Homily for Friday, 6 February 2015– St. Kateri School Mass, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions

Friday of the 4th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: 1 John 2:29b-3:1a; Psalm 119:129-130, 133, 135; Mark 9:33-37. (Readings for Masses with Children).

This homily included props: A signed painting I received as a gift from Basilian novices on my most recent visit to Colombia, a satchel-type bag with aboriginal design from an earlier visit to Colombia, and clip art pictures of a beach and sun, a mosquito, and the devil.

Greetings, children of God, students, teachers, staff, and parents of St. Kateri School! It has been just under a month since I went away to help the Basilians, the order of priests I belong to, in Colombia. Does anybody here know, more or less, where Colombia is? How about a little show and tell?

You see, I have this little bag, made by the descendants of the first people who lived in Colombia. My bag is filled with memories and things I like about Colombia: This painting of two Aboriginal people (the first people to live in Colombia), carrying a bag just like the one I have. These bags are designed by these “first people” of Colombia. This is a neat design, and a beautiful painting, isn’t it?

…This is a gift from the members of our order there, whom I love so much. I have the beach and the sun… Well, I carried up these pictures of the beach and the sun. The real beach and sun were too big to fit into my suitcase.

But, as much as I love Colombia (this was my fourth time there to serve with my order), I love being back here to celebrate Mass with all of us, children of God. How do we know, though, that we are children of God? Our first reading today, from the first letter of John, says so. We hear this from 1 John: “You know that everyone who does right is a child of God.”

Now, do we not all at least try to “do right”? I think so. Teachers and parents, would you not agree with me? And so 1 John says it: We are children of God. It gives me great joy as a priest to be able to go all over the world to celebrate Jesus, God made human, present during our Eucharist, our Mass; to celebrate with children of God from Colombia to right here at St. Kateri School and Parish!

And yet there are a just a few things I don’t like about Colombia, like mosquitoes. Who likes mosquitoes? ...Wait, how did a mosquito get into my bag? Good thing this is just a picture of a mosquito! And there is something even worse than mosquitoes; something I really dislike, whether it’s in Colombia or here. What is it? Well, I really dislike sin. All of us as children of God are called to dislike sin and try, with God’s help, not to sin. What is sin? It’s something that we know is wrong but we do it anyway. Now at least we all try our best as children of God not to sin, right? But there’s a problem… Yeah, him; Satan, the devil! [I pull a picture of the devil out of my bag.]

…Wait: How did you get in here, Satan? How did you get through airport security? How did you get into my soul [cringe]? I didn’t declare a devil when I went through customs. Get out of here, Satan! Jesus is here with these children, their parents, and their teachers and school staff, and we’re celebrating Mass!

Besides better airport security, how can we avoid letting the devil squeak into our lives and make trouble? How can we avoid sin and “do right” instead? Our readings give us a couple of ways. First, we can pray. We pray to God in our Psalm, “Keep your promise and don’t let me stumble, or let sin control my life… Lord, let your face shine upon me.” Isn’t this a beautiful prayer? Do you think we could all make this our prayer, every day? I know I’m going to try to pray something this every day, and then the devil won’t try to sneak into my luggage again!

An even better way to avoid sin and the devil is found in our Gospel reading today. The Gospel of Mark says that, while the disciples were “arguing about which one of them was the greatest,” Jesus welcomed “a child to stand near him.” Shouldn’t we all try to welcome one another as Jesus welcomes this child: To help each other with homework; to play nicely on the playground and at home; not to bully; to respect our teachers and parents? This is how we, like Jesus, welcome one another as children of God. And so I say again: Greetings, St. Kateri students; parents; teachers; staff! Welcome, people of prayer; people who, with God’s help, “do right.” Welcome and blessings, children of God!

Homily for Monday, 8 December 2014– Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Monday of the 2nd Week in Advent

St. Kateri School Mass

Readings of the day: Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12; Luke 1:26-38

One day last week, one of you, our St. Kateri children, asked me an excellent question while I was greeting you at the doors to our school in the morning. The question was this, if I can remember correctly: How did God create Mary and Jesus?

