Dear Folks,

We begin Holy Week. It is a different Holy Week from anything we have ever celebrated. This week brings all of our faith life into focus, so if there is any time to be connected to our faith, it is this week. Our current lockdown presents a challenge and an opportunity.  The challenge is that it is so hard to connect and so easy to disconnect.  Some are not even looking at calendars, just checking to see if they have milk and bread.  The opportunity is that we can approach it from a different angle than we ever have before, which will enable us to see it with new eyes and get a deeper insight and connection than we had before.
The diocese has given us directions for celebrating the liturgies of Holy Week. We are to celebrate with no more than 10 people gathered (that includes the priest), and only those who have ministries at that liturgy.  We will be attempting to livestream the celebrations for everyone who can watch.

The first thing to recognize is this is unfair. Unfortunately, there has been a lot that has been unfair about this from the beginning. I have been very much aware that I have been able to celebrate Mass and receive Holy Communion every day, while my parishioners have not been able to participate. That has been humbling, and it has given me a great sense of responsibility.  If I am doing this for the whole parish, I’d better be focused and pray hard.  Many have had to grieve for lost events and participation.

As things have been changing week by week, this has made communication a challenge. We are finding the internet more important than ever.  I think when this business is over, we shall be better at using it, and that will be a useful thing.  I think we will also have an increased sense of the importance of being physically present to other people, and how valuable it is to be together (the old-fashioned way). This also makes more serious those who do not have internet access and those who have limited access.  Our dependence on the internet during this time has left a number of people out.  We shall have to find a way to connect to those people as best as we can.

This has been an opportunity to reflect on what is truly important. We see we can do without a lot of things, but there are some that really matter. Many have been experiencing in a new way that the people whom we love and who love us are more precious than we often realize, and many are learning they have been taking them for granted. We have also been getting a better sense on how we are connected, and how we affect one another.

As people have been deprived of Eucharist, this has been a time to consider how precious it is, how amazing it is, how easy it has been to take it for granted. It would be a good time to renew and deepen our understanding of and love for the Eucharist. During this time, watching Presence and Lectio Eucharist on Formed will be very helpful.  As we are getting a reminder of the power of the presence of other people, we can reflect on the power of God being present to us and giving Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament, as well as how we can be more present to Him and more fully give ourselves to Him. Jesus promises it brings an intimacy with Him beyond our understanding (He said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him [John 6:56].”) None of us treat this as it deserves to be treated. That is not a criticism; it is a given with our fallen, limited understanding.  Is there anything more worthwhile than growing in this?

As we go through Holy Week, let us notice how this central part of our story pivots around the Last Supper.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

In 587 BC the people of Judea were taken into exile by the Babylonians. The prophets, who had been berating them for their bad behavior, shifted to be agents of comfort and encouragement.  Isaiah did some really beautiful writing on this (see chapters 40-55, for example “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you [Isaiah 49-14-15]”), but today I want to point to a bit of Jeremiah.  “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits. Take wives and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. Increase there; do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the Lord, for upon its welfare your own depends (Jeremiah 29:4-7)”.

Jeremiah is talking to a people who were going into exile, and going to be there a long time.  There wasn’t a lot of hope that they would ever be a nation again, at least, not hope based on anything in the world. God was challenging them to embrace their situation and not give up but live to the full and be good residents.  They would not see the day they could return, but there would come a time that Israelites would come back and rebuild.  What was essential was that they not give up and not stop being who they were. They were called to be faithful to God in this foreign land, and do the best they can where they were at with what they had to work with.

One of the really hard things was they had no access to the temple, where they would be able to offer sacrifice.  We read in the Book of Daniel (in Catholic editions of the Bible): “For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. We have in our day no prince, prophet or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; as though it were burnt offerings of rams and bulls, or tens of thousands of fat lambs, So let our sacrifice be in your presence today to find favor with you; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame. And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we seek your face. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy (Daniel 3:37-43).”

The book of Daniel as a whole is a good book to read to understand the challenge of being faithful in exile.  Some of the book is what we call apocalyptic writing, like the book of revelation.  It involves visions of strange beasts and lots of numbers.  It is usually written in times of terrible suffering, and seeks to reach beyond our intellect to give us a deep down sense that in the midst of the chaos, God is at work. “Apocalypse” is from the Greek for “removal of the veil” (as “revelation is from the Latin). To veiled eyes, it can look like life makes no sense and is going nowhere. To the clear eyes of faith, we see that God is at work.

There was a TV show called Firefly, and the theme song went: “Take my love, take my land, Take me where I cannot stand. I don’t care, I’m still free, You can’t take the sky from me. Take me out to the black, Tell them I ain’t comin back. Burn the land and boil the sea, You can’t take the sky from me.”

