First reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Psalm: Ps 69:14,17,30-31,33-34,36-37
Epistle: Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

—No, it is something very near to you,—¨
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”

Blessings and curses:

Moses’s instruction on God’s blessings and curses takes four chapters in the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapters 27 through 30.

In Chapter 28 Moses says:

“When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you
But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you—

…and he goes on to list these blessings and curses related to living in the presence of the Lord. The community, the country, the society that lives in the Lord will be fruitful and strong while the one that forsakes the Lord will be disease-ridden, weak, powerless and enslaved.

So, how do we achieve God’s blessings and avoid His curses? How do we become a fruitful and strong community, a society living in accord with God’s commands? How do we get there today?

What is in our nature:

In today’s first reading, Moses tells us that we have the power to live in God’s presence and according to His commandments because doing that is already part of who we are. That is a strong comfort isn’t it?

Think of how awesome God’s wisdom is, that He would make us with the built in ability of avail ourselves of His blessings and avoid His curses. Hearing this, with ears of faith, we know that we will be rich in the rewards that God gives. Look to our Christian life in this community, how we interact with each other, how we welcome all, our generosity, our commitment, our work, our worship, our adherence to the truths of God. We are not flashy about it, and we don’t blow a horn in front of us as we live the Christian life. We are simply here in the moment.

Confusion and fear:

Unfortunately, we sometimes fall into confusion. Of course we want God’s blessing, and for all our life we want to avoid the curses that come from separating ourselves from Him. Sometimes we may over-think and overdo. We confuse ourselves by wondering about the past, focusing on what we have done or have failed to do. We sometimes set to living there, pondering and re-hashing. At other times we live in fear of the future. That’s a big fad nowadays. The economy, jobs, children, wants and needs and we stand in fear of what is to be. Sometimes we even fear our tomorrow with God. We somehow doubt we are going to get there, to heaven.

Confusion and fear, we get caught up in them. We place them ahead of our present — our place with God today. That is one of the greatest mistakes we can make. Jesus asks us to put aside the sins of the past and our worry for the future. We are to live in His presence today.

Past and future:

Everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan. Now I want you to imagine the traveler lying there in the ditch. He’s been robbed and beaten. He is alone, and no one is stopping to help. How did past and future impact this traveler?

Was the traveler lying there considering God’s blessings and curses? Was he recounting all the wrong he had done, looking to the past to figure out why this happened? Was he thinking about his journey, where he was supposed to be? How his not reaching Jericho affected some aspect of his life? What would happen to his wife and children? What about his business? Was he going to see God? Is there a God?

Was the traveler considering the confusion of the past or living in the fear of the future?

Choosing:

What was the traveler’s choice, living in the past or the future, and in both to focus on the potential of curses from God. I don’t know if that is where he was at, but our experience tells us that in the most difficult of circumstances we do not have that luxury of choosing to think of past or future. When the trouble is big, it is all about the here-and-now. I think the traveler was thinking about the right now.

Isn’t it interesting that God tells us nothing about the future. Remember that even Jesus knew nothing of the end, but that was reserved to the Father. Similarly, God does not count the past against us. Isaiah tells us:

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Our experience, and what is in us, tells us that in considering blessings and curses we need to focus on the present, on now. Our choice in seeking the blessings of God and avoiding the curses associated with failing to recognize Him, all has to do with today. Our choice has to be for today.

Doing:

Many of you remember my do-be-do-be-do homily. It was about taking action as Christians. It was about doing good, and the parable of the Good Samaritan is certainly about that, but not only.

The Samaritan certainly did by stopping. We remember that he comforted the traveler, poured oil and wine to cleanse his woulds, picked him up and placed him on his animal, took him to an inn, paid his room and board. The Samaritan did a lot, but we also have to think about what the Samaritan did not do in the here-and-now.

Quiet:

The Samaritan lived today. The Samaritan did not stop to consider past or future. He did not ask the cost. He did not ask the traveler’s political preferences, style of worship, theology, or family status. The Samaritan lived in the quiet moment of now, amid the turmoil — and God’s blessings were poured out. The traveler’s now was filled with blessings from God because of the Samaritan’s now.

So, how do we achieve God’s blessings and avoid His curses? How do we become a fruitful and strong community, a society living in accord with God’s commands? How do we get there today?

We do it by living today, in the moment. There are no questions to ask. There is no consideration of what was or what will be. We know that God’s blessings will come to us if we believe in Him, live, and yes, live today in accordance with the greatest commandment:

—You shall love the Lord, your God,
—¨with all your heart,
—¨with all your being,
—¨with all your strength,—¨
and with all your mind,
—¨and your neighbor as yourself.”

