Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 5:27-32;1:40-41

Revelation 5:11-14

John 21:1-19

Our readings today speak to us of the authority of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Risen Lord, and the authority he gave his apostles and His Church to teach in his name and pass down what He taught them. This authority, of course, is still with us in the Church today. While the Successor of Peter and the other Successors of the Apostles still have the authority given to them by Jesus Christ and they are the most obvious outward human expression of the Church's spiritual and temporal authority, these Scriptures have a message for every one of us about our duty to spread the Gospel. It isn't the duty of the clergy to spread the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus Christ), it is the duty of every believer.

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and some of the other disciples were placed before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish temple Council that administered not only the Temple, but the Jewish law during that time period. Peter would have been well aware of the reality that sitting on that very Council would have been some of the men who took the decision to put Jesus himself to death. They didn't want to hear anything else about the Nazarene, and they certainly didn't want to hear that they were responsible for his death, let alone that he had risen from the dead. They tried telling the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus, Acts tells us that they didn't arrest the apostles at first because they were afraid of the reaction of the people. The followers of Jesus were already growing in number, so it begs the question: Why were they growing in number when the persecution of believers was real? Because those early followers of Jesus were not afraid to spread the message, and it wasn't just Peter and the 12, it was the whole Christian community. Very early in the life of the Church, who's first believers understood exactly what the words of Jesus meant when he said go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and they set about doing exactly that, and they weren't afraid to tell the world exactly who Jesus was. The world didn't always want to follow in return, in fact most of the time they didn't want to do that at all, just as they don't today. The world has other priorities that usually have little to do with the things of God, but in the early Church those first Christians made God the priority and they wanted to spread the Gospel everywhere, and they understood the risks they were taking to do it.

It wasn't just the Apostles or the notables among the early followers of The Way (that's what the very first Christians called themselves, followers of The Way) who concerned themselves with the responsibility of bringing the message of the good news of Jesus to the world, every believer concerned themselves with spreading the Good News, and indeed that is what the Church teaches us, spreading the Gospel doesn't just happen here in church, it happens every day when we are going about our lives, and it's our responsibility to spread the message, firstly and most importantly by the lives we lead.

Today's Gospel gives us one of the most important post Resurrection appearances of Jesus. Peter and some of the other disciples went fishing and Jesus was waiting for them on the shore, John tells Peter that it's the Lord after the man on the shore tells them to throw the net on the right side of the boat and they would find fish. Not only did they catch fish but Scripture gives us a number, it says that they caught 153 large fish. One commentary I've read about this passage said that during this time period, the known number of kinds or breeds of fish was 153. I've never been able to verify that, but if there is any truth to that, it tells us something remarkable about what Jesus is trying to illustrate in this whole incident. He's trying to show his fishers of men that the whole world is welcome to be a part of his body if they choose. The Gospel also tells us that this is the third time Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.

St. Peter, we know from the accounts of the Passion, three times denied Jesus on the night before He was crucified. Here, Jesus asked him three times "do you love me" and when Peter responds in the affirmative the first two times he says "feed my lambs,"and "tend my sheep," but the last time the response of the Lord was "feed my sheep." We often think of this passage as representative of the Lord's charge to Peter after he had risen from the dead, and that interpretation isn't wrong, but there's more to it than that. The question that Jesus asks Peter is one that he is asking all of us today. When Jesus asked Peter the question first, he asked him "Do you love me more than these?" What this means in the most literal and obvious sense is "do you love me more than you love the things of this world, or the esteem of others?" After Jesus died and rose, we can see in today's Gospel that initially Peter went back to his family business of running a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, followers of Christ have to find a way to support themselves like everyone else, indeed St. Paul chided some of the early believers for using their faith and their love of the spiritual life in Christ as an excuse not to work or go about the business of their daily living when he told the Thessalonians "if any will not work, neither let him eat," but Jesus was calling Peter to something more, to abandon attachment to the things of the world for the sake of spreading the Gospel. In the same Gospel passage Jesus is calling all of us, as disciples and followers of His, to abandon an unhealthy attachment to worldly things, because we are all supposed to be witnesses to the Gospel and spread the message, something that it's very hard to do if we're worried about the way the world looks at us. 

Jesus' request to Peter is "feed my sheep," and there is a very real way in which this request applies to us. One cannot help but be drawn to our First Communicants last week. They are early in their journey of Faith, but we hope that we will be able to be an encouragement to them, whether we are a deacon or priest, or a catechist or helper, or just a parishioner that encourages the children to pray. Jesus told us that if we harm the faith of his little ones, it would be better for us if a millstone were tied around our neck and we were thrown into the sea. Whether it's the children just beginning their journey of Faith, supporting a new Catholic or someone showing an interest in the faith, or simply encouraging a fellow parishioner or visiting or calling a fellow parishioner who perhaps we haven't heard from in a while… We are all called to play a role in feeding the Lord's sheep and keeping the pasture well kept. 

Jesus is asking us "do you love me more than these?" He is asking all of us if we love him unto death, just as he loved us so much that he gave his life for us. We are all faced with having to answer the Lord's question. What answer shall we give him?

Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

1 Kings 19:4-8

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

John 6:41-51

For the third consecutive week, Holy Mother Church places us in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St John, in what many Catholic scholars consider John's Eucharistic passage.  John's Eucharistic detail comes in the 6th Chapter of his Gospel, because it is here that Jesus recounts what the Eucharist really is and what it really means.

The Gospel of John, like the other three Gospels, contains an account of what happened at the Last Supper. In the other three Gospels, however, there is an account of the institution of the Eucharist, and Saint Paul reaffirms that account in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. Interestingly, John's account of the Last Supper doesn't contain an account of the institution of the Eucharist itself on the first Holy Thursday, but instead it contains this lengthy exposition from Jesus in what we know today as the Sixth chapter of John. It's known as the Bread of Life discourse, and we've just heard in this passage why it's called that. Many Catholic biblical scholars believe that this is John's Eucharistic account, his passing along to us one of the most doctrinally important passages in the entire New Testament.

Jesus makes very clear what he means, and his listeners understood it also, which is why we will hear in a couple of weeks time in the Gospel at Sunday Mass the end of this chapter when so many of the people who are listening to Jesus here say "Lord, this saying is hard and who can hear it." (cf. John 6:60-71) Jesus said it very clearly in the Gospel today in our own hearing. "I am the living bread which came down from Heaven, and if any one eats of this bread he shall live forever, and the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Many of our separated brothers and sisters will take this entire passage of Scripture, indeed the entire 6th chapter of John to mean something purely symbolic. I won't spend time today giving the cliche arguments against that position, I'm going to presume you're familiar with them. If you are not, I will say that even though those arguments are very true, I don't think they're the most effective to prove the point that Jesus wasn't speaking symbolically. The reason that we can tell that Jesus was speaking literally was the reaction of the crowd, many of whom, the larger chapter tells us, had been disciples of Jesus before that day, they understood exactly what he meant, and many of them walked away. 

