Homily preached for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - January 29, 2017 - St. Kateri at St. Margaret Mary

Today's scripture proclamations:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012917.cfm

I can still recall the conversation pretty clearly, happened almost thirty years ago.  I had been looking for a new job.  A first interview at one company, then a call-back and second interview with the company owner.  Seemed to go pretty well, and now I was getting pretty cocky, thinking this is a slam dunk.

Couple days later, waiting to hear from them, waiting for the offer I’m expecting, I’m reading the want ads (this was long before monster.com), and I focus on this job description.  I read a couple lines – sounds good.  Read a couple more – sounds familiar.  Read the last - hey wait a minute - this sounds exactly like the job I just interviewed for twice.

So I call the headhunter.  I say I read your ad – is this so-and-so company?”  “It is,” she said, “how did you guess?” 

“Because it sounds exactly like the job I just interviewed for over there.”  “I’m really sorry, that’s too bad.” she says.  “They called us yesterday and said they wanted more candidates.”  “Bummer,” I said, and wrote off that opportunity.

Happy ending, though, for eventually I did get the offer and spent a few good years at that company.

Today’s Gospel proclamation, from Our Lord's sermon on the mount, presents us a bit of a job description, too, doesn’t it?  These eight beatitudes, which means blessednesses, or graces, these eight are kind of like the Lord’s job description for anyone who would be His disciple, His follower.

I must confess, I’ve never been all that fond of these beatitudes, they’ve always made me feel a little uncomfortable. I’ve always found them challenging.  Certainly never wanted to preach about them. 

Why?  Because unlike that job I’d interviewed for, with its every requirement one I thought I was a perfect match for, truth be told I’ve never necessarily thought of myself when presented with, or thinking about, these eight beatitudes.  No.  I’ve always squirmed a little.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, meaning those unattached to the things of this world.  Me? 

Blessed are the meek, meaning not weak, but controlled strength and humble.  Does that describe me?  Or would overbearing and obnoxious be a better description, at least a lot of the time.

Blessed are they who mourn, yes meaning those who have lost loved ones, but also meaning those who decry the vast evil in the world, like those who traveled to Washington Friday for the 44^th March for Life.  Am I always mournful, unsettled by the world’s evils and injustices?

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for justice, who will not be silent in the face of injustice.  Like Cardinal Tobin of Newark, close friend by the way of our pastor, who this week spoke out against the new President’s immigration actions, saying that our welcome to immigrants is one of the things that made America great in the first place.  Am I like that?  Is my life about hungering and thirsting for justice?

Blessed are they who show mercy.  What humility it takes, doesn’t it?  To put aside self and ego to give forgiveness and mercy.  What grudges do I cling to?  And do I spend my time doing the works of mercy, corporal and spiritual?

Blessed are the clean of heart.  Is mine clean, or is it smudged by greed, or pride, or lust?

Blessed are the peacemakers.  Do I seek to bring about peace in the situations of my life?  I can too easily recall being an agent of conflict and divisiveness.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for justice’s sake.  Am I OK with being persecuted, or do I dwell on what others think of me, yearning to be accepted, fearing I won’t be liked?

If you’re like me, going through this list, you might find it pretty uncomfortable, too.  And I’m pretty sure Jesus meant it to be just that – dis-comforting - shaking us out of our comfort zones.

But here’s the thing – I’m also pretty sure that the same Jesus who is telling us today – this is what it means to be my disciple – I’m pretty sure He also will give us the grace to live the beatitudes out.  Give us the grace to desire to live the beatitudes out.

You see, as we grow in faith, becoming more sure of His love, He places within us the seed of desire to more and more live this way.  He places within us a desire to know Him better, to live more like Him.  And these beatitudes are what it means to live like Him.

Imagine the difference we would make in the world if each of us were to live the beatitudes, if the world saw the beatitudes in each of us, in all of us.  The would see Christ in each of us.

For these are not only our job description.  They’re also a pretty darn good description of what Our Lord Jesus was all about, too, huh?  Meek, not weak.   Humble and poor in spirit.  Mournful of the sin, the evil around Him.  Yearning for righteousness and justice.  Showing incredible mercy.  Making peace.  Pure of heart.  And willing to suffer persecution and yes, even death, death on a cross. 

That describes Jesus to a T.  And with His grace, with the help of His sacraments, especially Eucharist - His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity we receive into our bodies and souls here at the altar, yes you and I can live more and more a beatitude life.

