GIVE ME MY KIDNEY BACK

Hi everyone, here’s my homily for the FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - April 29, 2012 - The readings can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/042912.cfm .  As always thanks for reading and all your feedback -  Fr. Jim

HOMILY:

           Well here’s a “sad but true” story if there ever was one:

           On Monday there was a front-page “exclusive” on the NY Post that reported how a woman by the name of Debbie Stevens had donated her kidney to save the life of her boss, Jackie Brucia who, allegedly (don’t want to get into this mess and get sued) after Jackie got what she wanted, turned around and fired Debbie.   It seems the two women knew each other when they had worked together a few years ago until Debbie had left the company for a new job. Back in the fall of 2010, Debbie had stopped in for a visit with Jackie and as they were talking, Jackie shared that she was having health problems and that it looked likely that she would need to have a kidney transplant.  Supposedly Jackie had a family member who was a match but Debbie in the conversation just said “if you ever needed it, I’d donate mine.” A couple of weeks later, Debbie contacted Jackie and asked if there were any job openings.  She was hired back by Jackie and within a few weeks in January 2011 Jackie called Debbie into her office and asked “were you serious about your offering your kidney? – Because it turns out my potential donor isn’t a good match.”

           Debbie agreed to donate her kidney, and they finally had the surgery this past August. According to the complaint Debbie made with the state’s Human Rights commission, soon after the surgery, Jackie turned on her. She berated Debbie for additional sick time (which Debbie said was a result of the surgery), called her work into question, transferred her to another job site 50 miles from her home. When Debbie had a lawyer send a letter to the company citing her mental anguish, she was fired.

           That’s ugly enough, but the drama got worse as the week went on after the first article appeared. The boss responded after the firestorm erupted saying “I will always be grateful that she gave me a kidney, I have nothing bad to say about her. I will always be grateful to her — she did a wonderful thing for me.” But with all the coverage, Debbie responded that not only has she filed a complaint and a lawsuit, she’s also suing for her kidney back wailing“You hate me so much, and I’m so despicable, give me my kidney back.”  As the public read and followed the story, the ugliness spread with people writing letters to the editor saying “no good deed goes unpunished”; expressing hopes that the employee gets her kidney back and some other pretty nasty stuff about the boss.

           That story kept coming to mind as the complete opposite of what we hear in today’s Gospel. In today’s Gospel we have this beautiful image which is one of the most beloved among Christians where Jesus refers to himself as “the Good Shepherd.” For most of us, just hearing that phrase “the Good Shepherd” seems to conjure up pictures of a stained glass window or a holy card with Jesus in long robes and sheep walking around him. Yet just listening to the Gospel, we get quite a different picture.  Jesus distinguishes between the hired man who is simply doing a job, doing the bare minimum, and as soon as he sees a threat he hightails it out of there. He has no investment in the life, the welfare of those left in his charge. That’s in complete contrast to Jesus’ image of what a “good shepherd” is, what He himself is – a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

           In the passion and death of Jesus that we recounted leading into this season of Easter celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, we focus a lot on the unjust, brutal way Jesus was treated.  But today’s Gospel reminds us of another aspect to that gift that we cannot ignore.  That Jesus suffered such, freely, lovingly, sacrificially, for you, for me, for all of humanity.   He chooses to be a Good Shepherd, not a hired hand... In spite of our sinfulness, our selfishness and self-centeredness. In fact, because of those things, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for us even when we decide not to listen to the shepherd, even when we allow ourselves to be lured away from his loving voice which has guided, protected and never led us astray before... yet, for whatever reason, we get self-focused or self-involved – thinking- KNOWING better and making ourselves vulnerable.

    Yet, so lovable are we to the shepherd, he will do anything, everything to protect us, to save us - even laying down his life.  All with the belief that when the sheep realize, see, learn, experience and come to know what a gift they have in their Shepherd, they will be transformed and never part from His flock, His company or from following His voice.

           That’s one of the saddest aspects of the “kidney wars” story. For a brief moment, they experienced the incredible depths of what “sacrificial love” is.   Yet, for whatever reasons, rather than experience how it could continue to change their lives and countless others, both have become hardened, angered, and turned on each other.  The boss becomes typified as a villain and even the donors motives become questioned as she has become so angry and lost sight of why she had offered this precious gift in the first place.  Was it to get the job? Get publicity, or attention?  Or was it done simply out of love and concern for someone she knew needed help? 

           For you and I, Jesus is clear what it means to be his followers.  We’re not to be hired hands who do things to be compensated... We’re not to be concerned solely with our own welfare.  Our Good Shepherd laid down His life for us so that we may come to know, experience and share that love ourselves – and will continue to lay down His life for us until we fully appreciate and are transformed from acting like sheep into the Good shepherd ourselves.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE STAR LEDGER

I'm doubtful that this will be published in THE STAR LEDGER Letters to the Editor page, but I probably have more readers here than they do anyway:

To the Editors:

I had stopped subscribing to The Star Ledger– sadly I might add after a lifetime of it being delivered to my parents home growing up and then being a reader in my adulthood –  about two years ago mainly because I believed your paper had lost any objectivity, balance or journalistic integrity that I expected from a newspaper.  I suppose I’m not the only one since quite unexpectedly, The Star Ledger started appearing on my front porch – without my purchasing or subscribing. 