The reality of the Eucharist is so central to our faith that when he was teaching about it, Jesus was more than willing to lose followers over it, people who probably otherwise would have been fine disciples of the Lord. But the teaching of the Eucharist was too much for them, it was that serious for Jesus. At the end of the chapter we even get a hint that maybe the remaining 12 didn't entirely understand what Jesus meant, because he asked them if they would also go away, and you have to love Peter's response when he said "Lord, where shall we go, you have the words of eternal life." Considering the situation in the Church today, there have been many many times in recent years when I have had to remind myself of Peter's words, I would say that many of us probably have.

Our Lord took the teaching of the Eucharist so seriously that when we look at it in the Sacred Scripture today it takes up an entire chapter of the Bible with him explaining it and explaining it again. If it was serious enough to Jesus to spend that much time on one particular teaching of our faith, if we are going to live the way we are called to live and be like Christ then we need to take the Eucharist as seriously as Jesus did and does.

Some three weeks ago on July 16th, there were two Church documents released on the same day. One of those documents received a whole lot of attention in the Catholic media and it's continuing to receive attention. The other one should have gotten much more attention, because the contents of the second document are far more immediately important for the welfare of our immortal souls. The document that should have gotten far more attention and didn't was a pastoral letter by our own Bishop Richard Stika on the matter of sin and the worthy reception of Holy Communion. The Bishop released it to everyone, and you can find it on our diocesan website, but it didn't get a whole lot of coverage in the media. Because of that, you can be forgiven for not knowing about it, but if you want to see everything the bishop had to say, you can look on the website or you can email me. 

The topic of worthiness to receive Holy Communion is sometimes called Eucharistic cohesion. Those words have been in the Catholic news in recent months because the US Bishops are working on a document about it, but our own Bishop's pastoral letter highlights a number of things about worthiness to receive the Eucharist that Catholics ought to know and about which there should be no argument. The Bishop reminds us that of course no one is truly worthy, but that when we approach the altar of God to receive Holy Communion we should be in a state of grace. Unless we are exceptionally saintly, that means availing ourselves of sacramental confession as often as possible. I often remind myself that among humanity, only the Blessed Mother was immaculately conceived. (In his letter, the bishop recommended confession at least once a month or more).

His Excellency also spoke to the controversial issue of public figures who give grave scandal by making a very public profession of their Catholic faith before the world while supporting, promoting, and even publicly funding the terrible Holocaust of abortion. Bishop Stika very rightly says that those who use their public position to promote abortion "cannot be admitted to Holy Communion." (Pastoral 17)

The Church does not tell us these things in order to be unwelcoming or uncaring. It is for the good and the salvation of our own souls that the Church reminds us of the conditions whereby we can and should receive Holy Communion. St. Paul put it perhaps most bluntly of all when he said that those who receive the Eucharist unworthily "will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord." (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:27).

Jesus tells us that He is the living bread who comes down from Heaven, and that if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever, and the bread that Jesus will give is his flesh. Many of us might have heard of the consistent surveys which tell us that only about 30% of Catholics claim to believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. I have always prayed that those numbers are untrue. It is not unreasonable, however, to say that many more people would believe in the truth of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist if more of the world could see us treating the Eucharist as if the Eucharist is the Second Person of the Trinity, God who is Holy. The Blood shed for us and the Body given up for us. For if we behave in such a way that shows the world that the Eucharist is Christ, we will understand what it means to receive Jesus worthily, and we will all want to do so.

Personal God, Personal Relationship (Bulletin Column 7/4/2021)

 

As we celebrate the 245th birthday of our country this weekend, I also want to personally welcome Father Jim Harvey to our Holy Trinity family. I know that you will all join me in praying for a joyful and fruitful pastoral Ministry for Father Jim here with us. Be sure and take the time to make him feel welcome, and let him put some names with some faces as we walk together on this journey to the fullness of the Faith and the Kingdom of God.

One of the things we are often asked by many of our evangelical friends and neighbors is whether we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This isn't necessarily the best theological language, and it's important to remember that the phrase doesn't appear anywhere in Sacred Scripture, yet it does convey an important truth. We believe in and serve a personal God, and that God sent his Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, into the world to really live among us and to give his life as a ransom for us, so that we might be forgiven of our sins. Jesus loves us so perfectly and so completely that there is no way that we will ever be able to describe how deeply that he loves us. The God who loves us so much that he sent his son- both God and Man - to die for us created us out of love and he wants for us to love him in return for the good of our own souls. Jesus Christ "emptied himself and took the form of a slave" (cf. Philippians 2:7), and that means that we can enter into a personal relationship with Him, a relationship that He wants for us to have.

Perhaps the most obvious and critical way to do this is through our prayer life. The Lord knows everything, so he understands how busy our schedules are. He knows that we won't always meet our personal prayer goals, but the purpose of prayer is to build our relationship with God in the most personal way we can, by talking to Him just as we would a friend. If you aren't coming to Eucharistic adoration or Benediction once a month, set aside an hour of your time on a Saturday for Jesus, or come to Mass a few minutes early for Benediction on the first Saturday of the month and share prayer with your fellow parishioners. 

Are you taking the time for a daily Rosary? There's no better way to get to know the Lord than through his Mother. If your daily grind makes it difficult for you to pray the Rosary in the ordinary way, Bishop Robert Barron has led a wonderful Rosary with meditations on the mysteries of the Lord's life, and you can find it on YouTube by simply searching "Bishop Barron Rosary." Perhaps you are ready to enhance your prayer life by including the Prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours, in your daily way of talking to Our Lord. If you'd like to learn more about the Liturgy of the Hours, feel free to email or call me or any of the other deacons (and Father Jim I'm sure), and we will be happy to get you started. The internet makes the process easier than it has ever been before. With Father's permission, I might even be willing to lead a public celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in the parish again; we have done it a couple of times before. However you might be working to better your prayer life, know that the Lord loves you and He wants to hear from you, He looks forward to it every day.

Another way that we can deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ is by being Christ to others. A few weeks ago, I shared with you how wonderful it was to again see so many of your smiling faces. The pews are beginning to look full on Sundays, and things are slowly getting back to normal in our Parish life   Over the last several weeks, I think the hospitality for which our parish is well known has been on full display for everyone to see. Nevertheless, there are some parishioners who still have not felt comfortable rejoining us in community for the Eucharist. If you know of a parishioner who hasn't been with us for a good while, consider giving them a call. Invite them to return to Mass and to other Parish events. Consider offering a ride if one is needed, and don't be afraid to ask if there's anything you can do to help. Often, during the prayers of the faithful, many of you will note that I remember the sick and the homebound of our parish, but we should all do the same, remembering especially those who have been with us but haven't yet returned.

As we continue on our journey with the Lord in a time of change for our Parish, let us commit to ourselves and to one another to grow in our relationship with Christ, and in doing so, to be examples of Christ to one another.

