Easter Vigil Homily by Fr Jacek - homilies to Read

St Faustina Shrine presents Homilies to read: 

7th Sunday Ordinary Time, C Homily by Fr Jacek Kowal Pastor St Ann Bartlett and Rector of St Faustina Shrine. 

https://divinemercyshrine.site/homilies-to-read-1

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

        I have some big problems with today’s gospel. I would rather be rich than poor. I would rather be full than hungry. I would rather laugh than weep. And I would rather be spoken well of than be hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced my name as evil.

What about you? Who is with me? Any of you have problems with today’s gospel?

Today’s gospel doesn’t align well with the values of a capitalist society, our constitutional right to “the pursuit of happiness,” or our personal programs for happiness. It is a hard gospel to hear for anyone who has been taught or come to be believe that happiness is the primary goal in life. 

It is interesting that in the prayers of the faithful we pray for the poor, the hungry, the persecuted, and yet, Jesus says they are blessed. What about those to whom Jesus says, “Woe to you?” Why don’t we pray for them? If we took to heart today’s gospel, shouldn’t we pray for them?

For the rich in bondage to their assets. For all who are full and successful but have no satisfaction or meaning. For all who laugh to hide or avoid the pain of their life. For all who seek or find their identity and value in being spoken well of by others.

I wonder if we don’t pray for them because they look and sound happy and for most of us happiness is the goal. I wonder if we don’t pray for them because we don’t want to face those aspects in our own lives. 

What if, however, the goal of life is not happiness but meaning? What if the gospel of Christ is not just another program for happiness? And what if blessings and woes are guideposts for living a life of meaning? 

I am not suggesting that Jesus and the gospel are opposed to our happiness. I am suggesting that there is something deeper and more lasting than happiness. Happiness is circumstantial, dependent upon what is or is not happening. We have all experienced that. One day we are happy and another day we are not. Circumstances change.

Isn’t that that what today’s gospel saying? Those who are hungry will be filled and those who are full will be hungry. Those who are laughing will weep and those who are weeping will laugh. That’s true in each of our lives, about each of the blessings and each of the woes.

Jesus is describing the pattern of our lives. Think how often we cycle back and forth between days of blessing and days of woe. Go down the list of blessings and woes and you will find every one of them in your life: poverty, hunger, weeping, to be spoken ill of, richness, fullness, laughing, and to be spoken well of. 

It is easy and tempting to set blessings and woes in opposition, to see one as better and more desirable than the other, and to wonder which category we fall into. Jesus is not, however, establishing a hierarchy between blessings and woes. Luke makes a point of telling us that Jesus “stood on a stretch of level ground” when he spoke about blessings and woes. Jesus is leveling the ups and downs of our lives. He is inviting us to look beyond the circumstances that happen day to day and find meaning in every day.

And let’s not forget that today’s gospel happens in the context of healing. “a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon… came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.”  

Maybe that context of healing is the context in which we need to hear and understand the blessings and woes. 

What if blessings are not a reward and woes are not a punishment? What if blessings and woes are not categories of two different kinds of people? What if there are aspects in each of our lives to which Jesus says, “Blessed are you?” What if there are aspects in each of our lives to which Jesus says, “Woe to you?” And what if both are said with a desire for our wholeness and intended for our healing? 

The blessings and woes are not a conclusion made, or a status given by Jesus. They are insights about our lives for us to consider, lenses through which to see ourselves and understand our lives. 

Look at poverty, hunger, and weeping in your life today. Look at the richness, fullness, and laughing in your life today. Listen to what others are saying about you. 

The question is not, “Which one of those am I?” The question is, “In what ways are all of those a part of my life and what do they mean for me today?”

What are the blessings and woes telling or showing you? In what ways do they enlarge and enliven your life, and in what ways do they narrow and constrict your life? Do they align with and support the values you claim to hold and the life you want to live, or do they impede and contradict the life you want to live and the way you want to be?  What are they asking of you? In what ways might they be energizing, obstructing, or redirecting your life? How are they affecting your relationships? What are they pointing to that needs your attention and work today? 

The answers to those questions and a thousand others like them are insights that open our eyes and heart to a life of meaning and wholeness.  They are insights that help us discern the life that wants to enter the world through us. But it takes more than insight. We also need courage to live a life of meaning in the world, and the endurance to do so in the face of opposition from others as well as ourselves.  

