Loving as Jesus loves

Homily for 5^th Sunday of Easter Year C 2016

Acts 14:21b-27; Revelation 21:1-5a; John 13:31-33a,34-35

Introduction

A few months ago, I gave my students an assignment in which they could write a five-page paper on any aspect of the priesthood.  But they did not like this blank check, because I was not specific enough in my expectations.  I got more grief over this short assignment than the twenty-page final exam they have to do.

Scripture and Theology

Jesus is better at giving assignments.  Not only does he say: "Love one another." He also says how we are to do it: "As I have loved you, so you also should love one another."  He gives both the homework, and how to do it.

Jesus does this because while many people know what love is, caring about another person, there are many different ways to love.

·        Some love as the golden rule says, by treating others as they themselves would want to be treated.  But this way of loving is rather limited, limited to how well I want to be treated myself, which can sometimes be a low bar.

·        Others love only their neighbours who love them back but hate their enemies.  Again this way of loving is also limited; Jesus said even sinners and pagans do as much (Mt. 5: 43-47); they love only their friends.

And so, Jesus is more specific with his command, saying, "Love one another, as I have loved you." 

How did Jesus love us?  Remember that Jesus gave this instruction at the Last Supper, the day before he was to die. In fact, before he gives this new commandment, he tells his disciples, "My children, I will be with you only a little while longer."  And so, this command to love is given as the last will and testament of Jesus, which he would put into action the very next day.

·        Until this point, Jesus had loved by teaching and inviting all, even sinners, tax-collectors, prostitutes, even the Pharisees to the life-giving way of God.

·        Until this point, Jesus had loved by healing the sick, raising the dead to life, by giving bread and fish to the crowds and wine at the wedding of Cana.

·        But now, he is going to love by dying on the Cross, giving up his life for the life of the world.

And so his instruction is not just that we love one another, which anybody can do, but also that we do so as he did, giving ourselves completely for others, without expecting anything in return.

Christian Life

In his recent document, appropriately entitled "The Joy of Love," Pope Francis spoke applied the teaching of Jesus on love to marriage and families.  Even as he mourned the difficulties that marriages and families face today, he insisted that the joy of love is to be found first there.  I encourage you to read the whole document, which you can find online or buy from the Pauline Bookstore.  But let me give you a summary of some points the Pope makes, in Chapter Four, using the verses from Paul's poetic description of love in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13:4-7.

According to Pope Francis, when Paul says "love is patient" he means that one who loves is "slow to anger" like God; for patient love does not act on impulse.  It accepts the other person as they are, as it slowly help them become better persons.  Parents do this all the time in raising children, starting them off with milk before giving them solid food, both literally and metaphorically, treating them first with kid gloves and only then later with tough-love.  Even spouses can do this.  In the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Raymond's parents Frank and Marie irritate each other at every turn; but they also accept each other with patience, because they truly love each other as husband and wife.

The second quality is that "love is kind."  According to Pope Francis, kindness means being at the service of others.  When love is kind, it helps other people, it benefits other people.  There is no better place for kind love than in a marriage, where husband and wife give themselves completely for the other, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.  There is no better place for kindness than in a family, where parents give themselves completely for their children, and later where adult children return to give themselves completely for their elderly parents, because love does not seek its own interests, but those of others.

The next few verses from St. Paul, describe eight negative attitudes that are incompatible with love: jealousy, pomposity, arrogance, rudeness, selfishness, quick-temperedness, resentfulness and rejoicing over wrongdoing.  Pope Francis turns these negative phrases into positive suggestions for love in the family.

·        Instead of being jealous, true love values the achievements of each family member, recognising that God has given us different gifts for the good of all.  For when one succeeds we all succeed, when one fails, we all fail.

·        Instead of being boastful or arrogant, true love focuses on the other person, even when that person has less or knows less, for example, when their faith or its practice is not as strong or vibrant as mine.

·        Instead of being rude or harsh or demeaning, true love imitates the gentleness of Jesus to others.  As the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, only resorting to the vinegar as a last resort.

