Homily for Thursday, 14 May 2015– Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Readings of the day: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; Ephesians 4:1-13, Mark 16:15-20

This Mass was offered graciously by the staff of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Irondequoit, NY, in memory of my maternal grandparents, Frank and Simone Salt.

What is the significance for us of this Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension that we celebrate today? Our readings today focus, I think, on two related aspects of the meaning for us of the Ascension to heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ: Future promise and present mission.

The beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, which we hear today, focuses primarily on future promise. The Apostles have been instructed by Jesus to wait in Jerusalem for “the promise of the Father,” the Holy Spirit. But once they receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, they are to witness to him by their works and words “to the ends of the earth.” And so here in Acts we also have the beginning of present mission of the Apostles; of the Church.

Mark’s Gospel emphasizes this aspect of present mission. As he ascends to heaven, Jesus says this to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” And in the Letter to the Ephesians these aspects of future promise of the Holy Spirit; future promise from God of ascension to heaven ourselves and present mission converge in a great statement of identity of our Church. We are united as Church in future promise and in present mission: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

But might the sheer grandiosity of this present mission as Church given us by the risen and ascended Christ not scare some of us? How are we to “proclaim the Gospel to every creature”? What about the times (and we all have them) when we have not lived “with all humility and patience [and] love,” and promoted peace, not only in the world but in our own relationships, as Ephesians asks of us? We understand future promise. At least I hope, and I have confidence in this because we are here, that we all hope in the future promise of heaven. We hope to rise to eternal life; to ascend to heaven after our Lord one day. We hope, closer to the present, to receive more and more God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, whom we already receive in the sacraments of the Church; in baptism and confirmation; through one another.

We understand future promise; I think we might have more trouble with present mission. So what is our present mission as Church, so that we might better accomplish it? Many of us do not leave our city, our communities, or even our homes very often, let alone go “to every creature” the world over to work and preach in the name of Jesus. So what can we do to live out our Christian mission?

Since the intention for this Mass is for my maternal grandparents, Frank and Simone Salt, who went to be with God this past January, I look often to their example of how to live out both present mission and hope of future promise. When I first announced to my grandfather that I felt a call to the priesthood, he reminded me: “Live your faith with a sense of humor. If you aren’t living your faith with a sense of humor, you aren’t living your faith.” In their waning years, but while they were still living in their own house, Grandma and Grandpa would still walk every day to the new church that was being built in their neighborhood to unlock it before the construction workers arrived.

Late in their lives, Grandma and Grandpa were still “unlockers” of the Church. They lived by the future promise of resurrection; ascension to heaven; of having received the Holy Spirit. They lived by present mission, all within a few blocks of their home: Humility; patience; gentleness; love; unity; peace and, yes, a sense of humor. Their example is an excellent one for all of us: Show one another the love of God; the peace and good humor that derives from the Holy Spirit.

We do not need to travel great distances to do this. Unlock the Church; open the Church to all who seek God! In (usually) small ways, we are all called to live this present mission, even as we hope in future promise given us by the resurrection and ascension of Christ and the dwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in each and every one of us.

Homily for Tuesday, 12 May 2015– Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

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

Have any of us ever heard of events like those in our reading today from the Acts of the Apostles and wished we had the strength Paul and Silas did under persecution? Paul and Silas continue to praise God while in prison and then, miraculously, they break free of prison. Also, the jailer and “everyone in his house” suddenly embrace the Christian faith.

Or, when we hear today’s Gospel reading, from John, do any of us feel some empathy for Jesus’ disciples? Jesus is about to be taken from them; about to die a shameful death on a cross. Jesus senses that “grief has filled” his disciples’ hearts, so that they are too afraid and sad even to ask questions anymore. None of them asks Jesus, “Where are you going”? I can identify with Jesus’ disciples here in John’s Gospel. I am not sure, if I were in their situation, whether I would behave any differently than they do.

But Jesus encounters his disciples’ grief with the promise of “the Advocate”; the Holy Spirit. He does not reprimand his disciples for not having the strength to understand that his death will not be the end, but only the beginning of their mission; of the Church. No, Jesus promises his disciples the strength they will need for this mission; the strength that only the Holy Spirit can give them.

And even amid their grieving, Jesus’ disciples show tremendous strength. They show that they are already receiving the strength of the promised Holy Spirit; the strength they need to admit that they are sad; confused; in need of God’s presence to carry on. And only when Jesus’ disciples admit their need for God; for the strength of the Holy Spirit for their mission, does Jesus give this strength to them.

The strength to grieve; the strength to admit when we are troubled; when we need the support of loved ones and from God, is the same strength from the same Holy Spirit that empowers Sts. Paul and Silas to break from jail and bring the jailer’s household into the Christian faith. Imagine the jailer and his family when they accept baptism: Did they not know that accepting baptism put them at risk for the same persecution that Paul and Silas experienced? Their trust in God and in the message of Christ preached by Paul and Silas is as much the work of the Holy Spirit as the strength to grieve and to be sad but, in grieving and sadness, to continue to trust in God.

We have this same strength in ourselves as did Jesus’ disciples in our Gospel reading; as did Sts. Paul and Silas in Acts. God invites us today to trust that we have this strength of the Holy Spirit in us and among us. God invites us to let the words of our Psalm today resonate within us: “Your right hand saves me, O Lord.” Give us the strength you have already given us, Lord; the strength of your Holy Spirit. Give us the strength that advocates for us always, in good times and in bad; in our successes and happiness as in our sadness and our grief; the Holy Spirit’s strength that brings us your salvation.

Homily for Sunday, 10 May 2015– Sixth Sunday of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you,” Jesus says to his disciples in our Gospel reading today, from John. What is love? What is the love with which Jesus commands us to love one another as he loves us?

