Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent 2023

How to Overcome.

And He was transfigured before them; His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him.

Thank you for joining as we together journey through Lent.

We spent the weeks of Pre-Lent identifying the hot stoves of sin in our lives, those dangers we love to run toward. We planned our strategies for getting rid of them.

Those old, hot, rusty, greasy, ugly things in our lives must go. With that in mind, we discussed the tools available to us that will help us get rid of that sin problem. They are the same tools Jesus used and exemplified for us. It is why the Church recommends them.

The tools He used: prayer, studying scripture, speaking about the kingdom, fasting, communing in relationship centered on the Father. 

Seems easy enough until we set to doing them. Once we move toward that way of life, a deeper relationship with God, the Tempter enters., He comes with distractions, easy outs, and an appeal to our baser selves.

If we do stay on track, guess what? We will have the same success Jesus had. 

We know we are being successful, that our relationship with God is growing and deepening when we start feeling good, wonderful, and fulfilled. At the same time the Tempter comes again and this time as the Accuser. He will tell us just how bad we should feel, how God cannot possibly be in relationship with us, and most particularly how we have no right to feel good.

That is the true mark of success and know that the stove of sin is being removed the better we feel and the more we are accused.

St. Paul, writing to Timothy, reminds us: Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.

Paul knew that those on the road to glory in God would face hardship, especially those brought on by the Tempter and Accuser. He also knew that if we ask, God will strengthen us in ignoring both the Tempter and Accuser.

Paul knew that each of us who has come to Jesus by faith has been saved and called to a holy life because God made it so for us. He chose us. He picked us out for His team.

We need to remind ourselves of that and take strength from it. When the Accuser says: God doesn’t want you! we can respond: Yes, He does, He chose me.

It may seem odd that we read the account of glorious Transfiguration of Jesus today. This grand event that fills us with joy and confidence doesn’t seem very Lent like. But there is reason. 

The glorious Jesus, our Lord and God to Whom the Law and Prophets pointed, Who the Old Testament predicts is here among us in glory. 

Jesus overcoming all things for us, from the dessert to the cross, and is how we were chosen. Paul told us we are on the road to heaven (we just got a glimpse of it) and that in using the tools available to us can overcome all hardship and opposition by a holy life wrapped in God’s glorious strength.

Reflection for the 1st Sunday in Lent 2023

How to Overcome.

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Thank you for joining as we together journey through Lent, walking humbly before God and working out our salvation.

As I mentioned Ash Wednesday, we spent the weeks of Pre-Lent identifying the hot stoves of sin in our lives, those dangers we love to run toward, and planned our strategies for getting rid of them.

Those old, hot, rusty, greasy, ugly things in our lives must go, but unfortunately, for many Christians, we spend Lent praying more, sacrificing small things, perhaps giving more, fasting, abstaining, engaging in increased prayer and scripture reading as mere curtains. We close the inner curtain on that hot stove, never really getting rid of it, never allowing Jesus and His team to take it away, so that on Easter Monday we can tear open the curtain and get right back to that hot stove of sin.

Fine Pastor, you’re right. I gave up M&Ms and one hour of TV, but that hot stove of sin remains, and even though I would prefer not to, I’ll probably go right back at it after Lent. You see Pastor, I do not know how to really get rid of that sin. Can the Church help me, give me some strategies to get rid of that sin?

Yes, and as with all the answers it begins with Jesus, looking to Him and what He faced.

We might see the temptations as something that happened at the end of Jesus’ fasting and prayer in the desert, but it was far more than that.

Jesus, as is often said, was tempted in every way we are. As soon as He began to get hungry, thirsty, tired, motivated to give it all up and go home, the Tempter came. The Tempter accused Him of being weak, unable to finish His mission, a disappointment to His Heavenly Father. We can hear that can’t we – because we face that Tempter all the time. He accuses and blames us – all directed at our giving up hope, giving up God.

The Tempter wanted Jesus to denounce His own Father. At the end of the forty days the Tempter hit Jesus with all he had.

It was not just bread for hunger, but the temptation to satisfy every craving of the body – food, drink, pleasure, quitting and being slothful. It was not just to throw oneself down from the parapet of the Temple, but to destroy oneself – quit and kill Your own body Jesus. It was not just rule over all the kingdoms of the world, but to surrender oneself and one’s true power to the ruler of the world – the Tempter.

Jesus, having faced all we face, and far more, would be tempted throughout His ministry and on the cross, yet He was loyal to His Father’s will and did not sin.

These are the tools He used: prayer, studying scripture, speaking about the kingdom, fasting, communing in relationship centered on the Father. Guess what – we can do all those things and have the same success. 