·        Instead of holding on to anger, even righteous anger, true love forgives, true love makes a sacrifice, giving up what is truly ours.  Loving as Jesus loves means we cannot hold on to old family wounds for decades, opening the scars once in a while to brood over them.  Rather it means forgivinglike Jesus did to his executioners on the cross saying: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34).  The Pope advices families, "do not let the day end without making peace in your family.”

In the last verse, St. Paul speaks again about some positive qualities of love: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  Pope Francis runs with these qualities and suggests some practical application for marriage and family:

·        "Love bears all things" when family members resist the urge to quickly condemn, to speak about the weaknesses of each other.

·        "Love believes all things" when the basic attitude in the family is trust, letting go of control, and so promoting transparency and sincerity.

·        "Love hopes all things" when family members know that each person can change, mature and become better, and most of all that "Each person, with all his or her failings, is called to the fullness of life in heaven."

·        Finally "Love endures all things" when family members bear every trial with a positive attitude, replacing every negative current with goodness.

Conclusion

And so, Pope Francis by applying Jesus' teaching love to the family, is helping us do our homework, teaching us to practice loving as Jesus loved in the family, before we can go out and do it in the world.  Despite the often terrible news in the media, every now and then you hear of men and women, who, loving as Jesus loved, starting in their families, take this love out of the family, onto the streets, into the workplace, many of them doing so quietly without seeking recognition.  May they inspire us to do well our assignment from Jesus, which will be graded, not by Jesus but by the world.  For as he said: "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

My sheep hear my voice

Homily for 4^th Sunday of Easter Year C 2016

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

Introduction

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish."  In this short verse, Jesus teaches four things, two of which his disciples do and two of which he does himself.

·        The disciples "hear my voice," and "follow me," Jesus says.

·        And as for himself, "I know them" and "I give them eternal life."

Scripture and Theology

The voice is a powerful instrument.  You have probably seen the TV show called “The Voice.”  In the first stage of this competition, participants compete in a blind audition in front of four coaches, who are usually accomplished musicians themselves.  During the audition, the chairs of the coaches face away from the performers towards the audience.  Each coach must pick a potential artist to coach, based only on their voice.  And so when a coach has heard enough to impress him or her, they press their button and turn their chair towards the performer.  A few years ago, in the Italian version of this show, when the coaches turned round, they were surprised to see that the beautiful voice they had just heard was that of a nun, Sr. Christina.

And so, Jesus can confidently say, "My sheep hear my voice." For sheep have a knack for identifying their shepherd by his voice.  All the shepherd needs to keep his sheep in line is his voice, unlike the cowboy who needs a whip to drive the cattle.  And so the disciples of Jesus, should be able to identify him by his voice, by what he teaches.  Like the music coach in the Show can identify talent just by the voice, the disciple should be able to identify the Lord's voice of truth.

The second thing that the sheep do is to follow the shepherd's voice.  Because they are used to him and know him, they will follow him when he calls them; they will not follow the voice of a stranger or thief.  They hear in his voice that he cares for them and that is why they follow him.  And so, whether Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount, or talking to Nicodemus at night, or conversing with the small band of apostles around him, they hear the Word of God that he shares, and they stick with him, on account of that voice.

And now to what Jesus himself does.  First, he says, "I know my sheep."  The real shepherd had to know his sheep.  He probably had to stay with them in the desert for days on end, looking for water and grass.  All this time, the shepherd was entirely responsible for their fate and well-being.  It is even said that the shepherd could tell each individual sheep from the others.  He probably named them too.  He knew the needs of each sheep; the shy one, the slow one and the one with attitude!  And he took care of their needs accordingly, encouraging the shy one, carrying the slow one and reining in the mischievous one.

In the same way Jesus knows his followers and sometimes tailors his message to them according to their needs.  To the sick he brings a message of healing and patient endurance; to the prostitutes and tax-collectors, a message of repentance and forgiveness; and to the Pharisees and scribes a message of God’s boundless and gracious love.  That is why he can claim to know his sheep.