In doing that we need not consider the past or the future, the cost or the price. We need not tie ourselves to the concerns of the world. In faith we believe what God has promised for those who live with Him, for He promised:

When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you:
“May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country!
“Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks!
“Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl!
“May you be blessed in your coming in, and blessed in your going out!
“The LORD will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee before you in seven.
The LORD will affirm his blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the land that the LORD, your God, gives you.
He will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to you;
so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the LORD, they will stand in awe of you.
The LORD will increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you.
The LORD will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings, so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none.
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always mount higher and not decline

That is God’s promise for those who obey His greatest commandment. He blesses us because we are not confused or fearful, because we do not live in the past or the future, but are alive and living in Him today. We are filled with His blessing today. We are sure in that this now is where we will meet God and we are blessed. Amen.

First reading: 1 Kings 19:16,19-21
Psalm: Ps 16:1-2,5,7-11
Epistle: Galatians 5:1,13-18
Gospel: Luke 9:51-62

—No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.—

How was I changed?

Have I been changed by Jesus? Was my call, through God’s grace, and my acceptance of Jesus a single event that changed who I am? Yes and no. That call and my acceptance of that call changed me, but I am in need of constant change and renewal.

A little personal testimony. Some may have notice that I’ve lost some weight. 35 pounds to date. How isn’t really the issue, but I’ll give a shout out to Weight Watchers as a means. The real question is why?

I’d been looking at myself over and over for 4 or 5 years and I hated what I saw. I derided myself, told myself that I had to change. I went from loathing and self hated to thinking of ways I could do it. I looked, it got no better. I tried, it got no better. I cut back on the beers, it got no better. About 6 months ago, during the sacrament of penance, I threw my sinfulness down before God and asked his forgiveness for my gluttony. I prayed, and recognized that I was not the author of my destiny or my weight loss. No amount of personal derision or will could bring change to my weight or my life. I asked God, for forgiveness and for the grace to stop my sins against His commandment, Thou shalt not kill. I was killing myself. God stepped in. In an instant He gave me the necessary grace to overcome this sin and to be changed. I wasn’t miraculously made thin and fit, but I was given the grace necessary to accomplish God’s plan for my life. I trusted in Him and was healed. Not my will, His. Not my plan, His. Not my body, His.

Our presence here, in this parish church, this day, is an outward sign that each of us is a changed person. God’s grace is alive in us and we are more than idle bystanders. Yet, while we are changed, we remain yet to be changed, yet to take the next step, to put it all down before God and let His will be done.

Context

Outwardly, today’s readings seem simple. Do it all for God, leave family and obligations behind. In studying up the readings and the Gospel I found that there are so many messages, so many levels of complexity that we could spend weeks on the themes. I am going to concentrate today on Elijah and Elisha.

Our first reading comes from the end of 1 Kings 19. At the end of Chapter 19 Elijah has been re-energized and has returned to the world and his ministry. Elijah underwent enormous change, and the focus of the story is the renewal of a fearful and burned-out prophet.

At the beginning of Chapter 19 Elijah is so afraid and discouraged that he flees from the world and his prophetic ministry. He runs into the desert and lies down exhausted, praying for death. In his discouragement and fear Elijah blames everyone else for his problems, downplays God’s saving actions, and overstates all the negatives.

Right in the middle of the Chapter God intervenes, and brings about Elijah’s renewal. God is at the center of the story, He is at the center of every change, as He is in our lives.

Thus in today’s first reading Elijah has been reconfirmed and has set out on the way God showed him. His first stop was to confirm Elisha as his successor, and invest him with the mantle of a prophet.

Elisha who?

So who was Elisha? Elisha was a very rich man. The reading tells us that Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. Now if you farmed in those days you likely did it by hand. If not by hand, and you were blessed enough to have an animal, you did it yourself with your one animal. Elisha had 12 yoke, that is 24 oxen, and each pair had its own plowman. Elisha guided the 12th yoke. Elisha was the rich corporate mega farmer of his day with workers and machinery. Elisha was about to be changed.

The change

Elijah shows up on the farm. Now picture this huge mega farm. Pretend you’re in Iowa driving along one of these miles long corn farms. Elijah started from one of those roads and walks across the miles of fields to reach Elisha, and:

Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.

Then Elijah walked back toward the road. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t do a ceremony, other than to place the prophet’s mantle on Elisha. Elisha was changed in that instant. Like you and I he was changed, but not yet changed. Elisha runs after Elijah.

Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
—Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you.—

Elijah makes an interesting response.

The reply:

—Go back!
Have I done anything to you?—

We might see that as a rebuke of some type. We may say things, in a moment of anger, like, —What have I done to you?— That was not what Elijah was saying. Rather, Elijah was giving some very key wisdom here. I didn’t change you, God did.

Elijah has done nothing to Elisha but follow the Lord’s will by placing the prophet’s mantle on him. Elijah didn’t call Elisha of his own accord or of his own power, but of God’s will and power. Elijah’s message was that he hadn’t done anything to Elisha; —Have I done anything to you?— He hadn’t changed Elisha, and Elisha was not accountable to him. Elisha was changed by God and was now accountable to God. For Elisha, nothing was to matter except to do God’s will and live out the change God affected in his life.

