Homily - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

I am coaching my son’s 5th grade football team this fall. This past week, I talked a lot about developing habits – the things we do automatically, without giving it any thought. Like buttoning a button and tying shoelaces, or good table manners, covering your mouth when you sneeze, and saying please and thank you. The same is true with playing football: we want to develop good habits like lining up correctly and moving at the right time. The goal is to develop good habits, so that they become automatic, they don’t have to stop and think about it; they just do it and do it right, which allows them to focus on more important things (like what to do when a bigger kid is running at them). The same happens in our moral life, when we chose between right and wrong, between good and evil. If we choose to do what is right and good over and over, then we develop the habit of doing good and avoiding evil. These habits of doing good are called a virtues. Virtues are developed by regularly choosing good. And it is God’s grace that helps us to develop virtues and to sustain them, particularly in the face of hostility and pressure. At times, however, we are faced with a big or important decision that requires more than a simple habitual or conditioned response, and certainly it requires more than relying on gut instinct, feelings or emotions, or following what is most popular. In such decisions, we need to exercise our conscience. Simply put, our conscience is a judgment of what is right or wrong, good or evil. I like to think of conscience also as the awareness we possess to decide what is good and right and the awareness to seek repentance and reconciliation when we have failed to what is good and right. We are called to form our conscience, in order to properly choose between good and evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed.” (CCC 1802) Today’s readings give us some important insights about forming our consciences. And the U.S. Bishops have encouraged clergy to take this weekend’s readings as an opportunity to teach on conscience formation, particularly as we approach the November election. The first reading from Deuteronomy asks, “For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?” This passage affirms God’s faithfulness to us—his promise to be with us as we “search” for what is right with a sincere heart. For our part, we have to approach our searching with a sincere heart and a willingness to seek the truth. If we do these things, we can trust that the Holy Spirit will be with us. Today’s first reading also emphasizes the “statutes and decrees” that God has given the Israelites, saying that these statutes and decrees are given so “that you and your descendants may live.” The first reading also emphasizes that we may not pick and choose which of these commands we will follow. In forming our conscience, today’s first reading reminds us that we must seek to know and understand what Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Church says on any given situation and that we are obliged to follow them, because this is God’s command to us. Today’s Psalm emphasizes the importance of “doing justice,” which is an important aspect of conscience. The Psalmist sings that the “One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” When we have to make a decision about something, we should also explore what is “just.” How this or that choice will enhance—not degrade—the life and dignity of each person made in the image of God. We especially have a duty to act to defend the weak, unborn, poor, and migrant. In forming our conscience, we must examine the facts and background of the situation and consider what is just and right to do. Another aspect to forming our consciences is prayer and reflection. In today’s second reading, we are instructed to “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in (us) and is able to save (our) souls.” (vs. 21) The U.S. Catholic Bishops’ in their statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, urges us to hear “the voice of God resounding in the human heart, revealing the truth to us and calling us to do what is good while shunning what is evil.” (no. 17) Being attentive to God’s voice requires that we take regular time for prayer, and that we bring with us to our prayer and reflection time the important decisions that we face. Referencing the words of the prophet Isaiah in today’s Gospel, Jesus criticizes those who honor God with their lips but whose hearts are far from him. He quotes that “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (vs. 6) Conscience formation is not about going through the motions, or about searching for evidence to support a decision you have already made. It is about taking seriously our lifelong obligation to do what is required to continually form our consciences, in order to follow God’s will. We are obliged to follow our conscience in making moral decisions, and this requires us to have a well-formed conscience. That we: • Have a sincere desire to embrace goodness and truth. • Study of Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Church. • Examine of the facts and background information about various choices. • Prayerful reflect and discern the will of God (FCFC, no. 18). In their statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the U.S. bishops name a number of issues about which we should form our consciences. Some of these include: • Continuing destruction of unborn children through abortion and other threats to the lives and dignity of others who are vulnerable, sick, or unwanted; • Renewed efforts to force Catholic ministries—in health care, education, and social services—to violate their consciences or stop serving those in need; • Efforts to redefine marriage and enact measures which undermine marriage as between one man and one woman and an institution essential to the common good; • An economic crisis which has devastated lives and livelihoods, increasing unemployment, poverty, hunger, deficits and debt, and the duty to respond in ways that protect the poor and future generations; • The failure to repair a broken immigration system with comprehensive measures that promote respect for law, human rights and the dignity of immigrants and refugees, and which keep families together, and advance the common good; • Wars, terror, and violence which raise serious moral questions about the human and moral costs of force, particularly in regards to the Holy Land and Middle East. To learn more about these issues and what the Church teaches on them, I encourage you to read the bishops’ statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. It is available on the U.S. bishops’ website. In the meantime, work on building those great virtues in your life, so that choosing what is good and right becomes a habit. And when faced with a more difficult decision exercise your full-formed conscience. May God bless you.