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24

2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15

Mark 5:21-43

Our readings today-most especially our Old Testament reading and our Gospel for today- speak to one of the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and that is that death was never originally in God's will. The passage from the book of Wisdom reminds us that God didn't create death for humanity, he made man to be imperishable, that is not to die. God made man in his own image, and originally this didn't include death. Death entered the world as a consequence of sin. Indeed, all evil entered the world as a consequence of sin and the fall of humanity. God warned Adam and Eve what the consequence would be if they disobeyed Him, not because God is cruel, but because God is Holy. Sin can't live in the presence of God. The very definition of sin is "the willful transgression or disobedience of God or His laws."

We are delivered from original sin by virtue of our baptism, but that doesn't mean we are free from the consequences of original sin, and that means that death is a reality for the human race until the Lord returns and history is brought to its consummation. However, in the Gospel we are given the ultimate antidote to the reality of death that we inherited from our First Parents. Jesus Christ came, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, to give us victory over sin and death. This was the reason Our Lord came, and it was the reason He died for us, and the reason that he rose again. He died in atonement for our sins, but he did so that we might have victory over our sins. He wants us to be in Heaven with Him, and in His death and Resurrection, He provides us with the means whereby we can restore a right relationship with God, and our sins be forgiven.

In the Gospel we see that Christ is the Lord of Life who has power over life and death. The woman afflicted with hemorrhages (or as some translations render it, the issue of blood- meaning that she had parts of her body or sores that had been constantly bleeding for years) believed in faith that Jesus could heal her, and she was so convinced that that she thought that all she needed to do was touch the hem of His garment, a small part of his clothes, and that would be enough. We hear all kinds of television preachers today preaching a "name it and claim it" false Gospel of prosperity. This woman was living the real "name it and claim it." She was healed because she believed that Jesus was who he said he was, and she trusted that he had the power to heal her. Jesus' very response tells us that this woman's faith is what has brought about her healing.

Our Lord has told us in Scripture that his power to heal is as much about forgiveness of our sins as it is about physical healing. Remember the paralytic man whose friends dropped him through the roof so that he could have an encounter with Jesus? (cf. Mark 2:1-12) What was Jesus' initial response? At first, it wasn't to heal the paralytic, it was to announce to him and to the people around him that his sins were forgiven. People then accused Jesus of blasphemy because only God had the power to forgive sins. Jesus shows us that the power of forgiveness was far more important than physical healing. But he knew that many of the people thought he was doing something that only God could do, and they were right, so he told the paralytic "so that you may believe that the Son of Man has power on Earth to forgive sins, rise, take up your bed, and walk." The healings of Our Lord were to show that he had the power to forgive and the power to make us whole and he has that power today, even if we don't always experience physical healing. The Lord wants to bring us spiritual healing through the Sacraments, and he wants us to be open to receive those Graces.

Then there was the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official. Jairus believed that Jesus could heal his daughter, likely because he had seen or heard the evidence of Jesus' healings of others, but when Jesus learned that the little girl had died, he said "she isn't dead she's only sleeping," and he was roundly mocked. But he went in and he raised the little girl from the dead. Christ showed that he had power even over life and death, something that only God has. Because Our Lord rose from the Dead, he can give us victory over death. 

Unless we happen to live to see the Lord return, we all have an appointment with death, but it doesn't have to be the end for us. Just as the Church's funeral liturgy tells us, in death we know that "life is changed, not ended." Christ wishes to give us the rewards of Eternal Life, he wishes to restore God's plan for all of humanity that was taken from us because of Original Sin.

There is only one catch… we have to live a life for the Lord, we have to keep His commandments, because salvation and victory over death can be given to anyone, but ultimately it is given to those who choose it. The choice is a very clear and stark one… we can have "the pleasures of sin for a season," we can live consumed by worldliness and the things of this world which are passing away, and God will honor that choice, and it will be our Eternal choice… Or we can reject a life of sin and worldliness and the things which pass away and win victory over death and an Eternity with God. The choice is really up to us.

A Farewell Reflection From the Parish

 Here is a reflection on thankfulness for his that I wrote for Father Patrick's farewell gathering yesterday. It was the most well-attended such parish gathering I have ever been to, which I think goes to show how much Father Patrick is respected, appreciated, and loved. He has earned that adulation because he literally emptied himself for the sake of Holy Trinity Parish... I am given to understand that it was given to him on behalf of the parish yesterday.

We have to ask ourselves: how does one say "thank you," other than to say "we are thankful."

We are thankful to God for the time and the energy that you didn't have, but you gave for the good of the parish anyway.

We are thankful to the Lord for all the times we called on you to bring us comfort, to anoint us, to bring us the Eucharist, and you were there.

We are thankful to God for the time and effort you gave to ensure that the people of our parish have been taught the Catholic faith. Because you cared about our souls, we are a better people and a better Parish.

We are thankful to God for the parish missions which you brought to us. Because you wanted us to know our faith, you brought us some of the finest Catholic missioners to be found anywhere.

We are thankful to God for the Eucharistic devotion you have brought to our Parish. Greater devotion to the Eucharist makes us better followers of the Lord Jesus. You wanted us to be better followers of the Lord Jesus, and so you brought more of Jesus to us.

We are thankful to the Lord for your undimmed pro life witness. You gave witness every month to the reality that every life is precious, no matter how small, and your willingness to be present at Cherry Street every month showed that to the world. We are thankful you supported the pro-life efforts of Holy Trinity with such devotion.

We are thankful to God that you loved our Parish so much that you even gave to it. Our collection of blue Saint Michael hymnals came from you. We have a gift we will use for some years to come because you cared enough to give it.

We are thankful to God that you have insisted upon proper liturgy and right worship. Because of your zeal for the Lord's House, our priests and deacons will wear beautiful vestments for years to come. Because of this zeal, you reminded us of what worship due to the Most High God is supposed to look like. Because of your persistence, our liturgies look like Catholic worship, not a Sunday version of Woodstock. Most importantly, you reminded us that worship is about Jesus, not about us.

You have been with us for a short time, but you have left us something priceless in the time you have been here. You have left us a spiritual legacy, and for that we are thankful to God.

Five Years

I have been feeling under the weather this week, so in an effort to recover so that I could keep my liturgical and parish schedule for the weekend, I didn't post yesterday on what would have been the fifth anniversary of my ordination. What few of you follow this blog regularly already know that it is customary for me to post something regarding that anniversary when it falls. I may be a day late and a dollar short (I'm usually a dollar short anyway), I do have a few things on my mind.

In reflecting this week on 5 years of ordained Ministry, there has been a scripture in my head which has repeatedly come to mind... Micah 6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love mercy,

    and to walk humbly with your God?

If it can be said that there is one verse in the Bible which encapsulates what the entire Christian life is about from the perspective of someone who is already a believer, I have long thought that it is  this verse. Furthermore, I would go so far as to say that this verse also is a one verse description of what the diaconate is all about. The deacon is an icon of Christ the Servant, and the very essence of Christ's Ministry was the bringing of Justice and the loving of Mercy. 

It is often said by some theologians and others that the ministry of the deacon is to be a bridge (pontiff) between the people of God and the ministry of the altar, or the institutional Church. Normally I would be inclined to say that this is a very simplistic way of looking at the ministry of the deacon, since deacons are members of the clergy and are part of the hierarchy, and are thus intertwined with the very institution from which they are supposed to be a bridge to the people. However, the oversimplicity of this description does not necessarily mean that it is entirely wrong.