Sadly not only have I seen things have not changed, but gotten worse.  In the one week of receiving your paper, your obvious hatred towards the Catholic Church is remarkable.  You give front-page prominence to allegations against a priest in a tone that has already convicted him.  You write a laughable (well it would be laughable were it not so offensive) editorial where you simply malign all Catholic priests as “miscreant” pedophiles;  bashing the Catholic Bishops for cracking down on women religious (something that’s been long overdue) for not accurately transmitting the whole Gospel message rather than what has been the norm for some of them:  selectively choosing what pieces they wish to transmit relegating them to being social workers rather than women religious.

I suppose one reason for this continued attack (implied in your editorial) is because the Catholic Church has chosen to actually defend herself and pointed out the assault on it’s religious liberties in dramatic arrogance by the Obama administration.  Perhaps Catholics defending their rights  is considered a threat to your hoped for outcome in the November elections.  

As a priest, I try to be a man of hope.  I would hope you’d do some soul-searching and consider if you’ve let your political biases completely color your coverage and I want to leave the door open to the possibility that maybe you would return to trying to be a bit more fair-minded and objective in your coverage or have a remote understanding to topics you’re addressing.  But I have to be realistic and note this has been a gradual, consistent decline for a once great paper.  I suppose I’ll take solace in the fact that your relevance in the public discourse will continue to wane until you can no longer even afford to simply give away a paper that no one wants to read.

Father Jim Chern,
Montclair, New Jersey

YOU ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS

Hi everyone, here is my homily for the THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER - April 21, 2012 – which was our MASS OF THANKSGIVING celebrating that Newman Catholic was chartered as a CLASS I ORGANIZATION of the SGA at Montclair State (see post below).  The readings for today’s Mass can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/042212.cfm .  As always, thanks for all your feedback!  God Bless   Fr. Jim

HOMILY:

           So about a week or so ago, James Cameron’s mega-hit movie from 1997 Titanic was re-released in movie theaters.  With ticket prices being what they are and seemingly more and more people having 40 + inch screen TVs in their homes, its somewhat surprising that a movie 15 years old would make another $47 million dollars in less than three weeks (on top of what was already an astronomical $600 million dollars, just in the US, the first time around)  I had assumed when I heard that it was coming back into movie theaters, that the reason for the re-release was with IMAX, 3-D and all these new advances in visual technologies/etc that they wanted to see how it looked with these enhancements. It didn’t occur to me that it was being re-released in time for the 100th anniversary of the actual sinking of the ship.  I might have felt slightly embarrassed that I didn’t catch that, but this past week, whatever slight embarrassment I might have had completely disappeared when I read this headline “Yes Virginia, the Titanic was a real thing.”

           It seems that, quite a few people hearing the news of memorials surrounding the 100th Anniversary of the tragic sinking of the Titanic which killed 1,500 people – went on their twitters to share some of the following (what did we do before people so self-revealed their stupidity?)
           “I didn’t know Titanic actually happened, thought it was just a film.”
           “Nobody told me titanic was real...? How am I just finding this out?!”
           “The titanic was real holly [that’s not a typo on my end, it actually said holly followed by a word I’m not going to repeat]  s--- im never gooing on a cruise,”
           “Is it bad that I didn’t know the titanic was real?”
           
           Yes my young twitter friends - it was bad that you didn’t know that!  To think that so many people would be so easily confused or misinformed to not know this human tragedy was real is jarring. I mean, the thought that perhaps 100 years from now people could see a movie and think that 9/11 was just a story or a movie seems inconceivable to me. 

           Which perhaps underscored the importance of something that happened on campus. This past Thursday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. Our friends from Hillel, the Jewish Student Union was selling bracelets that simply said “Never Again.”    Thinking about the Titanic story just brought the importance of this to light... In a world where fact and fiction are so strangely mixed together; where with photoshop, or everyone being an amateur-who-looks-professional video editor and all, the line between what is real and what is made up is harder and harder to be distinguished.  So the students bearing witness to the horror that was done, the killing of over 6 million of their brothers and sisters (as well as another 5 million non-Jews) is vital to all of us. It’s true, they weren’t there themselves to see what happened. But there hearing the voices of survivors - whether immediate family members or passed down from other family members – there is an intimacy, a way of “knowing” that is far more convincing than simply books, movies and pictures. They testify to the horror that they have a direct connection to, and give voice to the blood of those innocents, crying out to us removed by these events only by decades ”NEVER AGAIN” to allow such evil atrocities to occur.

