Homily for July 28, 2013 (17th Sunday C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Last week we encountered Mary and Martha in Bethany and the Lord Jesus taught us that only one thing was important.  This week, the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray, and the Lord Jesus teaches us about prayer.

In our reading today from the Gospel of Luke, the disciples find the Lord Jesus praying in a certain place.  And when he had finished his time of prayer, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus to teach them how to pray.  This was a common practice in those days for a master to teach his disciples a common prayer.  This prayer was a sign of the relationship that the disciples had with the master.  The disciples often learned a prayer and they learned how to pray from their master.  This is the first thing that we learn about prayer today: we can and we must learn how to pray.  Prayer is something that we learn how to do.  We learn from the Lord Jesus and we learn from his Church.  We learn from the Scriptures and we learn from the saints.  And most often, dear brothers and sisters, we learn to pray from our mothers on earth who prayed with us to our Father in heaven.  We learn to walk. We learn to speak. We learn to read, and we learn how to pray.

The second thing that we learn about prayer today is that prayer is an expression of a relationship.  The Lord Jesus invites us to call God our Father.  No one had ever suggested that we could address the Lord of heaven and earth with a title of such intimacy as “Father.”  No one had ever dared to address God as Father, until the Lord Jesus did so.  And Jesus addressed God as Father, because he is the Son.  Now the Son of God has invited us to call his Father our Father.  Our prayer is an expression of our relationship with God the Father through our relationship with God the Son.

As we learn how to pray and as we express our relationship with God the Father through our prayer, our prayer must be humble and persistent.  In our first reading from the book of Genesis, we see Abraham, with humility and persistence, interceding with the Lord for the people of Sodom.  In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus tells us about the friend who persistently asks for food for his guests.  Prayer requires humility, because when we pray, we admit our own need. 

The Lord Jesus teaches us to pray with confidence and expectation.  However, the Lord is not teaching us that our prayer will be answered in the precise way that we want our prayer to be answered.  In the gospel, the Lord Jesus teaches us that God the Father will only give us those things which are for our good and in accord with his will.  The Father will not give to us something that will harm us.  The Father will not give to us something that will lead us away from him. 

We pray with confidence and expectation because we address our prayers to the Father who loves us.  We pray with confidence and expectation because we pray to Father with the voice of the Beloved Son.  In our baptism we were buried with Christ, raised to life, and united to Him so that our prayers to the Father are offered with his prayer to the Father. We make our prayer to the Father through Christ, and with Christ and in Christ. 

As we celebrate the Eucharist, we join in the prayer of Christ our High Priest.  May we allow the Lord Jesus and the Sacred Liturgy of His Church to teach us how to pray.  May our humble prayers at this Mass express our relationship with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.  And may we offer this sacrifice of praise with confidence and expectation to God the Father who loves us.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for July 21, 2013 (16th Sunday C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Only one thing is important.  Only one thing can reign in the kingdom of our hearts.  These are the words of the Lord Jesus to Martha and these are the words of the Lord Jesus to you and to me.  Only one thing is important.

In our readings today we hear about the hospitality that Abraham provided for the three visitors.  Saint Paul tells us about suffering and about the call of Christ.  And Martha and Mary welcome the Lord Jesus into their home.  These three readings point to the one thing that is important.  The one important thing is union with the Lord.

Abraham and Martha sought union with the Lord through service.  In our reading from the book of Genesis, Abraham began to welcome the three visitors as soon as he saw them.  He recognized the presence of the Lord in those who were visiting him.  Abraham asked the visitors to remain at his tent so that he could serve them.  He offered them water to cleanse their feet, a feast to nourish them, and a place to rest.  Abraham was not only attentive to their needs, but also to the visitors themselves.