I have found that there are plenty of people who do, in fact, approach the deacon first on any number of pastoral issues, or even liturgical questions. This is most especially true when the issues involve marriage or family life. People often believe - sometimes correctly and sometimes mistakenly - that they will be able to talk to the deacon a bit more freely than they can speak to their Parish priest. I have been married for 18 years and have two young children, so it's easy to see why some parishioners might think they can speak more readily to me about family issues, I have to deal with some of the same ones that they do. 

One of the great joys of ministry personally for me is when parishioners ask me for a blessing, or to bless their holy reminders or holy objects. I will freely admit that I am an absolute "ham" for doing this... The reason is not because I like to draw attention to myself. (In reality, I have found that the longer I'm simply involved in Ministry, the less attention I draw to myself, and I prefer that.) Instead, I love to bless sacramentals because these holy items can be used to bring God's Grace to people in their prayers and remembrance, and I am deeply humbled and grateful to God that I am allowed to play some tiny role in helping to bring His peace and Grace to others in that way. 

Although there are many blessings to ministry as a deacon, another great personal blessing for me has been the fraternity of my brother deacons. Deacon Don Griffith and his wife Patty are the Godparents to my oldest daughter, and they and their family are fine examples, the kind of people you want your children to look at and be able to say to them "this is what a good Catholic ought to look like." I have developed wonderful friendships with many of the brothers I went through formation with, from Deacon Don and Deacon Steve Helmbrecht, who were in formation with me from the same deanery, to Deacon Scott Maentz (who is my infamous beer and conversation buddy, and on those all too rare occasions when I see him), Deacon Tom Tidwell, Deacon Steve Ratterman, Deacon Butch Feldhaus, and others too numerous to mention here, I fear if I continue to mention people I will leave too many more out.

The fellowship of Brothers is so important in Ministry, but one of the great difficulties with this is that I have found that we simply don't get to see one another very often when we actually get into the meat of life doing Ministry in the in the midst of the Church. That reality has been exacerbated, I think, by the recent pandemic, when so many things we might have done were canceled or put on hold.

I am most thankful for the support of parishioners, and the support of my wife, without whom I wouldn't be able to do this. Some wives of deacons like to be way out front, either participating directly in a part of their husband's Ministry where the world can see, or sometimes having a public apostolate of their own. I think that those are wonderful things, but my wife has always been more intent to lead from behind the scenes. She has never liked public attention, and she runs from it like the plague. There are so many ways in which she is my polar opposite, and I think that's probably what made us a good match for each other. In private, however, she will tell me exactly what she thinks, even if it is not always what I want to hear. Much of the ministry that I am able to do I'm able to do because she takes to make sure that all of my i's are dotted and t's are crossed. Some of you know that I don't drive, and in East Tennessee that often means that I rely on my wife to get me where I need to be when I need to minister to other people... So when people tell you that your wife's support for Ministry is necessary, I am living proof of that. Without my wife's support, it would simply have been impossible for me to serve.

But I am grateful that God has given me the opportunity, and every year that passes I will continue to be thankful.

Reflection on the departure of a Pastor

Our parish officially received the news over the last couple of weeks that our pastor, Father Patrick Resen, is retiring. Father Patrick said in a bulletin column that he really didn't want to leave, but that his body is telling him that it is time to retire. A few parishioners have known for a few weeks because word got leaked when Father Patrick took vacation a few weeks back that he was headed to West Texas. Father is from El Paso, and he took a journey there, and some of us knew that part of this journey was to lay the groundwork for a more permanent move. Father Pat didn't go telling everyone what was happening, but a few of us knew, although promising not to tell, of course, until the news became official...

In reality, I have known for some time that this day was coming. Father had shared with me and a few select others quite some time ago that he believed that Holy Trinity would be his last Parish. I have watched him deal very bravely with the ups and downs of priestly life and Parish life over the last five years that we have served together while observing that it was taking an obvious toll on his body. When you are in that situation, you have to understand what your limitations are, and I certainly could grasp that, since I have to deal with exercising ministry while dealing with a disability as well as trying to raise a family at the same time. 

Father Patrick has been at Holy Trinity for seven years, and in many ways it's a very different Parish than it was when he arrived, much for the better. He has insisted on a liturgical praxis which follows the rubrics of the Church, which means that someone who visits from elsewhere (and we have a lot of those from time to time) won't have to expect any surprises, it's a liturgy done by the book. He has also introduced monthly Eucharistic adoration and benediction at the parish level. It is my hope and prayer that in the future this practice will be extended to more than once a month. Many parishes have perpetual adoration. I don't think we are quite to that level yet (for we are a small country Parish whose members are quite spread out), but I do think that there is a greater interest in Eucharistic devotion, and I believe that leading Eucharistic Benediction from time to time has helped make me a better deacon. I think that devotion to the Eucharist is extremely important in the life of any member of the clergy, but certainly in the life of a deacon.

Father Patrick also demonstrated an openness that can be hard to find. When the McCarrick scandal broke and the stories of yet more depravity in the very depths of the Church was revealed yet again, Father Patrick's letter to parishioners reached out, and his secular background as an attorney, law professor, and judge allowed him to explain the legal as well as ecclesiastical and moral issues at play in a pastoral way that perhaps few could ever have done. His monthly "Ask the Pastor" clergy sessions opened the floor to parishioners to ask any questions they might wish. I enjoyed participating in them whenever I had the opportunity. 

Most of all, I have found him to be a friend I could rely on to talk about issues relating to the ministry and to life in the Church in a way that it was difficult to share with others. Perhaps this is because I came to see that we viewed the Church and the world in a very similar light, and it can be hard to find others who see things so similarly to you that you can speak to them freely about your thoughts, especially about ecclesiastical matters and affairs. This doesn't mean that we saw eye to eye all the time (we often did, but not always), but because I came to understand how Father Patrick thinks, I found myself better able to anticipate what he would ask of me, especially at the altar. I also came to see how under-appreciated Father Patrick often is, because so many parishioners did not see how much he has literally worn himself to the bone for the good of the Parish. 

Thus far, 2021 has been a year of some surprise and certainly of some loss. I've had a number of friends pass away over this past year and a half since COVID-19 began, in many cases people that I have known for a very long time but not seen for many years. Over the last couple of weeks my Dad passed away. Now, our parish is about to lose our pastor and we will undergo a time of transition, I am sure. We will have a new pastor beginning July 1st, Father Jim Harvey. Father Harvey will need our prayers, help, and support as he transitions to a very different environment. I look forward to serving him as best I can and helping him along the way in the very best way that I can.

Our faith is a gift from the Lord. For priests and deacons, the Ministry that we are blessed with is also a great gift, a Sacrament to remind us to help lead others to the Lord Jesus. It is at times such as this that I am reminded that the opportunities that we have to serve and minister to others are fleeting, and we need to make the most of them. I am deeply grateful for the example and Ministry of Father Patrick Resen, as well as for his role in my life as a deacon as friend, pastor, and confidante. I pray that I am able to be as much of a servant and confidant to future pastors as he has been to me. As he prepares to leave us at the middle of this month, I do not know when, or whether ever, I will see him again in this life. We have always said to each other that we will limp into Heaven together one day. May the Lord help me to get there. We can enjoy a drink together and assist in the Heavenly Liturgy.

