The other sheep that do not belong to the fold

Homily for Easter – 4^th Sunday Year B 2015

Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18

Introduction

This fourth Sunday of Easter, today, is called Good Shepherd Sunday.  On this Sunday we always read passages where Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

The image of sheep and shepherds came natural to Jesus, since there were plenty of them in Palestine.  Perhaps if Jesus had lived in New Orleans, he would have described himself and his mission using the images of shrimp and shrimpers, alligators and alligator keepers, cabs and cabdrivers.

Scripture and Theology

But this image of shepherd is really most appropriate for his purpose; with it, Jesus shows that he cares for his disciples like a shepherd cares for his sheep.

·        Like “a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” even fighting off wolves, so Jesus lays down his life for human beings.

·        Like a good shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him, Jesus knows his disciples and his disciples know him.

·        But the quality of a good shepherd that I want to reflect upon today is perhaps unique to Jesus, the good shepherd.

He says: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.”  And then he goes on to say: “These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Who are these other sheep of Jesus that do not belong to the fold?  And why is Jesus so interested in bringing into the flock?

The Mormon Church considers these “other sheep” to be the ancestors of their Church.  They claim that their ancestors were a Jewish tribe that came to America at the time of Jeremiah.  And when Jesus speaks of other sheep, he is referring to this Jewish group, the ancestors of Mormon Church.

But right from the very beginning, this verse has been understood to mean the Gentiles, the non-Jews.  That is what the Jewish people, listening to Jesus would have understood.  We see that in the gospels, Jesus directs his ministry, primarily at the Jewish people; for it is this people that God had chosen as his special instrument for redeeming the world.

But by focusing on the Jews, Jesus does not completely ignore the Gentiles.  They too are sheep that he must lead back into the fold.  In fact occasionally Jesus ministers to the Gentiles.

·        In Matthew 15:22-28, a Canaanite woman requests Jesus to heal her daughter who was tormented by a demon.  When Jesus tests her faith saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” her quick comeback is: “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  And Jesus immediately heals her daughter.

·        But perhaps the greatest evidence that the Gentiles are the other sheep is revealed after his resurrection. When Jesus sends out the disciples, he says: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations . . . .” (Mt. 28:19).

And so, Jesus the Good Shepherd came to save all the sheep, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, the Jewish nation and indeed all nations, including us here today.

Christian Life

Our take-away message is that just as Jesus is shepherd to the world, we Christians must also be good shepherds after his example.  As good shepherds, naturally, we should take care the sheep under our care.

·        If the Pope is the shepherd of the Catholic Church, clearly he must feed his sheep, the Catholics of the whole world.

·        If the Bishop is the shepherd of a diocese, clearly he must tend his sheep, the Catholics of his diocese.

·        If a priest is the shepherd of his parish, clearly he must (according to Pope Francis) smell like his sheep, the parishioners under his care.

·        And if a father and mother are shepherds of the family, or a teacher the shepherd of the class, clearly they must care for and teach the sheep under their care, their children.

But like Jesus the good shepherd, Christians must also care for the other sheep, who do not belong to the fold.  And today, there are many people who do not seem to belong, who need to be led to the one flock of Christ.

Perhaps like some of you, when I was in high school, not being very athletic or in possession of the “cool” teenage gifts, I felt kind of like an outsider and quite a loser.  Now when I look back, I realize that things turned around for me in my second year, when a couple of priests who taught me, took a greater interest in me, above and beyond their normal duties.  One would go over my home work with me to show how I could improve.  Another teacher worked with me on my really terrible handwriting.  And the principal assigned me to work in the sacristy, a job that gave me a sense of responsibility.  With these interventions slowly I began to feel like one of the guys; these priests made me one of the sheep.

What these priests did for me, the Church has always done for people at the margins of the sheepfold: the sick and elderly, the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and prisoner.  Over and above giving them material help or through giving them material help, we must make them a part of the fold.  Besides the good ministries that care for the needs of the poor and needy, do we have ministries that give a sense of belonging to those on the margins of the Church?  For example many sick and elderly parishioners are homebound and cannot come to Church. Can we take Church to them?  We do this by visiting them, taking communion to them, asking the priest visit them and give them the sacraments.  After all, they too are the sheep of the Lord, even though they might appear to be on the outside.

