Greetings to you! I always want to post more on this blog and wish at times that every priestly experience and encounter that I have, could suddenly appear in print on this Blog. But until that can happen, you just need to trust me and believe How wonderful is the Gift of the Priesthood! It truly is a Life Worth Living, A Call Worth Considering.
In an effort to share more of my priesthood thru this blog, I'm going to attempt to share my Sunday Homilies during this Year of the Priest. I hope they are a blessing to those patient enough to read them.
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B.
Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fish.
Of all the various reality T.V. Shows out there today, one of the Original's is America's Funniest Videos. Some of the videos submited to the show are obviously contrived/staged. Others are dangerous and downright stupid. But occassionally, one can find one that really is funny. A real life, life as it is moment...unscripted, unexpected and un-edited.
In some way, I think we have one such moment in today's Gospel and as familiaras we may be with this story, of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, it's worth taking a second look.
We see today, a huge crowd following Jesus because He has cured the sick. It must have been cool to follow Jesus up to this point. To be part of that 5,000 member crowd, following him up the mountain, a modern-day parade of sorts! But suddenly Jesus raises the question of food, and like a rain-cloud, panic sets in with the apostles. Jesus is asking them how to feed the 5,000!
Philip says, "not even 200 days wages would be enough for all to have a little"
Andrew points out a young boy who has "5 barely loaves and a few fish." And Jesus smiles as he listens to their bright ideas.
Of course, Jesus has another idea and we see that he is using this opportunity to teach his friends a valuable lesson. You see Jesus raises the "food question" cause he knows exactly what he is going to do. St. John tells us just that. Jesus had a plan. What was that plan? To Provide for them. Namely, to tell the people to recline, as he gave thanks and distributed what they had. As we see, Jesus PROVIDED for the people.
He provides not just fish and bread but he provides Himself, as an example and as Provider. And he invites His followers, to climb the mountain with him, to pass-over the old way of thinking, and to radically rely on Him, as Provider. To be Generous in Faith, Hope and Love.
We hear similar lessons in the First Reading and Psalm, as well, that yes, the hand of the Lord feeds us, and gives us all we need.
Friends, in some ways, we can appreciate the difficulty of this scene. While we might not be faced with feeding 5,000 this week, sometimes it can be tough even to feed the 5 that are at our table. The LACKS that we find in the world, (lack of resources, talent, money) or in ourselves can create a panicky situations. And all of us know what they are, situations that are out of our contraol, desert situations, "steep climb" situations. But the Gospel reminds us that the Lord is there. And we need to keep on following Him, keep on turning to the Lord, with all we have and see what he does. St. Paul urges the Ephesians of yesterday to do just that, and we the people of today need to do the same, namely to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received. i.e. to stick with Jesus.
As we do so, He will provide. We will find ourselves becoming more and more confident in Him, relying on Him more and more, becoming more and more like Jesus.
Like a good episode of America's Funniest Videos, in so many ways, our lives are unscripted. But we can always choose Jesus. And in choosing Him, we will have all we need. Let's make HIS Life our own, this week, and see what miracles can happen.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The service of priests
First, I hope everybody had a nice Independence Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. May we always give thanks to God for the gift of our freedom.
In this year of the priest, which Pope Benedict XVI announced would begin three weeks ago, we pause to reflect on the service aspect of the priesthood. Every priest looks to Christ as their model for priesthood, and all things that the priest does should be Christ-like. Christ Himself said that he came to serve, not to be served. Christ shows us the way of self-emptying (kenosis in Greek), where we are supposed to empty ourselves for the sake of those you serve. For the priest, the first service aspect is the self emptying of the priest of a sacramental nature. He is called to say Mass for the people of God, he is called to hear confessions, and to go on communion calls, to give anointing of the sick. He is called, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, where he could be at the beach relaxing, to celebrate and witness a wedding. The priest is supposed to be in service to his people, bringing Christ to people in the sacraments.
The sacraments are the greatest service that the priest can give. Only the priest can bring us the Eucharist, only the priest can hear our sins and absolve us of the worst sins possible and immaginable. It is the priest who brings the soul home to God through annointing of the sick. What a great service the priest gives us, every Sunday, when he celebrates Mass! What a great service when confession is heard. The priest is leading his flock on and along the way to holiness. The priest is the shepherd of souls, and he does just that when he celebrates the sacraments.