So, Elisha leaves it all behind. Elisha burns the bridges to his former way of life so that he can be faithful to God’s call. Elisha butchers his yoke of oxen; for an Israelite farmer this was equivalent to a modern farmer torching every farming implement, tractor, and machine he owns.

In a deeply symbolic move, the butchered meat is fed to the people. Eating meat was a rare treat for ordinary Israelites, and so Elisha’s feeding of the people symbolizes the value of his call to be prophet to the people. Elisha fed them this nourishing food, a metaphor for God’s life-giving word. Elisha then bids farewell to his parents, and sets off to follow Elijah.

Elisha’s journey is our journey, from initial change to the journey. Elijah’s journey is our journey. From burned out follower, to re-energized prophet. Like us, from our initial acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, to the next steps on the journey of our ‘yet to be changed.’

Total faithfulness:

This road of change is key. It has its starting point and its end is eternal life. For us, the faithful life is more than one sacrament, one ceremony, one event, one moment of change. I can baptize one child, one adult, or 10,000, but he who remains and lives a Christian life, who faces constant renewal and change into the likeness of Christ, will be the one who is victorious.

Stanley Hauerwas is one of the preeminent theologians of our times. Commenting on the reception of Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir he says:

—That I have spent my life thinking about God, moreover, has gotten me into a lot of trouble. I did not expect to discover that being a Christian might put one crossways with the assumptions that shape ‘normality’ — assumptions that make war unproblematic — but like it or not, I became convinced that Christians cannot kill. I even think that Christians must tell the truth — even to those they love. As a result, I have never found being a Christian easy.—

We have to live that kind of changed life; a life of total commitment, total faithfulness to the Gospel way of life, the Christian life and its narrow and difficult road.

In the moment of change we are confronted with the Jesus of great joy, a brief moment glimpsing the happiness we will find. Sin is washed away and we feel whole and energized.

Then we set to work, and the road gets tougher, rockier, steeper, and narrower. People we thought of as friends, and even family, shy away from us. Odd, you the Christian… Him, her, I never thought… I don’t get why they need all that religion stuff… The world’s absolute truths and doctrines fall away in change that comes from the light of faith. And, we are constantly called to that light, to change, to change over again and become Gospel and light to the rest of the world.

Jesus calls us to live the life He demands.

Our moment of change and our constant change, our presence here, indicates to the world that we are His disciples, His light among the nations.

Our trip through the Gospel reveals that God graciously gives the time necessary for change. Remember, James and John asking Jesus for the ancient equivalent of nuking the enemy: “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

Jesus’ action speaks for itself. He rebukes them and keeps walking on to the next place. The disciples are not to wield their power as a club of judgment. God is giving the Samaritans in that village time. God gave Elijah and Elisha time. He gives us time in the same way, time for the first step, and time to continue our change; time to be re-energized. Time, all along under His grace.

As in my testimony, change came and by the grace of God I was forgiven my sin. I set on the road of change with the aid of God’s grace, but while changed, I am not there yet. There is still further to go, more to do. There are setbacks, but then I am re-energized.

We are His disciples and we cannot back off from the task. Our discipleship must never be a second job, a moonlighting task, a weekend encounter, an ice-cream social or a hobby. The change in our lives, and the change we are to disciple to the world, is the product of God’s calling. As disciples we are to preach this awesome opportunity for salvation, for change. Change may come to those we meet in time. For us, change has come, and we need to face, accept, and work on the constant change God requires. God constantly asks the basic questions. Are we loving sacrificially, are we gluttonous, selfish, closed, lacking in total commitment to the Gospel way of life. We must constantly renew and evaluate what we do, what we believe, in light of the constant change we must undergo.

We are here as a people called and changed, endowed with God’s great grace, but not yet fully changed. Let us set to work on the road to fulfilling the change Christ calls us to, to living the life of Christians without excuse, without looking back once we have set our hand to the plow. It begins when we put it all down before God and let Him set to work in our lives. Lord, continue the change begun in us. Ever renew, and re-energize us as Your people. Amen.

First reading: Acts 7:55-60
Psalm: Ps 97:1-2,6-7,9
Epistle: Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20
Gospel: John 17:20-26

—Holy Father, I pray not only for them,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one—

Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Indeed He is risen, Alleluia!

Song

I recently purchased a CD of music by a group from Cornwall in England. It is by the Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends. For those who don’t know, Cornwall in located at the very southern tip of England a peninsula that juts out into the sea. Port Isaac is a fishing village along Cornwall’s west coast. This group of ten men, from varied background, with varied voices, began singing together in a seaside park in summers and in the pubs in winter. They were recently discovered, and the CD I purchased is their first major release. It opened at number 9 in England’s top 10.

