November 25, 2012

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33-37
Thanksgiving has ended so also Black Friday; and today is the feast that now is called, ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe’. This is also the last Sunday in the Church calendar year. So often in my memory it seems that the Sunday after Thanksgiving was the 1^st Sunday in Advent, but not so this year. So I reflect on this feast celebrating Jesus as King and say what does it mean to me?
I’m not familiar with kings or queens throughout the world; yet when questions are asked about royalty, I know the answers. How did the US come into existence? By throwing out the king of England. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue…what royalty was responsible for sponsoring this Italian sailor? Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. What king was not happy with the Catholic Church and has his wife beheaded? Henry VIII. Who are the entertainers called king? Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley…How about the biggest king in NYC’s history on the big screen? King Kong. (A pop quiz from Fr. Michael Hayes).
Now when I look at the life of Jesus, everything in His persona didn't fit into the traditional idea of king. He rejected the idea of being made a king; a crown on His head would be totally out of place because He was surrounded by the poor and the sick; and by those who were looked down upon by society: sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes and gentiles, non-believers. It would be uncomfortable for me to envision Him in a huge castle surrounded by the wealth, trappings and servants all over the place plus the ornate outfits of the court officials. This just wasn't Jesus. But do I honor Him as my King? Is Jesus the King of my heart? He certainly came to conquer hearts; do I let Him be my heart?
The gospel sets a very vivid scene: Jesus in front of Pilate. Jesus was all alone; His followers had all abandoned Him; even those influential people who were won over by His goodness, healing and teaching were nowhere to be seen or heard from. Pilate on the other hand was a powerful man; the chief Roman official of this province. He had the power over the life and death of every person. He had thousands of soldiers at his beck and call. His house was a tribute to his position. So this scene has a supreme ruler and a ‘king’. Yet Jesus was no doubt the greater of the two. And as the scene is played out, Jesus is the one who is in control. Do I place myself in this scene as one of the crowd…one of the accusers…or as Pilate? I think it would be good for me to be there as Pilate. Why…well like Pilate I think I know what is right; I’m in control; my way is the best way; I have education and experience. Yet I fumble, am embarrassed and fall as I try to be the person Jesus showed me and needs me to be, a person of love.
For the Jewish people, the King of the Jews was a messianic title. Those who brought Jesus to Pilate were afraid of losing their power and influence over the people so they wanted to get rid of this upstart who was a threat. Pilate also considered Jesus a threat to Rome and his comfortable position. And Jesus speaks about His kingdom. Pilate and the Jewish rulers had a right to be concerned about Jesus’ claims. Jesus was speaking of God and who God is and what God wants to do for every person: eternal life with Him forever. Jesus says this in the last sentence of today’s gospel: “For this was I born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” What is this truth? John reminds me of this in his most often quoted words of Jesus (Jn 3:16) that God so loved the world that the Father gave His only Son, “so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” So the kingdom is for me? Yes and for each and every person! But what is my response to His rule over my heart?
Fr. Flor McCarthy shares this: “Pilate had power over people; Jesus had influence on them. Jesus made His presence felt simply by the kind of person He was. There was a quiet authority about everything He said and did. And He did speak of a kingdom – the Kingdom of Heaven. His Kingdom represents all those things that the world does not stand for but for which it longs for - all that is right and true, all that is beautiful, just and good. His Kingdom will have come when God’s will for us and creation will be done.”

And I have a role, a big one. I am gifted to bring about in my own way His Kingdom of justice, love and peace. Often this is in places that are not the easiest or the most comfortable places to be. God is present where human need is the greatest and so often He places me there to be Him. Fr. Edward Hayes has a great conclusion for today’s feast: “The values that govern His Kingdom are seen in the lives of those who respond from the heart to the needs of the poor, the powerless, the vulnerable, and those on the margins. What His kingdom is like is glimpsed in the lives of those who, without giving it much thought, reach out to someone in need. It may be family, neighbor, friend, or stranger. No training is required for this. No academic qualifications are necessary. No knighthood. All it takes is an eye to notice, heart to respond, and a will to act, no matter how small the action may seem. So if you seek the Kingdom of God, look around you and be ready to stand by and with Him.” So I reflect on:

• Sacred Space 2012 gives a powerful message: “For Jesus the red carpet is the tattered flooring in a poor house, and the crown is the headache He got from the sufferings of His people. In Jesus, the king, we are all brothers and sisters in the image of God. God is so big that we’re all like Him. What does that mean now? This is the big act of faith that we will soak ourselves in during Advent—that God became one like us, one of us, was born, lived, suffered, and died like the rest of us. The real God is found in real people.”

