Author: Fr. Leo

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The Holy Eucharist, the Holy Priesthood

Mass of the Lord’s Supper, 2022

So much to preach on, so little time…

       or is there…

When we stop to think about everything that led up to the events that we commemorate tonight, we cannot but wonder at how different the lives of the apostles were from when they left everything to follow Jesus;

       of all the things they had experienced with him,

       the teachings, the miracles, calming of storm, the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000, the raising of     Lazarus from the dead.

They have changed much in the last three years, these twelve men, not to mention the women and the rest of his disciples.

       That’s really how it seems to work with Jesus.

       He is truly human and so he enters fully into our human reality.

       He is also truly divine, and so having entered into our human reality, he transforms it.    

Whatever Jesus touches, Jesus transforms.

       He did it at the waters of the Jordan, transforming the baptism of repentance into the sacrament of our salvation.

       He did it at the wedding at Cana, when he transformed marriage into the sacrament that reflects the faithfulness of God in the lives of husband and wife.

       He does it twice tonight when he transforms the Passover into the Eucharist, the sacrament which is the source and summit of all that the Church is and does. 

        And again, when as the Great High Priest, he establishes the Ministerial Priesthood in order to perpetuate his one perfect sacrifice on the Cross.

       Let’s look at these last two. 

The Eucharist is a true sacrifice and a shared meal.

       What do you need for a true sacrifice?

              A priest

              An offering

              An altar

              A reason

The priest is the one who offers the sacrifice on your behalf. 

The offering depended on the reason for the sacrifice.

       Usually, it was the first fruits of your field or an unblemished animal from you flock.

       It had to be blemished because it was not right to offer one that had a bad foot or disease that you wanted to get rid of anyway.

       You only give God your best.

       Mediocrity is no way to serve Our Lord.

The altar was made of stone. This was because on it were placed coals from the fire for the immolation of the offering.

       There were four main reasons that sacrifices were offered.

       1. to establish covenants – They were always established in blood.

       2. to give thanks – Offering the first fruits.

       3. for the forgiveness of sins – the Sin Offering

       4. to remember – the Passover

The mechanics of the sacrifice varied, but the general pattern was that you brought your sacrifice to the priest, who would lay his hands on the offering. From that moment it could only be used for sacred purposes. 

       Next, if it were an animal, it was slaughtered in the proscribed manner, the blood was saved, certain parts were removed, such as the kidneys, the fat on the liver and so forth, and placed on the coals on the altar.  Sometimes the blood was sprinkled on the corners of the altar. 

       Then you took the rest of it home and ate it in a raucous sacrificial banquet. 

       The idea of sacred sacrifice and sacred ritual meal are inseparable.

What do you need for ritual meal?  You need

       Special environment

       Special gifts

       Special food, and

       Special words and songs.

We are all very familiar with certain ritual meals. 

       For example, you walk into your friend’s house, there are balloons and streamers everywhere…special environment.

       There is a big cake that will be placed on the table with candles on it…special food.

       There are gifts that are brought wrapped in pretty packaging.

       And there is a special song that must be sung for the ritual to be valid: “Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday to you!”

       As we heard tonight, the Last Supper took place in the context of the Passover.  But it is the firm belief of the Church that every sacrifice,

       whether to establish covenants,

       to give thanks,

       to forgive sins, or

       to remember

were fulfilled and brought to perfection in the one perfect sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

       We celebrate this in the context of what is rightly called the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,

       Listen to the words of institution over the cup:

       “…when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and once more, giving THANKS, he gave it to his disciples saying, “Take this all of you and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal COVENANT, which will be poured out for you and for many for the FORGIVENESS OF SINS. Do this IN MEMORY of me.” 

       The Eucharist is a true sacrifice, allowing us to participate truly and substantially in the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.

       It is also a shared meal.  Here we have:

       Special environment – this sacred space

       Special gifts – bread, wine, our treasure and ourselves.

