HOMILY - Third Sunday in Lent (Year B) (2015)

I recently completed a good book. It was a memoir of a guy who went to Wittenberg University in the early 70’s, about 20 years before I did, and it tells his experiences playing football, being in a fraternity, and generally about life on a small, liberal arts campus. Our experiences are remarkably similar. While the book recalled for me many great memories and friendships from college, it was also a reminder of how distant I was from God (not God from me) during my college years – and how truly restless, really empty at times, I felt amidst all the worldly pleasures of college life. To be clear: I had/have a great family life growing up, a strong Catholic education before college, and while at college I rarely missed Sunday Mass and even regularly prayed the Rosary. So, I knew God and was not intentionally rejecting Him - it was just that I was too often consumed in the worldly pleasures and pursuits of college that I did not know, understand or maybe even care to be in relationship with God. Even now, I can recall the distance between me and God that left me restless and longing for more – I just did not know then what. I now know that we were made to be in relationship with God, and that we will always be restless and longing for more until we are at rest with God. We can say as much about the Israelites in today’s First Reading and the Samaritan woman in today’s Gospel. Physical thirst and hunger intensify a spiritual hunger that the Israelites have for God. Certainly, the God who did all those incredible things for them in Egypt, would also care for them in the desert. But, when we are distant from God – when we don’t trust in God – it is easy to not have hope, and to even grumble, as the Israelites did. In a similar way, the Samaritan woman, for all intensive purposes is considered an outcast and has distanced herself from God and her own community. She has cycled through relationships and she is still restless and longing for more. So, it is no coincidence that she sits alone next to a well of water. But, here is the good news amidst our own restlessness and longing: we are loved by God. And as St. Paul reminds us in today’s Second Reading: God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us in order to restore us in relationship with Him – in fact, Jesus gives us the example of how to love God. Even more, as St. Paul states: the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The living water of the Sacraments of Baptism, foreshadowed in today’s readings, transforms us. As St. Paul states: we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have access to his grace in which we stand, and we can boast in hope of the glory of God. In other words, we can be like the Samaritan woman who is transformed after her encounter with Christ. And what did she do? She was so filled with joy and peace that she immediately shared that joy and peace with others. I get that – for lots of reasons and too often – we remain distant from God, still restless and longing – not filled with God’s joy and peace, let alone eager to share it with others. Last Saturday, I attended the Men’s Conference with me two older sons – it was a great event. One thing that struck me, especially in the presentation by Chris Spielman, was the call to honesty. Chris Spielman said several times in sharing his faith journey that he needed to be honest with us and speak the truth. I was struck by this, because it was not until I was honest with myself about my actions, thoughts, intentions, motives that I slowly and gradually closed that gap between me and God. Truthfully, it remains a work in progress, but the more I am able to be honest with myself and God about my sinfulness, the closer I am to God: the greater joy and peace I experience, and the less restlessness I feel. This Sunday and the next two Sunday’s during the 10:00 a.m. Mass, we will celebrate the “Scrutinies,” as part of the R.C.I.A. process. These scrutinities encourage a spirit of repentance among our elect preparing for Baptism at the Easter Vigil – and today’s readings reinforce for them (and us) the power of the waters of Baptism. Father John will pray that as they continue their preparation for Baptism, that they will embrace a spirit of self-searching and repentance – in other words, that they will be honest with themselves and God about what separates them from God and be willing to conform their lives more and more to the example of Christ. My challenge to you is FIRST to be inspired by our elect preparing for Baptism. Embrace the same spirit of self-searching and repentance – be honest with yourself and God about what separates you from God. SECOND, set aside time every day this week to pray over that question: what truly separates you from God. And THIRD bring whatever it is to the Sacrament of Reconciliation next Monday, during our parish penance service. If you need help discerning what keeps you from God’s love, Google “examination of conscience” or read the partial list in this week’s Catholic Times from Pope Francis. I challenge you to be HONEST. If you are truly honest, it will be difficult, maybe even embarrassing, and you may not like what you find. So, ask the Holy Spirit to enter into your heart and mind to help you know and speak to Christ whatever it is that is most pressing in your life. Seek forgiveness and God’s help to avoid whatever it is that separates you from God, so that you be at rest with God now and eternally!