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

That is difficult and often painful work, and it asks a lot of us. Is it worth the effort? Well, go home, read the excluded verses from today’s gospel and listen what it says: “power came forth from him and healed them all.” Woe to us, woe to us who just want to be happy. 

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                         Look to our Loving God by Fr Russ Harbaugh

WK6A

Everyone has heard of Jesse Owens. He won 4 gold medals in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, the so called “Hitler Olympics.” But who has heard of Lutz Long? Lutz Long was one of Germany’s top athletes and a favorite of Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Olympics. In the long-jump trials, he broke the Olympic record There was only one man who could possibly beat him: Jesse Owens.

Just before Jesse’s turn came to qualify for the medal round, Hitler left his special box at the games. It was viewed as a snub of the black athlete who didn’t fit Hitler’s Aryan supremacy theory. Jesse recalled how this made him feel: “Mad, real mad.” So mad, it made him fail to quality in the first two of his three jumps. He had one more chance to qualify. 

Then, Jesse felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see that it was Lutz Long who suggested Jesse draw a line a few inches short of the takeoff board and jump from there. It worked: Jesse qualified by a foot.

That moment marked the beginning of a brief but close friendship. They started spending time together talking about all kinds of things. In the days ahead, Jesse won 3 gold medals- the 100 meter and 200-meter dashes and the relay-with Lutz cheering him at each event.

Then came the long-jump finals. It pitted the two of them head-to-head. Jesse won. He recalled what happened next: “While Hitler glared, Lutz held up my hand and shouted my name to the gigantic crowd that shouted it back with a broken German accent. My hair stood on end.”

Ordinary athletes don’t help their opponents, but Lutz Long was no ordinary athlete. He did for Jesse what he would have like Jesse to do for him. Ordinary athletes don’t celebrate their opponent’s victory, bit Lutz Long was no ordinary athlete. He rejoiced in Jesse’s achievements. Ordinary athletes are usually forgotten a few years after their career ends; Lutz Long was no ordinary athlete. He is remembered almost a century later every time the summer games are broadcast we see the film clip of Lutz chanting Jesse’s name.

All this speaks to us about the passage we just heard from Chapter 5 of MT. (The Sermon on the Mount) Matthew’s Gospel was written primarily for Jewish converts to Christianity. These converts were especially concerned with how the teaching of Jesus fitted in with the teaching of Moses and the prophets. Jesus addressed that concern in today’s gospel.

First, Jesus sets down the general principal that He did not come to abolish the teaching of Moses and the prophets. Rather, He came to complete it. In other words, the teaching of Jesus does not destroy the teaching of Moses and the prophets any more than adulthood destroys childhood. Rather, the one completes the other. Having stated this general principle, Jesus goes on to give some specific examples. Consider this one: Moses taught that it was wrong to commit adultery. Jesus says it is even wrong to entertain thoughts of adultery. Jesus’ teaching recognizes a simple human fact: thoughts of adultery are the seeds from which plants of adultery grow. Stop the one; you stop the other.

Let’s return the story of Lutz Long and Jesse Owens. Lutz Long responded to Jesse Owens as he did because he was different from the other athletes of his time; he wasn’t an ordinary athlete. Jesus was telling His followers they must not be ordinary; He called them to be different; He called them to be like Himself. The morality that Jesus taught His followers can never entertain the question: “how far can I go before I sin?” It can only entertain the question: ‘How much more can I do because I love?”

The key to living out this lofty morality that Jesus taught is to think wonderful, beautiful thoughts. Only by doing this can we live as Jesus did. Only by doing this can we live the life that the world considers impossible to live. And so the message of today’s gospel can be stated in this way: Jesus has called His followers to live their ordinary lives in an extraordinary way, just as He Himself did.

We may squirm in our seats when we reflect on today’s gospel reading. Jesus tells us if we break even the least of the laws, we will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. He warns us about anger leading to murder, about lustful looks leading to adultery, about the consequences of divorce and taking false oaths. Jesus warns that breaking the big laws begins with breaking the little ones. He calls us to a higher standard in the first place, encouraging us to prune all sin from our lives.

