Divine Mercy (2022)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

History of Divine Mercy Sunday, of course it's nothing new. God has been showing his mercy ever since Adam and Eve messed up in the garden. This feast was formally instituted about 20 yrs ago by St. JPII but it had been slowly growing in popularity since 1935, because of the visions of St. Faustina. Which isn’t to say that God finally became merciful 20 years ago but rather that the Pope saw the increasing need for an emphasis on mercy for a world that has become increasingly harsh and callous.

The concept of mercy revolves around debt. I remember my first experience of being in debt when I bought my first new car. It was great to have something brand new and perfect. It was not so great to have payments for 5 years and know the bank had a lien on the title. In fact, I disliked the feeling of being indebted so much that I paid off the car 1.5 years early. Many of you know this even more than I do as you carry substantial loans for homes, businesses, and college education which can span 20-30 years! I have never met someone who liked being in debt and I suspect I never will. Humans like to be free in every dimension of their existence.

Imagine someone came to you and offered to pay off all your loans, large and small. This was not some email scam but the real deal. All you had to do was to name the debts you owed, say you didn’t want them anymore and they would be erased. Would you take advantage of that offer? Unless you were insane, I think you would. And what if you could receive this gift as often as you liked, it was not a one-time thing! Would you only go once? Probably not! Would you wait until debt was crushing you or would you submit every single one, even the little ones for payment and forgiveness?

Every time we sin, we create a spiritual debt that must be paid. And unlike our financial obligations, these spiritual debts last forever and we are unable to repay them on our own. In fact, not even the holiest saint could earn forgiveness for a single sin they committed, no matter how small! It would be more possible for one of us to repay the entire national debt, well over 30 trillion dollars, by ourselves than to earn the forgiveness of one sin.

This is the great news of Divine Mercy; it is not something we earn but a completely free gift of God. And he makes it so easy for us! All we have to do is bring him our sins in the sacrament of confession and he wipes them away forever. And we can receive this mercy as often as we like! So why don’t more people take advantage of it?:

Shame: “God can’t forgive me…” If God was like us, with our limitations and biases, that might be true but fortunately for sinners, he is pure and perfect love. The only sin God cannot forgive is the one that is not given to him. He will not force his forgiveness on us.

Fear: “I don’t want to be judged…What will the priest think…” There are so many stories in the bible that show God’s tenderness toward the sinful soul. As long as one is sorry, God rushes in to heal and comfort us. More often than not, we are far harder on ourselves than God is. As far as what the priests thinks, let me tell you a little secret, sin is pretty boring (Which is not meant to be a challenge). Everyone commits some assortment of the same general group of sins. Honestly, I forget the sins people tell me within minutes of them leaving the confessional.

Pride: “I don’t need to go…I haven’t killed anyone…I’m basically a good person…”(God is glad that you are not a murderer but the standards for getting into heaven are a little more than simply resisting homicidal urges! We are called by Jesus to be perfect as his heavenly father is perfect! All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…

Stubbornness: “No one tells me what to do…!” We were made by God and for God and he knows us better than we know ourselves. When he instituted the sacrament of confession, it wasn’t simply to give priests something to do or some other arbitrary reason. Rather God, our maker, knew in his mysterious wisdom, that this was the best way for people to experience his mercy on every level of their being: emotional, spiritual, and psychological. When we defy this wisdom and try to seize his mercy on our terms, we do so at our own peril! 

Procrastination: “I will get to confession next week…” Eventually we run out of those! And it’s sort of like telling God, “thanks for the incredible offer but I have more important things to take care of than my eternal soul!”

Bad experience: Sometimes we get a grumpy, impatient, or unkind priest. This is a shame but it should not keep us away from God’s mercy. For better or worse, God has called human beings to administer his sacraments and sometimes we run into that very human dimension in our flawed priests. But just like we would not stop eating out forever if we once had a bad waiter, so too with confession. Don’t go back to that priest, but don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater!

This feast of Divine Mercy is a reminder to us how much God wants us back. 

He wants to forgive our debts, he doesn’t want us to give excuses but only wants to share his mercy.

