First reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5
Psalm: Ps 123:1-4
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Weakness:

We need to acknowledge our weakness, to reconnect with it and recognize it. Of course we pretend at strength, at power and determination, but that is a faí§ade.

The years for gaining strength pass quickly. The years of weakness go on and on. As Christians we recognize our tendency toward sinfulness and the ultimate inability to overcome sinfulness on our own. Weakness.

Regardless of how we define weakness it is an ever present part of our lives, something inescapable, something that we may try to hide, but cannot deny.

Obviousness:

We also need to acknowledge our obviousness. We may pretend at forgetfulness when it comes to weakness, and we work hard at covering over mistake, error, and misdeed, but the ultimate victory starts in recognizing the reality of who we are.

What we do is obvious. We are held to account for our actions, our inaction, our mistakes, every nagging little thing we have ever done. We may try to escape our obviousness with statements like: —Time heals everything,— or —Out of sight, out of mind.—

Try as we may someone will show up, an acquaintance, a co-worker, a family member, God and say: —Do you remember when you…— Suddenly we are obvious, exposed in a way that is uncomfortable, that doesn’t conform with the mask we assume had covered our weakness. We are left obvious.

Nakedness:

Finally, in covering over our obviousness and in pretending at strength we are left with an inability to be naked.

Ok, I know what you’re probably thinking, the deacon wants to start a nudist colony.

What I really mean is that we try so hard at covering over our weaknesses, our obviousness, the parts of us that are not so glamorous that we end up loosing our humanity. We end up in a place where it is nearly impossible to be who God intended us to be. A place where we cannot stand and be known as Jim or Stan, or Mary, or Alice, or Frank, or Lilly; but instead are known as whatever ghost of that person we have manufactured.

Take a moment to think about marriage and the intimacy of marriage. We see everything of each other, the warts, the not so smooth skin, yet we love each other and want more of each other. That’s what God wants of us by example, to be able to be who we were created to be, His children, as we are.

That sort of sharing, that sort of nakedness, the ability to be who and what God wants us to be, is our goal. The mask, the disguise, the covering over of weakness, obviousness, and nakedness is merely a tribute to failure, sin and inhumanity.

Why it matters:

Weakness, obviousness, the inability to be who we were meant to be does matter. It matters when we recognize it and do what is necessary in reclaiming our humanity. When we do that we can claim, along with St. Paul, that in weakness we are made strong. Our weakness matters because in it we have the opportunity to connect with the awesome grace of humility. In that humility we start on a path that leads to God, that leads to finding ourselves as God meant us to be.

When we recognize the fact that we fall short of who we should be, when we claim along with St. Paul our inadequacy, we simultaneously recognize that we can’t be who we were meant to be on our own. We realize that we must rely on our Lord and Savior’s grace which will make us strong. In Romans 3:22-24 we read:

For there is no distinction;
since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus

Our recognition and repentance set a new path, a way toward acknowledgement that all of us, ourselves, our communities, our workplaces, and our country falls short. In that empty and humble place we have the opportunity to be filled with the grace of God, to say yes to God, to accept our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as our salvation.

The climb:

Now comes the climb. From that humility we begin the ascent to God. Jesus takes us by the hand to show the way. The Holy Spirit guides us, and the Holy Church instructs us. Along with Paul we pray that our weakness, obviousness, and masks be taken away. We place our reliance on God’s grace, on the word of the Holy Spirit who says to us, like to Paul:

“My grace is sufficient for you—

This is where the change occurs. We select God’s grace over the mask. We select God’s grace in the midst of our obviousness, because He wipes away all sin and frailty. We accept the fact that God will strp us down to who we were meant to be.

When we pray the Lamb of God we say, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world…

If we believe that, and as Christians we must, we acknowledge that God removes all human frailty, all sin, all shortcoming. God removes the masks and the coverings. We are no longer captives and choosers of the mask, we are on the road, entering into the fullness of God’s life.—¨

Why weakness doesn’t matter:

Weakness only counts as a starting point, a check point along the way to God. In the end weakness does not matter for it, itself, is not our end.

Weakness counts as our starting place, but it is not our finishing place.

God is telling us that nothing matters but His grace. Setting aside the mask, the pretending, the failure to deal with our obviousness frees us from captivity to those things. The mask is not our humanity, it is our inhumanity. Through God’s grace in our weakness the obviousness of sin is erased; the mask is taken away. In weakness we are made strong. In humility we win the victory.

Victory is ours:

In the end victory is ours.

The world, and most particularly our country doesn’t want a message that speaks of weakness as victory, humility as a grace, or of humanity found by removing masks of falsehood. Those who rely on the mask of terror, who live under the mask of murder called medical procedure, who revel in the false nakedness that is without love erode humanity. They claim a strength that fades. They were the people Christ encountered in His hometown, who could not see beyond the masks and faí§ades they had created to see the glory of God come among them.

St. Paul knew better and tells the Philippians (Philippians 4:11-13)

I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

Paul knew where his victory and strength was. It was in the humanity that God gives each and every person. It is in doing everything in Christ so that we may enter into the place of glory He has promised us. That is the victory that matters, the truth that makes us free. Amen.

First reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Psalm: Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9,13-15
Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.

She’s annoying:

What an absolutely annoying woman. Jesus is on His way to the bedside of a dying child and this woman shows up, with her problem, and holds up the works. Jesus is rushing, Jarius is leading the way, the crowd is massive, and there’s this woman.

After she gums everything up we find out that the child has died. In this day and age the government would arrest the woman for interfering, for contributing to the death of a child. The newspapers would ridicule her, online pundits would call for the death penalty, a Grand Jury would be convened, and the child’s parents would be shown, distraught on TV. Grief counselors would be assigned to the neighborhood.

What was Jesus’ point?

Did Jesus have a point here? Did this woman’s healing serve a purpose? Homilist pundits have explored this woman’s situation for centuries. They’ve cited:

• People who show strong faith are healed;
• The empowerment of women —“ the woman takes matters into her own hands in seeking healing;
• Society’s negative attitude towards women’s bodily functions;
• How touching Jesus heals us;
• Jesus doesn’t just cure, but demand a personal connection with those He helps;
• The delay provides Jesus with an opportunity to show His ultimate power in raising Jarius’ daughter from the dead;
• The woman’s healing and the raising of Jarius’ daughter shows Jesus having ultimate power over incurable diseases and death; or
• That this is a neat story twist that heightens suspense: Will Jesus get to Jarius’ house on time?

