IN MEMORIAM MSGR. FRANZ GRAEF (1930 – 2016)

IN MEMORIAM

MSGR. FRANZ GRAEF (1930 – 2016)

Rev. Deogratias Ekisa

St. John Berchman's Cathedral, Shreveport - June 29, 2016

Dear Bishop Duca, my brothers and sisters, I count it a great honour, to stand before you, to say a few words about Msgr. Franz Graef, on my behalf and on behalf of Notre Dame Seminary, where he served two wonderful tours of duty.  I am sure that each of us who has known him would have something special to say about his influence on our lives.

In my case, I first met Msgr. Graef, as we called him, in 1994, when I joined Notre Dame Seminary for my theological studies.  Like me, he had an accent, an unusual accent, a German accent; but unlike me, his accent had a gravitas to it, a depth that kept you listening to what he had to say, whether it was about theology or simply his good natured humour.

In preparing my remarks for tonight, I spoke to a few alumni of Notre Dame Seminary to share with me some of their memories of Msgr. Graef.  I would like summarize these memories by speaking about three things which Msgr. Graef passed on to us, not only by his words, but especially by his actions.  And coincidentally, the three things line up exactly with the threefold office of Jesus Christ, as priest, prophet and king.  Msgr. Graef was an astute theologian, a caring pastor and a noble priest.

Msgr. Graef the theologian: Despite his humble and unassuming nature, the theological depth of Msgr. Graef was obvious to anyone who met him.  He was always available he was when called upon to teach theology, whether in the diocese or at the Seminary.  At the seminary, he taught courses in dogmatic and sacramental theology.  As you know, this area of theology is rather abstract, dealing with dry and difficult concepts like the Trinity, Christ's nature, grace, transubstantiation etc.  But he made us love theology; he made us love these abstract concepts.

In his teaching, Msgr. Graef not only taught us orthodox Church doctrine, but he also taught us to explore the various legitimate ways of understanding the faith.  Always drawing from the threefold font of Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium, he also helped us to consider the myriad ways of understanding the same deposit of faith, both throughout history and in our times.  He trained us to receive what mother Church has to teach us, but also how to appropriate it ourselves and make it a part of our lives.  He hoped that this exercise would produce at least one Augustine or a Thomas Aquinas or at least one Karl Rahner.  If I may speak for myself, in this regard, I think that Msgr. Graef was being a little too generous about the intellectual abilities of us his students.

Msgr. Graef the pastor: If reproducing his theological prowess was perhaps a little beyond our ability, emulating his pastoral zeal was well within our reach.  Msgr. Graef always taught theology with a pastoral goal in mind, that is, he intended that we use this theology to shepherd God's people.  In fact, virtually his only assignments tested our ability to teach the faith as pastors, bringing doctrine to a practical level that would apply to the everyday lives of Christians. That is why he gave us take-home exams dealing with concrete pastoral situations.  For the course on the Eucharist, for example, he had us write a homily for the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper; for the sacraments of healing, we had to write a parish presentation tracing the development and history of both the sacraments of penance and anointing of the sick.  And he asked that we ensure that we our work could be used later in our own priestly ministry.  And I can testify that I was able to use these assignments, with only minimal modification during my priestly ministry.

And so when I too began to teach the same courses at Notre Dame Seminary, I followed his model, as my former and current students can testify.  If these students have found these assignments a little demanding (as they once even told Bishop Duca on one of his visits), I hope they now realize that I am not entirely responsible for their having to burn the midnight oil – they have to blame Msgr. Graef.  But if these students, now in ministry, have found those pastorally-oriented assignments of some benefit to their priestly ministry, I cannot take the credit – it is Msgr. Graef they can thank for training us to always have the pastoral heart of Jesus Christ.

Msgr. Graef the priest: Msgr. Graef took his sanctifying role very seriously.  He always celebrated the Eucharist with decorum and composure.  His dignified poise at liturgy was perhaps due to his naturally subdued Teutonic temperament.  Whenever he saw priests who celebrated Mass in an excessively exuberant manner, Msgr. Graef would often remind them that the Mass, which we celebrate daily, is not about us, but about God.  Like all things in the Graef world, his dignified manner of celebrating the liturgy flowed from his theological understanding of the great mystery we celebrate at the liturgy.  He believed that since God was the focus of the liturgy, he should be allowed God to increase and the celebrant to decrease.

And so, if I may speak for hundreds of priests who received their theological training at the feet of Msgr. Graef and for thousands of other students that he taught throughout his priestly ministry, I must say that we truly won the powerball lottery of theology.  We must admit that in having Msgr. Graef for a pastor and mentor, it is like we had Pete Sampras for a tennis coach or Diana Ross teaching us how to sing.

May the memory of Msgr. Graef continue to be perpetuated in the way we carry out our various ministries, both as clergy and as lay people.