HOMILY - 5TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) (2015)

This Sunday we celebrate World Marriage Sunday, a day the Church celebrates the importance of marriage and family life. This weekend’s bulletin has a great insert on why marriage matters – so pick one up. And to help celebrate this Day in our parish, Fr. John will offer a blessing for married couples before our final blessing and dismissal – so don’t go anywhere. At first glance, today’s readings might not offer much on the topic of marriage. At best, the reference to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law in today’s Gospel would suggest that at least one maybe other Apostles were married. At worst, the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, which in Mark’s Gospel falls between two stories of exorcisms of demons, sounds more like the start of a bad mother-in-law joke. For the record, I have a great mother-in-law; and although I am a bit biased, I think my wife’s mother-in-law pretty awesome, too. Anyhow, as Sacred Scripture always does, today’s readings reveal good news about who we are and who we are called to be. As today’s Psalm reminds us, our God is good and gracious, he rebuilds what is destroyed, he gathers what is lost, he heals the brokenhearted, he binds our wounds, and as he knows each star in the sky by name, he knows us, and he loves us. God created us out of love to know his love now and eternally. But as we too often experience in our own lives, we don’t know his love or at least we just don’t feel it. We struggle or fail in relationships and jobs, we experience stress and anxiety, we have health problems, and experience loss and death of loved ones. We are left empty and feeling more like Job in today’s first reading: in which life is a drudgery, we feel like we have been assigned months of misery, our nights are troubled, filled with restlessness until the dawn, and then our days are not much better – they come to an end without hope, and we ask ourselves: shall I not see happiness again, let alone eternal joy and peace?! However, there is something in our hearts crying out for something more lasting and satisfying – even if we don’t immediately know what it is, let alone how to obtain it. This is true of Job and each one of us. This hope burning in our heats is for God’s everlasting, joy-filled love. The good news for us is that Jesus came to teach us about this love. As we read in today’s Gospel, he set people free – not only from their physical, mental, and spiritual infirmities – but also from the worst affliction of all – the tyranny of slavery to sin and Satan – so that we might not only know this love, but experience it fully and eternally! And here is the beauty of the vocation of marriage that we celebrate today: the goal of marriage is to get your spouse to Heaven. Couples promise to each other on their wedding day: to have and hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do they part. And this means, among other things, that spouses must help each other to know God’s love, especially when one spouse is feeling more like Job. As spouses, we are called to bring what Christ taught us to the relationship and share the good news of God’s love with our spouse and to do so humbly, selflessly, and with great care and compassion. BTW: Priests and religious of our Church have the same vocation, but they are called to serve all persons, just not one person. When we read a great book, we are excited to share that book with someone; the same is true after seeing a great movie; we do the same when we first start dating someone and want to introduce that person to our family and friends, right? So, we can appreciate the enthusiasm, passion and even urgency of Jesus in today’s Gospel to share the good news of God’s love – he knows a great truth and wants to share it with as many people as possible. We also get the same sense of enthusiasm, passion and urgency as we read Saint Paul’s letter today. St. Paul who is not concerned about what others might say or do to him and is willing to endure great hardship in order share the Gospel with others. So, it is no surprise that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law immediately waited on Jesus after being healed. After we experience God’s love, our natural response is to not only feel joy, but to act. Experiencing God’s love, awakens our call to share the good news by what we say and do with enthusiasm, passion and urgency. Having today experienced God’s love in Sacred Scripture, in the Eucharist, and in this community, my prayer is that you not only feel joy, but are motivated to now act – to go and share the Gospel of the Lord!

