Loving, Active Presence - Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year A

 The Preachin' Deacons were at it again this weekend! The video link and the text of my contribution are provided below.

 Readings: Acts 2:14, 22-33; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

At a daily press briefing last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York proudly touted the state’s successes in its battle against the corona virus saying, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.”  I don’t talk politics in my homilies, so I won’t address the wisdom of taking a swipe at God and faith during a pandemic.  But I do talk faith, and Governor Cuomo’s comment deserves a faith response.  Lucky for me, today’s readings do the heavy lifting, because our readings speak to God’s loving, active presence in our lives.

 In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter beautifully invokes today’s Psalm to acknowledge God’s steadfast presence and guiding hand: “I saw the Lord ever before me;” “You have made known to me the paths of life;” “I bless the Lord who counsels me.”  And in our Gospel, Jesus walks with the disciples, he listens to them, he teaches them, and he makes himself known to them in the breaking of the bread. Scripture assures us that Jesus is Emmanuel—“God with us.”

We Catholics are incarnational and sacramental people—we believe that God is actively present in our lives and that we encounter God’s presence, his grace, his inspiration in our hearts and minds through creation, the Incarnation, and the sacraments.  God, for us, isn’t like some distant clock maker who created the world, set it in motion, and left it alone to wind down into oblivion.  Our God reveals himself to us in creation and in his Word. He inspires us through his Holy Spirit, and he saves us from oblivion through the life, death and resurrection of his only begotten Son.  God is with us on every step of our journey.  If we take the time to look for him, we’ll find him there.

I have no qualms with celebrating the marvelous progress women and men have made in combating the corona virus, but to divorce these accomplishments from God and faith is prideful at best, and history and Greek tragedies tell us that with great pride comes an even greater downfall. Yes, human drive and ingenuity have resulted in much-needed progress with the pandemic, but where did that drive and ingenuity come from?  It comes from God.  God created us with the intellect to tackle our toughest problems; God gave us the talent and the resources to turn our thoughts into solutions; and God inspires us to use these gifts for the benefit of others.  God created humanity not only with an instinctual drive to live, but with a will to make life worth living for ourselves and for others. 

Real, lasting progress, progress that’s worth celebrating, only happens when we look for and respond to God’s loving, active presence in our lives. I work pretty close to the front lines of the battle against the corona virus, and I can tell you, I see God’s loving, active presence everywhere! I see God giving strength to our weary clinicians and inspiration to our scientists; I see God moving people to find creative ways to help others; and I even see God in New York!

Happy Easter!

"In this night, the Church’s voice rings out: 'Christ, my hope, is risen!' This is a different 'contagion', a message transmitted from heart to heart – for every human heart awaits this Good News. It is the contagion of hope: 'Christ, my hope, is risen!'  

Pope Francis - The Easter Vigil, 2020

He is risen, indeed!  Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!

A blessed Easter to all!

Deacon Mike

The Seven Last Words Devotion - Good Friday 2020

The Seven Last Words is a devotion commemorating the three hours Christ suffered and died on the cross. This presentation is brought to you prayerfully by Deacon Bill Bauer, Lyn Brokow, Deacon Joe Campbell, Katie Cudworth, Deacon Michael Martini, Deacon Mike Meyer, Deacon Mark van Duynhoven, and Nancy Weidner. The text of my contribution is provided below, if your prefer to read it.

The Second Word:

“I tell you this: Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Reading: 

One of the criminals, hanging in crucifixion, jeeringly said to him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” But the other rebuked him, saying: “Haven’t you any fear of God, seeing that you are under the same sentence? And we deserve it; we are paying the penalty for what we have done. But this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said: “I tell you this: Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Reflection: 

Ever since I was young, I’ve loved imagining what heaven is like.  My earliest images involved a lot of clouds, winged angels in white robes, and our Trinitarian God appearing as an old man, a young man, and a bird.  As I grew older, the images became more creative.  Heaven looked a lot like OZ – minus the wicked witches: golden roads, horses of many colors, and a spectacular city on a hill in the middle of a poppy field.  At times I’d wonder whether heaven was different for different people.  My grandmother always spoke fondly of her childhood game of sliding off the roof of their barn into a soft, warm manure pile.  Is that what heaven’s like for her?  For me, then, heaven definitely would be Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory: candy canes growing on trees; lollipops sprouting from the ground; and, of course, a chocolate river running through it all. In all of these musings, even the more mature thoughts of my post-middle age, heaven has always been a sign of happiness and hope for me, which is why, I think, I gravitated to this Word so quickly when asked to participate in today’s reflections.