This is where we are called to serve God with all our hearts.  If we keep faith, nothing can take God from us. By God’s grace, we can echo the words of River from Firefly: “No power in the ‘verse can stop me.”

Today’s first reading is the story of Suzanna in Daniel 13. This is one of the stories that our Protestant brothers and sisters do not have in their Bibles but call it “apocrypha.” It is the story of a woman of courage and faith and a boy detective who used tree-mendous reasoning.  It teaches that what God knows about us is more important than what people think about us, and warns of being careful about believing everything we are told.

Dear Folks,

This week we read the story of Lazarus and we touch on the central mystery: Life

Our readings (Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45) talk about God bringing life where life is thought to be impossible.

Jesus came after everyone thought it was too late for Him to do anything.  I find that trials often go on longer than we thought reasonable, and we have a tendency to wonder why God doesn’t act sooner.  Jesus teaches us that the wait is part of something greater happening.

Jesus talks with Martha about Lazarus rising. Martha is thinking of the resurrection at the end. Jesus tell her that new life is now.  If Jesus is at work in us, we are already participating in new life. It is one thing to survive, to be biologically alive.  Jesus tells us there is something greater. Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus says something worth special note, “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).”

Some people believe that Christianity is about living a diminished, constricted life that is all about Thou Shalt Not’s so that a harsh and judging God will reward us with heaven afterward.  No, no, no!  If that is what they learned they did not learn Christianity. Jesus gives us a more abundant life on earth, and if we accept that life, we are open to the abundant afterlife.  Christianity contends that a materialistic life, a life dedicated to power, pleasure, wealth and fame is a diminished life, and when God says no to something, it’s because that something would interfere with us finding that fullness of life. We read in the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: “Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, ‘that all may be one…as we are one” (John 71:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason. For He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and in the union of God’s sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself (Gaudium et Spes #24).”

The essence of the Gospel is the gift of self. The Lord gives Himself to us completely, not even withholding the last drop of His blood. He invites us and enables us to receive Him and give ourselves in return, not that He needs or even could benefit from the gift, but that we might have the fullness of life and joy (see John 17:13). Everything about Christianity, every aspect of our belief and practice, is about receiving that gift from Jesus and giving ourselves to Him in return. To do it, we must follow His teachings, but we cannot do it without His grace. It is for us to go deeper and deeper into life with Jesus so that we can live this more abundant life, and that will enable us to witness to others the wonder gift that Jesus brings. An abundant life is not dependent on our circumstances, but our openness to Jesus.  Let us live life to the full.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Reflection March 28

Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

I’ve recently seen on Facebook, “I’ve been saying for years that I’ll get the house cleaned up when I have time.  Now, I see that wasn’t it.”  I’ve also seen, “Some will come out of this lock down wonderful cooks, and some will come out with a drinking problem.”  There is a sense that this time brings opportunity, but not a guarantee. I think that is spot on, and St. Paul would have applauded the insight.

Pope Francis in his urbi et orbi talk said, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Lord, you are calling to us, calling us to faith. Which is not so much believing that you exist, but coming to you and trusting in you. This Lent your call reverberates urgently: “Be converted!”, “Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.

We have been dealing with our coronavirus lockdown situation for a bit now, and we can take a moment to step back and look at what we have done.  Different people are in different situations. Some have had to spend more time and energy at work to deal with the practicalities of keeping society going and meeting people’s needs. Some are at home and getting cabin fever. Some are trying to help their families work together to cope with this reality.  Most of us have had some major changes in how we do things.

Whenever our lives change, there is an opportunity to form some new habits.  Just the fact that our usual routine is disrupted makes it easier to change some of the ways we have done things.  Unfortunately, I find that it is easier to form and harder to break bad habits than good ones, so when that opportunity arises, it is essential to be deliberate about what we are going to do.

I suggest we need to look at the problem on two levels, the most abstract and the most concrete.  In the abstract, what are the principles that are most important? What are the qualities that we most like to admire, that we would like to gain?  How would we like to be described?  What would we like people to say about us, and what would we like God to think of us? More importantly, what kind of person is God calling us to be? I have found, of course, that leaving it in the realm of ideas means nothing will really happen. We must also examine and strategize our most specific behaviors. What behaviors move us toward being the kind of person we are called to be? How have we been using this time?  What behaviors have we started?  What have we stopped?  Did we make grand plans and have them not work out?

I would suggest at this point, deciding a few small things to do differently could be powerful. The smaller and more consistent we are, the more we have something we can build on. What would we be glad to have done during this time? What habit will be helpful to us?  What will we be glad we have learned? What is God calling us to do at this point?

The best time to do this in now.