• May we always start what we do from a deep knowledge and keen understanding of our faith.
• May we continue to apply that knowledge and understanding to the concrete realities of our Christian lives and lives of other people.
• May we always celebrate the liturgy in a manner befitting the Father whom we adore, the Son who charges us to offer with him and the Holy Spirit who empowers us to offer worthy worship.

The saying goes that you can bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make it drink.  Msgr. Graef has brought us to the water, let us continue drinking and sharing that water with others.

Thank you.

Burning ships to follow Christ

Homily for 13^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2016

1 Kings 19:16b,19-21; Galatians 5:1,13-18; Luke 9:51-62

Introduction

The story is told of Hernando Cortés.  He was the Spanish Conquistador, who attempted to conquer and colonize the Aztec empire, what is now much of Mexico.  But compared to the Aztecs his army was rather small.

And so, legend has it that after his men got ashore, Cortés ordered them to burn all the ships that brought them from Spain. He did this so that his men would understand fully that their only options were to win or to die – there would be no retreat, no plan B, no fall-back position. And so, knowing that their options were now limited, the Spanish army would fight harder and with more commitment.

Today's readings teach us the same message, that when Jesus calls people to follow him, they must do so without any reservation, they must completely cut ties with their former lives, they must burn their ships.

Scripture and Theology

The gospel passage presents three candidates who want to follow Jesus.  But they all three lack something of the commitment that Jesus wants in a disciple.

One says: "Lord, [I want to follow you but] let me go first and bury my father." This seems like quite a reasonable request.  The man wants to fulfil his duties as a son, to bury his father.  Perhaps the father was quite ill and needed care in his last days.  Perhaps the father of this man was in good health, but still needed him to help around the house.

To this man Jesus says in quite stern terms: "Let the dead bury their dead.  But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."  Is Jesus suggesting that we must abandon our family obligations?  No.  But he is asking the disciple to reflect seriously on where his priorities lie.  Do his priorities lie with family or with Jesus?  Sometimes, in fact, often, the disciple will have to choose Jesus over the family.

Another candidate says: "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." And we would again agree that this is also a fair request.  Today, if a young man or woman were to enlist in the army, he or she would not just take off without first saying goodbye to mom and dad first, perhaps even to seek their blessing.  That would be like eloping.

But Jesus once again uncompromisingly says: "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”  Again he is using this hyperbole to teach that commitment to him trumps all other commitments.  He demands that his followers burn the ships of their former lives, even of their family ties.

While these two candidate-disciples seem to lack full commitment because they were hesitant, another candidate-disciple lacks commitment in a different way.  This is the one who says: "I will follow you wherever you go."  This man or woman is rather enthusiastic about the mission of Jesus, willing to go anywhere, do anything for Jesus.  But Jesus seem to discourage him by saying: "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."  Why?

Jesus speaks this way because enthusiasm alone does not a disciple make.  The potential disciple must know the realities of what following Jesus means.  That is why Jesus tells him that while wild animals have a place to stay, Jesus is essentially homeless.  This disciple must learn that committing himself to Jesus means also committing himself to the difficult life, the suffering of Jesus.  Jesus is going to Jerusalem to be arrested, crucified and killed; the disciple needs to know this.  The television commercials emphasize only the benefits of their product in glowing colours, clear words and large print, but hide the downside in small print.  Jesus places everything on the table for the disciple to make an informed choice.

Christian Life

Christians have lived out this radical message of the gospel in various ways.

In the Early Church, those who became Christians had to give up a lot: they had to give up ordinary jobs, social status and sometimes even their lives for Christ.  Later this radical commitment was also lived out by some in what we now call religious life.  The hermits, like St. Anthony, left the world to go into the desert.  The monks and nuns like St. Benedict and St. Rita went to a monastery.  The friars like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic lived on the street.  All these men and women cut ties with family and the world, and chose to focus entirely on Jesus Christ and his way, living in poverty, obedience and chastity.  They burnt their ships of family security, material security and personal security.

But the challenging message of Jesus is not just for nuns and priests; it is a call for every Christian.  Day in and day out, Catholic men and women live out this radical commitment to Christ, especially in their families.

I know a couple, Francisco and Maria, who have been married for 57 years.  Whenever I visit them I see how much love they have for each other.  He is 92 and she cares for him every day.  Have things always been smooth sailing? No.  Have they had difficulties?  Yes.  But they never gave up.  They weathered the difficult times because they believe what Jesus teaches about a man and woman becoming one in marriage for ever – they believe that when they said, "I do, in sickness and in health" they were burning the ships that could take them to other relationships; they were committing themselves to each other forever in God.

I also know their adult children, who are just as committed to their parents as the parents are to each other.  I suspect that the children picked up this commitment from their upbringing in the faith, in the Catholics schools they went to, going to Church with mom and dad, but especially in the example set by the parents at home. There is no better school in which to learn about commitment, but the school of mom and dad, who work hard at their jobs to put food on the table, who love and respect each other, who pray with the family.

