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Reflection for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Father’s Day

Jesus Asleep in the Storm

I am here
protecting you.

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

What a perfect reading for Father’s Day! In a way we can even draw a funny analogy – picture dad asleep on the couch in the middle of something scary going on. We wake him up, feeling panicked, and ask for help. Of course he gets up to help. Then he says: ‘You know, you could have handled it yourself.’

We know from Jesus’ words that He came to reveal the Father to us. In Matthew 11:27 Jesus says: “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

The event on the sea tells us two things Jesus wished to reveal to us, His faithful people, about our Heavenly Father.

Jesus shows us that the Father is eternal, transcendent, all-powerful, and Almighty. He has complete command over all that exists. He commands the winds and the waves and they still. As Job learned, only God has all knowledge and understands all things. Jesus shows that when we call upon the Father He is quick to protect and comfort His people. His Almighty Power is a power for love and good, never evil.

Jesus also shows us that the Father expects something from us. This the part where our dad would ask, ‘You know, you could have handled it yourself.’ This is not to imply that we have all power and control, but rather that we live by having faith and trust in God. Jesus wants us to do as He did – to trust and be safe by having faith in our Heavenly Father and trusting all He asks us to do.

When we have faith and trust in God we have strength, a confidence that no matter what may come we have no reason to be terrified. We will always be safe in Him.

Some of us have been blessed to have fathers with faith in God and who patterned their lives after our Heavenly Father. They led us to faith and trust in our Heavenly Father. They knew that if we could grasp this essential aspect of life – faith and trust in God – then we would have true life, eternal life, and perfect safety. No harm or ill, even when they come, will drown us.

The disciples in the boat wanted something to hold onto something, someone because they felt they were going to drown. They looked to Jesus and of course He protected them. Then like our dad would do, He reminded them that they could have handled it themselves, by faith.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2015

Ezekiel17.24-660x371

All things green
and new.

And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom. As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

Ezekiel the Prophet was called at a difficult time in Israel’s history. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian ruler, had besieged Jerusalem, carried off its king as well as the members of the upper class, including Ezekiel the priest. He appointed a puppet king, Zedekiah, for Israel. Jerusalem ends up destroyed. In reflecting back on all this, and all the bad news he had to deliver, Ezekiel writes about hope and restoration.

There were many strong nations and powers, likened to high, strong, green trees. Israel was withered, barely living. Yet the Lord had (and has) the power to lift up the lowly tree, to make it green and alive again, to make it the most powerful and beautiful tree and to make those formerly powerful wither away.

Jesus is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. He is the restoration that came to be by God’s grace – to make all things green and new. Jesus’ coming is the culminating moment of reassurance for us. Our God is the God of new life, of the green time – the keeper of promises. He is our hope and the bringer of renewal.

How appropriate then to read of God’s strengthening, renewing, and greening of the withered tree as we enter into a new Church season this Sunday. This season of green will last through the end of November. It has been variously referred to as the ‘Time After Pentecost,’ the ‘Green Time,’ or ‘Ordinary Time.’

These green days are so important for us. Like Ezekiel, we have been born into a time of difficulty and challenge. Sometimes it is hard for us to see any possibility for renewal. Let us take this season – June through November – to recommit to our God Who is the God of renewal and new life. Let us recognize that we, like Ezekiel, are called to offer God’s way to the world.

By uniting ourselves to Jesus, first through baptism, then in each moment of our lives, we partake and share in God’s life. God, who can bring greenness out of the withered tree will take whatever is broken and hurtful, whatever is withered in us, will make it new, green, and alive. Hear God’s promise recounted in the 92nd Psalm: The just man shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. They that are planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be. We who follow the Lord will flourish and be green once again.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity 2015

About-the-Trinity1

I believe in
— —.

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Jesus’s words found at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel account give us great comfort. He is ascending, but will remain with us always.

But, why should His words give us comfort? Even those we consider close friends can sometimes offer words, but fail to follow-through. Why are Jesus’ words supposed to give us any more comfort than any other person’s words?

This is where we get down to brass tacks as Christians. What is at the center of our faith? From where do we derive our confidence? How can we prepare ourselves to do what St. Peter asks of us when he says: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you”?

