Pentecost Sunday
May 19th
Today is the day the Lord has made! Oh, how I love the great feast of Pentecost. It is exciting, it is invigorating, it is challenging.
We all know that the Church has three great feasts – Christmas Day, the Nativity; Easter Sunday, the Resurrection; and Pentecost. Those first two Church celebrations get a lot of attention because the secular world likes them too but for the wrong reasons. I think that the followers of Jesus Christ ought to draw just as much joy and enthusiasm out of the Feast of Pentecost as we do at Christmas and Easter. On Pentecost Sunday a spotlight in heaven swivels around having been shined lo these many months on our Lord that spotlights slowly swivels around on us and WE are under the spotlight.
On Pentecost Sunday each one of us should recommit ourselves to our baptism, call for the grace of Confirmation and endeavor to make knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth our Lord and Savior better known on this battered and sinful world. Just before his return to his Heavenly Father, Jesus commissioned the apostles to be preachers of his word in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. In some limited sense, that command has been fulfilled. Communities of faith are now everywhere on the planet but in varying conditions.
As we think about the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity descending upon the apostles and the other disciples who were present on this awesome day. Since we should be conscious that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as well as to the apostles, we should look inside ourselves and ask if we ever do anything to move forward the message of Jesus. There are many ways to do this. You don’t have to go to the Congo or Guatemala as a fulltime foreign missionary. The main way to teach people about Jesus of Nazareth is to try as best as we can to live like Jesus of Nazareth, namely to be honest, sensitive, generous and when necessary courageous. To the extent that we find ourselves more and more like our Savior, we can then say like St. Paul, “I live now not I but Christ lives in me.”
It is a wonderful job. It is a wonderful opportunity. Let’s thank God that we have it.

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May 9th is the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord and in recent years it has been more frequently celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter. I like the old tradition of 40 days after the Resurrection.
The Lord’s ascension ushers in a special ten day period which finds the apostles once again alone and frightened. It is very similar to the time when they hid out in the Upper Room after the crucifixion. At that time, they were very frightened that what had befallen the Lord might also be dealt out to them. In this new period after the Ascension, the apostles are not so much frightened as confused. They simply do not know what they are to do. Actually, just before our Lord left the apostles he gave them his organizational plan that would be in effect from that day until the end of time. After giving leadership responsibilities to Peter and the power to forgive sins to his apostles, he gave them a commission that would carry throughout their lives and, as I said, until the last day. He said I want you to be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea and to the ends of the earth. He addressed the apostles in these words.

“Full authority has been given to me, both in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptized them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything that I have commanded you and know that I am with you always until the end of the world.”
Each of us has shares in that commission from our Divine Lord. Each of us has the responsibility in some way to convey to those with whom we share life the reality of God’s love for the human family. We need to share the joy and confidence of our redemption.
Now we prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

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Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
I think that many of us when we think about what it means to be a good Catholic or a committed Methodist often connect that with obeying the laws of the church – to avoid sin, to not do evil, to not hurt people, etc., etc. Those are good things to consider but when you take a look at the first and third readings today you will see that those are the EFFECTS of carrying out the law.
The natural law that comes from God is the same law that is repeated today in an excerpt from Saint Mark’s Gospel. It is extraordinarily simple and direct. The law is that we are to love our God, totally and completely and because of that love let it flow through us into the lives of those with whom we are sharing life. God’s law is all about love. If it tells us not to steal, not to lie, avoid sexual transgressions, etc., it is because those acts are failures in love. I think we should try and think about that for a moment. God wants each one of us to be consumed – CONSUMED – with a constant awareness of his infinite goodness and that each of us has been enriched in our existence because this infinite being loves each of us personally, totally and completely. Love begets love and if we can clearly keep in our minds the reality of God’s love, then we ought to respond in like manner.

