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Real Joy

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

Third Sunday of Advent

Is 61: 1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thes 5: 16-24; Jn 1: 6-8, 19-28

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

What is it that gives you joy in your life?  Have you ever really thought about that.  Today is Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday in the middle of Advent when the Church asks us to reflect on the coming joy of Christmas.  Because, as Christians, the joy that comes with the Christ child  Should be our ultimate joy.  But is it?  And how can it be our ultimate joy?   

Well, let me ask you again.  What is the source of the joy in your life?  Does your joy come from things- like all the goodies you hope Santa leaves under the tree- things like cars and computers and new clothes and video games?  If you are like me, some of these things can bring excitement and satisfaction- but only for a while.  And when the fascination wears off, and it eventually does, we will go on looking for something else to amuse us.  So, speaking for myself, I don’t think things are the source of joy.   

Maybe you get joy from the goodness and beauty of God’s creation.  After all, a sunset, a sunrise, a breathtaking view of the mountains, or the seacoast, and the night sky;  or a beautiful painting, sculpture or other piece of art- these all can raise our spirits, and that’s kind of what joy is.  But it is passing, and there is something missing- a connection.   

So, perhaps joy comes from relationships.  After all, that’s where we can really make a connection.  A baby certainly seems joyful over the baby’s Mom and Dad- particularly the Mom.  And all of us who have fallen in love know how joyful that can be.  Ah, yes- love in our relationships can bring us some joy.  Both of these examples imply love, and a connection.  So perhaps relationships are the source of our joy.   

But even so, there can be a lot of pain when you fall in love with someone.  There are a number of reasons.  First, all of us humans put limits on our love.  Our love is usually conditional, not unconditional.   Unconditional love is really hard, because it means always giving.  That’s why the love between a Mom and a baby most often seems to portray pure joy, and the same thing between a couple that falls in love.   But this usually doesn’t last- eventually there will be limits.  As a child grows up; or as a couple gets to know each other, the limits begin to appear. 

And the second reason is that there is pain in separation because the connection can be broken.  The most giving of us have experienced that when someone dies that we love or who has loved us or when a child leaves home.   And that can be anything but joyful because of the pain.   

And yet, I am sure that most of you will agree with me that the most joyful experiences we have in life come from our relationships, not from things or nature.  And so, joy, it would seem, can only be complete by unconditional love and a connection that lasts.   

When John the Baptist speaks this morning in today’s Gospel, he says “I am the voice of one crying in the desert, make straight the path of the Lord”.  This echoes the prophecy of Isaiah.  And Isaiah’s promise was that the Lord’s anointed, the Messiah, would bring glad tidings to everyone.  These glad tidings would remove all that keeps us from joy- poverty, sickness, broken hearts, captivity, and all such impediments would be removed.  On the other side, the Messiah brings something positive.  And what the messiah really brought us was God’s love- the unconditional love of God for His people because God sacrificed His only son, sending Him to become one of us to live, suffer, die, and eventually be resurrected for eternal life and happiness.  Indeed, Jesus showed us the way to true joy and happiness.  That’s what the Gospel does- it documents the good news.  It shows us that unconditional love for God is the answer.  Because unlike any of our other relationships, our relationship with God can be different.  We have only to recognize the unconditional love that God has for us, and to love God for it, and we will experience everlasting joy.   

That’s why Paul tells the Thessalonians to rejoice always and to pray unceasingly.  The praying part is what keeps us in connection with the Lord.  We need to develop a loving relationship with the Lord, and maintain it.  We do that by getting to know the Lord, and by doing His will.  Prayer is essential for us to do that.  Rejoicing always comes naturally after that.  Because no matter how hard life may seem- no matter how our life is burdened with poverty, sickness, broken hearts, captivity, and all such impediments to our joy, the coming of Jesus, the Lord, as Isaiah promised, changes all that because the never ending search for the ultimate happiness is over.  We need no longer look for the perfect toy, the most beautiful scenery, or the perfect human relationship.  We have found it- the source of our joy.  The Christ Child will bring us the source of our ultimate joy. 

So rejoice always, the Lord is coming.         

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Using Your Talents

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

33rd  Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prv 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thes 5: 1-6; Mt 25: 14-30

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Suppose I handed you a bag with 80 pounds of silver in it, and told you to take care of it for me while I was gone?   Well, that’s what a single “Talent” was in Jesus day- 80 pounds of silver- 80 pounds of it.   That’s about 17 years-worth of daily wages for the average worker at the time.   So, one single Greek “Talent” was a very large sum of money.   And yet the least of the three servants was entrusted with this much by the Master.   Other servants were given twice as much or five times as much.  

 

This really sheds a different light for me on this parable, because the reality is that all three servants were entrusted with significant responsibility, protecting a large sum of money.      Now, the Master is said to be gone for a long time.   Our Bible scholars tell us that “the long time” referred to here is the length of time between Jesus Resurrection and the second coming of Christ; and that all of us are the servants, each gifted by God with a generous, yet unequal share of talents.   We will be asked to give an accounting of ourselves at the Last Judgment, just like the three servants in the parable.   Although we are each given varying and different talents, we are all expected to use them- make them work in the service of the Lord- equally.   And those who don’t do something with their talents will be thrown out of the Kingdom of God.     

 

Let’s consider a few things about the details in this parable.   First, the talents were given to “servants”; not to sons, friends, or other relationships.   Second, a single talent was quite valuable, as I’ve already pointed out.   Third, the talents were entrusted, not given outright to the servants.   So, they always belonged to the Master, not to the servants.   And lastly, the task that the servants had  was to do something with the talents for the Master.   The Master intended for his wealth to be handled prudently, but not locked up in isolation.     

 

Each of us is entrusted with one or more gifts by God.   We don’t own them- they are not ours to do with as we wish.   And they are gifts, not something we have earned.   Rather, we are loaned the talent or talents so that we will do something with them for God.   We are his servants when it comes to stewardship of these talents   We cannot lock them up.     

