St. Mary, St. Bernadette, & St. Genevieve

        What was a time in your life – that was a moment of both difficulty and joy?
         One clear example is childbirth. Another example is parenting. Another example is achieving a goal after difficult work.
         For the church in Thessalonika, to whom our 2^ndReading is addressed, Paul notes that they’ve just experienced affliction and joy – at the same time. And that experience – was receiving God’s word. Receiving communication from the living God.
         The reason that it was difficult, is that in having received that Word, they began the process of turning away from the idols that society proposed to them. This was both personally difficult, and even more socially difficult. It was socially difficult, because other people took offense at a perceived lack of respect.
         But even with these challenges – there was joy. And the joy came from an outside source – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of the living God. The people could perceive that God was living and working and operating in their very midst. And over time, the people in Thessalonika realized that they were being rescued – rescued from slavery to idols….idols that society told them were gods, but in fact were not.
         This experience of being rescued – is what God wants his people to remember in the 1^stReading. They were just rescued from cruel and hard slavery in Egypt. Now that they are in the Promised Land, God gives them a way to live, and be a people. That ‘way of being a people’// is to recall how they were once aliens in a foreign land -- when they were the weak, mistreated by the powerful.
         The Israelites have to keep that memory alive – not to stoke resentment against the Egyptians - but rather, that they don’t end up doing // the same exact thing // to their immigrants, widows, orphans, and poor.
         Even after having gone through a liberating experience, believers in the living God will still be affected by the power of idols. So in the Gospel, Jesus gives us a very practical counter-measure: the love commandment (love of God and neighbor). When we examine our consciences, using the love commandment, God’s Spirit helps us ferret out where idols are trying to reclaim us. They turn us in ourselves. And by doing so, idols regain their power.
         Just as God gave the Israelites the commandments and Passover as a reminder of their liberation, so too does God give us the Eucharist as a reminder of our liberation. And yet we ask: why is Mass so repetitious? The same, every Sunday? The reason Mass seemsrepetitious // is because our capability of falling prey to idols // is repetitious.
         Pope Francis, in his exhortation The Joy of the Gospel identifies some of the idols which prevent a communal commitment: a financial system which rules rather than serves, and moral relativism. But what gives joy are new relationships made possible by Christ. And indeed: this is the way that God is constantly unifying his people, through His son.
         For the idols God has saved us from, we give thanks in this Eucharist. 
 

         What are your goals in life?

         What is your mission in life?

         In our 1^stReading, we hear the great story about Cyrus, the King of Persia, modern-day Iran. Persia’s great rival, Babylon, used to be the superpower of the known world. But now they were weakening, and Cyrus saw an opportunity, and launched an invasion.
As king, I suspect Cyrus had some personal goals: to exercise his power well, to extend his Kingdom’s reach, and (hopefully) to serve his people. These goals likely came from himself, his family upbringing, and his culture.
         But Cyrus’ mission in life, on the other hand, did not come from himself…or his family…or his culture. His mission came from somewhere else, or better, from someone else. Because when Cyrus conquered Babylon, he allowed a seemingly insignificant group of exiles return home, and give them the money to rebuild their temple. That people was Israel. Cyrus’ mission, as he would come to learn in hindsight, was to be an instrument of God’s salvation and mercy to his special people.
         In the 2^ndReading, we hear from the earliest piece of the New Testament, Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Paul, as we’ve gotten to know him, certainly had big personal goals. He wanted to be the best: the most zealous, the smartest, the most hard-working member of his people and faith.
         But then God came into his life one day, and slowly began to reveal to Paul // something more // than his personal goals. That something more was his mission. His mission – to share his personal story of God having mercy on him, and to share the larger story of God wanting to have mercy on the whole world.
         Paul was not in control of this mission. He would go where the Spirit would lead him. He couldn’t have predicted that he would end up in Greece, where this letter was addressed. But that is where God wanted him. That was Paul’s mission field.
         Having a mission doesn’t mean one’s personal goals are irrelvant. Paul’s goals were now to be put to use for mission. And in doing so, Paul realized that the source of his drive, and his smarts, wasn’t simply himself. It was God.
         In our Gospel, at the time of Jesus, there were four major political factions: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, the Herodians. Each faction had their own outlook, and their own goals. In this passage, the Pharisees to box Jesus in, with a question that has religious and political consequences. In many ways, it was a question that tried to steer Jesus away from His mission: a mission to reveal God’s mercy // not only to the people of Israel, but to the whole world.
         Needless to say, not much has changed since the Gospel. Political party activists will gladly tell Christians what their mission is. Of course, thatmission will be selective about what parts of the Word of God are employed, and which get left out.
         You and I have been given a mission.

• Like Paul: to share the story of God’s mercy upon us
• Like Cyrus: to liberate the oppressed

           How do our personal goals line up with it?

