live on a vineyard to understand well enough what Jesus is saying here. We do not need to leave behind all of our electronic technology that helps us to stay connected to one another in order to gain a better sense of Jesus’ words, although “remain in me and I in” you may sound strange to our ears. No, Jesus speaks to us of how best to live in relationship with one another and with God.

And do we not all understand at least something about relationships? How many of us have a best friend, or a few very good friends? How many of us are married; belong to a religious community; have ever been in love? How many of us have brothers; sisters; parents; extended family whom we love dearly? This past week, speaking of relationships, my parents celebrated their thirty-ninth wedding anniversary. Their relationship of love is a model for me; for my priesthood; for my relationship of love with all of us, the Church, which I try to live out daily.

We understand a lot about relationships already. We are here to celebrate this Eucharist, Jesus Christ really present among and in us. And so we already understand something sacramentally about the greatest of all relationships: Our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our God has given himself to us as a human being, Jesus Christ, one like us in all but sin. Jesus lived among us, died for us, is risen for us, ascended to heaven for us, and now gives himself to us under the form of bread and wine: “This is my body… This is my blood…”

Many of our children here at St. Kateri Parish will receive their first communion; this sacrament of Eucharist for the first time today and over the next few weeks. Children of St. Kateri: Who are you receiving when you receive communion? You receive Jesus Christ. And so you already understand something about relationship with Jesus; with God.

Relationship is like being connected to somebody, but even better. Technology and information help us to stay connected, but being in relationship means something more. Relationship means to love one another. It means to want the best for one another, in the way that God wants the best for us. God wants us to be with him forever. This is why God gave us God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, now still with us in the Eucharist. “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.”

But this “remaining in” relationship with God; Jesus Christ and with one another is hard work. All the technology we have only goes so far. It keeps us connected without necessarily keeping us in relationship. Imagine this: “You have reached Big White Phone Communications Customer Service. For service in English, please press one. For service in Aramaic, please hold the line…”

Relationship, what Jesus asks of us in our Gospel reading today, is more than simply “connecting people”; more than being connected with God. To be in relationship means to keep a delicate balance between forgiveness and accountability. This, I think, is behind Jesus’ talk of pruning his disciples as a vine is pruned; trimmed of its branches that are unhealthy and no longer open to nourishment from the vine. Might pruning away the unhealthy branches seem harsh to us when we compare it to remaining in relationship with God as disciples of Christ? Jesus gives us a harsh saying here. And yet Jesus invites us to be mindful that both forgiveness and accountability; both the health of the branches nourished by the vine and the pruning of the vine require strong relationships; a strong and united community of Christian faith.

Unity; our comm-unity as Christians; as a parish; as a Church leaves no room for a silo mentality in which we become closed off in our own ministries. Christian community leaves no room for gossip. Christian community is not “I-God”; “I-Jesus” but all of us, together, in a relationship of love with one another and with our Lord that bears fruit in a great range of good works. The sacraments all depend on Christian community. They are sacraments of the Church; of community. We are brought into a community of faith by baptism and confirmation. We receive the Lord and become Christ to our world in community through our Eucharist. We are instruments of healing, and forgiveness in community through reconciliation and the anointing of the sick. In community we love and serve through the vocations of marriage and holy orders.

Community is not uniformity; all having the same ideas and never disagreeing with one another. Like the branches that “remain in” Jesus the vine, we might imagine ourselves as grafted onto the vine. Each branch joined or grafted onto the vine and receiving its nourishment contributes different useful characteristics to the plant: Better fruit; resistance to disease… So it is true with our community of faith. Is it not remarkable in our first reading from Acts that, as “the brothers” began to accept Paul after his conversion; as they had already accepted Barnabas (a very different personality with different gifts than Paul), the Church “was being built up and walked in [awe] of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers”?

Christian community, we hear from the First Letter of John, depends on our keeping God’s commandments together. Who enjoys being commanded to do something? Not many of us like to be commanded to do something. But God gives us only two commandments in 1 John: “Believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ” and show the world (together) that we believe by how we act in Jesus’ name: “Love one another just as [Jesus] commanded us.”

“Believe” and “love.” These are whole community actions. “Believe” and “love,” and “remain”: Take in Jesus in the Eucharist and in our other sacraments of the Church; act for one another’s good in the world as Jesus has for us. This is community. This is relationship, not only “connecting people” but being at the heart of the Christian discipleship that Jesus asks of us: “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.”

