Most often when we see a picture or statue of Christ, it is the strong, radiant, risen Christ.  But our scriptures keep reminding us that Christ was a human being like us, with the same emotions, who had to find His way to His Father’s will and then accept it.  He wasn’t always in control.  In our reading from Hebrews, we hear, In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death… “With loud cries and tears”!  It wasn’t easy for Him, as it wouldn’t have been for us.
 
In the Gospel, Jesus realizes that things are getting closer and closer to a deadly confrontation with the religious leaders. He says that “His hour” has come.  He then says, I am troubled now.  Yet what should I say?  ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.  We can see Him going back and forth in His mind: be saved from this hour or accept it?  The same dynamic plays out in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus ultimately says, not my will but yours be done.
 
How was Jesus able to arrive at this point of accepting such a brutal, unjust death?  Through His consistent pattern of going off by Himself to be in His Father’s presence and seek guidance.  When He
began His ministry, He went into the desert for 40 days.  During that time, He realized that He was not to be a powerful political leader, thus rejecting Satan’s temptations and accepting His Father’s will.  He went off to pray by Himself before He chose His apostles.  When He was tired, overburdened, confused, etc., He went off by Himself to be in His Father’s presence and calm down, finding His direction forward.  The final time was in the Garden of Gethsemane, when, as I noted above, He uttered the ultimate words of obedience, not my will but yours be done.
 
Like Jesus, we are not in control.  “Life happens” and it is sometimes very difficult.  How do we cope?  How do we find our way forward?  Jesus shows us how: give God time and space to be with us and we will surely find our way.
 
As we enter into the final stage of Lent and prepare for Holy Week and our memorial celebrations of Christ’s suffering and death, I invite us to spend extra time in quiet conversation with the Lord.  Like Jesus, we can complain and share our troubles, even with “loud cries and tears,” but we also need to be quiet and listen.  Ultimately, we need to be able to say, not my will, but yours be done.
 
Church sign of the week: If Jesus can rise from the dead, you can get out of bed on Sunday morning.

Our first reading from the end of the second book of Chronicles gives an overview of salvation history through creation, the fall, the covenants God made with His people, their unfaithfulness, the exile, and their return to Jerusalem through the largess of a pagan king.  What comes through it all is that God’s love is always there. He never abandons His people, no matter what they do: He is waiting for their return.
 
The same is true today: no matter what we do, the Lord is waiting for us to return to Him.  That is the focus and purpose of Lent: Come back to me, with all your heart.  Don’t let fear, keep us apart…Long have I waited for your coming home to me…
 
The sacraments are a special way we come to God in our need.  At Masses this weekend we have the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, asking God to heal us and support us in our weaknesses.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is an opportunity to return to the Lord, asking forgiveness for what we have done wrong or for the good we have failed to do.  In addition to our normal confession times on Saturday afternoons, we have the opportunity on Tuesday evening, March 19th, to participate in a communal celebration with individual confession afterwards.  Three priests will be available. I urge you to mark your calendar for that evening and join with other members of the community in celebrating this important sacrament as a preparation for the celebration of Easter.
 
Finally, on Holy Thursday we remember the institution of the Eucharist: Christ feeds us with His Body and Blood, strengthening us to be better able to move through life living the Gospel values of love and forgiveness. I hope you can join us as we gather, as the Body of Christ, to celebrate this wonderful sacrament.
 
Jesus suffered, died for our salvation, and rose from the dead, all of which we remember on Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter.  The sacraments are the gift which bring us the graces Christ has won for us.  Please join our community as we walk with Christ through these final days of his life, his death, and his resurrection.  To prepare ourselves well, let us take advantage of all the above-mentioned opportunities to receive the sacraments.
 
Church sign of the week: I have given God a thousand reasons not to love me.  None of them have changed his mind.

All of us get angry.  It is a part of being human.  Unfortunately, when I was a child, I was taught in religion class that to be angry is a sin.  That is baloney. Having angry feelings is a part of being human and we can’t keep them from coming.  What is important is how we handle the anger and what we do with it. There is destructive anger and constructive anger. Let’s look at them:
 
Destructive anger: if someone cuts me off in traffic and almost causes me to hit parked cars, I am going to feel angry.  I have been threatened and anger is a natural response.  There is no sin in that.  It is what I DO with the anger that is important.  If I engage in road rage, if I get out a gun and shoot the person, that is allowing the anger to be destructive and is sinful.  But if I manage to control myself, if I can remind myself that I have done stupid things in the past, and if I manage to say a prayer for the person, I have channeled my anger to be constructive. Bottom line: anger isn’t the sin, but rather what we do with it.
 