What is a saint and what is the difference between a true saint and one of us who is just stumbling towards eternal life. It is the degree of burning love inside our hearts, so powerful that it sweeps aside this daily temptation and centers our minds and hearts on the source of our being, Almighty God. It is when we grasp this reality that life becomes constant joy and our lives, even when surrounded by terrible problems, are lived with confidence and hope.

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I’m 82 years old, or as a rather insensitive friend said to me last week, “not right, John, you are actually only 8 years from 90″. That mathematical switch went through me like a knife. I thought it over and realized that while the math was identical, the emotional response varied somewhat.

I wonder if it’s because I am in the ninth decade that I am suddenly becoming aware that people I have known for so long have a tendency to move on ahead of me. It certainly is food for thought…and I’m thinking!

I have been molded and formed by the Roman Catholic faith, and although it has many rough edges, it is extraordinarily optimistic. Catholicism has always held that human nature is essentially good, but weak. Martin Luther, on the other hand (who has a moderate amount of influence in the Christian story) always taught that human nature was essentially corrupt, and only faith in Jesus Christ could overcome the evil that was innate in the human condition. These thoughts pass through my mind as I find myself journeying from funeral to funeral. Funerals are profoundly important. They bring together people who have not seen each other in years. They create an atmosphere that calls for reconciliation. Tears flow. But laughter abounds!

All of this is even more true for people who are Irish. “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy” (W.B. Yeats).

If I said that I enjoyed funerals, I would be misunderstood, because they are usually connected with sadness. But, if a person is committed to the Christian faith, that sadness should be seen as a short term, immediate reality, and beyond the pain is a vestibule opening into eternal life & eternal joy.
There is so much real tragedy, so much agonizingly unnecessary suffering in the world, that we Christians should give an example of hope, optimism and joy when someone we love escapes into eternal life.

Does that mean we are not to cry, not to shed tears when we experience the agonizing loss of a loved one? Not at all. But with the eyes of faith, look beyond that casket. See through that tombstone. See the purpose for which each one of us came into being, which is now being fulfilled.

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August 5th, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today is one of those Sundays where the sacred texts come together to form an almost perfect collage. We begin with the book of Exodus about eleven or twelve hundred years before the birth of Jesus. The chosen people have been wandering in the desert slowly making their way towards the land that had been promised them by Yahweh. The people are complaining about inadequate food supplies and the Lord directs Moses to tell them that He will now feed them with bread from heaven and a miraculous form of bread will descend from the skies.

Over a thousand years later, Jesus finds himself in a similar situation. He is confronted by many critics demanding a sign as to who he was. Jesus makes an awesome promise; namely, that their forefathers had consumed bread from heaven while starving in the desert, but that source of food satisfied only for a few hours. Hunger returned quickly. Jesus then said an amazing thing.

“It is my father who gives you the real heavenly bread. God’s bread comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

He then goes on to say,

“I, myself, am the bread of life. No one who comes to me shall ever be hungry. No one who believes in me shall thirst again.”

Baptism gave us a sharing in the life of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist nourishes that life as we journey towards our eternal destiny.

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The other day I celebrated my 82nd birthday. To me that did not seem all that old. After all, just a matter of months ago I was in my 70’s, but when I mentioned to a friend that I was 82, the person blurted out to me, “You are not only 82 but you are eight years from 90!” I double-checked and the math seemed to be correct. Wow!

When you are in your 80’s, first one and then another of your friends gets a little ahead of you and goes on to God. I have experienced this a great deal of late and I must admit that it makes for calm, thoughtful thinking about God, our lives and how we have lived them.

This got me to start thinking about the Last Rites of the Catholic Church, the meaning and beauty in which they are celebrated in ideal circumstances. I have ministered the Sacrament of the Last Anointing in various circumstances sometimes in rather rushed or awkward manner as on the site of an automobile accident or an explosion. But let’s look at it in terms of the ordinary celebration of Extreme Unction. The person approaching death is laid out in bed in comfort and dignity surrounded by members of the family, sometimes children and grandchildren, sometimes siblings, sometimes the spouse. Beside the bed, there is a freestanding crucifix surrounded by two burning candles and the priest has brought in a container for holy oil, a small locket containing the sacred host, the Blessed Sacrament, the presence in our home of Jesus of Nazareth.