Standing where we are today, and having recited the creeds of the faith as our parents, grandparents, and ancestors have through the centuries it is easy enough to say – God. God is the reason for our hope. We are confident in Jesus’ words because Jesus is God and God cannot speak falsehood. If He said He would be with us always it is obviously and categorically true.

It wasn’t always that way. The Church had to work and fight long and hard, for centuries, to proclaim the truth about God, to settle it all based on what Jesus taught and the Apostles witnessed firsthand. Others came along with theories and opinions – Jesus was not really a man, He was not really God, the Holy Spirit wasn’t a person. These were called heresies – untruths – falsehoods.

The various creeds were written to clearly covey the truth of Who and What God is in opposition to those heresies. What we believe, as is stated in the Athanasian Creed, is the baseline necessary belief for every Christian. God is Three Co-eternal, Uncreated, and Almighty Persons of One Substance.

We have to be very careful to proclaim this truth. If we do not, our baptism in the name of the Trinity is worthless, our prayer is useless, and our hope is baseless. Jesus words are just the words of another faulty human. The Holy Spirit is just a breeze or a warm fuzzy feeling, He has no personhood. The Father – who knows?

Our task this Trinity Sunday is to reconnect ourselves to the truth of God and in doing so recognize the great promise and power that is ours.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for Pentecost 2015

Jesus-the-real-deal-sm

Get
real.

Brothers and sisters, live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.

The Solemnity of Pentecost presents us with an opportunity to judge what is real in our life, what is in our best interest.

When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the upper room they had a choice to make. Would they follow the Spirit’s promptings and go out into the world to proclaim the truth or would they just sit there?

As we know, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. The key word is proclaim. They did act to proclaim the truth. They went out into the streets they were confronted by a large crowd of people from every nation and race.

Those people had a choice too. Would they listen and act, accepting the Lordship of Jesus and baptism for regeneration, or would they walk on? They acted to accept what is real, what was in their best interest: Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.

That initial act on the part of the Apostles and those that were added to their number was not the end. If it were, the hope of Jesus would have ended there. Their action was only a beginning. From there they set out to proclaim the word of God. Not only did they proclaim, but they lived God’s word, they remained faithful to Jesus’ way of life.

This is the difficult part of being a Christian both in those days and in the current age. We are confronted with many ways of life; we have choices. What will we proclaim in the face of those choices?

The Christian road, and being real about our faith, is not an easy road. It means we have to say no to the world. It means we have to live by the Spirit that has been given to us. It means making choices that fly in the face of what the world wants from us. It means being faithful to the Church’s teaching because the Holy Spirit dwells in and guides what the Church proclaims. It means that we do not put our faith in government, Wall Street, money, worldly success and power, politics – we can and must say no to those things and more. They stand in opposition to reality.

St. Paul warns us that those who put their faith in the world and make the world their reality: will not inherit the kingdom of God. But, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh. Therefore let us live in the Spirit, follow the Spirit, and be real.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the 7th Sunday of Easter 2015

22635591_640

Let one
stand up.

“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘May another take his office.’ Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

This week the Pew Research Center on Religion & Public Life released its annual survey of religious affiliation in the United States. As with any survey result the pundits began to make predictions, some in churchy circles rang the alarm bells.

The Study tells us that: “The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing… Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among all ages. A large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with the Christian faith. But, the percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points.”

The pundits note the decline of Christianity and are ready to sound its death knell. Christianity is irrelevant. Churchy folks, in response, try to make themselves more relevant, looking for ways to draw in the young. Some others see this as the great winnowing, the driving out of imperfect Christians leaving behind only the perfect.

These groups are missing something very important. They attempt to define adherence and faithfulness in light of relevancy and perfection. That is something Christianity is not attempting to achieve.

Living the life Jesus has called us to live makes us quite irrelevant by the world’s standards. The world’s criteria’s are never the measure of our success. In the same way, perfection is not the yardstick by which we are to measure being a good Christian for as St. Paul told the Romans: for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. If the imperfect are to be driven out every church will be empty.

Our true measure is our willingness to mature in faith and to stand up to declare our faith in ways both big and small. Our call is to witness to what is truly relevant: Jesus’ community – the Church – guides us to eternal life. Now that’s really what is relevant for everyone.

Homilies, PNCC,

Reflection for the 6th Sunday of Easter 2015

callherblessed

Love as
God loved us.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

We are a busy Church today. As we observe the Sixth Sunday of Easter we also observe the 64th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Joseph Padewski and Mother’s Day.

