Father Chris's Homilies

We are well into summer. I keep getting shown photos of the gardens people are tending in their backyards. It takes work and patience for produce to grow. Come in a few weeks and we will have a bountiful harvest of all kinds of produce. Those who are farmers can readily understand the parable of the sower in today’s Gospel. God sends out God’s word, and we are to be good soil for the word to take root. The challenge is to become fertile soil for the word of God. How do we become fertile soil? To be fertile ground, we need to keep an open mind. Too often I find myself not listening to what the other is saying, as I compose in my mind a response to what I think I am hearing. To really listen means to keep my mind open to receive what the other is saying. To listen means putting aside my agenda for a time. Sometimes the word of God struggles to get through all the noise in my brain. This is why quiet time in my day is so important; those who wish to listen to the voice of God go to a quiet place to listen for God. In these summer months we will spend time in quiet places where the word of God may speak to us. God’s voice is found at the seaside, in the woods, and on mountain tops. We need to quiet ourselves and listen for God’s voice. Making ourselves fertile ground for God’s word is not easy. We need to each day work to calm ourselves to hear God’s word. St. Ignatius of Loyola suggests a daily examen. Each day as we pray the Examen we become fertile ground. Here is how it is done: How to Pray the Examen Place yourself in God’s presence. Give thanks for God’s great love for you. Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life. Review your day — recall specific moments and your feelings at the time. Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away? Look toward tomorrow — think of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan. Be specific and conclude with the “Our Father.” Each day we work to make ourselves fertile ground.

On this July 4th weekend, we recall our land’s independence from a foreign king and a foreign government. We have thrown off the yoke of King George III; we are a free and independent nation. For 250 years we have been learning what it means to live as an independent and free society. Today Jesus invites us to consider taking upon a yoke as we go forward as disciples of him. The yoke of King George was too heavy for this nation, but the yoke of our God, we are told by Jesus, “is easy and light.” What is the yoke of Jesus? The yoke of Jesus is about the kingdom of God, learning to love others as we love ourselves. As disciples of Jesus we take on the yoke of the Gospel. When life feels heavy, we turn to our God, and our God helps to make our burdens light. There are many things in life that may seem like a yoke, a burden, but if we look at them in a new way, we see our God helping us to carry our burden. As Jesus invites us to consider the childlike, let me share with you a story: The Fable of The Birds At the beginning of time, all the animals were walking around discovering what it was like to be alive. All except the birds! They were doing nothing but complaining because God had given them a heavy burden that he’d given to no other animals: those awkward appendages on their shoulders. God must be punishing them somehow. Why did they have to carry these things around, making it hard to walk? “Why?" they asked. “Why us?” Finally, two or three of the more adventurous birds began to move their appendages. They began to flutter them, and soon they discovered that the very things they regarded as a burden actually made it possible for them to fly. And no other animals could fly. The “heavy burden” turned out to be a wonderful gift. Is there something in your life that at first glance seemed a burden, but later was seen as a gift? One reason why we value the innocent and simple among us is that they can help us to see life and who we are with new eyes. The simple or innocent can sometimes help us see what we thought was a burden as a gift. In the lives of the saints, we read about many who took what seemed to be a burden and made it an asset: The first disciples were simple fishermen. They were not scholarly, they couldn’t read, but they took their experience of Jesus and let it form them as disciples. What was a burden became an asset. Peter denied the Lord on the eve of his death. This made him more compassionate to sinners and those who struggled to have courage. Paul was blinded for 3 days; a former killer of Christians saw with new eyes and preached the good news to the Gentiles. Thomas doubted the Resurrection but came to faith in his doubt. Theresa the Little Flower loved Jesus and others with the simple love of a child of God. St. Kateri looked for and saw God present in the trees and the nature of the forests where she made her home. Mother Teresa of Calcutta saw our Lord present in the sick and dying in India. Blessed Stan Rother, a farmer’s son from Oklahoma who couldn’t read Latin, learned to speak in the native tongue of the men and women who he ministered with in Guatemala. With the eyes of a child, with childlike faith, we learn to see the burdens we carry as paths to faith in the help and care of our God. Let us give thanks today for the gift of freedom and let us give thanks for the gift of our God who makes our burdens light.

