Category: Deep Church Thoughts

[Greetings, Blog fans! Hey, FB go their software figured out and so now I can download videos again. Here’s the vid and the text. Blessed Independence Day. God bless you and God bless America.]

I’ve heard some complaints that the supply of dad jokes in the homilies has diminished somewhat.  To remedy this sad situation, here are three dad jokes to help you celebrate Independence Day…

1. Did you hear the one about the Liberty Bell? – Yep, it cracks me up!
2. What did one flag say to the other flag?      – Nothing.  It just waved.
3. Why are there no “Knock Knock” jokes about American Independence?  – Because freedom rings!

     In ancient and medieval times, the king and his court were always on the move, riding from town to town and village to village. There were very practical reasons for this. First, it was important that people physically saw him so that they would remember that they had a king. Secondly, it was a practical way for the king to be available to render justice and to resolve legal disputes. But before he came to a place, he would send a herald. The herald had a twofold mission. First, to proclaim that the king is coming, and second, to instruct the people on how to properly receive their sovereign and to get the town ready for his arrival. To make sure the herald was credible, he was dressed in the finest raiment of the court. His announcement was preceded with great pomp, perhaps even the blowing of trumpets to get the people’s attention. There could be no doubt that the message was real and the king was actually coming. Once that was done, he would enlist the local authorities and townspeople to clean up the town and get it decorated. Finally, he would instruct them on the proper protocol on how to receive the king and how to address the nobles of the court that accompanied him. It was a big deal.

       In the sending of the seventy-two that we hear proclaimed in today’s gospel, we see Jesus doing essentially the same thing. He is sending his heralds to prepare the towns and villages that he intended to visit. But how very different are the heralds of the Kingdom of God! They are sent as mendicants without fancy clothes, not even any sandals or spending money. They are totally dependent on God and on those who will receive them for food and lodging. There can be no doubt that the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus is very different from any earthly kingdom. Its worth cannot be given a monetary value.

       While the simplicity of the messengers’ life gives them a  certain credibility, how much more so does the power of their message. Their message is accompanied by powerful works. In short, they are doing the very things that Jesus is doing. they cure the sick, they expel demons, they proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Who would not believe a message accompanied by such miracles. Even the seventy-two are amazed. 

       While the times have changed, the power of the message has not.  Jesus still sends out messengers to proclaim the Kingdom in this time and in this place. The only difference is that now those messengers look a lot like me and like you. By our baptism, each one of us is called to be a herald of the Kingdom.

       The character of that witness will differ for each one of us. Why? Because just like the early disciples, each one of us has a different experience of the Risen Christ in the life of the Church.

       So here is a little tip on how to do that.  So often when asked about Christ or the Church, we don’t know where to start?  Do you start with the Nicene Creed?  The Apostles Creed, the Catechism?  The Liturgy? Dogma? 

       Well, you can, but before you do, remember these three things:

1.  The first question people ask is seldom the one they want answered.

       I’m fortunate to have learned this early on in ministry.

When I was Fr. Young Priest, people would come up to me and say something like, “Hey, Father, what does the Church teach about annulments?”

       And I always answer, “That’s a very good question. Why do you ask?”

       “Well, my sister is going through a divorce and she was wondering about her status in the Church.”

       “Ahhh…” I reply, “Let’s talk about your sister…”

2. Unless you have a particular expertise in a particular ecclesiological field, do not feel like you have to articulate every theological article or defend every aspect of the history of the Church.

       However, you are the world expert in one thing…your own faith. Tell them how you have experienced Christ in your life.  Tell them of your significant moments of conversion and how you live your faith here in the midst of  your parish family. Keep in mind that you may be the only Gospel this person will ever hear.

3. Take a genuine interest in your interlocutor’s life and desires.  Ask lots of questions.  And always…always be kind. People will seldom remember what you say. They will never forget how you made them feel. 

In the end, we are the present-day heralds of the Kingdom of God. Jesus has sent us to every place and person he intends to visit.  The credibility of our witness, and the power of our proclamation will rest on how well we have come to know Christ, so that we may make him known. 

