More Than Words (6th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A)

The spoken word is an amazing thing. We hear in the beginning of John's gospel, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This Eternal Word is actually a person, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity. God's Word is so incredibly powerful and life-giving, that in the beginning of time, all it took was his words to create the universe, the earth, and all living creatures, including the most magnificent of all, the human person. But God's word is not the only word that has power. Even as humans, our words can have an incredible effect. A word of forgiveness can transform a person’s life. A word of hope can bring new meaning to someone's existence. A word of love gives purpose to one's living; it makes life worthwhile. Inspiring words can even motivate someone to lay down their life for a cause or another person. Yes, our words and God's words are very, very powerful!

But more often than not, words can only go so far. If we are not careful, honest, or sincere, no matter how beautiful or eloquent our words may be, they fall flat if not reinforced by our actions. There is nothing worse than someone who misuses their words for lies or empty flattery. In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us what it means to love God. As people that bear his name, we should pay close attention. Jesus does not say, “if you love me, say nice things to me or recite lots of prayers.” No, Jesus says very simply in today's Gospel, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” This seems very simple on the surface, but anyone who has ever been in a meaningful relationship knows how difficult it can be to move from words to actions in loving another person. Talk is cheap but actions speak louder than words. Our friendship with God is not much different than our friendship with other people. What helps us to be a good friend to those around us will also apply in our friendship with God.

If loving God is tied directly to keeping his commandments, what are the commandments that we need to keep? In the Mosaic law, there were many commandments; in fact there were about 613 that every observant Jew was expected to know and observe. Jesus simplifies all of these Commandments into two basic laws. In order to prove our love for God we should love him above all things, with our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole strength, with everything that we are. Secondly, we should love our neighbor as ourselves. All of the “rules of our Church are directed towards keeping these two commands. If we observe these two Commandments, we not only honor God but we prove that we love him. The flip side is that if we do not keep the Commandments we essentially tell God that we do not love him.

Now many people might try to argue with this point. Some will say, “how can God expect me to be perfect?” “I have every intention of loving God and being a good Christian, isn't that good enough?” Today's Gospel answers that objection with a resounding no! Most of us have probably heard of the saying the road to hell is paved with good intentions. St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that hell is full of people with good desires and wishes. Heaven is full of people who acted on those good intentions and made them a reality. It is not enough for us simply to want to love God or to be a good person. We actually have to carry out that desire by our actions.

So what does this look like an everyday practical terms? Well, it means something like this: when I come to mass every Sunday and on holy days of obligation, I'm telling God, I love you. When I obey and respect my parents and my teachers and those who have legitimate authority over me, I am showing God that I love him. And when I follow the church's teaching on marriage and family planning, God knows then that I love him. But when I lie, or gossip, or disobey or pick and choose which commandments I will respect and which ones I will ignore, when I do these things, I am telling God in no uncertain language, I do not love you. That's why sin is so serious, that's why we want to avoid committing a sin no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. Every single sin is an attack on God and on love.

The good news for us, is that even when we tell God by our actions that we do not love him, he still loves us. In fact, God can never stop loving us, no matter what we do to him. He is infinitely patient and merciful and ready to love us when we will accept it. That's why the Church encourages us to go to confession on a regular basis. The sacrament of reconciliation is an opportunity to tell God that we are sorry for our actions that are unloving and it is an opportunity to grow in love once again.

I want to encourage you this week to take some time and examine your actions. Is your behavior something that shows God that you love him? Or does it show that you love someone or something more than God himself? Can people look at your example, the way you treat other people and know, this is a Christian, this is a person who keeps his commandments? More than likely, we all have some work to do. There are probably some things from our past that need God’s healing and mercy. Maybe there are some bad habits of laziness or wrong priorities that need to be straightened out. Whatever the case, don’t put it off, don’t leave it until the next day. God deserves your love; he deserves your best effort in keeping the two great commandments. Let us show the Lord that our love for him is much more than mere words, reinforcing it by our actions each and every day.