Pray not only for priests who are holy, but for priests who live to strive to be.

Homily for the Most Holy Trinity

Deuteronomy 4:32-34

Romans 8:14-17

Matthew 28:16-20

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is one that many preachers and many theologians have tried to explain through the centuries, many well-intentioned and fine teachers of the faith have attempted to explain to us this mystery of the nature of God, and when a great many of them attempt to do this, a good number of them of them through the centuries (perhaps the majority) have lapsed into heresy. This is usually because when people try to explain the Trinity, a reality which is the very nature of God himself, they often try to explain in a way that is simple to understand, and they are explaining something that is not to be fully explained on this side of Eternity.

The bishop Arius tried to explain the nature of God by explaining away the Divinity of Christ. He got a wide following, too. Indeed, so wide was the following that Arius had that years after the Arian controversy, St Jerome commented that "the whole world groaned, waking up one morning to find itself Arian." It took the persistence of Saint Athanasius, who actually held the minority view in those days that our Lord Jesus is one in being with the Father, to ensure that the orthodox position as we know it today remained the teaching of the Church. 

Nestorius, who was the Patriarch of Constantinople, attempted to explain the complex nature of God in the person of Christ by trying to say that Christ had two persons, one human and one divine. Of course the Church holds that Christ is the second person of the Trinity and that he is both human and divine, and that he is only one person, and The Trinity is made up of three persons with one divine nature.

A lot of people know the old story that Saint Patrick evangelized the people of Ireland by explaining the Trinity with a shamrock. Truth be told, that's kind of an apocryphal story. We don't know if Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain the Trinity, but the story became so widely circulated and accepted that the shamrock became one of the national symbols of Ireland, and one of the best known Christian symbols of the Trinity. We have to be careful, however, when using the shamrock or any other such symbol to try and explain the Trinity because very often people lapse into another heresy called sabelianism or "modalism" when they do so. This is the idea, widely circulated even in some Protestant sects today, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are merely three modes or aspects of the Divine Revelation, rather than three distinct persons which coexist in the Divine Nature.

An Arabian tribesman called Muhammed in the 7th century couldn't explain this critical understanding of God's nature at a time when much of the known world had become Christian. His solution was to reject this teaching, to deny that Christ was divine or even that Christ was sacrificed for our sins, but merely to say that Jesus was the greatest of all the prophets… until Muhammad came along, of course. A lot of people followed Muhammad's teaching, many of them willingly, some of them by force.

All of these attempts to explain- or to explain away- the Trinitarian understanding of God's nature forget the reality that Sacred Scripture is clear… Jesus himself said that the Father and he were one. He told the Pharisees "before Abraham was, I AM." That declaration caused many of the Pharisees to take up stones to stone Jesus, because if he wasn't God, he had just committed blasphemy. 

Jesus used the Divine Name to identify himself. He even did it in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed, this was why the Gospel accounts tell us that the soldiers- members of the Temple guard- who came to arrest Jesus fell back when after asking for Jesus of Nazareth, he replied "I AM." Jesus makes it clear that he is one with the Father, that He is equal to God and He is God, something no mere human could ever say.

The nature of God is unchanging, God says Himself in the Scriptures that "I am the LORD, I change not." (cf. Malachi 3:6) This means that God has always been one Divine Nature, but Three Persons in one Divine Nature. The unchanging nature of God also means that God has always been all merciful, all loving, but also all holy, and all just. If anyone ever tells you that the God of the Old Testament was vengeful and full of wrath but the God of the New Testament is loving and merciful, you should know immediately that that kind of teaching is complete and utter nonsense. God was not any less loving or merciful in the Old Testament. We know this because just as soon as Adam and Eve committed the first sin, God promised them a Savior for the human race (cf. Genesis 3:15), and that meant that immediately God was letting humanity know that even though we had to live with the consequences of our sin, He loves us enough that he will never give up on us as long as this world tarries. 

Conversely, there are lots of people who want to preach the love and compassion of Jesus and the apostles, but they are not interested in the moral pronouncements of Jesus and the apostles because the merciful and loving Jesus was also the perfectly just Jesus. The Jesus who loved us enough to save us and make himself a slave so that we could be free loved us enough not to keep us in our sin. Jesus and his earliest followers gave us a clear picture of the moral life that we are supposed to live as followers of Jesus Christ. This was so important to the earliest followers of Jesus that it was made repeatedly clear that those who did not repent from sin could be and should be cut off from God's people.  Today we call that excommunication… Are we supposed to believe that Jesus and the apostles were unloving people? No, Jesus was the most compassionate person who ever lived and the apostles certainly followed in his footsteps. But God is both merciful and just. 

The Holy Trinity is something that we were not meant to completely understand in this life, but it is a reality because the persons of the Trinity are real, we can really experience them, and they are really God, and really one God. Rather than trying too hard to explain something we will only fully understand when - by God's grace and mercy- we are with God for Eternity, it might do us all well to remember God's Word to the prophet Isaiah, that God's ways are so far above our ways as the Heavens are above the Earth. (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9)

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Leviticus 13:1-2

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1

Mark 1:40-45

"If you wish, you can make me clean." That's what the leper said to Jesus at the beginning of the Gospel today. Some translations render it-I think more accurately- "if you will it, you can make me clean." In this singular moment the leper approached Jesus and completely submitted himself to the will of God, seeming to understand that Jesus could just as well have told him no. We can even see that Jesus had every reason to decide not to heal the man, after all he asked the fellow not to say anything to anyone about what Jesus had done but to show himself to the priest as Moses had prescribed. Of course this man didn't bother to listen to Jesus on that score, the Gospel tells us that he went out and publicized the whole matter.

It's important to remember that by the standards of that day, what Jesus did was remarkable, and not merely because he healed the leper. As we heard in the first reading today from the book of Leviticus, the law as given to Moses was very clear that any person who came down with leprosy-or what we might know today as Hansen's disease- was to be considered unclean, and separated out from the people of God as a whole. 

This seems like a punishment and it seems very harsh, but there was a reason for it. The biblical injunction to separate someone with leprosy away from the children of Israel was a kind of quarantine. In ancient times, they didn't have the more advanced knowledge of germ theory or how disease was transmitted, but they did figure out that it was possible for more people to get leprosy if there was a person with leprosy among them. They were not wrong, because leprosy is a bacterial infection and it can spread from person to person, although we know today that you're more likely to catch leprosy from another leper if you have extensive close contact with them. The ancients were simply aware that this could spread from person to person and they did understand how dangerous that it was. You might remember the story of Saint Damian of Molokai, who was called to care for the lepers in Hawaii and eventually caught the disease himself…

Jesus, however, let it be seen that he touched a leper and healed him. Jesus showed that it is his will to make people whole. Oftentimes this does not necessarily mean physical healing, although it can. More often than not, Jesus seeks to make our souls whole. Sin, along with the emotional scars and daily wear and tear of life in this world can cause our hearts- our souls- to be infected with a kind of spiritual leprosy. In the sight of God- and even sometimes in the sight of the people around us- we are unclean, and if no one else knows it, we do. Just like healing the leper in the Gospel, Jesus wills us to be made clean and he's willing to make it happen if we are willing to come to him.