Are you a list maker? Do you enumerate all things you have to do and then tick them off one by one until the list is accomplished? When the laws that govern our lives are formulated in list form, we may also get a great sense of satisfaction as each law is observed. Faithful observance can be very satisfying. However, Jesus insisted that the law was not enough. Jesus did not abolish the law but used it as a launching pad to propel His followers beyond the mere letter of the law.

Imagine if you were there at the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus challenged His disciples to a holiness that presumed the law but reached far beyond it. Imagine being told that perfect legal observance is not enough, but it is a good start. No doubt many were disappointed, others were disillusioned. 

Some may even have been angry. But there were others who were able to look with Jesus beyond the law to the loving God who inspired it!

  Listen, I stand at the door and knock" by Fr Russ Harbaugh 

WK 31C (2022)

"Listen, I stand at the door and knock" by Fr Russ Harbaugh

One day a little girl heard her minister read from Scripture the words spoken by the Pharisees.

"This man receives sinners and eats with them." After the service she went up to the minister and said, " I didn't know my name was in the Bible." The Pastor said, "Why Edith, I don't think it is." " Oh, yes, you read it this morning. The part that said Jesus receives the sinners and Edith with them." 

There is a story about how a certain teenager became Catholic. It goes something like this. The boy was a sullen teenager who was spending the weekend with his grandparents which meant he had to go with them to a garage sale. He found himself looking at a table covered with books. Most were romance novels that didn't attract him at all, but there was a book that caught his eye. It was called "Of the Imitation of Christ". He had no interest in Christ, at the time, but was intrigued that the author was a medieval monk. He thought that anyone who hated society so much to become a monk "had to be cool" He thumbed through a few pages and came to the conclusion that the author seemed to have contempt for everything. Chapter one was called "Contempt of all the Vanities of the World." He thought that would make a cool title for a song! To make a long story short, that book changed the teenagers life and helped him to see Jesus in a new way.  It took a few more years to work out his problems, but eventually he became a Catholic. 

There's a parallel between this teenager's story and the story of Zacchaeus in today's Gospel. Zacchaeus, like the teenager, didn't fit in with the society of his day. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, a collaborator with the occupying Roman forces. Tax collectors acquired the right to collect taxes by bidding for the job. They paid Romans so much up front, then had to make sure they collected that amount plus any profits they wished to make.

They would make a profit at the expense of their own people. That's why they were hated so much. Many were notoriously corrupt! They were considered sinners! Moreover, Zacchaeus was a Chief Tax Collector."

In today's Gospel, we hear how Jesus " intended to pass through" Jericho on the way to Jerusalem ( remember: to suffer, die and rise), Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus and since he was too short, he climbed a sycamore tree to get a view. Jesus saw him and for some reason changed His plans and decided to stay, "I must stay at your house." Of course, when the crowd heard this they started to grumble because Jesus was to eat at Zacchaeus' house. That encounter with Jesus changed Zacchaeus' life forever. 

How might the story of the teenager and Zacchaeus apply to our lives? Both stories tell us that no matter how good or bad we are there are times when Jesus says to us, "I must stay at your house." In fact there are especially three times when Jesus says this to us. 

First, There is the Liturgy of the Word in the Mass. Jesus says in LK 10:16, " Whoever hears you hears Me." In other words, when the Gospel is proclaimed and explained (the homily) , Jesus is speaking to us. 

Second, there is the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass. We receive Him into our hearts at the Communion.

Third, there are the times when we meet a truly needy person. " Whenever you did this for the least of my brethren, you did it to Me." (MT 25:40)

And so the stories of the teenager and of Zacchaeus have an important message for us. Regardless of how good or bad we are, there are times in our lives when Jesus passes by us so closely that we can reach out and touch Him. And, at these times, Jesus invites us - as He did the teenager and Zacchaeus. - to open the door of our heart and say, "Come in Jesus." Then, our lives like that of the teenager and Zacchaeus will be changed forever. This is the good news of today's Gospel. This is the Good news we celebrate in today's liturgy.

The Book of Revelation tells us: "Listen, I stand at the door and knock; if any hear my voice and open the door, I will come into their house and eat with them and they will eat with Me." 

Will you open the door? How good are you at climbing?

"The greatest sorrow of Mary - Our Lady of Sorrows" by Fr Joseph Hastings

       The cross is our path to heaven and today Mary shows us how to carry the cross. This feast reminds us of the seven sorrows that Mary lived through in relation to her son; those moments of anxiety like when Jesus was lost in the temple, & her greatest sorrow witnessing the death of her son. I suppose God gave her opportunities to back out. He gave her a choice at the Annunciation, and reminded her through Simeon of the sorrow that would come with being the mother of Jesus.

