October 3, 2010 - 27th Sunday of the Year

-Sept. 26 Homily is in the library ->
-Scriptures for Oct. 3 are at USCCB.org ->
-I will celebrate Sunday Mass at 9:30 & 11:00

Rigor of the heart!

I can't think of anything more encouraging than St. Paul's words "stir into flame the gift ...". It is a common gesture to take a stick or piece of paper and turn the smoldering embers in a fireplace Into a living flame. Don't we need to do that with our faith?

Rusted gates, stroke victims' legs and hands, even our minds and hearts can be habituated into deadly posture. Simply over use in one direction with insufficient resources for healthy renewal causes us to static appearances. It is atrophy...hardens in position.

When this happens in our spiritual or religious life it can be so gradual that we neither know that we are dead or when it died. Suddenly we have dry, empty habits where we once had living gestures of faith. This can he the case for us as a Catholic community, as religious orders or ministries or as a parish. There's movement but no meaningful life.

Let us stir the embers of faith in our hearts, marriages, ministries, and church into a raging fire of life and love in the world!

Pleased to meet you!

This week's 9/26 homily is in the library ->

September 26, 2010 - 25th Sunday of the Year

• The September 19th homily is in the library ->
• The readings for this coming Sunday are at usccb.org ->
• I am presiding at the Sat 9/25 4:00pm and the Sun 9/26 9:30am Mass. I will also be celebrating in Spanish at Our Lady of Lourdes parish on e. 55th Street at 12:30pm

"Pleased to meet you"

Just as with last week's "how are you doing?" this Sunday the Scriptures challenge one of our social conventions or courtesies; "Pleased to meet you" as we say so often. "Pleased to meet you" is one of those things that we say when we meet someone and we can't think of anything else to say. It is too often an expression empty of meaning. Too often we are not pleased at all and in fact we are not really meeting "anyone".

What I mean is that the person being presented to us is not really "anyone" to us. Often we know we will never meet that person again so meeting them really doesn't even register with us. Even in the case of people we will have to spend a great deal of time with we often do not consider them to be very significant at this "meeting".

This "disregard" for the importance of another person is at the heart of the Gospel teaching today. The rich man's sin is not that he was rich or that he failed to give his wealth away - but rather that he did not regard Lazarus as a brother, a person with meaning, importance, as one for whom he was somehow responsible.

This disregard for the fundamental communion that we share with other human beings is what Jesus and the prophet Amos are teaching against. There is a warning here for all who disregard the bond of human dignity, the fellowship of the family of humanity, the responsibility that we have for the "human race" as manifest in each person.

The social teaching of the Catholic church encourages the virtue or principle of solidarity. Solidarity was made famous by Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II and it is a call to act toward others as if you belong to one another. The other is NOT a burden, it is NOT a nuisance, he is NOT a possession, he is NOT disposable, she is not a servant. The other is a sharer in my human existence, my human life. The condition of the other ought to affect my sense of well being. We share a common life - we are called to a communion of life (in the image and likeness of divine life of God).

To what extent do I belong to all those I meet, especially those with whom I share church membership, neighborhood, workspace, citizenship? Should I not be sincerely "pleased" to make the acquaintance of my brother or sister, especially in the Lord? Solidarity calls me to take some responsibility for the quality of their living, their eternal salvation, their share in the bounty of the earth.

How about solidarity in our Catholic worship? Are you truly pleased to be met by all those people at Mass? Do you appreciate that you are entering into a communion of worshippers in order to receive Communion with the Lord? Without joining in the first communion, it is doubtful that we receive the second. Do we get this feature of our lives as God's children and brothers of the Lord?

Or do we just go through the required motions of "acting" like we're "pleased to meet you"?

Sunday Sepember 19th

The homily from September 19th is now in the library->

September 19th - 25th Sunday of the Year

• the homily for September 12th is in the library ->
• the readings for this Sunday, September 19th, in at usccb.org ->
• I will be presiding at the 4pm on 9/18 and the 11am on 9/19

How are you doing?

This quick greeting that most of us offer and respond to several times a day is at the heart of this week's Scriptures. In fact, more than a social convention, for those on the spiritual journey called to conversion of life this question is a perennial one; how are you doing? Really doing!

Our instinct is to answer the question by expressing our "feelings - "I am feeling fine, thank you." But the scriptures this weekend are not about our feelings or our state of mind but rather they inquire about our relationship to "what we are doing". The fuller expression of the scriptural question maybe "how are you doing what it is that you are doing?". It is a qualitative inquiry, meaning that it is aimed at discerning the quality of your presence in the activities of your daily life.