Making God a Part of your Decisions (5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A)

A little over four years ago, the Archbishop called me into his office and asked me to consider taking a new assignment. He told me it was okay if I wanted to take some time and pray about his request. He wanted me to ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, my spiritual director, and afterwards come back and give my answer. He was willing to let me make the final choice, whether or not I moved. I did exactly what the Archbishop asked me. I took the next couple weeks and prayed about what God wanted me to do. I asked the Holy Spirit, do you want me to stay at the Cathedral or do you want me to go to a new assignment? I met with my spiritual director and had him pray with me. After much prayer and thought, after some nights of tossing and turning in my sleep and wondering if I was making the right choice, I finally had my answer. I made another appointment with the Archbishop and informed him the Holy Spirit had told both me and my spiritual director that it would be best if I stayed at the Cathedral. He looked at me and said thank you very much. Two weeks later the archbishop called me and told me “I would like you to move and to practice your vow of obedience”. I suppose his Holy Spirit was much stronger and smarter than my Holy Spirit.

Even though I was surprised when the Archbishop told me I would be moving, I knew that I had taken a vow of obedience on the day of my ordination. And I have to say, even though I did not originally choose to come here to St. Joseph's in Cottleville, these four years have been a great blessing for me and I have learned so much.

This practice of using prayer while making a decision is present in today's first reading. In the Acts of the Apostles, the young church is growing by leaps and bounds and has increasing needs that must be met. Some of the widows are not receiving their portion of bread and are going hungry. People raise this concern to the apostles and they take it to prayer to find a solution. The answer they are given is to select seven holy men who will be in charge of the distribution of bread and other works of mercy so that no one is neglected. These seven men are the first deacons of our Church and they become the hands and hearts of the twelve apostles, enabling them to help more people while still allowing the twelve to remain in their ministry of prayer and teaching. 

This method of making decisions is also used to replace Judas, who betrayed Jesus.  They know there needed to be twelve apostles to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. This person had to be a witness to the resurrection. They come up with two very good choices. But they allow God to make the final decision, they leave the choice to God's wisdom and his ability to know what is best for them and for the whole church. In the end, Mathias is chosen to replace Judas and he will go on to do great things for the Lord, spreading the gospel and eventually laying down his life in Ethiopia for Christ. 

The pattern used by the early church in making decisions is something that we can incorporate into our own lives as Christian men and women. God wants to be a part of our decision-making; not just the big decisions: like should I be a priest or religious or should I get married? He also wants to be involved in the smaller choices that we encounter on a daily basis. God wants to help us to make good and holy decisions that will benefit us and those we care about. 

So how do we incorporate God into our process of making choices? First of all, we should invite God into the situation we are considering and ask him to help us see all the factors involved. Secondly, we should pay attention to our thoughts and feelings as we play out the different possibilities in our mind. We might ask the following questions: Do we feel more peace or joy with one option rather than the other? Does one scenario use more of our gifts or lead us closer to God? Does it challenge us to grow spiritually and humanly or is it just maintaining the status quo? Thirdly, as one course of action begins to seem more favorable, we can run it past someone we trust and who has our best interests in mind. They can make sure we are not simply rationalizing or deceiving ourselves. Finally, we can move forward with what we think God has led us towards, confident that if we missed something, he will gently guide toward the better part. 

It is important to note that we are speaking about situations where there are two or more good things at stake. This discernment, as it is called, helps us to decide which one is better for us in the given situation. We do not use discernment when there is a choice between good and evil because in that case, we must always choose the good.

It is truly amazing how closely God works with us in these times. He will speak to our hearts if we use this process of discernment, which is very simple and natural. With a little practice and some quiet time to listen, the Lord will show us the path to take. He will help us to avoid settling for less than the wonderful things he wants to give us. He will make use of people and other creative signs to help us know when to take the next step. So let us imitate the faithful example of the early Church and make God a part of our daily decision making. Nothing but good will come of it and this prayerful spirit will benefit every person affected by our decisions.

Mother's Day (4th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A)

As I think back on the many things my mom would say to me growing up, there was certainly a pattern. Phrases like: “it will be ok”, “I’m right here with you” “I love you”, and “keep practicing, it will get easier” were very comforting when I was scared, hurt, or frustrated. I also heard things like: “go to your room until you’re ready to behave”, or “tell your sister you are sorry for hurting her feelings”, and “we’ll see if you still feel that way when your father gets home”. These words were challenging and although I didn’t like them at the time, they usually ended up making me a better person in the long run. These words of comfort and challenge, have been a part of our lives growing up. Perhaps we still hear some of them even as adults! Behind these phrases was a love that can only spring from a mother’s heart. Behind these words was a hope for our future, a determination that we become someone good and happy and successful. On this day our world acknowledges and thanks moms for the countless sacrifices and acts of love that they show us day in and day out. And all of us in this church should take a moment, if we haven’t already, to thank God for the gift of our mom, who loved us incredibly and who sacrificed so much of her herself to help us become who we are today. For some of you, your mom is no longer here with you. Please take some time today and every day to pray for her soul, that she enjoy the rewards of heaven and the peace and fulfillment that only God can give her. 