But Mary embraced these sufferings without complaint. She united them to her sons so that they could benefit all of us. The greatest sorrow for Mary today is the sorrow of a mother seeing her children, mankind, rejecting Jesus; choosing sin over love. As a good mother she doesn’t want to see us living in sin, but wants us to experience the joy & happiness that comes from knowing and serving God. We can ease the sorrow of Mary’s heart if like her we accept our sufferings without complaint and unite them to our Lords. In this way we can work with her to lead all her children and our brothers and sisters back to God. 

Solemnity of the Assumption

Sundays, “Dies Domini,” the “Day of the Lord,” are the center of the liturgical calendar, the foundation of the liturgical year. Thus, the Solemnity of the Assumption is a Hoy Day, but since it falls on a Monday this year, the obligation to attend mass is waived in order to not take away from the Sunday Liturgy. Still, it is a very important day for the Church and for the USA. Since I am from Baltimore, MD, it is very important to me. (A little church history.)

Baltimore was the first diocese and first archdiocese in the English-speaking new world. John Carroll was the first bishop/archbishop. He was related to the signer of the Declaration of Independence who was the only Catholic to sign this document, and also was the richest man in the colonies at that time. The first Cardinal was John Gibbons, the Archbishop of Baltimore. Thus, it is significant that the first cathedral in the English-speaking Americas was called the Basilica of the Assumption and thus in a real way, the Mother Church of Catholicism in the USA. It is in downtown Baltimore and I attended mass there often. It was designed by Latrobe, the man who designed Washington DC. This is where the first church councils were held and where the Baltimore Catechism was written. (Enough of a history lesson.) Now about the Solemnity itself.

In November of 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith: “We pronounce, declare, and define it to be divinely revealed dogma that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” While it may have been the mid-20thcentury that this dogma was “officially” proclaimed, its origins go back centuries. We know that the Feast was celebrated in the 5th century in Palestine; there were copies of homilies about it from the 6th century; the August 15thdate was fixed in the 6th century; it was fixed on the liturgical calendar in Rome in the 7th century and the universal calendar by the 8th century. It was celebrated under various names by the Greek orthodox Church from early times. So, you see the faithful believed in the truth of this Solemnity long before the dogma was proclaimed. (Remember the name of the basilica back in Baltimore!)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains a concept called: “sensus fidei,” “the sense of faith.” The idea is that the “whole body of the faithful… cannot err in matters of belief.” All faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. (That means you and me not just the bishops.) We share in Christ’s prophetic function in the Church by virtue of our baptism. Jesus did not leave us orphans but left the Holy Spirit to guide His Church. In relation to the Assumption, the faithful believed it and applied it to everyday life long before Pius XII proclaimed it!

There is an expression the Church has: “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi,” that is, the “law of praying is the law of believing. “In other words, we pray as we believe. Our great Eucharistic Prayers and Presidential Prayers (Collects) at mass are full of what we believe. I urge you to listen to them closely. Often, they express what the faithful believed long before any dogma was officially declared, as in today’s Mystery.

The lag between the liturgical observance and the dogmatic declaration merely shows that the liturgy doesn’t celebrate dogmas, as such. But, the best way to understand the liturgical celebration of any feast is to look primarily at its prayers and readings, and not to impose on the language of worship the subtleties of dogmatic declaration. We just remembered St. John Vianney, the patron saint of diocesan priests. If you read the Collects for his Memorial, they will tell you why we should use him as an example of leading a good Christian life. Or, for example, today’s Feast not only celebrates Mary, but also the lot of all Christians who share her faith in the Lord and who, one day, share with her the joy of heaven. In the Collects we hear how we can share her glory and reach our goal of eternal life in heaven. It is a sign that our true home is with God. It is a Feast of Hope for all of us! We want to be where Mary is.

