Homily 

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St. Louis Church
Pittsford, New York


 

 

 

 

 

Previous Homilies
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Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

Twenty First SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
 

Have you ever wondered who will be in heaven? How many people in this Church will be saved?

Bishop Sheen spoke once about the three surprises when we get to heaven: who will be there, who will NOT be there, and how you ever made it.

The readings today present a contrasting answer to who will be saved. In Isaiah, people from east and west, north and south will gather in Jerusalem, the site of God’s kingdom. Jew and Greek and Pagan will all stream to the Kingdom.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus clearly says that the way in is narrow. Not everyone who thinks they will be there will be, some will be locked out.

How do we resolve this dilemma? In Isaiah, the prophet is sharing a general teaching that God wants all people to be with God in heaven, in Jerusalem. Isaiah is pushing through the limits to salvation that humans can too easily build. God’s desire is salvation for all! “I come to gather nations of every language.” So God wants all people to find a home in heaven.

The Gospel is more than a general teaching; it is a specific teaching to the disciples. It is directed to those who have accepted the mantle of following Jesus Christ. More will be asked of the disciples. They have accepted the role of being the light of Christ in the world of their day. Because of the intimacy that a disciple should have with the Lord, the disciple is called to greater responsibility. He/She is to be an example of Jesus alive today and is meant to live with dedication to this responsibility. When we become disciples, we commit ourselves to a more intense life and a fuller response.

The disciple cannot expect that just because Jesus taught in our streets, or we sat at table with the Lord, or we are a kind and nice person--- that just because of this, we can expect to be welcomed into heaven. In a sense this Gospel challenges the disciple to exam their way of live and the depth of that life.
It is challenging:
For a priest: how deep is the love of God and how do people experience it in your service and celebration with them/ are you willing to preach the hard lessons of the Gospel, like forgiveness 70 x 7 times, like speaking the Gospel message about war and peace, about sharing economic well being with the poor, about immigration reform that respects the dignity of the lowliest migrant worker.
It is challenging:
For a Bishop and even the Pope: don’t think just because you are ordained or are in a place of honor that you don’t have to work at being a disciple of the Lord. How do people see the Gospel values in your life and practices? Are you a triumphant leader or a servant leader? Do you listen and hear the cry of the poor and the lowly?

And what about the disciples who fill the pews of this Church today: how sincere is each of you in serving others? How do you root out of your hearts, your neighborhoods and work places racism and sexism? Or are those someone else’s responsibility? When have you last felt inconvenienced by the Gospel teaching of Jesus? How much do you work at forming your children in the values and practices of the Gospel? Have you worked consistently at showing as well as teaching prayer and worship to your whole family? Are you a light of Christ? Can people see through you to Jesus and God?

Jesus reminds those who are baptized and signed with his cross that to live his life is not easy. It will take real effort and devotion. It will require faithful service and a continual commitment. As a community who are in this work together, we can give and receive strength from one another on this journey to the Lord.

I want to leave you with an image that might remind you to be strong in God’s life; for this is part of the mystery of salvation that is ours, and which we share with others. Here is what I came up with: a cup of coffee. It is aromatic and full bodied. However, if I begin to pour water into the cup, it becomes diluted, weakened and certainly not a source of the wonderful taste as it was when I began. It is a far cry from the cup of pure coffee that I began with. May we remember that our commitment is meant to be strong n the Lord and have with it the full-bodied presence of the Lord.

 

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Gen 18: 20-32 Col 2:12-14 Lk 11: 1-13

On sabbatical in Rome some 20 years ago it was my privilege to concelebrate the Eucharist with Pope John Paul. Another priest and I were the first of the group to enter the chapel, and we were delightfully surprised to find the Holy Father kneeling in profound prayer before the altar. It was most moving to witness such an intensity of prayer in a man we were accustomed to see interacting with huge crowds or celebrating liturgies in the presence of thousands.

These memories of prayer brought thoughts of Abraham in dialogue with Almighty God, pleading for the safety of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. “The LORD remained standing before Abraham.” the Scripture says. “Then Abraham drew nearer.” Abraham and the LORD in a close, intense encounter – this can and should be a model of prayer for each of us. What created an even more intense dialogue is the great concern of Abraham for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah – specifically for those who were living just lives in the midst of depravity. How intense our prayer should be, especially for those in the midst of danger.

The intense bargaining for a least number of just who would forestall the cities’ disaster is, to be sure, a device of the author of Genesis to portray the depth of Abraham’s concern and the willingness of an infinite God to extend compassion at the request of those who love Him. It is an introduction for us to Jesus’ offer as the greatest commandment, the twofold love of God and of neighbor.

The love of God and the love of neighbor are forever entwined. Love of God is impossible unless it includes love of neighbor, the creatures God’s love has given to us. Prayer, then, is, in fact, the expression of love - love that is given validity in our service to others.

Today we are reminded of that perfect prayer we call simply the Lord’s Prayer. It becomes almost second nature for each of us and, unfortunately, we can rattle it off with little thought. It is, however, ingrained in us, and we recite it almost automatically wherever or whenever we Christians gather. It is a high point of prayer as we celebrate Eucharist. It accompanies us as the sacraments are brought to us in the closing hours of life.

So often through the years in ministry to the dying I would experience with the family of the dying that moment when the comatose person suddenly begins clearly and distinctly to join in reciting the Our Father. Looks of joy and a sense of unity with the loved one are almost overwhelming, and tears of sorrow become tears of profound joy.

In moments such as these we can appreciate far more deeply the words of St. Paul which we just heard: “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead in transgressions,…he brought you to life along with him.” then Paul uses that stirring phrase: “he also removed (the bond against us) from our midst, nailing it to the cross.” With such graphic language we can sense the enthusiasm of Christ’s love for us which literally drove Him to the cross.

Hopefully we can say to Jesus along with the disciples: “"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." Hopefully we will hear Jesus’ matter-of-fact reply: “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.” Hopefully we never find ourselves rattling off the prayer with little attention or thought. Hopefully it will be the prayer we literally bring to our death bed. Hopefully family and friends will be there to share it with us.

Think of the parable that follows Jesus’ teaching of the Lord’s Prayer. It is the story of the persistent neighbor who repeats his request for bread until finally his request is granted. It is a story of perseverance in prayer: “I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.” Prayer must not only be thoughtful and attentive, it must also be persistent: "And I tell you,” Jesus adds. “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

By his very demeanor, John Paul gave me a profound lesson in prayer. A profound stillness prevailed in his chapel that morning, and each of us who came into his presence knew how better to pray, Hopefully, as each of us comes into the presence of our Eucharistic Lord week after week, we too will know how better to pray.

We all have those needs that come to us suddenly and without warning, and we must know to whom we can turn. With the little man of the gospel parable we must be persistent in our prayer. The neighbor to whom we bring our request is a loving Father who offers His Divine Spirit to those who have the love and patience to ask with persistence and trust.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

Sixteenth SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

I returned on Thursday from spending a week in California with my nephew, Marc, and his wife, Quyen. They have two delightful children, Avery who is almost 5, and Collin who is 2˝. It was an enjoyable time as it is any time when kids think you are so great! I got my own drawings to bring home to be placed on the refrigerator. I spent time with them, reading bed time stories like Pinocchio and even got to read the story of Martha and Mary from the children’s Bible.

I came away admiring their parents---especially Quyen. As so many of you know there is no let up from kids. It was wonderful to see their Mom guide and support them while helping to form them. There was one very common theme---“Avery, you are not listening to your brother”; “Collin, you need to look at me and listen to what I tell you.”

As I said, I came away appreciating the care and effort that these parents gave to their kids. It is not easy to get kids to listen. It is a tireless job.

But isn’t this an issue for all of us: we get caught us in so much busyness; whether because of hospitality or work, whether because of some personal need; whether we stop listening to our significant other. We can get so focused in on ourselves that we don’t hear the voices around us.

It is not easy to listen---we must take time and give it serious effort. Isn’t that part of the lesson of today’s Gospel? Martha and Mary represent both sides of life: the work and action part of life and the listening and reflective side. Neither is better, but both are necessary. We can get so caught up in the busyness of life that we become weighed down and don’t have time to smell the roses; or we get set in the ivory towers and never get our hands dirty.

This section of St. Luke’s Gospel is about forming disciples: last week’s lesson of the Good Samaritan is to see the simple, do-able ways we can help others; today, the need for hospitality and the ability to hear the Lord; next week the place of prayer.

Being a disciple means to find ways to listen to God? As it is for Avery and Collin, this is a challenge for us in life. We need to develop the ability to listen to our teenager with a compassionate heart; we need to hear the concern and care that our parent has for us; we need to listen to the language of fear and uncertainty that a spouse can speak; we need to recognize the longings of our own hearts; we need to be present to the ramblings of a friend.

All of these are ways that we can listen to the Lord God speak in our lives. However one more example: the work of religion. It is obvious today that the work of religion does not have as strong a priority for many of us. People can be so busy about many things that the practice and work of religion becomes a casualty. We find excuses to take weekend mass off, sports and their ever-demanding requirements replace our commitment to the community of believers. We can become less regular in participating at Mass and working at forming ourselves and our children in faith.
We can think that the work of religion is what God gets the opportunity to do, whether at Christmas and Easter, or once a month. Religion is our responsibility. Like any skill, religion requires perseverance, hard work and discipline. It is how we become a disciple, by practicing discipline. It does not happen when we are hit or miss in the practice of it. The challenge is to find ways to renew the commitment of yourself and your family to work at it. We must come and listen deeply to the stories of faith that we share here.

Quyen and I had a nice conversation about her child-rearing efforts. She was committed to implant in her children the qualities that her parents had shared with her. She spoke beautifully of the gift that she felt she and Marc could give their children. It was a sharing with an uncle the hopes and responsibility of parenting: a sacred moment.


 

Father Al Delmonte
 St. Louis Church

Thirteenth SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME


You folks my age remember Johnny Carson’s late- night talk show and I used to stay up to hear his monologue and then call it a night. I don’t stay up that late any more, but I do know from the other media about Dave Letterman’s Top Ten list: the top ten reasons or signs that someone famous should or shouldn’t do something, and the list typically gets a lot of laughs.

Today’s readings are about CALLS and the cost of responding. Catholic bishops have recently called on local Xians to develop a culture of discernment, one in which people take seriously their calling and make efforts to nurture that call in their life choices. Let me offer you a different kind of “Top Ten” list, a serious list of ten signs that indicate whether we are looking back to actions and attitudes that DISTRACT us from wholeheartedly following Jesus Christ. It was at our baptism that we set our hands – really our whole lives – to the plow of Xian discipleship. But throughout our lives we are tempted to look back to “what was left behind,” that is, to ways of thinking, speaking and acting that are opposed to the Gospel of Christ. So here is a list of the top ten signs that we are looking back to what we left behind when we set out on the way of discipleship.

10. When we begin to value material possessions more than people, especially the people with whom we share our lives most completely. Jesus didn’t say, “Love riches and technological toys.” He said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” AND “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

9. When we find ourselves thinking “I” rather than “we” in our spiritual lives. Our salvation in Christ is never private. It comes to us through the church, the community of believers across time and space. And it puts us at the service of that community. St. Paul reminds us today: “serve one another through love.”

8. When we place self-seeking above self-sacrifice. What Paul calls the “desire of the flesh” in that second rdg refers to much more than sexual desire. It is all those expressions of self-will that bring us into conflict w/ others: anger, jealousy, hostility. Jesus taught us a way of living that has no place for any of these, but his way of discipleship is possible only if we live by the Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we easily look back to the destructive kinds of words and actions that we have to leave behind to follow Christ.

7. When we regret that others seem to have a more interesting or important part to play in building God’s kingdom, God’s rule in this world. That kingdom really comes about in God’s way and in God’s time, but God doesn’t accomplish it without us. God is calling each of us for some work, and God is eager to give us what we need to do it. Our part in building God’s kingdom, our service to one another through love, may not always be the one that we would choose, but it is always the one that God needs us to do , when and where God needs us to do it. This was true for Elisha when he left his former way of life behind and accepted God’s call to serve as the attendant for the prophet Elijah and later as his successor.

6. When we lament the fact that the church has so many lukewarm and imperfect members, maybe even some hypocrites. Yes, it’s true. There are some members of the church for whom the grade of F would be too high. But Jesus was known to befriend such people during his earthly life. And if we want a church made up of only perfect disciples, are we sure that there would be room in it for us?

5. When we believe that prayer is a useless waste of time. Prayer, in which we speak to God and God speaks to us, is the necessary means by which God’s Holy Spirit guides our thoughts and actions in God’s service. One who prays will accomplish more for God’s kingdom in a year than someone who doesn’t pray will in a lifetime.

4. When, in St. Paul’s words, we “submit again to the yoke of slavery.” We can be slaves to fear, bad habits, grudges, etc. But Jesus has freed us from sin and death and from whatever can harm us. Only in his power can we renew our baptismal promises at Easter: to reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children.

3. When we place our trust in power or status in this world. Even the institutional church has given in to this temptation throughout history, and whenever it has done so, it has become spiritually weak and in need of reform. Our trust must be in God alone, not in worldly power or status.

2. When we pass judgment on our sisters and brothers. James and John were doing that in today’s gospel rdg, because the Samaritans were the religious rivals of the Jews and were being inhospitable to Jesus and his followers. “Lord, do you want us to call down fire . . .?” Jesus rebuked them. “For as you judge, so will you be judged.” (Mt. 7). Judging others is a form of the “biting and devouring one another” that Paul condemned in our second rdg.

And finally, sign no. one that we are looking back to what we left behind, and this is not meant as the most important sign because they’re all important:

1. When we become proud of our supposed spiritual accomplishments for God. This can be a temptation for those who like to volunteer for parish activities and participate in many of its organizations and ministries. Don’t misunderstand me. Fr. Kevin, the pastoral staff and your fellow parishioners value and appreciate your service to this parish. But we can be tempted to think that such service entitles us to some reward from God, maybe more or better blessings than others. No, in all our efforts to serve, humility, not pride, must mark our lives as disciples of Christ.

Such is a “Top Ten” list of signs that we will know that we are looking back to self instead of ahead to God’s kingdom.

We are called, and it appears that Jesus is expecting nothing short of immediate and resolute commitment. There’s no pre-nup, no pre-conditions, no footnotes or asterisks to be applied to being a disciple. There’s only now, the present moment, and our decision yes or no. Jesus is pressing on. What’s keeping us from putting our hand to the plow?

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Zech 12:10-11; 13:1 Gal 3:26-29 Lk 9: 18-24


 Part of childhood experience that frequently continues throughout life is the names we give to our parents and grandparents. For me, my mother and father were Mom and Dad, and my grandparents were Ma and Pa. How ever those particular names came to be applied, I have not the slightest idea, but they stuck all through life, and I suspect that I am not alone. It’s more than possible that there are other less prosaic names in present company.

We can speculate why Jesus refers to Almighty God as Abba, but it is a constant reference in the Scriptures. The appropriateness of Jesus’ reference to His Abba is delightfully brought out when we remember that, even today, many Hebrew children refer to their fathers as Abba, a term which indicates the intimacy of the relationship. It is a worthwhile conclusion to see that Jesus thought of Almighty God in terms of gentle, constant care, and He encourages us to think of our own relationship to God in the same mentality.

In today’s readings the prophet Zechariah give us insight into that relationship from the viewpoint of the loving Son whose Father pours out on Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition - a spirit by which the city can share a sorrow for an only Son who has been pierced. The inhabitants of Jerusalem share grief for the death of a firstborn.

What we learn in these weeks after Pentecost must be seen in terms of the reality of our relationship with Almighty God - a relationship we live out in the mystery of Christ’s Church. The fact is that we should share that sorrow for the firstborn’s death; we share in the mystery of community life with Jesus, the Son of Abba, who has been pierced for our offenses. Paul also reminds us that, through faith, we are all God’s children in Christ Jesus, and each of us has a basic relationship with Jesus that goes beyond status or gender. We, in Christ, have an Abba who cares for us deeply and constantly.

In the gospel, Jesus challenges each of us to acknowledge who Jesus is – at least, to acknowledge who we see Him to be. When Peter acknowledges Jesus to be “the Christ of God”, Jesus immediately reminds Peter, the apostles and all of us that “the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." Jesus will not let us forget that He, the Christ of God, is the firstborn whose death we all mourn.

Then follows the challenge to all of us: "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Our mourning for the firstborn is a share in the sorrow of God and in the grief of God’s people. Sharing in the life of the Church is a sharing in that sorrow of which Zechariah had written. It is, in fact, sharing in the mystery of Christ’s suffering and death – in the death of the firstborn, Jesus goes on to say: “ For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." We are called to share in Christ’s life and death. We are called to be the instrument of Abba’s care for His firstborn. Every act of compassion for the suffering of this world is a share in God the Father’s compassionate care for His Son who is now embodied in those in need.

On this Fathers Day it is good to know that we can join Jesus in calling God our Abba. The role of father must be a living representation of the role of Abba. That role is made sacred in mirroring that relationship of Abba and Christ. The suffering in the life of each of us is made precious in that relationship. It is good to know that we have a God who is so wonderfully intimate with us, who shares our grief and His grief with us and whose loving care is exemplified in the life of every father.

In this continuing time after Pentecost may we grow in our realization of what the Church is all about as it finds its reality in the love between Father and Son in the Trinity, brought to fruit in us through the love of the Holy Spirit. On Father’s Day, we remember that God is beyond gender and is the source of gender, but He is presented to us by Jesus as Abba, a God of infinite compassion and care. Like the children of the Holy Land, we can run to that divine care calling; Abba, Abba. With childlike expectation we can find loving care and arms outstretched to receive us.

Congratulations to all fathers. May you find your model for life in our Abba.

 

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

ELEVENTH Sunday in Ordinary time

A stranger witnessed a father and daughter saying goodbye at the airport. As the daughter was about to go through security, they hugged and the dad said, "I love you. I wish you enough." She in turn said, "Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Daddy. I love you." They kissed and she left. He walked over toward a window where the stranger was seated. Standing there the stranger could see that the dad wanted to cry. Out of the blue, he was asked by the dad, "Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

"Yes, I have," he replied. Saying that, brought back memories of him expressing his love and appreciation for all that his Dad had done for him, and when recognizing that his dad’s days were limited, he took the time to tell him face to face how much he meant to him. So the stranger knew exactly what this man was experiencing. Then he said, "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever goodbye?" The dad said, "I am old and she lives too far away. I have challenges ahead, and the reality is, her next trip back will be for my funeral." The stranger said, “I’m sorry. And again forgive me, but when you were saying goodbye I heard you say, "I wish you enough." May I ask what that means?" The dad smiled. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." He paused for a moment and looking up as if trying to remember it in detail, he smiled even more.

"When we said 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them," and then he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory: "I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough ‘Hello's’ to get you through the final ‘Goodbye’s.’" Then he began to sob and walked away.

I think we have all heard the old adage, “Enough is enough.” Try Googling it and just see the returns you get. It’s used in a ton of song lyrics. There’s a child protection society named Enough is Enough; and there’s a foundation with the same name. It’s also a section of a personal coaching and motivation development series. And I know that I get into trouble when I forget, “Enough is enough.” We heard in the first reading the story of King David and the prophet Nathan. Nathan said to David: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your lord’s house and your lord’s wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more.” David was classic – he had more than enough, but he wanted more -- and he took it.
And aren’t we all the same? We have so many blessings, so many gifts… and we still want more. But David showed us another attitude that we don’t have enough of – namely personal forgiveness – we don’t forgive ourselves enough. We tend to live in constant remorse. The English author Aldous Huxley, who is best remembered for his science-fiction classic Brave New World, once said, “Chronic remorse is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better the next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.” When Nathan confronted the king with his sins, David had great remorse, but he did not wallow in it. Rather, he repented, accepted his punishment, and moved forward with his life. Had he not trusted completely in God’s power to forgive and to save, and had he relied solely on his own efforts at rehabilitation, David’s story may have taken a different turn. But he had the good sense to trust that God could forgive him and he continued to serve as God’s regent for Israel and Judah.

We see the same self-forgiveness in the gospel today. The unnamed woman who crashed the party understood that she was a sinner in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness. She welcomed the opportunity to minister lovingly to Jesus, who, in turn, ministered to her and assured her that her faith had brought her peace, forgiveness, and salvation. This woman represents the model disciple who responded to the gift of her being forgiven by serving the needs of others. The woman did not allow her guilt to cripple her or her shame to keep her isolated. Despite the stares and remarks of those who knew her past, she dared to go public with her joy at being forgiven. The Gospel ends with a list of names of women who followed Jesus. The group includes Mary Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza; a woman named Susanna; and others. They have in common an experience of Jesus’ mercy and forgiveness. They have forgiven themselves and have moved on.

Today’s readings are meant for us. We, too, are at the table when we go to Sunday Mass. Have we washed the feet of others’; have we had our feet washed? Have we brought oil to anoint, and to be anointed? Have we wept over one another? Have we been forgiven much? Have we forgiven ourselves? Have we loved much? Have we been loved? If the answer is yes, then we need to realize that we have enough, and must share it with others.

I wish us enough forgiveness to move on – to stop our remorse – and to serve the Lord

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 Body & Blood of Christ


Some times when we do something frequently, we are too close to it to appreciate it or fully take in its meaning. I think the Eucharist may be one of those experiences that can become too routine. I would like to suggest that we take a fresh view of the Eucharist on this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Think of the last meal you shared with your family or a friend. Maybe it was last night’s supper or a time earlier in the week where you actually sat down and enjoyed a meal. During the course of the meal, you ate and were fed. But there was much more going on than serving food and eating; a real meal nourishes something deeper, a bond of understanding and friendship, the bonds of family and relationships. It can be the source of understanding among those eating; it can focus on the news of the day, or the results of the school tests, or where the local happenings are shared. My point is that besides the food that is consumed and that strengthens and nourishes us, there are other forms of nourishment that happen.

Now let’s return to the miracle of the Gospel. Jesus has a sensitivity for the people who have been with him today. He wants to feed them and performs this miracle where just a little bread and a couple of fish somehow feed a very large crowd. The focus of the miracle can be on the multiplication of the food; but wasn’t there something else also happening? The people in the crowd would carry the memory of being there this day when someone reached out in such a caring way. I would think that whenever the name of Jesus was mentioned, these people would recall this memory and the wonder and fondness that they felt.

The Eucharist is meant to trigger such memories for us. The Lord Jesus desires that his life will grow within us; he feeds us with the simple food, his Body and Blood. But his desire is that we do this remembering all that He has done for us. This celebration is meant to stir up within us memories of how our God feeds, forgives and blesses us. We are meant to know again that each of us is loved and truly belong to the family of God.

I offer another way of demonstrating this. As Fr. Al said last week about the Trinity, it is a mystery. Pope Paul VI wrote an encyclical on the Eucharist called ‘The Mystery of Faith’. In other words, all that is said will leave more for us to understand and more to search to know and grasp.

My Mother was French-Canadian. She died when I was in the college years of the seminary. My step-Mother, Dorothy, carried on what I am sharing with you today. My Mother assembled a box of memories for each of her kids. It would contain a host of things that would have special significance and meaning for her and for me. More significance than for anyone else. Some examples: a birth certificate, a baby picture, a lock of hair, a picture of me graduating from kindergarten playing the part of one of the priests at Sacred Heart, my ordination program from June 1, 1968 and an article mentioning me from Peter Taub, a reporter for the old Times Union newspaper.