And yet, you and I sometimes struggle with being totally committed to Jesus:

• Sometimes we are like the disciple whose only possession is enthusiasm, an emotional high, but does not do the heavy lifting that Jesus demands of his followers, like those corporal works of mercy, and the seven spiritual works of mercy.  Jesus reminds us that while the Christian way can be a bed of roses, those roses also have thorns that prick.
• Sometimes we are like the two disciples who hesitate to put their toe in the water, because they are being pulled by other engagements, even of family or work.  Perhaps God is calling you to consider becoming a priest, a deacon, a sister or brother, but you are holding back.  Many of our students at the seminary tell us that they thought about becoming priests for many years, but feared to take the plunge.  Finally one day they heard the radical call of Jesus to leave all behind and follow him, and they decided to come to the seminary and try it out.

Conclusion

And so, as disciples, sometimes with his grace we are fully committed to Jesus, at other times we are only partially committed because we accept only the easier parts of his message, and at other times still we are not committed at all.

Let us turn to Elisha the prophet we heard about in the first reading.  Enthusiastic at first, he asked Elijah to let him first go and bid farewell to his father and mother.  But fortunately, he thought better of it, and like Cortes' men, literally burnt his ships: he slaughtered the oxen and used the ploughing equipment to cook the meat.  Then Elisha left and followed Elijah as his assistant.

What ships do you and I have to burn, so as to follow Jesus with full and unreserved commitment?

Three dimensions of God’s mercy

Homily for 11^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2016

2 Samuel 12:7-10,13; Galatians 2:16,19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3

Introduction

This is the Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Pope Francis designated this year of Mercy, to remind the Church and the world, that mercy is an important aspect of God.  And he picked this year 2016, probably because during this year, the third in the cycle of readings, we read from the gospel of Luke, a gospel that has plenty to say about God’s mercy.  Today’s readings are an example of the gospel teaching on mercy.

That is why in today’s homily, I would like to focus on three dimensions or directions in which mercy moves: downwards, upwards and sideways.

Scripture and Theology

We say that mercy moves downwards because mercy always starts from God; it is always the initiative of God.

•  Did you notice that it is God who sent the Prophet Nathan to King David who had sinned?  God showed mercy to him first by pointing out his sin to him, and then again by offering him mercy when King David repented.
•  Or if you look at the three parables of mercy in Luke Chapter 15, you notice that the person representing God in those parables, is the one who takes the initiative: The woman goes to look for the lost coin; the shepherd goes out to look for the lost sheep; and the Father is the one who is anxiously waiting for the return of his son, and indeed runs to him when he sees him a distance.

But even in a broader sense, God started the process of mercy, not only when he created us, but also when he redeemed us.

Think of a young man in high school, let's call him Michael.  He is unremarkable, not particularly athletic, not very smart 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, Monica 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.  True to her kind nature, she asks our nondescript Michael to be her date for the Prom.  Now perhaps most of the guys here are probably thinking “no way this could never happen in real life.”

But this is exactly what God did when he created us.  He had no need of human beings, but still he created us and shared with us human beings more than we deserve – he gave us life, his life.  We probably don’t think of God creating us as a form of divine mercy; but do we realize that we didn’t have to exist?  Like Michael was out of Rachel's league, we too as human beings are out of God's league.  But in his mercy, he creates us and invites us be like him.

If the first form of God's mercy has to do with our lower nature, the second has to do with our sinful nature.  Let’s return to our high school friends Rachel and Michael.  They actually go to the Prom together.  And then even better, they eventually fall in love, begin dating and get married a few years later.  We would all agree that Michael 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 cheats on his wife.

Fortunately for Michael, after she does some tearful agonizing and serious praying, Rachel forgives him and takes him back.  Being the truly good woman that she is, she treats him better than he deserves.  If dating him in the first place was an act of mercy because he was out of her league, now forgiving him is an act of mercy because she does not punish him as he deserves.

In the same way God is not only merciful in creating us, he is merciful in forgiving us.  Yes, he punished the Jewish people sometimes; but he was quite lenient.  The punishment for sinning against God, who is all good, is eternal separation from God.  But that is not the punishment that 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.

Christian Life

But in response to the downward dimension of mercy, from God to us, there must be an upward one from us to God.  That upward dimension takes various forms:

•  Like King David in the first reading, our response to God’s mercy should be, “I am sorry, forgive me.”
•  Like the woman in the gospel, our response to God’s mercy should be one of gratitude, devotion, adoration, veneration of God.

Some of us are carrying heavy burdens; some of us are oppressed by the sins of our past lives.  We must go to the fountain of God's mercy, especially the sacrament of confession and the other sacraments as well.  During this year of mercy, let us make use of all the tools that God gives us through the Church, to drink from his bottomless spring of mercy, both in sorrow and in gratitude.

There is no better example of a worthy response than the act of contrition which we say during confessions.  There are many versions, but let me read the traditional one:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

That is why in the gospel, Jesus praised the woman, who having been forgiven greatly by God, also loved much.