Homily - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

On September 17, our parish will begin its second year of the “That Man is You” program. I invite all men of this parish – and their sons, fathers, brothers, and friends – to join us on Saturday mornings for this initiative. This year’s goal is the transformation of marriage and family life for the men who participate. Through an examination of the Holy Family, the program will help men to grasp God's abiding presence within the home. I invite you to make this commitment to your family and God, by completing the registration card in the pew and placing it in the box in the Gathering Space. Turning to today’s readings, I am struck by Jesus’ focus and persistence in the Gospel. In the face of mocking, doubt and disbelief by those around him, he preservers. In his humanity, Jesus could have been caught up in his own anger, hurt, insecurity, or doubt by the rejection or lack of understanding of his message by so many, including family and friends. But, instead, because he has such an incredible, passionate, and divine love for us, he had this dogged determination to continue on. Jesus is not worried about what others might think, say or do to him – he is only concerned with the truth and spreading the message of God’s great love. And it is in Jesus Christ that we come to know this great love. It is Jesus who is from the Father and knows the Father’s love for us - this is the authority from which he speaks. And it is Jesus who loves us so much that he is willing to give himself completely to us. Jesus was not only willing to suffer and die for us, but even more he gives to us his entire being – body, blood, and soul – in the Eucharist! He holds nothing back. He gives himself to us completely and unconditionally – out of love! And it is Jesus who is inviting us to believe in him – in who he is, in what he taught, and what he did, and what he gives us now in the Eucharist. He is calling us to not only to believe in him, but to be in relationship with him. He is calling us to be in this intimate, physical, loving relationship with him – to be united with him literally by eating his body and drinking his blood. And while this may sound so odd today, as it did to the Jews who rejected this message when Jesus spoke it, we must seek to understand, trust and believe that Jesus is present in a real, true and substantial way, with his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist. For those who do believe and enter into this relationship, here is the great promise: eternal life. This is what Jesus means when he says in today’s Gospel: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever. This promise continues for us today in the bread of the Eucharist. When we eat the bread and drink the wine of the Eucharist, we are nourished and strengthened to live in this relationship now and eternally with God. We are also strengthened to love others as St. Paul urges in today’s second reading – that all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling and malice are removed from us, so that we may be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ. Just as the prophet Elijah was nourished by bread from God, as we read in the first reading, we are fed spiritually through the graces we receive in the Eucharist to live and love as Jesus did and taught us to do. What the story of Elijah also reminds us is that God gives us what we need most in our life. As we pick up the story of Elijah in the first reading, Elijah was a man on the run. The queen of the northern kingdom, Jezebel, wanted him dead because he had just embarrassed her and her pagan prophets by showing that the power of our God is real and superior to their fictional pagan gods. He was also discouraged that all his efforts to seek the conversion and repentance of the Israelite people was proving to be fruitless. One the run, Elijah was not only physically exhausted, he was depressed and full of self-pity – he just wanted to die. However, not once, but twice did to our loving God provide Elijah with bread to sustain him physically and spiritually on his journey. The same is true for us. God will sustain us in our time of greatest need. Often we pray for a job or a better job; we pray that the bullying or other violence in our life stops; we pray to heal a broken marriage or relationship; we pray that we or a loved one might be cured of an illness, disease or addiction; we pray that our fears and anxieties will be removed. These are certainly good prayers. And, in the midst of these challenges, let us also pray for the grace to endure and preserve as we trust that God’s will be done. Just as God provided for Elijah in his moment of greatest need, let us pray that we may be nourished and sustained in the Eucharist, which we are about to receive. Let us pray that through the Eucharist, we may be filled with the wisdom, courage, patience or whatever it is that we need in order to endure are daily challenges. Let us pray that through Eucharist we will trust in the promise of Christ: that whoever eats this bread will have life so that our lives, with its many challenges may be filled with joy and peace – now and eternally.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Is anyone still without power? (If so, please see me after Mass to see how we can help you) For those with power, how many were out for 2 or less days? For 3 or more days? Did any of you boast most gladly in being without power? Since the loss of power to our homes and places of work can have a crippling effect on us physically, mentally and emotionally – and even financially – I suspect that no one was celebrating or boasting that they were without power this past week. In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul boasts most gladly of his “thorn in the flesh.” It has been debated since Paul first wrote these words what his thorn in the flesh might have been - maybe a physical or mental condition, or it may have been an individual or group of individuals that persecuted him – it certainly was not the lack of electricity. What we do know is that Paul accepted and even took joy in this weakness of his. He writes to the Corinthians: I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong. For Paul, there is strength, even power, when he is at his weakest and most vulnerable. Paul believed that he was given this thorn in the flesh to keep him in check, to bring balance to his life, so that his mystical knowledge of Jesus would not overwhelm him or give him too big of an ego. It was this weakness then that gives him clarity of thought and integrity in action to love and serve God. The power outage may have given us a similar opportunity to bring some balance and focus in our lives. Without power, notwithstanding the miserable heat, we had the time away from the noise of TV, radio, email and the Internet, to think and pray; time to slow down from our busy lives and appreciate what is truly important, what we truly value. Certainly the more dramatic and difficult experiences in our life, such as the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job or our home, or a battle with a serious illness, also provide the opportunity to reflect on what is important and to seek greater balance in our life. Like Paul, these are also opportunities to grow closer to Christ – opportunities for the power of Christ to dwell within us. In our moments of weakness, we have the power of Christ to surrender our ego and pride, our vanity and greed, and to place all our trust and hope in Jesus Christ – in who he was and is, in what he taught and did, and the grace he offers us now. In our moments of weakness, we can seek the grace of God – the wisdom, the courage, the strength – whatever we need now - to better hear and follow God’s will for us. In our weakness, we can grow in faith. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is amazed at the lack of faith in him by the people of his hometown. They did not believe in Jesus because they could not accept that a prophet, let alone the Messiah, could come from the poverty and simplicity of their rural community. They could not accept God working in their midst and in their life. There is a second account in the Gospels in which Jesus expresses his amazement at a person’s faith. In Matthew’s Gospel, a Roman centurion asks Jesus to cure his paralyzed servant. When Jesus agrees to come and cure him, the centurion responds: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed…When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Let us amaze Jesus with our faith! In just a couple of minutes we will echo the words of the Roman centurion, just before we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. We pray: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. In our weakness, let us pray these words with great humility. In our weakness, let us pray these words with a sincere desire for God’s mercy and love. In our weakness, let us pray these words with confidence that through the reception of the Eucharist, the power of Christ may dwell within us and heal us. Let us pray that in receiving Christ, we may find peace and even joy in our weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints – whatever our thorn may be. Let us amaze Jesus with our faith!

