Video Games and the Law (22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B)

If you watch tv, you’ll notice commercials for video games. Some of these games are incredibly realistic and detailed. As a matter of fact, there are times when I have to take a second look to see if what is on tv might be real footage or simply scenes from some new game. But the video game started very humble and simple. The first real arcade game was released in 1972. It was named Pong and the arcade version was the size of a refrigerator. Pong was a simple game by today’s standards, two people trying to keep a ball from going out on their side while attempting to make the ball go out of bounds on their opponent’s end. This was accomplished by moving a small bar up and down on the screen to hit the ball, which never stopped moving. This game was a huge hit and it paved the way for many other video games, which slowly became more complex and involved. For example, eight years later, Pac-Man was released, which was far more advanced than Pong. Then came Nintendo and Mario Brothers, Sega and Sonic the hedgehog, Playstation and Gran Turismo, which led to the games we see now, which are incredibly addictive, intense, and difficult because of how realistic they are. It’s really pretty amazing if you stop and think about it. Over the past 40 years, games have slowly evolved from Pong, where you could only move up and down in two dimensions to now where the characters can move up, down, left, right, lean, crawl, jump run, walk and interact, all in a 3-d environment that changes with the choices the gamer makes.

This change didn’t happen overnight. It happened little by little, layer by layer as programmers came to a greater understanding of how to write code and computers and game consoles were capable of handling more advanced concepts. So what’s the point of this obscure history lesson? Well, just as gaming has grown in its complexity and depth, so too has our understanding of the moral law as laid out in the readings today. Notice how humanity has slowly, with God’s help, come to a rich and deep understanding of the law, as God has placed it in our hearts. 

Think back to the very first commandment that God gave the human race. It was so simple, so basic, just like that first video game! He said, “you are free to eat of whatever tree you like, just stay away from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” This one law, this one commandment our first parents could not obey. But God did not give up on us nor did he refuse to teach our stubborn souls. As time went on and humanity grew in its knowledge of right and wrong and of God himself, God began to reveal more of the law to his people. In the first reading, He speaks through Moses as he promises life to those who commit themselves to keeping his commandments. The prophet says, “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live. In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations”

This is where God gives the ten commandments to his people and here, the law gets a little more detailed. Israel gets a little more knowledge into the law and the God who gave it to them. God wants them to know the law because it will help them to know him. The way that they show their love for God is to keep the laws he has given them. Each law has a purpose, not a single one is arbitrary or frivolous. If you read the Old Testament, you will see this pattern emerging: God reveals himself through the Law and he does this little by little, law by law, layer by layer. 

In the second reading from St. James, another dimension of God’s law is manifested. St. James advises us, “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” Here we are encouraged to examine our hearts and see how well we actually do God’s law, taught to us in his holy Word. It is not enough to simply know it or hear it. It has to be practiced in our daily actions and become part of who we are as his followers. What we believe and how we act need to be one and the same with the Word of God. If they are not, we aren’t truly living his law and we won’t be found worthy of eternal life.

These are the first two parts of God’s law: learning or knowing it and then actually doing it. But there is one more dimension, laid out for us in the gospel. Jesus and his disciples are being observed by the scribes and pharisees while they eat. This group complains because they see some of the apostles neglecting the ceremonial washing of hands before they begin their meal. Now the scribes and pharisees knew God’s law and technically they followed it perfectly, down to the little traditions like washing ones hands. But they ignored the third and most important dimension of the law: they didn’t embrace the Law in their hearts and they refused to go any deeper than the appearance of being righteous. This is why Jesus condemns them and their hypocrisy. They know and follow the Law for other people to see and admire but their hearts are far from being in the right place. On the outside they appear spotless and virtuous but on the inside they are proud, arrogant, and sinful. When they observe the laws of God, they honor him with their lips but have all sorts of evil designs in their heart. They are missing this all-important 3^rd dimension of God’s law; knowledge and doing are not enough.