There is still one more dimension of mercy: we have seen the downward from God to us, the upward of sorrow and gratitude from us to God.  The third dimension is sideways, from us to each other.  In Luke Jesus tells his disciples: “Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36), Jesus says.  We must share God's mercy.  It would be unfortunate for Michael, if after he had been forgiven so much by Rachel, he himself does not forgive others who sin against him: his children, his co-workers, even his relatives.  If he did that, he would be acting like the steward in Matthew’s gospel (18:21-35), who is forgiven a great debt by his master, but refuses to do the same for a fellow servant who owes him even less.  That is why we pray in the Our Father, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, as we ourselves take a bite out of God's mercy, we must share it with others.

·        Are there people who have hurt us that we must forgive as Jesus teaches, not seven times, but seventy-seven times?

·        How many of the seven corporal works of mercy have I carried out, so that I can share God’s mercy with others?

·        How many of the seven spiritual works of mercy have I carried out so that I can share God’s mercy with others?

Conclusion

Let me end by encouraging you to read a small book by Pope Francis, called “The name of God is mercy.” You can find it on Amazon or any religious bookstore.  I am not an agent for Pope Francis, trying to sell books for him, but I really want you to read how in very simple and straightforward language, the Pope gives us examples of God’s mercy in his own life and in the lives of those to whom has ministered.

Dionne Warwick told us that “What the world needs now, is love sweet love.”  With all due respect to the great musician, I think Pope Francis might slightly change the lyrics of her song and say: “What the world needs now, is mercy.”

May we seek this mercy for ourselves; but may we also share it with those who need it, the poor, the forgotten, the downtrodden and especially the sinners, who are all of us.

The Body of Christ is Sacrament, Sacrifice and Communion

Homily for Corpus Christi Sunday Year C 2016

Genesis 14:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Luke 9:11b-17

Introduction

One way Catholics mark the great truths we believe in is to observe them with feasts.  And so we have Advent and Lent, Christmas and Easter, marking the great events of our salvation.  But there are a few more truths of our faith.

Last Sunday we celebrated Trinity Sunday, highlighting that our God is both one and three persons.   Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of the Lord.  For some people, Corpus Christi is simply a city in Texas, while for others, it is "hocus pocus", a parody of Corpus Christi by those who make fun of the Eucharist.  But for Catholics, this feast of Corpus Christi celebrates an important element of our faith.  If Trinity last Sunday reminded us of who God is, today's feast of Corpus Christi reminds us of how God saves us. 

Scripture and Theology

God saves us through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  While today's feast highlights this truth in a big way, every time we come to Mass we hear again and again that our salvation comes from the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

For example, at the consecration, the priest, while holding the host, repeats the words Jesus used at the Last Supper as St. Paul reminded us in the second reading, saying, "Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you."  Two things should strike us when we hear those words.

First we must believe that the host is truly the Body of Christ.  After all that is what Jesus said himself, and what Christians have believed from the very beginning.  Even Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, while he disagreed with the Church on many things, he strongly believed that we must take Jesus at his word, when he commanded his followers to take bread and eat it as his body, and the cup as his blood.  That why our response to those words of the priest is to bow in adoration at the host lifted high up for us to see.  That is why in Ireland, for example, they have the custom of saying at this time: "My Lord and my God," the words Thomas blurted out when he finally saw the Risen Lord.

But did you notice that Jesus did not just say "this is my body?" He also added "which will be given up for you."  In other words, besides being the Sacrament  of Jesus Christ, the Body and Blood is also his sacrifice.  The body we adore, the body and blood we eat and drink at communion, is a body that was sacrificed, given up for the life of the world, for the forgiveness of sins.  The Body and Blood of Christ at Mass make his sacrifice present for us in a very real way and allow us to participate in its fruits.  That is why just before communion, the priest holding up the host over the chalice says: "Behold the Lamb of God, Behold him who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb." The priest reminds us that the host and wine we are about to consume are not only Jesus himself, but they are the lamb of sacrifice, offered for the sins of the world.  And then when we realize the great mystery Sacrament and Sacrifice before us, we borrow the words of the Centurion and say, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof . . . ."

If you listen carefully to the words of the Mass, you will hear the word "sacrifice", "my sacrifice," "your sacrifice" said over and over again.  A sacrifice is essentially a gift we give to God, to represent our devotion, our complete selves. But because there is really nothing of value that we can give to God, not even the old sacrifices of sheep and goats, Jesus generously told his disciples to offer his sacrifice in the form of bread and wine, just as he did at the Last Supper, on the night before he was to offer the actual sacrifice on the cross.  It is like when parents give their children money to buy a gift for the other parent, for Mother's Day or Father's Day.  We too give to the Father, something of value, the sacrificed Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, under the form of bread and wine.  That is why after the consecration, we sing the words: "When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death O Lord, until you come again."  This is because at Mass, at the Eucharistic celebration, together with our sufferings, our own praises and thanksgiving, we offer the Body and Blood of Christ to God.