I spent over 50 years in the pews as a lay person (I am a third career priest). I always found it hard to pick up the content of the Collects. Do you know the Opening Collect of the Mass for the Assumption? “Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin, the Mother of Your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant, we pray, that always attentive to the things that are above, we may be sharers in her glory. Through… ever and ever. Amen.” What does that mean? Well, that Mary was given a special gift by her Divine Son and if we are attentive to doing the right things, we can one day be like her. The Nicene Creed ends with “the Resurrection of the body and life everlasting, Amen.” The Prayer Over the Gifts reminds us that Mary was assumed into heaven and didn’t ascend; it was an act of God and a special blessing for her and should make us long for being with God like her. Then, the Prayer after Communion asks that “we may be brought into the glory of the Resurrection.” The Preface says that Mary is the image of the Church “coming to perfection.” We should yearn for the same, and gain “hope and comfort” from what Jesus did for her.

Additionally, the Assumption is the sign of God’s mercy being fulfilled. Mercy, in the gospels, is shown not only by the forgiveness of sins but also the fulfillment of promises. The Solemnity celebrates the “great things” that God has done for Mary like lifting up His lowly servant, Mary. God is faithful to His promises. He is faithful to His promises to us, as well. Thus, the Assumption celebrates the mercy of God. Mary’s Assumption foreshadows the destiny of all “those who belong to Christ.” Salvation is the concrete realization of Divine Mercy.

In our news-dominated culture, we tend to view events historically. In this approach, the Assumption celebrates what happened to Mary in the past. Yet, liturgy does more than recall a past event; it draws us into the divine mystery where the event is present here and now. This is the Good News contained in this Solemnity. First, Mary was taken body and soul into heaven. Second, Mary’s Assumption reminds us that we too will someday join Mary in heaven. (Think Nicene Creed) Third, Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, but also our spiritual mother. She prays for us daily that we persevere in our struggle to win, as she did, the reward of eternal life. This is the Good News that we celebrate in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

This is what we pray; this is what we believe.

      A man was driving around a very busy parking lot during Christmas Shopping Season. He made several passes and couldn’t find a parking place. (You know what I mean. We have all been there!) Being desperate, he looked up to heaven and prayed,” Lord, help me! If you find me a parking place, I’ll go to mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and I’ll give up drinking!” Miraculously, a parking place opened up right in front of him. He swerved in and took it. He turned the car off. The man looked up to heaven again and said,” Never mind, Lord, I just found one.” A Catholic School teacher asked one of her students whether she prayed before meals. “No,” she replied” I don’t have to. My mom’s a good cook!”

Our gospel excerpt today is about perseverance in prayer. The Gospel for this, the 17thSunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, comes from LK 11:1-13. I don’t know what you were told in the past several weeks, but when we resumed Luke’s Gospel in Week 13, we heard from 9:51-ff. Luke uses a literary device of the Journey from 9:51-19:27, almost 10 chapters. In week 13 we heard how Jesus had determined to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die and rise on the 3rd day. The old translation said that He set His face “like flint,” in other words He resolutely determined to do this. On the way, Jesus will tell us what He expects of a disciple. 

As an aside, I urge you to get yourself a piece of paper or 3 by 5 cards and write down the main themes of the gospels we hear at Sunday mass through the 31stSunday of Ordinary Time. That’s when the journey will end at Jerusalem. When you do that, you will have your “job description” for being a Christian.

Now, a little bit about prayer. If you didn’t know, Jesus prays more in the Gospel of Luke than in Mark and Matthew put together. So, Luke’s Gospel is often called the Gospel of prayer. In general, prayer is a form of communication with someone who is considered to be in charge of life. For believers, like our ancestors in the faith, God is in charge of life and everything. Modern Americans take pride in their science and abilities and have reduced the areas of life in which God is in charge. Maybe, that’s why some modern Americans have trouble praying.

In Jesus’ world and times, peasants were 90% of the population and they knew they weren’t in charge of anything. Nature determined weather. Landowners determined what they would plant and how much they could keep for themselves. Romedetermined taxes. What could a peasant do? Above all, they could pray. In other words, prayer was a form of communication with one called a “patron”, especially God, who could help and treat the one praying, “the client” as if they were a family member. That is what the disciples are pleading with Jesus: teach us how to communicate with and influence God, in other words, “teach us to pray.” So, Jesus begins by telling his disciples to call God, “Father.” He is saying that God will act much like a human father does with his children. This is called “patronage.” God can do things and get things for His “children,” let’s call them “clients” that they can’t manage on their own abilities. 

This is how we should consider the 5 petitions in the prayer Jesus teaches.