Now Our Lord’s job description doesn’t come with a promise of competitive pay but it does promise great benefits.  It promises peace and joy in this life and the best retirement.  Just look what you and I are promised, and what we have to look forward to – you and I will be comforted, shown mercy, we’ll inherit the land, we’ll be satisfied.  You and I will be called children of God, will see God and inherit His Kingdom of Heaven, for all eternity.

Now who could ever turn down an offer like that?

Homily - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 22, 2017 - 8a/10a St. Margaret Mary / Christ the King

Today's scripture proclamations:   http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012217.cfm

Today is an anniversary.  A joy-filled anniversary!  The 61st anniversary, the 61^st birthday, of our pastor, Father Paul English.  A day to celebrate and give thanks for the gift to all of us that this joy-filled priest is and has been to our parish, to each of us.

But you may be aware that today is also another anniversary.  A rather dark, tragic anniversary.  For it was 44 years ago today that our Supreme Court intervened in time and law and without precedent lifted virtually every legal protection afforded to our smallest and most vulnerable sisters and brothers, the unborn, when they legalized abortion in all fifty states, for all nine months of pregnancy.

This has brought a darkness over our land, a gloom that persists to this day.  We probably don’t think about it very much – out of sight, out of mind.  Two years ago 137 people died in the Paris terrorist attacks.  Last June 42 at the airport in Istanbul and another 49 at the night club in Orlando.  About 3,000 persons perished on 9/11.  I could go on.   All made international news, and rightly so.

But what if we lost 3,000 people a day, every day, in terrorist attacks?  Imagine the news stories.  That’s the toll from legal abortion just in our nation.  Every day.  About three every minute.  40-50 million worldwide, according to the world health organization, every year.  Mind boggling? Out of sight out of mind.

But abortion isn’t the only darkness, not the only threat to life, not by a long shot.  In our own state, there’s a movement afoot to legalize physician-assisted suicide, a grave evil that has led to out-and-out euthanasia in some European countries.

And while tremendous advances have been made in our lifetimes to reduce starvation, hunger is still the #1 threat to global health, as the World Food Programme estimates that 795 million people worldwide, about 1 in 9, don’t have enough food to eat. 

In His encyclical Evangelium Vitae (the “Gospel of Life”), Pope Saint John Paul II spoke of the “extraordinary increase and gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenceless.” He continued – “In addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence and war, new threats are emerging on an alarmingly vast scale.”

Calling to mind the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the Holy Father condemned in the name of the whole Church, including you and me, declaring that every upright conscience must agree, he condemned "Whatever is opposed to life itself…any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them.”

It’s a dark list indeed.  Four weeks ago, we celebrated the Light that the Father sent into our darkness, Jesus Christ Our Lord.  He came to preach a gospel of repentance, the good news of the kingdom, a gospel of life.  As His disciples, you and I are called to be lights in the darkness of our times.

As people of light, we are called to be people of life.  People who, by our baptisms are called to be prophets, to proclaim Our Lord’s Gospel of life.  Called to proclaim, and celebrate, the God-given dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death. And to defend human life against every threat.

These matters are too often reduced to a matter of politics.  I belong to Hillary.  I belong to Donald.  I belong to Bernie.  We let our political views color our religious beliefs, rather than the other way around.  Is either party, is any politician (public servant as they prefer to be called) authentically and consistently representing the Gospel of Life?  Perhaps in different ways, but we can see the culture of death in aspects of each of our major parties’ platforms.  Our new president promised a “pro-life” position on abortion, but also promised he’d punish terrorists by killing their families.

You and I, brothers and sisters, are called to declare “I belong to Christ” and let our consciences be formed by Him and the teaching of the Church He founded.  By the successors to those apostles He called on that seashore.  Indeed it is critical that we examine and re-inform our consciences.  Saint John Paul spoke to this, declaring that our consciences have become darkened and conditioned by our secular society, and that we are “finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life.”

Imagine the change we could bring about in our nation and world if you and I were to consistently and brightly shine our deep reverence for every human life into every dark corner of our society.  If we were united in our beliefs about the need to protect and nurture and care for every human life.  If we were statistically any more pro-life than society at large.  Sadly, we are not.

But being truly pro-life is not merely a matter of participation in the public political arena.  It happens right here in our Church building, it happens right here in our hearts.  I know a family, long-time parishioners, who don’t come here to church anymore.  Their teenage daughter got pregnant.  She, with the support of her parents opted to take the difficult road, giving birth, keeping and raising her son.  Had him baptized, brought him to church. 