           There’s something vitally important to being witnesses to things. To not simply memorizing a story, getting some facts and details down, and repeating it. Sadly, the Titanic tragedy has become so romanticized due to the tragedy being the setting to a fictitious story one of the biggest blockbusters in movie history - the fictitious story became more remembered then the real story.  Those who suffered through the atrocities of the Holocaust have recognized the importance that humanity doesn’t forget what humanity did to it’s own people. So the horrors and atrocities are remembered through the testimony of witnesses.  (Perhaps that’s why the powerful, yet fictitious film Life is beautiful was not as well received as the historically based movie Schindlers List)

           In today’s Gospel, on this third Sunday of Easter - this third week where we continue to celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, the Gospel contains a line that seems to stand out. We can get lost in yet another exciting account of Jesus appearing to the disciples after being risen from the dead.  How he stands in their midst, offers them his gift of Peace and inviting them to touch, see, know that he was indeed really there before them, alive in the flesh. Yet there’s one line that Jesus says that stands out :

           You are witnesses of these things.

           That could be read as a statement or acknowledging a fact or maybe it’s something more, a revelation, a command: You are witnesses of these things...  Yes, he entrusts to his disciples the vital task of not simply telling his story, not just passing along details. He calls them to be invested themselves in the story.  Putting their voices, their names and reputations, their lives to the story - to His story. And throughout 2,000 years His message, His Gospel, His very Life has been made real through the Church from generation to generation to generation. Yes, costing people their very lives - whether in martyrdom where people were slaughtered for His name or in laying down their lives in service, in devotion to Him. Being witnesses of these things. 

           In all the excitement that we as Newman Catholic have been experiencing this last week and a half since our being chartered as a Class I organization of the Student Government Association - which we rightly give thanks to Almighty God from whom all Blessings flow and for whom we do all that we do – there’s an element that is so important that in the hoopla, in the joy, in the Ice-cream cakes and pizza - that I don’t want any of us to miss. 

           Newman Catholic is at it’s best not when we throw a Pool Party or a Barbeque (or God Help me) a Princess Party.  We are something far more important than this honor, we are at our best when we are witnesses to Jesus Christ.  When we testify by our lives the importance of Christ crucified and risen. When we witness to the life, the love, the joy, the peace, the light that He brings to us here and now in this place, on this campus.  When we speak in small ways, in big ways - in all ways to fellow students, to faculty, to staff, to administrators that there is a God who so loves the world, who so loves each and everyone of us – who so loves them that he sent His only son to bring them life and that life to the full...When we show the beauty and joy and love of the Catholic Church that he founded.  When we do this, we distinguish ourselves as something more than just another Class One organization of the SGA - but part of a more important community, disciples of Jesus Christ here and now - part of the continued community of witnesses. 

           Yes, we rightly celebrate the amazing work of Newman Catholic members and the dedication of our Eboard officers and student leaders over the past 5 years... we appreciate the support of the many partners, administrators on campus, especially the SGA legislature and the SGA Eboard officers for the collective efforts that helped bring us to this moment in our organizations history.  But my deepest hope and prayer is that all of us see what is possible when we as the local Church listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting and direction in our lives and come together united as disciples of Christ.   When we do, we don’t simply become “Class One” or retell a story passed along now for some 2,000 years - we bear witness to the Risen Christ who calls us to share His good news “to all the nations” - making him real and present in our day and age.

    That’s the bottom line – 'Making Him real'.  If Christ is real to us - if we allow him to fundamentally, radically alter our lives for the better - then we can't help but make Him real to those around us, both here at Montclair  and wherever else His grace may lead us.    And, through us, His Love will become so real that a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand years from now, no one will ever have to tweet or post or in any way ask if Jesus Christ was real.  Our witnessing to His Love for us by showing our Love for Him will stand as credible testimony that He was, and is, and ever shall be.

CLASS I

This past Wednesday, the NEWMAN CATHOLIC CAMPUS MINISTRY at MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY had a historic moment.

Newman Catholic is a pastoral outreach of the Archdiocese of Newark, but is also recognized and chartered by the Student Government Association of Montclair State University as one of their official student organizations - which entitles them to different rights, privileges and funds for programming.   The SGA has 5 levels or "Classes" for the hundreds of organizations at MSU.  

In 5 years, the students at Newman have moved from a Class III organization to this week receiving the recognition as a Class I organization.  As the Chaplain here, I'm so proud of the students.  Many of their peers are often described as apathetic or unmotivated.  To see how on fire they are - that they "get" that it's not just about being a Club or an organization but about bearing witness to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church that he founded on this secular campus -- and that they have "gotten" that notion consistently over the years like this to be recognized by their peers in this way, it's a real joy for all of us.  This is a video montage looking at the last 5 years as they went from Class III to Class I.

NEXT SUNDAY - APRIL 22 we will have a MASS OF THANKSGIVING at 8:30 PM which we've invited our alumni and members of the University to join us to celebrate and give Thanks to God for all the blessings and success we've been able to accomplish, knowing that it's because of Him and for Him that we do what we do.