Scott Weeman was born and raised in northeast Wisconsin, in a developing rural community, where he enjoyed involvement in sports and activities with his friends and family. After high school, he attend college in New York City, after being awarded a scholarship for debate.
At this point, his experience around drugs and alcohol started to spin out of control. After a series of events, he found himself in California, and age 26, seeking the mercy of the Lord. Scott attributes this re-version to a very strong Catholic community at St. Brigid’s Parish in San Diego. In addition, the experience shared in recovery groups like AA has guided his ownrecovery, one day at a time.

With this opportunity at a new way of life, Scott is passionate about bringing the Good News to people who struggle to find healing from addictions. Blending both the spiritual tools made available to him through addiction recovery, and the wisdom of the Catholic Church, he founded a nonprofit organization, Catholic in Recovery, to bring hope to those who struggle. He has also written a book “The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments.”

The great insight of 12-step programs is that the person realizes something isn’t right, and they can’t solve the situation on their own. They need two things outside themselves: a higher power, and a community who will be supportive. Being ‘supportive’ also means being honest with person, when they start to hide and equivocate. Scott Weeman is grateful for the charism of the 12-steps, but found that with his Catholic faith, more substance and detail can be added to the 12 steps, with the sacraments.

Paul, in our 2^ndReading, finds himself in prison again. As we’ve been hearing for the past couple of weeks, he has written a letter to the church in Philippi. Now at the end of the letter, he’s giving thanks for a gift they gave him. As you can imagine, ancient Roman prisons didn’t have a cafeteria, so prisoners were reliant on gifts from the outside to survive.
As Paul thanks them, he shares with them some hard-won wisdom:

“In every circumstance and in all things
I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need. 
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” 

“I can do all things - in him- who strengthens me.” The ‘in him’, of course, is in Christ. In His Body. And to be in His Body, means to be in his community of believers, nourished by the bloodstream of the sacraments. A community of believers which welcomes and supports, but supports by expressing the truth about the reality of things.

In our Gospel, Jesus gives us what seems to be a strange parable. The parable of a king, who invites people off the street to his Son’s banquet, but then kicks one of them out, for not wearing the proper attire. A commentator has wisely noted that with this parable, Jesus is more focused on making certain points, rather than having a coherent narrative. And the point made, with the man not wearing the wedding garment, is this: ‘all are welcome’ indeed, but when you step through the door, you need to need to acknowledge something. You need to acknowledge what the 1st Step says: “STEP 1:  “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.” More broadly speaking – we admit that we are powerless over our addiction – to ourselves. And that we need a higher power, other people, and a searching inventory of our lives, to overcome it. Day by day.

The reason the person in the parable is silent – isn’t because he’s speechless about an absurd situation – being invited off the street, and now kicked out for some silly dress code rule, that he couldn’t fulfill. No – the parable implies that the person knows the minimum to enter and partake of the feast, but chooses not to. The king, with radical honesty, points this fact out. And until the guest can verbalize it himself, he will stay out, momentarily.

If the guest can acknowledge it, and put on the garment of truth, he can be welcomed with joy by the King, who grieves the momentary separation.

I can do all things in him who strengthens me.
In him – who is both God and neighbor.
 

         There was a member of the Newman Club – a Catholic student at Middlebury College, who came to mind as I prayed with these readings.
         The student was a child of immigrants, and was the first of the family to attend college.
         As we were talking about the Newman Mass one day, the student said: “For all the blessings that I have received in life, how can I not go to Mass to give thanks?” “For all the blessings that I have received in life, how can I not go to Mass to give thanks?”
         This student also gave generous hours of volunteer service to people in the community, and the migrant workers on the farms.
         In our Gospel, Jesus again presents a parable involving a vineyard. But this time, it is not hourly employees who work the vineyard. It is tenant farmers. In 1^stCentury Palestine, tenant farmers would agree with the landowner for a certain percentage of the fruit that the owner would receive. We could say that it was the ‘rent’.
         Here, the tenant farmers will enjoy a much greater share of the harvest. Why is it – that the tenant farmers in this parable - can’t even offer even a percentage – to the person who owns the land? Perhaps it is the desire for the infinite– placed in our souls – which gets distorted in the desire to possess – possess material - more and more of it.
         For the tenant farmers in the parable – that desire to possess more and morebecomes so distorted – that they think by killing the son, they will somehow to come inherit the vineyard, which would have been an absurdity.
         The Pew Research Center released a new report entitled “US Teens Take After Their Parents Religiously, Attend Services Together and Enjoy Family Rituals.”Of parents who said religion is “very important” in their life: 45% of their teens answered the same, and 41% of the teens said religion was “somewhat important” to them.
         However, in households where parents say religion is not important to them, their teenagers are far more likely to hold the same religious priorities. 82% of their teenage children agreed with the parents – mirroring the families where it is important.
         Why was religion not important to these parents? One can make an inference from the report – because it is also reported that Catholic parents are very focused on whether their teenager goes to college, and that they become financially successful. Of course, it is possible for a parent to be very religious and desire success for their children. They are not exclusive.
But it is also easy to see, for parents to whom God is less important…that another god takes His place. The ‘more and more’ tendency – becomes more pronounced, where someone cannot even give a percentage of their time and talent // to God and neighbor. Hence, no fruit is born, to use the language of the parable.
         In the 2^ndReading, we’ve been hearing from Paul’s letter to the Philipians. There have been some disagreements within the community, some external pressure from outside forces. So Paul tells them:

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.

