Eyes On You (31st Sunday, Year C)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

Unpack 1st reading: God is infinitely everything that is good, powerful, holy. We are nothing compared to him and yet… each of us and every thing on the earth, from the smallest grain of sand to the highest mountain, all exist because God wants it to. 

He is not an absentee Lord, he is present and passionate about all he has made. In fact, we are here in this very moment because God is thinking of us. If he would ever stop thinking of us or forget us for one second, we would disappear. How incredible that our existence is a reminder that God holds us in his mind even while we sleep or do other things where we cease thinking of him.

This awareness of us is deeply personal and unique, he thinks of each person individually, as if they were the only person he has made. And he loves what he has made and he practices patience, even as he sees us choose sin and other things that push us away from him. He sees but he waits, in the hope that we will come to our senses and choose freely to love him and all he has made.

This beautiful and shocking reading from wisdom is not some poem or symbolic writing; it is literally true as it relates to God’s greatness, power, patience, and individual love for everything and everyone he has made.

The first question such a scripture asks of us is this: “Do we accept and believe it?” Do we know in our hearts that God knows us, loves us, and sees us? 

The image that came to my mind when I was reflecting on this passage was something that I remember from my own experience growing up. This image of being seen as a child and the peace it brought me. I think all of you who are parents will know what I mean.

Children have this desire to be seen, to have the undivided attention of the people they love and admire, especially their parents, grandparents, teachers, and others who care about them. Perhaps it is on the playground, as they go higher on the swing or as they show their new skill riding a bike. How many times in our youth, did we ask mom or dad, to watch us do something, to look at us? And how many times they indulged us, even though what we were doing wasn’t nearly as great or exciting as we thought it was! I remember how comforting it was play outside as a child and to occasionally look back towards our house and see mom or dad, simply watching and looking back. Not as a judge or enforcer, but as someone who loved and cared. Their gaze was a sort of affirmation of belonging, of being held in their heart and protected. 

On the other hand, when children feel ignored, neglected, or forgotten, what do they do? They act up, they act out, —— not to be a jerk or cause trouble. They do so in the hopes that someone will notice and respond and show them that they are seen and cared for. Being noticed means you matter! It seems odd when you are responding in the moment as the adult. But even adults do the same thing. As we feel unimportant, unvalued or invisible, we do things that hurt us and others in the hopes of being seen and noticed. 

With that in mind, we can ask ourselves, if we truly believe that our God watches over us and looks on us with love, at all times and in all places? What might change in my life, if I believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt that God looked at me with love, every second of my life? If I believed that he sees me and knows me and loves me without limit or interruption? How might I treat others differently if I accepted that God looks at them exactly the same way?! In truth, I think most of us either forget that God is always present to us or we simply don’t believe that he could care that much and we often end up making choices that are cries for help, as if God was far away and disinterested.

One other dimension of God’s loving gaze that we might take a moment to ponder. When people know they are being watched over, they tend to act differently than when they think no one is watching. The knowledge that we are seen also keeps us honest, accountable, and on our best behavior. Ask any parent, teacher, or employer what happens when the people they guide know or at least think that they are gone for any length of time? Chaos, anarchy, and mayhem!!

When we realize God looks on us with love always and that he sees all we think, do, and say, might we consider our choices a little more carefully? Would we make different choices altogether? Would we tell different jokes, say the same things about others, entertain the same gossip or judgements, or drive the same, knowing that our Heavenly Father is present for all of it? This observation is not meant to be a fearful thing but to point out a truth that already exists. We can hide from others and from ourselves but God sees it all. In some way, we actually want that, to know that he cares that much. But if there are some areas of life that we would want him to look away, that is a point for prayer and conversion.

We see all of this playing out in gospel with the story of Zaccheus. Zaccheus has heard of Jesus and thinks what he needs to do is see Jesus. In truth, that is not what changes his life. He is transformed when Jesus comes to him, up in the tree, and sees him. The Lord looks at him and invites himself into Zaccheus’ home, which is a symbol also for his heart. Knowing that Jesus sees him, loves him, knows him, even with all his sins and mistakes, this sets Zaccheus free to be transformed and restored. On his own, he vows to make restitution and to live for others instead of himself. And that is the last we hear of Zaccheus in the Scriptures, which means he went on and did it. If he had not, we would have been told about it as a warning.