We could choose any of these points and have an interesting discussion about it. Each of the points is instructive in showing us another aspect of Jesus. I am going to ignore all of them. What this woman’s healing teaches us is that we matter, that we more than matter because we have the fullness of life.

Context:

If we read this Gospel passage in light of the other scripture readings assigned for the day we see a different aspect to everything Jesus said and did. In Wisdom we read:

God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being

Further on:

For God formed man to be imperishable

St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians says:

For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.

These passages provide the context for today’s Gospel, the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage and the raising of Jarius’ daughter. They tell us that God is a God of life and that by His grace we have become rich.

Jesus came to bring life:

In Jesus’ presence people are brought back to life. Jesus isn’t just acting out His power, His contact with people brings life that they couldn’t have imagined before. Certainly the woman is cured, but more than that she is brought back to life, as part of her community, as part of the body of Christ. The healed woman is a member of those who profess faith in Jesus. Jarius’ daughter is certainly raised, but more than that, she walks about and is fed. Whatever her sickness, she is now whole, and living a rich and full life.

In John 10:10 we read:

I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

Jesus came to bring new life; a full, whole, and abundant life; life to the fullest. As wisdom says: God did not make death, nor destruction, but made life and the fullness of being.

This Gospel in this context teaches us that contact with Jesus, faith in Jesus, courage, and Jesus’ power are not ends in themselves, but the path to the new life we possess in the body of Christ. The life we possess is life to the fullest.

Jesus came to give us a better life:

In the Letter to the Corinthian’s Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to charity. This was part of Paul’s charity mission on behalf of the Church in Jerusalem. Again, we could focus on an obligation of charity, but that’s not what this is about.

Life in Christ, that full life I just described, is better life. As St. Paul recounts, it is life in which we take care of each other, a life where no need is unmet, where equality prevails (and no, not the modern notion of equality).

Jesus came to give us life to the fullest:

Both the woman and Jarius’ daughter received the gift of life. They received full life, glorious life, joyous life, a life free from the constraints the rest of the onlookers lived with.

The woman and Jarius’ daughter didn’t get a life of theater, of riches, of granted wishes. Rather, they received the life of the Christ.

We often speak of our lives, especially as Christians in this age, as a life of suffering, as life mocked. We are oddballs. The world says that we believe in ghosts in the sky, in magic, in silly superstition. We may feel like we’ve entered the company of the Church’s confessors, those who suffered for their belief. We need to turn that thought pattern on its head.

We, the people who bear Christ to the world, do not place our trust in the opinions of the world. Rather, we know that we are living life to the fullest, a life that is without end. We don’t pick and choose convenient belief, but believe fully. We do not teach the teaching that are no-brainers, we teach the truth that is everlasting. In the fullness of the Church, in all we profess, believe, and proclaim we have life to the fullest. That is the life Jesus brought, that is the life that the woman and Jarius’ daughter encountered.

Every life counts:

God did not make death and life is imperishable. Jesus came to give us that, to make us rich in life, a life that is full and beautiful in keeping with God’s design. Close your eyes and imagine that life, where each person loves, where there is no conflict or strife, where peace abounds, where people can stand in the fullness of what they were meant to be, without pretense, without masks. Imagine that life, where we join together in praise and worship of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the life where nothing is lacking.

That is the world of God — the world in which every life counts. That is the life where no one is an enemy, where no one is inconvenient, where no one is cast aside, where no one is unforgiven, where no life is destroyed for any reason.

The woman and Jarius’ daughter met Jesus and found life fulfilled and rich. They met the richness of God who is among us. The woman, she wasn’t annoying and she wasn’t an unclean outcast, but fully part of life in Jesus. Jarius’ daughter found life restored, because Jesus shows us that life is eternal. That is the promise and we are the recipients and the bearers of the promise. Tell everyone — you count, you matter, you can be rich and fulfilled, you can live at peace, and best of all you can have eternal life. It is here, in this parish, this Holy Church, and in the company of all who profess the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

First reading: Job 38:1,8-11
Psalm: Ps 107:23-26,28-31
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

The LORD then said to Job:
Will we have arguing with the Almighty by the critic?

We don’t know:

The verse taken from Job 40:1-2, or, according to Warner Brothers and Tweety Bird, “We don’t know Him very well, do we?”

Job lost everything, and was trying to figure it out.

Job’s loss wasn’t like loosing a 401k nowadays, however grievous that may be. Job’s loss was incalculable. His sons and daughters were dead. His flocks and herds were dead or stolen. His house and all his possessions were gone. He was sitting on a dung heap covered with sores. Three of his —friends— showed up and tried to find fault with Job. Certainly he did something wrong and God was punishing him for it! Job and his friends debated, calculated, argued, and looked. They tried to find the cause. Job lamented his losses. Finally God shows up and says: You do not get it. You can’t debate me, you can’t figure it out, you just cannot know because you have no concept of Me.

Debating God’s plan doesn’t work:

One human technique that is quite common is to debate with God. We think we are engaging in a back and forth. ‘God, why did you do this?’ We hear silence. ‘God, why can’t I?’ We hear silence. We think that we are having some sort of conversation with an almighty vending machine. We ask and the machine will dispense answers. The worst part of it all is that we think we can win the argument, especially when we try to interpret the silence.

It is a fallacy to think we can win the debate. Sure, we run about thinking we can change things. We justify it by saying that we debated God and we won. Church people do that a lot. We think we have an inside track in the debate. Why, why, why? ‘God, don’t you see how marvelousness my plan is, my logic?’

If God had wanted to form a debating team I am sure He would have fashioned us into a different sort of being. God isn’t looking for a debate, He is looking for something else.

Arguing with God doesn’t work:

Another human technique is to argue. When we ask and hear silence we begin to argue. We get really angry because we think we are being ignored, that God isn’t paying any attention to our marvelous plan. Our anger takes over and we blame God as we would blame a vending machine that stole our dollar. We all want to kick that vending machine, to push it over, to get our candy…

If God had been looking for a people who would argue everything, who would subsist on anger, I am sure He would have fashioned us into a different sort of being. God isn’t looking for our anger, nor is He going to respond to it. He is looking for something else.

Calculating God doesn’t work:

Here’s yet another technique, the calculation. God, here’s the deal — and it’s such a deal — if I am good and give to charity, and don’t say mean things about my co-worker who’s only half awake, then would You…

We’re back at the machine and we want to put our four quarters in. We know that if we pay the right amount something yummy will come out.