       Special food – the bread and wine which become truly and substantially the Body, Blood, soul, and divinity of Christ.

       Special words – “This is my body…This is my blood.”

       Thus, the Eucharist is also a shared, ritual meal, rightly called the Supper of the Lord. 

       It’s important to remember that while the Temple worship ended with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Church retains the inseparable connection between ritual sacrifice and ritual meal, even though modern Judaism does not.

       But there was more that happened that night in the Upper Room.  To ensure that the Eucharist would always be at the center of the life of the Church, Christ established the Ministerial Priesthood in what we have come to know as the Sacrament of Holy Orders

       This differs substantially from the priesthood of all believers in that the priest is configured at the core of this very being to Christ the High priest.

       As such, he acts in persona Christi – in the person of Christ, the Head

       And in persona ecclesiae – in the person of the Church, the Body

       There is no higher calling.

              There is no greater challenge.

                     And today, there is no greater need in the life                      of the Church.

There is no higher calling

       because the priest is configured, changed at the very core of his being to Christ, the Great High Priest. 

       As the priest acts for the Church and the world in the person of Christ, so to, it is Christ who acts in person on each priest who continues his ministry of teaching, sanctifying and governing.

There is no greater challenge

       because in a world obsessed with power, the priest is called to exercise his authority in imitation of Christ, the suffering servant,

       Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve.

       One cannot understand or comprehend the nature of the priesthood and authority in the Church, unless it is exercised in as service to Christ, to the Church and to the world.

       Sadly, throughout history, and especially in the early part of the 20th century, we have seen what scandal can happen when authority in the Church fails to be exercised in spirit of service. 

       There is no greater need,

       because in an increasingly over-secularized and over-sexed world, the priest stands as countercultural witness to the things that are eternal and the one dignity and sanctity of human life and love.

       Who else, like Christ, can stand as the bridge between heaven and earth?

       Who else can celebrate the mysteries of our salvation?

       Who else can forgive the penitent sinner or entrust the dying soul, cleansed from sin and anointed by grace to mercy of Almighty God? 

       This is the challenge of the joy of the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ in the Church in the world.

       This is is why I love being a priest.

Who shall call the next generation of priests

              if not you?  If not me? 

Karl Rahner said it well in his poem entitled, “The Priest”

The priest is not an angel sent from heaven.

He is a man chosen from among men, a member of the Church, a Christian.

Remaining man and Christian he begins to speak to you the Word of God.

This Word is not his own.

No, he comes to you because God has told him to     proclaim God’s Word.

Perhaps he has not fully understood it himself.

Perhaps he adulterates it.

But he believes,

       and despite his fears

       he knows that he must communicate God’s Word to you.

For must not some one of us say something about God,        about eternal life

       about the majesty of grace in our sanctified being;

must not some one of us speak of sin,

       the judgment and mercy of God?

So my dear friends, pray for him.

Carry him so that he might be able to sustain others

       by bringing to them the mystery of God’s love

       revealed in Christ Jesus.

                                                  (Karl Rahner- The Priest)

       Acting in the person of Christ, with the heart of Christ and the power of Christ, the priest enters into and transforms the reality of everyone and everything.   

       That’s why I love being a priest.

I could say more, but that’s enough for now. 

       For now, it is enough to remember that two great sacraments were initiated that night in the Upper Room by Christ, the Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood

Both are at the heart and soul of all that the Church is and all that she does 

       from now until the end of the age. 

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The Master Has Need of Us

Hello, Church fans! Palm Sunday begins with in triumph and ends in tragedy…or does it. Here’s hoping that this coming week is truly ‘holy.’ The video and text are below.