HOMILY - Sixth Sunday in Easter (Year B)

I just finish a six-week stint as a substitute teacher at Watterson, teaching 187 juniors moral theology while their teacher was on medical leave. I met many very smart, energetic, passionate, and faith-filled students, including several from our parish – and I have to say, I am very optimistic that they will be great leaders in our community AND that they will be great servants to Christ and his Church. This experience has also reinforced the great challenge that they face in knowing God’s great love for them – in the midst of so many false images of love in music and TV, peer pressure and competition, family life and friendships that are so fragile. In reality, this is true of each of us, just not juniors in high school, right? Today’s readings offer us a strong reminder of what love truly is. As the evangelist John reminds us in today’s second reading: it is God who first loved us. He is the initiator and creator. He made us in his image and likeness, he made us good, he made us out of love, to love. As the evangelist further reminds us: The Father loves us so much that he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him; that the Son might suffer and die on a cross so that we might be restored in the love relationship with God, broken by our sin. In today’s Gospel, we are reminded that it is Jesus who is inviting us into this intimate, personal, love relationship with God. He has chosen us and calls us as friends to enter into this love relationship. Not as a slave, who is forced to do something, but rather as a close friend we are invited to freely enter into this relationship. And just like a true friend, it is Jesus shares his joy with us, so that we too might experience the great joy of God’s love. Because of the love our God has for us, the only true response is to love God in return and extend this love to others. And this is the command Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel: love one another. It is Jesus’ obedient and humble death on the cross that is the example for us of how to love others. Jesus says “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” The self-giving, self-donation to a spouse in a Catholic marriage exemplifies such love for another – putting aside ego and personal want out of love for your spouse. It is also in motherhood that we find a wonderful example of such self-giving love – putting your own wants and needs, aches and pains second to the love and care of your family. So, on this Mother’s Day weekend, thank you to all the mothers and wives who give so generously and selflessly and provide us with wonderful examples of how to love. Today’s first reading also gives us several reminders not only of God’s great love but also how we are to love. In today’s first reading, we hear portions of a larger story of the Apostle Peter’s interaction with a non-Jew, Roman solider - Cornelius. It was this episode in the early Church that opened the door for all – Jew and non-Jew alike – to be members of the Church. So, most importantly, this story reminds us that God’s love extends to all without limit! As Peter states: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” This story reminds us also that the love we must have for others must be free of our own personal prejudice and bias. The reader of the entire story of Cornelius and Peter knows that Cornelius was devout and God-fearing along with his whole household, who used to give alms generously to the Jewish people and pray to God constantly. However, for Peter, not knowing this and believing what he did, it was a big obstacle for him to extend love to a non-Jew, who was also a Roman solider. To love as God calls us to love, we much be able to see past the surface of what we know (or we think we know) about others and to see the good in each person. When Peter was able to do this, he was able to love his brother in Christ. Loving others also requires, at times, great humility. The story of Cornelius and Peter remind us of this. Cornelius, the strong and powerful solider, humbly, out of great respect, bows before Peter – while under any other circumstance of that time the roles would be reversed. It is also Peter who shows humility. As an Apostle, and really as the Apostle, he had rock-star status. But, instead of relishing or gloating over the Roman soldier, Peter acknowledges his human weakness and begs Cornelius to get up. Pride was the cause of Original Sin in Adam and Eve, choosing to disobey God, and it is pride that too often leads us to sin. Humility helps us to be selfless and to think of others first. It helps us to love as we are called to love. One final observation on the story of Peter and Cornelius. What finally conveniences Peter of the necessity to extend love to Jew and non-Jew alike is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the non-Jews, who were speaking in tongues and glorifying God. This reminds me that we can not hesitate to ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to love as we are commanded to love. Whatever it is that we need to love better, God will provide. This is the promise Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel: whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. So whatever you need to love more or better – courage, wisdom, patience, humility, whatever – pray to Jesus and you will receive it! May God bless you.