This should make us pause and ask ourselves about our own intentions when it comes to the Law of God. Do we have all three dimensions working in our own lives? Do we truly know the moral law as it has been handed down through Scripture and the traditions of the Catholic Church? If we know these teachings, which are a revelation of who God is, do we also practice them in the way we think, speak, and act? Finally, in knowing and doing the Law of God, do we embrace it with our whole heart, out of love for our creator? Do we see our obedience to the law as a way to worship him? Or, do we keep the laws so that we can compare ourselves to others and feel self-righteous? Perhaps we do what is right for others to see while harboring evil in our hearts? 

As Christians, we are living in the most advanced stage of the of the moral law; we are not playing pong when it comes to knowing and following the Law! As disciples of Christ, we must incorporate all three aspects into the way we live. We cannot separate any of them from who we are or we risk becoming hypocrites. Knowing, doing, and loving God’s law will enrich our lives and deepen our understanding of God himself. The reason we are here on earth is to know, love, and serve God and the moral law is one of the primary tools that enables us to do so. May you find the Law to be life-giving to you and may it bring you closer to God and neighbor every time you observe it.  

Eucharist as Freedom (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B)

We have as our guest this weekend, Sr. Jeanne Houlihan of the Maryknoll Sisters. Sister is going to speak to us about her work as a missionary and also some of the needs of our brothers and sisters around the world. Before she speaks to you, I want to finish our reflection on the Bread of Life Discourse of St. John’s Gospel.

We have arrived at the fifth and final homily in our series: Jesus the Bread of Life. We have seen four dimensions of the Eucharist: Food, Faith, Forgiveness and Fission (in the nuclear sense). Today we see the fifth dimension. Like the first four, it begins with the letter "f". It is a word central to the Bible and that word is freedom! Freedom is used many different ways in our time, but for the person who follows Christ, it means the power to decide, to make a choice. It is not the ability to do whatever we want; that is anarchy! 

Our readings today focus on this freedom to make important decisions. Joshua tells the Israelites, "Decide today whom you will serve." St. Paul tells husbands they have to make a decision: Are they going to love their wife? Not just in an emotional or romantic way. That kind of love comes and goes. Rather, St. Paul tells husbands to love their wives like Christ loves the Church; down to the last drop of his blood. In the Gospel Jesus confronts his disciples with the greatest choice of all, "Do you also want to leave me?”

God has given us freedom - a great gift, but also a bit frightening. Pope-emeritus Benedict said, "Freedom is a springboard from which to dive into the infinite sea of divine goodness, but it can also become a tilted plane on which to slide towards the abyss of sin and evil." He spoke these words to the boys and girls of Rome's prison for minors. No matter how limited we feel, God has given us the gift of freedom. Our readings remind us that it is up to us to decide how to use it. 

In addressing his disciples Jesus makes it clear that the decision comes down to something very concrete: The Eucharist itself. These past weeks we have been hearing Jesus say, "I am the Bread of Life, whoever comes to me will never hunger...The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world...Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you...my flesh is true food and my blood true drink.” As we have learned, faith is a gift. "No one can come to me," says Jesus, "unless the Father draw him." You have the gift of faith in Christ, especially in his true presence in the Eucharist. 

All of this is wonderful to reflect on, but it also has practical implications: We have to make a choice. Are we going to live our faith? Will we worship Jesus when the priest lifts his Body and Blood? Will we approach Communion with reverence? Will we spend time before Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament here in church? Will we consciously make time for the Lord everyday for quiet prayer? Will we be like the many people in today’s gospel that left the Lord and no longer followed him because his teaching was too hard, too demanding? 

I would like conclude this series with a final image from Pope Benedict. He compares the Corpus Christi procession to Mary on the road to her cousin Elizabeth. Mary carries Jesus inside her just as we carry Jesus in the monstrance. Mary consciously chooses to accept the responsibility to be the mother of God with all the challenges and sacrifices that come along with it. Perhaps that is what is so beautiful about every pregnancy, every family that is expecting a child. They are deliberately accepting their unborn child with all the sacrifices and obligations he or she brings. In living our faith in Christ, we face a similar choice to accept him with all the sacrifices and obligations that follow. Take time to consider the words of Joshua, "Decide today whom you will serve." And above all, Jesus' question: "Do you also want to leave me?" You do have a choice. I pray that your freedom will be a springboard to God and not an inclined plane toward sin. Hopefully we can be inspired by the image of Mary with Jesus inside her. She can help us realize the true potential of our freedom. She can help us say the words of St. Peter: "Master, to who shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