Christian Life

What does this feast of Christ's life-giving Body and Blood, of his saving Sacrifice mean for us personally?

·        Thankfully today, there is a resurgence of belief in the Real Presence of Christ, with many churches having benediction and some even having round-the-clock adoration.  Come, let us adore the Lord.

·        As for sacrifice, there is also a return to understanding what Jesus did for us as a sacrifice.  There is even an appreciation that we too have to offer our own sacrifices.  For example, on Memorial Day weekend we remember the men and women who serve their nation, by putting themselves in harm's way, offering their lives as a sacrifice.  Also, there is slight increase in the numbers of men and women, entering seminary and convents to become priests, brothers and sisters, to offer their lives as a sacrifice to God and their brethren.  We cannot forget the daily sacrifices of mothers and fathers who are up all night taking care of crying babies, but especially raising children in the Christian faith, when this is not the popular thing to do.  Our belief in the Jesus' Sacrifice of his Body and Blood seems to be inspiring our own small and big sacrifices.

But besides being the Sacrament of Jesus' very Body and Blood, and his sacrifice, the Eucharist has a third meaning, communion. The Body of Christ which we adore and offer in sacrifice should build up the Church Body of Christ.  That is why we call it communion; the Eucharist enables us "become one body, one spirit in Christ" both on earth and finally in heaven.  Perhaps an image that best illustrates this meaning of the Eucharist is the 1987 movie, Babette's Feast.

Babette, a French woman works as a housekeeper for two Norwegian Spinsters, daughters of a Lutheran pastor.  The sisters live modestly and are exemplary, but the church community left behind by their father is now filled with animosity and division.  After working seventeen years, Babette wins the lottery; and now she can return home.  But before she does so, she asks the sisters to allow her prepare for them and their church community, a lavish meal to celebrate what would have been their father's hundredth birthday.

The meal is a great success; the food is delicious, the wine exquisite and the company enjoyable.  But something even more beautiful happens; enemies forgive each other and broken friendships are restored.  Babette's feast, like the Eucharist restores communion.

But that is not where the analogy with the Eucharist stops.  At the end of the story, all the hard work, all the sacrifice Babette put into preparing this meal is revealed.  But most importantly, it is also revealed that to prepare this wonderful meal, this meal that brought back unity to the community, Babette had spent all the money she won from the lottery.  She was back to being dirt poor.

Conclusion

And so, the next time you receive communion, when you hear the words: "The Body of Christ," and you say "Amen," remember you are professing three things:

·        First, that host is a sacrament; that while you see and taste bread, see and taste wine, it is really the Body and Blood of Christ himself you are receiving.

·        Second, that host is also a sacrifice; the Body and Blood that you are receiving is a body sacrificed, blood poured forth, for your salvation.

·        Third, when you receive that host, the Body of Christ, you commit yourself to build up the Body of Christ, the Church, here on earth and in heaven.

Knowing, praying and imitating the Trinity

Homily for Trinity Sunday Year C 2016

Proverbs 8:22-31, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

Introduction

Unlike Christmas and Easter, today’s feast of the Holy Trinity is not that exciting.  The Trinity, one God in three persons; that seems so abstract, so theoretical, something only for theologians and not for the ordinary Catholic.

Many analogies have been tried, to explain how there can be three persons in one God: St. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock, St. Ignatius used the musical chord which has three notes, and modern theologians use the image of water, which can assume three forms of steam, ice and liquid.

But all these images fall short; they don't really leave us understanding the Trinity any better.  For God is a mystery whom the human mind can never fully grasp. That is why in some Eastern religions, before people pray in front of a statue representing God, they apologise for having to pray to him in that form, when in fact he is formless and he is everywhere.  They understand that the human mind is limited in its ability to grasp God completely. 

Scripture and Theology

And yet we don't give up.  While we don't know everything about God, we know something.  Pope Benedict suggests that the love in a family is the best analogy for the Trinity.  He says that the family a community of love and life where differences contribute to forming a communion.  It is in the family that we first learn and practice the love that God, one in three person teaches us.

And so if we leave aside the math of three persons in one God and concentrate on the eternal love shared by the communion of the three persons, then the Trinity begins to make sense.  Our God, one and yet three persons is love.

God reveals himself as love gradually throughout the Bible, first as the Father and Creator; then we soon learn that God is also Son and Redeemer; and as we heard on Pentecost Sunday, God is also Spirit and Advocate.

Already in Genesis we see God as the Father of humankind and the Creator of everything; the sun, the moon, the stars, plants, animals and of course human beings.  We learn that the Father loved humankind so much that he wanted us to be like him; so he created us in his own image and gave us the world to care for.  Of course we returned the favour and tried to recreate ourselves in God’s image, thinking that we could live independently of the Father, disobeying him and foolishly cutting ourselves from God.  And yet despite this disobedience and sin, God the loving Father did not abandon us.  He set in motion a plan to restore his friendship with us.  To this end, he made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, making them the instrument of his salvation.