In our Gospel, Jesus gives us another example of constructive anger, that is, being angry that the poor and vulnerable are being abused by those in power.  The poor had to bring doves for sacrifice.  Upon
inspection, they would be declared imperfect and the people would have to buy other ones at an exorbitant price. They also had to exchange their money for special temple money, again at exorbitant prices.  And, of course, this was allowed because the religious leaders got bribes or kickbacks.  Jesus displayed constructive anger in our Gospel, doing his best to stop the scamming of the poor. It was the last straw that led the religious leaders to have him arrested and crucified.  A modern reflection of this is those whose anger at racial discrimination led them to participate in the civil rights movement.
 
My friends, it is important to understand that anger is not the problem: it is what we do with the anger.  When someone confesses to me that they were angry, I ask them “why” and “how did you handle it?”  That gets to the crux of the issue. When someone confesses that they got angry and hurt someone, I know they are understanding the real issue.
 
I invite us to reflect this week on how we do at handling anger.  We all will get angry; there is no way around that.  Making sure we respond in a constructive way is the challenge we have to rise to, as disciples of Jesus. With the help of God, we can do it.
 
Church sign of the week: Love difficult people. You are one of them.

Every first Sunday of Lent is a version of Jesus being tempted in the desert (HE IS HUMAN); the second Sunday is a version of the Transfiguration (HE IS DIVINE). In all three biblical accounts of the
Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus.  They obviously represent the law and the prophets, telling us that Jesus came to fulfil the law and the prophets.
 
But it struck me this year, as I was reflecting on what I wanted to say in the homily and this reflection, that Elijah and Moses also represent something else.  Elijah was looking for God in a fire or an earthquake or a mighty wind, but God came to him in a tiny, whispering sound.  Is that reminding me that I will find God in the silence of my heart, when I take quiet time to be with the Lord? Moses, on the other hand, was the instrument God used to give the Israelites the commandments and laws governing how they should treat one another, how they should honor and respect others and not steal, kill, or hurt them. Is that reminding me that my relationship with God, strengthened when I hear the tiny, whispering sound, has to be lived out with respect and loving concern for others?
 
These two things are what faith is all about.  We need to honor God, recognizing His place in our lives, while building a personal relationship with Him through listening and sharing.  He wants to be a personal friend, not someone we simply adore. But that personal relationship needs to flow into how we treat other people: obeying the commandments so we don’t harm them, but also reaching out to share the gifts of time, treasure, and talent that the Lord has given us.
 
Going to Mass, observing fast and abstinence laws, etc., are important. But they are not ends in themselves: they strengthen us to go out of ourselves and serve others.
 
Lent is a time to slow down, be reflective, and make sure our priorities are correct.  Am I using the sacraments, the Word of God, and the community, as well as quiet time with the Lord, to help me build a strong relationship with the Lord?  A relationship which leads me to treat others with respect, while sharing with those in need? That is what our faith life is all about.
 
As we struggle to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ, let us support each other in prayer. God bless.
 
Church sign of the week: Save money on gas: walk with God.

God is always calling us to grow, to change, to live Gospel values more fully.  Lent is a special time to pay attention to this call for metanoia.  But, if we are to change and grow, we need to make the effort to do so.
 
One important aspect of change is to spend quiet time with the Lord, allowing the Lord to speak to us.  Quiet, meditative time also helps us see ourselves more clearly, discerning what is good and what needs to change in our lives. Changing oneself is difficult; I think it becomes
almost impossible without quiet time to reflect on who we really are, allowing God to influence us.
 
Our community is offering two resources to help us this Lenten season. One is the Little Black book, which has two entries for each day.  The page on the right each day will walk us through Luke’s Passion account. The page on the left presents a fact or story, which sometimes, for me, sparks a deeper meditation.
 