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE...

Hi everyone - here is my homily for the SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER - April 15, 2012.  The readings for today can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/041512.cfm.  As always thanks for reading and your feedback and comments.  Happy Easter!  Fr. Jim

HOMILY:

    When you think about it, we seem to have a growing number of words where there’s a concept or an ideal of what they should mean – but the reality can be extremely different.  We hear the word “Love” and that’s been used to describe the laying down of a man and a woman’s lives for one another in the Sacred institution called matrimony as well as by McDonalds to describe the feeling one would have for their dollar value meal I’m loving it.  “Friend” - refers to people who you’ve grown to know, grown to love that they can become as close or even closer than relatives but in present day definitions, it’s also used to describe one of a thousand people who you haven’t spoken to since graduating high school that you’re connected to on the internet that facebook has determined they are a “friend” as well.

    Today’s Gospel focuses on a word that could fall into that same category:  “Peace.”  Just hearing the word Peace and there’s so many varied impressions, expectations or hopes that attributed to it.  It seems every finalist for Miss America is said to want “world peace.”  So for some, Peace means “the absence of war.”  Politicians utilize the word “Peace” but often times the way that is lived out we might wonder what exactly that means,  Sometimes it’s more of a truce – you leave us alone, we’ll leave you alone.  Sometimes peace is appealed to as the justification of removing an evil threat (World War II for example). 

    Even on a more local level, it’s not uncommon to see signs that say “Peace” on them or a Peace sign and wonder “what does that mean?”  The other day on the parkway, I saw one car cut off another car - and in typical Jersey style the two drivers expressed their incredible displeasure for one another.  Ironically one car had a “Coexist” bumper sticker and the other had one that said “Give peace a chance.”  I guess that shows how fragile and short-lived a thing “peace” can be.

    In today’s Gospel, here it is the night of Easter Sunday.  The empty tomb has been discovered.  The reports of heavenly figures announcing that Jesus has risen are starting to spread.  Yet despite this wonderful news, look at what’s going on.  We are told that the disciples huddle together in fear.  And when you think about it, Who can blame them? 

    The man they had come to know as a friend, who they truly loved and knew loved them - who they had followed, listened to preach, seen perform miracles, witnessed his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with such great fanfare and excitement – not 5 days later is betrayed, denied, abandoned by them; He is unjustly arrested, tortured and put to an agonizing death on the cross.   That’s a pretty seismic shift of events in such a short time.  So all of these things shook them to their core.  They had to have been filled with a mix of sadness, shame and embarrassment – and absolute fear ( it had to have crossed their minds that if all of this had just happened to the one they had all left everything and followed because they believed he was the Messiah – how much easier would it be for all of them, these “stupid fishermen” who followed him to be rounded up and eliminated?). 

    You also have to wonder if there was part of them that was scared about what if this news was true – that Jesus truly was risen?  Maybe they were afraid of what Jesus thought of his “chosen 12” in light of everything that had happened.    Part of me could imagine if it was me, I might want to ask my friends “What was up with all that?”

    Yet look again at Jesus words.  The first words he offers as he simply enters the locked room where they were hiding: “Peace be with you.”  Three times Jesus is quoted as saying that in this short passage.  What is this peace that Jesus is offering them?   Well look at what happens.  The second time Jesus says “Peace be with you” He breathes on them, gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit and tells them “whose sins you forgive are forgiven; whose sins you retain are retained.”  He’s instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation - and making a clear connection. That what so often deprives us of peace in our own lives is our own sinfulness, our self-centeredness.  Yes the disciples were deprived of Peace and living in fear, in part because of their own sinfulness and self-centeredness that had them at that moment isolated from the world.  (That’s what sin does - it isolates us)

    The gift of Peace that Jesus is offering is that He wants us to experience how our God wishes to give us every good thing.  His Being Risen from the dead, being victorious over sin and death, promises us that we can be victorious over sin in our lives, in the sin of the world that seeks to corrupt us... That we can experience that victory over death now and in eternity.   And when we start to experience that freedom – then we know of his true Peace in our lives...   With that, we see how much fear has been plaguing us.  Not the healthy fear, like if you met a bear while out hiking, but an exaggerated fear that stems from so much of the craziness and tragedy that disturbs and rattles so many of us.  

    Several years ago a person wrote a letter to a priest who had a syndicated Q&A column and asked: “Young people these days seem self-assured, but underneath they, like so many of us, are engulfed in fears.  Why do millions, young and old, gripped by fear, want to live like the doomed souls of the Titanic?  And why don’t priests today talk more about fear and sin?”  In his response the priest replied: “We priests do need to acknowledge and speak of the realities of fear and sin.  The challenge however, is to do so in ways that will not lead to more despair, but to hope and holiness and a deeper sense of faith and trust in God. [As one theologian wrote a few years ago, speaking of this very responsibility], it does no good to tell people they’re drowning.  They already know that.  What we need to tell them is why they shouldn’t just go ahead and sink!”