People

I won’t tell you the name of the song until the end of this talk, but its words are especially pertinent today and to this Parish community. I sincerely hope and pray that you will listen.

The song begins:

For all the small people, tall people,
the dispossessed and the absurd,
All the broken hearted and the recently departed,
the unwashed, the unheard.

The lonely faces in empty spaces,
the unloved and the denied
For all the dreams that bloomed and those that died.

It is about people; you, those next to you, and those throughout our Holy Church. We are all types and all kinds, from many backgrounds, in many different circumstances. We possess all the good we have done and we bear the sins and failings we have committed. We are varied colors, liberal and conservative, men and women. We may like pierogi or biscuits and gravy, tacos or greens. You can figure that much out. Just look around. This is about you.

What is Church

So here you are, in church. Some of you are new, some have been here since the day they were born. So I ask, why in heaven’s name are you here? What are you looking for? What do you want? What do you expect to see or to get?

The question is not more or less difficult regardless of how long you have been here. St. Stephen, St. Paul, and St. John have all worked at answering that question. Jesus handed us the answer. Many, if not most, do not get it.

You, I, all of us, but today especially you, need to reflect on this question. Why are you here in Latham? What are you doing here? What is today’s motivation, what is the motivation in ten weeks, ten years?

Is your motivation to get a pastor? To hold successful fundraisers? To be more Polish or less Polish? To keep the place clean and tidy? To fulfill a parent’s expectations? To sing? To be left alone? To make pierogi and Polka dance? To find a boyfriend or girlfriend? To be respectable in your community? To be a good chairperson, or some other office on the Parish Committee? To reinvent liturgy or the order of the Church? Some of these things are noble and fine tasks, some not, but…

There should be only one, and absolutely only one reason for being here. Jesus never bid us to go ye therefore and make accountants, managers, and chairpersons. He never called bingo or looked for pierogi making volunteers. He never even invented church in the sense most people think.

Being Christians

Jesus called you to be Christians. He called you to walk in faith and to do the work He handed you. Jesus created the Church as a singular expression of that place where Christians perfectly represent community, a place for the community’s encounter with Jesus Christ in the most intimate of ways. He did not make an organization to be managed and manipulated by His people. Rather, He called His community into being Christ to everyone, not just club members with a ticket and a position, and only within the walls of this particular building.

You, and indeed a vast majority of people who call themselves Christians, need to get off the shtick of being and doing church. We do so much and so often that we exclude the possibility of being the Church Jesus wants. We involve ourselves in planning committees and committees on committees. We have a mission statement embossed in gold. We make pierogi and hand out bingo sheets till our hands bleed, and none of it, none of those wounds will come close to that of Jesus —“ and what He and His Church are all about.

We could invite

So what to do? Ask what you do. You could invite new parishioners to your homes or to meetings and regale them with the sins of Father A or Father B. We could discuss the idiocy of Mr. S and his plan, and discuss why Mrs. M is a selfish crab. We could focus on the small of doing church, maintaining the status quo and managing —“ and nothing will ever change —“ sin is self-perpetuating.

Oh, indeed, you can be and do church. You can become experts at it, even give advice to others as to how they should do it. You can tell others why their being and doing is wrong.

What would Paul say?

St. Paul encountered that among the Corinthians. He wrote (1 Corinthians 1:12):

What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apol’los,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

His answer: I am sure his words said it more eloquently, but basically shut up and start living for and in Christ. Christ is not divided!

Echo Christ

Paul echoed Jesus words. May they be one! Jesus continued and prayed to the Father:

—[may] the love with which you loved me
be in them and I in them—

The way the Father and Son love each other is the love we are to have. We are to love and be one. It is time to move on. It is time to stop the being and the doing and to take the many kinds of people here, across this region, and in the Church —“ joining with them and together being Christ to the world.

Do what is right —“ and hold yourselves to the highest of standards —“ the Christian life lived fully and in community. Do it here, and not just in Latham.

In a Capital Region, of only a few hundred thousand people, we walk as divided churches. A choice must be made, to set aside and to forgive the past. More than forgive, to see Christ in each person, clergy or not. A choice must be made to see Jesus Christ in the priest that lives two miles from here, in all the priests and all those previously dispossessed and hurt wherever they may be. Forgive and love as the Father and Son love. Be one as the Father and Son are one.

What would Jesus do is the question. If we are not living it we are not Christians, we are only hearers of the Word that forget what Jesus asked in the Gospel.

The title of the song is The Union of Different Kinds. Its refrain is:

Mother nature don’t draw straight lines
We’re broken moulds in the grand design
We look a mess, but we’re doing fine
We’re card carrying lifelong members of
The union of different kinds.

We are indeed all different, partially broken, but in our common baptism we became card carrying lifelong members of a union of different kinds —“ a union of different people —“ who are one in Christ Jesus. It is time to love and live like we are. Amen.