And finally besides knowing his sheep, Jesus gives them eternal life.  Yes, the shepherd provided his sheep with material things (food, drink, protection, shade).  But Jesus the Good Shepherd, by his teaching and miracles, by his death and resurrection, gives the sheep more than material and physical comfort; he offers them the chance to get to heaven, where they will live with God forever.

And so, it is because Jesus the Good Shepherd does his part in knowing the sheep and giving them eternal life, that the sheep can hear his voice and follow him to where he leads them.

Christian Life

Jesus is still our Good Shepherd today; he still knows us and gives us eternal life.  His is still the voice we should hear and we should follow.  Unfortunately for us, there is a cacophony of voices today, some good, some not so good, all calling for the attention of our ears.

·        There are the ideological voices of the network and Cable News channels, as well as the sitcoms and dramas whose voice is often not that of Jesus.

·        There are the voices on the internet, newspapers, blogs, youtube, many of them peddling philosophies and ways of life, that are not of the Lord.

·        You also have the voices of our family, co-workers and friends, sometimes the source of gossip, slander and even hate, clearly not the voice of Jesus.

How can we hear and listen to the voice of Jesus in such a crowded marketplace of voices and ideas?

My friends, let me suggest three places where the voice of the Good Shepherd is loud and clear.

First, like I often say, let us to go the horse's mouth, the Bible.  There is no problem or situation in the world today to which Bible in general, but especially the fulfilling Word of Jesus has not spoken or given some guiding principle.  There was a time, when Catholics were not encouraged to read the Bible, perhaps because they did not have the tools and the help to understand it.  Today, Catholics read the Bible all the time.  But how do they read it?

In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, there is a story of the Ethiopian official, who was reading the Bible as he rode along the highway; but he could not understand what it was saying.  Then Philip the Deacon joined him and explained to him what it all meant; he got it and was baptised.  That is why Catholics read the Bible within the Church and not independently of the Church.  That is why the premier place for reading the Bible is in the Liturgy, in the readings and in the homily that explains them, as well as in Bible-Study groups.

For me, one of the reasons I like being Catholic and not Protestant is that I don’t have to do all the heavy lifting by myself.  Yes, I have to personally accept the Lord Jesus as my Saviour; I have to read the Scriptures and meditate on them; I have to pray; I have to love God and my neighbour.  But I don’t have to work out every single detail of Jesus’ teaching from scratch.  I rely on the testimony and witness of all those Catholics who have gone before me in the past 2000 years, going back to the apostles.  I believe that the Spirit, which the Lord promised to send, has continued to inspire the Church of every generation, so that the message he left us, has been handed on faithfully until our generation today.

That is why besides the Bible, the voice of Jesus can also be heard today in the in the teaching of the Pope, Bishops, priests and deacons of the Church.  This voice can be heard in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, nicely divided into four sections of Belief, Worship, Moral Life and Prayer.  The Catechism, in its complete form, or its youth formats, can be good gifts for Confirmation, First Holy Communion, birthdays and so on.

The third place to hear the voice of Jesus is our conscience.  Conscience is the secret chamber of the soul, to which only you and God have access.  When a conscience is well formed by prayer, by reflecting on God's Word and Church teaching, by celebrating the Sacraments, it can point us towards good and away from sin.  Some people call it a gut feeling; but it is really the voice of Jesus.

Conclusion

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, let us go home reassured that Jesus truly cares for us and speaks to us in various ways.  But let us also go home challenged to good shepherds in our own ways, as parents, as friends, as teachers, so that people can hear in us, the voice of Jesus.  And especially, for some of us, let us consider becoming priests, deacons and religious men and women, who are in an official way, the voice of Good Shepherd.

Who's your favorite Pope?

Homily for 3^rd Sunday of Easter Year C 2016

Introduction

"Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."  With these words, Jesus entrusts Simon Peter with task of caring for the Church.