Our interaction with God is not a give and take, payment in, goods and services out. God’s not looking for a deal. If God had wanted a deal I am sure He could have arranged for a better one, one better than dying on a cross. God’s not looking for a deal, or for people who know how to carefully calculate rules and regulations that will get us from here to heaven, He is looking for something else.

Who shows up?

The only people who show up, most especially when we are at our lowest point, are our closest family members and friends. Think about how essential, how key just showing up is. Think of our children, the look they would have on their faces if we failed to show up for graduation or recital. Think of the husband being there for his wife when she gives birth. Think of the present of a person’s companionship. They could have sent a gift, but how very special when they come in person.

Love is the motivator for showing up, for being there. What happens when we show up? Sometimes nothing. Showing up is a quiet event. It is simply our presence, our being in proximity to those we love; offering support and encouragement. We need not say anything.

Relate that showing up to our ways of interacting with God. Debating, arguing, and calculating have nothing to do with showing up. That can all be done from a distance. We can mail the check. But showing up — that’s different. That’s a step above.

God showed up:

Interesting isn’t it, that God showed up. Job and his three friends could have gone on forever, and wouldn’t have figured out anything. No answers, only questions, only debating, arguing, and calculating. God showed up and put Job to the true test. God didn’t need to explain anything. He simply pointed out Job’s position relative to God’s position. ‘Job, were you there when I created the world, when I laid its foundations, when I gave existence to the creatures of the earth, sea, and sky.’ God gives three chapters of examples — showing Job to be unable to comprehend.

God did show up. He showed up for Job, so that Job would know the truth. What was Job’s loss, his disaster, all about?

The lesson for Job and for us is that we know nothing. Rather we learn that we must acknowledge God as God, and re-orient ourselves, our thinking, to focus on what God wants from us. It wasn’t about what Job had and lost, it was about what Job had to find.

God wants us to see and live clearly:

In the end Job gets it. He says (Job 42:1-6)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.

God, I knew a lot of facts. I engaged You in transactions, through charity and sacrifice. Now I know that You are more than facts and transactions, more than something to be debated, argued, and calculated. I know that You are God and that You want me to know and love You. I now know that You are not a vending machine that dispenses sons, daughters, oxen, sheep, gold, and jewels.

We understand that God is wisdom but He is not about wisdom. God isn’t looking for us to challenge Him on His wisdom. Rather He wants us to set aside the notion of God as someone we debate, argue, and calculate and to come into a relationship with Him.

By example and word Jesus taught us these lessons. He told us to be like children (Matthew 18:3). He called us His friends (John 15:15). Most of all, as we see today, He asked that we trust in Him.

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

I recently read a comment that said that the only time Jesus slept, He was busy of course, was when He was in the back of the boat during a storm. What a picture, a horrific storm and Jesus asleep through it all, peaceful.

The Apostles didn’t see it that way. They panicked. Do you think they were calculating the deals they were going to make with God before they woke Jesus. Perhaps they were angry with God, or were debating with Him.

He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”

Relate this to Father’s Day. I can see the look on Jesus’ face, like an upset father being woken from a nap on his easy-chair. Jesus woke up and said what any father would say: “Quiet! Be still!” I wonder if He meant the disciples or the sea.

They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Poor Apostles… they still attempted understanding and calculation. They were trying to figure God out instead of relating to Him. They say “Who then is this,” but it isn’t who it is or why it is, it is simply being in the presence of God who is there, who is present to them. God showed up. He’s in the back of the boat. They should have trusted Him.

So for us? For us, it is time to set aside all the worry. The debating, arguing, and calculating have gone on too long. Rather, remember, we are in the presence of God. Our God is the God who shows up. He’s in our lives. He’s home, at work, in the car, in the public square, here in church. He is with us because He wants to be with us. Let’s smile like the child whose parent showed up for his recital, like the friend who was sad before you showed up. Let’s smile because God is with us and He wants us to know Him as He is: Full of love and kindness, rich in forgiveness and compassion (Psalm 86:15). That’s what God wants from us. We shouldn’t say that we don’t know Him very well, but rather that we know and love Him. Amen.

First reading: Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm: Ps 116:12-13,15-18
Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel: Mark 14:12-16,22-26

—This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for many.—

The blood:

Moses sprinkled the people and the altar with the blood of the sacrifice. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that our Lord and Savior’s perfect blood was shed to:

cleanse our consciences from dead works
to worship the living God.

Our Lord and Savior gave us His blood so that from this altar we might partake of It, and in doing so receive the grace that will transform us into the perfection of His body.

Doing:

Everyone seems to remember the Sinatra-esque interlude I offered during a homily some weeks ago; and they remember that I talked about doing. As Christians we are to be active doers, evangelizing, teaching, caring, welcoming, loving, worshiping.

The act of worshiping is centered on the Holy Mass, and the Holy Mass requires that we offer wine and water which is then mystically and miraculously transformed into the blood of Christ. Our doing in the Holy Mass consists of the offering of the gifts we provide for, the bread and wine, and the action, the doing of a certain work by God’s anointed servants, the presbyters and deacons.

Priests and deacons:

It is interesting that the priest, in the person of Jesus Christ present at the altar, re-offers His blood to the Father. The priest’s action is required for the wine will not be changed without him. Nothing will happen without his work, without the words he uses and the actions he takes. The deacons, from ancient times, have been known as ministers of the chalice of the blood.

The deacon is the proper minister of the chalice and an ordinary minister of Holy Communion — primarily, of the Precious Blood. If you were to observe my actions as a deacon at the altar, my primary service surrounds the care of the chalice, preparing it, and cleansing it. This concept is ancient, going back to the early Church where the deacon held at all times, both in East and West, a very special relation to the sacred vessels and to the host and chalice both before and after consecration. The care of the chalice has remained the deacon’s special province down to modern times.

As such, the deacon is closely tied to the precious blood in the liturgy and in his ministry of service, because his service is a ministry of sacrificial love. The Church’s history testifies to the number of priests and deacons martyred for their faith, their sacrifice, and their service.

While you only need a priest to offer Holy Mass, when we look upon our bishop offering the Sacrifice of the Mass, with his priests and deacons gathered around him, as we saw during the Mission and Evangelism workshop, we see the fullness of our historic connection to Jesus Christ and His apostles. That is the fullness of the Church’s doing in the world, the Holy Mass, the work of charity, and the work teaching and evangelizing the world led by our bishop and the clergy who are in union with him.