• Fr. David Knight suggests these reflections: “Which would you rather have? Jesus as King or Jesus as intimate friend? Don’t be too quick to say ‘friend.’ Would you rather have Jesus use His divine power to impose order, justice and peace on earth, or would you rather He just revealed Himself to your heart? Would you rather have Him do for you what a king does or just be for you what a friend is? Would you prefer a God who grants all your requests or a God who simply shares all His thoughts with you?”

• Do I want God to be the lover to me that He wants to be?  
  

November 18, 2012

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13: 24-32

Last week’s gospel was about the poor widow who gave such a beautiful example of putting money in for the upkeep of the Temple. Then Mark starts the 13^th chapter, these 23 verses are not in today’s reading but are a help to understand it. It’s a wonderful scene: Jesus had just left the temple with His followers and they were looking at the beauty and magnificence of the temple that still was not completed. It was completed seven years before the Romans destroyed it by fire in 70 AD. Well the disciples I’m sure had seen the Temple before but none of them lived in Jerusalem and were not frequent visitors to the capital city. They were in awe and one expressed it in this way, “’Look, teacher, what stones and what buildings!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? There will not be one stone left upon another that will not be thrown down.’ As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple area, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked Him privately, ‘Tell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be when all these things are about to come to an end?’”
Jesus had predicted the destruction of the Temple. Today’s passage starts at the 24^th verse after Jesus had told of more warnings of persecutions, sufferings and false prophets trying to lead people away from His example and teachings. It seems there is always a concern as to when: when will the hurricane hit; when will he propose; when will the world end; when will my life span on earth end and I go on to the paradise that Jesus promised. It is so easy to get caught up in the when. I do; is it curiosity or just wanting to know and not be in the dark. The far more important question for me is what: what am I doing as I live today, as I live my life toward the Lord. If I get caught up in speculation, I don’t pay attention to what the Lord needs me to do with the people in my life right now. At the end of the reading, Jesus says that ‘no one knows when the world as we know it will end, “neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” So what am I afraid of; that is the question? How am I living my life as a follower of Jesus today? I must be continually converted away from my way and to the Lord’s way. Am I doing this?

Fr. Michael Hayes wrote this about today’s passage, “A Japanese airliner crashed and 520 people perished. In the debris, the search group found a pocket calendar of a Japanese businessman with hastily written notes. ‘We’re not going to make it;’ I’m sad,’ To his family he wrote: ‘To think that our dinner last night was the last time we would be together.’ To his three children he wrote: ‘Be good, work hard, and help your mother.’ The end came suddenly like a thief in the night.

The point of Jesus’ remarks today is the same. None of us knows when the end of our life, or all of life on earth, will come. Therefore, we must be prepared always. We accept that, in a general sort of way, but it really doesn’t bother us. Our concerns are more immediate. Somebody once said that for every person who is worried about the end of the world, there must be at least 10,000 who aren’t. This is probably accurate. The challenge facing most of us is how to deal with life as it is, right now, today.”
So the question before me now is: am I walking around in fear or do I realize that Jesus has redeemed me and everyone? Do I realize that temptations will always be a part of my life but through the grace of the Spirit these can make me stronger in my belief and love of Jesus? Do I want to continue in my sinning ways, especially those ‘favorite sins’ of mine or do I realize that the way to closer union and intimacy with the Lord is by total conversion from my ways and living the Lord’s ways?
The point is that whether or not I live to experience the end of the world described by Jesus, I will face trials in my daily life. Some of these are the usual aches and pains of age or of relationships. Some are big, much bigger; but even in these, I am never alone and the Lord is there helping me choose Him. Do I acknowledge my gratitude and ask for help or do I fall back on ‘me’ and my way of selfishness, pride and all the rest? Do I go back to Jesus and see His comforting words that I am and all Christian believers are God’s chosen people, if each is in fact choosing to live lives for the Lord. If I do, I will be saved…whoever does, will be saved. And the Book of Revelation 21:1 shares those comforting words that all of God’s faithful will be resurrected in glory, to live in the new heaven and new earth.
In the ‘Meditations on the Gospel of Mark’ it says, “As we journey along the way, we should never hesitate to cry out to Jesus when we are in need. He who has promised to care for us even through the worst tribulations the world has ever know will see us through our own difficulties. He will not abandon those who have asked Him into their hearts. There He will reside, experiencing both our sorrows and our joys. We have nothing to fear with Jesus by our side.” It is better to realize that Jesus is within…the Trinity is in each person every moment of every day. I and each person are that important…it can only be that way since each was created in love and maintained in God’s love. So do I go within to be with and be filled with the Lord? So I reflect on:

• Sacred Space 2012 sets the tone of my reflection in today’s suggestion: “It is good to find something in life that cannot pass away. We want that: we want it in love, in our friendships, and in our trusting in the future.

