4th Sunday of Easter - The Voice of the Shepherd

Location: Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 7 a.m. Sunday Mass

                Saint Paul Catholic Church (Worthington, IA) – 9 a.m. Sunday Mass

Date: Sunday May 11^th, 2014 (4^th Sunday of Easter, Year A; World Day of Prayer for Vocations)

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Resp. Psalm: Ps. 23:1-2a, 3b-4, 5, 6

2^nd Reading: 1 Peter 2:20b-25

Gospel: John 10:1-10

FOCUS: To embrace our vocations means to hand our life over to Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

FUNCTION: Follow Jesus faithfully; do not be afraid where He will lead – it is abundant life. 

            Today marks several important events: first, it is the 4^th Sunday of Easter.  The 4^th Sunday of Easter always stands out because the readings aren’t centered on the Lord’s resurrection, like the rest of the Easter season; instead, we hear the passage from St. John’s Gospel about Jesus as the Good Shepherd; and that’s why the 4^th Sunday of Easter is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday.”  Today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and Mother’s Day. 

          All of these events are very important; however, my homily today will focus more on Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations than on Mother’s Day.  But I haven’t forgotten about Mother’s Day; all the mothers here will get a special blessing after the intercessions, because we love them and want to recognize all their hard work, dedication, and love for their families.

          So what are we to make of a day like today, Good Shepherd Sunday?  It’s a very comforting thought, picturing Jesus as the Good Shepherd; we’ve all seen the images – Jesus is holding a sheep on His shoulders, with a flock of sheep following behind Him.  It’s soothing to think about – shepherds take care of and watch over the flock entrusted to their care; but maybe the analogy seems a little ridiculous – we are not sheep, and maybe it’s kind of insulting to think of ourselves as sheep.  After all, we’re trained by society to be independent, original, our own person, and not just a follower.  So maybe “Good Shepherd Sunday” doesn’t always make a lot of sense to us.  But on the flip side, it’s not easy being a shepherd – the sheep have a mind of their own, and aren’t always interested in following the shepherd’s lead.  Sometimes they wander off where they shouldn’t; they don’t always fall in line; and they don’t always come when they’re called.  Sometimes sheep are stubborn – maybe a little like us, sometimes.  Maybe the analogy isn’t so far off after all.

          Ultimately, the point is more about the person of Jesus than it is about us; yes, we are compared to sheep; and no, that’s not always a flattering comparison.  But the point is that the Lord is looking out for us, watching over us, shepherding the flock of God with a shepherd’s care.  Why?  Because the Lord loves us; we are the Church, His Body; we belong to Him; He ransomed us from sin by shedding His precious Blood and gave us new life by His resurrection.  Today is about Jesus.  But it’s also about us.  It’s about us trusting Him. 

          When I was in college, I got to be an RA or Resident Assistant in the dorms.  Training was always a lot of fun.  We RAs got to hang out with each other a lot and we practiced how we would respond in different scenarios if we had to knock on someone’s room while we were doing our nightly rounds in the residence halls.  Part of our training happened at the Four Mounds ropes course in Dubuque.  Not only was it a way for us to build community with each other, but we also learned to how to work with each other.  The goal was to develop trust with each other, and to know we had each other’s backs – much like a soldier or a police officer might take care of one of their own.          

          One of the activities we did at the ropes course was a “trust fall.”  Some of you may already be familiar with this idea, but some of you may not.  A trust fall is an exercise where one person, with their hands across their chest, stands in front of another person who stands behind them.  Without looking at the person behind, the person in front is supposed to fall backward, trusting that the person behind will catch them and not let them fall to the ground.  Now, if the person standing behind wants to be a practical jokester, they could let the person falling simply fall; however, that would not help to establish trust; just the opposite – the person who was doing the trust fall would grow to distrust the person supposed to be catching.  That didn’t happen among us – whether we did the trust fall or we were the ones doing the catching, we were faithful, so that the trust fall would be a success and a way to develop trust. 

          I think our relationship with the Lord is supposed to be like the “trust fall” exercise that my fellow RAs and I did during our RA training; we are supposed to trust that the Lord is standing behind us, ready to catch us when we fall.  How “good” would a “Good Shepherd” really be if we were falling and He were not there to catch us?  Recognizing Jesus as the Good Shepherd means that we allow ourselves to trust Him.