However Martha, in our reading today, lost her focus.  Martha was a great woman of faith.  She was a friend of Jesus, and she would later be one of the first people to proclaim her faith in the resurrection.  But today, Martha lost her focus.  Martha and her sister Mary welcomed the Lord Jesus into their home.  Martha immediately began to prepare a meal for the Lord and his disciples.  Mary, however, sat at the feet of Jesus and listened.  Both of these actions were necessary for offering hospitality to the Lord Jesus.  But when Martha became resentful because Mary was not helping with the meal, Martha asked Jesus to tell her sister to help.  The response of the Lord Jesus was clear.  Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Martha had lost her focus.  She had forgotten what was important.  Martha had become more concerned about her serving, than she was about serving Jesus.  Something had become more important than someone. 

In our reading from the letter to the Colossians, Saint Paul speaks to us about rejoicing in suffering.  Times of suffering are part of every life.  For the Christian, however, times of suffering are encounters with the sufferings of Christ.  As members of his body through our baptism, all of the sufferings of our life, particularly when we suffer for our life of faith, are united to the sufferings of Christ for the redemption of the world.  We suffer in Christ Jesus, and the Body of Christ suffers in us.  In our sufferings we grow in our union with the Lord.

And we grow in our union with the Lord through our life of prayer.  Mary sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus and she listened to his words.  The Lord Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part and it would not be taken from her.  Mary would be rewarded for her attention and devotion to the Lord and his words.  She sat at the feet of Jesus.  And in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, so do we.  The Lord has promised to be present in the Word proclaimed. We have chosen the better part this Sunday, and it will not be taken from us.

As we now celebrate this Eucharist and encounter the Word made flesh now made our food for the journey, let us welcome the Lord Jesus.  As the gifts are prepared let us place all of our sufferings on the Altar, so that they will be united to the perfect sacrifice of Christ.  And let us sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and recognize that union with Him is the one important thing.  Amen.  

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for July 14, 2013 (15th Sunday C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Last Sunday we heard about the Lord Jesus sending seventy-two of his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God.  This week, we encounter the scholar of the law who comes to the Lord Jesus and asks about eternal life.  In response, the Lord Jesus tells the scholar of the law the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Most of us are so familiar with this parable that we can easily hear it, without listening to it.  The story is simple.  A man going from Jerusalem to Jericho is robbed, beaten and nearly killed.  A priest and a Levite walk past the injured man, and a Samaritan stops to care for him.  The Samaritan treats the wounds of the injured man with wine, oil and bandages.  The Samaritan takes him to an inn, pays for his care, and promises to pay for any additional needs when he returns.  The Samaritan demonstrates what it means to be a neighbor.  

The law of God calls us to love God and to love our neighbor.  This is not a mysterious commandment.  It is not hidden from our view.  This commandment is near to us.  It is in our mouths and in our hearts as our reading from the book of Deuteronomy tells us.  We have only to carry it out.

The difference between the Samaritan and the priest and the Levite was more than just their actions.  We do not know why the priest and the Levite did not stop to help the injured man. The Lord Jesus, however, tells us that the Samaritan acted because he was moved with compassion for the injured man.  From the compassion that he felt for this unknown and injured man on the side of the road, the Samaritan carried out the love of neighbor. The word compassion means to suffer with.  To be compassionate means we are willing to suffer with those who are suffering.  The Samaritan was willing to suffer and willing to sacrifice for the injured man.  His act of charity cost him several things.  It cost him wine, oil, bandages made of cloth, and comfort on the journey because he gave the injured man his own place on the animal he was riding.  It cost him the two silver coins that he gave to the innkeeper, and whatever he would pay on his return.  And it cost him the most precious gift that we can give to another: it cost him time.  The Samaritan was willing to suffer with suffering.  That is what it means to be a neighbor.

And, my dear brothers and sisters, that is what it means to be a Christian.  In union with the Christ who has suffered for us, we suffer with the poor, the injured, the sick, the rejected and the dying.  We suffer with those who have been cast to the side of the road of our society: the unborn, the elderly, the mentally ill, and the disabled.  Every Christian was marked with the sign of Christ’s glorious sufferings in their baptism.  Every vocation is marked with the blessing of Christ’s holy cross.  Mothers suffer with and for their children.  Fathers suffer with and for their families.  Husbands suffer for their wives, wives suffer for their husbands, and priests suffer with and for their people.  We are the neighbors and we are the people Christ has called us to be when we are willing to suffer with those who are suffering.