Homily for Sunday, 7 December 2014

2nd Sunday in Advent

Readings of the day: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8

Who here has ever prepared for a long journey? What would we bring with us on this journey? We need our passports if we are leaving the country. We need enough clothing and footwear for the duration of the journey. We need the right kind of clothing. We need chargers for all our electronic devices; maybe a good book; personal toiletries; money…

Now who here has ever been on a journey when it is difficult to know what to expect or what to bring? I have been on some journeys for which I have found it difficult to prepare. As a junior in university, I studied for one year on exchange in Lille, in northern France. I worried for some time about whether I would be accepted for the exchange; whether I had the right paperwork to apply for my French student visa; whether I had enough money to last the year abroad. As a Basilian, when I went to Cali, Colombia to teach for the first time six years ago, I was even less sure about what to expect. I had little prior teaching experience and had not been to South America before. At least when I went to France, I could speak, read, and write in French already; I knew very little Spanish when I first arrived in Colombia.

Even worse than not knowing what to expect of a long journey, who here has ever prepared to go somewhere when we really did not want to go; when going frightened us? Fortunately, I have not had this kind of experience. But this was the experience of the people of Isaiah’s time; the experience of which we hear in our first reading today. This was also the experience of many people in the time of John the Baptist and Jesus in our Gospel reading.

Imagine the background events to our first reading: The prophet Isaiah wakes up one morning and is enjoying his cup of coffee when God says to him: “Say this to my people, Israel: “Give comfort to my people.” You have “received from the hand of the LORD double for all your sins.”

“Comfort and forgiveness of sins,” Isaiah thinks, “the people will be happy with this message. A man named George Frideric Handel will set these words to beautiful music in a few hundred years. This music will be called ‘The Messiah.’”

But then God continues: “The people are to go home to Israel. ‘Prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!’ Prepare a way back from this exile in Babylon. Go back to Jerusalem that the Babylonians destroyed years ago. Rebuild it and make it into my house; a house of God once again”!

“Whoa,” Isaiah says, “Are you sure, God? The people will be afraid to go back to Jerusalem. I need to think over another cup of coffee, or maybe some of that mint tea that is so good here in the Middle East: How will I prepare the people to return home; to rebuild Jerusalem”?

“I know,” Isaiah suddenly jumps up, “I’ll remind the people of how much God cares for us: “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock… and [leads] the ewes with care.”

Isaiah’s message was for the most part a success. A small group of the people in exile in Babylon did decide to return home to Jerusalem; to rebuild the city and its temple as the house of God. These people prepared for and then set out on a journey back to a place where they did not know what to expect.

But this would not be the last time, in the Bible or in our time, when people would prepare to set out on a journey to somewhere or something they did not know what to expect. Our Gospel reading from Mark says that, just as “Jesus Christ, the Son of God” was becoming known, “people of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem” were going out to meet a man named John, who was baptizing in the Jordan River.

Imagine this: Probably most of the people going to meet John the Baptist did not know how to prepare to meet him; did not know what to expect from this man baptizing in the Jordan. John had a reputation for being a bit wild. He spoke loudly about repentance; about preparing the way for a Savior to come after him. He dressed in “camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.” (This was the hipster fashion of the New Testament.) John’s personal hygiene was suspect. And long before low-carb, low-fat, high-protein, or crash diets were popular, John was feasting on “locusts and wild honey.” I have heard the John the Baptist diet is delicious and nutritious, but I think I will pass.

And yet despite his reputation as a wild man, there is something that draws us; attracts us to John the Baptist and his message. What is it? We are attracted to John even if his invitation to prepare and to set out toward the unexpected may frighten us.

Could it be that John’s message sounds a lot like that of the prophet Isaiah? “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” Could it be John’s humility with which he recognizes, “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”? Could it be that we know, as the people of John’s time knew, who this “one mightier than” John; the one to “baptize…with the Holy Spirit” is: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior?

Like Isaiah, John the Baptist asks us to set out on a journey without knowing what to expect from this journey, or quite how to prepare for it. We know that our salvation through Jesus Christ is at the end of this journey. We know that this journey will change us if we set out on it. If we set out “to prepare the way of the Lord,” we will become more like the humble John the Baptist, pointing out Jesus’ presence in our lives; in the world; in the goodness and kindness of people around us. We will be moved to repent from our sin. We will be more like the prophet Isaiah, speaking truth to powerful and meek alike, urging one another to return home; to return to God with all our hearts. We will become more like the Lord Jesus himself, even as we are saved by him.

How ready are we to be changed by our Advent journey? How ready are we to prepare for what we are to become, more and more like Jesus himself; like our Lord and Savior? John the Baptist, like Isaiah, calls us to set out on a journey. The message of John and of Isaiah is attractive and yet unnerving at the same time: Prepare. For what (or for whom) are we to prepare? What are we to expect of this journey?

This journey is not like anything we could expect. We cannot prepare for it simply by packing our passports; enough clothing that is right for the weather, our electronic devices and their chargers; foreign language books for beginners… No, this journey, if we set out on it, will lead us through the unexpected; the frightening; the attractive moments. If we set out to “prepare the way of the Lord,” to prepare for what we will become through our journey, we will become more like Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and we will be saved by our journey with, through, and in Christ.