As Christians, we need to receive mercy constantly, especially in confession. If we don’t, how can we expect to give it well and freely. We can only give what we have first received.

This feast also reminds us that we are not just asking mercy for ourselves but also for the whole world. We can offer our prayers, sacrifices, inconveniences, illnesses, and pretty much anything unpleasant for those in need of God’s healing. As part of the communion of saints, we are called to intercede for others, even those who have hurt us. In short, we are called to be ambassadors of mercy, all of us, no exceptions. 

Today let us thank God for his gift of mercy which he gives freely and constantly. Let’s stop making excuses for staying away from his gift, which only hurts us and those around us. And if we have avoided the sacrament of mercy, if it's been a while since we went to confession, let’s make things right and allow God to love us and take away our spiritual debt. Nothing will make him happier and nothing will bring us more peace and joy!

Easter (2022)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

One of the blessings I count in my life, is that I have been pastor of Incarnate Word Parish now for five years. It’s longest I’ve been assigned anywhere and it has been wonderful to have the time to get to know you, accompany you in your faith journey, and be a part of your lives and families. One of the drawbacks of being somewhere for more than a couple years is that, after a while, people have heard all your jokes. As I was preparing my Easter homily, I was looking over my favorite jokes and stories and realized, you’ve heard them all! So I had to dig deep and find something new for you to consider. 

A priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven. St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them. ‘Come with me,’ St. Peter said to the taxi driver. The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St Peter to a mansion. It had everything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool. ‘Oh my word, thank you,’ said the taxi driver. Next, St. Peter led the priest to a rough old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set. ‘Wait, I think you are a little mixed up,’ said the priest. ‘Shouldn’t I be the one who gets the mansion? After all, I was a priest, went to church every day, and preached God’s word.’ ‘Yes, that’s true.’ St Peter replied, ‘But during your Easter sermons people slept. When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed.’

It is a wonderful thing to have laughter at Easter Mass! Not simply at a funny story or clever joke but more importantly, because of the fact that the worst things to befall the human race, namely sin and death, have been defeated by our Risen Savior. That is something that should never fail to put a smile on our face and hope in our hearts. But we would do a terrible disservice to these saving mysteries if we kept our reflection on a superficial level, only hoping to walk out of church today smiling and laughing. Easter Sunday only happened after a cosmic struggle for our souls between good and evil, an epic battle between God and Satan, with innocent Jesus standing in our place. To skip past all of this and remain on the surface would dishonor what God has done for us. It would also keep us from enjoying the full significance of what we have received from the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. With that in mind, I want to offer you a different take on Easter, another point of view. To do so, we must go back to last week, Palm Sunday, the day Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

On Palm Sunday, two processions entered Jerusalem for Passover. Protests against the Roman occupiers were strongest on holy days and for this reason, during this most holy feast, the Roman Governor Pilate rode up to Jerusalem. He would bring extra troops in case of trouble, to reinforce the local riot squad and remind people who was in charge. Picture it: Pilate’s procession arrived from the west bringing threats and fear. Jesus entered the city from the east, humbly, preaching forgiveness, mercy, and repentance.

Pilate rode into the city on a warhorse, Jesus on a donkey. He was fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah who foretold, “The King of Peace on a donkey will banish the warhorse and battle from the land.” Do we get a picture of what is going on here? The gauntlet has been thrown down and the contrast is clear. Jesus versus Pilate, the non-violence of the Kingdom of God versus the violence of the Roman Empire.

That was the contrast, two arrivals, two entrances, two processions, two ways of life, and two choices. On Friday, Jesus stands before Pilate, innocent; but gruesomely and wrongly executed. But three days later, the day known as Easter Sunday, everything changed forever. Jesus is raised from the dead by divine power and here we are at the heart of the matter. What does this raising of Jesus by God mean? It means that God said a resounding “yes” to Jesus and all He stood for and a firm “no” to the powers that killed Him.

Easter means that God is on a collision course with injustice, with violence, with exploitation. God is against the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter and the complicity and corruption of power in Pilate and Herod. He is against Jesus being beaten in jail. He is against the politically correct judgment of Pilate who judged Jesus innocent of a capital offense but had him killed to keep the mob happy.