Because I am the first born child, whenever my mother had to be away from the house for most of the day, she too would say to me: "take care of your siblings."  I was nine or ten, the age at which Ugandan children start taking on independent responsibilities, including baby-sitting their siblings.  I certainly was not fully equipped for my tasks, but in our circumstances, mom had to make do with me. 

Scripture and Theology

So did Jesus.  He entrusts Peter, the guy who denied him three times a few weeks earlier, with caring for the sheep.  What was Jesus thinking hiring Peter for the top job of CEO of his mission?

Three elements in the story we have just heard help us to understand what Jesus is doing here: the setting in Galilee, the fishing trip and the charcoal fire.

You might remember that Galilee was the place where the Lord first met Peter and some of his fellow disciples.  Matthew's gospel, for example, tells us that as Jesus "was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen".” (4:18-19).  After the resurrection, what better place to return to, after they had all abandoned him, to start all over again!  And so, the Lord is meeting his disciples in Galilee, Ground Zero, the place where it all started, to send them off again on a new mission.

The second element of the story is the fishing.  Like every man from South Louisiana, Peter and his friends were avid fishermen.  After returning to Galilee from following Jesus, they had resumed their previous job – after all they had mouths at home to feed.  But on that night they caught nothing; perhaps having been away from fishing for three years, they had lost their touch.  Now the Lord appears to them and suggests: “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.”  Putting their fisherman pride to the side, they obey the stranger and indeed they catch a boatload of fish. 

Just like the return to Galilee, the fishing context also symbolizes a return of the disciples to their beginnings.  Not only had Jesus chosen them in Galilee, but even the first time, it was after another miraculous catch of fish (Lk. 5:1-11).  At that time, Jesus had told them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19).  Now after the resurrection, with another miraculous catch, he has the same message for them, that they are now to become fishers of men during his absence.  John's gospel even gives the small detail of how many fish they caught – 153.  Because 153 was thought to be the number of types of fish in the sea, it suggests universality of their; the disciples are called upon to catch men and women of all nations, races and languages.

Besides Galilee and the fishing, the charcoal fire is the third significant element  of the story.  Do you recall another fire in the gospels, the charcoal fire at which Peter denied the Lord, not once, not twice, but three times (Jn. 18: 15-18, 25-27)?  Now at a different fire, one on which Jesus is making breakfast, the Lord gives Peter a chance to retract his threefold denial, asking him three times: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these [other disciples]?"  As we heard, three times, Peter responded that he loved the Lord.  And each time, the Lord entrusts Peter with a task: "feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."

When my mother gave me virtually the same instruction, all I had to do was bathe my siblings, cook for them and put them to bed.  In the case of Peter, he has his work cut out for him; he is responsible for the salvation of all the disciples, for the whole Church.  Peter thus became the first Pope, the first papá or father of the whole Church, for that is what pope means.

Christian Life

Since Peter, Popes have carried on that same task of feeding and tending the lambs and sheep of the Church.  To be honest, some did a terrible job at it.  But most have done a great job, like the last three popes that we have had.  Let me share with you briefly how these successors of Peter have affected my life.

When Pope John Paul II he visited Uganda in 1993, I was in college seminary.  I was fortunate to attend one of his Masses and see him from about five feet away, as he walked to the altar.  Perhaps like every other 21 year-old, I was more interested in a photo opportunity with him, than listening to what he had to say.  But I still remember his message to Ugandans, which was "Be the light of the world."  And as I continued my seminary studies, I was to read a lot of what he had to say.  But his greatest influence on me was at his funeral in 2005, when from the media coverage I heard about his charisma, his numerous world travels to catch all 153 types of fish, and his constant message of "Do not be afraid" to a world caught in fear of nuclear war and recovering from the effects of the 1960s.