Homily - Baptism of the Lord (Year B)

This weekend, we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. This marks the official end to the Christmas season. Admittedly, I took down our Christmas ornaments last weekend, but I did get my thank you notes out before the season ended! Also this weekend, at the 11:30 Mass, Fr. John (our pastor) will ask our approximately seventy 7th and 8th graders of the parish, who are preparing for Confirmation in March about their freedom, intent, desire as candidates for this Sacrament. Often, I think, with such questions, there is confusion by candidates, parents, godparents, and others about what is happening at Confirmation. When we prepare these young adults for the Sacrament of Confirmation, we do so not simply as a rite of passage for them – as if on the day they are confirmed that they are transitioning from Christian youth to adults, or from immature to (more) mature Christians. While on some level it is true and even proper to view Confirmation as an opportunity for a young man or woman to affirm publicly his or her faith and unity with the Church, they actually can and should do this everyday by what they say and do – by waking up every day with the desire and intent to know, love, and serve God and others more and more. Confirmation is better understood as a Sacrament of Initiation – initiation into a relationship with our God, which begins with Baptism and is strengthened in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confirmation – initiation into the one relationship that will bring us the greatest joy and peace now and eternally. As we have been working to prepare our 7th & 8th grades, which is mostly done by our wonderful teachers (McMahon, Roberts, Ulibarri, Rost), we can not stress enough to the students the necessary and important connection between their Confirmation and Baptism. So it is with great intention (and some hard work) that we selected this weekend, in which we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, to gather our Confirmandi and ask them a series of questions. This connection between Baptism and Confirmation is very important for several reasons. First, the function of Confirmation in our Catholic lives is to focus our attention on the gifts of the Holy Spirit that first came to us at our Baptism. It is the Holy Spirit that dwells in each of us from the day we were baptized; it is the Holy Spirit who is given to us as God’s most precious gift – a gift freely given out of love; and it is the Holy Spirit who is to be our strength and our guide in living the Christian life. Second, it is this gift of the Holy Spirit, received in Baptism, that aids us in fulfilling the call to conversion. We are called to a life of continual conversion - gradually rooting out sin and selfishness and to give our lives more and more completely to God – by following his commands and loving him and others more and more. The Holy Spirit gives us grace to see our sin for what it is – rebellion and a rejection of the love of God. The Holy Spirit helps us to turn away from all that would keep us from his love. And so, we will ask our candidates if they reject sin and evil in their lives – and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we pray that they will not only answer yes tomorrow/today, but every day. Third, believing is only possible by grace and the help of the Holy Spirit who opens our hearts and minds to God’s love and mercy and who makes it easier for us to accept and believe in our Triune God. So, another important set of questions that we will ask our Confirmandi today (tomorrow) – and that will be asked of them again at their Confirmation - is their own faith – a faith in our Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and in the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. At their Baptism, their parents and godparents made this profession of faith for them, now we ask them to make it for themselves - by the grace and help of the Holy Spirit they will answer “yes” they do believe. Finally, Confirmation should be an opportunity for the Confirmandi to enter into a fuller, deeper participation with and as a member of the Christian community. And this really means at least three things. First, all the faithful – you and me - are expected to take responsibility for those being Confirmed. We are to support them by prayer (and even fasting), make them feel welcome and give them, by what we say and do, the example of what it means to be a Christian. This is a promise parents and godparents made at Baptism and it will be a promise that they, with all gathered at the 11:30 Mass tomorrow, will renew. Second, the hope is that our Confirmandi will not only feel welcomed and empowered to take a more active role in the liturgical and charitable activities of the parish, diocese and universal Church, but also be willing and able to share and even defend our faith. And third, the hope is that by what our Confirmandi say and do, that they will serve as living reminders of our own Baptism and Confirmation and the commitment that it entails. By what they say and do, we should become more aware of the Holy Spirit in our lives and with the Spirit’s help and guidance be inspired to continue our own faith journey. The anointing by Bishop Campbell in March during the Sacrament of Confirmation marks the completion of our 7th & 8th graders initiation into the Church. Let us pray for our Confirmandi as they prepare for Confirmation, that they may grow in their love of God through the gift of the Holy Spirit, which began at their Baptism.