       When I was in Mrs. O’Brien’s 8th grade English class at Romig Jr. High, we learned that a common literary device to engage your reader is the “negative-positive approach.” That is, in order to convince your reader, it works best if you begin with a negative statement or idea and then morph or contrast it with a correlative positive idea. It’s the literary equivalent of affirming that it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

       Then we have Palm Sunday which violates this in the extreme. We start out by commemorating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The palm is an ancient symbol of victory, used by kings returning from battle to signal to the townspeople that they were victorious. In a similar way, Jesus is welcomed to Jerusalem amid cries of, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  Life is good.

       Then the liturgy shifts gears as we participate in the dramatic reading of the Lord’s Passion, this year from the Gospel of Luke. I don’t know about you, but I really hate it when we yell out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” I think it’s because each of us realizes that because Jesus paid the price for our sins that day, we all had a role in his crucifixion. It is a hard reality, yet one that we must admit is true.  

       Yes, Palm Sunday is a downer of a way to enter into Holy Week. This is done on purpose. It is the way that the Church in her wisdom helps us to enter into the reality of our redemption. But, even as we do so, we must also admit that we have a decided advantage over those first disciples.  We know the rest of the story. For us, the commemoration of the Lord’s suffering and death is a bummer.  For them, it was an experience of total loss. The apostles saw the one in whom they placed all their hopes hanging in indignation on the Cross. Mary watched in agony as the life oozed out of her son. We are slightly bummed.  They were devastated. 

       But as I said, it’s all in how you finish. Like them, Holy Week begins with triumph, plunges into tragedy, but ends in victory beyond our wildest imagination. Like them, we enter into the devastation of the suffering and death he endured because of our sins, so that we may rise with him victorious in the resurrection. In a world of voices contrary to the gospel, we are not the heralds of doom. We are the prophets of hope for the world.

       The master has need of us.  Let us take the good news to the world.

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5th Sunday of Lent, C – Who will condemn?

[Hey, Church fans! I’m back! This week there are actually two homilies for your enjoyment. Here is the text from the C cycle readings (the woman caught in adultery) , but we also had the A cycle readings for the Third Scrutiny. (The raising of Lazarus.) The Vid is below. The Lazarus homily is on the next post.]

     Next to Peter getting out of the boat to walk on the water, the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery is one of my favorites. What’s going on?

     First, when they bring the woman before Jesus, we know the scribes and the Pharisees are not genuine in their moral indignation. How do we know this?  Well, it usually takes two parties to commit adultery.  Where is the guy?!

       Rather, they are simply trying to trap Jesus. If he says they should stone her, then they can condemn him to the Roman authorities since that would have been illegal. If he says they should not stone her, then they can denounce him as unfaithful to the Law of Moses. Jesus is smarter than that.

       So what was he writing on the ground? Some of the Church fathers speculated that he was writing that passage of the Law that they were invoking. Others that he was writing the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees. That’s my favorite, but the sacred text just doesn’t say.

       His answer to let the one without sin cast the first stone is particularly shrewd. Defeated, they all went away, one by one. Who of us is without sin? 

       But by the same token who of us is beyond the mercy of God? We could learn much by how Jesus treats the woman. Her guilt is not in question.  Nor does he make light of the seriousness of her offense.

       Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Jesus is the only one present who actually could throw a stone at her. He is the one who could condemn her. But that is not what Jesus is about. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it.  None of us is without sin, but not one of us is beyond the mercy of God.        All too often we are quick to condemn and slow to give mercy. Looking at what Jesus did, should we rather not be slow to condemn and quick to give mercy? In doing so, we truly join Christ in his salvific mission for the world, or at least that little part of the world in which we find ourselves.           

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Ask Fr. Leo – What is Purgatory?

