Jesus presents himself to us in the vulnerable – Luke 9:1-6, St. Jerome

Ordinary Time, Week 26, Monday; Feast of St. Jerome.  Holy Cross Parish.

What associations come into your mind when you think about children?  Cute?  Charming?  A breath of fresh air?  Noisy rascals?  Precious?  Hard work?  Our future?  How about: poor.  In the US today, 22% of children live in poverty.  That’s as compared with 14% of adults.  Statistically, children are more likely to be poor.  Globally, the pattern is the same.  Statistically, children are more likely to be hungry.  The effects of poverty and malnutrition take their toll more rapidly and more viciously on those not yet fully grown.  In societies where most children don’t last till adulthood, which was the case in Jesus’ world and is the case in far too much of ours: they are undervalued, viewed as expendable.  Today’s abortion crisis is not new: in the Ancient world, all children were seem as discardable.

God dreams bigger than we can ever imagine – Zech 2:5-9, 14-15a

Saturday of the 25th week of Ordinary Time; St. Stanislaus.

They had lost everything.  If you’ve ever met a refugee, or just kept yourself informed about the plight of the 10.4 million refugees that are displaced from their homeland today, you don’t need a long spiel from me about the horror of being forced from your homeland, of being displaced, of feeling like you are a person without a place, as if your roots were amputated against your will.  But if I can say it, being an exiled Israelite was even worse.  Your Land was your God’s promise to you in terrestrial form; your Temple was the locus (no mere sign) of your God’s very real presence in your midst and an invitation to relate to Him in worship; your King was the embodiment (however imperfect) of God’s sovereignty.  In the Exile, Babylon took all of that.  Marduch, their god, beat up your God and took Him from you.

For seventy years, the people were bereft.  Then, Cyrus the great Persian warrior-king arose, beat the Babylonians, bid the exiles return to their homeland and even gave them resources to rebuild their city and their Temple.  No wonder many called him Messiah!

WwtW: God moves us to compassion through the inspiration of prophets

A day late, but here's this week's Wednesdays with the Word Bible Study notes.  Ordinary Time, Year C, Week 26.

1^st Reading:    Amos 6:1a, 4-7

Context.          Amos is the first of the “classical prophets” (ie. those who left a book).  Himself a Southerner, he prophesied at Bethel, a cultic center in the Northern Kingdom in the early to mid 8^th Century.  This was a time of great material prosperity for Israel, but also social and religious corruption.  Amos is a book of judgment; we will have to wait until later prophets to get the hope of restoration after punishment.  The hypocrisy of ‘correct’ worship while oppressing the poor is condemned – it is not right worship.  This reading is part of Amos’ attempt to break through the complacency of the comfortable: God is coming, get ready!

Jesus formed a poor Church to make him present for all ages – Luke 9:1-6

Daily Mass at Holy Cross parish; Wednesday of Week 25.

“Modern people listen more willingly to witnesses than teachers and, if they listen to teachers, it’s because they’re witnesses.”  It was in 1974 that Pope Paul VI said that.  I think the word ‘modern’ could probably be elided from that famous quote and it could be uttered in any year.  Certainly, Jesus seems to be very aware of its truth when he sends the twelve out in today’s reading.  He sends out not teachers, but powerful healers, proclaimers of the kingdom, impoverished witnesses: witnesses to trust in God’s care rather than in their own strength to provide for themselves; witnesses to the God who made Himself poor that we might be rich in grace.

Jesus invites us, his friends, to be part of his mission – Lk 8:1-3; Korean Martyrs

School Mass, Feast of the Korean Martyrs.

Imagine for a minute that you were God.  As you’re God, you’re really really loving.  You love the people you’ve created and you’re sad to see them trapped by sin and death so you want to rescue them.  You decide you love your people so much you’re going to go down to earth to rescue them.  How would you do it?

WwtW: God's generosity wins out in the end

Ordinary Time, Year C, Week 25.

1^st Reading:    Amos 8:4-7

Context.          Amos is the first of the “classical prophets” (ie. those who left a book).  Himself a Southerner, he prophesied at Bethel, a cultic center in the Northern Kingdom in the early to mid 8^th Century.  This was a time of great material prosperity for Israel, but also social and religious corruption.  Amos is a book of judgment; we will have to wait until later prophets to get the hope of restoration after punishment.  The hypocrisy of ‘correct’ worship while oppressing the poor is condemned – it is not right worship.  Our reading comes in the midst of visions of God’s destruction of Israel and seeks to answer the question ‘why?’

