Category: Uncategorized

[What does it mean to be the People of God in the Age of Fulfillment? What difference does it make? What difference should it make? Watch the video here. The text is below. ]

---

    Much to the consternation of stage hands and techies everywhere in show business, the “Mic Drop” enjoys widespread popularity. For those of you who are not up to speed, the Oxford English Dictionary defines the mic drop as, (n.) an instance of deliberately dropping or tossing aside one’s microphone at the end of a performance or speech one considers to have been particularly impressive. They go on to say that it is “used to emphasize that a discussion is at an end after a definitive or particularly impressive point has been made, as in: ‘Nuff said. Mic drop!’”

       At the RCIA this week, this is exactly how one of the catechumens described what was going on in the synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus said, “Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

       I think he was on to something, especially when we remember that Jesus just did not pick this particular passage from Isaiah at random. It is one of the passages that heralded the coming of the Messiah and what it would look like. If you stop to think about it, the things described in the passage were exactly the kinds of things that Jesus has been doing before he stopped in at Nazareth and the kinds of things he would continue to do right up to his passion, death and resurrection. He is pointing out to them that the time of fulfillment is at hand.

       Indeed, the Church is very clear that just like all Old Testament sacrifices, all Old Testament prophecies were perfected and brought to fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ.

       (So, if you run across a preacher who is saying that O.T. prophecies are coming true in the present day, please charitably remind him of this reality.)

       It is a heady thing to live in the time of fulfillment, but that is exactly what we are doing. Christ fulfilled the prophecies and ushered in the new age of grace.  The present age will last until he comes in glory with salvation for his people.

       So, how do we live as the People of God in the age of fulfillment? 

       How are our lives different than those around us? Here’s a quick little quiz to help us out. 

1.  How do you organize you time?

• Is prayer your first priority of the day, or is it just something that you fit in when you can on the side? 
• Do you get your ten minutes of prayer a day? If not, why not?  
• If you are not getting at least ten minutes a day of quiet private prayer with God, your life is out of control and you need to make adjustments.  No excuses.
• Does all those in the home gather for prayer at a certain time of the day for prayer.

       And I don’t mean grace before meals.

Some folks might say, “Oh but Fr. Leo, life is busy with work and school and hockey and dance and whatnot.

       If you find yourself thinking this way, then the Evil One is already dominating your lives. 

       What I have described to you is the MINIMUM.

Remember, if I am the Evil One, I am going to fill your life with so many GOOD things, that you will not have time for your relationship with Christ.

       To whom do you give your time? Your life?

       To Christ?  Or to all these other…things

2.  How deliberately do you share your talents?

       What ministries are you involved in here at the parish?

       What organizations do you volunteer for in the community? 

       You don’t have to do everything, but you should do something.

       In the parish, I always advise folks to commit to one liturgical ministry and one ministry of service to the parish.

       In addition to volunteer for one organization in the community.  Somewhere that needs your gifts. 

3. Finally, how deliberate are you with your stewardship of treasure?

       On what kinds of things are you spending your money?

       How deliberate are you about distinguishing between needs and wants?

       How deliberate are you about giving a planned, proportionate amount to your income to the parish, to the Archdiocese? To other worthy causes both in the Church and in the larger community? 

       Let me tell you how I came to be deliberate about my stewardship of Treasure to the Lord.

A couple years after I was ordained, the Archdiocese made a commitment to implement the U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral letter on Stewardship.

       It is a powerful document, which is far more about how to be a Christian than anything else.

       Shortly thereafter at a meeting of the priests, Fr. Moore, the Vicar General introduced the new priests’ remuneration package.

       As he was talking about the amount of the monthly stipend, he added, “And of course, this is based on the assumption that all priests are tithing to their parish.”

       And there was a little twitter of laughter.

And in that moment something inside of me snapped. 

I said to myself, “This is so wrong.  How dare we ask our people do to something we are not willing to do ourselves?” 

       So like St. Peter, I went over the rail and into the deep.  That night in prayer I committed to the Lord that I would give the first 10% of my stipend to the parish, and any Mass stipends or other gifts would be tithed for other charities and the special collections.

       I should have done the math first.

       In those days, the priests stipend was $440/month.  Between my car payment, my student loan payment, one other monthly expense and the tithe, I started every month $49.73 in the whole.

       But, I had made a private vow to the Lord.

              So there could be no excuses. I had to live it out and trust that he would take care of me.

