Deacon Joe's Homily for Seventh Sunday of Easter

Love and Truth

I’ve been noticing a lot of hate, a lot of division in our world lately.  Maybe it’s me, that in my formation, I’m noticing more of where the love of God lacks (especially on I-376 during the morning drive to work).  I believe we’ll be even more challenged as emotions will run high over the coming months in this election year.   Our Lord mentions hate in today’s Gospel.  Being a disciple of Jesus is not an easy road to follow.  The world will not like us, because we speak the truth of Jesus and the love of God.  The world will not like us because of its own desire to be free, foolishly thinking that freedom is being free from God instead of realizing that true freedom is found IN GOD.

When, and I say when not if, we are challenged by the world, we need to speak the truth.  We need to let the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage act in us and respond, not react, to those challenges.  In our communications with the world, we need to dialogue in the productive way, by realizing it is not about winning an argument.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said “Win an argument, lose a soul.”  St. Augustine held communication as a sacred act.  He saw, and rightly so, that communication was a union much like a marriage.  Two people were coming together to share through their words and make each other better.  St. Augustine held lying as one of the most serious sins.  God gave us speech for the purpose of communicating His truth and to lie was an absolute perversion of that gift.  Just imagine what the world would be like if everyone took their words that seriously. 

Our culture is now dominated by “social” media, such as Facebook, My Space, and Twitter.  I wonder what St. Augustine would say about social media.  Is it really communication?  There can be good that comes from social media.  I know the Deacons of the Diocese use it to keep each other informed and it can be used as a vehicle to promote the faith (the Pope Twitters, I believe).  However, it seems that our culture has used it more to promote an “All about me” attitude.  It’s nice to know that someone has achieved something great like a promotion or a graduation, but does the world really need to know that you opted for Cornflakes this morning instead of the Pop Tart.  It’s the “all about me” attitude that’s permeating our culture, a culture which seems preoccupied with exercising its “rights” rather than promoting the common good.

On the Cross, was Jesus concerned about His “rights”?  Jesus could’ve walked away from the passion at any time.  He did not.  He was concerned with US, with our souls and with our lives.  He died to save us so that we could live in completeness, and live eternally in the love of God.  It is Our Lord Jesus Christ’s example we need to imitate if we want to experience heaven here on earth.  We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  If we’re serious about that prayer, we need to look to the Cross and understand that it’s through the Cross and Resurrection that we can make it happen.

To get through the tension of the coming months, no doubt we’ll need God’s help to keep our patient, to patiently discuss (not argue mind you) the truths of Our Faith, and to form our conscience properly, so election day is not such a challenge.  You’ve already received (and knowing Fr. Kleppner, will again receive) the USCCB “Guide to Faithful Citizenship”.  Please use that guide as it was intended, to help you to remain in the love of God in the public arena.

Remaining in God is what our readings are all about today.  In our second reading from 1 John, God through Jesus, proves His love for us through His giving.  The expectation is not to keep God to ourselves, but to share and give to one another.  That sharing and gift of self is the key that allows us to remain in God’s love and prepares the Kingdom of heaven here on earth and prepares us for our eternal destination.

Our Gospel reading today, St. John is showing us Jesus praying just after the Last Supper and before going out to his arrest.  In Pope Benedict’s book “Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week…” Chapter 4, the Pope discusses the entire Chapter of John 17 as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.  (I strong suggest reading either or both books of the Pope’s Jesus of Nazareth series…).  The Pope explores four themes of this prayer but for time’s sake we’ll only discuss the part that specifically relates to today’s Gospel.  The Pope explores why Jesus would pray for consecration as related in the last three verses of our reading.  Let us take a moment to realize this situation.  This is the last time Jesus is able to speak with His beloved disciples.  Imagine yourself in a situation where it was the last time, before you passed into the next life that you would be able to speak with your loved one.  What would you say?