(Howdy, Church fans! Still working on the video thing due to Facebook’s new algorithm that makes it impossible to download videos. In the meantime, go to our parish FB page by clicking here and scrolling to the homily. Sorry for the extra work. Blame Zuckerburg.)

       It’s providential that Corpus Christi falls on Father’s Day this year.  So much of this feast bespeaks of God the Father’s love for us in providing for our physical and spiritual need in abundance. 

       I’ve said this before on a few occasions, and it true. There are two ways of approaching life, the universe and everything. (Extra points for those of you who can cite that reference.) One can do so with a spirituality of scarcity or with a spirituality of abundance. Which you decide will make all the difference in your life.  It is good to reflect on today’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord (“Corpus Christi”) in this context. 

       First we have to acknowledge a couple of things. If one approaches life with a spirituality of scarcity, they will never have enough. No amount of wealth, fame, pleasure or power will satisfy.  However, if one chooses to approach life from a spirituality of abundance, he or she will want for nothing.  Our God is the God of abundance. This is true in the material and the spiritual. 

       The reality and the power of the Eucharist that we celebrate  today is a good example of this. In our earlier catechesis on the Eucharist, you may recall that the Eucharist is at once a true sacrifice and a shared meal. Today, in the interest of time, I’m just going to concentrate on the sacrifice part. 

In the Biblical pattern of sacrifice, you needed four things.  You needed

a priest,

an altar,

an offering and

a reason. 

Let’s look at each one of these.

The priest is the one who offers the sacrifice on your behalf.  He is the mediator. As we look to the Paschal Mystery, we see that Christ himself is the Great High Priest, who, starting with his one perfect sacrifice on the altar of the Cross, continues to offer himself, and us, to the Father in a living and eternal sacrifice. The Eucharist is the means he gave us for our true and substantial participation in passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, now offered in an unbloody way on the altar in the church. This is how the reality of the Paschal Mystery as a real for us today as it was for the first disciples.

       As I mentioned, Christ himself is the also offering, but we too bring our own offerings. Like Melchizedek of old, we bring bread and wine, but we also bring our gifts of time, talent and treasure, indeed, our very selves. Like the sacrifices of old, what is offered is immolated and transformed. The bread and wine become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ.

Our time, talent, and treasure become the practical means for the apostolate to continue in the parish, and we ourselves are transformed more and more by grace into the image and likeness of our Creator and Redeemer.

       It’s important to remember that we ourselves cannot work this miracle of transubstantiation and transformation. It is Christ who works the miracle. Our job is simply to bring the fish. Just like the apostles in today’s gospel, Christ cannot work the miracle if we don’t offer what we have, trusting that he knows what he’s doing.

       Finally, one needs a reason. In biblical times the four main reasons for sacrifice were to establish covenants, to remember, to forgive sins and to give thanks. A quick review of the words of institution in the Eucharistic Prayer reveals what the Church has always held –that all previous sacrifices were fulfilled and brought to    perfection in the one perfect sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. 

       Finally, a word about abundance. The gospel passage for today is no mistake. It speaks of the abundance of God in providing for the needs of his people. How do we know this?  There are leftovers—lots and lots of leftovers. So to with the grace given to us in the Eucharist. Here at the Lord’s Supper, we receive more than we need. Why?  So that we may share this reality with others.         

[Hey, Church fans! Deacon John was preaching this weekend. So, here is this week’s offering. I still haven’t figure out how to download videos from BookFace now that they have changed their OS. Hopefully, I’ll have one for next week.]

     It’s not easy to describe God. St. Thomas Aquinas famously quipped that it is actually easier to talk about what God is not, rather than what God is. It reminds us of the young boy who was drawing a picture in his catechism class. His   catechist asked him, “Hey, Mick, what are you drawing?”

       “I’m drawing a picture of God,” little Mick replied.

       The catechist smiled sympathetically and said, “Oh, little Mick, no one knows what God looks like.”

To which he replied, “They will when I’m done!”