Our success in getting rid of sin is that we will actually feel good, wonderful, fulfilled – and if we find we hate that feeling, know the stove is being removed.

Reflection for Quinquagesima Sunday 2023

The way of life.

Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus. 

Today we come near to the conclusion of this Pre-Lenten season. 

Over two weeks we considered choices and consequences, the fact that hot stoves of sin are everywhere and so often seem like fun. If we chose that seeming fun, we get burned and must come to the realization that in doing so we abandon the promises of God.

We know that how we live now, how close the world grows toward the kingdom we are supposed to be building, and how we live in eternity depend on choices made here and now. 

If we have lived up to our resolution by taking this Pre-Lenten season as an opportunity to identify the stoves in our lives and have planned our strategies for eliminating them this Lent, we have done well.

Um, but Father, I’ve been kind of busy, got distracted, and lost the last two weeks. 

I can empathize. I used to get all kinds of awards in grade school for “deportment.” It means I carried myself well and was a ‘good boy.’ The part I did not do well in was use of time. I can still hear my mother saying – Your report card says that you did not make good use of your time. Too much daydreaming I suppose.

Jesus takes a two-pronged approach for those of us who have not made good use of our time, who have not focused. 

Jesus’ first approach is to remind us of the necessity to focus – to pay attention to God’s way and to ensure He is indeed the Master of our life.

Whatever worldly/everyday stuff gets in our way should not be counted as consequential. Whatever seems important to us must pale against the glory of God and how our lives proclaim Him. Each moment needs to be dedicated to God – loving Him, devoted to Him, and serving Him. In short- pay attention to what is truly important and serve that choice.

Next, Jesus veers into reminders of God’s care. He knows our weakness, He saw his disciples get easily distracted, so He speaks of the fact that our focus must not be given in vain, but rather is to be toward the One Who will see to our every need.

Jesus left no gaps. Faith in God and dedication to God, making choices for God and toward God leads to blessed consequences: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. 

As we have been reminded, making choices for hot stoves and away from God leads to loss and eventually total destruction.

In these last two-and-a-half days, let us use our time wisely. See the distraction trying to pull you away, push the distraction away for tomorrow will take care of itself.. Nothing is more important than the right now in our focus on what God wants this Lent and saying yes to where the Holy Spirit leads.

Reflection for Sexagesima Sunday 2023

The way of life.

“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus. 

Today we continue in this Pre-Lenten season. 

Last week we considered choices, the fact that the hot stoves of sin are everywhere and so often seem like fun. Jesus’ way seems so different, so odd, and so hard. No one does that, do they? 

We resolved to take this Pre-Lenten opportunity to identify the stoves in our lives, those areas of disaster we reach out to, the ways we fail to represent Jesus’ gospel way. We reminded ourselves of what will happen if we do not stop reaching for those hot stoves of sin and destruction and determined to prepare ourselves for eliminating them this Lent, to live the way Jesus asks us to live.

Today we continue in our study of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus continues to ask us to live His Father’s commandments in their fullness. Thou shalt not kill is not just about physical murder, but about any hardship or rejection we would bring upon another, even if only in our thoughts. If we hold ourselves back and away when another in in need, we kill. It may not seem at all bloody to us, but it is – emotionally, spiritually, psychologically. 

But, what if someone is mean to me, what if they are hurting me? Jesus’ instruction seems clear – turn the other cheek. Seems hard, but simple. What we miss is the way we act is a sort of dam against sin. We, my brothers and sisters, have power to thwart sin, to turn the tide of sin. If we respond to harm, meanness, rejection, anger, and so many other evils in kind we are just perpetuating evil, fostering more sin. But if we act as Jesus asks, we stop that sin right there. We break the chain of sin.

So often in the Christian life it seems we are making no headway, we aren’t changing anything. What we tend to miss is the downstream effect of our faithfulness. Our impact is huge if we turn the other cheek, if we hand over more than demanded of us, if we go the extra mile, if we give to those who ask – perfect examples our work with CarePortal and Operation SouperBowl.

Jesus demands a lot of us. He asks us for perfection in our gospel walk, to be real kingdom dwellers who live so very differently from the way of the world.

There are consequences to our choices, to choosing the hot stove or the gospel, to reflecting the world and its ruler or to reflecting our Heavenly Father. Those consequences have impact not only here in the present world but also throughout eternity.

As we continue in this Pre-Lenten time of reflection and preparation let us not just consider choices but also consequences. How we live now, how close the world grows toward the kingdom we are supposed to be building, and how we live in eternity depends on the here and now.