These preceding months that we have all lived through have helped me understand this story in a way in which we might perhaps not otherwise be able to. We are living in a time when we are told that so many of our neighbors could be unclean and that we need to distance ourselves from them, just as lepers had to do in our Old Testament reading. We can better imagine how the leper who Jesus healed must have felt because now he was free and he was clean and he could be a part of the community again, and the community could embrace him. 

God gives us opportunity to be healed of our spiritual leprosy as well. The first way to do this is to present ourselves for the Sacrament of Confession or Reconciliation. The second way that we can do this is to begin to examine our lives and find out where our weaknesses are, what are the problems in our spiritual immune system that leave us weak and susceptible to the diseases that are sin and spiritual sloth? We can do a daily such examination, and we could commit ourselves to greater prayer, such as time for the Rosary, or the Angelus, or the Liturgy of the Hours. I can speak from both personal experience and the experience of working with others to help them in their faith… If we constantly commit ourselves to improving our prayer life and our personal devotion, these things are the ultimate weapons against sin and sloth, for idle time is the playhouse of the Devil. Rather than have idle time, give it to God. We can all stand to turn off the television or the smartphone and take time to call on the Lord.

Some of us have very busy daily schedules, sometimes things come up that we don't expect and weren't planning on. There are many days when we set aside time for prayer, but things don't work out the way we had planned, and we might think to ourselves "what am I supposed to do?" Even in the most dire and time squeezed-circumstances, most of us can usually make time for the Angelus (or the Regina Caeli in the Easter season), and if all else fails and we're so pressed for time that we can't even take 3 minutes for the Angelus, perhaps we can at least say that beautiful Jesus Prayer every day that is a part of Eastern tradition. "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Father Patrick, Father Andres, and I and the other deacons are somewhat fortunate in that we are made to go on a retreat every year. This is often a time to rest, but it's also a time to take stock of where our relationship with Christ is in our life and how we can improve it. I know it is that way for me. Not everyone can afford to drop what they're doing and go on retreat, so every year the Church brings the retreat to us. The Holy Season of Lent begins this coming Wednesday. The principles of this great season are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those three principles should apply to our lives all the time, not just for around 40 days every year. However, there is likely not a single one of us who is perfectly living out those pillars of Christian example, so each year the Church gives us an opportunity to step back and be reminded of how we are supposed to live, and ultimately that we are supposed to live for others. We will begin on Ash Wednesday and journey with the Lord to Calvary during that time. The discipline of Lent should be a reminder to us that there is no reward of Heaven without the Cross, and that our sufferings are a part of the life we live for God.

Lent is also an opportunity for us to do as the leper did in the Gospel today, it is a chance for us to stretch out our hands to the Lord Jesus and to request of him "Lord, if you will, make me clean." The difference is that now Jesus won't ask us to keep it a secret, he wants us to tell the whole world so that they will ask him to do the same for them.

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family

 Sirach 3:2-6, 13-14

Colossians 3:12-21

Luke 2:22-40

Merry Christmas! I have to say that I have always found it to be a great shame when some people exercise the option to shorten our second reading today, as well as the shortened other readings involving the Sacrament of Matrimony, such as Ephesians 5:22-33 when that comes up in the Lectionary. Sometimes this is done out of defference to the modern feminist movement, because an important explanation of the sacramental theology of marriage is deemed by some not to be politically correct in this day and age. 

Still others prefer to exclude these important readings because they fear that it may give license to abusive spouses to "lord it over" their wives and simply order them around and you ladies are supposed to do whatever we say. St Paul would have understood that if that was what he meant, it was going to go over like a lead balloon even in the ancient world. Remember that he is writing to a lot of people who are former pagans, and the wives in that cultural milieu likely would not have taken very well to simply being ordered around. What Saint Paul was telling the Colossians and the Ephesians and us today is that Christian matrimony is to be patterned after Christ's relationship with the Church, we are the bride and Christ is the bridegroom. 

What that means in practical application is that our homes are to be a domestic Church, and husbands and wives can be Christ to one another, but in a family context, the husband should be the one to have spiritual leadership in a home, just as Christ has spiritual leadership over the Church.

We see the ultimate clear example of that in the story of the flight into Egypt.. When the time came to follow the spiritual guidance of the Lord and to leave Israel and go to Egypt, there is no way that this could have been an easy decision. Joseph already had to take his espoused wife from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census ordered by Caesar Augustus. Now he was being told that Herod and the authorities in Jerusalem were threatening Jesus' life, and Joseph took the lead, following the direction of the Lord as told him by the angel, heeding God's command, and taking the lead over his family when it counted. Similarly, when Herod died, the angel made it known to Joseph, and Joseph followed the Divine directive. St. Joseph exercised spiritual leadership, because he took charge not only of Jesus physical protection, but the spiritual welfare of his family.

Similarly, in the Gospel today we see Mary and Joseph going together as a family to the temple to present Jesus. When this happened, Jesus would have been identified as Joseph's son before the priests and the rabbis of the Temple. We see the declarations of who Jesus is from Simeon the holy man, and Anna the prophetess, but probably the most important passage of the Gospel is what we see near the end when it tells us that the Holy family returned to Nazareth, and that "Jesus became strong and filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him." Even Jesus had the example of holy people around him. What we are left to presume is that Jesus grew up not unlike any other child of his day, we don't hear from his childhood except for the finding in the temple at the age of 12. After that incident, we don't hear from St Joseph in Sacred Scripture at all, but we know that he was the leader in the family when it counted. Early on in Our Lord's life, Joseph is seen making the difficult decisions under God's direction.

Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity, is the Son of God and He is God. He could have come into the world in any way that he chose in order to carry out his mission to redeem humanity, but from the foundation of the world it was chosen that he would come into the world as part of an ordinary household and a family with a mother and a father, in part to show us that this is the normative way in which children should be raised.

For a very long time in our society today, it seems that if children are to have any religious upbringing at all, it is often the lady of the house who does the hard work to ensure that the children know something about God. I've known of a few cases where it's even the grandparents who take that responsibility unto themselves. Sacred Scripture is quite clear, however, that Holy Matrimony is a type, or a living example, of the relationship between Christ and the Church. While spouses are to be Christ to each other in their personal relationship (and I don't know about you, but I can think of plenty of times when my spouse has truly been Christ to me), it is the man of the house who stands in the place of Christ as bridegroom in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Just as Christ is the spiritual leader of the Church, the man of the house is supposed to be the spiritual leader of the home. We know that there are often negative spiritual consequences if things don't happen that way.

