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The Fourth Sunday of Easter is observed as Good Shepherd Sunday each year because the Gospel Reading is taken from the 10th Chapter of John’s Gospel wherein Jesus identifies himself as “The Good Shepherd. John 10 is the middle of the Gospel and represents the height of the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish Authorities. He considers them the shepherds that have been placed over the house of Israel and criticizes them for not doing a very good job. In the middle of the chapter they ask hi’ “Tell us plainly, are you the Messiah?”
He answers them cryptically “My sheep know my voice and follow me and I give them eternal life…”
The implication is “The very fact that you have to ask means that you are not part of my flock… Oh and if that is not clear enough, My Father is the real shepherd and I and my father are one…”
Chapter 10 is the fulcrum on which John’s entire Gospel project turns. IN it we see the Johannine community grappling with the central questions of that age of the Church: “Who is Jesus?” And “Who are we in relationship to Jesus?”
The Good Shepherd Image will help them answer those questions. We see that in the earliest Christian arts – Early Christians continued the Jewish prohibition against depicting heavenly realities – so no images of Jesus or crosses or crucifixes – rather there were simple symbols – fist, lambs, and shepherds. On the cover of today’s bulletin there is a reproduction of a 1st C. Fresco from the Catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome – It depicts a shepherd with a single sheep over his shoulders – the good shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep and goes in search of the 1 lost sheep – this is considered the earliest image of Jesus – the Good Shepherd.
But equally important to the identity of Jesus in the early Church is the last line of Today’s Gospel reading : The Father and I are one…” No utterance of Jesus scared the Jewish authorities than this one.
Jesus’ claim to be the Good Shepherd is based entirely on his self understanding of ONENESS with God the God of Israel, who is often identified as a shepherd in the ancient literature.
The oneness of Jesus and his Father is a central theme of Johannine Christology, and one of the most stunning claims of the 1st C. Church. In it we find the answer to the first question “who is Jesus?” But what of that second question – “Who are we in relationship to Jesus?”
Well, we are his flock. We here his voice and follow him. And as a result of this active believing, we have abundant life (John 10:10), we have eternal life.
But later in the Gospel, Jesus, the Good shepherd will call his entire flock to the same oneness that he experiences with the Father. In his last discourse and final prayer, the Johannine Jesus calls the flock to identify with him and to BE OONE with each other they way that they are one with him, and he is one with the Father. This ONENESS is the key connection between John’s Theology, John’s Christology and John’s Ecclesiology; that is his understanding of God, his understanding of the Messiah and his understanding of the Church: “Because my father and I are one, because you and I are one, it is possible for all of humanity to be one. “ This is the essential message of the Johannine Jesus and the full meaning of the Good Shepherd Image in John 10.
But there is another step in the analogy that is very important in the 1st Century Church’s self-understanding. If we are called to be one with the Father, and one with the son, then it is no longer enough to see ourselves as sheep. Being one with the shepherd Father and one with the Shepherd Son demands that we, every believer, see ourselves as shepherds.
It is the ancient witness of the Church that every baptized person is baptized into the three-fold self identity of Jesus Christ; that our baptism transforms us to be, like Jesus, priest, prophet, and king.
Each of us, as Christians are called to exercise in the contest of Christian lives, Jesus’ ministry as sacrifice and prayer (priest), as preacher and teacher (prophet), as leader and shepherd (king).
Good shepherd Sunday is celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Easter each year to help us to a deeper understanding not only of who Jesus is, but of who we are called to be in relationship with Jesus: As believers, we are called to exercise Jesus-like leadership, that is shepherding modeled on HIS the oneness shepherding that we read about in John’s Gospel. We practice it differently according our differing vocations and states f life, but each of us, graced by the Holy Spirit and united with the Good Shepherd himself, is called to bring salvific shepherding of Jesus Christ to the world.
The Johannine Jesus’ message of our oneness in him and the Father is a message that is supposed to transform the world. And every follower of Jesus is called to practice “Oneness shepherding” and contribute to that transformation.
The oneness to which Jesus calls us invites us to see all human beings as our brothers and sisters. It offers a universal ecclesiology that sees all people of equal dignity based on the teachings and prophetic actions of Jesus Christ. It calls all human beings into relationship with the God in whose image they are created.
The image of the Good shepherd is a transformative image that calls all humanity to oneness in God. John’s ecclesiology sees the whole world as church, that is why we have the image from the book of Revelation in the second reading today – gathered in front of the throne of God are “people from every tribe, and tongue, and race and nation…” We are all called to oneness in him.
The problem is that throughout the history of Christianity we have adopted the “shepherding” piece well, but the “oneness” piece, not so much. We like the exercise of leadership and authority. We like the power that goes along with that authority. But Jesus warns us that this is not the way he intends us to practice shepherding in his kingdom. The real power in Jesus message of shepherding is in the oneness to which Jesus calls us with the each other, with him and with the father.
To attempt the shepherding without the oneness is a formula for continuing everything that Jesus came to save us from. It is a formula for continued hatred, division, separation, fences, barriers, borders, insiders/outsiders, “us-ness”/”them-ness.”
When we read John’s Gospel carefully, we see that the early Church was plagued with these kinds of divisions and the Good Shepherd, who is one with the Father, is offered by the Johannine Jesus as solution to those divisions. This shepherd calls the whole world, not just a small congregation or a separated group, but all people to ONENESS with Him, oneness with God, and Oneness with each other.
This is the powerful message by which Jesus calls us to extend his message and ministry and to transform the world!
In the world today we see the peril of ignoring the oneness to which Jesus invites us. We see it in c so much irresolvable division in the world: in our families, our churches, in political and societal divisions.
But we are called to offer resolution to these divisions, to be examples of the oneness that is possible when we hear the voice of the good shepherd and follow his call. We are called to offer a n ecclesiology that is really an anthropology that sees the dignity of every human being and places human considerations before all other considerations; an ecclesiology based on the oneness of the human family.
It is in this context that the Bishops of our Church exercising their role as shepherds in the Church and in the world, have called Catholics to take a lead in promoting serious comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. A comprehensive reform that respects the rights and dignity of every human being.. We have seen in our state this week how the absence of such shepherding leave s a void that will be filled by, at best, injustice, and, at worst, stupidity.
The frustrating and complicated issues of immigration deserve serious reflections and justice – not unenforceable and cynical non-solutions that perpetuate fear, division, racism, and paranoia and scapegoat immigrants as the source of all the ills in society. Yes we for national reform, for serious actions, by serious people to solve serious problems, but we must do so while recognizing the rights of people to work, the rights of people to free movement for the sake of personal dignity and prosperity, and the goodness and dignity of all.
This is ne of the ways we are called to exercise Jesus’ shepherding in the world. And by “we,” I actually mean “YOU.” Shepherding in the political and secular sphere is the province of the laity. And that is why you must take seriously your responsibility as shepherds. We cannot let injustice prevail into his vital social justice issue., and our bishops, exercising their role as shepherds, call us to be educated and to take action and real leadership in the world. The bishops have compiled a large number of resources at justiceforimmigrants.org.
Jesus the good shepherd calls us to exercise our ministry as shepherds and to call the world to oneness. Until we take that role seriously, we will not be living the Gospel.
“Are you “Born Again?” Is a common conversation started for so-called Evangelical Christians. There are many people who identify themselves as “born again Christians.” In modern discussions, it has become a category akin to a denomination. Generally, proponents of this position have a very specific meaning for the phrase “born again:” that at a specific moment on a clock and calendar, one accepted Jesus as his or her “personal savior.” The judgment that attaches to this view is that if you have not had a Pauline Damascus Road moment, you cannot really call yourself a Christian. A related question is “When were you saved?” This is not language that is commonly used by Catholics (and many other Christian groups). This phrase is taken from the John 3 conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee from the Jewish Council who seeks to understand Jesus’ teachings and motivations better. Here’s the rub: this pet phrase of so-called “Bible-believing born again Christians” is never uttered by Jesus. Jesus never said (at least not in the Christian Scriptures): “You must be born again.” In fact, the phrase that has been so canonized by modern Christians is itself based on Nicodemus’ misunderstanding and is corrected by Jesus.
Now don’t get me wrong: rebirth and regeneration are perfectly valid Christian theological concepts that are related to baptism, justification, and sanctification. And there is no reason to chuck the notion of being “born again.” But it is equally important not to place a false understanding on it and insist that Jesus said “you must be born again - and by that I mean you have to have a point-in-time Damascus Road experience.” The Scriptural witness simply does not support that view.
So what does Jesus say in John 3 that Nicodemus misunderstands as “born again?” Jesus says “ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖντὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ. ” which translates “Unless a man is begotten from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.” The Greek word “ἄνωθεν ” (anothen) is used in the NT only 13 times, 2 of them right here in John 3. It always speaks of realities that are above (i.e. heavenly). Its basic root is “ano” which means “up” or “above” in Ancient Greek. It never means “again” or “a second time.” Interesting. So where does the idea of a “born again come from?” A confused Nicodemus (or perhaps a man playing with words) asks about crawling back in his mother’s womb and being born “δεύτερον” or “a second time” or “again.” Voila – “Born Again!” But Jesus corrects Nicodemus’ misunderstanding: you are talking about your birth in the Flesh, which avails only flesh, I am talking about a birth in Spirit and Water – a clear Baptismal reference. Remember that John is the most Catholic of the Gospels and is written near the end of the 1st Century– he focuses on the sacramental life of the Church in many of his writings. These instructions are for the Church. The Water reference here is to the rebirth that happens in the regenerating waters of baptism. Paul also spoke of this in his letter to the Romans, only he would choose death/resurrection language instead of birth/rebirth language: “Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”
Why this language in this particular conversation. Context is everything. Jesus’ definitive statement about being born from above is given to this “Leader of the Jews” who believes that his relationship with God is guaranteed by his birth. He has the blood of Abraham in his veins, he must be part of the Kingdom. Jesus assures him that his fleshly birth has produced nothing but flesh and that more is required, a birth in the Spirit. Again, the context for much of the Fourth Gospel is the conflict between Church and Synagogue. By the last decade of the First Century, Christians are being actively expelled from Jewish Communities (This will give the context for the believer/unbeliever dichotomy later in chapter 3). John is writing instructions for his Jewish followers who must understand that that under the new covenant, the relationship offered to Jews and written in their flesh, is offered to all in the Spirit and will be written on their hearts in their belief and by their baptism.
The Fourth Gospel is structured so differently from the others because of this important historical reality. Chapters 3-10 are instructions for the suffering Church intermingled with post-temple Judaism. It draws on teachings and actions of Jesus which provide answers for the specific problems faced by the Johannine community as they mourn their expulsion and rejection in Jewish society. This knowledge helps us know how to appropriate the lessons of the Fourth Gospel in our 21st Century context.
So why is this prepositional distinction important? I said that rebirth and regeneration are valid theological concepts. So why make a fuss about this text? Because this misinterpretation is used by some arrogant modern era Christians to beat others over the head – “You must be born again!” has a very specific meaning in those circles – and is used to perpetuate the “us/them,” “insider/outsider” language that has plagued Christianity since the reformation. I would argue that what is said by those who insist on a narrow “born again experience” are NOT saying the same thing as the theologically correct understanding of rebirth presented either in John 3 or the rest of the Christian Scriptures, which understand and encourage the gradual growth in faith in the context of community that is by far the more common experience of Christians throughout history. This prepositional distinction is important as an exercise in proper use of and reading of the Bible. Many people take at face value that Jesus said “You must be born again,” and have developed a modern theology around it based on the canonization of a misunderstanding. That theology is not supported by the text, and the arrogance with which it insisted upon hurts the cause of the Church.
Thank God for the Damascus Road experience for those who experience and need it. But for most of us, the coming to faith is more an “Emmaus Road” experience wherein faith and understanding evolve over time and experience with the help of Jesus who understands that, or a Thomasine upper room experience where Jesus, the good teacher, invites us gently to move from “unbelieving to believing” and provides us with help to make that transition. But that’s another sermon for another time.
For every baptized believer, the answer to the question “Have you been born again?” is a resounding “Yes!” Because what Jesus insists on in John 3 is a combination of our belief and being “begotten in water and the Spirit.” While many of us cannot remember precisely when we started believing (even if we can mark a baptism on a calendar), our belief is no less valid than those who have had the so-called “born-again” experience.
The two stories in Luke 24 offer a very important insight for believers 21 centuries removed from the Resurrection and especially for Catholics. In both the account of Jesus’ appearance into his disciples on the Emmaus Road (Lk 24:13-35), and the appearance to the gathered disciples in Jerusalem immediately following (Lk 24:36-49), Jesus, always the teacher, does not simply appear to his followers, he helps them move from emotional shock (sadness, confusion, skepticism) to belief in a very specific way: He teaches them from the Scriptures.
Before Cleopas and his companion can recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, first they must be instructed: “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.” (vs 27). Even after they recognized Jesus “in the breaking of the bread,” the disciples would realize that that was only possible in light of their instruction in Scripture: "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" (vs. 32). I think there is an important admonition here for all believers – in those moments when we doubt the resurrection, in those moments when we are trying our best to make heads and tails of our relationship with Jesus or who Jesus is, when we are simply too sad, to angry, too confused to get the Lord, the place to turn is our Scriptures. And I think there is a particular admonition for Catholics who sometimes treat the Scriptures as a pain to be endured until so we can get to the “good stuff” (the Eucharist). If the Emmaus story teaches us nothing else, it teaches us the essential connection between our life in the Word and our Sacramental life. Jesus could only open their eyes in the breaking of the bread because he instructed them in the Scriptures. Vatican II sought to restore a balance in Catholic Life and worship between Word and Sacrament. The Emmaus Story validates that balance: we can see Jesus present in the Eucharist because we have come to understand his presence in the Word.
Likewise in Jesus’ immediate appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem, he instructed them in the Scriptures: "’These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. “ (vss. 44-45). This would come immediately before he reminded them that “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (vs. 47), and that such preaching would be their responsibility. The lesson for us is that before we can fulfill our commission to be witnesses to Jesus we must open ourselves to be instructed in the Word. Not only would the disciples need the word to help them believe in the Resurrection, they would need it to strengthen them for the work ahead.
If even those who were eyewitness to the Resurrected Jesus needed the witness of scripture to aid them in their unbelief and to strengthen them for their ministry, how much more do we, 21 centuries later, need that same help. Read the Bible, stay close to the Scriptures, allow God to write it on your hearts, it is impossible to believe and work as Jesus calls us, without it: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”(2 Tim 3:16)
So many people commented about my Holy Thursday Homily on facebook that i was asked for a copy of it by friends who live in other places and by locals who were not at Holy Thursday Mass at the Newman Center. As often is the case, I did not preach from a prepared text that night and, while i had spent long hours in preparation (and agony) over this homily, much of what I said that night welled up from my heart. I have attempted a reconstruction of the homily here - if anyone who was present remembers soemthing else I have left out, let me know. Usual caveats apply - preaching is a spoken artform and a homily will always seem flat on the written page.
Happy Holy Thursday to everyone!
This day, there are really two different realities of the Church celebrated: The institution of the Eucharist and, correlatively, the establishment of the priesthood. Liturgically, the priesthood is celebrated at the diocesan celebration called the “chrism mass” which is envisioned to take place earlier on Holy Thursday in the Diocesan Cathedral at which all the priests of the diocese gather in celebration with their bishop. Properly, in the parish setting, the only Mass that may be celebrated today is the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper which is clearly focused on the establishment of the Eucharist. That at his last supper, Jesus offers himself broken and poured out for the salvation of the world. But with the ministerial focus of the foot-washing Gospel, some priests feel compelled to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper as a celebration of priesthood as well. I have managed to preach through 13 years of Holy Thursdays never once mentioning the priesthood except in a very peripheral way. Even though this day is celebrated as the “feast of the priesthood, “ I have felt that the focus was properly on the Eucharist.
But this year I have been reflecting a lot about priesthood and feel compelled to speak about it. After all, it is “year for priests.” I have to admit that when Pope Benedict called for a “year for priests,” I was not thrilled. In fact I was somewhat embarrassed. I was in Jerusalem when I first heard about it and I remember literally laughing out loud and saying to my classmates “What year isn’t a ‘year for priests’ in this Church?” After years of so much negative focus on priesthood, I finally felt we were beginning to move beyond a constant focus on scandal and I simply wished he had not called for this special observance. (incidentally, I gotta believe in recent weeks that maybe he’s feeling the same way now…)
I also determined that I would never publicly speak of the year for priests. And until tonight I have kept that promise. Not that I am ashamed of being a priest, I love being a priest, and not that I don’t appreciate the call for greater prayers for our priests, we all need it – I just feel that too much of Catholic life is focused on priests and when I read tonight’s Gospel – Jesus’ washing of his disciple’s feet – I gotta wonder how come priests today don’t look like that? One theology of priesthood sees the establishment of a priesthood on Holy Thursday, but if we are really honest, we have to admit that nothing has changed so much or so often in the history of the Church as our understanding of priesthood. One must wonder if Jesus would even recognize today’s priesthood as the one he established on Holy Thursday.
If we understand the disciple of Jesus as the originators of a ministerial priesthood and we see it having grown out of Holy Thursday, then the primary function of priesthood is supposed to be servitude – we are supposed to be washers of feet. Where did this go wrong? When did it change?
Historically that is a really easy question to answer: It changed drastically early in the Fourth Century. When Constantine made the Church , first legal, and, then official: Catholic Priesthood took on a very different face. Christian priests took over many of the religious and social functions that had been held by pagan preists in the Empire previous to the ‘conversion’ of the Empire. Christian priests, like the Jewish priests of Jesus’ Day (and before whom Jesus would be tried later tonight), were officials of the Roman Empire. One need only look at some of the remaining vestiges of those days to see what I am talking about: The bishop of Rome still uses the Title ‘Pontifex Maximus’ a pagan title from the days of the Roman Empire related to the blessing of imperial public works. ‘Diocese’ and ‘Parishes’ were administrative divisions of the Empire. A ‘basilica’ was a building for public gatherings and public administration, and this vestment that I am wearing is a modification of a Roman official’s vestment. Priests went from being hunted outlaws of the empire committed to serving the needs of their people at their own peril to chief citizens of the empire. Protestants still criticize Catholics because so many of our ritual and external functions came from our connection to the Empire. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are many good things that came from this shift – when the empire collapsed it would be priests and other churchmen who would have the organization and resources to hold society together. But because of this, priests would grow in great prestige and the imperial priesthood would emerge from the Middle Ages with even more power than it had in antiquity.
One must wonder how we got from “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt 20:26-28)" to a priesthood known, at the end of the middle ages as ‘the First Estate…” Is it any wonder that poor of France would rise up against the “First Estate?”
Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for religious leaders who lost their focus, forgot that they were called to be servants, and got ‘too big for their britches…” His deepest condemnations were for clergy who called their aggrandizing of themselves “service to God…” It makes sense then that every major reformed called for in the Church from antiquity to the protestant revolt to our present day has included some element of calling clergy back to the model we are given on Holy Thursday - "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” John 13:12-15
The one we (Dominicans) are most aware of is the reform demanded by the Albigensian controversy in Southern France in the 13th Century. It ended with the foundation of our Order. One of the reason that Christians in Southern France were turning to the Albigensian heresy in droves is because the leaders of the Albigensians adopted apostolic poverty. The bishops and clergy of the Catholics lived in palaces, owned huge estates and were tied up in temporal affairs more than spiritual. Dominic Guzman knew that the Albigensians were on to something real and insisted that if his followers were going to be successful in winning the Albigensians back to the Church, they too would have to look more like the Jesus they preached and the Dominicans adopted apostolic poverty s one of the principles of our lives.
I have agaonized in recent days over reports that the scandals that rocked the Church in our country in recent years are now rocking it as hard in Europe and other places. The world should be scandalized when we do not live up to our promises. The world should be scandalized when the protection of church reputation seems to be a higher concern than the protection of the weakest and most vulnerable in our midst. The church should be scandalized, you should be scandalized, I should be scandalized! Many of you know that I worked in provincial administration before coming to Tucson, right in the midst of the worst days of the scandals that rocked the US Church. It is mind-numbing to remember how much time, energy and resources we poured in to dealing with the aftermath of scandalous behavior by only a few, but a few too many. It was demoralizing and heart breaking. But it also taught me to understand that much of the scandal was not a failure of sex or sexuality, it was not a failure of celibacy or chastity – so much of what we saw in this country and what is coming to light in other places was a failure of arrogance, a failure of entitlement, a failure of privilege, a failure of secrecy and a failure to model our priesthood on the self-sacrificing priesthood of Jesus. And for that I and every priest in the world owes you and apology and penance…
I stand before you this Holy Thursday as I do every Holy Thursday – a sinful man in need of your prayers. I took shortcuts on my Lenten promises just like you did. I need to go to confession more often, just like you do… I struggle to make the right choices and do the right things just like you do. I suppose I’m not a very holy man by some people’s measure. And as a priest I need your prayers to grow in holiness and faithfulness. I suppose that if I wanted to appear more holy, I could say more masses, or increase the number of days that I say my office completely and correctly, I could put on more holy clothes and bow more deeply, I could fold my hands just so and utter Latin prayers all day long. But those things are not about holiness, they are about religion; and we don’t need our priests to be more religious we need them to be more holy. And the only way we will ever achieve that is to be priests more like Jesus is a priest – to allow ourselves to be broken and poured out for the world the way Jesus was broken and poured out; to give our lives – our body and blood for the service of others – to be servants willing to wash the feet of others. In this, and this alone can we achieve the Holiness demanded by Jesus.
And you know what: we (priests) are not the only one called to that kind of holiness. One of the problems in our church is that you have been convinced that we are supposed to be more holy than you and you excuse yourselves while holding us to a higher standard. Isn’t that convenient for you? NO! You are held to the exact same standard. This is not just the anniversary of the establishment of the priesthood, this is the anniversary of the establishment of a ministry to which we are all called. You are are called to be servants as much as I am.
Pope Benedict called on you to pray for your priests. This is the part of the year for priests that I like very much. Yes, you should be praying that we will be holy and Godly men. But you should also be holding us accountable. The image and standard of the priesthood that you should be holding us to is the servant on his knees washing the feet of others. When we do not look like this, when we are conforming ourselves rather to an imperial image and setting ourselves on pedestals, you must hold us accountable and call for the reform of the priesthood. As I said at the beginning of the homily, nothing has changed more or more often in the history of the Church than the shape of the priesthood, it can change again – it must continually change until all priests see their primary leadership in service.
In a few minutes, I am going to wash the feet of 12 of our students. I wish I had time to wash all your feet. This was an amazing prophetic gesture on Jesus’ part by which he demonstrated what leadership would mean among his followers. As I repeat this gesture, the 12 will represent all of you and I will represent all priests. But in addition to washing feet tonight, I am going to anoint the feet of these twelve with genuine spikenard. In addition to repeating the prophetic gesture of Jesus, I am also repeating the prophetic gesture of the woman who anointed Jesus feet. I do so in prayer that we priests who have so much for which we have been and need to be forgiven, might learn to love more. He who is forgiven much, loves much…
And in this year for priests, I beg not only for your forgiveness, but also for your prayers that we might live more completely the holiness Jesus calls us too and demonstrated for us…
A number of people have asked me for the list of four points that I made in my Sunday Homily yesterday about the qualities of a good Lenten discipline or commitment. So I thought I would share them here:
Regardless of what you "give up" (sacrifice) or "take on" (spiritual exercises, works of charity) for Lent, these are some considerations.
1. The most important question is "How will this Lenten discipline or commitment help me grow in my relationship with Jesus?"? (in many ways this is the ONLY consideration, as this is the real point of Lenten disciplines). You should at least be able to articulate the answer to that question to yourself.
2. Your Lenten discipline(s) should be secret. It is between you and God and is none of anyone else's business (see Matt 6:1-18, the Gospel Reading for Ash Wednesday). It is rude to ask someone what they have given up for Lent. One possible exception - you share your Lenten disciple with someone so they can help hold you accountable.
3. Lenten work is INTERNAL WORK, not external - even is we choose some external Lenten Committment (e.g. serving the poor), it is still about allowing God to sculpt our hearts to be more like his. 40 days of reflection on your discipline is the only way for it to accomplish this goal.
4. Your Lenten discipline should lead you to JOY. If you are going to complain about it for 40 days, you might as well not do it. Even sacrifice and abstinence can (and should) be joyfully undertaken. The Church REQUIRES very little of us. Our Lenten disciplines are voluntary and should be undertaken in a spirit of real joy.
Hope this is help for a Holy Lent.
The Information Technology Beat
Homily from the 2nd Sunday of Advent (Liturgical Year C)
By Fr. Bartholomew Hutcherson, OP
After the three initial quotes, this homily was delivered in the manner of a beat poem...
“Up , Jerusalem, stand upon the heights. Look to the East and see your chi9ldren gathered from the East and the West at the WORD of the Holy One…” [Baruch 5:5 from the 1st Reading]
“The WORD of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert…” [Luke 3:2 from the Gospel Reading]
“And the WORD was made flesh and made his dwelling among us…” [John 1:14 from the Christmas Gospel]
WORDS – Air on vocal chords producing sounds full of meaning…
WORDS – Ink on pages producing symbols that point to meaning…
WORDS – Bits of information hitching rides on electrons transmitting meanings…
Ones and zeroes, ones and zeros, ones and zeroes – binary digits – BITS
Bits and bytes and kilobytes and megabytes and gigabytes and terabytes
“And the WORD of the God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the desert…”
Words –
Typing / Teletype
Telegraph / Morse code
Radio / amplitude modulating / frequency modulating
Vacuum tubes / cathode ray tubes / television / very high frequency / ultra high frequency
ENIAC/UNIAC / Electronic Random Access Memory / Read-only Memory / tapes
Key punch / punch cards / main frames / digital storage
Personal Computers
8086 processor with a keyboard, a monochrome monitor and a 5 ½ inch floppy disk drive (remember those?)
8086 / 80186 / 286/ 386 / 486
Basic / Fortran / Cobol / Microsoft Disk Operating System
DOS with a C Prompt
Graphic User Interface
3 ¼ inch floppy disk and a mouse
Apple Computers vs. IMB P.C.
Macintosh and Microsoft and Intel
Hardware and Software
1 Megabyte Internal Hard Drive!
Cable Television / Digital Television
Compact Disks / Digital Video Disks
Satellite TV – 35 Channels?!
Microsoft Windows
Pentium Processors / Pentium Pro (60 MHz) / Pentium II (120 MHz) / Pentium III (600 MHz)
Celeron – 1.5 Gigahertz of Computing Power!!!!
Intel Core / Duo Core
MPEG / JPEG / MP3 / IPod / Nano / IPod Touch
Killer Apps
Spread Sheets / Databases / Word Processors / Desktop Publishing / Computer Aided Design / Advance Computer Graphics and Video Games!!!!!
Pong / Atari / Asteroids / Space Invaders / Centipede / and PacMan
Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers / Sonic and Zelda / Doom / Grand Theft Auto and World of WarCraft
Nintendo 64 / Xbox / Play Station / PS2 / PSP / PS3 / and Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
Desktop, Laptop, notebook / Macbook / IBook / netbook / Handheld and PDA
Cellular Technology
Mobile Phones / Cell Phones / My Phone / I Phone
CDMA platform / GSR Platform
Text Messaging / Smart Phone with a QWERTY keyboard / Instant Messaging
Satellite Radio / High Definition Television / 500 Channel Capability!!!
Information Super Highway / “The Net” / dot com / electronic mail / bulletin boards / chat groups / “Google” is a verb / mySpace / facebook / Twitter
I regularly update my facebook status via Twitter using my Blackberry Smartphne – O my goodness, I have become THAT guy…
Ones and zeroes, ones and zeros, ones and zeroes – binary digits – BITS
Bits and bytes and kilobytes and megabytes and gigabytes and terabytes
If the Word of the Lord comes to us in this desert as it did to John, the sone of Zechariah in that desert in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, HOW WILL WE KNOW?
How will we be able to distinguish the WORD from all the other words?
How will we hear it beyond all the noise?
We think of Advent as a time of Waiting – but it is also a time of LISTENING.
Listening for The WORD.
Let us take time to be quiet this Advent (significant pause)
And if we do “The One who has begun a good work in you, will bring it to completion on the Day of Christ Jesus” [Philippians 1:6 from the 2nd Reading]
I have been thinking a lot about marriage lately
There are a number of couples I am helping to prepare for marriage
I had a wedding yesterday here at Newman
60th Wedding anniversary with Kay and Ken (told them they had it harder than me)
Preparing for the Student Retreat that is coming up at the end of this month…
So when I saw the readings today demanded some discussion of the meaning of marriage and our religious understanding of human relationships, I was delighted. I have much to say on the subject. (Many of you know that I was married when I was younger and am divorces –this gives me a unique perspective from most priests and means that I might not know what I am talking about – I tried it and failed;)
In the last couple of years there has been a lot of discussion in the political and social sphere about marriage being under attack. There are those who are trying to pass legislation to leagalize marriage between people of the same sex, or to legalize polygamy. These are seen as serious attacks. I was asked a number of times during the last election cycle when I was going to preach about it..
Frankly, I find it hard to get excited about the question of whether or not the state is going to recognize or perform marriage between people of the same sex or polygamous marriages. Certainly we should encourage our lawmakers to pass laws that are consistent with natural law – but still I find it hard to get all up in arms within the Church about questions of state-recognized alternative marriages. The fact is the state has been performing marriages that the Church does not recognize as marriage for years. If the state passes laws allowing a man to marry a man, a woman to marry a woman, a man to marry more than one man, or a farmer to marry his goat – it’s not going to affect the Church’s teachings about marriage one bit. The church will never recognize such alternative marriages and they represent no real threat to Marriage as we understand it.
That’s not to say that I do not believe that Marriage is under attack. I just think the attack is not external – What the state does cannot affect what we believe or practice about marriage (that’s the glory of the separation of Church and State as we understand it in the US. The threat to marriage is an internal threat – One from within our own ranks.
The real threat to marriage is Catholics who reject the sexual morality teachings of the Church.
Parents who do not have the courage of their own convictions to counter the harmful messages their children encounter in the world or the force of their own convictions to raise sexually healthy children
The threat comes from religious teachers and leaders who are unwilling to call evil evil, to call evil actions sin.
The threat comes from young people who are given neither the equipment nor the road map to chart a course to chastity and purity.
The threat comes from 3 generations who have seen themselves as “sexually liberated” because they have thrown off the “tired old sexual ethics” of the past and become enlightened by the freedoms of the current age.
I am often amused by people who attempt to put me or one of our young people on the spot to defend our contentions that sex is holy, that sex is given by God for specific reasons, and that we are called to use our sexual faculties within a plan given to us by the God who created us. I have been told by young people who make it known to their friends that they are trying to live holy and pure lives are met with expressions of pity or “oh – too bad for you.”
As I said I find this amusing and there is an appropriate response to such lunacy – “Hey, Johnny-come-lately: I’ve got 4000 years of consistent Judeo-Christian teaching backing up my position – teaching that leads to union with God and real human happiness – what have you got – 40 years of the worst outside-marriage pregnancy rates in history, sky-rocketing infidelity and divorce rates, out-of-control pornography industry, wholesale objectification of women and abuse and trafficking of both women and children, unbelievable numbers of infections with virulent sexually-transmitted diseases. The burden of proof is on you, sucker! My system works and transcending history and culture – yours is a formula for human disaster.” This should be our response.
Today’s readings give us insight into that 4000 year old moral system – The Ancient Jewish and subsequently Christian understanding of sex and marriage is that they are rooted in creation itself. That God created us to be sexual beings. That sexuality is rooted in the reality that “it is not good for man to be alone…” That from our very origins God’s plan was that one man and one woman would leave the confines of their families of origin and find their way to each other in a life-long, exclusive, union blessed by God for the purpose of their mutual love and support and for the care and rearing of children in a loving environment – embraced for the whole of their maturing years by a loving mother and father.
Those Pharisees who came to ask Jesus about Divorce are like those clowns that ask us to defend the Christian understanding of sex and marriage. They aren’t interest in any serious exploration of real issues – they are interested in justifying themselves and their actions.
And Jesus calls them back to their origins – Yes, Moses made an accommodation for the hardness of your hearts - to our inability to live the holiness to which we are called – But, Jesus reminded them that God had something else in mind – he recalls Genesis – God created them male and female and willed that they would be joined together. He reminds them that marital sexuality is about oneness – becoming one flesh - and that the union between husband and wife is intended by God to be a permanent union for the lifetime of the couple. “What God has joined together…” Jesus reminds us that in the age that he has issued in – the last age – the age of God’s grace – God will assist us to go back to the beginning – to His plan formed in primeval man and woman before the advent of Sin.
From this combination of Ancient Hebrew Text and (Jesus’ commentary on the text) a number of very important Church teachings arise. It is important that we understand these things over and against the culture in which we live. As Christians we are called to stand as witnesses to the power of God’s grace in human life. Based on Jesus’ description of marriage, the Church teaches the permanence of marriage. Lawful marriage, freely entered into between a baptized man and a baptized woman is foreseen to be a sacramental lifelong exclusive commitment – and yet today the scandal of divorce, abandonment, adultery and infidelity is as present among Catholics as it is among the general population in Western, traditionally Christian countries. This used to not be true, but it is true today.
Based on these and many other texts, the Church teaches that our sexual faculties are intimately connected to marriage. Virginity and purity are of high value; and sex is ordered for the expression of love in the context of a lifelong, exclusive commitment. Sex is sacramental and blessed by God. (first command of God to His human creation: “be fruitful and multiply.”) Within marriage, sex is a legitimate good given for sake of the begetting and rearing of children in an atmosphere where they stand the best chance of happiness and success as they grow up in the world. At its core, sex is about self-giving and self-sacrifice. But it is quite clear in the today’s atmosphere that sex has primarily become about self-satisfaction, self-centeredness and not what I can give, but what I can take from others.
The problem with that is that the God who created humanity and sex created us as whole beings – body, sou,l and spirit - and made it so that what happens in our bodies has direct impact on our souls. The reality of the selfishness of sex as we see it portrayed and practiced in the world around us is that it is having a devastating affect on people’s souls. Here I am not talking about the catalogue of social ills I mentioned earlier, I am talking about real human happiness and the ability to flourish in the world. Consistently, young people that I know who understand the Church’s teachings and strive to adhere to them are happier and generally more successful in the pursuit of their life’s goals than those who have given into the lies that surround sex and marriage that are being perpetrated in the world today.
I have spent the last 25 years ministering to young people in the Church and those 25 years have been devastating in this sphere. Young people who are engaged in sexual relationships add a level of anxiety to their lives that robs them of the freedom and vision that is supposed to typify our young adult lives. Anxiety about contraception (did it work or didn’t it), about disease, and above all about infidelity. I am blown away by the number of young people I have in my office each month or each year devastated by the break-up of a relationship of just a few months. “He cheated on me, Father!” “ How can she do that, I have put so much into the relationship!” In every one of these cases, I can tell without asking - they started sleeping together soon after the relationship started and it has been the primary definer of their relationship throughout. These are not supposed to be the concerns of adolescent and young adult life. And both short term and long-term effects are devastating in the lives of young people.
And to my young friends, I want to repeat something I have said many times before – You, my young friends, have been sold a bill of goods.
You have been sold it by your parents’ generation
By those charged with your care and well-being
By educators, medical personnel, by officials of your government, sometimes by religious leaders, and by the media.
The lie goes something like this – “There’s nothing we can do about it, young people are going to have sex so lets make sure that they can be as safe as possible when they do…”
Let me translate that where for you – You, young people, are so feeble minded, so lacking in self-control, too weak, too stupid or too evil to do what is right. You must be protected from yourself – so lets make sure you have condoms available 24/7 (because condoms are the be all and end all of sexual safety). In the name of “women’s health” lets make sure that not even their parents can interfere with your access to “reproductive health” It is so laughable as to not even deserve mention in this sacred place – but it is so pervasive that I dare not leave it out.
Those who have sold you this bill of lies have neglected to tell you the effects of your behavior on your soul – on your relationships with each other, on your relationship with God.
They have neglected to tell you that YES, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH OTHERS’ MORALITY and God has given you the equipment and the grace to build up each other and help each other grow in that grace. The message is “Be Careful” – when it should be “Be Holy!”
To parents in our community I would say –
Many of us have forgotten that God is going to hold us responsible for the lives of our children – important distinction – God will not hold us responsible for our children’s behavior (they are free), but he will hold us responsible if we neglect to teach our children the truth and if we are so wrapped up in our own guilt and failure in this milieu that we abdicate our teaching roles their public schools, their friends, and the media. This is deadly serious stuff – regardless of your children go to school- YOU KNOW THAT THE SCHOOL DOES NOT TEACH VALUES (if they are in public schools, it would be against the law for the school to teach them your values) and you have to decide now that you are at war for the souls of your children and must undo the damage done in their so-called sex-education programs. Schools teachers are not going to be held responsible by God for your children’s souls but I assure you that you are.
You parents need to – in no uncertain terms – teach your children what sin is. You need to teach your children that what happens with their bodies has an effect on their souls. You need to teach them and demonstrate for them that union with God is to be prized above all other considerations in this life. You need to be honest with them about the mistakes of your past and the devastating effects of those mistakes. You need to tell your kids what constitutes sexual sins – not a catalogue of prohibitions – but real guidelines for seeking their ultimate good. In the same way that you would teach your children that killing or stealing is wrong – that injuring another person is wrong – you must in no uncertain terms teach them there is an ordered use of their sexual faculties and that sex outside of marriage is outside that order, that using another person for my own pleasure is outside that order, that homosexual sex is outside that order, that masturbation and the use of pornography are outside that order. That these things are sinful and have effects on our souls.
You need to teach your sons the proper respect for women and your daughters proper respect men – you need to teach both proper respect for themselves. You need to teach your children modesty and make sure they practice it in their dress and behavior. You need to monitor their internet use, their movie and television watching, the games that they play and who they are spending time with. Yes this stuff is hard and incredibly time-consuming – but you are at war for their souls and God is going to hold you responsible.
You also need to teach them the value of forgiveness and mercy. That none of these sins are outside the pale of God’s ability and willingness to forgive. That “starting over” is of huge value in our faith system and that when we have fallen, we can get up; that when we have started down the wrong path, we can turn around. That forgiveness is there for the asking. Your children need to see that played out in your lives as you forgive them and forgive one another, as you ask them for their forgiveness. You need to encourage them to use the confessional, but the only way they will get that message from you is if they see that the confessional is of high value in your own life.
I want to read you a section of a Papal Encyclical called Humanae Vitae that was written in 1968:
“Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards… Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.”
This was written in 1968 and it was incredibly prescient – This is the world we live in today. The last 40 years have brought much destruction and confusion in this area.
Yes, marriage is being assailed in our society and as Catholics we must defend it. But all too often in recent years, our defenses have been turned toward the wrong enemy. The enemy is our own lack of belief – our abandoning 4000 years of consistent moral teaching that will lead to our flourishing and true happiness in favor of this moment’s pleasure. The enemy is our own selfishness and self-centeredness. The enemy is our 20th and 21st century unwillingness to be guided by any “institution” and my friends, the enemy is winning.
As always, when I preach, I know I am preaching first to myself. And I will also readily admit that this is not an area where I have it all together (it’s a struggle for everyone.) I hope it inspires discussion, further reading and action. As a parish we are especially committed to helping our young people chart these choppy waters. We will be addressing these issues in a systematic way on our student retreat that is coming up at the end of this month. We are doing so out of a real concern for the happiness and well-being of our students. It is not going to be a retreat about “sex” per se. The program is shaping up to be an examination of what it means to be authentically and fully human and how that calls us to live in with each other and in the world.
We are also happy to suggest resources and to spend time in discussion. Over the years, I have never wanted to make this the center-piece of my teaching or to blow it out of proportion with regards to all we need to teach in the Church, but this is deadly serious stuff and God is calling us in this age to be a city on a hill and light on a lampstand to give light in the darkness – to counter the message of the evil one that says “if it feels good nobody should tell you not to do it” and "any iteration of family is as good as any other…” This is contrary to the message of the Gospel and contrary to the God who created us as sexual beings and ordered the use of our sexual faculties. The Lord calls us to holiness and we are supposed to be trying to become saints. We are responsible to help each other along the way.
