LIVING LIFE WELL

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Before any words are said in this homily, we take a moment to call to mind the tragedy that continues to unfold at this moment in Haiti. It should be on our minds as we celebrate this Eucharist and each one of us from the youngest person here to the oldest, should right now lift up a prayer to the Lord for the people involved.

While we cannot do much, the Gospel tonight is a stark reminder to us, of the power of intercession. As Mary turned to Jesus and said, "They have no more wine.", we too can turn to Jesus and tell him about the people of Haiti, perhaps we can even tell Mary and Mary as she did in Cana will tell Jesus.

Next week, the collection will go toward the victims of Haiti, we will send the monies to Catholic Relief Services who are on the ground as we speak.

The Haiti earthquake this week, gives all of us cause to pause and to consider the fragility of our lives. While we do not live in a 3rd world country, our lives are just as fragile and just as vulnerable, if not to earthquakes, to cancer, sickness, sufferring and all of us of course subject to death.

In considering this, how important it is that we live life well. We hear a lot about wellness at this time of year, the gyms and health clubs are crowded, we all look toward being well at the start of the new year, with good intentions. But when we look twice at things, we come to see that at the end of the day, living well means that we have loved well. That in our lives we have had a beautiful experience of being love and sharing love with others. Is that not what it all comes down to??
The well life is the life of love.

Such imagery of love is all over the sciptures today. The first reading speaks of spousal love, the Gospel is the Wedding Feast of Cana, and Paul is gearing us up here in Corinthians for the greatest gift of all, the gift of Love. Without which we have nothing at all.

The challenge of course is to remain in love and to not allow our love to grow dull.
That's the human tendency and that is our challenge. For the Lord, as he demonstrates in the Gospel today, is always about New Things. Our love should be growing more and more new, more and more fervent, or else our love runs the risk of not being love at all.

So let us not be drunk on the old wine, or filled with the false fillers-- false foods that do not satisfy, but let us each and every day...make it a conscious choice to love. For if we do not have love we are nothing at all. But with love, each and everyone of us will be well.

A Green that Does Not Disappoint

January 10, 2010
Baptism of the Lord

Last Evening, two seasons came to an end. The season finale of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Season Finale of the Christmas Season as celebrated in the Church.
Thanks be to God, the endings could not be more different.

The Eagles ending leaves us with great uncertainty, doubts and questions. But the Christmas ending leaves us filled with confident hope, with tremendous certainty as we proclaim that GOD IS WITH US and HE WILL REMAIN WITH US FOREVER. What began in Bethlehem, continues to this day...and therefore, we are no longer alone, we have a Savior....and His Life continues with us to this day.

Today, as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, we celebrate a Feast that ushers us into not a post-season, or an off-season, but really THE SEASON of Life and grace in Christ. Life with Christ thru the Christmas Mysetery and thru His Baptism and ours.

We have a great scene in today's Gospel of Luke, where we see Jesus and his friends hanging out by the Jordan River. We believe that at this point, Jesus is a young man, about 30 years old and we find him there with his friends! They are not only hanging out by the Jordan but together they are being Baptized and then we hear that beautiful Word of the Father....that this one who looks like all the rest..."This one,here, is my beloved Son, on whom my favor rest."

My friends, how fortunate we are to share in the baptism of the Lord, and to be baptized in Him. By this mystery we are indeed his children, filled with grace and united in the Lord. This is tremendously good news...for now we are part not only of our human family, but God's family, the Church and as such we have a tremendous place, tremendous hope. This feast reminds us of who we are, of the ongoing gift of Christmas and of Baptism in Jesus.

So, in a time of year that can be difficult, when we are taking down the decorations, paying the bills from Christmas, and shedding the green. The Church reminds us of the green that never fades...the hope that Christmas and Baptism bring to each one of us. I would invite you this week, to remember that fact that you are baptized. Ask the waters of your baptism to drown out the lusts, the pride, the anxieties that can fill your heart and ask those same waters to bring to life the spring of hope...the Life of Christ within you.

This is the gift that we are invited to receive, and as the world sheds it's greens this week, we will be wearing the "green of Christ", a green and hope that never disappoints!

STAR POWER

January 3, 2010
Feast of the Epiphany

From perhaps the beginning of time, human beings have been and still are attracted by the stars. Of course there are various types of stars.

There are those in the heavens like the North star, the sun itself is a star. Such stars provide not just beauty and light, but guidance and direction. They were the original GPSss! How important are those heavenly stars.

Another type of star, are the one that are on the ground. Human stars...men and women who excel in their field, the outliers, the rich and the famous. And we all know and have those type of stars. What a power they have, men and women, teams or brands that have tremendous respect, talent and appeal. No doubt, even those type of stars have great power over us.