The priest is not just an individual. He represents the Universal Church and he also represents the local Church into which this dying person has been living. As the priest prays over the person, he is thanking God for this person’s presence in the community of faith over the years. He was baptized, made his First Communion, most likely married and worked hard, raised a family and now the end is in sight. Spiritually, the priest and the community from which he has come lift that person up towards God and presents him and his whole life as a gift to God. We ask God to accept this person’s life, reward him for his goodness and receive him into eternal life.

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May 20, 2012- Feast of the Ascension
The 12 apostles spent more than two fairly quiet years walking after Jesus as he moved back and forth from Galilee to Judea, frequently passing through Samaria. They heard his preaching, they saw his miracles, they were committed. But then things began to get a little rough.

In that first Holy Week, which was ushered in by the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, we saw two trials, one religious and one civil, and then the crucifixion. Finally, and most astounding, the resurrection itself. Then came those forty days of strange and mysterious visits when, from time to time, Jesus would suddenly appear among the apostles conveying extremely important messages which would help the Church to understand itself and to develop according to the mission that they had received from Jesus.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension and once again, we are dealing with startled, stunned and frightened apostles. There was Jesus standing and speaking to them, and then suddenly he begins to ascend to heaven and then disappears. What are they to do? In the next scene, they are facing heaven and two men in white were standing beside them. They said, “Why are you Galileans standing here looking into the sky? Jesus has been taken up from you into heaven and will come back again in the same way.” Would that make for shock, for wonder, for confusion? You bet. Now begins ten more days of fear and anxiety. That unpleasantness will come to an end in ten days as we celebrate the third most important feast in the life of the Church, PENTECOST and the descent of the Holy Spirit.

That question from those angels was really a challenge to us as well. Why are you standing here? You have got a job to do. Let’s get with it. We also need to know that in our heart of hearts we are being asked: Why are you standing here staring into space? You share in the missionary responsibility.

Let’s get with it.

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I grew up in the 1940s and was gifted by God at that time with a good memory. I very clearly remember how my mother and other older people dressed and acted. Since I am fairly observant, in today’s world I continue to study the clothing and habits of people who are 50 or 60 years old or older- what a difference! When I used to walk on Town Lake, I would be happily surprised seeing 60 year old ladies cruising by in orange or purple jogging suits. I tried to imagine my mother in one of those, and couldn’t pull it off. The older people of 70 years ago were molded in their appearance and behavior on the customs of that time. They were serious- very serious. Today’s older adults are by no means frivolous, but our culture gives them the freedom to be as young as the feel. I think this is a wonderful thing!

Life is a gift from God. We are created to enjoy it here as we journey towards God, where we will enjoy infinite happiness. I doubt very seriously that there will be a dress code in heaven. Onward through the clouds!

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Yesterday was all saints day, and if you read my blog, you saw it’s one of my favorite feasts. It’s a feast day that takes in everyone- all who love God and desire eternal life. Today is All Souls Day, and at first glance, the liturgy takes a nose dive, and we start giving our attention to people who are good but have not yet gone through the Pearly Gates!

However, I’m going to attach All Souls Day to All Saints Day, because even those we celebrate today are locked into eternal life and eternal joy. So let’s put the two feasts together. They’re all about winning in the game of life. That sounds like a football term, but it’s really a way of spotlighting that life is a struggle. Goals are set before us, and it’s very necessary that we attain those goals.

I hope the devotees of All Souls Day will not be disappointed with me, but I’m very optimistic about the infinite accomplishments of our Lord’s salvific life and what it has done for the human family. I don’t think that hell is a very crowded place!

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