Homily – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

This is a very popular YouTube video by Jefferson Bethke. He is a 22-year-old whose video, entitled “Why I hate religion, but love Jesus,” has been viewed by over 18 million viewers. In the video, he raps of his great love for and faith in Jesus, and his detest for organized religion and the Church.
One of his main arguments is that Jesus came to abolish religion. However, as the Gospel of Matthew reminds us Jesus did not come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill it. Jesus states: “Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” In fact, Jesus came to uphold and fulfill the very best of the Mosaic law, which was intended to draw people closer in relationship to God – a God full of mercy, love, and great compassion especially for the weak, the poor, and the sick. It was this great love and compassion with which Jesus, the Son of God, acts in healing the leper in today’s Gospel.
We can also look to Scared Scripture to find that Jesus preached a religious doctrine, prescribed rituals for his disciples, worshipped in the Temple, AND knew and followed the Mosaic law – as we see from today’s readings. Today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus states the law and the Gospel reports of Jesus’ command to the leper to adhere to the law by “[showing himself] to the priest and offer for [his] cleansing what Moses prescribed.”
Bethke also claims that Jesus hated religion. It is true that Jesus was very critical of the religious leaders of his day – the scribes and Pharisees, who too often followed only the letter but not spirit of the law. Scholars will even point to today’s Gospel as evidence of Jesus’ distain for such religious leaders who victimized its weakest members and may have e even denied Jesus’ healing of the leper. In the Greek rendering of this passage, there is a sense of angry emotion by Jesus in his instruction to the leper to return “again” to the priests for their purification.
If religion is so great, Bethke argues, then why does it build huge Churches while so many go hungry and homeless. We build churches to honor and praise our God – and our recent improvements here are a testament to this. And we, the Church, are also the largest provider in the world of food, shelter and clothing to those in need. Including the work here at Our Lady of Peace - our parish is very generous in giving to the poor – even just last Thursday we served our monthly meal to the homeless downtown.
Bethke also argues that religion is man-made, not God-made. Just the opposite is true: at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus states: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to Peter: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Jesus not only instituted the Church, but remains with her. Father Robert Barron, who is an wonderful and articulate defender of our faith and author and producer of an excellent DVD series entitled Catholicism, reminds us, too, that we can’t separate Jesus from the mystical body of Christ, the Church – that the Word became Flesh, in person Jesus Christ, and who now remains in the Church in the liturgy, Sacraments, and acts of charity. In fact, we can even find in Scripture Jesus instituting the Mass we celebrate now and each of the Seven Sacraments.
It is not my intention to demonize Jefferson Bethke because it is said that when he was presented with these counter-arguments he was humble, earnest and gracious and ultimately reversed his position. I also would not want to be too hard on him because it is his sincere and strong love for and faith in Jesus, like the leper in today’s Gospel, that is the source of his passionate and joy-filled proclamation of the Good News. In fact, we too, having experienced Christ in Sacred Scripture, in the Eucharist, and in this faith community, should leave this Mass on fire to share God’s great love, mercy and peace with others. This is what the final words of this Mass command.
Not all of us feel competent or comfortable to evangelize, as we are called to do – and I would include myself, at times, in this group. So, I invite you to join me in following the direction of our bishops, who urge prayer, fasting, and study when faced with a challenge. I urge you to make time to pray every day, throughout the day to bring us closer in relationship with God. Fasting too offers us self-discipline and clarity when we can resist instant gratification that too often food provides and in turn makes it easier for us to justify other sins. And I encourage you to take time to learn what our Church teaches us, so that you can share and defend our faith.
As we approach Lent, make this season a time of greater prayer, commit to one day of the week for fasting and abstinence, and choose one issue and learn what the Church teaches and why. Set as a goal at the end of Lent, to be more in love with our God, to have a stronger faith in him, and to be empowered by a deeper understanding of God’s truths to share and defend our faith with others.

HOMILY - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