Finally, there are the stars that lie within each and everyone of us. The stars of hopes, dreams, goals, and calls that lie within...and which we all have. To be the 5 star dad, or priest, to be the best or brightest on the block or at work.

Whatever the type of star, all stars have tremendous power, appeal and all stars give direction. Stars help us look up and out of ourself...star-power is indeed great.

Today, on this Feast of the 3 Kings, Epiphany...we are told of course of the star that led these wise men. This was not just any star, but this was the star prophesied and long ago spoken of in Israel. The star that would rise over Bethlehem, foreshadowing the newborn King, and that would draw all peoples to Him.

These wise men had been looking for this star, and it was as though their whole life had been wrapped up in this star. They had banked their life on it. And when they finally spotted it, they followed. And thus, they found, the one they had been looking for, not a star Himself, but Jesus, the Savior.

We are told that they found him and worshiped. They gave him their gifts, their very livelihood, they gave him their all. And then, we are told that they went home differently. How true! They went home not just along a different way, geographically, but different totally, for they had seen Jesus and their lives were changed forever.

My friends, this beautiful feast invites us, in this New Year to do the same, that is, to encounter Jesus. And this feast shows us how that meeting can take place.

This feast invites us to take a look at the stars that have power in our lives. For some of us it might be the star on the side of a football helment which we will be watching later today! The Dallas Cowboys! What power is in that star...a new mega-stadium, a team that will have two huge cities talking for the rest of the week!

Maybe the star power in our lives may come from human stars. How many people I have spoken with the past month, sharing their disappointment in Tiger Woods...again the power of a star.

Or maybe the star power in our lives may come from the more subtle stars that lie within, that we worship...i.e. perfectionism, materialism, individualism.

Today's feast reminds us that stars are good, they lead us, draw us out of ourselves and attract us. But we need to be aware of how they do this. We need WISDOM, the wisdom of the wise men...to worship not the star but the one who created them, and who created us. Jesus...the one whom we worhsip, the one we live for and die for and spend our lives for. Jesus, the one who rises above every star!

My friends, this week, let us do 3 things....#1) let us Thank God for the stars in our lives, what gifts they are that we have been given! #2) Let us be aware of what these stars are and how they draw us, i.e. their power over us. #3) Let us worship the one who created all of them. In this way our lives will be different, we will possess the wisdom of the Wise Men. Our week will be different, our lives will be different and like the wise men, we will find the fulfillment that truly satisfies. We will find Jesus, our all in all.

Mary, the Gift of God's Love.

January 1, 2010
Mary, Mother of God

With one stroke of a second hand, we began a new year, a new day, a new decade, early this morning. Perhaps you saw it.

As a Church, of course, we recognize this new year, we have new calendars for you all today, we wish you a blessed year, and in the readings today we hear words of blessing. But we recogize too that we celebrate this day, in the context of Christmas, which reminds us that there is something far greater, far new-er, than a new year or decade which we celebrate.

Indeed, there is Jesus, Baby Jesus who is still new, still a new born, just one week old this day, still in need of love, still inviting us to be with him, to be like him, to be Love.

Now, if we are to accept this invitation, if we are to love Jesus, it takes both grace and guts. It takes grace and decision. Following Jesus is not like a New Year's Resolution that we make and break. It is a relationship...and if we want this relationship to be real, if we want it to grow and flourish, we need Mary.

Mary is the first one to follow Jesus. She is the one who spent the most time with him, who knows him best. She taught him how to walk, eat, grow and love. And she can teach us the same thing....so that Jesus may truly grow within us, and we may grow in Him.

And so, as we begin this New Year, we do so realizing that just as there is nothing about the passing of time, there is nothing magic about our faith. It comes down to love...it comes down to choosing to love the one who is now with us, Jesus.

On this first day of the year, let us do just that with Mary. Let us get to know Mary, who will help us to love and grow in love with Jesus. In this way, our relationship with Jesus will in fact grow and flourish throuhgout the year. Let us praise God for Mary!

We are connected!

All Saints Day

Each and every Sunday we have the profound privlege to profess our Catholic Faith, a faith that has been passed down thru the centuries, a faith for which countless men and women martyrs have died, a faith which has tremendous power to save.
What a treasure, what a gift to profess this faith!

Today, on All Saints Day, it seems as though the beauty of our faith shines all the more brightly as we recall the memory of those who have professed this faith. People like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Kathrine Drexel, Francis of Assisi to name just a few. All of whom have professed this one same faith.