And somehow they felt eyes of judgment on them here.  Yes she got herself in a bad situation.  But rather than to take the easy way out, the one the secular culture advocates and even pays for, they chose the difficult road.  And those eyes of judgment chased them away, such that they now go to Mass in a neighboring parish.

I know that the vast majority of our parishioners would celebrate this family’s choice for life.  But it only takes a few, doesn’t it?

As to those women who’ve chosen abortion, do we sit in judgment of them?  We pray that they come to know the great love and mercy Jesus Christ Our Lord has for them, that He so wants to heal them, but aren’t we also called to be people who show that same love, mercy, compassion?

Do we who call ourselves pro-life care for and support poor or unwed mothers choosing to keep their babies?

Do we care for the hungry, the starving?  At three of our masses this weekend, another Father Paul, from Florida, is here on behalf of Food for the Poor, a wonderful organization which houses, feeds and provides water to the poor in seventeen countries, right here in our own hemisphere.

So let us each examine our hearts.  Ask ourselves – do I respect and reverence every, single, human life?  Or are some more important than others?  Am I open and welcoming to every one?  And will I speak out, and pray, and work for a more just, more truly pro-life nation and world?

Saint John Paul closed Evangelium Vitae with these powerful words and this prayer to the Blessed Mother:

“Mary is a living word of comfort for the Church in her struggle against death. Showing us the Son, the Church assures us that in Him the forces of death have already been defeated.  The Lamb who was slain is alive, bearing the marks of his Passion in the splendour of the Resurrection. He proclaims, in time and beyond, the power of life over death.

“As we, the pilgrim people, the people of life and for life, make our way in confidence towards ‘a new heaven and a new earth’, we look to her who is for us ‘a sign of sure hope and solace.’  So let us pray:

“O Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to you do we entrust the cause of life. Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.

“Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel of life with honesty and love to the people of our time.

“Obtain for them the grace to accept that Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build, together with all people of good will, the civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life. Amen.”

Homily - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - January 15, 2017 at 5p/9a, St. Cecilia Church

Today's Scripture Proclamations:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011517.cfm

I was on my way to work this week, listening to Catholic radio as I’m wont to do, and heard a fundraising promotional spot which I hadn’t heard before.  It was a tape of the Chili fire department radio, middle of the night, January 1, two years ago.  It was only a snippet  I heard on the radio, but I found the complete radio call on youtube.  Went like this –

Beep-beep.  Company number 3 – automatic alarm activated…St. Pius Tenth Church, thirty-ten Chili Avenue, Box 3604.  4332 responding.  4332 be advised we’re getting additional alarms from the alarm company – front foyer, east smoke, front office, north smoke, south and west – smoke.  4332?  Go ahead.  Firefighter on location reporting heavy fire in the building – St Pius the Tenth Church thirty-ten Chili Avenue.  Got heavy fire from the church.  4332 on location – we have water.  32 on location – they have water.  4332 has command in front of the building and he has a fully-involved structure.

If you’re a fire-fighter with one of our local companies – Ridge Culver, Sea Breeze, Point Pleasant, Laurelton, St. Paul perhaps – you might find that kind of interesting, and you’d certainly appreciate those who get up in the middle of the night to risk their lives to go put out a fire.  For doing that, for making yourselves available like that, let me say “thank you!”

But why did I listen to that and repeat it today?  Well what really caught my ear when I first heard that this week were a couple of lines – “got heavy fire from the church” and “he has a fully-involved structure.”  Got heavy fire from the church. Fully-involved structure.

And I said to myself, isn’t that sort of our goal?  I mean, we don’t want to see our church buildings literally on fire.  But isn’t it our goal as a parish to be on fire as a church, to have a fully involved church?

These readings today seem to me to have one thing in common – a calling to action, a calling to apostleship, a calling to action.  And, it seems to me that our call is to be fully involved, fully on fire.

It is too little, the Lord says to the prophet Isaiah, to be His servant.  Rather, the Lord says “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

The psalmist responds “Here am I, Lord, I come to do your will.”

And the beginning of his first letter to the people of Corinth, St. Paul writes to a people “who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of the lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” 

And we heard two callings in this evening’s (morning’s) Gospel – the calling of John to baptize with water and testify that Jesus is the Son of God – and the calling of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

For us who testify that we are His disciples, we, too are called.  It is too little for us, too, to serve Him – rather you and I – we the Church – are called to be a light to the nations that His salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.  Some, of course, may be called to literally go forth and be a light to the nations – just yesterday/Friday we buried a parishioner, a dentist, who without fanfare went on dental missions to a couple nations in South America, taking vacation time to do much-needed dental work for the poor in those countries.