       I think it was in that moment that I made the transition from consumer of religious goods and services to disciple of Jesus Christ. I had to trust him with my finances…
That was hard.

       But you know, I never missed a payment,

       I found that I became incredibly grateful for all the little blessings in life.

       I learned the difference between a want and a need.

And surprisingly, I found that I had much more money at the end of each month than I really needed. 

       I realized then that Jesus meant what he said,

And also that you cannot outdo the generosity of God.

       I’ve never looked back since. 

Now, you may or may not be able to make such a leap all at once, but you can take a step.

       My advice is to work yourself up to it. 

       Sit down. Look at your household finances, pray hard, and decide.

       Maybe you start by committing 1% to the Church and 1% to other charities this year. Then next year, do the same assessment and work yourself up to 2% and 2%.  And then the same thing the next year and so on and so on. 

       For many of us, this is the most uncomfortable part of our life as a disciple, but for me, I found it was the most necessary. For me, I found that if I do not trust Christ with every part of my life, including my finances, then I am not loving him with all my heart and all my strength and all my soul. 

       I like what Bishop Gerber had to say about discerning one’s commitment of treasure.  He said:

• “After prayerful thought about the size of our gift;
• When we do not find ourselves making excuses for its size;
• When we know in our hearts it is sacrificial;
• When we are completely honest with God and with ourselves;
• Then we know our gift is the correct amount.”                     

In the end, it’s all about gratitude.  As the Psalmist says, “How shall I make a return to the Lord, for all the good he has done for me…(Psalm 116).

In short, when we understand what we have been given

       When we understand what we have been FORgiven

Then the only response that is possible. 

       And the only one that is necessary is gratitude.

Then the only question becomes what tangible expression will my gratitude take?

       On what and with whom do you spend your time?

       On what and with whom do you share your talent?

       On what and with whom do you spend your treasure?

To put it more glibly,

       Show me your calendar

       Show me your bank statement

       And I’ll tell you what your priorities are. 

Much of what I have just said is already known and lived by many of you. You’ve already made the time and the effort to be in this church or watch online.

But it is good once in awhile to sit back and take inventory. To look at one’s life and make an honest self-evaluation how we spend our time, talent and treasure.

       To put the “discipline” in “disciple”

To be deliberate in how we express our gratitude to Almighty God as people of the new covenant,

       Proclaiming the joy of the gospel

       In all that we say

       But more importantly, in all that we do.

So that those around us may come to know their Savior.

This week we move into Ordinary time and our gospel brings us to the Wedding at Cana. Check out the video here.

It was the great social philosopher Groucho Marx who once said:  “Marriage is a wonderful institution…

    But who wants to live in an institution?”

Did you hear about the two florists that  got married?

          It was an arranged marriage.

Ten years ago, the invisible man married the invisible woman.

          Yeah, their kids are nothing to look at either.

Two spiders got married.

          They met on the web.

Two antennas got married.

          The ceremony wasn’t much but the reception was excellent.

    There are many things we could talk about regarding the wedding at Cana in this week’s gospel. Personally, I am greatly edified that Our Lord’s first miracle was to make a party a success. As tempting as it might be to go down that rabbit hole, instead I’d like to talk about the role of the Blessed Mother.

    Much like today, wedding feasts were a big deal in first century Palestine.  But unlike today, they were public, not private events. Days before, the groom had left with his entourage to retrieve his bride from her village. Travel being what it was in those days, he could show up at any time, day or night. Once the bridegroom and his bride arrived there was a festive procession from the gates of town to the bridegroom’s household. The whole village was involved. Since there were no newspapers or Facebook or any other type of media to publicize the event, this is how they did it. The typical wedding feast went on for a week or more. Many scholars comment that this particular wedding feast had probably been going on for at least three days by the time the wine ran out. How embarrassing! 

    Enter the Mother of Jesus. Seeing the awkward situation of the host family, she approaches her Son. We may be a bit perplexed at Jesus’ response, “My hour has not yet come.”  I’m not sure what his plans were, but whatever they had been, the intervention of his mother seems to change all that. And then, perhaps even to his own embarrassment, she turns to the steward and says, “Do whatever he tells you.”  I my own mind, I can hear Jesus mutter to himself, “Oh, Mom!”

    Then, the miracle happens. 

    The implication of the story is clear. Jesus works the miracle because of the intercession of the Blessed Mother on behalf of the bride and groom. It is a powerful lesson and a strong example for all of us. There are three things we should take away from this encounter.

