Jesus sees us and gives us joy – John 16:19b-25

Finishing off my Old College Lenten series on the Farewell Discourse, while we were hosting six young men and their parents for a discernment retreat.

They were scared.  The disciples had entrusted their lives to a man who was about to die.  In that upper room, Jesus had a shocking claim of good news for them: he would see them again, and they would rejoice.

God follows us, wherever we go – 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12.

Preaching on the 2nd reading from yesterday's mass at Sunday Vespers at Moreau Seminary.

We hear a lot about the growing phenomenon of helicopter parents, parents who micro-manage their children’s lives, sometimes well into adulthood.  The caricature of the offspring they raise are dependent fully grown kids, 20-somethings who can’t pick what pair of socks to wear in the morning without phoning home.  The mirror-image we can imagine, or perhaps know, are laissez-faire carefree parents who, it seems, could care less, not providing the resources their children need to form themselves, raising kids with no direction or moral compass, not even the borrowed un-owned one of helicopter’s progeny.

God is in the details – John 14:1-13

Beginning a Lenten series (that will be rather short due to Break and a few other special weekends) on the Farewell Discourse from John's gospel for OC.  The central example of this homily is drawn from the process of requesting permission to become a lifelong vowed religious (petitioning for final or perpetual vows).

[Jesus said,] “Do not let your hearts be troubled: have faith in God, have faith also in me.

“In my father’s house, there are many dwelling places.  If there were not, would I have said to you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.

“And you know the way where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No-one comes to the Father except through me.

“If you have known me, you will know the Father.  And from now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “I have been with you for this long, and you do not know me, Philip?  Whoever sees me is seeing the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the father?’

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own behalf, but the Father dwelling in me performs His works.

“Believe in me, since I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  Or if you can’t, believe through these works.

“Very truly I say to you: Whoever believes in me will do the works I do and will do greater than these, because I am going to the Father.

“And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

~~

The hardest part of writing a petition is starting it.  Sitting down over Christmas break to write a petition for final vows, at first I was at a loss for how to begin.  How do I explain how perpetual profession makes sense for me, when such an extravagant gift of self is not in the least bit sensible?  Being at a loss gave way to frustration, when I read over the brief for the petition.  In five pages, we had to cover all five pillars, three vows and talk about our intercultural experience and willingness to serve overseas.  Where would there be space for this and the spiritual magnum opus I was at a loss for how to write?

Christ, in his faithfulness, saves us – Gal 2:15-21

Preaching on Christ's faith as part of a Year of Faith retreat for Old College.

We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 

As we know that no-one is justified by works of the Law but through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, we also have come to faith in Christ Jesus in order that we may be made righteous by the faith of Christ and not from works of the Law, since no flesh is made righteous by works of the Law.

But if while seeking to be made righteous in Christ, we are also found to be sinners: is Christ then a servant of sin?

By no means!

For if I build up the very things I tore down, then I show myself to be a transgressor.

For, through the Law, I died to the Law, that I might live in God.

I have been crucified with Christ.

I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

I do not treat God’s free gift as worthless, for if righteousness is through the Law, then Christ died for nothing.

~~

There’s an old joke about two Irish laborers who are repairing a road.  On the street, there are several buildings, including a house of ‘ill repute.’  One day, they look up from their digging to see the local Protestant minister going into the house.  “Outrageous!” one exclaims.  “And to think he’s meant to be a man of God!”  The next day, they see the local rabbi going in and the laborers are similarly shocked and murmur to each other as they return to their shoveling.  The next day, the local Catholic priest walks into the house.  “Oh now, would you look at that,” says one of the laborers.  “One of those poor girls must have died.”

God loves us disproportionately – Matt 5:38-48

Continuing the series on the Sermon on the Mount for Old College with the last two antitheses.

You have heard it said: “An eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth.”

But, I say to you, do not oppose the evil-doer, but to whoever strikes your right cheek, offer the other.

And to whoever wants to sue you and take your tunic, give up also your cloak.

And with whoever wants to force you to go one mile, go two. 

Give to whoever asks of you, and from someone wanting to borrow from you, do not turn aside.

You have heard it said: “You shall love your neighbor” and you shall hate your enemy.

But I say to you: love your enemies and pray for your persecutors, so that you will become children of your Father in heaven, since he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good and makes it rain on the just and the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more do you have?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

~~

The sun produces energy at a rate of 400 Yotta-Watts, that’s 400 Yotta Joules each second, that’s 4 with 26 zeroes after it.  That’s the equivalent of this: if every man, woman and child on God’s green earth had their own nuclear power plant, and ran it for fifteen years, the total amount of energy produced would be the same as what the sun produces each second. That’s powerful.  That’s energetic.  That’s a tiny fraction of God’s action in the world, of God’s love, of God’s grace.  God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good.

God is radically unselfish as a giver – Matt 5:1-12

Beginning a series on the Sermon on the Mount for Old College.

Seeing the crowd, [Jesus] went up the mountain.  When he had sat down, his disciples came to him and he began to teach them:

“Happy the poor of spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is made up of them.

“Happy those who grieve, for they will be comforted.

“Happy the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Happy those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

“Happy those who practice mercy, for they will receive mercy.

“Happy the pure of heart, for they will see God.

“Happy the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Happy those who are persecuted for their righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is made up of them.

“Happy are you if they revile you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you falsely because of me.  Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for thus they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”

God gives.  If I was to sum up the beatitudes we’ve just heard in one short sentence, it would have to be that: God gives.  Comfort, inheritance, justice, mercy, vision, adoption, entry into the kingdom: God gives.  It’s a factual statement, but on a deeper level it’s an exclamation, an exercise of wonder and awe.  It’s a happy statement.  God gives and we are most fully happy, most genuinely ourselves, when we receive. 

God shows us our future in His saints – Rom 8:26-30

Moreau Lucenarium; Feast of St. Antony, Rom 8:26-30.

Sometimes you meet someone and you come away absolutely convinced of the existence of holiness in the world.  Sometimes you meet someone and you come away absolutely sure that they’re either a saint, or incredibly weird.  “Maybe,” you conclude, “they’re both.”  I think meeting St. Antony, whose feast day we celebrate today, was probably that kind of experience.  I mean, the guy did live in a tomb for starters.  People also flocked to him, and St. Athanasius wrote a biography of him, because he was someone whose presence convinced you of the fundamental goodness in humanity, the fundamental goodness that God can draw to the surface.