Besides school and the church, the home is perhaps another place to shepherd other sheep.  Parents rightly play the role of shepherd for their children, their natural born children.  Do they also have other children, other sheep?  The practice of adopting children is one way to do this.  The African practice is a little different.  Growing up in Uganda, all the women of my mother’s generation, especially aunts were more or less my mothers; and all the men of my father’s generation especially my uncles were for all intents and purposes your fathers.  They took really good care of me by feeding me and giving me goodies.  But in return they also had every right to discipline me, a right they exercised with some frequency.  When adoptive parents and the African extended family care for non-biological children are they not perhaps also tending the other sheep?

Conclusion

We should be grateful that Jesus included the non-Jews, we the Gentiles, among the sheep he wanted to bring into the flock, under his watchful care.  We should return the favour, not necessarily to him, but to the Gentiles of our time, people who are on the margins.  I have given broad categories of who such people might be; but my list is by no means exhaustive.

Each of us must individually determine who “the other sheep” are in our personal lives.  And each of us must like Jesus lead them back into the fold.  We must invite them to the pasture of God’s Word and Sacrament, so that all of us together will come into God’s presence, and as John told us in the second reading: “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

You are witnesses of these things

Homily for Easter – 3^rd Sunday Year B 2015

Acts 3:13-15,17-19; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48

INTRODUCTION

“You are witnesses of these things.” That is what Jesus tells the disciples, when he appears to them in today’s gospel.  I can imagine the disciples thinking: “We are witnesses?  And what things are we witnesses of?”

Some of us might remember the 1985 movie Witness.  The detective played by Harrison Ford, goes into Amish country, to protect a young boy, who had seen a murder taking place.  And so because the boy knew who the murderer was, information that was not common knowledge, he was a witness.  With what he knew, he could help the justice system convict the murderer.

SCRIPTURE AND THEOLOGY

When Jesus calls the disciples witnesses, he is reminding them that they know something important, which other people don’t.  They have seen him do and teach many things.  But the most important nugget of information that they have is this: they have seen the Risen Lord.  Only they, like the little Amish boy, can tell others what they saw.

But how reliable are the disciples as witnesses?  In another movie, My Cousin Vinny, one of the eye-witnesses wrongly identified the two boys as murderers, because she had poor eyesight.  As for the disciples, the Lord makes sure that there are no mistakes in their testimony.

·        For three years Jesus taught them many things: the beatitudes, the great commandments, many parables about God’s love and mercy, name it!  But the most important lesson, which he repeated when he appeared to them in today’s gospel was this: “. . . that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”  .  God brought him back to life, to prove that all Jesus said and did was true.  The disciples know these things because Jesus taught them.

·        Even better than hearing Jesus teach, the disciples had seen him do many things: he had performed miracles like making wine out of water, multiplying bread and fish, healing people and even raising the dead to life.

·        But the most important thing they had seen was the risen Lord.  Jesus goes to extra trouble to provide evidence of his resurrection.  We heard in today’s gospel that he invited them to touch his hands and feet which had been nailed to the cross.  He also asked for a piece of baked fish so they could see him eating right before their eyes, something only a person who is alive can do.  This minor detail is recorded, not simply to indicate that Jesus like you, was fond of seafood, but as proof for the disciples that the man they were seeing and talking to was Jesus, who had died and now was risen.  And as far as evidence is concerned, the disciples were holding truly astounding evidence; they were privy to an exclusive.

But a witness is of no use, if he or she does not take the stand.  The witness must share that information, especially if sharing is going to benefit others.  And that is why Jesus, after reminding the disciples about the mystery of his death and resurrection, he also reminds them of his earlier teaching: “that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”  In other words, the disciples must pass on what they have seen and heard, not only to the Jewish people, but indeed to all nations.

To their credit, these first disciples did share the Good News.  They preached, like we heard Peter preach so fearlessly in today’s first reading; they healed people in the name of Jesus, and most importantly, they suffered and died for the gospel.

