Trust God to Provide - Homily 15th Sunday Ordinary Time

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts.      Mark 6:7-8

If Jesus were giving his instructions today to his disciples, instructions like take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in your belts. Do you think he would include our smart phones on the list? How many of us could imagine setting out for even one day taking nothing with us: No food - no purse - or wallet - no change of clothes - no phone - no money – no check book or credit cards. Can you imagine it? Can you imagine the trust those disciples had that God would provide. It was incredible! They left Jesus that day taking nothing with them.

Could we set out for just one day taking nothing with us? Not me! 

What do you think the point was? 

You have to believe he was telling them, and he is telling us - "Don’t let possessions so clutter your life that they get in the way of doing what is really important to God - sharing your faith with others."

Every once in a while you see an example of someone who seems to have their priorities right. For some odd reason this message made me think of Manute Bol. Now you have to be a serious sports fan to remember Manute Bol. Manute was a Sudanese immigrant who just happened to be 7 feet 7 inches tall. Manute was recruited to play professional basketball in the United States in the 80s.

Manute weighed just a little over 200 pounds which made him both the tallest and thinnest player in the NBA. He was quite a sight. If you ever saw him play with the Washington Bullets you know he really wasn’t a great player. But as it turns out he was a great human being; and a missionary in the spirit of the disciples, in the spirit of today’s reading. The reason he came to mind today is because Manute was a Christian and he believed his life was a gift from God. And, like the apostles, he allowed Jesus to lead him, to send him out, in the service of others. He once told an interviewer: “God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back.”

In many ways, Manute’s trust in God and sense he had a mission in the world embodies the message Jesus gave to the disciples that day. Manute gave away his entire NBA fortune to Sudanese charities and trusted that God would provide for his needs. While most pro athletes go broke on cars, jewelry and groupies; Manute Bol went broke building hospitals. I think that was Jesus’ point. I think Manute “got it.” He trusted God to provide, and then spent his life sharing what he had with others. He simply trusted that God would make it work. Like the apostles, and like Manute, we are all called to be missionaries in some way.

Some years ago, a number of young Christians were attending an international summer camp. They came from many nations around the world. One project assigned them was to come up with effective ways to preach the Gospel in our modern world. After the young people talked about using television, radio, the Internet and rock concerts an African girl said something that touched the heart of everyone. She said: When Christians in my country think a pagan village is ready for Christianity they don’t send books or missionaries. They send a good Christian family. And the example of the family converts the village.

I think that’s what the Gospel is saying today. Have such radical trust in God - in me - that it changes the people you come in contact with. Like this young African woman’s example God wants us in our homes, in our work places and in our communities to preach the Gospel by living a life that trusts God will provide what we need. The way we can be missionaries to our world is by our presence and by our example more than by our words.

The poet Edgar Guest had it right when he said years ago:

       
          It is all in vain to preach the truth, 

          To the eager ears of trusting youth.
          Fine words may grace the advice you give,
          But youth will learn from the way you live.

Saying we are called to evangelize and be a missionary scares us a bit. But it shouldn’t. We are all called to evangelize, to share our faith with others; we are all called to missionary work in our homes and families, our social groups, at work and in our neighborhoods. Not necessarily with words so much as with our actions, with our example, with the way we display our trust in God to provide.

St. Francis Assisi once said: "Preach the Gospel and sometimes use words."

Our call as disciples in our modern world is to be like the African family who by their example converts the village. Today’s Gospel message is all about trusting God and then showing our faith to others by the way we live. At the end of Mass we say: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” 

Let’s vow today to be that family, that person, that converts our village by our example.

Homily Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus visits his home town - Mark 6: 1-6

What a tragic loss for us!

One of the problems we have with reading the bible is it’s hard to get tone of voice and attitude. Today’s Gospel reading sounds like the people had some attitude:

• “Where did this man get all this?" 
• "What kind of wisdom has been given him?" 
• "What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!" 
• "Isn’t he a carpenter ... Mary’s kid?”