The second is something we introduced a couple years ago for Lent. It is the Post Game Review, an exercise based on the Examen of St. Ignatius, which invites us to spend time in the evening reviewing our day.  If you no longer have the card explaining the review, there are
copies on the table in the lobby in the vestibule of church. 
 
I plan to use the Little Black book in the morning for some quiet reflection time and the Post Game Review at the end of the day to reflect on how I am doing and how I might need to change my course.  However you decide to do it, I encourage you to make sure you have goals for Lent, with quiet time set aside to reflect on how you are doing.  That is how real spiritual growth and change will take place.  Dear Lord, help us make good use of this special time of the Church year.  Amen.  God bless.
 
Church sign of the week: If you do what you can, God will do what you can’t.

Our Gospel reading this weekend is the cure of a leper.  The leper approaches Jesus, kneels down in front of Him, and asks to be healed.  Jesus, we are told, was “moved with pity,” stretched out His hand, touched the leper, and cured Him.
 
It is important to note that both Jesus and the leper broke the law: the leper was not allowed to be near anyone; he had to stay at a distance and make a noise to warn people not to approach.  Jesus broke the law by touching the leper, thus becoming unclean Himself.  In other words, Jesus became unclean so that the leper would be cleansed.
 
There are a couple points of reflection that I would like to suggest: once again, we hear that Jesus was “moved with pity” for the man, who not only had a severe physical condition, but was also an outcaste of society, even from his own family.  How often do we hear that Jesus’ heart was “moved with pity”? When I see others in need, is my heart “moved with pity” enough to nudge me to take action?
 
Second, by allowing Himself to become unclean, Jesus brought cleansing to the leper.  Sometimes we have to be willing to risk, if we are truly going to reach out and help others.
 
Finally, notice the importance of “touch” in this story.  Jesus reached out and touched the man, a man who was isolated from everyone else.  That touching, that reaching out, that connection might have meant as much as, or even more than, the physical healing!  Most of us don’t have the power to cure someone’s physical illness, but we certainly have the power to cure loneliness, isolation, and rejection.
 
I invite us to reflect this week on the example Jesus gave us in this Gospel story of how important it is for us to reach out to others and touch them, thus curing isolation, sadness, and despair.  We have a lot of power in us to cure: let’s make sure we are using it.  God bless.
 
Church sign of the week: Instead of pointing a finger, lend a hand.

Our Gospel today contains the very short narrative of Jesus curing the mother-in-law of Peter.  We are told she “lay sick with a fever,” but the original Greek word meant “burning up” or “on fire.”  While it is logical to assume it was a “fever,” maybe it was something else?
 
Peter was a fisherman and he supported his wife and family by fishing.  But, just 10 verses earlier in Mark’s Gospel, we were told he left his boat and nets to follow Jesus to become “a fisher of people.”  Could the mother-in-law be burning up with anger because Peter had “abandoned” her daughter to follow this preacher? If so, then her encounter with Jesus enabled her to let go of her anger and see the
situation in a different light.
 
There will be times in our lives when we will find ourselves in the situation of Peter’s mother-in-law, stewing in anger because of the actions of the other person.  Perhaps we feel betrayed by someone we love.  Maybe a child does something stupid that we warned them not to do, and so on.
 
If so, the message of this Gospel “cure” might be that, if we take our anger to Jesus and be in His presence with it, He will help us let it go.  Anger is a natural reaction and it comes.  No problem with that.  The problem comes when we hold onto it, when we are stewing in bed, as was Peter’s mother-in-law.  That hurts us and helps no one else.
 
I invite us to reflect on whether we have any anger, either raging at the moment or stored up in the background, taking it to the Lord in prayer and asking Him to “cure” us of this debilitating emotion.  He helped Peter’s mother-in-law: He will also help us.  Lord, help me let go of anger and walk forward with you in peace.
 
Church sign of the week: There is no dollar sign on peace of mind.

Our second reading from Paul’s first letter to the Colossians is often misunderstood, because it is taken out of context.  As he says in the first line, his concern is to relieve their anxieties.  He is making suggestions, not commands, to early believers who expected the second coming of Jesus at any time, certainly not very far off at all.  From that perspective, he is saying to be free of marital obligations allows one to focus completely on preparing for the second coming (being focused on “the things of the Lord”).
 