In that great desire we have for peace….in the desire we have for simple basic needs to be met…we can certainly ask God for these things. But Paul adds something: he says, make those prayers…with thanksgiving. Perhaps because the spirit of thanksgivingdoes two things: (1) it tempers our inordinate desires, and (2) gives perspective to our anxieties.
         For our Newman Student…the student realized much had been received in life already. The student could - with thanksgiving - offer a share of it back to God at Mass on the weekend, and to the community on the weekday.
 

          Last Easter, I spoke about the 2010 film “Of Gods and Men”. The story of the Cistercian monks of Tibehirine in Algeria, living in harmony with their Muslim villagers, during the civil war of the 1990’s. During the war, Islamic insurgents threatened the lives of all foreigners. For the Cistercian monks, many born in France, this included them.
         Knowing of their precarious state, the prior of the monastery, Fr. Christian de Cherge, wrote a letter in 1994. This letter was to be opened only if he was killed.
         Towards the end of his letter, he thanks God, and his family and friends. And then he thanks someone else – whom he calls “his last-minute friend.” Here is what Christian, now beatified with his fellow martyrs, wrote:

And also you, my last-minute friend, who will not have known what you were doing:
Yes, I want this THANK YOU and this GOODBYE to be a "GOD-BLESS" for you, too,
because in God's face I see yours.
May we meet again as happy thieves in Paradise, if it please God, the Father of us both.
AMEN !   INCHALLAH !  

       This “last-minute friend”, whom he addresses, is his would-be killer.
       Can you imagine….he is thanking / and hoping to be in heaven / with the person who will do violence to him.
         It’s just as shocking – as the thought of moral reprobates and traitors – walking into the Kingdom of Heaven. This shock was felt by the chief priests and elders in today’s Gospel, upon hearing those words from Jesus – that prostitutes and tax collectors would enter the Kingdom of Heaven before they would.
         But wait a minute – don’t ‘good people’ get into heaven?
         In our 2^ndReading, Paul is addressing the perennial question about factions, which can be present any time people get together. These factions have developed in the church in Phillipi. So he begs them, to unify around something. And that something is ‘the attitude of Jesus’. The attitude, which focuses on do His Father’s will, even if it meant the cost of humiliation.
Doing the Father’s Will – became the most important thing for Jesus, and Paul hopes that the factions in Philipi can rally around that same desire. Because doing the Father’s will is for the best– for individuals andthe community.
         When life is all about ‘my will’, we become imprisoned in ourselves, and finding unity with others becomes more difficult. Now in time, we’ll meet up with other people who share a similar will. But now we have factions – this group wants this, this group wants that. But what if all groups – were trying to figure out what Godwants? God’s will isn’t always clear, and this isn’t an easy project – but it’s still a more worthwhile project // than each individual living ‘my truth’.
         For Bl. Christian, if it is God’s will that he meets his murderer in Paradise, he will rejoice. Bl. Christian also has a merciful attitude toward his killer, because he presumes that he was trying to follow the will of God (albeit gravely mistaken and wrong). At least that much - out of grave evil - is good.
         Here’s a fun little spiritual exercise for your weekend:

· think about someone you intensely dislike
· imagine yourself having died, and now you are being purified in Purgatory, in preparation for Heaven
· imagine that other person walking into the Kingdom of Heaven, before you
· imagine yourself, shouting out at the top of your voice, ‘that’s not fair!’, just like the 1^stReading says…
· now imagine yourself hearing God respond: when it was clear to you, did you carry out my will?

        Even the attempt to discern and live God’s will can start to free us…as individuals…as communities.

      Amen. Inchallah.