 

Now, some of us seem more fortunate than others.   Some are gifted with good looks, brains, athleticism, and money- in fact some seem to have everything.   I see that these gifted people are seated to your left and right.   Others seem to have nothing, at least by this World’s standards.   Most of us are somewhere in between.   But God has given each of us a valuable talent- that’s part of the message.   Yes, each of us has been given at least 80 pounds of silver, as it were.   We just have to recognize what our gifts are.     

 

These gifts may be disguised as something else, for example- caring for children, caring for an elderly relative, or learning to live with a disability.   These can all be viewed as gifts rather than a problem.   In God’s eyes, children and the elderly are as valuable as any other life.   So, being a custodian for such lives is like caring for precious gold or silver.   It is, after all, the Lord who decides what is valuable and needs to be cared for, not us.     

 

It is different for people who recognize their gift, but bury it.   For example, some people continuously hear a call by the Lord.   We know a priest from another Diocese who was ordained later in life- in his 50’s.   He told us that he had run away from God’s call for 20 years!   And, even though he had been successful in the business world, smething wasn’t quite right.   So, in the end, he went into the seminary.   Likewise, some of you are being called by God and know it- that is your gift.   Are you hiding it?  Suppressing it?   It doesn’t have to be a religious call, although sometimes it will be.   It could be a nagging feeling about something that you perceive is not quite right; something you feel you need to do something about but, you just haven’t acted on it.   It could be getting involved with politics; helping by volunteering your time or talent; learning more about your faith.   All of these are ways to follow through on a call to use your talent.     

 

And then there are those who have and recognize a talent but; they really don’t use it much.   They may have a beautiful voice- but don’t join the choir.   They are a great teacher- but are deaf to the call for helping with CCD or Prep.   Or any of a number of artistic capabilities that remain dormant.   Did you know that burying a large sum of money was a perfectly acceptable practice to keep it secure in Jesus day and age?   Likewise, there are many legitimate excuses for burying our talents today, such as a sense of false humility or fear or just the turmoil of life.   Every one of us can understand such roadblocks.   The question is, how will God view them?     

 

Notice that the servants in the parable have been given plenty of time- the “long while” that Jesus speaks of, to use their talents while the Master is gone.   Two of them do, basically doubling their Master’s wealth; only one of the servants does not.   Likewise, all of us have been given a lifetime.   Things happen in life, and that’s OK.   That’s why God is patient with us, and for most of us, gives us 50 to 90 years.   But the point is that God has given us adequate opportunities because he has given us a lifetime.     

 

Now St. Paul tells us about the second coming of Christ in the second reading:   He says “It will come like a thief in the night”.   So, it could be at any time.   That‘s the catch- we have been given a lifetime, but we just don’t know when it will end.     

 

Over this weekend, the Parish is conducting seven funerals- an uncharacteristically large number.   And they are being held for 3 year olds all the way up to folks in their 80’s.  This points to the truth of Paul’s epistle.   Because God could call any one of us to our Judgment at any time, just like these seven people have been called.   But are you ready?     

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The Soft Sell

Sunday, July 10th, 2011

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Is 55: 10-11; Rom 8: 18-23; Mt 13: 1-23

Dc. Larry Brockman

It’s a soft sell.  That’s what today’s Gospel is.  Rather than tell everybody what it takes to get into the Kingdom of God in the most direct way, Jesus uses a soft sell.

Consider the Sermon on the Mount by contrast.  In John’s account of the Sermon, Jesus speaks directly.  He tells everyone He is the bread of life, and to gain everlasting life we must eat His body and drink His blood.  He meant that literally- the Eucharist; and he meant it figuratively as well- by taking on his very way of life as our own.  This direct approach turned off a lot of people in His time, and it is something that people still have a hard time with in today’s world.

But the parable of the sower- well it’s a soft sell.  First of all, Jesus is really just addressing those who are truly interested in following Him.  Most of the crowd, including the Pharisees and Scribes, are not really interested in following Him.  They are looking for conventional wisdom.  Some of these people were looking for the easy fix- the easy way into the Kingdom of God, and when you are of that frame of mind, you are like the person who is hoping to make a quick fortune or lose weight through miracle pills.  Such folks are impatient unless they hear the magic in the words that is both specific and clear, and right now.

Others were looking for Jesus to trip up so they could “get him”.  But Jesus made His pitch with parables in such a way that anything that might be considered confrontational would roll off the listener’s backs as vague and indirect.  They probably regarded the parables- speaking obliquely- as an irritant because whatever was said was too vague to distill any real evidence against Jesus.

Indeed, just a very few were willing to dig deep into Jesus message so that they could make a change in their lives.  It’s like that in our society, too.  “Say what you mean, and mean what you say”; that’s the way we Americans like it rather than all this double talk in the parables.  Not only that, we are a gullible society that is looking to hear that there is a quick and easy way to make a million and to
lose weight with some magic pill; or even to get a job without working to acquire a skill.

So, only the people who were motivated to learn, the people who were motivated to look deeper; only the people who were willing to make a change in their lives- like the Apostles, were able to hear and see beyond the surface of the parable.  These were the folks that Jesus was trying to reach; and these were the folks that He would reach with this parable.  And so, Jesus message is a soft sell.  If you really want to get something out of it, you will.  But if the parable message doesn’t resonate with you, at least it didn’t alienate you either.

Now most of the time that I have heard this parable, I have been pre-occupied with the thorns and the hard ground and the good ground; and what those metaphors mean as obstacles or inducements to growth of the seed so that I could see my own perspective as just one of the three.  But there is another perspective to the parable that I would like to suggest to you.

Perhaps Jesus is also taking about a journey along a path- a path that is leading to the Kingdom of God.  All of us are on such a journey, and we encounter seed which falls on hard ground or thorns or good soil along the way.  Yes, as we progress along the path of life, we are like seed exposed to all three of these environments at one time or another.

