Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 21, 2017 - preached at St. Kateri at St. Margaret Mary site

Today's scripture proclamations:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/052117.cfm

“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

One of my absolute favorite verses in all of scripture.  1^st Peter 3:15. Just proclaimed in our second reading.

           “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

It’s a very rich verse, and if we cut it up and take it apart, there are quite a few questions we have to ask ourselves.

The first and most basic is this - do we have hope?  Am I a hopeful person?  St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians tell us “faith hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.”  But for a Christian, hope shouldn’t be far behind. 

But we know from experience, maybe from others’ experience, and for many of us our own experience, well, at times hope is hard to come by.  The world wants to beat us up, beat us down.  “Life” is not the bowl of cherries some would have you believe.  Pain and suffering are part of all of our lives.  The devil, oh and the devil is very real, wants nothing more than for us to give up hope, to give in to despair.

Maybe we’re here this morning because we are filled with hope.  Maybe some have come here searching for some glimmer of hope.  If you’re at the end of your rope, and trying to rekindle some glimmer of hope, ask for it.  God give me hope.  Pray for it.  Show me, O Lord, what there is to be hopeful about.

Ultimately there’s only one thing to be hopeful about it.  Which leads me to the second question - what is the reason for our hope?  And the reason is not a thing at all; the reason is of course a person -  Jesus Christ.  The only hope.

And our hope in Jesus Christ is found in the event that we continue to celebrate today, as we have for the past five Sundays – the Resurrection of Our Lord.  Easter.  We who gather here share faith that Jesus Christ once was dead but rose again and now lives eternally with the Father. 

And the meaning of that singular most important event in the history of the universe is that you and I, too, may share in that resurrection, that you and I, too, may live forever in the joy of that eternal Divine relationship of Father and Son.  That is our hope.  As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that is our only hope.

But our hope in Christ is in this earthly life, too.  He promises us that He is with us even to the end of the age, that He will walk with us, shepherd us, not to avoid the valley of the shadow of death but to accompany us on our journey through it.

With Him by our side we can live hopefully, even joyfully.  We recall the words we heard every Sunday, until they were slightly changed in the recent re-translation of the missal – “In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

And that, sisters and brothers is the simple but profound answer if anyone asks us for a reason for our hope.  Because we know Jesus and He is with us on our journey.  That He, and He alone, is our hope.

Now we might ask ourselves – do I live in such a way that anyone would ever ask me why I’m hopeful?  Why I’m so joyful?  Do I exude hopefulness?  Am I an example of joyfulness?  Do the people who see me see a person of hope, a person of joy, a person who despite all the sorrow and pain and difficulties of this life still shines with peace, and joy, and hopefulness?

If the answer to those questions is “no” or “I’m not so sure,” then what we need to do, I think, is pray for the outpouring of the third person of the Holy Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit Peter and John prayed down on the Samaritan people, the same Spirit advocate promised by Our Blessed Lord in this Gospel. 

You see, in order for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we kind of have to put ourselves, our self-centeredness, our selfishness, our self-pity, aside.  We need to be emptied of all that, so that the Spirit can fill us.  As happened to the Samaritans, evil spirits had to be case out first, so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And that same Spirit, then, will fill us with hope and all the other gifts of the Spirit –wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.  We have all these gifts, to be sure, from our Sacraments of baptism and confirmation, but as we come to the end of our Easter Season, as we celebrate the Lord’s Ascension this week and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in two weeks, let us pray again for a renewal of that same Spirit in each of us, in all of us. Come Holy Spirit, Come.

           For that same Holy Spirit is Who, if we ask Him, will fill us with hope, with peace, with joy, with love.  Who will speak through us when anyone asks what got into us – why are you so joyful, so full of hope?  And Who will give us the courage to proclaim the Name. The Name of our only hope, Our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Homily preached for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, 2017, St. Kateri at St. Cecilia - 100th Anniversary of the First Apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima

We celebrate today what began 100 years ago today outside a remote village in Portugal, when Our Blessed Mother first appeared to three shepherd children, the miraculous apparition of Mary to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima, and then appeared to them five more times in the year 1917.  Now in celebrating such a feast, it would be easy, it seems to me, to skip right to the message - what did she have to say?

But in doing so, it seems to me, we’d miss out on the miraculous – think about it - that this woman, human in every way you and I are except conceived immaculate, without sin – a woman who walked and talked and breathed and gave birth – 2000 years ago – that here was this woman 1900 years later appearing to and speaking with these three children. 