[Many of you know that I run a monthly column in the local Catholic paper in southern Alaska. Others have asked that I start posting those columns on the blog. So, for your edification, here is the first installment. I’ll post the once a week until we get caught up with the paper. ]

Dear Fr. Leo,

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of purgatory. I believe in a just and merciful God, but this doctrine feels like it forgets that God’s perfect justice was shown by Jesus’ sacrifice, thus also showing His perfect mercy toward all men. While, ultimately, I do believe there is a place (Purgatory) of atonement for righteous, but “imperfectly purified” souls (again demonstrating God’ mercy) there’s a problem for me with the heavenly math. If souls in purgatory require prayers from the rest of us to get to heaven and God is timeless, then how is it that God doesn’t act on behalf of those receiving these prayers, even outside of time? – R

Dear R,

Excellent questions! It is important here to distinguish between the souls in purgatory needing our prayers as opposed to them benefiting from our prayers.  If we believe in an all-powerful, all merciful God (and we do!), the souls in purgatory do not need our prayers for salvation. As the Book of Wisdom says, “The souls of the just are in the hands of God.” (Wisdom 3:1). Everyone in purgatory goes to heaven.  Period.   However, they can and do benefit from our prayers. 

One way to think of purgatory is liken it to Homecoming. There is the game and the fancy dinner dance afterwards.  Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was in high school, it always seemed to rain at the Homecoming game. It was fun, but it was messy! Now, if you were a player on the field or in the band, or even in the stands, would you go straight from the mess on the stadium to the fancy dinner dance?  No, of course not! There is that intermediate step where you go to the locker room, take off your gear, hit the showers, get your fancy clothes on, comb your hair, and whatnot.  Then, when you are presentable, you go to the dance. 

Purgatory is kind of like that. It’s a stage of purification where God’s love cleanses us of all we may have been clinging to, or that is clinging to us, that is not worthy to enter heaven, the ultimate Homecoming. To run with the analogy a bit farther, God can do all the scrubbing of the souls himself, but we can help them out as well.  Say your buddy asks you to bring him a towel. You can make his life that much easier if you help him out.

Here’s another example. Say you are on your way to the homecoming dance in your car.  As you go along, you see your buddy walking to the dance on the side of the road. It’s a nice day and not that far.  He will make it in due time.  However, how much better if you offer him a ride. Strictly speaking, he doesn’t need a lift.  He will get there eventually.  However, he can greatly benefit if you give him a ride. 

Our prayers for the Church being purified are like that. God can do it all himself, of course. But how much better if we join with God in the work of grace.

Dear Fr. Leo,

It is becoming more common that Catholics are giving into the cultural norm of having sex before marriage and living together, “to see if it works.” I have searched the bible for anything that supports NOT doing that.  I know the church has a position.  I just want to know what it is.  Could you please clear this up for me? – S

Dear S,

Sure.  A simple Google search of “biblical prohibition of sex outside of marriage” will yield over 14 million results.

Shacking up and having sex outside of marriage is always a bad idea, and not just for spiritual or moral reasons. Citing numerous studies, psychologist Therese DiDonato, Ph.D., has written several articles in Psychology Today as to why cohabitation is a bad idea.

“Substantial evidence associates cohabitation with negative relationship outcomes. Pre-marital cohabitation is viewed as a risk factor for divorce as it predicts later marital instability, poorer marriage quality, and less relationship satisfaction (Kamp, Dush, Cohan, & Amato, 2003; Stanley et al., 2004). Compared to married couples, cohabiting couples argue more, have more trouble resolving conflicts, are more insecure about their partners’ feelings, and have more problems related to their future goals (Hsueh, Rhabar, Morrison, & Doss, 2009).” – Psychology Today, July 25, 2014. 

It’s hardly surprising. If you think about it, the essential characteristics of marriage are permanence and indissolubility. In a word, marriage is about commitment.  Cohabitation is just the opposite. It is characterized by a lack of commitment. Where there is no commitment, somebody is going get hurt.  To expect the benefits of a committed, married relationship without the commitment only leads to frustration.