Our readings today speak of hospitality: In the first reading from 2 Kings, we hear how the woman made a room for the prophet Elisha. In the letter to the Hebrews, we read, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” In the Gospel, Jesus speaks, “and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Hospitality is the essence of the life as a Christian. Many religious communities include this action as part of their rule. Hospitality is not easy. It seems that people are not in need on my schedule. Hospitality means stopping my actions and attending to others for a time. People are not in need on my schedule. Yet if I neglect them, I may miss out on entertaining angels. This summer there will be many who are in need. To them we offer our time and our hospitality. We are fortunate in our community that a hot meal is available seven days a week. I meet many in need when I stop to help out at Saturday’s Bread. Catholic Charities provides lunches to our students in July and August. You may want to consider helping to provide meals to our homeless and our students in the summer. It is so easy to get caught up in my schedule and I miss the chance to meet Christ in my neighbors and to miss out on entertaining angels. One thing I admired about Bishop Hubbard is that when he spoke to you, you were made to feel you were the most important person. As he spoke to you, he was moving on down the line, but for that moment you felt important, you were the most important person at that moment. How often do we make others feel that they are taking up our time or are a burden? On Thursday we celebrated LEON Day (Noel spelled backwards), which reminds us that we are six months away from Christmas. Maybe this is a good time to revisit a Christmas story. La Befana: The Witch of Christmas By Il Postino Staff and Tessa Derksen The legend of Befana began thousands of years ago and remains to this day a tradition practiced by Italian children and their families. As the story goes, one day, the three Magi left their country bearing special gifts of gold, incense and myrrh for the new-born Jesus Christ. They were guided by a star across many countries. At every village that they passed, people ran to meet them and accompany them in their journey. But there was one old woman who did not join the Magi. She claimed to be too busy with her housework and promised to join them later when she had time. The next day, she realized her mistake and frantically ran after the Magi with gifts for the child, still clutching her broom. But it was too late – the Magi were long gone. Let us not be too busy to meet Christ in our neighbors. Let us not be a Befana.

The last two popes chose names that pointed out what their main concern in their ministry would be. Pope Francis took the name of a man who advocated for the poor among us. Pope Leo XIV took the name of the pope who advocated for dignity of the workers in the world. Pope Leo XIII wrote the first encyclical speaking of the dignity of workers. His encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of how the church should be an instrument for change in the world. Pope Leo XIV, in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas , addresses his concern for the use of AI in our world. AI used in the correct way can be of benefit to humanity. Used in the wrong way, AI can lead to taking away the humanity of people. He uses two images to speak of AI. AI used in the wrong way can be like the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel, as found in the book of Genesis, was a tower built by people who sought glory for themselves. They had a single technology, a single goal all directed toward themselves without a concern for God. They started out united and the project caused division. Here is how Pope Leo puts it in his encyclical: The result is not unity, but dispersion. Babel thus reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose, arises from self-affirmation, sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing. The second image is taken from the book of Nehemiah, where the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. This is the image for the correct use of AI -- a technology that unites people, with God at the center, and preserves the dignity of the human person. Again, Pope Leo: It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language -- not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role and recognize that their strength comes from the Lord. The pope expresses concern that AI may be used in ways that deny the unique nature of humans. As we go forward, we need to decide what we will build: will we build a Tower of Babel or the city of Jerusalem? The Pope ends his reflections by giving Mary’s song, the Magnificat , as the example on how we go forward: With the same faith as Mary, let us become “weavers of hope” in our world, sharing who we are and what we have, so that the presence of Jesus may grow among us and his Kingdom take shape. In the humble fidelity of daily life, even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives. Indeed, the Lord continues to make all things new and offers every era the possibility of becoming part of salvation history in the light of the Incarnation. I entrust our desire to the Mother of Christ, to the Woman of the Magnificat, that she may guide our steps through this time of change and preserve in each of us true faith in the Gospel, so that we may bear witness to the grandeur of humanity, in which God has made his dwelling.