Reflection for Septuagesima Sunday 2023

The way of life.

If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus.

Today we enter the Pre-Lenten season. I say that every year, and perhaps this year I have come to understand it even better because I better understand the nature of choices. We do that as we get older because, as some would say, we have wisdom. Others would say that we now see the long-term consequences of our decisions. Did that decision lead to good, or did it create a disaster.

Ben Sira of Jerusalem, or in short Sirach, shares various versus of wisdom with us, things learned from the Spirit of God for right living. Today, he presents us with some real age-old wisdom we totally connect with: There is a hot stove, don’t touch it. As I just mentioned, wisdom comes from experience with choices made. I wonder how many times Ben Sira touched the hot stove after his mom told him not to. Ben Sira knew, as wisdom, the fact that touching a hot stove leads to disaster while listening leads to good.

That is the way of God. We have a way of life before us. Will we reach out to His life or chose death?

St. Paul tells the Corinthians the practical truth: What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

Paul is speaking from experience, i.e., the wisdom he had acquired from Jesus on the road to Damascus. Meeting Jesus caused him to pull his hand away from the stove and to choose life. He said to himself, Wow, I was about to be burned bad, I could not see it, I could not hear it, my heart was closed to it, but now I know what God has in store for me if I chose His way of life.

It is of note that the Corinthians were new Christians, for not more than three years. They were falling back into their former way of life in so many ways. They were running headlong to each and every hot stove they could find. Paul is reminding them of that choice, the fact that they will be burned, and in being burned will reject all God has in store for them.

Jesus’ commandments to us, His way of life built upon His Father’s Commandments, may seem anachronistic to us. Divorce is common. Treating people as sexualized objects, without humanity, is not just a way to sell music and products, but a commonplace way of life. Disrespect for others, calling them empty (raqa) or impious (foolish), basically non-human, most especially online, is easy. The stoves seem to be so much fun. Jesus’ way of life so difficult. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Let us then take this Pre-Lenten opportunity to identify the stoves in our lives, those areas of disaster we reach out to. Let us recall what will happen if we do not stop, and focus our Lent on eliminating them, choosing life with God.

Reflection for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Did, Doing, Done.

  • But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly.

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus.

Over the last two weeks we spoke of our baptismal obligation to testify, give witness, and proclaim the truth of Jesus, His gospel message, and the promise of salvation that is in Him. We are to live in His light 

We may think our baptismal obligation is a one-way debt owed to God, that we are taking upon ourselves duties aimed at God. At that point we may wonder what God’s obligation is toward us, how does He live in relationship to us? Is this a one-sided thing or is it mutual?

Let us liken our baptismal relationship to what we may better comprehend, we get married or take on a job and there is a set of obligations both on ourselves and on the other party, a spouse, an employer. So, how does that work out between us and God. How does it work in both directions?

God’s obligation toward us is real, not because we can make Him do anything for us, but because He chose to pursue us. God pursues us, always with great love, even when we are far off. He seeks us out and calls us into relationship with Him. This is most evident in His constant call to the people of Israel, even when they strayed, and it came to completion when He Himself, in the Person of His Son, Jesus, came to us.

God in Jesus said – here, let Me teach you. Let Me show you the way you are to live as part of an everlasting relationship with Me and with each of your brothers and sisters. Here is My gospel which is life – live this way. Here is My body and blood, offered for your salvation and here is my resurrection so you too may rise and enter the everlasting Kingdom. I love you.

God’s relationship with us, His people, and the salvation brought to reality in Jesus is the hope and loving promise we attach ourselves to in baptism. What God already did is the starting point of relational obligations. As St. John would say: We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

The mutual obligation between us and God continues in everyday life. It is centered on what God is continually doing for us. He gives His grace to strengthen and sustain us. He does as Zephaniah prophesized – He has left us as a humble and lowly remnant, living the beatitudes He taught, to give light to the unsaved so they too may enter this mutual obligation.

The best part of our relationship with God is that He made us His remnant, His people. We are the chosen insiders in the Kingdom, not insiders for worldly wealth and power, but insiders for the sharing of His love and for everlasting glory.

Finally, God’s promises to us are guaranteed. He has made us co-heirs with Jesus to the Kingdom. He will deliver everlasting life in eternal joy where there is no more tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). What He will do for us is the promised side of those Beatitudes – comfort, inheritance, satisfaction, mercy, and great reward.

So let us live fully our relationship with God, doing as He requires and receiving His love. That’s the deal we all want.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

What do I do…?

The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus.