CHRISTIAN LIFE

What Jesus said to the disciples: “You are witnesses of these things,” he also says to you and me.  After all, we too are in the know about what Jesus did and taught, and especially that Jesus died and rose from the dead.

And how do we know these things?  We don’t have first-hand experience like the first disciples.  But we know these things because the first eye-witnesses passed on this knowledge to their successors, from one generation to another, until today.  You might say that we are hearsay witnesses, who are not admissible in a court of law, but certainly admissible when it comes to spreading the gospel.

Perhaps we heard the Good News from our grandmothers and grandfathers, perhaps our mothers and fathers, perhaps from our teachers and catechists; the fact is that we received this nugget of Good News, that had been handed down all the way from Jesus and the first disciples.  And when we became privy to this information, we joined the club of witnesses.  And so Jesus can rightly call us witnesses of these things.  If we don’t want to make him a liar, we must share what we have learned.

How are we Christians to be witnesses?  I have been fortunate enough not to have had any dealings with the judicial system, especially as a defendant. And so what I know about the criminal justice system is what I picked up from TV and movies.  And I have observed that there are three types of witnesses.

The first kind of witness is willing to testify and does so freely.  For example the young man in South Carolina who recorded the police shooting provided the video freely to the police. Jesus too relies on Christians, who are willing to share the good news they have received with others, freely and without compulsion.

Unfortunately, Christians are sometimes like the second kind of witness, the one who is compelled to give testimony, usually by a sub poena.  This kind of witness is often hostile, uncooperative and might even plead the fifth, refusing to share what he knows.  Christians should not wait for a sub poena to testify to their faith.  Christians cannot plead the fifth.  In fact our testimony is more reliable if we answer questions not only about what we have seen and heard, but also about how the gospel has affected us personally.

The third kind of witness, willing or compelled, is the one who does not tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  This is the witness who withholds some of the information or misrepresents it.  Sometimes this witness does so because he fears the consequences of his testimony for himself and his family; sometimes the witness is simply a big liar.  Again clearly Christians cannot be this kind of witness.  We must preach the full gospel and nothing but the gospel truth.  We cannot cherry-pick what we like and what we don’t like from the gospel; it is a package deal.  For example, our witness to life cannot just be about abortion while at the same time we support the death penalty.  Or our witness cannot just be about caring for the material needs of the poor, while we neglect the need for committed and faithful monogamous marriage between a man and a woman.

CONCLUSION

And so, we must be witnesses who are not only willing to testify, but also do so truthfully.  And we testify both in word and action.  In fact our example is perhaps the best testimony that we can give to the message of the Risen Lord.  Like St. Francis of Assisi, when asked by his disciples, how they were to preach said: “Preach always, sometimes with words.”

Finally I want to make a distinction between being a witness and being a gossip.  Both the witness and the gossip possess a juicy piece of information.  But what the gossip has is poison and when they share it, it kills.  What the witness has is the good news and when they share it, they give life.  May we be witnesses of the things Jesus has taught and done for us, so that others may also have life and have life to the fullest.

The privilege of receiving and giving mercy

Homily for 2nd Sunday of Easter Year B 2015

Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

Introduction

This month we mark 10 years since Pope Saint John Paul II died.  One of the highlights of his teaching was reminding Catholics about the mercy of God.  He even named the second Sunday of Easter, which we celebrate today, Divine Mercy Sunday.  For belief in divine mercy is not reserved just to those who pray the Divine Mercy devotion, no more than the Holy Spirit is reserved for the Charismatic Renewal or the Blessed Mother reserved for the Legion of Mary.

And so for today’s homily, I would like to reflect on the readings through the prism of divine mercy.

Scripture and Theology

Mercy is always treating someone better than they deserve.  And surely God treats us better than we deserve in two ways: by creating us and by forgiving us.