The Word of God spoken in love, always a light in life, will never pass away. Prayer is our inserting of ourselves into the reality of that Word and that love.”

• Why do I think that God created me to spend eternity in heaven? What do I think my role will be there?
  
• Which teachings of Jesus can I use to measure how successful I have been at living a good Christian life?
  
• As the end of the Church year comes with next Sunday’s feast of Christ the King, how do I feel about my faith growth this year? There have been a lot of changes in my life each year, there always are; what are my plans for my faith journey as I prepare for Advent and Christmas and next year’s journey?
  

November 11, 2012

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

1 Kings 17:10-16; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
As I sat down to read the first reading, I looked at the miracles that have been a part of my life and I took a few moments to thank the Lord for them. My mind when back to the time of my birth, or better…the stories I heard growing up. I was in the hospital for one month after birth and it was thought that I might not make it. I’m sure prayers were offered up near and far and here I am 71 years later sharing this miracle and my priesthood.
Then I went and spent time looking more in depth at the readings and reflecting on the marvelous examples given to me as to how I should be grateful and live my life. The first reading from Kings tells of this non-Jewish woman who, being very realistic thought that the end of her life and her son’s was imminent. There had been a severe drought, and she was at the end of her food chain. She was a widow and there was no one to take care of her in this patriarchal society.
There is so much to the story: Elijah comes on the scene. He was sent by God to King Ahab. Now Ahab had lost any sense of spirituality and gratitude to God because of his wife Jezebel who had no respect for the Jewish faith. She instead promoted the cult of Baal, the Canaanite rain-god. So Elijah pronounces that there will be no rain until God sends him word to provide rain. This didn’t move Ahab at all; in fact Elijah had to flee from the anger of Ahab and Jezebel. What does God do to provide? God arranges a widow in Jezebel’s homeland to care for Elijah. In providing her last oil and flour and making the cake; she believed and trusted in the prophets words: God will provide. How much God has provided for me down through these years! My parents and siblings remember my infant hospital stay and prayed and they were answered. So many times, countless times I have prayed and been answered. The prayers have been answered in retrospect by realizing God’s absolute care and love for me. So often I didn’t get what I prayed for; but I did, because it brought me to where I am today: a redeemed sinner; a trying-to-be lover of God and a grateful transmitter of God’s presence and care.
The woman in the gospel tells me where I have to be and what I have to do to be forever grateful and a disciple of Jesus. The scene is the temple in Jerusalem which was the pride of the Jews both in its magnificence and enormity. The huge blocks of cut stone gave it an overwhelming sense of grandeur and permanence. Jesus is teaching his disciples about how to be real disciples by being grateful and self-sacrificing in their care. He contrasts this with the behavior of some of the scribes who liked being ‘looked up at’ and ‘respected’ because of their position of honor, training and accomplishments. Jesus is looking at those in the gospel scene who are hypocritical, phony and showy. I would imagine that these wouldn’t put anything in the treasury if they weren’t being watched. What they gave certainly wasn’t a sacrifice. Yet at the same time they urged the widows to give more to support the magnificence of the temple.

The widow woman doesn’t know any of this and doesn’t pay attention to Jesus or the scribes. She just came to give honor to God; and really she showed her absolute trust in God that He would take care of her. What she gave amounted to a penny; but that was a lot on many a day. But Jesus isn’t looking at the amount; He is looking at how I evaluate myself and what is important. This woman “gave from her want, all she had to live on.” Fr. David Knight puts it beautifully when he states in ‘Living God’s Word’, “Jesus isn’t just saying here that the lady was generous. He is saying that what really matters to Him is not what she gives, but what she is. What matters to Jesus is not what we do for Him but what we become as persons during our time on earth. The only real and lasting value in anything we do is found in what it helps us or other people become. This is what life is all about. This is what Jesus teaches.

Nothing lasts forever except people. And the joy God takes in His creation is in what human beings become through their responses to the world, to other people, and to Him. Everything on earth was created for us, to help us grow to the full likeness of Jesus Christ. And all that we do on earth, all that we contribute of our time, our talent or our treasure, has no other lasting effect except its effect on ourselves or other people because nothing last forever except what we or other people become. The teaching of Jesus about ‘productivity’ or accomplishments is that we should look, not at how much we do or how much we give, but at what we become through the act of doing it or giving it.”
So why did God respond to the prayers of so many at my birth…so that I could be Him during my life and now. So I take this time to reflect on my journey and how I can continue to grow and love more and be filled with gratitude.

• Am I growing each day in my knowledge of Jesus by becoming familiar with His words and His example? Am I opening up the Gospels…am I putting myself in the scenes…am I listening to the Spirit speaking to me? Am I living what I’m reading?
  
• Am I becoming familiar with Jesus’ words and examples and patterning my life on everything He said and did? I preach that everything else I do should flow out of this, but am I doing this?
  