It may seem to be a difficult challenge. We have to, as a Church, concentrate on Easter. That is our first duty, to proclaim Jesus’ salvation and the promise of His resurrection to the whole world. How do you mix that with the fact that members of the Church are sometimes called to suffer and even die to proclaim this message – something happening right now in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Then couple all that with honoring our Blessed Mother and our moms in a special way.

Certainly, each of these events can stand alone and with deep significance for the Christian faithful. Thankfully, our Lord has already showed us how all this is bound together: This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus told us what we should do, but as opposed to false prophets and made up gods – He walked the walk. He laid down His life for all of us voluntarily. As St. John recounts Jesus saying: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”

Bishop Padewski lived his vocation and followed in Jesus’ footsteps. He returned to Poland from Albany to serve God’s people in the devastation following World War II. He did not consider his own safety or comfort, but rather followed the commandment of love and walked into the horrors of the communist takeover of Poland. He was arrested, tortured, and killed for his love of God’s people and his faithfulness to Jesus.

The Blessed Virgin is the exemplar of love for Jesus. We not only honor her as our heavenly mother, but also as our example of love and dedication to her Son, Jesus. She sacrificed her heart and life for Him. So too our mothers, the first example of love in our lives. They laid down their lives in a great act of sacrificial love.

All of these themes, all of Christianity, is joined together by love – love of God and for each other – giving all we are for the truth of love.

Christian Witness, Homilies, , ,

Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Easter 2015

452602891_640

Times of challenge
and peace

The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.

Saul has been converted and because of the generosity, friendship, wholeheartedness, and witness of Barnabas is brought into the fold in Jerusalem even though the fellowship still feared him. Saul is welcomed and he sets out with zeal to proclaim the name of Jesus. The Greek Jews, having heard Saul’s witness set out to kill him and the Church spirits him away, back to his hometown of Tarsus.

The first three years since Jesus’ ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit had been both edifying and trying. Judas was replaced. Many believers were added. The faithful witnessed out-in-the-open. They prayed in the Temple, healed, and talked about Jesus to all who would listen. Many were added, and the Church was of one heart and soul and marked by a consistent spirit of harmony, but a price was being paid. The Apostles were hauled into court and they were whipped. Stephen was martyred.

Certainly Saul’s conversion did not end prosecution. Others likely followed in his footsteps. The Greek speaking Jews plot to kill Saul shows the hatred that existed. Yet suddenly the Church was at peace.

Some scholars point out that the Jewish leadership had to take its eyes off the Christians for a while. They were probably having bigger problems with Rome. The Governor wanted to erect a statue to Caesar in the Temple. There could be a thousand other reasons as well.

As in the early Church our faith is tested at times and at other times we find ourselves at peace. Decades ago a faith commitment was seen as a likely part of most people’s lives. Going to church and following the tenants and aims of the Christian faith were ‘normal.’ In the modern age any true witness to the reality of Jesus and commitment to following His commands would be met with laughter and mockery at a minimum. We might find ourselves thought of as old-fashioned and outdated. At the extreme we may lose friends, face ostracism at work, possible termination from jobs or clubs and organizations, and even a court appearance or two. To us these may be fates worse than death.

The common thread we hear today is that Christians must witness publicly to Jesus – to His way. We must do this whether the Church is filled with joyous zeal, is under persecution, or is living in times of peace. In all times the Church will grow in numbers by the commitment and dedication of His disciples (us) to the One who is the only truth and the true vine.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, ,

Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday 2015

good_shepherd-icon-thumb

Asking for
good shepherds

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

We pause this Sunday to reflect on Jesus in His role as the Good Shepherd. We can easily identify with what a good shepherd does by looking at Jesus’ words in their cultural context.

Middle eastern cultures understood what good shepherding was all about. It was about feeding the lambs, bringing them to good pasture lands and water, grooming and clipping them, delivering new lambs, leading them and teaching them to stay together, going off after the wandering lost ones, and protecting the sheep in the field and in the fold.

To feed the sheep means to take care of them from the beginning of life. Good shepherds begin the lambs’ introduction to the ways of God, first with the milk of instruction and teaching in God’s way. Then the good shepherds move them to solid food – food for lives lived in righteousness so that the lambs can be fully equipped, able to stand in the day of testing.