To understand the first kind of divine mercy, think of a young man in high school.  He is unremarkable, not particularly athletic, not very good in class either, and scores average or lower on all the kinds of things young ladies would look for in a potential date.  Then out of the blue, this girl begins to show him some attention.  She is not only really beautiful, she’s also the head cheerleader and valedictorian of her class, to say nothing about all the good work she does at Church.  She is the kind of daughter every parent wants to have.  Anyway, then she asks our nondescript young man to be her date for the Prom.  Now you are probably thinking “no way this could never happen in real life.”  And perhaps some of the guys are wondering why I am talking about them.

But I am really talking about all of us; for this is exactly what God does.  He has no need of human beings, but still he creates us.  He wants to share his life with us.  This is divine mercy – this is God giving human beings more than they deserve – giving them life, his life.  We probably don’t think of God creating us as a form of divine mercy.  But if we realize that we didn’t have to exist, then we must see that our very existence is an act of mercy from God.

This first kind of divine mercy has nothing to do with sin and wrongdoing.  In the case of the high school young man, he had done nothing wrong.  The issue in his case was that he was out of her league, just by his nature.  But rather than choosing others, perhaps better and more obvious choices, she chose him.  She treated him better than he could ever imagine deserving.

In the same way, God shows us mercy by choosing human beings to be his friends.  Human beings are not in God’s league either; angels come close to it, but certainly not human beings.  But God creates us and invites us into a love relationship of friendship.

The second kind of divine mercy is when God forgives men for sinning against him.  Yes, he punished them sometimes, but way more leniently than they deserved.  The punishment for sinning against God, who is all good, is eternal separation from God.  But that is not the punishment God meted out to Adam and Eve, to Cain, to the children of Israel and subsequent generations.  In his mercy he not only forgave them, but he also sent them prophets, priests and kings, to help them get back on the right track.  Moreover, he sent his Son to be the final and lasting instrument of forgiveness and mercy.

Let’s return to our high school young man.  Let’s imagine that he actually goes to the Prom with his unlikely date.  And then by some unimaginable miracle, they actually fall in love and get married.  We would all agree that this young man is lucky; he has won the jackpot.

Unfortunately, after they have been married for a couple of years, he begins to take her for granted; he begins to forget how lucky he is.  And then this knucklehead does something really stupid; he cheats on his wife.

Fortunately for him, after some soul-searching and agonizing, and prayerful reflection, she forgives him.  She treats him better than he deserves, much better than he deserves.  Remember that she is a truly good woman.  If dating him in the first place was an act of mercy because he was out of her league, now forgiving him for his infidelity and taking him back is an act of mercy because he has received a lesser punishment.

And so the second kind of mercy from God is given no longer because humans are of a lower nature, but now also because human beings are sinful.  This is the kind of mercy that admits us back into God’s good graces.  This is the mercy which the resurrection of Jesus brings about for us.  This is the kind of mercy we seek when we go to the sacrament of confession, the fountain of divine mercy.  This is the kind of mercy we proclaim throughout the Mass when we say, “Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy.”

Christian Life

How do we respond to receiving divine mercy?  Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  And elsewhere he gives a direct instruction: “Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36).

Of course we show mercy to others by forgiving those who sin against us.  Jesus told Peter to forgive a brother who sins against him, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times, which as a figure of speech means forgiving always.  Such mercy is not always easy to give.  But while we can have justifiable anger when we are hurt, we cannot let that anger fester into hate for the sinner.

When Pope John Paul II visited in prison, the man who shot him, he showed us how to forgive and how to share God’s mercy with others.  We don’t know what they spoke about, but the pope probably said: “I forgive you.”  Yes, the man still had to serve his full time in prison, since forgiveness does not necessarily exempt the sinner from paying his debt to society and growing in conversion.  Forgiveness means that we do not hold the sin against the sinner any more.

But as we have seen with God’s mercy in creating us, there are occasions when we must show mercy even to those who have not sinned at all, those who are in a bad condition through no fault of their own.  The Catholic tradition suggests the works of mercy, ways to treat others better than they deserve.

We have the Corporal Works of Mercy that attend to the bodily needs of others, like the early community of Christians in today’s first reading did for each other.

