Sunday, October 25, 2015

Your Faith has Saved You: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

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     Since the early years of the Church today’s gospel has been used to encourage and teach Christians about the power of perseverance in prayer. There is something unique about the way Bartimaeus, the blind man in our story, pleads for the Lord’s attention with complete disregard of of the people trying to silence him. Of course a blind man forced to beg charity from others to stay alive, has very little to lose; so he can ignore those who are trying to stop him.  When it comes to praying, Bartimaeus is always a good example to follow because he shows that perseverance always gets God’s attention.
    Now as it often happens with the stories about the Lord, if we look deeper we will find that there is much more going on that just the obvious message. In addition to prayer, this story serves as a guide to what to do, what the Lord expects from us and how he will reward us, when we are confronted with a situation which is becoming more and more common in our culture. I’m speaking about those cases in which Christians are required, even forced to make public declarations of their faith.
   From  Christians murdered for their faith, to public school coaches been disciplined for praying after games, to the removal of crosses and Christian symbols from public spaces, more and more it seems, every time the Christian faith is expressed in public there are always those who are ready and willing to silence us, to use the words of the Gospel they do not waste the chance to “rebuke us and try to make us silent”.

    If we think about it, Bartimaeus plea to The Lord was a declaration of faith. He believes, he has faith that Jesus mercy is the only thing which can help him, and Jesus proves this point when he tells him not "be healed" but “Your faith has saved you”. He pleads and screams, and those around him who only see a blind, dirty beggar discourage him and try to stop him.
    When Jesus finally notices him and calls him we are told that he “threw away his cloak”. Why would the writer point to this action? Because as a first century beggar this cloak, most likely, was Bartimeus most valued and only possession. By throwing it away he shows that for him there was nothing more important that to get Jesus attention, to express his faith in in the power of Jesus.
    But to me the most telling part is what Jesus says to him “What do you want me to do for you?” Here the Lord shows the willingness he has to reward those who call to him in faith and are willing to lose everything they have rather than allowing themselves to be silenced when declaring of their personal faith in Jesus.
    It is very troubling but most likely, today in 21 century America, the chances of having someone, even our own government try to stop us from expressing our faith in public is very high. Let us us pray that the beggar Bartimaeus is an example and a source encouragement for us and let us ask the Lord, like Bartimaeus did, for the light of his Mercy so that we are willing to sacrifice everything we have rather than deny our faith in Him. God bless you all.

NOTE: Today's homily was purposely shorter than normal because the yearly Financial  Report was scheduled for after Communion.
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Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Marriage, Unique for a Reason: 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

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   In today's first reading, taken from the 2nd chapter of Genesis, we are presented with the deepest and most mysterious reality of been human. The fact that we have been created to be in relationships. God our father and creator shows how well He understands the human condition when He declares “it is not good for man to be alone”. Human loneliness is not natural to us, and it is not part of our eternal destiny.
   Every creature in this earth although good enough to be our companion, will never be able fill the void of loneliness we carry in our hearts. So, as the last act of His creation, God gives the first man the
ultimate companion, the first woman, someone like himself, but different. Someone who could understand and relate to his spiritual hunger, to a degree that in their union they can become “One flesh”.
   This first reading is just a representation of a story which repeats again and again in history. In fact, I am sure that everyone here has experienced or will experience this type of loneliness which can only be
removed by meeting “that special person”.