Jesus prays.  He prays for the disciples which is really a prayer for us.  He asks God to consecrate us.  What does this mean?  Pope Benedict explains that to consecrate is to “raise something into a new sphere that is no longer under human control.”  In essence, Jesus is asking God to take us under His control, or better yet under the control of His truth.  Why is this important to us?  It is the truth in the love of God that we need to live to fulfill the deepest longings of our soul.  What is Truth? (Where have we heard that before?)  Most fundamentally, truth has to be a shared basis, a criteria that can be agreed upon.  If after Mass we went out and played softball, and let’s say I had one version of the rulebook, and someone else had a different version, how would we play the game?  How would we agree on safe/out, fair/foul, or even the score?  That would be pointless.  Our world has a common truth.  The world, our cultural, like Pilate, questions truth, but doesn’t want to hear the answer.  Again in the words of Pope Benedict “The world is true to the extent that it reflects God…Man becomes true, he becomes himself, when he grows in God’s likeness.”  We’re about to meet Truth in the Eucharist.  This is why we come to Mass.  Our Church, our community, our Sacraments help us to remain in God.  To give of ourselves and remain in God was our Lord’s final prayer before the Passion, and is our pathway to eternal life.  Remain in God, remain in Truth, remain in Love, and there is nothing, not even an election year, that cannot be overcome.

Thought that I'd share this video

We are Catholic.

Our Divine Mercy cookie cake

I had wanted to make a cake for Divine Mercy Sunday but since I didn't bake any cookies during lent, we all had a hankering for some so I made a cookie cake instead. Notice the Divine Mercy image behind the cake that our Polish priest gave us. I don't know Polish but at least I know what it says!

Divine Mercy Sundy-Deacon Joe's Homily

For those of you that know me, I do like to play a little golf.  I was drawn to the game because I think it’s simply miraculous that someone can hit a little ball into a hole that is 400+ yards away in 4 swings or less (on occasion anyway).  When I first took up the game a few years ago, I noticed something I thought was amazing.  All over the course, I would hear golfers shouting out to Jesus and God.  “What a religious group of people golfers are!” I said to myself.  When I returned to the clubhouse I remarked to the attendant how impressed I was with the all the “prayer” going on.  Imagine my disappointment as the attendant explained to me that it wasn’t exactly prayer happening out on the course.  It goes to show that things may not always be what they seem.

It can be said of today’s Gospel that things may not be what they seem.  St. Thomas or “Doubting Thomas” can be very misunderstood.  He may seem to us that he did not want to believe unless he definitively saw Jesus, that he was being relentlessly stubborn.  Let’s, however, take a look at St. Thomas in a different way.  Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning and the first person you see tells you that the price of gas just went down to 10 cents a gallon.  What would your reaction be?  I know what mine would be, “You’ve got to be kidding!  That’s unbelievable!”  I’m guessing your reaction would be very similar.  That’s where St. Thomas was.  He loved Jesus so much that the news of the resurrection was so wonderful that it was too much for him to handle.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to believe that Jesus had risen, it was more that the news was just too good to be true.  And that is seen in St. Thomas’ response once Jesus shows St. Thomas his wounds.  “My Lord and My God!”, St. Thomas exclaims.  What a beautiful response!  In that response, St. Thomas gives us an example of complete surrender and total faith in Jesus as the true Son of God and the Way to eternal life.  Imagine how Thomas felt from that point.  The One he loved so much, who he saw die on a cross, was alive and with him again!  He must’ve been overjoyed. 

St. Thomas leads us to the true Joy of Easter.  Rejoicing at the risen Lord.  The good news, as St. Thomas found out wasn’t too good to be true, was Jesus risen from the dead.  This is a fact!  This fact is what our faith is based on.  Jesus had indeed conquered all!  This isn’t just good news, this is great news.  This isn’t just great news, it’s wonderful news!  This isn’t just wonderful news, it is the best news of all!  We live!  We win!  What could be better than that?  10 cents a gallon for gas?  Not even close!

But do we really embrace the good news?  Are we living a life that shows our faith?  Are we living in the ways of our future life in heaven?