We cannot know everything about God, but through his    Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, we do know something about God.

In pondering the reality of God, especially the mystery of the Trinity, it is helpful to take an approach that looks at the Trinity not in terms of a problem to be solved, but rather as a mystery to be lived. 

“Mystery” in this sense is understood as a reality that is larger than you, of which you are a part and which is a part of you. Mystery in this sense is not understood in terms of analysis, but rather in terms of relationship. 

Take your family for example. It is a reality bigger than you, of which you are a part, and which genetically, sociologically, psychologically and spiritually is a part of you. You don’t solve your family. You are simply part of your family and your family is part of you.

Now let’s take the Church. It too is a reality bigger than you, and by baptism, confirmation, and especially the Eucharist, the Church is a part of you. No matter how far a person might wander, he or she never stops being Catholic.

Finally, let’s talk about God. If there is any reality that is bigger than us, it is God. Yet, by grace we are invited into the relationship between the Father and the Son, much like we can be invited into any relationship. For example, when one is befriended by a married couple, they invite you into the dynamic of their married relationship. In a very real sense, you become part of their marriage. Now, in terms of the Divine dynamic of love, this relationship between the Father and the Son is what has been revealed to us as the Holy Spirit. Just like with the married couple, we are invited into the very relationship and reality that is God. We are a part of that relationship and it is part of us. We can say with certainty that we are literally a part of God, and through indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God is a part of us. This is heady stuff, but it is not so daunting if we understand it in terms of relationship. You don’t solve a relationship. You are part of a relationship and it is a part of you, whether it is with family, with Church, and especially with God. 

This week we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. Most notably, we celebrate the adoration of the child Jesus by the Magi.  These magi are interesting characters? Who are they, what do they represent, and what did that mean for folks in Jesus’s day and for us? 

Check out the video here. You can watch the whole Mass on our Facebook page here.

Magi – Who are they?

       Well, they are not kings, per se. They did not become so in our culture until John Henry Hopkins Jr., Rector of Christ Episcopal, wrote the carol we all know for a Christmas pageant in New York City in 1857.  It was the first widely popular Christmas carol written in America.

(Now, here is an idea. Why don’t we write some carols for our own Christmas pageant next year?  Wouldn’t that be something!)

Hopkins based his designation on earlier Christian tradition, which I’ll speak to a bit later. 

No, they are Magi,

        The word comes to us from Latin, which borrowed it from the Greek, which got it from the Persians. 

       The term refers to the Persian priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science.

       Interestingly enough, there was a celestial event at that time that would have caught their attention. Apparently, about the time of the birth of Christ, Jupiter, the celestial body associated with kings, moved into the constellation Aries, which was associated with Israel. While probably unnoticed by most of the population, those who were paying attention to such things, such as the Magi, would have interpreted this phenomenon to mean that a king had been born in Israel.  Pretty cool. 

What do they represent?

       For Matthew and certainly for the early Church fathers, the magi represent to the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah 60:6ff, who we heard this morning, and other prophecies. Most notably:

       Psalm 72:10: “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute, and the kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts“

       Psalm 72:15: “…and may there be given to him gold from Arabia“,

       Given these references, it is not long before early Christians began to see them as kings, even giving them names:  Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India. By the 6^th century all Christian commentators, both east and west referred to them as kings. This did not change until the movement of modern biblical scholarship in the first half of the 20^th century.  So, we can give Hopkins some slack.  Besides, it’s a fun song.  (Although I still don’t know where the rubber cigar came from in the version we sang in 3^rd grade…)

What does it mean?

       For the magi, it meant that a new king was born in Israel. I still can’t figure out why they felt compelled to make the journey and give him the gifts.  Perhaps it was because they recognized that there was something going on in Israel that would have universal impact. Perhaps it was simply to fulfill the prophecies.