Now I do not want to preach only about Mother’s day, but I think the primary roles of comforting and challenging that our moms practice in raising us is an important dynamic to consider. Why does a mother comfort her child? Of course she does so because she loves her little one. She wants to take away pain, eliminate any fear and assure the child that everything will be ok. A good mother comforts naturally, it doesn’t have to be taught or rehearsed. It radiates from the limitless love she has for her child and it springs from her desire to share everything with her little one. 

The same can be said for why our moms challenge us as we move through the stages of life. Certainly, it would have been easier for them to leave us to our own devices rather than chase us around and ask us to clean our rooms, put away the laundry and take out the trash. Surely, they did not look forward to checking our homework, forcing us to apologize when we had done wrong and hurt someone nor did they derive pleasure from sending us to our rooms or taking away various privileges. A loving mother challenges her children because she knows it will help them to grow and practice virtues. It is a selfless form of love that looks beyond what the child thinks is best in all its immaturity and short-sightedness. A mother’s challenge is for the child’s own good and oftentimes goes unappreciated until many years later, perhaps when that child becomes a parent themselves.

These expressions of love, comforting and challenging, so beautifully manifested by our mothers, are also laid out for us in the scriptures today. In our first reading, St. Peter lays into the Jewish people, reminding them that God sent them a savior, his own Son, whom they put to death. He doesn’t sugarcoat what they have done, he can’t ignore their sin. His listeners are cut to the heart by his challenge; they know they have done something terribly wrong. In his love for them, St. Peter offers them hope, a remedy for their wrongdoing. He tells them to repent and to be baptized. And his challenge, which at first produced heartbreak and anxiety in his listeners, becomes a source of joy and life as 3000 are baptized that very day.

In the Gospel, Jesus engages us with the hopeful and comforting words “that he has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly.” There are many things out there in the world and even in our hearts that threaten the gift of life. So many experience anger, self-hatred, jealousy, and selfishness. There are grudges and hurts that we hide from God and try to hold onto, even as they consume us. We live in a society that judges by appearance rather than the heart and which tries to decide which person is worth protecting and which lives can be thrown away. Jesus comforts us with the promise that he is the gate which gathers and protects the sheep. He is the good shepherd who leads the flock to safety and makes sure they have good food and clean water. He is the one who never hesitates to sacrifice himself for his loved ones and who never stops looking for those who have become lost. Jesus’ desire is to comfort us in every moment of our life until that time that we can rest fully and forever in him.

It is important that we accept both the comforts and the challenges that God sends our way if we want to live holy, happy, and healthy lives. For some of you today, God is issuing a personal challenge to draw closer to him especially by letting go of a particular sin. Perhaps, for some of you that are married, he is asking you to trust him more, to be open to the possibility of new life and remove artificial contraception from your marriage. For others, he might be nudging you to forgive someone who has hurt you deeply, even if that person has not apologized or expressed remorse. Many of you will be invited to be more generous in your material support of the Church’s charitable works, here in this parish and throughout the world. Still others will be challenged to let go of the shackles of a personal sin like drinking, pornography, self-abuse, or an unhealthy relationship which only moves you away from God and compromises your dignity. Whatever the challenge, I encourage you to embrace it. God holds your happiness and best interests near his Sacred Heart and whatever he asks you to give up will be richly rewarded. Whenever we begin the process of conversion, he will be there every step of the way to comfort us in our heartache, to soothe us as we move into the unknown and the uncomfortable. Anything he asks us to suffer, he promises to be right alongside us; we are never alone.

So today, we once again thank God for our moms who have loved and comforted us and in doing so, have been God’s hands and hearts in leading us closer to him. And we recognize that in some small way, they have helped prepare us for the ways God also challenges and comforts us throughout our lives. May God bless our moms, living and deceased and may he bless us with trusting and generous hearts for whatever he asks!