HOMILY - Third Sunday of Advent (Year B) (2014)

My three-year-old son, Owen, will often ask me: “are you happy?” Inevitably maybe intuitively, he will ask when I am most consumed in my own worry or pity. And in those moments, the honest answer is “no” – I am angry, frustrated, hurt, embarrassed, tired, or impatient and I am not happy. But his question is just that jolt I needed to remind me that I am truly happy or at least I should be, and that I have much to rejoice about. And so maybe after a few-second pause, I respond to his question with: “yes, Owen, of course I am happy!” In a similar way, this Third Sunday in Advent is intended to have that same effect. The readings and prayers should cause us to pause and recognize that while our lives are messy and complicated, that we are at times weak and sinful, and that we experience too often loss and pain in our lives, there is a reason to rejoice. Really there are two reasons. First, we joyfully celebrate that our God became man in the person of Jesus Christ - born of a woman at Christmas - to teach us how to love by what he said and did, and ultimately he suffered and died on the Cross to restore us in relationship with God. Second, we joyfully anticipate Jesus’ second coming when he will defeat evil and sin in the world and return all things to his Father – and then, there will be eternal peace and joy, no more suffering, pain, evil, violence or sin. This is truly Good News and reason to rejoice! It is with such faith that St. Paul, in today’s second Reading, instructs the Thessalonians to “Rejoice always.” Unlike some of Paul’s other letters, this one is not in response to an immediate crisis. Rather he tells them that they have done well to live good Christian lives so far and that they must remain strong and focused as they await the fulfillment of Christ’s promised return, which they thought would happen at any time. So, what I especially like about Paul’s instruction is that he does not just tell the Thessalonians to be happy, empty of any meaning or context – as if they or we are robots or puppets blindly following orders. Rather, he instructs them to rejoice always and then gives them seven more directives. As much as they are general Christian principles by which to live, these directives can also lead us to a deeper faith as well as a joy that is sincere and complete, lasting, and will sustain any Christian in difficulties and adversity. St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to not only rejoice always, but to 1) pray without ceasing, 2) to give thanks at all times and places, 3) to not reject or resist the Holy Spirit working in their lives to help them and guide them, 4) to not despise prophetic utterances – in other words listen to what others say, 5) but also to test everything, 6) retain what is good and 7) refrain from every kind of evil. This is good advice – the same advice we would gladly accept if we were buying a car or a house, seeking a new job, or beginning a new relationship, even marriage. Why not do this or even more for the most important thing/relationship in our life – that is also the one thing that will bring us the greatest joy?! This Advent rejoice in God’s love. Rejoice in a love that became human like us to restore us in relationship with God; rejoice in a love that will come to restore peace and joy eternally. This Advent rejoice always, AND 1) pray without ceasing, 2) to give thanks at all times and places, 3) by open to the Holy Spirit working in your life, 4) listen to what others say, 5) test everything, 6) retain what is good and 7) refrain from every kind of evil. This Advent, if asked by someone: are you happy? Pause and then answer with a faithful, joyful, hopeful, thoughtful YES!