The priest is called to be the good samaritan, spiritually guiding people along the path of holiness. When we look at the people of God, we can see a wide spectrum. We can see people who seem to have lost their way. We can see people who are faithful daily Mass participants. We can see everybody. The hard job of the priest is to shepherd everybody. If he shepherd just one group and gets comfortable with just one group, he ignores another group of people. The priest is supposed to be all things to all people. The good samaritan picked up the man at the greatest hour of need, and guided him back to health. The priest is supposed to seek out those who hit rock bottom spiritually, and guide them back to life in the spirit. In short, the priest has a hard job, and often, it is a thankless job.
As a people of God, I think, in general, we truly appreciate the role of the priest, and what the priest does. We may criticize him, we may poke fun of an accent, or we may say his homily was only average. Do we hear the priest paking fun of you, or saying that your prayer is only average? We don't hear that, so it is a temptation we must avoid to criticize priests in a malicious way. At the same time, it can be a great affection to have priests poked fun of. If people do that, they probably really like the priest, and he is someone they admire. One example of this is when I was in college, the chaplain of my school had a very hearty laugh, and a very deep laugh. He was a very well loved priest, and he was very popular. As a result, people would try to imitate the laugh.
But, in short, the job is often thankless. How often do we thank the priest for his ministry after we go to confession? How often do we send him a thank you note for celebrating Mass? The priest probably isn't looking for thanks; if he is, he needs to evaluate that. At the same time, it still feels good to get a thank you every now and then. And not just a quick "thanks", but look in his eyes, and say "I really want to thank you for..., and I really appreciate your service to the Church."
For any priest who is reading this, I sincerely want to thank you for your faith and fidelity to the Church, and I want to thank you for your service and ministry. Your service to the Church is indispensable to the mission of the Church.
May you remain close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. John Marie Vianney, pray for us.
In this year of the priest, which Pope Benedict XVI announced would begin three weeks ago, we pause to reflect on the service aspect of the priesthood. Every priest looks to Christ as their model for priesthood, and all things that the priest does should be Christ-like. Christ Himself said that he came to serve, not to be served. Christ shows us the way of self-emptying (kenosis in Greek), where we are supposed to empty ourselves for the sake of those you serve. For the priest, the first service aspect is the self emptying of the priest of a sacramental nature. He is called to say Mass for the people of God, he is called to hear confessions, and to go on communion calls, to give anointing of the sick. He is called, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, where he could be at the beach relaxing, to celebrate and witness a wedding. The priest is supposed to be in service to his people, bringing Christ to people in the sacraments.
The sacraments are the greatest service that the priest can give. Only the priest can bring us the Eucharist, only the priest can hear our sins and absolve us of the worst sins possible and immaginable. It is the priest who brings the soul home to God through annointing of the sick. What a great service the priest gives us, every Sunday, when he celebrates Mass! What a great service when confession is heard. The priest is leading his flock on and along the way to holiness. The priest is the shepherd of souls, and he does just that when he celebrates the sacraments.
The priest is called to be the good samaritan, spiritually guiding people along the path of holiness. When we look at the people of God, we can see a wide spectrum. We can see people who seem to have lost their way. We can see people who are faithful daily Mass participants. We can see everybody. The hard job of the priest is to shepherd everybody. If he shepherd just one group and gets comfortable with just one group, he ignores another group of people. The priest is supposed to be all things to all people. The good samaritan picked up the man at the greatest hour of need, and guided him back to health. The priest is supposed to seek out those who hit rock bottom spiritually, and guide them back to life in the spirit. In short, the priest has a hard job, and often, it is a thankless job.
As a people of God, I think, in general, we truly appreciate the role of the priest, and what the priest does. We may criticize him, we may poke fun of an accent, or we may say his homily was only average. Do we hear the priest paking fun of you, or saying that your prayer is only average? We don't hear that, so it is a temptation we must avoid to criticize priests in a malicious way. At the same time, it can be a great affection to have priests poked fun of. If people do that, they probably really like the priest, and he is someone they admire. One example of this is when I was in college, the chaplain of my school had a very hearty laugh, and a very deep laugh. He was a very well loved priest, and he was very popular. As a result, people would try to imitate the laugh.
But, in short, the job is often thankless. How often do we thank the priest for his ministry after we go to confession? How often do we send him a thank you note for celebrating Mass? The priest probably isn't looking for thanks; if he is, he needs to evaluate that. At the same time, it still feels good to get a thank you every now and then. And not just a quick "thanks", but look in his eyes, and say "I really want to thank you for..., and I really appreciate your service to the Church."
For any priest who is reading this, I sincerely want to thank you for your faith and fidelity to the Church, and I want to thank you for your service and ministry. Your service to the Church is indispensable to the mission of the Church.
May you remain close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. John Marie Vianney, pray for us.
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