Today, we not only remember these people, as we remember George Washington on President's Day, But we remember that we are united with them. United in faith, sacrament and life. We share the life of the saints, we are indeed united and in communion with them. So much so that we can become like them. Today, we celebrate this communion with our brother and sister, saints.

We get an inkling as to what this means from the first reading today. St. John in Revelation tells us that he saw a countless throng of people, whose robes had been washed in the blood of the lamb. And then, in his letter, he reminds us that we share this communion. He reminds us that we are God's Children, and while the world does not recognize us, it is who we are. We must recongize who we are, and in so doing, we will be blessed.

How do we keep this in mind? I very practical way, may come from a secular image, that of a VERIZON commercial. Perhaps you know the one that I mean, that which shows that we are connected. That we have a network behind us, that we are never alone. Perhaps this can encourage us, to be who we are, together with those who have gone before.

My friends let us give thanks to the Lord, for all he has done and for the gift to be part of this great Communion!

FROM "not good" to VERY GOOD

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

There is something very interesting stated in the First Reading today.
Here in this 2nd Chapter of Genesis, we find our Lord, creating the world...He has declared so many things good, indeed everthing is good that God creates. But then suddenly, we hear these surprising words...."it is not good"...what is not good?? God declares, "It is not good for man to be alone." Isn't that interesting??? God recognizes our loneliness and he calls it by its name, i.e. "not good". And then, not only does he create a solution for man's loneliness, but he creates a salvation. i.e. Woman. For now, for the first time Love is introduced into the world that God has created, and with that, there is indeed a goodness.

If we fast forward to the Gospel for today, we find the Pharisees. And they are looking for love. They come to the Lord with a question about marriage and divorce. And notice well, that the Lord takes them back to the beginning. He reminds them that we are made not for divorce, not to live life on our own terms, but to be in right order, right relationship. We are made for Love.

My friends, the question of the Pharisees is alive today as ever, although today the questions are not so much about divorce but about same-sex marriage and the like. All of which proves that we are still hungry for love. There is still in creation, a restlessness, something that is not good. Our hearts are still hungry.

And so, we turn to the Lord. For Jesus Himself, sees our need. In fact, he experiences it...for Jeus himself became like us, like us in all things but sin. He knows then what it is like to be lonely, to be hungry, to be in need of love. And because he is God, this brings to each and every one of us, to each and every hunger that we might experience, a profound hope. That is, that God experiences, and knows our needs.

My friends, as we consider this Good News, let us allow our Lord to provide for our many hungers. Let us seek his presence in our lives and come to know that which is very good...the life of Christ, active and alive within each one of us.

The Child Leads the Way

September 20, 2009
Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B

Three weeks into the new school year, I suppose that the tests, quizzes and papers are already approaching and being given. The teaching has begun and hopefully with it the learning. We shall see. Today, we see how much learning is happening with the disciples and our Lord. And sadly, it's been a tough go at it so far.

Always the teacher, Our Lord is finding that the disciples are having a hard time learning, the toughest lesson of all, the lesson of the cross. You'll remember last week, our Lord began the lesson by announcing to his disciples that He must suffer and die. The response from the disciples was one of "charitable" non-acceptance. "No, Lord, we will never let that happen to you." And our Lord's response, "Get behind me Satan, you are thinking as human beings think, not as God thinks." Plain and simple, they did not accept his word.

So we find our Lord, trying to teach them the lesson again this week. He talks to them further about his mission and that he must suffer and die. The response this week?? Well, St. Mark tells us that they did not understand and that they were afraid to ask Him questions. And upon questioning from our Lord, they are silent...Students who just don't understand the lesson.

Does this remind you of anything? Perhaps a classroom scene...where the students are just not getting the message?? Jesus may not have the disciples in a classroom, but no doubt he is trying to communicate an important lesson about the cross. And we hear silence, we find fear, we find a lack of understanding.

So then, we see Our Lord offer a perfect remedy for all of this lack of acceptance, namely, a child. We are told that he places a child in their midst and tells them that they must be the servant, they must be as the child, little, unafraid, listening and attentive...if they are to understand the lesson of the cross...for the child will accept the message, and we must follow the little one's lead.

My friends, what a gift this is to us. We who experience the cross daily, we who know what it's like to face the jealousies, wars, conflicts that St. James speaks of. Jesus gives us the remedy, it's being the child...welcoming the child, receiving the child who is in our midst. It is the child who understands and accepts the cross. It is the child who leads the way.

This week, as we face the trials and crosses of daily life and of our own lives, let us remember that we are children, God's children. And in being his children, we will not be overcome by the complexities of the cross. We will possess everything that we need. We will turn to our Lord and find in him the guidance and everything that we need. It's as simple as being a child.