The first two petitions praise God as a children would praise a father. “To hallow one’s name” is to be who you really are: Father, Patron, in charge of all life. “Your kingdom come” urges God to establish His kingdom once and for all. The next three petitions ask for communal needs: sustenance, forgiveness, and preservation from temptation. We should pray these 5 petitions with confidence and perseverance. The word translated as persistence or perseverance should be translated as “shamelessness.” Notice the parable about the bread needed in the middle of the night. Hospitality in the ancient Near East was a given. The man gives excuses about his not getting out of bed and providing the needed bread until he is threatened with having his “shameless behavior” made known to the entire village. (Remember the parable about the woman who threatened the judge until he gave the right verdict. She was going to give him "a black eye.” Same principle.) God is like the man in bed. He doesn’t want to be “shamed” by having it known that He doesn’t take care of His people, His children, His clients. This is how people think about God in Mediterranean culture.

Now, for us in the 21st century. Perseverance in prayer is one of the most important lessons we need to learn if we are going to grow spiritually. In our world today, we hate having to wait for things. That includes waiting for God to act. We know that we don’t have to inform God of our needs (He already knows). “All the hairs on our heads are already counted.” He knows every detail of our lives. Instead, we need to pray and keep asking and knocking so that we can develop our relationship with God. A relationship that is the most important relationship of all relationships, a relationship where we recognize He is our Father and cares and loves us. 

Prayer will always work for us in some marvelous way. We must trust the Lord in that. Continue to knock; continue to ask; God will respond. Amen.   

Week 17C (2022)

          We begin each Eucharist, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  In fact, we begin all prayers that way.  We were baptized, “In the name (not names) of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” At the end of this mass, we will be blessed in the same way.  Almost all of the prayers we use at mass are addressed to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit.  The great Eucharistic prayer is addressed to the Father; relates the Last Supper, the passion and death and resurrection of the Son, and asks for the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Today, we celebrate in a special way the central Mystery of our faith, the Mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity.  It is central to our personal and public prayer and to our faith.  And yet, the very fact that we call it a “Mystery” means that we will never fully understand it.  It is too rich to be grasped.  It doesn’t mean that it is a puzzle to be solved like a Sherlock Holmes mystery or a Dr. House diagnosis, but a Truth to be reverenced and lived.  We would not begin to contemplate such a Mystery but that Jesus Christ Himself revealed this to us.  Chapter 28 of the Gospel according to St Matthew says: “ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  God is Father, Son, Spirit.  Three Persons.  One God.  God is one divine Nature in three divine Persons.  God is not just one person.  Nor is God three natures.

Someone once said: “If it’s a Mystery and we can’t understand it, why do we have to waste all this time talking about it?”  Interesting question!  Why do we set aside a specific Sunday to celebrate the Mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity? Let’s examine.

First, let us realize that the word, “Trinity,” never appears in Sacred Scripture.  “Trinity” is what we call a construct.  It is a word that the Church uses to try and capture an idea.  It basically means three in unity.  But, three what?  And where did it come from?  The OT talks about One God.  Jesus talks about God as His Abba, His Father, and Jesus talks about sending the Spirit.  In John’s Gospel, we read about the Father and the Son and the Spirit being one; united as one.  So, to answer that first question: ”Three what?”  we look to Jesus and His discussions of His relationship with the Father and Spirit and say that “Trinity” is the unity of these three.  The Father, His only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God.  Now, it is hard to get our minds around that, isn’t it?  Either, we think of three gods or one god but the Son and Holy Spirit  are close to Him but not of the same Essence.  Think Arianism!

The notion that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are unique and individual and yet are so united that they are one God is almost beyond our thought processes.  (Remember: the story of St Augustine of Hippo, probably the greatest mind in the history of the Catholic Church.  One day he is walking along the shore line and a little child has dug a hole and is taking his bucket and filling it with water and pouring the water in the hole.  Augustine asks him what he is trying to do and he says he is trying to pour the ocean in that hole.  Augustine laughs and tells him that is impossible.  The little child says and so is your attempts at trying to understand the Trinity!)  And, we wouldn’t or couldn’t come up with it had Jesus not revealed it to us.  The very idea that our God is a Trinity of persons is beyond our human imaging! 