          We can bet that King David, the author of Psalm 23 (today’s responsorial psalm), did a kind of “trust fall” with the Lord; otherwise he would never be able to say, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”  David placed his trust in God.  Psalm 23 has been a source of encouragement for countless Jews and Christians down throughout the ages.  And it should do the same for us.  God will not leave us or abandon us; He will not allow us to fall, even if it seems like we’re falling for a while before He catches us. 

          Embracing our vocation is very similar; it involves trusting in God and putting our lives in His hands; it means that we trust Him to lead us and guide us toward the right path.  To embrace our personal vocation means to hand our life over to Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  It means stepping out on the water, like Peter, trusting that the Lord will allow us to stand on the water.  We must not be afraid.  Right now, the Church needs good men and women to answer the call to follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd, as priests and as consecrated religious men and women.

          It starts at home.  Pray together as a family every night; encourage whatever vocation other family members feel drawn to, but especially the vocations to priesthood and religious life.  Try to follow what Jesus taught – love others like He loved us; turn the other cheek; go the extra mile; forgive over and over again; pray as He taught us to pray; be open to the coming of the Holy Spirit; and be willing to follow where the Spirit leads. 

          Embracing a religious vocation means trusting God and following the path that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lays out for us; and never forget what He said to us – “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”  Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and He will always lead us to full and abundant life, and finally, to eternal life with God in heaven.                                   

Holy Thursday - The Call to Serve

Here's the homily I preached for the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper.  Comments are always welcome.  God bless you!

Location: Saint Joseph Catholic Church (Earlville, IA) – 7 p.m. Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Date: Thursday April 17^th, 2014 (Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper)

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14

Resp. Psalm: Ps. 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

2^nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Gospel: John 13:1-15

FOCUS: Our faith in Christ calls us imitate Him in a life of sacrificial service.

FUNCTION: Serve those around you, especially the poor and the marginalized. 

          To set the tone for what’s about to unfold tonight, I’d like to share with you a few thoughts; they are the thoughts of Fr. Robert Barron, the creative mind behind the Catholicism Series and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.  Fr. Barron says this about today’s celebration:

          “Christianity is a revolutionary religion.  It turns everything upside down, reversing the values and expectations of a sinful world.  Throughout his life and ministry, Jesus tried to inaugurate people into this new world that he called the Kingdom of God.  The nature of this Kingdom became especially apparent as Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper room, a place of heightened awareness.  There he did something extraordinary.  Jesus took off his outer garments, tied a towel around his waist, poured water in a basin, and washed the feet of his disciples.  He performed an act that was so humble, so lowly, that it was considered beneath the dignity even of a slave. 

          We catch the novelty and shock of it in Peter's response: "Master, are you going to wash my feet?"  This is just too much for him; it is such a violation of the world that he had come to accept, a world in which masters were masters, slaves were slaves, where the dignified and important were waited upon while the lowly did the serving.  In that world there was a clear demarcation between up and down, worthy and unworthy, clean and unclean.  Jesus is putting his followers through a sort of initiation rite.  Unless they pass this test, unless they begin to see the world in a new way, they will not get into the Kingdom. 

          And this is why Jesus says to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me."  In the vision of the old world, one's life comes to its high point at a moment of honor, praise, glory, or recognition, at a moment when one's distinction and superiority over others is most evident.  The old world is predicated on the great divisions between master and slave, superior and subordinate, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, included and excluded.  Most of our energy goes into maintaining these distinctions, or trying to get from one side to the other, or keeping certain people on the far side of the divide. 

          But in the vision of the Kingdom of God, the climactic moment comes when one is the lowliest servant of the other: yes, even despised, reviled, spat upon, and handed over to death.  It is only when we have passed through this startling initiation that we are ready for the full manifestation of the Kingdom.”

          Now for my own thoughts.  It’s humbling for me, as a priest, to wash people’s feet on Holy Thursday, in imitation of what Jesus did for His disciples approximately two thousand years ago.  It’s humbling for me to stand at the altar and repeat – almost verbatim – the words that Jesus said at the Last Supper when He instituted the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist and told His disciples to celebrate that same sacrifice in remembrance of Him.  It’s a reminder for me that to lead means to serve; it’s a reminder that all true authority is oriented toward serving others.  I have been ordained to serve, to preach, to teach the Catholic and apostolic faith, to pastor God’s flock, and to help sanctify His people through the celebration of the Lord’s sacraments.  My life as a priest is at the service of the priesthood of the baptized.