1.    To feed the hungry

2.    To give drink to the thirsty

3.    To clothe the naked

4.    To shelter the homeless

5.    To visit the sick

6.    To visit the imprisoned

7.    To bury the dead

We also have the spiritual works of mercy that attend to the souls of others, like the disciples did for Thomas to bring him to faith in the Risen Lord.

1.    To instruct the ignorant

2.    To counsel the doubtful

3.    To admonish sinners

4.    To bear wrongs patiently

5.    To forgive offences willingly

6.    To comfort the afflicted

7.    To pray for the living and the dead.

In all these ways, we extend God’s mercy to others.

Conclusion

In the Our Father we pray: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  With those words, we admit that we are in need of and recipients of God’s mercy, and at the same time we are givers of God’s mercy.  May we always be consoled by this privilege of receiving and giving mercy.

The Joy of the Resurrection

Homily for Easter Sunday Year B 2015

Introduction

For Catholics, the liturgy this week has offered a variety of unusual rituals and symbols, some of which might seem outright bizarre especially for the younger members of our congregation.

·        We began with a procession of palms on Sunday, something like our Mardi Gras parades, but without the beads and naughty behaviour.

·        On Holy Thursday we washed the feet of twelve people, carried the Blessed Sacrament away, leaving the sanctuary bare.

·        Good Friday had us doing the Way of Cross in Church and outside Church and adoring the Cross.

·        Tonight is perhaps the climax with the many readings from the Bible, singing of the Exultet, the procession with candles and the lighting of the fire.  One rather naughty young man, certainly not from this Church, was heard describing the Easter Vigil as the barbecue service. 

And we did all these things to express one simple message: “Jesus is risen.”

But why do all these rituals and ceremonies?  Why not just come right out and say, “Jesus is risen,” and then we can go home an hour earlier, something which perhaps parents will little kids might really appreciate!

The Church uses all these ceremonies for the same reason companies use commercials to sell us stuff.  Companies know that it is not enough to tell people about a product with words; you must also appeal to the other senses and even the inner sense of imagination to help them get the message.  That is why companies paid four million dollars for a 30-second television commercial during this year’s super bowl.  To sell what? Budweiser, Doritos and deodorant.

A few years ago I saw a really creative soft-drink commercial on TV.  A young boy in a small town goes to a soda vending machine and after inserting two quarters takes out two cans of Coca Cola.  But that is not the end of the story.  Because the boy is of short stature, he places the two cans of Coke on the ground, about a foot apart, stands on them and now can press the button higher up.  And so he presses the button for Pepsi, gets his can of Pepsi soda and happily walks away.  The commercial ends with the words: “The joy of Pepsi.”

Scripture and Theology

The ceremonies of this week with their unusual bells, yells and smells, have also been trying to teach us a message, which is: “The joy of the resurrection.”

The joy of the resurrection is the central message of the Easter story and indeed the central message of our Christian faith.  Easter tells us that the failure of Good Friday was only apparent; God has confirmed all that Jesus said and did by raising him from the dead.  And most importantly, because Jesus rose from the dead, we too have a shot at resurrection and at life with God forever.

And yet this message is not always easy to understand.  Even the first disciples could not wrap their heads around it.

·        Mary Magdalene went to the tomb very early in the morning, to attend to the body of her beloved Lord, but was shocked to find an empty tomb.

·        On hearing the news about the empty tomb, “The Disciple Jesus Loved,” and Peter raced to the tomb and saw the empty burial cloths.

·        Later that evening the Lord appeared to the whole group of shocked disciples, except Thomas who was playing hooky; he also appeared to the two disciples travelling to Emmaus and they could not recognize him.

Thankfully for us, the Lord helped these first disciples to believe; after seeing the the stone rolled away, the empty tomb and empty cloths, and after seeing the Lord himself, they believed that the Lord had risen.

We who do not have that privilege of being eye-witnesses have to rely on the testimony of these disciples which we read in the Bible.  But we also rely on the rituals of our liturgy, which explain this message to us in such a way that it sticks.