    First, Mary is the first disciple and the model for all the rest of us disciples. As she was not shy about asking Jesus to work the miracle for her friends, neither should we be in asking Jesus to help ours.      

     Second, like the bride and groom, we should not be shy about making our needs know to the Blessed Mother so that she may intercede on our behalf.

    Finally, once we have, we would do well to heed her advice to the stewards: “Do whatever he tells you.”               

There are many things we can contemplate about the wedding at Cana, but it behooves us to look very closely at the role of the Blessed Mother.

    In how we pray

    What and for whom we pray

    What we should do with the fruits of that prayer.

Howdy, Church fans! Here is the latest from your one-stop salvation shop! Authority in the Church is not exercised like authority in secular politics. To be credible, it must be done as service, not just power. Check out the video on our YouTube channel by clicking here. The whole Mass can be found by clicking here.

---

    I’ve always been impressed with the leadership style of Pope St. John XXIII.

       You know, he almost did not become pope.  There was a much more qualified Italian cardinal by the name of Massimo Sicola. However, the other cardinals decided against him in the end because they could not bring themselves to elect someone who would be known as “Pope Sicola”.

       Pope St. John XXIII is often seen as the Pope for the common person, but his genius was not so much that he brought the papacy down to the level of the people, but that he brought the people up to the level of the papacy.  Without giving up a single trapping of the office, he exercised his authority in such a way that everyone could identify with Good Pope John. The secret as to how he pulled this off lies in this week’s gospel. There are three parts to this passage and each one deserves some reflection.

       In the first part, Jesus is introducing the disciples to the notion that the Messiah will suffer and die and be raised on the third day. In doing so, he is identifying with the image of the Suffering Servant described in the first reading from Wisdom. He does this very deliberately.  He doesn’t mince words. 

       But this is not what the disciples had in mind at all. Like everyone at that time, they were looking for the Messiah to be a powerful priest-king who would kick out the Romans and establish the Kingdom of Israel where true worship of God could happen in peace. Accordingly, they were arguing about which cabinet positions they would hold in the new power structure.

       Jesus sets them straight. Authority in the Kingdom of God is not exercised like authority in secular politics. True and lasting authority which comes from God is exercised as service to the common good. “If anyone wishes to be the first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all. (Mk 9:35) To be credible and effective, it cannot be any other way.        Good leaders don’t tower over others; they raise others up to a higher dignity. This was the genius of Christ, the genius of Good Pope John, and a challenge for us. Let us lead by service in our families for the good of our neighborhoods, in our parish for the good of our local community, in our Archdiocese for the good of our State, and in the Church Universal for good of the world.

Hey, Church fans! I’m back from the wilds of Alaska and in the pulpit once again. Here’s this week’s offering. Catch the video of the homily on our YouTube channel by clicking here. The whole Mass is on our parish Facebook page. Click here for that.

---

     Every one of us has a pet peeve or two.  I like to think my pet peeves are simple. I get irritated with mechanical things that are cheaply made and break down easily. I have little patience for laziness (which must be distinguished from legitimate leisure). And I don’t like the word ‘Catholicism.” 

     Call me persnickety, but it’s just not a good description of who we are. We are not an ‘ism.’  We are no some disembodied set of principles or a philosophical or anthropological method of self-actualization.  We are very corporeal. The fact that we call ourselves, “The Body of Christ” and “The People of God.” is no accident. 

     Prevailing secular culture would like to reduce us to an ‘ism.’  This is because ‘isms’—disembodied principles—are easily dismissed in a world where truth is relative and ‘my truth’ is as credible as ‘your truth.’  The idea that there might actually be something as objective as “The Truth” is very irksome to some people.

      We should not let ourselves be reduced to an ‘ism’.  Anyone can dismiss an ‘ism’.  It is much more difficult to dismiss a person, and impossible to ignore an assembly of persons.

     The Catholic Church is exceedingly incarnational.  The thing that distinguishes us, and all Christians, is how we answer the question: ‘Who is Jesus of Nazareth?”

In fact, that is the very point of this week’s readings.  It helps to remember that while gospels are quite historical, they were not written as histories.  Rather, they are theological statements that answer the question: “Who is Jesus of Nazareth?” 

       The  reading from the prophet Isaiah states what the Messiah would do, making the blind see, the deaf hear, and the mute speak.  In relating the healing of the deaf man with the speech impediment, the Gospel of Mark shows Jesus doing just that.  The message is clear: “This is the guy!  This is the Messiah!”