Sometimes we don’t understand, or don’t attempt to understand, the word of God.  And so, the devil comes along and steals our attention away.  That happens all the time whenever folks sleep through one of Holy Family’s excellent homilies!  At other times, we do have an understanding heart, and really mean well, but the roots are shallow.  And so, we don’t have the willpower to change our ways.  That’s what seems to happen to me every January first when I make a New Year’s Resolution!

But sometimes, and hopefully more often than not, we react to the word of God like it was seed sewn on good ground, and we do something in our life that bears fruit that we can see- like the feeling we get when we do something really nice for somebody else- helping a friend move, or being there for them when they lose a dear one, or pitching in and help with the kids.

And so, what can we do to maximize the times that we fall on good ground?  Have you ever asked yourself this question: what does it mean for you to fall on good soil?  Well, first of all, like any good seed, you need the right kind of nutrition.  Fertile ground and water are essential.  For us the food and water that we need are spiritual foods- like the Eucharist that is available to us, and like the educational opportunities to learn about our faith and our God offered by our Church.

Secondly, you have got to grow.  And growing involves extending yourself, moving out, changing.  You have to emerge from the seed pod and move off in the direction of your talents.  It does no good to stay confined in the seed pod; you have got to grow into an apple tree if you started as an apple seed, for example.  In other words, you have got to grow and bloom in order to bear fruit.  Sometimes that can be very hard- growing and blooming.  It is safer to stay in a comfortable rut in our lives.

In the second reading we hear about suffering.  Indeed, the lives that we live, as we encounter these three environments described in the Gospel, are full of sufferings of one kind or another.  Growing
pains will be there for sure.  And there is one sure fire way to detect lack of growth, and that is when our lives are stuck in a rut- a routine that doesn’t ever change;  one that is designed to minimize suffering.  Believe it or not, God’s word is alive for us all the time.  We just need to be looking for the fertile ground so that we can become fruitful.

There is good news about seeking growth in this way, even though it involves suffering.  Because as Paul maintains, these sufferings are nothing as compared to the rewards available to us in the  Kingdom of God- everlasting life.

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It’s All About the Name!

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Trinity Sunday

Ex 34: 4b-6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; Jn 3: 16-18

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

It’s all about the name! 

Now, for a moment, consider your own names.  How did you get them and what do they mean?  First, there is the Family name.  The root of some of your names probably refers to an attribute or skill.  I have been told that my family name’s roots are in brick laying skills, for example.  Others are named after their parents- like for example Erickson- son of Eric.  The point is that each person’s name meant something- it was a way to define, to identify, who they were.  As we became more numerous- the family name wasn’t enough to identify us.  There were a whole lot of Smiths and Whites and Carpenters, for example.  And so, we added one or more other names.  These were often chosen to honor someone in our families.  We say, for example that so and so is named after their Grandfather.  Others are named after some hero or popular personality.  And so, identity and honor are two main attributes of names.  That is basically a trend that God instilled in us- because He wanted us to honor and respect His name and identity.   

Now, in the first reading, the Lord comes down out of a cloud and the first thing He does is to proclaim His own name!  He simply says- “Lord”, or in Hebrew “Yahweh”, meaning “I am who am”; the self-existent; the Eternal one.  And then He repeats that name several times for emphasis.  This name was considered so Holy and awesome by the Israelis that they wouldn’t even say it aloud.  And so, we have a hint about why God wants us to know Him by name.  God the Father wants us to know Him, honor Him, and respect Him and to recognize His identity at all times.  In fact, the first several commandments, which were about to be handed down on those stones we heard about, lay it all out for us:  I am your God; have no false Gods; and show me respect by not taking my name in vain and by honoring me on the Sabbath. 

God the Father is the one who is eternal, who existed before anything else, and who will always exist; and the one who made everything.  Indeed, He wants us to know Him for that- who He is and what He has done.  He wants us to know and accept His name!  When you think about how awesome the one and only God is, how can you possibly do otherwise?   

Now God made everything that is, and it was all made out of Love so He could share it with His creation.  Paul reminds us of that in the second reading.  There he greets the Corinthians with a fascinating reference to the Trinity when he says:  “The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”  How many times have we heard that- but do we understand it. 

We have just heard how God the Father gave emphasis to His name.  But in the Gospel, importance of the name of God comes up again.  We are told by John that unless we believe in the name of the only Son of God, we cannot be saved.  Now lots of people hang up on this statement.  Are we to take it literally?  First of all, consider what the name “Jesus” means.  This is the name the angel Gabriel told Mary that her child should be named.  And it means- Jehovah, the Lord, is Salvation.  “Christ” means the anointed one, or chosen one.  So Jesus Christ is God from whom Salvation comes; and He is the chosen person in Human form to be the Savior. 

We know that believing in the Name means a couple of things:  It means believing in the identity of the name; and it means respecting the name and giving it honor.   And so it is essential for everyone to believe that the one true God is the Salvation of the World and to respect Him, as symbolized by respecting His name.  Those who do these things believe in His name.  Those who believe in His name will be saved.   

Now we hear that Paul also hopes that the grace of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with us.  These are the things that God the Father gave us out of love.  The Grace of Jesus Christ is captured by the life of Jesus Christ- the Gospel.  We need to live the example of that Gospel to be in that grace.  And the Holy Spirit works within us to bring us out of ourselves and to love each other; and share our Christian Joy with others.   

It occurs to me that this is what our families are all about.  Moms and dads share the Love of God and the Grace of Jesus Christ; and through the Spirit dwelling in them, they pass on the name of God and the message of the Gospel to their Children.  The family is the living expression of the Trinity.  And so what better way for us to celebrate Father’s Day than to celebrate the Trinity. 

Our fathers play the role of God the Father in our family.  They are the initiators of new life; they are responsible for loving their spouse and their family; and they act as role models by showing the grace of Jesus Christ as they interact with their Children and the outside world  through the inspiration of the Spirit.   

And so, my wish to fathers out there today this Father’s day is simply this:  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you Dad’s out there today. 