This isn’t an easy question for me to answer, especially first thing in the morning, but I’ll try here. I have a question for you that may help us to answer how God created Mary and Jesus. My question might help us to understand why we celebrate the day we are celebrating today, called the Immaculate Conception of Mary, “the day God created Mary.”

My question is this: Have any of us ever received a really special gift for Christmas, for a birthday, or for some other occasion? What was the gift? Was it special because somebody put a lot of time and love into choosing the gift for us? Has anybody here ever received a gift that somebody hand-made or had somebody make specially for you?

About two thousand years ago, at Christmastime, God had a special gift in mind for all of us. This gift wasn’t a thing, but a person; God’s own Son, Jesus. How did God make Jesus? First, to make this very special gift to us, Jesus, God needed a lot of time and love. God also needed this baby Jesus to have a mother who would love Jesus as perfectly as God loved his own Son. Not just any mom would do.

Now, aren’t our moms great people who love us very much? Our moms are almost perfect, right? Think of how good our mothers are to us. Now, God needed a mother for Jesus who was even better; who was perfect, because Jesus wasn’t any ordinary baby. Jesus is human just like us, but he’s also God.

Many years before Jesus was born, God chose the girl who would grow up to be the perfect mom to his son Jesus. Who was this girl? This girl’s name was Mary. Not because God had to, but because God can (remember what the angel Gabriel says in our Gospel reading, “Nothing is impossible for God.”), we believe that, from the time when Mary was growing inside her mom, St. Anne, God protected her from sin as long as Mary always said “yes” to God.

What is sin? It is when we do something wrong, which we know is wrong, on purpose. In our first reading, we hear of Adam and Eve and the first sin. How did Adam and Eve sin? They ate the fruit that Satan, the devil disguised as a snake, tricked them into eating even though God had told them not to eat it. That sin made it easier for all human beings after Adam and Eve to sin, and so we call Adam’s and Eve’s sin “original sin.”

Original sin is pretty serious then, right? But this is where God enters the story. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God promised to send somebody to defeat Satan and sin: His own son, Jesus. And he chose Mary, from when she was still inside her mom, St. Anne, to be Jesus’ mom.

Even though this was not easy for Mary, she always trusted in God; said “yes” to God. And because she said “yes” to God, our God gave us God’s own Son, Jesus. This is how God created Mary, the most perfect mom; mother to all of us who shows us how always to say “yes” to God. On this day we celebrate Mary, from the time God created her inside her mother, St. Anne, to her most important “yes” to God. And through Mary and her “yes” to God, our God has given us the best gift ever, God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

Homily for Monday, 29 September 2014– Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael

Monday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Revelation 12:7-12ab; Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 4-5; John 1:47-51

Who are angels? What is their purpose? Today we celebrate the feast of three of the most important angels, or archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. But are not angels somewhat mysterious creatures to us? None of us has ever seen an angel; they are spiritual beings.

We might be familiar with the prayer to St. Michael, based loosely on our first reading today from the Book of Revelation:

St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle.

Be our defense against the wickedness

and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him,

we humbly pray, and do thou,

O Prince of the heavenly hosts,

by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan,

and all the evil spirits,

who prowl about the world

seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are rarely mentioned in Scripture. Michael is named five times: three times in Daniel, once in Revelation, and once in the Letter of Jude. Gabriel is named four times, twice each in Daniel and the Gospel of Luke. Raphael is named a whopping twenty-eight times, all in the Book of Tobit!

But what is the purpose of angels, and specifically of these three Archangels? By the well-known prayer to St. Michael and his mention in books of the Bible written in times of crisis (these “apocalyptic” books project struggles against occupying powers, Babylon in Daniel; Rome in Revelation, on a cosmic scale: heaven versus hell; God versus Satan), we can associate Michael with defense in times of crisis and battle. Is anyone here named Michael here? If your name is Michael, you may be interested to know that your name is a rhetorical question in Hebrew: “Who is like God”? Of course we know the answer to this question, or do we? No one is like God except God, we could answer. But then all of us are created in God’s image and likeness. All of us in this sense are like God. And yet Jesus Christ alone is at once fully human and fully God. “Who is like God?” Michael stands in place of God, in our defense against Satan or any force that could degrade our God-given dignity; our being in God’s image and likeness.