This memory box held a variety of memorabilia that would speak to a Mother and child at a deep level. It was filled with meaning and would stir strong feelings of love, pride and gratitude. None of these things would capture the whole person but they would nourish and foster life between a mother and her child. They would also trigger other memories and experiences that the two of us shared.

This I would offer is similar to the experience of the Eucharist---it is meant to bring us into the intimacy of the Last Supper and wrap us in the personal ministry Jesus has for us. The Lord wants us to know that he bonds us to himself and holds us through all the times of life in the love of our God.

It is such a wonderful ability we have to bring to this experience of faith and sharing the memories of how God has been with us. It can lead us to experience the new ways at this stage of life when our God is with us and we are with our God.

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

MEMORIAL DAY

Is 9:1-6 Ja 3: 13-18 Jn 14: 23-29

It is so easy to forget the reason for our civic holidays. Too often, we set aside the reason for the holiday and simply enjoy the leisure and relaxation that accompanies the day. This first holiday of the summer season, however, is a day specifically for remembering. We are called not to forget; we are called to be a changed people because we do remember what others have done in service to their country and in service to us, their people.

Parades here in Pittsford and all over the country call us to remember. Flags wave freshly over graves; red poppies adorn lapels and a renewed sense of patriotism can fill our hearts. The remembrance must, however, run far deeper than the external signs. Lives must be changed and attitudes refined. Remembering those who have died, we serve lovingly those who have served and survived. We remember the war dead, and we must care for the war wounded, giving them a place in our community and in our hearts.

Today we are told in Eucharist to remember Christ’s ultimate act of love as He gave His life on the cross. In our remembrance there is the profound necessity to change our lives radically. When that remembrance of Christ’s love is deep within our daily life, we will discover that change in daily routine and motivation for everything we do. The words after the consecration in the Mass should haunt us, running through our heads like a song we can’t seem to forget: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

In Eucharist, each day is Memorial. Remembering Christ’s infinite generosity, we may discover that Eucharist can refine our awareness of the problems and needs of our returning service men and women, and we can be motivated to care for them. We can even be more profoundly motivated to promote the end of all war, recalling the words of Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI before the UN. We can strive to make their plea a true goal for the international community.

As we listen to Isaiah as he foretells the Child born to us and the Son given to us, we can dream of the true possibility of an end to war. The “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace” is that child whose “dominion is vast and forever peaceful”. Is it simply a wild dream of a prophet from centuries past, or is it a dream for all of us now, a dream that can and should motivate lives and careers. We need to remember that prophet’s dream.

St. James is so matter of fact when he speaks of such a dream of a vast dominion. His commentary can strike a familiar chord: “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.”

Just having celebrated the great Feast of Pentecost we must make ourselves aware of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends in Jesus’ name – that Spirit who “teaches us everything and reminds us of all that Jesus told us.” As Isaiah’s dream is real and fulfilled in Jesus, so is Jesus’ promise real, and we can lay claim to that Advocate who will remind us of all that Jesus told us.

This Memorial Day is a wonderful reminder for us to approach our faith with hearts renewed and with dedication strengthened. From Eucharist we can go into our world to help bind up wounds, to heal broken bodies and shattered spirits – to care for the Service Men and Women who have survived as we remember those who have given their lives in combat or lived lives of service to our country.

Jesus taught that greater love than this no one has than to lay down one’s life for a friend. Precious to men and women who have given their lives to protect this country, and our world, is our effort to make the dream of peace a reality. We must remember Isaiah’s dream of a peace that can and must be ours – that is ours in Jesus Christ. This holiday is well named – may we never fail to remember.
 

 

Father Al Delmonte
 St. Louis Church

 TRINITY SUNDAY


All four of us priests who live here at St. Louis studied at St. Bernard’s Seminary that used to be on Lake Ave. in the city. I won’t presume to speak for my colleagues, especially the two who are WAY older than I, but I maintain that the most difficult tract in the theology courses we were required to take was the tract on the Trinity. In those days the major disciplines of moral and dogmatic theology were taught in Latin, and the prof said at the end of his lectures on the Trinity, “Mysterium est.” It is a mystery. One of the greatest theologians who ever lived, St. Thomas Aquinas, wrote profusely about the Trinity and at the end said the same thing, “Mysterium est.”
The Trinity is a mystery of our faith that is beyond full explanation or our ability to fully comprehend. It is important to note, however, that just because we cannot fully explain something does not mean that it does not really exist. That is the difference between mystery and mythology.

In today’s feast of the Most Holy Trinity, we celebrate the wonders of the love of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each year, this feast comes one week after the end of the Easter season and one week before the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Last week we celebrated Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. Next week we celebrate Corpus Christi which highlights the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church, and in our lives as followers of Jesus. Between these feasts which focus on the Holy Spirit and on Jesus, we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity.

A kindergarten child who is properly catechized can tell you that God is Three-in-One but has no real idea what that means. The average adult in the pews can recite the same definition of Trinity but may further appreciate that this formula is more about our relationship to God than a static model of God’s objective nature. But even if you have a PhD in systematic theology, whatever you say about the Trinity has to include the dimension of mystery. Which means whatever you say or understand about the Trinity must be, at this time, incomplete.
Maybe a good way for us to understand the Trinity is to use a comparison. The Trinity has been described by making reference to our experience of sunlight. God the Father is like the sun, shining upon us. God the Son is the ray of light that comes to us from the sun, and God the Holy Spirit is the warmth and heat given off both by the sun and its rays, giving life and light to the world. The Holy Trinity is all about relationship, how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit relate to one another and to us.

The rdgs today help us see something unique about that relationship. The Bk of Proverbs rdg tells us that wisdom was present with God before the creation of the world. Wisdom is an aspect of the Holy Spirit, so this rdg tells us that God was Father, Son and Holy Spirit, long before Jesus took flesh or the Spirit was sent forth. God always was and always will be, a Trinity of persons united in a oneness of love.
The love of the Trinity was so strong in the soul of St. Paul that he told the Romans in our second rdg that he can even boast of his afflictions. According to Paul, the suffering he endured helped him to build up endurance, to grow in virtue and to increase in hope. In Paul’s belief, hope in Christ never leads to disappointment, but only to fulfillment of the promise of salvation. The love of God, poured out for us by Christ – through the Holy Spirit – enabled Paul to endure his suffering. That same Spirit has seen the Church through persecutions since those early days. It is that same love of God for us that enables us to carry our crosses and to help others to bear their burdens.

The Gospel for this feast of the Most Holy Trinity is taken from John’s account of the Last Supper. Having predicted his Passion, death and departure from this world, Jesus reassures his disciples that the Spirit of truth is coming after him who will preserve their faith and guide them in truth. “Everything that the Father has is mine . . .” The father has given all he has to Jesus who, in turn, gave his all for us on the Cross. Last week we celebrated that coming of the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised, to continue the gift of God’s love through all generations, until Christ comes again in glory.

We can listen to lectures, we can use Wikipedia to find learned texts about the Trinity, we can marvel at the mystery, we can debate the mystery, but when you come right down to it, this feast reminds us of this essential truth about God: God is wholly other. God is beyond our description, comprehension or explanation – but far from being beyond belief. God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is a mystery that draws us deeper and deeper into the mysteries of divine love and eternal life.

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

 SEVENTH SUNDAY of EASTER

Acts 7:55-60; Rev 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20; Jo 17: 20-26

Without an ideal, without a dream, life becomes messy and frightfully disappointing. It is really part of our nature to dream, and it is wonderful to have a vision that can and does direct the path of our life. Some dreams are deep and change a career; some dreams are profound and change a life. Without such dreams we shrivel up and die; without such dreams our world dies.

This weekend’s liturgy presents us with dreams, the kind that are profound and change lives, visions that are dramatic, and the kind that must drive our daily life. In these days between the Feasts of the Ascension and of Pentecost we are called to look at the dream, the vision, that drives our lives as individuals of faith and as members of this wonderful mystery that is the Church. We need to remember that our vision will affect our choices, and the choices we make will make a large difference to many people.

In the reading we just heard from the Acts of the Apostles we witness the dramatic vision of Stephen. “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” He proclaims his vision of Jesus as the Messiah, and his hearers know that, if his vision is true, their lives will necessarily change dramatically. The compulsion to share his vision brings Stephen into confrontation with the Sanhedrin, and it brings him martyrdom. “They covered their ears and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city and began to stone him.” For them, there was no vision for it involved a change they would not accept, and Stephen became the first martyr. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

And then there is the vision of John, author of the Book of Revelation. He records the words of Jesus, the Son of Man: “Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds.” “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” I offer you all I am, Jesus is saying; I am all you need for life. I provide you with a way of life that will bring you fulfillment and eternal life.

Today’s gospel brings us still another dream. Jesus dreams His dream on the night before He is to die, and today’s gospel beautifully captures the heart of that dream. We find it expressed within his prayer to His eternal Father at the final meal with His apostles, at the first celebration of Eucharist. Within that prayerful dream each and every one of us can find a place: Father, I pray not only for these who surround me at this table, but I pray for those who will come to know you through them.

As Jesus prays His dream, He is calling for us, His Church, always to be united with Him in the humanity He shares with us, and in His divinity which He promises to us. As the faith is passed down from generation to generation, we find it within that prayer of Jesus with all the love of one who is about to lay down His life for those He loves. “Father may they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us…that they may be brought to perfection as one.”

This is the dream with the most profound effects that should be changing us and the world in which we live. It is so vital that we are all true to the reality of Jesus’ dream. Sadly, every age finds those who attempt to make Jesus’ dream conform to their own. His dream of unity is often obscured beneath faulty concepts, selfish motives and sinful behavior. In spite of human frailty, however, the dream remains real, and Jesus remains with us even when we fail to remain with Him. His dream for His Church has a life of its own.

If Christians really looked at Christ’s dream that should have become their own, they would see that they may have not begun to learn of it, much less begun to live it. How well we allow Jesus’ vision to fill our lives, how well we live up to that priestly prayer of Jesus for unity, enables us to have a profound effect on our world.

Our unity in that vision will enable the world to know that Jesus is present among us all, offering eternal life. It should be the story behind every headline. It should be the basis for change in every life, in every family, in every community and parish. It is a vision that can unite nations and peoples.

As humanity is “brought to perfection as one”, the world will know that Jesus is sent by the Father. All the people of the world will be able to know that Jesus was sent to heal, to forgive, to enable and to enliven. And now Jesus is sending us who now are at table with Him in this Eucharist to heal, to forgive, to enable and to enliven. It is a vision of what your life and mine can be and must be, if only we are open.

As we prepare for Pentecost in next week’s liturgy, we must share the visions of today. We must sense the coming of the Spirit into our own lives. The coming of the Spirit was and is the ecstatic beginning of Jesus’ dream; it is a way of life to which we are being called. Without Jesus’ vision there is no way of life; without the vision we and our world die.

In the concluding words of the Book of Revelation the Church has proclaimed that invitation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’” “Let the hearer say, ‘Come’.” Now, we are the hearers who must say: Come, Lord Jesus. We must assure the Lord we have not forgotten His dream. We must be open to His life within us. May we hunger for the unity for which He prayed. Let that unity proclaim to the world that Jesus’ Father has sent Him. And so we pray: “Lord, make us your instruments to bring healing and unity to our world today. Come, Lord Jesus.”

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 SIXTH Sunday OF EASTER 


One of the challenges for the early Church was how they were to integrate Gentiles, non-Jews, into the community of believers. At first such converts were expected to observe the Mosaic and Jewish law. They were to attend the synagogue services, honor the dietary laws and observe the 613 Torah laws. It was only when Paul and Barnabas began to preach in more Gentile regions of the Roman empire that a more liberal approach was taken. This caused serious controversy in the growing Church; this issue could not be resolved on the local level as we hear in the first reading today. The Church convened the Council of Jerusalem where a town hall type meeting with the Apostles and people wrestled with this question, with great debate and discussion. For this issue had the potential to tear the new community part at its deepest levels.

Then a delegation is sent to the Gentile community in Antioch who announce: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond the necessities.” One could almost sense a sigh of relief---there was some freedom from the Mosaic Law for the Gentiles.
I use this example for my introduction today because I think there are some serious lessons in this struggle as the Church worked together to resolve this controversy.
We live in a time when there is instantaneous communication. What happens anywhere in the world is considered ‘breaking news’ with live reports and updates 24/7. It is also a time when controversy and differences in the Church are more evident and can seem disruptive.

Think of the sexual abuse scandal and the lack of transparency and some would say honesty. In addition, our Church struggles with pending liturgical changes that will seem regressive to some; divorce and remarriage is a touchy issue as is morality of sexual issues; and locally we struggle with the closing and merging of parishes, the recent tough decisions around Catholic Schools and the role of women as pastoral administrators, let alone being considered for priesthood.

There are more than a few reasons why people can be unsettled and upset. One can wonder where the Peace is that Jesus promises in the Gospel.
What is one to do? Deacon John spoke two weeks ago on Good Shepherd Sunday that we all needed to shepherd and care for one another, for all of God’s people. Fr. Al last week spoke of the need to brush off the meaning of Jesus’ commandment of Love and for us to practice the hard core of the Gospel first and foremost.
I would add to these two imperatives that we need to trust in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has given us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, which the Apostles and Elders of the first reading spoke of. It is the role of all of us and of each of us to question, to criticize, to challenge and to seek out the best ways that we as a community should go. We together are called to make the Church alive and to preach the Gospel by our words and deeds.
Some people when we get into some of these troubling issues choose to move away from the changing situations; some go to a ‘safe house,’ such as a different parish; some become less connected and participate on the fringe of the community; they become inactive or less active; others walk away and find another way to practice their relationship with God; others just give up. No one can judge the course that some one takes, but it is worth it to raise the question of how we respond to such issues.

We need to believe that we all are empowered by the Spirit. It is why we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in two weeks. That Spirit is given to all, not just to leaders and those ordained. It is what our 63 candidates will be touched by this Tuesday evening at Sacred Heart Cathedral by Bishop Matthew Clark. The Spirit comes with gifts and insights for each of us, to make our faith grow. But you and I must channel the Spirit through our frankness and openness, with doses of charity and commitment. It is not just to speak forthrightly, but to listen and find the truth in all charity.

We say each time we recite the Nicene Creed at Mass, the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Pope John XXIII reminded us that beside these marks of the Church there is another, the Church is ‘semper reformata,’ ‘always in need of reform.’ The Church is a human institution that acts as a conduit for God’s good graces, but it is an earthen vessel that does not lose its humanness, as its history shows.

To use myself as an example of that: when I was ordained by Bishop Sheen, I felt the power of God’s graciousness; I was assigned by Bishop Clark to serve this community of St. Louis in a significant role of leadership. However, just because I wear a Roman collar, I did not relinquish my humanity. As some people know I can be quick to judge, often too quick; I can be short with people and a bit gruff (I am Irish, you know), and I can sin. Each day I am reminded of my humanness and my need for ‘semper reformata.’ It is true of me as well as of the Church. I hope and pray that the grace of God can strengthen the people and heal the hurts that I cause. It is in a sense the experience of death and resurrection that Easter is all about. We are raised up even when we are sinners by the new life of Christ.

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, we pray that we can use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build this community in the ways that God wants---to help the poor, to welcome the immigrant, to heal the broken, to strengthen all believers, to comfort the disillusioned. May the Spirit lead us to come to a new experience of ourselves as Church this year?

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

 FOURTH Sunday OF EASTER 


There was a little boy who was afraid of the dark. One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom. The little boy said, "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark." The mother smiled and said to her son. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark.  Jesus is out there. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him. He'll look after you and protect you." The little boy thought about that for a minute and then went to the back door and opened it a little. Peering out into the darkness, he called, "Jesus? If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?"

Each year on the 4th Sunday of Easter, one of the Gospels is proclaimed in which Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd.  My earliest memory of sheep is the nursery rhyme, “Little Bo Peep”. Do you remember how it goes? “Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and doesn’t know where to find them. Leave them alone, and they'll come home, and bring their tails behind them.”  As I remember at age four, Bo Peep was a looker. She was dressed in a pure white dress – which billowed out, down to the top of her shiny little Mary Jane shoes. A blue ribbon encircled her waist and was tied into a large bow. She wore a large sky-blue bonnet and her golden shepherd’s staff was accented by still another, neatly tied bow. Is it any wonder that Little Bo Peep lost her sheep?  She was obviously obsessed with her looks, and do you think for a minute that she would get her beautiful outfit all messed up and sweaty by running off looking for her sheep?  Instead she listens to the great wisdom of doing nothing  -- “Leave them alone, and they'll come home, and bring their tails behind them.”  She is listening to advice that tells her to remain aloof –

don’t get involved; pretend that you don’t care what the sheep are doing, and let them find their own way home.  Because eventually they’ll come home– but then, only let them return on your terms – sheepishly – make them regret that they strayed – make sure that they’re now ready to toe the line – with their tails behind them – scorned and shamed.

I ask you now to look at the image of our Shepherd – hanging on the cross –certainly not worried about how he looks – obviously willing to sacrifice all for us – to come after us and welcome us into his open arms.  So have we modeled ourselves on Little Bo Peep who shepherds by remaining aloof and “perfect”, while waiting with no apparent interest for her lost sheep to find their own way home -- or have we modeled ourselves on Christ, the Good Shepherd?

Let’s ask: how do we approach the reality that hundreds and thousands have left the church and seem to be wandering aimlessly on their own – some from our own families?  How willing are we to lay down a welcome mat – to see that our parish and church does everything possible to care for the needs of our entire flock?  How did we welcome those who joined us only on Christmas and Easter; did we complain that they were taking up the seats that we normally occupy every week – while we were relegated to the indignity of the gym?  And when we walk into church realizing that we are celebrating First Communions or a baptism, how do we react – with joy or with groans?

Would Jesus – the Good Shepherd – turn his back on someone who has stopped coming to church, or who has married outside the church, or whose marriage has ended in divorce?  Would Jesus – the Good

Shepherd – put down a classmate or peer because they dress differently or don’t seem to fit in? Would Jesus – the Good Shepherd -- seek out alcoholics, homosexuals, drug addicts, prisoners, unwed mothers, people with aids; only to wait for them to be as perfect as he? Would he demand that they change their ways before opening the door to them?  Wouldn’t he seek ways to help those who didn’t have enough food, or who couldn’t afford medical care, or who faced eviction because they had no money for rent? How would he assist people who had been laid off from work? Would he greet them with condemnation, or would he rather seek them out and carry them in their brokenness – regardless of the cost?

Jesus assures us to not give up. That He is with us in good times, as the source of our joy; and in times of sadness, struggle, and suffering, he is even nearer. “No one can take them out of my hand.” He is the Lamb who has died and now lives. He is our Shepherd who tends and feeds us. Listen to his voice, heed his words and take them to heart, and find solace and strength in them, because He is calling us to be shepherds for each other.

So let us pray, “Jesus, help me to emulate those early believers who were bold in their preaching, who challenged the cultural status quo, who rejected a politic that tolerated poverty and injustice, and who were willing to suffer, and even die, for your truth. Help me to quit being so concerned about the way I look and help me shepherd those you place in my life and in my care.”

It’s time to quit being afraid of the dark, to reach out, and to even sometimes let Jesus hand us the broom – regardless of our own fears and brokenness.

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 SECOND Sunday OF EASTER 


Fear is a human experience that accompanies us throughout much of life.
We fear the dark as a child
There is fear of failure in School
We fear the bullies who can hurt us deep within
We fear the uncertainties of life ---where is it going; what’s around the corner
We can have the fear of losing our home or our job
And so many others…someone said that the phrase “Do not be afraid” is found 366 times in the Bible---one more than one a day!
The Gospel is filled with fear today. That upper room where the disciples gather has locked doors as a visible sign that they are not very confident or sure of what will happen next. And even after the first appearance of the Risen Jesus, a week later, they are still locked away because of fear.

Fear was very unsettling and disruptive and not easily overcome by the disciples. It would take them time to become reassured.

Jesus appeared to them, twice for most of them; and three times he says “Peace be with you”; he shows them his wounds---it is really the Lord and not some ghost or spirit.

What does this peace bring? It is a peace that allays fear, empowers forgiveness, and shows us that the door to new life opens through suffering and death. This peace is not the absence of struggles or challenges. Rather it is a realization that despite the things that can challenge and disrupt life, we have a gift that roots us in such a way that we know we will weather the storm. Jesus has breathed on us the gift of the Spirit and so we can trust that the pains and sufferings of today will not paralyze or stop us---but we will be brought through them to new life in Christ.

The Peace of Christ gives us a confidence and a strength that reassures us. With that peace deep within we can accept cancer and the endless treatments; parents can give the effort that having a child who is autistic or has attention disorders demands; others can trust when joblessness drags on for yet another month.

Jesus had a forgiving and comforting attitude toward the disciples. They had not been worthy and yet he speaks to their fear his word of Peace. We have just heard of their humanness and failures: Peter denying ever knowing Jesus; Judas’ betrayal; the abandonment of the rest; and today the doubt of Thomas who will not take the word of the others.

They are all like us---very human with their faults and struggles. We stand before the Lord with our own frailty and brokenness; we are sinners (sure, we like to put on the air of goodness, but who among us doesn’t have a dark, hidden side); even our leaders, whether in Church or government or large corporations can succumb to misdeeds and wrong-doing; and our heroes, from the Olympics, the Major Leagues or the Golf course can have their sins publically aired.
The peace of Christ speaks and breathes the healing of all these signs of brokenness. Easter proclaims that Redemption and Forgiveness are gifts that the Risen Christ shared then and continues to share now.

That is what is so grand about this season we call Easter. It reminds us again and again that no matter how we might fail or hurt or even destroy the bonds of life and love, they can be healed. We are receivers of this Easter proclamation and givers also to those in relationship with us. For what we have received, we must give that the Light of Christ and its new life that is symbolized in this candle can be spread in our world.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 EASTER Sunday


Today is about faith and seeing beyond the ordinary to discover something more. It is about remembering and promises that are fulfilled deep within. It is about an empty tomb and not completely understanding, but still trusting that life is stronger than even death.

Easter and our faith are not about certainty or proof such as we might expect in the normal experience of life. It is about having walked with the Lord through the days of Lent and finding more than what we were looking for.

For many these days carry a heaviness that may lead to despair, depression and discouragement. How does one see beyond serious illness, or a recurring bout with addiction or the loss of esteem because your home has been foreclosed or your unemployment continues; or how does one keep from being oppressed by the spread of violence and hate that fill too many streets and air waves or the shame of clergy sex abuse that even taints the leaders of our Church. If one’s faith is shaky to start or even if we thought our faith was more solid, we are all affected by the elements surrounding us.

What we celebrate today and in the weeks ahead is that Jesus Christ is not held by evil that crucified him so many years ago. Nor can the power of death entomb him and keep him from being found among the living. For He is Risen; and we too share in that life that is everlasting. We are a Resurrection people. We are not suppose to be buried in the tomb of our sins or evil habits or dangerous addictions. This day is about the reality that no tomb can hold us down anymore---not the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt or death. Instead we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, courageously facing the challenges of everyday, and drinking in the experience of the Resurrected Lord in all the events of our lives. For he is Risen and in him, we too are risen.

