Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional Latin Mass)

Dominica IV Post Pentecosten (Mass of the 1962 Missal)
25 June 2023

 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST.  AMEN.

I have had a number of priestly assignments over the years.  And at times, other new tasks have been added to my main work as a parish priest.  You would think that after 24 years of being a priest I might be less surprised about new assignments.  But it seems the reaction is always the same in me.  A calling to do something new, to take on some new mission can be very unsettling and causes much introspection.  When I first hear the news of being given a new calling, a new mission for God’s Church and His people a common reaction takes place in me.  Quite spontaneously, I usually first think of all the reasons why I’m not qualified and why it won’t work.

 I don’t think that tendency is all that unique.  When God calls, don’t we quite frequently and readily first think of the reasons why it is not a good idea, the reasons why it won’t work?  That’s a human tendency that the Scriptures show us.  You see that tendency time and time again in the calling of so many prophets.  The calling of the Prophet Isaiah is such an example when he sees a vision of God’s Temple.  Isaiah experiences a call to a mission, to his vocation.  What is Isaiah’s first reaction?  He thinks of the reasons the vocation and mission can’t work.  “Woe is me, I am doomed!  For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.”  But God’s ministering angel comes with purifying fire, touches Isaiah’s mouth, and says “See, now… your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”  Being made clean and forgiven by God Isaiah can then answer, “Here I am, send me!”  In other words, Isaiah’s unworthiness is a given.  Of course, Isaiah is unworthy and sinful and incapable.  The young prophet Jeremiah is also hesitant when God calls him.  He first responds that he is too young to have a vocation from God and that his young age means he won’t know what to do and what to speak.  God tells him not to think that way and reminds Jeremiah that He, God, will give him what he is to speak.  Yes, the person called is incapable and unworthy.  That’s not a newsflash!  The Scriptural lesson is that the call is God’s call and He’s the One who equips the person He calls. 

In the Gospel selection, Jesus calls Simon Peter as he begins to bring together his apostles.  Imagine how embarrassing it would be to be an expert fisherman, as Peter was, with a fishing business, having just returned after a long night of catching nothing, to then have a carpenter get into your boat and give you fishing guidance: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”  Simon Peter is actually qualified at fishing and he first notes his objection to put the nets in again, but with humility he is obedient.  Of course, we know that the Lord is preparing Peter for a new vocation, a new mission.  And in the face of a miraculous and large catch of fish, Simon Peter follows that human tendency to consider first how God’s call won’t work and how unworthy he is.  Falling at the knees of Jesus, Simon said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  Jesus indicates that he will guarantee Simon Peter’s mission and vocation when he tells him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

To fulfill the call to be holy we each are given a vocation which defines the larger arc of our life and which carries with it dignity, duties, and responsibilities.  But God may also give us a particular work at various moments of life.  We can call this a mission, some thing to accomplish that requires specific attention and effort but which may not define our whole life or be long term, like a vocation is. What godly vocation and mission is yours?  What godly vocation and mission seems unlikely in your opinion?  What is God asking of you that you might first object to, raising the reasons why you are not qualified?  “God, I can’t be…” fill in the blank.  “God, I can’t do…” fill in the blank.  Like Simon Peter, what is God’s call to you to vocation and to mission that you think just can’t be?  You see, a lesson today is that we think more of ourselves instead of God.  And that’s a problem.  That common tendency reveals the error.  Do we really think the source of power for vocation and mission comes from ourselves?  We first consider our skill, our strength, and our preparation.  We need to first think of God and what He can do.  What He can do even with you.  Even with me.  Of course, we certainly need to have a healthy awareness of our limitations and our unworthiness.  Such awareness permits us to focus where we need to call out to God in prayer for what only He can provide.  The Scripture lesson for us today is not a call to ignore our inabilities.  Rather, the lesson is to think first and more about God’s abilities.