By contrast, the Sacrament of Marriage is a living sign of God’s love and God’s faithfulness in the midst of the Church and the world. The freedom given in a permanent, committed relationship gives the couple the freedom to love unconditionally, to mirror God’s faithfulness and its fruitfulness. Love by its very nature is lifegiving. It’s no coincidence that within the context of the Sacrament of Marriage, sexual union becomes both the beautiful act by which the marriage covenant is renewed and by which children are conceived. As Dr. Scott Hahn once quipped, “We are talking about a love so intense in its expression, nine months later you may have to give it a name!”

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What Lies Within…

[In contentious times, the first casualty is usually the truth. There is lots of misinformation and “fake good news” out there. Sadly this has found its way into the Church. Check out the video by clicking here.

Today, we enter the third part of Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain.” Here we are given three parables to contemplate. So what’s going on? Quite simply, Jesus is helping the disciples move from attitudes to action, from doctrine to discipleship. 

       Two of the parables have to do with logs and trees, so I figured some lumberjack stories were in order.

Did you hear about the lumberjack who worked overtime?

        He logged a lot of hours.

A lumberjack went into a magic forest to cut a tree

When he got there, he started to swing at a tree when it suddenly shouted, Wait! I’m a talking tree!

       The lumberjack laughed and said, And you will dialogue.

       When he finished the tree asked, “Why did you cut me down, lumberjack?”

       Lumberjack: Oh, you really don’t know why?

       Tree: Sorry, I’m stumped.

What do lumberjacks do when they’re about to finish work?

       They Log off.

Okay, back to the Gospel.

       The first parable is about the blind being unable to lead the blind. This is an indirect reference to the false teachings and hypocrisy that was so prevalent in his day. There is a lot of misinformation out there these days. Sometimes we call it “false news.” Sadly, this has also found its way into the Church. There are many false and “alternative magisteriums” out there. By this I mean well-meaning Catholics who make a habit of making bold pronouncements about how one should be living the faith. In truth, the only authentic magisterium in this Archdiocese is the Archbishop, who has been appointed by the Holy Father himself. Yet these self-appointed defenders of the faith make a habit out of criticizing him and others, and quite often they are quite wrong.     

       It is this critical nature lacking all charity that Jesus warns against when he tells the parable of pointing out the splinter your brother’s eye while ignoring the beam in your own. Note that Jesus does not rule out fraternal correction, but before we point one finger at another, we should remember that the other four are pointing at ourselves. The truth without compassion is the hammer that destroys.

       In the last parable about the good tree producing good fruit and the bad tree producing evil, Jesus helps us discern where we should look for guidance. What are the fruits that they produce? You can tell a lot about people simply by watching them. As Jesus points out, good produces good, evil produces evil. If a person, or group of people produce nothing but vitriol and criticism, you can be pretty sure their hearts are in the wrong place. If there is no joy, get out of there. Otherwise, you are just doom-spiraling.

       Archbishop Bellisario once said that we can get our energy from one of two places. Being negative and critical is powerful and seductive, but it always burns out quickly and leaves us frustrated, isolated.  By contrast, striving for virtue and charity is not always all that exciting, but does provide a steady source of positive grace that leads us to deeper communion with God and others.         We need to be careful where we get our information. We need to go to the authentic source first.  We need to strive for personal holiness of life before being critical of others. We need to be wary of those who produce bad fruit.

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From Good to Great – From Justice to Love

[This week we hear the Golden Rule in the second part of the Sermon on the Plain in Luke’s gospel. But did you know there is a Bronze Rule and Silver Rule as well? Check it out. As always, you can watch the video by clicking here. ]

       A young priest was in the bishop’s office pouring out his heart.

       “I can’t seem to get the people’s attention in my homilies,” he said. “What can I do?”

       This bishop replied, “Why don’t you try saying something shocking at the beginning. Then once you have their attention, they will listen to the rest of what you have to say.”

       “How do you mean?” asked the priest.

       “Well,” said the bishop, “For example, I started my homily last week like by saying, ‘I’m in love with a woman…She’s married…Her name is Mary.’ Do you see how that works?  Try it.”