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What Does Salvation Really Mean?

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

 

3rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 2: 14, 22-33; 1 Peter 1: 17-21; Lk 24: 13-35

Dc. Larry Brockman

Just what is our salvation all about, have you ever really thought about that?    For the Jews in ancient time, who eagerly awaited their Messiah, salvation meant restoration of the glory days of Israel, the days of King David and King Solomon.  They were looking for a worldly Messiah.  Jesus didn’t fit that bill at all.  In fact, Jesus suffered one of the most humiliating and desecrating deaths that a Jew could suffer- death by hanging on a tree.  Jewish scriptures could easily be cited that implied a person who suffered such a death could not be from God.  And so, most of the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah- and with righteous conviction, they rejected Jesus based on their own scriptures.  So, what is so amazing is that Christianity established any roots at all in such a difficult environment- a Jewish people whose scriptures and culture rejected Jesus as an outcast living in a secular Roman state whose only recognized God was Caesar and multiple mythical imperfect gods.  There simply must have been something to Christianity, there must have been something that really happened, something that was so significant that it transformed those who became exposed to Jesus with such tremendous conviction that they were willing to endure anything for their Faith.  I believe that the Easter event, which we continue to celebrate this week and for several more weeks, is it- that is, it is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.   

And just what is so special about Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ; and just what was so transforming about his message and the Easter event?   I think it was a realization of something very, very profound.  It was a glimpse of the certainty of something, the certainty of something that otherwise seemed so unreal, unintuitive, and even impossible-  the fulfillment of the Covenant promising salvation and everlasting life.  Yes, everlasting life was proven a certainty by the Resurrection!   

Now the Jews of Jesus time were split on the resurrection and after life.  Some, like the Pharisees, believed in an after life; others- the Sadducees, did not.  These competing groups would argue about it; but they didn’t know what it was like.  They hadn’t experienced a resurrected person.  All they could do was speculate.  But that all changed on the first Easter Sunday and for 40 or so days afterward because hundreds of people, people like you and I, actually saw the resurrected Jesus.  And that was a transforming event because it did two things.  First, it opened their eyes to the fact that this was the real promise to the Jews of a Messiah and Salvation all along.  That is why Peter quotes King David this morning- Peter proves that David’s words in scripture are not about an earthly salvation and the restoration of an earthly kingdom, but rather, they are about a new life in the everlasting Kingdom of God.  Peter openly argues that the words of David simply cannot be about restoration of David’s Kingdom, as the Jews had always interpreted them.  Why- because the earthly Messiah, like all other human beings, will suffer corruption?  The Holy One, the True Messiah, according to David, will not suffer corruption.  Jesus resurrected body validated the incorruptible after life.  And this eye opening realization would revolutionize the way the other Old Testament Scriptures were read as well.  That is a major point in today’s Gospel- we hear how Jesus personally interpreted all the scriptures in the Jewish Old Testament that talked about himself as the Messiah.  Indeed, this realization of the fulfillment of the Covenant was a cause of great joy, because it made the entire tradition of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David and Solomon instantly relevant.  Not only that, Jesus resurrection meant that the covenant had just been fulfilled in their own times- they were seeing it.  It was real, and it felt real.   

But that wasn’t all.  In addition, Jesus was the living proof of the reality of everlasting life.  Jesus proved he was alive; that he was not a ghost; and that he could eat and drink.  Despite his mortal wounds and entombment for 3 days, he was very much alive and in a transformed, incorruptible state.  There were hundreds of witnesses to all of that.  But more than that, Jesus promised repeatedly in his resurrection appearances that those who repented of their old way of life, believed in Him, and followed His teaching, would share in the everlasting life that He, Jesus, was living.   

So, these two realities, the fulfillment of the Old Testament Covenant and the Living Resurrected Christ, made the Resurrection the transforming event it was to those who saw and heard it at the time.  They were forever changed, because they believed; they were convinced; it was so real to them; that no matter what would happen to them in this world, they were guaranteed, through Faith, everlasting life.   

The Gospels and New Testament Scriptures record all of this for our benefit, and our Church, through the Church Calendar each year, commemorates and relives this wonderful Easter event.   We who are living some 2000 years later are privileged to the same promise.  It should be just as transforming for us.  But is it? 

Now one of the things that people often discuss these days is the afterlife.  Does it exist, and if so, what is it like.  People share “God incidents” in which they may have experienced the presence of God when they are in the Adoration Chapel, or dreams or visions of their relatives who are deceased; or little things that happen that are signs in answer to prayers of intercession; and some folks have near death experiences, and have lived to tell about wonderful glimpses of an afterlife.  Other folks haven’t experienced any of that, and some people might even be skeptical of those who do.  It’s like most of us want to believe in the Resurrection and the promise of life after death, but deep down, we still long for proof. 

But actually, we don’t really need any of these experiences or any new proof to convince us of our salvation.  We have the Easter story- and that is why we spend 40 days each year celebrating Easter.  It comes down to a very simple thing in the end.  Recall the end of today’s Gospel story on Thomas.  Jesus tells Thomas:  “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”.  Yes, blessed are we who just believe even though we have not seen.    

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Showing Mercy

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

 

Second Sunday of Easter

Divine Mercy Sunday

Acts 2: 42-47; 1 Peter 1: 3-9; John 20: 19-31

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Mercy.  Mercy can be difficult for us.  Sometimes we get so caught up in our own suffering that the last thing on our minds is being merciful to others.  I have had some considerable discomfort over the last month  as I have undergone treatment for kidney stones.  I found myself focused on that suffering, and less concerned about others.  But, as I pondered on it during Holy Week, I realized that when that happened, when I became preoccupied with my own pains, then that is the best time for me to think about God’s goodness to me. 