But even if we aren’t called to go to other nations, we certainly are called to be His light to the ends of our town, from the river in the west, lake in the north, bay in the east and city in the south.  That is our calling, that is our mission. It is our vocation!  It is right there in our statement as a parish – To invite and welcome people of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life to embrace and celebrate our vocation – to be Christ to the world.

We are still at the beginning of a new year – I would encourage everyone to pray and consider – how can I, how can we, be more fully involved?  How is He calling me, right now, to more fully live out that vocation?  What is my role in building up His Kingdom?

One idea – volunteer firefighter!  We assume someone will come and come quickly when we make that 911 call.  What if there were no “someone” willing to give of their time, willing to sacrifice and take risks, to come?

Another idea – hospice worker.  Our local hospice, Sunset House, has had a number of very long time volunteers retire.  Might the Lord be calling you to bring your talents and big heart to help those in the last days and hours of life?  Just a thought.

Other ideas – children’s liturgy, Good Samaritan transportation, visiting the homebound, teaching a faith formation class, and I could go on and on.

Maybe you’re at a place in your life where you can do no more than pray – but how important, how vital, is prayer!  To use your time to pray, for the Church, for its ministers, the faithful, that we may together continue to build His Kingdom right here in Irondequoit – that is a beautiful and necessary thing!

So as we begin this new year – we’re only half way through January after all, let us pray that 2017 may be a year in which we as a parish are fully on fire for the Lord.  And as we behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, let us implore Our Blessed Lord to send His Holy Spirit to us to fan the flames of the fire in our hearts, so that we may burn ever more brightly, and truly be a light to the nations.  

That’s homily #1.  Homily #2, briefly:

One other way of building the Kingdom and being Christ to the world is through the CMA.  I know you’ve heard a lot of pitches for the CMA, and hopefully this will be the last for this year.  We’re nearly at our goal, 95% at last count.  I urge you, if you haven’t donated to the CMA, please prayerfully consider doing so. 

I stand here as a beneficiary of the CMA – except for the cost of books, my entire 4-1/2 years of masters-level education and formation for deacon ordination was paid by the Diocese out of CMA funds.  For that, I promised to give back my service, without pay, through retirement, to the diocese and my assigned parish.  That is my vocation, that is my calling, and indeed it is my great joy – to serve Him and His people, and in my own way try to be a light to the nations.  But it was made possible through generous gifts to the CMA.

So please, if you haven’t yet given, please consider doing so.  Thank you and may God richly bless you.

Homily for the Marriage of my daughter Erin and Ben Bovenzi, Friday Dec.30, St Kateri at St. Margaret Mary

Ben – dude - you saw her before the ceremony.  Bad luck, they say.  Missed out on the big moment, when those doors swing open and there she is.  Bad, bad luck.

And both of you – escorted down the aisle in a liturgical procession.  Instead of bride coming in on daddy’s arm and being given away.  More bad luck, I’m sure someone from the superstition police would tell you.

Well since we’re in the mode of breaking the rules here, or at least superstitions, I’d like to break one of my own.

Congratulations.  To both of you!

Wait! - bad luck!  You say “congratulations” to the groom and “best wishes” to the bride.  Or something like that.

Hogwash.  Congratulations.  To the both of you.

Four congratulations, actually.

First of all, congratulations on your courtship, which has been very different, counter-cultural.  And on your marriage – on getting married.  More and more this world will tell you it’s just a piece of paper, what do we need that for if we love each other.  I will tell you that getting married is counter-cultural, and becoming more so by the day.  So congratulations on trusting in each other’s love enough to commit to loving each other for a lifetime.

Second – congratulations on getting married before God and His people.  If you were paying close attention to the lyrics of the wedding song, which Matt and Julia so beautifully sang at the beginning of our liturgy, the opening stanza was “He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts. Rest assured this troubadour is acting on his part. The union of your spirits here has caused him to remain for whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name, there is love.”

You could be exchanging vows and rings on a beautiful beach someplace, a destination wedding.  All the vogue these days.  But you have chosen to come here to give your consent, say solemn vows and exchange rings before God and all of us. 

This says something – something powerful.  It says that your faith is important to you.  Like Tobiah and Sarah whose prayer we heard in our first reading, you desire a lifelong covenantal marriage with God at the center.  That you seek God’s blessings and graces as you set out on your married journey together.  That you want Him to accompany you all along that journey.  And He will.  The meaning of the feast we celebrated only five days ago is “God is with us” – Emmanuel.  And God will be with you.  For that – congratulations!