A few years back, Touchstone magazine published a study from Switzerland that was undertaken throughout Europe and recorded by the European Union. The study found that if both the father and mother of a family attended church regularly, 33% of their children will be regular churchgoers, and another 41% will be irregular churchgoers but consider themselves practicing. only about a quarter of the children of faith-filled marriages end up not practicing their faith in any way at all. Conversely, if mother practices her faith but father doesn't practice his at all, only about 2% of those children become regular churchgoers. Another 37% of those children will attend church on an irregular basis, and 60% of those children will not practice their faith at all. Interestingly, if Dad is the regular churchgoer and Mom is not, the same study showed that far more children were likely to be loyal to their faith, between 38 and 44% of them depending on the circumstances. Some American studies have shown that practicing Dads yield children that are as much as two-thirds more likely to remain loyal to their faith. Some U.S. studies show the number when Dad is active in church to be as high as 93% of children who remain in the practice of Christianity.

Men matter, fathers matter, and we live in an age when masculinity and fatherhood are both under terrible attack. St. Joseph is given to us as an example and a model of manhood, of leadership, of fatherhood. It is time for men to reclaim the example of St. Joseph and reclaim spiritual leadership of their homes and families. The model of the Holy Family can show us the way.

Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 27:30-28:7

Romans 14:7-9

Matthew 18:21-35

There are great many truths taught by Our Lord or by the Holy Apostles which are difficult for the world to accept. We can sometimes tell which truths these are because they're the ones that people like to avoid discussing whenever the topic of Christianity or Jesus Christ happens to come up. There are a lot of people in this world who will more or less say that Jesus was a great moral teacher, but either in their words or their actions they will deny that Christ is who he claims to be. The world will make that denial because they do not wish to live in the way that we are called to live, because so much of what the world today calls good, God calls evil. So much of what the Lord God calls evil, the world says it's good, even praiseworthy. (cf. Isaiah 5:20, 2 Timothy 3:1-13)

There is perhaps no greater commandment of Christ that is more difficult to live out, however, than the one we find illustrated in the Gospel today, the command that we are to forgive in the same way that we are asking God to forgive us. We want God to forgive us our sins, to pardon our sins, to overlook our sins. In many, if not most cases, the sins we are asking forgiveness for are the sins that will send us straight to Hell because of the choices we have made. Yet Jesus repeatedly tells us that these sins will be forgiven, that we will be received by the Lord if we repent of our sins. The only catch is that we have to forgive others in the same way that we have been forgiven. We get a glimpse of just how unconditional God's love is for us, and we come to understand how difficult it is to give truly unconditional love to others, especially those who would wish us harm or do us harm.

When we think about how difficult that truly is, we realize that living the Christian Life isn't so easy, because we have to be like Christ, and that means to forgive others as we have been forgiven. Jesus's illustration of the servant who asked forgiveness of his master while refusing to extend forgiveness to a fellow servant who owed a much smaller amount shows us the reality that God is willing to forgive us the debt of our sins if we confess our sins, and the weight of our sins is far greater than any debt to be understood in this world. Therefore, Jesus is explaining to us that we should be ready and willing to forgive others, because their offenses to us are far less than anything we may have done in this life to offend God.

In living the life of a Christian we are called to be like Christ. Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, He is God, and so his nature is the nature of God. What are we told is God's ultimate nature? When the Lord God made himself visible to Moses, telling him that he would pass by on Mount Sinai and allow Moses to see the back of Him and He would say His name. When the Lord did say his name to Moses, the name itself is not actually mentioned in most English translations (we say "the LORD"), but it is immediately followed by an important suffix. God makes Himself known to Moses in this way… "the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."  (Exodus 34:5-6) Mercy and love and fidelity are so important to God's nature that He includes them in His very name. We hear these attributes of God in today's responsorial Psalm, which are verses from Psalm 103.

Our first reading from the book of Sirach invites us to do a very difficult thing for a lot of us (and any of us who have a real temper know how hard it is), and that is to let go of our anger, even forgiving the injustices our neighbor might commit upon us.

In the Gospel parable, the servant was not seen as wicked for asking his master to forgive his debt (something that we should be doing regularly when we ask for our sins to be forgiven in Reconciliation), but it was seen as most evil that he would not forgive a fellow servant a much smaller debt. The Master's reaction when he had heard what the servant had demanded of his fellow servant was to throw the wicked servant in prison until the debt was paid off.

Jesus tells his disciples that God the Father will treat all of us the same way if we do not learn to forgive our enemies from our heart. The big difference will be that if we die in our sins, it is our choice, not the larger society. We can ask forgiveness of God and our neighbor, but if we are not truly willing to forgive others, the faith is hollow within us.

Neither our Lord, nor any of the Apostles or the apostolic Fathers who have preached forgiveness have said that forgiving our neighbors who slight us, or do great injustice to us is easy. Jesus understands very well how very difficult and how very contrary it is to our human nature to extend the hand of forgiveness to those who have done us wrong, or even to those who wish us harm. That kind of forgiveness is completely contrary to our human nature, and God understands that. This is exactly why being able to extend forgiveness in the radical way that Jesus asks of us is something that takes great Grace, and is a sign before the world that the person who can forgive in the radical fashion which Christ asks of us manifests a sign of tremendous holiness of life, and they are showing that they can live out their Christian faith not only in word, but in action.

We are living in a time of tremendous upheaval in our nation. Not only have we been faced in recent months with a global pandemic which has seriously constricted our way of life and cost many their jobs or their livelihoods, but we have also recently seen protests, and in many places riots, over both the real and perceived abuses directed toward African Americans and other minorities by certain members of local police forces around the country. The resulting protests and riots have caused much disorder, they have also forced many Americans to take a hard look at our past as a nation.

One of the real difficulties, however, with the present moment in which we find ourselves is that the one thing you don't hear from all sides in these ongoing debates, discussions, and public disorder is the need for- and the willingness of-all sides to extend forgiveness to one another. Instead, because of the lack of an attitude of forgiveness, we see continuing disorder and riots in many cities, including the desecration of many public monuments. There is an utter unwillingness to forgive our neighbors.

We also would do well to remember that extending forgiveness does not mean forgetting injustices and wrongs done to us by others, forgiveness doesn't always equate to trust, and nowhere does Jesus ask that. But if we can truly learn to forgive, and leave the final judgment of others to God, our community, our country, our world would look a lot more like Jesus intended. As Christ forgives us, let us extend that forgiveness to one another. 

Homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 55:1-3

Romans 8:35, 37-39

Matthew 14:13-21

In today's Gospel we hear Matthew's account of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5000. One of the things that we know from the Gospel account is that Jesus actually was able to feed far more than 5,000 people that day, because Scripture tells us that there were five thousand men there, but they did not count women and children, and there were certainly women and children present, we can only guess at the actual number of people who were there that day and who were fed by this very important miraculous moment in the Life and Ministry of Our Lord.

