How do you say goodbye to a Pope?

How do you say goodbye to a Pope?  Over the past two weeks we've seen tributes and critiques, farewells and good riddances.  Like many, I suspect, I have very mixed emotions.  On the one hand, I feel a close spiritual connection to this Pope.  I was ordained a Deacon under Benedict XVI, I studied his theological treatises and his encyclicals in formation, and I was invested as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre under his protection.  He’s the only Pope I've seen in person (twice), though admittedly from pretty far away.

 On the other hand, I see a Church in crisis that needs a strong Pope who can clean up the mess and put a positive face on the Church and its teachings.  I don’t blame the Holy Father for the mess; I just don’t think he has the qualities necessary to fix it.  If I had a third hand, I’d add that the Pope looks tired.  He needs a rest and deserves it.  I feel like it’s time for a change.

But most of all, I feel grateful:  grateful that the Holy Father accepted his election as Supreme Pontiff when he really just wanted to retire and go home to Germany; grateful for his service to the Church and for the opportunity to get to know him through his writings and teachings; and grateful that he knew when to hand the keys to another man. 

Benedict’s renunciation of the See of Peter is an incredible act of humility.  We don’t see many examples in history of the mighty relinquishing their power voluntarily.  This act of humility is known in the world of theology as kenosis, self-emptying.  Paradoxically, kenosis is a tremendously powerful act.  By emptying himself of earthly power, Pope Benedict is opening himself even further to the grace of God.  In his weakness, he becomes strong.  And the life of prayer that he's taking on will be incredibly powerful because of his new-found ability to dedicate himself completely to God.  And that’s exactly what the Church needs from him.  So I am also grateful for his remarkable act of humility and for his prayers.

So how do I say goodbye to the Pope?  Well, to the man who has dedicated his life to God, who has guided his students and his flock to God, and who has entrusted the Church he loves to God, I offer my prayers and blessings and a simple French word:  Adieu – “to God.”

Teach the Truth from the Pulpit, Pastorally

John L. Allen, Jr., Vatican reporter extraordinaire from the National Catholic Reporter, interviewed Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, soon after the Cardinal arrived in Rome yesterday.  Cardinal Wuerl makes some great points about the issues facing the Church today and the qualifications the new Pope will need to address them.  I commend the interview to your reading list.

By and large, I agree with the Cardinal, but one comment in particular caught my eye.  In response to a question about engaging Catholics who have views that differ from the Church’s views, the Cardinal said, “We have to work with people.  In the pulpit we’re supposed to present the teaching with all of its unvarnished clarity, but when you step out of the pulpit you have to meet people where they are and try to walk with them."  This comment jumped out at me because a friend recently shared that he wished that we would take a harder line on Church teachings in our homilies. 

Now, I’ll be the first to agree that there are definitive moral truths, and that it is the duty of the clergy to embrace the truth, teach it and do our level best to live by it.  But these moral truths do not stand alone and apart from pastoral considerations.  Not all people are in the same place on their faith and moral journeys.  Now multiply that fact by several hundred parishioners in a church on any given Sunday morning.  A straight, unvarnished presentation of Church teaching will be understood and appreciated by some, will be lost on others, and will drive others away.  In my humble opinion, that’s not effective evangelization.

The purpose of a homily is to make Scripture relevant to the listener today – to present Scripture as the invitation to a conversion of heart that it is.  The challenge for the preacher then becomes one of presenting the truth while meeting the people where they are and trying to walk with them.  Preaching has to be truthful and pastoral at the same time.  It has to be faithful to the truth while acknowledging that living up to what the truth demands is not always easy.  It has to present the truth as a wonderful gift from God, while admitting that we’re not always ready to accept it.  Cardinal Wuerl seems to recognize this when he says earlier in the interview that accepting the truth may require that we change our lives, “but you can accept the message and then work at changing your life.”

Welcome!

Welcome to the Ambo and thank you for visiting.  The inspiration for this blog comes largely from:  

          Pope Benedict XVI, who has challenged the Church to engage in "New Evangelization" through all forms of communication, including social media.  I figured, if the Pope can Tweet, I can blog;

          My wife, whose ego-boosting encouragement helps me overcome my self-consciousness;

          My parishioners, who ask great questions and motivate me to keep learning and to share what I learn; and

          Some pretty great bloggers – check out the links to some of my favorite blogs on the right side of this page.

I’d love to add the Holy Spirit to this list, but I’ll let you decide on that one.

I’ll use this blog to post some of my homilies and to comment on books, movies, art, news and, well, “just about anything.”  I hope you find it engaging and useful. 

I have disabled the comment function because it’s just too difficult and time consuming to monitor comments.  Unfortunately, a lot of vitriol travels through the blogosphere these days, and I don’t want it parking on my blog for even a minute.  I’ll blog about that some day.  If you’d like to contact me, you can use the email provided on this page.  Please use nice words, and I promise to do the same.