       In the Church, we state unequivocally that he is the Incarnate Word of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and rose on the third day. He is not just a sensitive, new-age guy who taught us all how to get along by loving our neighbor.  Christ is not an ‘ism’ and neither are we.

     The Church has a face. Surprisingly, this face looks a lot like yours and mine. As the Body of Christ, we are in a true sense, the sacrament of Christ, the true presence of Christ in the world. We should never let ourselves be reduced to any thing else. 

     Teresa of Avila said it well: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.”

[Greetings, Church fans! Here is the homily. Actually, the first part of the homily. The rest deals with some issue particular to the parish. You can catch the whole Mass on our Facebook page or just the homily on our YouTube channel here. ]

Long before the FaceBook post or the meme, my mother, (who turns 90 this weekend) loved to put little framed quotations all over the house. Such things as: “A little explained, a little endured, a little forgiven—the quarrel is cured.”  or “Engage brain before putting mouth in gear.”  Of course with our family heritage, Irish sayings held a place of honor. The Irish, being a great and noble race of people, have many wonderful expressions.  My favorite in the house is this: “May the love of God warm your heart like a great fire, so that a friend may come and warm himself there.”

       I cannot celebrate Pentecost without this saying coming to mind. When we understand what and who the Holy Spirit is, it makes a lot of sense.  

       As Christians, we believe in the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit—one God, three persons. It only makes sense if you think of it terms of relationship. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.  The dynamic intensity of this relationship, by its very nature, radiates out beyond the Father and Son, much like the heat of a great fire. But we don’t just feel its effects, we are loved ourselves.  We are invited to participate fully in the power of this love, and to invite others. 

       A good marriage also helps us understand. The two spouses love one another, body and soul.  The best expression of the intensity of this relationship, is by its very nature live-giving, and nine months later, you may have to give it a name! But it’s not just children. While I was growing up, my parents were always inviting other people to share in the life and love of our home. There were always neighbor kids and friends and neighbors who were enlivened by the relationship my parents had. Their love, such as it was, invited others to be a part of it and share in its joys, its sorrows, its triumphs and its tragedies. The love of God warmed their hearts like a great fire, and many were warmed in its glow as they were invited to be a part of that relationship.

       The Holy Spirit  is nothing less than the power of the love of God alive in the heart of every Christian.  The God who is perfect relationship and perfect communion invites us to share fully in the intensity of that dynamic love. This, I believe is one of the most profound ways that we are made in the image and likeness of God.  We are made for communion, for that perfect relationship at the level of our very being with God and others.  The gifts and the fruits of this relationship we call the Holy Spirit, are readily available to all through the sacraments of the Church.

       Come, Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.          

Here is the text. As always, you can see the video of homily on our YouTube site here. The whole Mass is on our Facebook page here.

---

We begin with the blessing of the palms and the commemoration of Christ’s Triumphal entry into Jerusalem and then all of a sudden, we are reading the Passion of Mark.  In less than 15 minutes we go from

Palm Sunday, more properly known as “Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion” really lends itself to a kind of liturgical whiplash.

       “Hosannah to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

       to “My God!  My God!  Why have you abandoned me?!”

       From the palm which is a symbol of victory

       To the Cross, an instrument of execution.

How are we to make sense of it all?

In order to do so, we need a good understanding of what it means to be redeemed by Christ by his suffering and death on the Cross. 

First, what does it mean to be redeemed?

       In the time of Christ, right up to the end of the middle of the 19^th century, the idea of “debt bondage” was a rather common practice.

       Briefly stated, if you ran up a personal debt that you could not pay, then you could be sentenced by the civil courts to be sold into slavery to your creditor until such time as your debt was paid. 

We see this elsewhere in the scriptures in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. Remember the scene?

       “That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.

       When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.”

       Later, in Europe, this practice continued right up until the middle of the 19^th century with a system of debtors prisons. Your sentence depended on the amount you owed and you were not released until your debt was paid to the last penny.

       Federal debtors prisons were outlawed in the United States in 1833 and in England in 1867.  But they still exist in certain parts of the world.

       But even today we will use the phrase, “Paying your debt to society” when referring to those serving time for criminal offenses. 

So it was in the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. Of course, the Romans, being very efficient, documented everything.

       So let’s say you owed a debt you could not pay, your creditor brought you before the magistrate, you were convicted. 