God is a Trinity of three divine persons in one divine nature.  God is love. The Father loves the Son.  The Son loves the Father.  The Spirit is the love between them, so real that the Spirit is a divine person.  Community occurs in the Trinity and models community love for us.  Take a look at our world and how messed up it is.  Hatred and lack of tolerance and understanding.  It plays out on our cable networks every day.  Just think if we could love like the Trinity does!  Strife would disappear.  If God is a community, then we should be as well.

      Every morning I spend a little time in the chapel at the rectory and almost every morning at least one car drives by with music blaring. But one great temptation of our world today is to busy ourselves with all kinds of things, loud music, 24hr TV/entertainment, becoming workaholics etc. It’s easy to do these things and forget to set aside quiet time with the Lord.

In the Gospel we see Martha busy herself with many things, but the Lord tells her that Mary has chosen the better part. Not to say that what she is doing is bad or to say we shouldn’t work, but He’s reminding her that there’s more to our lives than the work we do and ways to entertain ourselves. These things can be good, but we all need that quiet time with the Lord who teaches us that we are not defined by the things we do but by the Father’s love for us. And that we're not made for ourselves, but for God and His glory.

It’s the silence with our Lord that helps us reorder our lives to God and discern His will. And it’s at the feet of the Lord where we can learn about and experience God’s love for us.

See the effect of that love in the life of this family, Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Pretty ordinary family that lives in a small town of Bethany near Jerusalem. More is known about Martha and Mary than Lazarus, but we do know that all were friends of our Lord and He loved them; That’s why He wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. It’s through this small ordinary family that He performs one of His greatest miracles in the Bible, by raising Lazarus from the dead.

Now Martha and Mary weren’t always perfect, sometimes they lacked faith. Martha worked too much, probably didn’t pray enough, and though each had their shortcomings and sins, they did invite our Lord into their lives, into their home and His love transformed them; making this extraordinary family, extraordinary, raising each of them to new life. 

    Ask them to help us to invite our Lord into our hearts today to transform us, so that each of our lives can become extraordinary. 

         Praying the rosary and meditating on the mystery of the visitation, one thing I always think about is the charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After receiving news that she would be the Mother of Jesus & that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant in her old age, Mary she goes at once to share what she received from the Holy Spirit and to assist her cousin in her pregnancy.

As Christians this is something we’re all called to do. We go into our rooms and shut the door to pray not to remain there in isolation, away from the world, but to receive what God wishes to give us, then, go out into the world and share it with others. We see that same reception and being sent in the context of the Mass. We come to Mass to worship but also receive something from our Lord; the life and grace that He gives us in the sacrament. At the end of Mass we’re told to “Go forth,” we’re sent out into world to share what we received with others.

This is one thing the visitation can teach us, but it also reminds us that our lives aren’t our own. What we’ve been given is meant to be shared with others to help build up kingdom God, and at times to offer our lives in sacrifice to defend the freedoms we all enjoy.

Each year on Memorial Day we remember those Americans who gave their lives to defend our country. It’s a neat history. It started off known as “Decoration Day”; a day to honor those who died fighting in the civil war. People would go around with flowers and decorate the graves of union & confederate soldiers. After WWI this day was set aside to honor Americans who died fighting in any war.

We’re blessed to have these brave men and women as part of our history; people who were willing to give their lives so that their families, friends, and country could enjoy the freedoms they valued and loved.

As we honor them today, perhaps one thing we can learn from them is to be willing to lay down our lives for what we love; maybe not physically, but we can die to ourselves each day so that with Mary we can say “my soul magnifies the Lord.”

- Fr Joseph Hastings

                     In the Gospel Jesus is teaching the apostles what to do and not do in regards to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. For prayer he says do not do it for show, but in secret… “when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” If we take this literally it doesn’t need much translation. It means go into your room, shut the door, and pray to God where no one can see you. But there is a deeper meaning as well. Many saints and other spiritual writers often talk about the heart. 

According to the Catechism: “The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. It is the place of decision, the place of truth where we choose life or death.” It is in the heart that we encounter God.  

This is something that we can do throughout our day. Go into your room and shut the door, meaning go into this deepest part of yourself, the heart, where you can encounter God in the silence and be with Him. Shut the door of your senses to all the various distractions that draw your attention away from Him. This can be as easy as spending a few minutes with Him throughout the day, and if we spend time with Him in secret, He will reward us by drawing us closer to Him.