The people in Jesus’ home town just could not imagine Jesus was anything special. To them, Jesus was just another young man who grew up in Nazareth. He didn’t deserve their respect. They saw Him as a common man!  Their familiarity with him blinded them to who he really was. It’s very sad really. Jesus, the Christ, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity, God himself was living in their village and they didn’t recognize him.

What a tragic loss for them!

But the truth is don’t you think the same tragically sad thing is happening again today.
We are living in Nazareth.                                                                                                                                            
We live in a Christian country where you can’t drive a few blocks in any city without seeing a church. Even the smallest towns in America have a church, or more likely several churches. Christianity is everywhere in America. Yet in America church attendance is dropping every year. We have become a lot like the people of Nazareth. We are so familiar with the things of God - the crucifixion of Jesus - the burial - the resurrection - that we are no longer moved by them. We are reminded of what Jesus did for us and we say: “So what?!” We talk about the cross and people say: “Oh Jesus, I know all about him. He’s no big deal." It’s very sad really. Jesus, the Christ, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity, God himself is living in our cities and towns and we don’t recognize him.

What a tragic loss for us!

Even we can be blind because of our familiarity - blinded by our image of Jesus. The same blindness, that prevented the people of Jesus hometown from seeing who he really was, often exists in us. We too can be blinded by our routine from seeing the power and the love that Jesus has to offer us. So many of us come to church, and in truth, we have little or no faith in the ability of Jesus to create miracles in our lives, to heal us, to forgive us. Like the people of Nazareth, we often lack faith in the power of Jesus to transform our lives for the better.  Like them, we think we know everything there is to know ABOUT Jesus; and yet, we don’t really KNOW Jesus on a personal level.

This Gospel passage can be a true gift to us. It can shake us out of our routine and challenge us to take a fresh look at Him, and then get to know him. This passage is a gift because it helps us to let go of the impressions we have of Jesus and really look at the person. Jesus was born and grew up in very normal and humble circumstances. Not by accident but by design.  This passage helps us see how normal Jesus’ life was; how much his life is like our own.                              

Many of us protest that we are just too ordinary to be holy; to be part of the mission of the Church. We think the mission of spreading the faith was given only to the priests and deacons. Our lives feel far from the extraordinary life of Jesus.  And so we speak of our lives as ... “just” ... this or that. I’m just a student.  I’m just a businessperson.  I’m just a mom ... just a nurse ... just a teacher ... just a soldier.  We forget that for most of his life Jesus was ... just ... a carpenter in a little nowhere town.  

What makes this Gospel passage such a gift to us is that we see that Jesus’ life growing up in Nazareth was so much like ours. It helps us to know him, really know him. And in knowing him, it can give our lives such meaning and worth - our ordinary times - our ordinary lives. Jesus lived a simple life and because of that he understands from first-hand experience our everyday life.

  •  He understands family life.
•  He understands hard work.  Carpentry in his day was seriously hard work.
•  Jesus understands human life — all the messy physical realities of being human.

We see today that there was a time when Jesus was as ordinary as any one of us. And God used his time in Nazareth to fashion and mold and form him into the instrument God needed, and would use, to save the world.

This passage can help us see that God uses the ordinariness of our lives to fashion and mold and form us into the instruments God needs, and will use, to continue to save the world.

We learn today that Jesus is ... like us!  And we are called to be ... like Jesus! 

People all around us are looking for something to give them hope but they cannot quite put their fingers on what that might be. And maybe that’s because Jesus is just too familiar to them.  They don’t see his power and how he can give meaning and purpose to their lives. Unless we tell them!

The question this passage should make us all ask ourselves is:

How is God fashioning me in my ordinary life to serve, to save, to heal?

