1st Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

There were a few good super bowl commercials this year. But it seems each year feels a little less humorous than the last. Maybe, in the past, I was a simpleton with my humor and that’s why I used to be so entertained by the commercials. Perhaps it is getting harder and harder to be funny and original in our very sensitive and politically correct society. If I had to choose one company for first place this year, it would easily be “esurance”, a online insurance company. During the Super Bowl and immediately after, they released three funny ads, united by the common theme: “Sorta you isn't you.” The first two commercials feature Lindsey Lohan and the character Walter White  from Breaking Bad and are hilarious. Finally, and perhaps lesser known, is the commercial that depicts a parent-teacher conference. Two pleasant-looking parents sit down in front of the teacher’s desk and notice the character in front of them is not “Mr. Craig” but rather an intimidating biker type who speaks in a gravelly voice. They protest right away but this character gruffly argues that he, like Mr. Craig, is between 35 and 45 years old, likes to save money on insurance, and also is good at teaching people a lesson (he makes his argument while smashing a pencil into the desk). In other words, close enough! As the parents get up to leave, the sorta-teacher barks for them to sit down and the point is made: sorta you isn’t you at all!

When we think about Noah, we usually think about a huge boat, the animals walking in, two-by-two, and of course, the epic flood that destroyed everything and everyone on earth except those in the ark. Which leads us to consider the God of Noah: powerful, scary, angry, brutal, detached from the human race, not afraid to start over. But this image of God is like the esurance commercial; sorta God isn’t God at all!

Many people, many christians, way too many catholics have an impression of God that is sorta God. That he is legalistic, distant, frightening, unapproachable, uncaring, punishing, harsh, vindictive, waiting for us to mess up, and frankly, too busy to care about our troubles. If the God of the flood was the end of the story, then maybe all this would be true. Our reading today invites us to think differently as it describes what happens after that terrible flood. After the flood, God reaches out to the whole human race through Noah. Instead of giving up on us, he enters into something called a covenant with humanity. So, what is a covenant?

A covenant is more than a legal contract or serious promise or even a solemn oath. A covenant is a living relationship where one person or party binds themselves to another person or party in a unique relationship. In a covenant, the two people or parties become family, intertwined in the most intimate way. To break a covenant is to tear away from the family and destroy the bond of kinship that was made. An everyday example would be marriage. In marriage two people enter into a union and form a family. Even their extended families are drawn together in this bond. A good marriage is beautiful thing in the life it fosters and the way it brings people unity, comfort, healing, and strength. When a marriage goes bad, when that covenant is disrespected or destroyed, it is incredibly destructive, divisive, and hurtful.

God wants humanity, and in fact, all of creation, to be his family. He takes the initiative and reaches out to Noah as soon as dry land appears. His language is very beautiful and clear. Never again will the earth be destroyed by a flood. Not only that, but every time the clouds fill the sky, when rains falls to earth, and a rainbow appears, each and every time, God thinks of that covenant and remembers his love for each and every creature he made. 

God is a loving father, patient savior, merciful judge, interested listener, loyal spouse, dedicated brother, compassionate friend, and tireless advocate. Anything that contradicts these qualities, any belief that paints a different picture of the Lord is only sorta-God, and Sorta-God isn’t God at all!

This loving invite from God to Noah was not simply a neat moment in history; it is a living relationship. The Lord is still inviting people into this covenant, not simply as a group, not just as anonymous members of the human race, but as individuals. God is constantly seeking a personal, unique, one on one covenant with you and me that is different than the one he has with any other person. He will not get discouraged, disgusted, or give up. He will keep reaching out. But he also respects your freedom; he will not make you enter into that loving relationship with him. He wants you to do it freely and deliberately. He will never go back on his promises, even when we break ours. The only time he steps back (notice I did not say leave or abandon) is when we tell him to. This is what sin is, this is what sin does. Sin says ‘“God, I don’t want your covenant anymore! I no longer want to be in your family!” Fortunately for us, God is always ready to repair that relationship and bring us back to his family through  the sacrament of confession!

Lent is a special, focused time to let go of our sorta-Gods, our misconceptions, and hang-ups which keep us from knowing and experiencing who God really is. Its also an opportunity to renew that incredible covenant, come back to the heavenly household, and receive all the good that is entitled to us as the sons and daughters of God. May God bless these holy days for you and may you accept the invitation to be a part of His family!  