         I’ve seen some interesting t-shirts and sweatshirts, with some colorful phrases, expressing the thought that 2020 is not the best year ever. For as much as people want 2020 to be over, commentators are cautioning people to not expect a return to ‘the way things were before’, and that not even the appearance of an approved vaccine / means that everything can go back to normal.
         The people of Israel, in our 1^stReading, have that strange ‘in-between’ feeling, that we share now. They’ve been in exile, in a foreign country, for 70 years already. It’s not ideal, but many of the young have gotten used to it. So when there is talk of ‘when we get to go back home’, or ‘when we get to rebuild’ – there’s a bit of an indifferent attitude by some people – because for them, living in exile is all – they -  know.
         So God sends Isaiah, to get them to be attentive, to their upcoming liberation. They need to be attentive, and perceptive, because God is going to act in a way, that they’re not expecting. It won’t be a way that God has acted in the past – great floods, or military victories. No, their liberation will come about – [PAUSE] – through a foreigner. A pagan. Cyrus, the King of Persia, who will conquer Babylon, and let the Jews return to Israel.
         When People of God get back home - something else unexpected will happen. They’re not going to behave religiously, in the same way. They’re not going to have the same religious goals, which were very inward focused. When they go back home, they now have to focus on how God’s light is going to shine through them, to gather other nations to them. It doesn’t mean that their entire Jewish religious heritage is up for grabs – their rituals will return. But the reasonfor doing it – will have a different focus – outside of themselves.
         In our 2^ndReading, Paul finds himself confined – confined like many people across the globe feel. Paul is confined because he is in prison. But for this stint in jail – his life is on the line. He might receive the death penalty, for all his preaching.
         Yet he is at joy and peace.
         Paul is ready to accept either sentence. Yes, he has his preferences - he’d prefer to be with Christ in heaven, but if God wants him to stay to keep working, he’ll do it. Whatever the outcome, Paul knows three things will happen:

· God will bring good out of it,
· God will be glorified,
· and God’s Word will not be chained – it will keep be shared.

         For this kind of attitude, we would say Paul has a spirit of ‘detachment’. He is not indifferent – he is detached. Detached from what he desires, while confident that God’s greater purposes will be served. How can a Christian arrive at this blessed state – this statement of detachment? Paul does it – as one sees from the start of his letter – by being thankful for what God has done in his life. If God can change a know-it-all like himself, He can transform anything.
         Paul’s greatest transformation, was his religious outlook. He was very much in the mode of ‘if I do X, then I’ve earned Y’. This is the mode of thinking that Jesus challenges in our Gospel today, where he encourages his listeners to be mindful of the graces they received as gift, and that God desires that others share inthe same graces as well.
        Has God invited us to the Eucharist to ‘get’ something, and fill a need?
        Or has he invited us to the Eucharist, to be transformed into Himself…so that we can fill someone else’s need?
         2021 will certainly be different.
 

          In Martin Scorcese’s film Silence, two Jesuits from Portugal are sent to secretly enter Japan, in the 1630’s. There they will minister to persecuted Catholics, but moreover, attempt to locate their former teacher…who reportedly abandoned the faith.
         As they live in secret, one of the local Catholics develops a relationship with them, in which he alternatively helps them - and betrays them. Every time he betrays them, he goes to confession to one of them, Fr. Rodrigues.
         And every time he goes, the viewer can see growing frustration and angerof Rodrigues, who despite his feelings, mustconvey the forgiveness of God.
         Our first reading comes from the Book of Sirach. Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, is a book from Scripture…which is more a collection of maxims than a story. We hear one of those maxims, so perceptive: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.”
         Why does the sinner hold them tight, anger and wrath? Because it seems like a good way to deal with being hurt.
         In our Gospels, Jesus and the apostles have been conversing about forgiveness. Last week, Jesus talked about the need for person-to-person interaction in the forgiveness of sins. And this week, Peter asks a clarifying question. He asks Jesus, ‘How many times do we have to forgive? Seven times?’ And Jesus responds with the amount that Godforgives: “not seven times, but seventy times seven”. A number that represents over-abundance, without limit.
          The Catechism defines anger as follows: “An emotion which is not in itself wrong, but which, when it is not controlled by reason, or hardens into resentment and hate, becomes one of the seven capital sins.”
         “An emotion which is not in itself wrong, but which, when (1) it is not controlled by reason, or (2) hardens into resentment and hate,” becomes one of the seven capital sins.”
In Jesus’ parable, the servant who has been forgiven an extraordinary debt, ought to go home full of gratitude. And perhaps he initially does. But at the very sight of the other servant – the one who owes him a miniscule amount – he goes beserk. He doesn’t simply demand the debt owed – he ‘seized and choked’ the other servant. It appears angerovertook him, rather than allowing it to soften, or allow reason to reign it in.
          In the Kingdom of Man, anger can chain us, and keeps us in prisons of our own construction. But as Jesus proclaims in the Gospel, the Kingdom of God breaks these chains, through sharing – the sharing of forgiveness - shared, among its citizens.
God knows how hard it can be for us, with hearts that are delicate, to forgive someone once, let alone seven times. That is why He encourages us to accept His forgiveness for our sinsfirst. Then, over time, we can share Hisforgiveness with others, when we find it so hard to share our own.
          Dr. Karl Pillemer, a family sociologist, has recently released a book called Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them. After conducting a national survey on family estrangement, he finds the conditions in which reconciliation has occurred. For a group of people he calls “reconcilers”, he notes for them: “the situation has changed or the person has changed.”
          For the person who forgives seventy times seven – they are able to do so – because they have accepted the forgiveness of God. ‘[T]he person has changed’ to quote Dr. Pillemer – but even more so, for that Christian, the ‘person has beenchanged’. Been changed, by God.
          There is a final confession scene in the movie Silence, where the local Catholic celebrates again with Fr. Rodrigues. At the beginning of the Rite, the priest has an initial look of surprise, and disappointment. But by the end, he conveys absolution. Perhaps because Rodrigues realizes anew that he too is a sinner, who can be forgiven by God, and can pass that forgiveness along…to someone else.
 