Third, congratulations on your marriage here.  Not only in Church, but in this Church.  For here we recognize that yours is more than a relationship, more than a marriage. It’s a sacrament.  Sacrament – what’s that?

There was a question posed in that song Matt and Julia sang - “Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before?”  A sacrament is a solemn, visible sign of something unseen, of a spiritual reality.

You see, since the beginning of time, God has been revealing Himself to His creation, to us.  The ultimate way He has revealed Himself to us is in the person of His only begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus became the sacrament, if you will, of the Father.  The physical manifestation of our unseen God with us.

Our Lord ascended to heaven, and what did He leave behind? A ragtag group of disciples, inspired by the Holy Spirit, led by twelve apostles – He left behind the Church!  The Church, then, is the sacrament, the physical manifestation, the ongoing presence, of Jesus Himself.  To carry on the mission of Jesus Himself. 

And why?  For the same reason He came to earth – for our salvation!  The Church is His instrument, His sacrament, for the salvation of the world.  And He graciously left the Church seven special ways in which He continues to manifest His presence to us – seven special sacraments – of which holy matrimony is one.

Put in this perspective, your marriage sacrament, which will begin in a few moments and last your entire lives together, is part of Our Lord’s plan for the salvation of the world.  Your vocation, your mission, as a couple, as a family, as a little church, is to make visible, first to each other, and to every person you ever encounter, the loving presence of Jesus Christ.

Your love, the way you speak to each other, look at each other, sacrifice for each other, forgive each other – is to be a physical and very real sign of something – some One - you’ve never seen before – Our Blessed Lord.  So that every single person you meet, but above all each other – will get a glimpse of His amazing love for us, by the way you love each other.

Your sacramental love will then flow out from your relationship to, God willing, your children, and your family, friends, community, our world.  You two together will comfort the mourning.  Be peacemakers.  Show mercy.  Seek justice and righteousness. Most especially with each other, but overflowing to your family and world around you.

That is what we mean by the Sacrament of Marriage.  It’s a mission – a vital mission He’s giving you, you’re accepting.  It’s vital especially in our time, in a world that thirsts for His presence.   Thirsts to know His love.  His tenderness.  His mercy.

For taking on such an important mission, I say “congratulations!”

Finally, congratulations on being married in front of this altar, where soon after we will celebrate His real presence in the ultimate Sacrament, the source and summit of our faith, Holy Eucharist.  You trust in His word when He says “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you shall not have life within you” and you want that life always in your marriage.

You will receive the very Body, blood, soul and divinity of our Blessed Lord into your own bodies, and into your marriage, and unite yourselves in communion with each other, with all of us who partake with you, and in a very real sense with all those who have gone before us, those loved ones we wish could be here today, and with all those who will come after us.

You recognize the importance of this sacrament in your own lives and now in your marriage.  Always, always, keep Eucharist at the center of your marriage. 

So to conclude, forget about bad luck.  With Jesus in His Blessed Sacrament at your center, and under the protection and intercession of His Blessed Mother Mary and foster father Joseph, the Holy Family whom we also celebrate this day, you won’t need luck.

For you will have grace – He will shower you with an abundance of grace, and give you the strength and meekness and mercy and every other good gift you will need on your married journey together.

You will have holiness – you will lead each other to ever deeper faith in Jesus Christ.

And you will have joy.  Not necessarily always happiness, but always joy.  Joy in knowing you are exactly where He wants you, fulfilling exactly the mission for which you were created.  Until that day when together you experience the eternal joy He promises to all His beloved.  And make no mistake – you are His beloved.

So I say it again - Erin and Ben – Congratulations!

Preached for the Third Sunday in Advent, Cycle A - Guadete Sunday, December 10/11 - 4:30p, 8a, 10a

Today's readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/12112016.cfm

I got word a couple days ago from a deacon friend of mine – he and his wife had just returned from the oncologist.  Second oncologist.  Second opinion.  The news is grim – worst fears confirmed - small cell lung cancer.  Since she already has end-stage kidney disease, chemo would be very difficult and unlikely successful.  So she’ll continue to serve in her ministry as an Episcopal deacon until she can’t, and then palliative care, finally hospice care.  Six months or so, tops.

Who among us, especially those of us in middle age, or late middle age, doesn’t know someone who’s had a similar experience?  With a loved one, or friend, co-worker, or maybe we ourselves have sat across the desk from a grim-faced physician.  I can vividly recall the doctor coming into the waiting room after my mom’s surgery – his face said everything we needed to know.