 

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

If you’ve ever seen the “Lord of the Rings” movies, or even better, if you’ve read the books, you know that there is a magical substance known as Lembas bread. This bread was made by elves and it had otherworldly qualities. The bread was very nutritious, stayed fresh for months when wrapped, and was used for sustenance on long journeys. The recipe of lembas bread was a closely guarded secret, and only on rare occasions was it given to non-elves. Like other products of the Elves, it was offensive to creatures corrupted by evil; the wicked Gollum refused outright to eat it. Just a little corner of the bread could sustain someone for days and a loaf could keep someone alive and active for months. Anyone who consumed this bread was amazed at its incredible power and richness because it so far exceeded it’s physical size.

The word of God is very much like that enchanting Lembas bread. Just a little portion can sustain our spiritual life and teach us incredible things about God and ourselves. Take our gospel for example, which is just a little portion of Mark’s whole gospel and an even smaller fraction of the entire bible. St. Mark compresses life-changing events and priceless lessons into just a few sentences. Today, we hear three short paragraphs that summarize what was an incredible amount of preaching, healing, and teaching.

In the first paragraph, Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Peter. Something that might grab our attention is how personal this healing is; Jesus takes her by the hand and helps her up. He does this quietly, in the privacy of the home and not in front of a massive audience to gain fame or praise. Notice how she immediately gets up after Christ restores her, and begins to care for the whole group. Her healing is not just for her own good but also benefits others.

In the second paragraph, we see this gift of Jesus cannot be kept secret. People hear how he can heal and more importantly, they sense he has an immensely compassionate heart. Because it was the sabbath day, the Law would not allow people to carry anything, even a sick or dying person, until nightfall. We can only imagine the impatient  excitement of this village, among the healthy and the sick, as they waited for sunset. As soon as the sun goes down, Mark tells us that the people brought to Jesus All who were ill or possessed by demons. And he cured them. Here we see the hunger people have for a savior who can set them free from the physical and spiritual maladies that afflict them. This might make us wonder why we aren’t more excited to come into this church and to receive the same Lord in the Eucharist. The same person who healed and helped all these people!

Finally, in the third paragraph, after what must have been an exhausting day, Jesus gets up early the next morning to pray. Many times, when we get busy, or at least what we think is busy, prayer is the first thing we get rid of. Many times we think of prayer as a luxury, as something that we will get to if we have time. How revealing that Jesus, who is probably the one person who could afford to skip a day of prayer, makes that the first, non-negotiable part of his day. Prayer is where he gets the strength to heal, preach, and teach. Prayer is how he stays connected to the Father. Prayer is where he receives what he needs from God to turn around and then share with the people he is sent to. Prayer is Jesus’ Lembas bread! This third paragraph challenges the mindset we all fall into, even me as a priest. We are never too busy to pray! And if we want to give something worthwhile to the people around us, be they friends, family, co-workers, or anyone else, we need to be nourished, healed, and inspired by daily prayer.  

From these paragraphs, we see three principles emerge from Jesus’ example. These patterns must be integrated into our own faith and the way that we live each day. The first characteristic is that Jesus never separated words from actions. He was not just a fancy talker, a smooth salesman that failed to deliver. Jesus taught a message of mercy, love, and holiness and he demonstrated it in the way he treated each person he encountered. He was utterly consistent in this regard and that is why his words had such power: they were reinforced by his actions.

The second principle on display is that Christ did not separate soul and body. He knew that healing what ails a person’s body could also prepare their soul for the gospel and healing their spirit often took away the ailments of their bodies. While he taught that those who are sick, hungry, persecuted, and suffering could find happiness and peace, he did not see these afflictions as something good or desirable in themselves. In other words, what we see in the life of Christ is a concern for the health and well-being of the whole person, both body and soul.

The third principle had to do with heaven and earth; Jesus never separated the two. There are those who are so concerned with heaven that they forget all about earth and become impractical, naive, and out-of-touch with reality. On the other hand, there are those who are so concerned with earth that they forget about heaven and reduce happiness and goodness to material things. The dream of Jesus was a time when God’s will would be done “on earth as it is in heaven” and earth and heaven would be one.

