The Eucharist--Nourishment for Life: Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Replaces 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time)

Note--I recorded this homily twice this weekend because of First Communion.  See below for my regular homily and the homily I gave with input from our First Communion students.  

(Listen to this homily here).

(Listen to an adapted version of this homily for First Communion here).            

            One of my favorite hobbies—my favorite sport—is running.  I have run for many years and enjoy distance running, marathons and racing.  Yes, I am a little crazy!  It has been said that running is partly physical but mostly mental.  I can verify this is true.  While physical training is essential, often times it is truly mind over matter in a race.

            What most people overlook about distance running—especially for someone who is not a runner or a beginning runner—is the importance of nutrition.  I mean, if you are going to run a marathon, you have to drink water and eat something!  I can’t tell you how many times I have been ready to stagger off a course and die, when a glass of water, Gatorade and a bite to eat gave me a second wind.

            Running has many parallels with life.  Sometimes you cruise along, feeling like you could go forever.  The sun is out, the wind is at your back and you’re going down hill.  At other times, things stink.  Muscles are sore, it’s raining, going into the wind or up a hill.

            What is interesting for me—I don’t have troubles remembering to eat something or drink water if a run is going poorly—I welcome a break for nourishment!  However, if things are going well I may think, “I don’t need to stop for water—I feel great!”  But what happens four or five miles later?  I’m on the side of the road with a cramp!

            Often in life, we treat God the same way.  If things are rough—we turn to Him.  If life is smooth we may forget to allow God to feed us with His love.

Here’s the point—wherever life finds you at Mass this evening, you must be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ—the Eucharist. If you are cruising along in life—be nourished!  If life has brought sadness, grief or difficulty—be nourished!  This is what we celebrate at every Mass, but especially here for Corpus Christi.

            Here are two promises of Jesus in two short verses.  First, in Matthew 28:20 Jesus promised, “Behold, I am with you even until the end of the age.”  Second, in John 6:54: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”  You can take these to the bank!  How can you know?  Because Jesus gives us his Body and Blood at Mass.

            This is true of every Mass!  Mass is not just about checking a requirement off a list.  It’s not just about seeing family or friends.  It’s not just about eating a donut.  It’s about the Eucharist.  If the homily is lame—the Body and Blood is coming.  If Father has to lead the music and he is off key—the Body and Blood is coming! 

            This weekend I want to challenge you—let’s increase our daily Mass crowd.  We are very blessed with a faithful daily Mass crowd and I believe they make up the heart and soul of our parish.  Join us—I don’t just work on the weekends!  We have daily Mass Monday through Thursday at 8:30.  Summer affords many of you more free time whether you are a student, retired or on vacation.  This can be a great opportunity to be fed by Jesus’ Body and Blood on a more regular basis. 

            Know you are always welcome at Mass on the weekends—and even daily—to receive Christ’s Body and Blood to nourish you no matter what life throws your way.

The noble purposes of marriage: Daily Mass Homily--Thursday, June 4th, 2015

(Listen to this homily here).

            Our reading continues from Tobit and we hear again of God’s providence.  In a particular way, Tobit is a love story—a story of the marriage between Tobias and Sarah.

            This lengthy reading contained one of my favorite wedding readings.  Picture Tobias and Sarah on their wedding night, getting out of bed, kneeling and praying together.  What a good start to a marriage!

            Tobias prays some powerful words: “Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose.”  A noble purpose—isn’t that what marriage is all about?

            Our secular society has lost sight of the noble purpose of marriage.  No longer does it take three to marry.  Divorce, contraception, abortion, infidelity—all are running rampant and none are noble.  Neither is the reduction of love to emotions or feelings.  Love is a choice and requires actions.

            For those of you who are married—remember the noble purposes of marriage.  You are called to lead your spouse and children to heaven!  You are called to be united with your spouse and be open to life—this is noble!  It is probably never fun to wake up in the middle of the night to change a baby’s nasty diaper—but you do.

            We are called to be leaven in our society to help recover the noble purposes of marriage.  In so doing, we will be loving God and neighbor in a greater way in the process.

God loves you!: Daily Mass Homily--Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015 (School Mass)

(Listen to this homily here).

            I have to be honest—these wouldn’t have been the readings I would have chosen for our last school of the Mass!

            First, we continued in the book of Tobit.  Tobit is blind and Sarah (his future daughter-in-law) lost seven husbands in a row!  For you students who weren’t at Mass yesterday—do you know how Tobit became blind?  Birds dropped their droppings in his eyes!  Isn’t that gross?  And Sarah is troubled by a demon!