    More than likely, each of us is plagued by some fears, some are legitimate some exaggerated.  We can choose to ignore them or pretend that they aren’t there.  We can live gripped by them, very much as the Apostles were as they were locked away in that room.  Or we can hear the Good news that the Risen Jesus Christ comes to offer us freedom from that.   If we desire that freedom, we must let go of our sinfulness, experience His Divine Mercy and allowing His forgiveness to re-direct our lives   But that’s the thing - making that choice, accepting this gift has an inherit risk involved – that we might change or have to change or be changed by this and for many that can pose the greatest fear of all. 

    The Resurrection of Jesus Christ promises us a share in Christ’s cosmic victory over sin and death, where fear has been conquered and vanquished.   If we allow that promise, that gift to enter into our personal lives, we wont have the confusion or the diversity of opinions to confuse us as they try to articulate what the word“Peace” means – because we will have come to know, experience and live His true and lasting peace in our own lives.

WHAT FAITH IN THE RISEN ONE DOES

ALLELUIA HE IS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA!!!
Happy Easter Everyone!  Here is my homily for EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD - April 8, 2012.  The readings for the day can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/040812.cfm .  May prayers and best wishes that the Love and Life of the Risen Lord be with you and yours today and always!!!  Fr. Jim

HOMILY:

           About a week ago, someone I know and have spoken to a few times over the years that I would not say is a “good friend” of mine, but we’ve been friendly...well he posted something on Facebook that I wish I hadn’t seen. Unfortunately on Facebook they have this ticker on the side so you get to see and read a whole host of things you might have missed. In any event, what he posted was a picture on the left which was a space shuttle blasting off into space and on the right side was a picture of one of the planes hitting the World Trade Center. Underneath each was a “tagline”. On the left it said: “Science will fly you to the moon.” and on the right it said: “Religion will fly you into a building.”

           My initial reaction was that I was offended and really surprised that this guy would have posted something like that.  Particularly because we have spoken about religion before and I never got the impression that he would have held that particular viewpoint.  And the way it was expressed in such an overly general, simplistic way that seemed not only a bit unfair, but a bit less than truthful. Before I knew it, after expressing my disagreement with him, we got into a bit of a post-to-post debate that not surprisingly, never reached a conclusive resolution. What saddened me even more was that there were some people, who seeing our ongoing debate right there on their computer screens, decided to “Like” his initial post and added comments like “LOL” while others derided some of the points I was trying to make. The whole incident has left me feeling rather disturbed and unsettled ever since.

           The more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me that I’m sure I’m not the only person who has a family member or friend who has a similar dismissive attitude toward religion in general, even though they may not be expressing it on Facebook.  It's no big secret that religion has been taking it on the chin in our culture over the last several decades while at the same time unquestionable belief in the power of science keeps reaching more exulted heights. I also couldn’t help but wonder where did such a certitude, dare I say “faith” in science - with such a complete dismissal of religion - originate from?

           Because the battle between science and religion is nothing new. It’s been going on for centuries. And when we look at history, when it wasn’t science - there’s was always something that has been seen as being in competition with religion as having “the truth” (even though as Catholics we don’t see them in competition with one another and in fact see them as complementary)...    But before science, there would be those who saw philosophy as “the truth.”. And at other times there’s been humanism, political ideology and secularism (which seems to be making a return in our day and age).    The thing is, whether we realize it or not, or whether people want to use this type of language or not, ultimately we all have a choice as to what we place our faith in.  And yes, we have to admit that many horrible things, which can hardly be defended, have taken place in the name of religion.

           But Easter proclaims a different truth that demands our attention - reminding us that as Christians we don’t really put our faith in religion.  Rather, we place our faith in a person, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ - the one who was crucified and is risen from the dead. One famous historian (Jarislav Pelikan) reflecting on Jesus Christ remarked, “Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of western culture for almost twenty centuries. It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that millions curse and in his name that billions more pray.”

    Had Jesus’ story ended on Good Friday - his story could have been categorized as yet another example of the harm that religion could do. In 2012 some people say “Religion flies people into a building” – well in 33 AD it could’ve been “Religion nails poor carpenters who preach love to a cross.” It could’ve been simply another chapter of a book told of the horrors of religious extremists. 

           Yet, look at what happened.  Those same first followers, supposedly his closest, most trusted of friends who on Good Friday fled out of fear, out of embarrassment, out of shame at the moment Jesus needed them the most – so shaken to the core as they were by his Passion and Death, doubting all they had come to know and believe about Jesus over the 3 years they had spent with him, days later, as they see the tomb is empty, as they meet Christ appearing to them - risen, glorified - it transforms them...  His Resurrection, His sharing His Holy Spirit upon them, fills them with this fantastical news that confirms in the heart of these believers that His Love, His life is greater than all there is in this world, greater than even Death itself.  This Good News so consumes them that for the rest of their lives (and, for many of them, because of their belief, there lives would necessarily be short ones) they never ceased to go and preach about the wonders of this man...