The whole point of our life, the key to our eternal happiness comes from learning to integrate the lessons of today’s gospel and making those principles part of our daily living. Let us try honestly and fervently to make our words consistent with our actions. Let it not be said about us that we are big talkers in our faith with nothing to back it up. May we also care for both body and soul in regards to ourselves and others. Finally, let us never lose sight of the fact that we are meant to be present to this world but our ultimate goal is heaven. Jesus pulls these three ideals together through his example of prayer and service; he shows us how to make them part of our lives. So stop procrastinating, stop making excuses. Receive the Lord, here in the Eucharist and talk to him in daily prayer. He will show you what to do.

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

In the first reading, Moses reminds Israel of one of its earlier experiences with God's awesome power and presence. He recalled their encounter with God at Mount Horeb. They had asked God to appoint Moses as a prophet and promised they would obey all God told them to do. There, waiting at the foot of the mountain, were the elders and leading men of the tribes of Israel. While they waited for Moses to bring them the Word of God, the entire mountain blazed with fire. They heard the voice of God coming out of the darkness and they were afraid.

Not that this fear was a bad thing. When I was growing up, I had a healthy fear of my mom and dad because I knew they were in charge and would take care of business if I got out of line. In fact, I had more fear in regards to my mom because she was also our teacher and could pile on the homework as a punishment. I would suspect that many of you had a similar experience in your homes. On the other hand, when a child has no respect, a.k.a. fear for their parents, chaos soon ensues as the child runs the show and develops into a tyrant, while the parent becomes something of a pitiful caricature.

The notion of fearing the Lord, which is nothing more than reverence, is not something that has been in fashion lately. Most of the homilies that I have heard, the majority of the lessons I have been taught center on the fact that Jesus loves us and desires to be our friend. Many, if not most of you have had a similar experience in your religious education. And these are undoubtedly good things and truths revealed to us by the bible. But the same can be said of the need to fear the Lord. As a matter of fact, psalm 111 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the first stage of wisdom.

So what is the fear of the Lord? Well, let's begin with what it is not. It is not the type of fear that we feel when we are in danger or frightened by something that threatens to hurt us. Nor is the fear of God something that drives us away from him or makes us afraid to ask for his help and guidance.

         The fear of the Lord is quite simply the realization that there is a God, a God who created the world out of nothing, a God who is larger than our imagination, a just God who has endless power, wisdom, and love. This respectable fear brings us to a greater love of God, makes us more aware of his infinite justice and mercy, and helps us to realize how much he cares for us.

Far too often we forget the sheer size of God, the awesome power of God, the absoluteness of God, and truly, in the long run, we forget the fear of God. How often do we hold God in our hands in the Eucharist and then proceed to fumble for our keys, anxious for the Mass to be over. We receive the Lord on our tongue then use our words to hurt others. Many of us have come to believe that Hell is simply a metaphor, a description of the pain and suffering we experience here and now. Others have convinced themselves that God's judgments are always good ones - good in the sense that God will not punish us for our sins, even if we don’t repent or make changes in our lives. Indeed, almost all of us have become so familiar with God's mercy, that we have forgotten God’s justice. {We have forgotten that God is to be respected and feared, and as a result - we have become foolish while thinking ourselves to be wise.}

 

         The truth is, whenever Israel forgot the fear of the Lord, they got themselves into trouble and began to listen to false prophets. It was a healthy fear of God that helped them remain faithful to the covenant with the Lord. It was the fear of the Lord that made them prosper in love and in service to the God who had set them free from sin and slavery. We are not so different now. If we forget the fear of the Lord, not only do we prove ourselves foolish, we will also begin to serve other gods. Other gods like money, comfort or pleasure. Our own will and desires try to convince us not to be afraid of anything other than standing out or going without the creature comforts of this world. The irony is this; as we grow in our fear of the Lord, we will inevitably increase our love for him. We will be more and more hesitant to offend him by sin and less and less afraid to stand up for what is right. Just as Israel had Moses, to guide them and remind them of their commitment to God, we have Christ, the Son of God to keep us on the right track and lead us to the Father. He has authority over all things, even the forces of evil, and will never let us down. As we come to this Eucharist, let us remember that we are in a very special place because we are in the presence of God himself. Let us not be proud; let us not take anything for granted. This fear of the Lord will make us wise and will lead us to a greater love of God.

         God is to be feared and the savior he has sent is to be heard and obeyed - so that we might not sin. Do not listen to the false prophets, those who tell you that love is all you need and that your soul is safe no matter what you believe or what you do. The word of God that has come to us through Jesus is the word that has always been proclaimed "Repent and believe in the good news of God's kingdom" Repent and believe; and all will go well for us, we have God’s word and he keeps all his promises.