 What might this say to us in various examples of callings?  A child or a teenager might first fear to be a disciple among peers in school and in groups of friends.  You fear being rejected or standing out for being an example of Christian faith.  Trust that God will give strength in the lunchroom and in hallways or in your neighborhood.  You need only cooperate.  Someone dating might face the struggle to live that relationship in purity and chastity as is moral teaching.  If someone is a follower of Jesus he or she has a mission to stand against the societal trend of inappropriate behavior or of living together before marriage, marriage which, for a catholic, needs to take place in the Catholic Church.  Some young men may have a vocation to be future priests.  They might tend to say, “That can’t be me.  God couldn’t choose me with my sins.”  Oh really?  Peter seemed to think that too.  Listen to the voice of the Master, “From now on you will be catching men.”  Spouses have a vocation to sacrificial love, to be faithful to one another, and to be open to the gift of children.  But it’s not easy.  There are fears and legitimate challenges and exhaustion.  Raising children takes so much.  Spouses may want to doubt the call and think themselves incapable.  But the dynamic of the Scriptures today speaks to you: “Do not be afraid.”

Think more of what God can do in you.  Maybe the invitation of God is to be more generous or sacrificial in financial giving or in lending your own talents to some area of parish life or to some Christian work done out in the world.  Is your first response fear that you won’t have enough?  How can I give more from what little I have and with my debts?  Put out into the deep and let God’s power and work bless your generosity.

What vocation and what mission might God be giving you?  What is your first response?  Is it, “I can’t”?  Or is it, “God can”?  God’s grace equipped Peter for vocation and mission.  God’s grace filled what was lacking in him and transformed him for the task at hand.  If God can call and equip so many figures in salvation history and so many saints over centuries, He does the same with the vocation and mission that He gives you.  He says to us: Your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.  He says: Don’t tell me you are too young.  I’ll give you what you need.  The Lord says to us: Put out into the deep.  Do not be afraid.  May our response be to follow the Lord in generosity, trusting him with all that we have and all that we are.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST.  AMEN.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Sollemnitas Corpus Christi
Dt. 8:2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Cor. 10:16-17; Jn. 6:51-58
11 June 2023

 Today is our annual observance of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, also called by the Latin name “Corpus Christi.”  Our faith in the Holy Eucharist is one of the most essential and defining doctrines we hold as Catholics.  We believe, without equivocation or adopting the language of mere symbolism, that the Holy Eucharist is the living Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  It is the Lord’s Real Presence, whole and complete, in both the form of bread and wine, and even in the smallest fragments of particle or droplet.  It is the presence of the Lord given to us in sacramental form, by which we may be nourished by this gift when we receive it worthily in the state of grace.  We believe that the bread and wine at Holy Mass are changed in their substance.  They cease to be the substance of bread and wine, though the appearances remain unchanged, and become the substance of the Body and Blood of the Lord.  We believe this change of substance takes place by God and His power.  We believe this gift is made present to us only within the one true Church, established by the Lord and which responds to his command, “Do this in memory of me”, by using the words of consecration from the Last Supper and spoken by the ordained priest who shares in the one and same priesthood of the Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ. 

That’s the quick summary of our catholic faith in the Holy Eucharist.  With that being said, I want to speak today about the Eucharistic Procession, which we will experience at the conclusion of the Holy Mass.  A few of you have asked me, “What is this for? Why are we doing this?”  That question tells me that I need to say “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” because it’s an indication there has been some dereliction of duty on my part as Pastor.  You see, while it is not obligatory, it is customary and desirable that a procession takes place on Corpus Christi at the end of Mass as a way of offering more public witness to our faith in the Holy Eucharist, and doing so precisely outside of these walls.  We haven’t done this before on the Sunday observance of Corpus Christi (and honestly most parishes don’t do a procession) because, up until now, I have been unable to imagine how I would fit this extra thing into a tight Sunday Mass schedule.  Like many a traditional thing in the past 50 or so years the outdoor procession has been dropped or almost entirely disappeared.  Is our faith stronger for that?  Is our Church better off for that?  It sure doesn’t seem so.  In fact, decades now of studies report that many a catholic does not know or does not properly express the truth of our Catholic faith in the Holy Eucharist.  A Eucharistic Procession might aid the formation of our membership to have proper Catholic faith.  And, in fact, one can schedule a procession just about any time of year.  Perhaps we should do more of this throughout the year.  Perhaps we’ll see a stronger Church in part because of this devotion.  Perhaps we’ll see a world more converted too.