Things have not changed today. Our God is still against betrayal, backstabbing, and cowardice. He is still against violence in a family and on the streets of our city. He is still against corruption in government and on Wall Street. God is against the unholy ways many are treated online and in the media. He is against the moral and physical abuse of spouses, children, the poor, the unborn and the misuse of social, political, and financial power.

The Easter story reminds us in no uncertain terms of where God stands. He raises up Jesus who told us to turn the other cheek. To go the extra mile, to bless those who curse us and pray for our enemies. He told us to go first and be reconciled with our brother or sister before we come and offer our gifts at the altar. He told us never to return evil for evil but cry out with Him on the cross. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He said to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty and always remember it profits us nothing to gain the whole world but lose our soul. Jesus’ way of life and way of love, the Father raises up.

In other words, Easter is not simply a tremendous mystery; is also a statement. A divine statement of divine values. It is about life and death, right and wrong.

Last but not least, Easter asks a questions of each and every one of us: which side are we on? Which entrance do we take into the Holy City? The day Jesus entered Jerusalem from the east on a donkey and Pilate from the west on a warhorse, was the day you and I were confronted with the choice. Which entrance shall we take? Which procession shall we follow?

Easter is the day God announced His choice. By raising His Son from the dead and all He stood for, God made it clear that life and happiness will never come from brute force, violence, anger, worldly power, arrogance, envy, or betrayal. Easter is the day God announced His choice, what is left for you and me is to make ours.

Good Friday (2022)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

In July of 2020, a 6-year-old boy named Bridger Walker risked his life to save his younger sister from a dog attack. When Bridger saw a German Shepard charging at his sister, he stood between her and the dog. He kept his sister safe, but Bridger sustained extensive injuries to his face and head requiring 90 stitches and causing permanent scarring. When asked why he put himself in harm’s way, he replied, “If someone had to die, I thought it should be me.” In the two years since the attack, his parents asked the young boy if he wanted his scars to go away. With an insight wise beyond his years, he replied that he didn’t want the marks to disappear completely. To him, the scars are a reminder that his sister didn't get hurt and she is okay.

For the rest of his life, whenever someone sees Bridger’s scars and learns the story behind them, they will see the love, courage, and sacrifice his wounds represent. For his sister, those wounds will be an unforgettable sign of love. On this Good Friday, might a similar thing be true for each and every one of us, as we look upon our crucified savior, who stood between us and the ravages of sin and death? Might we see in every wound of Jesus, the ultimate sign of love, sacrifice, and courage? Are we constantly amazed at what he was willing to do for us, as our Lord and big brother?

Our Church, in her wisdom, recognizes that our love for Jesus must often be deepened and re-invigorated or it will fade. With this in mind, let us contemplate the wounds of Christ while the words of John’s gospel are still fresh in our minds. Let us meditate on the depth of his love, the extent of his suffering, so we may not take the price of salvation for granted. As we move through this meditation, I invite you to either close your eyes and picture Christ crucified or gaze upon our own beautiful crucifix, hanging above the altar.

Look first at his feet. These are the feet that walked countless miles to spread the saving gospel. These were the feet that Isaiah described when he wrote: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings.” These are the feet that were lovingly cleansed by the sinful woman with costly perfume and tears and dried with her hair. But now, these saving feet, the feet of God, they are shattered, swollen, bloody. They have been punctured by the rough iron nails carelessly driven by Roman soldiers to support the weight of Christ’s body so he won’t die too quickly on the cross. Sense the pain endured by the Savior for you and me and never doubt the evil of sin.

Look next at his knees; knees that spent so many hours in prayer to the Father. Prayer that gave him strength and insight and courage. Prayer that moved him to choose the twelve apostles and strengthened him to carry on his compassionate mission with endless patience and love. Prayer that asked for mercy for us and for the whole world. Prayer that helped him accept the fatal mission to die for our sins as he spoke to His heavenly Father: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but not my will but your will be done.” Now those prayerful knees, look how they are gashed and torn from the weight of our sins as he fell three times on the way to Calvary. Look at the knees of Jesus and never underestimate the heaviness of sin.

