Homily for Wednesday, 8 April 2015– Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 3:1-10; Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9; Luke 24:13-35

How often do we pause and reflect on where Jesus Christ has been present in our lives during any particular day?

During one retreat I attended while in seminary in Toronto, the sister who led the retreat proposed that we retreatants reflect on two instances when God was present to us during that day. Now, a few years later, I still enjoy taking this short time to pray and reflect, every day, on when Jesus has been present in my life today. I think that this can even be a worthwhile examination of conscience, daily or for instance when we are preparing for the sacrament of reconciliation. Yes, to be mindful of our faults and even sins is important, especially when preparing for reconciliation, but it may be just as important and powerful to ask simply and prayerfully: When has Jesus; when has God been especially present to me today?

When have I immediately recognized Christ present in one of these events of this day? When have I had a moment like that of the man healed at “the Beautiful Gate” of the temple by Peter and John, when it is clear that somebody has acted in our favor “in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean”? These could be great instances of healing; of forgiveness; of comfort, or they could be (as often they are in my daily experience) small instances: The smile or laughter of a child; a kind greeting; somebody going out of her or his way to anticipate another’s need, and so forth.

And when have I not recognized Christ present in an event in my life, sometimes until much later? In these instances, what caused me to recognize Christ in that event when I finally did? When have we been like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus in today’s Gospel reading, conversing with Christ as though he were a stranger? Perhaps we have encountered Christ in this way when we have been grieving or upset, or even depressed.

The disciples on the Road to Emmaus met the risen Jesus as a stranger on this road. They had been grieving the horrible death of “the one” they had hoped would “redeem Israel”; the Christ; the Messiah. This stranger, Jesus, challenges the disciples sharply for being “foolish” and “slow of heart.”

But even more significantly the disciples invite Jesus to “stay with” them just long enough for them to recognize who he is. And how do the disciples recognize Jesus when finally they do? Luke says to us that Jesus “opened the Scriptures to” them and “was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

Jesus “was made known to them” in the same way he is made known to us: In the Word of God and in our Eucharist, which many of us are blessed to partake in almost daily. How is the risen Jesus made known to us in our everyday events? Jesus is made known to us in our prayer. Jesus is made known to us in our kindness toward one another. Jesus is made known to us by a simple moment of joy; a smile; acts of compassion. Jesus is made known to us here “in the breaking of the bread.”

Homily for Wednesday, 3 September 2014– Memorial of St. Gregory the Great

Wednesday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Psalm 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21; Luke 4:38-44

This homily was given at our St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish staff retreat Mass at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester, NY.

“Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.” Let us think for a moment: In what ways are we blessed? In what ways has the Lord chosen us “to be his own”? In what ways does this powerful prayer we have prayed in our Psalm response not just apply to people who lived long ago; who heard it for the first time, but to us?

My sisters and brothers, we are “blessed.” The Lord has chosen us “to be his own.” We are blessed to be able to partake in today’s St. Kateri Parish Staff retreat. We are blessed to have Sr. Pat Schoelles facilitate our retreat. We are blessed with the diversity of ministries and unity of purpose: the building up of the Kingdom of God beginning with the faith community we serve within our one parish. We are blessed with one another’s support in our ministry at St. Kateri. We are blessed in our faith in Christ. We are blessed from the moment of our baptism, when the Lord first chose us “to be his own.”

There is, admittedly, a danger in believing ourselves to be especially “blessed” as God’s “own.” We could interpret the first verse of our Psalm, “Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,” along nationalistic lines, putting country above God. We could view our particular ministry in our parish as more privileged; more “blessed” than another. We could become attached to a particular leader in the Church (a pope; a bishop; a pastor; someone on the parish staff…), or a particular style or place of worship. We could lose sight of God as the source of our blessing; the source of our calling to be God’s “own”; the source of the tremendous growth of our parish community in just the last few years.

As St. Paul reminds the Corinthians in our first reading, God “causes the growth.” I do not think we need the same reminder as the Corinthians did. We are in good shape, as it were. We know and act as though God is the source of our blessing. Our blessing; our ministries; our parish are not “all about me,” but about God.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Gregory I, one of only two popes (officially) to have been known as “the Great” (the other is Leo I). Why was St. Gregory “the Great”? Perhaps this is because he let God be great in him. Gregory knew, whether as a monk or as pope, God had blessed him; chosen him “to be his own”… eventually. Gregory’s first reaction to having been elected pope was to hide in a cave to avoid going to Rome! I hope none of us has ever wanted to hide in a cave to avoid our ministry, although we are called on this day to a retreat from active ministry; to pray over how we are “blessed”; over how we are, individually and together, a “people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

God has chosen us “to be his own” for one purpose. And what is this purpose? We hear in Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading the purpose to which we have been called as St. Kateri staff; indeed as Christians from the very moment of our baptism: “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” I will not begin to list the ways in which we as St. Kateri Parish staff “proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,” because I will inadvertently prioritize some while missing others.

But know that, in our ministry beginning with St. Kateri Parish to “proclaim the Kingdom of God,” we have been blessed. We are a “people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”