           And that’s how the entire world, believers and non-believers, have been transformed by the resurrected Christ.  Because His followers not only took to heart all they had seen and heard, but put into action all that Jesus had taught in a way no other religious figure had ever done.  Just consider a few examples:

           We here in the United States have been fighting about Health Care – Before Christ, the sick weren’t cared for – they were abandoned, left for dead, avoided for fear of their being contagious or being spiritually unclean (and thus deserving the scourge and the isolation). The whole notion of “Health care” came about because He Lives, because He came back from the dead.  Because of that, countless numbers of his followers have taken the selfless task of caring for, treating with love and compassion even more countless numbers of people because of Jesus’ Christ’s Gospel telling us that all human beings, all human life has dignity.

           Before Christ, the homeless, hungry, naked, thirsty, were pitied - or again, viewed as being punished and somewhat deserving of their lot in life. But because He lives, because He came back fro the dead – just look at one statistic from a few years ago: in the city of Chicago alone 2.2 million meals were given to the Hungry and Needy – who are never asked if they are Catholic... they are just asked if they are hungry. Multiply that everywhere the Church is and just imagine the billions of poor who’s only hope comes from those who heard the words of the Risen one telling them that when they serve one of these least ones, they are serving Him... and commanding them to do just that.

           Consider the field of education - the billions who’ve been educated because of Jesus’ followers.  Before Christ, education was reserved to dukes, earls, duchesses, knights - yet because He was risen from the dead, His followers recognized the need for people to know the fullness of God, the fullness of creation and people would need education to fully appreciate that.  When we just begin to imagine the artwork and music He has inspired... the missionary activity that has helped incorporate isolated people who were often dismissed as “savages” into the human family... there’s no aspect of this world, this universe that has not been changed because of one man — who could only have had that effect if he truly rose from the dead.

            As we gather to celebrate this feast once again, we rejoice because we know that, because He lives, we now have the opportunity to share in a new and different life after this fleeting one on earth. And for 20 centuries before us, His followers have helped transform this present world because of that reality...  In their hearts and minds they were moved to see beyond the miseries, and despairs and were transformed themselves by recognizing the great potential that exists for each one of us who trusts in the God who raised his Son from the dead.  Promising us we too can experience this New Life if we are willing to put our faith in Him. 

    Yes, it’s true science may fly us to the moon, and sadly it is true that distortions of religion might fly someone into a building.   But the even more amazing truth we celebrate here is how our Easter faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of His great victory over sin and death has the ability to fly us right into heaven. 

—> Some of my inspiration for today’s Homily came from a tremendous book by Matthew Kelly called Rediscover Catholicism - A spiritual guide to living with passion and purpose.   You can get a copy at dynamicCatholic.com

THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A PRIEST

Here is my homily for HOLY THURSDAY’S MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER - April 5, 2012.  The readings for tonight’s Mass can be found at: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/040512-evening-mass.cfm. 

Thanks as always for reading and your feedback.  On this feast of the Institution of the Priesthood, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of sharing in this Priesthood of His Son Jesus Christ – and beg for His forgiveness for the times I’ve failed in thought, word or deed to be the servant He has called me to be.

A blessed Triduum to all of you  -  Fr. Jim

HOMILY:

    I’m trying to even guess how often I’ve been asked the question “What’s the hardest thing about being a priest?”  It’s a question that’s come up more times in the last few years than in my earliest years of priesthood – perhaps because of the negativity we’ve seen as a result of the sex abuse scandals (and, arguably, the somewhat unbalanced media coverage of it) or maybe it’s working with college students who have an honesty, directness and curiosity that comes from their age that they feel more comfortable asking such a question... in any event, it’s a conversation I’ve had more often as of late.  And most times people seem surprised by my answer.

    There surprise probably comes because most people assume they know what my answer is going to be.  It’s like Family Feud - SURVEY SAYS: “celibacy”–  right?  Sure, celibacy can be a difficulty, but in some ways to me it seems similar to the challenge that a husband and wife face in remaining faithful to one another - so that’s not the most difficult thing of being a priest.  Nor is it the other promises or vows that we make at our ordination - to be obedient to our local bishop.  Do I like being obedient all the time?  Well that Italian-American within me wants to rebel, do my own thing (which has to be the better, more logical thing of course...).  So obedience can be a challenge too, but to be honest, I find it somewhat freeing.  For a person like myself who can have difficulty deciding what to have for dinner, having the Bishop says “you’re going here” makes life simple (OK I’m overly minimizing this, to be sure... and absolutely this can be a burden as well, particularly when you’re being stretched by being asked to move out of a place you love/work you love doing to something unknown... but in a lot of ways, obedience has been more of a blessing in my life than something difficult in priesthood).  So is it the last promise, to live“simply,” to not have a huge salary, home of our own that is the biggest difficulty?  Well again, I feel very blessed with what I’ve had as a priest, particularly when so many struggle to make ends meet and others struggle with trying to “keep up with the Jones’s.”   So again, I cannot say that has been a burden by any stretch of my wildest imaginations when I was ordained 13 years ago. 