First reading: Acts 15:1-2,22-29
Psalm: Ps 67:2-3,5-6,8
Epistle: Revelation 21:10-14,22-23
Gospel: John 14:23-29

—Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.—

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Indeed He is risen! Alleluia!

Context

When my wife puts her hand on the doorknob, her coat over her arm, my children look up from what they are doing to ask: “Who will take care of us?”

The questions of children for their mothers are astonishingly the same as the questions the disciples were asking Jesus.

Today’s Gospel must be seen in the context of the questions the disciples were asking, very much like children. The Gospel according to St. John devotes 5 chapters to Jesus’ discussion with His disciples at the Last Supper. During the verses immediately preceding today’s Gospel the disciples ask:

“Where are you going?”
“Can we go with you?”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Why are you leaving?” and
“Who will take care of us?”

Complex answers?

Good mothers would never leave their children hanging. Their first and most natural instinct is to care for their children and to reassure them. Likewise, Jesus did not leave His disciples hanging. He gave them real answers to their questions, and today especially to, “Who will take care of us?”

“Who will take care of us?” — “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” [John 14:16]

But, this answer seems complex and sometimes we don’t quite get its meaning. Like children, we want simple answers and most of all reassurance that all will be ok. Today we should reflect on that reassurance. Our trust in Jesus, our love for Him and His word, and the presence of the Paraclete make everything more than ok; they guarantee our assurance.

Trust:

Reassurance starts with trust.

Infants work to shape their view of the world and their place in it right from birth. A strong foundation of trust, built in a loving and caring environment, is the first step in their reassurance, and leads to their becoming loving and generous adults. Children learn about love by being loved. Today we honor mom for her part and key role in teaching us to love. Children learn in the environment of community—”the family, mother and father, siblings, the extended family and Church.

We often equate success with independence, but those lessons from home, from the family and Church, are not about independence. Rather they are about being interdependent —“ being part of a community.

Children watch the model practiced by family, and this forms their understanding of the world. Their mannerisms and speech, their ability to love and to trust, all depend on what they see and hear at home and in the family of Church. This gift we give our children is the sense of reassurance, that they are cared for and protected in the world and beyond the world.

Mom is at the door and she is leaving. If her children do not have a sense of trust and community they will panic. There will be screaming and shouting, and most of all dread fear. However, if they have learned trust they know that mom won’t leave them alone and unprotected. They know that she loves them —“ and because of this they are reassured.

In the community of faith reassurance starts with the way Jesus built up the community of the disciples by showing them love, care, and compassion. The disciples received love right from its source. Jesus taught them to stand together as a community of believers, interdependent. They watched Jesus’ model, and this formed the disciples’ understanding of the world, their mannerisms and speech, their ability to love and to trust. All was and is built on Jesus’ way. Jesus reassures us. He tells us that we are in good hands within His community, within His way. He asks that the life of the Christian community teach and enable trust among all its members.

Keep my Word

Reassurance depends on love. Like moms everywhere, Jesus asked His children to: —keep my word—

Loving Jesus and keeping His word are completely connected. They are the requirement for our receiving the reassurance we crave.

What is essential in loving Jesus and keeping His word is not merely obedience. A child might detest the words that he is hearing and yet obey. A child might even detest his parents, but to avoid punishment, he obeys them.

In contrast to this, Jesus is talking about keeping His word in the sense of holding it dear. “Holding Jesus’ word dear,” implies that we hold a positive attitude towards that Word and the Word-giver. That is, we want more than anything to hear and obey Jesus out of love for Him and His word.

The result that flows from loving Jesus and keeping his word is that we are the protected; that we have reassurance. Jesus promised that by loving Him and keeping His word the Father will love us. The Father and Son will come to us. And, the Father and Son will make a dwelling with us. Loving Jesus and keeping His word draw God to us, and if God is with us none can stand against us.

I will send the Paraclete

Finally, reassurance depends on presence.

When mom is going out she might reassure her children by telling them that the babysitter is coming over. Now I’m sure that the babysitters mom chooses are capable, but every so often mom mentions that one babysitter —“ and her children leap up from what they are doing and rejoice. That babysitter reads to them, romps with them, acts out plays and makes chocolate chip cookies; she nurtures their young lives like a loving parent, and as long as she is with them they are not afraid.

I don’t know about the Holy Spirit being compared to a babysitter, but if you can imagine Jesus as a mother, then it may not be so hard to imagine the Spirit in this other role. The Spirit is after all the One who cares for the church in the interim between Jesus’ departure and return, the One who comforts, teaches, reminds and, yes, sometimes even romps with the sons and daughters of God.

The Holy Spirit is the presence that gives us reassurance:

—I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.

The Greek word for the Advocate is Paraclete, literally —one who stands by our side.— Jesus didn’t leave us alone or hanging, but left the Spirit to be by our side, to be present, to reassure.

Who will take care of us?