As for Pope Benedict XVI, I was fortunate that my time of graduate studies in Rome began when he had just been elected Pope.  While in Rome, I often saw him from a distance, at the Wednesday General papal audiences and the Sunday Angelus.  I was even once within five feet of him at a private audience, together with a thousand of my best friends, other priests studying in Rome; I saw close up how humble and shy a man he was.  But his greatest influence on me was that virtually in very class I took, we read his work, both what he wrote as Cardinal Ratzinger and his work as Pope Benedict.  Pope Benedict had a lot to teach.  He used his great intellect, always clear, precise and insightful, to teach the faith and the truth.  He reminded our world that has lost its way, of the eternal Truth that Jesus teaches.

And now we have another Peter, Pope Francis, the first non-European Pope in modern times.  Two years ago, I attended a Mass presided over by him in St. Peter's Basilica.  This time I was not five feet, but fifty feet away from him; but since I was right behind the altar, with a clear line of sight, I saw how reverently he celebrated the Mass. The biggest contribution of Pope Francis is that he always preaches a message of love and mercy.  He wants God's love and mercy to be fed to all God's sheep, especially the lost sheep: children and elderly, the sick and the disabled, prisoners and immigrants, people with same-sex attraction as well as the divorced and remarried.  Like Jesus himself, Pope Francis does not exclude anybody from the call to receive the Good News.

Conclusion

People will often ask me: "So, of the three popes, who is your favorite?"  Whenever I hear this question, I want to wring the neck of the person asking it, because Peter and the popes are not celebrities to be liked or disliked.  Their job is to feed the sheep and not to win a popularity contest.  In fact, at the end of today's gospel reading, Jesus prophesied that Peter would be killed for doing his job of tending the sheep.

The more fitting question should be the one Jesus asked Peter: "Do you love me?"  For if we love Jesus, then we shall listen to and like whichever Peter he sends to feed us, his sheep.  Whether it is Pope John Paul II who used his charisma to feed us with hope; or Pope Benedict who used his great intellect to to teach us faith; and now, Pope Francis, who continues to use his vast pastoral experience to remind us  of God's love and mercy.  And who knows what the next pope will feed us with?  We must like them all, because they feed us with the life-giving message of salvation.

Jesus cares for his friends, acquaintances and strangers

Homily for Easter – 2^nd  Sunday Year C 2016

Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11a,12-13,17-19; John 20:19-31

Introduction

Friends, acquaintances and strangers: these are three types of people we have in our lives, people we treat differently.  We might say "hello" to a stranger, chat about the weather with an acquaintance, and perhaps give a kidney to a friend. 

For example, when Americans tell me that I have an accent, although my mother doesn't think so, the clarity of my speech depends on who I am speaking to.  .

1.    When I am speaking with strangers, I am very clear; I take great care to articulate my words, because these people don't know me.

2.    I am slightly less clear when I speak to acquaintances, because I know them a little; I expect them to do some work and listen a little more carefully.  Even then, because our conversations are usually short and usually about superficial topics like the weather, I am still fairly clear.

3.    It is my friends, my close friends, who suffer most with my accent.  Because we know each other very well, I let my guard down and speak I naturally, like I am at home in Uganda.  Moreover, our conversations are usually longer and more passionate; so that what I gain in passion and informality, I lose in clarity.

How does Jesus treat his friends, his acquaintances and perfect strangers?  He treats them all with mercy, as today's gospel shows us.

Scripture and theology

"I call you friends" Jesus had had told his close disciples.  But as we heard during the Passion story, what terrible friends they turned out to be.  One betrayed him, another denied him and rest ran away from him when he was arrested.  They had given up on the Lord, because they thought that Project Jesus had failed.  But after his resurrection, Jesus seeks them out.  We heard that "On the evening of that first day of the week [Sunday], when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'"

Think about that for a moment.  If you were the one who had been betrayed by your friends; I am guessing that your first words would have a few choice words among them, for which you would have to go to confession.  But Jesus first words to this bunch of cowards were "Peace be with you;" "Shalom aleichem" in Hebrew; "Salaam alaykum" in Arabic. The Lord greets his disciples with words of peace, words of welcome, words of reconciliation.  That's how Jesus treats his friends, even disloyal friends, showering God's mercy upon them.  For as the saying goes: "a true friend is one who, when you've made a fool of yourself, doesn't think that you've done a permanent job."