Last week we spoke of our baptismal obligation to testify, give witness, and proclaim the truth of Jesus, His gospel message, and the promise of salvation that is in Him. This week we reflect on the light we have received and that light in relation to our obligation.

I don’t know how many of you took economics in college. I remember it well. I enjoyed macroeconomics, looking at the big picture of the economy and how things work.

Walter Heller, speaking of economists commented: “You know it’s said that an economist is a man who, when he finds something that works in practice, wonders if it works in theory.”

That makes sense for us doesn’t it. We who go shopping for food every week, who need a paycheck, and who put gas in the car know what works in practice, i.e., in reality.

One thing I remember quite well from economics was the idea of perfect competition. Perfect competition occurs when companies sell an identical product, market share does not influence price, companies are able to enter or exit without barriers, buyers have perfect or full information, and best of all – companies cannot determine prices. Everyone pays about the same price.

A loose example is old fashioned regular milk. Sealtest, Hood, Stewarts, Price Chopper, Hannaford, Crowley – well milk is milk. But… and we all know, companies have learned to change things up, differentiate, and offer unique milk products like goats’ milk, almond milk, oat milk, 2%, 1%, skim, chocolate, extra pasteurized, non-GMO. We are willing to pay more or less to substitute regular milk for what we want or prefer.

There is however one unique thing, one that cannot be substituted, one we cannot replace with something that might be similar or just as good and that is Jesus.

Jesus came as the promised light, and we who recognize His coming should be like the people of Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. We have a great, perfect light Who shows us the way we are to go.

The excerpt from Psalm 126 used for the alleluia verse tells of the reaction of those who recognize the Lord as their Light. The Lord had done great things for us; Oh, how happy we were! They perceive what the Lord has done for them, and they show forth their happiness because its light stands in dynamic contrast to the darkness they lived in.

If for us the Lord is indeed our light and salvation, without substitute or equivalent, the question comes down to what we do with Him.

The right choice and the only choice for us is to follow Him and declare Him. Like the called disciples we must get up and go with Jesus, learn from Jesus, and testify, give witness, and proclaim the truth of Jesus His gospel message, and the promise of salvation that is in Him alone.

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Testify

“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him… Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

Thank you for joining as we testify to our Lord Jesus Christ.

To testify, to give witness, to proclaim the truth – this is the charge we received in baptism. 

In the Baptismal Rite the one to be baptized receives salt, the savor of wisdom and truth that the name of Jesus should be in our mouths, their lips are blessed that their mouths may be opened to proclaim Christ. These serious charges are an obligation of duty on us from baptism to our grave. An adjunct to this is that the ears are also blessed that they may be opened to hear Jesus, the proclaimed gospel that is way, truth, and life.

John and later St. Paul testify to Jesus, one as His precursor paving the way and pointing toward Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God and the other His apostle, going throughout the world to preach the gospel of salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

We here, in this parish church, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, are who Paul is describing: ‘those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus.’ 

Paul further states that we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and are called to be holy.

This is more than a reminder at the beginning of this new calendar year of who we are to be and Who we are to proclaim; further how we are to live. Reminders, while nice, do not precipitate action. Any wife or husband can tell you how many times they have reminded their spouse to do so and so without result. How many teachers can testify to the fact that they remind certain students all the time, send home notes, write it in their ‘agenda book,’ or send Emails with little to no effect.

Jesus did not come to remind us. Not at all. That was the job of the prophets who came before Him to remind Israel of their obligations to God and of His promise to them. Even John the Forerunner came to remind the people of the promised Messiah and to call them to conversion in advance – Prepare the way, reminding them of what they must do. Jesus instead came to call us to action, to open ears to hear, to open mouths to speak, to free what was locked up for all to see and hear.

No, no reminders. We have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and are called to be holy. That is an ongoing state of being. Older, retired, worked for God all your life? You cannot retire or stop for you are called to be holy. Parents who had their children baptized? You cannot stay away, write it off, cheat their ears and leave their mouths empty of the gospel for you are called to be holy as are your children. Teens, college graduates, mid-life everyday job folks – you are called to be holy.

Tomorrow, we honor someone who lived their call to be holy with ears that heard the cry of the oppressed and opened his mouth to speak the Lord’s truth concerning each person’s humanity and dignity. Today, we recognize where we have failed in our call to be holy. 

We have been charged to testify, witness, and proclaim. Starting now we live our baptism and set to action for He is the Son of God.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds 2023

My heart changed.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 

Thank you for joining as we continue in the celebration of the Christmas Season and in our expectation of the Lord’s return in glory.