To answer the disciples’ question then, “Who will take care of us?” requires us to engage in trust, to love by holding Jesus and His word dear, and to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete who is at our side. This effort is cooperative, interdependent, requiring us to be on the inside of community, part of family, part of Church.

When we think of our mom, we think of that key person who played such a magnificent role in our life. She prepared us for this way. She brought us to the Church. She taught us trust and how to live in the community of family. She taught us to love Jesus and to hold His word dear. She stood by our side — and by that model we can recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing. Teaching us in this way she prepared us for that most magnificent of events.

Where are we going?

St. John’s Revelation describes the new and heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that will be present here on earth. By our trust, our love, our living in community, and with the guidance of the Paraclete, we are ever approaching this place.

I want you to think of this place, the place you are from —“ NY Mills, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and imagine it as this heavenly city. Can you see the new Utica descending from heaven with gleaming walls —“

It gleamed with the splendor of God.
Its radiance was like that of a precious stone,
like jasper, clear as crystal.

And in this new city you will find God as the only temple, and its light will be from God with Jesus, the Lamb as its lamp. This is the road we are on. This is the promise for those who trust, for those who love Jesus and His word, who recognize the Paraclete standing at their side. This magnificence is what we will see, what all of our ancestors will witness when they rise. This is what our mothers want for us. We will all share together in the reassurance that will be forever. Amen.

First reading: Acts 14:21-27
Psalm: Ps 145:8-13
Epistle: Revelation 21:1-5
Gospel: John 13:31-35

—I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.—

Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Indeed He is risen. Alleluia!

It’s all about timing:

We all have experiences and stories to tell about timing. Remember the time I was in the right place at the right time? Boy, did he time his stock investments poorly! Ben Franklin picked the right night and the right storm to go fly a kite. A good comedian uses comic timing, rhythm and tempo to enhance comedy and humor.

The Church is illustrating timing in today’s readings. Paul and Barnabas were traveling, moving from place to place. All of us have traveled to one extent or another, and we know, travel involves time and timing. Jesus is with His disciples at the Last Supper. The time came and Judas left. Leaving is a matter of time and timing. Jesus says: —Now is the Son of Man glorified.— Now is a factual assessment of time. In Revelation we hear of the moment in time when all is brought to fulfillment. The heavenly Jerusalem is established on earth. Time is no more. All that is former has passed away.

It takes time to learn:

Jesus’ Last Supper discourse, as recorded by St. John, is lengthy. He talks about many things and tries to give His disciples a comprehensive understanding of all He has taught. He wants them to live a new life in accord with the Gospel message. This passage of teachings, explanations, and exhortations is recorded over five chapters; Chapters 13-17. Can you imagine the time it took? Could we think that perhaps the Disciples didn’t get it all?

Time has passed, and centuries of reading and proclaiming should be showing us the way. The essential message revealed by Jesus, and through the passing of time, is this: If we exist with our focus on time and events we miss the thing that surpasses and is beyond time, love.

A culture of love:

Jesus is defining, in these very few words from that long discourse, what we are to do. We are to —love one another.—

This loving of one another is something in time, but also outside of time. The act of loving is completely present and now.

This makes me think of those sci-fi stories with time travel and experiments that take people outside of time. Imagine traveling through time as a being that exists outside of its constraints. Imagine, if you would, being present at every moment that ever existed, simultaneously.

That is what our being as Christians is — a totality of love, where time is no more; where love exists in and trough all people for all eternity. That love, that culture and life of love, surpasses our mortal selves. We are in the moment of now. This moment is now and it is new.

New love:

Jesus calls this commandment of love a new commandment. He uses a word, —kainos— in Greek, which is only used a few times in the Bible. This kainos, this kind of new, can refer to something that didn’t exist before. It can also refer to something that existed previously, but was not fully known or understood.

The love Jesus speaks of is not new, because it has always existed — God’s love is eternal. Rather, we have been called to understand AND live kainos love, new love, through Jesus.

So obvious it’s boring

Are you bored yet? A friend once told me that he stopped going to church because he kept hearing the same thing over and over. We pride ourselves on our intelligence and learning. For him there was nothing new. I am sure he asked, ‘Why do we have to hear about love over and over.’

The Gospel, the lives of the saints, are replete with love. Open to a page in the Gospels or the Epistles and you’ll likely trip over the word love. The same boring theme, yes, love one another, we heard it in the Good Samaritan homily: We are to love one another as we love ourselves. We heard about the Good Shepherd’s love last week.

The problem we face as we hear this message of love time and time again, from Sunday to Sunday, Holy Day to Holy Day, is not boredom, but getting to the next level. We need to move beyond love as a momentary thing, a set of examples and best practices, a point in time — to love as state of existence. We need to evolve into people of complete, total, unconditional, and overwhelming love.

Continuity

Judas left in time, and Jesus said NOW! In an instant, things changed. In an instant, our state of being changed.