Imagine now his back; it scarcely resembles human flesh anymore after being pulverized by the whips and scourges of mocking soldiers. As if this wasn’t enough punishment, the cross has made those wounds even worse, even deeper as its weight digs into the strong back of the Son of God and the Son of Mary, the carpenter’s Son. How destructive the effects of sin, which have completely disfigured the back and shoulders of Jesus! See how much pain they cause the One who has given every ounce of his strength to the human race! How humbling for us to notice that he has spared nothing, not a single piece of his flesh to rescue us from the condemnation of our sins. Can there be any doubt in our minds as to how far evil will go to try and destroy pure goodness, virtue, and love? 

Our eyes would naturally turn to the head of Jesus and his precious face. Those who would have seen him day after day would hardly recognize him now. He has been punched, slapped, and beaten. His eyes, which looked with love on so many who sought him, are swollen shut. Blood gushes from the crown of sharp thorns that are embedded in his sacred head in mockery of the king of kings. His appearance, as the prophet foretold, is so disfigured that we might wonder if we are looking at a human at all. And yet we are looking at the most perfect human who ever existed, perfect God and perfect man. If we ever thought our sins were harmless or only affected us, now is the time to look at the face of Christ, so broken and bloody, and realize that sin hates all which is good and beautiful and true.

We might then look up and see the hands of Jesus, outstretched on the cross. These are the beautiful hands that healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, raised the dead and cast out demons. These are the hands that spared the woman caught in adultery, saved St. Peter when he began to sink in the sea of Galilee, and which celebrated the first Eucharist on Holy Thursday. For all their kindness, how has Mankind repaid the hands of God? They are pierced with nails and torn by the weight of Christ hanging on the cross! On Good Friday, could we ever explain away our evil choices, seeing what they did to the gentle hands of our Savior?

Finally, to end our meditation, let us gaze upon the side of Jesus, pierced for our sins. When the centurion thrusts his spear through the side of our Lord, blood and water flow forth, symbolizing redemption and new life. Here, we see the heart of Christ, which has literally poured out every drop of blood for love of us. The heart of Christ longed for each and every soul that would ever live on this earth. And that Sacred Heart beat every moment of every day to bring salvation to you and me.

Had another person died for us, we would never forget it. Had a friend or family member been mauled to save us, we would never stop thanking them! But how often days go by where we don’t thank Jesus for laying his life down for our sins! Every wound, every drop of blood, was worth it to Christ crucified so we might be prisoners no longer! On this Good Friday, let us thank God for sparing nothing to break us out of our slavery to sin and death. May we never doubt the evil of sin nor the price that had to be paid for them. But above else, let us never doubt the infinite love of our savior displayed for all time in the wounds he bore as he hung upon the cross. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you; because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world. Amen.

Jesus Stands Up to Cancel Culture (5th Sunday of Lent, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

One of the terms we’ve all heard of over the last decade or so, perhaps the point of exhaustion, is so-called cancel culture. Wikipedia defines it as "a contemporary phrase used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles - whether it be online, on social media, or in person." We have seen cancel culture employed in every aspect of life, applied to individuals and companies in response to words, opinions, or actions deemed offensive. Most often, the cancel movement happens online with social media and is the virtual version of a mob mentality with many people quickly jumping on the bandwagon to condemn someone or something, often without all the facts. In our time, we see cancel culture taking place in politics, entertainment, business, education, healthcare, and even within the Church.