    No, the answer I give almost all the time, the hardest thing to being a priest is fulfilling what Jesus commands the priest to do in tonight’s Gospel.  To wash feet.  Not in the once-a-year tradition of Holy Thursday Mass where the priest actually imitates Christ’s physical example...  Rather, the day in, day out experiences of meeting those the Lord has sent his priests to meet, to minister...  To know that these feet have walked such a wide-variety of paths, such a multitude of different terrains, you’re overwhelmed to see and hear where they have traveled:

    The family comes in experiencing the death of a loved one that has left them devastated and confused.  That parishioner has received the diagnosis of a disease that has them filled with fear and anxiety.  That young man and young woman, so young, so excited, so in love they come to give their lives in loving service to one another in marriage.  The person has been filled with shame, filled with guilt, feels all hope is gone that God could ever love them again as they pour their hearts out in the confessional.  That young man and woman who have given their lives to one another in loving service to one another discover they are pregnant.  That college student comes to talk because he can’t believe for a second that he could be called to be a priest himself but can’t shake the thoughts of it for some odd reason...  That class of high schoolers are preparing to receive Confirmation and they come for an interview to talk about what their Catholic Christian faith means to them.  That person who has never been raised in any faith starts to come to realize that the truth of that faith is in the Catholic Church.  That couple who discovered they are pregnant learn they aren’t expecting one child, but three.  That individual, who is nursing or harboring some other hurt they can’t, won’t or don’t even realize exists that they don’t acknowledge and so they blow up in a mad tirade because the heat in the Church is too hot or the Air Conditioning is too cold.  That young man who enlists in the military and is preparing to be deployed in some of the harshest, scariest warzones yet the priest is more worried than the idealistic, courageous (and somewhat naivete) young man is.  That couple with the triplets is told by the doctors that one of the babied might have something wrong with them.   That young woman thought she was called to a religious order and then starts to have second thoughts.

    Jesus commands his priests to wash all of those feet... The dusty, dirty, tired feet of his disciples traveling the journey’s life has taken them.  And as a priest, I can tell you that it is humbling...so humbling... overwhelming at times... to do so.  More often than not, we fear we’re not doing it well enough.  We doubts our worthiness.  Our effectiveness.  We know there will never be a shortage of feet and that everyone will have walked a very different path than everyone else leading them here.  But there’s a reason he needs his priests to do this:   quite simply this will be the key to understanding the whole Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. 
    Before Jesus suffers the denials, the betrayals, the painful abuse, the humiliations, the torturous horrifying death on the cross; he meets us in the upper room and reveals to us that he isn’t thinking about any of that which awaits him.  What is he thinking about? 

    Us...
    Every one of us.  
    He thinks of us. 
    He remembers why He is doing all of this. 
    He knows that He is doing all of this in order to take away our sins.  And He wants people not to “remember” these events in a history lesson sort of way.  But rather he wants his disciples of every day and age to experience His love, the salvation, the redemption He wins for us in our own days and ages, in our own personal lives...  And the way we begin to experience that – rather than simply remembering it – comes in being noticed, being cared for, being ministered to,  – having our feet washed. 

    That’s why Jesus commands His Priests to do this for His disciples.  And hopefully with the Ministerial Priesthood of Jesus Christ doing this, all of us as members of the “priesthood of all believers” as brothers and sisters in Christ realize we are commanded to do this as well.  Sometimes people can lose sight of that in the daily grind and not even realize how they can fulfill that in their daily lives and routines, the daily chores, as well as in the extraordinary things that come up:

    Like when a husband randomly goes and fills up that tank of gas for his wife – recognizing how chaotic her daily life is taking care of the kids – When a wife recognizes, sees, knows that her husband is worried about his job security (even though he never says it) and in her own quiet way supports him  – when that college student recognizes “wow, Mom and Dad really do a lot for me and I don’t think I’ve ever really expressed how much I appreciate it” and write them a note or card... when someone recognizes how that a coworker looks stressed, looks worried, looks sad and they take time to reach out and ask sincerely “are you okay, do you want to talk about it?” when that individual passes that homeless shelter each day and finally decides I need to do more than just drive past there –

    It can be overwhelming at times... People can wonder does anyone appreciate what we do, and it’s easy in the day to day routine to forget why it is we’re doing what we do; and that stubborn ego that wants to be fed and those selfish, self-centeredness temptations can re-emerge despite our best efforts.  That’s true for all of us, ministerial priests or each of us who are members of the priesthood of all believers as brothers and sisters in Christ. 

    Yet, Holy Thursday forces us to focus our gaze outward... to recognize who it is who’s calling us to attend to the needs of one another; and to realize why we’re doing it.  When we are able to do that, then those feelings of being overwhelmed, those temptations to give into self-centeredness,  start to disappear as we get lost in that depth of love that Christ invites us to participate in--
to try and live,
to try to love
by laying down our lives for others in the same way the Master has done for us.  