Judas left in time to sin, to initiate betrayal. Jesus would NOW glorify God by His death. In Jesus’ death ‘the Son of Man [is] glorified.‘ John emphasized this theme from the very beginning of his gospel. All references to —glorification— emphasize that the incarnation, the crucifixion and the resurrection can never be separated as points in time. Jesus is the single expression, the continuum and eternity of God’s ultimate purpose, His ultimate love that is beyond and above time.

Our kainos love, our new love then is to understand that we transcend time and are the people of God’s eternal loving. We are joined in Jesus Christ to the continuum and eternity of God’s ultimate love. Like God, we are to constantly live that love, yes in time, but also beyond time.

Because we are Jesus’ “own,” we are asked to enter into the kind of love that marks the relationship of the Father and Son. Our participation in this relationship will be shown in the same way that Jesus’ is: by acts of transcending love that join the believer to God.

Keeping the commandment of love is our identifying mark because it shows in very real ways at we abide in God’s love.

In action:

If we are to transcend time and live the commandment of kainos love, new love, it will be through our understanding and our living in witness to the world.

Like the early church from Acts —“ we are to share our resources so that no one would be in need (Acts 4:34-35). From Acts today, we hear of the Church together —“ not congregations or parishes, but the Church joined in love across many localities. From Galatians 3:28, we have a picture of a united community that transcends race, economic status, or gender.

With us it must be the same. We must have love that envelops all those within the Church, the old and new members; those who believe that the parish ministry is to its members and those who believe that it is to the unchurched.

As Christians, we are called to love all people beyond the constraints of time — even enemies — in the name of Jesus Christ. We are to hold a special love for spouses, children, and family members. In a similar way, we are to love all our brothers and sisters who proclaim Christ. We are to be a family to one another. We are to love the living and love those who sleep in Christ —“ because while to us they appear to sleep, they live.

During this past week we honored all workers who died in the course of performing their jobs. April 28th was Workers’ Memorial Day. Across the nation, people of faith are taking action to strengthen their ministry with and for workers—”workers within and outside their congregation.

In our sad economy, too many workers are not paid wages and benefits that can support families. Many have their wages stolen, and are treated as slaves. In Arizona, government sees race over justice. Poverty is growing. The rights of people to forge their own destiny, to organize unions, to improve wages or benefits, are met with subtle and violent resistance.

The history of the Holy Polish National Catholic Church is replete with stories of the Church’s stand for worker justice, education, fair wages, and the right to organize. Let us make that stand once again, in this time. Parishes and faith-based organizations are on the front lines of providing soup kitchens and shelters. So too, we must stand on the front lines of justice for workers so that people won’t need soup kitchens and shelters to survive.

Today is about timing, and moving beyond time to the love of the Father and the Son. Taking a stand to live in transcendent love, to love in real ways, and to love proactively is Christian. We are to do that because He told us:

—This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.—

Amen.

Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53:1-12
Ps 31:2,6,12-13,15-17,25
Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 5:7-9
John 18-19

—I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go.—

Lord for us your wounds were suffered.
Oh Christ Jesus, have mercy on us

Words we’d like to hear

I am going to suppose that in a pinch, in a tight or dangerous spot, those are words we would love to hear. —Let these men go.—

We like escape

Part of our natural human reaction is self-preservation. The dark side of our broken humanity is a tendency to avoid what is difficult. Calls to witness might go against our natural self-preservation. Given a choice we prefer to hear: —Let these men go.—

The disciples were relieved

Now, I also imagine that the disciples were relieved. They got to escape. They ran away from the soldiers, swords, clubs, and the very same dangers brought home to the high priest’s servant when he had his ear cut off. The dogs were at their heels and they had to run full speed to get out of sight. They were thankful that the power of God, standing in that garden, gave them the chance when Jesus said: —Let these men go.—

Where is our example?

When I was in seminary we conducted an interesting experiment. We had to identify with a disciple. Were we Peter or John? That’s something to think about today. Which character in the Passion do you identify with? Did you argue at the Last Supper? Did you fall asleep in the garden? Did you pick up the sword and strike the high priest’s servant, trying to protect Jesus? Did you follow along like Peter, and stand in the courtyard of the high priest? Did you run? Did you deny Him? Did you betray Him? Did you slap and mock Him? Were you a false witness or did you stand silent? Were you in the crowd, jeering at Him? Did you wipe His face with a towel? Did you bewail Him on the road to crucifixion? Did you stand under the cross and witness to Him? Were you the good or bad thief? Did you take Him down from the cross and bury Him? Did you prepare spices for His entombment? Would you have appreciated hearing: —Let these men go?—

We find affinity but we need to look elsewhere

At any point in our lives we might find affinity with one or more of these characters. That is who we are as we follow the path to heaven. We fall because of that kind of affinity and God raises us back up. We are heroes at times but many times prefer to hear: —Let these men go.— We need to change our affinity.