The former Archbishop of Chicago, Francis Cardinal George, OMI, was a member of a worldwide missionary order, which made him a keen cultural observer. Missionaries have to quickly take stock of a country's culture. He famously made this observation about our current American moment: “Everything is tolerated, nothing is forgiven.”

            Everything is tolerated, nothing is forgiven.

Why is this?

Two possible reasons. One possible reason: we’re forgetting, or simply don’t know, the art of reconciling and forgiving.

In our Gospel, it may seem like Jesus is being neither forgiving nor reconciling. With this step-by-step procedure he proposes, it seems like He’s being legalastic, even exclusionary. But when we look at the passage which precedes this one – we have some context. And that Gospel passage, is the shepherd who leaves the 99 in search of the stray, out of concern and love. Thus, Jesus gives us a concrete way, to go out and approach ‘the stray’, who sometimes is us, and who sometimes doesn’t want to be found.

When we’re upset at someone – how often do we go to that person directly? Or do we complain to someone else about them? With Jesus’s method, the first step is always person-to-person. And to arrive at the person-to-person discussion, there has to be some cooling of emotions, time, space, and prayer.

From there, the circle of responsibility expands, but in small manner – a couple of other people, and then finally reference to the living Word of God present in the Church.

Should the offender rebuff the Word of God in the Church, Jesus makes a surprising comment: “treat them like a tax collector or leper.” It seems like Jesus is encouraging old biases here. But in fact, he is encouraging His listeners, to do what He’s been doing in practice. Reach out to them, don’t let a gulf develop. Pray for them. Keep the door open.

A second possible reason that “everything is tolerated, nothing is forgiven”, is that we feel less responsibility towards others, because we focus so much on individualism. Responsibility for another - is on full display in our First Reading – with the image of the watchman, the sentinel, on the city walls. The watchman makes sure there are not any threats coming to the city, and if there are, he sounds the alarm. Because it’s his job? No – because it’s his duty. His duty to inform his fellow citizens, who will share a common negative fate, if he doesn’t say something.

One of the great American myths is that what happens at my business, or in my house, has no impact on anyone else. We know, of course, that is not true. The pandemic has certainly revealed our interconnectedness anew.

Calling to someone’s attention, that which is harmful to them, is not a pleasant conversation. I am certainly a fellow student in this area. But if we determine that something is for his/her good, and not just the healing of my bruised feelings, then we can have an added impetus to have the conversation.

This process of what we call fraternal correction, that Jesus proposes today, is done not to punish and permanently exclude. Rather, it is done for the lifeof another, and to call attention to how they have excluded themselves, from God’s people.
        
Everything is tolerated, nothing is forgiven. In the eyes of Christ: the only person who isn’t tolerated is Satan, and the only thing that isn’t tolerated is sin. And for Christ, who makes Himself present in the Sacraments, all can be forgiven.
 

· Sister of Mercy
There is a religious sister, a Sister of Mercy, who grew up in Vermont, and I believe encountered the Sisters at their high school in Burlington. She was attracted to the fact that they lived out the spiritual and corporal works of mercy – teaching, helping those in need. So she became a professed member, and during her training, it was discovered she was really good with numbers, really good with adminstration. She did this for a number of years within the Order, and served them well in this role.

But after a time, she thought to herself, ‘this isn’t what attracted me to the Sisters of Mercy. I want to work with the poor’. So, she asked her superior for a change of assignment, and she was allowed to work at COTS, the homeless shelter in Burlington.

One day, she was cleaning a room, when the lay director entered. ‘Sister’, she said, ‘it’s great to have you here working with us. I’ve got these financial reports I have to file, and I was told you’re good with that stuff’.

It was at that moment, that the Sister realized anew, the gift that God had given her. Yes, she was called to be a sister, and yes, with the Mercies…but her gift was not the person-to-person works of mercy – it was the work of mercy, of taking care of the books, when few others could or wanted to.

· Paul writing to the church in Rome
We’ve been hearing from Paul’s letter to the Romans for the past few weeks. Now, the church in Rome wasn’t just one congregation – it was number of small house churches – the beginnings of the parishes we have today. Some house churches were primarily Jewish, some were primarily Gentile, some were a mix. And they were all trying to figure out – how to get along with each other. ‘Should we be more like them?’…’should they be more like us?’ – these were the questions they were asking themselves.