This is the challenge of the New Evangelization.  Vatican II was 50 years ago.  Vatican II opened the doors of the Church not so much for people to come in, but for the Church to go to others.  As Christians, as Catholics, to evangelize properly we need to be able to draw other to Jesus.  The only way we can draw them is to show them the true love, joy, and happiness of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Last Sunday, this Church was filled to (or beyond) capacity.  The ability to fill our Churches every week exists, but God is relying on us to show his true love to others.  And it starts with really believing the “good” news and expressing it from the inside out.  In the Holy Chrism Mass a week ago this past Thursday, our most wonderful Bishop, David Zubik, told a story in his homily that I’m going to borrow today, because it’s right to this point.  When he was a young seminarian, Bishop Zubik once had the opportunity of receiving advice from John Cardinal Wright (then Bishop of Pittsburgh in the late 60s).  Now Bishop Zubik, our young seminarian, was expecting to hear something very profound such as “tend the flock” or “Be a man of prayer” or something deeply theological.  However, Bishop Wright simply looked at him and said, “David, I have one word for you…smile”.   

Smiling of course, in this world can be a challenge.  This may come as a shock to you, but we are all different.  And we are all human, we all have imperfections.  What saddens me, and I believe Our Lord too, is that we don’t overcome our differences and live in His love.  I’m not a big Facebook user (this is probably why), and on the rare occasion I do log in, invariably, I’ll see someone posting something derogatory about some other person or group.  No doubt I could open the floor right now and engage debate about being a Republican or Democrat.  But, Jesus asks us to overcome our differences and live as one.  WE are the Church, WE are the Body of the resurrected Jesus.  WE need to seek the one truth of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to become that one body.

I want to share a little segment of the “Catholicism” series that some here at our parish have been studying over the last 10 weeks or so.  Fr. Robert Barron, the series host, in one part discusses what happens to us after our death.  Fr. Barron discusses heaven “Eye has not seen, Ear has not heard what God has prepared for those who love him.”  (1 Corinthians 2:9).  Conversely, Fr. Barron also discusses Hell.  Fr. Barron uses the vision of a big party, to which we’ve been invited, but instead of joining the party, we stubbornly sit in a corner and refuse to have any fun.  Realistically, we put ourselves in hell.  We put ourselves in hell by not giving of ourselves to work to overcome our differences.  We judge ourselves by rejecting God’s love and mercy.

Speaking of mercy, today is Divine Mercy Sunday.  The revelations to St. Faustina back in the 1930s, brought to light something that was really already going on in the Church.  St. Augustine (around 1500 years earlier) called the entire Octave of Easter “the days of mercy and pardon” and the 2^nd Sunday of Easter as “the compendium of the days of mercy.”  God’s love and mercy are really what Easter is all about.  Jesus took on our sins in the greatest act of love and mercy.

Through Divine Mercy we receive the Holy Spirit, the outpouring of God’s Love as we saw in the first part of our Gospel today, and then we can experience the truth and victory we hear of in the First Letter of John.  It is through Divine Mercy that Jesus gives us the sacraments of reconciliation and even more importantly the Eucharist where we can directly encounter the resurrected Jesus.

In our meeting the resurrected Jesus, if nothing else we know we can conquer our sins and we can conquer our death through the risen Lord.  This is the good or again I’ll say best news of all that should give us every reason to rejoice and be glad and want to share that gladness with others.  You can start sharing right now with a smile.  

Tuesday within the Octave of Easter

It was a blessed Easter Sunday that we had at our home. Tired from the Triduum liturgical schedule and the Easter preparations, we relaxed as best we could. Deacon Joe performed his 'parts' beautifully at the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral, Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Good Friday Passion for which he chanted, Easter Vigil for which he sang the Exsultet very well, and Mass Easter Sunday. No, I wasn't involved in those parts but attended those with children so that should count for something, especially sitting in the Cathedral for three hours with a three year old who found that if you kick the pew hard enough it echos throughout and makes a cool sound! I also listened to and helped the deacon for WEEKS (may have been months, whose counting) of chanting 'Exsult, let them exsult, the hosts of heaven" and the subsequent 5600 stanzas.

We enjoyed a quiet day at home preparing a meal. Our oldest children who worked arrived home in time for our feast as did a few of my relatives. We enjoyed our dinner and my first ever lamb cake.