The roles:

These orders of bishop, priest, and deacon then are central to our ability to do as our Lord has asked of us. All of us share with them the role of charity, teaching, and evangelizing. We share in the Holy Mass because it is by our work, offering, and presence that the Holy Mass takes place. We are all partners, but with distinct roles, ministries, and duties. We are partners, but we sorely need priests and deacons for their role, for their doing.

We stand here today:

We stand here today and there is no priest present. Without the priest we have no chalice to offer. Symbolically, our cup is empty, the fruit of the vine absent. It is sad, and the entire body of Christ looses because of that.

Now at my hands you will receive the Holy Eucharist, and theologically it makes no difference whether you receive the body, the blood, or both. Regardless of what you receive you do indeed receive the body and blood of Christ, the fullness of our Lord and Savior, and thank God for that.

Yet, we are at a loss.

The body of Christ is calling out:

My friends,

The body of Christ, the Holy Church, is crying out. There is great sadness and great loss because the banquet table is empty in many places. The wine is ready and the wheat has been harvested and milled. The bread has been prepared, but we are at a loss because there is no one to minister. The role is unfilled and the deacons and presbyters have gone missing. Arizona, Texas, the Carolinas, Florida, California, Washington, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania… the body of Christ calls out. They desire in their heart of hearts to be partakers in the blood of Christ, to drink from the chalice of salvation for they know the Lord said (John 6:54):

—Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him on the last day—

Doing part 2:

To eat His flesh and drink His blood, to be partakers in eternal life we need those whose doing, whose actions and words bring us Jesus’ body and blood. We need priests and deacons so that no one is at a loss. We need those who will lead us in evangelizing, teaching, caring, welcoming, loving, and worshiping. It really is wonderful work, a magnificent doing, and we, the men of this parish, need to step up to the plate to take on these tasks.

Uh oh, I see doubts. But we shouldn’t. There is no reason that any young man, any one us us who is currently working, or any one of us who is retired would be prevented from being a priest or deacon.

One of the ancient jobs of the deacon is to chant. We’re supposed to sing a lot of stuff, the Gospel, various proclamations, the prayers of the faithful, the special dismissal during the Easter season… You know that I can’t sing to save my life, but here I am, a deacon. If I had let fear, poor singing ability, my sins, my inadequacies, or my doubts get in the way I wouldn’t be here. Thankfully, what we lack the Holy Spirit makes up for by giving us other skills and abilities.

Women, your call is equally important. The Church needs your support, your encouragement, and your prayer for your husbands, sons, and brothers so that they might step forward. We need good, strong wives and mothers who will go out to the field alongside their husbands and sons to support them, because God’s people need your joint effort.

I will not leave your with a sales pitch, and I could, the advantages are many, but I leave you with the words of St. John Chrysostom:

The work of the priesthood is done on earth, but it is ranked among heavenly ordinances. And this is only right, for no man, no angel, no archangel, no other created power, but the Paraclete Himself ordained this succession, and persuaded men, while still remaining in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels.

Holy Spirit come upon the men of this parish and call them to do your work, the ministry of angels. Holy Spirit come upon the women of this parish so that their strength, encouragement, and prayer may foster many vocations. Amen.

First reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40
Psalm: Ps 33:4-6,9,18-20,22
Epistle: Romans 8:14-17
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.

We don’t know.

Let’s not try today. Let’s not venture into intricate descriptions of the Holy Trinity, all for the sake of proving how unknowing we are, how limited our grasp of God is.

Often times we spend Trinity Sunday listening to a pastor quote from the stories of saints who had attempted to understand the Holy Trinity. These quaint stories are all part of an effort at explaining what we believe; but is it necessary?

I would rather start by stating the obvious: We are nowhere near understanding God. We cannot know Him through intellectual exercise, through stories, or through complex theological diagrams which attempt to describe His Triune being.

What do we know?

We don’t know God by our power of intellect. We cannot grasp Him on our own or by ourselves. There is little to nothing we can do to explain Him. Yet we do have knowledge of God.

Our knowledge of God comes from His self-revelation. God started with the patriarchs, judges, kings, and prophets, and finally He, Himself, came to us to tell us everything we are to know.

Looking at the process of revelation we find one key element. God doesn’t make Himself complex and unknowable. He reveals Himself, first through the veiled understanding of the patriarchs, judges, kings, and prophets and finally through obvious self-revelation.

What do we know? That God is love! That God desires us! That God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! That God wishes us to live as the Holy Trinity lives, in love and unity. That God would sacrifice Himself in order to accomplish the loving relationship He desires.

Love, live sacrificially, be one, live in the image of God. That’s what God wants for us. That’s His revelation. That’s what we know. Not complex, not intricate, but rather simple and in simplicity great.

A process.

Reading the Bible is an interesting adventure. I would liken it to trying to pin the tail on God.

Sometimes we see God as a moving and changing target. We want to pin Him down, and find we can’t. We keep missing the target. Looking at scripture we get the notion that somehow God has changed over time. It is not so.

If we believe that God is God, that He is perfection; then we acknowledge that there is no need for change in God. In fact, as Christians, we call God unchanging. One thing about God is that he is consistent. We however are not.

As we read through scripture, as we experience God, we are faced with a process that is, in effect, a development of understanding. As time passes we grow in our understanding of God’s revealed self, what He actually said, what He actually wants of us.

If we were to stop along the path we might see God as the God who demands animal sacrifices. Of course that was what man understood of God, not necessarily what God wanted. We might see God as the God who is mighty in battle, winning victories for His friends. Of course that was what man understood of God, not necessarily what God is.

Over and over God attempted to re-focus His people. When the prophets told the Jews about God’s way, about God’s reality, they stoned them. The prophets were stoned because God’s way infringed upon what and who the people understood God to be. In effect they said, ‘don’t tell me about this love and change of heart stuff, I want to go on sacrificing sheep and charging a hefty fee for it.’

Those who do listen to God, who do accept His word and His self-revelation, hear the truth. Those who listen to God’s self-revelation get beyond what they know and enter into a process of greater-and-greater understanding. It comes down to Jesus’ words (John 14:15):

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.—

In listening we come to know God’s self-revelation and we learn to keep His commandments which demand that we live the life God has modeled for us.

Where are we headed?