First, Jesus clearly suffered and died a horrible death through no fault of his own.  And, any suffering I experience pales by comparison to what Jesus endured for me.  Second, while I may be suffering at some point in time, God has given me many gifts as well- Family, friends, a good home, and many, many other blessings, not the least of which is my Faith in Jesus and the promise of eternal life that comes from the Resurrection.  Indeed, when you keep in mind God’s immense gifts to us, then we are able to bear with the hardships of life – because we have the right perspective. 

This is what St Peter means when he says that we rejoice in God’s mercy   “Although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials.”   Those trials are not outside the scope of God’s wisdom – he allows them for a reason. This is true even of seemingly petty, everyday trials. Such things, in fact, have made sinners into saints.

Consider, for example, a monk, named Dositheus. He was a sixth century monk whose job in the monastery was to care for the sick members of the community.  The sick monks were just as ornery in their sufferings as normal people, preoccupied with their suffering.  Probably just as ornery as I was the last couple of weeks!  This orneriness grated on Dositheus.  When this happened, Dositheus would lose his patience and speak harshly to his brother monks.   Then, filled with remorse, he would run to his room, throw himself on the floor, weep bitter tears, and beg for God’s mercy. His genuine contrition allowed divine grace to work within him.  And so, over time, and with God’s help, Dositheus eventually overcame his ill-temper   and became so kind, patient, and cheerful that he filled even the sick and suffering monks with his contagious joy.  Dositheus learned to be truly merciful, and was canonized a saint for it[1].  

If we think often about God’s immense goodness and mercy to us, we, too, will be able to rejoice even amidst our trials, because we will know that they are, somehow, part of his plan for our lives.   They are part of the goodness God gives to us- they are part of God’s mercy.  They are a teaching kind of mercy.  You know, this kind of mercy is revealed in today’s Readings.  First of all, consider the Gospel reading.  The Apostles had been especially selected by Jesus.  Yet they abandoned Jesus after the Last Supper.  They fell asleep while He prayed at Gethsemane; they scattered when He was arrested, leaving Him behind; and at the beginning of today’s Gospel, they had gathered in a locked room- confused, afraid of the authorities, conflicted by what some of them had heard about- the Resurrection.  Indeed, in every sense of the word they were depressed and out of sorts and focused on their own pain.  And yet, what did Jesus do when He appeared to the Apostles?   Although they had abandoned Jesus in his most difficult hour, Jesus wasn’t going to abandon them.   Instead, he passes through the locked doors, passes through their fears, regret, and guilt, and appears to them.  Jesus sought them out and brings them his peace.   And he reaffirms his confidence in them by reaffirming their mission:   “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  We also see God’s mercy in Christ’s reaction to the men who had crucified him.    Did he come back and crush them in revenge?  No.  Instead, he sends out his Apostles to tell them – and to tell the whole sinful world,  the world that had crucified its God –  that they can be redeemed, that God has not condemned them:   And then, just to make sure that the Church is fully armed to communicate this message, Jesus gives the ultimate revelation of God’s mercy –  He delegates to his Apostles his divine power to forgive sins:   “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”    Through the institution of the sacrament of Confession, we all receive the limitless mercy of God,  A gift which overwhelms any misery we may experience in our lives  Because we merit everlasting life and joy by our reconciliation with God.   It was the ultimate revelation of Divine Mercy. This is how God has treated us.  Not because we deserved it, but because his goodness is so great and so overflowing that he wanted to give us the greatest gift he could think of: a share in his own divine life,  a real membership in the heavenly kingdom, forever.

Today, as we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, our hearts should be full of simple, childlike gratitude.  The Eucharist is Christ’s pledge to us of the glory to come.  Today, when we receive this pledge in Holy Communion,  Let’s thank God for his mercy and his generosity, from the bottom of our hearts.  But let’s not just thank him with words.  Because if our King and God has treated us with such overwhelming goodness, giving us much more than we deserve, then we should strive to do the same for those around us. 

There are three simple ways we can do this, three ways we can act on God’s grace and make ourselves bearers of God’s mercy.  First, we can forgive people who offend, insult, or harm us, even when we think they don’t deserve to be forgiven – just as Christ does every time we come to confession.  Second, we can give others a gift, an opportunity, or a kindness, even when we think they have done nothing to deserve one – just as Christ will do for us today with Holy Communion.  Third, we can patiently bear with the imperfections and irritations we see in those around us- just as Christ does with each one of us every single moment of every single day.  The more we become like Christ in his mercy, through the power of his grace, the more we will experience the “indescribable and glorious joy” that he died to win for us in his Divine Mercy.

[1] Aapted from Saintly Solutions, by Fr Joseph Esper (Sophia Institute Press, 2001.]

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Curing Our Spiritual Blindness

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

Fourth Sunday of Lent

1 Sam 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Eph 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

So, how is it that you and I are blind?    We are still in the midst of Lent; a time for meditation and reflection on our lives; a time for purification and change, so that when the Resurrection occurs, and the Light of the World, the resurrected Christ, shines his pure light into our hearts, we will be ready- ready like Paul challenges the Ephesians to be ready:  “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of the light.”  And the chances are that each one of us, yes, each one of us, is still blind.  We cannot see as God sees, and we would do well to reflect on that, so that on Easter, we can live as light, fully comfortable and joyful.   

In today’s Gospel, the blind man goes through a miraculous transformation physically; he is cured of his physical blindness in a flash.  But he also goes through a second transformation:  He is cured of spiritual blindness.  We can see that this second transformation is slower.  Notice that, as the multiple dialogs in our Gospel unfold, the blind man begins with spiritual ignorance.  First, we hear:  “I don’t know what happened, all I know is that Jesus did this to me and now I can see”.  He was probably so shocked, so taken by what happened to him physically, that the implications of it all hadn’t had a chance to settle in.  But then, as the later dialogs develop between the blind man and the Pharisees and between the blind man and Jesus, we see that he has a different attitude.  So, he describes Jesus as a prophet- an explicit recognition that something exceptional happened, because he had a chance to reflect on the miracle. Yes, indeed, something profound happened and that meant to him that there was something special about Jesus.  But then, after he meets Jesus again and Jesus tells him that He is the Messiah, the blind man tells Jesus that He believes.  Ah, yes, he believes that Jesus is more than a prophet, and goes so far as to worship Him.  Indeed, this blind man went through a spiritual transformation.   