God gives us something to hang onto and hand on – 1 Tim 3:1-13

Daily Mass, Holy Cross parish, Tuesday of Week 24.

The widow of Nain has a certain fame among younger Holy Cross clergy, as anyone who’s been through the preaching formation program at Notre Dame in the last ten years or so will have preached on that passage as their first assignment in second semester preaching.  That means I heard 12 homilies on it within three weeks two years ago, so, as beautiful a passage as it is (the teacher chose it for good reason) I haven’t no intention of adding another one today!  I need a little cooling off period from the widow of Nain, but a better reason to not preach on that read is that our reading from first Timothy rather grabbed me, especially as a new deacon.  While I can assure you that I have not contracted multiple marriages, the question of whether I have held fast to the mystery of faith: that occasioned more reflection on my part.

God forges community from the cross – Jn 19:25-27, Heb 5:7-9

First Sunday Mass homily, for the solemnity of our patroness, Our Lady of Sorrows.  St. Stanislaus Saturday night and Holy Cross parish Sunday morning.  Hebrews 5:7-9; John 19:25-27.

Goudou Goudou: that’s the word in Haitian Creole for ‘earthquake.’  Before January 2010, there was no word in Haitian Creole for earthquake.  That’s how dramatic a change the shaking earth spawned, that they needed a new word, even though the physical devastation we saw on the media left most of the world speechless.  I spent some time in Haiti last summer with my brothers in Holy Cross there and I saw a counter-image to what we had seen through the television.  I don’t want to in any way idealize or sugarcoat the destruction that earthquake wrought, but I want to be just as clear about what rose up when the buildings fell down.  I met people who were working together to rebuild not just buildings but lives; I could detail project after project, but what’s important is that each of them were driven by people working together, people moved by a more profound sense of mutual responsibility than I often see in more ‘developed’ nations, people who didn’t even know they were a community until disaster hit.  From the all too real cross of that earthquake, God forged community, God forged family.

God loves us arms-outstretched-much – Jn 3:13-17, Exaltation of the Cross

My first attempt at a school Mass, celebrating our feast of title a couple of days early: Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.  The homily was very interactive, so these notes don't convey everything that happened in the moment.

“Guess how much I love you!”  Do any of you know this story?  When Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare do all kinds of actions to show each other how much they love one another?  Can you remember some of the ways they showed each other? [stretch arms up; hopping; distance, over the hills, up to the moon and back].

WwtW: Our Lady of Sorrows special edition

For Wednesdays with the Word this week, we looked at some of the readings for Our Lady of Sorrows, the patroness of the Congregation of Holy Cross, whose feast day can be celebrated by Holy Cross apostolates this weekend on September 15th in place of the usual Sunday readings.

First Reading:           Heb 5:7-9

Context.           The origins of this “letter” are shrouded in mystery: we don’t know who wrote it, who is was intended for, or whether it was even a letter (it may well have been a homily.  Its central theme is the priesthood of Christ, crucified and exalted: Christ did what Jewish cult could not do – provide permanent cleansing from sin, through the New Altar of the Cross.  We are called to follow our “forerunner” on his pilgrimage, bringing us home to heavenly rest.  Our extract this week is from the section of the letter which explores Christ’s priesthood.

God never tires of healing us – Luke 6:6-11

First daily Mass preached at Holy Cross parish, Monday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time.

I’m tired.  It’s been a wonderful, thoroughly overwhelming, long weekend of prayer and celebration, hosting old friends, embracing new realities, running emotional gamuts, late nights, and early mornings, and now I find myself for the first time beginning a mass as a deacon and standing at this ambo to preach. 

WwtW: Christ makes us children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ forever, relationships that trump even death

Ordinary Time, Year C, Week 22.

Gospel:           Luke 14:25-33

Context.           We continue Jesus’ long journey to Jerusalem (9:51-19:48; Wks 13-31), and the section of it which is an extended response to the question “who will be saved?”  (13:10-17:10; Wks 21-27).  He is concerned to form community and set boundaries, but in a completely topsy-turvy way that will confound any sense of privilege (think of Mary’s Song: the mighty will topple from their thrones).  Throughout, the door of discipleship remains open, even to the Pharisees.  We haven’t skipped much since our reading last week: one parable about inviting all to the feast.

Guest Post: Preparing for the rest of my life, and beyond

I have a guest post on the Holy Cross Vocations blog about my final preparations for Final Vows.