Last night as we lit this Easter candle for the first time in the darkened Church, I spoke in the homily of the call to each of us to carry this Light of Christ to the parts of the world where evil and despair and even death seem to hold control. We are to become the Lights of Christ through our lives of mercy, love, compassion, and self-sacrificing service. For the Risen Christ is living in our hearts and we cannot keep the power of this light hidden within ourselves, but must allow it to burn brightly for all to see and to be touch by it.

This is easier said than done though. But each time we display our love for others, we share in the resurrection; each time we face a betrayal of trust, we share in the resurrection of Jesus; each time we fail in our attempts to ward off temptation---but keep on trying to overcome them---we share in the resurrection; each time we continue to hope ---even when our hope seems unanswered---we share in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. The message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us, not pain, sin, rejection or death---because Christ has conquered all these, and we too conquer them if we put our faith in Him.

We are called then to take the Easter joy and light of the Risen one into the week ahead. It is a challenge to Be a Resurrected People. Allow me to finish with a story about Archbishop John Whealon, the late Catholic Bishop of Hartford, CT.

Archbishop Whealon, had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy. He wrote these very personal words in his last Easter message: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix bird of Egyptian mythology. When the bird felt its death was near, it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus the phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It was one of the earliest symbols of the risen Christ. In the same way, any person who has survived a struggle with cancer is considered phoenix-like, having risen from the ashes of disease and been given a new lease on life. Suddenly life becomes more precious to that person. Each hour is lived more fully. Each friend seems much more real. The sky seems more blue, the sunshine more beautiful, and the colors more vivid. Even dull and ordinary things are causes for gratitude to God.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the resurrected Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life.

May this Easter give us the opportunity to do the same in our lives.
 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

 EASTER Sunday

Acts 10: 34a, 37-43; Col 3: 1-4; Jo 20: 1-9

If we have stayed young enough, we may have wanted to follow Lewis Carroll’s Alice down rabbit hole or enter C. S. Lewis’ wardrobe? Liturgy is our entrance, not into Wonderland or Narnia, but into the never-ending story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The liturgy of Holy Week and Easter enables us to touch the reality of the past, made present and real in Eucharist.

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the second volume of Luke’s life of Jesus Christ, enables us to listen to St. Peter’s first address to the pilgrims in Jerusalem on Pentecost morning. Through the reading we find ourselves part of that crowd listening to Peter recount the wonderful events of Jesus’ life: "You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

In this week’s liturgy we have relived all the events of the First Holy Week – the Last Supper on Thursday, standing at the foot of the Cross with His mother Mary and the apostle John on Friday, and, today, we are at the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene, John and Peter.

Today, with Mary Magdalene, Peter and apostles, we bring the reality of Christ’s resurrection into our own lives and into the lives of still other crowds waiting to hear the gospel – the good news, as real today as it was in the opening days of the life of the Church. The Acts of the Apostles is like a book that is not yet finished. It continues in our lives today.

With our baptism we each make our contribution to the story of Christ’s continuing presence among us. We are part of a continuum, tracing our roots to the Creator, to Jesus, to Peter and the Apostles, and to all who entered into the mystery of Church on Pentecost and beyond. Our stories need not be spectacular, but each story contains the wonder of God’ grace, begun at our conception, sanctified in baptism and carried throughout life, beyond the moment of death. In the life of the Church we live out the mystery of Christ’s resurrection.

To celebrate this feast of Easter fully, we must be profoundly aware of the consequences of Jesus’ resurrection in our own life. Every aspect of our life must be deeply touched by our consciousness of Jesus’ resurrection, which is the promise of and title to our own.

We must come to liturgy not at a superficial level of religious practice, but as that which we must truly live, a story of which we are a part. We live the profound reality of the divine gift of faith, given to us at baptism. It is a real tragedy to be satisfied with simply “going to church” or “making our Easter duty”. Rather, we must live the Eucharist where Jesus is present in the Scriptures and in the transformation of the elements of bread and wine into His body and blood. True love of God, true religious practice, calls us to strive to experience His presence and to sense the profound love Jesus has for us.

We must be haunted by Jesus’ words as He bids us share Eucharist in His memory in those words following the consecration at each Eucharist: “Do this in memory of me.” It can thrill us to realize how perfectly we fulfill Jesus’ plea and find the fulfillment of His promise: “I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.”

Christ’s resurrection is the pledge of our own, and Paul offers sound advice in today’s reading: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Our Christian faith is a way of life, a way of entering the Scriptures and living them today.

Through the Eucharist we can identify with the early Christians “who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” We, with them, have been commissioned to testify to all people that Jesus is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. “To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name." His resurrection is the pledge of our own and the basis for our daily life.

We need the faith of a Magdalene who came to the tomb to offer reverence to her Lord and becomes the first herald of His resurrection. We need the response of a Peter and John who rush to the tomb to find the truth of Mary’s words. We need the thoughtfulness of the younger John as he waits for his older brother, Peter, the Rock foundation of Jesus’ Church, to enter the tomb first. John then enters, and as the Scripture tells us: “he saw and believed.”

The way we live must enable us to preach a gospel that requires no words. We must see and believe as did John and come, with all the disciples, to learn that Jesus had to rise from the dead. May you know that profound joy of Easter and find the reality that, because Jesus lives, so do we. In Him we have life and have it in abundance.

Happy Easter!

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 EASTER VIGIL & MASS

Tonight is in a sense a mini-series of the human journey to God---we move from the wonder of creation to the deliverance from slavery and evil to a place of freedom, to the promise of God’s constant care, to the salvation that is ours through the waters of baptism that lead us to the promise of sharing in the Resurrected life of Christ Jesus.

While that story unfolds in the history of God’s people, it also is a story that invites us to find ourselves here. It is the journey of our candidates, Sarah, Kristina, Barbara and Brett. They have traveled through the process called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults into a profound relationship with Christ and our Church that we celebrate tonight. But it is a journey we all also make again this Lent and Easter.

It is a journey made new and present for all of us---our way to the fullness of life in Christ. We pass through the milestones that the Scriptures hold out to us.

a. It takes us where we have seen the wonder of life and the amazing Word of God our creator;
          b. Where we have experienced the hard times of life---for Israel the slavery of Egypt; but for us maybe illness,               broken relationships, unemployment, or anxiety and fear about a child or a parent that can imprison us;
          c. where we have been comforted by the hope that God’s WORD promises nourishment and relief;
          d. where we have come to realize that our life is buried in the life of Christ;
          e. where we are brought to the wonder and puzzlement that an empty tomb speaks.

We are meant to place ourselves here in the midst of promise and hope and discover again that our God is full of surprises. It is the unbelievable that lifts us---someone dead is now alive; an empty tomb promises belief; the Risen one is not to be found among the dead, but is out among the living.

So where do we find the Risen One? The light of creation tonight is not the sun or the moon or the stars but is the powerful light of the Easter candle that reveals to us that the Risen one is here among us.

This night is not just about us and our journey to God. It is also about our role in carrying this light into our world. For this Light needs to bring encouragement and warmth to the people of Haiti; it needs to bring a ray of hope for peace to those in Afghanistan; it needs to warm the spirit of the poor and of the immigrant who looks for acceptance and food and health care. It also asks us to bring light to our immediate world still darkened by disbelief and the slavery of sin. We bring risen life in the simple smile, the helping hand and the listening ear. We bring risen life in the compassion we have for others; in our willingness to give of our time and understanding to the stranger; and in the daily dying to self which parents offer their children and in our making the sacrifices that life can require.

The utter amazement of this night is that while we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection we also celebrate our own new life. As Jesus gave of himself in love for others, we are asked to follow in his path. In doing this, our life is indeed made new in the sharing of the divine with the human, in and through us. So let your Alleluia be heard near and far. For he is Risen…and so are we!

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 HOLY THURSDAY


Tonight we enter the Easter Triduum---an event that takes us through Holy Thursday, Good Friday to the Easter Vigil and Mass. It is difficult for us not to think of these as separate days and events, but the truth is they flow from one to the other---linked--- into one grand sign of God working through our salvation. This Triduum is more a continuum, a flow from Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday---reinforcing one another’s message and building to the climax of Easter and New Life.

We are to see our everyday lives absorbed in this progression. These are days in which we re-learn the deepest meaning of sacrifice and love. Jesus’ sacrifice of life brings us new life and invites a sacrifice of our own lives.

Thus Easter Triduum will show us, but also embrace us, in the continuing love God extends to us---and tells us in a kind of mini-series the story of salvation, especially in the readings of Holy Saturday and Easter.

As we journey through the next 72 hours, we will be renewed and nourished in the gift of life, and that life is no less than divine life!

So we begin our journey with the disciples gathered with Jesus and with the Church universal into the Easter Triduum.

We have just concluded our weeks of preparation for 93 children who will celebrate their First Communion during the Easter season here at St. Louis. It is an interesting series of sessions for the children and their parents as they learn what this bread and wine is about. It certainly does not fill our stomach or take the place of healthy, nutritious ‘strive for 5’ meals. Yet this bread and wine has within them the power of God---it is the way God has chosen to make his life grow within us, to make our hearts pump with love, to make our compassion truly caring, to make us see even our enemy as a child of God. This food becomes more than wheat and grapes for when we place these gifts---fruits of the earth and works of human hands---on the altar and then remember Jesus in blessing and sharing them, this simple food can change us deep within---it has the power of God in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

Tonight’s feast reminds us of this truth and mystery. For on this night when we recall the First Eucharist of Jesus and the Apostles at the Last Supper, we hear a different Gospel than what we might expect. Instead of the words of the covenant, we hear the story of the washing of the feet. John’s account of the Last Supper has no commentary of the institution of the Eucharist, but spends 15 verses telling us that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

How do we make sense of this? To return to our First Communicants---we try to teach the children a lesson that we all need to learn again and again in life---the Eucharist, the gift to us of God’s love, led Jesus to give of himself for love of his disciples. So our Eucharist leads us to love one another---our brothers and sisters, our parents, our friends, those we love and those we don’t love, to love all people. Whether we are 7 or 67 we all know how hard it is to do this. Here is another reason Jesus continues to feed us with his love.

So Jesus tonight gives us himself as a model. He shows us a loving act of service ---washing the feet of his disciples. This was not easy for Jesus---imagine having to convince Peter, knowing that in a few short hours, Peter would deny even knowing Jesus; or washing the feet of Judas---Jesus must have had mixed feelings; or washing any of the others. It was not an easy or enjoyable task---ask any care giver who has to serve at the bedside of a sick child or a dying parent or a with a blood-soaked accident victim.

Yet such was his example! Tonight we are invited to wash someone else’s feet---as a statement of promise for each of us---to find ways to take the gift of God’s love shared with us in every Eucharist and serve others in our everyday life with loving sacrifice that nourishes them in the life of Christ.

What we share is that we become bread that is broken and wine that is poured out in service of others. We become the love of God that touches people around us today. For the gift of the Eucharist is that we become what we eat, we become the hands and deeds of Jesus now lived here and now. May we take in this gift and be absorbed in God’s love.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

Communal Penance Service


When the change to day light saving time was made 3 weeks ago, it was very startling to see that the evening darkness had receded to after 5pm. It was a reminder that there was something happening all around us as the earth began to warm for us here in the north; the snow began to melt and the days are definitely longer with more daylight and sun.

The theme of darkness and light are primordial signs that humanity has used for centuries to understand life and its rhythms. With the power and genius of light bulbs today, we don’t appreciate these two elements as fully perhaps as our ancestors for whom kerosene lanterns helped to hold off the darkness.

Think of the ways that we can be embraced by darkness. Certainly by the night which overcomes the light of day; or the darkness that our deeds spread when we divide and hurt one another; or the hidden nature of life when we hide and cover over the truth. Darkness can be a powerful force that can stifle and prevent people from seeing and recognizing what surrounds them.

Our two readings today present us with 2 very different images of how darkness can affect people. Paul can see and is focused on his desire and determination to control this fledgling element called the followers of the Way. He is so narrow in his efforts that he can see no good, or no possibility for light coming from these people who are proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.

He is blinded and knocked to the ground by some power beyond himself. In Paul’s case he is blinded as the first step in changing his ways. In the case of the man born blind, he is freed from his blindness and now begins to speak of God and his journey of belief to the religious leaders of his day. Think of this as a lay person speaking to the Pope about a revelation of God. Challenging to say the least!

So darkness or blindness in and of itself can be the source of enlightenment and insight. In fact we might make the case that if someone is in the darkness or is blind or blinded, she may be able to appreciate the light more fully and its new revelation.

One of the insights that Fr. James Martin weaves throughout his book, My Life with the Saints, is that the saints discovered the living God in their humanness. Dorothy Day was lead to a deep spirituality and love for the poor partly at least because of the difficulties of her life; St. Ignatius Loyola was led to the spiritual exercises out of a life that was marked by violence and power; Mother Theresa knew the darkness of doubt and alienation along the way of her spiritual journey to her God. In a sense it can be the darkness that prepares us for the light. It can be our sin and our embracing it that opens us to forgiveness and freedom.

On Holy Saturday night, the beautiful song surrounding the Easter candle is called the Exultet. It is really an unfolding of the wonder of God in bringing humanity to salvation. There is one verse in the song that has always challenged me: in referring to the sin of Adam and Eve, what we would call Original Sin, it says: O Happy Fault…O necessary sin of Adam which gained for us so great a Redeemer. Isn’t it strange that the Church would call a sin a ‘happy fault’? Yet think of what happened because of this sin. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, a greater good has come into the world. It was because of their failure that God entered the world with redemption and salvation.

Go back to Paul: here was a determined crusader against the Christian way of life, yet when he is confronted on the road and blinded, his eyes are opened and he becomes a staunch crusader for the Way of Jesus Christ. Once he has been in the light, he becomes so much more than he was. There is a lesson available for all of us who can admit and humbly recognize our sinful side: we can become people with more empowerment to tell the Good News because of our journey through sin and darkness to be the converted disciple. It is the story of so many of the Saints: from the big ones like St. Augustine and St. Mary Magdalene to the little ones like our parents and selves. Their sins and faults are not hidden, but are the source of encouragement and hope for others who are able to see what is beyond the darkness.

The Man Born Blind shows us how the grace of God can work so powerfully in an ordinary person, like ourselves. He becomes not just a believer, but an out-spoken disciple of the work of Jesus. He teaches the spiritual leaders a thing or two about the spiritual dimension of life.

If any of you have seen the movie, “The Blind Side,” you know the lesson that love and understanding can help to make blossom. There is a grace that we celebrate in this Sacrament of Reconciliation that can transform, can turn our hearts, can make for a new sighting and insight into the life of Christ.

We are all sinners---people who recognize the frailty and struggle of life. This Penance Service asks us to own and admit our sin in whatever form it takes. We are people who come to stand in the light---to be blinded by this Light of Christ. We are people who trust and believe in the power of this Light which can dispel the darkness deep within and welcome us to a new life, a forgiven life, a redeemed and saved life.

Allow in the quiet of the next few minutes the warmth and reassurance of this light to penetrate your heart and soul and deepest self. Allow the Light of Christ to lead you to a new place where you know how much God loves and forgives you ---and sees you as God’s child.

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

Passion (Palm) Sunday

Is 50: 4-7; Phi 2: 6-11; Lk 22: 14 -23:56


Every ten years the people of the Bavarian village of Oberammergau fulfill a promise made 375 years ago to portray the Passion story we just heard. This is that tenth year when the drama of divine love, expressed in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is offered to the world. Love for humankind, love for each and every individual - all is expressed in this gospel account. Humankind’s response brings the reality of that Divine Love into contrast and the drama begins.

We live the story day after day. We see it in our headlines; we are shocked with its details in news accounts and magazines. Each Holy Week we hear the original story and find its application to whatever is unfolding in our present day. As we hear the story in each of the gospels year after year, hopefully its meaning finds a more intimate place in the hearts of us all. Regardless of the passage of centuries, each of us can find a place in the story.

If we were being cast for the play at Oberammergau, where would we fit into the cast of characters? As we just heard in today’s reading, Jesus has just given Himself in the Eucharist, and the disciples start to argue over who is the greatest among them. How conscious are we of the miracle of Christ’s gift on the altar today, at this Eucharist? Are we lost in thought or argument over who has control over our lives or the lives of family, friends or neighbors?

When the betrayal of Jesus unfolds in our own Gethsemani gardens, do we play the role of Judas, providing our own betrayal of Jesus because His plan for our life doesn’t measure up to our own expectations? Judas had his expectations for Jesus, and when those expectations failed to materialize, Judas steals off into the night to close his bargain to hand Jesus over. His own expectations had blinded him to the reality of Jesus’ passionate mission to win our salvation. Judas chose simply to ignore Jesus’ dream and in the end, he lost everything. How deliberately do we seek to follow our own will rather than the will of God?

Can we be cast as Peter with his bravado to assure Jesus he would follow Him to death, only to deny the Christ at a moment of crisis? How often have our lives declared that we do not know the man? We heard Peter say, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” Jesus’ simple answer calls him to reality: “This very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Eager, idealistic Peter becomes all too aware of his own weakness. But, in spite of his weakness, Peter struggles to keep his focus on Jesus and on His expectations. He weeps bitter tears at the cock’s crow. Do we follow Peter all the way?

How intent are we to be aware of the will of Jesus throughout our life? How much are we willing to see that intent as truly a way of life for us and not simply a dream too difficult to be real? In a world of fluid values, intense awareness of Jesus is a reality that produces focus, awareness and life. In the midst of our own weakness, in the midst of our daily routine, the will to follow the suffering Christ brings us to peace and a profound sense of purpose.

Think of Pilate as he wearily tries to avoid judgment on Jesus and finally succumbs to the shouts of the crowd. Are we strong enough in our awareness of Jesus to maintain our loyalty to Him? What of the individuals in that boisterous mob? Do we follow the crowd in shallow judgments and find ourselves condemning Jesus once more in our own time and space? As we follow any of the drama’s players, we can find our place in each of the Passion narratives in these days of Holy Week. Here we find guides to carry us through our own weakness to the ever faithful love of the Suffering Servant. The liturgy of each of the three days of Holy Week are not simply ceremonies, they recount the drama in which we each have a part. As we follow the Way of the Cross again this year, may our daily lives blend on Jesus’ path to Calvary, and may we discover every day of our life that the path really leads to resurrection and life.

 

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

There were two evil brothers named Larry and Terry. They were very rich and used their money to keep their evil ways from the public eye. They attended the same church and looked to be perfect Christians. At their church, a fundraising campaign was started to build a new church hall. Suddenly, one day, Terry died. The remaining brother, Larry, sought out the pastor the day before the funeral and handed him a check for the amount needed to finish the new building. "I have only one condition," he said. "At Terry’s funeral, you must say that he was a saint." The pastor gave his word and deposited the check. The next day at the funeral, the pastor did not hold back. "Terry was an evil man," he said. "He cheated on his wife, abused his family, and swindled everyone he did business with." And after going on in this vein for awhile, he concluded with, "But, compared to his brother, Terry was a saint."

Today’s Gospel reading is much like last’s week’s story of the prodigal son, where we can relate easily to either the prodigal son or his brother, the so called, good son. This week, we can again easily relate to either the sinful woman or to the crowd ready to justifiably condemn her. But what I really hope we can relate to, is the person of the prodigal son or the sinful woman after they have received forgiveness and mercy for their sins. Remember how the father receives his son and welcomes him home, rejoicing; and how Jesus forgives the woman caught in a public sin and exposes the private sins of her accusers. How they must have felt! It kind of makes us sinners feel better about our sins until we hear the last line: “…from now on do not sin any more.” Then we worry, we start to feel guilt-ridden.

Feeling guilty is not healthy, because a feeling is not a fact. You see, we can feel guilty when we are innocent, and we can feel innocent when we are guilty. However, feelings are an important part of us, but because they can be irrational, we have to be clear about what it is that we actually feel. Most of us remember a past sin, and feel guilty. But memory is not guilt. We ought to learn from our past mistakes, and realize that they have nothing to do with our present guilt.

Sometimes we feel shame, which is not the same as guilt. Shame is embarrassment, usually about something private — often sexual — often about something that we feel is beneath our dignity. Shame helps us build a dignified character… but it does make us guilty.

Then we sometimes feel remorse, which is again is not guilt. Remorse is a sense of regret, a wish that something had not happened; or sadness at having caused pain; or anger over having destroyed something good. Remorse is an excellent feeling, within limits. It makes us humble, and patient, and compassionate, and a little more careful of love, of the next time we’re tempted… but remorse does not make us guilty.

Guilt is that precise, present experience of having willfully committed sin. It makes us feel that we deserve the judgment that every sinner rightly deserves. But God has another plan for us as we see in today’s readings. In the first reading, we find the Israelites exiled in Babylon — a place of shame and alienation — a direct consequence of their sinfulness and infidelity to their covenant with God. Nevertheless, despite their unworthiness, God would bring them home; their chastisement would come to an end; and their journey back to their homeland would be celebrated as something so wonderful it would erase their past sufferings from their minds.

In the second reading, Paul understood that his change of heart had come when he began to believe in Jesus. He described this experience as gaining Christ and being found in him. Paul was ready to forget his former life and move forward to preach the Gospel until he attained the resurrection from the dead.

The unnamed woman in today’s Gospel was granted a similar experience. Found with a man who was not her husband, she (she alone, and not her partner) was taken and subjected to the judgment of some scribes and Pharisees. As if to kill two birds with their stones, the woman’s accusers also brought her before Jesus. Although the law permitted her execution, Jesus succeeded in dispersing those who wanted retribution, and without condemning her sin, or berating the sinner, Jesus challenged her to leave her sin behind, to live her life anew within the parameters of God’s goodness and righteousness.

How easily do we feel that we aren’t so bad, especially when we compare ourselves to others — like “when compared to Terry, I’m a saint.” But sin is personal, our relationship with God is unique. God sees us alone and offers to us mercy and forgiveness. What better time to appropriate this grace than Lent? Then, graced with such an experience, we should extend this same opportunity to others. We should not relegate people who offend us, to a place made ugly and lonely by our resentment, anger, and refusal to forgive, especially after having been forgiven ourselves. Lent is the season for opening our hearts and extending our hands to others. By offering healing and forgiveness for others, we allow them to grow — and we hope and pray that those we love (and those we do not love as we should) will also forgive us.

We are being called out of sin into a place of reconciliation; we are able to make a new start instead of remaining in our guilt, sinking into despair and hopelessness. Without our burden, we forgiven sinners are graced with new hope that leads to growth and wholeness. There is only one antidote for our sins, and it is instantaneous. You simply say, “I’m sorry.” And Jesus promptly replies, “I do not condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Because of God’s mercy and grace, we can all be saints.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

I had been ordained about three years, 28 yrs old, when an older priest was assigned as an assistant to the parish in Canandaigua. He was 60 years old, older even than the pastor. Fr. Joe was a very gentle person but one who had a troubled past. He told me at breakfast of his second day: I am an alcoholic.

I knew him on good days and also on days when the evil of the bottle overtook him. It struck me then: here was a person who struggled with the curse of liquor; here I was a person who enjoyed my beer, but never felt under the control of alcohol. Why can one person be under the influence of such an addiction and another person not have the same problem? It is part of the mystery of life---we try to understand it, figure it out, but it is beyond what is logical and comprehensible.