HOMILY - Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome (Year A)

Each diocese has a cathedral – for the diocese of Columbus it is St. Joseph’s Cathedral. The cathedral church in Rome is St. John Lateran Basilica. And it even has an inscription placed it that reads: this Church is “Mother and Head of all the churches of the City and the World.” Each diocese also has a bishop – for the diocese of Columbus it is Bishop Fredrick Campbell. The bishop for the diocese of Rome is also the pope of the Roman Catholic Church: Pope Francis, who is the father and shepherd of not just Catholics in Rome but the entire world. In celebrating today the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, which happened on November 9, 324, we celebrate annually the unity of all local churches with the universal church of Rome. And so, in a special way today, we celebrate the reality that Our Lady of Peace parish is united with the Church of Rome and its bishop, Pope Francis. This celebration is also a reminder of the grace of God that flows into our lives by our presence in this Church and our participation in this liturgy – the grace we receive in reading God’s revealed Word in Sacred Scripture here, the grace we receive from the Eucharist here, and the grace we receive in the fellowship of this community gathered together here in faith. And in a very special way, today’s celebration, and especially its readings, reminds us beautifully of the goal and mission of THE Church – the Mystical Body of Christ – and every church – whether it is a basilica, a cathedral or a parish church – and (in the words of St. John Paul II) is to guard, reveal and communicate love: God’s love for us and the love we are called to have for God and others. It is especially true in the domestic church, a term that the Second Vatican Council gave to the family, that uniquely guards, reveals and communicates this love to its members. It is the family in which we first learn who God is and to prayerfully seek His will for us in the midst of his abundant love. And for this very reason, Pope Francis – I have to believe in great zeal for the domestic church – recently stated that the enemy so often attacks the family. The devil does not want the family; he tries to destroy it, to make sure that there is no love there. Today’s readings are hopefully a call to action and at the same time a source of encouragement for our families in their many shapes, sizes, proximity and configurations and who are in this parish and in the universal church. After he had successfully established the Church in Corinth and then moved on to do the same in other communities, St. Paul found himself in a long-distance competition with other messengers and messages that followed him. Paul is urging folks in today’s second reading to not be carried way by fancy words and actions, but instead to stay focused and grounded in the one, true, lasting foundation in our life: Jesus Christ. Our families are under attack – we are pulled in so many different directions; bombard by tons of messages and messengers; bombard by the media, politicians, TV and the internet; bombard with mixed messages about what is true, what is important, what is worth living and dying for. The challenge is to remain grounded in Jesus Christ, just as St. Paul urges the Corinthians in today’s second reading. It is only in Christ – and the example he provides us – that we will find joy and peace now and eternally. Is Jesus Christ the foundation of your family and is it obvious to your family members and strangers that it is Jesus Christ? In today’s Gospel, we read the story of Jesus’ great emotion and passion – okay anger – over how the House of God was being used. Has your family been reduced to a place of transactions – going through the motions of work and school, cleaning and laundry and the many other necessary activities of a family or is it ALSO about something more and greater? Is it a place that draws others to God’s love and inspires and supports them in their love of God and others? If not, then today’s Gospel reading challenges us to do a little (or maybe a lot of) housekeeping AND to do so with authority and zeal, like Christ. A zeal that “consumes” us – in which we freely, willingly and selflessly give completely of ourselves for another – as Christ did for us on the Cross. A zeal to re-order our family’s values, actions, and priorities. Finally, in today’s first reading, we read a small portion of a vision by the prophet Ezekiel, who is trying to offer hope to an exiled people who is also without a physical connection to their God – following the destruction of their Temple. Is your family a source of hope for each other in the face of hardship and difficult? Is your family a source of hope for others in need? Is your family like the waters of Ezekiel’s vision that are not only life-giving but life-giving in great abundance? Is your family a place of mercy and forgiveness? A place of joy and peace? While I wish I could say my own domestic church – my family – is always a place of hope, that we always inspire and support love, that it is always Christ-centered in everything we do and say, but truthfully it is not. I think that we do a good job, but we are human, and weak and sinful. And the truth is that, as Pope Francis reminds us, we are under attack by the devil who desires nothing more than to destroy the domestic church as a means to destroy Christ and his Church on earth. Despite many fires, earthquakes and wars, St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome has survived; and has become a symbol of the survival of Christianity itself for over 2000 years. And so, I am confident that the domestic church will survive its many attacks, too! On our part, regardless of the shape, size, proximity or configuration of your family, let zeal for your domestic church consume you. Seek each day for your family to be a place of hope, to inspire and support love, to be Christ-centered in everything you do and say. And be nourished and strengthened now in this space, in this liturgy, and with this parish community, who is united with the Church universal. May God bless you.