The Wily Manager (as we used to call him) is a tough parable to interpret because he seems to be commended for some pretty devious or self-centered behavior. Apparently, what the Lord is commending is not the activity that he was performing but his industriousness - his cleverness in using his daily activity for deeper purpose. Oh that we would be like him!

So the question comes to each of us as to "how" we are doing what we are doing? Are we using our daily activities, responsibilities, even burdens for a wider, deeper, Kingdom-oriented purpose? If not, even the ostensibly religious activities (see the first reading) are mis-directed.

For the children of the Kingdom of God, all things must work together for the sake of the Kingdom. Why? Because by God's grace and plan "they can". St. Paul says that for "those who love God all things work together for the good." He doesn't say "only good things will happen to those who love God," rather he says that every situation has the potential for being used to further the Kingdom of God. Wow, that's different.

So, how are you doing....the laundry, the yardwork, the marriage, the soccer team driving, or coaching, the daily mass, the serving the poor, your daily prayers....all of it? Are you alive to what you are doing? Are you consciously "using" your efforts in the world to build up the Kingdom within you and among you?

How are you doing?

Third Thursday Theology

For those who are interested in the theology/spirituality adult education process at St. Albert parish - the September edition of TT-n-T is in the library. It was another robust experience of the faith.

September 12th Homily

This Sunday's September 12th Homily is in the library ->

September 12, 2010 - 24th Sunday of the Year

• the homily from September 5th is in the library ->
• the scriptures for this coming Sunday are at usccb.org ->
• I will be presiding at the 8am and 9:30am Mass on Sunday Sept. 12th

Not What We're Used To....

The parables of Jesus in this week's gospel reveal to us the "mind" of God. And it's not what we're used to. In fact, the mind of God is a mind of Grace and our mind (corporately and personally) is so much the mind of the law - the law of the land!

The shepherd and the sheep, the woman and the coin, and the father and his sons are examples of "irrational" behavior based upon the "law of the land". God's way of grace and mercy, compassion and healing, doesn't make sense to the mind of man. Our minds are rooted in what's fair, what's the entitlement, what's my "just desserts". God's mind is "crazy" and irrational in love.

The gospel has to portray God as "over the top" in pursuit of his beloved. In the marriage preparation questionnaire we give identifies a "rose-colored glasses" effect in the engaged couples. No kidding...they are almost all guilty idealistic distortion. They're in love.

God's love and desire for us is this crazy, this irrational, this other-worldly, this "unlike" us. We really would like to create God in our own image, make God the "just and angry God" who is out to get vengence. Not so, says Jesus. He is so different than we are...He is Holy.

Does this impact your religious thinking?

September 5th Homily

The Homily for September 5th is in the library -->

September 5 - 23rd of the Year

-The August 29 Homily is in the library>>>

-The scriptures for this Sunday are at USCCB.org>>>

-I am presiding Sat 9/4 at 5:30pm and on Sunday 9/5 at 12:30pm

If only....then I'd be happy!

The scriptures this week really challenge us with harsh words about the call and the path to happiness. If you are serious about being happy - then get real about holiness.

Most of us have been programmed by life in the world and broken by original sin to believe that possessing is the only way to happiness. Even possessing yourself, your relationships, your ministry - all commodities intended to make you happy. Wrong. The painful truth for us today is that loving (do not read being loved) is the only source of true happiness.

Being free to love in the present moment/ reality is the only path to happiness. We also call it holiness. This is what it means to love,says Jesus, to lay down your life for the sake of love.

Wadayathink about your plan for happiness?

August 29th Homily

This Sunday's homily is in the Library>>>

August 29, 2010 - 22nd Sunday of the Year

• The Homily from Sunday August 22 is in the Library>>>
• This Sunday's readings are available at usccb.org>>>
• I am presiding at 4pm Mass on August 28th and 9:30 Masson August 29th

Let's Get to the Bottom of This!

What I am hearing in the scriptures for this weekend is an invitation to humility. As a virtue humility can sound like a contradication. What I mean is that the word "virtue" comes from the root word "strength" or "power" and of course the common interpretation of humility is pretty much "weakness" or "timidity"

Actually humility as a virtue is closely connect to honest truth. The truly honest peron knows himself with his gifts and his limitations. The work "humus" or dirt is related to humility and the connection is that we are aware of the "clay" or the simple essence of ourselves. The humble man is strong in his clarity of what he is and who God is.