I thought of Fr. Joe when I read today’s Gospel. We can be so judgmental and lay blame on others. Jesus speaks of two tragedies at the beginning of the Gospel. People were passing judgment on people as if they caused the tragedy. It reminds me of the story of the Man born blind in John’s Gospel: who sinned, Jesus was asked, this man or his parents.

We can think that this attitude is not heard today. When the earthquake happened in Haiti, a famous Evangelical minister spoke of it as Haiti’s due reward. He claimed the people of Haiti had made a pact with the devil 200 years ago. Now it seemed like God was cursing them.

Or sometimes we hear it from one another: when a person is faced with Cancer or personal tragedy falls on someone, we can hear: Why is God doing this to me? Is it because I was bad at some point in my life? Is God getting me back?

This is not the kind of God I believe in or is it the kind of God that Jesus shows us. God’s understanding and forgiveness are way beyond what we as humans practice. The God of Jesus is not into revenge; we might make him act that way for sometimes we make God in our image and likeness. Fr. Ed Salmon’s Mission theme this week was that we needed to know Jesus and what he was up to so we can be ambassadors for God. He helped us to see a deeper side of the Gospel stories of the Woman at the Well, the Man Born Blind and the Raising of Lazarus. God wants for us freedom and love no matter what we have done or how we have caused trouble.

There is one other message from today’s Gospel. This is dynamic with vibrant imagery, especially as we prepare for Spring. The story of the fig tree and the patience of the gardener are about how God gives us time, perhaps not an endless supply, but God is a God of the second chances. The gardener says that he will cultivate the ground and fertilize it; he will give it another chance. I’ve said this before: sometimes Luke cleans up the language and I think he does that here.

At my cabin in Bristol, I have some wooden barrels on the back deck that serve as planters. Each year I plant them with geraniums. The second year I did this, I added a special ingredient from the Heberle Stables, as one of the parishioners at the parish I was serving owned the Stables. Let me tell you those geraniums grew vibrantly and were healthy beyond expectation. It was amazing what a little manure did to those plants.

Life sometimes gives us stuff that we don’t want to deal with; stuff we don’t appreciate. It can be smelly and disgusting---like AA meetings or chemotherapy or heartbreak or unemployment. Who wants to deal with any of this stuff, let alone other examples? Yet that stuff can be like the manure, not pleasant and difficult to work into our lives, yet they generate growth.

Each of us has the time to repent this year, here and now. Maybe the gardener is working the magic of cultivation and fertilizer in your life. This Lent own your trouble and ask God to help you see the possibility for new growth and life.

 

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

Last summer, Fr. Kevin needed to purchase a lawn mower for his place in Bristol. He headed into town to buy one, but on the way he saw a sign advertising a lawn mower for sale. He stopped at the house and a young kid came out to greet him.  Fr. Kevin asked about the lawn mower and the two went to look at it. The engine was sputtering along at idle speed. Fr. Kevin increased the speed of the engine and mowed a few strips. Satisfied that the mower would do the job, they settled on a price of $25.00.

Later in the day, the young kid was out riding his bicycle when he saw Fr. Kevin pulling on the engine starter rope. The kid stopped and watched for a couple of minutes and asked, "What's wrong?"

Fr. Kevin said, "I can't get this mower started. Do you know how?"  The kid said, "Yep, you have to cuss at it."  To which Fr. Kevin replied, “Son, I am a priest and if I ever did cuss, not saying I have, I've forgotten how to do it after all these years." The kid replied, "Well, Father, keep pulling on that rope, and it'll all come back to ya."

Lent has begun again.  On Ash Wednesday we received ashes on our foreheads with the words, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” – a call to conversion, a metanoia.  So once again, we give it another try, kind of like trying to start that old lawn mower.  The word Lent is from the Anglo-Saxon word lengten, which means spring.  It’s a time of year that we are already longing for, right?  Spring, of course, is a time when nature comes back to life. And so too, we are called during Lent to come back to life, to change; we are called to conversion, hopefully evidenced by our different attitudes, our different lifestyles, our being and acting like the persons that God wants us to be.

St John Vianney, reflected on today’s Gospel this way. “Are we poor? We have a God who is born in a stable, who lies in a manger.  Are we despised? We have a God who led the way, who was crowned with thorns, dressed in a filthy red cloak, and treated as a madman. Are we tormented by pain and suffering?  Before our eyes, we have a God covered with wounds, dying in unimaginable pain… Finally, are we being tempted by the demon?  We have our lovable Redeemer.  He also was tempted by the demon and was twice taken up by that hellish spirit.  Therefore, no matter what sufferings, pains, or temptations we are experiencing, we always have, everywhere, our God leading the way for us, and assuring us of victory, as long as we genuinely desire it.”

None of us is immune to sin. A big threat to our spiritual growth is the thought that we are exempt from the discipline and the hard work of conversion.  An essential human attribute for genuine conversion is humility – a virtue that removes the debris of pride that blocks our vision of reality and keeps us from true holiness.  The Catechism describes conversion as a “radical re-orientation of our whole life away from sin and evil, and toward God.”  It needs to begin with the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, which is our individual path to that change of heart needed for fully embracing the Gospel. “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”

How seriously do we take the devil?  Scripture describes the Evil One as an adversary, an accuser against the community, one who splits and breaks apart. Today’s Gospel is not mere metaphor or symbolism – the characters of Jesus and the devil are real. St. Thomas Aquinas held that all possible temptations are included in the temptations experienced by Jesus in today’s story. Specifically, the lust of the flesh, the desire for glory, and the quest for power, are all encompassed in the Tempter’s offers. There is no area of human desire exempt from the our Lord’s experience and his empathy with us.

Just how close is the Evil One? Just look around us – evidence of lust for worldly attachments; antagonism; power to control others through politics, physical suppression, and bullying; false accusations and corruption; injustice toward the poor and marginalized – I guess we can say that the proofs are legion. This continuing agenda of the Evil One is evidence enough for our need to make changes in our own lifestyles, attitudes, and actions. “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”

We are being called to conversion, to humility, to the sacrament of penance and reconciliation.  We are being called to recognize the Evil One in our lives, and are being called to quit pulling on the starter rope that will lead us back to our old ways and habits.  We need to recognize that it’s time for a tune up.

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Jer 17: 5-8 I Cor 15: 12, 16-20 Lk 6: 17, 20-26

The best part of a vacation is the first few hours when we look forward to the full time of being away from routine and relaxing in pleasant surroundings without pressure. The picture too quickly changes, though, and all too soon we begin to prepare for reentry. Joy in the vacation, then, becomes part of the realm of memory, and the vacation becomes a total package, as it were, to be compared with other experiences in our life.

This Ordinary Time has much the same dynamic. Having celebrated the reality of Epiphany, we strive to live the mystery in our daily lives. We begin once again to live life from the vantage point of the incarnation, and, through faith, we attempt to give Jesus a more deliberate place in our daily round of activities. As He becomes more regularly a part of our daily life, we grow in holiness and learn to keep Him in the center of mind and heart and action.

Jeremiah uses strong language when he addresses the subject: “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” The curse is more in the consequences of a life lived without the proper orientation - whose heart turns away from the LORD. Life loses its focus; one’s usefulness or sense of purpose become elusive: “He is like a barren bush in the desert,” Jeremiah continues,”that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.”

Life without focus in God so easily becomes a bore; motivation takes real work, and there is frequently a kind of moral stubbornness: “I like the way I am, no matter what anyone says.” The position is not unlike the bigot or the self-centered pest at a party. Rather than being the source of joy and enthusiasm, we can lose the ability to dream or to care for others.

But then Jeremiah offers us the contrast: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream; it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.” A barren waste – a productive garden of fruit and flowers – the contrast is striking.

Today, Paul brings Jesus back into the center of life along with a hint of His coming resurrection, the second of the great mysteries celebrated in the Church’s liturgical year. In a few days we will begin the season of Lent to prepare us for Easter. “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,” Paul goes on, “we are the most pitiable people of all. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

In the gospel, Jesus gathers a large crowd of disciples and those people who simply came to hear Him, and He proclaims to them the beatitudes and woes. "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” It is a poverty that acknowledges that all that is good is God’s gift, and those are blessed who live their lives acknowledging that all comes from Him. Their lives become an epiphany of God’s presence. In the simple authenticity of human relationships God’s presence becomes more evident. In the reality of the sacrament of marriage the presence of God can and must be profound.

This weekend we acknowledge Valentine’s Day but need to remember and enable our world to remember that Valentine is a martyr who gave his life to show love for God who is love itself. One of the most profound expressions of Divine Love in the human reality is the covenant of Christian marriage which Paul describes in his epistle to the Ephesians. It is a relationship that mirrors the love of Christ for His Church – a love that goes even to death on a cross and a love that is returned even in a martyr’s death.

No small tragedy of today’s world is the continuing lack of appreciation and reverence for one another that can overcome even a Christian marriage. Society can be so forgetful, take the covenant of marriage for granted, and leave our world with only a skeleton of the reality God gave us. Compared to Christ’s love for us and our required love of Him, marriage can sometimes become a tragic empty hulk of the reality.

May we acknowledge the Epiphany, the manifestation, of Christ’s love in our world especially in the covenant of marriage. May we avoid the supposed sophistication which looks upon this great gift as a mere formality where marriage vows are mere words. We must remember that every marriage is intended to mirror divine love. As we continue in Ordinary Time, may we all find the ongoing epiphany of God’s love at every moment in life and find the beginning of that eternal epiphany we call heaven.

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Neh 8: 2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 I Cor 12: 12-30 Lk 1:1-4; 4:14: 14-21

There’s the proverb that says we can know truly where we are going only when we know from where we have come. Today’s Scriptures tell us of a people returning from exile and just beginning to restore their national identity. Following the Babylonian exile the Jewish people began a difficult period to discover again their reality as God’s people, established by Him, tried by Him, nurtured and restored by Him and loved by Him.

As we just heard, the people listen intensely to the reading of the law, they rediscover who they are as a people in their sincere acceptance of the Law God had given them. For them it’s a time of finding once again their identity, but now as a people in the midst of a foreign culture. They are home again, but now must become comfortable in circumstances of home so changed after many years of exile.

In this Ordinary Time following Epiphany we reassess our own identity as a Christian people. We look again at ourselves with the renewed realization of Jesus’ birth and the consequence of His dwelling among us. Remember the words of the Angelus Prayer: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” “He dwells among us” is a phrase compelling us to realize its implications for us as a Christian community – as a living and thriving parish.

We may not be returning from exile, but we are finding ourselves in an environment – in a culture – that does not always reflect Christian values or even a respect for the human individual. Just as the return from exile intensified the faith of the Jewish people, the culture that surrounds us should intensify and deepen our respect for life and our awareness of the need to deepen the practice of our faith.

St. Paul reminds us that: “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” “and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” In that same Spirit, different gifts grace each of us - different responsibilities which we bring to our Christian community and to our world. Unfortunately, we can hide behind a certain indifference or reluctance to become involved. We can even become quite proficient in convincing ourselves that it is normal not to live fully our Christian commitment, when common sense should be telling us it is not.

Using our gifts is simply a natural consequence of their having been put in our lives to begin with. Parents, for example, are proud of their children’s accomplishments – recitals, rehearsals, soccer and basketball games and so much more. Children not infrequently are delighted in the gifts of their parents. In my own family we could spend hours listening to my mother play the piano for us. Is it not true, then, that God must take great delight in us when we use well the gifts with which He has blessed us? And does He not find delight when we rejoice in Him?

What magnificent drama it is when Luke’s gospel relates that moment when Jesus reveals to the congregation at the synagogue of Nazareth His gift of being the promised Messiah. Jesus had come to the synagogue that day as He was accustomed, and the people would have found nothing extraordinary in His presence. They had to have been truly surprised, however, when, having quoted Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jesus announced: "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

It was a stunning moment for them, and it should be for us. It was a moment in history that has affected the lives of us all who claim to be Christian. This was a moment of continuing epiphany when the Incarnate Word is revealed in time. Jesus places Himself firmly within the Scriptures with all their expectation of a messiah who has been sent “to bring glad tidings to the poor” - “to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

This is a passage proclaimed in our hearing as well; have we listened and are we paying attention? Do we see the consequences of that proclamation in our own life? Are we smug in thinking we need not respond or become involved? It is really from such a moment that motivation for our life as Christians should arise. All our life must, in fact, be our continuing fulfillment of that Scripture passage. It should be motivating, for example, what we do for the people of Haiti. Whatever we do for anyone in need must flow from our realization of Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue in Nazareth.

This weekend, two more things call for our attention in the light of Jesus’ fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity invites us to remember Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper: “Father, may they be one as we are one.” We should be doing all in our power to enable the answer to Jesus’ prayer. What are we doing to pray with Christ? Does our life in any way simply make its fulfillment more distant?

This weekend we remember legislation that ignores the value of human life at the earliest moments of its conception. How intense is our prayer for a basic respect for human life no matter how long that life has been in existence. The law of the land has been skewed to put human life in jeopardy, and millions of souls have died. The world needs our awareness so that all life will be held precious and protected. How often do we pray for the conversion of those who do not hold life sacred?

With Jesus’ declaration at Nazareth we are able to know where we have come from and where we are going. On that journey may we reach out as one family not only to our fellow Christians, to the people of Haiti, to offended innocent human life, but to any and all who need to experience the love of God enfleshed and reaching out to them.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 Baptism of the Lord


Today we come to the end of he Christmas season with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. Next week we will return to green vestments and Ordinary time. So what have we experienced and learned from this year’s Christmas celebration?

We have seen the wonder of God becoming flesh---the Incarnation, Christmas. It all happens among ordinary people and in ordinary places and time. God asks the participants to accept a role in the unfolding of the mystery; they show trust and faith as what is happening is not fully understood. There are a lot of questions and many things to reflect upon. It all happens among the ‘little ones’---Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds and in the backwater town of Bethlehem; not in palaces, among the rich and famous, the ones who could make it get more attention; rather it is among the poor and ordinary (people like us). We also see that Jesus had to grow in a family, with religious practices and rituals a part of his upbringing. He grew in age and grace and wisdom under the guidance of his parents.

Now we come to the Baptism of Jesus by John. That Baptism is quite different from the baptism that we have received. The Jewish faith, as well as other religions, use water rituals to speak of cleansing, preparation, and initiation. For Jesus His Mission begins with this ritual blessing. The Voice in the Gospel of Luke is for Jesus alone to hear as it confirms him in his mission and confirms who he is: “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.”

A transition begins here, from the private life of Nazareth to going out to preach the Good News and to heal and comfort, to lift the spirit and to bring hope to the sinner. The Baptism is an Epiphany for Jesus, a glimpse into the more, a look at who he is. I suppose it would parallel college graduation---one moves from preparation to the arena of work in a job market. The child is no longer a child, but takes on a new mantle of responsibility.

Our Baptism ties more into Jesus’ mission than into his baptism. Our baptism reveals us as ones who have been graced by the mission of Jesus; we have been saved, renewed, justified and made heirs of eternal life. We are baptized with what John the Baptist calls the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit speaks of the divine presence within us---we are transformed and become part of the Body of Christ, we are blessed with new life, the seeds of God’s life are planted in us.

The fire burns within us so that we are ignited with energy, with a drive that reaches out beyond us to touch others with its power, warmth and welcoming presence. We use a similar expression when we speak of more common and human experiences: a coach works to get a team ‘all fired up’; a boss tries to ‘light a fire’ under employees; someone takes on a new project and has ‘a fire in the belly.’
Confirmation that sacrament so linked to baptism is about activating that Holy Spirit and fire for the teenage believer. We often see the image of the Holy Spirit as a tongue of fire on the heads of the Apostles, but maybe the image should be a fire under them. Baptism is done usually as infants; Confirmation to older candidates who accept their responsibility to live the Mission of Jesus.

Confirmation leads us to be eager to do good for others. It joins us to the Mission of Jesus and empowers us to be able to touch others with the love of our God…as Jesus did. It is not just doing something nice, but the good we do is the gift of God through us.

Baptism then is for the parents and family an embracing of who this child is and then the parents form the child through its growing up years in grace and wisdom, like Mary and Joseph did.

Confirmation is where the Holy Spirit and fire fill us and lead us to understand what the Mission of Jesus is---this is where our Baptism and that of Jesus intersect. It is a wow moment---wow that is what this is all about---God gives me the ability to share God’s love when I love, when I serve, when I help someone else. This is a precious and generous gift that carries on the work of the Church in the shadow of Jesus. May the Holy Spirit and God’s fire energize us!
 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 HOLY FAMILY

Christmas is one of those days when we can experience both the best and the worse of family life. There is the promise of coming together from a variety of places to gather together to recall past memories of time spent that has nourished and helped individual members of the family to grow and be enriched. And in doing so, we create new memories that strengthen and help. Who does not yearn for that Norman Rockwell painting to be the reality that we experience again?

Yet at the same time, Christmas can reveal the fractures and brokenness of family life. Perhaps it is that moment when old disagreements surface when we hoped they would be held back; or maybe it is the absence of someone who was central to who our family was; or maybe it is being aware of the very blend that our family is---children from two marriages, step and foster children, parents and grandparents from more than one relationship.

Part of the challenge of this feast is focused on the word, HOLY. We can think that the home in Nazareth where Jesus grew up was marked by yellow halos that were always evident from morning to night. We can mistakenly picture this family as being obsessively pietistic and religious. There was never a cross word, any hurtful experience or need to correct. That may be what we have imagined and been taught by all those pious holy cards, but the reality might have been different.

The Gospel itself reminds us that not all was so perfect. After the celebration of the Passover in Jerusalem, the child Jesus was found to be missing. If you ever were a missing child or a searching parent, you know that is not a calm and gentle experience. It is filled with fright and worry. It almost pushes you to the edge of sanity.

You hear it in the words of Mary: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

So there was even in this ‘holy’ family tension and anxiety among the members. St. Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus was obedient to them, in other words, he did not pull that trick again. Jesus had to grow in wisdom and age and favor in that home where he had disappointed Mary and Joseph.

I point this out not to minimize the example and challenge of Jesus, Mary and Joseph but to attempt to offer them as realistic examples for us in our family situations. It is not always easy to accept the normal annoyances that are part of family life; we can too easily see the things that bother us (bug) us; we see the idiosyncrasies of other members of the family. What we are called to do is to help one another to be a better person, to learn to give respect and love to each other. This is not an easy thing to learn, let alone practice.

There are three things from the SS today that could strengthen our families:

  1.  Hanna gave thanks to God for her son, Samuel. What if we were more grateful and expressed our thanks for each other. Parent for child, child for parent, brother for sister and sister for brother?

  2. St. John tells us that we are all children of God. True in our personal families, in our Church family, in our world family. What if we lived more conscious of how we are related and join with one another in the life of God? What if each of us worked everyday to love better one other person?

  3. In the Gospel it says Mary and Joseph went to the Temple in Jerusalem each year. They practiced family prayer and ritual celebration as part of their family life. God was not extraneous to their daily lives. What if each family became more committed to family prayer and worship in Church on a regular and consistent basis?

Pope John Paul spoke of the family as the domestic Church. It is in the family that Christian virtues and practices become routine and integrated into a person’s being. It is the family where the faith in God and belief in Jesus Christ get passed from the hearts of mothers and fathers into the hearts of the children. Even with the rough edges and hurt feelings, may we find ways to be a domestic Church for one another.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 CHRISTMAS


So many Christmas Carols have within them part of the message of the meaning of Christmas. Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, Little Town of Bethlehem all in someway offer some thought to the significance of what we celebrate today. Little Town of Bethlehem has the beautiful words…the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. How very true for us today---our hopes and fears are met in this new-born.

Isn’t it a wonder that so many people come to Churches around the world on this day. They come to hear the same old story that has within it a sense of mystery and hope. The details of this simple story, filled with Good News, don’t change from one year to the next. We will be taken back to a small town off the beaten track, a back-water town of 30-50 families, famous for its pastures for the sheep that will be used in the Temple of Jerusalem. It was also the home town of the great King David but that is a very distant memory tonight.

Look who is involved this night---not the rich and famous or even wannabes: A carpenter from up north who may have been unemployed, his pregnant teenage wife, who was about to give birth, a variety of field animals, and shepherds tending their flocks. Not a gathering of people that YNEWS would even cover.

Yet in this birth of a helpless child to such poor parents, the world and human existence has been changed forever. In the joining of the human with the divine, we are all changed. And maybe, just maybe this is the reason that so many come out on a cold night at the darkest time of the year to hear again this simple story. It may be that as we tell this story again, we are reminded that God has lifted us to himself in Christ Jesus. God has shared our life here in this simple setting so we too could share his life. This is the powerful meaning of this Christmas birth. In the light of this birth, we discover ourselves there in this child fully human. We discover ourselves in this human birth, we have the sense of the esteem of our best selves, and we are lifted beyond the frailty and weakness that we can feel most days.

So the Good News is more than about Jesus’ birth as a human being, but it also is about our hidden self that is blessed by God. We glimpse for at least a brief moment that we have within us the spark of the divine, the ability to rise to a better self, the blessing to truly live a fuller life with others on this earth---the hopes of all the years.

Alexander Pope has a thoughtful question for us: “What does it profit me if Jesus is born in thousands of cribs tonight all over the world, but is not born in my heart?”

Christmas is very personal, not out there, but in here. We are asked us to live in a new way: reflecting the grace that is ours. We are, each of us, “favored by God.” Can we be in touch with our hidden selves---the self that God graces and favors tonight? Can we live more from our best selves? Can we walk away from sin, from judging others and holding on to hurts, can we give others the benefit of the doubt, can we grace another person, can we open ourselves to someone different, and can we expand our comfort zone?

This Christmas can we be drawn to this simple story and hear it to be about us? We are favored by God. Can we see in the birth of Jesus that my life can be different? That I can be different? That because I am held in God’s grace, I am made new and even my sin and failures can lead me to open my heart to receive the grace of healing and begin to live with a different attitude. I am embraced and held in the loving arms of a God who sees beyond our gifts and failings to the core of our being. This Christmas can be a miracle of grace where the Scrooge with in us can be changed. Yes, the fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

It is difficult to accept that God loves us as we are, with our limitations as well as our tendencies toward sin. God is constantly calling us to conversion, to turn from our sinful behavior. God is always inviting us to follow him with a full knowledge of our human nature. Being a Christian is being a loved sinner. God has embraced the human in Christ Jesus and because of that marriage, we all can be different.

We can say if only I were holier, I then would be worthy of God’s love. I’m not Mother Theresa, or John XXIII, I’m too human to be of any use to God. Using our humanity can be an excuse for not hearing our call from God or from bearing our responsibility to one another.

True Christmas is about celebrating the coming of God in us---with all our humanness.
Pray that the wonder, the miracle of Christmas is not the birth in a stable of Bethlehem but in the heart of each of us ---may the grace of our God embrace each of us.

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

 CHRISTMAS


Is 62: 11-12 Titus 3: 4-7 Lk 2:15-20

Today is the feast of a Child – a Child whose home is eternal and who was born in a stable. In the liturgy we celebrate the Christmas feast from Midnight, through Dawn and into the New Day. With this liturgy we celebrate the Mass at Dawn, reminded that that one of the titles of Jesus is “Oriens ex Alto” - the Rising Sun. He is the Dawn.