HOMILY - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Today’s Gospel passage is commonly referred to as the Great Commandment, which is really two commandments – FIRST: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; SECOND: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I like the simplicity of it – and I have to believe that there were some Jews in Jesus’ time who also liked the simplicity of it, because there were actually 613 laws of the Torah to be observed – 248 “shalls” and 365 “shall nots.” Some scholars even speculate that there were over 900 laws that a Jewish person was required to follow with equal obedience and fervor. While Jesus’ synthesis of the law into two commands was not necessary novel – there are passages in the Old Testament that similarly synthesized the Law into one or a couple statements – it was Jesus’ authority and insight into what it means to be in relationship with God that is significant then and now. To be in relationship with God means to have this intimate, personal love relationship with God; this is what we are made to do and what we do best; to love freely and completely, holding nothing back; to love with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. If we love God in this way, we will experience great joy and peace. We will also naturally want to follow his commands – to do his will. And, we will want to care for and respect all of his creation, especially the most vulnerable: widows, orphans, foreigners, the poor – as today’s First Reading instructs us to do. We will want to love our neighbor – in the very broadest sense – as our self. Bishop Campbell has asked parishes of the Diocese to focus attention this weekend on the assault of pornography upon men and women – young and old – and on families and society as a whole. I would agree with Bishop Campbell, who said that “pornography has wounded many people and their relationships, and has left disfiguring scars.” And I would add that pornography has left many unable to love God and others as Jesus commands us to do in today’s Gospel and has perverted for too many of us our understanding of the gift of sexuality in the context of marriage and the call to mutual spousal self-giving which mirrors God’s love for each of us. As part of this diocese-wide awareness effort, I want to share with you that there is help if you or a loved one are struggling with this issue. There is a local initiative offering resources 1) to protect families from the onslaught of explicit internet-based material, 2) to promote recovery from pornography use and addiction through counseling and support groups, and 3) to foster prevention through programs that illuminate the nature of the human person and the call to authentic relationships. The initiative is called “My House” – and there are materials in the Gathering Space if you want to learn more. This initiative takes its name from the account in the book of Joshua where Joshua calls the people to decide whom they will serve. He says, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” It may have been just a nice coincidence that this awareness effort occurs on the weekend with readings so focused on the command to love – but knowing Bishop Campbell a little bit, I am guessing that it was no accident. Regardless, today’s readings challenge us to ask ourselves: who do we serve? In other words, how do we approach Jesus’ command to love God and others; how to we love, especially when we encounter things like pornography, which is the opposite of true love, or a personal illness or addiction, or the loss of a loved one or a job, or any other hardship or difficulty. Are we open or closed to God’s love; welcoming or hostile; skeptical or hopeful; angry or joyful, selfish or selfless? Bishop Campbell reminds us, in his letter regarding the My House initiative, that “We are the people of the Resurrection, called to hope, not to fear.” It is with such hope that St. Paul in today’s second reading relays his efforts to bring the Thessalonians to a personal relationship with God. Paul had only spent three weeks with the Thessalonians, but he – really the Holy Spirit working through him, as he is quick to admit – had great success in converting many to the faith – from idols to serving the living and true God – and those converts to bring others to the faith. It was with great hope that Paul preached and made every effort to do so without seeking glory for himself or relying on the financial support of others in order to prove his motives were pure and his love sincere. Bishop Campbell concludes his letter with this advice: Let us pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us and to help those struggling with this addiction. We keep our eyes on the risen Lord for He is the one who knows us and loves us in this life and in the life to come.” Yes, let us pray this week especially for those struggling with this addiction. Let us also pray for each other that we may grow in our love for God and others. I urge you to trust in the risen Lord who knows you and loves you and wants nothing more than for you to be loved and to love. Pray this week for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to strengthen you to be loved and to love. Pray for whatever you need to be open to the love God offers you and seeks in return. Whatever it is that keeps you from loving – from loving the Lord, our God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind AND from loving your neighbor as yourself – ask for God’s help and he will provide.