I have fallen, Lord,
Once more.
I can’t go on, I’ll never succeed.
I am ashamed, I don’t dare look at you.
And yet I struggled, Lord, for I knew you were right near me,
bending over me, watching.
But temptation blew like a hurricane,
And instead of looking at you I turned my head away,
I stepped aside
While you stood, silent and sorrowful,
Like the spurned fiancè who sees his loved one carried away by the enemy.
When the wind died down as suddenly as it had arisen,
When the lightning ceased after proudly streaking the darkness,
All of a sudden I found myself alone, ashamed, disgusted, with my sin in my hands.
This sin that I selected the way a customer makes his purchase,
This sin that I have paid for and cannot return, for the shopkeeper is no longer there,
This tasteless sin,
This odorless sin,
This sin that sickens me,
That I have wanted but want no more,
That I have imagined, sought, played with, fondled, for a long time;
That I have finally embraced while turning coldly away from you,
My arms outstretched, my eyes and heart irresistibly drawn;
This sin that I have grasped and consumed with gluttony,
It’s mine now, but it possesses me as the spiderweb holds captive the gnat.
It is mine,
It sticks to me,
It flows in my veins,
It fills my heart.
It has slipped in everywhere, as darkness slips into the forest at dusk
And fills all the patches of light.
I can’t get rid of it.
I run from it the way one tries to lose a stray dog,
but it catches up with me and bounds joyfully against my legs.
Everyone must notice it.
I’m so ashamed that I feel like crawling to avoid being seen,
I’m ashamed of being seen by my friends,
I’m ashamed of being seen by you, Lord,
For you loved me, and I forgot you.
I forgot you because I was thinking of myself
And one can’t think of several persons at once.
One must choose, and I chose.
And your voice,
And your look
And your love hurt me.
They weigh me down
They weigh me down more than my sin.
Lord, don’t look at me like that,
For I am naked,
I am dirty,
I am down,
Shattered,
With no strength left.
I dare make no more promises,
I can only lie bowed before you.

[The Father's Response]

Come, son, look up.
Isn’t it mainly your vanity that is wounded?
If you loved me, you would grieve, but you would trust.
Do you think that there’s a limit to God’s love?
Do you think that for a moment I stopped loving you?
But you still rely on yourself, son. You must rely only on me.
Ask my pardon
And get up quickly.
You see, it’s not falling that is the worst,
But staying on the ground..

“Only in love can I find you, my God.
In love the gates of my soul spring open,
allowing me to breathe a new air of freedom
and forget my own petty self.

In love my whole being streams forth out of
the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion,
which make me a prisoner of my own poverty emptiness.

In love all the powers of my soul flow out toward you,
wanting never more to return, but to lose themselves completely in you,
since by your love you are the inmost center of my heart,
closer to me than I am to myself.”

― Karl Rahner, Encounters With Silence

We are all curious about the Kingdom of God. That’s why we come to church ... right?

In today’s gospel, Jesus deliberately equates the kingdom of God with small and unimpressive things. Today Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a small seed planted in the ground. Once planted you don’t see it, it grows slowly, invisibly; but despite its small beginning, it can become something very big.

Why do you suppose he uses these small things as metaphors for the mighty Kingdom of God?  What do you think he is trying to tell us?  He seems to be saying that God is building His Kingdom in ways nearly imperceptible to the world.                                                                    
St. Paul says it a bit differently.  He says those of us who are a part of God’s kingdom “walk by faith, not by sight.”  The work of God is invisible to a world that walks by sight and not by faith. Jesus’ parables tell us there is a mystery to life that is beyond our viewing.   And thus, to a world that celebrates showy success, and believes bigger-is-better; to a world that likes to think it can figure everything out, Jesus is saying:

God doesn’t work that way!
                                                                                      
He is telling us that God works in small things, and patience in the unseen workings of God is essential. In God's kingdom things that appear to be small and unimpressive are treasured by the One who matters most ... our God.