We could engage in a great theological debate today. We could try to grasp the Trinity with our minds. Where we need to be headed, however, is the grasp of the Trinity with our hearts. We are called to enter into the process of knowing God more and more through our listening and by the work and effort we put forward.

That work and effort, that journey, leads us to our destination. The work and effort —“ easy: prayer, kindness, living sacrificially, being one, living in the image of God, and living with great love. Our destination – one: Eternal life with God in heaven.

We’re getting there.

We are on that road my friends. We have entered into the faith, and under the guidance of our Holy Polish National Catholic Church we grow ever more aware of God’s reality. Our knowledge of God and our understanding of Him begins here at Holy Mass and from here, from the roots that were planted in our baptism, that knowledge and understanding grows. That knowledge and understanding grows throughout our lives. We start here, hearing God’s word, God’s self-revelation. We start here, receiving Christ into our bodies so as to become more like Him. We start here, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to know, love, and serve God more and more.

Leaving here God’s reality takes shape in our lives. We begin to see Him in the unity we have within our community, our neighborhood, with our co-workers, our families, even those who persecute and hate us for our faith. We see Him in the love we bear, in the sacrifices we make, big and small. God’s reality, His self-revelation takes shape in the lives of all who call themselves Christian — that’s us. No intricate descriptions of the Trinity are necessary if we live the life of the Trinity.

Keeping it simple.

Leaving here today we will be strengthened. We will walk away with another aspect of our knowledge of God strengthened. Another door will have been opened to us, showing us the way to live in unity, live in love, live like God. If we keep it simple, if we focus on what God has said, what He has taught, the messages He has revealed, we will have joy. We will have knowledge that surpasses quaint stories and theological treatises.

Keeping it real and alive.

I began with a quote from today’s reading from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 4:39):

This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.

That is as simple as it gets. If we live in the reality that God is God, that there is none other, and that life’s requirement is to know and love Him more and more, then we will have life. Loving and knowing Him means to live life as real Christians, as a people alive and active in the reality God has taught.

We must move beyond the notion that God’s revelation is God showing up and saying: ‘This is how it is!— only to walk away. Then He would have treated us as slaves, only to follow and obey. Rather, He let us know how it is so that we might be His brothers and sisters, so that we might live in His body, so that we would live the life of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; a life of prayer, kindness, sacrifice, unity, and great love (John 15:15).

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Amen.

First reading: Acts 2:1-11
Psalm: Ps 104:1,24,29-31,34
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13
Gospel: John 15:26-27; John 16:12-15

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.—

Brothers and sisters,

Truth be told:

We testify to the truth. Make no mistake, as Christians we testify to the truth. The Church has received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit lives in each of us, each one who is a member of the Church. The Spirit is not just a feeling or a warm and fuzzy idea. The Spirit is God, living among us and in us prompting us to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, God is truth, God is perfection. Therefore, those in whom the Spirit dwells cannot speak falsehood, lies, deceit, but only the truth.

You and I, members of the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, are recipients of God’s Spirit, of God’s truth. We testify to the truth because to live in God, to live in the power of His Spirit, is to be a bearer of the truth.

The truth received:

The truth we have received is contained in the Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Holy Church. That truth, established and codified by the undivided Church in the first thousand years of the Christian era is not, I repeat, is not, something we can change. We have a received truth. This is a truth we must proclaim and a truth we must protect.

Being human, and being sinful, we are all aware of the fact that we make mistakes. When we make those mistakes we feel pangs of conscience, a distance from God. Our human weaknesses are easy to project. We see ourselves in a certain way, and therefore everything on earth must carry the same characteristics we possess. We take our human weakness and project our brokenness onto everything we see, sometimes even on the Holy Church. We think: If we are human, the Church must be human. That is a fallacy. Yes, the Church is made up of broken humans, but it is, in and of itself, the dwelling place of God among us. The Church, an institution created by God and guided by the Holy Spirit, is not an institution of human brokenness, but an institution of God’s truth on earth, the place we come to heal human brokenness. The Church is the receiver of the truth and the bearer of the truth, and as such we can rely on its infallibility, its pronouncements, its ways, its teachings, and its healing power.

Unfortunately, some of the Christian bodies in the world have given in to the notion that the Church is just as human as the people who inhabit the Church. They see the Church as something that they can change, adapt, and correct to suit their whims, their desires, a body as malleable as they are. Of course we know that’s not true. Rather the Church stands as the bastion of God’s truth in a world that is constantly spinning and changing. This is received truth, truth the Holy Church protects because it is the truth of God. The Church protects the received truth because it is the rock of faith on which we can find protection from the storms of the world, the fashions of the times.

The uncomfortable truth:

Received truth, infallible truth, is tough.

None of us liked hearing that we were wrong. Even when we were three or four years old and our parents, or an aunt or uncle, told us we were wrong. When we are corrected we aren’t necessarily moved to thoughts of gratitude. The correction we received as small children only seemed worse as we got older. The poor clergy, teachers, parents, spouses, and bosses we’ve encountered, who had to deliver the uncomfortable message, had to put up with our thinking we were right, with our rebellion. The truth, even in human interactions, is very uncomfortable.

Then there’s the Church, standing as the only bastion of pure truth in the world. We look at what the Church says and teaches and sometimes we feel uncomfortable. Our gay friends can’t get ‘married,’ our wives and daughters can’t be priests; yes, what we did the other night was wrong; right, I do have to show Christ’s love to that homeless person and that immigrant; no, I can’t have it my way. We all want the Burger King solution, to have it our way, yet there is no plain Jesus without the fixins’ When we profess faith in Christ and live in the institution He created and infused with the Holy Spirit we have to take the whole deal, fixins’ and all.

I’m picturing the kids who asked their older brother to eat the pickle off their McDonald’s hamburger, because they didn’t care for it. Well my friends, we’ve got to eat it all.

This is the real discomfort that comes from our encounter with Christ and His Church. We cannot have it our way —“ it has to be His way. It is tough. The truth the Church teaches challenges are perceived notions and the al;leged truth created out of human weakness and desires.

Jesus gave the Spirit for a reason:

If Jesus had ascended without sending the Holy Spirit we would have been abandoned, with only words and stories to go on. Instead He sent the Spirit, the Spirit of power and truth.