And it’s not just health.  Face it – life is hard.  Broken relationships.  Job loss.  The stress of money worries, stress that’s there when waking up, and still there trying to fall asleep.  And I could go on.

I was watching a clip from the musical Les Mis the other night – the beautiful and haunting song I dreamed a dream.  And a couple of the lines really caught my attention, as a young woman named Fantine sings:

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

And it all went wrong

Fantine goes on:

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I’m living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream   I dreamed

Now hopefully very few of us would describe our lives as a “hell” but I’m pretty sure some probably would.  I see it in people’s faces.  In any event I’m willing to bet very few of us can’t relate to what Fantine sings – that life doesn’t turn out to be all we hoped and dreamed it would be.  Who here would really argue with the idea that life is hard.

It’s certainly hard for John, the subject of this evening’s/morning’s Gospel.  He’s been in prison, for quite some time – we’re in the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s gospel here and he was locked up in chapter 4.  And this is no prison like we think of prisons today – more likely it was a cold, dark, damp cell, little or no light, no sanitation, and he was probably in chains.

And John is giving up hope.  Life is not turning out to be what he dreamed, and the Lord is not turning out to be what he expected either.  Just last week we heard him speak of the ax being at the root of the tree, and the winnowing fan is in his hand to clear the threshing floor.  Today – doubts.  Get word to Jesus – are you the One, or is there another coming?

Against this darkness and near despair, Holy Mother Church tells us today “Gaudete!”  “Rejoice”

John, stuck in jail, or you or I burdened by life, might say – “Yeah right.  Rejoice.  Easy for you to say.  What do I have to rejoice about?”

The answer is a simple, single word.  Hope.

Rejoice, because we have hope.  We who are blessed with the gift of faith in Christ Jesus have hope.  I often wonder just how those who have no faith do it – how do they live day to day, where is their consolation standing at a loved one’s grave, where do they find peace driving home from the oncologist’s office? 

But we are blessed for we have confidence, we have His assurance, that the best is yet to come.  That into the darkness, the pain, the burdens of our lives, Christ is already with us, and Christ is coming.  That despite our pain and hardships, we have the hope of unending joy in union with the Trinity.  That is our great hope, and the source of our peace.  The peace of God that surpasses all understanding, St. Paul writes to the Philippians.

To John, despairing in prison, Jesus simply responded with the words of the prophet Isaiah – that the “blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  In other words, I am the fulfillment of the prophecy.  I am the reason to have hope.  I am the reason to be joyful.  My kingdom is here with you now.

And that is why Holy Mother Church tells us today, “rejoice!”  That because Christ is with us, and coming soon, we can joyfully, even in the storms and difficulties of our lives.  We all know people, I’m sure, who despite very great hardships, great tragedies in their lives, exude peace, exude joy.  That comes from a deep faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that gives a deep sense of hopefulness.

Sisters and brothers, you and I are called to be those people who, despite our own great hardships, great tragedies, exude peace, exude joy.  You and I are called to be witnesses to the world around us of the hope we have found in relationship with Our Blessed Lord.

I saw a beautiful  quote on facebook this week – by the British anthropologist Jane Goodall, who spent 55 years living among and studying the lives of chimpanzees in Kenya – and it was simply this:  “the mission of my life is to give people hope.”

That really struck me.  I thought to myself – isn’t that my mission, too?  Isn’t that the mission of all of us who profess faith in Jesus  Christ?  The mission of my life is to give people hope.

And how?  By sharing the only hope.  The only reason for the advent candles and bright lights and candy canes.  The gifts and the eating and drinking and making merry.  The only hope.  Jesus Christ is with us, and Jesus Christ is coming with salvation for His people.

Gaudete!  Rejoice!

Homily - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - preached Thurs., Dec.8, 2016 - St.Margaret Mary 7p

Today's readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120816.cfm

We gather this evening, as we always gather, to praise and worship the Father through Jesus His Son, and in particular we celebrate the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother, Mary.  And a great mystery it is – how among the billions of persons who’ve walked the earth, other than that same Jesus Christ, Mary is the only person ever conceived without sin, without original sin or any tendency to sin, pure and spotless.

It’s a significant day, to be sure, a most significant day in salvation history that we celebrate, for at the Immaculate Conception, God first “intervened,” if you will, God first stepped into time and created in the womb of Mary’s mother a most fitting vessel, a most holy and fitting tabernacle who would eventually carry within her God’s only Son, our Lord and Savior.