The whole Christian story supports this idea, this teaching.  Like the tiny mustard seed the Kingdom of God entered the world in a nearly imperceptible, humble form; that at the time was virtually unnoticed.  A baby in a manger – an animal feeding trough of all things – is the way God chose to come into the world.  Jesus’ ministry lasted only three short years. He taught in a small, rural, out of the way community.  The men he chose as apostles came from the ranks of the common, ordinary people

One day he demonstrated graphically this message of how God works in small things. He took a few small barley loaves, the bread of common people, along with a couple of fish and fed thousands. Showing us what God can do with our tiny gifts. When teaching at the Temple one day he praised a humble poor widow, who gave a single coin as an offering, over the grand, attention getting, presentations of the rich.

So often we think the little bit that we have to offer will make little or no impact. But Jesus says - that’s not true! In the kingdom of God little things matter, the unimpressive are central, and the history of our Church tells us how true that is. Just look at the people in our church’s history who have made a big impact beginning with one small act.

When Francis of Assisi, as a young man, began to repair a small, old church by himself; he had no clue it would lead to the founding of a large religious order of men and women who would impact the world enormously.

Vincent de Paul, one day was preparing for Sunday Mass, and one of his parishioners told him that someone in the parish was ill and their family was destitute. He preached on their need at that Mass and that afternoon, and the people responded overwhelmingly. He never imagined that simple sermon would lead to one day his name being associated with the charitable works of virtually every parish in the world.

When Mother Therese hopped off a bus to help one dying man in the streets of Calcutta, she never imagined her Missionaries of Charity would one day number 5,000 sisters and be active in 133 countries. All of us are called to play our small part in building the Kingdom of God.

But this message isn’t just about the history of the Church. It’s also about each of our own experiences of God. Perhaps today your own faith feels small. Jesus says – that’s OK. That tiny seed of faith in our hearts, if we nourish it, can eventually grow into something beautiful.

I don’t know each of your stories but mine certainly reflects this teaching. When my wife Linda and I married, I’m a bit embarrassed to tell you, we were not married in the Church; and at the time our faith seemed small. But we came to Church on Sundays because something in our hearts simply told us to.  The seed of faith was in us, planted by our parents.  The story of that journey is too long for this homily but clearly from that small beginning God eventually brought me to this pulpit, and gave me the great gift of being part of this amazing parish community. The seed of faith that started so small grew in us over the years.

Jesus is also telling each one of us, we too can plant seeds and be surprised by how God uses our little seed. We must never underestimate God’s ability to take our small acts of loving service to others, our simple words of faith, and greatly impact the lives of others. The everyday kingdom of God is built on small moments of servant-hood, thoughtfulness and kindness.

God can take any small offering, any little seed we plant: a kind word, a brief visit to a sick friend, a quick apology, a short thank you note – and in the 21st century we have to say – a Facebook posting, text message, Instagram, email ... or ... even just a smile, and turn it into something big.  A simple conversation with someone at work might plant the seed of the Kingdom in them that one day blossoms forth.

Jesus says that’s how the Kingdom of God grows.

There may be people who come to St. Brigid parish on a Sunday, like Linda and I did in those early years of our marriage, not certain what drew them here. And your smile, a kind hello, can make them feel welcome.  That’s how we can help God’s Kingdom grow. Your small act of kindness, your welcoming smile, might change someone’s life forever.  Jesus asks us today to trust that God is at work even in the smallest of moments, occurrences and encounters.
     
This week let’s all commit to doing some ... small thing. 
 
You never know how God might use it to do ... something big.    
     

......................... The Holy Spirit - The Gift of Pentecost .........................

Pentecost is a word from Ancient Greek that means the 50th Day. Christians were not the first to use this word. They borrowed it from Greek-speaking Jews who used the phrase to refer to a Jewish holiday  This holiday was known as the Festival of Weeks, or more simply “Weeks” (Shavuot in Hebrew). The Jews were instructed to have a holiday seven weeks, or “fifty days,” from the end of Passover, set aside to celebrate the wheat harvest .and the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.  That is why so many people were in Jerusalem on Pentecost, people from all over the Jewish world Parthians, Medes, Elamites, et al where there for the Festival of Weeks.                                                            

For Christians, Pentecost is the holiday on which we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the early followers of Jesus as we hear in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Before Pentecost the followers of Jesus were hidden away unsure of what to do next.  There was no movement that could be meaningfully called “the church.” Because of this Pentecost is often referred to as the church’s birthday.