       One of the first things they did was draw up the legal document on parchment or papyrus recording the nature of your offense, the details, and what it would take to redeem your debt.  This document was known as your mandate or “mandatum.”  It might look a little like this:

       [Hold up the Mandatum}

Then, you were led off by the bailiff and cast into bondage. How could you get out of the situation?  How could you be redeemed and set free?

There were three ways that you could be redeemed:

       1. You could spend the proscribed amount of time in bondage.

       2. You could shorten this time by paying in blood and submitting to torture. Of course, if your creditor didn’t like you, or the prison was a bit overcrowded, they might do this to you anyway, just to move things along. Or, 

       3. If you had a rich uncle or other friends or relatives, they could pay your debt for you and you would be released. 

       Now, let’s take this little scenario and apply it to the situation of fallen humanity.

With the disobedience of humanity in the fall, SIN entered the world. 

       Humanity flexed its infantile moral muscles and asserted its independence from the Creator.

       Humanity, of course, was perfectly free to do so, but such independence from God comes at a price.

       As St. Paul and many others has surmised, this price for original and all sin…is suffering and death.

        Even the casual observer of the human condition can see that this is true in this life, as it is in the next.

       Who of us has not suffered because of our own carelessness or sins

       or the carelessness or sins of another,

              sometimes with fatal consequences?

       Sin is real.

       And death is real.

Like the man in debtors’ prison, humanity found ourselves owing a debt we could and cannot pay, eternal in its magnitude.

       1. Thus by our sin, we found ourselves sentenced to a debt bondage for eternity.

       2. Suffering in this life and the next in separation from God.

       3.  Unless…unless someone with the means could pay that debt for us.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary, Son of God,

       Who by taking on a human nature, was able to pay the debt of suffering and death which is the price of sin.

       Who by his divine nature had the means to do so.  

Jesus, the Christ, who by his suffering and death on the Cross, redeemed a fallen humanity and reconciled all creation to the Father.

“Christ paid a debt he didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.” 

The price for our sins has been paid.  And we are free.

Now, the liturgical whiplash of Palm Sunday makes sense.

By his suffering and death on the Cross that Christ paid the price for our sin. We are redeemed in the blood of Christ. 

       In the Roman Empire, your debt was paid, by time, by suffering or by anorther, they took your mandatum and wrote on it in big red letters.  REDEMPTUS EST, ‘He or she is redeemed.”

       And you carried it around with you.

       So that if someone should challenge you, “Say, aren’t you the guy that welched on your debt to Wally?”

       You could whip out your mandatum, show it to them and say, “I have been redeemed.” 

You know, we each have a mandatum. It looks like this:

       [Show baptism certificate.]

It’s called your baptism certificate, and it reads like this:

       [Read baptism certificate.]

It is now the Cross, not the palm that is the ultimate symbol of victory

       The palm spoke only of earthly victory in battle.

       The Cross stands as witness and speaks for all eternity of the sacrifice which won for us the victory over sin and death.

       We are redeemed in the blood of Christ.

Hey, Friends! There is a lot in this homily which is not in the synopsis below. To get the whole talk, check it out either on our YouTube channel here or the whole Mass on our Facebook Page here.

---

The Gospel of John is a lot like a big bowl of steaming Irish stew. You can see that there is some yummy goodness in there, but it is not until you actual start to stir it up that all sorts of  hidden delights come to the surface. So it is with this week’s gospel passage where Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus. There are four different ingredients, but the broth that holds them together is belief in the Son of Man.

The first ingredient is a teaching on his Passion (3:14,15). Why must the Son of Man be lifted up like the serpent in the desert?  “So that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

The second is the classic John 3:16-17. God loved the world so much he gave his only son.  Why?  “So that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” 

The third ingredient shows us that Jesus came to save us, not to condemn us. How do we avoid condemnation?  “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned.” This seems harsh at first glance, but we must acknowledge that God does not do violence to us. Belief cannot be forced. So strangely enough, self-inflicted condemnation does happen. It’s a sad thing to realize that God does not condemn anyone to hell. Everyone in hell has freely chosen to be there. He goes on to explain this. There are those who simply choose the darkness over the light so that their sins may not come to light. This may be due to pride, stubbornness, or any number of things.

The final ingredient is an encouragement for us who believe in Jesus to live in the light of the truth.  He comes preaching the Kingdom, but more importantly he comes preaching himself. It is belief in Jesus that is our ticket to the Kingdom; by whom we are saved from condemnation; and with whom we enter into eternal, unapproachable light.

[Deacon Mick gave a good one today. As always you can check out the whole Mass here. And hey, I’ve also learned how to post just the homilies on YouTube. You can do that here.

