Homily for Monday, 9 February 2015– Ferial

Monday of the 5th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Genesis 1:1-19; Psalm 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10. 12, 24, 35c; Mark 6:53-56

What was the beginning of our universe, or the beginning of our earth, like? Was there ever a time before suffering; before death; before sin?

Our first reading today from Genesis responds to questions like these, but not in the same way science or philosophy would respond to these kinds of questions.

Let us go back to the beginning; I mean literally to the beginning of Genesis. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,” the Book of Genesis starts, “the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind,” God’s own creative Spirit, “swept over the waters.”

The creation stories in Genesis move from image to image to speak of the beauty and goodness of God’s creation. “God saw how good [it] was,” Genesis 1 repeats no fewer than six times, four in today’s first reading. Genesis’ goal is not to confirm scientific theories like the Big Bang or evolution. These theories may be right, or may be shown one day by science to be outdated.

Genesis points us to another, universal, transcendent truth: That what God created (the universe; the earth; animals and plants; the sea and the sky; us) is, intentionally on God’s part, good. And this good that God created can be observed by the humblest of human beings because we are made in God’s image and likeness. English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon once spoke of our ability to observe God’s goodness both in “the Book of God’s Word,” the Bible, and in “the Book of God’s works” (creation). We are capable of knowing and sensing God’s goodness through God’s creation and giving thanks for it. It does not take a scientist to give thanks to God although, as a microbiology lab technician before I became a Basilian, I often saw God’s awesome goodness in the microscopic creatures I studied.

“God saw how good it was.” We can see this in relationships with one another: Within our households, with friends, within our parish; across oceans and borders between countries and languages. We can see this when we selflessly help other people in need. We can see God’s goodness when we look up at the stars on a clear night. What marvelous expanse; what enormous goodness! We can see this in our beautiful town of Irondequoit and State of New York; the nature and activities that I occasionally get a chance to explore. We can see God’s goodness in the falling snow… Wait: The six inches of snow forecast yet to fall here today and tomorrow may be evidence of the effects of Original Sin (I kid. We will hear more about Original Sin and its effects in the daily readings later this week, though). Please be safe.

“God saw how good it was.” This is the truth of which Genesis 1 speaks to us: A truth that is universal; transcendent; timeless. “God saw how good it was,” and now and forever we can sense how good it is and give thanks to our God for his Word both of Scripture and of creation.

Homily for Friday, 15 August 2014‒ Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mass during the Day

Readings of the day: Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45:10, 11, 12, 16; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant…” Priests, women and men in religious orders, and many laypeople pray Mary’s beautiful song we hear from the Gospel of Luke every day at Evening Prayer. How are we invited to make Mary’s prayer our own prayer of praise to God?

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our mother and the Mother of God, body and soul into heaven, which we celebrate today, is not primarily about Mary. The Assumption, first and foremost, points us to truths about who God is and who we are.

God has given us his only Son, Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us from sin and death by his death and resurrection. Indeed, Mary was chosen by God to be the perfect means of bringing the Son of God into the world as a human being. Mary did not remain without sin from Conception to Assumption into heaven under her own strength. No, God made this possible for her. God “looked with favor” on Mary, who responded with her “yes” to God’s plan of salvation for us to make it all possible.

We might ask then: How can we echo Mary’s “yes” to God that brought our Savior into the world? Some ways in which we echo Mary’s “yes” are significant. We echoed Mary’s “yes” when we were baptized and confirmed: Yes, I place Jesus Christ at the center of my life. Yes, Jesus takes first place, before material possessions; our careers; our leisure time, as good as these can be.

Placing Jesus first in our lives leads us (and has led us already) to echo Mary’s “yes” to God in many smaller ways: Yes to service toward others; yes to helping those in need in our communities and in our parish community; yes to holding my tongue and resisting temptation to gossip; yes to repentance; to turning to God and to one another for forgiveness when we fail; when we sin. God will pardon us when we need it. God will make our hearts once again as immaculate as the heart of Mary, and our prayer will be that of Mary: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…”

The promise that God shows through Mary’s Assumption into heaven is not just a promise to Mary; it is a promise to us; to “all generations… to Abraham and his children forever.” We, too, are promised heaven, not just our souls, but body and soul. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the foretaste of what will be for all of us.

Mary’s Assumption, body and soul, into heaven is about God looking “with favor” on all who are faithful to God, beginning with Mary, our model of faithfulness; model of the Church. God makes the Assumption possible, not only for Mary, but for each and every one of us. And so, by word and the active witness of our faith; our “yeses” to God big and small, we can give thanks to God in the words of our mother Mary; Our Lady of the Assumption: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant… he has remembered his promise of mercy; the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”