Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

26 February 2020

Today we have begun the holy season of renewal known as Lent.  This season is a time of spiritual exercises, engagement in serious spiritual battle, by repentance, acts of penance, and the mercy of confession to be restored in the dignity begun in us at baptism.  Several of the references in the scriptural texts of this [service] Mass, the scripture readings and antiphons, point out the particular focus of this season: namely, the heart.  We are called to look and to search deeply, to scrutinize, our heart so that we remember our dignity as God’s children and notice where we are weak and have strayed from the path of life with God.  We do this so that we may repent and turn from our sin and make a return to our Heavenly Father.  The first reading said it this way: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.”

As we undertake this deep work of the heart, we observe penances that we do together as the whole Church and, at the same time, we should also take on our own personal penitential practices.  Don’t be confused by the Gospel for this day when it says, “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.”  This does not mean that our religious practices cannot or should not be seen.  Rather, it tells us of the importance of our intentions: We should not do these good works in order to be seen.  No doubt, some of our practices (like ashes) can be seen, but we should each also take on personal practices that only we know and that only our Heavenly Father sees.  In other words, we do not undertake the battle of lent “to win the praise of others.”  Our Heavenly Father already and always loves us, and we do not win His praise; however, in a certain nuanced sense our penances and practices should be motivated by the desire that only the Heavenly Father takes notice.

This holy season is a good time to recall that we should always be aware that we are in a spiritual battle.  Listen again to the Collect of this [service] Holy Mass: “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.”  Notice the military language.  In Lent we engage in a campaign, not a competition to win votes, but a military-like operation for a specific objective: to be renewed again in the life we began in baptism, to be restored to baptismal dignity that has been harmed by our sins.  We take up a battle in the spiritual realm.  We do not literally put on body armor or pick up guns, but we must struggle with our fallen nature and our attraction to sin so that we train ourselves to keep our eyes fixed on the things above and so that we attain the specific objective of Heaven.  Our weapons are the spiritual practices of prayer, almsgiving, fasting, penances, and confession so that we form our bodily nature and its desires to obey and cooperate with our spiritual nature and the call to holiness of life in Christ.  Listen again to that same prayer but an older translation: “Grant us, Lord, the grace to begin the Christian’s war of defense with holy fasts: that, as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial.”

Today we begin this holy season.  Take seriously your battle.  Make sure your weapons are not weak or trivial.  Recognize that you have been claimed for Christ.  Live more greatly for him now so that you may live eternally in Heaven!

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica VI per Annum A

Homily & ACA Commitment Weekend

16 February 2020

We are well aware, or at least we should be, that being a disciple of Jesus involves some fundamental requirements.  It involves obedience to God and worship of Him alone.  It involves holding and submitting to specific teachings revealed by God in the Old Covenant and maintained and deepened in the New Covenant of Christ.  It involves acceptance of, and active membership in, the one Church that Jesus established as our Mother and our guide, believing that the Church, in her official teaching capacity, speaks to us with the very voice of the Good Shepherd.  And at its very core, being a disciple of Jesus involves our response to the call to be holy, it involves our moral life.  The moral life cannot be excluded from our belonging to Jesus.  I think the Gospel passage today demonstrates this clearly.

Jesus teaches us this in his words: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  ‘Righteousness’ refers to being morally upright, virtuous, or, we might say, holy.  It is what makes us like unto God the all-holy One and it is what makes it possible for us to be in His presence.  Righteousness or holiness comes through faith in Christ as noted in the Letter to the Romans (1:17; 9:30-32) and not through works of the law (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16).  Our holiness is not purely our own work, since we do not and cannot save ourselves; however, if we have been justified as righteous and made holy through faith in Christ, then that reality ought to be seen and visible in the good works we do (cf. Mt. 5:16).  Catholic teaching makes clear that faith and works go together (cf. James 2:14-26). 

Since the scribes and Pharisees were often in conflict with Jesus they tend to get a bad wrap and we might make the mistake of dismissing them.  But they were serious followers of God and their desire and religious dedication would frankly put us to shame.  That we might not be shocked to hear “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees” tells us how mistaken we are.  That’s a tall and shocking order.

The moral life in Christ means that we each must strive for more than external fulfillment of the moral law.  While choosing what is good and rejecting what is evil we must still go deeper, into the core of our life with God – to the heart!  You see, even to desire sin is already to have formed the intention to live at a distance from God.  It is tantamount to already committing sin in the heart.  Thus, when examining your own sinfulness before regular confession stop saying, “Well, I haven’t killed anybody.”  That is merely justifying yourself.  And you and I can’t justify ourselves.  Jesus says, have you been angry with someone?  You are already liable to judgment.  Stop excusing yourself with, “I would never actually cheat on my spouse.”  Jesus says, have you looked at another with lust, objectifying the person for your imaginary pleasure?  You have already committed adultery in the heart.

Following the words of Jesus on the moral life, the Church has a developed appreciation of Christian anthropology, that is understanding of human existence.  We don’t merely look to the external but we know that deep within us is the source of our motivations and desires.  Those things exit, they go out of us from within, and are visible in our choices.  Our external and observable choices need to be morally right.  When they are not, they need to be confessed to be healed by God’s abundant love for us.  But the seat of our righteousness, our holiness, is deeper and we need to foster moral uprightness there too.  Jesus commands us to go to the heart.  Entrance into the kingdom of heaven is at stake.  We are called to holiness.  By God’s justification of us through faith, by His ongoing justification of us through the sacramental life, and together with our efforts – this is the recipe to surpass the righteousness of old and to enter the fullness of the New Covenant Kingdom in heaven.