Often, people will read the story of the feeding of the 5000 and see it as another manifestation of the Divinity of Christ, which it certainly is. While the Divinity of Christ is reiterated by yet another miracle, that is not the most important message of this event. The first message was one to the people who were present there, and one that speaks to us through time in the pages of Sacred Scripture, that this miracle of love for people who were not only physically hungry, but (far more importantly) they were spiritually hungry was a prefigurement of the Holy Eucharist, the feast of Thanksgiving where Christ provides for our spiritual needs by giving us himself.

The second message which Jesus is sending to us through time in the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 is a message that we need to hear today in a very special way, perhaps more than we have ever needed to hear it in our lifetimes, (certainly I have needed reminding of the other message of this miracle in my life). 

We are living in a time that can only be described as one of blinding uncertainty. A worldwide pandemic, brought on by a disease which the supposed "experts" cannot even agree on how best to treat or prevent. In the last six months we have seen our society grind to a halt, and even as we begin some semblance of reopening, nothing is normal. All we have to do is look around this church to see that. Many of our family members, friends, and neighbors have lost their jobs, and many more people are still unsure if they will have a way to provide for themselves in the near future. Even for those of us who have been relatively well provided for during this time in which we are living find that nothing is normal. We have to keep a distance from our neighbors, we have to wear masks to church, and we know that many people are afraid of whether or not they will catch the disease, and how it might affect their lives. 

In today's readings, however, the Lord is giving us a message of Hope. Yes, so many of us find ourselves in a situation that is so unclear, and for many it seems hopeless. Jesus was teaching and ministering to a huge throng of people, and the disciples didn't know what to do with them, they were ready to send them away because they knew they couldn't feed them. Jesus, however, had other ideas.

The solution of Jesus to the problem at hand was to do what only God can do, and Jesus is God… Our Lord provided for the obvious need of the people who were assembled there, even though doing so appeared impossible, but as Jesus himself said "with God all things are possible."

We are living in and through an extremely uncertain time, and many of us can honestly say that we do not know what tomorrow will bring. The Lord wants to remind us in all of the readings today that we can rely on him to provide what we need. Just when the situation may seem beyond our control, if we are truly willing to put our lives into the hands of God, he will provide for us, just in the way that Jesus provided for the 5000 and the women and children.

I do not recall a time in my lifetime when people were so fearful of their neighbors, or so afraid for themselves. In our country, we see great levels of civil unrest, and so much lawlessness now in many of our cities that it can rightly be called an uprising against legitimately constituted authority. Good people who are just trying to get on with their lives are afraid of what might happen to them, and many people are afraid of a virus with a 98% survival rate.

But Our Lord is showing us that he will provide for us. He will provide for us spiritually, and he will provide for our physical needs, but we have to believe in and trust in him. Just as he provided for the 5,000, he's ready to provide for us. He wants us to have faith that he can. Even now, he's reminding us, just as Saint John Paul II did, of what he told the disciples when they were in fear of their lives. "Be not afraid!"

About a year-and-a-half ago I recall that I joined Father Patrick up at Cor Jesu Monastery and assisted with Mass for the sisters. We deacons get used to doing things a certain way, and when preparing for the consecration I always pour roughly the same amount of wine in the chalice. On that particular day, Father had told me to fill the chalice up, since all of the sisters received from the one chalice, so what did I do when the time came to prepare for the consecration? I poured in my usual amount, and Father consecrated it. It was my mistake and I began to think we wouldn't have enough… yet miraculously not only did we have enough, all of the sisters partook of the chalice that day as they normally would. The Lord provided because the people had faith.

Jesus is ready and willing to provide for us and for our needs, if we are willing to submit totally to faith in Him. "All who are thirsty, come to the water," Isaiah says, "you have no money, come and receive grain and eat, without paying and without cost drink wine and milk!" The prophet asks, "why spend your money for what is not bread, or your wages for what fails to satisfy?" Jesus already gives us the very best because he gives us himself in the Eucharist. 

He wants to provide for our every need, all we have to do is to have faith that he can and understand that he knows what we need far better than we do.

Thoughts On the Anniversary of My Ordination

Every year this day passes and I remember it as I remember my wedding anniversary, or my wife's birthday, or my daughters' birthdays, or other significant days on the calendar. Each year, this day comes and it causes me to pause and reflect on the gifts of God in my life, and the opportunity that he has given me to be present for others.

There are times, I have to admit, when I wonder how it is that the Lord intends to use this wonderful Sacrament and vocation of service that he has given me, and that is now four years on. I often ponder this because I now have two beautiful daughters and a beautiful and wonderful wife who sacrifices much and puts up with a lot out of me. My weekdays are often covered over dealing with young children, while I sometimes see and hear of my brother deacons taking the time to engage in many ministries that I love and find that I don't currently have the time to do those things that many of them do. I find that I sometimes ask God "how can you use me to serve others in the midst of everything that we have going on?"

I have found, however, that the Lord has often made some use of me in ways that I am not expecting, often would not think of, and I certainly wouldn't ask. 

There have been the times that parishioners have stopped me after Masses or when I was on my way to the car to share with me that I said or preached something on a particular day that spoke to their heart and mind. People will sometimes stop me and ask if I will bless their holy reminder or their religious object for them. To be honest, I don't often think about this, but the times when I have been able to give the gift of presence and blessing to people when they have needed it didn't seem like much to me, but maybe it meant something to the people who asked for that blessing.

When our present crisis of pandemic first hit, in the first couple of weeks, all the clergy of the parish took the time to divide up the parish list and make a phone call to each parishioner to check in on them. I didn't realize how much I could serve someone with a simple phone call or text until we (all of our Parish clergy) did this and I heard the thank yous from parishioners and others who terribly missed sacramental life or the fellowship of their church family. The people of God were pleased to know that their priests and deacons were still there and still praying for them and thinking about them.

 

"What can I do to be of service to the people, Lord?" Sometimes I will ask Him that question and He will give me answers I don't expect. I certainly didn't expect to be able to help someone find a place to live, but I was able to do that once with a simple letter. "Make me an instrument, Lord..." I will ask Him, and He will do it. It is usually not in the ways I am expecting, it is very often not in ways that the rest of the world, and sometimes even the rest of the parish, can see. However, a long time ago I asked the Lord to grant me the gift of greater humility, and I am slowly beginning to learn what that really looks like. I will freely admit that I have a long way to go, so pray for me that the Lord will bring the good work he has done to fulfillment, and that will be the best deacon, husband, and Dad that I can be.

Four years ago, Bishop Stika laid his hands on me and bestowed upon me the Sacrament of Holy Orders as a deacon. I am truly blessed, the Lord has given me a great gift of Ministry, and the rare precious treasure of all seven sacraments. I pray that I may be able to minister to others in some small way for a great many more years to come, and I am so thankful for everyone who is blessing me with their kindness and encouragement. (A particular note of thanks to my friend Stephanie Richer, who took these wonderful photographs, and regularly uses her God-given talent for the sake of the Kingdom.)

Ad multos annos to my brothers in the Diocese of Knoxville diaconate class of 2016, and all of my brother deacons and priests everywhere who celebrate the anniversary of their ordination this month. Let us all remember that like Christ the Servant, to whom we are configured, we come not to be served but to serve, and may we, like Christ, give our lives in service for the sake of others.