There are two ideas I’d like to highlight about the importance of a Eucharistic Procession.  Since we literally move together outside of the church in a procession, one can’t help but grasp the notion that we disciples are on a larger mission.  We are not disciples for ourselves only.  We are not to view our life as Christians as simply like a club membership lived conveniently packaged inside these walls.  Rather, we are on mission moving through this world as the Lord’s witnesses and we do so with his presence as our King.  On a day of procession, as the border dissolves between our coming to Mass within these walls and our more public walking outside with the Lord’s Real Presence, we can’t help but wake up to the fact that our duty in the secular realm is to organize our world and our affairs in greater harmony with God’s Kingdom.  We travel in a procession, as we journey through life, and we engage in the larger journey to the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  As we go outside in procession it serves as a reminder of the call to proclaim the Gospel and to live for Christ outside of the church walls too, in the public square.

And the public square is quite a battle ground, isn’t it?!  Have we become any better off these past many decades by ceding ground to secular forces and accommodating their claims by our silence that faith is purely personal and private and should be kept out of the public square?  Such claims are false both from a Gospel perspective and even a constitutional perspective.  The Lord says you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt. 5:13-14).  Employing those images, he goes on to say that a “city set on a hill cannot be hidden,” and that light must be allowed to “shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:14-16).  And secularists and even some Christians say we should keep our faith private?  Hogwash!  Those would be totally bizarre images for the Lord to use if his idea for disciples – then and now – is that we keep our faith neatly packaged for observance inside these walls only.

Now I assure you that walking outside in June, in Oklahoma, IN VESTMENTS is not the most desirable thing for me.  You might echo that sentiment being dressed up for Holy Mass.  But consider just one value in this public witness, put into stark contrast by the nature of this feast falling in the month of June, as it typically does.  Consider what June has become in the secular world and the displays that are common and becoming ubiquitous around the world.  Those who observe secular June go out to march in celebration of disorder, in revelry like that surrounding the idol of the Golden Calf, and in narcissistic lust.  We go out in a procession of order, and prayer, and adoration of God.  In fact, by the Lord’s design and gift to us, we go out in procession with God Himself and not in idolatry.  Yes, how needed is this devotional practice in our time.  How much more should we organize such things and go on even longer processions, and in even more public areas!

The second idea I’d like to highlight about the importance of a Eucharistic Procession is that in this act of piety we celebrate that the Lord promised not to leave his Church, not to abandon us, or to leave us orphans (cf. Jn. 14:18).  And he has not.  He remains with us as he promised, by dwelling within us by the Holy Spirit sent from the Father and the Son.  He remains with us by His divine power when we make room for Him in our commitment to prayer.  He remains with us by the sacramental grace that resides in us.  And He remains with us in the most august Sacrament of the Altar, the Holy Eucharist.  He resides in all the tabernacles of the Catholic world.  He is here waiting for us to visit him.  Can you hear the invitation to commit to a time in our adoration chapel so that you bring life’s concerns and experience that, in fact, you are not an orphan?  He is here with us such that we can carry him in procession as a clear experience that He has not left us orphans as we journey through this life, as we seek to be faithful witnesses before hostile forces in the world.  Yes, a Eucharistic Procession teaches us these two important things: (1) As disciples we are called to go out on mission to transform our world; and, (2) we do not go out alone.  God is with us.  He has not left us orphans.

As a foreshadowing for us today, the first reading spoke to us of Moses’ instruction to the people, “Remember how… God, has directed all your journeying in the desert” (Dt. 8:2).  With renewed faith, and new zeal, and new excitement for a New Evangelization of the world God loves, and which our Lord came to save, let us go out after worthy reception of Holy Communion to be salt and light and to carry today quite literally the Real Presence of the God of the universe who does not abandon us or leave us orphans!