In the Gospel according to St. John (John 16:13) Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will guide the members of the Church into truth:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Jesus further told us that the very reason the Spirit has been sent was sent was so that we, the members of the Church, would know the truth that the worldly cannot receive (John 14:16-17):

And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

The Spirit was sent so that we would know the truth, so that we would bear the truth, and so that we might witness the truth to the world.

The Spirit is power:

We need power to do what we must do as Christians, to be radical, to be bearers of truths that can be uncomfortable. This isn’t power as the world defines it, access to media, lots of money, big buildings and fancy clothes. Rather it is the power of truth itself.

This is one of the key reasons Christians get into conflict, into trouble when facing down the world. We speak a truth that is as uncomfortable to the world as the truth our parents spoke to us when we did wrong. The: You must love message, and love in a way that is defined by agape.

The truth of love is that it consumes. The truth of agape love is that it is the highest and purest form of love, the love that surpasses all other types of love. It is love that is self-sacrificing, as self-sacrificing as the love Jesus showed for humanity. We call the world to love in such a way as to accept the uncomfortable truth: That to love we must give ourselves up to God, His Church, and each other.

The reason wasn’t once:

The Spirit is a constant. The Spirit repeats the same truth over and over. The Spirit didn’t just show up on Pentecost, hand out the truth and take off. Rather the Spirit lives in the Church, in us, so that we might know the truth and live it powerfully.

The strong driving wind and the tongues of flame were not a one-off event, a long time ago. That wind, those tongues of flame, the power of the Holy Spirit, are in us and are a living constant.

The Spirit bears us up in proclaiming the uncomfortable truth of sacrificial love. The Spirit keeps us from veering into errors born of our wants and desires, transforming us into givers rather than masters who have to have it ‘our way.’ The Spirit keeps us from the fashions of the time and keeps us consistent with the fashion of God.

The Spirit keeps us alive and active, living in God’s way . The Spirit is not the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we think we know better than God, better than God’s way of accomplishing a task. That’s just us feeling good about our ideas. The Spirit is rather the joy we feel when we remain constant and steadfast in proclaiming the received truth, the living the truth, the powerful truth the remains — against all odds, against all fashion.

To know the truth and live it:

To know the Spirit is to know the truth. To be a Christian is to live that truth.

From the moment we were regenerated the gift of Holy Spirit was sealed inside of us (Ephesians. 1:13):

In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Each of us, who have been sealed in regeneration, has been filled with Holy Spirit, with the truth of God (2 Peter 1:3-4):

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.

The Holy Spirit born inside of us, living in us, working through us, and teaching us through the Holy Church helps us in living the life our Lord and Savior asks us to live. That life is a life lived in power, truth, holiness, and witness.

Make no mistake, as Christians we testify to the truth. Let us thank God for His truth, for His gift of the Holy Spirit, and for the Holy Church. By the Spirit’s presence we are sharers in truth and proclaimers of truth. We are part of the body of Christ, His Church, not just to be members, but to live powerfully in the truth that is without end. Amen.

“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘May another take his office.’—

History:

I always find a particular comedy skit funny, You know the type. There’s either a group of military inductees or a group of new citizens gathered together, and they’re going to take an oath. Everyone raises their right hand and the master of ceremonies begins the oath… —I [state your name]— Everyone replies: —I state your name.—

This is what today’s lesson is all about.

The band of Apostles had a vacancy, and they needed to fill it. It came down to Judas called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, or Matthias. The Apostles prayed and then lots were drawn.

It is interesting to note that in Jewish culture lots were cast using stones, but the casting of lots was limited to priests. William Silverman and Iain Chalmers in Casting and drawing lots: a time-honoured way of dealing with uncertainty and for ensuring fairness wrote:

Although the masses were forbidden by Jewish law to cast lots for divination —“ which was the prerogative of the priests – God’s authorities on earth were allowed to use lottery devices to guide judgements. Thus the chief priest carried sacred stones inside his breastplate, through which he sensed divine intentions. The stones gave God’s answer, determined when the ‘Yes’ or the ‘No’ stone was drawn out.

Matthias chose the yes stone and was counted among the Apostles. Matthias won the lottery.

The lottery:

How did we come to win the lottery, to be Christians, to be part of the Holy Polish National Catholic Church?

Now certainly some of us are Polish or have a Polish heritage, but many do not. Background doesn’t matter. Some were born into the Church, others came to the Church later in life. Birthright doesn’t matter. Regardless of background or history, each of us won the lot, the yes stone. We have been chosen to be on the inside, to be part of the Holy Church.

Doesn’t it feel great to know that we won the lottery?

Getting stoned:

We are lucky and blessed to be Christian, to have won the lottery, and are part of the true Church, but we must remember that winning comes with sacrifice.

Think about the method of casting lots by which Matthias won. According to Jewish priestly practice the Apostles, the new priesthood of the Holy Church, used stones.

Think about that. They used stones, which can remind us of stoning. Choosing the stone, winning the lottery, being Christian requires that sort of sacrifice. Several chapters later in Acts we will read of the stoning of Stephen. Chapters later the Jews and their Gentile sympathizers attempt to stone Paul at Ico’nium and again at Lystra.

What does it mean?

Would could reduce Christianity to winning, to being right and leave it at that. We could reduce Christianity to sacrifice, to getting stoned, to being a martyr, and leave it at that. Those two things are only the beginning and ending points to our Christian life. We begin by winning and we end winning. We begin with knowledge of sacrifice and we end in sacrifice. Our Christianity is everything that comes between those two points. The practice of Christianity is all the things that add to our winning and add to our sacrifice.

What adds:

What adds to our sacrifice and to our winning is the love that comes in-between, the love that is the marker of the Christian life. Our Lord and Savior prayed, saying:

They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.

We do not belong to the world because by winning we have been freed from the constraints of the world. The world wants to tell us how we should —love.— The world wants to dictate who we may and may not love.

Thankfully we’re not part of the cheap love, the merely romantic or sexual love the world dictates. Our how of loving is a love that acknowledges the core value and dignity or each and every human being, every human, from the beginning of life and into eternal life.

Thankfully we do not have to choose sides in our loving. The world would have us love some and hate others. We love the lovable, who can be too annoying to love, and we love the broken, who can be too damaged to love. We love because as St. John says:

Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.

Our loving is all that occurs between the bookends of winning and sacrifice.

Not complex:

Our loving is not complex and we don’t have to break out the journals and ledgers to count the complexities of loving. We are not part of an accounting/bookkeeping exercise where we enumerate our good deeds. Rather, our Christian life is one where loving, a lifestyle defined by loving, never counts the costs or keeps balances. As the ads say, we JUST DO IT.