HOMILY - Exaltation of the Holy Cross (2014)

You have probably heard of these phrases: The ball is in your court. Think outside the box. Every cloud has a silver lining. These and thousands more like them are clichés or expressions used to convey a thought or idea. However, they are also expressions that have likely lost their effectiveness through over-usage. I am very sensitive to using clichés in my ministry, especially when an individual has recently experienced some type of loss, hardship or pain. It would be easy for me to use common clichés like “just keep the faith,” or “just offer it up,” or “when God closes a door, He opens a window,” or “the Lord never gives you more than you can handle,” especially when I don’t know what to say, let alone when I lack the words to explain why something difficult or even tragic has happened. However true these expressions may be, they may often end up sounding empty or cold. For me at least, one phrase comes off sounding more cliché that any other – and that phrase is “to carry your cross” and its many variations. However, today’s Feast – the Exaltation of the Holy Cross – changes the phrase – to carry your cross – from cliché to a wonderful and beautiful expression of faith, hope and trust! Celebrated annually on September 14, the roots of this Feast date back to the Fourth century with the discovery of the actual Cross carried by Jesus and the practice of venerating the Cross as something more than just an instrument of execution. For us Christians, the Cross points to two important truths about our faith. First, that Jesus’ death on the Cross matters. As Jesus himself states to Nicodemus in today’s Gospel: “…[J]ust as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [as we read in today’s first reading], so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” So the Cross is about a loving Creator and Father willing to give up everything to bring us back into relationship with Him: to heal us and to give us life – and not just for a moment, or a day, or a week or a month, or a year, or even for our earthly lives, but for eternity. As I like to think about it, Jesus’ death on the Cross is the once and forever payment for the debt we created by our sin – in the past, the present and in the future. Even if we had the right currency to pay this debt, which we don’t, we could never have enough of it to fully pay the debt created by our sin and the sin of others. Christ’s death on the Cross accomplishes what we could never do for ourselves and made possible the eternal joy and peace we were made to experience and for which we long for in our hearts more than anything else. This is reason enough for us to raise up or exalt the Cross, to hold in the highest regard and with great dignity and nobility, but there is more: The second important truth about the Cross is that it teaches us how to live our life. The full expression – to carry your cross – comes from Luke’s Gospel in which Jesus says: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” So often we understand this cross to mean that we must endure some specific problem or difficulty such as a terminal illness, family or job crisis, addiction or some situation that is extremely painful. However, the cross that Jesus refers to is the cross that we bear by living and proclaiming the Christian way of life in the midst of or despite an illness or addiction or crisis or loss or failure. We are NOT limited or defined by these experiences, but rather by how well we – by our actions and words – love. And how do we love? By following Christ. By doing exactly what St. Paul in today’s second reading reminds us that Jesus did: He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. He emptied himself. He humbled himself. He became obedient, even to the point of death, death on a cross. And because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that every knee should bend! So when we say to someone: carry their cross when battling an illness or struggling with some crisis (or that person’s loved one watching this happen), we are saying to them: to seek humility (to empty one self of pride, self-pity, embarrassment, anger or frustration, and disappointment); to trust God and his plan for us – to be obedient God’s laws and will for us; and to follow the example of Jesus Christ in all things. And if we do this, God will – we pray – exalt us: to lift us from death to life, from darkness to light, from illness to health, from anxiety to peace, from persecution to freedom, from sorrow to joy. I get that this – seeking humility and obedience – is hard; I know! But our God is always ready to give us the grace we need – the help, the wisdom, the courage, the patience, whatever it is that we need to deny our self, take up our cross and follow Him. Yes, saying “carry your cross” will probably always sound cliché. But, I say risk sounding cliché, knowing that the Cross has not lost its effectiveness and it will never be over-used, because it leads us to eternal life.