       For Herod, it was a direct threat to his reign. Herod the Great was an incredible builder and administrator, but he was also a ruthless despot. Propped up by the Roman occupiers and insecure in on his throne, he held onto power with an iron fist and a sophisticated network of spies. This is a man who, days before his own death, had his two eldest sons executed because he suspected they were trying to usurp his throne.  He was a bad dude.  On Tuesday, we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating all the boys in Bethlehem under two years of age, whom he had killed in hopes of eliminating the threat that Jesus posed to his reign.

       He need not have worried, however. Jesus came preaching a very different kingdom that the one that Herod clung to.

       For us, the Visit of the Magi is the confirmation of what St. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,

and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

       I don’t know about you, but for me, this is good news. When all these things were going on, my ancestors, the Danes and the Celts, were still painting themselves blue and worshiping thunder and trees and whatnot.  But in the providence of God and the kindness of history, the gospel reached those hallowed shores, and through the work of missionaries, especially he Jesuits, it moved from there to here.  Christianity also went out from the east with Orthodox missionaries and worked its way across Asia, and eventually across the Bering Streit. 

       We live in a very privileged place in Christian geography. It was here in Alaska, probably in the lower Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta that the gospel circled the globe.  Now the whole world is wrapped in the arms of the good news of Jesus Christ.

       It also means that we have work to do. The legacy that we have received is no small heritage.  The mission continues, not so much geographically, but certainly  demographically, and sociologically.

       First, in our families, such as they are.

       Then in our parish family of St. Patrick.

       Then beyond these walls into our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces, our state, our country, our world.

The Magi followed the star, carried gifts, and found Christ,

       We have found Christ, we follow Him, and carry the joy of the Gospel as our gift to the world.

Thanksgiving is perhaps our last national religious holiday. Its origins are heralded in the celebration of the remaining settlers of the Plymouth Colony who had survived the previous winter of 1620-21. They had good reason to do so. 0f the 102 colonists that landed at Plymouth, 45 perished that first winter from lack of shelter, scurvy, and general conditions on board the ship where most of them still lived.

The survivors paused to thank God for their mere survival.  We pause today to thank God for our abundance. How you do that is up to you, but it will say much about who you.

Christians and others who believe in a benevolent, saving God pause to offer prayers of thanks, perhaps attending Mass or some other service this morning before gathering with friends and loved ones this afternoon to share the traditional meal. 

You may be surprised to know that there will likely be more people in church this morning than will attend every NFL, MLB, and NBA game during each of their respective seasons for the entire year. 

Like love, gratitude must be have a concrete expression in one’s actions if it is to have any impact.  Appropriately, many congregations engaged in acts of charity earlier this week so that others may also join in giving thanks. I am so very proud of Dave Patterson and the folks who gathered at St. Patrick’s Parish in Muldoon on Monday to help the food bank distribute 1333 Thanksgiving meals to needy families in our area. 

To fail in gratitude is perhaps the gravest failure of any modern society. To consider oneself entitled to anything is the cancer that eats away at the heart of the nation.

Each of us must decide whether we will approach life with a spirituality of gratitude or of entitlement.   I will simply say that in my experience of 27 years of ministry, I have found that the grateful heart never experiences the lack of anything. This is especially true in regard to love and friendship.

The colonists at Plymouth paused to give thanks for their mere survival.  We pause today to give thanks for our abundance.

May the gratitude we express today find its expression in the way we treat those around us throughout the rest of the year. 

To see the video, click here.

Hey, Church fans! I preached without a text today, so if you want the whole homily, it’s best to watch it here on our YouTube channel. A short summary of the main points are below. If you want to see the whole Mass, check it out here on Facebook.

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     This Sunday I will be preaching on a way of looking at the Most Holy Trinity called the “personalist model.” I have found it very helpful personally and hope that you do too.

     It is a bold endeavor to ponder the reality of Almighty God. He is at once completely transcendent. Yet at the same time, through the Church, he has chosen to be incredibly accessible. While we cannot comprehend every thing about God, through revelation and reason, we can understand some things about God. 

I often say that theology is not rocket science. Quite simply, it is all about relationship. The same is true about Almighty God. In short, through the Church, we are invited into a relationship we call “full communion” with the God who is perfect communion itself. We reflect that dynamic to others. But how?

Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we start by looking at ourselves. As human persons we have:

1. Identity—By the age of two, most people have a sense of self as distinct from others.

2.  Self-Communication—Eventually we communicate to others about ourselves, share our attributes, feelings, desires, and needs.

3. The Relationship/Animating Principle—between identity and self-communication. “So, tell me about yourself!” Usually we use words, but sometimes we use music, art, poetry, etc. Words need breath to be heard.

Now, if we can be so bold as to apply these things to God, we find:

1.  Identity—God’s nature is to exist. He is identity itself. So much so that his revealed name is “I AM.” 

2.  Self-Communication—God reveals himself not only in creation but also through his Word, which “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). God’s perfect revelation was Jesus Christ.

3.  Animating principle—it’s no coincidence that the same word for “spirit” in Hebrew is the same word for “breath.”  It is a heady thing to realize that the Spirit that animated the life of Christ is the same Holy Spirit that animates the life of every Christian. 

[As always, you can see the whole Mass here, or just the homily here. ]

Good Shepherd Sunday, 2021,

     The Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” since the readings in each cycle have Jesus describing himself as the Good Shepherd. It is also a time when we focus on the special ministry of pastors in the Church. In fact, the word for shepherd in Latin is “pastor.” 

Of course, you know the description of the perfect pastor? Here is a chain letter/email that’s been going around for some time:

===============

The Perfect Pastor

     The Perfect Pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone’s feelings. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight, and is also the church janitor.

     The Perfect Pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the church. He is 29 years old and has 40 years’ worth of experience. Above all, he is handsome.

     The Perfect Pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church. He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.

     The Perfect Pastor always has time for parish meetings and all of its committees, never missing the meeting of any church organization. And he is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.

     The Perfect Pastor is always in the neighboring parish!

     If your pastor does not measure up, simply send this notice to six other churches that are tired of their pastor too. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of your list. If everyone cooperates, in one week you will receive 1,643 pastors. One of them should be perfect.

     Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got its’ old pastor back in less than three months.

================

Christ is the Good Shepherd, but how does this ministry of Shepherd play out in the life of the Church? While the Archbishop is the chief shepherd of the Archdiocese, each parish within the Archdiocese is entrusted to a priest as its proper pastor. (Can. 515 §1). He exercises the pastoral care of the community entrusted to him…so that for the community he may carry out the offices of teaching, sanctifying and ruling (administration) with the cooperation of other priests or deacons and with the assistance of the lay members of Christ’s faithful…” (See Can. 519.)

Okay, great.  But what does a pastor actually do? 

As the staff and the various committees in the parish will tell you, every staff position, every ministry gets a job description. In the biz, we call it the “Position Description and Expected Results Statement.” 

So where is the pastor’s job description?  It’s quite Canons 528-530.

Can. 528 §1 The parish priest has the obligation of ensuring that the word of God is proclaimed in its entirety to those living in the parish. He is therefore to see to it that the lay members of Christ‘s faithful are instructed in the truths of faith, especially by means of the homily on Sundays and holydays of obligation and by catechetical formation. He is to foster works which promote the spirit of the Gospel, including its relevance to social justice. He is to have a special care for the Catholic education of children and young people. With the collaboration of the faithful, he is to make every effort to bring the gospel message to those also who have given up religious practice or who do not profess the true faith.

§2 The parish priest is to take care that the blessed Eucharist is the center of the parish assembly of the faithful. He is to strive to ensure that the faithful are nourished by the devout celebration of the sacraments, and in particular that they frequently approach the sacraments of the blessed Eucharist and penance. He is to strive to lead them to prayer, including prayer in their families, and to take a live and active part in the sacred liturgy. Under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, the parish priest must direct this liturgy in his own parish, and he is bound to be on guard against abuses.