So there you have it; the power of God’s loving gaze. It is why we exist, it patiently loves us in all things and at all times. Once we lock eyes with God and accept his love, we will be transformed and set free, a freedom which not only benefits us but so many others as well. So, do not wait, do not turn your eyes away from the God who loves you. As we continue with the Mass, look deeply at the tabernacle, at the cross, at the host that is lifted up and know that God has already been watching you with mercy and love!

No Comparison (30th Sunday, Year C)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

    Wanted to start the homily by stating something extremely obvious: priests are people just like anyone else. Seems like a no-brainer but its funny how people can be thrown off when they see you grocery shopping, at the movie theater, or running around in jeans or other “normal people clothes”. A number of years ago, I was at the gym and this lady kept staring at me before finally coming up and saying, “Father, I didn’t recognize you without your clothes on!” I knew what she meant but suggested there might be a better way to say it that didn’t sound so bad.

This doesn’t just apply to wardrobes and shopping. We priests are subject to the same insecurities, comparisons, and competitions that every human struggles with throughout our lives. I thought of this when praying with today’s gospel parable where the pharisee replaces prayer with comparing himself to others.

What a dangerous thing it is to compare ourselves with one another?! I have struggled with this for most of my priesthood. When someone comes up and says, Father So-and-so is the best confessor, there is something in me wonders, “but what about me? Aren’t I a good confessor?” Or the inevitable, “Father What’s-his-name or deacon youngblood gives the best homilies”, part of me thinks, “Don’t you like my homilies? I try really hard too?” Many times, this comparison is unwanted and involuntary; I want to be happy for others, for the ways they excel and reach people differently than I do. But there is also a part of me that feels diminished or less because of their success. 

That tendency to compare myself to another, something I might do with my ministry and preaching, something that you might do with your income, career, physical appearance, family, or material things, well, it is a spiritual and emotional black hole that will end up consuming us and stealing our joy.

One of the blessings of my life has been being assigned with many gifted priests and deacons who have shown me that God showers his talents abundantly in many different ways. No one person has them all and never will. It is better for the church and for you that there is such variety. Apart from Christ, there is no perfect priest out there that we all have to imitate. I’ve had to learn that lesson the hard way by feeling that insecurity and insufficiency; by feeling that pang of jealousy and sadness when others are praised. 

But slowly, over the years, I have realized that those comparisons do not come from God. He does not put us in competition with each other when it comes to his love or gifts. His love is not based on how we rank against others or how well we perform in our vocation. His love is unconditional, complete, and existed long before we ever did.

This is hard concept for us to grasp because we are constantly judging ourselves against one another on so many levels: our appearance, our status, our wealth, our relationships, and yes, even our spiritual lives. 

But God never compares us to anyone. He has a completely unique and personal relationship with each of us and doesn’t care how we stack up to those we want to compare ourselves to. He simply wants to know how we choose to live and love with the gifts and graces he gives us. The judgement each of us receives will be between us and God, not in contrast with others. 

If I and if you can accept this reality, then we begin to delight in the giftedness of other people. It does not hurt us when someone has a talent or ability that we do not. They are not a threat or competition but rather a compliment to whatever light God has shared with us. Our happiness is not captive to our ability to rank above others and we are set free from the pettiness that is miserable whenever someone else succeeds or is praised! It is so freeing to let go of that insecurity and rejoice whenever someone else is praised!

The only person we can compare ourselves to is God, since we are made in his image and likeness. And every time we see ourselves in comparison to Him, the only honest and possible prayer will be that of the tax collector, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!”

Both the Pharisee and the tax collector have something to teach us because we have elements of each in our lives. The pride and self-righteousness of the pharisee are dangers for all of us. The sinfulness of the tax-collector, his greed, selfishness, and evil lifestyle are things that most of us struggle with in some way. In light of this, we can take away three important lessons from the parable:

First, it was not the lifestyle of the pharisee that got him in trouble nor the life of the tax collector that made him admirable. So, let us work to imitate the Pharisee in his commendable practice of regular prayer, fasting, and generous almsgiving. Let us seek to eliminate sin, in all its forms from our lives and strive to be righteous in every way.

Secondly, we should never forget the simple prayer of the tax collector. God is not won over by smooth-talking or elaborate words but rather by heartfelt and humble prayers. If we acknowledge our need for God and his mercy, we can be sure that he will grant us all that is necessary to be justified in his sight. Our prayers should always acknowledge that we are sinners in need of God’s mercy.