While cancel culture seems to surround us because of the ease of worldwide communication, social media, and a 24-hr news cycle, it is nothing new. In today's Gospel we have a most serious form of cancel culture. "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" We can see the dilemma. We can almost hear the group snickering as they think, “We really got Jesus this time!” If Jesus takes the woman's side, they would accuse him of being soft on infidelity and dismissive of the Mosaic Law. So what does Jesus do? First, he writes something on the ground. There are many theories about what he wrote, perhaps it was the sins of the accusers. Maybe it was a word of hope and encouragement to the woman. Something like, “you are worth saving” or “The Lord is kind and merciful”. Whatever it was, it stung the consciences of the accusers. Perhaps Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of their outrage by asking why they brought him the woman but failed to detain the man who was with her. Both were supposed to receive the same punishment. In any case, Jesus responds with perfect line, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

They leave one by one, convicted by their pride, exposed in their hypocrisy. They might be able to fool others but they cannot fool the son of God. Jesus alone remains with the woman. He has every right to condemn her because he will die for her sins. But he chooses mercy. St. Augustine beautifully observes that when the scribes and pharisees left, "There remained only two, divine mercy and human misery." Pope Francis reflected on this scene in a letter he wrote for the year of mercy and said, "Once clothed in mercy, even if the inclination to sin remains, it is overcome by the love that makes it possible for her to look ahead and to live her life differently.” When we experience Jesus' mercy, we can move forward no matter what. We have the chance for a new beginning, not the cancellation and annihilation of sin. 

At this point I think it’s important to add a word of caution about how Jesus’ actions are sometimes interpreted. Some preachers use his approach toward the sinful woman to suggest that more tolerance of sin is called for and none of us can judge the sin of another. But this is not what Jesus does. He does not ignore the sin or trivialize it. He does not say, “go back to what you were doing” or “it’s really not a big deal.” Jesus acknowledges her sin but he does not condemn her for it. He tells her to go and sin no more or something worse than stoning will befall her, the death of her soul. Jesus forgives her and tells her to stay away from sin moving forward because he loves her. And the same is true for you and me. If we see someone caught in sin, we should never condemn them but we should lovingly help them see their sin for what it is so they can receive God’s forgiveness and sin no more. 

Today’s Gospel could also be called the Story of the People holding Stones. The scribes and pharisees thought they had righteous anger. They had the Law of Moses on their side. They had everything and everyone on their side justifying their actions. They had everything except love. They had everyone agreeing with them except the Lord. Like the Elder Brother of the Prodigal Son last week, their anger excluded them from the Banquet of the Father. They walked away from the Messiah rather than drop their outrage and hypocrisy. It was not righteous anger that was motivating them. It was hatred for Jesus and for God’s mercy. At the end of the story, the only person who calls Jesus ‘Lord’, is the sinful woman. The religious leaders walk away rather than accepting his teaching and following the Lord of life and goodness.

Like them, we often let hatred remove us from the presence of the Lord. We claim to have legitimate reasons to hate. We say we can justify our anger. We call for the cancellation of our enemies. We have been hurt. Someone whom we love very much has been attacked. Unless we let go of those stones we are holding, we cannot and will not stand before our loving, compassionate Lord. We have to let go and let God take control. The scribes and the pharisees refused to do this and walked away. How about us? Is our hatred more important than remaining in the presence of Divine Love? Do we accept God’s grace to conquer our anger or do we hold onto our grudges even tighter?

At times, we are the woman, caught in our sins. At times we feel overwhelmed by the weight of our wrongdoing. At times we feel surrounded by people who know what we have done and are sickened by it. At times we are so upset with ourselves that we cannot look others in the face. We are forced to look down. As we look at the ground we need to realize Jesus writes something in the dirt for us. It is the hand of Jesus, writing, “you are worth saving”,  “The Lord is kind and merciful” We must ask for his mercy and then listen to His voice saying to us, “Go, and sin no more.”

Today we recognize that cancel culture in some form has always been with us and we see how Jesus responded to those who literally wanted to destroy the woman caught in adultery. Jesus enables us to look beyond the sin and love the sinner, whether that is ourselves or others. Cancel culture always dehumanizes people because it seeks to erase and forget a person who has done wrong. But we are more than our worst moment. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. That is why Jesus never gives up on us and God never cancels anyone. He tries, until the last moment of our lives, to bring us back and save us from our sins!

As we approach Holy Week, a good person to walk with is the woman rescued by Jesus. Our tradition teaches that she was one of the few people who stayed with him as hung on the cross. Saved from her sin, she never wanted to be separated from Him again. With her, we can pray the beautiful words of today’s Psalm, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”