When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God sent Moses to Pharaoh with the simple message, “let my people go.”  God led them through the desert for forty years of testing, giving them the Ten Commandments and entering into a new covenant with them.  He led them to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  But as human beings are wont do, Israel once again strayed from God.  He could have washed his hands off them at this moment, but he did not.  Instead God the Father sent prophets with a consistent message: “The God of love who wants you back; reform your lives and return home to God your Father.”  Thus throughout the Old Testament we see God as a loving Father reaching out to his wayward children and trying to get them back to himself.

The history of our salvation took a decisive turn, when God the Father sent his Son to continue the work of salvation begun by him.  Although he was always part of the Father’s work, the Son now takes centre stage in the work of saving humankind.  In the New Testament we learn from Jesus that he is the Son of God, sent to tell us about God’s love for us and challenging us to repent and return to God’s friendship.  That is the basic message of the gospel.  Jesus, the Son of God, did not only teach about God’s love, he lived this love even up to giving up his life for the sake of the world.  God the Father, faithful as ever, resurrected him from the dead and placed him at his right hand.

The third stage of God's work of salvation begins on Pentecost, when as Jesus promised, the Father sends the Spirit.  The Spirit had to come, because the world had not yet fully returned to God.  In today's gospel passage Jesus speaks so clearly about the Spirit:  "But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth" Jesus says.  Moreover the Spirit "will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, . . . [and] will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. . . ."

So now the third person of the Trinity takes centre court, the Holy Spirit who comes to fulfil the work begun long ago by the Father and taken a step further more recently by the Son.  In the Early Church the Holy Spirit helps the first disciples to understand what Jesus said and did, who he was and what he was about.  Just as Jesus was the central figure in the gospels, we see the Holy Spirit at work in the Acts of the Apostles, throughout the history of the Church and even today.  We live in the age of the Spirit.

And so, even though we cannot fully understand who our God is and how is a three persons in one God, we can be sure of one thing; God is a God of love.

Christian Life

Let me offer a take-away message for us, from this feast of the Trinity.  It is fitting that this take-away message is also threefold: knowledge, prayer and action.

First, although we cannot know God in himself, since by definition he is mystery, let us know that little that he has chosen to reveal of himself to us.  God has revealed himself as a God of love, a love that he repeatedly shares with us, as God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit.  Our Trinity is a God of love.

Second, let us be aware of this Trinity in our prayer life.

·        In the Creed every time we recite it at Mass and when saying the rosary, we profess to "believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth . . . . ; one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God . . . . and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life."

·        Catholics begin their prayers with the sign of the Cross, accompanied by the words "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  We also baptize and absolve sins in the same name "of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

·        Finally we give glory "to the Father, and to the Son and to the Spirit;" and the priest or deacon does not bless in his own name, but asks that the Almighty God may bless you: "The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Besides knowing that the Trinity is love, and praying to this Trinity of love, the third message is action; what can we do about it?  Let the Trinity be a model of our own Christian lives.  In the Trinity we see a communion, a union, a working together of one God for the same end, sharing his love with human beings.  At one moment the Father takes centre stage, at another, the Son, at another the Spirit; but they are always working together and nobody claims the whole credit.  Can we as a Church, as a Christian community live and love as one, united in the same mission of bringing God’s message of love to the world?  Can we each play our part, building up the Body of Christ, just like each person in the Trinity plays their part in the work of our salvation?

Conclusion

That the Trinity is a mystery should not get us off the hook.  We must know and believe what god has told us about himself; we must pray to him as such, and we must live like, loving as the Trinity loves.

Jesus passes the baton on to us

Homily for Ascension Year C 2016

Acts 1:1-11; Hebrews 9:24-28,10:19-23; Luke 24:46-53

Introduction

Today's feast of the Ascension could be compared to the middle child.  Coming as it does between Easter and Pentecost, sometimes we forget about Ascension.

Everybody knows that at Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, when he conquered death once and for all.  And at Pentecost, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower and inaugurate the Church.  So what is left to celebrate at Ascension?

Scripture and Theology

If you are asking that question, you are in good company; for the Apostles were just as clueless.  On Ascension Day, when the Lord gathered them together, they knew that something big was about to happen; but they were not sure what. Was he going to perform some miracles like he did before his death?  No.  That was old news.  Was he going to die and rise again from the dead like he did at Easter?  No. He had done that already. There was only one possibility left; he was finally going to re-establish the Kingdom, the Kingdom that the Jewish people had been waiting for, for hundreds of years, since the Exile.  This was the big payday for which they had been working and waiting.  That is why they asked: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

To their great surprise, Jesus instead said: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  In other words, he was saying, “Look guys, I have done my part in establishing the Kingdom – I am going back to the Father. You now have to carry on the job that I started and bring the Kingdom to completion.”