As my wife will be quick to share: I am a pretty sound sleeper and there is not much that keeps me up at night. However, I do sometimes wake up in the middle of the night – now more often with a new born crying for something to eat (thankfully my wife has been great taking the late shift feeding our son, Owen) or I am anxious about a problem or project at work, worried about the family budget, thinking about a loved one who is sick or hurting, or what to say when it is my turn to preach. Often in these moments in the middle of the night, I am able to calm myself with the words in today’s Psalm: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” In fact, I try to start every day with these words. I find these words ground me in my faith and lead me into an even deeper relationship with God.
When I say these words, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will,” I acknowledge that Jesus is my Lord, who I am called to listen to, obey and follow what he has commanded, which is to love and serve God and others –not to be selfish and self-serving. Over the holidays I finished a book by Curtis Martin called “Made for More” - this book will be in the Lighthouse kiosks in the near future. In his book, Curtis shares that in his return to the Catholic Church he made a big step in his faith journey when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and lived by this motto: “If Jesus is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.” In other words, he (and each of us) need to follow Jesus wherever he leads us and in whatever we are called to do and at all times. When we say: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will,” we seek to follow the example of Christ himself, whose entire life was in obedience to and in love with his Father. Jesus’ birth, life, Passion, death, resurrection, and sending of the Spirit provide the perfect example for us of obedience and love that we are called to have.
When I do this, when I listen to and am obedient to God’s will, there is an incredible freedom that I experience, because I am no longer swimming against the current, I am no longer trying to fit a round peg in a square hole, I am no longer fighting against God’s will, but I am living the life I was made to live, I am allowing God’s will and desire to move me and guide. Saint Paul makes this point in today’s second reading – encouraging the Corinthians to avoid immorality and be obedient to God’s will and glorify God in your body. I found greater clarity in my calling through my participation in the parish’s That Man Is You program. We started our second semester this morning, and I invite and encourage the men gathered here to join us next Saturday – you will not regret it!
When I say these words: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will,” I also place a great trust and hope in the promise of eternal peace and life made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection. You may have heard about a young professional football player by the name of Tim Tebow (just kidding)…when you get beyond the media buzz and hype of this player, one of his favorite verses has great meaning and purpose for us as Catholics. The now infamous Bible verse John 3:16, which is associated with Tim Tebow – it was written under his eyes last year and just so happened to be the number of yards he passed and the average number of yards per completion in his game last week – also has this important promise for us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” I suspect that this is what John the Baptist, his disciples and the Apostles were looking for in today’s Gospel and what they found in Jesus. The promise of eternal life is what motivates my faith in Jesus Christ, too. I believe, so that I might have eternal life. I say “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will” as a reminder to myself everyday that my belief in and my obedience to God is for a reason.
God is calling each of us. Like Samuel in today’s first reading, God is calling us personally, by name, to be in relationship with him. How wonderful is Samuel’s response: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And like Samuel, God is not calling us from a distance, but is coming directly to us and is present even now – in this faith community, in Sacred Scripture, and in the Eucharist we are about to share – drawing us closer to him. Our response must be: Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” Our response must be in obedience to Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Blessed Pope John XXIII (23rd) once said: “True peace is born of doing the will of God, and bearing with patience the sufferings of this life, and does not come from following one’s own whim or selfish desire, for this always brings, not peace and serenity, but disorder and discontent.” I want true peace now and eternally and this is what I want for each of you.
So I start my day and calm myself in moments of anxiety or selfishness with these words: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” Make this your prayer too. When you feel stressed, when you are suffering, when you feel alone, when you are exhausted, pray: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”