·        While the Fiat commercial uses a beautiful woman to suggest that the fiat car is just as beautiful, we bless water that washes away our sin in baptism and presents us to God clean and truly beautiful!  After all St. Paul tells us that, as we have been baptized with the Lord we shall also rise with him.

·        While the Budweiser commercial uses a puppy to suggest that their beer is like a very close friend, we light a fire and process with candles to teach us that only the resurrection brings true and everlasting friendship with God.

·        While the goofy commercials use talking lizards to sell us insurance, talking babies to sell us financial services and talking teddy-bears to sell us toilet paper, our strange Holy Week rituals draw us into a sense of mystery.  We realize that we cannot fully understand the resurrection and will understand it completely only when we get to the other side.

Christian Life

But it is not enough for a commercial to be informative, amusing or intriguing.  A commercial must convince us to go and buy the product.

After struggling with cold-like symptoms for nearly a month, recently I saw an allergy medicine commercial on television and was impressed by the relief it brought that nice lady; so I went and bought some.  And although as you can hear, my voice is still kind of nasal, I have had some relief from all the coughing and sneezing.  In my case, that commercial achieved its purpose.

I would hope that the ceremonies of this Holy Week have also left their mark on us, even if in a subliminal way.  After experiencing the Easter commercial we must live like people who know the joy of the resurrection.  Let me suggest one thing among many that we can do to experience the joy of the resurrection.

As we Catholics know, every Sunday is a small Easter, for every Sunday is a celebration of the death and resurrection of Our Lord.  That is why we are required to attend Mass on Sunday, not simply to fulfil some law of the Church, but because we want to take part in that unique event of our salvation.  And so, can we renew our observance of Sunday as the day set apart for the Lord, the day the Lord defeated death, the day the Lord has made for us to rejoice?

·        We could recommit ourselves to attending Sunday Mass not only regularly but also with deep devotion and attention.

·        We could recommit ourselves to making Sunday a family day, when we spend time with family and with relatives and friends.

·        We could recommit ourselves to making Sunday a time to learn more about our faith by reading the Scriptures and the Catechism.

What the Easter commercial is selling is life with God for eternity and these things should help to put us and keep us on the resurrection path.

Conclusion

Finally, one other Easter tradition is the Easter egg.  This tradition comes from the practice of having to give up eggs during Lent, thereby leading to a surplus of eggs at Easter.  But this tradition also teaches about the meaning of Easter.

Like the egg represents new life, Easter brings us new beginnings, new birth and new life in Christ.  We begin this new life on this side of heaven by our faith, our worship and our service, so that at the Resurrection, we shall be found worthy of admission to the other side of heaven.

Jesus’ Will: Service of Worship and Service of Neighbour

Homily for Holy Thursday 2015

Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-15

Introduction

Do you have a will?  That is what the priests of New Orleans were asked last Thursday during a short seminar held right here at St. Maria Goretti.  The speakers explained why having a will is important.  

First a will removes the potential of your relatives fighting over your property after you die.  

Secondly, a will avoids giving the state of Louisiana the right to divide up your hard-earned money.  For example, if you die without a will the law of the state might give most of it to that good-for-nothing son rather than to the daughter who has taken care of you in your last days and perhaps even needs the money more.

And so, they highly recommended that we all make a will.  Most people who have wills leave their property for a spouse, children, relatives and friends, even your former school and your church.  And if I may take this golden opportunity to make a small pitch here, consider remembering the mission churches, where Father Cyril and I come from, in your will.

Scripture and Theology

Jesus also left us a will and a testament; but his was quite very different from ours.  As St. Paul tells us, the Lord Jesus, “became poor although he was rich” (2 Cor. 8:9) and so he had nothing material to leave behind.  But the Lord had something much more valuable; salvation, life with God in heaven for eternity.  And so his last will left instructions on how to get a share of that precious life with God.  Tonight, on Holy Thursday, we remember in a special way, the two instructions he left for us his brothers and sisters, his friends, which show us the way to the Father: the service of the Eucharist and the service of our Neighbour.