And we celebrate that she is “full of grace” which means not only that she is pure and sinless, but also that she is completely fruitful – her entire life has borne fruit, from the moment of her conception, all her life, most especially in her “yes” to God at the Annunciation and her giving birth to our Savior, and yes, even for all eternity.

Quite a mystery, huh?  But we who’ve braved a blustery December evening to come to Mass, might ask – well what exactly does this have to do with me, in my life, here and now?

Now if you were to ask me that, I might be inclined to say we don’t need to have a takeaway from every Mass, from every readings, from every homily?  Isn’t it enough to gather and celebrate, to worship, to rejoice in God’s wondrous gift to us in the Immaculate Conception? 

But understanding Mary’s role in our salvation, and especially this day her role as the Immaculate Conception – this is very practical – very applicable to our lives here and now.

How? Let me tell a little story.  My wife and I spent our late September wedding anniversary a few years back hiking in the Adirondacks.  We set out on a perfect Saturday morning to climb two of the high peaks.  Drinking coffee at a morning campfire and making breakfast, we got a late start on what would be a twenty mile round trip hike.  As the day wore on and we got nearer the first peak, I started to panic, realizing that the sun was already dipping in the western sky, and calculating in my head whether we could make it the ten miles through the woods back to the car.  Only a quarter mile or so from the peak, I said “we’ve got to turn around and go back.  I don’t want to spend the night in the woods.”

Long story short, despite making great time down the trail, we ran out of daylight and soon it was pitch black in the woods, with one headlamp between us, no cell service, no overnight clothes, no tent.  We kept going and going until finally I realized we were on a path we hadn’t been on before.  The trail markers were still blue, but I knew we needed to be going southwest and we were heading straight north. We had missed a turn. I knew we were off course only because the moon was rising behind us.  Thank God it wasn’t a moonless night. 

We turned around and re-traced our path for a mile or so, then turned around again and then again.  Completely dark, completely lost in the woods.  No map. No compass. Very little food.  Getting cold.   We were both starting to panic.

The story has a happy ending, obviously – as I sat down on a bridge to eat a carrot, I happened to notice a sign on a tree that pointed the way out.  And at nearly 10pm we were safely back at the car.

What’s the point of this story?  On this journey, I was unprepared.  No map.  No food.  Most importantly no compass.  It was luck (and many prayers answered) that got us out of the woods that night. 

Life isn’t all that different, is it?  It can be quite frightening, cold, dark and we often can feel very lost.  We can follow the wrong signs along the way, toward the only destination that matters, eternal joy with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mary, the Immaculate Conception, is our compass on that journey.  A compass always points to one point, true north.  No matter where we are, the compass always points to that one place.  Properly using a compass we can always find our way.

Like a compass, Mary always points to one point, her Son, Jesus Christ.  Her entire life, from the moment of her conception, to His birth in the stable, by His side on Calvary – her entire life was about pointing the way to her Divine Son.  And her entire eternity is about pointing the way to her Divine Son as well.

She is a sure and certain instrument, always pointing us to her Son.  No matter the false signposts this world gives us, no matter the temptations the enemy places before us to distract us and have us lose our way, no matter how lost we are in the woods of life, we can always rely on His mother, Our Mother, to point the way to her Son.

Sure, there’s a chance we’ll find our way to her Son without her to guide us.  Our separated protestant brothers and sisters for the most part claim no devotion to Mary, claim no need of her.  To me that’s like setting out in the woods without a compass.  You might find your way, but why chance it?

And the fact that she is the Immaculate Conception means this – she’s completely reliable.  There is no risk, no chance, of her ever leading us astray by sin or scandal.  If we place our trust in people, we know from experience that we will always, to some extent or another, be let down.  No fear of that with Mary.  If we place our trust in her, we can be assured that she will always lead us to her Son.

Isn’t that cause for rejoicing?  We are so blessed to have the salvation Jesus Christ offers us by His death and resurrection, and we are so blessed to have His Blessed Mother to always lead us back to Him if we only ask her.

So let us rejoice and give thanks to God for His great gift to us - His Immaculate Daughter, our Immaculate Mother, a sure and certain guide to lead us to Jesus, who will lead us to our heavenly homeland.

And let us pray, Hail Mary….