  When people think they have found that special person it is natural for them to want for their union to be permanent; so they publicly express their desire to be known as life mates, as husband and wife. The Church has always recognized these types of unions as good and natural. But the Church also recognized very early in our history that Christians are called to a deeper type of union. A union which when
entered by two baptized persons reflects the very interior life of God which is self-giving
and self-revealing and always open to life. This union can only be entered by two baptized Christians, a man and a woman, and can only be entered freely and with complete understanding of what their responsibilities are. When done for the right reasons and with openness to life these unions receive great graces, and are what we call Sacramental Marriages.
   So today’s first reading is all about God, men, and women and the mysterious life affirming and life giving union which is Sacramental Marriage. Today’s gospel on the other hand brings us back to the sad
reality of our fallen nature and the fact that sometimes because of our human failures marriages end in divorce. Now Jesus is very clear in this reading, what God unites in sacramental marriage man can not dissolve; this bond can not be broken! And I think Pope Francis said it very well a few days back when he said “there is no such thing as Catholic divorce”
   Now we find ourselves with a dilemma, if I as Catholic thought that the day of my wedding I had freely expressed my desire to be bonded by God to another person and now because of our mutual failings I find myself alone again...What is left for me to do? Well the first thing is do
not despair, you are not alone. Although there is no such thing as a Catholic Divorce, the fact is that, many people (and here we might need to include ourselves) on the day of their wedding were not capable or willing to freely enter this type of spiritual bond.
   You might not know this but I’m an advocate to the marriage tribunal of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, I deal with a lot of Catholics who are trying to rebuild their lives, after their divorce; and experience has
taught me that, in the culture in which we live, with what our children see about marriage in the media, what they learn in schools and even by what they experience in the divorce of their own families, the sad reality is... there are many, many people that are not capable of entering Sacramental Marriage the day of their wedding because of they live with a warped idea of what the Church means when she says "marriage". So after their divorce they find themselves lost, hurt and afraid.
   Today is respect life Sunday, in a few minutes we will have someone speak about what we are doing here at St Michael in favor of the protection of all life, from conception until natural death. So I will like to focus now on what are we doing for divorced Catholics, which in my mind is part of our commitment to minister to all life.
   First I would like to mention again that I’m an advocate for the Marriage tribunal, so if you would like to investigate this process you could talk to me or Fr Mike. In addition to this we have the 12 week
Catholic Divorce Survival Guide for Separated and Divorced program which is just starting, and meets on Mondays at 7pm in room 109 . We also have the Monthly Divorce Recovery Ministry Meeting, an ongoing support group for those struggling with the pain of Divorce and meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month in the Conference Room. We Also have the Single Again Fellowship Events (SAFE) which are every other month outings for separated, divorced and widowed Catholics. In fact, I’m told that the next one will be on Saturday, October 17th. For all these we have a fantastic team composed of our coordinator, Irene Cochran, Stacey Ford our DRE and myself . All of us are willing to
listen and walk with you in this process of healing.
   The teachings of the Church about marriage are beautiful. Sadly (and I’m the first to admit this) we have done a horrendous job at teaching why marriage is a unique gift from God for those who enter into this
union. But we are fixing that, so if you would like to explore these beautiful teachings, if you would like to find healing from a broken marriage, I invite you to take advantages of these opportunities here at St
Michael, and always remember...You are not alone. God bless you all
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Who do You Say That I Am? 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

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    Today’s first reading might sound a bit familiar to our ears. It is taken from the Book of Isaiah, from a section also known as the Suffering Servant Songs. It sounds familiar because it is also read during the great mass at Palm Sunday, at the beginning of Holy Week. This was not done by accident. By placing such an significant reading next to today’s Gospel the church is telling us that today's Gospel reading is of great importance.  In fact some theologians have stated that  what we are witnessing in today's Gospel is a key moment in the history of Christianity, one of those moments in the life of Jesus which exist outside of time and space. To put it plainly, when you hear people say that the words of Jesus are eternal, they are talking about His words in a Gospel reading like this.
    The story is simple enough, Jesus while walking with his disciples decides to engage them in conversation. It is easy to imagine the Lord making small talk with the apostles, and I imagine the conversation went something like this:
“WOW what a beautiful day for a hike! How long do you think it takes to walk to Caesarea?  Did you see all the people that came out to hear me speak? I saw you talking to some of them...Who were they saying that I was?”



  “Well Master, some were saying you were John the Baptizer, others that you were a prophet, (Get a load of this) we even heard some calling you Elisha” …
”Hmmm that’s nice… but you… Who do you say that I am?”
    Such a simple question, and yet, men who for months had spend 24 hours with Jesus, men who had seem him heal the sick and feed thousands of people, couldn't find the words to answer.. In their silence we can almost sense their confusion, up until then they have been witnesses to the greatest events in the history of mankind and now… now for the first time, they are asked to stop, reflect and explain what did it all means to them? Who is this man?
   Every year when I teach Religious education to our teens, the very first time we meet I ask each one this same question, “Who is Jesus to you?” and invariably I get the same answers “ He is my friend“,”Someone I can trust, someone, who helps me when I need him, someone who listens” For these young people, as it was for the apostles, is very difficult to express who this mysterious historical figure is to them. Since in my class I do not let them stay silent, they all fall back into what I call your standard Jesus  description: someone that sounds suspiciously like a bigger version of whom they want be. Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that our youth are any different than your average Catholic. I’m willing to bet that when it comes to stating who Jesus is. if I were to ask the same question of adults, I would get many similar answers.
   To me the amazing thing is that this question is truly eternal, although it was asked two thousand years ago, its echoes reverberate every day in the life of every Christian. “Who do you say that I am” is a direct question our Lord asks to His disciples, not only the ones walking with Him that day but all of his disciples throughout the ages; and even after two thousand years of reflection we as the apostles that day are as incapable to finds the words to describe who he is.
   So the point of reflection for us today should be how would we answer this question.  Personally I have reflected on this question quite a bit and I have found that the easiest way to give an answer is not by what we could say about Him but by what we do because we know who He is. We show who Jesus is to us by the way we live our lives.
   How do we say Jesus is? He is the reason why we feed the hungry, clothe the naked; harbour the homeless, visit the sick, and ransom the captive. He is the reason why we love our enemies, and pray for their conversion. Why we pray, attend mass and have an active life in our community. He is the reason why we suffer with the suffering, and rejoice with the joifull. 
   To put it in short words: When we live in the way he told us to live, we realize that as disciples of the Lord, when we love, we show in our actions who he really is, our Lord and our God. God bless you my brothers and sisters.
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