Notice that it didn't droop. I made it with pound cake so it was sturdy. But I had to keep it in the refrigerator so the icing wouldn't fall off. Whoever would open the refrigerator was usually met with screams as a giant head greeted them. As of today, half a head is still in there and it's creepier than ever. Oh well maybe I'll eat it later as it's within the Octave of Easter and fasting is discouraged as we should be celebrating!

Happy Easter! Have some chocolate and celebrate.

Been a while...

Haven't posted in over a month. I've been trying to focus on an extended spiritual retreat. I just finished reading Consoling the Heart of Jesus for the second time. I read this book last Lent and felt transformed by it. As I started Lent by reading the Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila, I continually felt that I was being called to reread Consoling the Heart again. Fifty pages into the Way of Perfection, I finally put it down and picked up Consoling the Heart. Once again, I feel transformed by what I've read. Based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and heavily influenced by St. Theresa's writings and detailing her Act of Merciful Love and St. Faustina's writings especially Divine Mercy, it makes it readable for the average lay person. For the second year in a row, I've come away with a not only uplifting experience but newfound insight into God's mercy.

We're looking at a busy Holy Week here. I've been helping Deacon Joe master his singing 'parts' for the Good Friday service and the Exsultet for the Easter Vigil. I have to admit that he surprised me how well he sings. I've known him for almost 27 years and yes, I've heard him sing, but not that much, and he's pretty good. I'm looking forward to hearing him on Holy Saturday evening when he sings his almost ten minute 'solo.' (Is that what I should call it?)

In the meantime, we have confession, track meets, clergy dinners, meetings, multiple jail visits, the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday at the Cathedral (which I'm supposed to take the little boys to, but I'm not sure how they will fare after several hours), Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday Service, preparing for the Easter Vigil, then Easter day. I'll be looking forward to spending Easter home cooking a meal, that should be easy. I'm sure that my favorite deacon will be collapsed in a chair in front of the Masters next Sunday. Oh, and I am excited that my children will all be home for Easter dinner, although my two oldest have to work during the day. It's so rare that they are ever home for a weekend meal.

May your Holy Week be an opportunity to grow in faith!

Deacon Joe's Homily for Second Sunday of Lent

A woman dies and goes to Heaven. God tells her that she's not supposed to be there yet and He's sending her back to earth for 40 more years. Realizing that she was going to live for 40 more years she decided to get some 'enhancements: face lift, tummy tuck, liposuction, new nose, new hair color. She leaves the doctor's office after her surgeries, walks across the street and is promptly hit by a bus. 

When she gets to Heaven she asks God why she's back so soon and He responds, "oh, I didn't recognize you."

  

That story has two lessons in it.  One, we shouldn’t be vain about our outward appearance, God made us just fine the way we are.  And two, we need to be prepared, because we never do really know when Our Lord will call us home.  You could also say the story is about transfiguration, but in the complete opposite sense of our Gospel today, because instead of changing into what God wants us to be for His glory, that woman changed into what she wanted to be for her own glory. 

The woman in our story made a choice.  She chose to change her outward appearance, and move away from the natural beauty God had given her and make herself into something she was not.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to maintain a nice appearance, but the woman in this story goes to an extreme, as if how God made her wasn’t good enough.  God gives us all we need to be able to fulfill His plan for us.  Some are more beautiful than others, some are smarter than others, and some are more resourceful than others.  Who are we to question God’s plan?  However, God gives us freedom, freedom to be able to choose whether or not we want to live according to His plan or not, and what’s worse is that sometimes we even think we can alter God’s plan.