Lastly, we should remember that God simply wants us to place our trust in him. He is not impressed by how we stack up to others. It is not good enough to be better than others if we don’t place our complete trust in him. The parable shows us that God abandons those who believe they can exult themselves, and exults those who abandon themselves, if they abandon themselves to him.

So do not be proud and do not compare compare yourself to others! Let us humble ourselves in the sight of God and make the prayer of the tax-collector our own: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Say Thank You with Worship (28th Sunday, Year C)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

Story of sharing on Thursday mornings: tired, early, but important lesson:

No situation was ever totally good or bad, just like the people in them.

There was always a positive quality or takeaway along with something that could be improved.

Applying that same logic to the gospel today and the 10 lepers. It’s not just 9 losers and one good guy.

All 10 had a holy boldness; they were willing to reach out to Christ even though social convention and the Law of Moses commanded them to stay away. In fact Jesus and his friends could have stoned them for coming close. But they were not afraid to stick their necks out and ask for healing.

All 10 had some degree of faith. Jesus never does miracles like a David Copperfield show; if people do not believe, he cannot do mighty things. The fact that all 10 are cleansed, shows us that they all believed in him and what he could do.

So that is the positive we can find in all 10. And we can certainly understand their unconfined excitement to leave Jesus and go show themselves to the priests. Leprosy didn’t just kill a person, it also quarantined him or her from family, friends, and community until the time of their gruesome death. It was an isolating disease and it even separated a person from their faith because they could no longer enter the temple to pray. 

We all remember that feeling for 1.5 months where we could not go into our churches; imagine that for these poor souls as they slowly rotted away. Knowing they were doomed to die in misery, alone, uncomforted. Words cannot describe the joy and relief of being healed!

The first step in being allowed back into community and into worship, was to show themselves to the priests, who would declare them healed and cleaned and ritually pure. This then allowed them to re-enter society and re-unite with family and loved ones. No wonder they ran off and never looked back!

But one of them realized the miracle that had just happened and realized that only God could cure such a disease. Even more important than getting the thumbs up from the priests was to first thank God for this gift. 

How does the one thankful leper say thanks? It isn’t with a handshake, thank you card, or a fruit basket! He takes the time to go back to Jesus, falls to his knees, and worships him. The way to thank God is to worship him. To acknowledge his power and goodness and to praise him. 

When he does this, Jesus doesn’t say, “Don’t worry about it” or “please, you don’t have to thank me.” He accepts this act of worship and gratitude and then tells him to get up and go; this act of faith, gratitude, and praise has saved him.

The other 9 lepers are healed but not saved…there is a difference. Their lack of gratitude and their not taking the time to offer worship but instead moving on to other things, as important as those were, have led them to miss out on the greatest gift Jesus came to give: Salvation!

How do we apply this to our life?

We have been cleansed many times over throughout our lives. Sin is worse than any physical disease but like leprosy, it slowly consumes us and isolates us from God and others. Only God can cure it; we cannot save ourselves.

We have been healed the day we were baptized and cleansed every time we go to confession. On top of this, we have been given so many other gifts; some spiritual, some material, all more than we deserve and so many more than we realize.

So often, we have faith and that is why God is able to heal and bless us and work miracles in our lives. But then, like the nine lepers who ran off, we hurry on, from our divine healing and blessings, to our busy schedules without first returning to the Lord to thank him in worship.

This is why weekly Sunday Mass is so essential and required of each of us. Not as a rule to follow but as an acknowledgement and thank you to the Divine Physician who is so often helping and healing us. This is why taking time every day to count our blessings mindfully and to give thanks for what we have is so critical to a holy and grateful heart.

This is why there should never be a day where we don’t spend at least a little time worshipping Jesus in some form of deliberate prayer, whether that be with the Scriptures, in adoration, or some time-honored devotion where we return to the Lord and offer him the praise he is due. And that is why we should make every effort each week to pray and be present at Sunday Mass; it is the most pleasing and perfect act of thanksgiving and worship because we unite our prayers and offerings to the prayers and offering of Jesus; nothing could make the Father more happy. 

One last note about thanking and worshiping God. He doesn’t need it. We are not doing it to appease him or get on his good side. When we give thanks and give God the praise that he is due, it changes us. The act of worship does not change God but it re-orients our lives and our hearts to what’s good, right, and holy. That is why and how it saves us. 