          That is simply what my vocation is all about; but it’s not just my vocation – service is the vocation of all the baptized.  We are all called to serve.  When Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper in the Gospel of Luke, “He said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; but among you it shall not be so.  Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.  For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves,’” (Luke 22:25-27).

          Jesus offers each of us a model to follow and imitate.  How well do we serve our spouses, children, extended family members, brothers and sisters, neighbors, co-workers, and even strangers?  If we were brought before a court for having been accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us?  I sure hope so!  It is not enough for us to be Christians in name only; we must also be Christians by practice.  Our faith must always lead to action.  How do we tend to deal with people who annoy us, or who tend to frustrate us and make us angry, or who like to push our buttons?  How do we tend to respond to people around us after we’ve had a bad day? 

          It’s when “push comes to shove” that our true character is revealed – we are who we are on our worst day.  It’s easy to be a Christian by name and by practice when things are going well; it’s often a little harder when nothing seems to be going right.  Could it be, that on our worst days, the Lord is offering us a little test to see how well we live up to the name, “Christian”?  Probably all of us have some work to do if we want to live up to our vocation to be disciples of Christ the Lord.

          How does that happen?  We have to live up to the call to serve.  We have to do it every day.  We have to do it not only in exceptional circumstances, but in the ordinary context of day-to-day living.  When you’ve had a bad day, don’t make it all about you – think about others; maybe they’ve had a bad day, too, and your bad attitude is only making things worse!  When your children or grandchildren or your spouse or other family members of co-workers or neighbors or even strangers ask for your help, try not to be grumpy; offer a helpful hand with a smile on your face.  Let your actions speak louder than your words.  Don’t tell people you love them; show them you love them. 

          Let your life look less like your own and more like the life of Our Lord – He was willing to roll His sleeves up, so to speak, and get messy helping others.  This isn’t something extraordinary; this is the ordinary call of what it means to be and to live as a Christian.  To be a Christian means to serve, to imitate Jesus, to practice what He taught, to follow where He leads. 

          May our celebration of the Holy Eucharist and our remembrance of how the Lord washed the feet of His disciples inspire us to serve others, and through serving them, to serve Him.  And may He draw each of us closer to new life in the kingdom of God.                                   

14th Sunday in OT - How's God Calling You?

Here is this Sunday's homily - sorry I've been so terrible about not adding them (tempus fugit).  I welcome any comments you might want to make or checking any of the ratings boxes immediately below the post.  God's blessings to each of you! 

 

 

Location: Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church (Earlville, IA) – 8 a.m. Sunday

                  Saint Boniface Catholic Church (New Vienna, IA) – 10 a.m. Sunday

Date: Sunday July 7^th, 2013 (14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Isaiah 66:10-14c
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
2^nd Reading: Galatians 6:14-18
Gospel: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 (OR Luke 10:1-9 {short version})

 FOCUS: Promoting vocations is the work of the whole Church.

FUNCTION: Pray for vocations and support them within your own family and the community. 

          At the beginning of his ministry as a prophet, the Lord said to the Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you,” (Jeremiah 1:5).  This verse is a good reminder that God knows each of us from the first moment of our conception in our mother’s womb, and even before our conception since He is outside of time.  And it also reminds us that God has a plan for our lives.

          But what is God’s plan for our lives?  Does God really have a plan, I mean, for everyone?  Doesn’t it seem a little far-fetched?  We have to remember that He is God – He is not like us; He is perfect: all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good.  And because He’s perfect, God has a wise and loving plan for each of us – a plan that respects our freedom: a plan we can say “yes” to (like the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Annunciation) or “no” to (like Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver).  And God gives us that freedom – the freedom to say “yes” to His plan, and the freedom to reject it. 

          God has a plan for each of us; each of us has a “vocation” or a calling in life – a plan that, if we say yes to it, will bring us an immense amount of joy and peace, perhaps in this world, but especially in the next.  And it’s up to us to say “yes” to that vocation in life – no one else can say “yes” for us.  We can’t “pass the buck” – we can’t say to ourselves, “Someone else will do what I feel called to do.”