· Discern what is good and pleasing - your gifts
To help them answer this question, Paul proposes a 3d way to look at it. He tells them – you are no longer Jew, no longer Gentile, you are the Body of Christ. And being part of that Body of Christ means that God has given you specific gift// and a specificpartwithin that body.

So, Paul tells them, they had to ‘discern’ --- to determine what was good and pleasing to the Lord. Part of that discernment, is coming to realize which gift God had given each one of them.

Paul offers what some of these gifts may be, in the next part of the letter, that we don’t hear today. Here’s what he writes:

“Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them:
if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;
if ministry, in ministering;
if one is a teacher, in teaching;
if one exhorts, in exhortation;
if one contributes, in generosity;
if one is over others, with diligence;
if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness”.

· Peter
In the last week’s Gospel, Jesus bestowed the gift of authorityon Peter. The gift of being ‘over others’, as Paul says in his list. But in this week’s Gospel, Peter doesn’t spend the time to discern what this gift means. He doesn’t ask Jesus ‘what does this mean for supporting my brothers and sisters’? Instead of asking and listening – Peter tells Jesus what to do – thus meeting his own needs and fears.

So Jesus reminds Peter of what his gift actually entails – authority means you’re the first followerof me – ‘follow me, Peter’ – not ‘lead me’. If you’re following Me, then you will truly be leading others, because they can understand how to follow as well.

· Jeremiah
In our 1^stReading, Jeremiah has spent the time discerning what God’s gift to him is. It is the gift of prophecy. Jeremiah didn’t ask for it, he’d rather not have it – but he knows he has it, and that God wants him to use it. Because if he doesn’t, Jeremiah says, ‘it burns within me’. He can’t keep it in.

At the same time, he doesn’t go beyond what God shares with him to say. To quote Paul’s list of gifts, it is in ‘proportion to his faith’. No more, no less.

· The list of gifts
So in that list of gifts, which one seems to speak to you the most?

A little proviso: having a gift doesn’t mean that we don’t have aspects of the others – rather it is our primary gift that we discern. Here they are again:

if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;
if ministry, in ministering;
if one is a teacher, in teaching;
if one exhorts, in exhortation;
if one contributes, in generosity;
if one is over others, with diligence;
if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness”.


If you hear a voice saying to yourself, ‘you don’t have any of those’, then tell that voice, ‘Get behind me Satan. You are not thinking as God does’.

Every person in this church has a place and gift within the Body of Christ. Even in the times when that gift can be heavy, we still give thanks to the Lord…because He entrusts it to us, and it links us to other members of the Body of Christ.
 

Who was the architect of your home?

If we’ve lived in many dwellings, there have been many designers, and chances are, we don’t know them all.

In our first reading, a person named Shebna thought he was going to be an architect himself. He was a high-ranking government official, who was designing a magnificent tomb for himself, in the most notable of cemeteries in Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives. He was going to use public resources and efforts to do it. That is, until God sends Isaiah the prophet - to call him out, and predict that he will be removed.

The office he held – the royal governor – had a unique role. This official carried on his back a long key – the key that opened the royal palace. Having to carry this key was a very practical reminder // of carrying ‘the weight of office’ – the weight of responsibility. Although the official was powerful, he was not the king – and at the end of the day, both governor and king had to acknowledge God as the supreme ruler – not themselves.

In our Gospel, when Jesus confers a special office on Peter – he is not making him CEO // or President // of Church Incorporated. He is not making him head designer or architect. Instead, he is calling him to a much more humble role. Jesus is asking Peter – to allow the faith lives of other people– to be built on top of him.

When a Pope – the successor of Peter -  is elected, there’s s special room, off to the side of the Sistine Chapel, where the newly elected is brought, called ‘the Room of Tears’. It is called the ‘Room of Tears’ because it is where the new Pope, first realizes, the weight of his office.

For parents - raising children feels like you are architect, contractor, and sub-contractor, all rolled into on – in shaping their future. You feel the weight of responsibility on your shoulders. And, of course, nobody is paying you. But for parents of faith– you realize the major role you play – but also realize that you are not the architect. God is the architect of your children’s lives.

In this current cultural moment, trying to raise children and grandchildren in the faith is a challenge. But let’s look at it in a different light: parents do not makefaithful children – rather, they remind them, because of their baptism and confirmation, that they are already part of the house of God, and that God’s blueprint has a specific role for them.

Yesterday, I received word from the Diocese, that St. Mary’s is under consideration, for two seminarians from Vietnam, to reside and take ESL – English as a Second Language – in preparation for major seminary. It’s incredible to imagine – seminarians from a country in which we were once embroiled in a difficult war – are now coming to Vermont, to be missionaries of the Good News! If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have wondered, ‘how is that possible?’

But this is example of how God is the architect of His house – not us. Often, when it comes to the question of the clergy shortage, many point to our brothers and sisters in Christ, in Protestant denominations, who have married men and women as pastors. Women and men, who have natural pastoral skills - better than the early Peter, better than me. But as we see here in Vermont, the mainline Protestant denominations / who have come to rely on them, are bleeding out more quickly than we are.