       Next week the priest is in the pulpit, still very nervous and begins, “THE BISHOP IS IN LOVE WITH A WOMAN!  She’s married…I can’t remember her name!”

       Today’s gospel gives us the second part of the “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s gospel. It starts off with the shocking statement, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” We Christians are quite familiar with these statements, but they would have been shocking to his audience. The expected Messiah was supposed to destroy the enemies of Judah. Primarily the Romans. Jesus is saying they have to love the Romans! What’s up with that?! 

       However, a previous ‘messiah’, King David, shows us just how it is done when he declines the opportunity to kill Saul, who is trying to hunt him down and kill him. In one sense, Jesus is simply asking his disciples to embrace the best of their heritage. He is inviting them, and us, to rise above the limited standards of the worldly and instead embrace the Kingdom of God. This requires a fundamental shift in the way we think, feel and act, especially towards those who do not embrace the Kingdom.

It is matter of rising from good to great, from justice to love.

       Most people remember the Sermon on the Plain for it’s articulation of  the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” which summarizes his many instructions. But did you know that there is a Bronze Rule and a Silver

Rule which preceded it? 

       In the Books of Leviticus (24:19–21) and Deuteronomy (19:21), as well as the legal codes of other cultures, we see the Bronze Rule, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” It was an important law that kept limited retaliation for an injury to the level at which it occurred. It ensured that justice was served while preventing escalation of the situation.

       Cultures develop over time. At a certain point people look to how to avoid such conflicts rather than just react to them. Centuries later, we see the Silver Rule, “Do to no one what you yourself dislike.” It also makes sense. If you don’t want to be injured. Don’t injure others.” 

       Still, this is a rather passive way of acting. Jesus takes it a step further. The Kingdom is not just about how to avoid doing the wrong thing. It is about doing the loving thing. Thus, “do unto others…” In this way, we move from the good to the great, from the moral to the magnanimous, from justice to love.

       I’m reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s reply to a woman who asked him how he thought he could win the Civil War if he did not destroy his enemy. Looking at her, he said, “My dear lady, I do not destroy my enemy when I make him my friend.”

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Matters of the Heart

   Hello, Church fans! The Beatitudes in Luke, along with their corresponding woes, can sound a little harsh to our ears. What’s Jesus getting at? It has to do with where your heart is. Once you figure that out, blessing is yours for the asking. You can check out the video here. Most of the text is below.

Blessings are good. Curses are bad.  Joy is good. Woe is bad. So why does Jesus make such a big deal about who gets cursed as well as who gets blessed? It sounds harsh to our ears, but he’s making a really good point.  To start, let’s look to the first reading from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah.

       “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh…” (Jer 17:5), and

       “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.”  (Jer 17:7) 

       Now take a look at the Lucan Beatitudes and you will see a similar dynamic going on. It all hinges on what and in whom we place our trust. Where is your heart? Quite simply, our happiness in this life and our eternal joy in the next hangs on one decision—do we place our trust in God or in the world? Trust in God brings the blessing of peace. Trust in the things of this world brings the curse of bitterness and resentment. 

       Thomas Aquinas talks about this at length. As human beings we are born to seek the good. The greatest good, of course, is God. Anything short of that will leave us wanting. As St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in you.”

       Unfortunately, we humans are easily distracted by the things of this world. Thomas pointed out that the worldly person rather than trusting in God, erroneously seeks fulfillment in power, wealth, pleasure, or honor. None of these are evil in and of themselves, but if we seek them before or in place of God, we will always be frustrated.

Thomas was a smart guy. If you look at the Lucan Beatitudes, each of the blessings and curses correspond exactly to either wealth or poverty, hunger or pleasure, power or mournfulness, honor or denunciation.