Our psalm today says: We are his people: the sheep of his flock . Once again, we hear how God is the good shepherd. We meet a good shepherd in the recent movie The Sheep Detectives . The movie is a mystery, so I won’t destroy the mystery. The one thing I thought was interesting was how when the sheep dealt with a difficult situation, they decided to forget about it. This reminded me of the situation in our culture -- how we like to avoid pain, pain of any kind. One of the hallmarks of our faith is the cross. The cross is a sign of hope and of pain. In life we are asked to take up our cross and carry it. If we choose to avoid the cross, we avoid pain and in doing so we avoid things that make us who we are. On the other side of the cross is new life and on the other side of pain is a new understanding of life. Those who embrace the pain find they are more compassionate people. Most people will tell you they do not like Lent. Lent is a season where we reflect upon our brokenness and our need for our God. On Ash Wednesday, the day when we are reminded of our mortality, the church is bursting at the seams. During Holy Week, few will come to church on Good Friday, the day we venerate the cross, but many will come on Easter Sunday to celebrate the new life of the resurrection. In doing do we avoid the cross and pain. We skip the cross and go right to the empty tomb. Those in recovery will tell you that the pain of allowing a higher power to be in charge is the path to serenity and a new way of life. The cross can help us to focus on the other rather than ourselves. It has been said, “No pain, no gain.” Part of our difficulties as followers of the Good Shepherd is that we wish to forget the difficult parts of the cross. I would like to be a sheep who chooses to forget what is painful to recall. We take this torture device, the cross, and wear it on chains around our necks or we display them on our walls. We take the pain of life, the pain of the cross, and we praise God’s kindness to us. Or in the words of Psalm 100, the psalm for today: The LORD is good; his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Once a year the church asks us to remember how important the Eucharist is to our faith life. Each year we pause and celebrate this feast, The Body and Blood of Christ. We are given the words of Moses on this feast. Moses said to the people: "Remember” and “Do not forget." He is speaking of the lessons learned in the desert, but he could be speaking about today’s feast. It is too easy to forget the gift of the Eucharist, how in our celebration at the Mass each week we become the body and blood of Christ. It is so easy to forget the importance of being a member of the body of Christ. Mass attendance and honoring the Sabbath is a good habit to nurture. Too often I hear from people who say to me, “I get nothing out of Mass.” This is the consumeristic attitude of our culture. The attitude that says something is worthwhile only if it is of benefit to me. I do not attend Mass simply for myself, but I attend Mass as a member of the body of Christ. It is so easy to forget that the body of Christ contains me and many other members. If I choose to exempt myself from the body of Christ, the body suffers. Those who say “I get nothing out of it” are unwilling to put anything into it. How often have I asked a person to tell the name of the person who they have sat next to for many years and they tell me I don’t know his/her name. How hard is it to introduce yourself to another? He/she is a member of the body of Christ. Each time we come to Mass, we have many opportunities to engage with the body of Christ. Before Mass begins, we have an opportunity to greet members of the body of Christ. As we pray the Mass, there are many opportunities for what the church calls “full and active participation”. When we sing the songs we pray twice, and the music makes our worship more joyful. As we respond to the prayers, we participate in the Mass. Each time we gather for Mass we gather as a part of the body of Christ. The priest or deacon may lead us in prayer, but we members of the body of Christ we are part of the prayer. Our participation is needed. In the liturgy of the Word we gather around the word of God as found in the scriptures, the psalms, and the words of Jesus in the gospels. In the liturgy of the Eucharist, we hear the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. The prayers of the priest and the congregation allow the bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ. As the congregation comes forward, as the body of Christ, we receive the body of Christ. The time we spend in church is time well spent as we go forth to bring the body of Christ to others during our week. At the end of each Mass, we are instructed to take what we have received and bring it to others. Our weekly participation in the Body and Blood of Christ helps to remember who we are and helps us to nurture well the body of Christ we meet in our daily lives.

The passage we are given from John’s Gospel says, "God so loved the world…" I would rewrite it as, "God so loved me ….” I often find myself wondering how God could love me so much. How can God love me so much and each other person so much. There are so many people God has loved into being. So many people loved by our God. There are times I do not feel so loveable. Yet our faith reminds us that God loves each one of us. There are many people I do not know or am not sure I like but I am reminded that, like me, they are created in the image and likeness of a loving God. The feast we celebrate today is a feast of love. The love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. An ancient image given to us by the Eastern fathers speaks of the Trinity as a dance among the three persons. The dance is a circular dance with each one of us invited to join in the dance. This is a dance of love that includes each one of us. The hand of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit reaches out to us in love, inviting us to join in the dance. This is how Barbara Reid describes the dance: The dance is an open circle that invites all onto the dance floor, drawing them right into the midst of the energetic flow of divine delight. If some hesitate, preferring to sit on the sidelines, the Three-in-One circle back again, extending the invitation over and over to each and to all, changing the pace and the rhythm, so that even the most clumsy of us can learn the steps in the dance of divine love. Paul suggests some practice steps for the dance: rejoice, mend your ways, encourage one another, seek agreement, live in peace, greet one another with a holy kiss. In these ways, we help one another onto the dance floor, where we become one with the very source of grace, love, and communion. (1) The divine dance reminds me of the song of the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland: Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance? (1) Barbara E. Reid, O.P., "A Dance of Love". America Magazine, June 6, 2011.