Can. 529 §1 So that he may fulfil his office of pastor diligently, the parish priest is to strive to know the faithful entrusted to his care. He is therefore to visit their families, sharing in their cares and anxieties and, in a special way, their sorrows, comforting them in the Lord. If in certain matters they are found wanting, he is prudently to correct them. He is to help the sick and especially the dying in great charity, solicitiously restoring them with the sacraments and commending their souls to God. He is to be especially diligent in seeking out the poor, the suffering, the lonely, those who are exiled from their homeland, and those burdened with special difficulties. He is to strive also to ensure that spouses and parents are sustained in the fulfilment of their proper duties, and to foster the growth of christian life in the family.

§2 The parish priest is to recognise and promote the specific role which the lay members of Christ‘s faithful have in the mission of the Church, fostering their associations which have religious purposes. He is to cooperate with his proper Bishop and with the presbyterium of the diocese. Moreover, he is to endeavour to ensure that the faithful are concerned for the community of the parish, that they feel themselves to be members both of the diocese and of the universal Church, and that they take part in and sustain works which promote this community.

Can. 530 The functions especially entrusted to the parish priest are as follows:

1° the administration of baptism;

2° the administration of the sacrament of confirmation to those in danger of death, in accordance with can. 883, n. 3;

3° the administration of Viaticum and of the anointing of the sick, without prejudice to can. 1003 §§2 and 3, and the imparting of the apostolic blessing;

4° the assistance at marriages and the nuptial blessing;

5° the conducting of funerals;

6° the blessing of the baptismal font at paschal time, the conduct of processions outside the church, and the giving of solemn blessings outside the church;

7° the more solemn celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and holydays of obligation.

       Does this sound like the description of the Perfect Pastor I read to you at the beginning of the homily?  More to the point, is it even possible for one man to do everything described in Canons 528-530?  The answer of course, is no.  He is not expected to do all this himself.  But he does have the sacred responsibility of seeing that all these things are being done by those members of the faithful who have been invited, trained, supported and thanked as they engage in their respective liturgical, catechetical and evangelical ministries in the parish.  

       Having been a pastor for many many years, I find the ministry of pastor is best exercised in a manner similar to that of the conductor of a great symphony orchestra. Everyone has their part to play, but there is need for one to guide the life of the parish so that everything happens harmoniously and in the way intended by Christ, the Good Shepherd. It’s the difference between being in charge and being responsible. There are many people who are in charge of the various ministries in the parish, but in the end, it is the pastor who is responsible to make sure that it all happens in the best possible way. This can’t be someone without any skin in the game.  He has to lay down his life for the flock. The stakes are no less than the salvation of every soul in 99504.

     Being a pastor is what we often call a “vocation within a vocation.”  Not all priests are pastors, but all pastors are priests. One of the reasons has a lot to do with our understanding of Christ, the Good Shepherd. While Christ is ultimately THE Good Shepherd, he has entrusted the proclamation of the Gospel to us, the Church.  The ministry of shepherd finds its tangible expression at the parish level in the ministry of the pastor, who by virtue of his ordination acts in the very person of Christ, literally as alter Christus, “another Christ.” As you can see from the job description, it is no small thing to be a pastor. He has a lot he has to keep track of in the community entrusted to his care.

       But in the end, it is not so much what we DO as a parish, as who we ARE as the People of God, the parish family of St. Patrick’s. We are a community of disciples, a family of faith.

       There is a reason they call us “Father” and not just ‘pastor’. This is a vocation, not a job. It is a calling, not a task.  Configured to Christ at the level of his very being, like Christ, the Pastor shows the parish family what is possible for them and leads them there,

       sometimes exhorting them from the front and sometimes encouraging and prodding them from behind.  Always walking with them on the journey of faith, sharing their joys, their sorrows, their tragedies and their triumphs. 

       There is no greater challenge.  There is no higher calling. There is no greater way of imitating Christ, the Good Shepherd.

       So, on this Good Shepherd Sunday, let us take a moment to thank God for those pastors we have had throughout our lives, the good ones and the ones who struggled, who with whatever resources God gave them for their ministry, faithfully served the people entrusted to their care and helped us find our way to Christ.