Now there are some of you who might think:  “Well, that is all very interesting, but it happened to this one man.  Certainly, I cannot identify with that blind man personally;  after all, I am here, already a believer, a real believer.  It’s the people like the Pharisees and the others in today’s Gospel story who are blind, not me.”  Well, consider this.  Samuel was one of the greatest Prophets and Judges of the Old Testament.  And yet Samuel was still blind, unable to see as God sees.  The proof of that is today’s story of the choice of David.  Samuel is ready to choose the handsome older son of Jesse because, he saw differently than God.  But God says basically, “don’t judge by appearances”.  Samuel, you see, was blinded by appearances.  And yet, ironically, once David is brought from virtual exile, away, hidden from sight by his pastoral duties as the family shepherd; indeed, once David is brought into the light, our reading tells us that David is “a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance”!  Wow!  Once Samuel’s eyes were truly opened, then he could really see.  All of us who think that we can see need the same kind of transformation.  And Lent is the perfect time for us to stop what we are doing, take time out from the brilliance of the world and all it has to distract us, and to step back in such a way, that the hidden wisdom of God can transform us- transform us so that we can see, see the way God sees.   

So, I ask again, how is it that you and I are blind?  What is it that you are not seeing that is affecting your life, your relationship with God?  Is it something that is in your background, something that’s been there all along but you just haven’t seen it- a person, a circumstance, an opportunity, a problem?  Is it something that you are hiding, keeping locked up inside of you?  Perhaps it is something even suppressed because you don’t want to come to grips with it; or perhaps something that needs attention right now, but you think you are too busy to deal with it?  Then again, maybe you’ve been praying for something, and you don’t recognize that God has already answered your prayer because you are judging by your ability to see, and can’t see as God sees.   

Our second reading ends with a great piece of advice.  It is thought to be lifted from an ancient Baptismal hymn.  It is something all of us Baptized Christians would do well to ponder as we try to see things in our life  rhe way God sees them.  The advice is this:  “Awake, O sleeper and arise from the dead.  And Christ will give you light”. 

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The Faith of a True Christian

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

9th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dt 11: 18, 26-28, 32; Rom 3: 21-25, 28: Mt 7: 21-27

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

It isn’t good enough.  It isn’t good enough to just say you believe- assenting to some vague sense of belief in the trinity, and that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and promised those who believed all of that they, then they would inherit eternal life.  Because this may be paying lip service to the consequences of what our faith teaches.   And appearances don’t cut it either- looking like a Christian by just appearing to live as a Christian, coming to Mass each week; and associating with a Christian community like this one.  These are good things- but they aren’t sufficient,  because they don’t in and of themselves make us Christians.   

You see, as Moses says in the first reading on behalf of God the Father, we have to “Take these words of mine into your hearts and souls”.  Into your hearts and souls!  That means that we need to not just say we believe, or appear to believe, but me must understand what our faith teaches so that it becomes part of our innermost being.  If we do that, then we will live our Faith, and that is the key, living our Faith- believing and understanding what we believe to such a depth that our hearts and minds respond to it by the way we lead our daily lives.  That is what it means to be a Christian.  And so, today’s scriptures, taken as a whole, require a whole lot more of us than just saying we believe or going through the appearances of a believer.   

Now St. Paul says very clearly this morning that:  “A person is justified by Faith apart from the law”.  So, Faith is what saves us, not observance of the law, but it has to be real faith.  Faith is believing in what God has revealed to us, even if we can’t understand it all or reason it all out.  Today’s society has embraced an intellectual attitude that says to believe in something, it has to be proven; there has to be scientific evidence of it.  But again, Faith is accepting things we cannot prove- things like the incarnation and the trinity and even the existence of God, just don’t conform to our culture’s standard that requires scientific proof.  And yet, through the whole body of scripture, and the tradition of the Church, we have been given our basic Nicene Creed on what we believe about God.  This Creed is professed every Sunday right after the Homily.  It is what all of us as Christians- even our Protestant brothers,  jointly profess as the basics of our religious belief.  To be a Christian, we need to believe all of it, taking it on Faith.  Why? Because over thousands of years of our Judeo Christian tradition,   the Nicene Creed emerges as the essence of God’s revelation of His nature to us, and so we need to accept it. 

And we have been given the ten commandments on what God expects of us in terms of moral behavior.  These have been augmented by Jesus’ teachings, particularly the Beatitudes.  We need to accept these because they are direct revelations from our God.    Now our culture teaches us, especially when we are college educated, to challenge everything.  We are taught to be discerning, skeptical, and critical of what information is presented to us.  We are taught to test everything, reason it out, and weigh all of the implications in arriving at truth.  And our society preaches that things are relative; that it all depends on the circumstances and your perspective. 

And so, when we are confronted with something like our Catechism- which summarizes the teachings of the Church including the implications of what our faith teaches on the Creed and the 10 commandments and the beatitudes at the next level of detail- people tend to bristle at this level of detail and challenge it.  Rather, our culture encourages a cafeteria type of “faith”, one in which we pick and choose what we reason to be acceptable from the Catechism, as if any of us individuals have the intellectual capacity to compete with the aggregate teaching authority of our Church.   And this is done under the guise of going by our own consciences.  I’ll have more to say about the conscience part in a minute.    And so, there are folks who claim to be people of “Faith” who believe, for example, that Abortion is OK because they see other dimensions, other perspectives of the truth- like the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy.   But this is not a matter of personal opinion, it is a moral truth.  And yes, there are moral absolutes, things are not relative.  Abortion is not OK even in cases of rape and incest because of the circumstances; it is always inherently wrong because it takes an innocent life. 