          Have you ever heard of the idea of “diffused responsibility”?  It usually happens when you have a large group of people: each individual in that group believes that someone else is going to take action – for instance, helping someone in distress – which often results in no one taking any action at all.  So it could happen that someone on the streets of Chicago or New York falls down and has a seizure and no one in the crowd calls 911 or offers the person in distress any aid.  It’s a pretty scary thing when you stop and think about; it reminds me of a quote often attributed to Edmund Burke – “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

          Sometimes the same thing happens in our spiritual life – God inspires us to perform a good work, but we brush it off, thinking that someone else can do it.  But the reality is often the opposite – God didn’t inspire someone else; He inspired YOU.  And in that moment, YOU have to respond.  Think of how much poorer our world would be if no one responded to the inspirations they felt – we wouldn’t have the Statue of Liberty or the Mona Lisa or the Declaration of Independence or the Panama Canal or automobiles or any of the other things – big and small – that we so often take for granted; these things wouldn’t exist if someone didn’t take the initiative and create them.

          My point is there’s important work to be done in the world; and part of that important work is the work of evangelization – the work of proclaiming the Gospel to the next generation and passing on the Catholic and Apostolic faith to the people of tomorrow.  In the Gospel, Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”  Jesus is saying there’s a need – a need to gather in the harvest (a harvest of souls for the kingdom of God); He also points out that there aren’t that many laborers (priests, catechists, evangelists, etc.) to gather in the harvest, so we need to ask the master of the harvest (God) to send out laborers for His harvest.

          We often talk about vocations when we hear this passage, and rightly so.  The Church (and the whole world) needs priests, because without priests, there is no Mass; and without the Mass, there is no Eucharist; and without the Eucharist, there is no Church; and you cannot have the corporate Body of Christ, the Church, without the sacramental Body of Christ, the Eucharist.  We are the Church of the Eucharist – the Church founded upon faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Church nourished and strengthened to live out her mission by the grace of the Eucharist, the Church who daily feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

          We need priests; and we can no longer afford to think, “Someone else will answer the call.”  Unfortunately, the no. 1 obstacle to a person embracing a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, from what I understand, is often the disapproval of parents.  Do parents make a sacrifice if one of their children wants to become a priest or nun?  Yes – it means that they will never have grandchildren from that child, or that their child will have to move far from home, or that they might not get to speak to or see their child as often as they would like.  But it’s still a big deal to have a child say “yes” to a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.

          When I was ordained, there was a custom for new priests to give their parents something from their new priestly ministry – I gave my mom the cloth that was used to wipe the oil off my newly-anointed hands and I gave my dad the stole that I used to hear my first confession.  The tradition is that the parents of a priest are then buried with these things after death, and when they go before the Lord and the Lord asks them what they did for Him, they can respond by saying that they gave Him their son as a priest.  Now, we priests are not perfect – far, far from it; my parents can easily attest to that.  But, we live an awesome life – able to be with people at key moments in life: celebrating a baptism or a wedding or sending a soul home to God in a Funeral Mass; and there are other graces, too – being able to proclaim the Gospel and preach and celebrate Mass and absolve sins in the sacrament of reconciliation and lead people closer to heaven.  It’s a great life.

          As we know, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few...” Now’s the time to heed Jesus’ words – “…so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest.”  Promoting vocations is uniquely a priest’s job; but it’s also the work of the whole Church – we’re all responsible for promoting vocations.  And so let’s promote it – in our families, among our relatives, to our friends, and in our parish community; and one day our community can have the joy of saying, “We gave the Lord one of our own.” 

           

 

 

 

Keep the Faith, but Don't Keep it to Yourself!

Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

READINGS:

First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20
Gospel: John 1:35-42

FOCUS: Being a disciple of Jesus means following Him and helping others to do the same.

FUNCTION: Invite a friend to come with you to Church; share your faith about Jesus. 

          Operation Andrew is a program here in the Archdiocese of Dubuque aimed at helping young men answer God’s call to discern a vocation to the priesthood.  What usually happens is a priest picks out a young man or two from the local community who he thinks could make a good priest and then invites him (or them) to the Operation Andrew dinner.  Priests and candidates then eat and pray together as well as discuss questions the candidates might have about the vocation to the priesthood.  It’s a chance for young men to get an “inside view” of the priesthood directly from parish priests themselves and gain a glimpse into the dynamics of priestly life and ministry.