The Holy Spirit, who came so profoundly that day, we call "The Third Person of the Trinity." This title can make it sound as if he is a lesser being than the Father and Son; but nothing could be further from the truth.  Jesus revealed to us a God who is a Trinity, a communion of three divine persons in love:  Father, Son and Spirit. When we say that God is a Trinity we do not mean that we believe in three gods.  It does not mean that there are three "modes,” or ways, that God expresses himself.  To say that God is a Trinity is to say that there are three, real, distinct persons within the unity of the one God. It is a mystery best described by a single word, as the apostle John did: "God is ... love." Saint Augustine would later say: “In truth to see the Trinity is to see love."

So how does that work?  How is God three persons?

The Father, as John said, is love; and, he pours himself out in love fathering the Son.  The Son receives himself as a gift of the Father's love, and offers himself back completely to the Father in love. The Holy Spirit is that love, the love they share; a love that gives life, proceeding from the total gift of Father to Son and Son to Father. The love in the Trinity is like the love we experience on earth. Love is always about a lover, the beloved, and the bond of their love.

This Holy Spirit, this Spirit of love, is said to be the one that empowers our faith in Jesus; as Paul says in the second reading, “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit, this love of God, inspires people to know the truth; the truth that Jesus came to die for each one of us as an act of love.  All of us who embrace this core belief of the Christian faith have been led to this faith through the help – the inspiration – of the Holy Spirit.  All Catholics receive the Holy Spirit through the sacraments of the Church.  This Spirit of God entered your life just as he did the Apostles that day, and he will never leave you!

Kind of an awesome thought ... isn’t it?

Today is a feast day where we are called to embrace this gift that each of us has been given – His presence in our life. Many of us struggle with feeling this presences, or rather, recognizing it. But it’s there. Paul said that each of us have some individual manifestation of the Spirit given to us for some benefit.  What an exciting thought!  In many ways being a Christian is like a treasure hunt, we should all spend our lives discovering our gifts ...so that we can share them!

This idea, that we have undiscovered gifts, reminds me of something Charles Schulz the creator of the Peanuts cartoon once said. He said: “Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.”  Many of us undoubtedly have gifts of the Spirit we’ve never tried to use, spiritual gifts ... lying dormant in our lives.  And the whole church is poorer because of it.

The Holy Spirit is simply God’s love in action. The love of God bringing each of us different kinds of spiritual gifts, different opportunities for service, different works given to us by God to benefit others. The Christian experience is all about the discovery of what our gifts to give are. But the truth is we will never find out, if we don’t explore our talents, if we don’t try.

In baptism every one of us received the gift of the Holy Spirit; a Spirit that is with us for life, dwelling within our hearts always.    
                    
Do we really believe this?                                                                                          

Pentecost reminds us that this is an opportune moment to ask ourselves:

• What do I believe about the Holy Spirt?
• What is my image of the Spirit?
• Who is the Spirit for me?
• How do we experience the Holy Spirit at work in my life?                                              
• With what particular gifts of the Spirit have I been blessed?

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter - cycle b

Luke’s Gospel tells us the story of that astonishing roller coaster week the apostles were experiencing. Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem like a king just a week ago.  Everything is great! They shared the Passover meal together (the Last Supper) on Thursday, and then everything falls apart on Friday.  Now, just a few days later, they hear the stories that Jesus is alive. Then suddenly he is there, with them, in the room.  Can you imagine the shock of that moment?

Jesus greets them saying: “Peace be with you.”  The disciples must have been stunned.  Luke says they were "startled and terrified."  Jesus shows them his hands and feet and offers them to touch him to see that he has flesh and bone, and is not just a spirit.  What a powerful story. 