St. Paul writing to the Corinthians as we heard in today’s second reading summarized for us this first instruction from the Lord’s will.  As we know Paul was not present at the Last Supper; but he was told:

that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,

took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said,

“This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

St. Paul goes on to add:

In the same way [he] also [took] the cup, after supper, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

In these words Jesus very clearly and plainly states what he wants his followers to do after he is gone: to take, bless and eat bread and drink from the cup, which are his body and his blood.  And so when we come to Mass, we are doing nothing but obeying a direct command of our Lord and Master.

But why does Jesus want us to do this?  St. Paul tells us why:  “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,” he says, “you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”  In other words the bread and wine we drink are not mere bread and mere wine.  They are the Body and Blood of Jesus given in death on the cross for our salvation.  When we share that Body and Blood, we also share in his sacrifice which brings us to salvation.

You see, we human beings are kind of dumb; yes, I said we are dumb.  We are not as smart as the angels, who have the ability to know God directly.  We human beings need reminders, signs and symbols to help us understand and appreciate spiritual things.  That is why our liturgy is full of signs and symbols of the divine things; or as some put it, the bells, yells and smells.

Even the people of Israel needed such a reminder of the salvation God had given them when he freed them from Egypt.  We heard in the First Reading that on the night before they were to leave Egypt, they too ate a Last Supper, consisting of a lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  This meal was supposed to symbolize their passage from slavery to freedom that was to begin the next day.  And God commanded them to celebrate this meal, the Passover, every year, so that all generations would experience in a real way, the saving work of God for them.

We Christians are far more fortunate.  In this meal the Lord has left for us in his will, he himself is present under the form of bread and wine.  It is like he never left us; he is still here with us every time we celebrate the Eucharist.  And because he is with us in the Eucharist, he puts us on the sure path to salvation.

But the Eucharist is not enough.  On that same night, Jesus left in his will a second instruction, an equally important means of getting to heaven, which is service of neighbour.  We heard how Jesus removed his outer garments and washed the feet of his disciples, despite the loud protestations of Peter.  And then Jesus concluded:

“Do you realize what I have done for you?

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,

you ought to wash one another’s feet.

I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Just like he said of the bread and wine, “do this in remembrance of me,” now Jesus says about service: “as I have done for you, you should also do.”

As Christians we are therefore called upon, not only to come to the service of worship, but also to perform the service of neighbour, especially the poor and needy.  At the end of Mass, the priest or deacon dismisses us with these words:

·        Go and announce the gospel of the Lord.

·        Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life.

These words tell us that after we have fulfilled the first instruction of Jesus’ last will by coming to Mass, we must go and fulfil the second instruction of the will by announcing the gospel and glorifying the Lord by our life.  In fact, you might say that the second instruction, serving neighbour, is much more demanding since it involves washing the feet of whoever needs us, whenever and wherever they are.

·        Husbands wash the feet of their wives, some of them literally, but most by being faithful and loving husbands; and wives do the same thing to their husbands.

·        Parents wash the feet of their children, literally when they are young, but even better by nurturing them into God-fearing men and women.

·        Even at work, we do wash the feet of our clients, bosses and subordinates when we take our jobs seriously and do them only as a Christian would.

·        But mostly we wash the feet of those who have nobody else to wash their feet: the poor, the elderly, the sick, prisoners, the hungry, the thirsty.  In caring for those who appear to be beneath us and not in our circles, we imitate Jesus most closely, since he who was Lord and Master, washed the feet of his disciples and students.

Christian Life and Conclusion

My dear friends, we all take seriously the dying words of our parents and dear friends.  How much more we should take seriously the dying words of our Lord, who implores us to carry out two forms of service: the Eucharist and neighbour.

It is easy enough to know where and when to celebrate the Eucharist; but how are we to know when and where to wash the feet of others?  Let us always keep our eyes open to see where the need is; let us keep our ears open to hear cries for help; and let us keep our hearts and minds open to all who need to be served.  The Lord himself will show us how we are to be of service to others, loving them as he has loved us on the Cross.

Tragedy turned into Triumph

Homily for Lent – Palm Sunday Year B 2015

 Isaiah 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47

Introduction

Today’s feast of Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday might seem like a case of multiple personality disorder.  For this feast evokes mixed emotions.