Such an awesome part of the day, probably few of us get to see the dawn. Astronauts in orbit experience it every ninety minutes. A wonderful place to experience it here on earth is at the Abbey of the Genesee, just before the monks begin their morning prayer.

In the moments just before dawn all the birds begin to sing as if to announce the sun’s coming. Night’s blackness gradually softens to a light gray which, with equal slowness, gives way to pastel blues and then a deep rose. A deep red, like a glowing furnace, begins to fill the center horizon. With thrilling suddenness, a thin sliver of brilliance appears just at the horizon. It grows larger, filling the sky; we greet the sun, and day has begun.

We speak of the sun as rising, but the fact is that, as the earth spins on its axis it brings the surface of the earth to the horizon where it meets the sun. We can imagine the entire planet bowing in adoration. Like the spinning earth, we, in this Christmas Mass at Dawn, rush to meet the Christ Child. Like the shepherds, we go in haste to Bethlehem, to this Bethlehem, this House of Bread, this Eucharist.

With the dawn, the sun envelops the earth in ever increasing light, and the world is transformed. The sunrise glow is replaced with a soft then brilliant light that brings everything to light. And so it is as we come to meet the Christ Child. Isaiah tells us: “the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: ..,your savior comes!” As we rush to meet the Christ Child, our world brightens into a new day.

In today’s letter to Titus, Paul reminds us that the coming of the Christ Child transforms us all: “When the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace.”

In this Mass at Dawn, we accompany the shepherds as they make their way to Bethlehem to share with them that initial wonder as we, with them, find the Child who is Emmanuel – God with us. We wonder along with the shepherds at the news we have heard, and we can now return to our homes like the shepherds: “glorifying and praising God for all they (we) had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them (us).”

Without actually going to Bethlehem, the shepherds would have been left with only information. Their journey to Bethlehem was absolutely necessary for them to find the Christ Child and to confirm the truth of all that had been told them. How do we make our journey to Bethlehem; how is the reality of Christ’s coming truly a part of our life? Like the shepherds, we must come in faith to the infant of Bethlehem and build our lives around what He is and what He has revealed to us.

With Mary we are called to keep “all these things, reflecting on them in (our) heart.” Christmas must be celebrated with the thoughtfulness of Mary. It is a mystery of love that only our own attentiveness can open for us. The world cannot afford only a superficial faith from us. We must be, for own sakes and for our world, a people who come to Mary to ponder what this feast holds. Our modern world does not offer much assurance of a thoughtful realization of what Christmas is all about.

Christ is born for us; Christ is born in us! We have wonderful news to share; we have a day that is just beginning. When we offer Christmas greetings to each other, we bring the Christ Child more securely into our lives and more deliberately into the lives of all around us. Dawn is that wonderful time of discovery and revelation. May we truly wake with the Dawn and find the Christ Child this Christmas morning; may we truly make Him known in lives transformed by Him – transformed so that our world may know Emmanuel – God with us.
 

 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

FOURTH Sunday of Advent

Mic 5: 1-4a; Heb 10: 5-10; Lk 1: 39-45

They waited so long! In the many centuries before Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem, longing for a Messiah filled the lives of the Jewish people as they looked forward for deliverance through repeated exiles and oppression. Eight hundred years before Christ’s birth they knew the consolation of the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah to assure them that the promised Messiah would indeed come. Today we hear Micah foretell that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, “too small to be among the clans of Judah”. “From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.”

No ordinary Messiah, His origin is “from of old, from ancient times.” He is of the fabric of a people’s longing that spans centuries. And still the Lord calls for loyalty and faith. For us who regularly celebrate the arrival of that Messiah at Christmas, the longing to know Him must be no less profound than the longing of those who awaited His coming those many centuries before His birth.

This Messiah comes with the destiny to fulfill the Divine Will: “As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.” The day of sacrifices and sin offerings is past, and redemption is found in that desire to fulfill God’s will. And for us who live in these days when the Messiah is among us, life must be the continuing fulfillment of the Divine Will. It must be our very way of life – more and more deliberate, with more and more awareness.

Jesus’ mother Mary is given to us on this last Sunday of Advent as the one of profound faith who, as we hear Elizabeth say in the gospel, “believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled." The centuries of waiting are crowned with that mother’s belief and trust that the Messiah would come – and come with Mary’s consent to be the “Mother of the Lord.”

To follow Mary’s example, we must remember that, immediately upon her reply to the angel, she journeys to the hill country of Judea to be with her cousin Elizabeth. Part of her motivation must have been to find in the older woman the sign of God’s faithful promise - the fact that Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy. Present too, I am sure, was Mary’s desire to offer her assistance in the closing days of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.

Mary becomes, along with Isaiah and John the Baptist, the third of the great figures who announce, in our Advent liturgies, the presence of the Messiah. Each becomes a messenger who touches heart and mind to be aware of Jesus’ presence among us now. We are to offer Him our lives that we may be of assistance to all around us so that the world will share our awareness and find the Messiah present in today’s struggling world.

In the middle of the mad rush of preparation for the Christmas holiday, we need to remember that preparation for the holyday which is Christmas is far simpler and far more profound. Beyond gifts, cards and decorations is the reality of our intense awareness of Christ’s presence – here, in the midst of crowds, in heartbreak and disappointment – here in the Eucharist (our Bethlehem, our House of Bread).

We must be careful to avoid a certain political correctness which turns “Merry Christmas: to “Happy Holidays”. We must attempt to be thoughtful enough to remember the celebrations of our Jewish and Black brothers and sisters, but we can never forget that the feast of Christmas requires of us a constant remembrance of the meaning of the holyday which is Christmas. It is good for the world to know that we celebrate the birth of the Messiah who enters all peoples’ daily lives with all their accompanying pains and suffering. He comes to make all things new; He comes to bring meaning even to the tragedies of life. .

Days away from Christmas, we ask ourselves what we Christians are offering to our world that is powerful enough to quiet the clamor of materialism. Does our example, does our behavior, offer concrete indication of hope to those who suffer not only material poverty, but also a poverty of soul and a lack of hope? Do we help our world see beyond the immediate to the eternal? Does the love we have for the Christ Child help to motivate a world to love infant life even before its birth?

Does our love enable us and our world to find the child in each of us and in all we meet?
It isn’t always the easiest thing to find that child in each of us; but we certainly will be able to do it far more easily when we have found the Child who is the model of the creation of each of us. As John the Evangelist reminds us: “Through Him all things were made and without Him was made nothing that was made.”

Early ages waited so long for the Messiah to come. May everything about our lives now proclaim that the waiting is over. We can well put ourselves in Elizabeth’s place as she greets Mary: “How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” How do we respond as Mary brings us her Child in this last week of Advent? Now we need pray intensely that His presence among us will be obvious enough to all around us that we make Him known now that at last He has come.

 

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

THIRD Sunday of Advent

One morning a man came into the church on crutches. He stopped at the holy water font, put some water on both legs, and then threw away his crutches. An altar boy witnessed the scene and ran into the sacristy to tell the priest what he'd just seen. "Son, you've just witnessed a miracle!" the priest said. "Can you tell me where is this man now?"  The boy said, "Yes Father, he’s over by the font flat on his back!"

I can relate to this man on crutches.  I have to laugh at myself for the number of times I look for the quick fixes in my life, looking for miracles, rather than recognizing the miracle right in front of me.  I am reminded of my lack of faith every month as I pay the bill for our children’s college loans.  I used to pray that one of the five kids would get a scholarship to college, and we could take care of the rest.  God heard my prayer, and one of the kids got a full ride.  I wonder today why I didn’t ask for four of them to get scholarships and we would pay for the fifth. And then every time I step on the scale, I wonder why someone hasn’t invented a way to donate fat to those poor souls who need to gain weight – I could be a donor.  Again I’m looking for the quick fix, instead of watching what I eat, instead of getting on the treadmill.

I think it was Father Ray who told the story a number of years ago about the Native American patriarch who told his grandchildren that every person has two wolves inside of them who are engaged in an ongoing struggle. One is the wolf of justice, peace, and kindness; the other is the wolf of hatred, fear, and greed. “Which wolf will win?” asked one of the grandchildren. To that the grandfather replied, “Whichever one we feed.”

During the season of Advent, we try to welcome Christ into our lives and we find ourselves facing the wolves that dwell within ourselves, who vie for the precious food of our energies and attention. Identifying these wolves and calling them by name is a good first step. Deciding which to feed, will set the agenda for a lifelong struggle.  Who among us actually lives with the eager expectation that the coming of Jesus is imminent? Have we done anything differently this Advent season to prepare for him, or do we continue to fall prey to the wolves of apathy and denial?

Every Advent, as our attention to John the Baptist and his message is renewed, each of us is challenged to follow the lead of his contemporaries. Repeatedly they asked, “What ought we to do?” and repeatedly John explained how they could best prepare the way for welcoming Jesus. Some had been feeding the wolves of selfishness. Rather than share, they hoarded and overlooked the needs of the poor. Others had fed the wolves that worshipped wealth -- and had even sacrificed their ethics in an attempt to satisfy their growing appetites. Still others allowed the wolves of ambition and greed to lead them to lie, cheat, and lord their power over the helpless.  As we journey through this Advent season, we, too, are prompted to ask: “What ought we to do? Which wolves are we to feed, and which are we to put on a permanent diet?” 

And this is not easy to do.  What if we were to prepare for the Lord with the same simple and joyful anticipation with which children throughout the world ready themselves for Santa Claus; how might that excitement enliven our hearts and fill our lives with a holy longing? Because we believe in miracles, because we’re used to quick fixes, some of us have been feeding the wolves of procrastination, putting off until some distant tomorrow, the preparedness with which we should live each day. Others among us have been allowing the wolves of doubt and discouragement to eat away at our hope. We look at our world and see only its worst attributes. We wait, but without eagerness; we hope, but without conviction; we anticipate, but without enough faith to ignite our enthusiasm.

In the story of the man on crutches, he was probably sick and tired of having to rely on them and was looking for the easy way out.  Our maybe he had great faith and was expecting a miracle.  He may have been forgetting that he had a great blessing, namely that he was able to get around on crutches and didn’t need a wheelchair; yet he wanted more, forgetting that he already had a lot.  I’m not saying that there’s something wrong with wanting more, but sometimes we need patience and allow our bodies to heal themselves.  We need the vision to see our blessings and be satisfied with what we have, as Luke tells us in the gospel today.

As a remedy to the ravenous wolves that threaten our faith, in today’s first and second readings, Zephaniah and Paul raise their powerful, prophetic voices with the reminder that the Lord is indeed in our midst, nearer to us than our own heartbeat. As Catholics, we believe that the real presence of God is in the Word, in the priest, in this community, and in the Sacrament of the Eucharist; this belief calls for us to rejoice greatly. Are the problems and struggles of our own lives and of our world still frighteningly near? Of course! But God is nearer still and God’s presence is deeper, fuller, and more pervasive.

The season of Advent calls us to act, to do something to change our life.  So as Father Al suggested last week , we should go to the sacrament of Penance. This, too, is not a miracle cure, but it’s a step.  Ask anyone with addictions, attending one meeting won’t make you stop drinking or lose 100 pounds.  Because if you’re like me, you will sin again, and will again need the grace of the sacrament to help you lose the addiction of your sins.  A great opportunity for us to receive the Sacrament as a community will be a week from Monday, on December 21st at 1:30 in the afternoon and 7:30 in the evening.  At least then, for a while, we will be able to throw away our crutches.

Our best hope is the knowledge that God is in our midst – right now.  Our conviction of God’s presence empowers us to be joyful in this season of Advent, especially on this Gaudete Sunday. Our trust in God’s presence allows us to stop feeding the wolves of worry and anxiety, and allows us to look ahead with certain confidence to the day when every wolf will be content to live in the presence of the Lamb of God.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

First Sunday of Advent

We have survived another Black Friday. There could be a TV show about the life and times of so many people, beginning at 4am on Friday. It would be called the Survivor! Oh, I guess there is a show by that name. This month has to be the most frantic and stress-filled month of the whole year. There is so much added that we just have to do; and while all that fills our time and our days, nothing else stops. In fact, there can be some other add-ons that complicate life: things like anxiety over having a job and being assured of its dependency; or having to deal with a personal matter with a friend or neighbor; or facing the unexpected demands because of health issues.

What more could be added to make life even more full of challenges and stress?

Church! We come to Church and hear this very graphic description of the end of time—people dying of fright, the heavens acting strangely, and the seas out of control. It is enough to make one want to find a hole and climb into it; to pull the covers over our heads.

The readings, as we begin a new Church year, challenge us to do more than survive. We are confronted with the need for adjustment. Not only have our clocks and calendars had to be adjusted, but we are called by our God to adjust our vision. How do we approach our everyday? How does our faith and our commitment to God filter into the events of each day? What do we see as our Christian responsibility in the midst of everyday? How do we find in this frantic month an element of faith and spirituality?

Humans have been fascinated with the end times. The hype around the movie, 2012, is filled with anxiety about its message for us. People see the signs of the end of the world, the end of existence all around us. While other ages were wrong, maybe, just maybe the way the world is today, maybe it is really coming to an end.

So what kind of adjustment does the Lord ask of us as we begin this season of Advent? The end of the Gospel tells us to be stout-hearted, to have courage, and do not allow anxieties to overcome your spirit. Good words, but not always easy to practice. Maybe making a determined effort to enter into our weekend worship during this Advent can help to stabilize our lives: to prepare the readings, to be on time, to sing with whatever voice the Lord has given you, to open your heart in prayer…to use this hour to be in touch with our deeper selves and with our loving God.

There is a key phrase from the second reading that may help us also: may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all. Maybe we can allow this phrase to speak to our lives during this season. Who is the person whom you could love better: maybe your son or daughter, or that troubled person at school or work, or that family that you read about in the paper who is homeless or maybe a refugee family that Saint’s Place helps. If we all could focus on just one person this Advent and really worked to practice love, maybe the spirit of Christ would fill our busy days.

Remember we don’t have to save the world---Jesus has already taken care of that. But we are called to spread the love of that Messiah to those whom we can touch.

 

 

Monsignor Gerard Krieg
 St. Louis Church

33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Dan 12: 1-13; Heb 10: 11-14; Mk 13: 24-32

In the Book of Ezekiel the Prophet we can hear God say to us: “Do I have plans for you!” “My plans for you are peace and not disaster;” God says, “when you call me I will listen to you, and I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.” These are the opening words of the Introit of today’s liturgy, and they remind us of what goes on in these final days of the Church’s year.

Today, as we do on birthdays, we celebrate the year that is just concluding; we remember all that has happened to us – good and bad – and we hold them all together in thanksgiving. In these closing days of the year, today’s words of Daniel can be terrifying when he speaks of Michael, guardian of God’s people in “a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time.”

These final days are times of reward and punishment, of affirmation and confrontation, of everlasting happiness and eternal loss. These days look back to lives spent accepting divine love and returning it, rejecting or ignoring it. They are days of thanksgiving or regret. Paul reminds us that Jesus comes first as Redeemer and only then as Judge. He comes first with mercy and only later with justice for those who refuse His mercy.

Today’s liturgy prepares us for that time of final reckoning when each of us accepts the responsibility for how we have lived our lives. In the gospel Jesus warns us to be aware of the signs that indicate the time of judgment, when excuses have run out - a time simply to accept the judgment which is the consequence of our faith or the lack of it; a time to acknowledge our willingness to accept only our own dreams or those of a loving, creative God.

With these final days of the Church’s year, indeed, with every day of the year, we need to know the dream that drives our lives. Is it really the dream God has for us – the dream that created us, saved us from the foolishness of our sins and brings us to the promise of eternal life? Is it the dream, as Ezekiel mentions, that brings us peace and not disaster, or is it our own dream that can be so selfish, arrogant and short-sighted?

"Learn a lesson from the fig tree,” Jesus tells us. “When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he (the Son of Man) is near, at the gates.” How well have we learned our lesson from the fig tree? How well have we stayed focused on the reality of God’s dream for us? How devoted are we to that portion of the Lord’s Prayer when we say: “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done? This is not only a prayer; it is a way of life, and hopefully our prayer reflects the way we are living our lives.

The liturgical year will conclude next week with the feast of Christ the King. The role of kings in our present day world may not have the greatest political or even personal relevance, but the role of Christ the King has not changed. We must realize that we are called to see our life as one of intense personal loyalty to Jesus Christ. It is not simply our loyalty to our Catholic Faith or our knowledge of theology; it is far more personal – far more intimate. It is the recognition of Our Lord’s complete commitment to us and the need for our complete commitment to Him. Knowledge of theology and a strong religious practice follow necessarily from that commitment to the One whose love for us is complete.

Our life’s destiny is affected by the love of an infinite God, a King whose crown is made of thorns and whose throne is a cross – a King who invites us to join Him in Risen Life – a life when the King has pierced hands and feet. A life of following Him assures us of victory over all that plagues our lives – a victory that is ours to know for all eternity, a life when we need celebrate no endings but live in eternal thanksgiving.

This is a wonderful time to reflect on what this year has brought us, but we will best appreciate all that has happened when our reflection can be one of thanksgiving and profound trust. We can pray for one another that we will be aware of all the Lord has planned for us.

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

 ALL SAINTS'

Who are the people we admire? Whom do we hold up as models for ourselves and for our children? Allow me to mention a variety of people and consider whether each would be someone you would hold up as an example to follow.

Brett Favre, Derek Jeter, Mario Rivera, Chris Lee, Susan Komen, Anthony Di Ponzio, Dr. Steven Chu, Mary Cariola, Edward Cullen, Bill Wilson, founder of AA
Sr. Seraphine Herbst, Gary Mervis, Ursula Burns, Michael Jackson

I think we would generally agree that each of these people has something outstanding about them; they are models. But we might be quick to add that they are certainly not perfect: maybe they are outstanding in one way, but lack some other qualities. The reality is that our heroes are all flawed; they live in the human condition. As a youngster, I thought Johnny Unitas was the greatest, and then I learned that he was divorcing his wife and my world crashed.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All the Saints. We as a community acknowledge and name people who are holy and have been an inspiration in our lives. They may not have been perfect, but they responded to God’s call---perhaps not perfectly, but they tried. . The SS this fall have focused on the discipleship of those first followers of Jesus: Peter, James, Mary Magdalene, Philip and others. We have been in a sense eavesdropping in the school that Jesus has been teaching through the Gospel. For we also are called to follow in the way of the Lord, to be Christ-like, to have the qualities of Christ in our lives. We are reminded on this day what our calling is---to be saints, to be holy and inspiring. We acknowledge and own the goodness and virtues of life.

What makes a saint? The Gospel lays it out---to be poor in spirit, have mourned without comfort, have longed for their inheritance with meekness, have hungered and thirsted for justice, have been merciful and clean of heart, have tried to build peace and have suffered for all their choices. Their striving to live this way in imitation of Jesus has not always been perfect. They have stumbled and erred but have asked forgiveness and have tried again. They are the ones whom others may never have thought of as saints but who have placed their trust and hope in God, knowing that only by God’s grace can they be washed clean and clothed in radiance.

The SS of the day remind us that we are surrounded by a huge crowd---people trying to be holy, to be Christ-like. Maybe those who have inspired us are our parents or grandparents, our teachers or priests, maybe our neighbor or good friend. Take a moment NOW to think of one person from your life experience whom you would consider a saint!

Think of that person as our prayer continues today---be grateful and commit yourself to imitate their goodness. You may want to learn more about the saint whose name you carry---what makes her/him special, a model. Commit to develop that virtue, characteristic in your life.

 

Monsignor Gerard Krieg
 St. Louis Church

28th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Wis 7: 7-11; Heb 4: 12-13; Mk 10: 17-30

If you were that young man in the Gospel story, what would be the most valuable thing in your life? If, like so many we have heard about in the media who have lost everything in flood or fire, tsunami or earthquake, what would cause you the greatest pain? To put it another way, what is that reality which basically drives your whole life, every thought, action, every word?

In today’s plaintive passage from the Book of Wisdom, the author pleads for prudence and wisdom, virtues that are as precious as life: “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her.”

“I prayed,” “I pleaded”; it was intense prayerful desire that won wisdom for Wisdom’s author. Not only was Wisdom the gift above all, it was to be desired with all the intensity that could be brought to bear. How deep is our desire for this precious gift of Wisdom that has the power to put life into perspective? Wisdom enables us to keep our priorities in proper alignment, enabling us to make sense of every desire. And we hear the author of the Book of Wisdom exclaim: “Yet all good things together came to me in her company and countless riches at her hands.” All things – and in proper perspective!

The Epistle to the Hebrews gives us the awareness of the ongoing source of wisdom that is the Scriptures: “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” That precious gift of wisdom is not only a virtue; the Word of God isn’t simply an expression of our voice or a word on a page; Wisdom, the Word of God, is indeed God the Son, become the Son of Mary, who knows us through and through. “No creature is concealed from him,” and it is He “to whom we must render an account.’

In today’s gospel passage Mark, gives us that wonderful exchange between Jesus and the young man who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. “Keep the commandments.” Jesus answers. Keep the priorities straight in your life. And indeed the young man had lived his life with integrity and kept the commandments. Note, however, that the young man lists only those commandments that dealt with his neighbor; significantly missing were the first three that deal with his God.

And so we come to Jesus’ response: “Jesus,“ Mark tells us, “looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’"

The young man is unnamed and, therefore, can be any one of us. He hears Jesus offer him the supreme object of his search; but his face fell and he went away sad. Could that young man really be any one of us? It is possible that, when we have finally realized what is the most precious reality in life, we simply turn away sad?

Jesus tells us to make Him the center of our life – that which drives us, that which gives us the energy to pursue the basic value of all human life, that which orders all else that fills our life. We can remember the words we just heard from the Book of Wisdom: “Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.”

This applies not only to the young man at Jesus’ feet, but even to the most sophisticated citizen of the 21st Century? We just heard in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Indeed the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”

In every age there is the tendency to play the role of the young man, to hear what should thrill us but then simply leaves us sadly walking away. We want that which brings life but forget that we are made for eternal life. We want to achieve success, bnt not to the extent that we keep our lives ordered by the most desirable of values.

Hopefully, this is what we are assisting one another to do in the wonderful mystery of the Church. Hopefully that is why we are present at this Eucharist, and hopefully we are doing it well.
 

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

27th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

There was a man who had a lot of kids — nine to be exact — who was flying to a business meeting. He was talking with the man seated next to him about his family and was surprised to hear the man say, "I wish I had nine kids." "You don't really know what you're wishing for," he said. "Yes, I do," came the reply. "I have thirteen."

G.K. Chesterton once said that “whatever else is or is not true, this one thing is certain — man is not what he was meant to be”. He’s saying that we were created to have dominion over all, but we do not. Instead we are creatures frustrated by the circumstances of our own making, defeated by our own temptations and sins, saddled with our own weaknesses. We were created to be free, yet we are tied down; we were created to rule, and instead we are ruled.
Yet into our world came Jesus Christ, who willingly immersed himself in the “mess” created by our sin and weakness. For our sakes, Jesus became “lower than the angels,” and he suffered and died to rid humankind of frustration, bondage, and weakness, and to restore the proper balance of nature, with humanity exercising a caring dominion over all creation. Jesus died to recreate humanity until every person could become what each was originally created to be.
So what were we created to be? Men and women were created by God as equals, free to enter into a complementary, mutually fulfilling relationship called marriage. We have the capacity to offer one another a love and a joy like no other. This love, as the late Cardinal Basil Hume attested, “is a sharing in the very life and love of God.” Unselfish married love is itself a way to God that enriches and fulfills the human personality. Through their lifelong, life-giving union, each person in a marriage helps the other become his or her best self. And that together, and by God’s grace, they become a new entity called “family” and are privileged to procreate new life.