Taking our place:

We have won. Our Holy Church and each and every one of us has the assurance St. John spoke of:

—¨This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.

We have won and the Spirit of God in us, in our work, in our loving. We have taken our place in the Holy Church. The place that was prepared for us has been filled. Let us never forget the value that our winning adds. When we won the vacancy that could only be filling by our winning was filled. Jesus prayed:—¨—¨

As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.—¨

We have won and have taken our place, the place we need to be so that Jesus could lead us in filling the vacancies that still exist. There is a vacancy in this pew and that, there is a place for everyone in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. By the love we carry, by the witness we bear, many more will come to win, to sacrifice, and to love.

We have taken our place. Our winning, our sacrifice, our living lives defined by love wins the victory we all long for, the coming of the Kingdom of God, where we will stand together with all who have sacrificed and have loved. Amen.

First reading: Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48
Psalm: Ps 98:1-4
Epistle: 1 John 4:7-10
Gospel: John 15:9-17

“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.”

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Talking about Christianity with a non-Christian is a dangerous venture. Today’s scripture gives some insight into how we are to do it.

Danger ahead:

Peter was summoned to the house of Cornelius, a gentile. This was dangerous ground. Peter was a Jewish Christian and still maintained Jewish practices. Entering the house of a gentile would make Peter unclean. Luckily God intervened and sent Peter a vision the previous night. Peter was presented with a tablecloth full of food that Jews would consider unclean. God tells him to slaughter and eat. The mere act of slaughtering in the fashion God presented would be unclean. It came down to this, God saying: Look Peter, I’m telling you its ok —“ just do it.

Peter’s action, his meeting with Cornelius, all that he did, even his testimony to the world, was dangerous. Peter and the rest of the Apostles, the deacons, the community members were sailing into dangerous seas.

God prepared Peter for the encounter at Cornelius’ house, for the danger, and Peter got it. On entering the house he finally got it —“ what God was getting at —“ these people reverence Me and love Me. Who are you to stand in their way? Why shouldn’t you witness to them? This applies to us. These people reverence Me and love Me. Minister to them.

We have been prepared. God has prepared us so that we might speak to those who do not know Him. We are prepared to speak despite danger. Our witness, our message is more powerful than any danger.

Acceptability is conditional:

God prepared Peter, making Cornelius and his household acceptable to Peter, so Peter, representing the Church, could go to them and baptize them. The key point here, the take away, is that the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household, not because of Peter’s acceptance, but in Peter’s sight, because God accepted them.

Peter was prepared for his visit, yet he was astonished at what God did. Peter’s Jewish companions were flabbergasted. We didn’t accept you, yet God accepted you. We didn’t call down the Spirit, yet the Spirit came to you and found you acceptable. Why?

We have to understand a little about Cornelius to understand why.

Cornelius, like all of us, was called by the Spirit. Cornelius, like many of us responded. Even though Cornelius was a Gentile and a Roman Centurion, commanding 100 soldiers, he feared and worshiped God rather than idols. He taught his household about God and asked them to serve God instead of idols. He took fear of God, worship, and service to God, and he made it real through kindness to the poor and needy, and through prayer. When the angel of God came to him he said (Acts 10:4):

“Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God—

We have to recognize that God’s love is for everyone, and the Spirit’s call is to everyone. That love and that call are not enough —“ because we have to cooperate, we have to take action in accepting God at the center of our lives. God didn’t make Cornelius and his household acceptable. Rather, He accepted them because they chose Him. Our being acceptable to God, our inclusion in His body, is conditioned on our choice for God. Our acceptability, our inclusion starts when we chose God and are reborn, regenerated as Bishop Hodur taught.

When we teach others about the faith, when we talk about the faith, we need to joyfully tell those we speak with: God calls you; God’s call is written on your heart; and God will accept you if you respond. The only condition is to live justly and to accept God.

Christianity is required:

As I noted, Peter, representing the Church, went to Cornelius to baptize him and his household. The Church is a requirement. Peter didn’t foist himself, or the Church, on Cornelius. Rather Cornelius, at God’s prompting, summoned Peter and his companions.

God wanted Cornelius and his family to have the benefit of baptism, which Jesus told us is required (John 3:5).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

God wanted Cornelius and his family to have the benefit of the Church, for the purpose of instruction and guidance.

Now I have to ask, ‘What do we believe about God?’

He is perfection. He is infinite. He is all knowing. He doesn’t make mistakes.

Jesus is God and He told us that we require water and the Holy Spirit for eternal life. God sent His messenger to Cornelius telling him that the Church was required. Jesus Himself told the Apostles that the Church is required (Matthew 28:19-20):

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

God is right, the Church is necessary. Unfortunately many make a mistake in believing that spirituality, the belief in a spirit, or something unknown and powerful is good enough. They delude themselves when they think that they can make their own path, figure it out on their own. They make mistakes because they miss the lessons and the discipline of the Church, the path that God has set. No one learns on their own. Children need parents, apprentices need masters, students need teachers. God wants us to follow him as members of the Church.

The message to those who do not believe is that the Church is here, open, and for them. We can confidently reassure them that God wants them to be part of the Church, by water and the Holy Spirit, fed with the teachings of the Apostles and their successors. We can reassure them — they are not alone, on their own. They have a place in the Church.

Choices/Had to:

The faith choice, inclusion in the Church, and standing fast on God’s word in spite of danger are all messages for today.

That is the message we bear. As Father taught last week, as branches from the Vine we do not produce the fruit, yet we bear the fruit that our Lord and Savior has produced. The message we bear to the world is the good news of salvation.

Perfection is not required:

Are you perfect? Am I perfect? No! Not even the saints, no one but Jesus Christ, was perfect. Yet Jesus Christ gives us the path to perfection. It is the choice for faith. It is membership in His Holy Church, and with it comes the gifts of perseverance and steadfastness in spite of danger.

How do we get there?

Getting the message out, doing the work of Peter and the Apostles is our task. Our message, the fruit we bear, is hope for humanity. Our message is:

God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.

Life is this. This is our mission. It is a dangerous venture, but we have a plan. It isn’t a secret plan — it is written in scripture. Now — put the plan into motion, tell the world that they are welcome. Let us tell them: The Spirit does not discriminate. The Spirit falls on all who accept Him. God cannot be hindered. The Church does not object — we glorify God and welcome you because God grants life to all who come Him. Amen.