Jesus is mocked three times with the challenge to “Save yourself,” but he doesn’t.  He saves the criminal instead, not from the cross, but with the promise of eternal life with him in Paradise.  “In his own dying hour, Jesus continues his ministry”[1] with a promise that didn’t “come so much from the wood of a cross as from a throne of power.”[2] What could be more hopeful than that?

As I contemplate this word, I’m comforted by two thoughts.  First, Jesus never stops seeking to save the lost.  The man on the cross next to him is a confessed criminal, but Jesus welcomes him to Paradise anyway.  None of us is so far gone that we can’t receive Jesus’ mercy. There’s hope, even for me.

Second, I’m comforted by the thought that I’m invited to enter into Jesus’ Paradise today.  No, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.  Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” and you’ll recall that he also told us that the Kingdom of God is in our midst (Luke 17: 21).  Before this world we live in was corrupted by sin, it was Paradise. You know, heaven isn’t a place, it’s a way of living.  So when we live as Jesus taught us to live, in union with God through him, loving God and neighbor, we experience his Paradise here and now.  Of course, the difficulties of this life don’t just disappear.  As Saint Augustine said, “To be with Christ in Paradise ‘today’ is to be with him even when he descends into hell.”[3]  Or in Fulton Sheen’s words, “Unless there’s a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.”  But in any event, good or bad, I know that Jesus is with me, and that’s what makes today Paradise. 

For me, the Second Word isn’t just a nice saying I glean from the Bible to make me feel better. It’s a reality I experience almost every day of my life—when I look for it.

+ I’m with Jesus in Paradise when I appreciate the beauty of our verdant Hunterdon hay fields on long, quiet walks;

+ I’m with Jesus in Paradise when I connect with family and friends to make sure we’re all OK;

+ I’m with Jesus in Paradise when I pray for his help through the worst times in my life, or for his forgiveness when I’m at my worst.

Whether it has a chocolate river or not, I’m with Jesus in Paradise today, because I believe down to the core of my very being, that Jesus is with me always to the end of time.

Prayer:

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus: Remember my sins only to forgive them. Remember my failings only to strengthen me. Remember my sufferings only to help me bear them. I ask with confidence for a place in heaven both for myself and for my loved ones. When I die and stand before you in judgment, may I hear these words of happiness and hope: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” AMEN

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[1] Fred B. Craddock, Luke: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 274.

[2] Arthur A. Just Jr., Thomas C. Oden, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Luke, vol. III (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 437.

[3] Ibid.

The Preachin' Deacons! Palm Sunday 2020

The four deacons from Immaculate Conception Annandale bring you 3-minute homilies and Scripture sharing for Palm Sunday 2020.  A copy of my homily is provided below the video, if you prefer to read. 

Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66

Creative Love

          I’ve had a lot of bosses in my day, so I can tell you from experience that the best bosses are the ones who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.  They know what’s going on, they’re actively engaged in their teams’ projects, and they roll up their sleeves and jump right in whenever needed. But there’s one more quality that makes a good boss into a great leader—creativity. Because they know what’s going on, what works, and what doesn’t, creative leaders can handle any problem that comes their way. They mix things up, think out of the box, and, with the help of their teams, find solutions that get things done. I think our Palm Sunday readings confirm for us that God is a great leader!

Our second reading from Philippians may well be “the greatest and most moving passage Paul ever wrote about Jesus.”[1] In it, we find the perfect example of God’s creativity. We hear how Jesus humbly set aside his divine rights to share our lot as humans, becoming obedient “to the point of death, even death on a cross.” For many in Jesus’ time, this understanding of the Messiah was unthinkable. There were lots of theories about what the Messiah would be like—a warrior, a king, a prophet—but the Jews never thought their Messiah would be God taking human form to save us from our sins. And they never believed that God would conquer death by suffering and dying himself.

Hard to believe? Yes, but it makes sense. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and there’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13). So when sin and death separated humanity from God, God wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He rolled up his sleeves, stepped right in, and took care of it himself like the great leader he is. He loves us so much that he got creative and sent his only Son, so that all who might believe in him would live (John 3:16). Jesus, then, is God’s creative love in action.

          Just last night, Pope Francis said that what we need the most right now is creative love. That’s the Incarnation and the message of today’s readings in a nutshell. What’s creative love?  It’s emptying ourselves of the attitudes we lord over others—pride, selfishness, superiority—and taking on the role of the servant.  It’s mixing things up, thinking out of the box, and finding new and creative ways to solve our problems, not for personal gain, but for the benefit of our families, our friends, and our communities. It’s drive-by birthday parties; it’s shopping for those who can’t or shouldn’t go out; it’s making masks out spare fabric for those who need them.  We’re all called to be part of Jesus’ team. And together, with God’s creative love as our leader, there’s no problem we can’t conquer.

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[1] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 41.