Jesus said to them that night that they are called to be witnesses of these things.  They are witnesses of the fact that the Messiah had to suffer, and then on the third day, be raised. And, that his death bought us forgiveness for our sins. 

He told them, that night, to proclaim this to all nations.  Thankfully for us, they did as he asked.  We are here today because of their testimony;  and, the testimony of all the disciples that would come after them. We are called, like those who brought the faith to us, to carry this message in our time.

Is there a greater honor? Is there a higher calling, in the entire universe, than to be a witness to the living and risen Lord? To tell the story of how he suffered and was raised on the third day; and to proclaim the forgiveness of sins in his name to all we know.

 

How well are doing this? 

I can’t speak for you.  But it often feels like I’m just trying to survive from one day to the next.  And it seems that we hide this great message away, somewhere, and forget to share it. This reminds me of the story of Luigi Tarisio. Luigi was an Italian violin dealer and collector in the 19th century. When he died in Milan they found 24 Stradivarius violins in his attic.  A Stradivarius violin is among the most coveted items in the world, considered to be the best-stringed instrument ever created. When they finally played the best of these beautiful violins they found that day, it had been 147 years since anyone had heard it. Luigi had robbed the world of all that exquisite music. Sadly it seems that many of us are like Luigi Tarisio. We have a found the greatest treasure in the world, the love of Jesus Christ, and yet we keep it to ourselves, hide it away. 

When I was a young man in the 1960s, I remember the story of someone who didn’t hide his faith away; and his story affected me deeply.  His name was Brian Sternberg. In 1963 Brian was a sophomore at the University of Washington.  He was not only the world’s best pole vaulter, but also America’s trampoline champion.  But those who knew him said that Brian Sternberg was the most self-centered young athlete to come along in a long time. He was poise and confidence, but they say he rarely smiled. At a track meet that year Brian broke the world record for pole vault.  And on that same day, later that day, while working out alone in the gym. He did a triple somersault and came down on the trampoline off center. His neck hit the edge of the trampoline, snapping it,  leaving him totally paralyzed, able to move only his eyes and his mouth.  Brian was left a helpless, hopeless cripple; but that wasn’t the end of Brian’s story.  A few years later he attended a convention of coaches and athletes. At one point in their convention, the story goes, the auditorium was totally dark.  Suddenly a movie projector lit up the screen. There was Brian Sternberg racing down the runway and executing his record-breaking pole vault. Every coach and athlete oohed and aahed. Then the auditorium went totally dark again, except for a single spotlight falling on a single chair on the empty stage. Suddenly out of the shadows on the stage came a huge football player carrying in his arms was what looked like a big rag doll. Its long arms and legs hung limp at its sides and flopped this way and that way as he walked across the stage. The rag doll was six-foot, three-inch Brian Sternberg who now weighed 87 pounds.  The hulking football player placed Brian in the chair and propped him up with pillows to keep him from falling over. Then in a raspy voice Brian Sternberg began to talk. He said: 

“My friends Oh, I pray to God that what has happened to me will never happen to one of you. I pray that you’ll never know the humiliation, the shame, of not being able to perform one human act.  “Oh, I pray to God you will never know the pain that I live with daily. It is my hope and my prayer that what has happened to me would never happen to one of you.

Unless ... my friends ... that’s what it takes for you to put God in the center of your life.”

The impact of Brian’s words was electrifying.

The most powerful witness to Jesus often takes place without the people involved being aware of it. And that’s what happened in that auditorium in Estes Park, Colorado. Brian Sternberg’s was sharing the deepest part of himself and his convictions about life with a group of brother and sister athletes and coaches. Witnessing to Jesus is testifying by our lives that the power of the risen Jesus has touched us and transformed us. It’s doing what an 87-pound young man did on an empty stage in Estes Park, Colorado. It is letting Jesus speak through us to other people.

You never know, something you say, may change someone’s life for eternity.

Stop hiding your faith away.