The old one-liner..."there is one God, and you're not Him" should be a beginning spot for all of our reflections. We human beings get caught in the trap of comparing ourselves to one another instead of seeing ourselves in the light of God. It isn't long until we are "my dog is bigger than your dog" type of childish competition and self-aggrandizement.

Truly knowing yourself and loving yourself as God loves you is the beginning of all true human intercourse. In the face of our brothers and sisters we can forget who we aren't and start acting like someone we shouldn't and couldn't be.

This hitting anyone where it hurts?

August 22 Homily

This Sunday's homily is in the Library>>>>

August 22 - 21st Sunday of the Year

• The readings for Sunday are found at usccb.org>>
• I am presiding and preaching at 9:30am and 11:00am Masses on August 22

Nice figure you cut!

I have mentioned before the silhouette cutter at Higbees in the old days. Friends in my old childhood neighborhood had five kids. Going up the stairs in the house they had the kids' silhouettes hanging - just a black shape of each child's profile. Although all grown up now, you can still identify each person's silhouette.

What is the silouhette that would be "cut" of our lives, what is the figure we cut in the world? Is it conformed to that of Christ, the narrow gate? That is the answer Jesus gives to the question "Who will be saved?" The Lord doesn't bother - he simply says, "forget about how many and strive to conform your life to salvation's key - Jesus Christ, the narrow gate"

I am wondering if we ever think that the answer to whether or not we are saved is really a question - what figure is your life conformed to? Being saved looks like something, or better someone.

Feast of the Assumption -August 15

The homily from August 15th is in the library>>>

August 15, 2010 - Assumption of Mary

First Fruits of the Harvest of Salvation

• The Homily from Augut 8th is in the Library>>>
• The Sunday Scriptures for this week are at usccb.org
• I am presiding and preaching at the 11:00am Mass on August 15th

As Mary Goes....

The feast of the Assumption of Mary is always a time for us to reflect upon our Christian destiny. Mary is not only mother of Jesus, she is our mother and our Pre-decessor in the faith. We are invited to imitate Mary's faith - especially her "fiat" of surrender to the will of God. We are also encouraged to hope in her Assumption because "As Mary goes so shall the Christian Church."

I am thinking of the good things that our parents try to get us to do as little children (eat our vegetables, say our prayers, sled ride down a steep hill). They will often say, "watch me, I'll do it first and then you won't be afraid." They indoctrinate us into certainly ways of living by being a pattern and precursor for us. "Do not only what I say, but as I do."

Mary might be seen, from this perspective, as a trail blazer - one who is not only making a way with Christ to heaven, but creating a path that all of us might travel toward salvation. This feast is historically associated with the "first harvest" of the year, the great gathering of the fruits of the fields. As Mary is gathered to heaven so we can die to self and rise with Christ to the fullness of life here and unto eternity.

Does this connect with your faith?

Sunday August 8th Homily

This Sunday's homily is in the library>>>

August 8, 2010 - 19th Sunday of the Year

• Homily from August 1st is in the library>>>
• Sunday Scriptures are at usccb.org>>>
• Preaching this Sunday August 8th at 8:00 and 9:30am

Make an act of faith! Believing is Seeing!

Abraham stands out as the role model for believing. He could see Isaac in a new way now... "as a symbol". If faith can be said to be a new way of seeing, then the danger held out for us in the scriptures this weekend is to "mis-read" the value of life.

X-rays are probably the best image of this call to see or "mis-read" the reality of things. A doctor "reads" an x-ray and we hope he sees what's really there. The gift of x-ray or CAT scans is that they can pierce the shell of our flesh and really read the situation. They can reveal what is truly the value within. Without such tools we are often left with limited "insight" into what is really real.

What Jesus reminds his listeners is that there are two ways to read the reality and the mystery of life - by faith or by the world. When we mis-read the realities of our lives we can sadly "mis-feel" and mis-behave. When we fail to see where the true treasure in life is we can invest our hearts in the wrong stuff. When we mis-read the purpose of life we can begin to act as if it is "ours" for "our" benefit for "our" satisfaction. So we cling, and fight, and abuse life, self and others.

Faith is the gift of insight - to see inside - to the real meaning of life, the real purpose of things. By faith we are set free to know and celebrate the Truth of our existence. When we see by faith we can be free of the compulsive emotions of fear, anger and sadness. Faith can set us free to be loving in the presence of Love.

Can you see?

St. Albert Parish Family Meeting!

Our Parish Planning session is available in the library>>>

August 1st Homily

August 1st Homily is in the library>>>