When we give thanks, it's always good to be specific. I am grateful for my priesthood and the gift of spending the last 5 days with 200 other priests. I am thankful to be your pastor and for the many ways you help me to grow as I minister to you. I am grateful for my health and for my family; my friends and this beautiful season of fall. I am thankful for Fr. Sullivan’s quiet and holy example during these last 5 years and the many laypeople and priests who have formed me over the years.

Each of us has already been cleansed by Jesus death on the cross but our salvation is still being worked out. Jesus always does his part. But we have to receive that gift with faith and then return to him with grateful worship. As we continue our Eucharist today, a word that literally means, “thanksgiving”, let’s make sure and praise God for the many things he has done in our lives and in our families this week. Call to mind specific moments and blessings you have received, and say, “thank you.” By doing this, our faith will increase, God will be praised, and souls will be saved.

Spiritual Wasabi (27th Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

Story of trying sushi for the first time. Warning that a little wasabi goes a long way!

The readings this weekend are all about faith and how a little of that can go a very long way! Faith can accomplish great things that seem impossible to others.

But what is faith? Often reduced to a caricature of one extreme or another.

1. faith is blind, naive, step off the cliff and hope for the best. ignore reason and look at it as a form of spiritual superstition. Sometimes see people who reduce their faith to a magical routine of reciting certain prayers, certain ways or who believe with no interaction or discernment on their part (story of guy asking help from the flood)

        B) Faith is for those who aren’t smart enough to understand. For the simple and old-    fashioned. Unscientific. Faith is considered below reason; either be reasonable and skeptical or faithful and gullible.

As with so many things, the truth is in the middle. 

Faith is not a passive thing where we just hope for the best as if we just placed an uneducated bet. Faith does not run against our reason/logic but uses it and then rises above it! Imagine how sad it would be to only have faith in the things you could completely understand or explain. Imagine if we only accepted the things that we had experienced and verified for ourselves. It would be exhausting and impoverishing to discard so much. 

Faith is much more than a mysterious unknowable thing or an intellectual exercise where we unlock the answers to all the questions we have.

Faith is an attitude of trust in the love God has for us, in the plan he has for our world and our lives, and our willingness, especially when things seem unknown and uncertain, to have confidence in the power, wisdom, and wisdom of our God. Faith is a living, dynamic relationship. It is also messy, with ups and downs, joy and sorrow, confidence and questioning. 

We see that in the first reading, where the prophet Habakkuk looks around at all the death and destruction, the turmoil and uncertainty and says, “lord, how long will this go on?” “Where are you in all of this?” “Why are you letting this continue?” In response, God says, don’t worry, sit tight, wait for me to make it right and solve the problem. I will keep my promise but it will be in my time, not yours. I can see further down the road than you can and what looks like total loss will eventually work out. It’s ok to have questions and to cry out to God but we also need to be willing to wait and see, to have trust and confidence that God will get us through whatever is testing our faith rather than demand he change things to the way we want them.

Faith also starts small. Jesus uses the image of a mustard seed which is about the size of a gnat or fruit fly. Faith is taking one thing at a time and not getting too far ahead of ourselves. One of the great examples of this is St. Francis of Assisi who we celebrate this week. He lived a life of extravagance and wild parties until he began to hear God’s invitation to grow in faith. it started with working on his own life and finding a way to think of more than just the next fun time. Slowly, one small step after the other, Francis built a relationship with God and the church, then he invited others into that faith, a few at first, then more and more, both men and women. Over time, that small seed of faith that changed his life also changed the church for the better. The Franciscan order is now 800 years old, stationed all over the world, and bearing good fruit on a scale Francis could never have seen or predicted. But it all started with his yes to live for more than riches and a good time. A little faith goes a long way…

One last point that I would make: faith is like a spiritual muscle; the more we exercise it, the more it grows. And if we do not exercise it, it will grow weak and die. 

At the end of the gospel today, Jesus reminds us that no matter what we do or accomplish through our faith, the glory belongs to God. He is the one who accomplishes all that happens. Faith is his gift and his work. There is nothing we can do or accomplish that would cause God to be in our debt. As long as we maintain this attitude of humility and turning it all over to God, the good and the bad, the glory and the shame, the highs and the lows, we can be sure that our faith will grow and we will be in the right place to receive what God has ready for us. It may take longer than we like, it may look different than what we imagined, but our trust and confidence in God will be rewarded with the things that we need to enjoy the things we have right now but more importantly, the things that are yet to come in the kingdom of God. 

So let us join the apostles today and pray that the Lord increases our faith. Just a little will go a long way and accomplish things that we and the world never thought possible!