       The poor by definition do not have wealth. The hungry are deprived of one of life’s basic pleasures. Those who weep seem the most powerless. And those who are hated, excluded and denounced, certainly do not have honor. They cannot look to these things instead of God simply because they do not have them. They are blessed in one sense, because they aren’t distracted.

       But by the same token, powerlessness by itself is not virtuous; neither is hunger, weeping or being hated. For example, the poor person’s desire for wealth can lead him away from God; so too the hungry person’s desire for pleasure, (not all hunger is for food).

       As I have said before, regardless of your circumstances, you can approach life either with a spirituality of abundance and gratitude, or of scarcity and resentment. If you choose abundance and gratitude, then you will never want for anything. If you choose scarcity and resentment, you will never have enough, no matter how much wealth, pleasure power or honor you may accumulate in this life.  

       Blessings are good.  Curses are bad.  Joy is good.  Woe is bad.  Which you will experience in this life all depends on the deepest desires of your heart. As Jeremiah says, the key to blessedness is to put our trust first in Almighty God, and everything else after that.

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How Jesus Works

[Greetings, Church fans! I had a nice vacation in a much warmer climate. Nothing like a little golf to reinforce the virtue of humility. This week we look at how Jesus meets us where we are and invites us to where we are called to be. The text is below, the video can be seen by clicking here.]

An confused angler and decided to go ice fishing. He grabbed his gear, stepped out onto the ice, and started to cut a hole when he heard a booming voice shout:

“THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”

The man jumped up and looked around, but he didn’t see anyone. He carried on cutting into the ice, and again, the voice boomed:

”THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”

Still nobody. The man goes to a new spot and started drilling another hole when the voice shouted for a third time:

”THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”

The man looked up into the blinding light and said ”Is that you, God?”

The voice answered, ”NO, IT’S THE MANAGER OF THE ICE RINK!”

       Our God can act very powerfully at times, but he never does anything violently.  Take the call of the first disciples in today’s gospel reading from Luke. While I am convinced that this is not the first time that these four disciples have encountered Jesus, nevertheless, the way he enters Simon Peter’s life shows us how God takes him and his companions where they are and invites them into what they are called to be.

       Jesus arrives on the scene while Peter, James, John and Andrew are just finishing up the night’s work. Fishermen in that part of the world would work at night, shining lanterns over the water near the boat to attract the fish and then casting a weighted net over the side. It was hard, repetitive work. No doubt the four were pretty tuckered out when Jesus arrived. They may or may not have been expecting Jesus to stop by.  But, like all in Israel in those days, they were looking for the coming of the Messiah.

       The first thing Jesus asks Simon Peter is simply to borrow his boat so he can have a better vantage point to teach the people. When we go to the Holy Land this Fall, you will see the very place. It is a little cove that forms a natural amphitheater. Several hundred people can assemble there quite comfortably. Someone speaking from a boat about 30 yards offshore can be heard quite well. Peter, Andrew and John have already spent a day with Jesus earlier, so it is an easy favor to grant. I often imagine what it would be like to be Peter sitting in the boat with Jesus, listening to him teach the crowds. He’s very much in his comfort zone.  No risk here.

       But Jesus has something greater in store for Simon Peter and the others. His command to set out into the deep seems futile. Simon knows his business. Fishing in daylight is futile in those waters. The fish simply aren’t there. I imagine he figured it couldn’t hurt anything to humor the carpenter turned rabbi. It’s nothing he hasn’t done before. The only difference this time is that Jesus is with him.

       There is a lesson for all of us here. So often when we are trying to discern the will of God, we expect him to act powerfully from the outset. We want the huge, the outrageous, the bombastic—a sign in the heavens. Christ is much gentler than that. He takes us where we are and invites us into what we are called to be. He prepares us to recognize him acting in little ways, so that we will not be overwhelmed when he acts in profound ways. There is no part of our life that is separated from God.  May our hearts be open to him in the mundane so that we may recognize and follow him in the profound.