Our affinity is in Jesus Christ

The real question, the real issue we need to reflect on this evening is: are we Jesus? Are we Jesus who did not run, who did the Father’s will. Do we have the courage of Jesus, to be fully human and humane?

Whomever we might find affinity with, that connection is solely a connection in our broken humanity. We must judge that broken connection as something to be overcome, replacing it with our affinity with Jesus. We must make Jesus our only example and our model. Jesus’ perfect humanity is not a symbol or something esoteric. It is a call to reality, to being who He is.

Let us ask that Jesus not say for us: —Let these men go,— but rather —Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.— We will get there by living our lives courageously, modeled on the one who died so that we might have life —“- eternal life. Amen.

First reading: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
Psalm: Ps 116:12-13,15-18
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: John 13:1-15

“This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.—

Lord for us your wounds were suffered.
Oh Christ Jesus, have mercy on us

What does —reality— mean?

Wikipedia provides a definition for reality. Their website states that:

Reality, in everyday usage, means “the state of things as they actually exist.” Literally, the term denotes what is real; in its widest sense, this includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.

The term reality first appeared in the English language in 1550, originally a legal term in the sense of “fixed property.”

The definition goes on to discuss different senses of the word reality, for instance truth and fact. They then talk about phenomenological reality. Phenomenology comes from the Greek, meaning the study of that which appears. If we take that literally, we can say that our faith is an exercise in the phenomenology of God —“ the study of God’s appearance to us in historical fact and in our personal experience.

Reality of Christ among us

Our phenomenology, our study of that which appeared, is more than an academic process. It is a path of discovery and of change. Our entire relationship with reality must move from a view centered on the world, on money, power, property, personal desires, the grievous sinfulness found in the world’s disregard for the commandments of God, to a reality centered on Jesus and His Gospel.

This is certainly a difficult path because it is so natural to be imitators of Jesus. Did I just say that being natural is difficult? Of course! Our entire humanness is directed toward God and a desire for closeness and likeness with Him. Unfortunately, by the allure of sin we fight our humanness every day. We fall.

Thankfully we have committed, by our presence in this community of faith, and in the larger Church, to be phenomenological. We have committed ourselves to humanness, to being defined by lives centered in the reality of God.

God’s desire to remain with us as real presence

Our commitment to being defined by lives centered in the reality of God would be sad if it were a one way street. If we had to rely on shadows and personal experience we would be subject to valid criticism. Thankfully, God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The historical facts surrounding His life, death, and resurrection as well as the testimony of many witnesses centers our phenomenology, our study of God’s reality in observable and documented experience.

God desired to come among us, to live, and to interact. He made it so that we might live in the reality of who we really are; the naturalness of our humanity. He did this by teaching us what we are to do.

God’s reality remains present with us today. As we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, we recall the phenomenology, the reality of God living among us, really present so that He might work within us to bring us back to our humanity; to make our reality real.

The sacramental nature of Church is grounded in reality

Our Holy Polish National Catholic Church is the full reality of God due to its sacramental nature. God remains real and present among us, working in us, affecting change, bringing us back to the easy road —“ to the road that calls us to live the reality we were intended to live.

Sacraments are all about reality. We are fed. We are washed. We are anointed. The food of the Holy Eucharist, the washing in Penance, the anointing in Holy Orders, Confirmation, and the sacrament of the Sick are a full on experience of God’s reality.

Catholicism is the full-on reality of God’s relationship

Our Catholicism is then the full-on reality of God’s relationship with us. This reality centers us and makes God’s touch real and present.

It is real in its components and in its totality

Our reality isn’t merely a study of cause and effect, or a theological tome on the nature of God, but a compressive encounter with God. This encounter, in both its historical fact, the testimony of witnesses, and in our experience tells us that every component of who we are is found in God’s reality. From Baptism to Viaticum —“ the last Communion someone receives before death —“ a lifelong encounter emerges. It is not just one reception of Penance, one anointing, one Communion, but a lifetime marked by these encounters with God’s reality.

Real food and Real drink —“ it is real responsibility

—If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.—

That is reality. Our phenomenological encounter with God, our experience of Him is real food and real drink. It is real anointing and real washing.

Because of our unfortunate choices, the paths we choose over the path we should choose, we often fail to do as Jesus asked this night, —as I have done for you, you should also do.—

We must couple the reality of God with our real responsibility, to become human in all our interactions. If we touch someone’s life, but cheat them out of the real food of our presence, if we shut them out of our charity and fail to anoint them for strength and healing, if we fail to wash away enmity, we fall short of God’s reality. We become inhumane, we lose reality.

Let us rather do this. Let us take this holy night and choose to reconnect to the reality of God, present here. Let us choose to change our reality from a fight against what we should do, to a choice for God’s natural reality. By faith we know the phenomenological reality of God among us. Let us be in God’s reality by our presence here and in the world. Amen.