The readings today

address the sickness and suffering of people that

filled a typical day in the life of Jesus. 

In one degree or another,

sickness and suffering are universal experiences.

And never so much as in today’s world.

You might say suffering is very democratic (with a small ‘d”). 

It doesn’t come only to the selfish;

it doesn’t come only to the sinful;

it doesn’t come only to people who are evil. 

It comes to the young and to the old,

to the wise and to the foolish,

to saints and to sinners.

Our first reading today

from the Old Testament Book of Job

is sometimes called “Job’s Lament.” 

He says,

“My pain is more than I can bear. 

I can’t sleep at night. 

I shall not see happiness again.” 

Job’s lament

is a cry we all feel within ourselves when

we became seriously ill or

when someone we love becomes ill or dies.

When we read in the Scriptures about

individuals speaking with God

and their mystical experiences,

we may or may not be able to relate to that, but

we can all connect to human suffering. 

Maybe our hurt is not physical but emotional

like a marriage in distress or a friends betrayal

or being bullied in school. 

When we feel pain,

regardless of the source,

we want to join Job and say.

“I shall never see happiness again/“

Into this world of suffering and pain comes Jesus. 

In today’s Gospel reading,

the lord heals Simon’s mother-in-law and then

people with all sorts of illnesses. 

In fact,

he heals so many people that

the Lord has to find time alone in the desert for prayer.

Some people are healed physically and others

are healed spiritually by the power of Jesus’ teaching. 

Jesus sees that

the deepest healing we all need is spiritual. 

That’s why the Lord moves on to preach in another town.

People are healed spiritually

when they are given the strength to accept their condition in life,

even to make their suffering a place of strength,

depth and compassion for others. 

That’s a powerful, healing grace because

suffering can make us bitter, isolated, and self-absorbed. 

It’s a sign of the touch of Christ

when our suffering gives us depth of understanding,

spiritual strength and compassion for others.

Now, this may sound like ambo rhetoric

until we see it happen in human lives

as people in the deepest suffering become like Christ. 

In their suffering,

they see a deep truth about the world. 

They see that

ours is not the perfect world and

we are not the perfect people

portrayed in television advertising.

They see that life

is not filled with happy endings as in the movies. 

Through suffering we experience the fragility of life

and see what is important

and how we all need the grace and redemption of Christ.

When people unite their suffering,

which is always a sign of our broken world,

with the cross of Christ,

they make their own pain

an occasion for spiritual victory for themselves

and for others.

SO – It’s in this context that

we can best understand

the Sacrament of Healing,

the Sacrament of the Sick,

the Anointing of the Sick. 

This is the sacrament that

for centuries was given to people who were seriously ill. 

Eventually, it became limited to those who were dying

and then used to be called the last anointing

or the “Extreme Unction”  or last rites. 

But the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

is meant to be a sacrament of spiritual healing, strength and peace. 

And so the Church has restored it

as a sacrament not just for those at the point of death

but for all those who are seriously ill.

It can also be administered to those over 55 years of age. 

I guess they feel we are so close to death after that age that

we should not take any chances.

But seriously,

as in all  the sacraments,

the Lord Jesus is present in this sacrament

at a time in our life when we need him very much. 

When we are seriously ill,

we are challenged in our faith. 

We need the special help of God’s grace

in this time of anxiety so that

we will not be broken in spirit, or feel isolated and alone.

The Anointing of the Sick

gives us the courage and grace

to hold to our faith in the face of this challenge. 

It helps us see that

when we think we are alone, we are not. 

It helps us see that when our body is weak,

our soul can be strong. 

It provides healing that

is sometimes physical, sometimes emotional and always spiritual.

When we feel that

no one could possibly understand what we are going through,

Jesus joins us in our suffering

and turns a moment of desperation

into a moment of conversion.

My brothers and sisters,

don’t wait until a loved one is expiring

or lapsing into unconsciousness

to call a priest. 

When someone is seriously ill,

he or she needs this sacrament

when they can hear the words of the prayers

and make those prayers their own. 

Illness can be frightening. 

The Anointing of the Sick assures us that

Jesus is with us. 

He is there to protect us

from the doubts and anxiety that plagued Job. 

He is there to give us

the courage and grace to journey with him

and even,

even to make our illness an instrument of salvation

to ourselves and to others so that

whatever illness may do to our body,

Jesus, through the Sacrament of the Sick

will bring clarity, peace and dignity to our soul.