Let’s take a moment and talk a little more about freedom.  This is an important topic in our world right now, given the dynamics going on between government services and religious freedom.  (Comment).  Our culture defines freedom as doing whatever it is you’d like to do, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.  In its most fundamental form, freedom is choice.  But, what is it that you really want to do?  I’m not sure most people in our culture today know how to answer that question.  Is our deepest desire to live a life of doing nothing but pleasing ourselves?  Is that fulfilling?  I could bring up many, many examples of how pleasing ourselves only leaves us empty at the end.  The life of St. Augustine is testament to that, he really did try everything, (few are that bold).  Or deep down, in our souls, where the image of God lives, do we want to live with God as the center of our lives, and fulfill what He created us to be?  Just by being here, I believe all of you are answering yes to the 2^nd question.  You realize that our fulfillment and happiness lies in being able to do what God our creator asks of us, and not in pleasing ourselves.  This is real freedom.  The true definition of Freedom is to be able to be all God intended us to be.  “Freedom is not doing what we want, but doing what we ought” (to quote Blessed Pope John Paul II).  To say it in a slightly different way, our own desires enslave us, so true freedom is only found with God.  Without freedom, we cannot choose God, we cannot choose life or love.

One of the greatest examples of that true freedom is found in the story of Abraham.  Being the father of 5, there have been many, many times when I’ve had to fight the urge to kill one of my children (only kidding of course…).  In all seriousness, my children are a blessing, a true gift from God and I treasure them dearly, along with their Mother.  There is nothing more important to me in this world than my family.  Whether you are a parent or not, there is someone in this world that I am sure is or was very near and dear to you.  I know you, as I, would offer ourselves in their place if the threat of harm came to any of them.  I really wonder how any of us would do if we were faced with the same trial as Abraham.  Could we willingly sacrifice someone who is so precious to us?  The lesson here is that Abraham, freely acted in the trust of the one true God, and did not withhold his only Son from God, the Son who meant more to him than anything else in the world, as Isaac was Abraham’s future.  Abraham could’ve tried to make a deal with God, “OK, God, well Isaac, uh, I’d rather keep him, he is the Son you promised me and all, how about we go with 10 sheep and 2 lambs, or maybe some doves and a calf instead?”  No, without even questioning God’s command, Abraham, in love with God through his true freedom, was able to understand that God held the keys to his fulfillment and happiness and trusted everything to Him.

St. Paul reinforces this lesson in his letter to the Romans.  St. Paul demonstrates to us that the story of Abraham was really a typology (or foreshadowing) of God giving up His most precious Son for our sake.  In true love and freedom, God does not keep anything from us as through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, we share entirely in the Heavenly Kingdom right here and now.  And if we have God, what else do we need?

The culmination of freedom is found in the Transfiguration.  God calls us all to be transfigured.  Our freedom to choose is the basis for our transfiguration.  Transfiguration is really what Lent is all about.  Lent is the time for us to be honest with ourselves about who we are, how we are living, what is enslaving us and preventing from experiencing God’s love in true freedom, and how we need to change (to be transfigured) in order for us to say yes to God’s plan and become whole, become Holy.  God reveals Jesus’ future glory, in fact OUR future glory in God, through the Transfiguration, a vision of heaven and how beautiful we can become.  Jesus appears with Moses and Elijah, the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah) to show that all things are fulfilled in Jesus.  But, Jesus also gives the Transfigured vision to the disciples so that they can peer into the future.  It is that vision that is supposed to carry the disciples through the immense suffering of the passion.  In the same way, Jesus gives us the Transfigured vision to carry us through our most difficult times.  Regardless of what happens here on earth, we can look to our eventual victory and glorified life in God in the Transfiguration.  God speaks in the Transfiguration saying that “This is my beloved Son”, which we recall from Jesus’ baptism, meaning that when we’re transfigured to our Heavenly form, we complete the action our baptism has begun.  God also tells us to “Listen to Him” because Jesus has the words of everlasting life and hope.  If we can trust in God completely, we will allow Him to transfigure us into the wonderful creature we were intended to be from the inside out.  If we trust God completely we can see through the world’s definition of freedom and know peace and fulfillment in our daily lives by our living in God’s freedom.  As we come forward together to the table of the Eucharist in a few minutes, I ask you to reflect and be thankful for the freedom we have to come and worship together and the freedom we have to be able to receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord together.  And as you receive Our Lord today, open your heart and let Jesus in to transfigure you into what God created you to be where you will find true freedom, happiness, peace, joy, and fulfillment.