This unique Solemnity in our Holy Church dedicates a Sunday in the early Christmas season to the remembrance of those shepherds who first heard of the Lord’s birth from the angels. This Solemnity is so important that it displaces all other Solemnities of the Christmas season excepting the Circumcision, Holy Name of Jesus, and Epiphany should they occur on a Sunday. In most years, this Solemnity occurs on the Sunday after the Nativity. In years like this one with Christmas on a Sunday, this Solemnity is celebrated on the 8th of January.

This Solemnity is wonderful on so many levels for it shows how God interacts with humanity. God sent His angels to the poor workers of the region to announce His salvation, the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament. In fact, He chose the lowest of the low to receive this news.

We can assess their humility from the fact they were not people of pretense. They could not fool anyone about who they were – they even smelled like their work – the sheep, the pastures and woodland.

A lack of pretense is one sign of humility. Oxford notes that humility is: ‘Having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance. Of low social, administrative, or political rank.’

Another sign of humility / humbleness is what the Shepherd’s did with the news. They trusted and went, then having seen told people about it directly and honestly. The Shepherds experienced God and didn’t have to think about it, philosophize, theologize, or seek the local descendent of Aaron, a Levite, or religious leader to interpret for them.

In the Letter of St. James (James 4:10) we hear: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. Good advice! The more like these Shepherds we are the better off we will be because God will be holding us up.

If we are hanging on to any pretense, let’s wash ourselves of it in confession. If we are grasping after the straws the world offers, know they will snap and break, and we will be alone. So, if we are grasping, let us stop and grasp onto Jesus. If we are holding off in talking about Jesus or waiting for the advice of philosophers, theologians, priests, or best sellers, let us stop waiting and get to work. Speak of Him.

Last week we spoke of being changed, having changed hearts and lives. Here we see the practical model of people who are transparent, honest, and humble about what God has done. God sent His Son Jesus to save us. Let us live as saved and humble as those Shepherds who declared the Lord.

Pray too for all present and these future humble shepherds of our Church: Alfonsito, Nick, Sean, David, Jason, Todd, Adam, Zach, Kevin, Zach, James, Nick, Rodryg, and all Deacon candidates.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Circumcision of our Lord 2023

My heart changed.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus 

Thank you for joining as we continue in the celebration of the Christmas Season and in our expectation of the Lord’s return in glory.

The question on everyone’s mind – why celebrate this? I mean, think about it. This ceremony performed probably in Joseph and Mary’s home and all it entails – well it seems both minor and kind of gross.

The Roman Church got rid of this celebration and converted it to a Marian Feast. That cleaned it all up, right? They do not have to think about all this, and they thought they made it all pretty. Unfortunately, they lost the point.

So why do we celebrate our Lord’s circumcision? There are several very important reasons to celebrate.

One reason is that it is factual. January 1st is eight days from December 25th, and in accord with God’s instruction to Abraham which Joe so elegantly read, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised.

Another reason, and this is particularly important for us, is that the fact of the circumcision, the pain and loss of blood, was testament to Jesus’ humanity. Indeed, God had become man. Jesus laid down His Deity and took on our flesh so He could deliver on all the Father’s promises to us.

Jesus as man was the only One Who could save us from our sins by paying their penalty, Who could redeem us, and Who could make us new and co-heirs with Him to eternity in the Kingdom now and to come.

How privileged we all are that God became man, that His humanity was one-hundred percent real and full. Many ancient heresies tried to downplay or outright rejected Jesus’ humanity, but without that humanity we could not have been saved, our debt would not be paid, we would remain our old fallen selves.

In the circumcision we are reminded that this baby boy, Jesus, faced all we face. He was not some magical figure, sitting up in the manger and doing calculus, or speaking, or anything other than what 8-day old babies do – eating, crying, and needing a diaper change.

Finally, the circumcision is a sign in the old covenant, the covenant that Jesus, as God, enjoined on the Jewish people and all in their nation.

Jesus took on this sign of the old covenant in His flesh to declare that He was of Israel, its true son, and just as the sign of the old covenant was in His flesh so would the sign of the new covenant be in His flesh – in nail marks, scars, and a pierced side.

For us, the new covenant in Christ’s flesh and blood frees us, as St Paul says, from the Law and its prescriptions. We live a new changed existence in grace.

St. Paul is being very careful in exhorting the Galatians and us so we might perceive our new reality – who we really are as a changed people. The Galatians, and some today, believe that they can do stuff – be circumcised, cook a certain way, carry out lists of activities and be saved. How wrong they are!

Our salvation is in the God/man Jesus. He completed that work. Now we must accept Him, live changed lives, and walk His way in faith working through love.