First reading: Acts 9:26-31
Psalm: Ps 22:26-28,30-32
Epistle: 1 John 3:18-24
Gospel: John 15:1-8

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him,
not believing that he was a disciple.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Fear!

Here comes Paul – and he was on fire for the Lord. He appears in Jerusalem and the Church was afraid of him. Paul left Jerusalem on a mission to destroy the nascent Church. Returning, he was one of them, baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Remember that Paul sat in Damascus for three days, blind, filled with wonder. Ananias came to him and cured him of his blindness. As soon as he was cured he set out to learn and boldly proclaim the gospel. The Church in Jerusalem hadn’t heard of Paul’s conversion, yet there he is, on their doorstep. They were more than a little afraid.

What do Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction to Paul teach us in light of Jesus’ instruction on the vine and branches?

Can I be a Christian?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Can I be a Christian?

Paul never whitewashed the things he had done. He told the Galatians (Galatians 1:13):

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it

Paul spoke to the Galatians concerning his former life. He told them that he had done horrible things, deadly things, in persecuting the Church. Then he goes on to say (Galatians 1:15-16):

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me

Paul reminds us that regardless of the severity of his sinfulness, his denial, even his hatred, God called him. God called him to do what St. John says we are to do:

believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.

Like Paul every person is called to be a Christian, to proclaim Jesus Christ, and to love. Jesus opened every possibility; making it so that every closed door, every closed mind, every closed heart, could lay claim to God. The Holy Spirit offers the Christian life —“ and it is for all. All can be Christian, without barrier, without cost. You and I can really be Christians.

Can I proclaim the Gospel?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Can I proclaim the gospel?

Now Paul was an educated man. He didn’t arrive at his position among the Pharisees by being foolish, but look what happened. Paul became foolish for Christ and proclaimed the gospel through that foolishness. St. Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:9-10):

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake

Paul — educated, astute — saw himself as a fool for Christ. That’s the way it is with Jesus. Regardless of background, the past, college degree or no degree, we are all called to proclaim the gospel. Jesus calls us to proclaim, to give witness to the truth of the gospel. No one can sit on their hands and say, ‘no, not for me, not my job, I’m not qualified.’

You and I, we have to be shameless in our proclamation of the gospel; in proclaiming the truth:

believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.

Can we proclaim that? Yes indeed!

Must I work for the Church?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Must I work for the Church?

Where did Paul go? Being blinded Paul stayed put, and the Church came to him through Ananias. Ananias healed Paul as the Lord directed. Being healed of his blindness Paul went to the Church, to the Apostles in Jerusalem.

Now remember that Paul was educated in the law and in scripture. Paul knew a lot, and he could have winged it, could have relied on himself. Paul could have run off, proclaiming his version of Jesus, his version of the gospel; but Paul knew better. Paul went to the Church, to seek its commission and its mandate. He came to the Church so that he might take up the true gospel, the gospel our Lord and Savior left to the Church.

Like paul we must work with and for the Church. Paul came to Jerusalem with a boatload of humility. Paul was patient, waiting for Barnabas who: took charge of him and brought him to the apostles. Like Paul we must commit ourselves to working for the Church. We must come to the Church in humility, recognizing the difference between humanity’s self serving excuses and the infallible truth of the Gospel. The unchanging Gospel is taught by the Church. The Church’s teaching and the Church’s path is the totality of unchanging truth. We cannot wing faith; we cannot do a truth makeover, interjecting our personal likes and dislikes, man made dictates and excuses into the gospel message or the Church. We must work for the gospel left to the Church. Like Paul, we must work for the truth, for the Church.

Do I have to learn?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Do I have to learn?

After the Hellenists (the Greek speaking Jews) tried to kill Paul the Church sent him off to Tarsus. Ten years passed between Paul’s initial zeal to preach and his first missionary journey. He dedicated those years to learning the gospel —“ first hand from the apostles and disciples who were witnesses to all Jesus said and did (Acts 10:39). Those were years of preparation for the ministry that would be entrusted to him. Paul’s experience points to the value of preparation for the work of the Church.

Like Paul we must combine our zeal to be of service to the Lord with the need for preparation and testing. We are blessed because of the great graces we receive in the sacrament of the Word. The teaching we receive in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church prepares us to proclaim the gospel. The things we do among our brothers and sisters test and mold our abilities. When we face the world we are well equipped to do the work of the Church.

Can I be fearless?

Ananias and Barnabas are interesting. They went to Paul, to help him, even though they were afraid. Remember that Paul carried a mandate that would have allowed him to arrest a Christian. While getting arrested is unpleasant in this day and age, it was downright deadly in Paul’s time. Ananias and Barnabas wouldn’t have feared the lock-up, they would have feared for their lives.

That fear is natural. We want to preserve our lives. We want to live —“- and live a good long time. Ananias and Barnabas naturally feared, but their faith in Jesus Christ, in His promise, overcame that fear.

If we see life as defined set of years, beginning to end, full stop, then we have every right to fear. We would fear because death would mean the loss of everything. One who is dead would be gone forever. Is that what we believe? Of course not! Jesus told us that life passes in an instant, like flowers that are here one day and gone the next. But, Jesus didn’t leave it at that. He told us and He showed us that life is forever.

If we are Christians, if we proclaim the gospel, if we work for the truth taught by the Holy Church, and if we have studied and learned, then our natural fear is overcome. Our natural fear is really un-natural. Our true call is to be courageous, like Ananias, Barnabas, and Paul. We hear Paul tell us (Romans 8:38-39)

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s love which is Christ’s promise makes us fearless. We will preserve our lives through the fearless proclamation of the gospel. The life we preserve is eternal life —“ life that lasts forever.

We are grafted on to live, not die.

Jesus’ instruction on the vine and branches teaches that all who are part of Him, who remain in Him, will bear much fruit. We have been grafted onto the vine, grafted on to live, not to die. As Paul was brought into the Church our Lord and Savior brought us into the fold. He brought us in so that, like Paul, we might be Christians, that we might proclaim the gospel, work for His Holy Church, study and learn the gospel, and be fearless in our proclamation.

Jesus told us:

I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit

The fruit we bear is in relation to the life of Christ that is in us. By living the Christian life we will bear fruit. Like Paul, our lives will bear fruit in deed and truth. Let no one say of us, ‘We never thought that he was a disciple.’ Amen.