Gabriel is associated both with crises and battles, like Michael, and with the Incarnation, Jesus becoming human in Mary’s womb. Gabriel means “God is my strength.” How does St. Gabriel give us God’s strength; the strength to say “yes” to God as Mary did to bring our Savior into the world?

Raphael heals the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes in the Book of Tobit. His name means “God has healed.” St. Raphael shows us the healing power of God.

The word “angel” itself means “messenger of God.” A messenger is important, but never more important than the message. For us, God is the message, pointed to by the angels. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, like us in all but sin, is God’s message in human flesh, pointed to by St. Gabriel. We celebrate Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, along with all the angels, as God’s messengers. In special ways they show us God’s strength, God’s healing, and who is like God.  

Homily for Tuesday, 27 May 2014‒ Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

This homily was given at the convent of the Holy Child Sisters, Oxford, United Kingdom

Readings of the day: Acts 16:22-34; Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8; John 16:5-11 

Who is “the Advocate” whom Jesus promises us repeatedly in John’s Gospel, who has been the focus of our Gospel readings for the last few days, and who is again the focus of today’s reading from John?

The easy answer is that “the Advocate” is the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent into our world when he ascended to the Father. But then the Holy Spirit is a mysterious presence. We, like Jesus’ disciples, often do not know what to make of the Holy Spirit. It is unsurprising to me that, the more Jesus says to his disciples not to be saddened at his death and at their own eventual suffering and death in Jesus’ name, because he will send them “the Advocate,” the more saddened they become.

Jesus’ disciples do not understand just who “the Advocate,” the Holy Spirit, is. And yet is our understanding of who the Holy Spirit is any better than these first disciples? Unlike their lives, ours are not threatened because of our faith, although many Christians do face this threat of death even today. Nevertheless, the work of Satan, “the ruler of this world” in the words of John’s Gospel, is still very much felt in our world. Just this week, we have heard the news of four dead in a shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels and seven more in Santa Barbara, California. Violence and war continue in Ukraine, in Syria, and elsewhere. Who then is this “Advocate” promised us by Jesus, and where is the Holy Spirit amid this continued evil?

In answering this question, it may help us to consider how Jesus depicts “the Advocate” in today’s Gospel reading. Let us imagine a great trial in a courtroom. “The Advocate” or the Paraclete (closer to the word used here in John’s Greek for the Holy Spirit) is literally “the one who calls from beside” us. We are on trial for our sin; the sin of the world, yet the Holy Spirit is our marquee defence lawyer!

Opposite the Holy Spirit is the devil, whom John presents as a diabolical[1] (again in the literal sense of this word; no offense to lawyers in general) prosecuting attorney, or the one who “throws across” accusations against the defendant. But an amazing event happens at this trial: We are not put on trial; the devil is. With the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, defending; encouraging; consoling us, Satan is condemned before the trial even begins.

On the one hand, Satan will continue to make his presence felt for a time, since this great trial is still going on in order to “convict the world,” as John says, of “sin and righteousness and condemnation.”

On the other hand, let us take heart that we know from Jesus Christ the outcome of this trial before it ends: We are sinners but will be acquitted because we are defended by the best; “the Advocate”; the Holy Spirit. The devil will be condemned in only a matter of time. God is our righteousness and ultimately the salvation of the world.

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[1] The devil here is the “diabolos” in Greek, from dia-, across, and -bollein, to throw, so to throw across an argument as in a court of law; to accuse. Elsewhere in the New Testament (as in Rev 12:10), the devil is sometimes called “the accuser” in English whereas the Greek word is the same, “diabolos.” The Holy Spirit is the "Paraclete," from the verb "parakalein," to call (-kalein) from beside (para-), so to console, defend, or encourage. While I would not normally engage in such academic word parsing in a homily, I do here only because this homily in part derives from a scholarly conversation I had with one of the Holy Child Sisters with whom I am staying during my current visit to Oxford.