Grooming the lambs means good shepherds honestly correct what is wrong and failing in them. Good shepherds must teach lambs discipline and encourage and rebuke them so that they stay true to the Lord and fit for His service.

Delivering the sheep means that good shepherds preach the Gospel so that many are brought to new life – born again and regenerated. Good shepherds must bring many to God’s light so that no darkness can overcome their lives.

The other side of the equation is that good shepherds lead flocks, not just individual sheep. We run into problems when we see Jesus as solely a personal Good Shepherd. True, He is Good Shepherd to us as individuals but not only. Jesus wanted to make sure that we receive all the benefits of being part of His flock, that we be fed, pastured, groomed and trained, that we stay together, that the lost among us be led back, and that we are protected.

To do all this Jesus gave us shepherds who were loyal to His way. We are blessed to have His shepherds among us to this day, who lead us in the pristine Christian faith.

Our bishops and priests maintain the flock and carry out Jesus’ work of shepherding. They further call us to be good shepherds to one another. They ask us to take up the same work of feeding, grooming, and delivering each other. Let us honor the work of our good shepherds and take their and our responsibility seriously.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Easter 2015

fish_logo_group

One order of fish
for Jesus.

Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

Things were happening fast. The stories of Jesus’ appearances were coming back to the apostles. They had found the tomb empty. The apostles and disciples may have recalled Jesus’ words, that He would be raised on the third day, but could it really be true? Could they really have been traveling, praying, working with, and eating with God’s Son? Then He is standing there.

We can imagine the scene, it must have been almost a panic – disbelief coupled with worry and joy. If He was really there they had been following with and living with God’s Son.

Jesus starts slow, look at Me. I’m really here. Look at My wounds, they are real. Touch me, I am warm, living, the future of glorified humanity in flesh and bone. By the way, I’d like an order of fish. We read of Jesus’ love of fish during the Easter season when He prepares a seaside fish fry for the apostles: Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, When the [apostles] landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

These are great moments and we can imagine being there. What is the deeper meaning of these encounters? Was Jesus just looking for a good order of fish?

We are meant to know that Jesus’ resurrection is a real event. He wasn’t a ghost or a group hallucination. He was there. People saw Him on multiple occasions and in different contexts and settings. These witnesses testified to the reality of their encounter with the risen Jesus.

Jesus’ resurrection tells us that God lives among us and that He shared our life experience – from joy to sorrow, from birth to death to the resurrection we will all experience. He gets us.

Jesus’ resurrection opened His life to us and is our invitation to share in His life. He gave us a very specific model of life we are to follow. We are to live a spiritual and communal life, not an individualistic and earthly one. We are to make His name known, to be His witnesses. We are to cast His nets rather than our own, witness to His reality, and get one more order of fish for Jesus.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for Low Sunday 2015

SnapshotImage

We have true
victory in Jesus.

For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Who is the winner? That is a frequent question in our world. It is also a great worry. We see greater and greater disparity between the rich and the poor. We see working people’s wages remaining the same year-after-year while the very few get more and more. Many may feel like David did at his darkest hour. He recounts in Psalm 13:

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Jesus knew His followers might feel the world winning, evil overcoming good, especially at His trial and crucifixion. That is why in the hours before His arrest He reclined with them at table and taught them. He said: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” He wanted us to share the peace His victory would win.

John echoes the words he heard Jesus speak at the Last Supper telling us that we are now God’s children, begotten and adopted in the blood of Jesus and fellow conquerors by our faith in Him. We have the strongest of affirmations, that no other person is the conqueror of the world but Jesus. We fully share in that victory by faith. No sports star relying solely on his or her physical abilities is a true conqueror; no rich man or woman relying on their skills and abilities in worldly things alone is a true winner. Wealth, wins, being in the 1% is not mark of real victory, only belief that Jesus is the Son of God and trusting in Him as the only source of life, righteousness, and salvation. The world with its allures and false promises for victory has been overcome.

Today, Heather and Alyson make a decision to believe in and trust in Jesus, to be on the winning team, to be victors in Jesus Christ. Because of this decision they will be regenerated, will be born again and made new in the image of Jesus. They will share in His life and by living in a constancy of faith they will overcome death and conquer the world. They, like Thomas, will say before the world that Jesus is their Lord and God and in reply will hear the words Jesus spoke in today’s gospel being applied to them as it is to us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Blessed and victorious!

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