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent Cycle A - Preached Sat/Sun Nov. 26/27 St. Cecilia Church

Today's readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112716.cfm

I always found it curious that we would end a Church year like we did a week ago, with readings about the end times, about the final judgment, about the fulfillment of the Kingdom.  And then, a week later, begin a new Church year with readings about the end times, final judgment and fulfillment of the Kingdom.  Why is that, huh?

I think the meaning behind these readings can be found summed up in one of those Seven Habits of Highly Effective People that Steven Covey writes about – “begin with the end in mind.”  Begin with the end in mind.  The gist is – if you don’t know where you’re trying to get to, it doesn’t matter much which road you take.  But if you start with a firm goal, then how you get there makes all the difference.  So I think the Church is teaching us to begin again, begin with a firm goal in mind.

And we who gather this evening/morning do share a common goal, do we not?  Eternal life, eternal communion with our God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. 

But how often do we think about that?  How often as we live the day-to-day busy-ness of our lives, do we take the time to stop and think about where we’re going, where we’re trying to get.  And are we on the right road to get there? 

This new season of Advent - this new Church year - provide us a time to stop and think, and examine our lives.  Ironic, huh? That this time of year that this world has made more and more hectic, preparing for the “holidays” – is supposed to be a time of retreat, reflection, self-examination. 

And but don’t dally - do it now. All these readings seem to say - don’t delay!  There’s an urgency to these readings, huh?  We recognize that our salvation is nearer than when we first believed, nearer than last advent, nearer even than our last breath.  So we’d better get on with it.

Why? Because Jesus, the “Son of Man, is coming.”  On Christmas morn.  At the end of our lives.  At the end of time.  And this season gives us a time to reflect on Jesus’ coming in all three ways, but especially at the end of our lives.  The Gospel speaks to this.

Let’s take a moment and put ourselves into this Gospel.  Two men out in the field – one taken, one left.  Two women grinding at the mill – one taken one left. 

Imagine - what if you or I were there in the field, or grinding at the wheel?  Working away, here before you stands Jesus the Son of God Himself.  The “coming of the Son of Man.”  For your judgment – such that one is taken and one left.  To judge my life.  What have I done?  What have I failed to do?   Have I been faithful to Him?

Just this week, the Holy Father Pope Francis spoke of this – that we must take stock of our lives in preparation for that judgment – “We’d do well to think,” he said, ‘…what will the day be like when I will be in front of Jesus? When He asks me about the talents that he gave me, what use I made of them, when He will ask me: how was my heart when the seed was dropped, like a path or like thorns: that Parable of the Kingdom of God. How did I receive His Word? With an open heart?  Did I make it germinate for the good of all or in secret?”

Now, imagine again, Jesus standing before you.  What if, at that moment, rather than stand in judgment, He points straight at you and says “you decide?”  Tells you to judge, presents you at that moment a stark choice – Him or not Him?  On one hand a smiling Jesus, arms outstretched, open wide, beckoning me to embrace Him.  On the other hand an eternity entirely devoid of His love.  Pretty easy choice, huh?

Now what if, at that moment, the choices completely morph.  On one had you’re presented with all the glamour, the glitter, the good feelings, the undeniable attraction of sin.  Those deeds of darkness which the evil one puts in front of you, to tempt you.  Those deeds of which St. Paul wrote in our second reading. 

And on the other hand you’re presented with a life of faithful discipline, of resolve strengthened by frequent visits to the confessional and Eucharist.  A life of clinging to the crucified Lord.  Now perhaps the choice is not so easy, as one looks so tempting, so gratifying.  The other looks - so hard.

Now what if, on one hand you’re presented with a life of comfort and ease, of riches and pleasure and amusement.  And on the other hand Jesus morphs.  He becomes a homeless woman.  An immigrant child.  An elderly person lonely and dying.  An unwed mother, an unborn baby.  Each with arms outstretched, open wide, beckoning for our help.  And the judgment is again ours, yours and mine, to make.

You see, I’m not sure that the end times will be any different than our daily lives, that the judgments we make day in and day out aren’t the exact same as those we’ll be called to make when standing before the Lord.  That the final judgment won’t be a replay of all the many little judgments we make along the way.  Do we choose Jesus, or not Jesus?

Sisters and brothers, I think the message for each of us today, as we begin this new Church year and enter into this holy season of preparation is to ready ourselves - prepare ye the way of the Lord, for the Son of Man is coming.  Prepare for that day of our judgment.

For what time is it?  It’s the time to wake from our slumber.  To arise, to change our lives, our priorities, change the path we’re on if the path we’re on isn’t leading us to the only goal that matters – that is - eternal life, eternal joy, eternal communion with God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.