            Then in the Gospel we heard of the Levirate Law—if a man died without leaving kids, his brother would need to have kids in his name. 

            And by the way, I wonder why two adults had to do our first reading!  I have seen you kids read long readings all by yourself!

            Okay—the basic point of our first reading today—God loves us.  Both Tobit and Sarah prayed to God.  God responded by sending them an angel.  Does anyone remember the name of the angel God sent?  Raphael.  Great listening!  In the next couple of days we will hear how Raphael is the answer to prayer.

            As we gather for our last school Mass of the school year, I want to ask one question—how have you seen God’s love this school year?  [Answers included:]  Teachers, being baptized, praying, playing.

            I want you to listen really well now.  If you remember nothing else I ever say, remember this: GOD LOVES YOU.  God loves you!  No matter what happens in your life always know how much you are loved.  God sent his son Jesus to give his life on the cross for you.  Look at the cross—that’s how much God loves you.

            Remember that even though school is out, we still have Mass every day and every weekend.  Your homework assignment for the summer—come to Mass on the weekend and bring your parents too!

            Let’s stand now and offer our prayers to God.

The question in Tobit: why do good people suffer?: Daily Mass Homily--Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015

(Listen to this homily here).

            I hope you all learned an important lesson from our first reading today: never sleep under birds!  Indeed, this is what we heard Tobit report: “I did not know there were birds perched on the wall above me, till their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing cataracts.”

            Now this passage may seem strange, but the basic point is that Tobit, a good and righteous man, had something terrible happen to him.  Remember from yesterday how Tobit buried the dead?  Now a tragedy takes place!

            The book of Tobit shares in story-form one of the perennial questions of man: why do good people suffer?  We will see how not only Tobit, but also his future sister-in-law Sarah are freed from their suffering by God.

            I preached a couple of weeks ago about how we respond when bad things happen to us.  Might I suggest reading the book of Tobit today?  (It’s short!)  Read the lives of the saints and martyrs.  Find inspiration in those who faced suffering well—innocently—to be strengthened to face anything life may bring you.

Do what needs to be done: Daily Mass Homily--Monday, June 1st, 2015

(Listen to this homily here).

            A common theme between our readings and the celebration of St. Justin Martyr is to do what needs to be done.

            The first example comes from the righteous man Tobit.  He got in trouble because of his care for the dead.  Admittedly, it seems strange to us that he buried multiple bodies he found in his neighborhood—but he did! 

To prepare for a feast, Tobit had his son Tobias invite the poor.  When Tobias shared the sad news of finding a dead body Tobit said, “I sprang to my feet, leaving the dinner untouched; and I carried the dead man from the street and put him in one of the rooms, so that I might bury him after sunset.”  He was persecuted for this generosity: “The neighbors mocked me, saying to one another: ‘He is still not afraid!  Once before he was hunted down for execution because of this very thing; yet now that he has scarcely escaped, here he is again burying the dead!’”

Tobit knew the right thing to do and did it.

The second example is from St. Justin Martyr.  He was a great apologist (defender of the faith), philosopher and martyr.  He battled particularly with the Gnostic heresies.  Justin condemned erroneous beliefs and practices, staying faithful to Christ even when this cost his life. 

St. Justin Martyr knew the right thing to do and did it.

In our relativistic society, the basic mantra is, “What is true for you is true for you…what is true for me is true for me…you do you and I’ll do me.”  We talk about dialogue, listening and making sure everyone has a voice.  These are not necessarily bad things, bought often all opinions are created equal—any belief may or may not be the right one.

This is not Christian!  We are in a privileged position because we have the truth!  Yes, we need to meet people where they are, listen to their stories and learn from where they come from.  But there are times when we need to draw a line in the sand and stand up for what is true and good.  It is okay to say, “This teaching/belief/behavior is wrong.”

To know what is right and do it takes courage.  Let’s reflect on men—like Tobit and Justin Martyr—and women who have stood fast to our faith throughout the generations.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Trinity Sunday

(Listen to this homily here).

            In January 2011 I had the privilege of studying in the Holy Land with my seminarian classmates.  As part of our travels we visited the Jordan River at the location of the Baptism of Jesus.