          The program takes its name from the Gospel we just heard, especially the part where it said, “Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.  He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ – which is translated Christ.  Then he brought him to Jesus.”  The goal, then, of the Operation Andrew program is that a priest acts like Andrew in helping a young man to meet Christ. 

          Personally, I am very thankful that a priest also invited me to attend the Operation Andrew dinner so that I could gain some insight into priestly life and ministry.  That experience, among others, helped me say “yes” to God and begin my seminary discernment about a vocation to the priesthood.  If it weren’t for that “Andrew-like” priest and others like him, I might not be here today.  I am very thankful that they brought me to the Lord, so that I could say “yes” to this beautiful vocation to the priesthood. 

          Sometimes it’s the invitation that makes all the difference.  Think about it.  You probably know a few “Andrews” in your own life.  These are the people who, because they introduced you to someone or something, have made a positive impact on your life.  You would not be who you are today if it were not for them having introduced you to this person or thing that made such a difference.  It’s probably pretty rewarding for them to know how much they impacted your life.  Now consider how rewarding it’d be for you if you did the same for someone else.  And the good news is you can!

          In fact, it’s what Jesus told us to do.  At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18b-20).  As members of His Church, Jesus gives us that as our mission in the world. 

          As disciples of Christ the Lord, we’ve been called to go out into the world and make more disciples.  And although we don’t always live it very well, we are a missionary Church.  That means that we’re called to go out and help bring other people to Christ, just as Andrew brought his brother Simon to Christ.  We must not shrink away from such a mission in fear!  And why not?  Because we want people to be saved, to come to the knowledge and love of God, and ultimately, to enter the joy of heaven through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!  God wills that all people be saved, but He wants to use us to reach out to them.

          This is sometimes a tough pill to swallow, especially for us as Catholics.  Here in America, we have been socialized to think that religion is a private matter.  You know the two things we’re told not to talk about with others: politics and religion.  But actually, politics and religion (and religion especially!) are among the most necessary things to talk about. 

          In some sense, yes, religion is a private matter.  And no one should ever be forced to believe in something or to belong to a certain religion against their will; that’s clearly contrary to the spirit of the Gospel.  But I think we need to get over this tendency to think of religion as a private matter insofar as we’re told it shouldn’t be talked about.  It should be talked about and shared.  There’s a great quote I noticed recently on the bottom of an e-mail; it said, “Keep the faith, but don’t keep it to yourself.”  What a great motto!  Our Christian faith (and the message of our Christian faith) is meant to be shared, to be given away and proclaimed joyfully to others, so that others around us might also experience the joy of knowing Christ.

          So what does that mean in practice?  Well, it means reaching out to people around you who are fallen-away Catholics and inviting them to join you for Sunday Mass; it means not being afraid to talk about your faith with people who ask you why you’re Catholic.  It means sharing your faith with your children and friends and family; it means living according to the spirit of the Gospel and being loving and forgiving toward others (especially the difficult people around you). 

          It means witnessing to your friends when they engage in gossip that’s malicious and hurtful; it means helping your children to make faith a priority by coming to Mass on Sunday morning instead of going to the soccer game.  It means standing up for what’s true and right in matters of faith and morals; it means witnessing to friends about how certain behaviors might not be the best for them, for instance,  when they drink too much or want to live together before marriage.  And it means acting like a Christian....like Christ….to others who so urgently need to hear the good news of the Gospel.

          “Keep the faith, but don’t keep it to yourself!”  St. Andrew the Apostle gives us such a good example of this in the Gospel.  Dear friends, there are many people in today’s world who are desperately looking for Jesus the Messiah, for fulfillment, peace, and hope.  If we have found Him….and we have found Him….here in this Mass….here in the Eucharist….we should reach out to others who are still searching for him (and who maybe don’t even know they’re searching for Him) and bring them to Jesus.  They’d be so grateful to us, just as I’m so grateful to those priests who reached out to me and invited me to consider a vocation to the priesthood.  What a beautiful gift we could give to others if they came to faith in Christ because of our invitation, because of our witness!

          Dear friends, it is our destiny….indeed, it is our mission….to be like Andrew to the people around us.  God is calling us to make a difference in the lives of others by introducing them and bringing them to Christ!  So many lives could be changed if we reached out to those around us.  Through our efforts as Christians, so many people around us could find faith in place of disbelief, hope in place of despair, and love in place of selfishness….all because of an encounter with Christ.  And all we have to do is bring them to Jesus.