That’s an amazing thing, huh?  That Our Blessed Lord, in His Father’s plan of salvation for the human race, would step into history, if you will, in this case at a critical time in human history, with the first world war raging and two months after the communist revolution in Russia.  Stepping into history, sending the Blessed Mother with words of warning, words of encouragement, words of great love and compassion.  With a glimpse into her Immaculate Heart, overflowing with love for His people.  Let’s not skip over that.  Let’s stop and meditate and praise God and thank Him for the gift of the Blessed Mother. For the gift of her apparitions.

Now we’re under no obligation to believe, mind you.  Marian apparitions, even if investigated and tested and approved by the Church as was the Fatima apparition, and Guadalupe and Lourdes and a host of others – are classified as private apparitions. And unlike belief in Christ’s bodily resurrection, unlike belief in Mary’s Immaculate Conception, unlike belief that Christ will be made present right here body, blood, soul and divinity in a few moments, all of which we’re obliged to believe – well we’re not obliged to believe in Marian apparitions.

But the questions is - why wouldn’t we?  In the case at hand, Fatima, there is ample evidence, ample signs if you will, pointing us to believe.  These three children were hardly the sort to make up crazy stories – they couldn’t even read.  There was the miracle of the sun, witnessed 50,000 or more people on October 13 of that year, the date of her last apparition. 

And the best evidence?  Today in Fatima, the Holy Father canonized, proclaimed that God has made saints of two of those children – little Jacinta and her brother Francisco – the first time in history that children who are not martyrs have been declared saints. 

That two little children could display the kind of heroic virtue we look to in our declared saints is the best evidence, if you ask me, of the Blessed Virgin’s appearance to them.  Why?  Because those two children (and their cousin Lucia who, I trust, won’t be far behind at the altar of canonization) took to heart our Blessed Mother’s words.  Their lives changed.  They became more and more holy.  They learned, as Pope Francis recently preached, “to love Jesus.”

Now I ask - from our own self-interest, why wouldn’t we believe in this apparition and take Our Blessed Mother’s words of counsel to heart?  It’s like taking a road trip and choosing between a bumpy curvy road with many stoplights, or a wide-open interstate.  The interstate’s what inviting Mary into our spiritual journeys is like.  We can get there without her – the death and resurrection of her Divine Son is sufficient, but she clears the way, so to speak, and leads us unencumbered to her Son.

So it’s a great idea, if you ask me, to take into our hearts Our Mother’s counsel to those three shepherd children.  So much has been written about her warnings to the world, and the so-called “third secret,” that maybe the world has missed her wise counsel for those children, and all of us, on our spiritual journey. 

She asked increased prayer, especially the rosary.  She asked that we pray for the conversion of sinners, all who’ve fallen into sin, especially sins of the flesh, and acts of injustice and lack of charity toward the poor, widows and orphans.  It was because of her request at Fatima that we pray, after each glory-be of the rosary, “O my Jesus, save us from the fire of hell, and lead all souls to heaven especially those in most need of your mercy.”

Mary asked for fasting, penance, acts of reparation and sacrifice to console the heart of her Son.  And she asked for increased devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Consecration to her Immaculate Heart!

By our prayer, penances, purifications and increased devotion to Our Blessed Mother, especially in her Immaculate Heart, we have her word, she who eternally has the ear of her Son, that we will be showered with all the grace, and strength and courage that we will need on our journey to her Son and His eternal Kingdom.

We pray - Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary - Pray for us O holy Mother of God!  That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.  Amen.

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter - Good Shepherd Sunday / World Day of Prayer for Vocations May 6/7 ,2017 - 4:30p,8a,10a St Kateri

Today's scripture readings:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/050717.cfm

Not too long ago I was watching the motion picture Patton on Netflix.  Classic movie, great movie, won seven Oscars including Best Picture back in 1971, and I’m showing my age now, but I can remember when it was first released.  Patton stars George C Scott and chronicles the legendary General George Patton and his part in World War II, liberating first Northern Africa, then Italy, then at the Battle of the Bulge.  It’s especially about General Patton’s hard-headedness and rebelliousness and apparent reluctance to follow orders and how that got him into trouble.  Great movie. 