• The best contribution I can make today and each day is that I grow in likeness to the heart of Jesus. This is my gift to the Father; this is my gratitude for living, for priesthood, for ministry. Is this my motive… do I reflect on this each day?
  
• There will be doubts; there will be times of drought; there are times of tiredness even laziness…so I pray, “Lord, You gave me the gift of life and all that goes with it. Show me how to give myself to others and to You.”
  

Sacred Space 2012 says: “Jesus often pointed out that religious appearances can be empty and hypocritical. Let me reflect on that this week.”

November 4, 2012

Bulletin November 4, 2012 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28-34
Jesus directly answered the question of the learned scribe today and His response just tells me what following Him is all about: love God and love my neighbor who includes everyone in my life and everyone in all of God’s creation. So how am I doing with these ‘love commands?’
This was not a ridiculous question or one that was trying to trap Jesus as so many of the scribe’s contemporaries where trying to do. Moses brought the Ten Commandments from God to the Jewish nation and all people. The rabbis had analyzed the Law and determined that it consisted of 613 distinct commandments; 248 were positive and 365 were negative. So the scribe was very sincere when he asked, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” And Jesus did not hesitate at all as He quoted what Moses had written in the Book of Deuteronomy in today’s first reading, “The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus was not saying that the other 613 interpretations were unimportant but He was saying that all of these are summed up in this first great commandment. Now the interesting part is that Jesus did not stop there for He added, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” This is from the book of Leviticus. So is there one or two? Sometimes my mind wants me to think this way.
In reality there is only one; the two are as one. St. John in his first letter puts this bluntly: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (I Jn 4:20-21)
So the question comes down to me as to how am I loving? And just as important, do I love myself? These are the questions Jesus is asking me to think about and reflect on. So I can ask how can I tell if I am loving others well? I can compare that with how I love myself but I must be aware of being too pompous or too humble. When Jesus says ‘as you love yourself’ He is guiding me to discover His reflection in me. The old phrase, ‘God doesn’t make junk’ is so true. There is nothing in me that God doesn’t love. Each day He is helping me to see His own reflection in the world around me and in the world inside of me. When I go out of myself and share me with someone, I am sharing God if it’s about His love and His gifts to me. When I do this, maybe I might do it in an outstanding way or maybe I might stumble throughout but if I’m giving of the giving, loving me, I am giving God.
As Msgr. Eugene Lauer, an author who ran the sabbatical program at Notre Dame University said, “This is not vanity. It is in no way a self-seeking vainglory. Rather, it is a healthy realism, openness to the wonder of God in the created universe. What better way could there be to praise God than to have a wildly loving response to the divine imprint everywhere, including the divine imprint inside one’s own being. A false humility crept into the Christian way of thinking about self, especially in the Middle Ages. This false humility in some cases became a despising of self: ‘I am of no value…the lowliest of creatures…’ There is nothing Christian about thinking or speaking poorly of oneself. Such language seems to indicate that God made a mistake in creating ‘me.’ We don’t dare accuse God of that!”
When I understand that I am a creature especially loved by God, how can I not be grateful? And how can I share this loving God with others? I certainly look at wonderful gifts and blessings, but I also see the weaknesses and sins. Jesus sees these too. But He says don’t dwell on them because they could easily draw me to ‘use’ other people and things for my own interests. Jesus knows that if I learn each day to reflect on loving Him within me, than I can be infinitely capable of loving each person who comes into my life and everyone. Why? Because each person is loved in this same way by God; He shows no favorites He just loves and loves.
And Jesus told the scribe, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” It is certainly evident in this wonderful exchange in Mark that this man knew which were the two most important commandments; that’s the first step. The second step for him and for me and every person is to put them into practice. And every time I do it this way, God’s way, I’m not far from God’s Kingdom and this is the same for every one of God’s creation. So I reflect on:

• Jesus takes the scribes question seriously and points me to an interior religion, one of the heart, not of rule keeping or ritual. Do I have the same emphasis?
  
• How is love of God a transforming power within me?
  

From Tom and Karen Sink authors of “This Sunday’s Gospel” I reflect on:

• “What does it mean to love you? Is this kind of love narcissistic? How can love for you be a humbling experience? Why is love of self necessary in order to truly love your neighbor?”
  
• How is your love for yourself and for your neighbor a fitting gift to God? If you believe that you are created in God’s image and likeness, can you ever ignore those around you in this world?”
  
• Do I go to God for what I need today and each day to be a person of love?
  
• Jesus challenges me and every follower to be great lovers. This love is more than a feeling; it is wanting what is best for someone and being willing to do whatever I can, for that person. Now for the person I don’t like, do I pray more often? I should... what holds me back?