This weekend across the parishes of the Archdiocese is the commitment weekend for the Annual Catholic Appeal.  We will now turn our attention to that Appeal by first hearing words from Archbishop Coakley, followed by the pledge process in the pews.

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

2 February 2020

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is an ancient feast, formerly called the Feast of the Purification of Mary, and commonly called “Candlemas” because of the custom of blessing and carrying candles in the entrance procession.  This feast marks the event, recounted in the Scriptures, when forty days after Jesus’ birth he was presented in the Temple in Jerusalem and when Mary underwent ritual purification after childbirth.  One of our beautiful Austrian stained-glass windows depicts this event.  Those of you sitting in the south transept won’t be able to see it now, but make sure to check it out after Mass.  Along the south wall of the main nave is that window.  At the top of the window you see the Ark of the Covenant, which is God’s very presence, housed in the Jerusalem Temple.  You see Simeon holding Jesus while proclaiming God’s blessings.  You see the prophetess Anna nearby.  You see Joseph and Mary in the foreground, with Joseph holding the offering of a pair of turtledoves or pigeons.  At the bottom of the window are the words from today’s Gospel passage, the words of Simeon “O Lord, my eyes have seen thy salvation.”

As stated in the last line of Simeon’s canticle and, as is unmistakable by the way this Mass begins, the prominent theme in this feast is light as a symbol for Jesus, God Himself, coming into the Temple.  Consider the high theological poetry in the first verses of St. John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (Jn. 1:1, 4, 9).

The Light of life, God Himself, came into the world.  To receive Him, to receive faith in Him, is a light to believers.  And thus, no surprise, that the light of candles is an apt symbol for our faith.  In part that’s why in baptism the newly baptized is given a candle while the minister says, “Receive the light of Christ.”  The minister goes on to say, “Parents and Godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly.  This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ.  He/she is to walk always as a child of the light.  May he/she keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart.  When the Lord comes, may he/she go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.”

On this feast we are supposed to think of light.  We are supposed to consider that faith in Christ is a light to our lives, showing us the way.  We are supposed to consider that the Light is God Himself who is our life.  With all this in mind, my thought for us today is rather simple and fundamental, but so critically important if our discipleship is more than just lip service. The thought is this: Do we accept and follow that Christ, his life, and his teachings are a light to us?  Do we accept that our faith gives us authoritative guidance in the darkness of our fallen world and in the darkness of our lives marked by original sin?  In other words, do we embrace and receive the light of Christ as a true gift to us?  Do we adults accept and obey this light for ourselves?  And do we teach our children and young people to likewise be obedient to this light?  I want you to seriously ask yourself whether you choose the light of Christ’s teaching or whether you choose darkness.  Make it specific and concrete by thinking of a particular teaching of our faith.  I say this because experience tells me time and time again that when a particular teaching of Christ and his Church – almost always areas of morality – causes us discomfort or tension or confusion and misunderstanding it is not uncommon for even a believer to adopt an unchristian secular mindset and to dismiss the teaching.  It goes like this: “I know the Church says X, but personally I disagree.”  But personally, what?  You see what is happening there?  It is no longer the light of Christ in his Church that is the guide, but the subjective personal feeling or opinion of an individual.  It is no longer the light of Christ that is the guide, but the person himself becomes his own light.  In so doing, the result is that we don’t follow the light of Christ but rather the secular darkness.  Ask yourself, what is my “default setting” when I’m conflicted by a teaching of the Church?  Is the light of Christ in his Church an authoritative source of illumination for me?  Or is it I myself who am my own illumination?  This tendency to adopt secular thinking as our guide is most easily seen in the hot button issues of our day.  I bet we’ve all experienced it.  Maybe we’re even guilty of it ourselves.  Do we choose popular opinion, secular thought, as our guide?  Or do we choose the light of Christ?  As Christians we are supposed to embrace what Christ teaches, believing it to be liberating Good News for us.  And we are supposed to seriously form our children to do the same.  They too are easily swept up in secular thinking about the issues of our day.  But Christ is supposed to be our light!  When we do the “but personally” trick, we are not following the Light.  Or rather, we are making secular darkness into our light.  And if we do that we can’t seriously claim that Jesus is our Lord and that we are his disciples.

Now what am I NOT saying in this message?  I am not saying that every teaching of our faith is necessarily easy to understand and to accept.  We have a fallen nature from Original Sin and we are sinners guilty of our personal sins.  The result is our minds suffer from darkened intellect and our wills can be weak.  When a Church teaching causes you tension, go ahead and wrestle, struggle, have questions, study, seek answers… if done in faith this is a good thing and it is the path to a greater embracing of the light.  I’m not saying we can’t have questions and struggles.  But don’t pull the “but personally” trick and dismiss the teaching.  That trick sets yourself up as the authoritative light.  And it reveals that you really aren’t a follower of the Light who is Jesus.  Rather, it reveals that secular darkness is your light.  St. John’s Gospel goes on to say, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light” (Jn. 3:19).

Today we celebrate that the light and the glory of God has come among us and entered the Jerusalem Temple.  The grace of God’s word, the mercy of the confessional, and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist are prime sources of purification and light for us.  May we dispel the darkness of placing secular opinions on the throne of Christ.  Instead, may we struggle, and pray, and seek, and reform our lives such that we beg the Light who is God among us to come dwell more fully in the temple that faith and baptism have made us to be!