That’s what the emphasis in today’s Gospel is trying to tell us.  Moral relativism is like building your house on sand- because as an individual your house cannot handle relativism.  You and I need bedrock to build our foundations on- absolute rights and wrongs- or else we will fall apart when we are confronted with all of the challenges.  None of us has the wisdom and discernment of God.  And so He has revealed his truth to us through scriptures and our aggregate tradition.so that we will know- will know what the truth is, and the Catechism is the truth, the bedrock foundation we all need.   

Let me talk about conscience for a minute.  We all must act according to our consciences, right.  And in fact, the Catechism says that.  But, the Catechism also says that our consciences need to be informed, fully informed.  The formation of our consciences is not a secular responsibility.  It is a responsibility that is associated with our belief system.  You know, last December, our parish and the Diocese as a whole, launched a program called “Why Catholic”.  “Why Catholic” is a walk over several years, through the Catechism.  It is a way for you and I to become better informed as to what the Church teaches and why.  It is a Catholic way to form your conscience.  It is not too late to join one of these groups.  We will be signing folks up for these groups again as we enter Lent. 

Now when your Faith is strong, and you know what our church teaches, it will be written on your hearts and minds.  And like all people of good will, you will live that faith with conviction, even when the going gets tough, because the overwhelming majority of us want to do the right thing. 

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A Quake in the Body of Christ

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

 

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Is 8: 23- 9: 3; 1 Cor 1: 10-13, 17; Mt 4: 12-23

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

A year or two ago, some of our public figures, who call themselves Catholic, made public statements about abortion.  I recall one person in particular who quoted St. Thomas Aquinas out of context in order to defend the pro-choice position on abortion.  Their comment received all kinds of attention in the press.  Their comment did significant damage to the unity of the Body of Christ.  How so? Well, first, using their authority as a public figure, this person attempted to make a blatantly incorrect position on Church teaching sound legitimate;  second, this person gave the secular media a wedge to use in undermining our Church’s doctrine on abortion; and third, this person offered false shelter to others who don’t like the official teaching of the Church, especially Catholics.  I remember feeling a quake in the unity of the body of Christ. 

Such behavior for a public figure should not be taken lightly.  Perhaps that’s why Church Law, or Canon Law, has a provision in it that persons in the public eye who publicly take a position against an important Church Doctrine, like Abortion, are excommunicated from the Church.  In an effort to contain the damage, the Church did not escalate the matter.  Yet. this example demonstrates all too clearly that things have not changed since Paul wrote to the Corinthians,  Because today, the Body of Christ is still plagued by divisions, and these divisions do harm to the Body of Christ. 

This morning, we find ourselves at the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision of January 22, 1972 legalizing Abortion in this country.  Father Ennis has asked that we talk about Respect Life issues this morning at all the Masses.  In accordance with St. Paul’s teaching, it is essential that as a Church and as a Parish, we do everything that we can to show that we are united as Christians on this important issue.   

In the past couple of years, this Parish has given extraordinary support to the Respect Life Movement.  Our Baby Bottle campaigns, our Spiritual Adoption Campaigns, and our Post Card Campaign, have all demonstrated that you are a pro-life people.  Congratulations to all of you for your support.  And I am confident that the ongoing Baby Bottle and Spiritual Adoption campaigns will also be successful this year, and that you will support the KOC Spaghetti Dinners to be held on the last Friday of each Month outside of Lent for JMJ Center.     

So, that said, what is missing?  What more can we do to unify the Body of Christ on Respect Life Issues?  Besides prayer, I think there are three important things we can all do.  First, we need to be educated in pro-life matters.  This year, our Respect Life Conference will be held on Saturday February 26th.  We will focus on end-of life issues, not on abortion.  A doctor, a lawyer, and a priest will provide expertise that all of us should find valuable.  They will serve as a panel that will present and discuss Christian ethics on end of life matters; and they will give Catholic advice on the details of Living Wills, Do Not Resuscitate Orders, and other such documents.  All of us need to know about end of life issues and what our Church teaches.  Why? First, because we need to know what to do when we are confronted with them as part of public policy.  For example, some of these issues may become sensitive politically because of provisions in the New Health Care Bill.  So, we need to be informed on them as voters.  And you know, it doesn’t matter what your age is, God could call you at any time- a stroke, an aneurysm, a car accident- and you could be in a position where you should have had a Living Will.  And for those of us who are getting up in years, or have a parent getting up in years, these end-of-life issues are quite timely right now.  And so, I urge all of you to come to the conference to find out what our Church teaches.   

We are also going to be hearing about “Human Trafficking”- another Respect Life issue- in the next couple of weeks.  The Diocese is involved in a major push to educate us about recognizing when Human Trafficking is occurring.  Human trafficking occurs when people are effectively coerced into prostitution or farm work or domestic service or some other activity against their will.  It happens all around us, only we don’t always recognize it.  The Church is hoping that if you and I are properly educated on recognizing signs of Human trafficking, then we will notify the right people so that something can be done about it.  Education is a responsibility that all of us adults have in these matters.  A knowledgeable parish can demonstrate their convictions with action.     

That brings me to the second thing we can all do.  Our Parish and our Diocese need to show our Right to Life stance publicly, not just within our walls or with our wallets.  Taking a public stance makes it clear that we believe and support the Church’s position because we are being proactive, not passive.  I encourage you to get involved in some way in a Respect Life Project in order to do that.  For example, JMJ Center is looking for an executive Director; and some folks make weekly visits to picket Abortion Clinics.  But you can do it in small ways too, you know.  For example, every year we have a “Life Chain” out in front of the Church along the sidewalk.  Parishioners are asked to hold pro-life signs for just an hour on a Sunday Afternoon.  Typically, we have 100 people, many of whom are youth trying to get service points.  Just 100 people out of a parish of 6,000 families.  What a public statement it would be if we had 500 or 1000 of you lined up for a mile or so along Apopka Vineland.  Surely, some of you can do that.  And then there are the water cooler discussions and other opportunities we all have when we are in public- a chance to make a difference, speaking up instead of remaining silent.   