Yet, as we know the relationship of marriage can be filled with difficulty and threatened by conflicts that are inevitable when two free wills collide, and this may lead to divorce. Because the dissolution of the marriage results in the end of their family, divorce can almost be compared to a death. With that “death” comes mourning for what was and what might have been. So when confronted with the issue of divorce, Jesus did not say what the Pharisees may have wanted to hear. Jewish law offered specific reasons for which a marriage could be ended. However, Jesus took a different approach and actually refused to offer a simple answer their question. Instead Jesus elevates marriage, citing the text from Genesis that we just proclaimed in today’s first reading. “God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

It’s curious that St. Mark has placed this text on marriage along with Jesus’ teaching about children. Jesus is working on the formation of his disciples. The general principle of discipleship that can be extracted here is that we who follow Jesus must not look for concessions. Discipleship, like marriage, is an all-or-nothing proposition, and cannot be entered into lightly or blindly; it must be entered into deliberately and heavily fortified with prayer.

Jesus calls us “brothers and sisters.” So when Jesus looks at a criminal on death row, or a homeless woman crawling into a cardboard box for shelter against the cold, or a mother crying over the death of her child, or a man battling the savage assaults of cancer, or the swollen body of a starving child — Jesus does not see a charity case, a pitiful victim, or a hopeless cause. Jesus sees a brother and a sister! As his disciples and stewards that compassion is ours to share with all who come into our lives each day. And oddly enough we must be like children in order to be successful disciples and stewards. To do so, we need to simply look at what children do as they go about being children.

Some say that the first childhood experience is the elemental feeling of existing, that of being alive; it is the surprise of being part of an amazing, interconnected combination of things. Children experience being closely connected with other human beings. Whether it is mother, father, or sibling, a child feels accepted, wanted, validated. Also, children are innocent and naive. They don’t know right from wrong, good from bad, friend from enemy. They are blissfully free of prejudice, morality, civility. They accept whatever is. And they are spontaneous. They do whatever they feel like doing, whenever they feel like doing it. With no experience or training to guide them, they have no reason to act otherwise. Children are trustful and hopeful. Life has not yet taught them how dangerous the world can be, how uncaring it can be about their wishes. Life looks like an arcade of possibilities, a playground where they can try all the toys without harm.
We could say that a world composed of these delightful creatures would look like a kennel of happy puppies. And from this perspective, becoming an adult would seem like a fall from grace. If children are innocent, spontaneous, and trustful, then adults who are experienced, dutiful, and prudent would be lesser humans. Maturity would feel like an evil.

It would be tough if our only choices in life were to be ignorant children or selfish adults. But there is a stage beyond both childhood and maturity. It is called wisdom. Wisdom knows bad from good, it knows that good finally triumphs. It knows that life hurts, but that hurts are healed. It knows that we must earn our keep, that we should take care of ourselves and each other — yet knows that we must depend on God. It knows that we are children of God, loved like no earthly parent could ever love. Wisdom knows that we are called to a higher life, to a life of stewardship to each other, because God did not limit the size of our family be it thirteen or nine, or one or five. God gives us everything in abundance, allowing us to do more. He made us male and female to complement each other, to work not for concessions, but for eternal life — together with a God who loves us, who created us in his own image; a God who became one of us to teach us to be his disciples, to live life abundantly as his children, trusting in his love, fearless of the evils of the world. “Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.”

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

It all begins here: (Pix of a child having been baptized). In the waters of Baptism, our God embraces us in his love; the community accepts us and pledges to help us grow in Christ’s life; parents affirm their own faith and commit themselves to ‘show’ this child God’s face in their words and actions.

While it all begins here, it is just a beginning---for the work of growing in the life of Christ continues for a life time. We gradually come to understand what it means and what it requires to follow the Lord Jesus. The school of discipleship unfolds its meaning for ever.

When we speak of Stewardship, we do this in light of the cross of Christ. For here as we gather in the shadow of this cross, we first come to believe in God’s love and the way of Christ. It is this life that we teach our children and ourselves. Along the way we learn from the example of others how to practice this kind of love in our own lives---a love that gives to the other, a love that is forgiving, a love that honors and respects each person as a child of God.

There are some people who are shining examples of this. Sr. Judy has left a mark on this community in so many ways. However, her loving care were also evident in her service as a teacher, as a counselor at Mercy High School, as a Principal at Queen of Peace and Lourdes in Elmira and for 15 years as our Pastoral Associate. I mention her because I think she offers all of us a wonderful example of someone who found ways to give back, to use her gifts for the good of others. Even in her last months, when she was not able to get around, she developed a phone ministry and taught us that death is not to be feared, but is a step into the love of God.

There is no one way to be a disciple; the challenge is for each of us to identify the ‘HOW.’ And this HOW will change over time: at one time it will be as a Parent, as a Brother or Sister, as a Teacher, as a Student and Friend, as a Neighbor, as a Grandparent, as a Nurse or Worker, and so forth. We each must find personal ways to respond!

The Role of the parish is not to limit but to encourage and to expand awareness. St. Louis should help each of you to realize the ways beyond your own experience and sight that the work of growing as a disciple can happen. As a parish community we should strengthen our common life, make all of us together more reflective of the Body of Christ.

Our Stewardship materials which outline some community ways to give back focus on the three “T’s”---Time, Talent and Treasure. It is one way to break it down, to make it manageable, and to offer specific ways to serve.


TIME: primarily to foster your personal relationship with our God. How very important for each of us to take seriously giving God time. Maybe it will be just one of those items, like consistent participation at Sunday Mass, but making God a priority.

TALENT: how to make St. Louis all it can be! We live in a different time for the Church today. The days of the priests and the sisters doing it all is well behind us; and if you add to this the expansion of the kinds of ministry a parish such as ours offers, you realize that unless the parishioners step up and forward, it will not happen. We need your gift of Talent.

TREASURE: how do we provide the resources for our ministries? Church costs money and like the old pastor said: My dear people, I have good news and bad news. The Good news is that we have enough money to do all we are asked to do; the bad news is the money is still in your pocket.

I ask you to take seriously this commitment and re-commitment to Stewardship. Not everyone has abundance in all three areas of Time, Talent and Treasure, but we all have something in each. Make a commitment but be realistic. Don’t just sign up because in the past many signed up, but never showed up. Give of yourself ---and everyone, Just do it!

There are several areas of special need: Eucharistic Ministers at Mass; Care of the Sick; Raihn; all of our committees.

Our last slide is a picture of the earth from space. We are called to do our part to build a world of peace and justice where the values of the Kingdom of God touch more and more people. Our little effort at Stewardship can move that vision forward.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

24th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Very few of us are unaffected by the Opening of School: whether we have children returning or starting school or having to be more conscious of the yellow buses on the streets. This is an exciting time of the year when we have to re-establish routines and re-commit ourselves if we are in school or if we are parents or grandparents. We learn the lesson again that schooling and learning is “hard work.” To develop our character and deepen our identity requires effort and commitment. School is not easy, but requires hard work and dedication.

Welcome this morning to the School of Discipleship! This is a never ending school.
It is here we begin the hard work of forming ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ as learners and doers.
Over the next several weeks, the Scriptures will focus on developing ourselves into disciples.
This school is not easy either, but demands commitment and hard work.
We get a glimpse of where we are going from the example of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah this morning; and an inkling of where Jesus is going in the Gospel.

We hear words like struggle and suffering from Isaiah; suffering greatly, rejected and even killed in the Gospel; and those words aimed specifically at us: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus.

We, like Peter, can have our own expectation of the Messiah. Peter saw the Messiah as a political God-send, who would re-establish Israel as a political savior, restoring the power to the nation by overthrowing the Romans. We can think that following Jesus is meant to make us feel good, reinforce the status we have, and confirm our success and well being. Being prosperous was often seen as a sign of God’s blessing while those in poverty and at the bottom of the economic ladder were being punished. There are those in Christianity who say that if a person is successful or well off, it is because God is blessing them. This attitude was also applied to physical disabilities: remember the discussion about the Man Born Blind in John’s Gospel: who sinned, this man or his parents? If someone suffered from blindness or another malady, they had somehow fallen out of favor.

Jesus brings reality to the hopes of Peter and the others…and perhaps to us. He points us in a different direction: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Where he is going is the giving of love through death. We are asked to follow him! We don’t hear the words, “deny yourself, take up your cross” very often, but we will over the next several weeks so that we remember that discipleship is not a comfortable or easy way. It is similar to what parents have to remind their school aged children at the beginning of the school year: school will require hard work and some choices that are not always easy. There is no way around growth and learning, but only ways through it.

How true this is for us regarding our faith growth, our attempt to become true disciples of the Lord. It is hard work to form ourselves and our children in faith.
It requires making religion and the practice of it a priority. Too often today we can allow even children to dictate the choices: like participating at mass or not; being faithful to religious education. Sometimes it is hard when you are away from home on a travel hockey weekend to find a Church. But it is what I believe families have to do. Sometimes it will mean getting up early for Mass or coming to the late afternoon Mass---but it is what should be done if we want to form our children and ourselves in the faith of Jesus Christ. Where does “following Christ” rank in the priorities that families set? There are way too many excuses that get in the way of our relationship with God; too many reasons keeping us from the school of discipleship.

We need to hear the call of our God to follow in the way of Jesus. Like anything worthwhile in life, it takes determination and hard work. St. James says today in the second reading: Faith needs works! I urge you to re-commit yourself to work at becoming a disciple of the Lord.

 

 

Monsignor Gerard Krieg
 St. Louis Church

23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Is 35: 4-7a; Jas 2: 14-18; Mk 7: 31-37

Probably more often than we would like, we find TV newscasts of returning service men and women, but each is a scene of cheering, tears of joy and hugs of greeting. It’s a magic moment when love can be expressed and received with heartfelt joy. While awaiting our own return flight from Bangor to Rochester, my sister and I one day shared such a moment. We were asked to join a group of local people who have committed themselves to greet every flight of troops arriving home from Iraq. (Bangor is a point of departure and return for the military.) It was a thrill for Ginny and me to join that wonderful reception committee and share the tears of joy.

Isaiah, in today’s reading, paints a picture of joyous welcome as he anticipates the joyful return home of the exiled Israelites. “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.” “Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.”

It’s a thrilling experience, we are told, to witness that desert blooming when a rare downfall of rain causes small flowers of glowing color to cover the desert floor. The delightful phenomenon has been described ecstatically by those who have seen that transformation of a desolate expanse of rock and sand into an endless carpet of bright color.

For the Israelites, they can hardly believe their exile is coming to an end. Isaiah goes on to describe the wonder: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” The people are free once again to live as God’s people, to laugh and to sing; to praise their God as His Chosen Ones.

Homecoming is not restricted to the time of Isaiah and the return from exile. For every generation of Christians – for every Christian – there is the experience of a return home. We welcome the catechumens and candidates to the Eucharistic community as an integral part of our celebration of Easter joy. All of us can know the experience of returning home in every Eucharist. We are welcomed by the Lord who gathers us in Eucharist and calls us to welcome one another.

Today, St. James challenges our conscience as he describes the welcoming gone awry in some of the Eucharistic gatherings of the early church. It’s a fine opportunity to ask ourselves how openly we welcome those around us at each Eucharist. Have we welcomed or were we welcomed by those who sit with us today? “Show no partiality”, James says, “as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” We all know that it is no joy to be left a stranger at the Eucharist.

It’s important for us to remember, too, that Jesus came to earth, born in a stable, a stranger, and later a refugee in the land of Egypt. As He lives in the midst of the world, He finds Himself at home with the rich and the poor. Do we welcome Him in one another? Can He find a home among us as an immigrant from Somalia, Kosovo or from any of the many lands whose people have been assisted by Saint’s Place? Does our welcome extend to being a part of that wonderful ministry with at least the gift of our own prayers and resources?

Mark’s gospel today deepens that phenomenon of welcome. He describes Jesus opening the ears of the deaf-mute. As the man’s ears are opened, immediately his speech impediment was removed’ “and he spoke plainly.” As each Christian community reaches out to those who have not heard of the wonder of Jesus Christ, deaf ears are opened, and muted lips are enabled to proclaim the gospel. As we reach out to those around us, we enable that joy of community that is the fruit of Eucharist.

It is possible for any of us to play the role of the person who could not hear or speak. We can fail to appreciate the presence of the Lord in Eucharist not only in the elements of the words of Scripture or in the elements of bread and wine - we can fail to recognize His presence in one another. Insofar as we do not hear, so we will be unable to speak – to extend care and concern for others, to be the welcome of Christ to others.

Our lives may not be as spectacular as a desert blooming or as emotionally exciting as those of the Jewish people returning from exile. We can be, however, the sign of God’s welcome at Eucharist and in our lives as Christians in the world around us. Hopefully, we will be noted for the joy we generate and the welcoming love that reflects the divine.

LABOR DAY
September 7, 2009

Gen 1:26-2:3 1 Thes 4:1b, 2:9-12 Mt 6:31-34


Labor Day is bittersweet – a holiday, but the last of the summer. Each year we celebrate labor with a day of rest and relaxation. It’s good to remember that Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894 though it had been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States since the 1880s. Interestingly, still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday proceeding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
Today’s Scriptures remind us that God is forever our Creator; “God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis introduces us to the master artist at work. God prepared a world for that creative image of Himself and gave us a home. Watching the astronauts at work in orbit around the earth, we begin to realize that the whole universe is God’s creative work and our home.

Labor is a divine activity, and we are the product of God’s labor. Genesis presents the human as the culmination of creation, imaging our Creator: “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.” The artist admires His work; He takes delight in His creation. Made in God’s image, we are, of our nature, co-creators for whom labor is creative, productive activity, an essential part of who we are as humans, created as we are in the image of a wonderful creative being.

We image God not only in what we are but also in what we are destined to do: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth." That we labor to fulfill the wonder of creation is an essential part of our human reality, and today we celebrate that essential element.

When we can keep human labor in perspective, we will know that in our labor we somehow image also God’s creativity; human labor is something which fulfills us as human beings, and it is that to which the human being has a fundamental right.

We live in a world that has become so completely capitalistic that we are in danger of losing our perspective on the essential reality of human labor. Those who produce products or services must always acknowledge a responsibility for the welfare of the earth and for its inhabitants. Pollution, irresponsible use of the world’s resources, unfair labor practices - all become offensive to the Divine Author as well as to the Creator’s image. Corporations that do not put the human being first in the process of production call into question their very right to exist.

More positively, when each of us in the private as well as the corporate world is aware of the ancient divine mandate to fulfill the earth, we can find profound satisfaction in our work. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” All people will have reason to rejoice and to expect that the world will constantly become a more beautiful place in which to live, where its resources are properly available to those who need them.

Within the framework of the original divine mandate all work, personal and corporate, is blessed. Only within that framework can we expect to share God’s tremendous joy in His creation. Divine delight in what God has made should, in fact, be the basis for a joy that can touch the heart and life of every human being.

As we celebrate this Labor Day, it is well to remind ourselves of the wonder of labor and the responsibility the creator placed on all who share that image of the God whose work brought us and this universe and all its wonders into existence.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

Sr. Judy Kenrick
Funeral Mass, Mercy Motherhouse
 8/26/09

Micah 6:8; Romans 8:14-23; John 14: 1-6

Have you ever wondered what God looked like? As children we picture God as the older one, resting on the cloud, surveying the earth and all of us. Think of the face of God. What does God look like? Perhaps the picture of God is a mosaic, made up of small pieces and each piece is from one of the good and wonderful and beautiful people you have met along the way. Each of us has been touched by the kind of people that reflect something of the image of God. In this digital age, they speak of the pixels that make up the picture. Well, each person whom you have experienced as good and beautiful is one of those pixels and the total collage of those pixels is God.

Your sharing of those words of description has shown all of us the many ways that Sr. Judy made the image of God real in people’s lives. In a very personal way, Sr. Judy added to how you would picture God. Those wonderful words let us into the reality of God.

In the last 2 months especially, so many people have shared with me examples of the goodness and the grace that Sr. Judy was to them:
She visited a person who was also dying of liver cancer and brought so much comfort to Janice;
She was present to the woman who lost 4 very close relatives in a six month period: “Sr. Judy got me through it.”
On Sunday a former student of Sr. Judy from St. Helen’s some 50 years ago, spoke on how she had been a life-long inspiration;
When she was less mobile and not able to come into the Ministry Center at St. Louis, I would be visiting her and within 20 seconds she would be pumping me about people in the parish;
One day when I left her room, I swore that I would not come back: she had assigned me four things that needed doing before the week was out; one of my house mates said that that day I found out who was really in charge;
And even as time was winding down, she carried on an active phone ministry.

Here was a woman of Faith, a great faith that was active and always reaching out. She had an ability to do those simple things, those little acts of compassion and love without much fanfare but in such a serving way. She was a servant of God.

Judy was a woman that was always grateful: she knew she had been blessed by her parents and even by her siblings, Joan and Jim and Joe and Jane. Ours prayers and deep thoughts of sympathy are with them today.

One of her joys was being a Sister of Mercy and to serve in various parts of the Diocese, St. Helen’s, Queen of Peace, Mercy High School and in Elmira at Our Lady of Lourdes and then at St. Louis. What an example of dedication and commitment she offered as she served others in schools and in parish life. She gave her life so generously as a sign of the Kingdom of God. For Judy, the community of life that she lived here among the sisters was a blessing and such a strong support for these 50 +years. She relished in it especially over these last 4 years as she battled Cancer again.

Here was a woman of acceptance: and what a wonderful example of accepting the will of God. She was so open to carrying whatever cross the Lord offered her. Did she not fulfill that second reading from Romans: I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to come; creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Her hope is now fulfilled.

Her faith allowed her to be at peace during these days of trials and tribulations. She taught by her simple example. She was at peace for she trusted in God as she had done throughout her life.

Sr. Judy practiced what St. Francis said--- Preach the Gospel always and sometimes use words. She was a presence, a force, a living example to all of us---she touched and supported people in so many ways. She personified the verses from Micah, “to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”

She was always so grateful, so appreciative of the simple acts of love and compassion that people showed her. She was truly a piece of the mosaic of God.

Most homilies would end here and maybe you think this one should. However, I want to go one step further. How will we carry on her spirit? How will we add to the picture of God for others? How will we give thanks? Someone wrote: “The art of thanksgiving is thanks living. It is gratitude in action. It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it triumphantly. It is thanking God for opportunities by accepting them as a challenge to achievement. It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration to others. It is adding to your prayers of thanksgiving, acts of thanks living.”

Sr. Judy lives on---may we pass her love on to others!

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

20th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

There are many things in life that we do without giving it any thought. How does a computer do all that it can do so fast; how does a car work; how can we send spaceships to the moon and beyond without any shortage of fuel, but then only get 25 mpg in our cars?

The Eucharist, what we do week after week, is one of those things. We do it sometimes without giving it much thought. That is why these 5 weeks when we read from John’s 6th chapter of the Gospel is so good. It takes us back to our roots and gives us an opportunity to refresh our doing with our knowing.

The basic premise here is that God wants an intimate relationship with his creation, you and me, and all those who share this earth. God reaches out and brings us closer to the center of life. God desires that we bind ourselves to our Creator and to one another in the covenant of Jesus. God wants us to be connected and to abide in God’s life. God’s life, then, is not somewhere else, but is a life that we share in and grow into by our worship and imitating Jesus. That is why we obey the command of Jesus and “we do this”…this sacrifice of the mass, “in memory of me.”

We can have the same question that the Jewish people had: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” This notion of “eating my flesh and drinking my blood” can be a strain to our ability to comprehend and respond. If we remember that we are speaking in the language of symbol, we might be better able to understand. Here Jesus prefigures his own death on the cross when he became the sacrificial Lamb of God; and just as the lamb that was sacrificed in the Temple was then roasted and eaten, so Jesus would give us his flesh and blood to eat and drink.

There are two images that help us here. The first is that of a woman giving life to the child of her womb. A mother gives her very flesh and blood to nurture a new life carried within her, and then continues to feed the child from her own body after they are born. In the same way, Jesus nourishes with his very self all who are birthed to new life through him. As the union of mother and child in the womb, so Jesus promises: “Those who eat my flesh and drinks my blood abide in me and I in them.”

Jesus wants to dwell in us and to form his life in and through us.

The other image that can help here is one that is before us each time we gather around the Table of the Lord. The altar that is used for our worship and for our sharing in this meal is decorated with the mosaic of the vine and the branches. This is another Johannine image that speaks to the indwelling and the flow of the sap of life that the branches need from the vine to produce fruit. The Lord wants his life and love to flow into the various parts of the Body. Again, Jesus wants to dwell in us and form his life in and through us.

In a sense the Eucharist is the opposite of the normal eating process. When we sit down to a meal, the food that we consume becomes part of us; in the Eucharist, as we eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, we become a part of Jesus. The process is reversed and we become what we eat and drink, we become the Body and Blood of Christ.

I remember a Jesuit priest saying once that when we come to Communion, we should say AMEN twice: once that yes, I believe this is the Body of Christ, and then AMEN, yes, I believe that I am the Body of Christ.

As we pray and do the Eucharist today, may we sense that God is inviting us into his life, into the bonds of commitment that we pledge and make happen.
 


Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was covered with freckles, were waiting in line to get his face painted. A child next to him in line said, "You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head.
His grandmother heard this and knelt down next to him and said, "I love your freckles. You know when I was a little girl, I always wanted freckles. Freckles are beautiful." The boy looked up, "Really?" "Of course," said the grandmother. "Why just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles." The little boy thought for a moment, and looked into his grandma's face, and whispered softly, "Wrinkles".
In today’s readings, we are being asked to quit our grumbling and our addiction to sin, and accept and acknowledge the gift of the Eucharist as the source of our life. If we had read on further in Ephesians today, we would have heard, “Put away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. … do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. The thief must no longer steal, but should rather do honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need. No foul language should come out of your mouth… And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We are each called to look beyond the sign of the bread and the wine, in order to see and believe in the one who has used that sign to offer his very self.

In today’s first reading from Exodus, the Israelites were being taught to accept the manna and the quail as gifts from God. And they were being challenged to see beyond those gifts -- to recognize in them the God who had created them, and, who, at that moment, was guiding them to freedom and a new way of life. Moses interpreted the sign for them: it was bread from the Lord, bread for the journey.

Last Sunday we heard the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Today’s Gospel is about those same people, many of whom were lost in the sign of the bread and fish, and came to him looking for more. Jesus addresses the people’s desire for signs. The people cited the desert event and talked of Moses and manna. But Jesus redirected their attention to the true bread from heaven. That bread, of course, is his very self, who can satisfy every human hunger. Jesus is essentially asking them to look beyond the bread, to look beyond their stomachs -- and challenges them to sink their teeth into the real food he has to offer, namely, the bread of life. Just like the Grandma could look beyond the freckles and the grandson could look beyond the wrinkles, Jesus could look beyond the bread that he took and blessed and broke and gave, fully aware that he would be taken and broken, and give his life for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus could look beyond the crucifixion to this Communion celebration, where he is remembered and is truly present to us in Sacrament. I wonder if we can see it too? God does not force this bread of life upon us. To be truly nourished, we must consciously take and eat.