The Road to Emmaus (3rd Sunday of Easter)

Over the past week I had the privilege to attend a class in Chicago on spiritual direction. One of the expectations of this class is that you spend considerable amount of time in personal prayer. The scripture I chose to reflect on for the week was the gospel we just heard, that long but beautiful story where two of the disciples are lost, confused, and searching for meaning. Because their experience is so relevant to how we feel sometime, let’s take a few moments to explore its meaning. I would encourage you to imagine that you are there with the two disciples as they leave Jerusalem. The road would be filled with pilgrims entering and leaving the city. It would be later in the afternoon with the sun starting to go down on the horizon. 

These two followers of Christ were hurrying out of town on Sunday, the third day after the crucifixion. They were getting out of Dodge, fleeing the madness of what had just happened and trying to stay ahead of possible persecutions. They had seven or eight miles to walk that night. We hear that they are talking about everything that has just happened to them when Jesus approaches and asks what they are discussing. We are told they are downcast when this stranger asks them about their conversation. And this is not surprising. The average lifespan of a person during this time was about 40-45 years. And they had just spent three of them following a carpenter’s son, who claimed he was the Son of God. In their mind, they had lost three important years and they had lost their identity, their mission, their teacher, and Lord in whom they had put all their hope. How beautiful that Our Lord takes an interest in what they are going through and how they are feeling! How amazing that he “draws” near to them to walk with them along their journey. And even though he could just spill the beans and reveal himself to them right there on the road, he doesn’t. He knows they are not yet ready, they need to work through everything that has happened in order to understand. And he walks patiently with them, listening to their experience and filling in the gaps, showing them the reason for it all. He explains that everything happened for a reason, indeed it HAD to happen this way for the salvation of the world.

Even as Jesus explains everything to them, they still do not recognize him. Even though they are being encouraged, in fact, they feel their hearts burning within them, they still cannot believe that this companion is their Risen Lord. And yet, Jesus patiently walks with them to their destination. When they arrive, Jesus gives the impression that he will keep walking, he never invites himself in; he waits to be invited by the disciples and he also waits for our invitation to let him into our lives.They beg him to stay a little longer and he does. How encouraging to us to consider the generosity of Christ, who wants to answer our requests! How humbling that the Risen Lord waits impatiently to serve us, to help us! And how often we fail to invite hime to stay with us.

Once inside, Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of the bread, the same breaking of the bread that we will celebrate in a few moments. Immediately, the disciples get it, and they see who this stranger really is. And in that moment, they realize that the last three years were not wasted at all. That Christ has indeed risen and conquered sin and death and everything that he taught is true. They would have realized in the breaking of the bread that God’s wisdom is infinitely wiser than any human wisdom. They would have known without a doubt that their lord was not just a king but also a patient and loving friend who was willing to walk with them throughout their doubt until their faith and hope were restored. And because any encounter with Jesus is so good, so joyful, so overwhelming, they cannot keep it to themselves, they have to tell others. So they run back to Jerusalem, through the dark roads from which they just came to share the good news with the apostles. 

We are often those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Don’t we all go through times when we are downcast, confused, disappointed, frightened, and hurt because we expect one thing from God but get something entirely different? These hardships challenge the way we think of God; they make us feel alone and abandoned. Because of our own expectations of God, we can be blind to the fact that he is walking right alongside us in our time of difficulty. Christ is always walking with us during these moments but we may not recognize him. Like the disciples, we may walk quite a distance down our road of difficulty before we see the presence of Christ. This healing presence of our Lord may be found where we least expect it: in the kind words of a stranger, in the beauty of fine spring day, or the smile of a friend or family member. 

Finally, we can see our time here at Mass each week as our own journey to Emmaus. Here we can bring all those things we have on our minds and present them to God. Here we have the Word of God, which is opened up and explained to us as it relates to Christ. But our Lord doesn’t stop at explaining the scriptures to us. In a few minutes he will become present in the breaking of the bread here at the altar. It was this breaking of the bread that opened the eyes of the disciples. If we invite him into our hearts, he will do the same thing for us. He wants our eyes to be opened, so that we can see him working in every situation of our lives.

My prayer for all of us here today is that we approach this Eucharist with the eyes of faith, a faith which sees that Jesus is walking alongside us, each and every step of the way. May we be a people who recognize the presence of Christ here in the breaking of the bread. May we, like the disciples, say to one another as we leave this church: Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”