The second group, the acquaintances, is represented by Thomas, who was playing hooky on the first Sunday when Jesus appeared to the community.  Why was Thomas absent on that Sunday?  Let's speculate.  Perhaps he was caring for his sick mother; or his horse, his only means of transport, was at the vet’s.  But we know why he was absent; the Jerusalem Football team were playing at home that Sunday; or he was sleeping in, Sunday being the only day when he did not have to get up early to get to work.  Like an acquaintance, Thomas was not really invested in the Jesus project; he was happy to hang around if it was fun and going well, but as soon as it started to crumble he bailed.  Thomas even refused to believe his friends when they told him that they have seen the Lord.

But even to Thomas, the acquaintance-like disciple, Jesus has mercy to share.  On the next Sunday when Thomas cares to show up, Jesus once again appears to the disciples.  And after greeting them with shalom as usual, he tells Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  If for the larger group of disciples the mercy of Jesus was to let bygones be bygones, for Thomas the Lord shows him mercy by providing him with the evidence he needed to believe.  Thomas saw and believed and expressed his faith crying out: “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus still has mercy left over to share it with the third group, the strangers, those whom he does not yet know.  To do this, he enlists the help of the first two groups, the disciples.  He tells them: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  Jesus turns the disciples into apostles to go and share the Good News with others.  He even empowered them to do this, by breathing his Spirit on them and saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  These words of Jesus have been understood in the Church as referring to the sacrament of confession, where the priest forgives sins, in the name of God the Father of mercies, and God the Son whose death and resurrection brought mercy, and the Spirit the agent of mercy.  Just as Jesus personally shared his mercy with the disciples, now he wants the disciples to go and do likewise, and be the instruments of his mercy with others. 

Christian Life

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we should be consoled by these merciful actions of Jesus to the friends that failed him, to the acquaintance that doubted his mission, and most of all to perfect strangers.  To be honest, you and I at one time or another, are these three types of people to Jesus.

Our baptism made us friends of Jesus.  And most of the time, we are good friends, especially when we do as he taught; when we love God and our neighbour.  But often, like the disciples we abandon Jesus when we sin.  And yet, to us he says, "Peace be with you."  And when we go to confession and change our lives, like the Prodigal Father he says: "let us celebrate with a feast, because this son [daughter] of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found" (Lk. 15:23-24).  As the response to Psalm said, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting."

Perhaps there are times when we act like we are merely acquaintances of the Lord.  We don't come to Sunday Mass, except perhaps at Christmas, Easter and the Friday fish fry.  Our relationship with the Lord stops at the level of appearances.  In our prayer we don't really talk about anything profound, perhaps only about the weather.

But even when we are in this state, like he did to Thomas, Jesus comes and shows us evidence of his presence, in the people around us, who have seen the Lord.  And like Thomas we can turn our doubts into belief, our struggles into joys.  And because of his mercy we confess: "My Lord and my God."

Perhaps at one time, either before we became Catholic or even after, we are strangers to the Lord.  We don't know who he is, what he teaches, what he has to offer us; or we completely forgotten.  Even when we are in this state, to us the Lord shares his mercy, by sending us messengers, in the example and the words of his disciples who are around us; the preaching and liturgy of his Church.

Conclusion

Like human friendships, our friendship with Jesus has its ups and downs, its highs and lows.  But the Lord does not give up on his friends; neither should we.  Whether we have become strangers to him by unfriending him, whether we have downgraded our status to that of acquaintance, or whether we have become untrue friends, he still wants us as his friends.

But having received the Lord's mercy, we must in turn share this mercy with others.  The Lord sends us out to our friends both the faithful and unfaithful ones, to our acquaintances, and even to the stranger.  As Jesus tells us, whatsoever you to do my brothers and sisters, you do unto me.