·        And so, we could think of the Ascension as being like the day when a successful CEO takes a step back from actively running the company and hands the reins to his successor, saying, “Carry on now – take the company to greater heights; I will continue guiding you in the background.”

·        We could also think of the Ascension as being like when the runner in the relay race, who has ran a good race, now hands the baton on to the last runner and says “off to the finish line; win this one for us.”

Jesus is that successful CEO, Jesus is that star athlete on the relay team who pass on the task.  And we the Church are the new CEO, we are the last athlete, and we have been given the task of completing the mission.  The feast of the Ascension is therefore the line that marks the age of the Church, the age when we have charge of God's mission of establishing the Kingdom.

But were the disciples qualified to carry on this mission of establishing the Kingdom of God?  They were good fishermen; but what did they know about running a worldwide religious organization?  Some were tax-collectors and that expertise might help with the collection; but what did they know about preaching God's word?  Thankfully, Jesus did not just throw them into the water and tell them to swim or sink.  Actually he had empowered them for the task in two ways.

First Jesus had taught them, by his word and by his example.  For three years as they lived with Jesus, they heard him teach, they saw his miracles and his example of prayer and compassion, and most importantly, they saw his suffering, death and resurrection, the cause of our salvation.  And these are the things they were to preach to the nations, these are the things of which they were to be witnesses. Like the retiring CEO who has been grooming his successor for several years, Jesus had indeed groomed the disciples.

Secondly, and unlike the CEO, Jesus gives spiritual muscle to the apostles.  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” he tells them.  In other words in carrying on the mission of the now departing Jesus, they are not going to rely just on their own power and abilities; they will be empowered by the life-giving Spirit of God. The coming of that Spirit, for which they have to wait in Jerusalem, is what we shall celebrate next Sunday, on Pentecost. 

·        And so if Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit comes down upon the apostles, Ascension is the conceiving of the Church, when Jesus gives the great commission: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

·        If Pentecost is like the wedding day when the bride and groom seal their love with the grace of the sacrament, Ascension is like the engagement when the couple make the firm commitment to get married.

And so after all, Ascension, like the middle child, has its niche.  Ascension reminds us Christians of the great commission given to us by Jesus.

Christian Life

The Apostles did indeed carry out the great commission.  They preached the Good News, not only in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but indeed to the ends of the earth.  They in turn passed on this baton of faith to their successors who continued the work until the Good News reached us here in Louisiana.

We today, now have the baton of faith.  We today, are called upon to be witnesses of Jesus.  We today, are responsible for restoring the Kingdom of God.  And by we, I don’t mean just Pope Francis, the bishops, priests and deacons; I mean all the Christian faithful, all the baptized.

Each of us must decide what role we will play in this noble mission.  If I were to list all the things we can each do, we would be here until the cows come home.  But broadly speaking, we have three theatres of action: teaching the word, celebrating worship and performing works of love: the Word, Worship and Works.

When Ascension Sunday coincides with Mother's Day, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on the witness of parents in general, but especially the witness of mothers.  I am sure that most of us learnt about the faith from our mothers and grandmothers.  I know I did.  My mother taught my siblings and me the basic prayers, the commandments and the sacraments, for that is simply what mothers do!  She read to us stories from the Bible about Jesus, for that is simply what mothers do!  But most of all, she showed us by her example, what it means to live as a Christian and a Catholic, for that is simply what mothers do!

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis reminds us of those who are at the peripheries of the Church and of the world.  And so, we cannot forget the witness of mothers who are in very difficult situations.

·        Think of the single mother, made single either by divorce, separation or widowhood, or by an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.  And yet she ploughs on, working two, three honest jobs to put food on the table; showing her children the values of Jesus, despite their lack of material things.

·        Think of the woman who has no children, either because she was not able to bear children, or for various reasons chose not to be a mother, or has lost her children to death or imprisonment, or has simply been abandoned by her children.  Such women often witness in their own way to carrying the cross of Christ.  Can we witness to them too, by an act of love today?

·        Finally, you have children who have no mothers to celebrate, either because they lost them to death or imprisonment or abandonment, or who have a strained relationship with their mothers.  And yet, they too witness to Jesus, by forgiving them, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Conclusion

May Ascension takes its rightful place in our spiritual lives, reminding us of the great commission given us by the Lord, to proclaim the gospel, to worship him and to be his witnesses to the whole world especially by our works.

The Holy Spirit, the Apostles and Presbyters

Homily for 6^th Sunday of Easter Year C 2016

Acts 15:1-2,22-29; Revelation 21:10-14,22-23; John 14:23-29

Introduction

We live in times of conflict:

·        Civil war in Syria, Ukraine and the Sudan; political differences between Republicans and Democrats; and in this election year record levels of acrimony between politicians of the same political parties.

·        Even religion is not exempt from conflict, between Christians and Muslims in parts of West Africa, Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

·        And the one place you would expect to be peaceful and harmonious, the Catholic Church, even here we have our own share of friction, on issues ranging from the beginning of life to the end life and in between.