But we were not the first to suffer.  We suffer in union with Christ on the Cross.  For in truth, dear brothers and sisters, we are not the Good Samaritan in the parable.  We are the injured man.  And Christ our Savior traveling the road to the Heavenly City of Jerusalem was moved with compassion for us.  He approached us while we were still sinners, bathed us in the wine of his blood and anointed us with the oil of gladness.  He carried us in his own body and placed us in the inn which is his holy Church and left the precious coins of His Word and His Sacraments until his return.  As we now experience his presence and await his return in glory, we ask for the grace to recognize those who are suffering.  We ask for the gift of compassion in our hearts so that we will be willing to suffer.  And we ask for the grace to suffer with Christ, who has lovingly suffered for us.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for July 7, 2013 (14th Sunday C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

A few days ago we celebrated the independence of this country.  We remembered that there are certain rights that cannot be given to us by a government, because they were already given to us by the Creator.  The right to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness are part of the foundation of this country.  These ideas are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence that was submitted to an unjust government.  That is a political document.  Our life of following the Lord Jesus, however, requires something different.  Last Sunday the readings and prayers of the Mass invited us to a life of total commitment.  This Sunday, the Lord invites us to make our declaration of dependence.

In our reading from the Gospel of Luke the Lord Jesus chooses seventy-two of his followers and sends them ahead of him.  They are given very specific instructions.  First, they are to pray.  They are to ask the master of the harvest to send more laborers to gather the abundant harvest.  In this prayer they recognize that they are part of the mission that belongs to another.  They did not send themselves to proclaim the Kingdom.  They were sent by the Lord.  In fulfillment of their mission, they must recognize their dependence on the one who shared his mission with them. 

Second, they are to travel as lambs among wolves.  Lambs are part of a flock and they survive because they remain close to the shepherd.  The gentle and humble lamb relies on the loving and protective care of the shepherd who will seek out the lost and heal the injured.  The disciples were sent out in pairs so that they could protect each other from the wolves and offer the consolation of companionship.

Third, they are to take nothing with them for the journey.  Their only possessions would be the peace of God, the power to heal the sick, and the message that the Kingdom is at hand.  Everything that they were to take with them had been given to them by the Lord.  They were to rely on others to provide them with food and with shelter.  They were to be as dependent as the nursing child in our reading from the prophet Isaiah.  Their lives would be living witnesses to their dependence on the Lord.

Finally, they were to entrust the results of their mission to the care of the Master.  Only the Master knows the full fruits of the harvest.  Only the Master can see the entire mission field and knows the full effects of the work of the laborers.  For those who were sent, the true consolation must be found in the invitation of the Master and the privilege of working in his field and sharing in his mission.  The greatest joy of the servant is the knowledge that the name of the servant is written in the heart of the Master.

We have been called, dear brothers and sisters, to share in the mission of the Savior.  United to Christ in our baptism, the Lord gathers us to himself each Sunday.  As this good shepherd, he offers us the instruction of his Word and the power of his grace in the Sacraments, so that we can be renewed and restored.  We come before the Altar and declare our dependence on the ministry of the High Priest of our confession of faith.  To this Jesus who is the Good Shepherd, the Savior of the World and the conqueror of sin and death, we pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor, so that we can receive the gift of his peace, the power of his healing, and the promise of his Kingdom.

As we celebrate this Eucharist, we ask for the grace of humility so that we can declare our dependence.  We give thanks for the invitation of the Lord and the privilege of sharing in his mission.  And we rejoice that Lord of heaven and earth has written our names in his heart.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Sunday June 30, 2013

On Sunday, June 30, 2013 I celebrated Holy Mass in the Clementine Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.  This is the tomb of the Apostle Peter.  While I did not prepare a written text, the principle theme of my homily was, "The call to follow the Lord is an invitation to total committment."