HOMILY - Third Sunday in Advent (Year B)

This Advent, I found myself returning to the writings and homilies of Father Alfred Delp for spiritual inspiration. Fr. Delp was a German Jesuit priest who was imprisoned and martyred in a Nazi death camp in 1945. At the time of his arrest, he was the Rector of St. George Church in Munich and had a reputation for being a gripping and dynamic preacher. He was also an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime and a leader in the Resistance movement.
I like to read Father Delp’s writings because he was a great Christian man, filled with a deep faith and was fearless in his calling as a priest, even in the face of great chaos, fear and hostility.
He has wonderful insights for this season of Advent. Father Delp speaks of Advent, especially, as a time in which we journey towards an encounter with the Ultimate, with the Almighty, with the Lord God. Father Delp writes that to be face-to-face with the Ultimate and Almighty that we must be “in a state of being shaken, with an alert, awakened heart that does not freeze up, does not become weary, or cramped, or deadened, but sees things as they are.” These words are echoed in the passages from the last several Sunday’s readings: to stay alert and sober.
Father Delp also speaks of Advent as a time for us to make a confession. In one sense, his use of confession means to acknowledge and seek forgiveness for sin in our life as we await Christ’s second coming. And so, I do invite and encourage you to join us at our Advent Parish Penance Service tomorrow/this evening, in which we will pray Evening Prayer together and will have the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Father Delp also speaks of confession in the sense of making a public declaration or affirmation. He states that each of us are asked daily, just as John the Baptist was asked in today’s Gospel, “Who are you.” Our response, like John’s is two-fold: who we are not and who we are. In response to the question: “Who are you?,” John responded, “I am not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet,” but I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, 'make straight the way of the Lord,'" as Isaiah the prophet said;” AND “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

John’s confession comes from a wonderful clarity of thought and integrity of action – these are beautiful qualities that we speak of in our Saturday morning men’s initiative as qualities of authentic male leadership. It is this clarity and integrity that makes John focused and determined in his love and service to God.
This is true also of Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians, in our Second Reading; Mary’s Magnificat, which was today’s Responsorial Psalm; and of the prophet Isaiah in today’s First Reading. Each in their own way possess great clarity and integrity in who they are and what they are called to do. Paul’s joy-filled pastoral letter to the Thessalonians show his great love for and service to this community. Mary’s hymn of praise comes immediately after being told the impossible – that she was to conceive a child – and expresses her openness and joy to God’s calling. And Isaiah, who rejoices heartily in the LORD, is clear in his call to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.
It is not always clear what we are called to do or what brings us joy. Yet, it is from an encounter with the Lord that has come and a Lord that is yet to come that we find clarity of thought, integrity in action AND joy in who we are.
Like Father Delp, John the Baptist, Saint Paul, the prophet Isaiah, and Mary, let us be grounded in who we are through our relationship with Jesus Christ, who taught us how to be in relationship with God and others; and who suffered and died so that we might be in this relationship eternally.
This Advent we rejoice that God became man, in Jesus Christ, and we eagerly await his second coming.
And, when asked: “Who are you?;” rejoice in the comfort and assurance of knowing who you are and what you are calling is.