No wonder then that today's first reading tells us of a serious conflict that happened in the Church of Antioch.  But fortunately, that same incident also provides a solution, a way of resolving conflict that we can use today.

Scripture and Theology

The reading comes from Acts Chapter 15, describing the life of the Church about 10 to 15 years after Jesus had returned to the Father.  The Church in Antioch was divided over whether or not to require Gentiles who became Christians to undergo the Jewish custom of circumcision.

·        One group, the Jewish Christians, insisted that "Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved."  They saw Christianity as being simply an extension of the Jewish religion.

·        But Paul and Barnabas disagreed.  They argued that although Jesus was a Jew and observed the Jewish Law, that he had come to establish, a new religion, a way of relating with God that superseded Jewish customs.

Unfortunately this conflict was only the first of many in the history of the Church.

1.    For example, we take for granted the Creed which we profess at Mass, that Jesus is God and man, that he is of the same substance as the Father.  But Christians, even bishops came to blows over these issues until the councils of the fourth and fifth centuries solved them.

2.    Similarly for several centuries there were disagreements on the number of sacraments, how they worked, and how they were celebrated.  These issues were settled only in the councils of the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

3.    And then most recently, in the last century, Catholics disagreed on how to relate with the modern world, with other Christians, with other religions, until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, decided these matters.

And so, conflict and disagreement, like the argument over circumcision in Antioch, always exist in the Church and must be resolved.

As we heard, the Church of Antioch took care of the problem, by passing the disagreement on to the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem, 471 miles away.  They did this because the Apostles, who had witnessed first-hand the life and teaching, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, were responsible for the Church. Important decisions like the criteria for admission into the Church should be made by them.

What they did reminds me of a scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan.  In that World War II movie, a group of soldiers are sent behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose three brothers have already been killed in action, so that his parents would get to keep one son.  Some of the soldiers don’t see the wisdom of putting a whole platoon of soldiers in danger just to save one.  And so they continually complain about the mission, except the captain, who remains silent all the time.  One of the men then asks him: “Hey . . . so, Captain, what about you? I mean, you don't gripe at all?” This is what the captain says: 

I don't gripe to you, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you.

In a similar way, by deciding to send their gripe to Jerusalem, the Church in Antioch is following the chain of command and hierarchy set up by Jesus.

And when the matter reached the apostles and presbyters, they called a council, the Council of Jerusalem, in which they did three things.

1.    First they listened to all the parties, allowing all to be heard.

2.    Second, they turned to the Scriptures and the teaching of Jesus and applied God's Word to this particular situation.

3.    Finally, they made sought the help of the Holy Spirit.  For as we heard in the gospel, Jesus had promised them: "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you."

This well laid out procedure allowed the Apostles and presbyters to reach a satisfactory decision, which they sent to the Church of Antioch, saying:

It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities,  namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right.

In the usual Catholic "both . . . and" manner, on one hand, the apostles and presbyters agreed with Paul and Barnabas, that now baptism had replaced circumcision as the means of becoming God's people; but they also agreed with the Jewish Christians, that some basic Jewish practices had to continue, because Jesus had come to fulfil, not to abolish God's work of salvation through the Jewish people.

Christian Life

This same method, of discussion, reflection and prayer has been used quite well in the councils of the Church, by the successors of the apostles and presbyters, the Pope and Bishops, even in the two recent synods on the family. 

That's why Marcus Grodi, a former Presbyterian pastor, who hosts a TV program on EWTN, says he became Catholic.  He says:

Every Sunday I would stand in my pulpit and interpret Scripture for my flock, knowing that within a fifteen mile radius of my church there were dozens of other Protestant pastors, all of whom believed that the Bible alone is the sole authority for doctrine and practice, but each was teaching something different from what I was teaching.  ‘Is my interpretation of Scripture the right one or not?' I'd wonder. ‘Maybe one of those other pastors is right, and I'm misleading these people who trust me.'

It was as if Marcus was in the community of Antioch, but, unlike Paul and Barnabas, he had nowhere to go to resolve his doubts and disagreements.  He could find no peace of heart, until he found the Catholic Church, the one Jesus has equipped with a hierarchy and chain of command, that resolves issues not on its own authority, but in the Holy Spirit, in the Tradition and in the Scriptures.

Conclusion

Yes, conflict is part of life, even Church life.  But we too have our own apostles and presbyters, the pope and the bishops, tasked by Jesus to resolve today's disagreements.  And the reason we can trust them to do so was given by a third grader, who, for his religion homework wrote: “a bishop is someone, who knows someone, who knew someone, who knew someone, who knew someone and so on and so forth, who knew Jesus.”

Let us pray that like the Holy Spirit did at the Council of Jerusalem, and throughout the history of the Church, he guides the Pope and bishops, so that in resolving today's conflicts, they are faithful to the teaching of Jesus.