When C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia , he wrote The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe first. In the old order this was the first book in the series. Today The Magician's Nephew is placed first, since it tells of the creation of Narnia by Aslan. In The Magician's Nephew we met Digory, who meets Aslan for the first time. Digory’s mom is ill and Aslan tells him about a fruit that may heal her. It is found in a walled garden. Jadis the White Witch also wants the fruit. She climbs over the wall to get it. The fruit gives her eternal life, but hers is a life of despair and hurt. She acquired the fruit by climbing over the wall; as in today’s Gospel, she is a thief. She did not enter through the sheep gate. The Tree of Youth (also, the Tree of Life) was the first, largest, and most spectacular Silver Apple Tree in existence. It grew at the very centre of the Garden of Youth, and bore shining, silver apples that had wonderful, powerful magical properties, and gave off an ethereal, breathtaking, almost irresistible smell. The tree was enclosed within the Garden, and roosting in its branches was a single Phoenix (and the only one ever seen in Narnia). Though the apples were silvery and incredibly beautiful, their juice was darker than one would expect. The first person to eat the Apples of Youth was Jadis who, dismissing the written warning that the fruits should only be plucked to help others, and not to be eaten for oneself, climbed into the Garden over the wall, and plucked a fruit for herself. After she had greedily eaten the fruit, Jadis claimed that she felt such changes within her that she knew that she would never grow old or die. When Digory spotted her throwing away the core of the apple she had eaten, and saw how the dark juice stained her mouth horribly, he guessed - rightly - how she had entered the Garden, and thought he understood what the last line: For those who steal or those who climb my wall, shall find their heart's desire and find despair meant, for, despite the fact that Jadis looked "stronger and prouder than ever, and even, in a way, triumphant", her face was "deadly white, as white as salt". Presumably ignorant of what she had doomed herself to, Jadis tried twice to tempt Digory into disobeying Aslan: first, by encouraging him to eat the fruit himself, telling him that it would make him alive and young forever. Second, telling him to give the fruit to his ill, dying mother instead, assuring him that it would cure her of her illness. Digory, very fortunately for him and his mother, was able to resist both temptations, and even angrily rebuffed Jadis, who retorted by calling him a fool to throw away his one and only chance of endless youth. When Jadis began to feel the dark and cold inside her, she fled from the Western Wild, to the far north, to presumably begin creating her army. However, as Aslan said, it was actually Jadis, not Digory, who was a fool, given that the fruit would never work happily for any who pluck it at their own will, and that "length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery, and already she begins to know it" - Jadis' immortality meant that the misery that constantly plagued her because of her dark, evil heart would never end. Digory, by resisting the two devastating temptations, actually saved himself and his mother from terrible fates that would have definitely befell them if he had succumbed to either one of the temptations. When Digory returned to Aslan with the Apple of Youth, Aslan told him to throw it on the bank of the Great River of Narnia, where it grew into the Tree of Protection that protected the Kingdom of Narnia from all enemies for 898 years. In just a matter of days the tree along with the rest of the garden presumably disappeared into Aslan's Country. (1) There is a warning posted on the wall of the garden: Come in by the gold gates or not at all, Take of my fruit for others or forbear, For those who steal or those who climb my wall Shall find their heart’s desire and find despair. (2) The witch did not enter by the gates. She used the fruit for herself and will spend her days in despair. Those of us who enter through the sheep gate via the waters of baptism use the fruits of the Holy Spirit to help others. They are not for our use. Many will testify that what we do for others comes back to us in abundance. On this “Good Shepherd Sunday", we enter through the sheep gate and we share what we have found with others. Each time a person is baptized in this space, we gather as a community to help that person in his/her journey as a member of the body of Christ. We come not as thieves; we enter through the sheepgate and, in doing so, we find immortal life and joy and not immortal life and despair as did Jadis the witch. (1) https://narnia.fandom.com/wiki/Tree_of_Youth (2) The Magician's Nephew (1955), page 185

It is said that when Oliver Cromwell had his official portrait painted, he asked that it be a true portrait with “warts and all”. You may say that the resurrected Christ appeared with “wounds and all”. Here is the resurrected Christ in his glorified body, who could pass through locked doors, appearing with the wounds of his crucifixion. He is resurrected, not simply resuscitated, in his glorified body still bearing the marks of his passion and death. Why, if he is in his perfect resurrected body, does Jesus still bear the marks of his passion and death? It is an interesting paradox that the woundedness of our lives can be what makes us who we are. There is a story told about a man in therapy: When he first met the counselor, he was asked to draw a picture of himself; he drew a picture of a vase with a crack in its side. After many years of therapy, the counselor showed the man the picture he had drawn. The man asked for use of the crayons. He took a yellow crayon and drew yellow strips just above the crack in the vase. When asked why he did that he told the counselor, “The crack is where the light can get in.” Leonard Cohen summed it up well in his song “Anthem”: There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. By showing the apostles his wounds, Jesus is reminding them that the wounds, the pain is not the end of the story. Many of us bear wounds from our past; they are what make us who we are. Part of the journey is the struggle. When we reach our destination, we can look back and see how the struggles made us who we are. Elbert Hubbard, the founder of the Roycrofters, once said, “God will not look you over for medals but for scars.” I am sure the disciples looked over the past three years and saw how the struggles made a difference; their time with Jesus made them new people.