Jesus was engaging in what is called “consciousness raising”. Jesus encourages us to move from one level to another, to see beyond and behind, to see as he himself sees. Jesus could look beyond the demands of the crowds for another free lunch and recognize the deeper hungers of which they had yet to become aware. He could look beyond the beggar to the blessedness God has bestowed on every creature. Jesus could look beyond the shamed adulterer and acknowledge the repentant sinner. Jesus could look beyond the betrayals and denials of his disciples and see in them the wounded beggars who would thereafter help others to find the bread of his word, of his wisdom, of his very self. Jesus could see beyond skin color, gender, politics, and socioeconomic status and recognize his brothers and sisters.

So, too, some among us today have shown a similar ability to look beyond. Mother Teresa could look beyond the filth of India’s poor and dying, and recognize in them the face of Jesus. John Paul II could look into the face of his would-be assassin and recognize a brother whom he could forgive. And maybe closer to home, the ministers at Saints Place can look beyond the needs of the refugees and see those whom we are called in the Beatitudes to serve. Or how about the many caregivers in our parish, who care for sick and aging family members, just as Christ washed the feet of his disciples.

If we are to accept the bread that God gives to us in Jesus -- if we are to take and receive this Eucharist -- it is essential that we look beyond the host and the wine, and see where the sign is pointing. Learning to look beyond in this way remains the challenge of Eucharist. So how can we can better prepare ourselves for the truly breathtaking reality of the Eucharist? When during the day, can we pause and ask Jesus to be the bread of life for us in the situations in which we find ourselves?

Jesus, through this Eucharist, will continue to challenge our seeing and believing. Just like the Israelites in the desert, just like the five thousand who were fed with bread and fish, we are invited to listen behind the words and look beyond the bread – to look beyond skin color, gender, politics, or just freckles and wrinkles, -- and perceive the mystery of the sign that is the very bread of life -- God’s life, Jesus’ life, your life, and mine.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

17th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

One of the foundational beliefs of our faith is that God wants a relationship with humans. This belief fills the pages of the Bible right from the beginning of creation as God walks in the garden. There is an intimacy with Adam and Eve which unfolds over time toward the people of Israel. The reality of the Bible story is that this relationship develops and advances, culminating in Jesus Christ becoming flesh and dwelling among us, as the Son of God.

This is the heart of what we do here around the Table of the Lord each Sunday. We are nourished by God’s living Word and by the food of life that we share. We renew the covenant with God here---to appreciate this Eucharist, we need to return to Abraham and Moses. God and Israel made a covenant, a bond that united them so strongly to one another that it cannot be broken. This covenant is stronger than any blood kinship. It eventually takes flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

The human challenge for the people of Abraham and Moses’ time was how to express this; how to convey this ability to touch the divine. We might say PRAY or write a Profession of Faith as we do at Mass. But how to express this in a time before writing and reading; how would this be expressed in a concrete and definitive way? What the Bible tells us is that the Israelites made a ritual out of this covenant. Abraham split several animals and set them out and the Spirit of God and Abraham passed through the midst of them as a way to express this bond; the Israelites at the time of Moses sacrificed the unblemished lamb, marked their doorpost with blood of the lamb and ate the Passover Meal. Then the Jewish people would do this every year, even today, to make the relationship between God and themselves real and concrete.

There was also the renewal of the covenant that we heard about back on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ: after sacrificing the animals, Moses splashed half the blood on the altar (representing God) and then sprinkled the other half of the blood on the people---a blood ritual that expressed that God and the people were united to one another.

Today we begin to read the Bread of Life discourse from John’s Gospel and will continue this for the next 4 weeks. For a Jew to be a part of this miracle of the feeding, it was an experience that took them back to the manna that their ancestors ate in the desert. Here, in this Jesus, God was again with them to nourish and feed and deliver them. Jesus’ teaching helped them to see the ‘more’ of this event; that God was bound to them again. This miracle is linked to the past, to the desert experience of God; and to the future---it foreshadows another meal where God is present. That meal will be the Last Supper, a covenant meal that united God, Jesus, the disciples and now us---Jesus could call it “the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.”

In the last 7 weeks, there have been 5 references in the Liturgy of the Word to the blood of the covenant and the death of Christ. The meal of the Last Supper is how Jesus gives himself, blessed and broken, shared and poured out to us. On Good Friday, Jesus physically empties himself ‘so that sins may be forgiven.’

So the celebration of the Eucharist takes us back to the bond God has made and continues to make from Abraham through Moses to Jesus into our own day. We enter into this Covenant, this relationship with our God and are carried forward to build the Kingdom.

We seal this covenant by eating and drinking at this meal. The blood of this sacrifice reaffirms God’s unbreakable bond with us. We take in the life source of our God and commit ourselves to becoming more and more God’s people. We continue the action of our God today: as God fed the Israelites in the desert, as Jesus feeds people in the wilderness of today’s Gospel, so a spiritual miracle continues today. We are healed of our brokenness and sin through the bread that is broken and the blood that is poured out and shared.

We affirm this union, this bond, this covenant: Indeed God will be our God, and we are and will be God’s people!

 

Father Al Delmonte
 St. Louis Church

15th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Can you picture Tiger Woods or Cristie Kerr trying to play a round of golf dressed in one of those ancient suits of armor? Would you try to swim across Canandaigua Lake wearing an overcoat? One has to dress for the occasion. In the gospel today, Jesus is sending the apostles out two by two on their initial mission of mercy, and the instruction is to travel light. Jesus says don’t carry unnecessary stuff into the ministerial field. Shoes are okay but no wardrobe changes. Walking sticks, yes, but a bagged lunch and checkbook, no. They would have to depend on the generosity and the hospitality of their hosts to meet some of their basic needs.

We can all agree that these suggestions of Jesus should not be taken literally. Any travel agent would tell you to travel light, but that light? No food? No money? No change of clothes? Have you seen the check-in area at the airport? It’s pretty obvious that we find it difficult if not impossible to travel light.

Then what is the point of today’s gospel? The main credential of the person sent by God on God’s business, sent by God on mission as were the apostles in that gospel story, the main credential is TRUST. The more you stuff into the backpack, the less room there is for trust. It seems that Jesus wants to focus his followers attention NOT on what they were to take with them on their journey but on what they were to LEAVE BEHIND as they moved from place to place. The Xian missionary is to go out NEEDY and VULNERABLE. Jesus wanted them to concentrate not on stuff to pick up and carry along but rather on the GIFTS they were to give (unload) to the people they visited. And what a load of gifts they had to give! “Authority over unclean spirits,” the call to repentance, the anointing of the sick w/ oil, and the many cures of the sick. Even though Jesus’ original missionaries LOOKED like the poorest of the poor, in reality they were the richest of the rich. Not in a clutter of stuff, but in spiritual gifts to be given away. And their TRUST in God would be rewarded by a mutual exchange of gifts between the missionaries and the people to whom they are sent.

St. Paul said to the Ephesians and to us in that second rdg: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ w/ every spiritual blessing in the heavens . . . In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord w/ the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.” (Another translation: “so immeasurably generous is God’s favor (gift) to us.”)

It would be a good time for us to renew our genuine gratitude for sharing in the gifts that Jesus has bestowed on us so generously. We have to think of our parents and grandparents and great grandparents who, yes, in many cases left us w/ a lot of STUFF, but most importantly they gave us a firm foundation in our faith in Jesus Christ who has been the source “of every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” People my age can be grateful to the Sisters or the Brothers or the priests or the catechists who supplemented the knowledge we gained from our parents about our gift of faith, about God’s goodness and fidelity. Please God, we will be conscious of the mission as truly given to us as it was given to the apostles.

Mark starts the gospel passage today: “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out . . .” As baptized Xians we are ALL summoned to discipleship. No matter how young or how old, no matter how rich or how poor, no matter our race or gender or occupation, Jesus SUMMONS us NOW.

Doubt might creep in when we think of it. Jesus is calling me? We have to remember that the apostles were unlikely candidates themselves – ordinary people, sinners all – one of them would betray Jesus. The same is true of the prophet Amos whom we hear of in the first rdg. He never wanted to be a prophet. He was a shepherd and dresser of sycamores, about as common as one could be. Yet, God called him. And Amos responded. God calls us. Xian missionaries are not self-appointed. It’s part of every Xian’s baptismal call. You have to ask yourself the question: “What is it that weighs me down, what baggage am I carrying that slows me, or altogether prevents me from responding to God’s call?”We are sent to be God’s presence in the world. Most of us are not sent by Jesus to drive out demons and cure the sick. More often we are sent to do the ordinary things: to be kind and forgiving in our own homes, to refrain from gossip, to smile and greet a stranger, to make time for daily prayer.

The world in which we live HUNGERS for what is good and holy. People hunger for the treasures given to us by God – love, reconciliation, forgiveness, compassion, joyful generosity, hopeful mercy. They might not even realize it, but they hunger for these gifts.

Today we really need to consider if not the letter, then certainly the spirit, of Jesus’ travel tips for the ongoing journey of life because there will one day be a new phase of our journey, the phase that begins when we stand before our God stripped of all our stuff. God is really not going to be interested in the inventory of our personal possessions. God will simply want to know what we left behind us that helped other people find God.

 

Deacon John Payne
 St. Louis Church

14th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

A man whispered, "God, speak to me," and a meadowlark sang. But, the man did not hear. So the man yelled, "God, speak to me." And, the thunder rolled across the sky. But, the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, "God let me see you." And a star shined brightly. But the man did not notice. And, the man shouted, "God show me a miracle". And a life was born. But, the man did not know. So, the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God, and let me know you are here."  Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man. But, the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on disappointed in God.  

Today’s Gospel warns us of the danger to our faith when the messenger is too ordinary. The friends and neighbors of Jesus rejected him precisely because they knew him. They knew that God had spoken to them many times through the prophets.  What they rejected was the very possibility of one of their own having a message from God for them. After all, Jesus was one of them: he was nobody special. Didn’t Joseph teach Jesus to be a carpenter, didn’t Mary teach him to make bread, and didn’t Jesus run and play in these very streets? What could Jesus possibly know that they didn’t know? What could Jesus possibly add to their knowledge of God?  It is the old mystique of the so-called “expert.” People do not trust their home-grown wisdom — we have to hear it from an expert.  We believe that an “expert” is simply anyone from out of town with a briefcase — it seems like the actual credentials of the expert are secondary.

The same was true about Jesus. He was seen as an ordinary man, a layman, one whose diaper they had changed.  He could not have been an expert on anything, least of all an expert on God. The people would have listened to Isaiah or Ezekiel or Jeremiah, because they were from out of town, and lived a long time ago, and warned of disasters and monumental events.  Yet here was Jesus, the local carpenter, talking about lilies and sheep and the kingdom of God.  The people anticipated that God would rule the world in person someday.  They would have expected a word of God from the high priest in the Jerusalem temple; but not a carpenter, especially one from Nazareth.  “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Times have not changed in that respect. Why are we more impressed with experts and programs and almost anyone else’s wisdom than our own experience?  Why do we think that nothing good can come from Rochester or Pittsford?  Why do we imagine that God would find somebody better or smarter or richer or holier to deal with us?  Why do we believe that our little lives are too insignificant for God to get involved?

Jesus was God-in-the-flesh. He laughed, cried, suffered, slept, ate, and worked to help us appreciate the value God invests in these mundane activities.  One point of the Incarnation was to get God physically involved in earthly doings.  God is our neighbor and our friend.  Why do we keep ignoring God all around us -- in the song of the bird, the rolling of thunder, the shining of stars, the miracle of birth, the touch of a butterfly, or in the eyes of our children?  Why to we continue to look for God on some throne, or on a mountain-top, or in a kingdom in the sky?  God is among us.  The people in Jesus’ time were expecting something extraordinary, and only saw the ordinary – and they hung him on a cross.  And it’s easy for us to blame those people for their ignorance of who Jesus was, but unless we can see Jesus in the person next to us, or in the Sacrament that we celebrate today, then aren’t we just as ignorant?

We celebrate our country’s independence this weekend. We look up to the skies and marvel at the beauty of the fireworks exploding above us.  These overarch the pollution of our rivers and lakes, and the poverty and hunger of those living in our towns.  The reports of the shells deafened the cries of the poor and the gunshots sounded daily in our cities.  Through our chains of materialism, and inaction, and blindness to war, and to what’s going on around us, do we lack the courage and faith of our forefathers, who challenged the wrongs of their times?  Through their sacrifices and their blood, we received freedom -- which we have defined as the right to choose, to abort hundreds of thousands of babies -- no wonder we are ignorant to the miracle of birth.  We have defined as freedom the right to have our own religion.  Yet we aren’t free to pray in our schools, or to talk about God in our workplaces, but we are free to stay in bed and not to go to church.  And we could all go on and on with similar examples.  God bless America.  I wonder at times why He does.

There was a man who wanted to see God, who wanted to hear God, who wanted to witness God’s miracles, and feel God’s touch.  He was disappointed because he couldn’t see that God was all around him in the ordinary people who surrounded him and in the ordinary life he lived.   Let’s not miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way that we expect.  Let’s find God and God’s wisdom in each other. Let’s remember that God is all around us.  As our children learned at VBS this week , we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and remember that Jesus loves us every day.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

13th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Limits are a part of the human condition. We know we personally have limited energy and time; we see the Speed Limit signs on our highways; our credit cards have lower limits today; we are becoming more conscious of the limited resources that our world environment provides. We live within limits in a lot of ways. When we come to faith, it seems that the Bible is full of people who do not fit within the lines; people are asked to take a step beyond, to not be limited in believing. The Gospel passages of last week, today and next week give examples of faith demanding that people stretch beyond their expectations, beyond their limits.

Remember last week, on the lake of Galilee a storm arises and the disciples wake Jesus who then calms the sea and the wind. They are afraid and that fear locks out the faith and trust that the situation required. Next week Jesus will return to Nazareth, his hometown. Even though his words stir the people and they recognize the wonders that he does, they still are locked inside the lines of knowing who Jesus is and where he comes from and so can not take the step out in faith to believe in Jesus.

In contrast to these two stories, we have today’s Gospel. Here St. Mark weaves two stories of healings where people draw from deep within to find a faith that confronts the limits of life’s experiences. In both situations, the facts would speak against any change, let alone healing. In the first case, the older woman had endured her illness for 12 years, long enough so that one would never expect a change; in the other, the child had died and so who could imagine that there could be any other outcome. Yet in both cases, the faith carries the women to new-found places. The older woman and the father of the child break out of their limits. Desperation forces them beyond what anyone would expect. They discovered new life when the facts were so confining.

Mark weaves these together to challenge and inspire us---to encourage us to believe and trust even when life seems desperate. The common threads here are that the women with the hemorrhage had suffered for 12 years, the same as the age of Jairus’ child who was so gravely ill; both are at the edge, the woman only got worse and was in a hopeless situation, the girl dies, what is possible; both are daughters, Jesus calls the woman cured “Daughter”; Jairus pleads for his daughter and is told ‘do not be afraid, have faith’; both are healed through touch: ‘if I just touch his clothes, I shall be healed;’ Jesus took the child by the hand; there is a mix of fear and faith in the main characters.

The challenge is for us to believe that God can bring something new out of the ordinary, out of the pain, out of even death. The Good News of Jesus’ life and mission is that suffering and death are not hopeless situations, but out of them come life. All we need is faith and trust in Jesus.

Where do we find this in life today? In the parents of the physically or mentally challenged child who persist beyond what seems to be human strength to help the child achieve to the best of their ability.

In people like Evan Cummins who suffered a severed spinal cord before he graduated from McQuaid and is confined to a wheel chair and yet pursues a career in the theatre.

In the parishioner who suffers from a serious form of Cancer and has to re-learn basic human functions.

In the unemployed who because of the economy and their age realizes the very demanding climb ahead of them, but still begins.

The 2 Gospel daughters who stand in opposition to others in the Gospel are an inspiration for us to believe and hope beyond the limitations and normal expectations of life. Like the woman and Jairus, we need to ask in faith. In this section of the Gospel Jesus invites us to that kind of faith and trust that is beyond our limits and that work miracles.

There is an inscription over the main door of St. Francis de Sales Church in NYC. It reads: The same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and everyday. Either he will shield you from suffering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations. “Be not afraid, have faith!”

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

  SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY

Deut 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom 8: 14-17; Mt 28: 16-20

People sing of their loneliness, and they are not songs of joy. Sometimes the mere presence of another is enough to bring our anxiety to peace. For those of you who followed the astronauts in their early days of space flight, you may remember when Ed White became the first human being to float outside a space vehicle (the suit he wore became his vehicle) with nothing but a small life line to keep him tethered. For a fleeting moment, however, he lost sight of earth and the space capsule, and in that totally free moment and out of touch with everyone, he panicked because he lost the comfort of orientation – of relationship.

A terrifying moment for Jesus during His passion came on Holy Thursday as He spent the night in the pit which passed as a retaining cell beneath the high priest’s house. In total darkness He had no contact with the outside world except the occasional look of the jailer peering down through a small opening near the top of the pit just to be sure his prisoner was still alive.

Loneliness of itself is terrifying for any one of us, because it is of our nature to live in relationships. We are meant for relationships; we are born into relationship. We began this life looking into the face of another: that of our mother or one of those attending our birth. Relationships are a necessary part of life from our earliest moments. At the other end of life, we can see how hard it is for someone to be the last of a family, or even worse, to have outlived family, friends and all who had been close to them.

This feast of Trinity is a feast of Divine Relationship: of Father, Son, and Spirit; of Creator, Redeemer (also Creator) and Sanctifier (equally Creator); of Lover, Loved, and the Love between them. Only comparatively recently did this feast find its way to the Church’s calendar of Feasts. Originally it was probably thought to be unnecessary because the doctrine of Trinity is so central and so constantly acknowledged. The feast became a celebration for the universal church only in the 15th Century at the direction of Pope John XXII and was raised to a major feast only in the 20th Century by Pope St. Pius X.

The mystery of Trinity is revealed to us within the love of Jesus who lived His love for the Father, His Abba, centering His life in the Father’s will. He tells His apostles: “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me.” In those portions of the gospel of John describing Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus constantly affirms His identity with the Father and the Father’s constant affirmation of Him. Jesus dies with the prayer: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

The circle of Divine Love is the relationship for which each of us is destined. St. Paul, in today’s reading makes it more explicit: “you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” In the midst of that wonderful almost monologue at the Last Supper, Jesus promised the Paraclete, the living love between Father and Son; the gift of the Father at Jesus’ request, and the ever-present companion of our souls.

In that same monologue Jesus prays: “Father, may they be one as we are one; may they be one in us.” In a real sense, heaven is the eternal revelation of this love of Father, Son and Spirit. The Trinity is the model for all relationships; it is the basis for our love for one another. The Trinity provides the basis for that complete love that must reach even our enemy, whom we are commanded to love even as they are in the very act of harming us.

Would that all our lives were the living out of today’s feast with an awareness of the relationship that is the basis for all relationship! What different headlines, what fuller lives, for us all!

We are required to begin to provide those headlines. Jesus sends His apostles and all of us to bring the reality of His relationship to all peoples with the command: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” In the name of the Trinity we become members of Jesus’ Church; we come into a relationship with Almighty God and with one another, with people of all nations.

We began this Eucharist as we begin all prayer in the name of the Trinity – of Father. Son, and Holy Spirit. May our lives be a constant doxology, a constant prayer of praise to the Trinity! In that divine reality of relationship may we find the basis for all our relationships! May we find a more profound way to see one another, to respect one another and to serve one another in the name of that magnificent Trinity.

Please join me in that doxology which will, in fact, carry us into eternity: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit NOW and forever.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

PENTECOST

One of those popular expressions that we hear in many places today is “we need to think outside the box.” It does capture a meaning that can lead to new and creative actions. Today we celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost and maybe we can apply that expression to the Spirit.

When I was growing up, in the Catholic Church we did not speak of the Holy Spirit, but of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was that mysterious person in the Trinity who somehow helped us to carry on the work of Jesus in the world today. The Ghost was not a scary presence but more of a daring and undefined gift that was given to the Church and to its members. We were made Temples of the Holy Ghost at Baptism, confirmed with the gifts of the Ghost at Confirmation and were blessed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

It was in the early 1960’s when Pope John XXIII convened the Vatican Council that we began to call this third person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit. However, to be honest with you, the mystery continued for most Catholics probably even for many of us today.

In the book, The Shack, the author, W. Paul Young, presents the Trinity in images that are definitely outside the box. He speaks of the Spirit as an Asian woman, Sirayu, who looks like a groundskeeper or gardener. She is dressed in plain jeans with ornamental designs at the fringes, knees covered in dirt from where she has been kneeling, and a brightly colored blouse with splashes of yellow, and red and blue.

But perhaps the most interesting element that Young accomplishes is that he presents the members of the Trinity as persons with whom people can have a living and growing relationship. They are not the philosophical characters of the Nicene Creed, but the Spirit wants to interact with us and show us the depth that life holds. It is a way to discover something more about one of the more difficult parts of our faith: Who is God? How do you understand and appreciate God as a living presence?

I saw a similar thing about 2 weeks ago when our candidates for Confirmation were confirmed by Bishop Clark and Frs. Mulligan and Condon. In the personal care that Bishop Clark and the other ministers showed, one could sense that the Holy Spirit was being shared in a deeper way with each candidate.

I wondered if the candidates woke up the next morning different. A tough question to answer for 46 people, but I think the answer is both yes and no. This leads me to reflect on the ways that the Spirit is shared. Even in the SS the Holy Spirit comes in various ways: there is the noise like a strong wind and visible sign as of tongues of fire. The Spirit comes as a strong force that turns things and people upside down. People of foreign tongues hear the same message in their respective native language. This is the image found in the writings of St. Luke. On the other hand, in the Gospel of John, the Spirit is given in a different way: Jesus breathes on them on Easter night and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. This is a different Pentecost for John. Then Paul in the letter to the Galatians speaks of the fruit of the Spirit, being love and peace, joy, gentleness and generosity.

The Spirit comes in different ways: sometimes more aggressively, other times more gently; sometimes by us growing in virtues of care and goodness. So back to our candidates: perhaps there has been a shaking at the depths in some of them and they experience God in a dynamic way. They have been caught up in the Spirit. Others have sensed the gift of God that has gently touched them like a gentle breeze so they know deep within that their God is close to their hearts. Maybe others are slowly growing those fruits of the Spirit so that those around them each day, their brothers and sisters, their Moms and Dads, their class mates and teachers and coaches sense a mature faith opening to others.

We have once again called down the Holy Spirit of God upon the Church and upon us on this Pentecost. May the Spirit find ways into our lives that bring us to new insights and discoveries that are outside the box and good for our world and our lives.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

  SEVENTH SUNDAY of EASTER 

It can seem that the Easter season is very long and drawn out. The season has gone from April 12 this year until this weekend. It can over these 7 weeks become less clear what we are celebrating and how the truth of the Resurrection of Christ is to effect us today. Next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when we commemorate the coming of Jesus’ Spirit on those first disciples and pray for such a rebirth to happen to us. We pray looking back, but also looking forward---we pray that we as disciples of today will be inspired by the fire of the Holy Spirit. We pray that such a fire will be built not so much over us, as under us enabling us to proclaim in word and deeds the power of our God.