Nuclear Fission (20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B)

This weekend marks the fourth stop in our reflection on the “Bread of Life Discourse” of John’s gospel. So far, we have pondered the themes of food, faith, and forgiveness in relation to the Eucharist. Today’s point for meditation comes to us, not from scripture like the other three, but from Pope-Emeritus Benedict. In his homily to young people attending the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, he said the Eucharist is “like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being—the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world.” Let’s spend some time this morning on this theme of nuclear fission as we enter the fourth dimension of the Eucharist. 

In high school science most of us probably learned something about nuclear fission. Science wasn’t one of my strengths and I apologize to all you physicists out there. Nuclear fission involves unleashing energy inside matter which then multiplies and increases energy. Since this process involves some of the building blocks of matter, —-things like neutrons and protons, the effects can be enormous. The element uranium is the natural engine of fission and it can do incredible things, even in small amounts. For example, one kilogram of uranium, which equals 2.2 pounds, can produce as much energy as 3.3 million pounds of coal! One pound of highly enriched uranium, like that used to power a nuclear submarine is equivalent to 1 million gallons of gasoline. 

What looks like a humble rock has enormous power inside. Just so, says Pope Benedict, Jesus' death "on the outside is simply brutal violence - the crucifixion - from within, it becomes an act of total self-giving love." Jesus renews that self-giving in the Eucharist and is literally a dynamo of grace and love and mercy. When the priest lifts up the host and says, this is my Body given for you - and the chalice, this is my blood poured out for you - Jesus draws us into his self-offering. By his cross he takes us to the Father through the Holy Spirit. You might protest: But I am a sinner. I am terribly distracted. There is so much I don’t understand! So were the disciples at the Last Supper. They even started falling asleep! Jesus takes us to the Father despite our sins. 

Those failings afflict us, but you know Jesus still wants to take us to His Father. The forgiveness - the acceptance - we experience in the Eucharist can remake us. The Eucharist is the great sacrament of forgiveness. Think about this: If God put so much potential energy and power in uranium, how much more potential has he put in you? Several pounds of this rock can give light and warmth to an entire city. Consider what God can do with you.

As technology advances and we explore more of the universe, it becomes increasingly clear that God has done amazing things in our world. Just think of the incredible images we have received from the spacecraft near Pluto and the probe on Mars. But we have something even more amazing within ourselves. The American physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku, said, "Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe." God has put enormous potential power in us: the nuclear dynamo which is our body, mind, and most especially, our soul. To unleash that energy, God wants to refine us with something even greater - the Body of Christ. Jesus tells us today that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life. It only makes sense when you think about the fact that you and I are composite beings, made of matter and spirit. Jesus, who is perfect God and perfect man, did not take up a human body, then discard it. No, he redeemed and perfected it when he rose, body and soul, from the dead. He gives us his body so we might have eternal life.

I want to offer one last thought on the topic of nuclear fission. It is something that has incredible potential for good so long as it is carefully used and applied in the right circumstances. However, if misused, there can be terrible consequences. I am thinking specifically of the atomic bombs that were dropped 70 years ago on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed some 200,000 people. More recently, the Cold War comes to mind and currently, there is much concern about what will happen if Iran enriches enough uranium to make a nuclear device. How sad that something with so much potential for good has also been used to hurt so many!

In a very similar way, the Eucharist must be respected, cared for, and never taken for granted. Because the Eucharist is God himself, it has great power; power for good if used correctly, another type of power is misused. In fact, St. Paul warns Christians in 1 Corinthians 11 that anyone who receives the Eucharist unworthily, which is to say, mindlessly or in the state of mortal sin, eats and drinks condemnation on themselves. We should be on guard against becoming too casual in receiving Communion and taking it for granted. For example, how many Catholics now refer to Holy Communion now as simply bread and wine? We need to look deeper and be mindful of what God is sharing with us. Remember what Pope Benedict says: “the Eucharist is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being.” What an incredible opportunity that is for spiritual power, warmth, and light to radiate out of our soul!

May the life and love of God, the same life and love that created the universe out of nothing and redeemed a world full of sinners, may that life and love be placed in your hearts today at this altar and enable you to help good conquer evil! 

God's Food for Forgiveness, (19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B)

We enter our third week of reflection on the Bread of Life discourse and so far we have considered the themes of food and faith in relationship to the Eucharist. Today we have a third dimension of the Eucharist: forgiveness. Forgiveness ties in with the dimensions of Food and Faith in a number of ways. For example, it’s hard to enjoy a shared meal when you are at odds with the person across the table. A common meal often involves letting go of irritations, hurts, and even grievances. Forgiveness also requires a certain amount of faith. 

A relationship of faith means a willingness to admit failures, ask pardon, and make amends. Even faith in God requires a kind of "forgiveness." I put forgiveness in quotes because God is all good, all wise and all loving. He is not going to offend us or let us down. Nevertheless, when we pray to God we should honestly express our disappointments, frustrations, and moments of confusion as we try to understand His plan. We see these elements in today's reading with the prophet Elijah. He is at the end of his rope. Queen Jezebel has been trying to kill him for doing the will of God and he has had no rest. He wants to crawl into a hole and die. But he prays, or at least he complains to the Lord, then takes a nap. An angel wakes him, tells him to get up, eat something and start walking across the desert: one foot after another, for forty days until he arrives at Horeb, the holy mountain. Which is a surprisingly good example for us. When we are down, overwhelmed, and simply don’t know what to do, we would do well to express our anger, sadness, hurt, or whatever negative feelings we are experiencing honestly to God in our prayer; he already knows the confusion in our heart. After praying, be like Elijah: rest, eat God’s food here in the Eucharist and then get going. One step at a time, one foot after the other, each day a little closer to heaven and holiness. Above all else, trust God! 

Faith and forgiveness go hand in hand. We trust God and we know that he never tires of forgiving. As Pope Francis has often said: "God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy." If you are going to remember one sentence, remember that one: "God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy." Isn’t this so true in regards to the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Every single parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis offers the sacrament of God’s mercy, at least once a week. Yet, how often do we take advantage of this divine gift? There are about 1600 people registered in this parish and most of them are old enough to benefit from reconciliation. Yet I only average about 4 confessions a week, around 250 a year. By my rough math, that means about 1000 parishioners are mercy-deprived and trying to walk the road to God’s mountain with the crushing burden of sin and guilt. 

The awareness of our sins and the source of all forgiveness is found throughout the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The more fully we realize our sinfulness and our need for God’s mercy, the more deeply we appreciate the incredible gift of the Eucharist. From the very beginning of Mass, we are mindful of our sins and weakness as we start with the penitential rite and say with one voice, “Lord have mercy!” At the end of the reading of the gospel, as the priest or deacon kisses the book, he whispers, “through the words of the gospel, may our sins be wiped away.” If you listen closely to the Eucharistic Prayer, you will hear the priest, acting in the person of Christ, constantly asking for the Father’s mercy on his children. In a few moments, I will say, "This is the chalice of my blood...poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins." Right before we receive Holy Communion, we will all say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Here we have more than mere words - an action takes place: Jesus by his blood, in the Holy Spirit, takes you with all your sins to the Father. What sins are we talking about? 

St. Paul puts it bluntly: bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling and malice. Have you experienced any of these sins in the last year or two? Maybe the last week or two? St. Paul reminds us that we are called to “be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” This is how we become imitators of God. First receiving forgiveness for our many sins in the Eucharist and in the sacrament of confession and then extending that same gift of mercy to others.

During Mass today, take your sins to the cross. While you are here, you are transported to Christ’s passion and death on that Good Friday. You are kneeling at the foot of the cross together with Mary, John and all the saints and angels. St. Paul speaks about the sacrificial offering of Jesus. In the Mass we join ourselves to that offering. 

Experience the peace that comes from joining yourself - just as you are with all your disappointments, your questions, yes, even your sins and weaknesses - to the self-offering of Jesus, the True Bread of Life. Make a promise with God and yourself to take advantage of his mercy in the sacrament of confession. Be forgiven so you can go out and forgive others. Freely. Generously. Without exception. Amen.