            Try to picture what this place looked like.  I had expected a wide stream of crystal clear water and lush vegetation on its banks.  When we arrived, I was a bit disappointed.  The Jordan River looked like a ditch in northern Minnesota!  There was some trash strewn about.  Four pillars once stood over the site of John’s work; now they were crumbling.

            Yet it was at this place that God manifested Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in all of history.  God the Father spoke from heaven, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased”.  It was God the Son—Jesus Christ—who was being baptized.  God the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

            I remember thinking—this is so God.  This fantastic revelation took place in a human place.  Indeed, God transcends us, yet is ever close to us.  He takes the natural and does the supernatural.

            For today, remember that we believe God is one God with three Persons.  This is the foundation of our faith.  It is also a paradox.  If you want to delve into the metaphysics or philosophy of the Trinity, sign up for a graduate level course like I did.  (At the end of the semester, our professor gave us one sheet of paper and said, “If you know this, you’ll be fine.”  The paper had hundreds of words in size six font and over thirty arrows!)

            If you are like me, it may be challenging to picture a relationship with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It comes more naturally for me to pray to God the Father, or imagine talking with Jesus, my friend.  But the Three in One?  That can challenge our brains.

            The reality, though, is we offer such prayer all the time.  This morning I’d like to survey some of the ways in which we pray to our Triune God.

            The first way is the most basic staple of Catholic prayer.  How do we begin and end every prayer?  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  How many times do we make the Sign of the Cross?  Yet think of what we are doing when we connect our prayer to God Himself.

            Next, consider how every person is Baptized.  Straight from our Gospel today, Jesus commanded: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”  To this day, this action—baptism in the name of the Trinity—is how every soul enters the Christian faith.

            Or what about Confession?  After confessing our sins, the priest, standing in the person of Christ, proclaims, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

            Are you seeing a pattern?

            Right now, at Mass, we are entering into our relationship with God.  Here’s a fun fact—did you know that I am addressing God the Father at Mass?  As I do so, I offer God the Son in Jesus’ Body and Blood.  I do so through the Holy Spirit.  Which, by the way, is why there is a dove in the apse of our Church—as a sign that what we offer here on earth (Jesus’ Body and Blood) gets to God the Father through the Spirit.

            We will also proclaim our belief in the Triune God in the Creed.  Listen to what we proclaim as we profess our faith.

            Here’s another cool example of our connection to the Trinity that comes in a wedding.  Remember, husbands and wives, what you said when you exchanged rings?  “Take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  In so doing, you were allowing your marriage to be caught up in the love of God.

            Our faith as Catholic Christians begins and ends with the Trinity.  Our prayers, music, worship and sacraments are saturated with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  While this will always remain a mystery to our human minds, it founds our very lives.

            May we be caught up in God’s love—the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Welcome Sabrina and Beau!: Parish Bulletin--5-31-15

            This weekend I would like to officially welcome two people to our parishes.

            The first is not a new member, but will be beginning a new role on Monday as our Director of Faith Formation—Sabrina Etienne.  I am excited for Sabrina to begin working on our parish team to proclaim the Gospel to our young people!  She is a relatively new Catholic and is on fire for our faith.  She is great with people young and old, organization (yes!), technology, communication and the like.  I appreciate her dedication and drive to get things done, and the qualities she has will serve your children and families well.

            I recently told Sabrina her job description in a nutshell: “Lead our kids to Jesus.”  She is excited to start this mission in an official capacity for our parishes!

            In this light, my vision for faith formation includes year-long opportunities for 1^st-12^th grade students.  Part of this is to have weekly sessions throughout the school year for all of these grades.  To me, this only makes sense—athletes don’t take a season off from their sport (I couldn’t imagine skipping basketball when I was in junior high!).  Our students go to school throughout the year—not just the fall or spring semesters.  Similarly, they are expected to be educated every year until they graduate.

            I am excited to see where the Lord takes our faith formation programs.  Young people—you will never lose if you give of your time to the Lord!  Parents—there is no greater activity than educating your children in the faith!  Future small-group leaders and catechists—we will need your generous time and talents to establish faith in the next generation.

            Second, I want to welcome Beau Braun, a seminarian for the Diocese of Duluth, to our parishes.  He will be moving in on Monday and will be with us until August 1^st.  This summer is meant to prepare him for life as a priest and he will be joining me for the variety of pastoral work I do.  He will also have the chance to offer himself in service to you directly in a variety of ways. 

Beau will get to introduce himself through next weekend’s bulletin and Masses.  For now, welcome, Beau—we are glad to have you for the summer!

            God Bless!