Are we the designers of our own spiritual lives?

Do we give God the building blocks for His house?

When we allow God to be the architect of His Church, and our personal spiritual lives…then we can come to that same wonder, that St. Paul did in our 2^nd Reading:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 

For from him / and through him / and for him / are all things. 

To him be glory forever. Amen.
 

         In my 2^ndyear of seminary, my pastoral assignment was at a home for men run by the Missionaries of Charity called ‘Gift of Peace’. It began as an AIDS hospice in the 1980’s, and expanded its mission to older men who were homeless. The men were white, black, Latino.
         The sisters themselves came from all over the world: India, England, Bangladesh, Poland. The volunteers varied as well: a local Knight of Malta, a young woman from Spain discerning her vocation, a local atheist, and seminarians from different parts of the country.
         While the residents came from all different faith backgrounds, the Sisters were very clear about Jesus Christ, and what their order was about. Certainly, over the years, health protocol and medicine had changed in the house, but their religious identity was firm.
         In our Gospel, we have the puzzling and challenging account of Jesus’ account with the Canaanite woman. The woman is pleading for Jesus’ healing of her daughter, afflicted by a demon. The account is challenging – because in other Gospel passages, Jesus goes out of His way to meet the needs of outsiders. Here, it seems like he’s giving the Canaanite woman the nthdegree.
         Commentators have differing opinions about it. A number conclude that the woman changed Jesus’ mind, about when His mission to non-Jews was going to start. Another commentator argues that Jesus knew exactly what he was doing, in leading the Canaanite woman to clearly express God is, and His special relationship with the Jewish people.­­­ This clear expressionwould help instruct the disciples.      
In the First Reading, the prophet Isaiah makes a scandalous claim to his Jewish listeners – some day, foreigners will be allowed to worship in the Temple. This would have been a real challenge - they who cherished being the chosen people of God, realizing that they needed some ‘separateness’ from others.
         But it’s a tricky balance, and Jesus tries to achieve again in the Gospel – in order to properly welcome ‘the outsider’ – whoever that is – you have to be clear about who you are in the first place. For the disciples, it meant ‘non-Jews stay away’. But for Jesus, it means something different – cherish your chosen status, but you are chosen to be a beacon for others, who welcomes them. Yet, to be a beacon, you have to be somewhat different than others.
         With different groups coming together, to make up God’s people, what is it that can unify them? St. Paul tells us in the 2^ndReading: the need for mercy. Mercy - misercordia(in Latin) - covers over the miseriain the world: whether that is natural disasters, or the man-made disaster of sin. This is how Pope Francis describes it.
Jesus elicits a very clear statement of faith from the Caananite woman – her family needs God’s mercy, and Jesus Christ is the one to provide it – it is this clear acknowledgement that makes her the newest member of God’s people. And it calls attention to what the disciples need to acknowledge as well – their own need for God’s mercy.
         As more and more Americans feel a lack of unity, and American Catholics feel the same, God gives us a unifier: acknowledging our need for God’s mercy. It’s how we begin every Mass. This goes against our very American desire to project independence, to project power. Indeed, it manifests a dependence - on someone other - than ourselves.
         The need for God’s mercy. It unified a house of very different people in Washington, DC. It can unify other houses too.
        We give thanks for it in this Eucharist. 
 

         Where’s the last place or circumstance – that you had an experience of God?
         In our First Reading, in the preceding passages, Elijah had a profound experience of God, while confronting the prophets of Baal. The worship of these gods was ascendant at that time in Israel, enjoying the favor of the political class. In the confrontation, Elijah experienced the power of God, when there was a miraculous descent of fire. And personally, he felt vindicated, because the people had been drifting toward these false gods.
         But now the queen has put a bounty on his head, and Elijah’s on the run. From being elated one moment, to being completey deflated at another moment, wishing for death. So now Elijah is in need of a spiritual re-charge. He goes to Mount Sinai, the place where Moses encountered God. He figures - Moses had a powerful encounter with the God of the fiery bush there, so Elijah reasoned, this must be the place to experience God.
         But as we hear in the passage for today, Elijah didn’t experience God via fire. He also also didn’t experience God via earthquake or lightening, like Moses did. Rather, Elijah experienced God in a way – that he was not expecting. He experienced God as a small whisper in the wind. What we would call silent prayer.
         In our Gospel, the disciples just experienced the multiplication of loaves – quite an experience of the divine. But then Jesus does something interesting – he sends them ahead in a boat, because he has a few things to take care of. Jesus will dismiss the crowds himself, and then spend some time in prayer.
         And then as we hear, the disciples experience Jesus in a quite different way – as He walks on the water, he appears to be in a different form. Rather than encouraging them, like the multiplication of the loaves, they actually become frightened. //////
         Why does God do this, for Elijah, and for Jesus’ disciples? God gives them different manifestations of Himself, different experiences of Himself, so that they don’t become too accustomed to simply one way: the way they expect God to be present, or the way they’d preferGod to make Himself present.
         For Elijah, it seems that he needs to be purified – what was an experience of God’s power became a personal power trip // where it was God who vindicated Himself, not vindicated Elijah. Also, Elijah needs to see that God’s power can be expressed in smallways, not just big ones.
         For Jesus’ disciples, God needs to give them a different experience // because they may have been tempted to see Jesus as a future earthly king – the one who can give bread to everyone. To keep them away from that earthly perception, Jesus sends them ahead.
Also, by coming to them on the water, Jesus prepares them to experience the Resurrection, when they will experience Jesus in a way unlike any other. Thus, the new experience is not an end in itself, but rather a preparation for what is next.
         Paul, in our 2^ndReading, grieves over the fact that his fellow Jews, who enjoyed so many blessings already, were not able to move beyond their own practice, to see what God was revealing to them.
         Where’s the last time and place – you had an experience of God?
         Once you have identified it – thank God for it, and now ask for the grace to be open to the next time and place:

· If you’re fond of nature as a place to encounter God, is God moving you to find Him now in Scripture?
· If you’re enthusiastic about receiving Him in the Eucharist, is God moving you to receive Him as Mercy in Confession?
· If you’re keen on finding Him in silent prayer, is God moving you to find Him in those in need?
 

         Whatever it may be, these experiences are not spiritual highs for our own benefit. They are experiences // to prompt us to the next stage in our spiritual lives //…spiritual lives…for the benefit of others.

It was 1865, in Nagasaki, Japan. Japan finally re-opened itself to foreign visitors and missionaries, but laws prevented local Japanese from contact with the missionaries, or for coming into the faith. A beautiful church was built in 1863, dedicated to Japanese martyrs, but for two years no one came.

On St. Patrick’s Day, the young Fr. Bernard Petitjean saw a group of 15 Japanese outside the church. He invited them in. As he knelt before the Tabernacle to offer a quick prayer, he heard an urgent whisper from one of the women:
“We have the same heart as you!”

Startled, Fr. Bernard asked them where they were from. They responded that they were from a local village. “There, almost all have the same heart”, the woman responded. 

Then, mustering up courage, she asked: “where is the statue of Santa Maria”? Now at this point, Fr. Bernard was stunned. She knew of the Blessed Mother. Could it be that these were the descendants of the Japanese Christians, who had given their lives 250 years ago?

As missionaries would come to learn, Christianity had indeed continued after the last priest was martyred. All with secret baptisms, Marian images made to look like Buddhist goddesses, Latin prayers, hymns modeled on Buddhist chants to camouflage their real content. The communities appointed men as catechists, and those to baptize and serve in a pastoral role. They appointed others to keep the calendar. They abstained from meat on Fridays, and observed Lent and Easter. 

With the lack of confession, they instead recited the Act of Contrition. And with the lack of Mass, they remembered the Eucharist in ritualized meals of fish and rice and saké, placing a stole over a chair, in hopes that priests would return to celebrate Reconciliation and Eucharist with them.

A martyr named Bastian had prophesied in 1660 that after seven more generations, confessors would return to Japan. And so, in 1865 - seven generations later - Father Petitjean offered them the sacraments, at a church named for their ancestors.

For 225 years, Japanese Christians endured without Reconciliation and Eucharist. Recently, for +five months, worldwide Christians endured without limited access to the sacraments. But whether it was Imperial Japan or contemporary North America, the living God sustains his people, as Paul describes in the 2nd Reading: neither anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword would separate Christians from the love of Christ.

While our present situation is quite different than that of the Japanese Christians, there is something similar that unites the two: it is the Eucharistic dynamicthat God’s grace introduces.

         In our Gospel account of the feeding of the five thousand, a commentator notes that there are four key actions that happen:

1. Jesus takes what little the disciples have on hand: even though they don’t think it’s much, He gladly makes use of it
2. He raises his eyes to heaven: Jesus raises his attention to His Heavenly Father, and not on himself 
3. He recites a blessing: Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t bless the food. He blesses God the Father for providing it
4. He breaks the bread in a gesture of sharing– even though there is sharing, there is still an abundance afterwards

1. God gladly tookthe rice and sake wine as an offering, even as they waited for the day when it would be wheat bread and grape wine
2. The Christians raisedtheir attention to Heaven when they gathered together in secret 
3. Theyblessed God for sustaining them in difficult times
4. Finally, they broketheir fear to share food, resources, and prayers with one another

• God takes what we offer him  
• We raise our eyes of attention to Him every day 
• We bless Him for His graces
• We share in what we have

Through Eucharistic living, we come to have the same heart…the same heart as that Japanese woman did, so eager to receive the sacraments again.