Homily - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (February 10, 2013)

A New Beginning

          When the Selfish Giant[1] returned from a long trip abroad, he was furious to find children playing in his garden, climbing his peach trees and swinging from their gnarled branches.  He angrily chased them away and built a high wall around his garden to keep them out.  Time passed, and the seasons changed, but not in the garden.  The Giant’s garden was stuck in a cold, barren, endless winter.  Then one morning the Giant awoke to find that spring had sprung in his garden at last.  You see, the children had dug a hole under the wall and were playing in the garden again.  He realized how selfish he had been, so he welcomed the children into the garden. But the Giant noticed that one corner of the garden was till snowy and bare.  A young boy was standing there under a leafless peach tree, crying because he was too small to climb it.  So the Giant rushed to the boy and helped him into the tree; and in an instant, spring returned to the whole garden.  The Selfish Giant’s encounter with that little boy gave him a chance at a new beginning.  And that’s what today’s readings are talking about.

          This morning we experience the rare occasion when all three readings present the same theme:  vocation – God’s invitation to his people.  We hear God’s call to Isaiah, Paul and Simon Peter and how similar their experiences were.  All three men were overwhelmed by the presence of God.  All three confessed impurity and unworthiness as they stood in stark contrast to the divine holiness.  And all three men were purified by God’s cleansing power, giving them a chance at a new beginning.  I’d like to address each of these experiences in turn. 

          St. Anselm of Canterbury once described God as that which nothing greater can be conceived,[2] and Scripture tells us that we cannot see the face of God and live (Exodus 33:20).  God is more than we can imagine, perfect in every way and too much for a human to bear.  The fact of the matter is that God is our Creator, and we are his creatures; so “the fullness and abundance of the divine reality dwarfs [us].”[3]  Realizing where we stand in relation to our Creator can be overwhelming, and it should be because that is our proper orientation toward the Almighty God.

          So what’s our proper response to the immensity of God?  Well, remember that all three men in our readings expressed fear and confessed their impurity and unworthiness.  That’s because the awesome light of divine perfection illuminates our weakness and sinfulness.  Standing before God, we see who we really are, and we realize that maybe we’re not quite as perfect as we thought we were.  But “the presence of God in our lives not only illuminates our weakness, but strengthens and emboldens us as it transforms us,”[4] if we let it.  So we face a choice, acknowledge our weakness and sinfulness and invite God into our lives to transform us, or turn away from God and remain in the cold, barren, endless winter of sin.  “Recognizing our shortcomings is a crucial first step on the path to making better decisions, creating better societies, and fixing our [world].”[5]  You know, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and many more religions have purification rituals for a reason:  they give us “opportunities to collect ourselves, stop the deterioration, and turn a new page.”[6]   Our encounter with God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation gives us a chance at a new beginning.

          Now, we have to remember that “Jesus [didn’t] come to drive sinners from his presence.  He . . . associates sinners with himself in his ministry, if they will put their trust in him.”[7]  Through confession, Isaiah, Paul and Peter were purified by God and empowered to accept the chance at a new beginning.  And “the same God who came to Isaiah, Simon Peter and Paul is still calling us in the Church and beyond to encounter the living God, to be purified by his cleansing power, to cast off fear and respond to the call to be transformed by God’s grace.”[8]  Our encounters with God may or may not be as dramatic as Isaiah’s, as jarring as Paul’s or as miraculous as Peter’s, but they are every bit as grace-filled and transformative as theirs were.  And I’ll say it again, every encounter with God brings with it a chance at a new beginning. 

          We don’t know when or how that chance for a new beginning will come to us.  “God’s call is as unpredictable as it is unmerited.”[9] 

╬ We may encounter God in the roar of the ocean or on a wind-swept mountain peak;  

╬ We may encounter God in the loneliness of illness or despair;

╬ We may encounter God in the patient, enduring love of our spouse as we celebrate World Marriage Day today;

╬ We may encounter God in the fading eyes of a dying parent; and 

 ╬ We may even encounter God in a little boy who needs help climbing a tree.

          The Selfish Giant was transformed into a new man.  He spent his days playing with the children in that beautiful garden, telling them stories of his great adventures and making them laugh.  But the Giant always wondered what happened to the little boy he had helped into the tree.  He hadn’t seen him since the day spring returned to the garden.  Then one day as the Giant sat in the garden in his old age, the young boy appeared to him.  The Giant was overwhelmed with joy that quickly turned to anger when he saw that someone had injured the small boy – the boy had nail holes in his hands and feet.  The young boy said, “Please don’t be angry.  I did this for you because I love you.  And now, because you loved me and all of these children, I’m going to take you to my garden in paradise.” 

          Every encounter with God is a chance at a new beginning.

---

[1] Oscar Wilde, The Selfish Giant, Bill Bell, illus. (New York, Derrydale, 2001.

[2] “Anselm’s Proslogium or Discourse on the Existence of God,” Anselm of Canterbury, trans. by Sidney N. Deane, Medieval Source Book (New York, Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies), retrieved February 9, 2013, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anselm-proslogium.html.

[3] John Shea, The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers, Year C:  The Relentless Widow  (Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2006) at 39.

[4] John W. Martens, “The Transformers,” America, vol. 208, no. 3 (February 4, 2013) at 46.

[5] Dan Ariely, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty (New York, Harper Collins Publishers, 2012) at 247.

[6] Id. at 249. 

[7] Jerome Kodell, “Luke,” The Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament, Robert J. Karris, ed. (Collegeville, The Liturgical Press, 1992) at 946.

[8] Martens at 46.

[9] R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. IX (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1995) at 12.