Now there’s a brief scene in the movie, where two donkeys are pulling a cart (donkeys - General Patton uses another word for them).  These two donkeys are refusing to move, refusing to budge in the middle of a bridge.  And here’s the entire American seventh army, advancing on German and Italian troops across Sicily, stopped in their tracks not by airpower or tanks or soldiers but by two jacka….donkeys.  General Patton comes up and orders the donkeys to be removed from the bridge and, well, spoiler alert – the scene doesn’t end well for either donkey.

This scene, these stubborn donkeys came to mind as I was thinking about sheep and shepherds and what to say about this Gospel, for today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter, aka Good Shepherd Sunday.  I was thinking about sheep – generally meek and docile, more easily led, needing to be led.  And I was thinking about stubborn animals, the opposite of sheep, strong-willed and hard-headed.  These donkeys came to mind, as did mules.  The voice of my mother, God rest her soul, rang out in my head – I could hear “you stubborn mule” - she would call me when I refused to be compliant.

Now if Jesus is the true, good shepherd, and He is, the shepherd who cares for His sheep, who’ll even go off and search for a lost sheep, then the question of the day is this – are we to be sheep?  Or are we donkeys?  What is the attitude of my heart – am I willing to be led, to be shepherded?  Or am I defiant, stubborn, unwilling to budge?

Many of us, I think, start with the premise that I’m right, that my thinking is correct, that my beliefs are correct, and anyone who disagrees with me must be mistaken.  Church teaching, for example, is fine in every teaching that agrees with what I think. And wrong in every respect that I, often in my selfishness, disagree.

This is especially true in the area of morality – for all of us have had some moral formation by our secular culture - “this corrupt generation” – it’s impossible in this media-driven world to escape that.  But the world’s moral formation is, in many respects, at odds with the law of God, the commandments, the moral teaching of the Church. 

For us to be morally grounded in Our Lord’s way, rather than the way of “this world,” well that requires some real humility, some real meekness.  It requires us to question our own beliefs and what, immersed in this worldly culture, we’ve come to see as right and wrong.  And I think it requires us to give the benefit of the doubt to His Church, and her shepherds, which, guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for 2000 years, have been shepherding His sheep. 

Let us, then, strive to have the attitude of sheep and not donkeys.  By His grace, let us submit our minds and hearts and spirits, in humility, to His way, to His teaching, so as to let Him shepherd our lives!

To be sheep rather than donkeys also requires us to submit to His will for our lives.  It means to listen to Him in prayer, to discern, to ask Him to show us – what, O Lord, would you have me do?  Where, O Lord, would you have me be?  Where, O Lord, are you leading me?

Frank Sinatra was great, but “I Did it My Way” is hardly the attitude He’s calling us to have, Him who lovingly shepherds us if we only allow Him.  If we’re not the donkey on the bridge holding up the Lord’s army.  Our attitude must be that of the Blessed Mother to the angel Gabriel - “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done unto me according to His will.”

In addition to today being Good Shepherd Sunday, today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  We pray especially this weekend that all people are always open and watching, humble and trusting God to show them His will for them.  To lead them to do what He wills, to be what He wills, to be where He wills.  That prayerful discernment goes for every vocation, religious, marriage, family, career. 

Where, O Lord, do you want me?  For what, O Lord, did you create me?  How can I best serve you with the gifts and talents and span of time you’ve blessed me with?

We especially pray this day for increased vocations to the holy priesthood, permanent deaconate, and consecrated religious life.  We pray that young women and men will turn to the Lord, the Good Shepherd, with this vital question – what to do with my life?  And that many will listen and, if indeed He’s calling to religious service, humbly respond to His call and not resist. 

I kept hearing His whisper, the call to the deaconate, first through some other people, and also through prayer.  I had all kinds of reasons why that was a bad idea, but thankfully, Our Lord is very persistent, and continued to whisper, each time a little bit louder, until I knew I had to respond.  And what great joy I’ve found by responding to His call.    

Whatever vocation He calls you and me to, I think there is only joy to be found by following that call.  That joy in knowing you are exactly where He wants you, doing exactly what He wants you to be doing with your life, whatever call that might be.

So sisters and brothers, let us pray that young and not-so-young men and women will especially respond to the call to the vocation of priest, sister, brother, deacon.  At St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Buffalo, nearby where I work, a prayer for religious vocations is prayed at every daily Mass – let us make it our prayer today.  Let us pray –

O God, we pray for all those who hear your call only as a whisper, that they may know that it is you calling them to service.  May they have the grace and courage to respond to your whisper.  I will pray, encourage and support all those you have chosen for priestly and religious vocations. Amen.