Can any of us think of the first time you heard the word “love”? Who spoke this word to you? What did it mean to you? Might it have been when you were a child and your mother or father caressed you and whispered gently, “I love you”? My parents certainly have said this (and meant it) to me, to my sister and brother, and to each other countless times. I would not be here, a priest with and for you, our Church I love, without their love or yours.

But what is love? The range of meanings of “love” makes this question very difficult to answer. We love what brings us pleasure, comfort, or enjoyment: I love going out with friends; good food and drink; dessert (especially if there is chocolate!); sports; fancy clothes or cars, and so on… Some would love it if, during Mass, there were just a few seconds of silence to pray. Some others among us would love Mass to be as fast as possible while remaining reverent. And so liturgy, the work of and for the people, of and for the Church worshipping God, becomes the difficult and yet fruitful labor of love that it is.

In his first encyclical (a letter written to all Catholics of the world), Deus Caritas Est, or God is Love, Pope Benedict XVI speaks of the many meanings of love. “We speak of love of country,” Pope Benedict says, “love of one's profession, love between friends, love of work, love between parents and children, love between family members, love of neighbor, and love of God.” Perhaps the greatest expression of human love, Pope Benedict says beautifully, is the love between a woman and a man in marriage, in which “body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an… irresistible promise of happiness.” In this way, married love is the sacrament; the great image between a woman and a man of God’s own life-giving love for us.

Love can take all these forms, all of which can be good. But what does Jesus say about love? In John’s Gospel we hear Jesus speak highly of love among friends: “I have called you friends.” How do we become friends with Jesus and so friends with one another, if friendship is so great an expression of love? Jesus says to us, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Love is not an option for us to do when we like; toward those whom we like. Jesus raises love to the level of a commandment: “Love one another.” And how do we love one another most fully? “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus sets the standard of laying “down one’s life for one’s friends” by dying on the cross for us. Jesus loves us even when we do not love him; when we have not loved one another, as we hear today from the First Letter of John: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.”

Are we expected somehow to match this love that Jesus has for us? More Christians are killed for their faith than ever before in our Church’s history. And so we remember and we pray for those who, after Jesus, continue to “lay down [their] life for [their] friends”; for their faith. I encourage all of us to support those who work to build peace in troubled regions of our world. But here in these United States, is our chance of martyrdom, of literally laying “down [our] live for [our] friends” not slim? How, then, do we follow in this fullest sense Jesus’ commandment to “love one another as” Christ loves us?

We are not expected to die for our faith. Most of us probably will not become martyrs. But I believe Jesus does ask us to give of ourselves completely to another. Who, then, has acted selflessly toward us? Perhaps we could think of at least one example; one person who has loved us selflessly, in the way I think Jesus asks of us today in John’s Gospel. Maybe this person who loves us selflessly (since on this weekend is Mothers’ Day) is our mother. She is the one whose love has given us life; nurtured us; shown the love of Christ to us in all its depth. Children, especially those of you who will receive your first communion in a few moments: Have not your mothers been so important in bringing you here to this day of welcome to the Table of the Lord for the first time? Now you have a chance; the responsibility, even, to bring the love of Christ you receive for the first time in the Eucharist to our world; to your family and friends; to your schools; to your communities. Show love to your mother in a special way today.

All of us: Whisper to your mothers (and mean it!), “I love you.” If your mother is in heaven with God on this Mothers’ Day, pray to God through her with confidence: “Mom, give me the strength you have; the strength of heaven to love as Christ loves us.” Might we do what our fathers have so often asked us to do: “Ask your mother”? And God will hear the prayers of our mothers in heaven and on earth, the prayer of Mary, Mother of God, for God’s Son Jesus Christ says of our Father in heaven, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he [will] give you.”

Ask for the strength to love as Christ loves us. Ask for the gifts of generosity and selflessness that we see already at work among us so beautifully. Ask for opportunities for small acts of kindness and follow through on them. Ask in prayer and work for peace in our world; in our country; in our cities and communities. Ask God for the strength to stand up to bullying, to gossip, to any action that destroys human dignity; that tears down the people whom Jesus loves. Ask in prayer; act with the love Jesus gives us, and God will hear our prayer. Ask for healing and consolation for all among us who are sick or dying.  “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he [will] give you… ”

“Love one another as I love you,” Jesus says. “This is my commandment,” certainly not an easy commandment but one that is possible with God’s grace; God’s strength. Jesus does not put before us an impossible commandment. “Love one another as I love you.” Be kind to one another as I am kind to you. Seek out the lost; the sinners; those who are without a friend, just as I have sought you out when you were lost; a sinner; short of friends. Receive me; my strength; my love in the Eucharist and in the other sacraments of the Church. Take this love to the world, and God promises us that we will “bear fruit that will remain.” Include others who would not be included in God’s embrace of love otherwise: The doubting; the troublesome; the disagreeable; those who think differently than we do; people of other cultures and faiths. We have a great example of this kind of inclusive love in our first reading today, from Acts, in which Peter reaches out in love to the house of the pagan Greek Cornelius, who in turn accepts baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit; a gift borne of God’s love through these early Apostles.

Love, then, is no longer a broad idea or concept but a simple commandment and our joy to live out. Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.” Ask for God’s love in prayer. Act in God’s love. Love with confidence as Christ loves us. This is the selfless love with which Christ gave his life for us, his “friends.” This is the love that saves us; that empowers us now by the gift of God’s Holy Spirit to “bear fruit that will remain” in our world that thirsts for love. This is the love with which God has loved us first. “Love one another,” Jesus says, “as I love you.”

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.