Easter is to celebrate the New Life that Jesus shared. It is to convince us again that no evil can conquer good; that not even death can hold one born of water and the spirit. This is a truth that flows over Jesus and into us. The power of the Holy Spirit keeps this understanding alive and allows us to see new ways of living and sharing the Good News. It is what we have taken in again this year and which we are about to be sent forth to live afresh.

It is like the earth itself that has been changed from gray and dreary to fresh and green; the City that has been swept clean. Here we see a sign of what we pray happens in our hearts and inmost being. We are made new and because Easter and the Spirit have come once again, we are reclaimed by the love of the Lord Jesus.

Our first reading tells the story of choosing the replacement to Judas. What the remaining disciples were looking for was someone who had walked with them as Jesus ministry grew and someone who was a witness to the Resurrection. Think about those two criteria for a moment and could we not apply those to a true disciple today. Who is the person who walks with the Lord….who is the person who has witnessed the New Life of Christ. Those two criteria should be able to be applied to every one of us, to every one of us!

Are you ready to take this on? The Easter season is coming to an end: the time of reflection and awareness of the gift that is ours in the faith of Jesus Christ is about to move into a period of action. A new season is about to begin: next Sunday the Holy Spirit will empower us with gifts and signs, with courage and strength to carry on, to carry on the ministry of Jesus.

Is this a challenge? Surely it is. That is why this Gospel is so good. It is a prayer that Jesus prays for all disciples. We get to eavesdrop on what is an intimate and loving embrace that Jesus gives to us and to all disciples. He prays for unity, for sharing joy, for protection from evil, and that they may be made strong in truth.

Stop to think of this prayer not as one being said for Peter or Thomas or any of the others. Hear it as a prayer that Jesus says for you! Jesus sees your abilities and your gifts. He sees where you can preach and touch others where no one else can; he sees that you will be a presence that will lift the spirit of a fallen and broken sister or brother. Jesus is with you so you can be his words; you can be the hands of Christ; you can be the heart of Jesus; you can be the compassion of Christ.

The Easter season is almost over. However, before it ends we have to open ourselves to the gift of Jesus Christ. It is what we celebrate and what we ask for this day. May the Lord fill us with the deep belief that we, each of us, is loved by our God.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

  FOURTH SUNDAY of EASTER 


The Easter season is about the new life we have in being immersed in the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We have become children of God, people who have been adopted into the family of God’s love. This brings with it both blessings but also responsibilities. One of the blessings is that we are called “Christian,” one who lives under the shadow of Christ. Peter in the first reading speaks of the power of that name which can even heal a cripple. So many of us know the power of that name: we have been forgiven, strengthened or healed at various times. Indeed that name continues to lift and transform us. This whole notion is summed up in the image that our Gospel presents today: The Lord as the Good Shepherd.

This image was the most popular image of Jesus in the early Church. While we may not find as much vitality in this image today, the image still offers us some insight.

For parish staff members, it is a reminder that they are meant to serve the larger community. It speaks of the giftedness that staff members offer to serve and assist others in the parish. These are leaders who are meant to provide guidance and vision beyond the day-to-day.

For priests and deacons, it is an image that calls us to take seriously the charism of preaching and leading in prayer. Ministry among the community will demand sacrifices and an ability to give fully of oneself. Service will be demanding and will require a continual love of all God’s people, both the faithful and the less than faithful.

The image of the Good Shepherd should remind all of us that we are meant to foster the work of the Gospel in deepening the personal relationship each of us has with Jesus Christ.

Let’s take Good Shepherd Sunday one step further. How are we, individually and as a parish, Good Shepherds? I think of how crucial parents are not only in forming their children in good character, but also with Christian character. Sometimes I hear parents say that this is why I send my children to Catholic Schools or to Faith Formation programs. However, unless the spirit of Christ is fostered at home, unless children see that prayer is part of a family’s life and Sunday worship is a true commitment, that development will fall short. There can be no dimension of life, at home, in school, and in society, that does not reinforce the life we have with our God. We are not children of God, to use the image from the second reading, only in one part of life. We are children of God in the whole of life! I would add to this importance of parents, the role of grandparents today. You play a vital role for your grandchildren.

How do Mary and Joe Parishioner act as Good Shepherds? When we stop to realize that each of you touches so many people in the course of a week, you begin to understand how important this attitude of being Good Shepherds is. There are neighbors, co-workers, family members, and people at Canal town Coffee, at Wegman’s and Barnes and Noble to whom you can bring the comfort and challenge of the Gospel.

In this day and age when so many struggle, we must all be a part of the Good News that Jesus has shared with us and share it with others, here and beyond. There are so many who are sick, a growing number who are unemployed, people searching for their sexual identity, inactive Catholics, teens confused and lonely, parents and children working through ADD or autism, even the hassled parents with one or two little ones at Mass---there is no limit to those who need a Good Shepherd in their lives.

I would hope that as a parish community, we could continue to develop that sensitivity among us. We can be a community that knows the gift of Jesus as our Good Shepherd and in turn be Good Shepherds to others.

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

  Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4; 32-35 I Jo 5: 1-6; Jo 20: 19-31

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” These are the closing words of the Gospel of John. Did you ever wonder about the rest of the story? What about those “many other signs”? The infinite love of God replayed in countless lives can hardly be contained by the gospel narrative or by the individual imagination. It’s important to remember that with every person born there is a story that speaks of infinite love that has been repeated countless times.

On this closing day of Easter’s Octave, it is not out of place to ask ourselves how we live with resurrection – with the Easter glory. Traditionally today is referred to as Low Sunday or Dominica in Albis (White Sunday), the day the newly baptized put aside the white garments of their baptism and resumed their everyday clothing. The normal turn of life resumed but now as it had never been before. The reality of resurrection, the reality of new life in baptism, changed everything, and the normal would never be normal again.

The early Christians lived their Easter life with a radical giving up of worldly possessions and a deliberate, constant sharing with the poor. They introduced a completely new basis for economy. They lived a form of communism which was not atheistic but actually had the presence of God at the heart of their motivation and life. “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Interestingly, this day of beginning to live the wonder of Easter in daily life is the context for Pope John Paul to establish today as the Feast of Divine Mercy. The lives of the newly baptized and of all of us are sustained by that which God refers to as the virtue above all His works. Daily life in Christ, hopefully your life and mine, will be lived in the merciful and constant love of a wonderfully provident God.

We begin to live the Easter life then with a concentration on the needs of those around us – not at all a bad way to survive economic downturns or tragedies of any variety. It may not involve selling our homes to contribute to a common fund, but it can certainly be an effort to live life with a priority for the poor and a willingness to be of service before, or at least along with, care for our own needs.

For the early Christians their way of life was a testimony of their belief in the reality of the resurrection – the resurrection of Jesus and their own rising because of Him. It really must be the same for all Christians – including us, especially, including us. Easter comes alive in us in accord with the time in which we live. St. John, in his first epistle, speaks of it in terms of victory over the world. “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. and the victory that conquers the world is our faith.”

If all this seems a bit heady, we have Thomas the Apostle to bring us down to earth as we read of him in the gospel where he becomes our spokesman. Not present for the first appearance of the Risen Savior to the apostles, Thomas sets terms for believing Jesus’ resurrection: "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Thomas will believe in the resurrection, but he has set his own terms for belief – maybe not too unlike some of us. As the gospel continues, Thomas is present with the disciples the following week as Jesus again appears to them and now accepts Thomas’ conditions: “Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." With Thomas’ reply comes the act of faith which we hope will also typify all of us: “Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

As we concentrate on living the reality of resurrection in our daily lives we must see how much we need that deliberate faith of Thomas. If we insist on calling him “doubting Thomas”, we must remember that his doubt was overcome in his wonderful prayer of faith: “My Lord and my God!” That faith must motivate our daily life; it must be the basis for our constant care for one another and especially for the most needy among us.

The risen life of Jesus can make headlines; it can change cultures as it changes individual lives – as it changes our daily life. As we begin now to live in the Easter Season liturgically, may we live the Easter reality.
 

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

  EASTER 

Acts 10: 34a, 37-43 I Cor 5: 6-8; Jo 20: 1-9

Have you ever stood at the edge of a pool, shivering with the thought of the chilliness of the water – just standing there hesitant to jump in? We are left with two alternatives: just stand there and shiver or dive in and then wonder why we wasted so much time in fear? Our response to Holy Week and Easter time, indeed the experience of the practice of our faith, is not unlike the time spent at the edge of the pool. The intensity of the experience of Holy Week calls us to a more profound approach to Jesus Christ and a far deeper expression of our faith.

Through the liturgy we relive the events of the First Holy Week – present at the Last Supper, the First Eucharist, standing at the foot of the Cross with His mother Mary and the apostle John, and at the tomb with Mary Magdalene, John and Peter on the first Easter morning. In last evening’s Vigil liturgy, we heard the story of creation, the release from slavery for the Jewish people, and our own redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are part of that gospel story which really has no ending but reaches down through time and space to each of us.

The first reading today is from the Acts of the Apostles, the second volume of Luke’s gospel and the story of the life of Jesus in His Church. It is a gospel that will continue as long as the Church exists. By extension it includes the story of the life of every Christian, of every person who has the grace to hear of Jesus Christ and the love to follow Him.

Last evening we celebrated in the Easter Vigil a very recent chapter of that story with the entrance of three candidates and a catechumen into the full life of the Church. These new members of our faith community continue the story we just heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the reception of Cornelius, the pagan centurion, into the faith community of the early Church. With our baptism we each make our contribution to the story of Christ’s continuing presence among us. We are part of a continuum tracing our roots to the Creator, to Jesus, to Peter and the Apostles, and to all who entered into the mystery of Church on Pentecost and beyond.

Our stories need not be spectacular, but each story contains the wonder of God’ grace begun at our conception, sanctified in baptism and carried throughout life beyond the moment of death. In the life of the Church we live out the mystery of Christ’s resurrection. To celebrate this feast of Easter fully, we must be profoundly aware of the consequences of Jesus’ resurrection in our own life. Every aspect of our life must be deeply touched by our awareness of Jesus’ resurrection which is the promise of and title to our own.

It is so important that we live our lives not simply at a superficial level of religious practice, but that we live, through our religion, the profound reality of faith. True religion is simply the living out of faith in accord with the Lord’s gift to us of His presence in the Church. It is far too easy to live at that superficial level of simply practice and little, if any, faith. It is that level at which we are satisfied simply “go to church” or “make our Easter duty” rather than living the Eucharist where Jesus is present to us in the Scriptures and in the transformation of the elements of bread and wine.

We must experience that presence and sense the profound love of Jesus Christ for us as He bids us share Eucharist in His memory. We must hear with renewed awareness those words following the consecration at each Eucharist: “Do this in memory of me.” Wonderfully we realize Jesus’ promise: “I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.”

St. Paul in today’s epistle to the people of Corinth calls us to be completely renewed like the fresh batch of unleavened bread, “the bread of sincerity and truth.” We don’t need the stale witness of cynicism and constant judgment, the pettiness of selfishness and the shallowness of practice which has little faith to support it.

We need the faith of a Magdalene who comes seeking to offer reverence to her Lord at the tomb and becomes the first herald of His resurrection. We need the response of a Peter and John who rush to the tomb to find the truth of Mary’s words. We need the reverence of the younger John for the authority of his older brother, Peter, whom Jesus had named as the Rock foundation of His Church. John waits for Peter to enter the tomb first and then follows him to find the foundation for faith. Our lives must enable us to preach a gospel that requires no words. We must see and believe as did the apostles and come with them to learn that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

May you know the profound joy of Easter to find the reality that, because Jesus lives, so do we. In Him we have life and have it in abundance. Happy Easter!

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

This week has given us all a hint of Spring. The greens at Oak Hill are being prepared, Spring training for baseball is winding down and even the hint of the crocuses and tulips can be seen in many yards.

It is a wonderful time of the year, as we are surrounded by signs of the resurgence of life, both on the earth around us as well as within us. This weekend our readings remind us of the Love of our God, the purpose of Lent and what lies before us as we journey these 4o days with the Lord.

The theme of God’s love runs strongly through all 3 Scripture readings. It is not by accident, but to convince us of the Love and Mercy of our God. Even in our sins and failures, God is there extending a hand of love and forgiveness. God is rich in mercy, has compassion on his people even when they pile infidelity upon infidelity. The Gospel reinforces this message with the quote that is seen on Sunday afternoon at every NFL game: John 3:16; God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

Isn’t this the lesson of life that we are meant to learn again and to understand more deeply? In the midst of the struggles, whether because of our sins or our addictions, whether from fear or anger, whether life is a shambles because of illness or misfortune, God is still there reaching out and offering us the Passover of the Lord. We can move from pain and suffering to new life and hope; we can overcome any burden with the grace of God; we are even promised that death is not the end of life, but the passage through to resurrected life.

I want to personalize this today. As you know, my left foot has been a problem since September. It has not been as serious as so many people experience, but when it is your foot, it is serious for you. This has been a struggle over the past 7 months: including hospitalization and a number of different treatments. It has not been pleasant to be unable to fulfill one’s responsibilities, to depend on others for coverage of weekend Masses and weddings. I am not use to being unable to do what I expect to do. It has been demanding, at times depressing and has made me tired of the constant appointments and procedures.

However, I have learned again that every cloud has a silver lining. That lining may not be immediately evident, but it is there. I have found some of the flaws in the medical system, but also have found wonderful people who care and want to do the best for me. At times I have felt that I was developing a new social network in the staff who work in Doctors’ offices---that a new circle of friends was forming. And I have felt the prayers and support of so many, from the other priests and staff to you.

So while I wish my foot was not so demanding, this struggle has been filled with much grace. There are some things we only learn through the hard knocks of life. This is the stuff that opens us to the love and mercy of our God.

 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

Do you know what the word Lent means? It is from a German word meaning SPRING. It is used for these 40 days between Ash Wed. and Easter not so much to pray that winter may be over and the warmth of Spring and new growth would be more evident. Rather the word reminds us of what we hope will happen inside of ourselves. These days are an opportunity for us to experience new growth and movement toward new life---not just on the earth around us but in the belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection and within ourselves.

So it is appropriate that this passage of the Gospel about the cleansing of the Temple is offered for us in Lent. The message of this cleansing is not just about the stone structure that was the center of worship in Jerusalem for the Jewish people. This Temple symbolizes more. When we are baptized we learn that we become Temples of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t it true that life symbolized in the Temple of Jerusalem can become cluttered? Various activities and involvements, demands and expectations can turn life into a burden. This is the symbolic meaning of the cleansing of the Temple that Jesus acts upon. We must look more keenly at life within and get the broom out and clean the clutter and dirt away. I think for myself of the clutter that we can allow our parishes to get caught up in. We can allow Church to become too much of a business and try to be efficient and well run. What happens is that we forget the focus on the Gospel and the message of Jesus. We need to get the broom out and sweep out some of the add-ons of life.

For us to examine what burdens life and what has covered over the center of life is a good task for Lent. It is why we are asked to do Penance and to simplify our lives during these days. Hopefully by taking time to re-focus and to unpack our daily activity, we can discover once again the deeper reality of what life is meant to be. As a kid growing up, I remember how difficult it was to do the annual Spring cleaning of the house. It meant washing windows, both inside and out, moving the furniture and vacuuming under where the sofa and the chairs were; it meant discovering things that had been lost for months, coming upon popcorn that had fallen through the cushions and even coins that had fallen out of pockets. My Mom was forever re-arranging the furniture to get a different look and feel for the living room. This was perhaps the hardest part----moving the furniture around to different places in the living room---and then getting use to the new arrangement.

Is the Spring cleaning of our lives going to be any easier? What has cluttered our lives? The present economic times, while so difficult for many of us, offers us a time of grace to re-define what will foster the treasured values of life. There may be less to do and fewer activities to be involved in; there may be a greater awareness of how we use the resources of the earth; we may have to depend on one another more as we grow forward.

We can get set in our ways, comfortable doing this or not doing that, and it is unsettling to change. But there are few of us who don’t need to open the windows of our souls, to let some fresh air in and to resettle into new ways of acting. This may lead to a simplifying of life, more home and family centered activities and a deeper awareness of the gift that we can be to each other.
One final thought: the first reading which reminds us of the 10 Commandments are not just a listing of those 10 rules of life. The passage describes them in the context of God acting for the good of creation and of salvation. They are wrapped up in the telling of the story of how God has been active in the creation and the saving of God’s people. Too often we hear them as just rules or commandments to be obeyed, while the telling in Exodus is a reminder of how God has been active in our lives. That is the heart of the message of today---clear away the clutter, open the windows and sweep out the burdens and discover again that God is for us and for our salvation.

 

Monsignor Krieg
 St. Louis Church

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Gen 22; 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Rom 8: 31b-34; Mk 9: 2-10

You can understand a certain prejudice if I find it particularly significant that today, the Second Sunday of Lent, is a day of mountains. Notice the number of times throughout the Scriptures when an event of great significance occurs on a mountain.

The Genesis account we just heard takes us to the top of Mount Moriah (the future site of the temple in Jerusalem) where we hear the story of Abraham’s profound faith in Almighty God, a faith so strong that he was willing to sacrifice his only son, if that is what God asked of him. God stays his hand, and Isaac is spared, but the faithfulness of Abraham is legend, and he has become the Father in Faith for Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Mark’s gospel brings us to the top of Mount Tabor and the awesome event of the Transfiguration. In the vision, Moses and Elijah are in conversation with Jesus regarding His coming death and resurrection. Both readings bring us to an awareness of still another mountain where all figures are fulfilled – Mount Calvary, where, in Christ, our own lives find fulfillment in death and resurrection.

Finally, as we move in a few moments to the celebration of the Eucharist, we are reminded of yet another mountain, Mount Zion, where, in the Upper Room on the night before His death on Calvary, Jesus gives us the gift of Eucharist. In today’s liturgy these mountains become the setting for our realization of the infinite love of God – a love that spans centuries and reaches into the intimacy of our daily lives.

Isaac was the child of promise, conceived when Abraham and Sara were far beyond the age of childbearing. In God’s ultimate promise Abraham was to be the father of many nations, and Isaac was the child through whom that promise was to be fulfilled. Though everything was at stake in Isaac, somehow God was calling Abraham to offer it all up and sacrifice his son. Out of the madness of it all, God spares Isaac, receives Abraham’s unquestioning faith, and the world is given a hint of the gift of God’s own Son in sacrifice in Jesus.

In the gospel we follow Jesus up Tabor, the Mount of the Transfiguration, a gentle mountain that rises above a fertile plain. At a spot overlooking the entire plain, Jesus is transfigured; His face gleams as bright as lightning; His clothes are whiter than any bleach can make them. And He is not alone; Moses and Elijah, symbols of all God’s revelation in prophecy and law, flank him. They are speaking with Jesus of His coming passage of suffering, death, and resurrection.

Peter, not knowing what to say, blurts out: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Peter wants to build tents for honor and remembrance, but the cloud that envelops them and all of us strikes him silent. And then the voice speaks from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” “Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.”

It is that Jesus with whom we are now alone on the mount of the transfiguration, that beloved Son to whom we must listen, who is, as St. Paul tells us today, the only Son whom God the Father has handed over for us all. He is the divine victim symbolized by Isaac, but whose life is not spared, but who dies on Mt. Calvary. He is the Son now given to us today in Eucharist.

How do we make a return for such love? We cannot simply ignore it. Oh, we can and do, but only at the peril of losing our human heart. How do we change, as Jesus called to us at the opening of Lent? What effect does God’s love have in our lives? Lent is that God-given time for change – change that begins in our own hearts and leads us constantly to enable constant change, constant growth, in ourselves and the world around us. It is so easy to miss this foundational element of Church only to get lost in a concern for our human failings and those of everyone around us.

Certainly we might see, for example, in our own relationship with our children that we should be willing to allow them to dedicate their lives to that love God continually reveals. This is the fundamental motivation for parents to acknowledge a church vocation in their child - to point out to their children that they are not really complete until they have responded to the God who has given His only Son to be our redemption and who now calls us to live with Him in that wonderful reality.

We climb our mountains these Lenten days, Moriah, the mountain of unquestioning faith, Tabor, the mountain of transfigured joy and listening to Jesus; Calvary, the mountain of Love beyond death, love leading to eternal life, and Zion, the mountain of the Eucharist. The invitation comes today in the Lenten Liturgy; it comes each day in faith. How deliberately do we respond to that invitation and attempt to bring our world to these mountaintops? It is why we live Lent each year. It is why we live our lives as Christians in a world that needs to be reminded of mountains and everything we can find at their summit. Enjoy your climb.
 

 

Father Kevin Murphy
 St. Louis Church

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

The Rainbow---what a beautiful sign to begin Lent with. I am sure each of us remembers that first awesome time when we saw a rainbow painted across the sky. Perhaps it was at Niagara Falls or after a warm Spring rain.

Of course we all know that a rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes the spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the earth’s atmosphere. They take the form of a multi-colored arc, with red on the outer side of the arch and violet on the inner section of the arch.

Many people and groups have used the rainbow to capture the spirit of their effort---there is a Rainbow Day Camp in Ellison park each summer for children with diabetes; Jesse Jackson founded the Rainbow Coalition to serve the needs of a rainbow of children in the inner city of Chicago; the Rainbow Alliance is a gathering of Gay and Lesbians; the Irish Tourist Board uses the rainbow and the leprechaun to entice us to travel to Ireland where there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.

The Book of Genesis wants us to see in the rainbow the symbol of God’s bonding with Noah and all of creation. The rainbow is to remind us that God has preserved life despite the flood and despite the evil in the world then and now.

As we begin this 40 day journey with the Lord Jesus, a foundational fact for us is that God has covenanted with us, has connected with us and made that connection both vertically and horizontally. We do not walk this road alone, but with the guidance and support of one another and with the light from Jesus’ own journey lighting our way.

Where does this journey lead? It will lead us to the meaning of the Baptismal Font and its water that immerses us into the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The power of this water is to transform and change us---we can leave behind the old self and embrace the new person---we can enter into the Christian life, the life of Christ, and see life with all its colors and possibilities. It may be a radical change. I am sure there are some among us who need to let go of serious faults in life or serious baggage that we carry from 10 or 20 or 50 years ago. Others will make a change that is more like a bend in the road when we become less self-centered and more open to others and what we can do to make our world and other people more blessed.

Between here, our beginning of the journey and where we will end up is the desert of the Gospel: Jesus was driven into the desert after his baptism. So we are invited to recognize where the desert of our own life may be:
As a nation we certainly sense the desert in the economy and in the wars that continue to fester and take so much of so many.
But also more personally, the desert may be: the fear that we have because of the instability of life right now; or the physical, emotional or mental health or lack thereof; or our desert may be in the family relationships or our personal relationship; or it may be in that area of personal integrity as we grapple with something deep within our self.

The desert is not in the Sahara of Africa or in Arizona, but within. The Gospel tells us that this is the time of fulfillment and change: will we use this time, this opportunity, this grace of Lent as a new opportunity to repent and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ?