Baptism of the Lord homily

As you know, I returned last week from a pilgrimage to Rome. If you have been there, you can surely testify along side me the immensity and the breadth of the beauty that paints the streets, churches and history of that Eternal City. It really is an overwhelming endeavor to take in and process everything that surrounds you and that is overflowing your senses; it will take me a lifetime to reap all the fruits of such a trip. You can take a square inch of almost everything and extract that as a piece of priceless art worthy of thought and contemplation to appreciate its immense beauty and eternal refulgence. 

Rome is a place where the human mind, senses and spirit are lifted higher and you are helpless against the desire to see, know and experience more because, frankly, you feel united to God, history and the saints. You’re lifted to higher places because you’re around and presented by beauty that desires to do just that, history that ties you into eternity. With so much of your surroundings being priceless art and beauty, you need the time to appreciate it and to digest it and find its meaning and message. That is what true art does, and Rome specially affords the opportunity with being immersed in it.

These past six or seven weeks since the beginning of Advent, we have not been passively engaging in events past, reading about and recalling something that happened to and with people a few thousand years ago. No, we have been present with them and have been journeying and contemplating what has been revealed with them. That contemplating is what has been so essential and what truly reminds us just how real and active this has all been, from the lighting of that first candle to the Baptism of the Lord that draws to a close this Christmas season.

Consider the shepherds in the fields. They were simply doing their tasks of watching the sheep and warding off predators. But, from a distance they saw angels and as the angels drew closer, they began to stop and wonder what they were and what purpose they had for being there. Then the angles announce “Glory to God in the Highest” the savior is born! They go then to see this baby laying in the soft glow of perhaps an oil lamp in the coolness of the darkened stable. They gaze upon him and wonder, contemplate who this is and the angels’ message.

Consider the three kings, the wise men who traveled from countries far following a star. The star appeared and, in their wonderment and desire to see their King, they follow it, not knowing where it would lead them, but trusting only in the power of faith and the existence of this star in the heavenly cosmos. Their hearts are restless, they travel with no regard for what’s easier and what’s more convenient or without thought of the possibility that this could lead them nowhere or to their deaths. They travel and contemplate the meaning of this star. Then, they arrive to the humbleness of the manger and present this baby the gifts of a king, a man and a God. Not fully aware what had just transpired or what this baby would become, they go back and contemplate Him on their journey.

Consider Mary, the Blessed Mother. She, if anyone should have had all the answers and understanding of the Messiah, of her baby, but she doesn’t! Yes, she could tell us he weighed 8lbs 4ozs at birth and was 20” long and about his first words or how he would cry all night or when he would have gotten sick and she had to care for him, or when she had to go call him in for supper, or how he struggled with his math and everything else a mother can tell you about her son, but she too had to contemplate her son, God. Scripture tells us she kept these things in her heart and contemplated them. She was in the same boat as us in needing to seek the face of God and to gaze upon Him in the silence of the heart so as to know Him as He reveals Himself to us.

Today we remember the baptism of the Lord when His cousin John baptizes Him in the Jordan and Jesus is set now for His entire public ministry once the Father  reveals Himself that Jesus is the Christ. Again, we need to have Him revealed, we need to have our hearts and eyes set in Him so as to see Him and know Him and ultimately Love Him. Like Rome which requires a lifetime and then some to take in and process all the beauty and holiness draping every corner to fully appreciate and see all that’s there, so too does it take that long and even more to see Him and know Him and have Him reveal Himself to us.

This is truly the vocation of every Christian: to contemplate the presence and the beauty of God so as to have Him more revealed to us so as to know Him and love Him greater. Just as the beauty, history and holiness of Rome leads the human heart mind and soul to transcend itself and attain something higher, so too do the revelations of God pull us to transcend ourselves and fly into His embrace.

This is the message and meaning of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and The Baptism of the Lord- these last seven weeks of liturgies. Let us take this knowledge, insight and excitement into this brief period of Ordinary Time and seek Him, follow Him and contemplate His face, the very face of Love.

What is the Greatest Commandment? LOVE!

Priesthood is a busy life! I have not found the time, nor carved it out, to write as often as I would like. But, I feel that I don't want to let this free moment go by without offering a little reflection on this Sunday's beautiful and rich Scripture and our elections this week...

Perhaps it is yet another one of those great mysteries of our Faith as to why great tragedies happen in our lives as individuals and as a people, this past week was not shy from offering us another such mystery. Hurricane Sandy just caused utter destruction and devastation to so many of our brothers and sisters on the East coast, neighborhoods obliterated, lives lost, memories washed away. It is within the pondering of man to seek the meaning behind the brevity of such things in our lives and the reality of eternity we dwell within. All suffering must be processed through the Crucifixion of our Lord and the Kingdom He has opened for us - any effort short of Christ will fail. Truth.

What this tragedy, as with others I can recall, did was to bring people back to their roots of common humanity. Communities that were once a collection of individuals, have become bodies of cooperation and charity. We have seen this past week the truth of who we are come through. We have seen political adversaries together arm in arm fighting for the welfare of their fellow man with no political filter or campaign stump. It is remarkable that Mr. Romney and Obama ceased campaigning this week for a few days. If politics were so important and defining to an individual, then why did they stop? Out of sensitivity? They stopped to be sensitive! THey stopped because ultimately none of those artificial divides mean anything. We are not Democrat and Republican. Those are made up terms to further divide and conquer a people. I can declare my self a "Jupiter Zambonni" and it holds as much weight in eternity as does our Democrat and Republican labels do.

I am not trying to be angry or pessimistic about government and the practice of law and policy - those are necessary entities in a well ordered society. But, there is a right way and a wrong way to understand it and live it out.

This week we're going to hear a lot about party politics, the economy, jobs, Benghazi, Medicare / Medicaid, HHS Mandate, the 'war on women', etc.,etc.,etc.. I can almost guarantee there will almost no utterance of the Gospel, the Crucifixion, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Natural Law, Salvation, Eternity, The Good, the True, the Beautiful! We live in a society that is both afraid and ignorant of what is truly real and meaningful. It is the easy way out to just blame others for our problems, to puff up our egos and make others inferior, to deny others the Love they deserve so that I can seek my own power and gain.

What is the greatest commandment? LOVE! Love your fellow man as if you can see the very image of God impressed on their soul. Love your community as a microcosm of the great and magnificent Body of Christ. Love your family for the Trinitarian Love it reflects. Love your God who loved you so much He came to walk among us and allowed HImself to experience every degree of human suffering and pain and willingly let His persecutors nail him to a pice of wood in utter agony just so we could be with Him for eternity. Love your God everywhere and everyday!

Husbands and wives just don't love each other in the privacy of their homes and hate each other in public. Men don't love and respect their wives and children at the dinner table and then beat them and ridicule them at the store. Its absurd to love in some places and not all places; to love sometimes and not all the time!

LOVE! Be people madly in love with life, each other and with God. Let that show and be the engine and thrust of our very essence and being. The moment we let artificial boundaries, labels, divisions, prejudices and politics get in the way of Love - that is sin! If I don't allow myself to love as I've been commanded and as a response to the unimaginable love we've been given by God, then I am falling into sin and promoting hatred and darkness. That is not the path to eternal life, it just isn't.

It is sad that we need tragedy to bring us back to our roots and down to our knees in humble awe at the true beauty of our humanity and of Love. Let us take this experience of seeing the truth of Love and humanity and run with it. Let us take it into our daily lives and not suspend it or jeopardize it for anything our anyone. We have been called to love totally in all times nad places, let us not fall into the traps of sin that tells us to defy our consciences and our beliefs for some finite and fickle cause.

The Bread of Life

It's not news to the attentive ear, that the last month at Sunday masses, we heard the entirety of John chapter 6 regarding the Bread of Life. I know for me and my brother priests and deacons, that it was a great challenge to each week not spill over themes and ideas from previous or future weeks and to give a clear, crisp presentation each week.

I was hesitant to write each of the homilies out here because I was afraid of just that: saying too much one week and not having enough for the other weeks and there being proof of it here online! So, I thought it would be good to sum up some of my thoughts on that infamous chapter of John's gospel and some reflection on what this Bread - this Eucharist - really is.

What I think is the reason we can have so much doubt when it comes to the Eucharist is, not that what we claim it to be is so radical - for it is a radical claim , not that we have so many other distractions and worries in our lives - for indeed we all do, but what I think is the most difficult obstacle for us to overcome is the reality that the Eucharist is so perfect and we really have nothing else to gauge it against.

To illustrate: We all give of ourselves to the people we love. Husbands and wives, quite obviously give of themselves emotionally, spiritually and physically in such a way that the two become one flesh. Their love, their sacrifices, their desire for the other propels them to give themselves wholly to the suppose. Single people give of themselves wholly too, but not to make two into one like in marriage, but in a chaste self-offering where they love through emotional and spiritual support. They, in my opinion, have perhaps the hardest vocation because they are called to no particular person or community, but are to be lovers of all people in the world and give that sacrifice and that love to all people. The celibate is called to be a spiritual father or mother to a community, the church. They are called to offer themselves wholly and entirely for their flock so as to lead and guide them to eternal life.

All of this is true, good and beautiful, but there is an obvious limit to how much we can give wholly. For human beings, we dont privide our bodies for physical nourishment, we provide spiritual and emotional nourishment through our presence and relationships. If we are physically hungry or thirsty, your spouse, friend, pariahionrer, brother or sister is not and cnnot quench that - it is beyond what they can do for you. No one loves to the point of slicing their body up for physical nourishment! That is just sick and weird and not what we do. So there is a very obvious boundary to how we can give ourselves over for another - But, with Christ, no such boundary exists.

Christ knows no limit to the amount or the ways in which He can give of himself to us. There is no code, law, political correctness, stereotype, expectation, geography, obstacle or force for Him to overcome - Nothing prohibits God from giving Himself to us - even His very flesh and blood!

That is what this Eucharist is. That is why it can be so hard to accept. We are in the presence of and receiving the most perfect Love. We are consuming the very sacrifice that only God can give. We are accepting a Love that we cannot begin to do justice to. In the light of all of our failings, our sins, our insecurities, our struggles and addictions - Christ still pours our His blood for us to quench our thirst and still offers His flesh for us to ease our pangs.

The Eucharist is the Bread of Life simply because it is the Bread of Love. It is the only tangible presence of True Love among us, and it is only love that can give life. Not just physical life, for even two parents devoid of any love for their children can bring about physical life, but spiritual and emotional life. Only a mom and dad who constantly tells and shows love to their children will assure the  young will have true life within them. So too with the Bread of Life. It is not so much physical hunger it is seeking to alleviate - for we can in some degree live solely on it, but thats not the idea of it. Its not the Catholic way to give up all food and drink and live solely on the Eucharist - though many holy men and women have throughout the ages - but to find True Life from that food, to know what it means to live and be loved.

Its an extraordinary reality that passes our lips at every mass and that sits (unfortunately too often alone) in our churches. The God of the Universe, the God who made every atom of the cosmos, the God born of a virgin, the Logos, the God who died on a cross for us makes His very physical presence known and shown everyday all over the world. The only reason it happens is for us to feast on Love.

Then, ultimately, John presents us with a choice. Do we act as if its just yet another thing we need to do, just another symbol among the treasure chest of Catholic symbols and signs, just something that I think about on Sundays in the same stream of worldly distractions? Or do we say Yes to It and let the Bread of Life, true tangible Love to give us life, to transfigure every atom of our being, to transform human hearts and earthly institutions, to not let our faith be something hidden except for an hour on Sundays, and to let our entire selves be drowned in Love without wanting to be pulled out of the water?  That is the choice we have. To let the Eucharist do what It has the power to do is our constant struggle, our constant aim. It requires much sacrifice and being put out into the deep, but the rewards are eternal and the benefits are otherworldly. To say no to Christ and to just remain passive in the face of Love, will only make the jowls of our souls sandy with thirst and the gut of our hearts to wrench in hunger and pain.

Come to the Bread of Life. Come to the Eucharist. Feast from the table of Sacrifice. Dine at the heavenly banquet. Nourish yourself with pure and utter Love. Be transformed and transfigured. Let your fears and insecurities fade away as you embrace Life and know Love.

A month and some days

I have been a priest now for over a month, and though that doesn't sound too spectacular, it has afforded me opportunities I've waited a lifetime to experience.

Mass


I am tempted to spew out a JBC style commentary on every liturgy I've celebrated and talk through all my thoughts, fears, reactions, feelings and bewilderments in celebrating the liturgy for they are numerous and varied. I will say though that many years of discernment and 8 years of seminary and all that it entailed was worth just one mass!

I have to admit that I haven't been able to internalize what I am 'supposed' to be feeling when I am celebrating mass. I felt incredibly out of place the first few weeks - that is becoming less so now now that I am getting into a routine at the parish. It's a funny thing: having the privilege to celebrate the mass is something I have been preparing for for many years, but to actually do it you see that it is something that one can never be fully prepared for. You prepare for the mechanics of it, you discern if you are called to the altar in that capacity, but you cannot prepare for the internal workings of the Spirit. To consecrate bread and wine so that is become the BODY AND BLOOD OF GOD is too great to "prepare for". I think that every day and every mass will unfold for me the reality that I am participating in and the sacrifice I am offering.

That being said, the liturgy- the mass - has a whole new and dynamic meaning for me now and my participation has changed, not only on the level of the obvious, but internally. I "feel" closer to what is going on and I can sense the reality of it all a little bit more - it is very REAL for me now in a way that perhaps was hidden from me before. In reflecting on this only a little, I don't think that you need to be ordained a priest to have your spiritual senses heightened to what is going on in the mass and to become more engaged in it on all levels. I really want to help my people experience the depths and beauties of this most awesome reality - the mass!

Confession


"Why me?"

That's all I can say. God has chosen me, a sinner, to be His priest and be a vessel of His Mercy and Love in the sacrament of penance. When the faithful come to the sacrament, they are not coming to talk to "Fr so-and-so", they are coming to talk to Christ. They need Christ to forgive them of their sins and to come back into a relationship with God characterized by mercy. It is nothing about me that has brought them to the sacrament for it is not ME forgiving them, but God through ME - powerful and mind-blowing!

This has been - second only to the mass - the greatest joy of mine these past few weeks of priesthood. This is where I the priest have an opportunity to intimately touch the wounded-ness of individuals and let the loving mercy of God touch their hearts and bring Life back into their souls.

Wow!

In general


"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you". These words of Christ and the words of the God to Jeremiah "Before I formed you in to womb, I knew you... a prophet to the nations, I dedicated you" have been close to my heart recently. This may be more characteristic of the diocesan priesthood than religious priests, but I was ordained and sent to a parish to work. I am finding it very easy to think to myself "what can I do" "how can I make MY mark" I and ME has been punctuating my mind a lot and I need to draw my thoughts back to the beautiful words of scripture and remind myself that I am not in this for myself. I have been ordained to be a priest of Jesus Christ and thus I need to be the priest Jesus wants me to be, not the most successful on Brandon may want to be.

I am experiencing the beautiful and rich joys of the priesthood: celebrating mass, hearing confessions, visiting the hospital, anointing the sick, praying with the dying, visiting the homebound, being a fatherly figure to a parish and being  and bringing a unique presence of God in the midst of a community. I am also experiencing the challenges: how do I plug myself into a community, what does it mean to be a priest, how do I live this out, what am I supposed to be doing,  am I being a priest for Brandon or for Christ, how do I give myself totally over to this vocation and yet not burn out???

This is an amazing vocation and an amazingly complicated vocation (as they all are). I am very young in the priesthood, but I would have to say that it has all been worth it for even just one day of it!

I am a priest!

I haven't written on here for a month.

In that time I was in the midst of an avalanche of details to plan for my ordination which was on June 8th. The ordination weekend consisted of a couple liturgies, receptions and many people to see and talk to. After that weekend I spent the week at home celebrating mass at various churches around town and hanging out with family and friends before heading down to my deacon assignment and now priestly assignment for a mass of thanksgiving and reception. This past week I was on our diocesan priest convocation for some time for fraternity, prayer, conferences and relaxation. This weekend I am heading to a parish that prayerfully supported me as a seminarian for the weekend masses.

It has been a whirlwind of excitement, prayer and awe!

I start at my assignment at the end of next week, so hopefully I will be settled in soon and can get back to writing the blog. I have actually had a fast from most technology - I haven't really been on Twitter or Facebook or the internet at all for the past month. In some ways, it is kind of refreshing...

I hope to return with regular posts very soon

Please keep me and all priests in your prayers

Palm Sunday: We have entered Jerusalem!

We have finally entered Jerusalem! We have spent this Lent in the desert, the wilderness, thirsting and pining for God. We have spent this Lent alone with our God.

Now we have joyfully entered Jerusalem waving palm branches in praise and happiness at the entrance of our God, Our King!

This week is Hoy Week. The holiest weeks of the year and nothing remotely compares to it's majesty.

This is the week where we enter Jerusalem waving palm branches in praise of Jesus, but it is also the same week where we will hit his body with reeds and whip him, shredding his flesh.

This is the week where we cry "Hosanna to the Son of David" "This is our King!"But, it is also the week where we will sentence our king to death for being our king! We will mockingly nail "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum" Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, to his cross.

This is the week where we lay down our clothes on the donkey and along the path of His entrance into Jerusalem, but also will strip Him naked in humiliation.

This is the week where we acclaim "Glory, Laud and Honor", but also the week where we shout and abuse HIm to the point of shame and leave Him with little dignity.

We have entered Jerusalem. We are holding palm branches in praise of our king, but we will by the end of the week be holding nails to affix Him to a tree.

We are not just remembering and recalling theses events, they are real and timeless. This is the holiest week of the year and a week that knows no boundaries of time or space. We are present with our Lord, our King, through it all. This week we walk with Him triumphantly into Jerusalem, but also walk with Him carrying His cross to the place of death.

May we fully enter into the liturgy, the prayer, the scripture and the intimacy of this week. May we bring our whole selves to this journey with Christ and come to know the events of this week as real and meaningful to our lives.

5th Sunday of Lent

We can all recall moments in our lives where we did something, tried something or got something new for the first time. We can remember monumental moments in our lives where we experienced something new and we go back to those memories quite often for strength and renewal.

For instance, I was in scouting for many years and set up many tents, but the only experience of that I really recall is the First time I did it. I can still remember the smell of that musty old tent, the coolness of the poles in my hands, the dampness of the ground and the air around me and the darkness of the night. It is that First tent that has and always will stick in my mind.

I also played hockey for a number of years. I spent many many hours on the ice, but the memory that sticks in my mind the most is that First time I stepped on the ice. I can still hear my blades hitting the ice for the first time. I can still smell the cold ice. I can still feel my legs getting their balance and eventually, after getting used it, hearing that crisp sound of the sharp blades slicing the ice. All the senses were engaged and I will always remember that moment.

We can also remember our first car. No matter how nice of car you acquire in the future, that old clinker will always hold a special place in your hearts.

The first time we met our spouse, our first child, our first kiss, our first day of school... Life is peppered with these moments of doing or getting something new or for the first time. These moments anchor us, support us, are a source of meaning, joy and happiness in our lives. These are the moments we go back to when we've lost focus or enjoyment in whatever area of life.

Jeremiah is promising us something New! He is promising that the old law, the old way of life will no longer be the same. For now, God will establish a new covenant with us and we will be closer to Him than we've ever been. The Law will no longer be distant or a foreign object or creed, but will be inscribed on our very hearts - God will be in our hearts and we will be in HIm! No longer will we be alienated by a chasm of sin and darkness for He will forget all our sins and love us evermore.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that His Hour has come. His Hour is when everything He came to do will be fulfilled; everything He was will be more real and everything Jeremiah promised will be realized.

It is this Hour that Christ has come to that we will celebrate next week in Holy Week, the holiest week of the entire year. His Hour is where everything that was Old is made New, where everything we did not have, we receive. The Hour is the memory, the moment, where we recall who we truly are as human beings and Catholics! Everything that we are and profess is made real and new in His Hour: Our Church, the sacraments, the priesthood, the Eucharist, salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins - Everything! This is where the source and font of all meaning, joy, love and happiness we experience as Catholics.

This is the last week of Lent before we enter into the Hour of Christ. This week should be a time of reflection and preparation to enter it more deeply and wholly. But, we can't just think of it, we need to enter into it. What is one way that is Real is reflecting on our relationship to the Hour - where do we stand in relation to all we profess and believe?

Just as in relationships that have gone cold or are strained for any reason, we go back to those moments of "Firsts" or "New" and remember those moments that truly define the beauty and love of those relationships. We remember those moments that remind us why we're together and what really matters.
The same is true with our relationship to Christ and the Church - our faith. We need to acknowledge and admit where we have doubts, what we don't understand, what we don't want to believe or what we just don't care about. It is good and healthy to acknowledge those realities in our lives. Then bring all that to the Hour of Christ - Holy Week - and encounter and experience those moments and memories of who we really are and Catholics, of what we really believe and of What God has given us.

If we come the Hour of Christ honest and seeking to encounter His passion, then you will have new life, you will see the awesomeness and beauty of all He has given to us and made New. He has promised it and it will be true.

Roman Missal

I've been having some good and spirited conversations lately with friends about the new translation of the Roman Missal. We've been discussing things such as "What does it mean?" "Why did we change it?" "Is this one better than the previous one?"

I won't leave you hanging, I love the new translation. I love it and find it amazing that this is the text that will be used at every mass for the rest of my life.

That being said, I (as I am sure many do) have varying explanations and viewpoints on what it means...let me give you my thoughts.

I don't view this as an improvment in the sense that the mass we had up unitll this past Saturday was somehow inferior or in some way wrong. I simply see the two as different.

I think we see the 2 schools of thought at work here: a) the text ought to be in the common and ordinary parlance of the everyday worshipper, b) the text ought to be in a language that magnifies in poetry, mystical language and theology. Neither camp is intrinsically wrong, they are just different.

Our previous transalation (the one up unitll this weekend) was more in camp A where the language was easy, the grammar was elementray and there was not a  lot of ornamentation among the words. Wrong? No, just one way of approaching it.

This current transaltion occupies more of camp B where we hear vivid language saturated in complex grammar and sentences more concerned with expressing the beauty of the divine mysteries than brevity. Wrong? No, just different.

I think this is the best approach. We shouldn't attack the language our church has used for the last 40 years and label it anything negative.

I want to emphasize that I love reading this missal and can't wait to soon pray it as a priest within the mass. I love poetry, vivid and florid language. I love to read and write language that seeks to put into words that which is beyond all words and understanding. I love to read and reread a sentence over and over again to ascertain its deep and delicate meaning.

Do I feel this translation achieves this more than the previous translation? Yes. Do I think this is a better translation? No.

Both texts have and will lead countless faithful to encountering the Living God, and isn't that the point?
They are distinct and different- we can't deny that - but I find it difficult to qualitatively declare one superior ove the other.

We, the faithful, need to not combatively dwell on the fact that we have a new translation and that it dramatically changes our use of English in the Liturgy. We cannot ignore it, but we need to accept it, acknowledge it, and move on to worship.

Worship is what these words lead us to. Worship is what the previous words lead us to.

We need to become educated and aware of what the language is telling us. Once we know it, we need to embrace it and love it. We need to move forward as one holy catholic and apostolic church and give witness to the world of the love, power and presence of God!

This translation should, and I believe it will, make us stronger and one.
We will be united as a sacramental people who radically delve into the depths of the mysteries of God.

This can be a challenge to many, and that is okay. But, we can't stay there, we need to move on. The church grows and develops as it needs to in order to meet the needs of the faithful. We have a new translation, let's embrace it as the Church desires us to and get back to worshipping God, but in newer and richer ways!