The third thing we can do is to vote our position.  Now I know that there are some people out there that will talk about separation of Church and State.  But like it or not, there is a strong link between Government and controlling immoral and illegal behavior.  We elect people to government positions at all levels so that we will be protected from those who do evil things.  That’s why we have police and civil law and standards of behavior.  Make no mistake about it- 55 million aborted people since 1972 is evil.  Yet some folks seem to have lost their grip on what wrong behavior is.  Even though the vast majority of doctors and scientists all acknowledge that human life begins at conception, a large part of our secular society, under the guise of tolerance, preaches that termination of a human life in the womb, is a matter of choice for the pregnant woman.  What about the Father; and what about the fact that terminating that life is murder? 

Tolerance and passive acceptance of this position is leading to an erosion of our other values.  And so, we find assisted suicide and gay marriage gaining acceptance as well.  The Florida Catholic Bishops statement on this Anniversary of Roe vs Wade that is published in today’s bulletin specifically raises concern over these other two issues.  And we will need to be concerned about Euthanasia next, because in today’s economic crunch secular society may not want to pay the cost of keeping older folks alive.   

The fact is that this largely Christian nation needs to be awakened, and stand up and be counted.  We need to unite as the Body of Christ.  We do that by making sure our elected officials reflect and practice Christian values, and the most important of these values is respect for life.  It is our responsibility as clergy to make that very clear to our parishoners. 

Let us all recognize this one essential fact about our Church.  Today, as in the day of Paul, our Church’s mission is to Baptize us as Christians and to preach the Gospel.  The Church does this, and I quote “Not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of it’s meaning”.  Rather, the Church teaches the Wisdom of God.  God is responsible for all life; it is his decision.  And so, as Christians, we are challenged to hold the Body of Christ together in unity.  And we do that by choosing those who choose life. 

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Are You Experiencing the Epiphany?

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011

Epiphany

Is 60: 1-6; Eph 3: 2-31, 5-6; Mt 2: 1-12

Dc. Larry Brockman

The year is 1976.  My wife Jane and I are expecting our 4th child.  We had 3 sons; I was one of two sons; and my Dad was one of 4 sons.  Almost 100 years had passed in my Dad’s family without a daughter being born!  We are waiting, and hoping that a little girl would be born.  Just 3 days before Christmas, Jane went into labor.  We had trained in the Le Boyer natural child birth method.  So I was there, right along side her as she labored.  Suddenly, the baby was born; my beautiful daughter Mary!  The doctor handed Mary to me, and I placed her in a warm water bath as she looked up at me with deep blue eyes!  What joy I experienced, but I experienced something else as well.  The whole process was an epiphany, the manifestation of a new life, yes.  But more than that- an answer to a prayer, and a sudden realization that things were different.  Soon after birth, I was ushered out of the room, and proudly proclaimed the good news to family and hospital staff alike, sharing my joy and euphoria over the birth of my daughter.   

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany.  In Europe and much of the world, it is the Epiphany which is the major Feast of the coming of the Lord, not Christmas day.  It is that day when the wise men, the kings, appeared at the scene of the nativity of the Lord.  They came from all over the world, a diverse representation of all the peoples come from afar to see the manifestation of the Lord, a fulfillment of a promise by God to send us a savior.  And not only that, Jesus was not just the Messiah for Israel, but the Messiah for all mankind. 

The manifestation of God was the birth of His son on Christmas.  But the Epiphany is the realization that Jesus is the Lord of all, the Savior of all, not just for Israel, but for the whole world.  It is the realization that the ancient promise, the ancient covenant, between God and the Jews, had been fulfilled for all of us.   

And just who was this Messiah that God sent?  His only son- true God and true man, fully human and fully divine.  Nothing like that had ever been promised by any of the religions of the world, that God himself would take on human nature and live and dwell amongst us as one of us, showing us the way to live a life pleasing to God through the example of His Gospel.  Proof of his humanity was birth as a helpless baby, coming into the world just as all of the rest of us do; to grow up and become an adult; to find out what life was all about.  That was a process that took 30 of his years.  His Mission of public ministry took just the last 3 years.   

Proof of His divinity is the inspiration of the Spirit, transmitted through the angels and dreams, to his parents, to his Aunt Elizabeth; and to the wise men.  The wise men, who travelled from all corners, had to be inspired.  They were not Jews or followers of the Jews.  Rather, they were Gentiles from diverse peoples and cultures.  All of whom heard the call, the prompting of the Spirit.  They were so convinced of the coming of the Messiah, that they brought precious gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh.  Some say the gifts were the best that the visitors had to offer from their own countries.  Others say the Gold signifies the coming Kingship of Christ; the frankincense signifies the recognition of the divinity, the smoke that reaches up to the almighty; and the myrrh represents a foretelling of the death of Jesus because myrrh was used in embalming.  The point is that these men were committed to their mission to find the Messiah.   

In the second reading, Paul refers to the Epiphany as the unveiling of a mystery.  And indeed, it was a mystery.  The Messiah was promised, yes, but the kind of Messiah that was sent, a spiritual messiah, not a worldly king with power and might, this had been a mystery that was not unveiled until Jesus grew up and fulfilled His mission.  And this culminated by Jesus command to his apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations, not just the Jews.   

And so, all of us today commemorate this manifestation, this Epiphany, this unveiling of the mystery on its anniversary.  It is a day of joy for all who allow themselves to be transformed by the Epiphany.   

Now the Wise men did not stay and bask in the glory of the Messiah they had found.  Rather, they returned to their homelands to spread the good news of the coming of the Messiah.  As I look out at all of you today it strikes me that all of you are called to do the same,.to spread the good news and the joy of Christmas to our world as a whole.  As Isaiah says: “Then you shall be radiant at what you see; your heart shall throb and overflow.”  And so, I ask all of you here today.  Are you ready to spread the glory of the Coming of the Lord?  Do I here an Amen?  Merry Christmas!    

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