Later, long after the belief that the 2nd coming would be soon was left behind, the Church began to use this passage to claim that celibacy was a “better” way of life than matrimony, that matrimony was secondary.  But Paul starts this section of his letter saying,
everyone should live as the Lord has assigned, just as God called each one (7:17).  In other words, each of us has a specific vocation or calling from the Lord and we need to live THAT life for the Kingdom,
bringing Christ to the world. No one vocation is better than another: it is what God calls me to, as an individual, that is right for me.
 
There is no need to be comparing vocations or styles of life or professions, etc. What I need to focus on is how I am living the vocation I have been called to: am I living Gospel values, so that others can see the compassion, joy, love, and generosity of Christ in
action?  That is what we have been called to, that is what gives meaning to our lives.
 
The bottom line is not whether we are married or single, celibate or not, cleric or lay, etc.  The important thing is that we bring Christ to those around us by what we say and do.  We will have access to people and situations that no one else does and God wants to use us to bring his love, compassion, and forgiveness to others.  Let’s make sure we are cooperating.  God bless.
 
Church sign of the week: Life is a gift: unwrap your present.

As we move through these first Sundays of Ordinary time, we continue hearing call stories.  Last week we heard about Samuel’s call, as well as Andrew and Peter beginning to follow Jesus. Our Gospel this week presents Jesus calling James, John, Andrew, and Peter to leave everything and start a new life with Him, learning how to be “fishers of people.” Ordinary time begins with call stories to remind us that we, also, were called in baptism, to follow Jesus and to bring others to Him.  Throughout Ordinary time Jesus will be teaching His disciples, including us, how to do that, by what He says and how He lives.

Each one of us, no matter what life God has given us (lay, religious, clerical; single, married, parent; work, profession), has the same obligation to live as Christ did, thus bringing Him into the world.  

How is it that we are to live?  There are two basic obligations: the first is to obey the commandments, that is, love God and not hurt other people.  The second is to show that love of God by reaching out and helping others, especially those most in need.  It is going beyond not hurting others to being concerned and helping them address their needs, especially the most vulnerable. We need to do our best to keep growing in fulfilling these demands.

God knows we can’t be perfect, so when we fail, we need to acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness.  Finally, we need to trust in God’s promises that He accompanies us, supports us, and offers us 
forgiveness.

Our baptismal call is not to be perfect, but to be continually growing in our ability to keep the commandments; help others; ask for forgiveness, as needed; and trust that God is with us. Let us support each other in prayer, that we may always be growing in our ability to fulfill the call God has given us.  God bless.

Church sign of the week (repeated from last week, because it is so relevant): God’s voice is as loud as your willingness to listen. 

Our readings this weekend have two “call” stories.  In the first reading, the young Samuel is sleeping and the Lord calls him.  He thinks it is his mentor, Eli, and three times he goes to Eli before Eli realizes it is the Lord calling and tells Samuel how to respond.  In the Gospel, John the Baptist points to Jesus, two of his disciples follow Jesus who invites them to “Come and see,” and one of them (Andrew) goes and gets his brother, Simon.

There are two points I want to make.  First of all, it is God who calls us.  He initiates the dialog.  Our job is to learn to listen, as did Samuel. Sometimes he does it through other people, both mentors (like parents, advisors, etc.) and ordinary people that we meet and interact with.  Sometimes he calls to us through the circumstance and events of life. Often, he talks to us when we are taking quiet time to be in his presence. A personal example: I was teaching English to college students when one said to me, “I wish you were a priest: you know how to listen to people.” That is what pushed me to enter theology and be ordained.  A call from God??

Second, we need to live in such a way that God can use us to call others, as John the Baptist did for Andrew and Andrew did for Peter. We never know how God will use what we say and do to influence others for the good. I’m sure that student had no idea of the effect she had in my life. Being kind to someone who is rude can change that person’s attitude.  But it is harder for God to use us when we lose it or are being selfish.

The bottom line is this: God uses us to call to others and he calls to us through other people and events.  We need to live so as to be “usable,” while being as alert as possible to hear the call coming to us.  God is walking with us, always: how blessed we are!

Church sign of the week: God’s voice is as loud as your willingness to listen.