    But we can only do this by the power of God's grace which is why Jesus’ institution of the priesthood is so tied with the other Sacrament we celebrate tonight instituted on Holy Thursday: Jesus greatest gift of the Eucharist in which He poured and continues to pour Himself out for us.  It's the gift of the Eucharist that enables and empowers us to share in the life and ministry of Jesus as servants of the Servant.  It is in receiving His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist and becoming what we receive that enables us, moves us from deep within our own hearts and souls to fulfill the command and to stoop down, take a bowl, and continue to do what the Master demonstrated for us. 

OUR GOD, OUR GOD HAS NOT FORSAKEN US...

Hi everyone – here’s my homily for PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION - APRIL 1, 2012.  The readings for today can be found at - http://usccb.org/bible/readings/040112.cfm.  As always, thanks for reading and your feedback.  Have a Blessed Holy Week.  God Bless - Fr. Jim

HOMILY:

“Four score and seven years ago...”

“Ask not what your country can do for you...”

“I have a dream...”

For most American citizens or students of American history, those few words, those short sentences can somewhat instantly conjure up something of far greater importance than there brevity might imply.   

-    Hearing “Four score and seven years ago,” we recall President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” -given at the battleground where thousands of soldiers died in order to preserve the United States as it was embroiled in the Civil War.   

-    “Ask not what your country can do for you” are iconic words recalling John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Inaugural Address that reminds us of a time where the American people were faced with great challenges but were perhaps more idealistic that the future could be better in the collective hands of all Americans working together. 

-    And when a man by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s shared with the world his words, “I have a dream...” he opened the minds and hearts of many others to share that dream when there would be an end to the history of racism of our country and work to begin to make that dream a reality. 

    We might not recall many of the other exact sentences or phrases from those texts, but those few words are so powerful and memorable, they in a sense summon the full meaning of the entire text - even generations later. 

    In the midst of the Passion narrative from the Gospel of Mark we just proclaimed together, there’s a line that similarly stands out.  Moments before Jesus utters his last breath, his last words are “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  In his hour of death, after the horrific, terrifying suffering he has endured in beating tortured and beaten;  forced to carry this hideously heavy cross; nailed to it and then raised up so people could watch the slow, agonizing death - on the surface, hearing Jesus utter a cry like that we might think seems appropriate.  And often times people look at those words, cite this as evidence that “See, even Jesus knew how bad life can get, even he doubted God’s presence in his life in his moment of trial...”

If you remember only one thing from this homily - let it be this: that’s wrong. 

    Because just like we summon historic events and speeches just by uttering one line from those speeches - that’s what Jesus was doing.  In his last breath, his last of words he utters from the cross is meant to summon that entire Psalm - Psalm 22.   And while it opens with words that are the cry of one who sounds abandoned, rejected, defeated by the only one who ultimately matters - My God - My God...  You have to read the whole Psalm to come to realize that this is a psalm of triumph.  It’s a psalm of faith.  It’s a psalm of trust and confidence.  Jesus was recalling the words of a man whom the world saw as rejected by God, but who ultimately He Believes, He knows to be the one who will “come quickly to save me” who will “deliver my soul...” who will “ save me from the lions mouth.”   And because of that, the psalm ends with these words of praise and triumph:    

He has not spurned or disdained  the misery of this poor wretch,
Did not turn away* from me,
but heard me when I cried out.

I will offer praise in the great assembly;
my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.
The poor* will eat their fill;
those who seek the LORD will offer praise.

May your hearts enjoy life forever!”
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD;

All the families of nations
will bow low before him.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,
the ruler over the nations.

All who sleep in the earth
will bow low before God;

All who have gone down into the dust
will kneel in homage.

And I will live for the LORD;
my descendants will serve you.

The generation to come will be told of the Lord,
that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance you have brought.
    Hardly words of defeat... and those were the words Jesus was recalling as he laid dying.  Knowing that this death was not an end... This defeat would not stand. 

    There is no other faith... no other religion that proclaims, that knows God as we know Him to be – Who so desperately loves each and every one of us that he unites with us in our passions, in our crucifixions.   Who speaks to us in the boldest, loudest of terms that as the evil of the world crashes down on us; as we feel abandoned, rejected by those who we thought were nearest and dearest to us in those trials, our Loving God spares not his most prized possession, His Son Jesus Christ.  In uttering those few words of that psalm Jesus assures us that we have not been forsaken...Quite the opposite:   by Jesus stretching His own arms out on the cross for our sinfulness he unites himself with the sufferings of humanity for all eternity.

    May those words of the psalm remain cemented in our minds just as the great speeches of American heroes did– But with the true meaning, the true message of the Psalm, which has radically been made evident on the cross of Jesus for us — proclaiming for all eternity that  Our God, Our God has never, nor will ever forsake us.