We began the Mass with the procession of Palms in which we recalled the victorious entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  But we have just read the long gospel of the Lord’s Passion, in which this time he makes his way to Calvary.  We have felt both triumph and tragedy, both joy and sadness, both victory and failure.

Scripture and Theology

But there is method to this madness.  There is an explanation for these mixed emotions.  Palm Sunday is a case, not of multiple personality disorder, but of two different persons.

On the one hand we have Jesus who even when things seem utterly desperate always remains triumphant, victorious and the source of our joy.  On the other hand it is human beings who cause the tragedy, sadness and apparent failure. 

For example in the passion story we have just heard five different groups of people all rejecting Jesus in their different ways.

·        Judas Iscariot rejects Jesus by betraying him.

·        Then the disciples of Jesus reject him by abandoning him.

·        Simon Peter rejects Jesus by denying him.

·        The crowds reject Jesus by condemning him to be crucified.

·        And the passers-by, soldiers and criminals crucified alongside him reject Jesus by mocking him.

Although these rejections take five different forms, they are all inspired by just three human vices: greed, cowardice and contempt.

Judas rejects Jesus because he wants money.  For a miserly 30 pieces of silver, he hands him over to be arrested.

The next two groups, the disciples and Peter, are cowards.  Fear is a natural human emotion and it was natural for the disciples and for Peter to be afraid, especially after they saw what those goons had done to Jesus.  But in the face of fear, one can go either in the direction of courage or that of cowardice.  When the disciples all left him and fled, they tapped into their emotion of cowardice.  So did Peter, when he said: "I do not know this man about whom you are talking."

The fourth and fifth groups, the crowds and soldiers and criminals, tap rather into the human vice of disdain or contempt.  Encouraged up by the chief priests, the crowd chooses the thief Barabbas over Jesus, shouting "Crucify him."  Without really knowing him, they condemn him to death.  Remember crowds had shouted “Hosanna to the King of David” a few days earlier when the same Jesus had entered Jerusalem; how fickle crowds can be.

The contempt continues all the way to the cross.  Those passing by and seeing Jesus on the cross reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross."  Even the chief priests and scribes mocked him saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself."  Even a criminal condemned for his criminal activity, out of contempt abused the innocent Son of God.

And so if there is any sadness, tragedy and failure in our celebration of Palm Sunday it is a reminder of the sin of human beings.

Christian Life

When we sin, we too reject Jesus.  And we often reject him for the same reasons these groups rejected him.

·        Like Judas Iscariot our greed for the things of this world may lead us to betray Jesus and his teachings.  Just think of the sins against life, most of which we commit because we prefer comfort and convenience over the preservation of life.

·        Like the disciples and Peter our cowardice in the face of adversity may lead us to reject Jesus.  Have we not found ourselves in situations where, instead of speaking up for the Lord and his ways, we have chosen to keep quiet or worse like Peter we have chosen to deny him outright?

·        Finally like the crowds who choose Barabbas over Jesus and those groups that mock him on the cross, don’t we sometimes also reject Jesus by showing contempt for the Lord and his teachings?

Conclusion

But there is hope at the end of the tunnel.  Despite the tragedy of our sins, despite what appears to be the failure of the cross, in the end it all works out.  Holy Week is a celebration of how it all works out.  Let this Holy Week be an opportunity to experience the reversal of fortunes that Jesus brings about.

·        On Tuesday the priests will gather at the Cathedral to celebrate the priesthood that Jesus established at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday.

·        On Holy Thursday itself we shall gather here for a special Mass, to remember the Last Supper in which Jesus instituted the Eucharist, and so left for us a concrete means of sharing in the sacrifice that saves us.

·        On Good Friday we shall gather for a service in which we shall read the passion story again, this time from the gospel of John, and we shall venerate the cross, which is the cause of our salvation.

·        And finally at the Easter Vigil, we shall round up all these events and they will finally make sense; for in the resurrection of Jesus, he will turn our rejection into acceptance, our betrayal into loyalty and our denial into communion with him and the Father, in the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.